1. Sung by Baba in the epilogue to The Rake's Progress: Opera in 3 Acts, libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, music by Igor Stravinsky (New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1951), 234.

2. Altman began directing in the 1950s, working primarily in television and making low-budget documentaries. Although known within the entertainment industry through the mid-1960s, his feature film career began in earnest when he filmed That Cold Day in the Park (1969). He came to wide public attention for M*A*S*H (1970), for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or.

3. See Kirk, Elise K., American Opera (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001), 5–6Google Scholar and passim.

4. Myers, Eric, “Double Exposure,” Opera News 67.2 (August 2002): 28–31, at 30Google Scholar.

5. Bolcom recalled that “[Altman] used to say [that] he had a tin ear, he didn't know anything about music. When he was directing these operas, he didn't want to get involved with musical questions—although he was quite articulate about when he felt something was too slow… . Pacing was always important.” William Bolcom, interview with the author, 22 June 2009, Ann Arbor, MI. Boylan disagrees with Altman's assessment of his musical sensibilities; he believes that Altman had “at least a strong ear for music.” Paul C. Boylan, interview with the author, 26 June 2009, Ann Arbor, MI.

6. Although most of the songs were presumed lost, copies of the songs were discovered in unprocessed boxes in the Robert Altman Archives during the researching of this article. A fragment of a second show entitled The Legend of Sam Hill is credited as “Words and Music by Robert Ridgely, Bob Altman and David Dotort.” Unprocessed box, Robert Altman Archives, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (hereafter Altman Archives.)

7. McGilligan, Patrick, Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989), 61Google Scholar.

8. Released on Anderson, John, All the People Are Talkin', Warner Brothers, 1983Google Scholar. Altman's cowriter on “Black Sheep” was Danny Darst, who would contribute songs for and even appear in some of Altman's later films. For an outline of Altman's plans for “financially backing and producing an album” by Darst, see Harmen Mitchell, “Altman Muses on Music and … ,” Ann Arbor News, 18 January 1984, E6, in box 5, “2 By South/Rake's Progress,” Altman Archives.

9. Altman, Rick, “24-Track Narrative? Robert Altman's Nashville,” Cinémas: Journal of Film Studies 1.3 (1991): 102–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar; available at www.revue-cinemas.info/revue/revue%20no3/08-altman.htm (accessed 23 February 2008), quotes at paras. 54, 53.

10. See Self, Robert T., Robert Altman's “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”: Reframing the American West (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007), 158–61Google Scholar; Gabbard, Krin, “Kansas City Dreamin': Robert Altman's Jazz History Lesson,” in Music and Cinema, ed. Buhler, James, Flinn, Caryl, and Neumeyer, David (Hanover, NH: UPNE, for Wesleyan University Press, 2000), 142–57Google Scholar; Gabbard, Krin, Jammin' at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)Google Scholar; Magee, Gayle Sherwood, “Song, Genre, and Transatlantic Dialogue in Gosford Park,” Journal of the Society for American Music 2.4 (November 2008): 477–505CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11. Rex Reed, who rarely wrote a positive review of Altman's films, described Popeye as “a flawed extravagance” that nevertheless created “a charming, unique fantasy world … with wonderful imagery and enormous nursery-book style.” Rex Reed, “Swee'Pea Is the Greening of Popeye,” New York Daily News, 12 December 1980, 3, in box 13, “Popeye,” Altman Archives. Both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert highly recommended the film, calling it “marvelous,” “terrific,” and “a whole lot of fun.” Transcript of Popeye review from Sneak Previews, episode 312, PBS air date 18 December 1980, box 13, “Popeye,” Altman Archives.

12. Harmetz, Aljean, “Robert Altman Sells Studio for $2.3 Million,” New York Times, 11 July 1981, 15Google Scholar.

13. Schatz, Thomas, “The New Hollywood,” in Film Theory Goes to the Movies, ed. Collins, Jim, Radner, Hilary, and Collins, Ava Preacher (New York: Routledge, 1993), 8–36, at 25Google Scholar. I am using the term “New Hollywood” in the broadest sense as defined by Peter Krämer: “all American films, the film industry and the wider film culture” during the years 1967–76. These films represent a break from the previous studio-era model. I use the term “American art cinema” to refer to a select group of “modern” or “modernist” films produced during this period. Krämer, Peter, The New Hollywood: From “Bonnie and Clyde” to “Star Wars” (London: Wallflower, 2005), 1–4Google Scholar, quote at 2.

14. Altman on Altman, ed. David Thompson (London: Faber & Faber, 2006), 13–14.

15. Klein, Alvin, “‘Molly’ Doesn't Measure Up,” New York Times, 25 July 1982, CN6Google Scholar.

16. Rich, Frank, “The Lessons of a Lackluster Season,” New York Times, 23 May 1982, 32Google Scholar.

17. Rich, Frank, “Stage: Robert Altman Directs Cher,” New York Times, 19 February 1982, C3Google Scholar.

18. Ibid.

19. Turim, Maureen, Flashbacks in Film: Memory and History (New York: Routledge, 1989), 209Google Scholar.

20. Combs, Richard, “A Discussion with Robert Altman on Film and Theatre, Past and Present,” Monthly Film Bulletin 50 (September 1983): 233Google Scholar.

21. Self, Robert, Robert Altman's Subliminal Reality (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002), 203–4Google Scholar, quote at 203.

22. Ibid., 199.

23. An announcement of Altman's appointment can be found in box 5, “2 By South/Rake's Progress,” Altman Archives, as can this description of the seminar (untitled, unidentified news clipping, no author): “Robert Altman will teach a seminar called ‘The Films of Robert Altman.’ The 12-session seminar starts Monday and is open to the public. The course … will include showing of Altman's film[s] on Monday and Wednesday afternoons in Lorch Auditorium on the U-M campus, with discussion sessions about these films planned for Fridays from noon to 1:30 pm.” For a transcription of correspondence related to the Michigan appointment, see Zuckoff, Mitchell, Robert Altman: The Oral Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), 385Google Scholar.

24. Apparently Altman's use of students on the film became controversial; see Christopher Potter, “Free Help for Altman Irks Union,” Ann Arbor News, 13 February 1984, A3 and A4, in box 5, “2 By South/Rake's Progress,” Altman Archives.

25. Production stills and a history of Bergman's production of The Rake's Progress are at the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, “Ingmar Bergman Face to Face,” at www.ingmarbergman.se/page.asp?guid=66F33CC6-B034-4966-8CD9-E7718ED104F6&LanCD=EN (accessed 23 September 2009).

26. Craft, Robert, Stravinsky: Chronicle of a Friendship, 1948–1971 (New York: Knopf, 1972), 114Google Scholar.

27. See, for example, Fawkes, Richard, Opera on Film (London: Duckworth, 2000), 179–83Google Scholar; and Gardner, Colin, Joseph Losey (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), 263–71Google Scholar.

28. Schumacher, Michael, Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life (New York: Crown Publishers, 1999), 141–2Google Scholar.

29. Lacher, Irene, “The Camera Can Wait; The Opera Is Calling,” New York Times, 2 September 2004Google Scholar, E1 and E5, at E5.

30. Boylan interview.

31. “Chicago Gets Ready for a Big Wedding,” ABC 7 News, 9 December 2004, online edition, print copy in unnumbered box labeled “A Wedding Opera in Chicago,” Altman Archives.

32. Margolin, Michael H., “Our Critics Abroad: Ann Arbor,” Opera 34 (March 1983): 298–9Google Scholar.

33. Auden, Kallman, and Stravinsky, Rake's Progress, 234.

34. Sterritt, David, “Multimedia Man Altman Plunges into … Opera?” Christian Science Monitor, 22 November 1982, 16Google Scholar.

35. Altman's involvement in the University of Michigan production was reported by articles in major newspapers, including Cariaga, Daniel, “Music and Dance News,” Los Angeles Times, 24 October 1982, 151Google Scholar; n.a., “Hemidemisemiquavers,” New York Times, 16 September 1982, C27; and Michael Goldfarb, “Limelight: Notes from All Over,” Washington Post, 29 August 1982, D3. Goldfarb's notice reflects a somewhat condescending attitude toward the recently exiled director, stating that “Robert Altman, wandering iconoclastic director, continues to explore other mediums. After an unsuccessful fling directing on Broadway earlier this year (Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean), his next project will be to direct Igor Stravinsky's opera, The Rake's Progress Nov. 5 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.”

36. Sterritt, 16.

37. Margolin, 298–9.

38. The spectacle of the production was not appreciated by all viewers. George J. Buelow noted the “controversial and to some highly questionable staging”; see Buelow, “Musicology in the United States, in 1981–1982,” Acta musicologica 55.2 (July–December 1983): 253–66, at 255.

39. Pitt, Charles, “Our Critics Abroad: Lille,” Opera 37 (August 1986): 940–1, at 941Google Scholar.

40. Ibid., 940.

41. Dill, Charles, Monstrous Opera: Rameau and the Tragic Tradition (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998), 151CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42. Hutcheon, Linda, A Theory of Adaptation (New York: Routledge, 2006), 49Google Scholar.

43. Leitch, Thomas, Film Adaptation and Its Discontents (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), 111Google Scholar.

44. “Theatre le Ranelagh,” at www.theatre-ranelagh.com/fr/histoire.html (accessed 30 July 2009). The theatre's history, including its connections to Rameau, rebuilding, and conversion to sound cinema, is briefly summarized in the French Minister of Culture's database on historic structures at www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/merimee_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=REF&VALUE_1=PA00086712 (accessed 20 July 2010). A description of the theatre's hosting of live jazz performances is included in Vian, Boris and Rameil, Claude, Autres écrits sur le jazz, vol. 2 (Paris: Bourgois, 1982), 63Google Scholar. And, according to an article in the New York Times, the theatre has hosted at least weekly viewings of Marcel Carné's landmark film Les Enfants du Paradis (1943) since 1968; see Riding, Alan, “Marcel Carne at 88: In Feisty Mode on the Eve of a Cinema Anniversary,” New York Times, 5 December 1994, C11Google Scholar. For later references to the theatre's continuing versatility, see Lust, Annette Bercut, From the Greek Mimes to Marcel Marceau and Beyond: Mimes, Actors, Pierrots, and Clowns (New York: Scarecrow, 2000), 140Google Scholar, describing mime performances in 1997; and Michael Bracewell, “Yoko Ono,” Frieze 79 (November–December 2003), at www.frieze.com/issue/review/yoko_ono1 (accessed 30 July 2009), reviewing a performance of Ono's “Cut Piece” at the theatre.

45. Balio, Tino, “The Art Film Market in the New Hollywood,” in Hollywood and Europe: Economics, Culture, National Identity 1945–95, ed. Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey and Ricci, Steven (London: BFI, 1998), 63–73, at 66Google Scholar.

46. Perren, Alisa, “Sex, Lies and Marketing: Miramax and the Development of the Quality Indie Blockbuster,” Film Quarterly 55.2 (Winter 2001): 30–9, at 31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

47. Blue binder with Rossini, Rossini notes and correspondence, box G104, Altman Archives.

48. Leitch, 96.

49. Lyric Opera of Chicago, “Lyric Opera of Chicago Announces an Unprecedented Long-Term Artistic Initiative—‘Toward the 21st Century,’” press release, 8 October 1989, 1. In box 44, “McTeague,” Altman Archives. My italics.

50. Ibid., 4.

51. Bolcom interview.

52. Lyric Opera of Chicago, “Lyric …‘Toward the 21st Century,’” 5.

53. Altman was nominated for but did not win the Academy Award for Best Director for five films: M*A*S*H, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. Both Gosford Park and Nashville were nominated for Best Picture awards as well but did not win. However, Altman's films had won Oscars in other categories, including Best Original Screenplay (Gosford Park, by Julian Fellowes), Best Original Song (Nashville, by Keith Carradine for the song “I'm Easy”), and Best Adapted Screenplay (M*A*S*H, by Ring Lardner Jr.). Altman finally received an Honorary Award in 2006, shortly before his death.

54. Unpaginated and uncredited blurb for McTeague; and Ardis Krainik, “From the General Director,” Lyric Opera of Chicago advertising booklet, 1992–3 season, 3, in box 44, “McTeague,” Altman Archives.

55. For an excellent discussion of Miramax's savvy marketing of The Player, see Wyatt, Justin, “The Formation of the ‘Major Independent,’” in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema, ed. Neale, Steve and Smith, Murray (New York: Routledge, 1998), 74–90, at 82–3Google Scholar. According to Wyatt, Miramax used “Altman's alienation and independence from the studio system” as well as his “‘iconoclastic’ past” (83) to sell not only The Player but also Short Cuts and Ready to Wear to a mainstream audience.

56. Lyric Opera of Chicago, “McTeague World Premiere Eagerly Awaited,” press release, 23 October 1992, 6. In box 44, “McTeague,” Altman Archives.

57. Copy of direct mail advertisement for the Lyric Opera production of McTeague, ca. August 1992, in box 44, “McTeague,” Altman Archives.

58. Eric Myers, “Mining McTeague's Gold,” New York Times Magazine, 25 October 1992, 46–50, 56–61, at 46.

59. Ibid., 50.

60. Ibid., 56.

61. Kirk, 373.

62. John Guinn, “‘Great Performances’ Offerings Are So-So,” Detroit Free Press, 26 May 1993, 5C; copy in box 44, “McTeague,” Altman Archives.

63. Myers, “Mining McTeague's Gold,” 58.

64. Herwitz, Daniel, “Writing American Opera: William Bolcom on Music, Language, and Theater,” Opera Quarterly 22.3–4 (Summer–Autumn 2006): 521–33, at 530–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

65. Rothstein, Edward, “Classical View: McTeague Just Wants To Be Loved,” New York Times, 22 November 1992, 2:25Google Scholar.

66. O'Toole, Lawrence, “The Last Frontier? Maybe ‘Popera,’” New York Times, 11 July 1993, H31Google Scholar.

67. Myers, “Mining McTeague's Gold,” 50.

68. Myers, “Double Exposure,” 28.

69. John Ardoin, “Novel Turned into a Movie and an Opera Is the Focus of a Documentary,” Dallas Morning News, 27 May 1993, box 44, “McTeague,” Altman Archives.

70. William Glackin, “Opera As You've Never Seen It,” Sacramento Bee, 26 May 1993, Box 44, “McTeague,” Altman Archives.

71. Wyatt, 74 and 76.

72. See James Schamus, “To the Rear of the Back End: The Economics of Independent Cinema,” in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema, ed. Neale and Smith, 91–105, for a detailed analysis of the financial challenges producers and distributors of independent film face.

73. Rainer, Peter, “Mr. Altman's Unflinching Eye,” Los Angeles Times, 5 March 2006, E14Google Scholar.

74. Chuck Kleinhans discusses other mini-majors of the late 1990s, including Miramax–Disney and New Line–Turner–Time Warner, and the distinctions between these and true “independent” distributors. See Kleinhans, , “Independent Features: Hopes and Dreams,” in The New American Cinema, ed. Lewis, Jon (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998), 307–27, at 325Google Scholar.

75. Hutcheon, 48.

76. Kirk, 7.

77. Robert Altman, “Director's Note,” in Lyric Opera of Chicago, 50th Season, 2004–05 [A Wedding edition], ed. Susan Mathieson Mayer (Glenview, IL: Performance Media, 2004), 30; copy in box labeled “A Wedding Opera in Chicago,” Altman Archives.

78. Lacher, E1 and E5.

79. Engleman, Paul, “Opera: For a Song,” Chicago Tribune, 5 December 2004, 7:13Google Scholar.

80. von Rhein, John, “From Big Screen to Opera Stage,” Chicago Tribune, 5 December 2004, 7:12Google Scholar.

81. Print advertisement for A Wedding, copy in box labeled “A Wedding Opera in Chicago,” Altman Archives.

82. Indiana University performed A Wedding on 1–2 and 8–9 February 2008; see “College Premiere of ‘A Wedding’ Marks Season of Firsts for IU Opera and Ballet Theater,” at http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/5133.html (accessed 2 July 2009). The Music Academy of the West performed the opera on 8 and 10 August of the same year; see “Music Academy of the West Will Host Celebrated Composer William Bolcom,” at www.musicacademy.org/about-us/pressroom/pressroom-archive/2008/music-academy-to-host-composer-william-bolcom?searched=wedding&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1 (accessed 16 July 2009).

83. Jeffrey T. Iverson, “David Cronenberg Tries Opera,” Time, 4 September 2008; available at www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1838909,00.html (accessed 13 August 2009).

84. Lacher, E5.

85. Kleinhans, 323–4.

86. On the closing of Fine Line's successor Picturehouse and the merger and downsizing of Indiewood branch Vantage with its parent company, Paramount, see Dade Hayes and Dave McNary, “Picturehouse, WIP to Close Shop,” Variety, 8 May 2008, at www.variety.com/article/VR1117985299.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 (accessed 13 August 2010); and Ryan Nakashima, “Paramount Vantage, Paramount Combining Operations,” AP News, 5 June 2008, at www.thefreelibrary.com/Paramount+Vantage,+Paramount+combining+operations-a01611558443 (accessed 13 August 2010).

87. Boylan interview, paraphrasing a conversation with Altman approximately six months before the director's death.