Four Saints in Three Acts
Music by Virgil Thomson · libretto by Gertrude Stein · premiered 1934 · at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Four Saints in Three Acts is an opera composed in 1928 by Virgil Thomson, setting a libretto written in 1927 by Gertrude Stein. It contains about 20 saints and is in at least four acts. It was groundbreaking in form, content, and for its all-black cast, with singers directed by Eva Jessye, a prominent black choral director, and supported by her choir. Thomson suggested the topic, and the libretto as delivered can be read in Stein's collected works. The opera features two 16th-century Spanish saints—the former mercenary Ignatius of Loyola and the mystic Teresa of Avila—as well as their colleagues, real and imagined: St. Plan, St. Settlement, St. Plot, St. Chavez, etc. Thomson decided to divide St. Teresa's role between two singers, "St. Teresa I" and "St. Teresa II", and added the master and mistress of ceremonies (Compère and Commère—literally, the "godparents") to sing Stein's stage directions.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Four Saints in Three Acts", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Virgil Thomson is the composer of record for this opera.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Virgil Thomson", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.