Carlisle Floyd

Synopsis

On today's date in 1926, the American opera composer Carlisle Floyd was born in Latta, South Carolina. Floyd's ancestors were among the first to settle in the Carolinas, and many of his dozen or so operas are based on colonial, southern, or rural themes. For three decades Floyd taught piano and composition at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, and it was there that his most famous opera, "Susannah," was initially staged in 1955.

"Susannah" was an American retelling of the Biblical tale of Susannah and the elders, set in rural America. It was a tremendous success, and was soon taken up by the New York City Opera and was chosen to represent American opera at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958. Since its première, "Susannah" has received nearly 300 productions and more than 800 performances in the United States and Europe. Opera America magazine included it among the top ten "most performed" American operas of all time.

When pressed once to articulate what it is about his music that strikes many listeners as quintessentially "American," Carlisle Floyd answers, "I'm probably the worst person to ask. I've never really set out consciously to write 'American' music. I don't know what that would be unless you mean the obvious Appalachian folk references in a good many of my pieces. I can tell you, however, that when I've seen my operas in Europe they have always struck me as more American than when I hear them here."

Music Played in Today's Program

Carlisle Floyd (b. 1926) Susannah Soloists and Lyon Opera Orchestra; Kent Nagano, cond. Virgin 45039

On This Day

Births

• 1864 - German composer and conductor Richard Strauss, in Munich;

• 1899 - American composer George Frederick McKay, in Harrington, Wash.;

• 1926 - American opera composer Carlisle Floyd, in Latta, S.C.;

Premieres

• 1913 - Pizetti: incidental music for "La Pisanella," in Paris;

• 1921 - Honegger: cantata "Le Roi David" (King David), in Mézières;

• 1925 - Honegger: opera "Judith" (1st version), at the Théatre du Jorat in Mézières im Waadt;

• 1960 - Britten: opera "A Midsummer Night's Dream," in Aldeburgh at the Jubilee Hall;

• 1960 - Stockhausen: "Kontakte" for electronic instruments, piano and percussion, in Cologne;

• 1970 - Hovhaness: "And God Created Great Whales" for taped song of humpback whales and orchestra, at a New York Philharmonic Promenade concert conducted by André Kostelanetz;

• 1987 - Michael Torke: ballet "Purple," at the New York State Theater, by the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Lukas Foss conducting.

Others

• 1931 - Nicholas Slonimsky conducts in Paris the second of two concerts (both financed by Charles Ives) devoted to new music; The June 11 program includes works for chamber orchestra by the Spanish-Cuban composer Pedro Sanjuan ("Sones de Castilla"), Mexican Carlos Chaves ("Energia"), Franco-American Carlos Salzedo ("Preamble et Jeux"). Cuban Alejandro Caturla ("Bembe"), American Wallingford Riegger ("Three Canons"), and Franco-American Edgard Varese ("Integrales"); See also June 6, 1931.