Scalia/Ginsburg: A (Gentle) Parody of Operatic Proportions | |
---|---|
Comic opera by Derrick Wang | |
Librettist | Derrick Wang |
Language | English |
Premiere |
Scalia/Ginsburg is a 2015 comic opera (revised in 2017) by composer-librettist Derrick Wang about the relationship between United States Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. [1] Called "a dream come true" by Justice Ginsburg, [2] the opera has been broadcast nationally on the radio in the United States, [3] produced in the United States and internationally, [4] [5] [6] and featured on Live with Carnegie Hall. [7]
The comic opera is about the relationship between Supreme Court of the United States Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. [8] The work balances the personalities of the two justices, Scalia's bombastic temperament versus Ginsburg's more demure nature, [9] reflects their public disagreements versus their private friendship, [10] and highlights their shared love of opera. [11] [12] The two justices often dined and attended the opera together, [13] and performed as supernumeraries in a 1994 Washington National Opera production of Ariadne auf Naxos . [14]
Wang, a composer and dramatist with music degrees from Harvard and Yale, was a law student when he started writing the opera. [1] [2] Inspired by Ginsburg and Scalia's differing opinions, close friendship, and mutual passion for opera, he decided to dramatize their relationship in operatic form. [15] In 2013, he presented excerpts before Ginsburg and Scalia at the Supreme Court. [12] [16]
When asked why Scalia's name appeared first in the title Scalia/Ginsburg, Ginsburg explained not only that it "sounds better" [17] but also that everything at the Court is done by seniority. [17] [18] [19] [20]
Wang described the opera's underlying concept as "operatic precedent," by which the words and music consistently cite legal and operatic sources in the manner of a court opinion. [21] [22] [23] For example, Scalia enters singing a rage aria, whose 18th-century traditions reflect Scalia's originalism, but Ginsburg's first song evolves from opera to jazz to gospel and pop to reflect her philosophy of the evolving Constitution. [24] [17] [25] [26] Wang's narrative mixes constitutional theory (originalism versus living constitutionalism) with important decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, [27] and includes references to McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), Morrison v. Olson (1988), and Bush v. Gore (2000). [28] The music mixes the compositional styles of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, and Bellini with "Verdi, Puccini, Christmas carols, 'The Star-Spangled Banner', and jazz." [22] [28]
The opera premiered at the Castleton Festival in Virginia on July 11, 2015, with Ginsburg attending; [29] [30] [31] the opera had two more performances there. [28] [32] A revised version [33] premiered at the Glimmerglass Festival in New York on August 4, 2017, with tenor William Burden in the role of Scalia and Mezzo-soprano Mary Beth Nelson as Ginsburg; [34] [35] Justice Ginsburg attended the final performance. [36] During the 2018 U.S. midterm election season, Opera North produced Scalia/Ginsburg in venues including Saint Anselm College. [37] [38] [39] Additional productions include those by Opera Delaware, [4] Opera Naples, [40] [41] [42] Opera Carolina, [43] [44] Opera Grand Rapids, [45] [46] Opera Memphis, [47] [48] Chautauqua Opera, [5] [49] [50] and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s Princeton Festival, [51] in venues ranging from the Clinton Presidential Center [52] to the Holocaust Museum Houston. [53]
The 2019 Opera Delaware production, with soprano Jennifer Zetlan in the role of Ginsburg, was broadcast on radio in the United States and streamable internationally on November 7, 2020, on the WFMT Radio Network. [3] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] In November 2020, Scalia/Ginsburg was featured on Live with Carnegie Hall , introduced by Metropolitan Opera star Isabel Leonard. [7] [60] [61] In 2021, Scalia/Ginsburg received its Australian premiere by Orchestra Victoria at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in collaboration with the Wheeler Centre, conducted by Australian Ballet Chief Conductor Nicolette Fraillon. [6] [62]
In 2015, the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts published an early version of the libretto containing over 200 footnotes to legal and musical sources. [63] Both justices wrote forewords to the libretto. [2] One chapter of Ginsburg's 2016 book My Own Words consists of excerpts from the libretto, [64] [65] narrated and performed by Wang in the audiobook. [66] [67] Ginsburg quoted the opera in her statement on Scalia's death [68] and cited it in her foreword to the book Scalia Speaks. [69] In 2022, Justice Ginsburg's copy of the Scalia/Ginsburg libretto with a one-page autograph manuscript of her handwritten notes was sold at auction for over USD$10,000. [70] [71]
On The Drew Barrymore Show , Drew Barrymore said of Scalia/Ginsburg, “When I read the words to this [opera], I had an incredible revelation…and it gave me so much hope.” [72]
In an interview with the U.S. Copyright Office, filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen credited Scalia/Ginsburg as an influence on their documentary RBG . [73]
Role | Voice type | World premiere cast [32] Castleton, July 11, 2015 Conductor: Salvatore Percacciolo Director: Maria Tucci | Revised version [36] Glimmerglass, August 4, 2017 Conductor: Jesse Leong Director: Brenna Corner | Radio broadcast [4] [54] Opera Delaware, November 7, 2020 Conductor: Sara Jobin Director: Fenlon Lamb |
---|---|---|---|---|
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg | soprano or mezzo-soprano | Ellen Wieser | Mary Beth Nelson | Jennifer Zetlan |
Justice Antonin Scalia | tenor | John Overholt | William Burden | Brian Cheney |
The Commentator | bass-baritone | Adam Cioffari | Brent Michael Smith | Ben Wager |
The play starts in the Supreme Court Building with Scalia confronted in the courtroom by the "Commentator". The Commentator has supernatural powers and seals the room, stating "No man shall enter." Once the room is sealed, Scalia is forced to defend his approach to the law and may only escape by passing three trials. Ginsburg, not a man, breaks into the courtroom to defend her friend Scalia and insists on taking the trials alongside him. The opera ends after the two undergo the trials together. [28]
Antonin Gregory Scalia was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectual anchor for the originalist and textualist position in the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative wing. For catalyzing an originalist and textualist movement in American law, he has been described as one of the most influential jurists of the twentieth century, and one of the most important justices in the history of the Supreme Court. Scalia was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018, and the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University was named in his honor.
Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton to replace retiring justice Byron White, and at the time was viewed as a moderate consensus-builder. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor. During her tenure, Ginsburg authored the majority opinions in cases such as United States v. Virginia (1996), Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000), and City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York (2005). Later in her tenure, Ginsburg received attention for passionate dissents that reflected liberal views of the law. She was dubbed "the Notorious R.B.G.", a moniker she later embraced.
Douglas Howard Ginsburg is an American lawyer, jurist, and academic who serves as a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was appointed to that court in October 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, and served as its chief judge from 2001 until 2008. In October 1987, Reagan announced his intention to nominate Ginsburg as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. But Ginsburg withdrew his name from consideration before being formally nominated, after news reports that he had smoked marijuana in the past created controversy.
Lying in repose is the tradition in which the body of a deceased person, often of high social stature, is made available for public viewing. Lying in repose differs from the more formal honor of lying in state, which is generally held at the principal government building of the deceased person's country and often accompanied by a guard of honour.
The Antonin Scalia Law School is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Washington, D.C., and 15 miles (24 km) east-northeast of George Mason University's main campus in Fairfax, Virginia.
United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996), is a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the long-standing male-only admission policy of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in a 7–1 decision. Justice Clarence Thomas, whose son was enrolled at the university at the time, recused himself.
The Supreme Court of the United States handed down seven per curiam opinions during its 2003 term, which began October 6, 2003 and concluded October 3, 2004.
The Supreme Court of the United States handed down twelve per curiam opinions during its 2002 term, which began October 7, 2002 and concluded October 5, 2003.
The Rehnquist Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States during which William Rehnquist served as Chief Justice. Rehnquist succeeded Warren Burger as Chief Justice after the latter's retirement, and Rehnquist held this position until his death in 2005, at which point John Roberts was nominated and confirmed as Rehnquist's replacement. The Rehnquist Court is generally considered to be more conservative than the preceding Burger Court, but not as conservative as the succeeding Roberts Court. According to Jeffrey Rosen, Rehnquist combined an amiable nature with great organizational skill, and he "led a Court that put the brakes on some of the excesses of the Earl Warren era while keeping pace with the sentiments of a majority of the country."
The Lincoln catafalque is a catafalque hastily constructed in 1865 to support the casket of Abraham Lincoln while the president's body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. The catafalque has since been used for all those who have lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda. When not in use, the catafalque is kept in the United States Capitol in a small vaulted chamber. It was previously kept in an area called Washington's Tomb, which was originally intended, but never used, as the burial place for George Washington, the first President of the United States.
The Supreme Court of the United States handed down six per curiam opinions during its 2007 term, which began October 1, 2007 and concluded September 30, 2008.
Virginia v. Moore, 553 U.S. 164 (2008), is a Supreme Court of the United States case that addresses use of evidence obtained by police in a search incident to an arrest if that arrest is later found to be unlawful.
Jennifer Zetlan is an American operatic soprano who has sung leading roles with many opera companies in the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera among others. She has performed in the world premieres of operas by composers Matthew Aucoin, Daron Hagen, Nico Muhly, and Ricky Ian Gordon.
The Supreme Court of the United States handed down six per curiam opinions during its 2012 term, which began October 1, 2012 and concluded October 6, 2013.
With the advice and consent of the United States Senate, the president of the United States appoints the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest court of the federal judiciary of the United States. Following his victory in the 2016 presidential election, Republican Donald Trump took office as president on January 20, 2017, and faced an immediate vacancy on the Supreme Court due to the February 2016 death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.
My Own Words is a 2016 book by American Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her biographers Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams. The book is a collection of Bader Ginsburg's speeches and writings dating back to the eighth grade. It was Bader Ginsburg's first book since becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 1993.
The Originalist is a 2015 play that depicts the relationship between United States Supreme Court associate justice Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) and a fictional Supreme Court law clerk whose views differ from his. Written by John Strand, the play was originally produced for stage performance in Washington, DC in 2015 under director Molly Smith; actor Edward Gero portrayed Scalia. The play received a positive review in The New York Times and has been produced at multiple theaters. In March 2017, the play was broadcast on public television.
RBG is a 2018 American documentary film focusing on the life and career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States after Sandra Day O'Connor. After premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the film was released in the United States on May 4, 2018. The film was directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87. Her death received immediate and significant public attention; a vigil at the Supreme Court plaza in Washington, D.C., was held that same evening. Memorials and vigils were held in several U.S. cities, including Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco.
Derrick Wang is an American composer and writer.