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An opera based on Melville’s masterpiece, 'Moby-Dick,' docks at the Met

By MIKE SILVERMAN - Feb 28, 2025, 11:49 AM ET
Last Updated - Feb 28, 2025, 11:49 AM EST
Opera-Moby-Dick
This image released by the Metropolitan Opera shows a scene from a rehearsal of the opera "Moby-Dick" at the Metropolitan Opera on Feb. 20, 2025 in New York. (Karen Almond/Met Opera via AP)

The Metropolitan Opera is staging a production of Herman Melville's masterpiece about a white whale, ‘Moby-Dick

When Leonard Foglia was invited to direct an opera based on Herman Melville’s masterpiece about a white whale, his first reaction was: “Moby-Dick. That’s great!”

“Then I ran to a used bookstore and got the book,” he recalled, “and I thought: ‘Oh my God, what am I in for here?’ It’s so daunting. I didn’t panic, but I thought, ‘How do we do this?’”

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How he and his collaborators did it will be on display at the Metropolitan Opera beginning March 3. The opera is composed by Jake Heggie to a libretto crafted by Gene Scheer.

To begin with, Scheer had to whittle a novel of more than 600 pages down to a 64-page libretto. He kept as much of Melville’s language as possible, and estimates that 40% to 50% of his libretto can be found in the original text, though he often tweaked the phrasing to make it more singable.

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