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<DIV><BR>I would like to draw your attention to two recent additions to The
Worlds of Herman Voaden website <A
href="http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/Theatre/voaden/index.htm">http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/Theatre/voaden/index.htm</A></DIV>
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<DIV>"Frederick Jacobi and Herman Voaden: The Prodigal Son" is an in-depth study
of the collaboration during 1942-44 between Voaden and the noted American
composer (1891-1952) on the opera <EM>The Prodigal Son</EM>. Jacobi had been
inspired to compose the opera by four early 19th-century American lithographs
that visualized the Biblical story in an American setting and asked Voaden to
write the libretto. Based on extensive correspondence found in the Herman Voaden
Papers at the York University Archives, this study presents an inside account of
the writing and composing of the opera, the history of subsequent concert and
stage presentations in the U.S., London and Toronto over the subsequent decade,
and speculates how the opera might be staged today. The posted research
discusses the rise of a distinct indigenous American music in the early 1920s,
the critical climate of the period, the question of nationalism in music, and
how Jacobi expressed his Jewish heritage in his compositions. The site also
features a complete chronology and discography of Jacobi's works, 50 photographs
and the complete text of Voaden's opera libretto for <EM>The Prodigal
Son</EM>.</DIV>
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<DIV>Another addition to the Voaden website is the previously unpublished radio
play, <EM>Election Report</EM>, written in late 1944-45. (Click "Unpublished
Plays" and then "Election Report.") This may be the first Canadian Point-of-View
radio drama and describes Voaden's candidacy as a candidate for the CCF in the
June 1945 federal election. With a predominantly labour constituency and the
home base of Tim Buck, Canada's best-known Communist leader, Voaden's riding of
Trinity was probably one of the most difficult to win in Canada. In the 1945
election, Buck won 7,488 votes for the Labour-Progressive Party, Voaden 3,425
for the CCF, the Liberal Party 8,817 and the Conservatives 8,908.</DIV>
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<DIV>Voaden and Tim Buck dueled one another via 15-minute political radio
broadcasts on CKEY and the direct address of the audience in <EM>Election
Report</EM> probably derives from these radio broadcasts. Voaden's description
of the buying of votes, corporate propaganda and "sign terrorism" in 1945 make
the recent federal election seem tame in comparison.</DIV>
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<DIV>I am very grateful to Ed Mullaly for designing and managing The Worlds of
Herman Voaden website.<BR> </DIV>
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