Carlisle Floyd

Carlisle Floyd (born 1926 in Latta, South Carolina) is an American opera composer. Many of his works are based on themes from the South. His opera Susannah (1955), composed when he was on the piano faculty at Florida State University, is considered to be his masterpiece and it continues to be regularly performed in the United States. Aside from his theatre works, he composed a "solo cantata on biblical texts," Pilgrimage, which was premiered (with Norman Treigle as the soloist) in 1960, at Syracuse University.

Major works

• Slow Dusk (1949)
• Susannah (1955)
• Wuthering Heights (1958)
• The Passion of Jonathan Wade (1962)
• The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair (1963)
• Markheim (1966)
• Of Mice and Men (1970)
• Flower and Hawk (1972)
• Bilby's Doll (1976)
• Willie Stark (1981)
• Cold Sassy Tree (2000)

Discography

• Susannah (Curtin, Cassilly, Treigle; Andersson, 1962) [live] VAI
• Susannah (Studer, Hadley, Ramey; Nagano, 1993-94) Virgin Classics
• Pilgrimage: excerpts (Treigle; Torkanowsky, 1971) Orion
• The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair (Neway, Treigle; Rudel, 1963) VAI
• Markheim (Schuh, Treigle; Andersson, 1966) [live] VAI
• Of Mice and Men (Futral, Griffey, Hawkins; Summers, 2002) [live] Albany Records
• Cold Sassy Tree (Rachette; Summers, 2000) [live] Albany Records

Videography

• Susannah: Revival Scene (Treigle; Yestadt, Treigle, 1958) [live] Bel Canto Society

External links

• Operas we would like to see again
• Opera's southern gentleman