STACY GARROP

THE TRANSFORMATION OF JANE DOE (90’) • click the title for detailed info & video
• soprano, 2 mezzo-sopranos, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, and optional supernumerary child
• 7-instrument ensemble
• libretto by Jerre Dye

Synopsis: It’s New Year’s Eve in Chicago, 1919. Just before the stroke of midnight, an anonymous woman leaps from the rooftop of a downtown hotel. The next morning, a young reporter named Abigail lands her first, major story, uncovering the identity of this mysterious jumper. The deeper Abigail descends into the complexity of Jane Doe’s story, the closer she comes to unearthing her own personal truth. THE TRANSFORMATION OF JANE DOE is an opera about truth, illusion, and one woman’s journey in a rapidly changing world.

WHAT MAGIC REVEALS (17’30") • click the title for detailed info & audio
• soprano, 2 mezzo-sopranos, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, piano
• libretto by Jerre Dye

Synopsis: In 1908, a young girl and her father go to a magic show in Chicago, where there’s more to the act than meets the eye.

MEDITATION FOR THE INNER STORM (5') • click link for detailed info & video
• a wordless vocalise to quell the inner anxiety of the outer world

Available versions for:
• soprano or tenor, to be self-accompanied with a singing bowl, water glass, or guitar. Either is to be pitched to F.
• mezzo-soprano or baritone; to be self-accompanied with a singing bowl, water glass, or guitar. Either is to be pitched to D.

Synopsis: A singer attempts to gain inner calm while experiencing momentary outbursts of anxiety.

THE GOTH CHAPTERS (15’) • click link for detailed info & video
• mezzo-soprano, violin, cello, piano
• libretto by Jerre Dye

Synopsis: A 30-year old goth fan girl moves through the exhilarating stages of a tempestuous love affair.

YOU PIERCE MY SOUL (6') • click link for detailed info
• soprano, piano
• text: from Jane Austen's Persuasion

Synopsis: Throughout all of English novelist Jane Austen’s six books, there is no more poignant declaration of love than Captain Frederick Wentworth’s letter in Persuasion (published posthumously in 1817). Prior to the beginning of the novel, a 19-year old Anne Elliot has turned down Wentworth’s marriage proposal, as she was persuaded by family and friends that his low social standing and lack of secured income were not suitable for a woman of her elevated rank. The story begins eight years later when Wentworth re-appears in Anne’s life, possessing enough money and social ranking to now be considered a suitable bachelor. Anne wonders for nearly the entire novel if Wentworth might still harbor strong feelings for her, as she does for him. It isn’t until Wentworth commits his thoughts onto paper that Anne finally discovers the truth:

“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant…For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited…could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me…Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in me. I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return…A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.”  

I made a few deletions to the original text, as well as altered Wentworth’s initials to a pronoun, in order to bring a more timeless feeling to the text.

-S.G.

• aria for soprano
• from The Transformation of Jane Doe
• synopsis: Chicago, January 1, 1920. Abigail greets the dawn of New Year's Day in the city that she loves.
• video: Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano, and Stephen Alltop, piano

Theodore Presser Company
Selected arias collection for soprano & piano
Click to view product page 

• this is a duet in the opera, but the composer has made two aria versions for soprano and mezzo-soprano for concert performance
• from The Transformation of Jane Doe
• synopsis: Chicago, January 1, 1920. Abigail reads a letter written by Jane Doe. In the aria version, only Jane Doe sings.
• video: Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano, and Stephen Alltop, piano

Theodore Presser Company
Selected arias collection for soprano & piano: click to view product page
Mezzo-soprano & piano: click to view product page

• aria for soprano
• from The Transformation of Jane Doe
• synopsis: Chicago, January 1, 1920. Abigail reacts to a letter she has read and chooses a topic for her newspaper article.
• video: Théodora Cottarel, soprano, Bethany Self, piano

Theodore Presser Company
• Selected arias collection for soprano & piano: click to view product page

• aria for soprano
• from What Magic Reveals
• synopsis: Chicago, 1920: A young woman walks into the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, where she remembers a tragic afternoon when she was 8 years old.
• video: Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano, and Stephen Alltop, piano

Theodore Presser Company
• Vocal-piano score: click to view product page