The Ballad of Baby Doe
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Free Music Notes for The Ballad of Baby Doe
Free Music Review: just a few extra footnotes about the opera
Hit: 5 Stars
I came to Columbia Law School and New York City in 1961 and heard Sils sing Baby Doe shortly thereafter and fell totally in love. Douglas Moore taught in the Columbia music department and once a semester he would play the piano and sing this opera for his classes. If we could learn the day, all of us music lovers would sneak in to hear him. When I saw him he was teary eyed as he sang the final aria (known to us as the "Leadville Liebestod") Glorious as the music is, it is matched by LaTouche's lyrics. When Sils sang this in llve performance, no person with a heart could avoid bawling. But one should not overlook the fabulous work of Frances Bible who was the only one to ever get into the soul of Mrs. Tabor. All opera lovers should buy THIS recording.Free Music Review: A few more thoughts . . .
Hit: 5 Stars
. . . and a clarification: Beverly Sills wasn't in the cast of the premiere in Colorado, but Walter Cassel and Frances Bible were. But Sills became Douglas Moore's favorite interpreter of the role of Baby Doe. Listening to this recording, it's easy to hear (and almost see, if you close your eyes and listen carefully) why. It's interesting that the divas (Renee Fleming and Eileen Di Tullio) who have recently recorded an aria from Ballad in recent albums have both chosen the letter aria "Dearest Mama," which is beautiful and interesting and, of course, integral to the plot, but not one of the two most famous arias from the opera, "Willow, where we met together" or "Always through the changing." Perhaps the shadow of Sills is still too intimidating, fifty years later, even for those two most accomplished artists. And a final reflection, notice despite the beauty of the music, and the seeming folksong-like lyrics, how tragic, how forshadowing of the future, the words of the first aria, the Willow Song, actually are. Free Music Review: The BEST Testament to Beverly Sills' Memory
Hit: 5 Stars
With this recording, Ms Sills set her mark forever on the world of opera. Period!
Of all the recordings that she made, this one, "The Ballad of Baby Doe", is the one that brings back the most endearing memories of this wonderfully talented lady.
It was her first Big Hit role in her new-found home (New York City Opera Company); it also, just happens to be a Totally American story, and creation, written by Douglas Moore.
Here we have Ms Sills in the freshness of her youth, in a brand new role, one that few have been able to fill after her sparkling interpretation. I think it fair to say that she will "always" be Baby Doe.
This recording is a true jem, as all previous reviewers, and many others will tell you. There is NO other work like this one. It is so fresh, lovely, and of course, tragic at the same time.
Everything about this recording is "small and intimate" as this story should be presented. And, luckily, the forces behind getting this recording made, did not have access to large forces and lots of technological wizardry-type equipment and facilities to do this recording in. This makes it all the more wonderful, as I said, small and intimate.
Beverly Sills, Frances Bible, and Walter Cassell had sung this opera together, and had "lived" in their parts long enough to become real breathing characters, characters that you really do care about, and get drawn in by. I defy anyone not to become emotional when Baby Doe sings the "Willow Song", or not to become teary with her final "Always Through The Changing". Frances Bible's stiffly starched Augusta Tabor is so three dimensional that she could walk right into the room with you! And, Walter Cassell's portrail of Horace Tabor will probably never be sung with the "totally lived in" feel that he brings to the role.
From all my thousands of opera recordings, this one gets picked FIRST if I want to listen to an American work. It also gets picked FIRST when I just want to marvel at Beverly Sills' truly most-gorgeous voice at the peak of her youthful freshness and "innocence" (before she had "grown up" in all those other roles).
Deutsche Grammophone has truly done us all a great favor by bringing forward all of the ABC and previous recordings that Ms Sills made prior to her move to EMI, and, truly, we are most thankful for the beautiful remastering and refurbushing of this wonderful Great American Work by Douglas Moore. Bravo, DG!, and of course, certainly, Bravo/Brava to Ms Sills, Ms Bible, Mr Cassell, and to Emerson Buckley for holding it all together. A truly landmark recording, and one that should be on your shelves. ~operabruin
Free Music Review: Still endearing fifty years on
Hit: 5 Stars
I wholeheartedly agree with the universal praise for this recording and have seen a performance at the Central City Opera House, a small Victorian gem in the middle of a touristy mining town north of Denver. In that setting, Baby Doe comes off at its best, since the music really is too simple for grand opera, abouanding in barely disguised folk songs and Top 40 harmonies. The cast carries the day, with total conviction from the two leads, Sills and Cassel. The role of Augusta Tabor is almost as large, and Frances Bible sings magnificently. All deserve high praise for their excellent, clear English diction, a rare thing and hard to achieve.
There are drawbacks, most of them minor in regard to the total impact. The major flaw is the dated sound, never good even for its day, that comes close to shattering and peaking any time the music grows louder than mezzo forte. Sills sings at her purest and freshest, but the microphone distortion cramps the voice considerably. A shame DG couldn't remaster the original tapes to remove so much glare. The second flaw is the routine but vigorous conducting of Emerson Buckley; a better conductor could have made the choral passages sound better than a college musical. These blemishes aside, Baby Doe is an American classic and has survived after many, many of its rivals have long ago faded away.
Free Music Review: Beverly Sills First Hit Role
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the opera that made Beverly Sills an opera star. She was 29 when she first performed it with the New York City Opera in 1958. Written in 1955 by Douglas Moore, the opera is based on the true story of the already-married Colorado silver magnate Horace Tabor and the young miner's wife, Baby (Mrs. Elizabeth) Doe, with whom he fell in love. Moore writes very much in the folk-opera idiom of American opera in the mid-50s, (Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah" comes to mind), and as a result the music is extremely accessible and full of lovely melodies, particularly in the music written for Baby Doe, such as the "Willow Song" and the "Letter Song" in the first act.
Sills herself always considered the role of Baby Doe the role she most inhabited, and she is in simply sumptuous voice on this recording. She is ably supported by the underrated American baritone Walter Cassel as Horace Tabor, and by the New York City Opera's leading mezzo-soprano, Frances Bible, in the surprisingly sympathetic role of Augusta, Horace's self-righteous wife. Julius Rudel conducts the New York City Opera orchestra with his usual steady hand, and the sound quality of this 1959 recording is excellent. Anyone who enjoys American opera should add this to their collection, and for fans of Beverly Sills, this is a "must have".