THE PASSION OF JONATHAN WADE by Seattle Opera

Carlisle Floyd’s most epic and ambitious opera, THE PASSION OF JONATHAN WADE originally premiered at New York City Opera in 1962. It tells the (fictional) story of a Union officer sent to administer the city of Charleston, SC in 1865. He weds the daughter of a local judge and hopes to use his position to heal the wounds of the Civil War. But between profiteering Northern carpetbaggers, on one side, and a proto-KKK group called “the Guardian Knights of White Men’s Rights” on the other, Colonel Wade’s work comes to naught and he is killed in the crossfire between the two groups. Floyd’s opera languished for years following its world premiere, until Floyd revised it, in the late ‘80s, encouraged by David Gockley and John DeMain of Houston Grand Opera. The revised version premiered in Houston in 1991 and thence traveled to Miami, San Diego, and Seattle. The Seattle performances were directed by Floyd himself, conducted by Hal France, and performed on a set designed by Gunther Schneider-Siemssen.

Contains tracks

• PASSION OF JONATHAN WADE “Sherman Quartered His Officers Here” by Seattle Opera
• PASSION OF JONATHAN WADE Celia’s Aria by Seattle Opera
• PASSION OF JONATHAN WADE Death Of Jonathan Wade by Seattle Opera
• PASSION OF JONATHAN WADE Jonathan Wade Remembers Andersonville by Seattle Opera