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Opera Collection Spotlight: Puccini's American West in Three Acts
Poster for a performance of The Girl of the Golden West, A Drama of California of the Days of '49 by David Balasco.Circa 1900, Museum of the American West, 96.27.1 |
The Girl of the Golden West
Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) was commissioned by and premiered at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera on December 10, 1910. Based on David Belasco’s play The Girl of the Golden West, a Drama of the Days of '49, the opera features a familiar cast of Western characters (miners, sheriffs, bandits, Mexicans, Native Americans and a Pony Express rider) and a variety of musical styles. In the premiere performance, Enrico Caruso sung the part of Dick Johnson, alias Ramerrez, a bandit, with Emmy Destinn as Minnie, the female lead and saloon owner, and Pasquale Amato as Jack Rance, sheriff. In his 2007 lecture on La Fanciulla del West called Puccini and New York, Professor Roger Parker, Professor of Music, King’s College London notes that the opera had a troubled reception. While it’s depiction of Gold Rush America probably reflected many of the popular notions held by Europeans and nurtured by years of images and literature, American audiences were less than enthused with the portrayal.
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The Girl of the Golden West, novelized from the play by David Grosset & Dunlap, 1911., Museum of the American West, 91.150.1
La Fanciulla del West is still performed worldwide. In the next 10 months there are seven productions in seven cities worldwide. Get your tickets now for the San Francisco Opera's production June 9 – July 2, 2010.
| 1 | American Indian Themes in Music |
|---|---|
| 2 | Wax Cylinder Recordings in the Braun Research Library |
| 3 | Ephemera Collection in the Braun Research Library |
| 4 | The Dodge City Cowboy Band |
| 5 | Denver's Tabor Grand Opera House |
| 6 | Puccini's American West in Three Acts |
Materials in the Braun Research Library, Autry Library and Museum of the American West document performances in the West, operas about the West, and the interest in and influence of peoples and cultures in the West on operatic music, particularly Native American music. The collection also includes rare wax cylinder recordings. We welcome inquiries about these and other Autry collections at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Collection Spotlights
Capturing California’s Romantic Past: The Watercolor Works of Eva Scott Fenyes
The Braun Research Library Collection houses more than three hundred watercolors of California adobes and California missions created by Eva Scott Fenyes. These works date from 1898 to a week before Mrs. Fenyes’s death in 1930.
The Colt Revolver in the American West
The Colt revolver had a dramatic impact around the world, but its greatest influence was in the American West in the second half of the nineteenth century. This online exhibition features slideshows and the stories behind 130 Colt artifacts in the Autry's collection.
Spanish Songs of Old California
Charles Lummis, founder of Los Angeles's Southwest Museum, dedicated much of his life to preserving cultures that he felt were vanishing. Like a number of Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, Lummis was convinced that Native Americans’ lifeways were on the road to extinction, and that Hispanic cultures in particular were doomed by modernity. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, Lummis lamented these developments and worked to preserve at least some records of Indian and Hispanic cultures.
Opera in the Autry Collections
This online exhibition draws on the collections of the Braun Research Library, the Autry Library, and the Autry. Featured items include a rare 1912 recording of French tenor Augustarello Affre recorded in Los Angeles by Charles F. Lummis and the libretto from La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) with music composed by Giacomo Puccini.
History and Cultures of Mexico and the Southwest
The Autry National Center’s permanent collection of colonial Latin American artifacts includes objects that exemplify the material culture of New Spain's northern frontier or "borderlands." The traditional arts of the borderlands, which developed over generations, reflect regional diversities.
More Than a Dream: Aviation Development in Southern California
This online exhibition is from the collections of the Automobile Club of Southern California Archives.
Calendar Highlights
American Indian Lecture Series: Gary Robinson (Cherokee/ Choctaw)
Author and documentary filmmaker Gary Robinson (Cherokee/ Choctaw) will chronicle the important and vast history of American Indians serving in the United States Military with...
Saturday, May 19, 2012 1:00 pm
What You Don’t Know About Angel Island
Caughey Foundation Lecture about Angel Island
Sunday, May 20, 2012 2:00 pm
Book Talk With Craig Johnson
The Autry welcomes back Craig Johnson and the latest installment of his Sheriff Walt Longmire mystery series, As the Crow Flies.
Sunday, May 20, 2012 6:00 pm
Can We All Just Get Along: Perspectives on L.A., 20 Years After Rodney King
Join us for a thought-provoking discussion reflecting on the 20th anniversary of the L.A. Riots.
Wednesday, Jun 6, 2012 8:00 pm
GoWEST Reading Series: Lisbeth Haas
Join author Lisbeth Haas in the Autryâs Romance Gallery for a discussion and signing of her latest book.