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PROCLAMATION
Whereas: "The Ballad of Baby Doe" by American composer Douglas Moore premiered on July 7, 1956 in
Central City, Colorado, near where the story actually took place, and
Whereas: "The Ballad of Baby Doe" deals for the most part with real persons and real places from Mass-
achusetts to Colorado to Washington, D.C., and centers around "Silver King" Horace Tabor, whose mining
deals and luck in Leadville, Colorado in 1878 resulted in his be-coming extremely wealthy; and includes his
wife Augusta and the divorced wife of miner Harvey Doe, the very beautiful Elizabeth "Baby" Doe; and
Whereas: Composer Douglas Moore, born in 1893 in Cutchogue, a hamlet of Southold Town, Suffolk
County, Long Island, New York and undoubtedly its most famous native son, wrote a dozen published operas,
including one of the most-performed American operas of all time,"The Ballad of Baby Doe", as well as the
1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, "Giants in the Earth," and served as chairman of the music department at
Columbia University from 1940 to 1962; and
Whereas: Mr. Moore died in the summer of 1969, there is no question that his musical legacy lives on more
than a century after his birth as his musical compositions continue to entertain and inform audiences and
students around the world; now, therefore, be it
Resolved: that the Southold Town Board extends congratulations and best wishes to the Central City Opera
Company on its celebration of the 50th anniversary of the premiere performance of "The Ballad of Baby
Doe" in Central City, Colorado, on June 30, 2006; and be it further
Resolved: that this board codially invites all Baby Doe aficionados as well as any intrepid travelers to visit
Southold Town, settled in 1640 and the oldest town in New York State, to attend the 27th annual Douglas
Moore Memorial Music Festival on August 12, 2006 on the historic Cutchogue Village Green.
Dated: June 30, 2006
Supervisor Scott A. Russell
Councilman Thomas H. Wickham
Councilman William P. Edwards
Councilman Daniel C. Ross
Councilman Albert J. Krupski, Jr.
Justice Louisa P. Evans
Town Clerk Elizabeth A. Neville
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