Hoiby Fills Heart and Mind

Lee Hoiby was born in Wisconsin 82 years ago. He now lives in upstate New York on a beautiful property with a waterfall. He started out as a piano virtuoso, and he remains one. He was a student of the fabled Egon Petri. But he has dedicated his life to composing.

In his catalog are nearly 100 songs, and these include some of the most lovable in the American repertory ("The Serpent," "Where the Music Comes From"). Mr. Hoiby has also written several operas, of which the best known is probably "Summer and Smoke," based on the Tennessee Williams play.

Williams saw another Hoiby opera, "A Month in the Country," based on the Turgenev play. He then asked the composer whether he would like to set one of his own. "Which one?" inquired Mr. Hoiby. Williams answered, "Take your pick, sweetheart."

At Symphony Space on Monday night, two Hoiby operas were presented: "This Is the Rill Speaking," composed in 1991; and "The Tempest," composed five years before. The evening made for a strong and satisfying dose of Mr. Hoiby's output.

"This Is the Rill Speaking" is based on a play by Lanford Wilson; it was adapted for Mr. Hoiby by Mark Shulgasser. The play, and the opera, evoke small-town American life in about 1950. What is a "rill," incidentally? Well, the opera takes care to tell us: It is a small brook, and we have it in the second verse of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" — "I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills."

Mr. Hoiby's opera is a one-acter, and a lovely, finely wrought thing. It is pleasant and endearing, but not sweety-sweet. It is playful, jazzy, casual, insouciant, earnest, and warm. It has the melodies and modulations typical of Mr. Hoiby. It is very American, though not the least unsophisticated. And it is very human.

Notes match syllables, and musical phrases match verbal ones. There is no awkwardness in Mr. Hoiby's writing. He achieves a seamlessness. And the opera ends with a heart-filling sextet, which is almost a signature of Mr. Hoiby's: "A Month in the Country" ends in a similar way.

Like other Hoiby works, "This Is the Rill Speaking" has easy invention and what I can only call timing, for lack of a better word — a sense of space, pacing, and poetry. Perhaps above all, it has beauty, unashamed beauty, produced by a composer who has drunk at the well of Schubert, Strauss, Mahler, and Barber.

The opera received a fine performance at the hands of American Opera Projects. Outstanding in the cast was Abigail Fischer, a mezzo with abundant red hair — and many other gifts. She has an unusual, arresting voice, a solid technique, and plenty of musical smarts. She managed to be elegant and spunky at the same time. A baritone, Andrew Garland, handled his music handsomely. And a second mezzo, Nicole Mitchell, was a booming delight.

"The Tempest," of course, is a Shakespeare opera (with Mr. Shulgasser again serving as librettist). This opera has an aria of note, "Be not afear'd," sung by Caliban, a tenor. At Symphony Space, we heard not the entire opera but generous excerpts, lasting more than an hour.

When Mr. Hoiby starts out, his music smells of the sea, and the strange events to come. It is full of anticipation and promise. As the opera continues, it is by turns sprightly, heroic, gracious, coarse. In other words, it conforms to the drama unfolding.

The score may put you in mind of Debussy and Britten, among others. I thought of Debussy's "Nocturnes," and two operas of Britten: "Peter Grimes" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." But mainly the score is Hoibyesque. And it ends with a stirring ensemble — 10 soloists, plus chorus.

Our performance of "The Tempest" came courtesy of the conservatory of Purchase College. And these young men and women did a stand-up, committed job. A soprano named Molly Davey took the part of Ariel, tackling Mr. Hoiby's high-flying music with confidence. And the baritone Robert Balonek made a dignified, authoritative Prospero.

Mr. Hoiby has another Shakespeare opera up his sleeve: "Romeo and Juliet." When will New York be able to hear that? This city, and other cities, receive too little Hoiby. But those who know his music tend to love it. And his music — beautiful, honest, and inspired — will endure.