Lily
Lily
An American Opera
Synopsis
Act One
Scene One:
Summertime 191*. A crowd has gathered at the palatial home of Gus and Judy Trenor; they wait to see the tableaux vivants in which their friends will appear. But no tableau is more eagerly anticipated than Lily Bart’s. Lily flirts with Seldon, who once had an affair with their hostess, Judy. Seldon swears the fling is over, but Lily holds secret letters that are evidence of the affair. Lily, who has no income, forces herself to be kind to Gus Trenor, her antagonistic host, because Gus manages what little money she has and plays the stock market on her behalf.
Scene Two:
The next morning, Lily is lounging beneath a tree in the morning sunlight rather than trekking off to church with her hosts. Seldon comes upon her, and believing her to be asleep, ponders his complex feelings for the woman who is part flesh, part work of art. When Lily wakes, they engage in a flirtation that is both flippant and serious. They nearly make their longed-for connection when a car passes and Lily fears that she will be caught. The spell breaks.
Scene Three:
Evening, winter. Lily is called urgently to the Trenor house, where she finds Gus waiting for her. He is drunk and angry. He confesses that all the money that he made for her playing the stocks was fraudulent. He made no money for her; he simply gave her his money. Now, he proposes a bargain: He wants to divorce his wife. It will be easier for him if he has proof of her infidelity, and he knows that Lily holds letters between Seldon and Judy. She must give him the letters or he will tell everyone that she took money from him, which will ruin her chance of making a good marriage. When she refuses to turn over the letters, he indicates he will settle for a third option: She must sleep with him – to make up for his suffering marriage bed. Distraught, Lily flees into the street. She meets Seldon coming from a party. She fibs to explain why she was at the Trenor house; but Seldon catches her in the lie and presumes that she is having an affair with Gus.
Act Two
Scene One:
Springtime. Lily is working in a hat shop. Little by little, she has been chipping away at her debt to Gus Trenor. Gus comes to visit her with a new proposition: he wants to marry her. With his fortune and her capacity to charm, they will be the toast of New York. But Lily must ruin Seldon to facilitate the divorce. It isn’t until Gus points out that Seldon has offered no help to Lily whatsoever that Lily – hurt by Seldon’s indifference – agrees to his plan.
Scene Two:
Autumn at the Trenor house. Lily plans to announce her engagement to the newly divorced Gus Trenor at a grand party. To pacify herself and to drown her own guilt over dragging Seldon’s name through the mud, Lily self-medicates with laudanum. She does her best to charm, and little by little, she begins to win back her old friends. Seldon barges into the festivities, calling her out for inauthenticity. Lily learns that he had been overseas and knew nothing of her troubles. In the turmoil that follows this dramatic interruption in the festivities, Seldon is escorted out of the house by Gus’s friends. Seldon staggers into the street and the sound of a collision is heard. Lily is told that Seldon is dead. She collapses as the curtain drops.
Garth Baxter
Composer
Lisa VanAuken
Librettist
Runtime: ~2 hours and 15 minutes
Principal Roles
Lily Bart, Soprano
Seldon, Tenor
Gus Trenor, Baritone
Judy Trenor, Mezzo-soprano
Milliner, Alto
Orchestration
Flutes I and II, Oboe, Bb Clarinets I and II, Bass Clarinet, Bassoons I and II, Horns in F I and II, Bb Trumpets I and II, Trombones I and II, Tuba, Timpani, Glockenspiel, Percussion-Toms, triangle, cymbals, Harp, Piano, Violins I and II, Viola, Cello, Bass violin
Watch the Premiere Performance
Cast & Crew
Katie Procell as Lily
Han Jeong Wook as Seldon
Jeffrey Gates as Gus
Allison Deady as Judy
Marcelle McGuirck as the Milliner
The Lily Symphonic Ensemble conducted by Juliano Aniceto
Stephen Strosnider, Director
Video production by Fraimework Productions
Filmed at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD
For more information about the November 18, 2022 video premiere, including cast biographies, visit lilyopera.wixsite.com
Score Excerpts
Garth Baxter
Composer Garth Baxter is noted for his modern traditionalist style of writing. This is a style that combines the traditions of form and clear melodic writing with the use of contemporary approaches to harmonies and other elements. He is recognized as one of the preeminent composers of art songs and has been described as an unabashed lyrical, tonal composer.
Baxter was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1946, and moved to California when he was nine years old. He earned music degrees from Pepperdine University and California State University at Northridge. He studied composition with Robert Hall Lewis, Joseph Wagner, and William Thornton. He studied guitar with Ronald C. Purcell and David Underwood. In addition to writing music, Baxter currently teaches and mentors emerging composers.
Baxter’s compositions for chorus, orchestra, symphonic band, piano, organ, flute, voice, and guitar, as well as other instrumental combinations, have been performed throughout the world. His music has been featured on radio and on-line programs worldwide. He has received numerous awards, commissions, and honors. His music has been the topics of Doctoral and Master’s Theses.
His recording, ASK THE MOON, works for voice and piano by Garth Baxter, released January 2018 by PARMA Recordings (Navona), has been praised worldwide. The recording Katherine Keem Sings Songs and Arias by Garth Baxter, from Centaur Records, has been acclaimed for its significant contribution to the voice and guitar repertoire.
A recording of Baxter’s instrumental works, Resistance, was released from PARMA Recordings (Navona) February 2019 and has received wonderful reviews. His work Still Falls the Rain was featured on the album Voices of Earth and Air, Vol. 3 released by PARMA (Navona) in October, 2020.
A new recording of recent music from Mr. Baxter, Ask of me What the Birds Sang, from PARMA Recordings was released in December 2022. It features soprano Katie Procell, guitarist Jeremy Lyons, the Patagonia Winds, mezzo Christine Thomas, pianists Bonghee Lee, Valerie Hsu, Andrew Stewart, clarinetist Jennifer Tscheulin, flutist Karen Johnson, and the Kühn Choir of Prague conducted by Lenka Navrátilová.
Baxter’s works are published by Les Productions D’OZ, Doberman-YPPan, ALRY Publications, Columbia Music Company, Guitar Chamber Music Press, Mel Bay Publications, North Star Music and Theodore Presser.
Lisa VanAuken
Lisa VanAuken (Lisa Van Allen) holds an MFA in Fiction from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she held a fellowship as the assistant editor of The Literary Review; An International Journal of Contemporary Writing. Her short prose was nominated for inclusion in Best New American Writing and The Pushcart Prize. Lisa’s work has been published in many literary journals, including Fourth Genre, Many Mountains Moving, Fugue, Limestone, The MacGuffin, Sou’wester, The Literary Review (TLRweb), Flyway, Southeast Review, CICADA, Baltimore’s Citypaper, and many other venues. Her novels have been published pseudonymously, most prominently under the name Lisa Van Allen, by three major houses, translated into over nine languages, and appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists.
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