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The Legend (opera)
''The Legend'' is a one-act tragic opera composed by Joseph Carl Breil to an English libretto by Jacques Byrne. It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on March 12, 1919 in a triple bill with two other one-act operas, John Hugo's ''The Temple Dancer'' and Charles Cadman's ''Shanewis''. Its melodramatic story is set in Muscovadia, a mythical country in the Balkans, and involves an impoverished nobleman turned bandit, his daughter Carmelita, and her lover Stephen, a captain in the hussars. The action unfolds over a single night at the end of which both lovers are dead—Stephen stabbed to death by Carmelita and Carmelita shot by Stephen's fellow hussars. The only one of Breil's six operas to be performed by a major opera company, ''The Legend'' received scathing press reviews and after its three performances at the Met disappeared from the repertory.
==Background and performance history==
Although primarily known as a composer of silent film scores including those for D. W. Griffith's ''Birth of a Nation'' (1915) and ''Intolerance'' (1916), Joseph Carl Breil had also written several short operas prior to ''The Legend''. His ''Orlando of Milan'' was composed when he was 17 and given an amateur performance in Pittsburgh. Three comic operas were to follow later, ''Love Laughs at Locksmiths'' (performed in Portland, Maine, 1910); ''Professor Tattle'' (performed in New York City, 1913); and ''The Seventh Chord'' (performed in Chicago, 1913). He began composing ''The Legend'', his first attempt at a serious opera, in 1916 and finished it a year later.〔Hipsher (1934) pp. 87–88〕 He had originally written it for the American soprano Constance Balfour, who was living in Los Angeles at the time, and dedicated the work to her.〔Sanchez (1930) p. 441〕 His approach to the opera was influenced by his own film work and that of his librettist, Jacques Byrne, who wrote screenplays for early Hollywood films. Breil argued at the time that: "An opera libretto should be chockfull of action. Action, action all the time. The story should be simple and straightforward like a film play, only more so."〔Joseph Breil quoted in Kirk (2001) pp. 86–87〕
Shortly after becoming General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in 1908, Giulio Gatti-Casazza had set a goal of producing at least one new English language opera by an American composer each season. ''The Legend'' and Hugo's ''The Temple Dancer'' were chosen to premiere in the 1918/1919 season along with a revival of Cadman's ''Shanewis'' to form a triple bill. Four months earlier, the Met had staged the world premiere of Puccini's ''Il trittico'' (a triptych of three one-act Italian operas). Gatti-Casazza billed the ''Legend''/''Temple Dancer''/''Shanewis'' production as an "American Triptych".〔''New York Times'' (March 3, 1919)〕 However, while all three operas were by American composers, only ''Shanewis'' had an American subject. ''The Legend'' is set in the Balkans and ''The Temple Dancer'' in India. The triple bill premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on March 12, 1919. All three works were conducted by Roberto Moranzoni and directed by Richard Ordynski. Norman Bel Geddes designed the sets and costumes for both ''The Legend'' and ''Shanewis''. Rosa Ponselle, who had made her Met debut four months earlier in ''La forza del destino'' and the American tenor Paul Althouse, who had been singing at the Met since 1912, created the roles of the lovers, Carmelita and Stephen.〔 Althouse also sang the leading male role in ''Shanewis'' later that evening.
The opening night reviews, especially for ''The Legend'', were scathing. The ''New York Times'' critic James Gibbons Huneker, described it as being "as heavy as unleavened dough".〔Huneker (March 13, 1919)〕 The critic in ''Theatre Magazine'' wrote: "Straight across the plank and into the sea of oblivion where it deserved to rest went ''The Legend''." 〔 Key (May 1919) p. 268〕 Its star, Rosa Ponselle, was openly contemptuous of the opera. When she was asked in an interview fifty years later if she had ever looked at the score again to see if her opinion had changed, she replied that she could not do so because she had burned it.〔Ponselle (1982) p. 289. See also Phillips-Matz (1997) p. 138.〕 ''The Legend'' had two more performances that season and then disappeared from the repertory completely.
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