Lilith is the first

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

by American composer

Deborah Drattell Deborah Drattell (born 1956) is an American composer. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and started her career in music as a violinist. She has been lauded as "a remarkably original voice" by ''Opera News'' and is noted for her contributions to ...

, with a libretto by David Steven Cohen. It was premiered in 2001 at the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

and was directed by

Anne Bogart Anne Bogart (born September 25, 1951) is an American theatre and opera director. She is currently one of the artistic directors of SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a professor at Columbia Uni ...

Synopsis

The opera imagines

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

returning to Eden following the funeral of

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

. In the ruined paradise, she confronts

Lilith Lilith (; ), also spelled Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a feminine figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and a primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden ...

, who in

Jewish mythology Jewish mythology is the body of myths associated with Judaism. Elements of Jewish mythology have had a profound influence on Christian mythology and on Islamic mythology, as well as on Abrahamic culture in general. Christian mythology directly ...

and legends such as the medieval ''

Alphabet of Sirach The ''Alphabet of Sira'' () is an anonymous text of the Middle Ages inspired by the Book of Sirach and written in the Islamic world between 700 and 1000. It is a compilation of two lists of proverbs, 22 in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and 22 in M ...

'' mated with Adam before Eve was created. Eve reveals the identity of Lilith. However, the opera ends with the women coming to an understanding of their roles and fates.

History

Work on the opera began in 1986 when Drattell composed an 11-minute

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

for the

Denver Symphony The Denver Symphony Orchestra, established in 1934 and dissolved in 1989, was a professional American orchestra in Denver, Colorado Until 1978, when the Boettcher Concert Hall was built to house the symphony orchestra, it performed in a successi ...

when she was the organization’s artist-in-residence on the subject of

. It was premiered with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

in 1990.Anne Midgette, " 'Lilith' Is Made Flesh
, ''New York Times'' (November 9, 2001) The piece was expanded to a full-length opera, with a libretto by David Steven Cohen, due to Drattell's fascination with the theme. Its world première was initially planned for 1997 at New York’s Dicapo Opera, but production was cancelled due to a labor dispute. Drattell reworked the piece, presenting it as a workshop offering at the

Glimmerglass Opera The Glimmerglass Festival (formerly known as Glimmerglass Opera) is an American opera company. Founded in 1975 by Peter Macris, the Glimmerglass Festival presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake nort ...

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and the county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in ...

in 1998 as a concertized version. The full opera had its world première on November 11, 2001, at the

with

Lauren Flanigan Lauren Flanigan (born May 18, 1958) is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the 1980s. She enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership with the New York City Opera, appearing with the company almost every ye ...

as Eve.

Cast

The opera featured a 16-member, all-male chorus with a main cast of Seer, Lilith, Eve, and Eve's son and daughter, along with nine mimes, five male and four female.

Further links

UC San Diego full broadcast

References

{{Adam and Eve English-language operas Operas by Deborah Drattell Operas Cultural depictions of Adam and Eve 2001 operas Opera world premieres at New York City Opera Lilith