MARYMERE My husband’s record proves he was a man to be feared, I lived in constant dread of his desperate nature. –Edith Sargent A Chamber Opera by Matthew Schickele In 1908 an odd, quiet man named John Sargent returned to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with his new bride, Edith—an eccentric New York socialite who enjoyed sunbathing nude, sitting in trees, and playing the violin. Edith’s idyllic new life is immediately threatened as she hears rumors that John previously left town bankrupt and was suspected of murdering both his first wife and his business partner. Based on a true story, composer Matthew Schickele’s chamber opera Marymere uses the talents of classical and folk musicians to portray an unusual couple escaping to America’s last frontier, but unable to escape the past. www.matthewschickele.com www.aopopera.org/marymere MARYMERE Edith Sargent playing violin outside Marymere, ca. 1910 A chamber opera in one act, music and libretto by Matthew Schickele. Runtime ca. 80 minutes. Personnel (13): Mezzo-Soprano, Baritone, Bass Jackson’s Hole Townspeople (Townspeople written so that the instrumentalists, if desired, can cover these parts): Two male voices (Baritone, Tenor or folk voices), One female voice (Alto or folk voice) Townspeople extras as needed violin, fiddle, viola, clarinet (bass clarinet), mandolin, double bass, piano History: Composed during a Con Edison Composer Residency Flushing Town Hall, NYC, 2009 First workshop: American Opera Projects, Galapagos Art Space, NYC, 2009 Second workshop: Flushing Town Hall, NYC, 2010 Concert premiere: Jackson Hole Fire Festival, Jackson, Wyoming, 2010 (two performances) Concert presentation: Mannes School of Music, 2010 Premiere, Edith’s Suite: South Oxford Space, 2018 Rehearsing Marymere, Walk Festival Hall, Jackson Hole, Wyoming A Unique Show: Marymere juxtaposes classical and folk idioms in a natural, unpretentious manner. The gripping, true story appeals to a wide audience, regardless of musical taste. The small cast makes for an intimate theater experience. The on-stage band integrates into the story, in some scenes playing extras. The libretto is based on letters, documents, and other original source materials. Of interest: John Sargent was a cousin of the painter John Singer Sargent. MARYMERE Synopsis SCENE 1: 1913 for him, and when they signal they have found Snow’s body, John becomes Edith Sargent is sitting at a worn desk, in an unnamed place. She is wearing convinced the townspeople will blame the death on him somehow. Edith is a dirty dress and writing a letter to an unknown man. She asks for money to frightened by her husband’s callousness. help her get back on her feet; her husband has died, and her only other options to make money are unseemly. She fears returning to her family, as they have SCENE 9: TELEGRAPH threatened to send her to an sanitarium. Edith sends a telegram to a friend in San Francisco. At the telegraph office, the operator rudely states that John murdered his first wife; Edith snaps at him and SCENE 2: 5 YEARS EARLIER leaves. Outside, she runs into Dr Noble, and hesitantly asks him what happened John and Edith Sargent, newlyweds, arrive at Marymere, a large log cabin with to John’s first wife. Dr Noble begins to tell her as they walk away. The telegraph a glorious vista of the Teton mountains on the horizon across Jackson Lake. She operator sends Edith’s telegram; it describes her life at Marymere as a crumbling is thrilled to be away from New York; he is pleased to be home. fantasy, and suggests she may be coming to California. SCENE 3: LIFE IS NOT A LINE SCENE 10: IN A TREE The band sings a song about Edith and John: where they came from, their lives Dr Noble and another local man arrive at Marymere. Edith is playing her back East. violin, naked, in a tree. Dr Noble chastises her and goes into the cabin. Edith’s interaction with the local man reveals her troubled state of mind, and her SCENE 4: SUNBATHING uncertainty about the future. An argument breaks out from inside the cabin; as Edith is sunbathing outside Marymere, staring up at the sky. Doctor Noble they emerge John is threatening Dr Noble with a shovel. The Doctor and the enters, uncomfortably introduces himself, and asks her name. He is surprised local man run off. Once he calms down, John tells Edith her father has died. John has returned—and with a new wife. He wonders what Edith knows, and whether she is safe. As the Doctor leaves, John enters and tells Edith he is SCENE 11: THE GRAND TETON traveling the mountain pass to Idaho, to get supplies. A lone singer sings a poem by Edith Sargent. SCENE 5: EDITH THE NURSE SCENE 12: WHAT NOW Edith is reading by the fire when John returns. He looks ragged and sits in Edith confronts John, arguing they should move to California. John swears he his rocking chair. Edith begins to dote on him, describing her suggested home will never leave Marymere. She reveals she is scared of him, how he is haunted remedies for sickness. John falls asleep. When he awakes later, Edith tells him by his past, and says he needs a fresh start. She insists John explain what that the paying guest, Mr. Snow, arrived and has already left again to go hunting. happened to his first wife. As he relates the story, Edith also remembers Doctor Noble’s different, darker version of the tale. Caught up in the moment, John SCENE 6: THE DANCE lets slip that Edith’s father was paying him an allowance to keep Edith away At the local dance in the nearby town of Jackson, a few folks are dancing to a from her family, to keep her out of the social circles where she could embarrass fiddle tune. Edith and John enter. After watching a while Edith pulls him to them—and now that her father has died, they have no income. Edith becomes the dance floor, not without resistance. They are waltzing, and slowly take over distraught, and leaves him. the dance floor; the music transforms to a waltz as they do so. Soon the other folks begin to come back, and they retake the floor and the music. Edith tries to SCENE 13: LETTERS dance like the locals, but John loses patience and storms out. John is outside Marymere in his rocking chair; as in the beginning, Edith is at a worn desk in a dirty dress. They are writing letters to each other. SCENE 7: GOSSIP Edith has gone to California, but her friend no longer lives there and she The remaining dancers begin to gossip about Edith and John. Edith is disturbed is staying in a charity home. She tells John that without her violin she has no to overhear what they are saying: They are shocked that John has returned, way to make money, and worries her only option is to become a prostitute. considering he killed both his first wife and his business partner, Ray Hamilton. In desperation she has contacted her family, but they are threatening to send They argue about whether this new wife is crazy or not. her to a sanitarium. Edith reluctantly begs John for his forgiveness, and for his help—but John’s responses are simply descriptions of how beautiful Jackson SCENE 8: MR SNOW Hole is, and how he hopes to spend eternity at Marymere. As Edith sings her John and Edith, back at Marymere, are clearly worried. The paying guest, Mr. final appeal, John leaves the stage and returns with a rifle, placing it on his lap Snow, has gone missing. Several men are outside in the wilderness are searching as he watches the sunset. Edith tends to John (from the AOP workshop) The Dance (from the AOP workshop) John Sargent in his rocking chair For excerpts, visit https://www.youtube.com/user/MattSchickele/featured and click ‘View Full Playlist’ under the Marymere Playlist MARYMERE Composer’s Statement The story of Edith and John Sargent was first told to me as a child by my grandparents, when I traveled from my native Brooklyn to Wyoming, where they were living at the time. In later years I read many versions of the story, in books with names like True Tales of Old Wyoming and The Early Days of Jackson Hole. As a young man, I learned that my uncle, the filmmaker David Schickele, had been developing a screenplay adaptation when he passed away. In part as a remembrance to him, I began a deep-dive into the story; reading original documents and letters, attempting to separate the true from the tall-tale. Most storytellers focused on John Sargent. But I quickly realized that his second wife, Edith, was the more fascinating character. Many of her “eccentricities”—or even “signs of madness”—would today be considered entirely fitting traits of an artistic temperament. Yet poor Edith was disowned by her family, shunned by her neighbors, and, eventually, institutionalized. Her life fascinated me, and distressed me. When I began writing Marymere, I was writing a lot of chamber music and also playing in a folk band. Edith Sargent’s story was a perfect way to combine these endeavor into a single, coherent whole. Matthew Schickele writes music and words. Comfortable across genres, Schickele has written chamber music, vocal music, songs, and electronic music for ensembles, bands, and the stage. His chamber music has been performed at venues across the USA and internationally. Recent premieres include the sextet Linden’s Song, and Lamplight for singing cellist and drone. A collaboration with the visual artist Jane Benson, Song for Sebald, has been shown recently in Berlin, New York City and Cincinnati.