Aside from modernism and minimalism and some atonal work, musical history and the text books written about it are dominated by the late great dead Europeans. Even much of that was influenced by European composers. Today, Opera in particular is a genre who’s most famous works are all foreign. As well the prominent domestic performances are also of mostly European heritage. Domestically though, opera has many reasons to stand on its own merits. NPR’s series ‘Talk Like An Opera Geek,’ explores different facets of the genre and takes on American Opera in it’s latest installment, ‘Pioneering an American Sound.’
The article starts its survey with a section entitled ‘The People’s Opera.’ A fitting title as the first work, is a solo piece sung by Beverly Sills has a very Joan Cleaver feel, it seems to be a slice of Americana. In fact, its described as being part of a trend known as rural operas. It is interesting to note though that at this time it the Joan Cleaver feel might be as a result of technology available to record it. The clips were contemporaries to the actual staging of the opera so they appear a lot more authentic than say, a clip of a staging of Pucchini’s La bohème. The 50’s TV shows that these are reminiscent of were also recorded using the same technology, which is most likely why they bare a resemblance.
As an English speaker, and only an English speaker, Listening to an aria in my native langue was a bit awkward at first because I was naturally expecting it to be a struggle. The voice to just be another tonal instrument, like the past as. My skill set for actively listening and following a libretto leaves much to be desired, yet once I warmed up to the idea of English, I was actually able to kind of just let go and listen Frederica von Stade’s aria “On the Stroke of Midnight” from Dominic Argento’s,The Aspern Papers. It was a very natural experience I could only say I’ve been waiting too long for.
I have long been a fan of Glass, Reich, and minimalism as a whole. Indeed they have left their mark on American Opera as Glass’s Einstein on the Beach, is a brilliant work. It meets the necessary requirements to be deemed an Opera, and I haven’t seen it in its entirety but I feel that its not much of an deviation from his normal work. Essentially I feel as if his opera was forced on his stylings rather than him setting out to make an impression on opera. What I did find amazing though was John Adam’s, Nixon In China. I feel like it is a humanization of minimalism. The repetitive structure as well as the minimal and revolving tone bank are key elements found also in Einstein on the Beach, yet in Adam’s work, a script is much more evident as well as is character and plot development.
What I took away from reading this article and exploring the works within is that the authors sentiment that ‘America could be more proud of its operas,’ couldn’t be more true. They are lost in a myriad of multimillion dollar Broadway plays, (which often pull on the same strings Operas do). I for one have a new appreciation for American Opera as a class of its own. I believe that if one pulled the string from Broadway that they would likely find themselves in a seat at a theater watching Nixon in China.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/05/09/152335654/talk-like-an-opera-geek-pioneering-an-american-sound