Doctor Atomic

The first act takes place about a month before the bomb is to be tested, and the second act is set in the early morning of July 16, 1945 (the day of the test). During the second act, time is shown slowing down for the characters and then snapping back to the clock. The opera ends in the final, prolonged moment before the bomb is detonated.

Although the original commission for the opera suggested that U.S. physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb", be fashioned as a 20th-century Doctor Faustus, Adams and Sellars deliberately worked to avoid this characterization. Alice Goodman worked for two years with Adams on the project before leaving. She objected to the characterization of Edward Teller, as dictated by the original commission.{{cite news |last=Service|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Service|title='This was the start of a new epoch in human history'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/sep/29/classicalmusicandopera1|access-date=August 8, 2023|work=The Guardian|date=September 29, 2005}}

The work centers on key players in the Manhattan Project, especially Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves. It also features Kitty Oppenheimer, Robert's wife. Sellars adapted the libretto from primary historical sources.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}

Doctor Atomic is similar in style to previous Adams operas Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, both of which explored the characters and personalities of figures who were involved in historical incidents, rather than a re-enactment of the events themselves.[http://bachtrack.com/review-dec-2013-met-od-doctor-atomic-2008 "The Met in HD, Doctor Atomic, 2008"] by Timothy Robson, Bachtrack, December 1, 2013

Sellars adapted much of the text for the opera from declassified U.S. government documents and communications among the scientists, government officials, and military personnel who were involved in the project.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} He also included poetry by Charles Baudelaire and Muriel Rukeyser, the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, quotes from the Bhagavad Gita, and a traditional Tewa native song.Songs of the Tewa by Herbert J. Spinden, 1933, reprinted by Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1997

Marvin Cohen, professor of physics at UC Berkeley and president of the American Physical Society at the time, criticized some parts of the libretto for not being strictly scientifically correct.[http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/09/22_cohen.shtml "Libretto takes liberties with fundamental physics: Professor's technical concerns fall on deaf ears"], The Berkeleyan, September 22, 2005 In particular he took issue with the original opening lines, which were excerpted from the 1945 Smyth Report:

:"Matter can be neither created nor destroyed but only altered in form.

:Energy can be neither created nor destroyed but only altered in form."

Following Cohen's criticism, Adams rewrote the opening chorus,{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} which now reads:

We believed that

"Matter can be neither

created nor destroyed

but only altered in form."

We believed that

"Energy can be neither

created nor destroyed

but only altered in form."

But now we know that

energy may become matter,

and now we know that

matter may become energy

and thus be altered in form.

The aria, sung by Oppenheimer, uses text from Donne's "Holy Sonnet XIV":

Batter my heart, three person'd God; For you

As yet but knock, breathe, knock, breathe, knock, breathe

Shine, and seek to mend;

Batter my heart, three person'd God;

That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend

Your force, to break, blow, break, blow, break, blow

burn and make me new.

I, like an usurpt town, to another due,

Labor to admit you, but Oh, to no end,

Reason your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue,

Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,

But am betroth'd unto your enemy,

Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

This was borrowed from the Bhagavad Gita (translated into English by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood){{citation needed|date=July 2015}} and reads:

At the sight of this, your Shape stupendous,

Full of mouths and eyes, feet, thighs and bellies,

Terrible with fangs, O master,

All the worlds are fear-struck, even just as I am.

When I see you, Vishnu, omnipresent,

Shouldering the sky, in hues of rainbow,

With your mouths agape and flame-eyes staring—

All my peace is gone; my heart is troubled.

This act is peppered with a repeated refrain from Pasqualita, the Oppenheimers' Tewa Native American housemaid. The text comes from a traditional Tewa song, and subsequent reiterations repeat the text with the direction changed to west, east, and south:

In the north the cloud-flower blossoms

And now the lightning flashes

And now the thunder clashes

And now the rain comes down! A-a-aha, a-a-aha, my little one.

In June 2007 this production made its European première at De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam. It then opened in December 2007 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, again directed by Sellars, with Finley and Owens reprising their roles. Adams and Sellars made "some significant changes" to the opera and production in response to feedback from the San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Chicago productions.Tommasini, Anthony, [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/arts/music/17atom.html "Doctor Atomic: Tweaking a Definitive Moment in History"], The New York Times, December 17, 2007 (Retrieved February 9, 2009)

A new production of the opera, directed by the film director Penny Woolcock and conducted by Alan Gilbert, was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New YorkWestphal, Matthew, [https://playbill.com/article/met-and-eno-to-collaborate-on-productions-of-adamss-doctor-atomic-new-golijov-opera "Met and ENO to Collaborate on Productions of Adams's Doctor Atomic, New Golijov Opera"], Playbill Arts, August 15, 2007 in October 2008 and was part of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series on November 8, 2008. The assistant conductor for this production was also Donato Cabrera. The HD video of the production was later televised nationally on PBS as well, in the Great Performances at the Met series in December 2008. On January 17, 2009, the Met production of the opera was heard on NPR as part of the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Penny Woolcock's production was restaged by the English National Opera in London, February 25 to March 20, 2009, with Gerald Finley reprising his portrayal of the lead.Andrew Clements, [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/feb/27/doctor-atomic-coliseum-review "Doctor Atomic"], The Guardian (London), 26 February 2009. (Retrieved March 4, 2014) The 2008 Met production was streamed online without charge on June 23 and December 8, 2020.{{Cite web|title=Week 15|url=https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/week-15/|access-date=2020-10-15|website=www.metopera.org|language=en}} In July 2023 the opera was performed in an abandoned train warehouse in Utrecht as part of a science and music festival.{{Cite web|title=Doctor Atomic|url=https://doctoratomic.nl/|access-date=2023-07-09|website=doctoratomic.nl|language=nl}} The performance has the support of both the composer and the librettist. {{YouTube|id=0FOhtDJ6aYk|title=Interview met componist John Adams}}

Adams had written the role of Kitty Oppenheimer for the mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. However, she was unable to commit to the project due to her health (she died soon after the work premiered). The work was sung in the world premiere by mezzo Kristine Jepson.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.therestisnoise.com/2005/09/doctor_atomic.html|title=Doctor Atomic – Countdown|author=Alex Ross|date=October 3, 2005|via=therestisnoise.com|magazine=The New Yorker|pages=60–71}} For the second major production, at De Nederlandse Opera, Adams reworked the role for a soprano, Jessica Rivera.[http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/o/opu00998dvdb.php Doctor Atomic], The Netherlands Opera recording For the Metropolitan Opera Premiere, the role was again sung by a mezzo, Sasha Cooke.

File:JA-portrait-1-LW.jpg

In 2007, Adams adapted the opera into the Doctor Atomic Symphony. Music was taken from the overture, various interludes and orchestral settings were made of arias like Oppenheimer's signature "Batter My Heart". The work was first premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted by the composer on August 21, 2007, at a BBC Proms concert. Originally composed in four movements and lasting 45 minutes, the symphony was revised by Adams to just three movements (played without a break) and 25 minutes' length. This version was first premiered by St. Louis Symphony conducted by David Robertson at Carnegie Hall in February 16, 2008.Carnegie Hall: [https://www.carnegiehall.org/About/History/Performance-History-Search?q=&dex=prod_PHS&page=6&event=45771&cmp=John%20Adams_ Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 8 PM Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra]. It is recorded in 2008 by the St. Louis Symphony, conducted by David Robertson and released by Nonesuch Records on July 20, 2009.{{Cite web |title=Doctor Atomic Symphony on Adams' website |url=http://www.earbox.com/W-doctoratomic-symphony.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606205405/http://www.earbox.com/W-doctoratomic-symphony.html |archive-date=June 6, 2010 |url-status=dead}}[http://www.earbox.com/W-doctoratomic.html Doctor Atomic] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217034836/http://www.earbox.com/W-doctoratomic.html |date=February 17, 2010 }}, details of the opera on Adams' website Adams has cited Sibelius's Seventh Symphony as a model for the ultimate form of the Doctor Atomic Symphony.May, T.: [https://www.juilliard.edu/news/136846/john-adams-yin-and-yang-his-musical-life John Adams on the Yin and Yang of His Musical Life]. Juilliard Journal, Nov 19, 2018.

• 2008: DVD widescreen DTS sound; or Blu-ray widescreen Dolby True HD sound with Gerald Finley as J. Robert Oppenheimer; conductor: Lawrence Renes; Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus; Studio: Opus Arte
• 2008 HD video: Production by Penny Woolcock, conducted by Alan Gilbert, with Gerald Finley as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Sasha Cooke as Kitty Oppenheimer, Richard Paul Fink as Edward Teller, and Thomas Glenn as Robert Wilson. Recorded live on 8 November 2008 at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City.Streaming HD video: [https://www.metopera.org/season/on-demand/opera/?upc=811357012130 Doctor Atomic (8 November 2008)], Met Opera on Demand; [http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352679 "CID:352679"], Met Opera Archive; DVD: Sony, 2011 ({{OCLC|698771636}}).
• 2012: Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording-winning audio recording with Gilbert, Finley, Cooke, Fink, Glenn, Metropolitan Opera, 2008 Sony
• 2018: Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording-nominated official audio recording with Gerald Finley, Julia Bullock, Jennifer Johnston, Brindley Sherratt, Andrew Staples, Marcus Farnsworth, Aubrey Allicock, BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, John Adams, 2018 Nonesuch Records

{{Portal|Opera}}

• Copenhagen, a play by Michael Frayn about a 1941 meeting of Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen
• Oppenheimer, film directed by Christopher Nolan and released in July 2023

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.earbox.com/doctor-atomic/ Doctor Atomic], John Adams' website
• [https://www.metopera.org/user-information/synopses-archive/doctor-atomic Synopsis], Metropolitan Opera
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719024627/http://www.operainfo.org/broadcast/operaBackground.cgi?id=1000000000000130&language=1&bid=1000000000000896 The Making of the Doctor Atomic Libretto], details the sources and quotes in the libretto
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719024646/http://www.operainfo.org/broadcast/operaSynopsis.cgi?id=1000000000000130&language=1 Detailed synopsis]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719024707/http://www.operainfo.org/broadcast/operaStory.cgi?id=1000000000000130&language=1 Scene-by-scene plot]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719024727/http://www.operainfo.org/broadcast/operaCast.cgi?id=1000000000000130&language=1 The characters]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719024745/http://www.operainfo.org/broadcast/operaBackground.cgi?id=1000000000000130&language=1&bid=1000000000000895 Historical Personalities of Doctor Atomic]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719024758/http://www.operainfo.org/broadcast/operaBackground.cgi?id=1000000000000130&language=1&bid=1500000000000887 The Manhattan Project]
• [https://ionarts.blogspot.com/2005/10/doctor-atomic.html Doctor Atomic reviews] by Karren L. Alenier, October 1, 2005, ionarts blog
• [https://annex.exploratorium.edu/doctoratomic/ "Doctor Atomic: Commentary on an Opera"] the San Francisco Exploratorium
• Wonders Are Many (2007 documentary), the making of the opera and preparation for its San Francisco debut ({{IMDb title|id=0912601|title=Wonders Are Many|description=(2007)}})
• [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/10/28/science/28manhattanproject.html "Voices of the Manhattan Project"], The New York Times, October 28, 2008

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Category:2005 operas

Category:Cultural depictions of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Category:English-language operas

Category:Hinduism in opera

Category:Manhattan Project in popular culture

Category:Minimalist operas

Category:Nuclear war and weapons in popular culture

Category:Opera world premieres at San Francisco Opera

Category:Operas

Category:Operas based on real people

Category:Operas by John Adams (composer)

Category:Operas set in the 20th century

Category:Operas set in the United States