New York’s Trinity Church to debut opera honoring Bishop John Henry Hobart

[Episcopal News Service] A concert opera honoring Bishop John Henry Hobart will make its world debut May 31 at Trinity Church in New York. 

The church’s Trinity Choir and Downtown Voices choral ensembles will perform the piece with its new music chamber ensemble, NOVUS. Melissa Attebury, Trinity’s music director, will conduct the 50-minute work, which features two soloists depicting Hobart and a narrator, and organ and piano.

Trinity commissioned David Hurd, music director at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Manhattan, to compose the choral work, “Great Awakenings: John Henry Hobart and America,” in celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary. A concert opera is a full-length opera production presented on a stage without theatrical sets, costumes or acting.

“Everybody knows about [Founding Father] Alexander Hamilton, who’s buried at Trinity Churchyard, from history books and, of course, the Broadway musical … but very few people know that buried nearby is Hobart, another historical figure,” Hurd, a cradle Episcopalian who previously served as an organist and sexton at Trinity, told Episcopal News Service.

Hobart, whose Episcopal feast day is celebrated on Sept. 12, was Trinity’s seventh rector from 1816 to 1830 and a co-founder of the General Theological Seminary. He served as the third diocesan bishop of New York, when the diocese covered the entire state, from 1816 until his death in 1830 at 54. He is buried beneath the chancel inside Trinity. Hobart also was instrumental in founding the college that now bears his name, Hobart College, in Geneva, now within the Diocese of Central New York. Additionally, he’s the namesake of Hobart, New York.

He founded parishes throughout New York state during his episcopate – including St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Harlem, the first Black Episcopal church in New York City – and is remembered in the church’s Lesser Feasts and Fasts as “one of the leaders who revived The Episcopal Church, following the first two decades of its independent life after the American Revolution.” The church had fewer than 10,000 members by the end of the war because it was still a part of the Church of England, which was loyal to King George III.

“Hobart tried to bring all types of people into The Episcopal Church,” Long Island Assisting Bishop William Franklin, former bishop of Western New York, told ENS in an email. “We know that he was a wonderful preacher … and he made people leave church feeling joyful and happy.”

Franklin is also a church historian who taught at the General Theological Seminary at the same time as Hurd. He pitched the idea of a musical work on Hobart’s life and legacy ahead of the United States’s 250th anniversary to Trinity in 2024. Hurd, a renowned composer and organist, colleague and friend, was the natural commissioning choice.

The libretto, which was written by Christopher Dylan Herbert, a former Trinity Choir member, includes quotes from Hobart’s sermons, Scripture and hymns. It divides “Great Awakenings” into four separate but interconnected movements: Hobart’s vision and flaws; his hopes to create a more democratic church; preaching the Gospel in Hobart’s own words; and Hobart’s heritage.

Although “Great Awakenings” is meant to honor and highlight Hobart’s accomplishments and radical views for his time, Franklin and Hurd both stressed the importance of acknowledging his shortcomings early in the piece. For example, Hobart commissioned an Oneida translation of the Book of Common Prayer. He also engaged in missionary work with the Oneida Native Americans and helped them relocate to Wisconsin after they were forced to leave New York. However, he never advocated for preventing or stopping their relocation. He also ordained the Rev. Peter Williams Jr., the second Black Episcopal priest, but he never publicly denounced slavery, even though he was personally against it.

These contrasting ideas are highlighted in the first movement in a sung dialogue, with the mezzo soprano narrator listing some of Hobart’s accomplishments and the chorus responding by listing his shortcomings. The tenor soloist depicting Hobart doesn’t sing until the second movement.

“Slavery was normal in Hobart’s time. It wasn’t good; it wasn’t righteous, and we know now what a horrible thing this common practice was, but only the most courageous people were speaking out against it at the time,” Hurd said. “His work needs to be regarded in its own context as having been in the right direction.”

In the third movement, the choir quotes Psalm 137. During the fourth moment, Attebury will invite the audience to join the chorus in singing part of a hymn that was sung at Hobart’s funeral.

Throughout the piece, a clarinet solo will accompany the tenor as he sings Hobart’s lines.

While listening to “Great Awakenings,” Hurd said he hopes the audience and performers will be “present in the moment” while they reflect on Hobart’s legacy. In his own reflection, Hurd said he thinks Hobart would feel “embarrassed that all this fuss is being made over him.”

“Somehow, I don’t imagine Hobart as being a self-absorbed person who would be comfortable with a lot of praise,” Hurd said. “I think he’d tell us to read the Gospel and answer our callings. He wore all the vestments, but at the bottom level, I think he was more interested in getting out and fulfilling God’s mission than basking in glory.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.