OPERA: The Ballad of Baby Doe
COMPOSER: Douglas Moore DATES: 1893 – 1969
STYLE PERIOD: Modern/20th Century
SOURCE OF TEXT: Based on the life of Elizabeth “Baby” Doe Tabor
LIBRETTIST: John Latouche DATES: 1914 – 1956
ROLES:
Elizabeth “Baby” Doe Soprano
Horace Tabor Baritone
Augusta Tabor Mezzo-Soprano
Horace’s Wife
Mama McCourt Soprano
Baby Doe’s Mother
Samantha Soprano
Silver Dollar Soprano
Horace & Baby’s Daughter
William Jennings Bryan Bass-Baritone
President Chester Arthur Tenor
Father Chapelle Tenor
SYNOPSIS:
Period: Late 1800s
Location: Various locations in the U.S., mostly Colorado
ACT I:
Scene 1:
RICH GUY (Horace) owns a lucrative mine and basically owns Leadville, CO. He brags about his new opera house and complains of being tired of WIFE (Augusta), who promptly nags him for not being proper enough. He blows her off, comparing the work of the prostitutes and bar girls to the work she and her committee did to help build the opera house. GIRL (Baby Doe) shows up, her identity unknown, and asks RICH GUY for directions to her hotel. He obliges her, then goes back to the opera with WIFE.
Scene 2:
WIFE goes home, and RICH GUY steps outside for a smoke. He overhears some women talking and realizes who GIRL was, and learns she has a husband in Central City. RICH GUY hears GIRL singing and applauds her, which surprises here because she didn’t know he was in the audience. He begins to sing to her, but WIFE’s comments from upstairs break up the party.
Scene 3:
Months later, WIFE finds GIRL’s gloves and a love letter in RICH GUY’s study. She initially thinks they’re for her, but realizes they’re GIRL’s, realizes the rumors are true. RICH GUY comes in, they fight, and he says he never meant to hurt WIFE.
Scene 4:
GIRL realizes the relationship with RICH GUY is a Bad Idea. She asks the hotel workers to find out when the next train for Denver leaves, but they instead rush to tell RICH GUY so he can stop her. WIFE shows up and tells GIRL to leave. GIRL agrees, but defends herself and RICH GUY, saying they haven’t done anything shameful. When WIFE leaves, GIRL changes her mind, RICH GUY shows up, and they sing of their love.
Scene 5:
A year later, RICH GUY has left WIFE and he and GIRL have shacked up. WIFE is living in Denver. Her friends tell her RICH GUY plans to divorce her, and she swears to ruin him.
Scene 6:
RICH GUY and GIRL just got married in Washington DC, and they are having the wedding party. MOM (Mama McCourt) sings of their wealth, but the society wives gossip about GIRL. However, when the couple arrives, everything is smiles and laughter. Talk turns to the gold standard vs. the silver standard, and GIRL sings about it. RICH GUY gives GIRL Queen Isabella’s diamond necklace. MOM lets slip to PRIEST (Father Chapelle) that both RICH GUY and GIRL have been divorced. Everyone is scandalized, but they get past it when THE PRESIDENT (Chester Arthur) arrives and toasts the couple.
ACT II:
Everything goes downhill. RICH GUY goes against the advice of WIFE and backs the silver standard instead of the gold standard; he also backs LOSER (William Jennings Bryan) in the presidential race, but LOSER loses and RICH GUY is abandoned by his party.
At the end, RICH GUY asks to see his old opera house, though he no longer owns it. On its stage, he has hallucinations of people from his past. The WIFE hallucination taunts him and pleads with him. The other hallucinations foretell that DAUGHTER (Silver Dollar) will disassociate herself from his name, and that his other daughter will become a prostitute. RICH GUY collapses. GIRL shows up and, after she convinces him she’s real, he tells her nothing will separate them and begs her to remember him. He dies in her arms, and she closes out the opera with an aria.
BIOGRAPHICAL/CONTEXTUAL MATERIAL:
Based on a true story, "The Ballad of Baby Doe" is Moore's most famous composition and is one of very few operas in English in the standard repertory. The title character is depicted as somewhat girlish, if a little forward, but the real Baby Doe was a hard working woman. She worked right there alongside both her first husband and Horace to help them mine. It is a particularly poignant story, knowing they both worked so hard, but lost it all, dying destitute and alone.
LINKS:
The Willow Song, Beverly Sills
What Do You Intend To Do, Augusta? (0:50)
The Silver Aria, Ruth Welting, NYCO 1976 (2:40)
