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Carlisle Sessions Floyd (June 11, 1926September 30, 2021) was an American composer primarily known for his . These stage works, for which he wrote not only the music but also the , typically engage with themes from the American South, particularly the Post-civil war South, the Great Depression and rural life. His best known opera, Susannah, is based on a story from the Biblical Apocrypha, transferred to contemporary rural Tennessee, and written for a Southern dialect. It was premiered at Florida State University in 1955, with Phyllis Curtin in the title role. When it was staged at the New York City Opera the following year, the reception was initially mixed; some considered it a masterpiece, while others degraded it as a 'folk opera'. Subsequent performances led to an increase in Susannah's reputation and the opera quickly became among the most performed of American operas.
In 1976, he became M. D. Anderson professor at the University of Houston. He co-founded the Houston Opera Studio for the training of young singers. Floyd is regarded as the "Father of American opera".
Though American involvement in World War II had begun in 1941, Floyd's asthma prevented his conscription. He attended Converse College of Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1944, studying piano with composer Ernst Bacon. In 1945 Bacon left Converse to become director of the music school at Syracuse University, New York, a considerably more multicultural institution. Floyd followed Bacon to Syracuse and received a Bachelor of Music in 1946. The following year, Floyd became part of the piano faculty at Florida State University in Tallahassee. He stayed there for thirty years, eventually becoming Professor of Composition. He received a master's degree at Syracuse in 1949.
Floyd's third opera was his greatest success: Susannah. It was premiered at Florida State at the Ruby Diamond Auditorium in February 1955, with Phyllis Curtin in the title role and Mack Harrell as the Reverend Olin Blitch. The following year, the opera was given at the New York City Opera, winning him international recognition. Erich Leinsdorf conducted, with Curtin and Norman Treigle as Blitch. The opera received the New York Music Critics' Circle Award. It was selected to be America's official operatic entry at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels, directed by Frank Corsaro, with Curtin, Treigle and Richard Cassilly.
Floyd's next opera was The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair, which was a comedy around Scottish settlers of the Carolinas. Patricia Neway and Treigle created the title roles with Rudel conducting. The opera Markheim (after Robert Louis Stevenson) was first shown at the New Orleans Opera Association in 1966, with Treigle (to whom it was dedicated) and Audrey Schuh heading the cast. Floyd himself served as stage director.
The opera Of Mice and Men (after John Steinbeck) was commissioned by the Ford Foundation. After a long gestation period, it was premiered at the Seattle Opera in 1970, directed by Corsaro. A monodrama on the royal subject of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Flower and Hawk, premiered in Jacksonville, Florida, with Curtin directed by Corsaro. The production was also presented at Carnegie Hall.
Bilby's Doll (after Esther Forbes) was commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera where it was premiered in 1976 with Christopher Keene conducting and David Pountney directing. Floyd composed Willie Stark (after Robert Penn Warren) also for Houston, where it was first heard in 1981 in a staging by Harold Prince. After a hiatus of almost twenty years, another Floyd opera premiered in Houston in 2000, Cold Sassy Tree (after Olive Ann Burns). Patrick Summers conducted, Bruce Beresford directed, and Patricia Racette led the cast. It was subsequently produced by several American opera houses.
In 1976, he became M. D. Anderson professor at the University of Houston. There, he co-founded the Houston Opera Studio, together with David Gockley, as an institution of the University of Houston and Houston Grand Opera, with students including Michael Ching and Craig Bohmler. "Career Guide: Latest Additions & Changes" . Central Opera Service Bulletin. Vol. 22, No. 4., Winter/Spring 1981. p. 34.Ching, Michael. "Carlisle Floyd". Opera and Beyond. September 28, 2011.
The Houston Grand Opera produced a new opera by Floyd on March 5, 2016, Prince of Players, a chamber opera about the 17th-century actor, Edward Kynaston, conducted by Summers. A live recording of the premiere was nominated for a Grammy Awards.
Floyd died on September 30, 2021, in Tallahassee, at the age of 95. He had no children, but was survived by four nieces, the daughters of Ermine. His publisher Boosey and Hawkes, announced his death and did not relay the cause.
Emerging composer and Susannah
While at FSU, Floyd gradually became interested in composition. His first opera was Slow Dusk to his own libretto, and was produced at Syracuse in 1949. His next opera, The Fugitives, was seen at Tallahassee in 1951 but was withdrawn.
Further operas
Later in 1958, Floyd's Wuthering Heights (after Emily Brontë) premiered at the Santa Fe Opera, with Curtin as the heroine. In 1960, at Syracuse, his solo cantata on biblical texts, Pilgrimage, was first heard with Treigle as soloist. The Passion of Jonathan Wade, commissioned by the Ford Foundation, was Floyd's most epic opera, set in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. It was premiered at the New York City Opera on October 11, 1962. Theodor Uppman, Curtin, Treigle and Harry Theyard performed in a large cast, conducted by Julius Rudel and directed by Allen Fletcher. Floyd revised it in 1989 for performances at four major opera houses in the U.S., beginning at Houston Grand Opera.
Retirement and later years
After retirement from the university in Houston in 1996, Floyd lived in Tallahassee again. He had composed a Piano Sonata in the 1950s (1957, two years after Susannah) for Rudolf Firkušný, who played it at a Carnegie Hall recital, but it languished until Daniell Revenaugh recorded it in 2009 at the age of 74. Revenaugh worked with the composer in learning the piece (Floyd himself had never learned it), and their rehearsal sessions and the live recording itself were filmed for posterity. The recording was made on the Alma-Tadema Steinway that graced the White House during the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Music
Legacy and reputation
Floyd is primarily known for his operas, which make up the bulk of his compositional output. Like Wagner and Menotti, Floyd wrote the to his operas. His best-known opera, Susannah, is regarded as his magnum opus. The National Public Radio's Tom Huizenga posits the work as suitable contender to be considered the archetypal "Great American Opera". Patricia Racette declared that "If it is not the greatest American opera, it's certainly among the great American operas". According to Opera News, Susannah is the most frequently performed American opera after Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. The Daily Telegraph, however, claimed it is the most "widely performed" American opera, purportedly outnumbering some works by Mozart, Verdi and Puccini. In addition to Gershwin and Menotti, Floyd stands with Adams, Samuel Barber, Bernstein, Philip Glass and Ned Rorem in the pantheon of preeminent 20th-century American opera composers.
Selected recordings
Discography
Videography
List of compositions
Floyd's compositions were published by Boosey and Hawkes.
+ List of compositions by Carlisle FloydInformation is from unless otherwise noted.
Works for stage
Slow Dusk 1949 Musical play
1 act– The Fugitives 1951
(unfinished)Unfinished stage work – Susannah 1955 Musical drama
2 actsSusanna and the Elders Wuthering Heights 1958
1959Musical drama
3 acts (& prologue)Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë The Passion of Jonathan Wade 1962
1991Opera
3 acts– The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair 1963 Comic opera
1 act– Markheim 1966 Opera
1 act"Markheim" by Robert Louis Stevenson Of Mice and Men 1970 Musical drama
3 actsOf Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Flower and Hawk 1972 Monodrama
1 act– Bilby's Doll 1976 Opera
3 actsA Mirror for Witches by Esther Forbes Willie Stark 1981 Opera
3 actsAll the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren Cold Sassy Tree 2000 Comic opera
3 actsCold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns Prince of Players 2016 Opera
2 actsFictional portrayal of Edward Kynaston's life
Other works
Pilgrimage 1956 Song cycle
Baritone and orchestraVarious biblical texts Piano Sonata 1957 Solo piano – The Mystery 1960 Song cycle
Soprano and orchestraText by Gabriela Mistral Introduction, Aria, and Dance 1967 Orchestral – In Celebration 1971 Orchestral – Citizen of Paradise 1983 Song cycle
Mezzo-soprano and pianoText by Emily Dickinson Flourishes 1987 Orchestral
Fanfare– A Time to Dance 1994 Orchestral
Baritone, chorus and orchestra– Soul of Heaven 1995 Song cycle
Voice and pianoText by various authors
Awards and honors
Notes
Citations
Sources
Further reading
External links
Categories: 1926 Births, 2021 Deaths, 20th-century American Classical Composers, American Opera Composers, American Opera Librettists, American Male Opera Composers, 21st-century American Classical Composers, Texas Classical Music, Members Of The American Academy Of Arts And Letters, United States National Medal Of Arts Recipients, Florida State University Faculty, University Of Houston Faculty, Syracuse University College Of Visual And Performing Arts Alumni, People From Latta, South Carolina, Classical Musicians From South Carolina, 20th-century American Male Musicians, 21st-century American Male Musicians, Converse University Alumni
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