Susannah

Carlisle Floyd's best known opera, Susannah is a retelling of the Book of Susannah set in rural Tennessee. Written in response to the McCarthyism rampant at the time of its composition, it has become one of the few American operas to gain a foothold in the repretoire of both American and international companies.

Cast of Characters

Susannah Polk, s	Sam Polk, t
Olin Blitch, bar	Little Bat McLean
Elder McLean	Elder Gleaton
Elder Hayes	Elder Ott
Mrs. MacLean	Mrs. Gleaton
Mrs. Hayes	Mrs. Ott
Townspeople, Congregation

Synopsis

In New Hope Valley, Tennessee, the town is gathered for a dance the day before an itinerant preacher is supposed to arrive for a revival meeting. Susannah Polk, an attractive but innocent girl of nineteen, is getting a lot of attention from the men; one of the wives, Mrs. McLean, predicts that she will come to no good. ("She's a shameless girl, she is") The Reverend Olin Blitch arrives, a day early ("I am the reverend Olin Blitch") who eventually joins the dancing and dances with Susannah.

Later that night, Susannah is talking on her porch to her friend, Little Bat. She looks at the stars and thinks about what it would be like to leave her home town and travel beyond the mountains. ("Ain't it a pretty night?") Her brother, Sam, returns, and Susannah goes to bed. The next morning, she is bathing in a creek on her farm when the elders, looking for a creek to hold baptisms in, spot her; shocked, they go to tell the church and the preacher; later, when Susannah arrives at a church picnic, she is told she is not welcome. She learns from Little Bat what has happened, and that the town is trumping up evidence against her. Sam tries to explain away what's happening, ("It's about the way people is made, I reckon") but Susannah is unable to understand; she bursts into tears.

A few days later, Sam is preparing to leave to check his traps. Susannah, although she worries that he will come back drunk, lets him go; as he leaves, he advises her to go to the prayer meeting and face the townspeople. She does; as she sits alone on the last bench, Blitch leads a rousing meeting. ("Are you saved from sin") Finally, Blitch tries to convince her to make a public confession, but instead she runs from the church. At home, she sings a sad folk song ("The trees on the mountains are cold and bare") Blitch arrives and tries to convince her to repent; as he is leaving, however, he turns back to Susannah and lets her know he is interested in more than her soul. ("I'm a lonely man, Susannah") Her spirit beaten down by the treatment the town has given her, Susannah lets him lead her inside the house.

The next day, Blitch is alone in the church, praying; he now knows that the stories the townspeople were telling were lies. He tries to convince some of the elders and their wives that she is innocent, but they refuse to listen to him. Sam returns home, drunk, and learns what has happened; he goes to the creek where Blitch is baptizing and shoots him. The townspeople, unable to catch him, instead come to the house, where Susannah is waiting, and threaten to run her out of town; she only laughs at them, and the crowd reluctantly retreats. Susannah has survived the town's attack, but at a terrible cost to her own innocence.

Performance History

World premiere production Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida February 24, 1955 Susannah Polk: Phyllis Curtin Olin Blitch: Mack Harrell	New York premiere New York City Opera, New York, New York 1956 Susannah Polk: Phyllis Curtin Olin Blitch: Mack Harrell	New York premiere New York City Opera, New York, New York 1956 Susannah Polk: Phyllis Curtin Olin Blitch: Mack Harrell
European premiere Brussels Exhibition, Brussels, Belgium 1958	Houston Grand Opera, Houston, Texas 1956 Susannah Polk: Nancy Gustafson Olin Blitch: Samuel Ramey	Metropolitan Opera, New York, New York 1999 Susannah Polk: Renee Fleming Olin Blitch: Samuel Ramey