Carlisle Floyd at 100
by Joshua Borths
“I just told my manager, I’m getting more and more eager to go to Iowa,” said Carlisle Floyd in an interview with Iowa Public Radio in the summer of 2010. “I’ve
been to DMMO before, and what I most remember is driving down from Des Moines with all those fields of green corn. I look forward to seeing that again and
renewing my acquaintance with DMMO.”
Carlisle Floyd is often regarded as the “father” of American opera. With works such as Susannah and Of Mice and Men, Floyd helped demonstrate how American music and themes could inspire masterpieces, and the opera world
is celebrating the centennial of Floyd’s birth by producing, promoting, and exploring these fascinating works.
However, Floyd’s contributions to American opera weren’t just as a composer and librettist. He worked diligently to help build the operatic ecosystem that now exists across the country. Christopher James Ray, who leads the Carlisle Floyd Centennial and was Floyd’s assistant during the final years of his life, will make his DMMO debut as the conductor of this summer’s Of Mice and Men. Ray recalled of Floyd, “It’s amazing what’s happened in Carlisle’s lifetime. When he started out, there were no regional companies. Carlisle was always amazed to see the growth that happened during his life, in no small part because of him.”
Floyd advocated for opera and American artists by working with the National Endowment for the Arts, Opera America, and more, while helping to transform Houston Grand Opera through the creation of their famed Opera Studio. What’s more, Floyd mentored many great composers and had a long legacy as a brilliant educator at the University of Houston and Florida State University. Americans experience opera from coast to coast in part because of Floyd’s artistry, advocacy, and vision.
It is no coincidence, therefore, that Floyd’s work has had such a presence at DMMO over the years. Longtime DMMO staff member and artistic advisor Dr. Michael Patterson remembered DMMO’s founder, Robert Larsen, saying, “Robert loved Carlisle’s work. He respected him so much. He had a particular fondness for Of Mice and Men, and he considered it one of the great American operas.” Patterson continued, “Both Robert and Carlisle were from similar generations, and I think they spoke a similar language. There was a kinship between them.” Throughout their careers, both Floyd and Larsen used their world-class artistry to educate young artists, promote American art, and produce opera in the most unlikely of places.
Beyond the mainstage, DMMO had many other connections to Floyd. Stage director Linda Ade Brand remembered seeing Carlisle Floyd and former stage director Buck Ross “shoulder-to-shoulder together coming out of a workshop of the opera Bilby’s Doll at the Studio Theatre in the basement of the Blank Performing Arts Center. It must have been 1986 or so. Seeing this power-pair together, I thought, ‘Oh man, something really special is going on here.’” Brand went on to assist Floyd on productions of Susannah at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, just one of many DMMO staff members with connections to Floyd beyond the summer festival.
Another longtime Apprentice Artist Program Director, Dugg McDonough—and the Director of Susannah at DMMO in 2010—also had profound connections with Floyd, and he brought these experiences back to his summers in Iowa. “I was fortunate to know Floyd as both a colleague and friend.” McDonough was the first to direct Floyd’s Willie Stark after its premiere, which was originally directed by Broadway legend Hal Prince.
When reflecting on Floyd’s works, McDonough believes that “what makes these works special—what makes them stand out—is that they really are plays that sing. They are theatrically grounded.” He recalled, “One of my favorite stories Carlisle told me was about going into Hal Prince’s office while Stephen Sondheim was coming out. They both had great respect for one another, and Stephen said, ‘Carlisle, I’m about to write a piece with less spoken dialogue than I’ve ever written.’ Carlisle replied, ‘I’m about to write an opera with more dialogue than I’ve ever written.’ Of course, the two pieces they were talking about were Sweeney Todd and Willie Stark.”
Floyd’s theatrical instincts are on full display in Of Mice and Men and that is one of the reasons it is a masterpiece. “It is so accessible while still being musically and dramatically sophisticated,” said Ray. “I’m especially excited that this DMMO production is a ‘Cadillac’ production—Carlisle would love me using this analogy as he loved cars. This is the only place in the United States during the Centennial that you’ll hear the opera with the full orchestration and chorus as Carlisle intended. Beyond that, it’s staged by a director who knows Carlisle’s works, and we have an amazing cast.”
Sadly, works from the middle of the 20th century are often neglected today. However, with the Floyd Centennial and DMMO’s storied tradition promoting the operas of Floyd and his contemporaries, these pioneering works will continue to inspire audiences well into the future.