Summary:
Discusses the composer Mozart and the Baroque era of music and art. Describes how those influences would affect the creation of a new opera.
The story that I would choose for and opera for today's audience would be one with the basis of love, but tragic love that cannot be realized. I would write an opera that is based around two people, a man and a woman. That realize that they do love each other but are in extremely different sections of society and the love that they could share together would be looked down upon by their peers.
There would be two main characters, a young man and a young woman. The two would work in the same company, where they met. The young man would be perhaps a janitor or work in the mail room. The woman might be a corporate officer or a high ranking consultant.
The setting would be in a large metropolis, a large city bustling with activities. The focus would be on the two of them, with some focus on the friends and the ambiance of the city. The main scene might be in the evening and on a common corner in the city where lots of people pass. In the main scene the two might run into each other on this busy corner and realize that they would rather have the ability to spend time getting to know each other than hear their friends complain about the faults of the other groups. Costume design would be trendy for the woman, the latest fashion for a woman high in society. The colors of her costume would most likely be dark and the textures smooth and sleek. His costumes would most likely be a little rougher with the colors a little more in the brown and grey hues. The costumes of the friends would be mostly similar to the main characters but varying in there differences to create separation from the main character. The set would appear to be a street corner, with the skyline of the city in the background. A busy corner with quite a bit of through traffic and perhaps the accoutrements that you would find with a big city street corner, a telephone booth and or a mailbox, perhaps a newspaper vendor. The architecture of the visible set would most likely be that of the international style architecture, stark cold especially in the scene in the evening, lots of glass and aluminum square corners and sharp lines.
The music that I would use would portray the business of the city street. Staccatos while the friends are talking and while some of the background people are in focus. Legato style when the two see each other and if they perhaps flash a quick smile or a get a chance to say hello. The legato style might contain soft upward chords portraying climatic rise then as the friends interrupt with their comments we switch to the staccato style maybe crescendo as they and there comments move to the focus versus their possible love. I would have a full orchestra with the addition of a piano. While the two are thinking or singing of each other the instruments would be higher pitched with smooth and soothing sounds; woodwinds, brass, and strings. The music while the friends are playing their part would have the low sounds and very harsh, maybe including a picked bass.
The emotional response would be created through the anticipation of finding true love but let down and crushed because of peer influences and stereotypes in today's society. This emotion would be heightened through the climaxes in the music along with the creation of tense and relaxing movements to supplement the emotion felt by the main characters along with hopefully the viewer.
This is the complete article, containing 607 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
