THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9602290108
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG BURT, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Jon Robertson knew in junior high that he was destined to be a writer. Of course, back then the depth and sophistication of his poetry wasn't up to par with the operas he writes today.
Robertson, 44, laughed as he remembered the poetry topics of his early adolescence. ``Why am I so alone, why am I so unhappy, why does everything suck.''
Now after years of cultivating his writing craft the oceanfront area resident is tackling more mature themes such as faithfulness and fidelity in a new opera he adapted from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem ``Evangeline.'' The first of four performances premiered Thursday at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La.
Robertson, an editor at the Association for Research and Enlightenment on Atlantic Avenue, started the project back in 1986 after composer and MSU music professor Keith Gates persuaded him to write a libretto based on this Canadian love story. Both men had collaborated on a previous opera, with Robertson writing the lyrics and Gates composing the music, for a 1983 production of ``Tom Sawyer.''
The story of ``Evangeline'' is set within the military conflict between Britain and France in Nova Scotia during the 1700s when many French Canadians who were expelled from Nova Scotia ended up in Louisiana. A young woman and her bethrothed are separated on their wedding day after the British military take over their French village of Grand Pre. Yet because of their unshakable fidelity for each other, the two lovers spend the rest of their lives in search of the other, reuniting in old age.
Robertson had to make a few adjustments to Longfellow's long poem in order to fit the story into the opera genre. ``What I had to do was take the themes and understanding of what Longfellow was saying in certain passages . . . and write lyrics that characters could use,'' he explained.
The duo were able to get financial backing for the opera from different arts and educational resources in Louisiana. This covered the production costs and included a paltry payment for their individual work. ``Opera is the most expensive of all art forms. By the time you pay musicians and conductors and union stage hands and actors and you name it and costumes, it's just incredibly expensive,'' Robertson said. ``It isn't what you call lucrative (for the writers). We figure it's about 18 cents an hour.''
But the financial rewards might change if Robertson's upcoming trip to promote ``Evangeline'' in Quebec City, Montreal and Nova Scotia proves successful. He said he believes the opera is particularly timely since many French Canadians are concerned about separating from the rest of Canada.
Writing operas and plays wasn't part of Robertson's goals when he graduated in 1974 with a double major in English and philosophy from King's College in Pennsylvania. ``I trained to become an English teacher, but after I had done my student teaching I realized it wasn't going to work,'' he said, laughing. ``It was the most horrible experience of my life.''
So instead of teaching, Robertson fell back on his attraction to the stage. After acting and singing in community and dinner theaters for a few years he found himself writing plays in his late 20s. He also free-lanced for newspapers in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. He has written two novels not yet published and has had two plays produced, with one being published.
Robertson said he draws inspiration from the challenge of trying to peel away the surface layers of an idea or concept to get at the underlying truth. ``It's my hope that whatever particular perspective I bring to that idea I'm going to show it in some new light, that will be helpful, healing or even funny,'' he said. ``When I'm writing a song I try to delve as deeply beneath the surface as I can and try and work at a multitude of levels of meaning.''
When Robertson wrote his opera ``Evangeline'' he wanted to communicate something more insightful than just a story of two separated lovers. ``To me `Evangeline' at its deepest level is about elements of ourselves that require uniting in order for us to be complete.''
Robertson said he believes the ideal of fidelity communicated by the love story ``is something that can help to make us whole within ourselves.'' Yet he said with a chuckle, ``Now I don't know if that will ever happen to anyone who sees this opera.'' MEMO: For information on Jon Robertson's opera ``Evangeline,'' contact
Robertson at ARE Press, P.O. Box 656, Virginia Beach, Va. 23451. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Jon Robertson's new opera was adapted from Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow's epic poem ``Evangeline.''
by CNB