LINCOLN IN THE BARDO
Based on the novel by George Saunders
Full Score
From the G. Schirmer Rental Library
Date of Printing________________
G. Schirmer, Inc.
New York, NY
Missy Mazzoli Royce Vavrek
LINCOLN IN THE BARDO
Based on the novel by George Saunders
Full Score
Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera
First performance on October 19, 2026 by the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin
G. Schirmer, Inc. New York, NY
Instrumentation:
2 Flutes (2nd doubling Piccolo)
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets in Bb (2nd doubling Bass Clarinet)
2 Bassoons (2nd doubling Contrabassoon)
4 Horns in F
3 Trumpets in C
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Timpani
3 Percussion
1: Vibraphone, Bass Drum, Ratchet, Wood Blocks, Tambourine, Whip, Lion’s Roar, Sleigh Bells
2: Glockenspiel, Bass Drum, Xylophone, Triangle, Snare Drum, Hi-hat, Sandpaper, Junk Metal
3: Triangle, Tubular Bells, Suspended Cymbal, Temple Blocks, Brake Drum, Tom-toms, Metal Spring, Crotales, Waterphone, Tamtam, Guíro
Piano (doubling Celesta and Organ)
Harp
Strings
duration: ca.120 minutes
Dramatis Personae:
Willie, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln’s son, aged 11. (boy soprano/alto)
Lincoln, the President of the United States. (baritone)
Bevins, a queer ghost, gone by suicide, aged 17. (tenor)
Vollman, a gentlemanly ghost, bludgeoned by a beam, mid-40s. (bass-baritone)
Reverend, a ghost who knows more than the others, 60s. (dramatic soprano)
Miss Elise Traynor, a 14-year old ghost who has tarried too long. (countertenor)
Thomas Havens, a 30 year-old Black man, a freed slave. (tenor)
Mrs. Frances Hodge, a 30-40 year old enslaved woman. (soprano)
Other Roles:
Mrs. Baron, a woman recently run over by a carriage, 30s/40s. (mezzo-soprano)
Mr. Baron, her husband, likewise run over by a carriage, 30s/40s. (baritone)
Litzie, a young Black woman who finds her voice. (light lyric soprano)
From the chorus:
Six Angels (2 sopranos, 4 mezzo-sopranos)
Six Gilberts (3 tenors, 3 basses)
Five Young Brides (5 sopranos)
Five Mary Todd Lincolns (5 mezzo-sopranos)
A group of Soldiers (12-24 tenors and basses, evenly divided)
Tendril #1 (soprano)
Tendril #2 (mezzo-soprano)
Tendril #3 (tenor)
Lieutenant Stone (tenor)
Ginger Chap from Maine (baritone or tenor)
Doodling Pennsylvanian (tenor)
Synopsis:
When President Abraham Lincoln’s son Willie succumbs to typhoid fever in 1862, he finds himself in Oak Hill Cemetery, unaware that he is dead. In fact, all the ghosts in the cemetery believe they are merely ill and waiting to be revived in the “sick yard.” One thing is certain: the sick yard does not treat children who linger there well. Three ghosts—Bevins, a young gay man; Vollman, an older widower; and a Calvinist Reverend—must encourage Willie to transcend to the next dimension in a feat known among the ghosts as matterlightblooming.
Willie believes that his father will return for him, and indeed, he does—cradling the boy’s lifeless body and speaking to him. The citizens of the sick yard interpret this as the boy’s ability to connect with a loved one, something the ghosts have been unable to achieve with their own familial visitors. Bevins, Vollman, and the Reverend do everything they can to convince Willie not to remain in the sick yard, and determine they must encourage him to engage with his father one last time.
When Willie sits beside his father in a chapel and hears his father express his grief, he realizes that he is dead. He then announces to all the ghosts that they, too, have died, setting off a widespread spectacle of matterlightblooming. As Lincoln leaves the cemetery on horseback, a deceased Black servant, Havens, takes it upon himself to enter the President’s body, and together they lope away to change the course of history.
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