Music: Singing His Own Song

NOT long before Christmas, an important operatic event took place in New York. It was not at the Metropolitan Opera, or even City Opera. It was at the Manhattan School of Music-and the opera was Lee Hoiby’s A Month in the Country. Hoiby is an unsung American composer, and here he was: sung. Few nights at the opera will be so satisfying this season. And many more people will hear Hoiby on February 5, when another of his operas-Summer and Smoke-will be broadcast over National Public Radio. If we are not in a Hoiby hour, we may be in a Hoiby minute. Which is better than no time at all.

The composer will turn 80 next year, and he continues to work diligently, at his home in Long Eddy, N.Y., about 130 miles from Manhattan. If he is known for anything, he is known for his songs, of which he has written close to a hundred. They were championed by the soprano Leontyne Price, who sang them in recital after recital. When she retired in 1997, a great Hoiby voice was stilled. But there will be others, because these songs are too good to die.

About the Author

Jay Nordlinger

Jay Nordlinger was a senior editor of National Review and a book fellow at National Review Institute.

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NOT long before Christmas, an important operatic event took place in New York. It was not at the Metropolitan Opera, or even City Opera. It was at the Manhattan School of Music-and the opera was Lee Hoiby’s A Month in the Country. Hoiby is an unsung American composer, and here he was: sung. Few nights at the opera will be so satisfying this season. And many more people will hear Hoiby on February 5, when another of his operas-Summer and Smoke-will be broadcast over National Public Radio. If we are not in a Hoiby hour, we may be in a Hoiby minute. Which is better than no time at all.

The composer will turn 80 next year, and he continues to work diligently, at his home in Long Eddy, N.Y., about 130 miles from Manhattan. If he is known for anything, he is known for his songs, of which he has written close to a hundred. They were championed by the soprano Leontyne Price, who sang them in recital after recital. When she retired in 1997, a great Hoiby voice was stilled. But there will be others, because these songs are too good to die.