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Great Gatsby: The Opera

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A scene from the new Great Gatsby film from Warner Bros. (Warner Brothers)
A scene from the new Great Gatsby film from Warner Bros. (Warner Brothers)

When F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby in 1925, some reviewers declared the novel a dud. During the first year, it sold only 20-thousand copies. And by the time Fitzgerald died at the age of 44 in 1940, he was unknown to many and his novel practically forgotten.

But over the years, of course, The Great Gatsby has become an American classic. And today, the book still sells a half million copies a year — inspiring plays and movies, including a new one starring Leonardo Dicaprio, which opens nation-wide this weekend.

Fitzgerald's novel has also inspired an opera, which will have its Boston premiere this weekend. Emmanuel Music will perform 'The Great Gatsby' this Sunday at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall.

Guests

John Harbison, Pulitzer Prize winning composer of the opera "The Great Gatsby"; Professor of Music at MIT

Ryan Turner, Artistic Director, Emmanuel Music

This segment aired on May 10, 2013.

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