[ADAM: THIS HAS AUDIO and MAYBE SHOULD BE SPLIT UP] Transformations is an opera with music by Conrad Susa based on the poetry of Pulitzer Prize-winner Anne Sexton. The opera had its world premiere in Minneapolis in 1973, under a commission from the Minnesota Opera. It's based on a volume of poetry by Anne Sexton published in 1971, a re-telling of Grimm's Fairy Tales. The words are dark and humorous and dead on, and, often, devoid of irony. Success was immediate with the publication of Sextonâs first book of poetry, To Bedlam and Part Way Back in 1961. Sexton was plagued by mental illness for years, and took her own life in 1974. I heard Anne Sexton read in my high school years. She was every bit the movie star, a young Elizabeth Taylor look-alike in a slit, red dress, with a throaty delivery and game face resolutely on. I may have reached puberty during one of her readings.
Adapting Anne Sexton's Poetry
I didnât think the density of Sextonâs writing would suit an opera libretto, but boy, was I wrong. Conrad Susa got it right and then some. Anne Sexton's take on Hansel and Gretel begins, "I am mother of the insane: Let me give you my children." Withal, Susa wrote a charming opera! His music leavens the darkness of Sexton's scorching verses. Here's a recording from the New Music Ensemble of Dallas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBQNKcd-FoA
Interview with Linda Grey Sexton
Recently WOSU's book critic Kassie Rose and I spoke with Anne Sexton's daughter, Linda Grey Sexton, the author of several works of fiction (Rituals, Mirror Images, Points of Light and Private Acts), followed by two memoirs (Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton, which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year) and the new Half in Love, Surviving the Legacy of Suicide. I asked Linda what is was like trying to find her own voice as a writer when her mother was world famous: "One of the regrets I have is that I'm not able to show her what I'm writing, cause I know she would be proud, I know she would feel that what I'm doing is important. She always said to me, 'tell it true,' and by that she meant, tell the real story, don't pull your punches, and I think that's what I've done [with memoir] ..." [audio:http://wosu.org/audio/classical/2011/012611-linda-sexton1-interview.mp3] Here's more of the interview with Linda Grey Sexton about her mother, writing and mental illness. To an opera lover like me, Linda's story is itself as powerful as anything Giuseppe Verdi could have created: [audio:http://wosu.org/audio/classical/2011/LGS1.mp3] Okay, if you're in the Opera Department at The Ohio State University or Capital University, or anywhere else, stop reading this already and go produce Susa/Sexton's Transformations!
