Susannah—Coaching Opera With a Twang
by KATHRYN LABOUFF

For many weeks, the cast of the Juilliard Opera Center’s production of Susannah has been hard at work learning to sing in the Appalachian dialect. The libretto of Susannah—set in New Hope Valley, Tenn., in the Appalachian Mountains—is filled with the colorful language of this remote mountain region. A product of Scots-Irish immigration over 300 years ago, the Appalachian dialect has remained intact and free of modern influence, due largely to the remote isolation of the area. Even today many areas in Appalachia have no electricity and running water.

Carlisle Floyd, the composer and librettist of Susannah, is himself the son of an itinerant minister and traveled with his father throughout this area during his childhood. It is the character of this culture and the people of Appalachia that Floyd has captured so vividly in his libretto. In the revival scene in Act Two, the church members sing of being “warshed in the blood that was bought so dear.” Mrs. McLean, the community’s domineering matriarch, spews out her venom toward Susannah with, “I wouldn’t tech them peas of herrn!”

An accent that has been internationalized in the singing of country-and-western stars such as Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Kenny Rogers, Appalachian English is responsible for words like “cain’t,” “ain’t,” “widder” (for widow), and “knowed” (for knew) that are found in the American English vernacular. The color and lilt of this dialect can be heard in the text of Susannah’s friend, Little Bat: “All them men was shore acourtin’ you: I seed’em every one.”

Singing this style of speech has been a new challenge for the Juilliard cast members, who must handle this wonderfully colorful pronunciation with authenticity but with operatic vocal style. It has been very tempting to slip into sounding like country-and-western singers rather than the highly trained operatic progeny of the Juilliard Opera Center. The opulent score of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah is very richly orchestrated with brass and wind writing and requires full-blown operatic singing while still negotiating the characteristic Appalachian twang.

Soprano Angela Fout, who sings the title role of Susannah, has not found the dialect to be immensely difficult. “With a little bit of practice, it has become an organic part of the character and text.” Simon O’Neill, who plays Susannah’s brother Sam, has had fun replacing his own New Zealand accent with Appalachian. “I like it! It think it’s great. With the helpful details and tools for singing the accent, it’s actually become quite easy. I think it’s wonderful to sing!”

Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah is one of the masterpieces of 20th-century American opera, an American story set in a remote place, but with a relevance that is universal. Grand Opera it is. Grand Ol’ Opry it ain’t!

Kathryn LaBouff is an English diction coach on the Juilliard vocal arts faculty. She has coached the Appalachian dialect for productions of Floyd’s Susannah and Cold Sassy Tree for Houston Grand Opera, Vancouver Opera, and Washington Opera.