McTeague is an American opera composed by William Bolcom with a libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Robert Altman. The opera is based on a novel of the same name by Frank Norris (written in 1895, published in 1899) which also served as the source material for the Erich von Stroheim film Greed (1924). The piece was written on commission for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and first performed there on October 31, 1992. [1] [2]
Role | Voice type [3] | Premiere cast, 31 October 1992 [4] (Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies) |
---|---|---|
McTeague, an unlicensed dentist in San Francisco | tenor | Ben Heppner |
Maria Miranda Macapa, McTeague's mentally ill cleaning lady | mezzo-soprano | Emily Golden |
Marcus Schouler, a worker in a veterinary hospital and McTeague's friend | baritone | Timothy Nolen |
Trina Sieppe, Marcus Schouler's cousin, later McTeague's wife | soprano | Catherine Malfitano |
Sheriff | tenor | Patrick Denniston |
Papa Sieppe, Trina's father | bass-baritone | William F. Walker |
Mama Sieppe, Trina's mother | mezzo-soprano | Martha Jane Howe |
Owgooste, Trina's younger brother | treble | John Capone |
Lottery Agent/Health Inspector | bass | Wilbur Pauley |
Dentist | baritone | Victor Benedetti |
Waiters, guests, barbershop quartet, sheriff's posse |
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era.
Greed is a 1924 American silent psychological drama film written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague. It stars Gibson Gowland as Dr. John McTeague; ZaSu Pitts as Trina Sieppe, his wife; and Jean Hersholt as McTeague's friend and eventual enemy Marcus Schouler. The film tells the story of McTeague, a San Francisco dentist, who marries his best friend Schouler's girlfriend Trina.
Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague: A Story of San Francisco (1899), The Octopus: A Story of California (1901) and The Pit (1903).
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McTeague: A Story of San Francisco, otherwise known as simply McTeague, is a novel by Frank Norris, first published in 1899. It tells the story of a couple's courtship and marriage, and their subsequent descent into poverty and violence as the result of jealousy and greed. The book was the basis for the films McTeague (1916) and Erich von Stroheim's Greed (1924). It was also adapted as an opera by William Bolcom in 1992.
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