Little Women

Little Women (1998) is the first opera written by American composer Mark Adamo to his own libretto after Louisa May Alcott's 1868–69 tale of growing up in New England after the American Civil War, Little Women. The opera also includes text by John Bunyan (Beth's setting of The Pilgrim's Progress), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Dr. Bhaer sings "Kennst du das Land" from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship), and Alcott herself (an excerpt of one of her thrillers at the beginning of act 2, which is spoken and mostly omitted on the audio recording). Performance history Commissioned by the Opera Studio of Houston Grand Opera (HGO), then under the guidance of General Director David Gockley, Little Women was first performed on March 13, 1998, in a smaller scale production. The success of this first production prompted Gockley to pronounce it "destined to be an American classic" and scheduled the opera for a mainstage premiere of ten performances in March 2000 — making it the first of HGO's twenty-some commissions to be so revived. G. Schirmer published the opera in May 1998; National Public Radio broadcast the recording of the premiere the following September, and there have been more than 35 distinct productions, professional and academic, domestic and international, since the world premiere, ranging from established American stages (Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Pacific), to newer, more progressive companies (Fort Worth Opera, Opera Columbus) from American summer festivals (Glimmerglass Festival, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point), to international venues (Teatro de la Ciudad in Mexico City, World Expo in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan), and to conservatories (Jacobs School of Music, Anderson University (Indiana), Westminster Choir College, New England Conservatory of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Rice University, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of the Philippines College of Music, DePauw University.)