Thea Musgrave’s Venture into the 16th Century

Yesterday evening was my only opportunity to venture into the San Francisco Opera performance of Thea Musgrave’s account of the turbulent Elizabethan period, Mary, Queen of Scots. The narrative is set entirely in Scotland, leaving England and its Queen as little more than ghostly spirits. Musgrave wrote her own libretto, using, as a source, the play Moray by Peruvian author Amalia Elguera.

Heidi Stober in the title role of Mary, Queen of Scots with Christopher Sokolowski as Henry, Lord Darnley (photograph by Mathew Washburn, courtesy of San Francisco Opera)

I must confess that the narrative tends to bog down in the “complexities of authority” that prevailed over both Scotland and England during the sixteenth century. This is not so much an account of history as it is one of challenges over who is in charge. Mary may be a queen, but there are any number of men trying to take over. These include Mary’s own half-brother James Stewart, Earl of Moray; but authority emerges from other men, including James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, and Henry, Lord Darnley, who eventually becomes Mary’s husband.

Sadly, what emerges on the stage is a rather complicated history lesson set to music and cast in modern dress. After last night’s encounter, I could appreciate the tension in Musgrave’s music; but the narrative, as a whole, felt like too much of a slog. In many ways the debut conducting by Clelia Cafiero brought more attention to the “operatic experience” than any of the vocal work, even under the historically-informed directorship by Stewart Lang. After all, that Elizabethan period is one of the richest lodes in world history; but Musgrave’s opera (or, at least, its current production) never seemed to mine the value of that lode.