About the work
John Adams's opera „Nixon in China" was premiered in Houston in 1987 and is considered the most important American opera of the second half of the twentieth century. Alice Goodman's libretto (written in verse) is based on real historical events: Richard Nixon's official state visit to Mao Zedong in Beijing in February 1972 — a political sensation of the Cold War.
Plot
Act I: Nixon's Air Force One lands in Beijing. Nixon meets the old, ailing Mao in his study — Nixon wants concrete discussion, Mao speaks in metaphysical aphorisms. State banquet in the Great Hall of the People — Premier Zhou Enlai and Nixon raise glasses, Pat Nixon experiences her first encounter with the Chinese elite. Act II: Pat Nixon's sightseeing tours — glass factory, pig commune, Summer Palace — are lyrically depicted; her longing and isolation come to the fore in the great solo „This is prophetic". At the Peking theatre the revolutionary ballet „The Red Detachment of Women" is performed, into which the Nixons are drawn in dramatic identification with the peasants — Pat Nixon weeps. Act III: After the final evening's banquets the six principal figures sit in their bedrooms: Nixon and Pat in deep conversation, Mao and his wife Jiang Qing in power-political reflection, Zhou Enlai alone — the great diplomat sings his testament: „I am old, and cannot sleep / forever, like the earth."
Cultural significance
Nixon in China established the „documentary opera" genre of American opera and is Adams's most-performed work. The famous foxtrot scene „The Chairman Dances" (often given separately in concert) and Pat Nixon's aria „This is prophetic" belong to the modern repertoire. Peter Sellars (director of the premiere) and choreographer Mark Morris shaped the performance tradition. The work has since had countless productions, including a significant one at the Met in 2011. Adams's later works „The Death of Klinghoffer" and „Doctor Atomic" continued the documentary opera style.