Stage: The Warrior

The Warrior, An Opera in One Act

Bernard Rogers composed four operas, the second of which, The Warrior, won the 1946 Alice M. Ditson Fund Contest, a competition sponsored by Columbia University for new American short operas. Under the terms of the contest, the Metropolitan held a one-year option to present the opera’s first performance, which they exercised for the 1946-47 season.

The Warrior was based on the story of Samson and Delilah and had a libretto by Norman Corwin, a Boston radio writer. Corwin took his inspiration from the Bible, Judges XVI:16-23, but acknowledged having " written a variation on an old folk theme, developing character at my pleasure... The play is one of shifting atmospheres: it vacillates between the candlelight of private happenings and the harsh glare of public celebration." (Times, January 5, 1947.)

Rogers was drawn to Claude Debussy, particularly his opera Pelléas et Mélisande, but also was attempting to resurrect the recitative-heavy style of the pre-Monteverdi operas of the Florentine Camerata. "It is not a conventional score with arias and recitatives," explained Rogers. " The vocal writing is 'parlando,' practically throughout. It is in song-speech style. The vocal line is strictly subservient to the text and not a melodic expansion of it." (Times, January 5, 1947.)

The world premiere of The Warrior took place on January 11, 1947, with Mack Harrell in the role of Samson and Regina Resnik as Delilah; Max Rudolf conducted.

This piece is not available for production today.