A friend of mine has had a splendid success recently with a new opera, and has experienced, for the first time, the somewhat throat-catching moment when you learn that the companies subsequently producing the piece feel that they require the composer’s presence there about as urgently as they need Berg’s to grace the opening night of their new Lulu, i. e., not very. As I get asked a fair amount about the business, as well as the art, of new opera, I’m sharing a bit of what I wrote him this morning as a composer P.S.A.:
“…Re (Company X): welcome to your world. After the première and the telecast of Little Women, it seemed every time I picked up the phone with MaryLou Humphrey (then my rep) at Schirmer, she’d say, “well, you do know about (Minnesota Opera/Opera Pacific, &c) and I’d say, “Actually…no.” Part of this is because–since this is a co-production, yes?–they feel (not unfairly) that this is a remount of a previous production rather than a first night: but part of it is that most opera companies (also not unfairly) are mostly used to dealing with composers who are dead. (Be patient: we’ll solve that problem for them only too soon.)
On the other hand, there is a première circuit, for want of a better term: first productions which are legally obligated to meet your approval. These comprise the world première, and subsequently (at least according to Schirmer’s contracts), the East Coast première; the New York première; the West Coast première; and then the continental premières (Europe, Asia, &c) and then country premières within those (U. K., Japan, &c.) Then there are the broadcast premières. Radio’s less relevant here, as that’s usually taken from live performance, but CD and DVD fall under the same rule. Depending on the agreement you signed with your publisher, you are technically empowered to grant or withhold right of production depending on how much or little you trust the intentions of the producers involved. If (Company X) is involved in the original consortium, even if this mounting comprises the x première, I don’t imagine you can say, “I must be there to make sure you distort it out of all recognition” (given how beautifully the first night went: bravo, again!); but you could (through your publisher? Or your agent?) delicately let it be known (IF your contract has specified this) that the company giving the x première is legally obligated to make sure the production meets your approval, which would require your presence there 1-2 weeks before the opening.
And I can’t go to every Little Women any more: only to the international premières (Japan, ‘05, Australia ‘07, and, just last month, Israel) and if friends are involved. Alas, you do need to let it go after a certain point! Though, apparently, Syracuse is doing a Little Women in ‘09 that is promising a “completely new visual take” on the piece, and their website has the girls in lace dresses and Gina Lollobrigida straw hats. This is germane, because if, say, Little Women’s first German or European performance were going to be reconceived as the dream of a heroin-addicted sailor on an Amsterdam wharf, I might press Schirmer to withhold the rights. At a première, it’s ethically obligatory–no less–that the production be transparent to the author’s intention. But Syracuse is a small and enterprising company in a state (New York) which has already seen a conspicuous and idiomatic production which I oversaw at Glimmerglass/New York City Opera: I also hear great things of the conductor, who has led the opera before at New England Conservatory; and given GO/NYCO, as well as the telecast and CD, it’s hard for me to argue for any première privilege. So it’s as fair, I suppose, as resetting La Bohême during World War I. The director in me admits to being intrigued! If they don’t invite me, I’ll sneak into the theatre in a trenchcoat and Groucho glasses.
Hope this helps: these are the problems to have! Congratulations again: I’m only just back from Israel and California, but I’m very eager to hear the new piece on CD: meanwhile, a thousand hugs and…lots of love, Mark”
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