![]() I found the first act exposition very interesting as various scientists argue that a) the Japanese should be given two days warning before the bomb is dropped and b) that Japanese representatives should be invited to watch the test, whereupon they would promptly surrender. In Penny Woolcock's imaginative new production, Act I opens with a periodic table of the elements which becomes a series of boxes containing members of the chorus. The second is the waiting around in the New Mexico desert for the first bomb to explode. The first act is an exposition of the pros and cons of dropping the first atom bomb. This work by John Adams with libretto by Peter Sellars is described as an opera but appears to me to be more of an oratorio in nature. ![]() Other, purely orchestral highlights include a splendid Act II intermezzo and a brilliant, tension-filled finale before the atom bomb explodes. This latter is actually a setting of a poem by John Donne. Kitty Openheimer has a wistful first Act aria "Am I in your light?" and Robert Oppenheimer has a powerful aria that ends the first act "Batter my heart, three person'd God". There are two standout arias from Sasha Cooke as Kitty Oppenheimer and Gerald Finley as Robert Oppenheimer. After two hearings I felt that it was probably the first operatic masterpiece of the 21st century. From Harvard University's Houghton Library.I listened to this opera twice through since, after one hearing, I felt that I had not done it justice. ![]() Another handwritten manuscript of Donne's work, this one from after his death and more ornately bound. From the digital collections of the New York Public Library. An early handwritten manuscript of Donne's poems, containing Holy Sonnet 14 among many others. A concise summary of the Metaphysical Poets along with links to the Poetry Foundation pages for several of them. ![]() An in-depth essay on Donne's life and writing, along with additional poems, from the Poetry Foundation. Listen to a recitation of "Holy Sonnet 14." Here, Gerald Finley (as physicist Robert Oppenheimer) contemplates the power of the bomb and sings Donne's poem. The minimalist composer John Adams, along with director Peter Sellars, wrote an opera about the development of the atomic bomb. More “Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Resources. ![]()
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