| W H AT T O E X P E C T F R O M MA R N I E

IF, ACCORDING TO THE CRITIC CATHERINE CLÉMENT, THE HISTORY OF OPERA THE WORK:
chronicles “the undoing of women”—with their disastrous ends in murder, MARNIE

suicide, disease, and madness—then Marnie begins its tale with a woman An opera in two acts, sung in English

who is already thoroughly undone. It tells the story of Marnie, who moves Music by Nico Muhly
through life in a series of assumed identities, misleading her employers Libretto by Nicholas Wright, based
and stealing from them before escaping to a new town and starting her on the novel by Winston Graham
destructive cycle again. Compelled to this life of deceit by forces she doesn’t First performed November 18, 2017
understand, Marnie is a stranger to herself, at once perpetrator and victim. at The London Coliseum by English
The shadowy psychological trauma in her past sets her on a cycle of lies, National Opera

manipulation, and theft, eventually resulting in her entrapment in a marriage

with another flawed soul: Mark Rutland, the widower who both desires PRODUCTION

and torments her. Nico Muhly’s new opera, now seen at the Metropolitan Robert Spano, Conductor

Opera in its American premiere, gives gripping operatic voice to Marnie’s Michael Mayer, Production
shattered sense of self and the forces that perturb her. Julian Crouch and 59 Productions,
Marnie is the third opera by American composer Nico Muhly (b. 1981) Set and Projection Designers
and a product of the Met’s New Opera Commissioning Program. As with Arianne Phillips, Costume Designer
Muhly’s earlier works Two Boys and Dark Sisters, Marnie takes as its starting
Kevin Adams, Lighting Designer
point a story of “emotionally intense ambiguity,” in the composer’s words.
Lynne Page, Choreographer
And like Two Boys, which inhabits the universe of Internet avatars, Marnie
explores both the fluidity of identity and overlapping spheres of reality. In
STARRING
portraying the murky psyche of Marnie’s title character, Muhly deploys not
Isabel Leonard
only her own voice but also a quartet of “Shadow Marnies” who function
MARNIE (mezzo-soprano)
in part as her subconscious, as well as silent male figures whose stance is
Janis Kelly
more antagonistic. Muhly calls the complex interplay between these layers
MRS. RUTLAND (soprano)
“a nebulous series of mirrors” and relishes creating a character with so many
Denyce Graves
different registers. “There’s what she’s saying, there’s what she’s thinking,
MARNIE’S MOTHER (mezzo-soprano)
there’s the immediate source behind what she’s thinking and saying, and
Iestyn Davies
then a deeper source that we only hint at,” he says.
TERRY RUTLAND (countertenor)
This guide presents Marnie as an operatic psychological thriller that draws
Christopher Maltman
on both the unique narrative voice of its title character as well as the vast
MARK RUTLAND (baritone)
expressive resources of grand opera. It will prepare students to engage
confidently and meaningfully with Muhly’s opera and give them tools to
By special arrangement with Universal Pictures
interpret much of contemporary opera written in the past 50 years. This
Production a gift of Andrew J. Martin-Weber
guide will also align with key strands of the Common Core Standards.
Additional funding from the Francis Goelet
Charitable Trusts, Dr. Coco Lazaroff, and
American Express

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and

English National Opera

Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera

LEONARD KELLY GRAVES DAVIES MALTMAN

1
 | A G U I D E T O MA R N I E

This guide includes five sections. The activities in this guide will focus on several aspects of Marnie:
• THE SOURCE, THE STORY, • The operatic representation of the novel’s unique narrative voice
WHO’S WHO IN MARNIE,
• Muhly’s compositional style
AND A TIMELINE
• The work of bringing a new contemporary opera to the stage of the Met
• CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:
• Creative choices made by the artists of the Metropolitan Opera for this
Two activities designed to
align with and support various production
Common Core Standard strands • The opera as a unified work of art, involving the efforts of composer,
used in ELA, History/Social librettist, and Met artists
Studies, and Music curricula

• PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES: This guide is intended to cultivate students’ interest in Marnie, whether or
Two activities to be used during
not they have any prior acquaintance with opera. It includes activities for
The Met: Live in HD transmission,
highlighting specific aspects of students with a wide range of musical backgrounds, and seeks to encourage
this production them to think about opera—and the performing arts as a whole—as a medium
• POST-SHOW DISCUSSION: of both entertainment and creative expression.
A wrap-up activity that integrates
the Live in HD experience into
the students’ understanding
of the performing arts and the
humanities

• STUDENT RESOURCE PAGES:

Classroom-ready worksheets
supporting the activities in the
guide

2
| THE STORY

SUMMARY Marnie, a young woman going by the name of Mary Holland, works as a
secretary at an accounting firm. One day after closing, she breaks into the office safe
and steals the company’s funds. She escapes and makes plans to change her appear-
ance and identity in a new town, but first visits her disapproving invalid mother and
gives her money. At Marnie’s new job at Halcyon Printing, she recognizes Mark Rutland,
the firm’s owner, from her past, but he doesn’t seem to know her. One day, Marnie
delivers some work to Mark at his home. When Marnie is terrified by a thunderstorm,
Mark comforts her and tries to kiss her. Marnie flees and returns to the office. She
breaks into the safe, but Mark catches her in the act. He convinces Marnie to marry
him to avoid his going to the police. On their honeymoon, Mark reveals that he knew
she was a thief when she applied for her job. He wants her to love him, but Marnie
can’t stand his touch. He tries to force her to give herself to him, but she escapes into
the bathroom and slits her wrists.
Marnie recovers from her injuries, but both she and Mark suffer from their disas-
trous marriage. Mark persuades Marnie to see an analyst; in return, he will have her
beloved horse Forio stabled at their house. In her therapy, Marnie has flashbacks of
a thunderstorm, a soldier, her mother, and her dead baby brother. Later, Mark and
Marnie take part in a fox hunt. Amid the chaos of the hunt, Marnie panics and Forio
bolts. Mark, trying to help, is hurt, and Forio is injured so badly that he must be shot.

Marnie in the opera’s pivotal fox hunt scene

RICHARD HUBERT SMITH / ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA

3
 Marnie visits Mark in the hospital. She is beginning to yield to his feelings but takes his
VOICE TYPE keys when he falls asleep. At the office, Marnie unlocks the safe but cannot steal from
Since the early 19th century,
it. She flees to her mother’s house, only to learn of her death. Mark and his brother,
singing voices have usually
been classified into six basic along with the police, track Marnie down. Mark says he will wait for Marnie, but she
types, three male and isn’t able to promise the same. The police put her in handcuffs as she says, “I’m free.”
three female, according
to their range. The
THE SOURCE: MARNIE BY WINSTON GRAHAM Although best known today for
countertenor was common
in early music but rare after his historical Poldark novels set in early 19th-century Cornwall (currently the subject of
the 18th century. a BBC television series), the English author Winston Graham spent most of his career

SOPRANO writing contemporary suspense. Working during the second half of the 20th century,
the highest-pitched voice, Graham often focused on ordinary people caught in morally fraught situations and
normally possessed only by the gradual discovery of hidden past events. Both of these features arise in Marnie.
women and boys
Shortly after its publication in 1961, the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock began
MEZZO-SOPRANO adapting it into a film, and his Marnie premiered in 1963, starring Tippi Hedren and
the female voice whose
Sean Connery. It is easy to see why Graham’s novel was a compelling source for
range lies between the
soprano and the contralto Hitchcock: Its themes of romantic obsession, female culpability, psychological trauma,
(Italian “mezzo” = middle, and frustrated sexual desire are the defining tropes of Hitchcock’s career. But while
medium) the film sets the action in America and shifts toward a more optimistic ending for Mark
CONTRALTO and Marnie, the libretto that Nicholas Wright has developed in conjunction with Nico
the lowest female voice, also Muhly for his opera returns to the greyer worldview of Graham’s novel. It preserves
called an alto
the setting in London and Buckinghamshire as well as the inherent class tensions of
COUNTERTENOR late 1950s / early ’60s Britain, and includes the lecherous character of Terry, whose
a male singing voice whose
tantalizing countertenor lines disquiet Marnie. It also removes the tidy ending of
vocal range is equivalent to
that of a contralto, mezzo- Hitchcock’s film, instead embracing the more equivocal closing of the novel. Above all,
soprano, or (less frequently) the opera restores the distinctive interior voice of Marnie herself, using the dramatic
a soprano, usually through forces of the art form to represent her fractured identity and most deeply buried self.
use of falsetto.

TENOR SYNOPSIS
the highest naturally ACT I: England, 1959. At the accounting firm of Crombie & Strutt where she works
occurring voice type in as a clerk, Marnie meets Mark Rutland, a handsome client of Mr. Strutt’s. Mark is
adult males
immediately attracted to her. After the office closes, Marnie steals money from the
BARITONE office safe, and as she escapes, she plans how she will change her identity and appear-
the male voice lying below
ance when she moves on to the next town, as she has done before. Marnie visits her
the tenor and above the bass
invalid mother and gives her the money for a new house. Meanwhile, Marnie’s theft is
BASS
discovered at Crombie & Strutt, and Mr. Strutt vows to bring Marnie to justice. Marnie
the lowest male voice
applies for a job at Halcyon Printing and is shocked when the man who interviews her
is Mark Rutland, whom she met at Mr. Strutt’s office. To Marnie’s relief, he seems not
to recognize her and offers her the job. She also meets Mark’s brother Terry, Mark’s
“wayward deputy” at the firm.

4
 A lobby card advertisement for
Alfred Hitchcock’s film
WIKIPEDIA COMMONS IMAGE

Weeks later, Terry, a notorious womanizer, invites Marnie to a poker evening at his
flat. When she joins her co-workers at a pub, they urge her to accept Terry’s invita-
tion. A stranger appears, claiming to have known Marnie under a different name,
but she dismisses him. Marnie joins Terry and his friends Malcolm and Laura Fleet for
the poker game at his apartment. After the game, Terry makes a pass at Marnie. She
rebuffs him and escapes.
At Mark’s house, his mother, Mrs. Rutland, pressures him to improve his performance
as managing director. Marnie arrives, having been invited by Mark on the pretext of
work. Marnie mentions her beloved horse, Forio, and Mark speaks of his loneliness
since his wife died. A thunderstorm erupts, terrifying Marnie. Mark comforts her,
then declares his romantic fascination with her and tries to kiss her. Marnie quits her
job on the spot and flees. She plans to escape the two brothers by changing identity
once again. She breaks into the Halcyon safe, but Mark catches her in the act. He
threatens to turn her in unless she agrees to marry him. Marnie has no choice but to
comply. Marnie’s mother receives a letter from Marnie, saying she’ll be out of touch
for a while. She discusses her mistrust of Marnie with Lucy, her neighbor. Marnie’s
mother believes that when Marnie was a girl, she killed her baby brother. On their
honeymoon cruise, Mark reveals to Marnie that he recognized her when she applied
for the job and has known all along that she is a thief. She refuses sex with him and
he tries to rape her. She locks herself in the bathroom and slits her wrists.

5
 ACT II: Weeks later, Marnie removes the bandages from her wrists. The scars are
fading, but she feels her wounds will never heal and vows to remain strong and resist
Mark. Marnie and Mark dress for a business dinner. Marnie gives him information that
leads him to conclude that Terry is scheming to take over the family firm. Frustrated
by their sexless marriage, Mark presses Marnie to consult an analyst. In return, he
promises to bring her horse, Forio, to be stabled on his property. Marnie sees the
analyst for several weeks and eventually recalls a memory of a thunderstorm, a soldier,
her mother, and her dead baby brother.
Marnie and Mark arrive at the country club for his mother’s party. Terry threatens
to expose Marnie as a fraud. Mr. Strutt appears and recognizes Marnie, despite her
denials. Mark agrees to meet with him later to resolve the situation. Terry excoriates
Mark for his entrapment of Marnie, and the two men fight. Mrs. Rutland shocks Mark
when she reveals that it is she who has been planning a takeover of the family firm,
and it will now be run by Malcolm Fleet.
Marnie and Mark take part in a fox hunt, with Marnie riding Forio. When the horse
panics and bolts, Marnie is thrown, and Mark, trying to help her, is injured. Forio is so
badly hurt that he must be shot. Mark’s mother visits him in the hospital and expresses
bewilderment at his marriage. Marnie arrives, and the conflict between her and Mark
eases, but as she leaves, she steals his keys. Deciding she must leave the country to
avoid her growing feelings for Mark, Marnie breaks into the office safe, but she finds
herself unable to take the money. She goes to see her mother but arrives to find that
her mother has died. At the cemetery, the mourners assemble. Lucy tells her that it
was her mother, not Marnie, who killed Marnie’s baby brother. Marnie rejects her
feelings of guilt and her need to transgress. Mark appears, accompanied by Terry and
the police. Mark hopes that Marnie and he might reconcile, but Marnie can’t promise
anything. She only knows she must face the truth. She gives herself up to the police
with the words, “I’m free.”

6
| W H O ’ S W H O I N MA R N I E

CHARACTER VOICE TYPE THE LOWDOWN

Marnie An enigmatic mezzo-soprano Marnie moves from job to job, stealing from each employer and
young woman then changing her identity, though she does not understand what
drives her to do this.

Mark Rutland A widower, baritone Lonely after the death of his wife, Mark is drawn to Marnie from the
owner of a start and doesn’t hesitate to entrap her when an opportunity arises.
printing firm

Terry Rutland Mark’s brother countertenor A known womanizer, Terry pursues Marnie despite his suspicions
and colleague in that she isn’t exactly what she seems.
business

Mrs. Rutland Mother of Mark soprano Mrs. Rutland has her own ideas about how both her sons and the
and Terry family business should operate.

Marnie’s mother Marnie’s invalid mezzo-soprano The figure of Marnie’s mother pervades much of the story, shaping
mother Marnie’s behavior and disorders.

Lucy A neighbor who alto Lucy is now a caretaker for Marnie’s mother but remembers the
helped raise traumatic events of Marnie’s childhood.
Marnie

Shadow Marnies Four body sopranos The Shadow Marnies reflect and distort Marnie’s interior life,
doubles for and mezzo- representing her anxieties and emotional defenses.
Marnie sopranos

7
 | TIMELINE

1961 The English author Winston Graham writes his novel Marnie.

1963 The film Marnie by Alfred Hitchcock premieres, featuring Tippi Hedren
and Sean Connery.

1981 Nico Muhly is born in Randolph, Vermont, on August 26, to an
artistic family. His mother is a painter and his father is a filmmaker.
Throughout Nico’s childhood, the Muhlys divide their time between
Vermont and Providence, Rhode Island.
on
ins t
i ti o
ed
t U K ve l
n of W
1990 Muhly begins piano lessons, and within a year, joins the boys choir at
e firs n o Grace Church (pictured at left) in downtown Providence, where he
Th ’s
ha m
G ra
is first introduced to the works of the Anglican choral tradition. His
abiding love for Weelkes, Gibbons, Tallis, and Tye dates from this
time. Also at this time, Muhly begins composing. His first composition
G ra
ce C lessons are with Kevin Sullivan and Ron Nelson, composers active in
h
P r ov u r c h ,
id e n Providence.
ce

1995 Muhly attends the Boston University Tanglewood Institute summer
program and decides to become a composer. Today, Muhly teaches
composition students at Tanglewood.

1999 Muhly begins a joint degree program at Columbia University and the
Juilliard School. His composition professors include John Corigliano
and Christopher Rouse. While there, he hones his technical skills
in composition. In his English program at Columbia, he focuses on
postcolonial literature and the novels of Charles Dickens. He graduates
in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and in 2004 with
a Master of Music degree in composition. During his freshman year,

Muhly becomes an intern for Philip Glass, one of the preeminent
composers of American minimalism. Muhly continues to work with
Glass until 2008 as an editor and conductor, often focusing on
arranging parts for his film scores.

2006 Muhly joins the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, headed by
Icelandic musician Valgeir Sigurðsson and produces his first recording,
Speaks Volumes.

2008 Muhly composes the score to the Academy Award–winning film The Reader,
featuring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes.

8
 2011 Muhly works for the first time with director Michael Mayer on the
Tony Kushner play The Illusion at the Signature Theater Company
in New York. Drawing on the success of this collaboration, they
remain friendly both personally and professionally
Muhly’s first opera, Two Boys, premieres at the English National
Opera in June. A co-production between the English National
Opera and Metropolitan Opera, it tells the story of a grisly
stabbing of one teenage boy by another and their roles in a
complex web of imagined personas on the Internet.
Muhly’s second opera, Dark Sisters, a commission from the Gotham
Chamber Opera, Music Theatre Group, and the Opera Company of
Philadelphia, premieres in New York on November 9. It explores a
With Philip Glass
crisis among a family of women, all wives to a single, prophet-like NEILSON BARNARD / 
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA

husband in a renegade sect of Mormonism.

2013 Two Boys premieres at the Met on October 21.

Mayer proposes the story of Marnie as the topic for an opera
to Muhly. Together, they pitch the idea to Metropolitan Opera
General Manager Peter Gelb. With Gelb’s approval, they work
with Paul Cremo, Director of the Met’s Opera Commissioning
Program, to begin developing an opera based on Winston
Graham’s novel. Cremo introduces Muhly to Nicholas Wright as a
potential librettist.

2017 Marnie receives its first performance on November 15 by English

National Opera at the London Coliseum.

2018 Muhly revises the opera to tighten the narrative and allow for
smoother scene changes. Marnie premieres at the Metropolitan
Opera on October 19.

9
 | C L A S S R O O M AC T I V I T Y

“Am I / I am / And which are / you?”:

Voicing Marnie’s Inner Life

English / Language Arts In Marnie, Nico Muhly and his librettist Nicholas Wright began with a compelling but
thorny inspiration: a protagonist who eschews emotional connection, whose chame-
IN PREPAR ATION leon personas mask the strange blankness of her real self, and yet whose unreliable
For this activity, students will
first-person narrative forms the entirety of her story’s landscape. In developing their
need the reproducible resources
available at the back of this guide operatic adaptation, Muhly and Wright sought to remain true to Marnie’s inner voice,
entitled Voicing Marnie’s Inner Life, while also exploiting the operatic art form’s unique ability to communicate emotions
as well as the audio selections from and desires, both conscious and not. The opera’s liminal spaces—which blur the line
Marnie available online or on the
between identity and self-construction—form the backdrop to a story that moves
accompanying CD.
seamlessly between reality and the fuguing psyche of the title character. This exercise
will provide students with a nuanced understanding of Marnie’s character, gained
CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS
English/Language Arts, Creative from readings in Winston Graham’s source novel and the libretto, as well as from an
Writing, Drama, Humanities examination of musical excerpts from the opera. Students will:

• become familiar with the character of Marnie

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• To identify the modes of speech • examine quotations by the novel’s author regarding Marnie’s narrative voice
used in different artistic media • engage in textual analysis, closely reading excerpts from the novel and the libretto

• To practice close reading and • learn how elements of the opera reflect Marnie’s inner turmoil
listening in order to analyze literary
and musical techniques
Marnie with the four Shadow Marnies
• To explore the expressive resources RICHARD HUBERT SMITH / ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA

of grand opera

• To think critically and creatively

about the opera’s central themes

10
STEPS COMMON CORE STANDARDS
In this activity, students will learn about the narrative style of the source novel and AND MARNIE

read several brief excerpts to analyze Marnie’s distinctive voice. They will then turn CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3
Analyze the impact of the author’s choices
to a study of the opera’s libretto, reading it for its transformation of the first-person regarding how to develop and relate
elements of a story or drama (e.g., where
narrative of the novel. Through their investigation of the opera’s musical treatment of a story is set, how the action is ordered,
Marnie’s inner psyche, they will discover some of the musical resources of grand opera how the characters are introduced and
developed).
and gain a concrete experience of the story’s themes of compulsion and self-knowledge.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.6
Analyze a case in which grasping a point
STEP 1: Begin by familiarizing your students with the characters of the opera. Distribute of view requires distinguishing what is
the chart of Who’s Who in Marnie found in this guide and give your students a minute directly stated in a text from what is really
meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or
or two to read it silently. Next, move on to the specifics of the plot by having students understatement).
read the synopsis or the summary. You may prefer to have them take turns reading CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5
it aloud. Either way, the most important takeaway is that the opera tells the story Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness
of the structure an author uses in his or
of a troubled young woman who lies, cheats, and steals from her employers before her exposition or argument, including
whether the structure makes points clear,
changing her identity and moving to a new job—all without understanding the trauma convincing, and engaging.
in her past that compels her to repeat this destructive cycle over and over.

STEP 2: Let students know that Nico Muhly’s opera Marnie is based on the 1961 novel
Marnie by the English author Winston Graham. In the novel, the story is told from the
point of view of Marnie herself, entirely in the first person. Prompt students to make
observations on some of the features of first-person narratives.

• How can you recognize a first-person narrator? (the use of “I” or “we”)
• What can be known about the events of a story told in the first-person? (only what
is observed by the narrator)
• Does the story present insight into the thoughts and perspectives of other charac-
ters? (no, only as they are revealed to and understood by the narrator)

In his memoirs, Winston Graham wrote about the challenges he faced in writing in the
first person in Marnie. Pass out the reproducible handouts at the back of this guide
entitled Voicing Marnie’s Inner Life, and guide students’ attention to the first section.
Have them read the two quotes by Graham (or assign students to read them aloud),
and then open a brief discussion on the creative implications of writing through a
flawed first-person narrator. Can the reader believe what the narrator says? How can
the reader deduce what is real and what is not? How might the narrator’s perspective
distort her portrayal of the events of the story? There is also space available at the
bottom of the handout for students to record their observations.

STEP 3: Divide the class into several groups, and have students turn to the next
section of the reproducible handouts, which includes several excerpts from Winston

11
 Graham’s novel. Assign each group one of the excerpts and have them discuss how
FUN FACT: The four Marnie portrays her situation and what, if anything, can be deduced about who she
Shadow Marnies appear at
really is. Does she seem to be telling the truth? Is it possible to catch a glimpse of
various times throughout
the action, reflecting her mind at work? How does she present herself and depict her own desires? Is there
Marnie’s turbulent inner anything unusual about the narrative voice she uses when she refers to herself?
life and unconscious
desires. They sing in a style STEP 4: Now ask students to consider the types of changes that would necessarily occur
influenced by early music, in adapting a novel—particularly a first-person novel as in the case of Marnie—into
with no vibrato, slow text
a work of drama. Whereas the novel could be understood as a series of monologues
declamation, and carefully
deployed dissonances. In all written in the voice of Marnie herself, a dramatic work would need to include
Nico Muhly’s words, they the voices of other characters. Ask students: How might it be possible to retain the
should sound as if Marnie’s individual, skewed perspective of the title character of Graham’s novel in a setting in
inner monologue “is actually
which other characters have dialogue and express their perspectives?
a warped recording of the
Tallis Scholars singing Drama students may be familiar with the term soliloquy, which refers to an extended
a single chord from an speech in which a character expresses his or her thoughts aloud, usually directly to
obscure Tudor motet.” the audience. In drama, soliloquys give characters the opportunity to reflect on their
hidden thoughts and desires and to reveal them to the audience—often while keeping
them concealed from other characters. They give the audience a window to see into
a character’s mind.
In opera, composers have a similar tool at their disposal: the aria. A piece for solo
voice with instrumental accompaniment, an aria gives the composer a platform to
display a character’s inner life using not only the poetry of words but with music as
well. In Marnie, the librettist Nicholas Wright has fashioned sections of text that he
calls “Links,” which appear between scenes and provide a medium for Marnie to voice
her thoughts.
Have students turn to the next section of the reproducible handouts, which includes
the text to the first Link in Marnie. Explain that this scene occurs close to the opening
of the opera, just after the end of the workday at Crombie & Strutt. Marnie, in the
persona of Mary Holland, has just rebuffed a pass from her employer, Mr. Strutt, and
emerges after her co-workers have left to break into the office safe.
Give students a moment to read Marnie’s aria in the Link, or alternatively, call on
a student to read it aloud. Then lead them in a discussion, covering the following
questions:

• What do we learn about Marnie in this excerpt?

• How do we learn it? How would you describe Marnie’s style of communication or
vocabulary?
• What are the emotions that compel Marnie to behave the way she does?

Next, remind students that in opera, the meaning of the text is amplified and expanded
by the musical setting. Play Track 1, asking students to follow the text as they listen

12
 The company at work at Crombie & Strutt
RICHARD HUBERT SMITH / ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA

to the music. Note: The music begins at the text “Goodbye, Mary Holland.” Invite
students to comment on their initial impressions of the musical atmosphere, asking:

• How does this music make you feel? Peaceful? On edge? Worried?
• How would you describe the singer’s voice? High? Low? Tender? Disdainful?
• What does the sound convey about the character? What kind of person would you
expect this character to be, based on the sound of her voice alone?

STEP 5: In addition to expressing Marnie’s inner monologues through Links, the opera
presents a yet more original solution to the challenge of how to represent Marnie’s
flawed first-person perspective. Nico Muhly and Nicholas Wright have created a
quartet of Shadow Marnies, mysterious women who appear and recede throughout
the opera. They dress alike (in similar costumes to Marnie but in contrasting, bright
colors), surrounding Marnie at moments of psychological turbulence. They can repre-
sent Marnie’s subconscious, her past identities, the emotional protections she has
erected for herself, her anxieties, and her suppressed memories. For the Shadow

13
 Marnies, Muhly employs a musical texture that remains distinct from the surrounding
voices. They sing without vibrato, in long, drawn-out syllables that obscure the text,
and often in drones or with close dissonances. In the words of Muhly, “you lose track
of the text, but it doesn’t matter because it’s cumulative emotional information.”

To provide further context, you may choose to present the following quote by Nico
Muhly to students, in which he describes his use of the Shadow Marnies:

“They can be soothing, or they can be antagonistic, or they can be complicit,

or a combination. They can take Marnie out of herself, so she can leave one
of them to steal or do something else. It was really important for me that they
be a completely distinct sonic environment within the chorus. In a landscape
of trees, there’s one artificial one. There’s something just a click off.”
FUN FACT: The character of
Marnie’s mother is associated After introducing the concept of the Shadow Marnies to students, have them turn to
in the score with a distinctive the next section of the reproducible handouts, which presents an excerpt from the
orchestration: Her scenes Act I scene at the pub. Marnie has just been recognized by a man who knew her in one
include cadenzas for solo
of her previous identities. Shortly after she puts him off, the Shadow Marnies appear.
viola. While a number of
operas feature solos for Have students follow the text as you play Track 2. Note: The audio example does not
violin—such as Gounod’s set the entire text provided in the handout. As in the previous step, ask students to
Faust, Massenet’s Thaïs, reflect on what they have learned about Marnie in this excerpt.
Janáček’s Jenùfa, Strauss’s
Der Rosenkavalier, and Berg’s • Who is Marnie? How do we learn this?
Lulu, principal viola solos are
• Does Marnie understand herself?
exceedingly rare. One other
notable example is Weber’s • Does this interaction between Marnie and the Shadow Marnies take place in the
Der Freischütz, which includes world of the pub, or somewhere else?
“Einst Träumte,” a soprano • How do the Shadow Marnies amplify Marnie’s emotions?
aria accompanied by solo
viola. It tells the story of a STEP 6: Return the discussion to the question of the tools that opera composers (or
disturbing dream.
writers of drama) may use to portray the inner thoughts of a character. If students have
studied Greek tragedy, they may be familiar with the use of the chorus as a reflective
force to comment on the story. In Marnie, Muhly sometimes deploys the chorus in
a similar way. Have students turn to the next section of the reproducible handouts,
which provides the text for “All night long.” In this number, the chorus does not act
as a group of individual characters, but rather as a collective assembly that speaks in
the voice of Marnie’s psyche. Have students follow the text as you play Track 3. The
number begins with a small group of Shadow Marnies intoning “all night long,” and
gradually grows through the addition of more voices and instruments into an ensemble
of great dramatic force. Ask students to comment on what this number adds to their
understanding of Marnie. Does she possess deep feelings, or is she callous? What

14
drives her? Is she content to remain as she is? Or is she even sufficiently self-aware Costume designer Arianne Phillips
collages images to an “inspiration
to know what she wants? board” to develop the look of
Marnie’s costumes.

STEP 7: Wrap up the activity by asking students to consider the three musical elements
in Marnie they have studied—Muhly’s use of Link episodes, the Shadow Marnies, and
the chorus—and reflect on which of these tools gave them the most insight into Marnie’s
inner life. Which came closest to replicating the distinctive first-person narrative style
of the novel? Did one element feel more distinctively ‘operatic’?

FOLLOW UP: Regarding his choice to have the Shadow Marnies sing in an early-music
style, Muhly has remarked on his love of that music and its importance in his own
musical development. Have students reflect on the music that would form their own
personal soundtracks. If their psyche had a voice, how would it sing?

15
A CONVERSATION
WITH
NICO MUHLY
American composer Nico Muhly has emerged as one of the
most prolific composers of the 21st century, one whose diverse
inspirations and collaborators range from Philip Glass, Björk, and
the Faroese musician Teitur, to the Anglican cathedral repertory
of Renaissance composers such as Weelkes, Tallis, and Tye. Now,
for the second time in five years, the Met presents the American
premiere of a new Muhly opera. Looking ahead to Marnie’s arrival,
Muhly spoke to the Met’s Angela Marroy Boerger about his work’s
“very operatic” story and the influences behind his music.

You’ve mentioned that when director Michael Mayer proposed Marnie as the
subject for a new opera, you were immediately on board. What is it about this
story that convinced you that it belonged on the operatic stage?
I’ve long maintained that one of the great things about theater—but also
about opera—is that most of it relies on a fundamental lie, on a fundamental
misconception or an untruth. Così fan tutte is the best example of this. You dress
up as someone else to show what you actually think. Or when someone else is in
costume, you believe something that you ordinarily wouldn’t have. This happens on
stage as an element of the plot, but it also happens between the characters and
the audience. We are all asked to believe in this deception. In Marnie, that con is at
the heart of the story.

And it’s at the heart of Marnie’s own identity.

You’re absolutely right. What drew me to Marnie was that if you re-invent yourself
constantly, as I dealt with in Two Boys, what you actually are is an opera composer.
In this way, Marnie has written a piece for five or six different women, and she
stars in it—she’s Cindy Sherman [the late–20th-century self-portraitist and
photographer]. But eventually you get caught, not by the police or by a man, but
caught up in your own creation.

16
You are very open about the influence answer would be Taverner; it would be be movement on stage. I’m interested in
of your time singing in the boys choir Tallis, Brown, Tye. Those very long high creating a document, which is to say, the
at Grace Church in Providence, and lines that you hear—that’s that sound that score, which suggests to the designers,
the sonorities of early music often you get addicted to, that you hear the to the director, to the video team, the
echo throughout your own work. Tallis Scholars and Stile Antico singing. actors, the choreographers, to everyone,
What is it about this idiom that you Now that I’ve written for those groups, I to harness their sense of the power of this
find inspiring? feel a certain deepening or thickening of thing and deploy it all together.
For me, one of the appeals of the my relationship with that sound.
Anglican choral tradition is teamwork— One of the most powerful moments in
the idea that this music is not all about It’s also a fundamentally choral Marnie is the choral number “All night
one single person; it’s not a showy, style. How does this reflect your long.” Could you tell us about that?
Romantic way of making music. I like understanding of contemporary grand What you begin with is the Shadow
that it resists a Romantic sense of how opera? Marnies, inside the ensemble in this
a musical climax works and a Romantic If you’re going to write a grand opera, little ripieno solo group, as in a concerto
sense of how time passes in music. you should write one. What you have is a grosso configuration [in which a small
That’s been a fundamental concern of couple hundred years of power behind group is set against a larger one]. It starts
what I write both instrumentally and the form. In the same way that if you’re with that fundamental core, and then
vocally: how to make concert music commissioned to do something for a the larger chorus comes in, and then it
compelling and communicative, which cathedral that’s been around since 1260, transforms into this gigantic, whirling,
still hews to my roots. you should harness the power of that properly Romantic thing. For me, the scale
space. There is so much nested history of that chorus is really satisfying because
It’s fascinating how you’ve adapted there. But to harness it doesn’t necessarily it starts with two voices, and then one
this style for the Shadow Marnies, mean to deploy it; it means to be aware descant, and it gets bigger and bigger.
who reflect and distort Marnie’s inner of it. To be true to it and to not say, “I’m It’s one of the louder moments in the
life. Why did you choose to have them trying to set this on fire.” There are other piece. Proportionally, it was about starting
speak in the early-music language people who are more than happy to set with that kernel and exploding into full
of drones, descants, and careful it on fire, and I will throw them the match. anxiety. But it also traces the history of
dissonances? But for me, I want to use the chorus. I want vocal production. You begin from an early
I was seeking a representation of what, to have movement. I want to have a bunch music style, and it explodes outwards. It’s
if I were in Marnie’s environment, would of principals. I want there to be a reason one of my favorite parts.
be the music that would cling to me. The for it to be big and a reason for there to

17
 | C L A S S R O O M AC T I V I T Y

Minimalism, Aleatory Music, and Drones, Oh My!

Music The notion of analyzing a contemporary opera can be intimidating. The listener may
have no knowledge of the composer’s style or even a frame of reference of other
IN PREPAR ATION recent works. In Nico Muhly’s opera Marnie, newcomers to contemporary classical
For this activity, students will need
music can find several readily-discernible auditory elements to help them along:
the reproducible resources available
at the back of this guide entitled minimalistic textures, aleatory music performance, and drones. Muhly’s eclectic drawing
Minimalism, Aleatory Music, and from these disparate elements also serves the function of representing musically the
Drones, Oh My!, as well as the audio conflicting psychological forces at work in Marnie’s world. His music simultaneously
selections from Marnie available
depicts not only the conversations around his title character but also her deeper
online or on the accompanying CD.
You will also need a musical staff on anxieties and troubled psyche. This exercise invites students to engage with these
your chalk or whiteboard, staff paper, musical techniques as represented in Muhly’s opera and then to respond to them
and assorted orchestral, band, or creatively by composing their own versions.
Orff instruments.
Students will:
• develop new musical vocabulary
CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS
• listen critically to musical examples and identify their distinct components
Chorus, Band, Orchestra, Music
Theory, Humanities, Art • develop and perform both composed and improvised musical elements

STEPS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
In this activity, students will listen to brief excerpts from Marnie and read those
• To gain a basic understanding of
various compositional trends in sections of the score, analyzing them for their use of minimalistic elements, drones,
contemporary classical music and aleatory processes—all important aspects of Nico Muhly’s compositional style.
• To become familiar with Nico Based on their understanding of these concepts, students will compose brief musical
Muhly’s musical style in advance of excerpts and perform them using a combination of instruments and voices. The
the HD broadcast creative result of this combined work will be the composition of an original brindisi (a
• To practice composition and drinking-song style often used in opera), as well as a deeper understanding of some
transcribe brief musical examples of the compositional aspects of classical music written in the past 50 years.
• To replicate and improvise upon
simple musical material STEP 1: It will be helpful for students to gain a basic sense of some of the elements in
Muhly’s musical style by reviewing the Ten Essential Musical Terms. An understanding
of the concepts of aleatory music and minimalism, as well as the vocal style of early
music will aid them in the course of the activity. Discuss the terms at the start of class,
using your voice and/or instruments to demonstrate where possible. Explain that
Muhly draws on not only the compositional style of minimalism in his opera, but also
aleatory processes, drones, and the vocal style of early music.

STEP 2: Explore the concept of minimalism further. First, play Track 4, taken from the
very first scene of the opera. Ask students for their impressions of this brief excerpt.
What kinds of adjectives would they use to describe its shape? Is it complex or simple?
Does it seem static? Does it have a narrative direction or seem to represent anything?
Drawing on the definition students studied in the Ten Essential Musical Terms, ask
them to describe how this excerpt can be understood as exemplifying minimalism.

18
 Distribute the reproducible handouts entitled Minimalism, Aleatory Music, and COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Drones, Oh My! and point students’ attention to the transcription of this excerpt. Play AND MARNIE

Track 4 again, now asking students to follow along to the music. Using the score, can CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1.b
Work with peers to promote civil,
they describe what is going on harmonically in this example? (The music is built on democratic discussions and decision-
making, set clear goals and deadlines, and
a D-minor triad; in the second and third measures, an E is added to the triad, and in establish individual roles as needed.
the fourth and fifth measures, a B♭ is added. The basic sonority for the entire example
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2
is D minor.) Have students describe what is going on rhythmically in the example. Integrate multiple sources of information
presented in diverse formats and media
(There is both constantly pulsating eighth-note motion as well as a series of shifting (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order
on- and off-beat eighth notes.) Guide students toward an agreement that the example to make informed decisions and solve
problems, evaluating the credibility and
includes very simple melodic material, a static harmonic background, combined with accuracy of each source and noting any
discrepancies among the data.
an active but directionless rhythmic impulse. The music is repetitious and static.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.3
Follow precisely a complex multistep
procedure when carrying out experiments,
taking measurements, or performing
technical tasks; analyze the specific results
based on explanations in the text.

Track 5 provides a second example of a minimalistic texture from the opera. Play
this excerpt for students, again asking them to describe its melodic, harmonic, and
rhythmic shape. How can it be understood as an example of minimalism? (In the first
two measures, Muhly oscillates between two chords or note clusters; in the next four
measures, he reduces the texture further, flipping between a fourth (D–G) and the C
below. The rhythm is uniform—a constant stream of eighth notes.) Students may also
notice that in the final two measures of the excerpt, Muhly introduces a long, dissonant
note in the double basses. In addition to displaying a minimalistic texture, this example
also demonstrates that Muhly does not adhere to a minimalistic practice exclusively,
but rather uses it as only one technique in an eclectic array of compositional practices.

19
 STEP 3: In the following exercise, students will collectively compose their own minimal-
istic musical excerpt. Ask the class to “pick a chord, any chord.” C major, D major, A
minor—anything is permissible. Students can call out their preferences; the teacher
should choose one option out of their answers (when picking one of the chords that
students nominate, you may decide to choose one whose pitches are played comfortably
on the instruments in your class). Notate the tonic triad of this key on the chalkboard.
For example, let’s hypothesize that the class chooses D minor:

Next, ask the class to identify two of the notes in this triad (for example, either the D,
F, or A) that will move by stepwise motion to form a new interval. For instance, they
could choose to move the D to an E, and the F to a G. Write the resulting interval (in
this example, the minor third from E–G) next to the original triad.

Now, have students recall both the ostinato-like repetition and the rhythmic motion
in the two musical examples from Marnie. How can you re-create this texture using
the two musical components the class has developed—in our example a D minor triad
and the minor third from E–G? The goal is to compose a single measure of music; you
should assume you are composing in . The music should display constant motion,
but the rhythm may be completely static or slightly more complex through the use of
rests. The only requirement is that the music must be built exclusively from the two
components developed above, oscillating between the two sonorities or repeating
them in a different way. Let students guide this process.

You may end up with something like this:

Or this:

Make sure that you notate the completed measure on the board. For more advanced
classes, you may also have the class determine what the articulation should be. Complete
the notation by including a repeat sign at the end of the measure. Demonstrate by
performing the measure of music on the piano, repeating it several times.
Now, have students help orchestrate and notate the music. Divide these notes
among the instruments or voices you have available in your class. You could assign

20
the top notes to woodwinds or sopranos (singing on a neutral syllable such as “la”),
the middle notes to recorders, the lowest notes to trombone, or any combination of FUN FACT: Muhly
compares his aleatory
available instruments at your disposal. While you notate the three lines for your three
music—for instance in his
instruments or instrument groups, students should do the same on their own staff brindisi—to the structure
papers, according to the instruments they have. Be sure that students notate in the of a beehive. He notes, “I
clef appropriate for their instrument. want it to feel aleatory in
the way that a beehive is
Using the example developed above, you might produce something like this:
aleatory, where each bee
has its own little internal
pattern. There’s an element
of chance and yet the
routine is always the same.”

Finally, have students perform the minimalistic music that they have composed and
orchestrated, repeating it ad infinitum, until cut off by the teacher.

STEP 4: Return to the idea of drones from the Ten Essential Musical Terms. Play the
excerpt from Marnie on Track 6. Let students know that the score for a portion of
the example is provided in the reproducible handouts.

21
 Using their ears as well as their eyes as they read the score, ask the class to identify
FUN FACT: Composers— where the drone is located in this excerpt. (Answer: It is a vocal drone and is sung
such as Philip Glass—who
by the four Shadow Marnies, who share the pitches the G-D-G—an open fifth with
originated the style of musical
minimalism rejected the the bottom note repeated at the octave. They enter just before Marnie sings, “How
fiercely intellectual music many hundred quid, I wonder?”)
of the postwar generation, Now have the class compose a vocal drone, following the same process of group
embracing instead a much
decision-making as in the previous step. The drone may include one of the notes from
more relaxed and accessible
style. Glass once dismissed the minimalism activity, or it may be built from an unrelated pitch. Note: The more
the music of his predecessors, distant the relationship between the drone notes and the minimalist example, the
calling them “these maniacs, more difficult they will be to perform together in the activity to come.
these creeps who were trying
For instance, the vocal drone that your class develops may look like this:
to make everyone make this
crazy creepy music.”

Establish the pitches with your instrument or the piano, and then have the whole class
perform the vocal drone on a neutral syllable, divided according to students’ vocal
ranges. Ask that students sing without vibrato, using straight tone. This is the vocal
style that Muhly assigns to the Shadow Marnies.

Nico Muhly on Drones

Much of Muhly’s music includes droning—by instruments, voice, or machine. Whether for solo instru-
ment and piano (Drones & Viola; Drones & Violin), small ensemble (Drones, Variations, Ornaments; Looking
Forward), or within a large-scale work such as opera, Muhly’s compositions employ this musical texture
in distinctive ways. Here, he discusses what drones signify for him and how he uses them in Marnie.

“Every space has an ambient sound, for instance the sound of the air conditioner in the room I’m sitting in.
That has a pitch, and it’s unceasing. For me, the times that I’m the most alone in my thoughts are when I’m
in an ostensibly quiet but also “droney” environment. For instance, on airplanes, but also in the shower,
or when using the vacuum, or on the train. All these situations have a specific set of notes that you hear.
I’ve found these places to be conducive to thinking, either positive or negative. The dark place is visible
at those times, as is a future brightness.
For me, agitation can happen in still environments just as easily as in stressful ones. And in Marnie, I
wanted to show musically that her fearful way of existing can happen over tremendously complicated
music just as easily as it can over just two notes, over a drone.”

22
 The brindisi in Act I
RICHARD HUBERT SMITH / ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA

Next, divide the class in half. One half should continue singing the vocal drone,
while the other returns to their instruments, performing the notated minimalistic
music from Step 3. Repeat until everyone is comfortable and able to stay on pitch.

STEP 5: Now, we will shift gears and consider aleatory music, another of the composi-
tional processes that Muhly uses in Marnie. Simply put, in aleatory music, the composer
relinquishes absolute control over the composition and performance of his or her
music, allowing chance or decisions on the part of the performer to determine its
shape. Consider the following performance instruction from Marnie (also provided
for students in the reproducible handouts):

23
 Play Track 7 for students; they may follow along to the text in the reproducible
FUN FACT: In a crucial handout, which also includes a portion of the score, at the passage coinciding with
scene, Marnie’s horse “(names of drinks).” Explain that this musical number is Muhly’s interpretation of a
Forio bolts during a
brindisi, a form familiar from operatic history, which is meant to be a drinking song.
fox hunt. The realistic
depiction of horses and Muhly uses the aleatory process described in the performance note on the previous
chases on stage presents page to create a musical sound meant to represent the cacophonous din heard in a
a host of technical pub as customers place their drink orders.
challenges. Unsurprisingly,
such scenes appear
infrequently in opera; STEP 6: In a brief musical exercise, students will practice the same sort of aleatory
the penultimate scene in composition and performance that Muhly employs in his brindisi. First, prompt students
Berlioz’s La Damnation de to develop a 3-note tone cluster. For ease of performance, the tone cluster should
Faust is a rare exception.
draw on the pitches used in Steps 4 and 5. For instance:
Muhly confessed his initial
hesitation in attempting
to depict Marnie’s horse
chase, admitting, “I had
an alarming vision of the
chorus clacking coconut
halves together in an Make sure you notate the tone cluster on the board; students should notate it on
endless procession across their staff paper.
the stage.” Let students know that their brindisi will be set in the school cafeteria. Like Muhly’s
piece, singers will call out the drink of their choice as they wait in line. Prompt students
to supply examples: chocolate milk, apple juice, Diet Coke, lemonade, bottled water,
etc. Remind students of Muhly’s performance instruction: “Each chorus member
should sing, on any of the given pitches (or a combination thereof), a short list of
things they might drink. Incorporate rests, have this feel like the natural thought
process of deciding between [Mountain Dew or Red Bull].” Give students a moment
or two to decide which drink they’ll “order” in the brindisi. The choice of their drink
is up to them, within the limitations of something that could be found in a school
cafeteria. Similarly, exactly which notes students will sing is up to them, as long as
they are drawn from the tone cluster. Students should determine their own rhythm.
Demonstrate the pitches in the chosen tone cluster on your instrument or on the
piano; play them consecutively and in different orders so that they are firmly estab-
lished in students’ ears. Feel free to demonstrate an example or two of a “drink order”
yourself, and then call on students to practice and demonstrate their own examples.
Now, perform your aleatory music as a group. Lead the group by conducting—and
set the pace by using the same tempo and meter from the previous activities. Conduct
one empty bar, and then students may begin to enter with their drink orders. Remind
them that they don’t need to coordinate their music with that of anyone else; they
don’t need to enter on a down-beat or even in the first measure. They may repeat

24
their order as many times as they like; they may also change their order. You can let
this aleatory performance go on for several measures.

STEP 7: As a final step, combine the three elements of this lesson into an eclectic
whole, using the minimalist excerpt, the vocal drones, and the aleatory choral music
developed in the preceding activities. As necessary, review students’ memories of
the music by guiding them towards the transcriptions both on the board and those
they notated on their staff paper.
Divide the class into three groups: instruments (or voices) performing the minimalist
excerpt; voices performing the drone; and the chorus performing the aleatory drink
orders. As preparation, have each group play or sing its portion alone as you conduct.
Set pitches from the piano as necessary. Next, let everyone know that once they begin
playing or singing, they should continue repeating until you cut everyone off together. FUN FACT: The score
Then, begin with the minimalist instruments. Conduct one empty bar, and then have for Marnie calls for a large
them play three to four measures of their music alone before you cue the entrance contingent of percussion
instruments: bell plates,
of the vocal drones. Let the two groups perform together for another three to four
chimes, claves, crotales
bars. (Note: Singers in the second group may take breaths as necessary, in a manner (small pitched cymbals),
uncoordinated with other singers.) Finally, cue the entrance of the chorus, who can bass drum, brake drum, kick
enter at any time following your signal with their aleatory drink orders. Let the perfor- drum, glockenspiel, guiro,
ratchet, small and large tam
mance of this combined whole go on for another eight bars, or until you are satisfied
tams, triangle, vibraphone,
that the disparate parts have coalesced into a coordinated but eclectic whole. woodblocks, and xylophone,
in addition to a piano,
OPTIONAL: For advanced music students, you may add additional components to celesta, and a series of
the students’ brindisi. For example, you may have a fourth group of students play offstage drums.
ostinati with drums, claves, or triangles—either all performing the same rhythm, or
each with a different rhythm that students compose.
A fifth group might take as inspiration the Shadow Marnies, who represent and
comment on Marnie’s inner life. Have students supply a phrase that could be part
of the interior monologue of someone in the cafeteria. (“I’m so hungry / Who will
sit with me / I hate bologna,” etc.) Guide students to develop a melody using step-
wise motion, in long durations, matching the Shadow Marnies’ vocal style. Provide a
second line at the parallel third, or using a pleasing combination of consonance and
dissonance. For example:

25
Ten Essential Musical Terms
The following list of terms provides basic vocabulary to help your students engage more deeply with the music
of Marnie.

Aleatory Music A style that Drone The sounding of a fixed pitch Minimalism A style of
includes elements left undetermined or set of pitches that is maintained composition marked by a purposefully
by the composer. The term derives throughout a musical piece or section. simplified melodic, rhythmic, and
from the Latin word alea (dice), Drones are common in both early harmonic language. It often features
referencing the practice’s reliance on music and folk music from around the lengthy repetitions and ostinatos of
chance. Aleatory music can develop globe, for instance in music played on simple musical gestures against a
from several procedures. It may the bagpipe, Tibetian trumpet, and static harmonic—typically diatonic—
include music in which the composer Provençal tabor. Drones are built most background. Arising first in the 1960s,
relies on chance procedures—such as typically on the home pitch of a melody musical minimalism was a reaction
coin tossing—to determine musical and sometimes an interval—commonly against the deeply complex atonal and
elements which are then written down the fifth or fourth—above it. In Marnie, fragmented music of the mid-century.
in fixed notation. It may also include the Shadow Marnies occasionally sing One of the foremost musical
compositions in which the system of vocal drones. minimalists is Philip Glass.
notation itself eschews the precise
indication of pitch and duration (the Early Music The vast body of Orchestration An aspect of
notation may instead be abstract or music written from ancient times composition, orchestration is the
graphical), or compositions in which through the Renaissance and early art of choosing which instruments
the performer must choose between Baroque era (ending roughly 1700). should play each musical idea in a
several clearly indicated options. In In the most general terms, much musical work. Successful orchestration
Marnie, Muhly’s aleatory music is of early music, especially that of the requires that the instrument chosen is
this third type and includes choral Renaissance, follows strict rules on appropriate to the melody—that the
passages in which the singers are the treatment of dissonance, and uses musical line is within the instrument’s
asked to vacillate on a given set of and resolves it strategically. Since playable range and expressive
pitches and an improvised lyric, without the mid-1970s, interest has grown capabilities. The art of orchestration
coordinating with other singers. in preserving and performing early also allows a composer to draw on
music, including attempts to replicate and combine the disparate timbres
Bisbigliando A performance “authentic” performance practice, of instruments to amplify melodic
direction used by Nico Muhly in which includes singing with straight expression and create a wide range of
Marnie, in which the performer should tone, improvising historically informed musical color.
play the indicated pitches as a “free ornamentation, and performing on
murmuring in any order.” The word is period instruments such as natural Percussion A family of instruments
Italian for “whispering.” Sometimes horns and string instruments with gut that produce sound through shaking
used as a performance direction for strings and shorter fingerboards. or striking a resonating surface, which
harp, the term in Muhly’s usage refers may be made out of metal, wood, or
to the murmuring arpeggiation of a Eclecticism A feature of some other materials. Percussion instruments
single chord in an order chosen by the contemporary classical music after the may be pitched or unpitched, and
performer. mid–20th century, eclecticism signifies examples include timpani and drums of
the use of elements from multiple all types, triangles, marimbas, gongs,
Brindisi A drinking song. Common pre-existing sources and models. It and even the piano, which produces
in 19th-century opera, the brindisi entails drawing from or quoting distinct sound through the striking of hammers
often functions as an invitation to a musical styles and works, rather than upon metal strings.
group of people to raise a glass and employing a single musical style. Nico
toast something or someone. Notable Muhly’s works are eclectic in that Straight Tone A style of singing
examples include “Libiamo ne’ lieti they employ elements of American with very little or no vibrato. It is
calici” from Verdi’s La Traviata and “Viva minimalism, aleatory techniques, commonly used in the performance of
il vino spumeggiante” from Mascagni’s and Renaissance-style vocal delivery, early music.
Cavalleria Rusticana. among several other styles and
compositional processes.

26
| P E R F O R M A N C E AC T I V I T Y

Supporting the Student Experience during

The Met: Live in HD Transmission

Watching and listening to a performance is a unique experience that takes IN PREPAR ATION
students beyond the printed page to an immersion in images, sound, inter- For this activity, students will
need the Performance Activity
pretation, technology, drama, skill, and craft. Performance activities help
reproducible handouts found in the
students analyze different aspects of the experience and engage critically back of this guide.
with the performance. They will consider the creative choices that have been
made for the particular production they are watching and examine different COMMON CORE STANDARDS
aspects of the performance. AND MARNIE
Each Performance Activity incorporates a reproducible sheet. Students CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.6
Determine an author’s point of view or
should bring this activity sheet to the Live in HD transmission and fill it purpose in a text and analyze how an
out during intermission and/or after the final curtain. The activities direct author uses rhetoric to advance that point
of view or purpose.
attention to details of the production that might otherwise go unnoticed.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4
For Marnie, the first activity sheet, Who Are You Wearing?, asks students Present information, findings, and
to pay particular attention to the designs that costume designer Arianne supporting evidence clearly, concisely,
and logically such that listeners can follow
Phillips has created for Marnie. With her series of new personas and the the line of reasoning and the organization,
development, substance, and style are
images that she presents to the world, Marnie is a shape shifter. She creates appropriate to purpose, audience, and
different identities through her hair color, makeup, and manner of dress, task.

and even within a single persona, she chooses clothes to match the dictates
of her situation. Students will make notes on several of Marnie’s costume
designs and the information they impart about the image Marnie is trying
to project.
The second, basic activity sheet is called My Highs & Lows. It is meant
to be collected, opera by opera, over the course of the season. This sheet
serves to guide students toward a consistent set of objective observations, as
well as to help them articulate their own opinions. It is designed to enrich
the students’ understanding of the art form as a whole. The ratings system
encourages students to express their critique: Use these ratings to spark
discussions that require careful, critical thinking.
The Performance Activity reproducible handouts can be found in the back
of this guide. On the next page, you’ll find an activity created specifically
for follow-up after the Live in HD transmission.

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 | P O S T- S H O W D I S C U S S I O N

Escaping the Prison of Her Mind: Marnie After Marnie

IN PREPAR ATION Start the class with an open discussion of the Met performance. What did
This activity requires no preparation students like? What didn’t they? Did anything surprise them? What would
other than attendance at the Live in
they like to see or hear again? What would they have done differently? The
HD transmission of Marnie.
discussion offers an opportunity to apply the notes on students’ My Highs
& Lows sheet, as well as their thoughts about the visual design of the Met
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• To review students’ understanding production—in short, to see themselves as Marnie experts.
of Nico Muhly’s Marnie As becomes increasingly clear over the course of Marnie, no one in the
• To think deeply about the complex story is a fully empathetic character, just as hardly anyone ever tells the
title character truth. The opera’s inhabitants are propelled by conflicting desires and efforts
• To consider the opera’s equivocal at self-preservation, both overt and subconscious. Consider the following
ending and hypothesize its quote by Nico Muhly:
characters’ further development

“Do we ever know, can we ever settle on, who is a hero and who is a villain? As
COMMON CORE STANDARDS is the case in real life, there’s a bit of both in all of us. Mark and Marnie … are
AND MARNIE
tasked with navigating the impossible bond between these two twisted charac-
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1
Prepare for and participate effectively in a ters, and, in doing so, communicating the ways in which we are all negotiating
range of conversations and collaborations our best and worst instincts, including those over which we enjoy some amount
with diverse partners, building on others’
ideas and expressing their own clearly of control, and, of course, those we don’t.”
and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4
Present information, findings, and
supporting evidence such that listeners Marnie embraces her version of freedom
can follow the line of reasoning and the RICHARD HUBERT SMITH / ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA

organization, development, and style

are appropriate to task, purpose, and
audience.

28
Spend some time unpacking this quotation with students. How is Marnie
both hero and villain? How is Mark? What are their best and worst instincts? FUN FACT: In Marnie,
each of the major characters
Next, invite students to discuss their impressions of the opera’s characters
is associated with a specific
and actions. You may prompt them with the following questions: solo instrument. Marnie is
accompanied by the oboe,
• What do you think Marnie wants? Do you think she changes over the
while for her mother, it is
course of the opera? What are some of the musical or dramatic indicators solo viola. Mark’s paired
that she feels a certain way? How do you react to her as a protagonist? instrument is the trombone,
• What are your impressions of Marnie’s mother? Was there anything about while his brother Terry’s is
the trumpet. Muhly uses
her music or the staging that hinted at her true nature? (Hint: You may
these twinned instruments
refer to the Fun Fact in this guide regarding Muhly’s use of the viola) to reflect his characters’
• What are Terry’s primary concerns? What drives him to behave the way inner thoughts and desires.
he does? He remarks, “The twin
instruments can help
• What of Mark? There is of course no excuse for the act of sexual violence
reinforce the chamber
he inflicts upon Marnie. Was he wrong to love Marnie and try to help her? music–like tugging between
What are some of the ways he tries to do the right thing? On the other various deceits and agendas.
hand, what are some ways in which his love for Marnie is unhealthy or For instance, when Marnie
senses trouble, she can sing
unrealistic?
the business-casual phrases
The ending of the opera is notably ambiguous about what the future may required of her, chipper and
practical, whereas in the pit,
hold for Marnie and Mark. It is clear that after learning the truth about her
the solo oboe shows us that
mother and the death of her baby brother, Marnie feels liberated from her she is already trying to find
lifetime of repression and deceit. As she calmly accepts the handcuffs the a way out of that room as
police place on her, it seems that she will not contest the punishment she quickly as possible.”

will have to face for her crimes. It isn’t clear, however, how she feels about
Mark—who nevertheless promises to wait for her.
As a final activity, invite students to assume the voice of Marnie and postu-
late what she might have to say to Mark after the events of the opera. Ask
them to imagine that Marnie has been sent to prison, where she continues to
react to the revelations at the end of the opera. Encourage students to think
carefully about what Marnie would want to say to Mark, either explaining
her past behavior, excusing or blaming herself or Mark, or writing about her
hopes or limitations for any future interaction with her husband. Students
will then write a letter to Mark in the voice of Marnie. Students may be
creative in deciding whether Marnie is on a pathway towards recovery, or
whether she continues in a more psychologically confused state, speaking
through multiple personas as in the opera.

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 | G U I D E T O AU D I O T R AC K S

Excerpts taken from the 1 Link 1: “Goodbye, Mary Holland!”

ENO dress rehearsal of
2 “Maybe we don’t know you either”
November 16, 2017
3 “All night long”
MARNIE

Sasha Cooke 4 Minimalism example #1

MARK RUTLAND 5 Minimalism example #2

Daniel Okulitch
6 Drone example: “Ssh! What’s that noise?”
TERRY RUTLAND
7 Brindisi: “Cinzano and lemon”
James Laing

MRS. RUTLAND
Courtesy of English National Opera and used by permission
Lesley Garrett

MARNIE’S MOTHER

Kathleen Wilkinson

Conducted by
Martyn Brabbins

English National Opera Orchestra

and Chorus

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THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Voicing Marnie’s Inner Life

The personally told story has a number of drawbacks, and one which is frequently overlooked
is that the narrative character usually remains something of a negative personality—a sort of
multiple mirror reflecting other people’s images but never his own.
—Winston Graham, Memoirs of a Private Man, 2003

The fault with the average narrator is that he is too normal. His very normality is the plain
mirror reflecting the oddities of others. But let the narrator be a psychological case, like Marnie,
a compulsive thief … Her mirror is not plain, it is flawed and distorts what it reflects. All the
other characters therefore are at first slightly out of true because of it—that is until the reader
adjusts himself. Then you have the intriguing situation of the narrator betraying her character,
her slightly twisted reasoning, unselfconsciously, so that the reader gradually perceives what she
is, while she does not know she is so revealing herself.
—Winston Graham, Memoirs of a Private Man, 2003

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THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Voicing Marnie’s Inner Life (CO N T I N U E D)

She put her arms around my shoulders. ‘Now don’t be cross. But honest, you’ve been with
Rutland’s more than six months, yet I don’t feel I know you. I don’t feel I can get at you. I like
you, of course, but I don’t know what you’re thinking at this very moment. You’re like somebody
behind a glass wall. There, now you can be as mad as you like!’
I laughed. ‘Look out; one of these days somebody might throw a stone!’
—Winston Graham, Marnie (p. 66)

I was in the completest hole ever. I had always thought, if I’m caught as Mary Taylor or Millie
Jeffrey, that’s not me. Even if I go to prison for it, that’s not me. With luck I could keep them
from ever knowing who I really was. I might have been able to write a note to Mother saying I
was going abroad or something, keep up a sham until I came out. But there was no sham here.
By some foul swivel-eyed piece of bad luck Mark Rutland had found me out as Marnie Elmer.
—Winston Graham, Marnie (p. 91)

After a time he said: ‘And Mr. Taylor? Where does he come in?’
‘Mr. Taylor?’
‘Is he a little more of your imagination or does he exist?’
‘Oh, no. There … was nobody. She had never—I’ve never been married.’
—Winston Graham, Marnie (p. 95)

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THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Voicing Marnie’s Inner Life (CO N T I N U E D)

‘Never mind. I’m not sitting as a judge on you; I’m only trying to understand.’
I sighed shakily. ‘I think perhaps that’s impossible. When I’d done it, stolen that money, I
could hardly believe it or understand it myself.’
‘I didn’t notice you rushing back.’
‘No … And I shouldn’t have done.’
‘Well, that’s honest anyway.’
‘For one thing I should have been too afraid.’
We didn’t say anything more for a while.
‘It isn’t always so easy to know the truth about yourself,’ I said. ‘Or is it with you? You’ve lived
a different, easier life.’
He said nothing.
I said: ‘Maybe you don’t have two thoughts at the same time. I often have two thoughts—one
belongs to the person I’m trying to be now, the other belongs to the kid from Devonport. And
she’s still a back-street urchin. I mean, you don’t suddenly grow out of knowing what it’s like to
be hungry and knocked around and treated like dirt. You don’t honestly. I mean, you may think
you have, but then when you find yourself holding a thousand pounds in pound notes, well, you
suddenly discover you want to bolt down the next dark alley. It’s all mixed up with that. I can’t
explain to you, Mark.’
—Winston Graham, Marnie (p. 98–99)

Perhaps there was something wrong with me just then; I’d like to think so because it all got out
of proportion. I think I was feeling more just then than I’d ever felt before in my life. Instead of
being able to stand aside from things, as I always used to be able to, this was right in my stomach
like a knife. It was happening terribly to me.
—Winston Graham, Marnie (p. 253)

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THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Voicing Marnie’s Inner Life (CO N T I N U E D)

TRACK 1
MARNIE: He came sliming up to me. I felt the smearing of his hand. I felt defiled.

Marnie opens the safe and empties it of banknotes.

Good-bye Mary Holland! She’s exploded.

Leave that frump to rot. Captive rabbit.
Nibbles the lock. Shatters the bars.
I’m out! I’m out! Another last look around.
Another cut and run.
Another silent slip away.
How many done? How many more to come?

TRACK 2
The Shadow Marnies appear.

SHADOW MARNIE 1: Maybe we don’t know you either.

MARNIE: Nobody knows who anyone really is.

The focus becomes on Marnie, as the others fade from sight.

MARNIE: When you’re having a drink with your friends in a bar,

are you the same as you are with your old head-teacher,
or your gran, or the man of your dreams or the boy at the bus stop?
Do you change from day to day and hour to hour?
I could walk out of that door right now.
The sun would turn my hair to silver and my face would shine.
I could buy a scarlet dress and a pair of shoes with pointy heels
and I would dazzle everyone around me.
I could be as dainty as a princess or as waddling as a whore.
Am I how I was made, or what I have made myself to be?
And which are you?

SHADOW MARNIES: Am I/I am/And which are/you?

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THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Voicing Marnie’s Inner Life (CO N T I N U E D)

TRACK 3
CHORUS: All night long the guilty hear malevolent voices.

The whisperings of suspicious neighbours.

The furtive gossipings.
The hinted accusations.
The sly inferences.
In the hours before the dawn the guilty lie and wonder.
When will discovery come?
Justice cannot be avoided.
Only the timing is indefinite.
Only the moment is unclear.
When will discovery come?

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THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Minimalism, Aleatory Music, and Drones, Oh My!

TRACK 4

TRACK 5

36
THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Minimalism, Aleatory Music, and Drones, Oh My! (CO N T I N U E D)

TRACK 6
MARNIE: Ssh! What’s that noise?

Cash a-crackle. Banknotes rustling in my handbag.

How many hundred quid, I wonder?
Six or seven if it’s a penny.
This is the kill the hunter carries home.

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THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Minimalism, Aleatory Music, and Drones, Oh My! (CO N T I N U E D)

TRACK 7
A pub. Marnie and Dawn join the other office
workers at the bar as they claim their orders.

CHORUS: Cinzano and lemon.

Britvic Orange.
Half of shandy.
Lager and lime.
Liebfraumilch and soda.
Vodka and coke.
That’s mine!
Mine is the Babycham.

(sing other drink names)

That leaves me with the gin and tonic.

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THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Minimalism, Aleatory Music, and Drones, Oh My! (CO N T I N U E D)

39
THE MET: LIVE IN HD
MARNIE

At the Met: Who Are You Wearing?

Use the boxes below to sketch a selection of Marnie’s costumes, making notes on what her choices in clothing are
meant to project about her character.

As Mary Holland As Maggie Hulbert At the country club At the fox hunt

40
Marnie: My Highs & Lows
NOVEMBER 10, 2018

CONDUCTED BY ROBERT SPANO

REVIEWED BY

THE STARS STAR POWER MY COMMENTS

ISABEL LEONARD AS MARNIE ✩✩✩✩✩

CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN AS MARK RUTLAND ✩✩✩✩✩

DENYCE GRAVES AS MARNIE’S MOTHER ✩✩✩✩✩

IESTYN DAVIES AS TERRY RUTLAND ✩✩✩✩✩

JANIS KELLY AS MRS. RUTLAND ✩✩✩✩✩

THE SHOW, SCENE BY SCENE ACTION MUSIC SET DESIGN/STAGING

MARY HOLLAND AT CROMBIE & STRUTT 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5

MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

MARNIE VISITS HER MOTHER 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5

MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

MARNIE’S JOB AT HALCYON PRINTING 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5

MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

AN EVENING OF POKER 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

AT MARK’S HOUSE 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

THE HONEYMOON CRUISE 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5

MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

41
MARK AND MARNIE AT HOME 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

MARNIE CONSULTS AN ANALYST 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5

MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

AT THE CLUB, A FIGURE FROM MARNIE’S PAST 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5

MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

MARK AND TERRY COME TO BLOWS 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5

MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

THE FOX HUNT 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5

MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

AT THE HOSPITAL 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

LUCY’S SECRET 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

AT THE GRAVESIDE 1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
MY OPINION OF THIS SCENE:

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