New Opera on TV

Manhattan Composer Norman Dello Joio, 43, has been fascinated with Joan of Arc ever since he was twelve. Six years ago he completed an opera, The Triumph of Joan (TIME, May 22, 1950), but withdrew it after the premiere and used some of its music for a symphony. Still not satisfied that he had caught the inspiration of Saint Joan in music, the composer made a long study of the legal proceedings that sent Joan to the stake in 1431, finally wrote an entirely new libretto and score. Titled The Trial at Rouen, it had its premiere on NBC-TV this week.

It turned out to be a 75-minute work of massive and somber effect, full of vocal know-how and modern coloration, but weak in dramatic contrast. In most of the first act Joan prepares for her fatal final appearance before her inquisitors, and a kindly priest beseeches her in mellow song to temper her heresy. Its moment of pathos comes near act's end, as Joan refuses to exchange her male clothes for a dress, and the episode closes with music of real poignance. Act II moves more swiftly as Joan clashes violently with Bishop Pierre Cauchon, the only other major character. Her finest moments come in a dramatic song ending in her recantation. Soprano Elaine Malbin, as Joan, not only sang beautifully, but turned out to be an actress of imposing ability, and her whim per as the final flames rose about her was a terrible thing to hear.

Trial at Rouen is one of Composer Dello Joio's finest works, displaying his gift for vocal melody. The total effect is of opera in the Italian tradition, sturdier and more severe than the music of Menotti, but more full-bodied than the works of the extreme modernists.

Satisfied that he has now captured Joan as he had hoped to, Composer Dello Joio is considering a new opera that tells "an intense love story--a story about love itself." Like Trial at Rouen, it will be on a large scale, for Dello Joio, the son of an Italian immigrant, likes to think of himself as a spiritual descendant of Verdi. It is possible that Dello Joio will emerge as the next important grand opera composer. He is already one of the few U.S. composers who can live solely on the income from his compositions.

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