Name/Title
EmmelineEntry/Object ID
2018.017.016Description
An Opera written by Tobias Picker based on the novel Emmeline by Judith Rossner. Libretto by J.D. McClatchy, reprinted courtesy of Schott Helicon Music Corporation, New York. Emmeline is an adaptation of the Oedipus story from Jocasta's point of view.
"The 14-year old Emmeline Mosher has been taken by her Aunt Hannah from her home in Fayette, Maine to work in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts to help support her impoverished family. Emmeline cathces the eye of Mr. Maguire, the son-in-law of the mill owner, and he takes advantage of the young girl's loneliness. One day, Emmeline collapses in the mill and it is revealed that she is pregnant. Aunt Hannah has arranged for a couple to adopt Emmeline's baby. Before Emmeline can even see her own child, it is taken away from her. Back home in Maine, twenty years later, Emmeline now runs the family boarding house. Although she spurns the attention of various suitors, she falls in love with a new boarder, Matthew Gurney, a railroad worker from Kansas, and he and Emmeline quickly marry. Aunt Hannah returns to attend Sarah Mosher's funeral, and Emmeline's life is changed forever."Collection
Local AuthorsBook Details
Author
McClatchy, J.D.Date Published
1996