From the Diary of Sally Hemings

From the Diary of Sally Hemings is a song cycle for voice and piano. The work, commissioned by mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar and Music Accord, is a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize winning composer William Bolcom and playwright Sandra Seaton. After being contacted by Quivar, Bolcom asked Seaton to write entries for a fictional diary kept by Sally Hemings throughout her life. Seaton's text for 18 entries of the imaginary diary were then set to music by Bolcom.
Plot.
The work recreates the thoughts and feelings of Sally Hemings throughout her long relationship with Thomas Jefferson by means of fictional diary entries. The 18 songs in this imaginary journal provide an interpretation of the relationship between the two, Hemings officially a slave but also the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson. The songs trace the life of Sally Hemings from her earliest memory, including her recollections of Martha dying from complications following childbirth, to her sojourn in Paris with Jefferson and finally her life with him at Monticello until his death.
Performance history.
Florence Quivar performed "From The Diary of Sally Hemings" in 2001 at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, and again at the Coolidge Auditorium in the Library of Congress.
Quivar also performed the song cycle in 2002 at several locations, including: The Rialto Performing Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia; The Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; The Lydia Mendelssohn Theater at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor; and The Lied Center at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
Soprano Alyson Cambridge and pianist Lydia Brown performed From The Diary of Sally Hemings at Carnegie Hall, Central Michigan University, Harkness Memorial Chapel in Cleveland and Oberlin Conservatory. The CD of the production is available for sale at CDBaby. The score of the production is available at Hal Leonard.
Reception.
"From The Diary of Sally Hemings" has been reviewed by numerous newspapers and magazines, including "The Washington Post", "The Morning Sun", "Time Out Magazine", "The Michigan Daily", "Ann Arbor News", "The Capital Journal", "The Kansas City Star", and the "University of Illinois Arts & letters Magazine".