The Visitation, an opera based loosely on Franz Kafka's The Trial, is U.S. Composer Gunther Schuller's way of dealing "with the Kafkaesque in the Negro problem." Judging by the response of the Hamburg audience that saw the first performance last week, Schuller has made a good deal.
The central character is Carter Jones, splendidly sung by Negro Baritone McHenry Boatwright. Schuller sees Jones as "the type of Negro whose personal and racial characteristics have become undefined because of attempts over the years to adapt himself to the dominating social order. He simply wants to lead a decent life in an...
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