I am a bit ashamed to admit it, but I was not familiar with the Ukrainian folktale of the “Christmas Spider” until this year’s holiday season. Of course, there is the old superstition that finding a spider on New Year’s Day brings good luck in the coming year, one that obviously stems from the same basic folklore that touches many winter fables.
In the most common folk version of the story, a pinecone falls outside the home of a poor widow and her children, allowing a tree to begin growing. The children anxiously await the growth of the tree so that they may decorate it at Christmastime. Unfortunately, the poor family has little to eat, much less money to decorate the tree. However, on Christmas morning, the family awakes to find that a spider has covered the tree in webs which, miraculously, turn into strands of gold and silver when touched by the early morning light. Hence, the tradition of putting tinsel on a Christmas tree begins as well as the idea of spider ornaments for good luck.
If the story seems perfect for a new chamber opera to add to the repertoire of Christmas-themed chamber operas like Amahl and the Night Visitors or The Gift of the Magi, that’s exactly what composer Clint Borzoni and librettist John de los Santos are hoping for in a new adaptation. Their work, The Christmas Spider, was developed by the American Opera Project, and is being given a co-premiere by Knoxville’s Marble City Opera following a first performance by Opéra Louisiane in Baton Rouge. [MCO’s artistic director Kathryn Frady is also General Director & CEO of Opéra Louisiane.] Borzoni and de los Santos should be familiar to local opera audiences; MCO previously staged the team’s The Copper Queen in 2022.
The synopsis of the Borzoini/de los Santos adaptation of The Christmas Spider—
On a bitterly cold Christmas Eve, two poor children named Dymtro and Zoya play games together while they wait for their father, Federov, to return home from selling firewood. Their impatient landlady, Olha Petrina, comes to remind them that their rent is due, and she means to collect it. Federov returns, having sold hardly anything, and with nothing for Christmas dinner but dark bread. When Zoya cries over this, Federov reminds her that “We don’t have much, but each other. Each other is so much.” Although they have no gifts, the children convince their father to cut down a small tree to decorate their cottage. Federov brings in a sapling, which turns out to be home to a large spider. Although the children are afraid at first, the spider becomes their friend and takes part in a special Christmas miracle that reminds them all of the power of kindness and giving.
There will be two MCO performances of The Christmas Spider on Saturday, January 6, at St John’s Cathedral in Downtown Knoxville — 2:30 PM and 5:00 PM. TICKETS (Children attend free; use code PENNYARTS)
The role of the landlady, Olha, will be sung by MCO’s Kathryn Frady. The children’s father, Federov, will be sung by Charles Eaton.
The conductor will be Brandon Coffer and production is being staged by Ivan Griffin.
