July 5, 1976

TRIAL AND TRIUMPH
Alan Rich, New York Magazine

Supposing I were to tell you that a New York judge had composed an opera on a Bicentennial theme, with a juicy soprano role for his wife. And then, supposing I told you that the opera in question, Mary Dyer, by the Honorable Richard Owen of the U.S. District Court (Southern District) turns out to be a work of remarkable merit, and that, at it’s premiere, Judge Owen’s wife (Met soprano Lynn Owen) sang beautifully. Wouldn't you be surprised?

Mary Dyer has been knocking around for a few years; it was supposed to have been done in Boston last season, but money could not be raised. It was finally given a couple of weeks ago at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York, outdoors on a chill and windy Saturday night. I thought I’d drop in out of neighborliness for a few moments, but stayed through the whole thing with pleasure.

Mary Dyer concerns a historical character, a Quaker hanged in Boston around 1660 for defying the puritanical Governor Endicott. Judge Owen wrote his own libretto. His musical style falls under that all-purpose term “conservative,” which means in this case the use of clear tonalities, and of rather old-fashioned operating writing. The piece uses a large cast, a sizeable orchestra and a big choral ensemble.

The writing for all these elements is sure, imaginative, and full of dramatic motivation. I was particularly impressed by some of the choral episodes-the populace of Boston storming Mary’s prison in the last act, for example-in which there is some strong, vivid contrapuntal writing and a fine handling of sonority. In Endicott, Judge Owen has created an operatic character in the grand manner, his words and music beautifully reflecting his conflict between duty and conscience.

Of the Suffern performance I will say little, since it was done under horrific acoustic conditions and with the most rudimentary staging (by John Haber, who still managed to make it interesting and moving). Even so, it was clear that Mrs. Owen is a good dramatic singer and that Chester Ludgin, who sang Endicott, is a man of considerable gifts. Kurt Saffir conducted the Hudson Valley Philharmonic with gusto amid the gusts. Some major company ought to consider Mary Dyer, preferably indoors.