Composer Philip Glass turns to Civil War

By Arthur Spiegelman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Composer Philip Glass is an ambitious man who at age 70 is debuting an opera about the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history, whose legacy still haunts the country more than 140 years later.

Glass, whose inspirations for more than 20 operas have ranged from a vision of Albert Einstein strolling on the beach to Gandhi preaching nonviolence, says the new opera, "Appomattox," is different from his other works.

He says its music is more personal and the work draws heavily on his own memories as a boy in World War Two and later as a young man in Baltimore, navigating a world split into segregated parts for blacks and whites.

It also draws on his admiration for Confederate commander Gen. Robert E. Lee and his Union Army counterpart, Ulysses S. Grant. Lee's surrender to Grant on April 9, 1865, in the Virginia village of Appomattox Court House, effectively ended the four-year war between the Northern and Southern states.

"Appomattox," with a libretto by British dramatist Christopher Hampton and directed by Robert Woodruff, has its world premiere on Friday at the San Francisco Opera House and has been billed as one of the biggest events in American opera this autumn.

F. Paul Driscoll, editor of "Opera News," called Glass among the best-known Americans writing opera today.

"He is attracted by high themes. He is not interested in light comedy or adapting novels. He is one of a small, select group interested in larger issues."

In a recent interview, Glass was quick to express his admiration for both Grant and Lee.