“There is More to the Matter” – from Promised Land: a Voting Rights Folk Opera

Format: Octavo (manuscript)
Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Piano, Violoncello, Maracas


($2 per singer + $15 for accompaniment)

This product includes manuscript versions of the full score, piano-vocal score, and individual accompaniment scores.

This passionate choral overture presents some of the key melodies and texts that frame this pre-Civil War voting rights story.

Promised Land: a Voting Rights Folk Opera –
In the 1850s, abolitionist Gerrit Smith (with John Brown, Frederick Douglass and others) gave away over 120,000 acres of Adirondack farmland to 3,000 free blacks in an attempt to fulfill New York State’s onerous property requirement necessary for blacks to vote. This opera brings this complex struggle to life with deeply emotional melodies, driving 19th century dance rhythms and the dramatic struggle for racial equality and inclusive democracy.

Audio Recording –