Musgrave also wrote the libretto which is loosely based on the life of Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba, a prominent figure in 19th-century New Orleans.

On the suggestion of the company's General Director Robert Lyall, Musgrave chose Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba as her subject.

In 1834, having failed to gain possession of Almonester's inheritance, her father-in-law shot her four times at point-blank range with a pair of duelling pistols and then committed suicide.

[2][3] As with most of her operas, Musgrave herself wrote the libretto (originally called The Pontalba Affair), loosely basing it on Intimate Enemies, Christina Vella's 1997 biography of Micaela Almonester.

Musgrave added some fictional characters and took several liberties with the historical facts, most notably making Almonester 10 years older so that her marriage to Celestin de Pontalba would take place around the time of the Louisiana Purchase.