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THE SONGBIRD: Beverly Sills (1929 - 2007) was my first diva and the reason I became infatuated with coloratura sopranos and started collecting vocal music. Sills holds a special place in my musical life to this day so I'm happy to share this rare item. Sills sang a few contemporary operas in her career, most notably Moore's "The Ballad of Baby Doe." She sang the title role at the New York City Opera premiere in 1958, and participated in the now legendary recording the following year. Per the online Sills performance annals, she sang 28 complete performances of Baby Doe in her career, her last being with the New York City Opera on tour in Los Angeles on December 1, 1969.
THE MUSIC: "The Ballad of Baby Doe" remains the most popular of Douglas Moore's full-length operas (the others are "The Devil and Daniel Webster," "The Wings of the Dove," and "Carrie Nation"). The opera is set in Colorado and the world premiere took place there, at the Central City Opera in 1956 with sopranos Dolores Wilson and Leyna Gabriele alternating in the title role. The story is set in the late 19th century and follows three historical figures: Horace Tabor, a politician and wealthy mine owner, leaves his wife Augusta to marry Elizabeth "Baby" Doe. The vocal writing for Baby Doe does not contain any florid coloratura figures per se, yet it has such a high tessitura that it is usually sung by lyric-coloratura sopranos who can handle the many high silvery suspensions, including a High D in Baby Doe's first aria, "The Willow Song."