Libretto by Langston Hughes The opera, based on Hughes's 1926 poem, premiered at Tanglewood in August, 1960, under the direction of Boris Goldovsky. In 1946 Meyerowitz emigrated to the U.S. and became an assistant to Boris Goldovsky, director of the opera program at Tanglewood. In 1951 he became an American citizen. Meyerowitz taught at Brooklyn College (1956-1962) and at the City College of New York.