Highway 1, USA (Still)

Highway 1, USA is an American opera in one act with music by William Grant Still and libretto by Verna Arvey.[1][2] Originally composed during the 1940s with the title A Southern Interlude, the opera received its premiere under its revised and definitive title in 1963.

William Grant Still in 1949, photographed by Carl Van Vechten

History

Working from an original libretto by Arvey, Still began to compose the music for the opera in 1941, under the title A Southern Interlude. He entered the work into several composition competitions in 1946 and 1959, without success, and also in 1954 to the New York City-based company Punch Opera, again without success. In 1961, during a visit to the University of Miami for a concert of the university's 'Festival of American Music' that featured one of his works, Still and university faculty member and conductor Fabien Sevitzky discussed the possibility of a future festival production of one of Still's operas. Still subsequently revised the opera into its final form, in one act divided into two scenes, with the new title Highway 1, USA.[3]

The opera received its premiere at Coral Gables High School on 11 May 1963, Still's 68th birthday, under the auspices of that year's 'Festival of American Music' of the University of Miami, to a favourable reception.[4][5] Subsequent performances have included a 1972 staging by Opera/South in Jackson, Mississippi, the first professional production of the opera,[6] and a 1977 production by Opera Ebony at the Beacon Theater, the first New York City performance of the work.[7] In May and June of 2021, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presented the opera during its festival season.[8][9]

Synopsis

The setting is a gasoline filling station along a major American thoroughfare. Bob, the proprietor, and his wife Mary prepare for the return of Bob's brother Nate from college after his graduation. Bob and Mary have made financial sacrifices to allow Nate to attend university, a deathbed request of Bob's and Nate's mother. Mary says that now she and Bob can realise their own personal dreams. However, Bob tells Mary that they must continue to support Nate until he makes his own way in the world. This causes Mary consternation, as she is more aware of Nate's behaviour at university than Bob. Friends and neighbours of Bob and Mary arrive for a friendly send-off.

In the second scene, Nate has resided with Bob and Mary for many months, and has not assisted the couple in their work at the service station at all. Nate boasts of his high-mindedness in intellectual matters to Mary, in comparison to what he perceives as the prosaic dreams of his brother. Nate attempts to seduce Mary away from Bob, and to leave the filling station. Mary rejects Nate and expresses her contempt for him. Angry at this rebuff, Nate stabs Mary. Bob arrives, and Nate pleads for protection. The friends and neighbours arrive, as well as the police, and are shocked at the situation. Thinking that Mary is dead, Bob offers himself to the police, but no one believes Bob to be the perpetrator. Mary revives, and accuses Nate of the attack. The crowd immediately realises the truth of Mary's words and round upon Nate. The police lead Nate away. Bob realises his blindness about Nate, and he and Mary look ahead to their future.

Roles
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 11 May 1963 (Miami, Florida)
Conductor: Fabien Sevitzky
Bob, a service station proprietor baritone Patrick Matthews
Mary, Bob's wife soprano Cheryl Claiborne
Nate, Bob's brother tenor Ben Laney
Aunt Lou mezzo-soprano or soprano
friends and neighbours of Bob and Mary

See also

References
  1. Soll, Beverly (2005). I Dream a World: The Operas of William Grant Still. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 978-1-55728-789-2.
  2. Walls, Seth Colter (May 28, 2021). "A Black Composer's Intense Opera Gets a Rare Staging". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
  3. Smith, Catherine Parson (2000). William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 85.
  4. "New opera given Miami premiere; 'Highway No. 1, U.S.A.' by William G. Still Is Heard". The New York Times. May 11, 1963. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  5. Crandell, Ben (October 8, 2017). "A William Grant Still revival in Palm Beach". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  6. Bailey, Ben E. (Spring 1985). "Opera/South: A Brief History". The Black Perspective in Music. 13 (1): 48–78. JSTOR 1214793.
  7. Peter G. Davis (December 5, 1977). "Opera Ebony In Debut Work". The New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  8. Meyer, Eric (May 30, 2021). "'Highway 1, U.S.A.' is momentous tribute by OTSL to long-neglected composer". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  9. Chuck Lavazzi (June 2, 2021). "Opera Review: Opera Theatre presents an overlooked gem by a black American composer". KDHX. Retrieved July 16, 2021.

Further reading
  • Still, Judith Anne (1990). William Grant Still: A Voice High-Sounding (1 ed.). Flagstaff, Arizona: The Master-Player Library. ISBN 1-877873-15-2.
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