Of One Blood

Libretto by Heather Betts based on texts by Mary Stuart, Elizabeth Tudor and other 16th century sources (E)

Following the huge success of his Hamlet, Brett Dean has taken on another opera. Of One Blood explores the relationship between power and the individual using the example of a famous confrontation: the rivalry between Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I. The two rulers were ‘of one blood’, and their relationship has gone down in world literature as the ‘war of the sisters’. The English Queen Elizabeth I and her cousin Mary from the Scottish House of Stuart never met in person. And yet their fates were inextricably intertwined. Their feud was also due to a religious dispute: from a Catholic perspective, the Scottish queen was the legitimate heir to the House of Tudor and thus the rightful Queen of England. Under pressure from her parliament, the Protestant Elizabeth finally eliminated her rival. Numerous legends surround the political and personal rivalry between Mary, the ‘Queen of Hearts’, and Elizabeth, the ‘Virgin Queen’. Intrigue, conspiracy and manipulation dominated the actions of both parties. And in the end, their shared blood was not thicker than their will to power.

For Brett Dean, this tragedy reveals a timeless conflict. He and his librettist Heather Betts therefore made a conscious decision to draw exclusively on historical source material: "I chose this story because it allows us to recognise aspects of our own lives – shared human emotions that are as vivid today as they were in 1587. The antiquated Elizabethan language brings a wonderful abstraction, creating enough distance from the charmless communication of the 21st century which has become eroded by social media.”

With Vladimir Jurowski conducting and Claus Guth's production team, Dean's new opera has strong advocates. “There is much in this score and its soundworld that I hope will draw the audience in – not only to a space of emotional engagement but also to one of reflection – and keep them there,” says Dean. Following its world premiere at the Bavarian State Opera, Of One Blood will also be performed at the Santa Fe Opera and in a new production at Garsington Opera and State Opera South Australia.

Kerstin Schüssler-Bach, 2026

The two closely related powerful women, whose graves now lie right beside each other in London’s Westminster Abbey, were “Of One Blood”, so of the same blood. Both were of course as conceivably far apart as possible during their lives. Elizabeth I ruled for almost half a century as Queen of England and Ireland, while Mary Stuart reigned over Scotland for a quarter of a century. A bitter power struggle between the Protestant hegemony and the Catholic opposition and ultimately the pressure of parliament forced the English Queen to have Mary Stuart executed.

It is all related not only by countless history books and Friedrich Schiller’s play – it is also told by Brett Dean’s new opera, which will celebrate its world premiere at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Heather Betts found what she needed for the libretto in letters of the two queens and other 16th century sources. In her composition she condenses the spiralling claims to power, intrigues, violence and aristocratic influence, peaking over several decades, into a captivating dramaturgy of situations as the welcome structure for Brett Dean’s music. This offers sound surfaces of an immensely dynamic bandwidth, in which extremes are exhausted, whereby unconventional playing styles are also applied.
Bayerische Staatsoper

“Of One Blood is a resounding success… the sound of a quill on parchment sets the music in motion and, in the first act, gives way to the restless rhythmic pulse that characterises Dean’s hyper-dramatic music… he writes new music that makes you want to listen. Moreover, it is so tactile that one can scarcely resist it.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“…an exciting evening at the opera… Dean knows how a large orchestra works and what it is capable of. And he knows how to use these possibilities – and sometimes push them to the limit – to achieve maximum emotional impact. Added to this, in the finest moments, are wit and ingenuity… It’s all thrilling and gripping.”
Süddeutscher Zeitung

“Dean immediately establishes the queens’ characters through contrasting voice types and temperaments: a dramatic soprano for Elizabeth; a lyric coloratura soprano for Mary… Dean surrounds each queen with a five-person vocal consort (ladies-in-waiting for Mary; scheming lords for Elizabeth) to evoke the English and Scottish courts… The dense, propulsive score is by turns pungent and lyrical... this is thorny, bracingly contemporary music with remarkable sweep, momentum and, perhaps above all, conviction.”
Financial Times