Shanewis

An early 20th-century American opera with Indian subject matter that was performed multiple times at the Met and elsewhere before falling into obscurity. The opera begins with a wealthy Southern California socialite, who has taken an interest in a young Indian singer, giving a musicale to honor both the singer and the socialite’s own daughter, who has returned home after a trip abroad following her Vassar graduation. The daughter’s fiancé falls for the singer and thus we have an opera. There is no recording but the libretto text is available online. The argument (synopsis) included in the published libretto mentions the daughter’s college, but there doesn’t appear to be any reference to Vassar in the actual sung text.