''Mary, Queen of Scots'' is an opera in three acts composed by

Thea Musgrave Thea Musgrave CBE (born 27 May 1928) is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music. She has lived in the United States since 1972. Biography Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Musgrave was educated at Moreton Hall School, a boarding independ ...

. Musgrave also wrote the libretto based on Peruvian writer Amalia Elguera's play ''Moray''. It focuses on events in the life of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

, from her return to Scotland in 1561 until 1568 when she was forced to flee to England. The opera premiered on 6 September 1977 at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh performed by

Scottish Opera Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. History Scottish ...

. It has subsequently had multiple performances in the UK, US, and Germany. A chamber version, produced by Musgrave in 2016, also exists.

Background

''Mary, Queen of Scots'' was the first of four operas on historical figures which Musgrave has composed. The others are ''

Harriet, the Woman Called Moses ''Harriet, the Woman Called Moses'' is an opera in two acts composed by Thea Musgrave who also wrote the libretto which is loosely based on episodes in the life of the American abolitionist and former slave Harriet Tubman. The opera premiered on 1 ...

'' (1985), '' Simón Bolívar'' (1995), and '' Pontalba'' (2003). It was also the first for which she wrote her own libretto, a practice which she continued with all her later operas. Musgrave's starting point for the libretto was ''Moray'', an unpublished play by Amalia Elguera who had written the libretto for Musgrave's 1973 opera ''The Voice of Ariadne''. According to Musgrave, she was re-writing the libretto right up to the time she finished composing the music. The opera's primary focus is on Mary's troubled relationships with her half-brother

James Stewart, Earl of Moray James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – 23 January 1570) was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. A supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for his ...

; her husband

Lord Darnley Lord Darnley is a noble title associated with a Scottish Lordship of Parliament, first created in 1356 for the family of Stewart of Darnley and tracing a descent to the Dukedom of Richmond in England. The title's name refers to Darnley in Sco ...

; and her seducer the Earl of Bothwell. These relationships are foreshadowed in her Act 1 aria "The Three Stars of my Firmament". The libretto takes some liberties with the actual historical facts. The character Lord Gordon is fictitious although partly based on Lord Huntly. The real Earl of Moray was murdered two years later than depicted in the opera. Another character in the opera,

Cardinal Beaton David Beaton (also Beton or Bethune; 29 May 1546) was Archbishop of St Andrews and the last Scottish cardinal prior to the Reformation. Career Cardinal Beaton was the sixth and youngest son of eleven children of John Beaton (Bethune) of Bal ...

, was already dead before the opera's action begins in 1561. Griffel, Margaret Ross (2012)
''Operas in English: A Dictionary''
pp. 306; 527. Scarecrow Press. Dean, Winton (November 1977)
"Festivals: Edinburgh"
''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

'', Vol. 118, No. 1617, p. 941Briscoe, James R. (2004)
''New Historical Anthology of Music by Women''
Vol. 1, pp. 457–458. Indiana University Press. Musgrave, Thea (August 1977)
"Mary Queen of Scots"
''

'', Vol. 118, No. 1614, pp. 625-627. Retrieved 27 March 2017 .

Performance history

A commission from

, ''Mary, Queen of Scots'' was given its world premiere by the company at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

on 6 September 1977. The premiere production was directed by

Colin Graham Colin Graham OBE (22 September 1931 in Hove, England – 6 April 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri) was a stage director of opera, theatre, and television. Graham was educated at Northaw School (Hertfordshire), Stowe School and RADA. Early in his ...

and conducted by Musgrave herself. Over the next two and a half years Scottish Opera took their production on tour to multiple UK cities and gave one performance in Germany at the

Staatsoper Stuttgart The Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart serves as its resident orchestra. History Performances of operas, ballet an ...

in May 1980. The US premiere was performed by

Virginia Opera Virginia Opera is an opera company based in the Commonwealth of Virginia which was first organized in 1974 by a group of Norfolk, Virginia community volunteers. The company presented its first productions in 1975, and in the following four decad ...

on 29 March 1978 in a new production directed by David Farrar and conducted by Peter Mark. Mark was also the conductor at the opera's New York premiere in 1981 when it was performed by

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...

. Other significant later performances have included its first performance in German in a new production at the Städtische Bühnen Oper in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

(1984) and performances conducted by Musgrave at the

Curran Theatre The Curran Theatre, located at 445 Geary Street between Taylor and Mason Streets in the Theatre District of San Francisco, California opened in February 1922, and was named after its first owner, Homer Curran. As of 2014, the theater is owned by ...

in San Francisco performed by San Francisco Spring Opera (1979). Mary's arias also appear in Musgrave's 40-minute triptych, ''Three Women: Queen, Mistress, Slave'', a narrated assemblage of scenes for the leading female characters from ''Mary, Queen of Scots'' and Musgrave's later operas, ''

Simon Bolivar Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genu ...

'', and ''

''. The triptych had its world premiere in January 1999 at the

Herbst Theatre The Herbst Theatre is an auditorium in the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in the Civic Center, San Francisco. The 928-seat hall hosts programs as diverse as '' City Arts & Lectures'', SF Jazz, and San Francisco Performances. Architect ...

in San Francisco with Amy Johnson singing all three heroines.Rich, Alan (30 April 1979)
"Even in California, small can triumph"
''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

'', pp. 103–104. A live recording of Virginia Opera's performance of the US premiere with

Ashley Putnam Ashley Putnam (born 10 August 1952) is an American soprano from New York City. Her professional singing career began in 1976 and has spanned over 30 years. Early life and career Ashley Putnam began her music career playing the flute. Her moth ...

in the title role was released on CD by Novello Records in 1989.

Roles

Synopsis

Setting: Scotland from 1561 to 1568The synopsis is based on Chester Music (2014) and Musgrave (August 1977). Act 1 The opera opens in 1561 with the arrival at the Port of Leith of Mary, the recently widowed Queen of France. The Lords of Scotland have invited her to assume the Scottish crown. Meanwhile, her half-brother James, Earl of Moray is scheming to take the throne himself. Enraged that

has exposed his ambitions and written to Mary telling her to place her trust not in James but in the Earl of Bothwell, James has the cardinal imprisoned and killed. A year passes. Scotland is following the Protestant faith but ruled by the Catholic Mary with James as her advisor. At a court ball organized by

David Riccio David Rizzio ( ; it, Davide Rizzio ; – 9 March 1566) or Riccio ( , ) was an Italian courtier, born in Pancalieri close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts di San Paolo e Solbrito ...

, Mary first encounters her cousin

and is fascinated by him. Although they violently disagree with each other, both James and Bothwell mistrust Darnley's seeming influence on the young queen, especially Bothwell who is likewise attracted to Mary. She soliloquizes on the rivalry between the three men in her life—"The Three Stars of my Firmament". After an incident at the ball which Bothwell seeks to disrupt by insulting Darnley, Mary banishes Bothwell. James also leaves the court in disgust. The Jealousy of Darnley

Act 2 It is now 1565 and Mary has married Lord Darnley. Darnley's friend David Riccio has been appointed as the Queen's secretary and has become her friend and advisor. The Lords of the Council strongly criticise the drunken Darnley's suitability as her consort while Mary, now pregnant, feels growing unease at Darnley's pressure for her to name him as her co-sovereign. Mary recalls James to the court to help her deal with the situation and appease the lords. Determined to assume even greater power over Mary, James again earns her mistrust and ultimate estrangement, made worse when she discovers that he was behind the murder of Cardinal Beaton. She decides that henceforth she will rely on her own strength, free of Darnley, Bothwell, and James—"Alone, Alone, I stand Alone". James then instigates a plot to goad Darnley into murdering Riccio by convincing him that he is the real father of Mary's child. In Mary's rooms, Riccio and her four ladies-in-waiting entertain her with music. Darnley, bursts into the room and murders Riccio before her eyes. As the council ponders whether to make James the Regent, they hear that Mary has fled the castle and that James is stirring up the Scottish people by accusing Mary of deserting them and conspiring with Darnley to murder Riccio. At one of his harangues, James is challenged by Mary's faithful supporter Lord Gordon. Mary appears in the crowd and accuses James of perfidy, including arranging Riccio's murder to discredit her. The crowd supports her, and she banishes James for life. Act 3 Exhausted and ill after the birth of her son and with her resolve to "stand alone" now weakening, Mary hears from Lord Gordon that James has raised an army and is turning the people against her. Gordon urges Mary to take refuge in Stirling Castle. She refuses and instead sends for Bothwell asking him to protect her and her infant son, the future king

James VI James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

. Gordon is disturbed by this and urges her not to trust Bothwell. Mary and her lady-in-waiting

Mary Seton Mary Seton (1542 – 1615) was a Scottish courtier and later a nun. She was one of the four attendants of Mary, Queen of Scots, known as the Four Marys. She was a sister at the Convent of Saint Pierre les Dames in Reims at the time of her death. ...

sing a lullaby to Mary's son. When Bothwell eventually returns, he seduces Mary in exchange for his protection. Gordon arrives with the news that Darnley has been murdered and learns that Mary as now been hopelessly compromised by Bothwell's actions. Accompanied by their men, James and Bothwell confront each other. Bothwell is wounded and defeated. By now James has convinced the people of Scotland to demand Mary's abdication in favour of her son. She appeals to the people for support but to no avail. They are now accusing her of having murdered Darnley in addition to everything else. Gordon has sent her infant son to safety and Mary is tricked into fleeing to England alone. Her final soliloquy begins "Alas, alas! Oh dark treacherous night, what calamity awaits me?" As the city gates close behind her, Gordon murders James. Mary's son is proclaimed King of Scotland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mary, Queen of Scots Operas 1977 operas English-language operas Operas by Thea Musgrave Operas based on real people Operas set in the 16th century Operas set in England Cultural depictions of Mary, Queen of Scots