In this week's episode, Zachary Simonds uses tools developed by Robert Hatten to analyze Mary, Queen of Scots by Thea Musgrave, focusing on the melodically ascending octave and its use as a complex narrative device throughout the opera.

This episode was produced by Jose Garza along with Team Lead Matthew Ferrandino. Special thanks to peer reviewers Colleen Renihan and Evan Ware.

SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

[SMT-Pod opening theme music]

Welcome to SMT-Pod! The premiere audio publication of the Society for Music Theory. In this week’s episode, Zachary Simonds uses tools developed by Robert Hatten to analyze Mary, Queen of Scots by Thea Musgrave, focusing on the melodically ascending octave and its use as a complex narrative device throughout the opera.

Content Warning. This podcast includes discussion of sexual assault and rape. Listener discretion advised.

[Audio example 1]

In this podcast, I analyze Mary, Queen of Scots, an opera in three acts, written by Thea Musgrave. My analysis focuses on the use of the ascending melodic octave in vocal lines and accompaniment. By analyzing important moments that foreground the octave, I show how this simple interval weaves a complex tapestry of characterizations that illuminate the power dynamics between Mary and the three male leads: Darnley (her eventual husband), James (her half-brother), and Bothwell (Lord High Admiral of Scotland).

I begin by contextualizing the opera with short biographies for both Thea Musgrave and Mary Stuart. After framing the octave as a representation of Mary’s power, I will analyze five key moments within the opera that highlight Musgrave’s use of the melodically ascending octave and classify them into three categories: royal power, attempted usurpation, and successful usurpation. These labels situate Mary’s power in the opera, demonstrating its use both by and against her.

Mary is but one of the many strong female characters within the operatic oeuvre of Thea Musgrave. Many of these characters mirror Musgrave’s own inner strength, a drive made apparent by her work in securing a legacy for herself within the institutional landscape of the 20th century.

Thea Musgrave is a Scottish composer born in 1928. Over her career she studied under many notable composers including Nadia Boulanger, and Aaron Copland. After teaching for many years at UC Santa Barbara, she took a job at Queen’s College, CUNY where she remained until 2002. Mary, Queen of Scots was Musgrave’s fifth opera, and the first to which she wrote the libretto.

The opera premiered in 1977 at the King’s Theater in Edinburgh, with subsequent performances across Europe and the US by various opera companies. Novello Records released a live recording of the opera performed by Virginia Opera in 1989. Once commissioned by the Scottish Opera, Musgrave chose Mary Stuart as her protagonist, with both women sharing nationality and a burning desire to succeed in the face of adversity.

Mary Stuart was born in Scotland in 1542. After a betrothal to the French Dauphin (the prince next in line to the royal throne) she moved to France in 1548. When her husband assumed the throne, Mary became Queen Consort, but her position was short lived as her husband died just two years later. No longer bound to France, Mary returned to Scotland to assume the role of Queen. However, she was unfamiliar with the political landscape and found herself quickly beset on all sides by power-hungry men.

After the birth of her son, she was imprisoned by a rival faction and forced to abdicate to England where she was once again imprisoned for nineteen years until her execution in 1587. Though historically, the battle for power rested between Mary Stuart and Queen Elizabeth of England, Musgrave instead focuses on the interplay between Mary and the three male leads over the course of her reign. Elizabeth is merely mentioned in passing to establish Darnley’s lineage early in the work.

Within the opera, Mary’s story begins and ends in much the same way, with her traveling by boat away from her home, unsure of what she is to find when she lands. On her first voyage she says goodbye to France.

[Audio Example 1]

On her second, to her homeland of Scotland. Both farewells also feature an ascending melodic octave in her vocal line. As Mary approaches Scotland and her new life as its queen, the orchestra introduces an octave tremolo, a motif that will recur throughout the opera. This moment foreshadows many of the melodic octaves to come, establishing both a vocal and accompanimental precedent.

Once Mary arrives in her homeland, Darnley, James, and Bothwell each plot to steal her power for themselves. By the end of the opera, her husband—and father to her newborn son—is dead, she is raped by Bothwell (who then flees), and her half-brother James succeeds in turning her subjects against her. She has no choice but to abdicate to England without her son.

The melodically ascending octave acts as an important theme within the opera’s non-diegetic music. It is used predominantly by Mary and comes to represent her royal authority. Though characters such as Darnley and James use the ascending octave on occasion, Mary rebuffs these attempts to wield her power by either utilizing her own octave or by refusing their demands outright. Such a refusal occurs when Darnley begs Mary to stay and talk with him, his line containing the melodically ascending octave.

However, Mary refuses his request, leaving him to wallow in a drunken stupor. Only Bothwell succeeds in stealing Mary’s octave in act III. With the musical support of the orchestra, Bothwell matches Mary’s use of the octave and eventually steals it for himself, symbolically claiming her power as his own. This leaves Mary without the interval for the rest of Act III, until her final farewell at the end of the opera.

My reading of this interval draws on Robert Hatten’s 1994 book Musical Meaning in Beethoven, specifically what he refers to as his “hermeneutic approach…geared towards the unusual detail, the striking feature of a work.” Hatten uses this approach to highlight moments that he feels are significant based on the deployment of various musical parameters. I find this method particularly useful in discussion of the octave due in large part to its historical use in characterizing a strive upwards.

Just as the octaves within “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and the Hero’s Theme from Richard Strauss’s “Don Juan” communicate a dream reaching ever upwards, so too does the ascending octave in Mary, Queen of Scots speak of Mary’s own desire to maintain her royal power and establish her authority as queen. Through this upward motion we hear, and through hearing empathize with, the problems that Mary struggles to solve over the course of the opera. The octave’s deployment is not only limited, but narratively charged. Because of this, a polysemic interval appears as a so-called striking feature within the work, inviting closer reading and consideration across the entirety of the opera.

Each use of the melodic ascending octave in Mary, Queen of Scots fits into one of three categories: Royal authority, seen in moments where Mary rightfully uses the interval as Queen; attempted usurpation, when Darnley and James try and fail to gain Mary’s power for themselves; and successful usurpation, as seen in Act III when Bothwell steals the interval for himself. By focusing on these three categories of the melodically ascending octave, I chart the musical landscape of Thea Musgrave’s work and how she uses a simple melodic interval as a complex narrative device, coloring not only the character of Mary, but each of the three male leads.

Analysis 1: Royal authority and Mary's use of the octave.

[Audio Example 2]

Mary’s first grand use of the octave occurs after her coronation, at the end of Act I, when she banishes Bothwell from court. After meeting Darnley at a ball, she dances with him the entire evening. Bothwell and her half-brother James are enraged by the attention given to Darnley and seek to dissuade Mary from pursuing him. While James attempts to discuss the matter with Mary discreetly, Bothwell instead draws his sword and insults Darnley’s honor. Angered by this outburst, Mary breaks up the altercation, stating that there will be no quarreling or duels in her court. She then banishes Bothwell, instructing him to return to the English border and keep watch there until she summons him.

[Audio Example 3]

On the word “leave,” Mary’s line features an ascending melodic octave from Eb4 to Eb5, reaching into the upper limits of the singer’s voice. Though this specific instance does not feature any of the recurring accompaniment figures, such as the tremolo octave, or militaristic march, the tremolo octave appears earlier as Mary first breaks up the fight.

When first separating Darnley and Bothwell, Mary cries out, “Peace I will have,” while singing an ascending major seventh from C5 to B5. Her line is underpinned by tremolo octaves in the timpani and perfect fifths in the orchestra. This reference to the opening tremolo accompaniment prefigures the sung octave just as it did in Scene II and bestows Mary’s full authority as queen onto the declaration. Though the similarities to prior octaves speak to Mary’s royal authority, the major seventh she sings alludes to the peace she will never attain. Try as she may, she will never secure the rule she so desires, even with the support of her royal power.

Analysis 2: James and Darnley, and Attempted Usurpation

[Audio Example 4]

Both Darnley and James attempt to steal Mary’s octave and thus usurp her royal authority for themselves. However, in each instance, Mary thwarts their attempts to seize control, either by using her own octave to put them in their place or by verbally chastising them for forgetting her role as Queen.

James’s grasp for power is particularly telling. In Act II he bemoans his situation. The son of a king but unable to attain true power because of Mary. He rages at his misfortune but must admit that he did love his sister. He considers helping her for her own sake, but discards this idea, saying that his only desire in life is to hold more power. He declares that he will only help Mary if she gives him some of her power.

[Audio Example 5]

In remembering his love, James sings an ascending melodic octave from D3 to D4. However, this use of the interval sours him, reminding him of the royal authority that he shall never wield. Underscored by the tremolo motif, James rails against his sister, preparing to acquire power however he can. During this tirade, his vocal line rarely reaches above a perfect fifth, relegated largely to intervals smaller than a third. Even the largest interval within the scene, a major sixth, leaves him a far cry from the power he seeks in the octave.

As Mary enters, asking James for his support to install Darnley as king, James rebuffs her. Mary proceeds to use the largest number of octaves in relatively short succession within the opera to chastise James. She asks for his aid one last time but will not give up her power as queen. James once again refuses and just as with Bothwell, Mary banishes him using her octave.

[Audio Example 6]

Throughout this exchange, James becomes fully aware of the power he will never attain under Mary, mirrored in his complete lack of octaves in comparison to Mary’s octave-laden decrees. Though he asks one more time for Mary to give him power, she responds, “I will not have you near me! You must go,” with this final dismissal starting on C5 and ascending to C6, once again residing at the limits of her range.

Though the accompaniment lacks the tremolo octave, the orchestra presents flurries of sixteenth notes over top thick chromatic cluster chords in the bass voices. This wall of sound creates a feeling of awesomeness, portraying Mary’s strength even as her own half-brother refuses to help her. As James leaves, Mary realizes that she can trust neither her husband nor her kin. She resolves to rule Scotland alone, steeling herself with the royal authority of her octave in preparation for the storm yet to come.

Analysis 3: Successful usurpation, Bothwell and the theft of Mary's octave.

Content Warning Audio. Those who may be disturbed by discussion of sexual assault and rape should skip 3 minutes and 30 seconds to analysis 4.

[Audio Example 7]

After his banishment, James rallies an army against Mary, seeking to overthrow her and usurp the throne. Fearing for her safety and weakened by the birth of her son, Mary calls for Bothwell to protect her. Bothwell enters and begins once again to berate both James and Darnley, stating that only he can keep Mary safe. He even attempts to have Darnley banished just as he was.

[Audio Example 8]

Not only does Bothwell’s statement contain a melodically ascending octave, but his proclamation is accompanied by the octave tremolo, lending credence to his demands just as it has Mary. Mary fires back immediately with her own octave, but unlike Darnley and James, this is not enough to dissuade Bothwell. He accuses Darnley of being a murderer and states that both he and James are weak. Bothwell then says that Mary could only have called him back because she needs a strong king by her side.

Bothwell approaches her, saying that she must desire him as he does her. Though Mary attempts to thwart his advances verbally and physically she is weakened from the birth of her son. Taking her vulnerability as consent, Bothwell picks her up, takes her into the adjoining room, and rapes her. Though it is neither depicted nor heard, the instrumental interlude serves to represent the act for the audience while transitioning into the next scene.

[Audio Example 9]

As Bothwell leaves the room, James enters the antechamber and mocks Mary, assuming that she invited Bothwell in.

[Audio Example 10]

As the tremolo octave dominates the instrumental texture, Bothwell begins to use the ascending melodic octave, having forcibly stolen Mary’s royal authority. With both melodic and instrumental support, Bothwell claims his position as ruler of Scotland and asserts that Mary is now his.

[Audio Example 11]

He and James begin to fight, but James’s soldiers outnumber Bothwell. This imbalance allows James to wound the more skilled combatant, and Bothwell flees.

Analysis 4: Mary's lack of octave and her final goodbye.

[Audio Example 12]

Though Bothwell has left, Mary is still unable to wield her octave. James has turned her subjects against her, accusing her of colluding with Bothwell in the murder of her husband Darnley (who Bothwell likely killed before meeting with Mary). Mary asserts her innocence, entreating her subjects to listen to her. However, her lines completely lack the melodically ascending octave as does the accompaniment. This represents her loss of political power and ultimately her pleas are unable to convince her subjects as they continually call for her abdication.

[Audio Example 13]

Unable to convince her subjects, Mary is forced to leave Scotland without her son. However, in her final moments she musters her octave one last time. As the mob celebrates Jame’s victory and prepares for a war against England, Mary bids farewell to her homeland, her line spanning from A4 to A5 (though in this recording the soprano instead sings from Eb5 to Eb6, elevating the tessitura considerably, creating a far greater sense that Mary is soaring over the cries of the crowd).

[Audio Example 14]

This octave represents not only Mary’s last act as Queen, but her last act as a free woman before a nineteen-year imprisonment in England. Though Mary’s end is sad, this final octave reaffirms her strength and perseverance in the face of adversity. Even beset on all sides from the very beginning of her rule, the deployment of this final octave represents her own royal dignity. Though she has lost her throne and her people, her own personal strength persists, showing the audience that Mary’s strength came truly from her person and not her position.

Mary, Queen of Scots represents a master class in motivic storytelling. Though the loss of Mary’s octave may seem a reductive or problematic reading, focusing too heavily on perceived weakness, I feel that it instead highlights Mary’s strength. Though she suffers through multiple traumatic events, and is subsequently blamed for them, she fights on. Even without the royal authority bestowed by her octave, Mary does not relent. Instead, she declares her innocence in the face of a hoard of enraged subjects.

Musgrave’s use of the melodically ascending octave throughout Mary, Queen of Scots is but one example of the rich musical language she employs across her body of work. Though she has written both score and libretto for numerous operas, her work is almost non-existent within the music theoretical discourse. This seems a glaring omission given both the quantity and quality of her oeuvre. Though this podcast focuses on but a small portion of one work, I hope that this single drop in the bucket will produce larger waves in time. Thank you.

I would like to thank both my peer reviewers, Colleen Renihan and Evan Ware for their insightful comments. My team lead, Matthew Ferrandino, for his wonderful work in keeping everything running smoothly. And producer Jose Garza for making everything sound wonderful. I would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Rachel Lumsden for putting together this project.

Visit our website smt-pod.org for supplemental materials related to this episode and to learn how to submit an episode proposal. Join in on the conversation by tweeting your questions and comments @SMT_Pod. SMT Pod's theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang.