The Scarlet Letter is an opera based on Hawthorne's novel with both music and libretto by Margaret Garwood with its world premiere November 19-21, 2010 in Philadelphia at the Academy of Vocal Arts. It opens with Hester on her deathbed and reverts to the time of her affair with the Reverend Dimmesdale, a clergyman, her trial, the well-named Chillingworth, villainous and supposedly dead husband who reappears and becomes the engine of revenge. There is her obnoxious child, Pearl, who manages to make things worse until the end when Dimmesdale dies in Hester's arms at last confessing his paternity of Pearl.
According to the composer's note Hawthorne himself thought it could be an opera. Certainly the themes are big enough. Works with themes concerning the victimization of women are apparently a continuing interest for the composer and certainly there is victimization in abundance. The horror of sexual transgression would make it so; if the woman was in anyway guilty, she would not, at that time, been a character one could sympathize with.
The production was effective; the music while a product of this time was rich and interesting. One can hope it will be done again.
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