American composer and native of SC Carlisle Floyd dies aged 95 | New
LATTA – Carlisle Floyd, an American composer known for his operas set in the South and often considered “the father of American opera”, died on September 30. He was 95 years old.
Hailing from Latta, Pee Dee, Floyd is most often linked to his 1955 opera “Susannah”. The work, which is set in Tennessee and was written for a Southern dialect, is based on a story from the Biblical Apocrypha.
Floyd’s subjects also shed light on 20th-century American voices, sometimes basing them on works by founding writers like John Steinbeck, Robert Penn Warren, and Olive Ann Burns. Floyd then wrote his libretto in these voices, often advocating for marginalized members of society, with the goal of creating popular and accessible works.
Ellen Schlaefer, opera director at the School of Music at the University of South Carolina, first heard of Floyd before discovering her own passion for opera. It was during his college days at Davidson, as his roommate was Floyd’s niece.
She later worked as an intern at the Kennedy Center while they were putting on a production of “Willie Stark”. In 2019 at USC, she mounted a production of “Susannah”.
“He’s the nicest man you can meet,” she said, noting that he always had time for the students and really enjoyed teaching.
Floyd was also Professor MD Anderson at the University of Houston, where he co-founded the Houston Opera Studio, working with the Houston Grand Opera to train young singers.
In an October 4 New York Times article, Patrick Summers, longtime collaborator, conductor and musical director of the Houston Grand Opera, said that “although he was an academician himself all his life, Carlisle never wrote in this world. He stuck to his cannons, and his cannons were in G minor. The subject of many of his operas is hypocrisy and the effect of a crowd on an individual. It was the dominant theme of his life: how to be true to yourself. “
Born in Latta on June 11, 1926, as Carlisle Sessions Floyd, he was the son of a Methodist pastor father and pianist mother, who taught him to play. He attended Converse College in Spartanburg, where he learned piano from Ernst Bacon, which he then attended at Syracuse University in New York, where he obtained a Bachelor of Music degree. He then headed to Florida State University, where he wrote his first opera, including the libretto.
But it was his third opera, “Susannah”, that propelled him to international fame. After its premiere at FSU in 1955, it was performed in 1956 at the New York City Opera, a production which won the New York Music Critics’ Circle Award and selected as American Opera’s official entry at the Exposition. Universal 1958 in Brussels. He continued to enjoy productions from all over the world.
And the opera also resonated in its home country.
“Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah has been an inspiration to all of us interested in musically capturing the complex richness found in the various regions of the southern United States,” said Edward Hart, dean of the School of the Arts at the College of Charleston.
He then pursued a prolific career with the debut of “Wuthering Heights” in 1958 at the Santa Fe Opera and the 1960 “Pilgrimages”, a solo cantata based on biblical texts, which premiered at the University. of Syracuse.
Throughout this time, Floyd continued to tap into his South Carolina roots. In 1962, “The Passion of Jonathan Wade”, set in South Carolina at the time of the Reconstruction, premiered at the New York City Opera. This was followed by another work by Carolina, the comedy “The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair”.
Other highlights include “Of Mice and Men” from 1970, which premiered at the Seattle Opera; the 1976 “Bilby Doll”; and the 1981 “Willie Stark”, the latter two commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera. In 2000, “Cold Sassy Tree” was created; and in 2016, “Prince of Players”, a chamber music opera produced by Houston Grand Opera, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
He was the 2004 recipient of the National Medal of Arts, awarded by President George W. Bush.
Retiring in 1996, Floyd moved to Tallahassee, where he lived until his death.
Floyd’s wife of 53 years, Kay Reeder Floyd, passed away in 2010. They had no children, but he is survived by his nieces Martha Matheny Solomon of Charleston; Jane Floyd Matheny and Harriett Olive Matheny, both of Tallahassee; and Nancy Matheny Kitchin, from St. Simons Island, Georgia.
A memorial in Tallahassee was planned for a later date.
Follow Maura Hogan on Twitter at @msmaurahogan.