Doctor Atomic
- Robert Oppenheimer (baritone )
- Kitty Oppenheimer ( Mezzo Soprano / Soprano)
- General Leslie Groves (Bass)
- Edward Teller (baritone )
- Robert R. Wilson (tenor )
- Jack Hubbard (baritone )
- Captain James Nolan (tenor )
- Pasqualita (mezzo- soprano)
Doctor Atomic is an opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams in the post- minimalist style. The libretto was written by Peter Sellars. The premiere took place at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. The work for the stage play in 1945 in the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory in the desert of New Mexico and deals with the emotional tensions and fears of participating in the Manhattan Project scientists, government officials and military personnel during preparations for the test of the first atomic bomb ( Trinity - test). The factory conception of Doctor Atomic is similar to the previously incurred Adams opera Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer. Also in Doctor Atomic, the composer explores the characteristics and personalities of the key figures of a historical event. The historical events themselves back into the background. On the Origin of opera, a documentary titled Wonders Are Many was produced in 2007. The German premiere took place on 13 February 2010 at the Saarland State Theater in Saarbrücken.
Action
The first act takes place about a month before the first atomic bomb test, the second act in the early morning of July 15, 1945, the day of the test. The work focuses on the key figures of the Manhattan Project, in particular Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves, but also deals with Oppenheimer's wife Kitty and their fears about the activities of her husband. The inner and outer emotional tensions condense during the second act and the upcoming bomb tests. In some scenes Adams represents a strong slowdown protagonists ' perception of time, which is in sharp contrast to the hectic activity at the test site. The opera ends in the last, greatly protracted, the moment before the explosion of the bomb. Adams and Sellars draw the U.S. physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb ", not clichéd as modern Dr. Faust, but try to illuminate the character psychologically deeper.
Libretto
Large parts of the libretto was adapted from released U.S. government documents and correspondence involved in the project scientists, government officials and military representatives. Other parts of the text are taken from poems by Charles Baudelaire, John Donne, and Muriel Rukeyser, the Bhagavad Gita and a traditional Tewa song. After the first performances of parts of the libretto by Adams and Sellars were subsequently changed. Doing so, they critique of the then president of the American Physical Society, Marvin Cohen, Bill, who had complained that parts of the libretto ( the opening chorus in particular ) are scientifically incorrect in essential points.
Premiere
At the premiere in the San Francisco Opera Peter Sellars directed. The conductor was Donald Runnicles. Choreography is by Lucinda Childs was responsible. The occupations of the main roles were: Gerald Finley as Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Paul Fink as Edward Teller, Thomas Glenn as Robert Wilson, Kristine Jepson as Kitty Oppenheimer, Eric Owens General Leslie Groves, James Maddalena as Jack Hubbard, Jay Hunter Morris as Captain James F. Nolan, Beth Clayton as Pasqualita and Seth Durant as Peter Oppenheimer ( Oppenheimer son). The aria Easter Eve, 1945 ( Kitty Oppenheimer ) by Muriel Rukeysers poem of the same name was first performed by Audra McDonald in May 2004 with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of John Adams. From the part of Kitty Oppenheimer several exist - by Adams himself wrote - versions in the soprano and mezzo- soprano range.
Doctor Atomic Symphony
2007 Adams worked orchestral parts and arrangements of some opera arias (such as Oppenheimer's Batter My Heart ) to the purely orchestral Doctor Atomic Symphony by. This work was premiered under the baton of David Robertson from the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra on March 16, 2007.
Subsequent productions
After the first performances of Adams and Sellars have made some significant changes to the work and production.