from Act II, Scene 4 of the English opera The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore

Libretto: John Latouche

Role: Augusta Tabor, wife of Horace Tabor

Voice Part: mezzo-soprano       Fach: dramatic mezzo

Setting: Augusta's study, 1896

Synopsis: Baby Doe's mother has come to Augusta, asking her to help her ex-husband Horace Tabor, who left her for Baby Doe. Tabor has lost all of his money and can hardly support himself. Augusta sends her away, declining to help the couple. However, after she leaves, Augusta wonders why she doesn't run to help the man that she once loved.

from Act II, Scene 5 of the English opera The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore

Libretto: John Latouche

Role: Elizabeth Doe (Baby Doe), the wife of a miner, Harvey Doe

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric coloratura

Setting: stage of the Tabor Grand Theater, Leadville, Colorado, 1899

Synopsis: As her beloved husband Tabor lies dying, Baby Doe tells him that she will always remain faithful to him, even letting a part of her go with him as his dies.

from Act I, Scene 4 of the English opera The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore

Libretto: John Latouche

Role: Elizabeth Doe (Baby Doe), the wife of a miner, Harvey Doe

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric coloratura

Setting: lobby of the Clarendon Hotel, Leadville, Colorado, 1880

Synopsis: Baby Doe writes a letter to her mother, saying that her marriage to Harvey Doe, the miner, is over. She continues by telling her that she has found her soulmate in Horace Tabor and they both love each other equally. However, Tabor is married and, torn between her love and what is right, she feels that she must leave.

from Act I, Scene 6 of the English opera The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore

Libretto: John Latouche

Role: Elizabeth Doe (Baby Doe), the wife of a miner, Harvey Doe

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric coloratura

Setting: Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C., 1880

Synopsis: After the men at the wedding of Horace Tabor and Baby Doe argue whether the silver standard should be repealed or not, Baby Doe tells her view on the subject, saying that gold is only flashy. However, silver is the core of the dreams and hopes that hold the country together.

from Act II, Scene 1 of the English opera The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore

Libretto: John Latouche

Role: Elizabeth Doe (Baby Doe), the wife of a miner, Harvey Doe

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric coloratura

Setting: balcony outside the Governor's Ball at the Windsor Hotel, Denver, Colorado, 1893

Synopsis: At the ball, Baby Doe and her mother are treated as second-class citizens by the other women at the ball. They go out on to the balcony to get away from the snobbery and Baby Doe declares that the reason that other women look down upon her is because they wish they had what she had. What she has is the true love of Horace Tabor, which she goes on to say is the most valuable thing that she could own.

from Act I, Scene 2 of the English opera The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore

Libretto: John Latouche

Role: Elizabeth Doe (Baby Doe), the wife of a miner, Harvey Doe

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric coloratura

Setting: outside of the Clarendon Hotel, Leadville, Colorado, 1880

Synopsis: Baby Doe sits at a piano, playing and singing for herself. The song she sings sounds like an ordinary song about lost love. However, she is actually singing about her broken marriage with Harvey Doe and how it fell apart.

from Act II, Scene 2 of the English opera The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore

Libretto: John Latouche

Role: Horace Tabor, mayor of Leadville and owner of the Matchless Mine, married to Augusta

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: lyric baritone

Setting: club room in Denver, Colorado, 1895

Synopsis: Tabor's cronies have decided to support William McKinley for president instead of the party's choice of William Jennings Bryan. Tabor tries to convince them to stay loyal, believing that Bryan will bring back the silver standard that made Tabor and his cronies rich. When they refuse to go along with him, Tabor angrily accuses them of being turncoats and declares that the smart and free men in the country will make up for them.

from Act I, Scene 2 of the English opera The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore

Libretto: John Latouche

Role: Horace Tabor, mayor of Leadville and owner of the Matchless Mine, married to Augusta

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: lyric baritone

Setting: outside of the Clarendon Hotel, Leadville, Colorado, 1880

Synopsis: Tabor has just overheard Baby Doe singing. He introduces himself and tells her that her beautiful singing made him think of his own youth and what he left behind when he came out to Colorado from New Hampshire. He implies tenderly that he could find some of these lost things again in her.