It has been in the concert hall that American music has made its mark. And the number three has been a charm. Just think of the mighty Third Symphonies of Copland, Schuman, Bernstein, and Harris! In comparison, our track record in the opera house has been depressing. While there appear to have been no limitations when it comes to instrumental music, opera has tended to remain in the mind of the nation an exotic, foreign entertainment.
Even the best and most enduring American operas had problematic starts. Gershwin had to premier Porgy and Bess on Broadway, and it waited fifty years to reach the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All became a cult work, best seen, when it was seen at all, in small theaters, and Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha went unsung until the 1970s.
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