The Age of Innocence: A lecture by David Carpenter on his new opera

The city of New York and its social mores were two of the most important elements in Edith Wharton’s 1920 novel, The Age of Innocence. Composer David Carpenter has adapted this novel into a two-act opera, writing both the music and the libretto. In this lecture, Carpenter will discuss Wharton’s portrayal of New York society of the 1870’s, which included a number of locations in the Greenwich Village area, and how in turn this portrait of New York figures in his opera and its story of thwarted love.

David Carpenter’s music has been performed at the Aspen Music Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Brevard Music Center. In November 2010, he was a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, where he worked on this opera The Age of Innocence.