Of One Blood

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

3.3.3.3-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(4)-harp-pft-cel-hpd-MIDI kbd(2)-strings(12.10.8.6.5)-electronics; on-stage: 3TD-hpd

 
Act One
In a Mausoleum, where Mary, Queen of Scots came to rest beside her cousin, Elizabeth I of England, the words of Mary’s poem are heard, written on the eve of her execution. She asks that after her punishment on earth, she might have everlasting joy.

In 1561, the young Catholic Scottish Queen, Mary, is celebrated in Edinburgh by her five Ladies-in-waiting, who praise her for her beauty and playful spirit but profess their dislike for her arrogant English husband, Lord Darnley. Mary is expecting her first child and when the royal couple bicker, her Italian secretary and confidante, David Rizzio, defends her, enraging the jealous Darnley. The argument intensifies between the two men and in a fit of anger, Darnley stabs Rizzio to death in front of his horrified wife. Mary, in shock, laments the death of her closest friend and implies that the protestant English Queen, her cousin Elizabeth, might be aligned with Darnley and behind his murdering Rizzio.

Elizabeth is advised by her five English Lords to be wary of her cousin and Scottish neighbour. She denies danger yet conflict is apparent when both she and Mary claim to be the rightful heir to the English throne.

Mary gives birth to a healthy son. Despite her delight at becoming a mother, she has lost all affection for her husband and wants to be free of him. Two Scottish Lords suggest he may be done away with and while not agreeing specifically, Mary indicates consent. The Scottish Lords then trap Darnley and murder him.

Elizabeth is furious about this latest news coming from Scotland and asks Mary to prove herself innocent of involvement in this second murder. The townsfolk in Scotland rise up against their Queen, believing she is immoral and to blame for her husband’s death and drive her from her country. On escaping to England, in the belief that Elizabeth will offer her refuge, Mary is shocked when she is promptly arrested by English soldiers.

Act Two
Nineteen years have passed. Mary has been imprisoned all this time in England and has just received word from her son, James, now adult and Scotland’s King, that he has rejected her wish to return to Scotland to rule beside him. Mary despairs, again stating her claim to the English crown. Elizabeth’s Lords warn the English Queen to be wary of her captive cousin who has Catholic Europe behind her, endangering Elizabeth’s life. Elizabeth herself feels trapped with the predicament of what to do with the threat that Mary represents. In desperation, Mary agrees to a Catholic plot for her to escape and to kill the English Queen.

Mary’s note agreeing to this plot is intercepted. Elizabeth is devastated that Mary must be tried for treason wishing that as cousins they might have been ‘but two milkmaids’ instead of rulers and figureheads of two countries, with two opposing religions.

Mary is brought to trial and argues that God alone may be her judge. She is found guilty and sentenced to death. Elizabeth is tormented but eventually signs the death warrant. Mary enters the execution chamber where a public audience, the English Lords and her own Ladies-in-waiting are assembled. She forgives the executioner and with great courage, theatre and while reciting a Latin prayer, she is executed. Elizabeth is fraught.

In the Mausoleum and from the afterlife, Mary, joined by Elizabeth, recites the same poem written on the eve of her execution asking that after her punishment on earth, she might have everlasting joy.
Heather Betts

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

Dramatic