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