Although advertised as a chamber opera – even a ‘site-specific’ chamber opera (of which more later) – I Give You My Home (2021) is properly a monodrama for soprano, saxophone and percussion, accompanied by some discreet electronics (the operator uncredited by Navona). Its subject is the Bostonian landscape architect and peace activist Rose Standish Nichols (1872-1960). The temporal setting is – presumably, given a reference to America’s inclusion in the Second World War – the late 1940s or ’50s, to represent the point at which Nichols bequeathed her family home to become the Nichols House Museum, for which and in which the monodrama was premiered in March 2022. A film version was also made, ideally for cinema release, which I have not seen.

Cast in a single act divided into six brief scenes, the bulk of I Give You My Home is a reminiscence of key points in Nichols’s life, from her early education and travels to Europe (scene 2) to her involvement with the Women’s International League (of which she was a founder member) and attendance at post-Great War peace conferences in scene 5. Scenes 3 and 4 focus on her career as a landscape architect, inspired initially by her Uncle Gus (the eminent sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1848-1907), and her development of formally symmetrical but tranquil garden designs. Topping and tailing the whole are two brief scenes depicting the set-up for the bequest and the final grant.

The concept is a gentle one, charting the travails, successes (if not a suffragist herself, Nichols campaigned for women’s rights) and disappointments: as in Woodrow Wilson’s neglecting to admit her into the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, or America’s involvement in the Second World War. Lasting a little under the target timing (according to the composer’s website) of 40 minutes, this finely produced recording captures the wistful essence of the whole. Aliana de la Guardia sings (and occasionally speaks) the role of Rose very nicely and Philipp A Stäudlin and Mike Williams provide exemplary support. Beth Wiemann’s score is lyrical if melodically rather grey: what the piece cries out for is a truly memorable tune or moment to really hit home. Williams’s menacing intimations of war at the start of scene 5 (the only scene with any real hint of drama) are beautifully done but just not enough.