Intelligence • Program Note
When the enslaved Mary Jane Bowser goes undercover at the Confederate White House to spy for the Union, she discovers even more secrets about her own life and family.
In 2012, author and educator Lois Leveen wrote an op-ed for the New York Times titled “A Black Spy in the Confederate White House,” introducing much of the public, for the first time, to the extraordinary true story of Mary Jane Bowser. Born into slavery to the Van Lew family circa 1840, Mary Jane had an unusual series of events in her life: she was baptized and married in Richmond’s white church, sent to the north to be fully educated in reading and writing, and sent to Liberia as a missionary. When she returned to Richmond, she was loaned out to the Confederate White House where her unexpected literacy allowed her to spy on documentation of troop movements and strategy, which she was able to deliver to the North through Elizabeth Van Lew’s undercover spy ring. Leveen’s article was given to composer Jake Heggie by a docent at the Smithsonian Institution, and the idea for his next opera, Intelligence, was born. With longtime collaborator Gene Scheer on board as librettist, Heggie reached out to director and choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar to complete the creative team. Created in collaboration with Urban Bush Women, the dance company founded by Zollar in 1984, Intelligence tells the story of Mary Jane and Elizabeth through a unique fusion of words, dance, and music, an unprecedented combination on the operatic stage in which all three art forms coalesce into a narrative whole.
Intelligence opens with Mary Jane at a clothesline, singing a minor-mode melody that bends through flat- and natural-scale degrees, evoking a bluesy, plaintive atmosphere as she sings, “Oh, Lord, have mercy on my soul.” This folklike theme returns in a short duet with Lucinda shortly after they meet, as Mary Jane is unaware that Lucinda is the spirit of her mother, and unaware of the deeper meaning behind the diegetic lyrics, “Whose arms were holding me then? Whose arms would not let me go?” The haunting refrain comes back in Lucinda’s voice throughout the opera, notably in the ultimate scene when Mary Jane finally learns the truth about her past from Elizabeth.
Shared through a fusion of music, words, and dance, this new American epic is the creation of a powerhouse trio: composer Jake Heggie, librettist Gene Scheer, and director/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. The sensational cast is led by mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Elizabeth, with soprano Janai Brugger making her anticipated company debut as the brilliant Mary Jane. Acclaimed conductor Kwamé Ryan takes the podium for his HGO debut.
Curtesy of Houston Grand Opera