Daniel Crozier Composer Peter M. Krask Librettist FORT WORTH OPERA Darren K. Woods General Director Timothy Myers Conductor

PREMIERE RECORDING WITH BLOOD, WITH INK Music...... Daniel Crozier Libretto...... Peter M. Krask Translations of poems of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Margaret Sayers Peden as published in Sor Juana, or The Traps of Faith by Octavio Paz, used by arrangement with Harvard University Press. Conductor...... Timothy Myers Stage Director...... Dona D. Vaughn Producing Director...... Kurt Howard Director of Production...... Adam Schwartz Scenic Designer...... Erhard Rom Costume Designer...... Austin Scarlett Lighting Designer...... Sean Jeffries Makeup / Wig Designer...... Steven Bryant Stage Manager...... Joe Gladstone Assistant Director...... David Gutierrez Chorus Master...... Stephen Carey CAST: Dying Juana...... Sandra Lopez Young Juana...... Vanessa Becerra María Luisa...... Audrey Babcock Padre Antonio...... Ian McEuen Archbishop Seijas...... Jesse Enderle PROGRAM NOTES...... by Peter M. Krask Sor Isabel...... Corrie Donovan “I spoke the truth. I spoke the truth but none Sor Rosa...... Clara Nieman believed me.” It is in trying to fathom that con- Sor Andrea...... Meaghan Deiter viction and its hellish cost—as lived by the extra- CHORUS OF NUNS: ordinary Sor Juana—that With Blood, With Ink Laura Collins, Tracy Davis, Wendy Delgado, takes the stage. Janna Hinebaugh, Emily Hueske, Candice Maughan, With Blood, With Ink is based upon the life Elizabeth Melendez, Shannon Moy, Oneyda Padierna, of the visionary Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, beloved Charis Peden, Jillian Rangel, Amanda Trousdale. 17th-century Mexican poet, intellectual, heroic ❦ 2 ❦ Daniel Crozier Peter M. Krask Timothy Myers Dona D. Vaughn Darren K. Woods Composer Librettist Conductor Stage Director General Director champion of women’s freedom, and nun. Her knew who she was in a world that found that choice of life in a convent over marriage protected knowledge unacceptable. her brilliant creative life until she was betrayed Framed in nine scenes, each introduced by by ecclesiastical authorities. Celebrated as the chanted fragments of the Requiem Mass, the “Phoenix of America,” Sor Juana is the first great one-act opera begins as Sor Juana, after years of literary figure in the Americas. Revered in her forced silence, lies on her deathbed. Facing her homeland—but only now being re-discovered in past, Juana has a feverish vision of her younger the United States—she asked a simple question: self, an elusive shadow she cannot reach or warn, “Why must I be less than a man?” For this, she while events build to their calamitous completion. was forced by the Inquisition to renounce her life’s Then, at last, arms outstretched through the ruin work, signing an oath of silence in her own blood. of years and memories, she finally embraces her With Blood, With Ink is influenced by the younger self. Transformed, she dies. operas of Verdi and Britten, works in which an With Blood, With Ink moves freely between individual destiny tragically collides with the impla- expansive lyric tonality and the heightened drama cable forces of history and community. It is in the of atonality, always embracing traditional operatic spirit of her voice, which speaks to contemporary forms—recitatives, arias, and ensembles. In com- questions of conscience, identity, and personal, posing the opera, Daniel Crozier said his first task intellectual, and religious freedom, that composer is to approach the characters as a psychologist— Daniel Crozier and I humbly approached this com- or more accurately, a detective—seeking to grasp plex and transcendent woman—a person who their individual psyches, their rich and distinctive

❦ 3 ❦ contradictions and motives in order to find the Seijas. The Sanctus, first heard when Juana takes specific musical language with which to render her vows, returns towards the opera’s end when them vividly human onstage. An example: the Dying Juana faces her younger self, bleeding and Baroque flourishes—trilling woodwinds and vo- defeated. This time it appears as a simple lullaby, cal embellishments which decorate the lines of at first painfully ironic, then gloriously radiant— Padre Antonio, a father confessor who asserts his this evolution making music out of the driving authority via what is today called the “humble- conceit of Sor Juana’s greatest poems: the hope of brag.” The leitmotiv formed from Sor Juana’s full glory in what looks like devastation, the phoenix name, is stated in the first scene by Dying Juana, soaring up from the ashes. echoed by an ever-present chorus of nuns. As she With Blood, With Ink is an old “new” opera, moves through her dream, this leitmotiv under- developed over twenty years ago when Daniel goes musical changes mirroring Juana’s own Crozier and I were graduate students at the emotional transformation: anger, pride, tender- Peabody Conservatory under the astute, challen- ness, defiance, and finally resignation. ging, and generous direction of Roger Brunyate. The central musical element of the opera is Our opera was born in a student production—for the use of the original Gregorian chant melodies one day only. Opera cannot live on the page alone: taken from the Liber Usualis which match the our hope was that our beloved Juana would come libretto’s textural quotations from the Requiem to life again. The work slowly made its way in the Mass. Serving as a commentary on the dramatic world with other university performances. It was action, the chant fragments establish the eccle- awarded a National Opera Association prize in1994 siastical environment in which these characters and more recently was twice heard in concert at move—the cloister is always present. Moreover, the New York City VOX program. But it is only now, they ground the story in the urgent present-tense with the acclaimed 2014 production at Fort Worth nature of Dying Juana’s quest to make final sense Opera and its subsequent recording for Albany of her fate before she dies. No matter how far Records that the work has finally reached the she travels in her memory, she must return to professional operatic world. what she knows will be her final night. Introducing each scene, the chant melodies shift and grow, almost becoming characters in their own right. The Dies Irae quote is also the source of an extended musical interlude, before Sor Juana’s disastrous interview with Archbishop ❦ 4 ❦ PLOT SYNOPSIS 17 April, 1695, in the study of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, in the convent of San Jerónimo in Mexico City, capital of the Spanish colony of New Spain. The action unfolds during all of the years embraced by Sor Juana’s memory.

SCENE ONE: Et lux perpetua Sor Juana is on her deathbed, feverish, attended by Sor Isabel and Sor Rosa. She rises and re- counts her life: her upbringing by her single mo- ther, her desire for knowledge, and her poetry.

SCENE TWO: Inter oves Through the chanting of the nuns, Dying Juana Oil painting of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz seems to hear the voice of María Luisa, the by Miguel Cabrea, 1750. Countess de Paredes, her confidant, patron, and devoted mother figure. María Luisa is searching SCENE FOUR: Lux aeterna for Young Juana, who enters jubilant from a Sor Rosa and Sor Isabel argue about Sor Juana’s victory in debate with the court’s learned men. religious beliefs and apparent special treatment. The time has come to discuss Juana’s future. Young Juana enters with Padre Antonio who The girl refuses to marry; her best choice is criticizes her excessive attention to her books and therefore to join a convent. Padre Antonio Nuñez lack of orthodoxy. Young Juana attempts to explain de Miranda, the court Father Confessor, is sent her beliefs while Padre Antonio fights to control his for. He is ecstatic at the news. Young Juana asks rage. Dying Juana enters this trio, expressing her that she be allowed to continue her study and own much-changed view. The Mother Superior writing in the convent. He agrees, but in a fierce interrupts, upset by this dissention. She rebukes aside admits he has other plans for her. Young Juana.

SCENE THREE: Oro supplex SCENE FIVE: Te decet hymnus Dying Juana watches her younger self make her Young Juana is alone in her cell writing. Sor Rosa vows to enter the convent of San Jeronimo. announces the arrival of a mystery guest. María

❦ 5 ❦ Luisa enters and uneasily greets Sor Juana. She renounces her work. Sor Andrea frantically enters, announces that the royal court will be returning announcing that a peasant mob has burned the to Spain, news that devastates Young Juana. royal palace. The Archbishop departs, reminding The Countess promises to publish Sor Juana’s Young Juana “there is no one left to protect you work in Europe. The two women realize that now.” Young Juana writes to Padre Antonio, en- this is their final good-bye. María Luisa gives closing the shattered bracelet she received from Young Juana a bejeweled bracelet. Watched by María Luisa. a hidden Padre Antonio, the two kiss and María Luisa tearfully departs. There follows a bitter SCENE EIGHT: Confutatis maledictis and physically violent confrontation between a Accepting defeat, Young Juana renews her convent- horrified Padre Antonio and Young Juana. She ual vows in front of the nuns and Archbishop, as banishes him from her cell. administered by the triumphant Padre Antonio. She cuts herself with a knife and signs the oath in SCENE SIX: Liber scriptus blood, renouncing her work and pledging silence. Young Juana writes the introduction to her Left alone, she sees Dying Juana for the first time. soon-to-be-published book in which she asks, Filled with compassion and dignity, Dying Juana “Why must be I be less than a man?” Dying goes to her younger self and binds her wound. Juana recounts a poetic vision of the freedom Finally able to put her memories to rest, Dying she seeks. Juana returns to her bed and prepares to die.

SCENE SEVEN: Dies irae SCENE NINE: Requiem aternam Sor Rosa and Sor Isabel discuss the impending As in the opening scene, Sor Rosa and Sor Isabel visit of Archbishop Aguiar Y Seijas. He arrives tend to Dying Juana who, with the words “Never and questions Young Juana about her book. She fear to be destroyed,” dies. A funeral procession of declares that she cannot apologize for her intel- all the characters enters, led by Padre Antonio. He ligence and poetic gifts. The Archbishop threat- places a cross on Sor Juana’s breast. The mourners ens to banish her from the convent unless she intone the oath signed by Sor Juana. PMK

Translations of poems by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz by Margaret Sayers Peden as published in “Sor Juana, or The Traps of Faith” by Octavio Paz are used by special arrangement with Harvard University Press. Translations copyright © 1988 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Translations based on the text of the Mendez Plancarte edition, the “Obras completas” published in four volumes by the Fondo de Cultura Economeica in Mexico City. All rights reserved.

❦ 6 ❦ SOR ROSA SOR ISABEL With Blood, With Ink Yes. Dream. In your dream you I believe she wants to die. will practice for your death. SOR ROSA SCENE ONE CD ONE, Track 1 NUNS And go to meet her Father in Et lux perpetua Kyrie eleison. Eleison. Kyrie. Heaven! (Dying Juana is in bed, attended [Lord, have mercy...] SOR ISABEL by Sor Rosa and Sor Isabel.) SOR ISABEL No! To escape her silence! So CHORUS OF NUNS Two more nuns have died in many dying nuns she cared for... Requiem. Requiem aeternam the night. SOR ROSA Dona eis Domine: She had no fear of touching them. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. NUNS Christe eleison. Christe. SOR ISABEL [Grant them eternal rest, Lord, [Christ, have mercy...] She was not afraid to die. and let perpetual light shine NUNS on them.] SOR ROSA God spare us further from this Requiem aeternam. SOR ISABEL SOR ROSA Again, more dreams. (Dying plague. SOR ISABEL Her breath grows more silent. Juana grows agitated.) It will be soon. SOR ROSA And Sor Juana? I fear that she will be next. SOR ISABEL Again, more visions. Yes. Soon. SOR ROSA NUNS NUNS Yes. Requiem aeternam. Requiem. Et lux perpetua... NUNS SOR ISABEL DYING JUANA (suddenly rising) Requiem... Sleep. Rest. I was born where sunrays stared straight at me, not slanted as they do elsewhere. I was a Sor Isabel reflection of that blazing sun. I (Corrie Donovan, at was. Now I know it is the same, left), Sor after all, to suffer or to blaze. Rosa (Clara It is the same. Nieman) NUNS comfort Dying Juana Inés de la Cruz! Juana DYING JUANA (Sandra I, Juana Inés de la Cruz. I, I had Lopez). no father. No father. We were six

❦ 7 ❦ find my way. Led by the light of the victor, so they declared me. reason, she sent me alone. I MARÍA LUISA was born where sunrays stared Yes! Yes! Tell me. straight at me alone. And now it YOUNG JUANA has all become darkness. Forty of them: professors, NUNS philosophers and poets, all Requiem aeternam... poised to attack. Question after question, argument after SCENE TWO Track 2 argument. And I answered Inter oves them all...! NUNS MARÍA LUISA Dying Juana remembers her past. Inter oves locum praesta, Did you? When this contest was Et ab haedis me sequestra, announced, I objected. Placing bastard children. Six. They called Statuens in parte dextra. you on display... us “daughters of the church,” [Give me a place among the YOUNG JUANA a name given at my birth, the sheep, separate from the goats. María Luisa! Object? Your hus- name that causes my death. Let me stand at Thy right hand.] band, my lord, asked me himself. NUNS MARÍA LUISA (heard from afar) I am the jewel of his court. And Juana Inés... Juana Inés...? today, today he said I was a royal DYING JUANA DYING JUANA galleon, a ship of state, fighting I learned to read when I was Juana Inés? (15-year-old Young an attack of men on little rafts! three, and wrote poetry by age Juana enters in a rush of excite- MARÍA LUISA six. When seven, I begged to ment, looking for María Luisa.) Juana Inés, enough! You must attend university. Denied...! No MARÍA LUISA (entering) listen to me. Since your arrival at punishment, no threat, no un- Juana Inés! my palace—tender, fragile blos- forgiving look, could stop me DYING JUANA som—I have protected you, as a from my learning. I was inflamed I look with dread upon you, woman should. with reason. My mind was set elusive shadow of myself. YOUNG JUANA free. I was set free. (Young Juana embraces María You have been my mother. NUNS Luisa. Dying Juana circles the DYING JUANA Sor Juana. Juana Inés. two women, trying to reach You were my mother. DYING JUANA (calmer) them, but she cannot.) MARÍA LUISA I had no father and my mother YOUNG JUANA Soon you must leave our court. sent me away, sent me alone to Countess María! Victory! I am I can shield you no longer. ❦ 8 ❦ YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA To live so far from your radiance. I mother my verses. DYING JUANA DYING JUANA I live so far from your radiance. The children of my soul. MARÍA LUISA MARÍA LUISA Your knowledge is a transparent Think, Juana Inés. Think what throne which few men will that means. respect. You cannot live a life YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA like mine and be merely a prize, Last night... my first dream: some brilliant object. Stars fell to the earth, YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA Onto a dark land. Radiant mother...! Each star was a word MARÍA LUISA I held in my hand. Will you consider a marriage? Women ran to gather them up, YOUNG JUANA And with them wrote sentences María Luisa (Audrey Babcock) com- How? I have no father, no of fire! forts Young Juana (Vanessa Becerra). money. Like tears, these savage blossoms will be safe. DYING JUANA grew, MARÍA LUISA No name, no father. A burning sign of woman’s power. Yes, hidden behind high walls MARÍA LUISA MARÍA LUISA of faith. There are surely men at court... You must understand: the YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA machinery of the world is both It is to be the convent then. No! My mother was silenced immense and terrifying. Unless MARÍA LUISA by the affections of men often your words are forged of iron, Is there some other choice? enough. “‘Til death do part” its jaws will crush them, its jaws YOUNG JUANA means the end of my writing. will crush you. Please God, No. None. Marriage is not the way to remember that! I can shield you MARÍA LUISA become learned. no longer. (Young Juana begins Let us call Padre Antonio. He MARÍA LUISA to silently weep. María Luisa will rejoice. And children? cradles her in her arms.) YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA No. You go. Then it will be done. I am pregnant with poetry. My heart has dissolved, and now (María Luisa goes out.) DYING JUANA you hold it liquid in your hands. DYING JUANA (remembering) With words born of my heart. There is one place left where I I had no father and my mother ❦ 9 ❦ sent me away. Sent me alone to DYING JUANA Soiled and unclean. find my way. She sent... He steals away my soul. Not books! Not words! PADRE ANTONIO (enters with YOUNG JUANA It is God you should seek. Maria Luisa) Padre Antonio, your glasses I will be your savior. I am not known to enter a obscure your view. I am only a I shall remove your taint. woman’s place, yet so great is woman who lives to serve you. You will be my victory. my joy at this gift of grace. PADRE ANTONIO My genius. My saint. MARÍA LUISA (to Young Juana) I assure you, these lenses do not So I will say to you You have made our Padre most distort. I thank God I am near- Whatever I must! happy. I leave you in peace to sighted, for I cannot see a wo- Trust! Yes, that I will win. discuss this matter. man too close. She remains only And your heart, your mind, DYING JUANA outlines, a blur at most. I see Your soul. A sin? I can shield you no longer. only Christ! I think not. (to Juana) MARÍA LUISA (going) YOUNG JUANA Poor child. Poor Juana Inés. It is time I should join my ladies’ I have no money to enter the You think your vows demand chatter. convent. I cannot pay the price. silence. I tell you: PADRE ANTONIO PADRE ANTONIO To deny your soul is sin, What glorious news! In Heaven I will arrange it. My great hope— A great offense. the angels rejoice, for God our you would choose... Intelligence is your blessing. Father has heard my voice, my YOUNG JUANA As a nun you will live its sweet prayer. Our star, our Juana Inés, Study? I will be allowed to study? expression. at last—a nun! PADRE ANTONIO DYING JUANA I will arrange it. The man of God is a man of lies. YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA My books? I will have my books? I consent. PADRE ANTONIO (uneasy) PADRE ANTONIO I... I will arrange it. My child! The Peace of Christ YOUNG JUANA fill your heart! Then I will write my poetry! YOUNG JUANA PADRE ANTONIO (to himself) Padre Antonio? Poor child. Poor Juana Inés. PADRE ANTONIO Is it sin for me to lie to you? Yes, what is it, my child? To make unholy vows? No. No. YOUNG JUANA Padre Antonio (Ian McEuen) You are the slave of your success I was told the walls of your ❦ 10 ❦ room are spattered with blood. The light shines on in the PADRE ANTONIO darkness, Yes. Each day I struggle to tame And the darkness has not my humanity. Three times a week understood it. I whip myself. Seventy-three (Padre Antonio holds the prayer lashes to beat out my vanity. book open for Sor Andrea as she Come, my daughter. I am your asks Young Juana her vows.) father now. (They go off.) SOR ANDREA DYING JUANA I, Sor Andrea de la Encarnacion, Sunrays... Father... Mother... Prioress of the Most Holy Con- Stare straight at me alone... vent of San Jeronimo, ask you, lowly daughter, your vows. SCENE THREE Track 3 Do you accept poverty? Oro supplex DYING JUANA, YOUNG JUANA (Chilly dawn. Candles are lit on I pledge myself. Young Juana an altar. Sor Andrea, Sor Isabel SOR ANDREA and Sor Rosa remove Young SOR ANDREA Chastity? Juana’s court dress and invest So be it. Let it be known that on her with nun’s habit and veil.) DYING JUANA, YOUNG JUANA this date, the twenty-fourth of CHORUS OF NUNS I pledge myself. February, in the year 1669, Sor Oro supplex et acclinis, SOR ANDREA Juana Inés de la Cruz joined for Cor contritum, quasi cinis; Obedience? life the Convent of the Most Gere curam mei finis... DYING JUANA, YOUNG JUANA Holy Order of San Jeronimo. [Call me to be with the blessed. I pledge myself. Welcome, daughter! Bowed down in supplication, I SOR ANDREA SOR ANDREA, PADRE ANTONIO, beg Thee. My contrite heart is Enclosure? SOR ROSA, SOR ISABEL as though ground to ashes. DYING JUANA, YOUNG JUANA Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus! Help me in my last hour.] I pledge myself. Domine Deus Sabbaoth! YOUNG JUANA SOR ANDREA [Holy, holy, holy, In the beginning was the Word, By what name do you wish to Lord God of Hosts] And the Word was with God. be called? DYING JUANA And the Word was God... DYING JUANA, YOUNG JUANA I want no further pain from such DYING JUANA, YOUNG JUANA I desire the name “Sor Juana uncertain fortune; rather, let our That light was the light of men. Inés de la Cruz.” soul exist as if forgotten. ❦ 11 ❦ (Dying Juana goes to the altar SOR ISABEL right to choose. and extinguishes the candles, as Sor Juana! Sor Rosa has said the PADRE ANTONIO Young Juana rises and departs.) most dreadful thing. She says you She was right to sin? To see? have no faith in God our King. YOUNG JUANA SCENE FOUR Track 4 YOUNG JUANA Padre Antonio, perhaps Eve was Lux aeterna Sor Rosa, is this true? Is that hungry. (She continues.) (Ten to fifteen years have passed.) what you think of me? God is a circle, NUNS SOR ROSA Whose center lies in all things. Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, I... only meant... His center lives in me, Cum sanctis Tuis in aeternam; PADRE ANTONIO (to Juana) Granting my dignity. Quia pius es. Here is an easy mistake you must He is the wheel [Light eternal shine down upon forgive. A simple assumption On which we circle to our death. them, Lord, as on Thy saints now based on how you live. She has No parent is he, and ever, for that Thou art good.] only to look at your words and For God is the wheel of infinity. SOR ROSA (with Sor Isabel) your study to think that for you, God is a circle... I’ve heard her speak within our God is merely a book. PADRE ANTONIO (aside) walls. Sor Juana believes in no DYING JUANA I thought my bones would fly God at all! Written syllables contain a mystery. apart! Rage! Rage! SOR ISABEL YOUNG JUANA Her words rage in my heart. Sor Rosa! That cannot be so. Sor Rosa, let me explain: Look! My skin is white You’ve seen her at her prayers, God is a circle With anger and shame. never late, never slow. Whose center lies in all things. It is her pride, her sick, evil pride, SOR ROSA (bitterly) SOR ROSA That I must fight...... and always such treatment. His center is in me? DYING JUANA Like no other nun. YOUNG JUANA God is a box SOR ISABEL Yes. That is the source of your With a lid that’s nailed shut. But she is our gift, our special dignity. God is the shears one! PADRE ANTONIO Whose blades always cut. DYING JUANA What you suggest! Our Father God is the noose Who are you, O voices? Why do resides in woman’s breast! Pulled tight ‘round our necks, you lie hidden? And what—tell Remember, it was Eve who chose Twisting and turning... me!—is the cause of your re- to eat the apple and not believe. So we never forget. sentment? (Young Juana and YOUNG JUANA God is the torment of our desire. Padre Antonio enter.) Padre Antonio, perhaps Eve was He leaves us to burn ❦ 12 ❦ Tell the Countess I will see her [Thou shalt have praise in Sion, O shortly. (Sor Andrea leaves.) God: and homage shall be paid 2011 PHILADELPHIA PADREINTERNATIONAL ANTONIO (going) FESTIVALin Jerusalem; OF hear THE my prayer.] ARTS Sor Juana, take care. Your YOUNG JUANA (at her desk) “wheel” turns you into danger. See how Love stands shivering DYING JUANA in the icy blast, how the frost I came into this world as light, and snow are holding him fast. With love, wearing sunbeams... Who comes to his aid? Earth? YOUNG JUANA Water? Air? I thought I was the envy of DYING JUANA, YOUNG JUANA the sky. No! No! None comes but Fire! He told me there was no choice. SOR ROSA (enters) Young Juana kneels, watched by I could still be a nun, Sor Juana? Padre Antonio and Dying Juana. And not silence my voice. YOUNG JUANA (aside) In this living fire... The light should shine Sor Rosa’s tongue is like water. PADRE ANTONIO In my bright defense, It cannot help but flow. Yes? God is our Father, And not be dimmed by a veil... SOR ROSA On His heavenly throne. Great God! Today you have been highly His being, his person, Your blessing is more a curse. blessed. You have a visitor. I’ll We never will own... It is a damnation, make you guess. YOUNG JUANA (as before) Blown up like gunpowder or fire. YOUNG JUANA God is the wheel of infinity... Like deprivation it causes my desire. Sor Rosa, tell me. SOR ANDREA (enters, furious) DYING JUANA SOR ROSA I will not abide disruptions in While you have the light, you This guest is tall and fair with my convent! must trust the light, so they will pearls and ribbons in her hair. YOUNG JUANA become children of light. YOUNG JUANA Sor Andrea, allow me to... END CD ONE In soft echoes are heard the bird. SOR ANDREA In flowing waters that sing, the Sor Rosa. Sor Isabel. (slaps them) SCENE FIVE CD TWO, Track 1 spring. In Sor Rosa’s words, I find I came to announce the Count- Te decet hymnus nothing. (kindly, to her) My Sor ess de Paredes. I will not abide NUNS Rosa, forgive me. The thoughts these scenes. I will not! Te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion, of poetry are not always kind. YOUNG JUANA Et Tibi redetur votum in Jerusalem. SOR ROSA (stiffly) Yes, Sor Andrea, forgive me. Exaudi orationem meam. I came to announce the Coun- ❦ 13 ❦ tess de Paredes. with golden arms. with ink...” YOUNG JUANA MARÍA LUISA MARÍA LUISA María Luisa! Sor Juana Inés! Please. Listen! DYING JUANA YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA Radiant mother! María Luisa! Not seeing you these “She wrote the lesson of her life...” YOUNG JUANA long-past weeks has left me MARÍA LUISA (to herself) Thank you, Sor Rosa. (Sor downcast and alone. Even the Such words fill me with strange Andrea and María Luisa enter.) words I write seem not my own. intuition. (to Juana) I’ve come MARÍA LUISA Friend, it is good to see you. to tell you that I am leaving! Yes, the chant was... enchanting. MARÍA LUISA Juana Inés, I ask you to listen... SOR ANDREA Not seeing you these long-past These many years Your presence was our inspir- weeks has left me silent and At my husband’s court, ation. And now, such sorrow alone. Even the children I raise I was the beacon, to learn you are leaving. Our seem not my own. Juana Inés, A light in a port. patron, so kind, so... this visit is hard. The new viceroy I smiled at the lords, MARÍA LUISA (interrupting) is appointed—we soon return Tastefully bowing, Sor Andrea, thank you. Be to Spain. While my true thoughts I buried... assured the palace doors remain YOUNG JUANA (ignoring this) My heart never showing— open to your order. (Sor Andrea My poems of St. Catherine have Except in this room. departs.) finally been completed. Except here with you... DYING JUANA MARÍA LUISA YOUNG JUANA Insidious memory, you wound We return to Spain in three weeks. My lady, your words are mine. YOUNG JUANA (opening her The years in this convent, poetry) Please let me read them! Have had little worth— YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA So much lost time, “Now all her learned arguments...” So much lost work. MARÍA LUISA Your face is the one, Please, Sor Juana. I... That has always warmed YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA My inner world. “are lost to us. How great the grief.“ You are its queen... MARÍA LUISA DYING JUANA You must listen. Hear me with your eyes, YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA When distant ears cannot attend. Countess María Luisa “But with her blood, if not And in absent sighs, ❦ 14 ❦ Hear love crying from my pen... MARÍA LUISA My daughter, your harvest of MARÍA LUISA (pulling away) Do not even... (Padre Antonio pride is lice, corruption, and Let us not part now. The reason enters, conceals himself, listens.) stench. You are a whore, and for my visit: you must collect YOUNG JUANA not Christ’s bride. (He holds her your writings. You are the soul of this body. down as she struggles.) YOUNG JUANA MARÍA LUISA YOUNG JUANA My writings? I do not understand. You are the body of this soul. Padre Antonio, forgive me! MARÍA LUISA (The two women hold each DYING JUANA Once I am in Madrid I will other, kiss. María Luisa gives You stole away my soul and publish them. Juana a piece of her jewelry, then my life. YOUNG JUANA tears herself away and runs from PADRE ANTONIO Dearest God! Publish... the cell without looking back.) My patient years with you, my MARÍA LUISA DYING JUANA child, hoping you would learn to Juana Inés, all of Europe must Last night I saw you in my soul. use your gifts in the service of God. know you are the fire that blazes So I spoke with you there. You... With His love you should burn. in Mexico. Remember—you are You cannot hear a voice so faint. YOUNG JUANA PADRE ANTONIO a galleon, a royal ship of state. Your Christ leaves the earth barren. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz! YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA PADRE ANTONIO YOUNG JUANA My name upon the sea! How can I force you to see, Always these interruptions! To sail in such musical waters! words that do not serve Christ Padre Antonio! I... are ignorance? They are sin. MARÍA LUISA PADRE ANTONIO (disgusted) They are vanity. Had I known On fast-moving waves of voices By God in high Heaven! Have you would write verses, I would and numbers! The afternoon you no shame? I cannot bear to grows short: I must be returning. look at you. have arranged your marriage In two days send it all to the YOUNG JUANA long ago, my daughter. palace. The book... Padre Antonio, I... YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA PADRE ANTONIO Do not call me daughter. I am There is no way to repay this debt. What kind of nun is this? not your daughter. MARÍA LUISA What kind? DYING JUANA Do not even try. YOUNG JUANA I have no father. YOUNG JUANA Padre! Father! YOUNG JUANA My agony is exquisite and PADRE ANTONIO Only one woman can claim me cannot be... You have much to confess. her child—

❦ 15 ❦ BOTH YOUNG JUANA And I? My soul is alone The Countess de Paredes. Stupidity is not confined to With the anguish of death. PADRE ANTONIO women alone. (She goes to Young Juana to Her friendship is a sin against PADRE ANTONIO comfort her, but she cannot God. It is a proof that women Take care, Juana Inés. What reach her.) are defiled. commences with desire is YOUNG JUANA (leafing through doomed to end in misery. SCENE SIX Track 2 her poetry) Padre Antonio, you’ll Your sin weighs heavy... Liber scriptus be happy to hear: María Luisa will DYING JUANA NUNS publish my work upon her return. My sin? Liber scriptus proferetur, PADRE ANTONIO YOUNG JUANA In quo totum continetur, Publish your unholy words! Print My sin? Padre Antonio, you call Unde mundus judicetur. those black marks! You have me a whore. Remember, it was [The written book shall be chosen the path to hell and are you who offered to pay! (He brought in which all is contained, ready to embark. I can bear no slaps Young Juana.) whereby the world shall be more of this betrayal. I cannot. PADRE ANTONIO judged.] (Young Juana is seated YOUNG JUANA You drink troubled water from at her desk.) Betrayal? You speak of betrayal. poisoned wells. I see your DYING JUANA PADRE ANTONIO womanly soul burning in hell. Last night... my first dream... You were to be my great success. DYING JUANA YOUNG JUANA (writing) You were my victory. I would Hell shall not triumph over fidelity. “My dearest María Luísa,” make you a saint. YOUNG JUANA DYING JUANA YOUNG JUANA Padre Antonio Núñez de Miran- I looked out from my high window Your success? Your victory? Your da, my salvation does not des- And saw endless red ears of wheat. words have been lies. Your pro- cend from you alone. Leave this YOUNG JUANA mises remain unkept. To talk of place and never return again. “There is one more letter. Place saints and glory... If I could be YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA it first in the book.” sainted by your coercion, it The Peace of Christ fill your DYING JUANA would have happened... heart. (Padre Antonio leaves. There were no walls or boundaries, YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA Young Juana starts to gather the Only fields empty of defeat. ...long ago! papers from the floor, then she YOUNG JUANA PADRE ANTONIO collapses.) “I wish no quarrel with the Holy Your vanity has made you blind. DYING JUANA Office— To the reader offended You are a stupid woman. My Lord was born for pain. by my work, words of a woman ❦ 16 ❦ Sandra Lopez Vanessa Becerra Audrey Babcock Ian McEuen in man’s arrogant world.” reason would not have them SOR ISABEL (enters) DYING JUANA go unformed.” Yes, Sor Juana? I saw a man formed out of corn. DYING JUANA YOUNG JUANA His body was dripping with I looked out and I could see Send this to the royal palace. See blood. This infinite wheaten tapestry. that the Countess de Paredes YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA receives it today. “I ask a question: ‘Has not a “I wish no quarrel with the NUNS woman a soul? Is there no place Holy Office.” I seek, instead, Unde mundus judicetur. for God in it?’” an answer. YOUNG JUANA DYING JUANA DYING JUANA Sor Isabel? Thank you. And in his hands, I wanted to go So perfectly formed, To live in this place, SCENE SEVEN Track 3 Were hyacinths and the sun... To leap from my window, Dies irae YOUNG JUANA And fall into grace. Interlude “I believe it is of service to the YOUNG JUANA NUNS Church that women must argue, “Why must I be less than a man?” Dies irae, dies illa, tutor, and learn.” DYING JUANA Solvet saeclum in favilla, DYING JUANA To leap and fall. Teste David cum Sybilla. And on his back and on his hair, (Young Juana signs the letter.) [This day, the day of wrath, He wore a cloth YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA shall consume the world in Woven in waves of air. “Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.” ashes, as foretold by David YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA (calls out) and the Sibyl.] (Young Juana “The God who granted women Sor Isabel? sits at her desk.) ❦ 17 ❦ Corrie Donovan Clara Nieman Meaghan Deiter Jesse Enderle

SOR ROSA (enters with Isabel) ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS YOUNG JUANA This is a great day for San The walls of San Jeronimo seem These names I have not sought. Jeronimo. At last, Archbishop ready to crumble. So this is the ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS Seijas will come and bless us. woman they call “Phoenix of Strange titles for a nun. You SOR ISABEL America, Glorious Fulfillment of wear a habit of words, a veil He comes not to bless. He her Sex, Subject of Admiration of letters. comes for Juana Inés. in the Old World, Honor of the SOR ANDREA (has entered) SOR ROSA (not listening) Nation in the Next.” Your Grace, as Prioress, I must I’m told of his miraculous hands. tell you, we disavow any words Like Christ, he multiplied loaves published by Sor Juana. and fishes. YOUNG JUANA (to herself) SOR ISABEL You are a silly woman. It’s my fear he has more sinister ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS wishes. Perhaps he can feed Woman, prove otherwise and the hungry children! then I shall judge. Leave us in SOR ROSA peace. (to Juana) In your book, Sor Isabel! Have you no fear? you request an answer. First, I (The Archbishop enters.) pose a question. YOUNG JUANA (kneels) YOUNG JUANA Your Eminence, the walls of San Archbishop Seijas (Jesse Enderle) I wish no quarrel with the Jeronimo stand tall with pride confronts a kneeling Juana, watched Holy Office. Surely, in this time at your appearance. by Sor Andrea (Meaghan Deiter). of famine, there are more

❦ 18 ❦ urgent matters... It is not against His Holy Law. YOUNG JUANA ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS I have this nature. If it is evil, I Alone? Alone? What are you? am its product. With it, I was ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS DYING JUANA born... With it, I shall die... Unless, of course, you renounce... Who do you say that I am? ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS SOR ANDREA (hurrying in) YOUNG JUANA Then you shall die alone. Your Your Grace! Forgive my intru- I am a woman. A mind. words have said too much. You sion! The peasants have burned A soul. are banished from this convent. the palace. With flames, they ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS DYING JUANA demand food. The Viceroy I thought you were a nun, a My God! Why have you has fled...! simple nun. To whom are you abandoned me? ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS (cuts her devoted—yourself or God? ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS off) Thank you, Sor Andrea. DYING JUANA Next week you renew your I must return to the cathedral. I came to witness the truth. vows? (to Juana) There is no one left YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA to protect you now. The Peace Our Most Heavenly Father and They mark my twenty-fifth year of Christ... (He goes. Young His Most Blessed Son, who was at San Jeronimo. Juana stands fixed, then goes to murdered out of envy. ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS her desk, sits down, writes a ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS I will not allow it. short letter. She removes the Your words, your learning DYING JUANA jewelry given to her by María suggest... My God... Luisa, kisses it, smashes it. She DYING JUANA YOUNG JUANA places the broken pieces in the You have no power over me. Not allow? letter, then folds the paper.) YOUNG JUANA ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS YOUNG JUANA With your learning, do you not You are a pathetic nun. Your Sor Rosa? See that Padre planned to be saved. sisters want to be rid of you. Antonio Núñez de Miranda ARCHSBISHOP SEIJAS DYING JUANA receives this immediately. And you? Do you plan to be You have abandoned me. (Sor Rosa takes the letter and saved? YOUNG JUANA goes out.) DYING JUANA Not allow? Not allow? DYING JUANA My kingdom is not of this world. ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS I was born where sunrays YOUNG JUANA I will not allow it. Next week stared straight at me. Let me speak plainly: our Father you make your way alone. See Where sunrays.. Sunrays... has blessed me with His favor. where your words lead you then. Blinded me alone. ❦ 19 ❦ SCENE EIGHT Track 4 hurriedly.) PADRE ANTONIO Confutatis maledictis ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS Obedience? (Young Juana is seated at her You will forgive my late arrival. BOTH desk burning her papers.) To witness such a conversion is I pledge myself. NUNS to witness bliss. PADRE ANTONIO Confutatis maledictis, SOR ANDREA Enclosure? Flammis acribus addictis, Your Grace, I am ready to... BOTH Voca me cum benedictis. PADRE ANTONIO (interrupts) I pledge myself. [When the damned are cast If I may, I shall ask them myself. PADRE ANTONIO (harshly) away, consigned to the flames, Sor Juana? (Young Juana kneels Silence? call me to be with the Blessed.] before him.) I, Padre Antonio YOUNG JUANA Sor Andrea, Rosa and Isabel enter, Núñez de Miranda, ask you, I pledge myself. led by Padre Antonio, who carries lowly daughter, your vows. DYING JUANA a ceremonial prayer book.) Do you accept poverty? I am my jailer. PADRE ANTONIO YOUNG JUANA, DYING JUANA PADRE ANTONIO I am not known to enter a I pledge myself. By what name do you wish to woman’s place. Yet, so great is PADRE ANTONIO be called? my joy at this gift of grace. Chastity? YOUNG JUANA DYING JUANA BOTH I desire the name Sor Juana I do not know this man. I pledge myself. Inés de la Cruz. PADRE ANTONIO (to Juana) DYING JUANA In Heaven the angels rejoice. I execute myself. Your letter, your words, prove ALL that God hears my voice. Welcome, daughter! DYING JUANA PADRE ANTONIO I tell you I do not know him... You will sign your profession. PADRE ANTONIO YOUNG JUANA (writing) My happiness, my humbled It is my will to renew my pride: to mark twenty-five vows. God knows... years as Christ’s bride! DYING JUANA SOR ANDREA Those words: black Padre Antonio, shall we begin? Padre Antonio administers vows to teardrops... I am ready to ask her vows. the prostrate Sor Juana, observed by YOUNG JUANA (The Archbishop enters Dying Juana and Sor Andrea. ...I deserve eternal death, ❦ 20 ❦ infinite hells... Juana a knife. She runs the Death. I have seen enough. DYING JUANA blade across her hand.) (Dying Juana kisses her younger ...from an infernal pen. DYING JUANA self on the forehead, then sends PADRE ANTONIO (prompts her) I die at the hand of the thing I Young Juana on her way, where My offense... love most! (Young Juana dips she disappears into the dark- YOUNG JUANA (again writing) her pen into the pool of blood ness. Dying Juana slowly re- My offense... and signs her name.) turns to her bed.) What use is DYING JUANA YOUNG JUANA it to know so much if we are I believed words were truth. “Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.” to live such a short while? YOUNG JUANA PADRE ANTONIO My sin... This is your most beautiful SCENE NINE Track 5 DYING JUANA hour! Requiem aeternam I spoke the truth. ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS (prepares (Same as the opening scene.) YOUNG JUANA to leave) I shall send someone NUNS My sin... to take your books. Requiem aeternam. DYING JUANA ARCHBISHOP, PADRE ANTONIO SOR ROSA (attending to Dying I spoke the truth but none The Peace of Christ fill your Juana) Sor Juana has worn her believed me. heart. (All depart. When she is silence well. YOUNG JUANA alone, Young Juana makes her SOR ISABEL My sin. way to her desk. She blows out Now she shows us how to die. PADRE ANTONIO the candles, picks up her wri- NUNS You will sign. ting quills, snaps them in half. Dona eis, Domine. ARCHBISHOP SEIJAS Juana then slowly opens her DYING JUANA (delirious) You must sign. book of poems.) Corpse... Ashes... Void... YOUNG JUANA YOUNG JUANA SOR ROSA I give up my study and re- Do not marvel at the silence Again, more visions. nounce my pen. I swear with you find in me. I will burn SOR ISABEL my blood, I will not write again. brightly in the fire of silence. Again, more dreams. DYING JUANA (She suddenly rips the pages DYING JUANA My glory! Writ with letters of from the book, letting them fall Shadow... Void... Ashes... devastation! to the floor as she weeps.) NUNS YOUNG JUANA DYING JUANA (to her) Domine, et lux perpetua... May I have the blade? Enough of suffering, my love. DYING JUANA (The Archbishop hands Young Enough. I ask death to come. Never fear to be destroyed... ❦ 21 ❦ (Her strength then fails, she Young Juana enters, carrying Most Holy Mother, I entreat slowly sinks to the floor, dies.) her book of poetry. She goes to my beloved sisters the nuns to SOR ISABEL (gently) the body, removes the cross, commend me to God, for I On this day, the seventeenth and unbinds the shroud. She have been, and am, the worst of April in the year 1695, Sor places the book on Dying among them. Of them, I ask Juana Inés de la Cruz entered Juana’s breast, kisses her, and forgiveness, for the love of immortality. (The funeral pro- then replaces the shroud and God. I, the worst woman in the cession enters: each holds a the cross.) world... I... candle and the corner of a ALL YOUNG JUANA white shroud. The shroud is In this place is to be noted the I, Juana Inés de la Cruz. placed over Dying Juana, a cross day, month, and year of my death. (She extinguishes her candle.) on top of her body. All kneel. For the love of God, and His End CD Two / End of Opera

Described as “harmonically lush and lyrically soaring” by The New York Times, music by Daniel Crozier has been preformed or recorded by the Fort Worth Opera, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the New York City Opera, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Songfest 2004, Winsor Music, and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. His works have been recorded for release on the Albany, ACA Digital, PARMA, and MARK labels. His awards include a fellowship from the State of Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs, an ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Grant, first prizes in the National Opera Association Chamber Opera competition and Fresh Ink, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s commissioning competition for Florida Composers, and ASCAP Special Awards annually since 1996. Daniel Crozier currently serves as Professor of Theory and Composition at Rollins College.

❦ 22 ❦ Peter M. Krask is the librettist of With Blood, With Ink which received it’s widely acclaimed professional premiere in 2014 at the Fort Worth Opera Festival. This opera has also been twice featured on New York City Opera’s VOX Festival and has been performed in universities around the country. Other works include The Language of Birds (composer John Kennedy), commissioned by Sarasota Opera, Rendezvous of Light premiered in a production he also directed and designed an adaptation of Calvino’s Invisible Cities, and the opera From the Diary of Kaspar Hauser, the Child of Europe (composer J. Mark Scearce). His non-fiction essay, The Question I Asked Him, was chosen to lead to the anthology The Man I Might Become and his memoir, The Way the Stars Come Home was included in the anthology Wrestling with the Angel. He has written features and criticism for The Baltimore Sun, The City Paper, The Boston Phoenix, and The New York Blade. Peter Krask holds a Master’s Degree in Criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Also a photographer, he lives in New York City. petermkrask.com

CHAMBER ENSEMBLE: VIOLIN I: Michael Shih (Concertmaster, Ft. Worth Symphony) VIOLIN II: Adriana Vorin DeCosta VIOLA: Laura Bruton CELLO: Keira Fullerton BASS: William Clay FLUTE / PICCOLO: Jan Crisanti OBOE: Jennifer Corning Lucio CLARINET: Daryl Coad BASSOON: Peter Unterstein HORN: Gerald Wood PERCUSSION / TIMPANI: Greg White Timothy Myers HARP: Jill Levy conductor KEYBOARD: Shields-Collins Bray Licensed to Albany Records by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

❦ 23 ❦ The production of With Blood, With Ink was underwritten by a generous gift from: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This recording was made possible, in part, by grants from: The Aaron Copland Foundation The Hattie Mae Lesley Foundation

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695)

CROZIER

WITH BLOOD, WITH INK First recording of the dramatic opera in nine scenes by composer Daniel Crozier and With Blood,Ink librettist Peter M. Krask, based on the extraordinary life of the 17th-century Mexican nun Juana Inés de la Cruz. Recorded live at the 2014 Fort Worth Opera Festival, Darren K. Woods, General Director; Kurt Howard, Producing Director; Director of Production, Adam Schwartz. John Ostendorf, Recording Producer.

Daniel Crozier, Composer Fort Worth Opera TROY 1513Fort Worth / 14

Timothy Myers Sandra Lopez Vanessa Becerra Audrey Babcock Ian McEuen Jesse Enderle otWrhOea TO 53/14 / Fort Worth OperaTROY1513 Conductor Dying Juana Young Juana Maria Luísa Padre Antonio Archbishop Seijas

CD ONE (44:30) CD TWO (54:48) 1 Et lux perpetua (7:48) 1 Te decet hymnus (15:32) 2 Inter oves locum praesta (16:24) 2 Liber scriptus (4:55) 3 Oro supplex (4:54) 3 Interlude and Dies irae (14:21) Peter M. Krask, Librettist 4 Lux aeterna (15:21) 4 Confutatis maledictis (14:04) 5 Requiem aeternam (5:54) Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695)

With Blood, With Ink With Blood, Albany Records U.S. Recording Producer: John Ostendorf 915 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207 Tel: 518-436-8814 Recording Engineer: Rabyn Taylor Albany Records U.K. Production Photography: Ellen Appel Box 137 Kendal, Cumbria LA80XD Tel: 01539 824008 Warning: Copyright subsists in all recordings Issued under RECORDED LIVE: May 2014 the label © 2014 Albany Records. Made in the USA. The McDavid Studio, Fort Worth, TX www.albanyrecords.com CROZIER