In many ways, the idea of using the highly stylized European operatic form to tell the story of slavery seems counterintuitive. Given the apparent Africanisms within the Black music, oral, and religious traditions, how is it possible to tell our stories within the stuffy constraints of opera? Truly, tragedy is at the core of most operas, but the story of slavery—the story of our ancestors seems almost impossible to encapsulate within this musical tradition. Yet, leave it to the literary genius of Morrison to push the boundaries of African-American consciousness to make even opera yield to the complexities of the Black slave experience. Her libretto, accompanied by Richard Danielpour’s musical score is an opus to one woman’s unyielding struggle against enslavement, and one man’s obsession with imagined superiority, entitlement, and the power to wield violence against the enslaved Africans he “owned.” Margaret’s story then, is deeply entwined with that of her captor’s—Edward Gaines— the man who “owned” Margaret and her children.
the cast in rehearsal, at the Detroit Opera House:
I think we're walking the long road from the necessarily imagined superiority of the ownership class (how else could the masters abide themselves?) in the antebellum South, and modern true ownership of the self as well as the larger community, with 'what am I responsible for?' substituted for 'what do I own?', and spread in vast concentric circles, beginning from within.
The ultimate sustainability.
