page_title: The Emperor Jones (opera)
section_title: Performance history
hierarchical_section_title: The Emperor Jones (opera) / Performance history
caption_attribution_description: English: The old Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, 1905 Deutsch: Das „alte“ Metropolitan Opera House in New York im Jahr 1905
context_page_description: The Emperor Jones is an opera in two acts with a prologue and interlude composed by Louis Gruenberg to an English-language libretto adapted by the composer from Eugene O'Neill's 1920 play, The Emperor Jones. It premiered on January 7, 1933, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City with Lawrence Tibbett in the title role. Set on an unnamed island in the West Indies, the opera tells the story of African American Brutus Jones, a former Pullman porter and ex-convict who escaped to the island, set himself up as its tyrannical "Emperor", and became rich by exploiting the natives. The natives start a revolt against him, and as he tries to escape through the jungle, he is haunted by visions of his past life and the man he had murdered. As the natives close in, he commits suicide using the silver bullet which he had worn around his neck as a good-luck charm. With a score that incorporates elements of jazz and negro spirituals, The Emperor Jones was the eleventh American opera to premiere at the Met, and has continued to be performed into the 21st century, albeit rarely.
context_section_description: The Emperor Jones had its world premiere on January 7, 1933, at the Metropolitan Opera with Lawrence Tibbett in the title role and was also broadcast live on radio. Although both Tibbett and Pearl Besuner used blackface for their roles, the dancers were from Hemsley Winfield's New Negro Art Theater, with Winfield himself taking the role of the Witch Doctor. Initially the Met had wanted to use white dancers in black makeup, but backed down when Tibbett threatened to quit the production unless Winfield and his troupe performed.  However, the Met billed the ensemble as the "Hemsley Winfield Ballet" instead of its real name and apart from Winfield did not credit any of the other dancers by name on the playbill. The premiere performance was conducted by Tullio Serafin and directed by Alexander Sanine. The sets and costumes were designed by Jo Mielziner who was 32 at the time and went on to create the stage designs for more than three hundred plays and musicals, including the original productions of Death of a Salesman and Guys and Dolls. Although it is a two-act opera, the Met performed it without an interval for a total running time of one hour and fifteen minutes and presented it as the first half of a double bill with Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
  Despite the mixed reviews, The Emperor Jones enjoyed a fair amount of initial success and won Gruenberg the Bispham Memorial Medal Award for opera in English. It has continued to be performed into the 21st century (albeit rarely), long after the other American operas premiered in the Gatti-Casazza era had sunk into oblivion. The opera had fifteen performances over two seasons with the Met company which also took it on tour to Boston, Brooklyn, Hartford and Baltimore. Apart from the Met performances, it was also staged in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in 1933 with Tibbett in the title role and was revived again in Chicago in 1946. In Europe it was performed in  Amsterdam in 1934 with Jules Bledsoe in the title role followed by performances in Brussels, Vienna, Milan, and London. The Teatro dell'Opera in Rome performed it in 1951, and Michigan Opera Theatre staged a major revival in 1979 with African American baritones Andrew Smith and David Arnold in the title role, conducted by Robert Willoughby Jones. After its last performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in February 1934, it was not seen again in New York City until 2001 when it was revived by a small company, Operaworks, in a 55-seat theatre using a digitized virtual orchestra in place of musicians. In 2009, the opera was revived in Italy for two performances at the Teatro delle Muse in Ancona with Nmon Ford in the title role and a full orchestra and chorus conducted by Bruno Bartoletti.
caption: The Metropolitan Opera House on 39th St, where The Emperor Jones premiered on January 7, 1933
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