The Aspern Papers 2022

Philip Hagemann composed The Aspern Papers first as a one-act opera in 1980 and then revised it in 1988, where it was premiered at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.  The opera opens in Venice in 1888. The story revolves on the efforts of Henry Jonson, an American scholar, who goes to Venice to attempt to retrieve the papers of the early 1800s poet Jeffrey Aspern from Aspern’s last lover, Juliana Bordereau, also an American, who has lived in Venice all of her adult life and is now very old. Henry seduces Juliana’s niece, Tina, in order to access these papers. His deception leads to dramatic confrontations and drama more than he anticipated. Hagemann’s music heightens the drama and the characters to fully render James’s powerful narrative.