Washington, D.C.(Democracy: An American Comedy)(Opera Review)

Scott Wheeler's Democracy: An American Comedy manages to achieve an effect something like that of so-called "CNN-operas," in this case confronting audiences with characters, stories and issues plucked not from current headlines but from the past--specifically 1875, in Washington, D.C., during Ulysses S. Grant's scandal tarred presidential administration. The new work, commissioned by Washington National Opera for the company's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and given an extraordinarily committed, stylish premiere by WNO on January 28 at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium, has a libretto by Romulus Linney based on his play--also called Democracy--based, in its turn, on two classic novels by Henry Adams, Democracy and Esther.

Wheeler's Democracy seems to be more a play with accompanying music than a full-fledged opera; its bon roots do not necessarily gain in meaning or impact from being sung. And for all the libretto's humor, the music rarely laughs. Even a Fledermaus-y ode to champagne, delivered during a picnic at Mount Vernon, doesn't really bubble. This is, at heart, a very serious score, with a cool, abstract, neo-expressionist harmonic language and lots of angular melodic lines that sometimes sound arbitrarily determined. Still, the piece avoids turning heavy or ponderous, thanks in large measure to the composer's flair for Stravinsky-ish rhythmic snap; the opera's attention-grabbing opening, for example, suggests a Sousa march gone sardonically askew. And when Wheeler occasionally lets a lyrical idea fly freely, the result is quite winning, as when the strong-willed photographer Esther Dudley rhapsodizes over the hands of her suitor, Reverend Hazard, in a brief, riveting Act II aria with delicate commentary from oboe and harp. The transparent orchestration is impressive throughout, often propelled by colorful percussion riffs and colored by ...