The Struggle of Suffragette Inspired Opera

Susan B. Anthony fought publicly against slavery and for women’s equality. She was a key activist in the American fight for women’s right to vote, which began in 1848 and lasted more than 70 years.

Gertrude Stein considered Anthony’s life a worthy subject for an opera. American composer Virgil Thomson agreed, and, in 1946, the two collaborated on “The Mother of Us All,” a three-act “operatic pageant,” rich in 19th-Century Americana.

“The Mother of Us All” will be presented by the La Jolla Civic/University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Assn. today through Sunday at UCSD’s Mandeville Auditorium. Music director Thomas Nee will conduct the orchestra and cast of more than 30 singers in this full-costume, staged production.

Nee, a founder of the Minnesota Opera, conducted the opera in Minneapolis in 1965. “We chose it (in Minneapolis) because it is rarely done and it fit our forces and stage (the Guthrie Theater)--and we thought it was interesting,” he said.

“Here, we’re doing it for basically the same reasons.”

The subject--the feminist fight for suffrage--”is interesting to a fair number of people because of the feminist movement,” Nee added. “It’s pertinent, particularly recently.”

Another impetus for staging “Mother” was having mezzo-soprano Martha Jane Weaver available to sing the demanding lead, the role of Susan B. Anthony. Weaver, a San Carlos resident, is known in San Diego for her concert performances, opera roles and recitals.

“Anthony appears throughout the entire opera,” Nee said. “It’s a dramatic soprano role, a powerful vocal role. There has to be a commanding person on stage, someone with stamina, who can last for two hours.”

From Weaver’s perspective, the role is gigantic. Sometimes she must sing for extended periods, “pages at a time” with only minor interjections from other characters. The vocal monopoly fits Anthony’s real-life activism.

“She had to be persistent,” Weaver explained. “I don’t think she would have accomplished anything if she’d been a back-down kind of person, which is why I think Gertrude Stein wrote the role the way she did.”

Even though the part of Anthony is musically written for a soprano voice and Weaver is a mezzo, Weaver said the vocal line “lies very well for my voice.” Mezzos don’t often get to do strong female roles in opera, she said. They are usually somebody’s nurse, in love, or in secondary, supporting roles.

“Vocally, the role has added strengths to certain parts of my voice. It’s gratifying to sing--worthwhile--because it’s an opportunity to create a truly substantial role.”

Weaver read biographical works on “Susan B.,” as she calls her, and, in studying Stein’s libretto, she noticed that Stein gave her “the more coherent things to say.

“Susan B. doesn’t have a lot of the Stein idioms in her text. The other characters have that. (Stein) has more of a historical feel for Susan. I think she was trying to create a mythic character . . . and (Anthony) came out being the mother figure, even though she had no children. In a mythical sense, she took on everyone as her family.”

The subject matter is relevant, too, Weaver said, “especially in light of what has taken place in recent weeks with the (Clarence) Thomas hearings. The basic issue of equality and the differences between men and women are in the text of what Susan B. has to say. She doesn’t put men down, but tries to explain why men are the way they are.

“The show has an appeal, not just for women. There’s no male bashing in this opera,” Weaver affirmed.

The roles in “Mother” overlap somewhat like a collage, Weaver explained. Historical figures, some of whom were Anthony’s contemporaries, and some not, include second President John Adams and 18th President Ulysses S. Grant, statesmen Daniel Webster (1782-1852) and Thaddeus Stevens (1818-1875), operetta star Lillian Russell (1861-1922) and a number of suffragettes.

Stein wrote in herself and Thomson as characters, and even included a few of her own acquaintances in minor roles.

The opera has no plot in the traditional sense. Stein biographer James Mellow wrote that Stein felt that the post-World War II world was “a world without answers,” and that “mood of uncertainty is reflected in her libretto.”

Stein died of cancer in 1946 not long after completing the text, and consequently never saw the work performed. The 1947 premiere at Columbia University, which commissioned the opera, included Marilyn Horne in the cast.

For the Mandeville production, “Mother” has been shortened slightly, Nee said. Of the 90 musicians in the Civic/University orchestra, the number has been cut to about 38, partly because the work is scored for fewer wind instruments than usual and because the orchestra pit size is limited. Mandeville has no actual pit, but a “semi-pit” has been created.

Nee described Thomson’s music as tonal, “an easy to listen to style, with real tunes one could probably remember.” Thomson himself described the score as “an evocation of 19th-Century America, with its gospel hymns and cocky marches, its sentimental ballads, waltzes, darn-fool ditties and intoned sermons.” Yet it has a “20th-Century coloration,” Nee commented.

Weaver said, “My children are running around the house singing the score, little snippets here and there. So many themes (Thomson) uses are close to something we think we know, close to simple, childlike songs, but the music is original.”

“The Mother of Us All,” presented by the La Jolla Civic/Uni versi ty Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Assn., will be performed in the UCSD Mandeville auditorium at 8 p.m. today, 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are from $7.50 to $16 and are available from Ticketmaster, ArtsTix or at the door. Call 534-4637 for more information.