Four Saints in Three Acts

After the chorus sings a prelude, the first act takes place at the Ávila cathedral; it is titled "St. Teresa half indoors and half out of doors". Act two, "Might it be mountains if it were not Barcelona", involves a telescope and glimpses of a heavenly mansion. Act three, "St. Ignatius and one of two literally" is a picnic and contains Ignatius' famous aria "Pigeons on the grass alas". It ends with a tango-like ballet. The brief fourth act ("The sisters and saints reassembled and re-enacting why they went away to stay") is set at the garden of a monastery. Before the curtain falls the Compère announces "Last act", and the chorus replies "Which is a fact".

The cast of the original production included:

• Edward Matthews as "St Ignatius" (baritone)
• Beatrice Robinson-Wayne as "St Teresa I" (soprano)
• Bruce Howard as "St Teresa II" (contralto)
• Embry Bonner as "St. Chavez" (tenor)
• Bertha Fitzhugh Baker as "St. Settlement" (soprano)
• Randolph Robinson as "St. Plan"
• Abner Dorsey as "the Compère" (bass)
• Altonell Hines as "the Commere" (mezzo)
• Ruby Greene
• Inez Matthews (Edward Matthews' sister)
• Charles Holland
• The Eva Jessye Choir, led by Eva Jessye

After its premiere February 7, 1934, at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut,Houseman, John, Run Through: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972, {{ISBN|0-671-21034-3}}{{Rp|99–100}} Four Saints in Three Acts opened on Broadway at the 44th Street Theatre February 20, 1934.{{cite web |url=http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=11839 |title=Four Saints in Three Acts |publisher=Internet Broadway Database |access-date=January 24, 2015}} The opera was notable in defying many aspects of traditional performance. Stein's libretto focused more on an affinity for the sounds of words than on presenting a narrative. Thomson's music was unconventional in its very simplicity. Eva Jessye, a black music pioneer in New York, directed the singers and her choir in the production. The production was directed by John Houseman, who was 31 and had only recently turned his attention to theater after working in the international grain market.Tommasini (1997) p. 241

The sets of the first production, designed by artist Florine Stettheimer, included innovative cellophane backdrops and brilliant pure white lighting, and the costumes (also Stettheimer's) were of colorful lace, silk and taffeta. Frederick Ashton provided the choreography (after George Balanchine turned down the job).

Also considered unusual was the portrayal of the European saints by an all-black cast, for which there was no precedent in American history. These unconventional elements led to a successful and well-received first production.{{cite book|last=Meckna|first=Michael|title=Virgil Thomson: A Bio-Bibliography|year=1986|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=New York|isbn=0-313-25010-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/virgilthomsonbio00meck/page/5 5–6]|url=https://archive.org/details/virgilthomsonbio00meck/page/5}} While critics were divided, audiences accepted the fantasy world created by the singers, who vividly conveyed the words and melodies given to their saintly characters.

The opera would be performed later as a concert oratorio, as in the 1942 and 1947 radio broadcasts. In addition, a production at Town Hall was conducted by Alexander Smallens in which John Serry Sr. collaborated as the orchestral accordionist and Leonard De Paur as the choir director.The New York Times May 28, 1941 P. 32 Stage performances were produced in 1952 and 1973. In 1981, a New York concert version was performed for Thomson's eighty-fifth birthday celebration. For this performance, Betty Allen, Gwendolyn Bradley, William Brown, Clamma Dale, Benjamin Matthews, Florence Quivar and Arthur Thompson sang the principal parts.

There have also been stagings by Robert Wilson and the choreographer Mark Morris, who created a dance piece for it. The involvement of photographers including Lee Miller, Carl Van Vechten, and George Platt Lynes in documenting and representing the opera and its original performances in 1934 is explored in an exhibition of photographs and ephemera at The Photographers' Gallery in London in October 2017; a book of criticism was published as well.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/986237031 |title=4 saints in 3 acts: a snapshot of the American avant-garde in the 1930s |date=2017 |publisher=Manchester University Press ; In collaboration with The Photographers' Gallery |isbn=978-1-5261-1303-0 |editor-last=Allmer |editor-first=Patricia |location=Manchester : London |oclc=986237031 |editor-last2=Sears |editor-first2=John |editor-last3=Photographers' Gallery}}

In 2022, a Doxsee Theater production featuring David Greenspan staged Stein's text as a spoken one man show.{{Cite news |last=Collins-Hughes |first=Laura |date=2022-09-20 |title='Four Saints in Three Acts' Review: An Opera Becomes a One-Man Show |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/theater/four-saints-in-three-acts-review.html |access-date=2023-01-03 |issn=0362-4331}} It ran from September 15th to October 9th,{{Cite web |date=2022-07-28 |title=Four Saints in Three Acts - Lucille Lortel Theatre |url=https://lortel.org/four-saints-in-three-acts/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=lortel.org |language=en-US}} and it received positive reviews from The New York Times, The New York Stage Review,{{Cite web |last=Finkle |first=David |date=2022-09-21 |title=Four Saints in Three Acts: Gertrude Stein's Prose-Poem Brilliantly Played |url=https://nystagereview.com/2022/09/20/four-saints-in-three-acts-gertrude-steins-prose-poem-brilliantly-played/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=New York Stage Review |language=en-US}} and The New Yorker.{{Cite magazine |last=Shaw |first=Helen |date=2022-09-22 |title=An Actor's One-Man Apotheosis |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/03/an-actors-one-man-apotheosis-four-saints-in-three-acts |access-date=2023-01-03 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor-last1=Allmer |editor-first1=Patricia |editor-last2=Sears |editor-first2=John |date=2017 |title=4 Saints in 3 Acts: A Snapshot of the American Avant-garde in the 1930s |url= |location=Manchester |publisher=Manchester University Press |page= |isbn=978-1-5261-1303-0}}
• Southern, Eileen. 1997. The Music of Black Americans: A History. 3rd edition. New York: W. W. Norton. {{ISBN|0-393-03843-2}} [cloth] {{ISBN|0-393-97141-4}} [pbk]
• Tommasini, Anthony. 1998. Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle. New York: W. W. Norton. {{ISBN|0-393-31858-3}}
• Watson, Steven. 1998. Prepare for Saints: Gertrude Stein, Virgil Thomson, and the Mainstreaming of American Modernism. New York: Random House. {{ISBN|0-679-44139-5}}

• [http://www.quotinggertrudestein.com Renate Stendhal, "Quoting Gertrude Stein"], blog by Stein scholar
• [https://www.amazon.com/Gertrude-Stein-Pictures-Renate-Stendhal/dp/0945575998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308633947&sr=8-1 Renate Stendhal, ed., Gertrude Stein In Words and Pictures: A Photobiography], Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1989. {{ISBN|0-945575-99-8}}; {{ISBN|978-0-945575-99-3}}.

• [http://www.kpfahistory.info/music/4_saints.html The 1947 CBS broadcast, domestically recorded off the air.]
• [http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526113030/ Manchester University Press – 4 saints in 3 acts]

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Category:Libretti by Gertrude Stein

Category:Operas by Virgil Thomson

Category:English-language operas

Category:Operas

Category:All-Black cast Broadway shows

Category:1934 operas

Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings

Category:Cultural depictions of Teresa of Ávila

Category:Ignatius of Loyola