“For our Kentucky Audiences:” Scenes from the Life of Mary Todd Lincoln in a Centennial Opera

In the Winter 1965 issue of The Kentucky Alumnus, Professor Kenneth Wright, declared that his original opera, Wing of Expectation, would be “pleasant to see and listen to for our Kentucky audiences.” It would not, he continued, be a work that would “please only the readers of Musical Quarterly.” According to the opening night program, the opera tells the story of “a woman caught in a web of tragic circumstances.” That woman is Lexington’s own native-daughter-turned-first-lady, Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882), whose life unfolds in a series of achronological vignettes across three acts. With professionals from the New York City Center Opera in the lead roles and a supporting cast and chamber orchestra comprised of University of Kentucky students and faculty, Wing of Expectation was a highly-anticipated event in the land-grant institution’s centennial year calendar. The April 7th premiere coincided almost exactly with the 100th anniversary of President Lincoln’s assassination and…