Opera commemorates pioneers

Regardless of one's background, the story of the Willie and Martin handcart companies is as compelling as any of the Mormon pioneer sagas. Between the two companies, more than 200 people died in Wyoming when they were caught in early winter storms.

Such a story was particularly fascinating to Harriet Bushman, who saw it through a composer's eyes.

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Martin and Willie ordeal (the companies traveled in 1856), Bushman wrote a chamber opera depicting the story in music.

"I wanted really to deal with those two because there is such a range of dynamic in those two companies," she said. "They start with tremendous vision and faith and belief that they can just do whatever is required. Then, of course, it comes to this terrible tragedy, through which many of them survived, and you end with them arriving in Salt Lake.

"I know many of them were in a terrible, terrible state, but despite all, it is well-documented that many of their faiths had survived, and so for me, it's a full-circle experience."

Bolstered with funds from the Barlow Endowment, Bushman began writing the work for a Mormon History Association sesquicentennial commemoration in Casper, Wyo., near Martin's Cove.

Originally, it was intended to be a song cycle for one singer with Bushman as accompanist. "I didn't really, in the beginning, have any idea of writing an opera. It evolved into an opera," she said.

Bushman compiled the script as she wrote it, drawing from documents and diaries and poetry.

Certain parts, she said, seemed to require larger forces. "As I started working on it, I realized that it was a bigger piece, and I can't exactly describe when I realized that, but it just somehow seemed right to write choral parts for it. When I say choral, of course, it's not a large choir, but it's four people, five people."

It was an organic process, she said, where the piece seemed to dictate what was required. "It just wanted to be what it wanted to be, and I had to be aware of what it wanted and go with it."

In the end, it turned into a chamber/concert opera for five singers and piano accompaniment. Bushman herself will accompany the performances, with Jennifer Welch-Babidge, Darrell Babidge, Dianna Graham, Amanda Crabb and Kevin Goertzen as the featured singers.