Arnold ROSNER (1945-2013)
The Chronicle of Nine: The Tragedy of Queen Jane, Op 81 (1984)
An opera in Three Acts and Ten Scenes
Megan Pachecano, soprano (Lady Jane Grey)
James Demler, baritone (Earl of Arundel)
David Salsbery Fry, bass (Earl of Pembroke)
Aaron Engebreth, baritone (John Dudley)
Krista River, mezzo soprano (Lady Dudley)
Eric Carey, tenor (Guildford Dudley)
William Hite, tenor (Henry Grey)
Rebecca Krouner, contralto (Frances Grey)
Stephanie Kacoyanis, contralto (Queen Mary I)
Gene Stenger, tenor (A Minstrel)
Boston Modern Orchestra Project with Odyssey Opera, Gil Rose
rec. February 2020, Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA
BMOP/SOUND 1081 [131:18]
I think that it might be a good idea to give a very brief summary of the actual history behind the libretto of this opera:
Jane Grey was the great granddaughter of Henry VII, and cousin of King Edward VI. She married Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward's chief minister the Duke of Northumberland. Edward VI’s will nominated Jane and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, done because his half-sister Mary was Catholic, while Jane was a committed Protestant. The will removed his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth from the line of succession on account of their illegitimacy - a calumny really, since they were both born when Henry VIII was married to their mothers.
After Edward's death - he died aged 16, having been king for only six years - Jane was proclaimed queen on 10 July 1553 and awaited coronation in the Tower of London. However, support for Mary grew quickly, and most of Jane's supporters abandoned her. The Privy Council of England suddenly changed sides and proclaimed Mary as queen on 19 July 1553, deposing Jane. Her primary supporter, the Duke of Northumberland, was accused of treason and executed less than a month later. Jane was held prisoner in the Tower and was convicted of high treason, though Mary initially spared her life, because all reports emphasized how she had been dragooned into being Queen. Unfortunately, Jane soon became viewed as a threat to the Crown when her father, the Duke of Suffolk became involved in a rebellion, ostensibly because Queen Mary intended to marry Phillip II of Spain. Both Jane and her husband were executed on 12 February 1554. Thus religious conviction once again led to political and military instability in England.
I first came across Arnold Rosner’s music on a 1990 Harmonia Mundi Modern Masters CD of tonal American 20th century music, reviewed here and here (in a later reissue), and now available only as a download or second-hand. The work recorded there, the Responses, Hosanna and Fugue, was so evidently influenced by Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia, that I was intrigued, to say the least. I enthusiastically reviewed his 6th symphony here, and have purchased several other CDs of his music.
Rosner was the subject of much hostility in musical academia in the USA, because he refused to bow down to the conformist demand of his professors that he base his compositions on the serial techniques which were entrenched in the education of anyone who wished to study composition. In fact, his submitted work was contemptuously rejected, and he was refused permission to graduate. He changed his study to that of music theory, and so graduated with a dissertation on the music of Alan Hovhaness.
In many ways a staunch traditionalist, Rosner didn’t align himself with more conservative approaches either. While he opposed the sterility of serialists, the experimentalists, and minimalists, he also disliked the neo-Romantics and the neo-Classicists, whose efforts he thought ‘dry’. Instead, he managed to integrate the modal music of the Renaissance and Baroque, and the pre-tonal Medieval dance music into the unique modern language he had begun to develop, being influenced by Vaughan Williams, Nielsen and some of Shostakovich’s symphonies.
The title of the opera is derived from a play of the same name by Florence Stevenson, who also provided the libretto. It charts the events of the nine days of Jane’s reign.
The music is punctuated by orchestral interludes which are really rather splendid, showing Rosner’s mastery of integrating a lush Romanticism with Renaissance modal polyphony and medieval dance music.
The prelude to Act 2 – a dirge for the late King Edward, is particularly fine, and the choral/orchestral climax when Jane is proclaimed Queen is knockout. I cannot overemphasise how unique the sound of Rosner’s music is, where the full resources of his Romanticism and a modern orchestra are brought to bear on ancient musical forms.
The vocal style reminds me somewhat of mid-period Vaughan Williams, a sort of continuous recit, with only occasional solo arias, such as that for Jane’s “I commend my spirit, O God. Into thy hands I commend my soul”.
I don’t find the vocal solos, even the longish ones, to be particularly memorable, and I suspect that I will remember this opera for its wonderful orchestral and choral sections. For example, when Guildford Dudley, Jane’s husband, visits her in the Tower and a ‘love duet’ follows, its climax is expressed in a lengthy section for the orchestra.
The singers are generally very good, only Margaret Pachecano’s youthful soprano is a little shrill at times. David Salsbery Fry and James Demler (the Earls of Pembroke and Arundel) have splendid deep bass and baritone voices respectively. Stephanie Kacoyanis (Queen Mary), has a fine contralto, which contrasts well with that of Margaret Pachecano in their lengthy scene near the end of the opera, in which Mary, very reluctantly tells Jane that she must refuse to sign a pardon, and that Jane must die.
The orchestra plays extremely well, the chorus is superb, and the SACD recording is excellent. The booklet has been produced to a very high standard, containing historical notes, a description of Rosner’s efforts to compose the work and a synopsis plus a full libretto in English only.
Apart from the musical enjoyment I experienced whilst listening to this piece, it has spurred me to investigate what was truly a tragedy for the young Jane – forced into accepting a crown she most certainly did not want by scheming nobles who then deserted her when it was politic to do so.
This production has done Arnold Rosner proud, and had he lived to see it, he would doubtless have been overwhelmed.
Jim Westhead
Previous review: David McDade
