The Ballad of Baby Doe

Commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation of the Library of Congress for the bicentennial of Columbia University, The Ballad of Baby Doe has become one of the most popular American operas of the modern day. The opera's characters are based on historical persons, and the work premiered in the opera house in Colorado that is central to the opera's plot.

Act I

In Leadville, Colorado, silver magnate and lieutenant governor Horace Tabor talks with some of his cronies outside the opera house he has built, at his wife Augusta's urging. She is angry that he refuses to give up his rough pioneer habits. As they are going back in after intermission, Horace meets "Baby" Doe, a young woman who has left her husband in Central City and come to Leadville. After the concert, they meet again, and Horace declares his love for her. Some time later, Augusta finds out about their affair; after warning Horace that he should stop speculating his fortune in silver mines, she determines to drive Baby out of town. Baby is about to leave because of the guilt she feels about loving Horace, but he convinces her to stay; Augusta learns that Horace is planning to divorce her and decides to cause a scandal. In Washington some months later, Horace, now a senator, marries Baby; their wedding is attended by the President, Chester A. Arthur, but Tabor's social standing is threatened by the scandal of Baby's divorce and his fortune is threatened by bimetallism.

Act II

At a party some years later, Augusta comes to warn Baby of the coming silver crash; she says that Tabor must sell the Matchless Mine, his most profitable mine, or he will be ruined. Baby, at first swayed by her argument, decides to trust Tabor and wait for silver to rise again. Tabor throws his lot in with William Jennings Bryan and is ruined in the elections of 1896. Baby's mother goes to Augusta to ask her to help the now-destitute Tabor, but she refuses; on the stage of his opera house, Tabor, sick and delirious, remembers his past life and thinks about his future. Baby enters, and as Tabor dies, Baby begins a long vigil for him at the Matchless Mine which ruined him.

Discography

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Douglas Moore: Letter Song from The Ballad of Baby Doe on Renee Fleming I Want Magic! American Opera Arias CD / Polygram 160567 (1998)	Douglas Moore: Willow Song from The Ballad of Baby Doe on Dawn Upshaw The World So Wide CD / Nonesuch 79458 (1998)
Douglas Moore The Ballad of Baby Doe (premiere recording) Sills/Cassel/Bible, NY City Opera/Buckley 2 CD / Polygram 465148 (1999)

Bibliography

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Douglas Moore: "Augusta! How can you turn away?" from The Ballad of Baby Doe in G. Schirmer American Opera Anthology: Mezzo-Soprano G. Schirmer 2004	Douglas Moore: "Good people of Leadville" from The Ballad of Baby Doe Douglas Moore: "Turn tail and run then" from The Ballad of Baby Doe Douglas Moore: "Warm as the autumn light" from The Ballad of Baby Doe in G. Schirmer American Opera Anthology: Baritone/Bass G. Schirmer 2004
Douglas Moore: "Always Through The Changing" from The Ballad of Baby Doe Douglas Moore: "Dearest Mama" from The Ballad of Baby Doe Douglas Moore: "Silver Aria" from The Ballad of Baby Doe Douglas Moore: Willow Song from The Ballad of Baby Doe in G. Schirmer American Opera Anthology: Soprano G. Schirmer 2004

Last update: January 1, 2009