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A man of modest means but boundless ambition drowns his pregnant girlfriend in order to pursue a dalliance with a woman of a higher social station. The subsequent murder trial captivates a media-addicted nation. The plotline of composer Tobias Picker's new opera might sound like it was ripped from recent headlines, but An American Tragedy is actually based on Theodore Dreiser's 1925 book of the same name, a novelization of a startling New York murder case some years earlier. Directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by James Conlon, Picker's fourth opera arrives at the Metropolitan Opera in December, with a stellar array of singers that includes Nathan Gunn in the central role of Clyde Griffiths; Patricia Racette as his girlfriend; Roberta Alden; and Susan Graham as society girl Sondra Finchley. Long hailed as one of the country's greatest novels, An American Tragedy also earned cinematic acclaim as A Place in the Sun, the 1951 adaptation starring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. "It's a great story, and as an American and a New Yorker, I felt it was especially appropriate for the Met," Picker, 51, says. "It's the drama of a love triangle, and an oppressive mother who has tried to inculcate her son with her religious beliefs. Dramatically, it's very theatrical and juicy. And politically, it attracted me as a statement about where America can go wrong within itself." For the libretto, Picker turned to Gene Scheer, the celebrated songwriter and lyricist with whom he created his third opera, Thérèse Raquin, in 2001. Beneath the novel's lurid surface, Picker found a pointed message regading this country's preoccupation with status and wealth. "There's an aria in the first act in which Clyde sees his rich cousin drive off in a new motorcar — only the superrich had motorcars in 1908 — and he's envisioning what it would be like being him and driving around in this car," Picker says. "He's always envisioning more. And Roberta, the poor girl he gets pregnant, spots him the first day he arrives in her department, and she wants more too. It's an upwardly mobile society, and different personalities handle that in different ways." While Picker had designs on Dreiser's novel in the late '90s — well before Scott Peterson earned infamy — the composer took his time bringing it to the stage. The Metropolitan Opera originally wanted the piece for 2001. Picker — who had only recently seen his first opera, Emmeline, staged at Santa Fe in 1996 — already had commissions for two subsequent operas, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Thérèse Raquin. Arguing that he would prefer to come to the Met with more theatrical experience under his belt, the composer successfully negotiated a later premiere. That kind of foresight and preparation is characteristic of Picker's career path. As a student at the Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard and Princeton in the '70s, he worked with the holy trinity of American modernism: Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter and Charles Wuorinen. His initial scores reflected that lineage, although he rightly asserts that lyricism and expressiveness were always part of his palette. From early chamber pieces, Picker methodically worked his way through increasingly larger forms, including several concertos, three symphonies, and a dramatic piece for narrator and orchestra, The Encantadas. By the time he was ready to tackle opera, the composer had developed a richly lyrical style, a firm grasp of musical architecture and a keen ear for arresting melody. "Tobias has a real feel for the theater and the voice," conductor Conlon says. "That makes me very happy, because these days, composers with a feel for the voice are few and far between. You can write interesting operas from the orchestra up, but I don't know that they end up succeeding. You've got to be able to do both, and Tobias certainly can." Although the richly dramatic, lushly scored Emmeline, which came to New York City Opera in 1998, was both a critical and a popular success, its gestation and birth proved a learning process for the composer. In each subsequent opera, Picker took a more active role in elements of the work beyond the score. That trend reached its full expression in An American Tragedy. "I gave set designer Adrianne Lobel a synthesized realization of the opera, and all of her original concepts were an outgrowth of the score," Picker says. "I've worked more closely with the singers in An American Tragedy than any time before. I've taken into account their individual idiosyncrasies and needs, so every part is expressly written for that person. I've earned the right to have more to say about the production than I did the first time around, when I was pretty much told to shut up and sit in the corner. Now people are more willing to listen to me, and I have more to say." An American Tragedy opens at the Metropolitan Opera on December 2.
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Tragedy Ensues