Music: The Dybbuk

In Jewish lore, a “dybbuk” is the soul of someone who dies without fulfilling his destiny; to earn eternal rest, the soul must return to earth and find fulfillment in the body of somebody else. The Dybbuk of Russian Playwright S. Ansky has been an international stage classic for 30 years. A lot of people were sure it would make first-class opera, but all attempts seemed to end in failure.

Two Oregon-born brothers, Alex and David Tamkin, finished an operatic version in 1933. Met Conductor Artur Bodanzky saw it and liked it, but died before he could get it produced. Over the years, The Dybbuk inhabited several other composers, among them Hollywood’s Dimitri Tiomkin. Two years ago, excerpts from the Tamkin work were presented in Portland, Ore. Last season the New York City Opera scheduled a production, but postponed it “for economy.” Last week the Tamkin Dybbuk finally found fulfillment, and Manhattan’s City Center Theater was packed for the world première.

Alex Tamkin stayed close to the theme of Ansky’s tragedy for his English libretto, produced what the brothers call “a story of Romeo and Juliet set forth in … cabalistic symbolism.” An impoverished young Talmudic scholar named Channon wants to marry Leah, the daughter of a practical bourgeois type who thinks his daughter can do a lot better. Torn with love and bitterness, Channon studies mystic books, tampers with the supernatural, and is struck dead. But he returns as a dybbuk, to inhabit the body of Leah herself, just as she is presented with her wedding veil. In the final act, a rabbi exorcises the dybbuk, but Leah collapses, to join her beloved Channon in death.

Librettist Alex had a good story and told it well. And Composer David had the taste not to try to drown out the drama onstage with too much brass from the pit. His score, dramatic and often lyrical, was not always distinguished. But together, action and music moved on to the climax with the inevitability of a conveyor belt.

The New York City Opera atoned for its delay with a brilliant production. With fine dramatic performances by Soprano Patricia (The Consul) Neway and Tenor Robert (Tales of Hoffmann) Rounseville, The Dybbuk was well worth the 18-year wait.