The Tender Land

The Tender Land by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) features a libretto by Horace Everett (a pseudonym for painter and dancer Erik Johns) and is inspired by James Agee's book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (an account of a journey through the rural South during the Depression by Agee and his companion, the photographer Walker Evans). The two-act version, composed between 1952 and 1954, premiered April 1, 1954 at New York City Opera, and the three-act revision was first produced at Oberlin Conservatory Opera Laboratory on May 20, 1955. Copland's second opera, commissioned by Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1953 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the League of Composers, was intended for television, but when it was rejected by NBC, Jerome Robbins staged it for New York City Opera.

Both the composer and librettist originally conceived the opera for singers-in-training, to be performed by colleges and workshops. It was written, as Copland later remarked, "to give young American singers material that they do not often get in the opera house; that is, material that would be natural for them to sing and perform."

The Tender Land is presented by arrangement with The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, copyright owners; and Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., sole publisher and Licensor.

information from the opera company's site