Douglas Moore: The Devil & Daniel Webster

1. Devil and Daniel Webster, The, opera in 1 act
Composed by Douglas S. Moore
with Michael Davis , Joyce Guyer , Kansas City Symphony , John Stephens , Benjamin Bongers , Robert Gibby Brand , Matt Foerschler , Michael Lanman , Cary Miller , David Soxman
Conducted by Russel Patterson

Douglas Moore: The Devil & Daniel Webster,Andrew Stuckey,Brian Steele,David Soxman,John Stephens,Michael Lanman,Douglas S. Moore,Russel Patterson,Kansas City Symphony,Joyce Guyer,Benjamin Bongers,Darren Keith Woods,Matt Foerschler,Michael Philip Davis [tenor],Cary Miller,Michael Davis,Robert Gibby Brand,Newport Classic,American 20th/21st Century Opera,Classical,Classical Music,Opera,Opera / Operetta / Oratorio,Opera/Operetta

Average customer rating:

Douglas Moore: The Devil & Daniel Webster Manufacturer: Newport Classic ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music ASIN: B000003W2X Release Date: 1996-05-14

Tracks:

1. Right Nice Wedding
2. Whew!
3. Mary, Mary!
4. Neighbors
5. I Told You
6. Oh, Mr. Stone
7. Good Evening
8. You Hear, Mary
9. Thank You, Mr. Webster
10. In God's Name
11. I Was Going
12. They're Gone

Average customer rating:

A Salute to American Music Manufacturer: RCA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Barber | Barber, Samuel | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Bernstein | Bernstein, Leonard | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Blitzstein | Blitzstein, Marc | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Bolcom, William | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Copland | Copland, Aaron | ( C ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Ellington | Ellington, Edward Duke | ( E ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Foster, Stephen | ( F ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Gershwin | Gershwin, George | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Griffes | Griffes, Charles T. | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Menotti | Menotti, Gian Carlo | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Porter | Porter, Cole | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Stravinsky | Stravinsky, Igor | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Thomson | Thomson, Virgil | ( T ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Hadley, Jerry | ( H ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Psalms | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music ASIN: B00000E6PJ Release Date: 1992-12-01

Average customer rating: Superior American opera It's BA-A-A-ACK !

The Devil and Daniel Webster (opera in one act) Manufacturer: Phoenix USA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music ASIN: B00005Y7D2 Release Date: 1997-05-27

Tracks:

1. Right Nice Wedding
2. My Young Days, My Young Ways, My Prim And Narrow Room
3. Neighbors, Old Friends, It Does Me Good To Hear You
4. Young William Was A Thriving Boy
5. Listen!
6. He's Sold His Soul To The Devil!
7. I Wanted Clothes From A City Store
8. Good Evening Neighbors! Perhaps I Can!
9. Well, It's A Pretty Place, Even If I Do Say So Myself
10. Trust Me, Mrs. Stone
11. Ah, Mr. Webster This Is A Pleasure!
12. I Summon The Jury Mister Webster Demands
13. Your Honor
14. Be Still! I Was Going To Thunder And Roar
15. We Were Men, We Were Free, We Have Not Forgotten

Album Description

Commenting on "The Devil and Daniel Webster", Douglas Moore has said, "Mr. Benet and I have classified "The Devil and Daniel Webster" as a folk opera because it is legendary in its musical expression....we have tried to make an opera in which the unit of speech, song and instrumental music, will communicate the essence of the dramatic story, enhance but not distort."

Customer Reviews:

Superior American opera.......2007-01-18

I have no agenda, unlike others who have posted and have caused this wonderful recording to appear "a loser". Nothing could be further from the truth. This superior piece of Americana has been beautifully recorded with performances to match. Don't let angry and stupid reviews get in the way of your experiencing this excellent recording. I would give it 6 stars if the Amazon site let me.

It's BA-A-A-ACK ! .......2005-11-12

I hasten to declare that I have not heard this CD. My comments are directed solely at the opera, not the performance. I intend in no way to impugn the talent or dedication of those associated with this production--only their execrable taste.

In 1928, Stephen Vincent Benet (1898-1943) published a history--or more properly a fable--of the US Civil War in the form of a book-length piece of doggerel called "John Brown's Body." Inexplicably, the book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1929. This made Benet a very big-deal American literary voice. Not long thereafter, he published a short story, "The Devil and Daniel Webster."

In the story, an American Faust named Jabez Stone (if memory serves me correctly) sells his soul to a certain Mr. Scratch for several years of earthly prosperity. The specified time comes to an end, as it must do in all proper Faust tales, and Mr. Scratch comes to collect his new and unwilling property. Stone, as all Fausts must, attempts to wriggle away from his fully deserved fate. In Benet's version, he manages to convince Senator Daniel Webster to act as his defense attorney in a trial for his soul. The jury consists of black-hearted and bloody-handed villains, but true-blue and authentic Americans to the last man. Webster goes into full Clarence Darrow-mode (at the time, a famous defender of the damned) and--whadayaknow!--he convinces those scoundrels, renegades and traitors to let good ol' Jabez of the hook, much to the distress of the put-upon Mr. Scratch.

In the late 1930s, Benet was approached by the pre-"Ballad of Baby Doe" Douglas Moore, who begged the great man to allow him to set "The Devil and Daniel Webster" to music. Eventually, permission was graciously given, but the mighty literary eminence sternly decreed that the lofty perfection of his prose must not be sullied by the music. More, he declared that Webster's speech to the jury was entirely off-limits. It must be delivered as dialogue, not set to music at all. (Imagine Lorenzo da Ponte telling Mozart what he could or could not set! Or even fiery Gilbert daring so to defy easy-going Sullivan.)

Now, if I had been Moore, I'd have told Benet where he could stuff his precious dialogue and turned briskly away to compose an opera based on "The Gold Bug," "Casey at the Bat," or "A Visit from St Nicholas", all fine and valuable pieces of true Americana. Ah me, Moore felt otherwise. In 1939, the Moore-Benet collaboration hit the boards, but with a great, honking hole at its center, the very place where the power of music should have been the force to turn the twisted minds and hardened hearts of the abominable jurymen.

Moore was a skillful, if not supremely gifted composer. In 1939, his chosen style might be described as folksy, desiccated, sub-verismo--not great but not bad, either. The opera won some dutiful praise but it never really came to life. The wound where its heart should have been was too great.

As a work of art, this is a true nuisance, a great lost opportunity. But for the puffed-up ego of the wordsmith and the excessive deference of the composer, it might have amounted to something.

It coulda been a contender!

Track Listings:

1. Duke Quartet
2. Early Music
3. English Song Series 2
4. English Song Series - Peter Warlock: The Curlew (song cycle), Lilygay (song cycle), other songs
5. Essence of England
6. For the Friends of Alec Wilder
7. Forqueray: Pièces de Clavecin
8. Franz Liszt: J.S. Bach Transcriptions
9. Gloire De Dieu - Choral Works by Stravinksy: Symphony of Psalms / Tippett: Five Negro Spirituals / Poulenc: Seven Tenebres Responses FP 181 / Ives: The Unanswered Questions
10. Great Britain Quartets [Box set]

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Getting High

Merulo: Missa in dominicis diebus "Organ Mass" (1568)

I Need Jesus [Explicit Lyrics]

Music: Go to Sleep [CD-single] [Import]

Mercy

Merry Christmas from Motown

Lullabies for Little Worshippers

Leo Smit: At the Corner of the Sky / Songs of Wonder

Long Time Coming

Grandes Exitos

Manifesto

Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous Pt.1 [CD-single] [Enhanced]

Lovely Head [CD-single] [Import]

A Splash of Pops

Bossa Nova for Lovers