Doctor Atomic

Act One

Overture

The chorus establishes the context of this opera by presenting the scientific argument on which the Manhattan Project, and the development of a nuclear bomb was based. Where originally the understanding had been that energy could neither be created nor destroyed, it is now understood that energy can become matter, and matter energy.

Scene 1

It is ‘The end of June, 1945’. Any day now, the people are expecting to hear the explosion of the first atomic bomb, with no concept of how devastating the explosion will be. The only predictions that have been made so far are that the bomb will be able to decimate an entire city overnight. The men and women working on the project deem this a necessary weapon for the safety of the country.

Edward Teller has brought his concern about the morality of what the Manhattan Project is working on directly to Oppenheimer (‘First of all let me say’). Oppenheimer does not struggle with such guilt, he is following the orders he has been