Transatlantic (1930)
Antheil

“The bad boy of music” wrote “the opera with the woman in the bathtub.” Yes, you heard that right. George Antheil – the radical, revolutionary composer who scored music for anvils, car horns, doorbells, and even an airplane motor – pivoted from his abstract works to write a jazz opera about contemporary America called Transatlantic. Ironically, he never intended for American audiences to see his new opera, at least not initially. After his infamous Ballet mécanique flopped in its American premiere, he feared American audiences would not receive him well, especially on a subject so close to home. Still, musicologist Susan Cook says that Transatlantic “shows Antheil’s abiding desire to prove himself as an American composer and to earn recognition and esteem in his own country.”

Ok, Transatlantic is not about women in bathtubs. The title comes from the opening scene. On a transatlantic cruise returning to New York from Paris, Hector and Helen meet and fall in love. Hector is a U.S. presidential candidate whose campaign is funded by oil tycoon Ajax. Ajax intends to use Helen for even greater influence over Hector, though Helen’s affections for Hector are true. Helen wants out of Ajax’s scheming, but her gigolo husband Jason fears losing Ajax’s financial support. Meanwhile, Hector’s campaign manager Leo is enamored with Helen, and he embezzles campaign funds to woo her with a diamond, even though he is dating Gladys. This tangled love web plays out during the 1930 U.S. presidential election. Political stunts are pulled, crimes are committed, secrets are revealed, and in the end, justice is served and love wins – though it all comes at the price of nearly corrupting American democracy.

There are no airplane motors in the orchestra of this opera, but Antheil still made avant-garde choices that are astounding today. Inspired by cinema – booming in popularity in the 1920s – Antheil’s story features short, rapid-fire scenes; in fact, Act III has 28 scene changes! The world premiere also used filmed elements running simultaneously with staged scenes. As for the music, here’s how Opera America’s Newsline explained it in 1995:

“…with a score that uses American folk tunes, jazz melodies and harmonies, and a Salvation Army hymn, the opera’s harmonic language has been described as late-romantic euphony in the style of Strauss, and reminiscent of Weill and Stravinsky. The composer also acknowledged the strong influence of Ernst Krenek, and Antheil may have been trying to emulate the success of Krenek’s jazz opera, Jonny Spielt Auf.”

Transatlantic received over 20 curtain calls at its premiere in Germany in May 1930, but opening night was its only performance. The production cost too much for a country (and world) in economic decline, and the rise of Hitler and Nazism made American artists and subject matter suspect, especially the idea of democracy persevering against corruption. Transatlantic didn’t receive a full production in the U.S. until Encompass Music Theater (now Encompass New Opera Theatre) resurrected the opera from the Library of Congress, premiering the piece in Antheil’s birthplace of Trenton, New Jersey in 1981.

For Minnesota Opera’s production in 1998, director James Robinson remarked, “As we rush toward the 21st century, the timeless similarities of our own world are uncanny in amusing and frightening ways. Antheil’s characters dance feverishly toward a moral and financial collapse.” 23 years into the 21st century, that collapse feels even more imminent. Politics corrupted by business interests is the norm. Culture wars divide our politics and our society at large. Our country’s values are in question.

Bibliography

Church, John J. “The Transatlantic ‘Bad Boy of Music.” Newsline, Opera America, July/August 1995.

Cook, Susan C. “George Antheil's Transatlantic: An American in the Weimar Republic.” Journal of Musicology 9, no. 4 (1991): 498–520. https://doi.org/10.2307/763873.

Encompass: The Music Theatre. “On Stage: Transatlantic.” American Theatre Press: New York, 1991. Music and libretto by George Antheil. Directed by Nancy Rhodes. Performed at the War Memorial Building, Trenton, New Jersey, October 23-25, 1991. 

Minnesota Opera. “The Minnesota Opera Program: Transatlantic – The People’s Choice.” Skyway Publications: Minneapolis, April 1998. Music and libretto by George Antheil. Directed by James Robinson. Performed at the Ordway Music Theatre, St. Paul, Minnesota.