Erik Johns, 74; Wrote Libretto for Aaron Copland Opera

Erik Johns, 74, the librettist for composer Aaron Copland’s only full-length opera, “The Tender Land,” died Dec. 11 in a fire at his home in Fishkill, N.Y.

Johns was a dancer, painter and poet who met Copland in 1946; the two began a close relationship and eventually lived together for several years.

In 1952, Copland was commissioned to write an opera for television and chose Johns as his librettist although he had never seen the text of an opera before.

Copland, who had considered a collaboration with a prominent author, such as Thornton Wilder or Arthur Miller, said he decided on Johns because he did not want to have to “worry about changing a famous writer’s work.”

“The Tender Land” was inspired by James Agee’s “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” and the accompanying Walker Evans photographs.

Johns and Copland took two years to complete the opera, which was staged for the New York City Opera by Jerome Robbins after it was rejected by NBC.

The opera, which told the story of a Midwestern farm woman’s rebellion and sexual awakening during the Depression, received mixed reviews in its first performances in 1954.

It received more favorable notices after Copland and Johns expanded it from two to three acts.

Born Horace Eugene Johnston in Los Angeles, Johns wrote the opera under the pseudonym Horace Everett.

He later wrote the libretto for “Tea Party,” an opera by Jack Gottlieb, and ran party decorating and antiques businesses.

He parted with Copland in 1954 but remained a close friend.

Copland, who wrote only one other, shorter opera--”The Second Hurricane,” in 1936--died in 1990.