Atomicology

Doctor Atomic

Any man [Albert Einstein] whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.

The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country.

I am become death, the destroyer of worlds

When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.

It is interesting that the opera, Doctor Atomic should come out in this, the year of Einstein.

It was on March 25, 1945 that Einstein sent a second letter to President Roosevelt warning him of the cataclysmic and destructive outcome that would result if an atomic bomb were ever actually used. President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 and the letter lay on his desk, unopened! (Source)

Robert Oppenheimer
Kitty Oppenheimer
Pasqualita
Edward Teller

Robert Wilson
Jack Hubbard
General Leslie Groves
Captain James Nolan

Oppenheimer Biography

Doctor Atomic Cast

NPR: Revisiting the
Birth of the Bomb

NPR: 'Morning Edition' Returns: Nuclear Chicken

Adams' latest project, an opera centering on physicist Robert Oppenheimer, also draws on a poem -"Easter Eve 1945,"

Here is a brief previous comment by Adams

Program notes (PDF), Adams describes the women of the scientists suffering while their husbands labored to build the atomic bomb and how the text he used from the poet Muriel Rukeyser goes from despair to hope.

Adams: Doctor Atomic website

�It involves what I call American mythology,�

Ology

Overview Production/ Cast

Technation: 2 new book on Oppenheimer
Show Originating on
May 17, 2005 /(program 05-T19-00020)
guests: JENNET CONANT
"109 East Palace/Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos"
KAI BIRD, MARTIN J. SHERWIN/ "American Prometheus"
Link to Amazon Page

This, and all my Geocities web sites are for informational purposes only. They are for the use of anyone who loves or is interested in opera, and contain information that anyone can Google.

Productions of Interest

From Sound Portraits
Recollections from Manhattan Project scientists, an atomic history timeline and more photos of the Trinity explosion. NPR

LIBRETTO

When I first heard the singers, it was in a relatively small rehearsal hall, with a piano accompaniment. I thought I'd written too high for all the men! I went home very discouraged, thinking I'd have to spend the entire next month recomposing the voice parts�a true pain in the ass when you think you're done. But, in fact, once we got out into a large space, and especially when they sang for the first time above the huge orchestra I've scored for, I changed my mind and realized that I'd been pretty much right all along./ Story

Cast changes were made up to the last minute -
Richard Paul Fink took over the part of Edward Teller from Friedemann Rohlig after the part was rewritten for a high bass/baritone instead of a low bass.=Voice went up.
Tenor Thomas Glenn replaced tenor, Tom Randle in the role of Robert Wilson-the role developed in a different direction during the course of rehearsals=Voice stayed the same.
Also Lorrain Hunt Lieberson had to be replaced by Kristine Jepson.

The original cast was Adams, "Doctor Atomic," 10/1-22. Runnicles; Gerald Finley, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Friedemann Rohlig, Tom Randle, James Maddalena, Eric Owens, Jay Hunter Morris. Also Beth Clayton.