DESCRIPTION:
I. The Unrequited Lover's Lament
II. The Sisters
III. Rushing through the garden

"Raving Beauty" is a song cycle based on the life of Mercedes De Acosta, a socialite who had no choice but to hide her lesbian desires. The song cycle explores Acosta's relationships with the women in her life, including actress Greta Garbo, dancer Isadora Duncan, and Acosta's sister, the fashion icon Rita Lydig. The Rosenbach's Mercedes de Acosta collection, includes letters, photographs, and ephemera relating to cinema and lesbian history. A famed poet, playwright and socialite, Acosta was a prominent figure in early 20th century gay society, known for her numerous affairs with Hollywood's elite.

Composer: Joseph Hallman
Librettist: Jessica Hornik

Soprano: Emily Misch

Flute: Sara Berger
Cello: Jihwon Na
Harp: Kathryn Sloat

Recording by Jason Pomerantz


I. The Unrequited Lover’s Lament

You were pure corona
some days—I was allowed
a glimpse—and some days
you were full-on darkness.
Some days it was best
to look away.
You gave me little else
but my own shadow,
and so I shadowed you.
I sang for you.
I was the vowel slipped in
among your consonants.
I was your constant.
I never suffered and I suffered always—me
with my sun-burnt heart.

II. The Sisters

Autumn escalates
through the maples
at the edge of the park
and poses gloriously

on the brink.
Summer scowls, oh so
monochromatically green
with envy. But one windy day

is the end of it -
think of Wharton
at work in her
Lenox bed, tossing

page after page
to the floor.
The sisters exit
and winter

enters the marbled
room, all gray
glamour, blood
relative of no one.

III. Rushing through the garden

Rushing through the garden,
I almost stop near the sprays
of budding coralbells,

each stalk dotted
with tiny, compact globes.
You let go of my hand

to approach the mass of irises,
floating like Cleopatra’s barge
in a becalmed world.

Around us stone walls
are going back to the earth.
The one iris you decide

no one will miss,
its golden-furred center
an explorable wilderness,

has a future in a glass of water.
Look at those, I say, turning
toward a regiment of peonies.

But you know what you like.
You know where we’ve been.


Presented by The Secret Opera

www.thesecretopera.com