The Scarlet Letter (opera)

The Scarlet Letter is an opera by Walter Damrosch, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel of the same name. The libretto was by George Parsons Lathrop, son-in-law of the author. The work is Wagnerian in style, Damrosch being a great enthusiast and champion of the composer. Excerpts from the opera first premiered at Carnegie Hall on January 4 and 5, 1895; the first fully staged performance was February 10, 1896 in Boston.^[1] Among those present at the premiere were Charles Eliot Norton, Prince Serge Wolkonsky, Julia Ward Howe, and Nellie Melba.^[2]

Roles

Role	Voice type	Concert premiere cast, January 4–5, 1895 (the composer conducting)[3]	Full premiere cast, February 10, 1896 (the composer conducting)[2][4]
Hester Prynne, a young Puritan woman	soprano	Lillian Nordica	Johanna Gadski
Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, an eloquent young minister	tenor	William H. Rieger	Barron Berthold
Roger Chillingworth, Hester's husband	baritone	Giuseppe Campanari	Wilhelm Mertens
Rev. John Wilson, an elderly and revered minister	baritone	Ericsson F. Bushnell	Gerhard Stehmann
Governor Bellingham, governor of Boston	bass	Conrad Behrens	Conrad Behrens
Brackett, a jailer	bass	James F. Thomson	Julius von Putlitz
A Shipmaster	baritone	presumably Ericsson F. Bushnell	Gerhard Stehmann
Chorus: Puritans

Differences from the novel

• Pearl, Hester's daughter, is absent.
• Instead of living a solitary life after Dimmesdale dies at the end, Hester takes poison and dies with him.^[1]

References

1. Kirk, Elise Kuhl (2001). American opera. University of Illinois Press. pp. 133–136.
2. Whiting, Lilian (1902). Boston days: the city of beautiful ideals; Concord, and its famous authors; the golden age of genius; dawn of the twentieth century. Little, Brown & Company. pp. 403–410.
3. "Music in America". The Musical Times 36: 116. February 1, 1895.
4. Upton, George Putnam (1911). The standard operas: their plots, their music, and their composers. A. C. McClurg. p. 62.

External links

• Libretto