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Event
Beneath Suspicion/Letters from George to Evelyn
Beneath Suspicion is a one-act opera by Knoxville Native composer Jesse Ayers. It is based on a true, little-known story of two daring, American women who played on prevailing gender and racial stereotypes to fight slavery by spying for the Union during the Civil War.
Elizabeth Van Lew, a passionate abolitionist known around Richmond as Crazy Bet," is the middle-aged daughter of a recently deceased, wealthy Richmond slave owner. Upon her father's death, she frees her family's slaves, including a young household servant named Mary. Bet, recognizing Marys extreme intelligence, sends her to Philadelphia to a Quaker School to be educated, after which Mary returns to Richmond to work in the Van Lew home as a free woman.
Mary has a photographic memory. She can memorize documents verbatim in one quick reading as well as repeat lengthy conversations word for word. As the war breaks out, Mary is in her early 20s, Bet, her 40s. Though Richmond is the capital of the Confederacy, about half of its inhabitants are Union sympathizers. Bet, a firebrand, uses her contacts to set up a spy ring to report Confederate movements to the Union military. Her information is so reliable, her coded messages go directly General Ulysses S. Grant.
This works imagines a key scene in the lives of these two women: the crisis moment when Mary must decide if she will risk her life to undertake the daring plan she believes God has revealed to her, or if she will shrink back to maintain her safety and personal freedom. Both women were inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in the 1990s.
Vignettes: Letters from George to Evelyn, from the Private Papers of a World War II Bride
Good morning, darling, the sun has just come up. It is a beautiful morning
So begins a letter from 1944 that 1st Lt. George W. Honts wrote his wife Evelyn Honts, while deployed during World War II.
The text to these letters has been set to music by composer Alan Smith in the song cycle, Vignettes: Letters from George to Evelyn, from the Private Papers of a World War II Bride.
Lt. Honts survived D-Day, writing his observations of army life during World War II to his wife. The letters range from humorous depictions of how muddy the European front was to heart-wrenching: shortly before the end of the war, Honts perished.
His final letter to Evelyn arrived weeks after she found out he had died. The song cycle reflects that letter, too.
My heart, my mind, my soul is yours. Love me. I adore you. Love me too. My best to everyone. Must run now, my sweet, gotta run now, baby. Love, George.
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LocationBlount Mansion (View)
200 W Hill Ave
Knoxville, TN 37902
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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