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A Consideration of Marc Blitzstein’s Choral Opera, The Condemned (1932)

For all these reasons, the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti ing. Viewed as a dialectic, each opposition, confl ict,
galvanized left-leaning artists and writers, including and contradiction becomes a catalyst, pointing toward
Ben Shahn, Upton Sinclair, John Dos Passos, Edna the potential change and transformation of the Con-
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St. Vincent Millay, and numerous others. Many demned himself, and of the world and those left behind
musicians, similarly moved, spent the subsequent de- after his death—a Marxian gesture.
cades mining the trial for inspiration. Composer Ruth Seeking to link Sacco and Vanzetti’s cause with other

Crawford wrote a song for piano and voice titled Sacco, revolutionary figures, Blitzstein listed some two dozen
Vanzetti (coincidentally in 1932, the same year Blitz- other characters as possible models. Individuals with
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stein completed The Condemned). Later, folk singers Pete obvious historical parallels appear, like Rosa Luxem-
Seeger and Woody Guthrie wrote odes to Sacco and burg and Karl Liebknecht, but so do others: Heinrich
Vanzetti, and Joan Baez and Italian film composer En- Heine, Karl Marx, Garibaldi, Eugene V. Debs, John

nio Morricone collaborated on the music for Giuliano Brown, Judas Maccabeus, Socrates, Dostoevsky. Like
Montaldo’s 1971 fi lm, Sacco & Vanzetti. Blitzstein him- Sacco and Vanzetti, Blitzstein would have considered

self would return to the trial, again choosing the pair these historical figures as standing against tyranny and

as the subjects for a final opera, left incomplete at his injustice, many paying with their lives.
death. Blitzstein’s sketch then describes an image: at the
rising of the curtain, the chorus lies “scattered about
the stage in attitudes of sleep.” The chorus, represent-
Composing the Condemned ing the accused, does not comprehend the situation,
Inspired by his encounter with the communist de- singing in polyphony, moving disparately. This choral
portees on the ship, Blitzstein proceeded to sketch out character must then reach a decision, and an internal
the plan for his opera. While naming the trial in his dialogue plays out between a chorus split in two: “one
notes, The Condemned only refers implicitly to Sacco and half ‘for,’ one half ‘against’; the whole thing starting
Vanzetti. Instead, Blitzstein’s first sketch of the plot complexly and thinning and purifying down to an is-

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begins with abstract philosophical ideas, stating that sue.” Already, Blitzstein presents some of the fi nal
the chorus for each character should illustrate both product’s most recognizable features.
“human qualities which are universal (not necessari- This first sketch continues to describe the rest of

ly mass)” and “break-ups within the individual.” In the opera. While specifics would change, Blitzstein’s

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avoiding the traditional opera soloist, Blitzstein makes burst of creative energy resulted in a recognizable draft
a seemingly obvious nod to Marxian communism, storyline, the main characters represented by four six-
with the collective (a chorus) taking precedence over teen-voice choirs. In the story, a prisoner (named John
the individual (a soloist). But Blitzstein’s approach re- Joseph Helm in these early drafts) awakens on the morn-
veals more nuance than this, and the reference to the ing of his execution. The warden brings in a priest,
fragmentation of the characters indicates the possible who attempts to console the prisoner; the prisoner will
influence of Freud’s psychoanalytic theories. have none of it (Blitzstein would later replace the char-

This points to a broader dramatic tension, as Marx acter of the warden with that of a friend, supportive of
is concerned with the materialistic action of history, the prisoner’s unnamed revolutionary cause). Following
while Freud’s domain is the psychological; each cho- a momentary panic, the prisoner calls back the priest,
rus paradoxically serves as an external representation repenting. After the priest leaves, the prisoner expresses
of an individual’s internal struggle. Taken together, regret for his decision, rejecting God and embracing
these contradictory juxtapositions (universal-individ- atheism. The prisoner and his wife (Anna, and later
ual, Marx-Freud, external-internal) along with the Ariana, in the earliest sketches) exchange goodbyes as
various groupings of characters throughout the opera the warden takes the condemned to his death. After
(Wife-Condemned, Priest-Condemned, Friend-Con- the wife sings of her grief, the priest “happily (not too)
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demned, Wife-Priest-Friend), invite a dialectical read- recites a sort of childish gloria...he did believe.” The

CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2021 Volume 61 Number 11 35