At 11:38 PM 10/6/03 -0800, Mark D. Lew wrote: >Every contemporary opera composer I've met so far >(about a dozen, I'd guess) is very flexible in accommodating the needs of >the singers and the stage direction. Perhaps this is my bias showing, but >if I were to meet one who is inflexible, I would tend to see that as >evidence that he doesn't know how to write for opera.
Opera is that proverbial special case, and your point is excellent. Opera falls into John Howell's "collaborative" area much more than symphonic/chamber music does. It is personality-driven, and so must match the performing forces. My first (and so far only complete) opera was extensively collaborative -- but it was also written in the era (1978) when a great deal of creative improvisation was expected from the performers (and me, as I was also performing). It also had instruments built for it (http://maltedmedia.com/people/bathory/plasm/ and http://maltedmedia.com/people/bathory/instruments.html) But the one I'm working on now (http://bathory.org/) is a combination chamber opera, large opera, and virtual opera-as-computer-game. It's incredibly difficult to create because it has to mold effectively to different situations and performers. The opera-as-computer-game version is especially difficult because of how the work is recomposed algorthmically as the characters redefine themselves. Dennis _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
