Florentine Opera Presents Carlisle Floyd's 'Susannah'

Carlisle Floyd's compelling American&nbsp;opera <em>Susannah</em>, to be performed by the Florentine Opera&nbsp;March 16 &amp; 18 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, may come as a welcome surprise to those unfamiliar with the work. Composed in 1955 during the political persecutions of the McCarthy&nbsp;era, <em>Susannah</em> could hardly seem more prescient had it been written during the dysfunctional political paranoia and religious hypocrisy besetting our own times. But <em>Susannah</em>, unabashedly melodious and rich in soaring melodies heightened by dramatic phrasing, also seems to hearken back to a less self-conscious, more romantic&nbsp;era of operatic composition. Unlike certain trends in&nbsp;current&nbsp;musical theater, <em>Susannah </em>has a strong, integrated musical profile. It's&nbsp;all of a piece and plays well.<br /><br />However, the libretto alone invites instant controversy. Set amid the strict fundamentalists of eastern Tennessee,&nbsp;young, innocent Susannah faces unwarranted hostility at the hands of the wives of&nbsp;her congregation, who are jealous of her youthful beauty. Seen bathing nude in a stream near her home, she is shunned for her wickedness at a church dinner and must make a public confession to be absolved. The young, inexperienced Rev. Blitch visits Susannah's home and says he wants to pray for her soul. Instead, he rapes her,&nbsp;later asking for her forgiveness. His remorse is genuine.<br /><br />Floyd's gentle scoring underlines a genuine love for Susannah, but tragedy follows. The developing density of the psychologically complex score&nbsp;has been described as “dramatic <em>verismo</em> with poetic connotations.” Appalachian folk tunes are discretely employed,&nbsp;Susannah's melancholy aria “The Trees on the Mountain” is highly praised, and the intense second-act prayer meeting carries its own momentum, heightening the impending anticipation of what must be a&nbsp;foregone conclusionall&nbsp;magnificently realized with mounting&nbsp;concentration and dramatic drive not unlike the best of Puccini at his most urgent.<br /><br />Yet Floyd is his own master, with a contemporary sophistication underlining the opera's dramatic highpoint, transforming the tragedy into a “catastrophe which resonates against the cynicism of late-20th-century society,” to paraphrase the composer's own words.