Susannah, Quarantined

*Rated PG-13: Adult themes that may not be suitable for children.

What to know

Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah premiered at Florida State University in 1956 and has gone on to be one of the most performed American operas, second only to Porgy and Bess. The opera was critically acclaimed and awarded the best new opera by the New York City Music Circle.

Carlisle Floyd is considered “the father of American Opera” and has composed 12 operas including, Susannah, Wuthering Heights, Of Mice and Men, and most recently Prince of Players. Florentine Opera has had the pleasure of hosting Floyd at multiple productions and recorded both Wuthering Heights and Prince of Players.

Read more about Carlisle Floyd from Boosey & Hawks.

Biblical Inspiration

Floyd’s inspiration for Susannah actually comes from a biblical passage in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 13, in the story a beautiful woman named Susanna is lusted after and blackmailed by two lecherous elders. When she refuses their advances, the two elders conspire to have her killed, but God speaks through a young Daniel and he questions each elder separately catching them in a lie. This biblical story has inspired artists from the Baroque to today. Check out this article from the Medium about the paintings “Susanna and the Elders” by Artemisia Gentileschi and Guido Reni.

The “Red Scare” & McCarthy Era

Fear of Communists created a climate of distrust and suspicion in the United States during the early 1950s. This period of time, known as the “Red Scare”, was driven by a Wisconsin Senator, Joe McCarthy. During this era, hundreds of Americans were accused of being communists or communist sympathizers and become subjected to aggressive investigations, both by state and private panels. Being listed, often hurt one’s employment and career prospects as well as the denial of other civil rights. Read more about this dark era from the Miller Center at University of Virginia.

Like Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Floyd’s Susannah examines this period of time through stories with similar narratives. After reading “Susanna and the Elders” (in the Apocrypha, books not included in all Bibles), Floyd was inspired to both write and compose his opera Susannah, setting it in “the recent past” in an Evangelical mountain village. Having grown up the son of a Methodist minister, Floyd was very familiar with revival meetings, in an interview he describes, “I hated revival meetings as a child…. They were frightening. It was a mass coercion of people. It’s fascism; it’s very offensive and angering, the imposing of one’s moral code on others.” Read more from this interview with Carlisle Floyd.

Synopsis

Overview:

Susannah is set in an insulated pious village in the mountains of Tennessee. The title character is beautiful and innocent young woman ostracized by the town after elders find her bathing nude in a stream near her home. Rather than admit to their own lust, they label her a sinning seductress and further isolate her from the town. A visiting preacher, Reverend Olin Blitch wants to save her soul, but when alone with her, his darker side comes out and he rapes the young Susannah. Realizing she was a virgin, he begs her and God for forgiveness, but ultimately is shot dead by Sam, Susannah’s brother, for violating his sister. The villagers come to drive Susannah out of her home and the valley, but she stands her ground and chases them off with a shotgun. Susannah is left totally alone and the innocent young woman is now broken, demented, and cynical.