Work Information
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Programme Note
Amistad is an opera that was ten years in the making. I encountered this neglected episode in American history first in a poem by Robert Hayden entitled "Middle Passage." The poem detailed numerous voyages of slave ships to these shores through captains' logs and sailors' tales. This narrative culminates with the Amistad rebellion and the story of the trial. In the poem Hayden captures the story of slavery and the hope contained within his lines, "Voyage through death to life upon these shores," which speaks to the essential irony of our people and culture born of the horror of slavery.
Thulani Davis and I first discussed the idea of creating an opera on the Amistad Rebellion in 1986, after the premiere of our opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. We were drawn to the drama of the story, a successful uprising of captives on a slave ship, and the implications of the Amistad incident in an understanding of ourselves and the American experience. Through the Amistad, we could revisit the story of the Middle Passage, the contradictions implicit in the ethos of America, and also explore the emergence of the African-American as a cultural entity.
Cast List:
THE TRICKSTER GOD, an African deity: Tenor
CINQUE, African captives' leader: Bass-Baritone
REP. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, lawyer for captives: Bass
THE GODDESS OF THE WATERS, an African deity: Mezzo-Soprano
THE NAVIGATOR: Tenor
ABOLITIONIST TAPPAN: Tenor
THE PHRENOLOGIST: Character Tenor
ANTONIO, slave cabin boy: Baritone
KALEH, captive, male: Tenor
MARGRU, captive, female: Soprano
GRABEAU, captive, male: Baritone
BUMAH, captive, male: Bass
KINNAH, captive, male: Tenor
BAHIA, captive, female: Lyric Mezzo-Soprano
AMERICAN LIEUTENANT, a merchant seaman: Baritone
THE JUDGE: Baritone
DON PEDRO, a Spanish slave trader: Bass
THE SPANIARD, a government official: Bass
PRESIDENT VAN BUREN: Tenor
SOUTHERN SENATOR: Baritone
ABOLITIONIST LAWYER: Baritone
SHIP COOK: Bass
SIX REPORTERS: Basses, Baritones and Tenors
Reviews
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As early as ten years ago, composer Anthony Davis started, together with his cousin librettist Thulani Davis, to work on this opera project. Amistad is not only a good story, but it is also a story about hope in times of despair, salvation at the last moment and happy endings despite gruesome times. Because it also involves entreaty and confession, chants of rebellion and liberation, the story is one that yearns to be set to music.
Davis's musical elements bank on graphical and direct interpretation [as] the overture accordingly symbolizes the sea of sounds [beginning] the fight for a just cause. In addition to all the heroic and dramatic events, the Amistad [setting] is also full of satirical wit and fantasies. But Davis's music does not linger on black and white portrayals. Should you seek obviously Afro-American tunes, you can find them if you listen carefully, because Davis blends complicated rhythms into the picturesque flow of the musical happenings. Harmony is sometimes ambiguous, and the all too obvious ties to jazz and traditional music are rarely heard.
Nevertheless, [there are moments] of jazz singing in a scat style. The score floats between blues and beating gamelan echoes, avoiding the shallowness of minimalism and employing moderate use of bright tones. The text is easily understandable and Davis introduces catchy melodies between verses of the lyrics. While striving to portray its theme artistically, this opera offers a version that is both serious and entertaining.
Rainer Wagner, Opern Welt
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