The Juniper Tree (opera)

For other uses, see The Juniper Tree.

The Juniper Tree is an opera co-composed by Philip Glass and Robert Moran in 1985 to a libretto by Arthur Yorinks based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

The opera is in two acts and is scored for two baritones, bass, mezzo-soprano, four sopranos, tenor, mixed chorus, children's voices and chamber orchestra. Each composer wrote alternating scenes and utilized each other's themes to provide structural unity. Glass retained ownership of the opera, and did not allow for the "live" recording of the premiere (with Jayne West and Sanford Sylvan) to be released until 2009. Until then, Moran encouraged his fans to distribute bootleg copies so that people could hear it.

Performance history

It was premiered on December 11, 1985, at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

For its 25th anniversary of creation, the Théâtre des Petites Garnottes presented the Canadian premiere of the opera in September, 2010 at the Salle Jean-Paul Tardif in Quebec, Canada.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, December 11, 1985 (Conductor: Richard Pittmann)
The husband	lyric baritone	Sanford Sylvan
His wife	lyric soprano	Jayne West
The son/the juniper bird	boy soprano	Lynn Torgove
The stepmother	mezzo-soprano	Valerie Walters
Her daughter	soprano	Janet Brown
The goldsmith	bass	David Stoneman
The cobbler	baritone	Thomas Derrah
The miller	tenor	William Cotton
Village folk	chorus
Mama bird	soprano
Baby birds	children's voices

Synopsis

The Grimm fairy tale tells of a wicked stepmother who murders her stepson, fearing that he reminds her husband of his late wife and serves him up in a stew to his hungry, unsuspecting father. The boy's sister buries her brother's bones under a juniper tree where their mother is buried, and the child's spirit returns as a singing bird who wreaks vengeance on the evil stepmother (dropping a millstone on her) before being restored to life in the bosom of his family.