Bilby's Doll
| Operas by Carlisle Floyd |
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Bilby's Doll is an opera in three acts composed by Carlisle Floyd. The libretto is based on the 1928 American novel A Mirror for Witches by Esther Forbes.
Bilby's Doll was Floyd's eighth opera. It had its premiere on February 27, 1976, at the Houston Grand Opera in a production by David Pountney with sets by Ming Cho Lee. The original cast, conducted by Christopher Keene, included Catherine Malfitano, Joy Davidson, Thomas Paul, and Jack Trussel. Houston Grand's General Director David Glockley commissioned the work in honor of the US Bicentennial.[1][2]
Synopsis
Bilby's Doll is the story of Doll Bilby, a French orphan whose spirituality and imagination collide with the hostility and practical ideals of the Puritan colony where she is raised by her foster parents.
Doll was brought to Massachusetts from France by Jared Bilby, her foster father. She declines a marriage proposal from Titus Thumb, a young ministerial student, saying that her natural parents were burned as witches in France and she worries that she might also become a witch. Instead, she meets and marries a man who pretends he is a demon, but who is later revealed to be the estranged and opportunistic son of the minister Zelley, Doll's friend and supporter.
Although she is at first devastated by the revelation of her lover as a mortal, Doll's belief that her husband is a demon is restored as she dies giving birth in a jail cell.[1]
Roles
| Role | Voice type |
|---|---|
| Silas (the tavern keeper) | baritone |
| Deacon Thumb (a prosperous farmer) | tenor |
| Titus (his son) | baritone |
| Jared Bilby (a former sea captain) | bass |
| Mr. Zelley (a clergyman) | bass-baritone |
| Goody Goochy (the village midwife-undertaker) | contralto |
| Town Crier | tenor |
| Hannah Bilby (Jared Bilby's wife) | mezzo-soprano |
| Doll Bilby (the Bilby's foster daughter) | soprano |
| Mrs. Thumb (wife of Deacon Thumb) | soprano |
| Sorrow (twin daughter of Deacon and Mrs Thumb) | Soprano |
| Labour (twin daughter of Deacon and Mrs Thumb) | Soprano |
| First Suitor (suitor of the widowed Hannah Bilby) | Tenor |
| Second Suitor (suitor of the widowed Hannah Bilby) | Baritone |
| Shad | Tenor |
| Mr. Kleaver (the village doctor) | Baritone |
| Captain Buzzey (the local constable) | Baritone |
| Mr. Increase Mather | Bass |
| Young Boy | Non-singing |
| Goody Greene | Non-singing |
| A Servant Boy | Non-singing |
| Judge Bride | Non-singing |
| Judge Lollimour | Non-singing |
| People of Cowan Corners and Salem, Deputies, Judges' retinue | Non-singing |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Carlisle Floyd: Bilby's Doll at Boosey & Hawkes
- ↑ "Houston's Doll" by William Bender, TIME (March 8, 1976)
External links
- Carlisle Floyd, Boosey & Hawkes