| Norman MacAfee made this drawing in April 2002 for the
cover of the libretto of The Death of the Forest. It shows six-year-old
Charles Ives (1874-1954), who would become America's first great composer,
as he dreams the events of the opera. The Death of the Forest takes
place during King Philip's War of 1675/6 in New England, which set the
template for future wars between Europeans and Native Americans. Mary Rowlandson
(1636-1711), who was taken hostage during the war, holds the book she wrote
about her experiences, which became the first American best seller. On
wings of golden eagles, the spirit of Metacomet (1640-1676), the Wampanoag
sachem who almost defeated the English colonists, guards the forests of
New England. |
