Virgil Thomson: "The Mother of Us All" (World premiere, 1947)
Here is a WNYC broadcast of the world premiere of Virgil Thomson's two-act opera which chronicles the life of Susan B. Anthony with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. May 7, 1947.
Susan B. Anthony - Dorothy Dow
Anne - Belva Kibler
Gertrude S. - Hazel Gravell
Virgil T. - Robert Grooters
Daniel Webster - Bertram Rowe
Jo the Loiterer - William Horne
Chris the Citizen - Carlton Sunday
Indiana Elliot - Ruth Krug
Angel More - Carolyn Blakeslee
Henrietta M. - Teresa Stich (aka Teresa Stich-Randall)
Henry B. - Jacques LaRochelle
Anthony Comstock - James M. Chartrand
John Adams - Robert Sprecher
Thaddeus Stevens - Alfred Kunz
Constance Fletcher - Alice Howland
Gloster Heming - Michael Therry
Isabel Wentworth - Shirley Sudock
Anna Hope - Jean Handzlik
Lillian Russell - Nancy Reid
Jenny Reefer - Dianna Herman
Ulysses S. Grant - Everett Anderson
Herman Atlan - Edward J. Larson
Donald Gallup - Edward Cohen
A.A. and T.T., page boys or postillions - Isaiah Clarke, James Hunt, Vernon Van Dutton, and Dale Burr
Andrew J. - Winston Ross
Negro Woman - Lillie Peace
Negro Man - George C. Hunter
Indiana Elliot's Brother - William Elliott Savage
Columbia University Chamber Orchestra
conductor - Otto Luening
Here is a link to my Alice Howland playlist:
• Alice Howland (1914-1998)
