Germany Thea Musgrave, Mary, Queen of Scots: Soloists, Actors and Chorus of Leipzig Opera, Gewandhaus Orchestra / Matthias Foremny (conductor), Leipzig Opera, 12.1.2024. (GT)
Production:
Director – Ilaria Lanzino
Sets – Dirk Becker
Costumes – Annette Braun
Lighting designer – Stefan Jennerich
Dramaturgy – Marlene Hahn
Chorus director – Thomas Eitler-de Lint
Cast:
Mary, Queen of Scots – Nicole Chevalier
James Stewart, Earl of Moray – Franz Xaver Schlecht
James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell – Sven Hjörleifsson
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley – Rupert Charlesworth
David Riccio – Sejong Chang
Cardinal Beaton – Randall Jakobsh
Lord Gordon – Goijo Jentjens
Earl of Morton – Richard Morrison
Earl of Ruthven – Dan Karlström
Mary Beaton – Augusta Kling
Mary Seton – Leah Weil
Mary Fleming – Lena Herrmann
Mary Livingston – Katharina von Hassel
Solo-Lord – Marian Müller
Few historical figures are as famous and indeed more tragic than Mary, Queen of Scots; numerous books have been written about her life, notably by Stefan Zweig, and several operas – the most successful of which is Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda and Maria Stuart by Sergei Slonimsky both of which have been performed at the Edinburgh International Festival. Thea Musgrave based her libretto on the unpublished play Moray by the Peruvian playwright Amalia Elguera. Thea Musgrave’s fourth opera, Mary, Queen of Scots, was commissioned by Scottish Opera and was premiered at the King’s Theatre Edinburgh (with the composer conducting) during the EIF on 6 September 1977, following which it toured successfully in the UK and to Stuttgart in Germany in 1980.
This new production at Leipzig premiered on 16 December 2023 and this performance was the third, with another four performances through to February. The director Ilaria Lanzino describes her ideas for the staging: ‘After 13 years in France, Mary must return to her native Scotland to accept the office of Queen. But during her absence, Scotland has been transformed into a land of intrigue and power play, with Mary’s brother James and the noble lords known as “The Wolves” fighting for supremacy. The situation becomes even more complicated as she is supposed to take over as a woman. Mary is challenged to assert herself in this opaque environment and learn how to secure her power.’ Lanzino says that in her characterisation of Mary, she was inspired by the films Promising Young Woman and Anatomy of a Fall for the second and third acts.
For her production, Lanzino used recycled tables and furniture to introduce an eco-friendly staging. ‘The table embodies a stage of political power. It can serve as a place for peaceful discussion and agreement, or it can be used as a platform to make dominant claims. There could be secrets hidden under the tablecloth while expanding the table could serve to create physical distance between the parties. […] Our installation uses the tables on several levels – both realistically and symbolically. The interwoven wooden structure reflects the Lords’ system of power and their ruthless struggle for the top. The multiple uses of the tables – be it as a bed, climbing aid to the throne, grave, hiding place or meeting place for conspiracies under the table – illustrate the versatility of these objects and their symbolic significance in the piece. All scenes are table scenes, just not as you would expect.’
Musgrave’s opera is a prequel to Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda and is based on Mary’s return to Scotland in 1561 following her eighteen years of exile in France. In the beginning, we hear a Scottish folk song, ‘The Bonnie Earl of Moray’, and throughout are fragments from the medieval period of Scots music, ballads, and French court dances, all richly ornamenting Musgrave’s score. Her beautifully embroidered music reveals that she has her own language and expression, evincing the plight of Mary in the unruly world of sixteenth-century Scotland.
Act I opens in Cardinal Beaton’s study, where the cardinal is snoring on the Scottish throne with the lords and courtiers watching him. James Stewart, the Earl of Moray, argues that he should take the throne instead of his sister Mary, however Beaton tells him, ‘You cannot kill me’, but James argues, ‘I shall rule with the Queen’. After a struggle, Beaton is murdered and disappears down through the stage, during which the choir sing a mediaeval chant accompanied by the solo harp.
Mary arrives as bells ring out and the choir sing ‘Hail the Queen’. She is followed by her four attendants, who emerge through the floor, dressed in old clothes as if on a camping trip and they play a major part in the drama. Mary sings a soliloquy accompanied by celebrant trumpets. In the gloomy backdrop, only the throne reveals this is Holyrood Palace.
The Ballroom scene at Holyrood is embroidered with French dance music as the lords and courtiers dance in grotesque costumes and masks. Contradicting the less than complete support from the court ‘wolves’, Mary sings ‘I shall rule as I please!’ But as the celebrations continue, behind the scenes, James is plotting, ‘You cannot keep the peace with music and dancing’ as the ghoulish figures surround Mary threateningly. Musgrave’s score superbly portrays the outrageous brutality of the scene with high-pitched shifting rhythmic syncopations in the woodwind and brass. In the unfolding action there are unpleasant assaults made upon Mary and her attendants; the Queen is sexually abused, as are those ladies-in-waiting, and the Lords dressed in wretched face masks imply sexual aggression and make vulgar sexual gestures toward Mary implying her love for both Darnley and Lord Gordon.
Act II takes place four years later, Mary has married Darnley, and Darnley’s friend Riccio is appointed the Queen’s secretary. She is now pregnant and is repelled by her husband. Mary’s soliloquy ‘The three men of my firmament’ is beautifully sung by Nicole Chevalier. The Queen seeks help of James to bring order to the court, whilst becoming aware of Beaton’s murder by James, she decides to rule alone as she sings her magnificent ‘Alone, alone, I stand alone’. James now tells Darnley the child is not his but belongs to Riccio who is killed by Darnley. An innovation in this staging was the entry of the people in the auditorium as they now rise up in anger and James tells them that Mary planned the murders of Beaton and Riccio to attain total rule. However, Mary gets the support of the people and banishes James from the court. There is a great climax with the people singing ‘God save the Queen’.
Act III sees James rebelling against Mary, and after refusing refuge in Stirling, the Queen remains at Holyrood Palace, where Mary sings a lullaby to her son and sends for Bothwell asking for sanctuary for herself and her son James (the future James the First of England). Darnley has been killed, and Mary and James confront each other. James tells her she must not trust Bothwell, who demands she submit to him if she wants safety for the future king. In the Seduction scene, Bothwell takes her brutally, ‘Now you are in my power’, and James and Bothwell fight each other in a scene dramatically accompanied by percussion and brass. James tells her ‘You must go!’ yet she retorts ‘I am innocent!’ and the opera closes with a grand climax as she leaves.
The opera contains several facts which are historically inaccurate; Cardinal Beaton was already dead in 1561, and Lord Gordon did not exist – his character is based instead on Lord Huntly, and James Stewart, Earl of Moray, did not die until two years later. Of the singers, the most impressive was the Mary of the American soprano Nicole Chevalier (making her Leipzig debut), followed by her scheming brother James, who was performed succinctly by the German baritone Franz Xaver Schlecht, and the superb Icelandic tenor Sven Hjörleifsson’s Earl Bothwell, and the English tenor Rupert Charlesworth was the perfect epitome of a lust-filled and greedy Lord Darnley. The four Marys, the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, were also outstanding in their often-satirical characterisations. Matthias Foremny masterfully directed the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the chorus of Leipzig Opera. Perhaps it is a sign of the times we live in that one has to travel hundreds of miles to hear a contemporary Scottish composer’s opera. This was a terrific performance and hopefully will lead to more of Musgrave’s operas being staged in Germany and perhaps one day again in Scotland.
Gregor Tassie