The Secret Agent
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center for contemporary opera “…not a single player was poorly cast. Similarly, the orchestra… performed with polish and sophistication under the direction of Sara Jobin.” —Opera News “ The Center for Contemporary Opera has lovingly produced a show that boasts high production values, accessible music and a compelling story, and the distinct possibility of future productions.” — O p e r a t i C u s “Dispatching Verloc with a portentously placed knife, the secret agent Winnie — a vocally gleaming Amy Burton — shifts into mad-scene mode, condemning the “blood and dirt” left in terrorism’s wake.” — N e w Y o r k t i m e s Michael Dellaira libretto by J . D . M c C l a t c h y www.albanyrecords.com TROY1450/51 albany records u.s. 915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 Amy Burton Scott Bearden tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. c o n d u c t o r box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd Sara Jobin, tel: 01539 824008 © 2013 albany records made in the usa ddd waRning: cOpyrighT subsisTs in all Recordings issued undeR This label. i ntroduction each driven by callous selfishness and misdirected idealism, each involved to a different degree, as Conrad writes, in “a blood-stained inanity of so fatuous a kind that it was impossible to fathom its On behalf of the Center for Contemporary Opera, I am delighted to bring you this recording of the origin by any reasonable or even unreasonable process of thought.” premiere performance of The Secret Agent, which took place at the Kaye Playhouse in New York City, Michael Dellaira and J. D. McClatchy had been talking about working together, and Center for March 18th and 19th, 2011. Since then, The Secret Agent was performed in October, 2011 at the Contemporary Opera thought The Secret Agent would be a perfect first collaboration. Both Dellaira Armel Opera Festival and Competition in Szeged, Hungary, where it was broadcast live over the Arte and McClatchy thought the novel might have problems in staging, not to mention that Winnie’s Channel to over a million households in Europe and where it was named the “Laureat,” leading to demise was uncomfortably similar to Tosca’s. But McClatchy knew that Conrad himself had solved the another successful performance at the Opéra Théâtre d’Avignon in France in April, 2012. problem; several years after the publication of the novel, Conrad had adapted it for the London stage. Though Joseph Conrad wrote The Secret Agent in 1907, more than a century ago, his story Conrad’s play follows the novel pretty closely until the end, where the story takes a different turn. remains chillingly relevant in our terror-haunted world, based as it is on an actual attempt on McClatchy incorporated elements of both the novel and the play, and created other original material February 15, 1894, to blow up the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. Conrad had wondered that heightens the drama and ties the story together. why the Observatory was picked as the target, and what might be the motive to destroy it. Of course —Jim Schaeffer, General & Artistic Director the Observatory is the home of the Prime Meridian, the place from which all the world’s clocks are set and symbol, surely, not just of the greatness of England’s empire but of western capitalism. The anarchist who carried the bomb blundered; the bomb exploded accidentally and killed him. In Conrad’s telling of the story, the bomb plot, having “all the shocking senselessness of gratuitous blasphemy,” also ends in disaster: an innocent boy is blown to bits. The police discover the boy’s identity, and with it the ugly network that links the terrorist act to both high government officials The Secret Agent was commissioned by and to sympathetic socialites. Center for Contemporary Opera, Long Leaf Opera and San Antonio Opera To a post-September 11th reader of The Secret Agent, this particular novel by Conrad can be underwritten by the Paul Underwood Charitable Trust and the American Composers Forum strangely comforting. With psychological acuity that penetrates into the backstreets of turn-of-the- with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation. century London, Conrad introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters that includes foreign diplomats, police investigators, high-society ladies, downtrodden victims, and a suicide bomber — W o r l d p r e m i e r e t h e s e c r e t a g e n t C a s t t r a c k L i s t (in order of appearance) cd 1 First Secretary/The Singer/ 1 Act I — as the curtain rises [:32] Constable | Nathan Resika 2 Act I, Scene 1 (The German Embassy) [9:45] The Ambassador | Andrew Cummings 3 Act I, Scene 2 (Verloc’s Shop) [25:33] Lady Mabel | Jodi Karem 4 Act I, Scene 3 (A week later. A small café.) [12:06] Adolf Verloc | Scott Bearden 5 Act I, Scene 4 (Scotland Yard) [9:28] The Prime Minister | Mark Zuckerman Winnie Verloc | Amy Burton Total Time CD1 = 57:28 Stevie | Jonathan Blalock cd2 Ossipon | Matthew Garrett 1 Act II, Scene 5 (Lady Mabel’s drawing room. Michaelis | Aaron Theno A soirée.) [11:34] The Professor | Matt Boehler 2 Act II, Scene 6 (Verloc’s parlor.) [11:45] The Commissioner | David Neal 3 Act II, Scene 7 (An hour later. Chief Inspector Heat | Jason Papowitz Verloc’s shop.) [18:41] Lady Millicent | Deborah Lifton Lady Isabel | Kate Oberjat Total Time CD2 = 42:02 Lady Verena | Sarah Miller Lady Olive | Cherry Duke Lucille Goeres (Flute/Picc); Ian Shafer (Oboe/E.H.); Sara Jobin, Conductor Brian Hysong (Clarinet/Bcl ); Thomas Sefkovic (Bassoon); Sam Helfrich, Director Janet Lantz (Horn in F); Kenn Finn (Trombone); Laura Jellinek, Set Designer Jeffrey Kraus (Percussion); Stacey Shames (Harp); Melissa Schlachtmeyer, Costume Designer Conrad Harris (Violin 1); Pauline Kim (Violin 2 ); Eric Southern, Lighting Designer Debra Shufeld-Dine (Viola); Amy Ralske (Cello); Louise Koby (Bass ); Lee Soper (Orchestra Personnel Manager) t h e s e c r e t a g e n t him, as Verloc sees the men out. Distraught, Winnie suggests that Stevie likes only the soft Michaelis s y n o p s i s and wonders if Stevie might travel to Michaelis’s cottage in Greenwich in order to calm his nerves. Verloc is suddenly intrigued by the idea. a C t i London, 1894. The German Embassy. A ball is in progress. As dancers swirl, the scene 1: scene 3: A week later. A small café. The Professor is sitting at a table, his hand in his pocket. Ambassador is drawn aside by his First Secretary and informed of the furtive arrival of a secret Ossipon arrives with news of an explosion at the Greenwich Observatory. A man has been blown up, agent. The Ambassador hurriedly instructs that the agent be led up a back stairway, and turns to and he wonders if The Professor has provided Verloc with the necessary explosives. The Professor can charm Lady Mabel, a London hostess known for intriguing salons that mix officialdom and outsiders. only again express his loathing of all creation. He would destroy all he could, whether good or bad. When she returns to the dance, the agent enters, Adolf Verloc, a shifty man, who has been paid by Go after Verloc’s widow, he urges. the Embassy for years to report on anarchist groups at work in London and abroad, while posing as one of their number. The Ambassador confronts his laziness, and threatens him. In order to teach the scene 4: Scotland Yard. The Police Commissioner and Inspector Heat are reviewing the day’s hor- English a lesson, he wants a terrorist bomb detonated at the Greenwich Observatory—a gratuitous rific explosion and examine the body of the victim, the bomber himself. Though they cannot identify act of violence meant to galvanize the complacent English into a more rigid stand against the growing the body, they slowly piece together the events of the day. The Commissioner is angry that, on anarchist threat. And he wants Verloc to undertake the mission. As Verloc sneaks out, the Prime Heat’s word, he has assured the Prime Minister that no terrorist threats were imminent. They review Minister arrives at the party. The Ambassador gloats, knowing something is about to happen that the list of the usual suspects, and single out Michaelis. Yet they have found an address on the will make the British more vigilant. body—Verloc’s. Heat informs the Commissioner that Verloc has been a double agent, working for the Germans and yet secretly in the service of the British police. But they decide to follow the more scene 2: The parlor of Verloc’s shabby home behind the pornography shop he runs as a cover for his promising Michaelis lead, and the Commissioner explains that he will soon meet the suspect at Lady spying activities. His wife Winnie and her retarded younger brother Stevie, who lives with the couple, are Mabel’s salon that very evening. preparing dinner in anticipation of Verloc’s arrival. Stevie is agitated by a cabman’s cruel treatment of a horse, and Winnie tries to comfort him. When Verloc arrives, he curtly informs Winnie that his a C t i i usual group of conspirators will be arriving shortly. She asks that he help calm Stevie, but he dismisses scene 5: Belgrave Square. Lady Mabel’s drawing room. A soirée. A singer is performing Schubert’s her concern. The conspirators arrive: the cynical opportunist Ossipon; the fleshy Michaelis, at work “Erlkönig.” Lady Mabel and four socialite women guests are chattering about the guests, the charms on his prison memoirs and supported now by rich socialites; and The Professor, a gaunt, haunting of Michaelis, the day’s terrible Observatory explosion, and the severe German Ambassador.