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for soprano and orchestra | c. 20’ | 2025
World premiere: 16 January 2026, Hannah Dienes-Williams, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gabriel Hollander. Bartók Hall, Szombathely. Written for Péter Eötvös Foundation with generous support from Vaughan Williams Foundation and Equilibrium Young Artists.
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The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, which detail the events of London’s central criminal court, were published from 1674 to 1913. Initially targeting a popular audience, the Proceedings provide an insight into the everyday lives of the people forgotten by history: they are ‘the largest body of text detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,752 trials’.
These short stories — sometimes a few lines in length, sometimes extending over several pages — attest to lives of immense energy that, without their brief brush with power, would have been entirely forgotten. They are sensational stories, blending absurdism with immense pathos. Taken together, they form a picture of a society that is as rational as it is brutal. The Proceedings contain stories of the violent punishments given to individuals for harmless transgressions, of devastating verdicts built upon spurious evidence, and of the powerful acquitted on questionable grounds.
In Unmentionable Scenes, I have chosen just three distinct cases. Each features two characters, and so, with the addition of a narrator, the soprano plays a total of seven roles: Proceedings (the narrator), the Court, a Girl, a Police Inspector, a Prisoner, an Abominable Monster and a Dog. The result is a kind of short one-woman opera or cantata.
Although the text is drawn almost entirely from the original sources, some words have been added to assist with dramatic flow. Many have also been removed. In addition, there are also some phrases taken (in French translation) from Hokusai’s The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife (1814).
I must express my deepest gratitude to everyone at the Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation for their help and support over the past three years. Above all, for his endless patience, guidance and inspiration, my thanks go out to the late Péter Eötvös, without whom I would never have been able to write this piece.
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Please note that this piece contains themes concerning sexual violence.
Image above: William Hogarth’s dog Trump (c. 1730 – c. 1745), in a detail from Painter and His Pug
Unmentionable Scenes
PROLOGUE
Proceedings
Ladies — and Gentlemen — today — today — today, a true narrative of the Proceedings at the Session House in the Old Bailey. You catch us today in a whirlwind of crime: there was James Tait, indicted for stealing a linen handkerchief; there was Henry Todd, indicted for stealing two live pigs; Catherine Sanders, for stealing a silver table spoon; Mark Wood, indicted for stealing a white petticoat, a silk petticoat, a calico petticoat, three white Manchester petticoats, four dimity petticoats, four pair cotton stockings, twelve pair silk stockings, fifteen muslin handkerchiefs and two cambric handkerchiefs; crimes of theft, of the paying of bribes, of the killing of a wife, of the being married to one husband upon the sixth of March and to a second upon the ninth of July — and — and — ah yes of course — of the unnatural and horrid sin of buggery: bigamy, buggery, bribery, burglary! Oh Ladies and Gentlemen I could go on and on… but sadly there’s only really time for one or two. We begin with case number one:
SCENE I
1778
Court
How old are you? How old? Do you know for what purpose you are brought here?
Girl
Yes.
Court
Do you know what an oath is? —
Proceedings
(interrupting) Yes, I agree, this case is most tedious — a narrative too sluggish to entice. Perhaps the testimony of this Police Inspector will more promptly whet your curious appetite:
SCENE II
1912
Police Inspector
It was December the fourteenth — I was in Parliament Street near the post office — I saw the Prisoner — I saw her walk up to a letterbox — she was holding a small packet — one of the corners was slightly alight — I rushed up, extinguished the flame and took her into custody —
Proceedings
(interrupting again) No, Ladies and Gentlemen, still bored? Well then… there is a third case — such an abominable crime as ’tis thought scarce any story can parallel it, especially in this our more modest and chaster climate. These other cases shall be resumed anon, but now the history of an Abominable Monster:
SCENE III
1677
Proceedings
A married woman was arraigned, for that she, to the disgrace of all womankind, wickedly, divellishly, did commit buggery — that is… carnal copulation — with a mongril Dog.
SCENE IV
1912
Police Inspector
When there, the Prisoner called out and said:
Prisoner
Do you know, I set fire to a post office on Friday last…
Police Inspector
— that would be December the eighth —
Prisoner
…and on the Monday following I went to be arrested by a policeman.
SCENE V
1677
Proceedings
It was proved that the woman was of lewd conversation. Lodging in a room into which there were several holes to look in, she had often been seen in acts of uncleanness with villains. One day a witness cast her eye in, and saw her use such actions with a Dog:
Abominable Monster
Là là là là là là là là là là là là là là
Proceedings
Scoundrel! Monster! The Dog said:
Dog
Zuu sufu sufu sufu sufu sufu sufu sufu sufu sufu sufu chyu chyu chyu chyu chyu chyu chyu chyu fu fu fu fu fu fu fu
Proceedings
The Monster replied:
Abominable Monster
Bien ! Bien ! Ouf ! Aah !
Proceedings
The Dog said:
Dog
Zuu sufu sufu sufu sufu sufu sufu
Abominable Monster
Bien, bien !
Dog
Sufu sufu sufu sufu
Abominable Monster
Ouf !
Dog
Sufu sufu sufu sufu
Abominable Monster
Aah !
Dog
Sufu sufu
Abominable Monster
Ouf !
Dog
Sufu sufu
Abominable Monster
Aah !
Dog
Sufu sufu sufu sufu
Abominable Monster
Ouf ! Aaaaaaaaaah !
SCENE VI
1778
Girl
No, I do not know what an oath is.
Court
You know there is a God that governs this world; what do you think will happen to people that are wicked, that tell lies, and do bad things?
Girl
I know where they go to.
Court
Where do they go?
Girl
To hell.
SCENE VII
1912
Prisoner
There was no malice in what I did: it was done to draw the attention of the public to the iniquitous state of affairs now existing.
I suppose I must be judged —
SCENE VIII
1677
Proceedings
This witness was quite amazed: she called up another woman, and after that a man, who all saw her practising this beastliness. They fully evidenced this in court, where the Dog was likewise brought, and being set on the bar before the Monster, owned her by wagging his tail, making motions as it were to kiss her:
Dog
(wagging tail and making motions as it were to kiss Abominable Monster)
Fu fu fu fu fu fu fu fu fu fu
Proceedings
The woman had nothing to say, but denying the fact alleging it was malice in the witnesses. After full consideration of all circumstances, this Monster received sentence of death.
SCENE IX
1778
Court
Now you must tell us what this man did to you.
Girl
He lay on the bed… and got on top of me… and did something to me… but I do not know what… I cried out… he said… if I did have… he would beat me… and lick me… I cried out… he got up… and locked the bedroom door… he came to the bed… and again did something to me… I cried out…
INTERLUDE
SCENE X
1912
Prisoner
I suppose I must be judged to be guilty, but morally I am not. Morally it is you who are — the citizens of this country and the government you choose. So long as you exclude us from our rights, upon you lies the blame of any act we commit to procure that for which we fight.