"The Ballad of Baby Doe" Opens Tomorrow Night

Gina Galati & Adelmo Guidarelli
Photo ©Ron Lindsey

Winter Opera Saint Louis continues its sixth season this weekend with the St. Louis Premiere of Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe, the true story of an enduring romance between silver baron Horace Tabor and Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor in 1880s Colorado. Made rich by the Matchless Mine in Leadville, Colorado, Horace Tabor has grown disenchanted with his stern wife Augusta and soon falls in love with the ravishing young Elizabeth Doe, a visitor from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Their union endures divorces, scandal, political strife and the eventual ruination of Horace’s riches brought on by the gold standard. Hear ravishing melodies that have entered the standard operatic repertoire, including “Warm as the Autumn Light,” “The Willow Song,” and “Always Through the Changing.” 

CAST

Lindsey Anderson
Photo ©Ron Lindsey

Soprano Gina Galati, returning after singing Mimì in La Bohème last season, sings the leading role of Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor, a role made famous by Soprano Beverly Sills. Making his company debut, Baritone Adelmo Guidarelli (artist with St. Petersburg Opera and New Jersey State Opera) portrays Horace Tabor. Having last sung as Katisha in The Mikado, Mezzo-Soprano Lindsey Anderson returns to sing the role of Augusta Tabor. Winter Opera veteran Mezzo-Soprano Sara Gottman, who recently sang the nymph Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos, returns to sing the role of Mama McCourt, Baby Doe’s mother. Bass Mark Freiman, who directed and sang in last season’s La Bohème, sings the role of William Jennings Bryan, a role he recorded on a live Central City Opera recording of The Ballad of Baby Doe for Sony Newport Classics on the occasion of the opera’s 40th Anniversary in 1996.

Adelmo Guidarelli & Ensemble
Photo ©Ron Lindsey

Twenty-five local professional artists sing various supporting roles and comprise the ensemble in Winter Opera's largest production yet.

CREW

Mark Freiman & Ensemble
Photo ©Ron Lindsey

Stage Director David Carl Toulson, whose credits include Asheville Lyric Opera, Tanglewood Music Festival, Washington National Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis makes his company debut. Winter Opera Music Director Steven Jarvi returns to conduct the orchestra. Erin Waters Ryan makes her company debut as production stage manager. Nancy Mayo, adjunct professor of piano and accompanying at Webster University and resident collaborative pianist with Winter Opera Saint Louis, serves as rehearsal pianist. JC Krajicek, who costumed last season’s La Bohème, returns as Costume Designer. Having most recently designed The Mikado, Scott Loebl and Sean Savoie return as set designer and lighting designer, respectively. Theresa Loebl serves as Production Manager.

MEDIA

Patricia Rice of the St. Louis Beacon penned an article on Winter Opera's efforts to mount this American opera. Sarah Bryan Miller of the Post-Dispatch published a brief interview with Gina Galati on the production. You may also read Operatic Saint Louis' Q & A with principals Gina Galati, Adelmo Guidarelli, Lindsey Anderson and interview with Stage Director David Carl Toulson.

The Ballad of Baby Doe opens tomorrow night, February 8th, at 8pm and continues Sunday, February 10th, at 3pm. Venue: Skip Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade located at 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd (map). Production sung in English with projected English supertitles. Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or visiting http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets sold at the door; valid student ID required. For further information on the company, its future performances and special events, visit winteroperastl.org.

Historical Facts: Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor in "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor

Operatic Saint Louis concludes its series of historical facts on the leading characters of Winter Opera Saint Louis' upcoming production of The Ballad of Baby Doe. The final historical figure in this series is Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor. Be sure to read all about Baby Doe's small historical connection to St. Louis!

Facts on Elizabeth McCourt Tabor:

• Born Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt in 1854 Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Irish immigrants.
• Married Harvey Doe in 1877; moved with him to Central City, Colorado that same year.
• Earned the name "Baby Doe" in the years her husband owned and ran the Fourth of July gold mine.
• Grew disenchanted with Harvey Doe, likely due to his alcoholism and financial troubles, and went to Leadville, Colorado, where she met silver baron Horace Tabor, who left his first wife Augusta, to spend time with her.
• Divorced Harvey Doe in March 1880; became established in fancy hotel suites in Denver and Leadville with financial support from Tabor.
• Went with Tabor to St. Louis in September 1882 to be married in secret. (More on this below!) 
• Augusta Tabor, long steadfast in refusing to grant a divorce, finally relented in January 1883.
• Two months later, Baby Doe (28) and Tabor (52) were married publicly at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. during Tabor's brief tenure as U.S. Senator.
• After performing the ceremony, the Catholic priest learned both husband and wife had been divorced and refused to sign the marriage license, an action that set off a scandal which tarnished the Tabors' societal standing.
• Gave birth to two daughters: Elizabeth Bonduel Lily (1884) and Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar (1889). 
• Promised to fulfill her husband's dying wish that the Matchless Mine--their motherlode of fortune--be held onto, which she managed to do until ultimately losing the mine in 1927 to satisfy a debt.
• Despite loss of the mine, the owners allowed Baby Doe to live in the cabin near the mine shaft.
• In Winter 1935, neighbors discovered her body in the cabin, frozen to death on the floor.
• In contrast to the size of Augusta's estate (more than $1.5 million), Baby Doe's possessions were auctioned off to souvenir collectors for a mere $700. Buried next to Horace in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. 

Baby Doe and Horace Tabor have a small historical connection to the city of St. Louis. In the book The Legend of Baby Doe: The Life and Times of the Silver Queen of the West, author John Burke describes Horace Tabor's maneuvering to placate Baby Doe, who desperately wanted to get married despite Horace's difficulty securing a legal divorce from Augusta:

"Without having papers served on Augusta, Horace quickly obtained a divorce, garlanded with fraud and perjury though it was. He and Baby then journeyed secretly to St. Louis, where they were married by a justice of the peace. Technically, they were now living not in sin but in a state of bigamy. He promised that they would be married in a Catholic ceremony once the legal obstacles were cleared.

Baby was pacified for the moment--at least she had a marriage certificate to fondle--but a secret marriage was almost as unsatisfactory as the previous arrangement. She was getting awfully tired of wearing that heavy veil whenever she and Horace ventured into public view; of tripping over curbstones and blundering into lampposts. Furthermore the disguise wasn't fooling people anymore."

The role of Baby Doe in the Douglas Moore opera is a veritable gold-- or shall we say silvermine of arias for lyric coloratura sopranos. Baby Doe sings five arias throughout the opera: the Willow Song, the Letter Aria ("Dearest Mama..."), an aria sung to her romantic rival Augusta ("I Knew It Was Wrong"), the Silver Aria ("Gold is a fine thing...") sung to make peace between gold- and silver-standard supporters, and "Always Through the Changing," sung to her dying husband at the conclusion of the opera. Listen to an interpretation of the Willow Song by soprano Beverly Sills, who sang the role in its 1958 New York City Opera premiere.

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Historical Facts: Augusta Tabor in "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

Operatic Saint Louis continues its series of historical facts on the leading characters of Winter Opera Saint Louis' upcoming production of The Ballad of Baby Doe. The second in this series is Augusta Tabor, first wife of Horace Tabor.

Augusta Tabor

Facts on Augusta Pierce Tabor:

• Born to William B. Pierce and Lucy Eaton in 1833 Augusta, Maine.
• In her early twenties, she courted Horace Tabor, then one of her father's employees.
• Married Tabor in 1857 before moving west to the Kansas Territory.
• Gave birth to one son, Nathaniel "Maxcy" Tabor, during this marriage.
• Moved with Horace to Denver on news of a gold rush, where she worked as a cook, laundress and postmistress.
• Settled in Leadville, CO, where she shared in ownership of the Little Pittsburgh and Matchless silver mines, often cooking for and ministering to the miners.
• Tabor built her a twenty-room mansion in Denver during his term as Colorado Lt. Governor.
• After Tabor's scandalous affair with Baby Doe, she was divorced in 1883 and took up full residence in her Denver mansion, eventually running it as a boarding house. In 1892, she had moved across the the street to live at the Brown Palace Hotel, ran by her son.
• Devoted her newfound single life to cultural and social philanthropy, with special attention to the Pioneer Ladies Aid Society and Unity Unitarian Church of Denver.
• As Horace and Baby Doe lost their fortunes to the decline of silver, Augusta abandoned the trade and thus lived comfortably, if frugally, for the remainder of her life.
• In need of a climate more conducive to her deteriorating health in the last years of her life, she eventually moved to Pasadena, California, where she died in 1895 at the age of 62.
• Having died a wealthy woman, Augusta Tabor left her son Maxcy a fortune of $1.5 million.
• Buried in Denver, Colorado. An inscription on her tombstone reads: "She came where there were no roads and left a path for us to follow. She came to a wilderness and made it a place of settlement. She fed the hungry and healed the sick, giving generously of those motherly gifts which settled rough mining camps. She came searching for gold and left behind the treasure of civilization."

Composer Douglas Moore sought a darker vocal color for Augusta Tabor, presumably to contrast the high lyric coloratura lines of Baby Doe. As such, the role has been performed by several Mezzo-Sopranos, chief among them Frances Bible (who recorded Augusta in the 1959 New York City Opera recording), Joyce Castle and Martha Lipton, creator of the role. The composer wrote several monologues and scenes that highlight and deepen the character's joys, anger, suspicions and pain. Act One, Scene Five (as seen in the video below) is an especially dramatic scene in which Augusta's friends venomously inform her of Horace's plans to divorce. She is resolved to ruin him. Taken from a recent Central City Opera production, the video below features Mezzo-Soprano Joyce Castle as Augusta:

You can learn more about Augusta Tabor and the other historical figures of the opera by visiting BabyDoe.org

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Historical Facts: Horace Tabor in "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

This is the first in a short series of historical posts on the leading characters of Winter Opera Saint Louis' upcoming production of The Ballad of Baby Doe. The first in this series is the opera's leading man: the American prospector, businessman and politician Horace Tabor.

Horace Tabor

Facts on Horace Austin Warner Tabor:

• Born 1830 in Holland, Vermont and worked in the quarries of Maine and Massachusetts as a teenager. 
• Left New England for the Kansas Territory in 1855 to help draw anti-slavery settlers to the land. 
• Married Augusta Pierce, daughter of a former employer in Maine; the couple had one son (Maxcy) during their marriage. 
• In 1877, Settled with Augusta in Leadville, CO, where he ran several businesses before becoming Mayor. 
• Partook of the Colorado Silver Boom by buying the immensely profitable "Matchless Mine" for $117,000 after selling earned interest on the "Little Pittsburg" mine for over $1,000,000. 
• Used his great wealth to start newspapers, build a bank, and establish the Tabor Opera House, which still stands today in Leadville and figures prominently in the opera itself.
• Served as Colorado Lt. Governor from 1878-1884; for three months in 1883, he temporarily served as a U.S. Senator. 
• Secretly married Elizabeth "Baby Doe" McCourt before acquiring a legal divorce from first wife Augusta, then held a public marriage ceremony in Washington, D.C. the same year he served as Senator.
• Had two daughters with Baby Doe: Elizabeth Bonduel Lily and Rosemary Silver Dollar Echo. 
• Supported William Jennings Bryan in his first failed presidential bid in 1896. 
• Made three unsuccessful bids for Colorado Governor.
• Repeal of the Sherman Silver Protection Act in 1893 wiped out Tabor's fortunes, as silver was no longer required to be purchased by the U.S. Government.
• Still respected despite his financial decline, he was appointed as Denver's Postmaster in 1898.
• Died in 1899, leaving Baby Doe to hold onto the Matchless Mine until her death 36 years later.
• Buried in Jefferson County, Colorado, next to Baby Doe.

Notable baritones that have sung Horace Tabor include Richard Fredericks, Norman Treigle and Walter Cassel, who performed in the 1956 premiere and recorded the role opposite Beverly Sills at New York City Opera in 1959. For the opera, Douglas Moore wrote several duets, ensembles plus two arias for Tabor. His first act aria "Warm as the Autumn Light," in which Tabor expresses his newfound enchantment with the vivacious Baby Doe, has emerged as a popular aria for baritones in the standard operatic repertoire. Below is a recording of Walter Cassel singing this aria:

You can learn more on Horace Tabor and the other historical figures of the opera by visiting BabyDoe.org

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Winter Opera Saint Louis Presents Local Premiere: "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

This coming February, Winter Opera Saint Louis presents the St. Louis Premiere of Douglas Moore's 1956 opera The Ballad of Baby Doe on February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd, 63131 -- map here).

Set to a libretto by John Latouche, The Ballad of Baby Doe tells the true story of an enduring romance between silver baron Horace Tabor and Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor in 1880s Colorado. Made rich by the Matchless Mine in Leadville, Colorado, Horace Tabor has grown disenchanted with his stern wife Augusta and soon falls in love with the ravishing young Elizabeth Doe, a visitor from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Their union endures divorces, scandal, political strife and the eventual ruination of Horace’s riches brought on by the gold standard. Hear ravishing melodies that have entered the standard operatic repertoire, including “Warm as the Autumn Light,” “The Willow Song,” and “Always Through the Changing.”

Soprano Gina Galati portrays Elizabeth Doe, a role made famous by Beverly Sills. Baritone Adelmo Guidarelli sings the role of Horace Tabor. Mezzo-Soprano Lindsey Anderson, returning after her company debut in The Mikado, sings the role of Augusta Tabor. Bass Mark Freiman portrays failed presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. Winter Opera Music Director Steven Jarvi returns as musical director and conductor. Stage Director David Carl Toulson makes his company debut.

Tickets may be purchased by calling Winter Opera Saint Louis at 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets sold at the door; valid student ID required. 

Operatic Saint Louis will be previewing this local premiere production in the coming weeks with artist interviews and stories on the historical figures in the opera. For more information on this production, visit winteroperastl.org.