The Source (oratorio)

{{Infobox opera | name = The Source | italic title =  | genre = Oratorio | composer = Ted Hearne | image = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | librettist = Mark Doten | language = English | based_on =  | premiere_date = {{Start date|2014|10}} | premiere_location = Brooklyn Academy of Music | website =  }}

'''''The Source''''' is an oratorio by American composer Ted Hearne, with libretto by Mark Doten. The work concerns the WikiLeaks disclosures of United States Army soldier Chelsea Manning.<ref name="latimes-14oct2016">{{cite news|author=Tim Grieving|title=Chelsea Manning as opera: Story of transgender WikiLeaks figure unfolds in 'The Source'|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-source-opera-chelsea-manning-20161016-snap-story.html|access-date=February 25, 2017|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 14, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Georgia Rowe|title=From coal miners to Chelsea Manning — the world of oratorios has changed|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/21/from-coal-miners-to-chelsea-manning-the-world-of-oratorios-has-changed/|access-date=February 25, 2017|newspaper=The Mercury News|date=February 21, 2017}}</ref>

The libretto for ''The Source'' is drawn from document disclosures as well as instant messages and interviews,<ref name="nytimes-24oct2014">{{cite news|author1=Zachary Woolfe|title=Shadowed, Clamoring, Blurry. And With Reason.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/arts/the-source-an-oratorio-about-chelsea-mannings-leaks.html|access-date=February 25, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 24, 2014}}</ref> including messages sent from Manning to former hacker Adrian Lamo.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Mark Swed|title=WikiLeaks at the Opera: What Chelsea Manning-inspired music says about government secrets|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-the-source-opera-review-20161020-snap-story.html|access-date=February 25, 2017|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 20, 2016}}</ref> The piece features four singers embedded in the audience, a seven-piece musical ensemble, and four video screens.<ref name="latimes-14oct2016" /> The voices of the singers are at times electronically modified with Auto-Tune.<ref name="sfgate-20feb2017">{{cite news|author1=Ryan Kost|title=Composer Ted Hearne sets Chelsea Manning's leaks to music|url=http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Composer-Ted-Hearne-sets-Chelsea-Manning-s-10944901.php|access-date=February 25, 2017|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=February 20, 2017}}</ref> The video screens show the faces of people looking at something, which is revealed at the end to be footage from the "Collateral Murder" video of the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike, in which civilians were killed.<ref name="nytimes-24oct2014" /><ref>{{cite news|author=Tom Bemis|title=''Source'' takes on Chelsea Manning controversy|url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/source-takes-chelsea-manning-controversy/|access-date=February 25, 2017|newspaper=San Francisco Examiner|date=February 21, 2017}}</ref>

''The Source'' was commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, who also produced the work's premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in October 2014, directed by Daniel Fish.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Jeff Lunden|title=Oratorio Tackles the Issue of Leaks from ''The Source''|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/10/25/358789918/oratorio-tackles-the-issue-of-leaks-from-the-source|access-date=February 25, 2017|work=NPR|date=October 25, 2014}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' listed the work as one of the best classical vocal performances of 2014.<ref>{{cite news|author=Zachary Woolfe|title=The Best Classical Vocal Performances of 2014|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/arts/music/the-best-vocal-performances-of-2014.html|access-date=February 25, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 11, 2014}}</ref> According to the composer, Chelsea Manning has heard the piece (played for her over the phone by her supporters while she was imprisoned), and liked it.<ref>{{cite news|author=Zachary Woolfe|title=A Chelsea Manning-WikiLeaks Opera, Seen in a New Light|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/arts/music/a-chelsea-manning-wikileaks-opera-seen-in-a-new-light.html|access-date=February 25, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 21, 2017}}</ref>

The Los Angeles Opera staged the West Coast premiere of ''The Source'' in October 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title=LA Opera to Stage Ted Hearne's ''The Source'' This Fall|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/LA-Opera-to-Stage-Ted-Hearnes-THE-SOURCE-This-Fall-20160915|website=BroadwayWorld|access-date=February 25, 2017|date=September 15, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|author=Alex Ross|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|title=Modern Opera Thrives in L.A.|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/modern-opera-thrives-in-la|access-date=February 25, 2017|magazine=The New Yorker|date=December 12, 2016}}</ref> The West Coast tour continued with a run at the San Francisco Opera beginning in February 2017.<ref name="sfgate-20feb2017" /><ref>{{cite web|author1=Michael Zwiebach|title=What ''The Source'' Exposes About Truth and Identity|url=http://www.sfcv.org/preview/san-francisco-opera/what-the-source-exposes-about-truth-and-identity|website=San Francisco Classical Voice|access-date=February 25, 2017|date=February 21, 2017}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links==  * {{AllMusic|id=the-source-oratorio-for-5-vocalists-7-instruments-mc0002743159|label=''The Source''}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Source, The}} Category:2014 oratorios Category:Cultural depictions of WikiLeaks Category:Works about whistleblowing