Frederick Douglass is a full-length opera written and composed by Dorothy Rudd Moore. It is 180 minutes in duration and consists of three acts. [1] The world premiere took place in 1985 at City College of New York's Aaron Davis Hall. [2] The opera was commissioned by Opera Ebony. [3]
Moore expressed that she chose to write the opera because Frederick Douglass had always interested her. [4] She researched his life, wrote the libretto, the composition and the orchestration for the work, which took eight years to complete. [4] The opera is based on his biography, and is less of a dramatic work than a "series of musical meditations on love, death, religion, political oppression and eventual deliverance." [2]
The plot of the opera revolves around Douglass's second marriage, the Freedman's Savings Bank collapse and his mission to Haiti. [5] Moore's music contains elements of nineteenth-century melodies and Haitian folk music. [5] The opera has a mixed-race cast and includes a ballet. [4]