Emmeline

Emmeline is an opera in two acts composed by American Tobias Picker with a libretto by J. D. McClatchy. Picker's first opera, it was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera company and premiered in 1996. Based on Judith Rossner's novel of the same name, Emmeline is an American retelling of the Oedipus myth from the mother’s viewpoint. In 2009, a chamber version of Emmeline was created for the Dicapo Opera. In 2015, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis mounted a major new production of Emmeline that won universal acclaim. Roles Synopsis In Act I, the Mosher family in Maine has just finished burying another child. Emmeline's Aunt Hannah convinces her father to send 14-year-old Emmeline to work in a Lowell, Massachusetts textile mill so that she can send money back to the family to help them survive. Many of the mill girls live in a boarding house directed by Mrs. Bass, who leads them in prayers and tries to promote their good behavior. Emmeline is seduced by Mr. Maguire, a handsome Irish immigrant and factory supervisor who is married to the mill owner's daughter. When Emmeline is discovered to be pregnant, she is expelled from the mill and sent back to her aunt. Hannah helps Emmeline conceal her pregnancy from her parents, and arranges for a couple to adopt her baby to raise as their own. She does not allow Emmeline to see the baby or even tell her its sex, believing the less her niece knows, the easier it will be for her to give up the baby in her heart.