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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Our Town (opera)

opera by Ned Rorem

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ7111217 ↗
Source-derived summary

Our Town is a three-act opera by composer Ned Rorem and librettist J. D. McClatchy. It is the first opera to be adapted from Thornton Wilder's 1938 play of the same name. The opera was commissioned by Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Opera Boston, the Aspen Music Festival and School, North Carolina School of the Arts, Lake George Opera in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, Calif.

Roles

The following principal roles appear as listed in the score published by Boosey & Hawkes:

Stage Manager: Tenor

Emily Webb, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Webb: Soprano

George Gibbs, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs: Tenor

Dr. Gibbs, the town doctor: Bass

Mrs. Gibbs: Mezzo-Soprano

Mr.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Our Town (opera)” as opera by Ned Rorem. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Town, opera and Rorem.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1938—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Town, opera and Rorem providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Our Town (opera)”, the useful work is to connect “opera by Ned Rorem” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7111217. VIAF identifies the subject as 182953073. The Library of Congress control number is no2008181776. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1938.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Our Town (opera)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Our Town (opera) primary sources, Our Town (opera) archive and Town research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Our Town (opera)”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Our Town (opera)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.