OPERA REVIEW : Alva Henderson Work Premieres in San Jose

At the world premiere performance Saturday night of Alva Henderson’s “West of Washington Square,” by Opera San Jose, nostalgia seemed to be the aim.

The libretto, taken from two of O. Henry’s short stories, presents a sentimental vision of love which the music wrapped in maudlin though abundant melody and frequently vivid orchestration. Conducting the premiere was Barbara Day Turner; Daniel Helfgot staged the production, which runs today and Thursday through Sunday with alternating casts.

The self-congratulatory subtext of Henderson’s fourth opera involves the glory of being an artist.

Act I, derived by the composer from “The Last Leaf,” tells the story of Cathy, a poet, who catches a bad cold by spending the night in the rain outside her boyfriend’s apartment. Despairing of life, she decides that she will die when the last leaf has fallen from the vine that climbs up the wall outside her window.

An alcoholic painter, who lives across the hall and is in love with Cathy, then spends another drenching night painting a leaf on the side of the building so that when Cathy wakes up she will see the last leaf still hanging on the vine. The painter dies of pneumonia and the girl never realizes his sacrifice.

Musically, Henderson inhabits a lush, Neo-romantic universe a la Gian Carlo Menotti. The orchestra swirls and the voices bloom, partly because the composer rarely asks of them more than a major or minor scale. Most of the melodies, though pleasant, are not sturdy enough to be memorable. And when Henderson is inspired, he is usually praising the artist.

The most vivid character in Act I is the painter, sung here by baritone Ronald Gerard. Like so many stage drunks, Gerard relished his role, weaving fancifully back and forth. His voice is strongest in its lower reaches, but he has an expressive upper pianissimo that he used to great effect. The climactic melody in his central scene came on the admission that “painting was the passion of my youth.” It is a sweeping tune that reaches right up and pats the artist on the back.

As Cathy, Brenda Willner presented a pure, vibrant soprano, though pouting appears to be the extent of her acting abilities. Mezzo-soprano Terri McKay (Helen) had too much vinegar in her voice to make much of Henderson’s sumptuous style.

Ten years separate Henderson’s composition of the two acts of this opera. “The Last Leaf” was first performed in 1979, in the same Montgomery Theater, though the composer has tinkered with it since. Act II, adapted by Janet Lewis from “The Third Ingredient,” was finished this summer. The unifying force is the apartment house west of Washington Square, where the scenes are set.

In Act II, we move across the hall, where Kate has returned with the news that she has been fired from her job. On the way home Kate bought two pounds of beef with her last 15 cents but now she discovers that she has neither potatoes nor onion with which to make her stew. Anna, who has fought with her fiance, arrives with the potatoes and her fiance comes in later with the onion. Their reunion is a success, though it leaves poor Kate waiting out in the hallway.

The 10 years that elapsed between the two acts have chastened Henderson’s musical style. The orchestra that nearly swamped Act I in picturesque effects is now more sparingly employed. Its moments of glory are more integrated into the story, as when a waltz bursts out, symbolizing Kate’s determination to bear her troubles lightly. But with this firmer control there has also come a lessening of melodic abundance. Most of the musical motives that thread through Act II are so fragile they break apart upon first hearing.

Once again, the glorious moments are all self-congratulatory. In the fiance’s aria, the big tune comes when he explains: “I knew this is where you would come to New York to study voice.” In the girl’s aria, which tells the same story from her perspective, the main musical interest resides in a few vocal ornaments scattered about to prove that she has really been studying the right style.

The star of Act II was Elizabeth Enmann (Kate). Enmann’s plummy mezzo-soprano etched her melodies with insight, making the most of their simple contours. Soprano Eilana Lappalainen, who sang the runaway voice student, was one of the few singers all evening who covered her words with too much voice. Yet she has a warm, rich sound, and a delicate way with the fiorature that Henderson embedded in her music. Douglas Nagel, the fiance, displayed a baritone voice rich in its middle register, but threadbare at either extreme.