90′

Music by Philip Glass.
Libretto by Arthur Yorinks based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe.
Published by Dunvagen Music Publishers.

Commissioned by the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA and the Kentucky Opera.

S, 2T, Bar, B- 1(picc).0.1.1/1.0.0.0/elec.guit./1 perc (SD, TD, BD, tam-t, tamb, cym, tgl, wdbl, maracas)/ syn/ str (2.1.1.1.1)

May 18, 1988 at the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA.

Poe’s famous horror story has fascinated poets, dramatized and composers for over a century. Poe hints at much, but states hardly anything at all. Is the story real, or is it a hallucination? What are the relationship between the narrator (William), his friend Roderick Usher, and Roderick’s dying sister, Madeline? Has she been buried alive, or is it a demon from hell who takes such a spectacular revenge at the end? And is the vast house in which they live a living malignant entity? Incest, homosexuality, murder, and the supernatural hang in the air, but then again, such things may exist only in the imagination of the audience.

The Fall of the House of Usher at Wise Music Classical
The Fall Of The House Of Usher (e) Libretto at MusicRoom.com