Samson and the Witch, op. 52
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Complete recording available on request.
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This last collaboration between Baber and novelist/ medievalist John Gardner was completed thirteen years after the writer’s death in 1982. In one act, and roughly an hour in length, it provides a showcase for soprano and baritone, wherein the singer/actors play 3 different versions of their characters. The opera, in the Gardner manner, develops in tone from burlesque at the beginning to chillingly tragic by the end. A series of comic numbers climaxes in “There was a ship...” one of Baber’s finest arias. It was performed in Lexington by the Opera Company of Central Kentucky on May 5 & 6, 1995, with Melissa Baber and Stephen King in the title roles.
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