Synopsis

Jennie Parsons's true love is young Brack Weaver. However, the older Thomas Bouché--who has the upper hand in business dealings with Jennie's father--wants to claim her for himself. The conflict comes to a head at a dance, when a fight breaks out and Brack kills Bouché. Brack is condemned for murder; on the night before his execution, he escapes to spend his last hours with Jennie. Told in flashback form, the action begins in the jail the night before the execution.

Song list

• Down in the Valley
• Where Is the One Who Will Mourn Me When I'm Gone?
• Brack Weaver, My True Love
• The Lonesome Dove
• The Little Black Train
• Hop Up, My Ladies
• Hoe-Down
• Down in the Valley

Cast: Singing roles -- Brack Weaver (tenor or high baritone), Jennie Parsons (lyric soprano), Thomas Bouché (bass), Leader/Preacher (baritone), SATB chorus.

Speaking roles -- Guard, Peters, Jennie's Father, two men, two women
Orchestra: 2.1.2.1.1 alto sax. 1 ten. sax; 2.2.2.0; guitar, piano, timp & perc; strings without violas.
Duration: 35 minutes

Principal productions

• July 15, 1948, Bloomington, Indiana University, Hans Busch, dir., Ernst Hoffmann, cond.
• July 1952, Provincetown, NY, Provincetown Playhouse, Tony Randall, dir.
• Early 1960, Hannover, Staatstheater, Hartmut Goebel, dir., Walter Born, cond. (in German, with Die sieben Todsünden)
• 1984, U.S., PBS Television, Frank Cvitanovich, dir., Carl Davis, cond. (filmed in England by the Moving Picture Company)
• September 16, 1995, Kansas City, Lyric Opera, Francis Cullinan, dir., Russell Patterson, cond.

Capriccio 60020-1 Capriccio 29110		Fredonia Chamber Singers Kammerchor der Universität Dortmund Orchester Campus Cantat 90 Willi Gundlach, cond.
LP Decca DL 6017 (1950, 10") LP Decca DL 74329 LP Decca DL 4239 CD Stage Door Records 2490.		CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA MAURICE LEVINE, cond. ALFRED DRAKE and JANE WILSON
78 rpm RCA Victor DM 1367 LP RCA LM-16 LP RCA LPV-503 CD Sepia 1052 CD Naxos Archives 980949 CD Documents Historische Ton 4032250197830 (2 CDs)		Marion Bell, William McGraw, Kenneth Smith, Ray Jacquemot RCA Victor Chrus & Orchestra Peter Hermann Adler (cond.)