write an opera

How I did it: 1. I watched every opera I could, live or on video and took note of what held my interest and what didn't seem to work for me. I also studied several librettos and scores of operas I admired.
2. I had the local opera director at my university coach me through the process. He had no experience as a composer, but he had translated many librettos and directed many operas, so he knew what sort of things would work on stage and what made a libretto singable.
3. I attended rehearsals of operas at my local university and took note of what the performers were capable of and what they had difficulty with.
4. I wrote the libretto first, then set it to music, but I sketched out a musical plan before writing the text so that the opera would make musical as well as dramatic sense.
5. After the work went into rehearsal, I paid attention to anything that was not working on stage or that the performers were having difficulty singing and revised the music accordingly.

Lessons & tips: 1. Choose source material that is original or in the public domain, so that you don't have copyright issues to deal with.
2. Use a variety of verse forms in your libretto. Use prose or free verse for the dialog/recitative portion, and rhyme and meter for the lyrical portions. Using regular rhyme and meter throughout becomes monotonous, especially if it is all the same pattern. It is difficult to set prose to lyrical music, because it is harder to create symmetrical patterns. A common rhyme scheme in Italian opera is abbc deec. This is a very dynamic pattern that keeps the momentum moving forward.
3. One of the main failings of modern opera is the tendency to set everything in a bland, meandering arioso that is not quite melody, not quite recitative, not quite fast, and not quite slow.  Use a variety of musical forms and rhythms, and be sure to build to a climax.
4. An opera is not a sung play. It is a hybrid format that has a musical structure as well as a dramatic structure. Be sure your opera makes sense musically and is not just a play with background music. Identify the lyric moments in the drama, where music can express a character's feelings or where a musical form can depict an important turning point in the action.
5. Study other operas. Make notes of what you like and what you don't like about them. Analyze how the libretto as structured and how the music is structured. Notice how each vocal part lies for the particular voice.

Dec 15, 2008, 12:01PM PST | 1 comment | 3 cheers