VOA慢速英语20060605b

THIS IS AMERICA - They Sing in English, Put on American Works, and Redefine OperaBy Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, June 05, 2006

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week, operas in English by American composers.

VOICE ONE:

We start with the works of Carlisle Floyd, who just recently celebrated¹ his eightieth birthday.

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VOICE TWO:


Carlisle Floyd

Most of the operas by Carlisle Floyd are based on stories or plays by American writers. But he developed his best-known opera, Susannah, from a Bible story. From Susannah, you just heard the soprano Renee Fleming singing Ain't It a Pretty Night?

Carlisle Floyd was born in nineteen twenty-six in South Carolina. He gained recognition even when opera houses rarely performed American works.

Susannah first appeared in nineteen fifty-five. It is now a classic opera performed around the world.

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VOICE ONE:

The most recent opera by Carlisle Floyd is Cold Sassy Tree. He composed it from the book with that name by Olive Ann Burns.

In Cold Sassy Tree, an older man marries a young woman soon after his wife dies. For his community, it is too soon.

The Houston Grand Opera in Texas presented the first performance in two thousand. The Houston opera has long been known for producing new works.

Cold Sassy Tree is part tragedy, part comedy, but it also deals with issues of religious extremism. Listen as Dean Peterson sings Rucker's Sermon.

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VOICE TWO:

Another opera written by Carlisle Floyd came from the book All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. The opera is called Willie Stark². The story is about a powerful Southern politician. He is a lot like Huey Long, the populist governor of Louisiana who was elected a United States senator in nineteen thirty.

A classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson led to Carlisle Floyd's opera Markheim. This is a story of murder and its effects on the murderer.

Some critics argue that works like these are more plays with music than true opera in the European tradition. But others say new American opera is helping³ to renew interest in opera in the United States. This seems true especially when the stories deal with social and moral issues.

As one critic said, the music may not always be easy to remember, but the operas succeed well as theater.

Carlisle Floyd described the situation this way: Some opera boards like to produce only the five or six operas they may know by name. And these have to be sung in a language they do not understand.

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VOICE ONE:


Richard Danielpour

Richard Danielpour was born in New York to Iranian parents in nineteen fifty-six. He is a Grammy Award-winning composer. His first opera, Margaret Garner⁴, appeared for the first time in two thousand five. He wrote it with Toni Morrison. Her awards include the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The story is based in part on true events. Margaret Garner was an escaped slave in the eighteen hundreds. She killed her baby daughter to save her from slavery. This real-life story is what led Toni Morrison to write her novel Beloved.

Now, here are Tracie Luck and James Kee with music from Margaret Garner performed by the Michigan Opera Theatre.

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VOICE TWO:

Composer Jake Heggie developed an opera from the book Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean. The Roman Catholic nun⁵ and activist⁶ against death sentences wrote about her friendship with a prisoner awaiting execution.

Jake Heggie was born in nineteen sixty-one. Before his opera, he was known mainly for writing songs.

Dead Man Walking was a major motion picture in nineteen ninety-five. But many people did not believe audiences would pay to hear an opera about this subject. The San Francisco Opera thought they would.

Playwright⁷ Terrence McNally went to work on the story. The opera had a very successful premiere in two thousand. Since then, it has been produced again and again.

Listen as Susan Graham, as Sister Helen, tells the condemned⁸ man that she will be with him as he faces death by poison injection.

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VOICE ONE:

The classic American novel Little Women was first published in eighteen sixty-eight. It was an immediate⁹ success. The story by Louisa May Alcott is about four sisters. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy live in New England in the eighteen sixties, after the Civil War.

Over the years, the story has been told in plays, films and on television. Now there is Little Women the opera, composed by Mark Adamo.

Mark Adamo was born in nineteen sixty-two. He had not written an opera before Little Women.

Carlisle Floyd suggested that he offer the work to the Houston Grand Opera. Mark Adamo did not think the opera company would be interested. He was wrong.

VOICE TWO:

The Houston Grand Opera presented Little Women in nineteen ninety-eight and again two years later. Since then, opera companies across the country have presented this work.

The opera shows the emotional conflicts in the life of Jo. She is a gifted writer. But she fights growing up.

Listen now as Jo, played by Cherry Duke, sings about a bad day. She wishes she could start the day over.

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VOICE ONE:

Other examples of American operas include Our Town. Ned Rorem wrote the music based on the play by Thornton Wilder about life in a small town.

The Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire led Andre Previn to compose an opera. And John Harbison composed an opera version of The Great Gatsby from the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The list goes on.

VOICE TWO:

Composer Douglas Moore and librettist¹⁰ John Latouche called upon the history of the American West for The Ballad¹¹ of Baby Doe.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver¹². I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

5 nun   

n.修女，尼姑

参考例句：

• I can't believe that the famous singer has become a nun.我无法相信那个著名的歌星已做了修女。
• She shaved her head and became a nun.她削发为尼。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

8 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

9 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

10 librettist   

n.(歌剧、音乐剧等的)歌词作者

参考例句：

• The musician and the librettist were collaborators. 音乐家与剧作者通力合作。
• Italian-born American composer and librettist whose operas include The Medium(1946) and The Consul(1950). 梅诺蒂，吉安卡洛生于1911意大利裔美国作曲家和歌剧词作者，其歌剧作品包括女巫（1946年）及领事（1950年）

11 ballad   

n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲

参考例句：

• This poem has the distinctive flavour of a ballad.这首诗有民歌风味。
• This is a romantic ballad that is pure corn.这是一首极为伤感的浪漫小曲。

12 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。