The iconic story of Cathy and Heathcliff whose bond in childhood grows into an unbreakable love, set against the raw landscape of the Yorkshire Moors. Their attempt to reform their interior nature, and to conform to society's expectations, ends in tragedy for both them and the people around them.
American composer Carlisle Floyd’s setting of the story has not been seen in NYC since its premiere in 1959. With a richly harmonic and lyric score, Floyd’s opera adaptation of Emily Brontë’s groundbreaking novel blends traditional opera with an American voice. This production by the little OPERA theatre of ny is being presented as part of a nationwide celebration of the composer's centennial.
Little OPERA & Carlisle Floyd
Wuthering Heights is little OPERA’s third production of the work of Carlisle Floyd. Previously, LOTNY presented the original double bill Slow Dusk & Markheim in 2014 and the NYC premiere of Prince of Players in 2017. The composer attended both productions, and for the latter he was directly involved. Slow Dusk & Markheim paired Floyd’s very first opera, Slow Dusk [1948], with another one act Markheim [1966]. It was hailed as “rewarding and ambitious” in Opera News, and “sublime and extraordinary” in the New York Classical Review. The online journal Let’s Talk Off-Bway said, “what a wonderful evening of theater. Two short American operas, narratives set to dramatic music, superbly performed. One leaves thrilled and elated.” Several seasons later, little OPERA’s production of Prince of Players attracted the attention of the New York Times which said the production was “stylish... and tells its story vividly and compactly, while fleshing out characters who win your sympathy” with “fine singers” and proclaimed “at 90, Carlisle Floyd scores a fresh opera hit.” The New York Classical Review called the evening, “delightful, impressive, and effective.” WQXR, Playbill Arts, Huffington Post, and Berkshire Fine Arts among others, all featured the production in their listings. The UK magazine Opera called Prince of Players an “intimate epic of an opera; the performers... gave acting performances that were on the same high level as their singing.”
About the composer
Carlisle Sessions Floyd (June 11, 1926 – September 30, 2021) was an American composer primarily known for his operas. These stage works, for which he wrote not only the music but also the librettos, typically engage with themes from the American South, particularly the Post-Civil War South, the Great Depression, and rural life. His best known opera, Susannah, is based on a story from the Biblical Apocrypha, transferred to contemporary rural Tennessee, and written for a Southern dialect. It was premiered at Florida State University in 1955, with Phyllis Curtin in the title role. When it was staged at the New York City Opera the following year, the reception was initially mixed; some considered it a masterpiece, while others degraded it as a “folk opera.” Subsequent performances led to an increase in Susannah's reputation and the opera quickly became among the most performed of American operas.