The Gospel According to the Other Mary

The Gospel According to the Other Mary
Opera-oratorio by John Adams
LibrettistPeter Sellars
Premiere
May 2012 (2012-05)
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles

The Gospel According to the Other Mary is an opera-oratorio by the American composer John Adams. The world premiere took place on May 31, 2012, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic[1] who also premiered the staged version on March 7, 2013, at the same venue.[2]

The work focuses on the final few weeks of the life of Jesus, including his passion, from the point of view of "the other Mary", Mary of Bethany (sometimes mis-identified as Mary Magdalene), her sister Martha, and her brother, Lazarus.[1][2] The libretto by Peter Sellars draws its texts from the Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible and from Rosario Castellanos, Rubén Darío, Dorothy Day, Louise Erdrich, Hildegard von Bingen, June Jordan, and Primo Levi.

The Gospel According to the Other Mary was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music.[3]

Roles

Roles, voice types, and premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 31 May 2012
Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel
Mary mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor
Martha, her sister contralto Tamara Mumford
Lazarus, their brother tenor Russell Thomas
  3 countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, Nathan Medley
SATB choir (at least 40 voices)

Instrumentation

The piece is scored for the following orchestra:[2][4]

Structure

The opera-oratorio is in two acts, broken down into the following scenes:[4]

Critical reception

The Gospel According to the Other Mary has received widespread praise, having been variously described as "powerfully prescient",[6] "uncommonly provocative",[7] and "immensely powerful".[8] Andrew Clements of The Guardian called the score "easily the finest thing [Adams] has composed in more than two decades".[8] Adam's orchestration in particular (notably the use of the cimbalom) has also been hailed as inventive and effective.[1][9][10] The Passover Aria is often celebrated by critics, and has been described by Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times as "stunning exquisiteness".[1][6][10]

However, such praise has not been universal. Comparing the piece to Adams' opera El Niño, Zachary Woolfe of The New York Times called The Gospel According to the Other Mary "more crowded and less coherent",[1] and the piece has been described as having dramaturgical flaws by multiple critics.[1][8][9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Woolfe, Zachary (June 1, 2012). "Composer's New Passion Unspooled". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c The Gospel According to the Other Mary, work details at Boosey & Hawkes
  3. ^ "The 2014 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Music". The Pulitzer Prizes. April 10, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Boosey & Hawkes Composers, Classical Music and Jazz Repertoire". www.boosey.com. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  5. ^ Act 1, scene 2, "En un día de amor yo bajé hasta la tierra" (excerpt), Boosey & Hawkes
  6. ^ a b Swed, Mark (April 8, 2020). "The deepest listening for Passover and Easter: Four music pieces of profound meaning". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  7. ^ Rowe, Georgia (February 17, 2017). "'Gospel According to the Other Mary' contemporizes the biblical tale". The Mercury News. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  8. ^ a b c Clements, Andrew (November 23, 2014). "The Gospel According to the Other Mary review – the Bible to Skid Row". The Guardian. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Maddocks, Fiona (November 30, 2014). "The Gospel According to the Other Mary review – a mesmerising aural world". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  10. ^ a b Woolfe, Zachary (April 2, 2017). "Review: John Adams's 'Gospel' Displays an Orchestral Wizard's Tuneful Ear". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 5, 2020.