Gordon Getty’s one-act, one-hour opera The Canterville Ghost is also a targeted rather than general-interest release. It is quite well-done in its handling of Oscar Wilder’s novella, his first published story (1887): Getty has a fine sense of the contrast between Old World and New World that lies at the heart of the tale, in which Americans move into a haunted castle and refuse to be frightened by the resident ghost.
Getty is not the first contemporary composer to create an opera based on this story: Alexander Knaifel did so back in 1966. And the novella has been adapted in many other media, including film and television. So Getty’s handling of it as a rather traditional opera, using his own libretto, is quite fine but on the straightforward side. In Wilde’s story, the American family’s 15-year-old daughter, Virginia, eventually helps the ghost find peace and move on to the next world, and the way in which she and the ghost learn from each other is ultimately the point of the story. Virginia is not exactly heroic, however – she is simply willing to take the ghost seriously. Getty casts Virginia (Alexandra Hutton) in a rather more heroic mode than is strictly necessary, and as a result the ghost (Matthew Treviño) is somewhat less the center of attention than he is in Wilde’s tale. In operatic terms, this certainly works, and the two characters’ voices are particularly well contrasted (she being the only soprano in the cast and he the only bass).
Wilde’s story itself repays multiple readings, since it includes the clash of values between Old and New Worlds, the meaning of growing up, and some meditations on life, death and love. Getty’s opera is more of a surface-level treat, but it is a treat nevertheless – for those interested in a story with 19th-century sensibilities being clothed in contemporary musical dress (the opera was first performed in 2015). The PentaTone recording is very fine, and opera lovers looking for something new – and not musically overstated – will find The Canterville Ghost involving, if not particularly haunting.
Getty’s musical language is essentially tonal, his essential focus being on communicating the meaning of the words of his libretto.