Monologues of Mary, Queen of Scots
(1967-86) — Dramatic Suite from the Opera
For soprano & orchestra
Duration: 22'
Soprano: 2322/3210/timp.2perc/ch org.hp/str
Text: the composer

World Premiere:  27 October 1987, Stirling, Scotland
BBC Scottish Orchestra
Marie Slorach, soprano
Ronald Zollman, conductor

Israeli Premiere:  1988
Jerusalem Symphony
Marina Levitt, soprano
Thea Musgrave, conducor

Publisher:  Novello & Co Ltd

Critical Acclaim:

...Miss Musgrave spoke an overtly dramatic, tension-laden, strongly felt language. Melody, harmony and orchestration are used to serve her fiery rhetorics...(in) this particular concert version are bound into one continuous composition. Again drama permeates evrything, from the delicate reflective to the explosive passionate. Orchestra and voice are beautifully blended.
— Benjamin Bar-Am, Jerusalem Post

Composer's Note:

This work is a suite taken from the Opera of the same name. There are four different scenes or monologues where Mary recollects the four turning points in her life during the eight years when she was Queen of Scotland.

I.

It is 1561 and Mary, the widowed Queen of France, returns to Scotland. She is 18 years old.She wonders what her fate will be. Will be able to trust her brother James, the Earl of Moray, or should she turn for help to the Earl of Bothwell, a famous soldier?
A short overture introduces a well-known Scottish melody The Bonnie Earl of Moray.  Mary lands at the port of Leith, near Edinburgh, and the music depicts the thick mist that shrouded the harbour, preventing her people from being there to greet her.

Oh France, fair France,
I see you no more
And never will see you again.
Oh France farewell!

The time is past that was ours
And it is I who remain...
Farewell oh France, farewell.

En ma fin est mon commencement.

No-one and no-one and no-one.
Like a wave I reach
The shore; but the people
Like the sands are silent.
One kingdom says farewell
The other does not greet me.

No-one and no-one and no-one.
The only love I have known
Is lost in France.
What love shall I find
On this cold shore?
How will I know which hand to trust?

Which shoulder gives support?
Will I know my brother?
Will he be my friend?
How will I know?

No-one and no-one and no-one.
Mist veils the stars
And hides the way ahead.

What awaits me in the darkness?

II.

A year later, despite much opposition Mary has married her English cousin Lord Darnley and she is expecting their child. She confronts her brother James and at last she fully comes to understand the depth of his ambition for power. She refuses to accede to any of his requests and he leaves in anger.

Oh James! Will you not stay by my side?
Let people see
You support me and my husband,
And later my son.
He will be King.
I must have your loyalty.

You turn your back to me
And your action causes unrest in the land.
I must have peace.

James, I know not what to do.
Do not leave me alone!
Shield me!
Vanquish the mist!
Pierce it with your clear vision!
Break the silence
With words of wisdom.
Do not leave me alone!
There's no-one, no-one to help me.
James, protect me and my child!

You must have power?

No, never!
You are guided only by ambition

Now at last I understand.
All the years of my absence
You ruled. You thought
I would never return.
Even then you were a traitor:
A traitor to your faith .
And later you imprisoned Beaton
Who was a father to you,
You were a traitor to him also.

Bothwell warned me of you.
Bothwell was right!
I cannot trust you!

(James leaves in anger)

Oh James! So he goes!
Thus he would bargain with me.
My own brother now a bitter enemy...

Alone, alone, I stand alone.
Where can I turn
For I cannot stand alone.

Darnley, my own husband
Who I loved, sapping my strength
Where I need support.
Dissipated, weak, and I despise him.
But I am forced to hold him
For the sake of my son.

Alone, alone, I stand alone.
Where can I turn
For I cannot stand alone.

Shall I send for Bothwell?
He is a strong man
And could protect me.
Can I trust him?
Or does he, like my brother
Wait in the dark
To make me a prisoner?

Can I stand alone?

Ah yes!
This is my kingdom
And I must stand alone,
And after me, my son.
I must stand alone;
I alone shall reign;'
That is my heritage,
That is my right!

III.

Weak and ill after the birth of her son, Mary's determination to stand alone dissolves. She realizes she must keep Darnley at her side to protect her honour and safeguard the succession. She ponders the future of her son.

Where is Darnley?
Why does he not come to see his son?

Oh... he is as usual
Playing cards and drinking!

He does not care!
Neither the recollection
Of our early friendship
Nor any hope for the future
Can make me forget the wrong.

I have so sore a heart that I .....

(she weeps)

Should I send him away
To France or England?
Divorce him?

No! That I cannot do.
I must protect my honour
And safeguard the succession
For the sake of my son.

No more tears!
A Kingdom to be ruled!
And you my son,
You shall be the one to unite
The Kingdoms of Scotland and England.
You shall be King!

Sleep little child
Till you wake to be King.
Sleep in the cradle of gold
Till you wake to earth and stone
To the wind and the sea.

Sleep little child
Till you wake to be King.
Sleep little child, sleep
Till you wake...

Then you must be strong
To face the world
In all its cunning;
When bitter experience
Will line your face
And cause the innocence
To fade from your smile.

Oh sleep in the cradle of gold
Till you wake...

Then you must learn
To trust no man;
Your closest friend
May turn against you,
And like James, be consumed
By such o'erwhelming ambition
That he will let no thing
Stand in his path.

Sleep little child,
Sleep, sleep,
Till you wake to be King.

IV.

Despite urgent warnings, Mary has summoned the Earl of Bothwell to protect her from James who has raised an army against her. But as the price for his protection Bothwell seduces her. Later, when the news is brought that Darnley has been found murdered and Bothwell is at her side, she is fatally compromised. She is forced to abdicate. She flees to England alone, and her infant son is proclaimed King of Scotland.

Alas, alas!
Oh dark treacherous night,
What calamity awaits me?
Alas, alas!
In the cold harsh morn
What tragedy will overcome me?
I will learn of solitude,
Of bitterness and sorrow;
For who will believe
I did not tempt Bothwell?
I am innocent, yet I am lost
For all men will believe me guilty.
Alas, alas!

My son! Where is my son?
My son gone with no farewell?
They sent him away!
No,no,no! I will not leave without my son!

Who will cradle him?
And who will teach him
To face the world
In all its cunning?

Who will comfort him
When he must learn
To trust no man;
When he finds
That all are traitors!

Who will love him?
Only I, his mother.

No! I will not leave without my son!
I am still the Queen.
I am innocent!...Yes!

I am lost!

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