Richard Danielpour MARGARET GARNER A New American Opera in Two Acts Libretto by Toni Morrison Based on a true story First performance: Detroit Opera House, May 7, 2005 Opera Carolina performances: April 20, 22 & 23, 2006 North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Stefan Lano, conductor Cynthia Stokes, stage director The Opera Carolina Chorus The Charlotte Contemporary Ensemble The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra The Characters Cast Margaret Garner, mezzo slave on the Gaines plantation Denyce Graves Robert Garner, bass baritone her husband Eric Greene Edward Gaines, baritone owner of the plantation Michael Mayes Cilla, soprano Margaret’s mother Angela Renee Simpson Casey, tenor foreman on the Gaines plantation Mark Pannuccio Caroline, soprano Edward Gaines’ daughter Inna Dukach George, baritone her fiancée Jonathan Boyd Auctioneer, tenor Dale Bryant First Judge , tenor Dale Bryant Second Judge, baritone Daniel Boye Third Judge, baritone Jeff Monette Slaves on the Gaines plantation, Townspeople The opera takes place in Kentucky and Ohio Between 1856 and 1861 1 MARGARET GARNER Act I, scene i: SLAVE CHORUS Kentucky, April 1856. …NO, NO. NO, NO MORE! NO, NO, NO! The opera begins in total darkness, without any sense (basses) PLEASE GOD, NO MORE! of location or time period. Out of the blackness, a large group of slaves gradually becomes visible. They are huddled together on an elevated platform in the MARGARET center of the stage. UNDER MY HEAD... CHORUS: “No More!” SLAVE CHORUS THE SLAVES (Slave Chorus, Margaret, Cilla, and Robert) … NO, NO, NO MORE! NO, NO MORE. NO, NO MORE. NO, NO, NO! NO MORE, NOT MORE. (basses) DEAR GOD, NO MORE! PLEASE, GOD, NO MORE. NO, NOT MORE. DEAR GOD, NO MORE! MARGARET (confidently, with a sense of defiance) WISHING, PRAYING... NO, NO! NO MORE! NO, NO! NO MORE! SLAVE CHORUS MARGARET … NO, NO! NO, NO MORE! … (basses) DEAR GOD, NO MORE! ANKLES CIRCLED WITH A CHAIN... MARGARET SLAVE CHORUS … I WAS DEAD. …NO, NO. NO, NO MORE! NO, NO MORE! (tenors and basses) PLEASE, GOD, NO MORE! THE SLAVES (Slave Chorus, Cilla, and Robert) MARGARET NO, NO. NO, NO MORE! NO, NO. NO MORE! SKIN BROKEN BY A CANE... NO, NO, NO! DEAR GOD, PLEASE, NO MORE! SLAVE CHORUS SLAVE CHORUS …NO, NO! NO MORE! (without Cilla and Robert) NO, NO. NO MORE! DEAR GOD, NO MORE, NOT MORE. MARGARET PLEASE, NO MORE. BLOODY PILLOWS... 2 MARGARET THE SALE OF ALL GOODS BLOODY PILLOWS UNDER MY HEAD; AND CATTLE AND WOODLAND, WISHING, PRAYING I WAS DEAD. SLAVES AND PLANTING FIELDS DARK WITH LOAM. THE SLAVES I HEREBY DECLARE AND ALLOW (Slave Chorus, Cilla, and Robert) AN OLD ESTATE RICH IN HISTORY IS NOW ON THE MARKET PLEASE GOD, NO MORE. FOR A GENTLEMAN'S POCKET; A PRIZE IN THE WHOLE COUNTY. MARGARET YOUR SHREWD EYES WILL LIGHT UP DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR, MASTER'S BRAND IS FOLLOWING ME; POUND FOR POUND, ROPE CAN SWING FROM ANY OLD TREE. THE BESTEST VALUE FOR MILES AROUND. THE SLAVES (A foreman approaches the slaves. He cracks a (Slave Chorus, Cilla, and Robert) bullwhip, and the slaves immediately assume different positions for inspection: they bare their teeth, expose (pleading) their backs, stretch out their necks, etc.) PLEASE GOD, NO MORE. PLEASE GOD, NO MORE. PLEASE GOD, NO MORE. THE TOWNSPEOPLE NO MORE! (White Chorus) **** HOW MUCH? HOW MUCH? FOR PICKNIES AND MAMMIES AND BREEDERS AND BUCKS? The lights go up, and illuminate the entire stage. The HOW MUCH? HOW MUCH? “elevated platform” on which the slaves stood at the WHAT SAY? WHAT SAY? beginning of the opera is revealed now to be a trading FOR MILKING AND PLOWING block situated in the middle of a busy town square in AND SPINNING AND CANNING AND SUCH. Kentucky. It is April 1856. In preparation for a slave auction, members of slave families are being separated O, WHAT A PROBLEM TO DECIDE. from one another, and grouped according to gender O, WHAT A BURDEN ON OUR SHOULDERS: and age. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOTHING, ARE NOTHING, DO NOTHING EXCEPT FOR WE WHO CLOTHE THEM AND The local townspeople are gathering eagerly for the FEED THEM auction. They exhibit a small-town mentality: familiar AND LET THEM SLEEP WHEN THEY ARE ILL. with everyone else's daily life and business, they love WE TEACH THEM ALL THEY WILL EVER to gossip and at times can be judgmental of others. KNOW, Also in the crowd of onlookers is a handsome, genteel ALL THEY WILL EVER KNOW man named Edward Gaines, accompanied by his OF GOD AND WORK AND HOME! daughter Caroline. AUCTIONEER AUCTIONEER (freely chanted) BY THE POWERS INVESTED AND BY CUSTOMS INGESTED, BY THE POWERS INVESTED I HEREBY DECLARE AND ALLOW AND BY CUSTOMS INGESTED THIS SALE TO BE NOW OPEN! I HEREBY DECLARE AND ALLOW: 3 TOWNSPEOPLE FOUR HUNDRED, FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS... WHAT SAY? WHAT SAY? FOR MILKING AND PLOWING TOWNSPEOPLE AND SPINNING AND CANNING AND SUCH. (excitedly) HOW MUCH? HOW MUCH? FOR PICKNIES AND MAMMIES AND BREEDERS ...FOUR HUNDRED, FOUR HUNDRED, FOUR AND BUCKS, HUNDRED, FOUR HUNDRED, WHO KNOW NOTHING OF GOD AND HOME! FOUR HUNDRED! AUCTIONEER EDWARD GAINES (bringing forth the first slave for sale) (impatient, forcefully) NOW THIS HERE IS CILLA. HOLD ON! HOLD ON! ABOUT FIFTY, SHE THINKS. I'M TELLING YOU TO HOLD ON! A COOK, A CHILD NURSE, LAUNDRESS AND SEAMSTRESS. TOWNSPEOPLE THIS BID BEGINS AT TWO HUNDRED (startled, a little nervously) DOLLARS. DO I HEAR TWO FORTY, TWO FORTY, TWO WHO IS IT? WHAT IS IT? FORTY, TWO FORTY? WHO IS IT? WHAT IS IT? (A customer raises his hand, thereby upping the bid.) AUCTIONEER (polite, but annoyed) TOWNSPEOPLE (emphatically) EXCUSE ME, SIR. LEGAL BUSINESS IS IN PROGRESS HERE. TWO FORTY! BY THE POWERS INVESTED, AND BY CUSTOMS INGESTED... AUCTIONEER YES! EDWARD (interrupting the Auctioneer) TWO HUNDRED FORTY. DO I HEAR ...I BEG YOUR PARDON! THREE HUNDRED, THREE HUNDRED, THREE HUNDRED? THIS FARM BELONGED TO MY BROTHER. I NEED THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS. IT CAN'T BE SOLD TO ANOTHER. TOWNSPEOPLE AUCTIONEER (enthusiastically) IT IS TRUE. THREE HUNDRED! IF A FAMILY MEMBER CALLS THE CLAIM, NO SALE CAN TAKE PLACE HERE AND NOW. AUCTIONEER YES! EDWARD THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS. I AM A GAINES. DO I HEAR EDWARD GAINES, BROTHER OF THE FOUR HUNDRED, FOUR HUNDRED, DECEASED. 4 AUCTIONEER (increduously) DON'T YOU REMEMBER ME? IT IS TRUE. IT IS THE LAW. TOWNSPEOPLE (their curiosity aroused) TOWNSPEOPLE (echoing the Auctioneer) EDWARD GAINES? WHO IS HE? DID OLD GAINES HAVE A BROTHER? IT IS TRUE. IT IS TRUE. WHO IS HE? EDWARD GAINES? IT IS TRUE, IT IS THE LAW. EDWARD AUCTIONEER I WAS BORN AMONG YOU WE MUST ENTERTAIN HIS RIGHT UNDER THE AND NOW I'VE RETURNED. LAW. DOESN'T ANYONE REMEMBER ME? TOWNSPEOPLE TOWNSPEOPLE UNDER THE LAW. UNDER THE LAW. NO. NO. NO. WAS IT A LONG TIME AGO? AUCTIONEER EDWARD WHAT IS YOUR PLEASURE, MISTER GAINES, SIR? YOU THOUGHT I WAS LOST, DIDN'T YOU, IN A ROUGH LIFE OF THE GAME. (solicitously) YOU WERE WRONG. WHAT PARTS INTEREST YOU? (WELL, NO, YOU WEREN'T …) WELL, YES, YOU WERE! EDWARD ARIA: I WANT IT ALL. “I Was Just a Boy” I'LL HAVE IT ALL. EVERY BOX OF CHINA TEA BELONGS TO ME. EDWARD EVERY BODY, EVERY BROOM, EVERY MULE AND EVERY LOOM. I WAS JUST A BOY WHEN ANY OF YOU LAST SAW ME. (pointing at the slaves) BUT I'VE BEEN HAPPILY MARRIED WITH A DAUGHTER WE BOTH ADORED. KEEP ALL THE GOODS AND PROPERTY TOGETHER. NOW I'M A WIDOWER, A MAN OF MEANS, I'LL HAVE IT ALL. A FATHER WITH A CHILD TO RAISE. (The auctioneer and Edward shake hands after WHAT MY BROTHER OWNED agreeing on terms for the sale of Maplewood I HAVE RIGHT OF FIRST OFFER TO BUY. Plantation. As Edward examines the legal paperwork, WHICH I DO NOW, FRIENDS. the townspeople begin to disperse. Several prominent WHICH I DO NOW. businessmen remain to witness the transaction, as does Edward's daughter Caroline, who will inherit Maplewood one day.) 5 * * * * WE CAN STILL ATTEND WITH SWEET WILLIAM AND COLUMBINE. (The slave families, now allowed to stay together thanks to Edward's generosity, celebrate in dance and song.) SLAVE CHORUS SWEET WILLIAM AND COLUMBINE. CHORUS: “A Little More Time” SLAVE CHORUS, CILLA, and ROBERT SLAVE CHORUS, CILLA, MARGARET, and LITTLE MORE TIME ROBERT A LITTLE MORE TIME (clapping as they sing) MORE TIME WITH THE CHILDREN WE LOVE... A LITTLE MORE TIME (altos) A LITTLE MORE TIME ...TIME WITH OUR MOTHERS. MORE TIME WITH THE CHILDREN WE LOVE... (all) (tenors) ...TIME WITH OUR BROTHERS. WE FEEL THE MERCY OF OUR LORD GOD WITH THE GRACE OF A LITTLE MORE TIME. (all) (Gaines nods in assent to the contract’s terms, then WE FEEL THE MERCY OF OUR LORD GOD turns to the businessman standing next to him and asks WITH THE GRACE OF A LITTLE MORE TIME. for a pen with which to sign the contract.) CILLA and MARGARET ARIOSO: “I Made a Little Play Doll” ANOTHER SEASON OF FRIENDSHIP TELLING STORIES, SHARING SECRETS BY THE MARGARET FIRE. (tenderly) I MADE A LITTLE PLAY DOLL FOR MY BABY, SLAVE CHORUS WITH BUTTON EYES AND HAIR OF YARN; THE LIPS ARE MADE OF ROSE-COLORED WE FEEL THE MERCY OF OUR LORD GOD THREAD. WITH THE GRACE OF A LITTLE MORE TIME. (Distracted, Edward looks up from his paperwork; he turns around and notices Margaret, who is wearing a MARGARET red scarf. He is intrigued, and grateful for his good fortune to have just purchased her.) MORE NIGHTS TO CURL LIKE A VINE IN OUR HUSBAND’S ARMS. ONE DAY SHE WILL LOVE IT; I AM WAITING FOR HER TO LOVE IT ROBERT (Edward turns around again, and finishes signing the MORE DAYS TO BASK IN THE LIGHT contract.