Principal roles: Edgar Allan Poe (bass-baritone), Virginia Clemm (soprano), Elizabeth Poe (soprano), Rufus Griswold (bass), Frances Allan/Maria Clemm (mezzo-soprano), John Allan (baritone), other roles: S-Ms-A-T-Bar-B 2(=picc)-0-1(=bass cl)-0 / 1-2-2-0 / 1 perc / hp / pno(=cel) / elec org(=hpsd) / 0-0-0-2-1
First performance by the Australian Opera (National Opera Workshop): Garrick Jones (Poe), Keith Hempton (Griswold), Luise Napier (Virginia Clemm), Rosemary Gunn (Frances Allan/Maria Clemm), Bernadette Cullen, Nicola Ferner-Waite (Literary Ladies), Gregory Tomlinson, John Antoniou, Clifford Grant (Pressgang/Washington Senators), Gordon Kember (conductor), Brian FitzGerald and John Wregg (producers), Neil Tapner (designer), Broadwalk Studio, Sydney Opera House, 1 November 1985
Reviews
With an excellent libretto by Graham Devlin, Ford's Poe provided the most satisfying marriage of text, music, stagecraft and action . . . Poe is grand guignol, high camp and a jolly good time, like whirling along in the ghost train.
Vincent Plush, Arts Illustrated, ABC Radio