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Ideas for operas

13K views 127 replies 36 participants last post by  Cavaradossi 
#1 ·
Do you constantly find yourself bombarded with ideas for wonderful operas?

I do. I spent weeks trying to make Cousin Bette into something resembling an opera. I mean, I know I have no musical talent, and I could spend years putting something together that no one would ever see or hear. But it was a compulsion. I don't know if you've read it but the opening scene is just smash-and-grab - nineteenth-century smash-and-grab, anyway! This guy has a rivalry going with a "friend" because this friend stole his courtesan - and so he visits the guy's wife to try to seduce her! In the course of the interview with her it becomes clear that her daughter and his son's marriage was arranged over the guys' parties with their courtesans, and in addition he's perfectly willing to spoil her son's marriage if she won't jump into bed with him. Well, it's an amazing scene.

I'm perennially visited by the idea of guerilla opera, too - subway opera, with musicians playing buskers, and actors pretending their personal lives are just spilling over into the public forum. You'd have to have pretty good actors to pull it off.

How about you? Any ideas?
 
#3 ·
lol i'm sure you'd do better than that! But I'm sure you'll love the book, it's great. It really sold me on Balzac until I realized that ALL his books start low and go straight downhill. The first - OK. After a few - gosh, you know, let's have a little escapism, please!
 
#4 · (Edited)
Do you constantly find yourself bombarded with ideas for wonderful operas?
Not constantly, no, but I just recently read The Night Circus http://www.amazon.com/Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0307744434/ with a friend. When we finished we were chatting about how long it would take before it appeared in film and I exclaimed, "But I want the opera version!!"

It would be beautiful, the idea of a black and white circus gets all kinds of visuals popping in my head. And the drama, the rivalry between the two magicians that threatens to destroy everything in its path (she says, wallowing joyously in cliches)..... will the young lovers realize that they are fated for each other? Once they have found each other, will they be able to stay together? And in what form can they stay together?? (well, ya kinda gotta read the book to understand that, lol.)

Lemme see....... a Bart Sher production, I think........ now I gotta get to work on casting........ :lol:
 
#11 ·
#5 · (Edited)
Well, I have secretly wanted to write an opera on the life of Stockhausen. Taking its cue from ghastly Hollywood biopics like A song of Norway (about Grieg), it was to be called Call me Karlheinz, but I would now call it a A little Light music. Running continuously for around 24 hours, it would be a portrayal of KS's life from childhood to death, continually referring to, and obliquely quoting form, the music he was writing at each stage of his life. There would of course be many flashbacks, flashforwards and moments of simultaneous action in a structure which, while originally emulating Momente, say, would probably end up more like that of Slaughterhouse 5 (not entirely inapt, given the composer's teenage years).

There would be generous use of helicopters, of course - with the main characters singing their parts from inside the helicopters - thereby rendering it almost unperformable, whilst, by provocatively dwelling on KS's remarks about 9/11, any production would court the widest possible media opprobrium and hence publicity.

Not sure how I would represent the composer. In Licht, of course, each of the main characters is represented (at least in the early operas) by three people: a singer, a dancer and an instrumentalist. So I would probably have to have an equally unwieldy concept - maybe a live animal. Stockhausen was born under the sign of Leo so a real lion might do the trick. And there should be parts for KS's relatives from the planet orbiting Sirius from which he claimed to hail.

The music, which would be created entirely electronically, would not be performed in any production so much as streamed from cyberspace where it would be eternally present. Indeed this would permit the simultaneous performance of the work in many locations around the world (and on Sirius).
 
#14 ·
Woah - not a bad idea! But an opera treasure hunt in which the clues are embedded in the libretto and the production? Wow. Of course, it wouldn't have to be a fraud. But we could do it that way, just to uphold tradition ...

Strikes me that the guy's idea, Kit Williams I mean, was screwy from the get-go. Studying a painting for the clue to a treasure hunt is not the WAY most artists want their work studied, I think. Would attendance go up, at productions of it? lol be an interesting test to try.
 
#15 ·
What about Kafka's The Metamorphosis? As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect-like creature. BANG! Right in the beginning! It would be darker than the book (is that possible?)

Once, long time ago, when i read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundread Years of Solitude, i loved reading it so much, that i thought how this would go as an opera. Two minutes later i thought it would be impossible due to the amount of characters needed. If one needs a notebook to follow the Ring, imagine what do you need for the Buendia family.
 
#23 ·
Hope this isn't considered necroposting. I joined this forum specifically because I recently had an idea for writing an opera, and wanted to chat with other people interested in writing librettos or composing operas. I'm a bit puzzled at the emphasis here on adapting existing ideas for opera. I guess historically a lot of operas have been adaptations. But I'm a writer by training, they smack us on the nose with a newspaper if we try to write "fanfiction". Any more, I've got so many ideas of my own that I'd consider it a criminal waste of time and energy to make an opera based on someone else's material! ;)

The idea I had that got me out here joining opera forums is for a risque comic historical opera somewhat like L'elisir D'amour. The central concept is, two soldiers are retiring with a nest-egg of money, and one wants to use the money to start a brothel while the other wants to use it to get gloriously drunk and stay that way as long as possible.

I'm rather hung up on the issue of whether it's really opera if it's written in English, though. I only speak English, so I really have no business writing in another language, but lyrics written in English seem to be judged by a completely different, harsher, set of standards...
 
#31 ·
Hope this isn't considered necroposting.
No, no, feel free ... great term though! Necroposting, I love it.

I joined this forum specifically because I recently had an idea for writing an opera, and wanted to chat with other people interested in writing librettos or composing operas. I'm a bit puzzled at the emphasis here on adapting existing ideas for opera.
Well, I have no creativity, so I would HAVE to adapt an existing idea.

The idea I had that got me out here joining opera forums is for a risque comic historical opera somewhat like L'elisir D'amour. The central concept is, two soldiers are retiring with a nest-egg of money, and one wants to use the money to start a brothel while the other wants to use it to get gloriously drunk and stay that way as long as possible.

I'm rather hung up on the issue of whether it's really opera if it's written in English, though. I only speak English, so I really have no business writing in another language, but lyrics written in English seem to be judged by a completely different, harsher, set of standards...
I know I'm going to get jumped on by everyone for saying this, so I'll just apologize in advance. SORRY, SORRY SORRY!!! (whispering now) English strikes me as not a very beautiful language. If I was going to write an opera I would write it in English only because it's the only language I know, and then get it translated into Italian for the libretto.

You know, I love the concept, the two soldiers with the pot of money and what to do with it. You probably already see it needs more plot to make an opera of it. If there's anything we can do to help, I'm sure we will ... ?? it doesn't sound to me like you're wanting ideas, you probably have plenty of your own.
 
#24 ·
The story of Nelson Mandela would make a marvellous opera.

Young activist with beautiful wife tried and imprisoned. She gains her own political following during the years he is in prison. Their loneliness for each other. His release, their inability to live together despite her faithfulness for 27 years. Their parting.
 
#26 · (Edited)
The more i think about having one day wisedom enough to write an opera i go and hear Wagner to know that anything i'll ever do will be below him.

Therefore...it is better for Mankind not to compose operas on my own.

Nevertheless, apart from Kafka's novel, i'm keen on a subject about the horrors of World War I or II
 
#28 ·
People should make libretti out of Henry James' novels; I believe they might work very well, with the right approach and music. There's a lot of feelings in between the lines, all the most important things are never uttered - and what vechile to convey this better than music? There's very little action, but a whole lot of psychology and irony - to be communicated by music. Operas don't need that much action anyway, just look at, uh, any opera by Wagner.
 
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#30 · (Edited)
A couple opera concepts based on Loveboat and Roman Holiday......

Loveboat would be romantic adult comedy with assumed indentities, unfaithful lovers, cabin room romps and crew that joins in the fun, think Rossini/Mozart Figaro series

Roman Holiday almost perfect, young princess who longs to be normal carefree girl and have fun falls in love under assumed identity and returns to royal court for happy ending.....

Almost any great Audrey Hepburn movie could be great opera :angel:
-Sabrina
-Funny Face
-Breakfast at Tiffanies
-My Fair Lady

 
#37 ·
A couple opera concepts based on Loveboat and Roman Holiday......

Loveboat would be romantic adult comedy with assumed indentities, unfaithful lovers, cabin room romps and crew that joins in the fun, think Rossini/Mozart Figaro series

Roman Holiday almost perfect, young princess who longs to be normal carefree girl and have fun meets her dream lover under assumed identity and returns to royal court for happy ending.....

Almost any great Audrey Hepburn movie could be great opera :angel:
-Sabrina
-Funny Face
-Breakfast at Tiffanies
-My Fair Lady

Out of my depth here, never seen any of these. Well, I saw My Fair Lady. That'd be good.
 
#39 ·
One must really know the language pretty well and be well-experienced in writting in verses that can be sung, whether it is english or italian.

Not all poetry, not all drammas for theater work as librettos.

Nevertheless, accents can have a major influence in turning the language "sungable". For example, it's easier to sing in Portuguese with brazilian accent rather than with european one.
 
#42 ·
English is the perfect language for an opera by a speaker of english. Part of the music of opera is the language. Each language has it's strengths and weaknesses as far as singing is concerned. A native speaker would know those intimately and without having to think about it. You speak english, you know the rythm of the language, the cadences and stresses of it's words. Write whatb you know.

I like the two soldiers idea.

Don't worry if someone has already written an opera on a story you want to use. How many Romeo and Juliets are out there? If it's good, there's always room for more.

I'm trying to cobble together a libretto based on Frankenstein, staying as close to the original as possible and forgetting the miserable Brannagha movie. There are many themes in the story. I want to focus on topics such as the relations and obligations of creator to created, the metaphysics of the creatures position i.e. is he human, is he really alive in otherwords did Frankenstein imbue him with a soul? Who is ultimately responsible for the creatures murders and violence?

There are also themes and stories from American history that could provide excelent librettos. Although he is now seen as something of an unapproachable marble statue, George Washington would make an excelent subject for one or several operas. Crazy Horse, Tecumseh, Massasoit and the Pilgrims. Unfortunately, Pocahontas has probably been ruined by Disney for the forseeable future.

An opera about Stephen Foster. you have music already written.

John Brown. Dred Scott.

Joseph Smith, John C. Fremont also good subjects. Jefferson and the break with Adams and the reconciliation in their later lives. Lincoln, of course.

How about a Lovecraft opera?

A Twilight Zone opera?

So many subjects, so little time.
 
#46 ·
Franz Schmidt (1874- 1935) wrote the opera Notre Dame ,based on Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, and it is a wonderful opera which deserves to be better known. It was recently given a concert performance in New York with Leon Botstein, that tireless champion of offbeat operas and orchestral works, with his American symphony orchestra.
I have the excelent Capriccio recording with Kurt Masur as the hunchack, and Gwyneth Jones as Esmeralda, also with James King, and Christof Perick and the Berlin Radio symphony .
I would like to see an opera based on the famous film "Inherit the Wind" , based on the notorious
"monkey trial" in Tennessee in the 1920s. Possibly with John Adams as the composer or William Bolcom .
Also, an opera about Genghis Khan by Philip Glass sung in Mongolian, posaibly with parts also in a Turkic language might be interesting .
 
#49 ·
Franz Schmidt (1874- 1935) wrote the opera Notre Dame ,based on Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, and it is a wonderful opera which deserves to be better known. It was recently given a concert performance in New York with Leon Botstein, that tireless champion of offbeat operas and orchestral works, with his American symphony orchestra.
I have the excelent Capriccio recording with Kurt Masur as the hunchack, and Gwyneth Jones as Esmeralda, also with James King, and Christof Perick and the Berlin Radio symphony .
That's one of the things I really like about this forum - learning something new! Now I will have to search out that recording :)
Thinking about books and films that would make good operas got me to wondering about the virtues of making films of operas. Not just filming stage productions, of which there are many, but making a proper movie of an opera. I know that a movie was made of Brittens' 'Turn of the Screw' back in the 70's or 80's, but can you imagine how good a big Peter Jackson production of 'The Ring' would be? Or a Merchant/Ivory-style 'Madama Butterfly'? Or Kenneth Branagh doing Verdi?
Or we could go the whole hog and have James Cameron re-doing 'Titanic'; as long as it has a better libretto than it had script!
 
#50 ·
Both Kenneth Branagh and Ingmar Bergman made film versions of Mozart's Magic Flute.



And there was that 1950s Aida with Renata Tebaldi providing the voice for Sophia Loren's Ethiopian princess. I also think the films of Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and La Traviata with Domingo were all actual movies, not just film versions of stage productions. Siegfried Jerusalem made his big career breakthrough as Sandor Barinkay in a made-for-TV film of Der Zigeunerbaron back around 1976 ot 1977.
 
#51 ·
And there was that 1950s Aida with Renata Tebaldi providing the voice for Sophia Loren's Ethiopian princess.
Yes I've seen that. Having such a famous actress play the part may have helped the box office but I found it distracting, knowing she was miming.

I also think the films of Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and La Traviata with Domingo were all actual movies, not just film versions of stage productions. Siegfried Jerusalem made his big career breakthrough as Sandor Barinkay in a made-for-TV film of Der Zigeunerbaron back around 1976 ot 1977.
I know Butterfly is as I've got that.
 
#54 ·
The 19th century Barazilian composer Antonio Carlos Gomes wrote a number of once popular operas, but in Italian, because he settled in Italy . I have the Sony Classical recording of his rather entertaining opera
Il Guarany, about the Portuguese in Brazil and their conflict with the Guarani Indians , with Placido Domingo in the title role . It was revived by the Bonn opera several years ago and recorded live .
The music shows strong Verdian influence, which is not surprising .
 
#56 ·
Yes but like you said, he wrote in Italian. Marcos Portugal also wrote lots of operas (even with premieres in Scala) but in italian also.

I mentioned those which were written in portuguese language. They are rarely staged and few recordings exist. Also normally portuguese-speaking composers are more keen on writing other genres than just opera and those are far more popular like Villa-Lobos (i listen a lot to his guitar compositions).

Recent Portugal composers have been writing avant-garde operas like Emanuel Nunes (recently deceased) or António Pinho Vargas. Honestly their operas like Das Märchen are too much for my stomach and for most portuguese audience. At its premiere the opera began with a full house but it ended with 2 or 3 resistant people. hehhehehe

When you mentioned Carlos Gomes and about the libretto with portuguese subject, there are quite some operas based on portuguese events like Meyerbeer's Vasco da Gama or Donizetti's Dom Sebastien. But i think it was the love story of Ines de Castro which more operas were written about. If anyone can find recordings of this last subject, please tell me where to find it.
 
#55 ·
As well as the excellent fairly recent film of The turn of the Screw, which would stand on its own two feet as a film without the music, there is also a good movie of Owen Wingrave, an opera that was written to be filmed as opposed to being staged:
Aarrgh! More shopping I have to do! Thanks guys :)
 
#62 ·
I'm trying to think of a way to get Anna Karenina into libretto form, myself ... I think it would take about 11 operas but I bet it could be done ... there was a movie about Sid and Nancy and it was awfully good, I'd be surprised if it wouldn't work as an opera ... well, seeing how good Dialogues of the Caramelites was, I almost expect anything to work as opera now.
 
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