Of One Blood

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

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