Bilby's Doll is an opera in three acts composed by Carlisle Floyd. The libretto is based on the 1928 American novel A Mirror for Witches by Esther Forbes.
Bilby's Doll was Floyd's eighth opera. It had its premiere on February 27, 1976, at the Houston Grand Opera in a production by David Pountney with sets by Ming Cho Lee. The original cast, conducted by Christopher Keene, included Catherine Malfitano, Joy Davidson, Thomas Paul, and Jack Trussel. Houston Grand's general director David Gockley commissioned the work in honor of the US Bicentennial.Carlisle Floyd: Bilby's Doll at Boosey & HawkesBender, William (March 8, 1976). "Music: Houston's Doll". Time.
Synopsis Bilby's Doll is the story of Doll Bilby, a French orphan whose spirituality and imagination collide with the hostility and practical ideals of the Puritan colony where she is raised by her foster parents.
Doll was brought to Massachusetts from France by Jared Bilby, her foster father. She declines a marriage proposal from Titus Thumb, a young ministerial student, saying that her natural parents were burned as witches in France and she worries that she might also become a witch. Instead, she meets and marries a man who pretends he is a demon, but who is later revealed to be the estranged and opportunistic son of the minister Zelley, Doll's friend and supporter.
Although she is at first devastated by the revelation of her lover as a mortal, Doll's belief that her husband is a demon is restored as she dies giving birth in a jail cell.
Roles Role Voice type Premiere cast,27 February 1976 Jared Bilby (a former sea captain) bass Thomas Paul Doll Bilby (the Bilbys' foster daughter) soprano Catherine Malfitano Hannah Bilby (Jared Bilby's wife) mezzo-soprano Joy Davidson Deacon Thumb (a prosperous farmer) tenor Thomas Page Titus Thumb (his son)baritoneAlan Titus Mr. Zelley (a clergyman) bass-baritone Tom Fox Goody Goochy (the village midwife-undertaker) contralto Nell Evans Mrs. Thumb (wife of Deacon Thumb) sopranoBarrie Smith Shad tenor Jacque Trussel Mr. Increase Mather bass David Cornell Silas (the tavern keeper)baritoneJon Enloc Town Crier tenor Sorrow (twin daughter of Deacon and Mrs Thumb) soprano Labour (twin daughter of Deacon and Mrs Thumb) soprano First Suitor (suitor of the widowed Hannah Bilby) tenor Second Suitor (suitor of the widowed Hannah Bilby) baritone Mr. Kleaver (the village doctor) baritone Captain Buzzey (the local constable) baritone Young Boy non-singing Goody Greene non-singing A Servant Boy non-singing Judge Bride non-singing Judge Lollimour non-singing People of Cowan Corners and Salem, Deputies, Judges' retinue
References
External links Carlisle Floyd, Boosey & Hawkes