First post on this "blog"! I suppose I should give a little bit of context about what this blog is for, at least at the time of writing.
Primarily, these posts are a way of getting me to track my progress on composition projects and reading up in preparation for next semester's Directed Study, as well as share music-related thoughts. For composition, the current big project is a chamber opera scored for soprano, violin, cello, piano and electronics, though it may also include style studies in preparation for the abovementioned directed study, which focuses on 15th century secular chansons. As for the directed study itself, my current focus is getting the hang of 1400s music theory and the basics of Middle French poetry, since my focus is on how music interacts with the texts of the poetry set (if applicable) and how expressing the text can be done in different ways.
I'll talk about the opera here, since it's the current focus of my compositional life currently. (In fact, it's taken up most of 2024, and is projected to be completed around mid-September.) The opera, tentatively titled The Murals of Mur, has been kind of a passion project with the aim of discussing the history of a certain group of murals, namely that of Santa Maria de Mur in Lleida, Catalonia. (For a short explanation, see here.) The opera is about one of the figures in the mural, an atlant in the leftmost window, that longs for home. Yet, he can only do so through what he remembers of the past- which isn't always pleasant to recall, in some instances. As of now, the opera has 4 out of 8 scenes drafted- or at least, the parts which need to be written for musicians to play. Electronic tracks are still something I'm pretty new to, embarassing as that may be, so it may take me some time to get my bearings around mixing and looping them. However, it has also made for a pretty new and interesting aspect to factor in when composing. I've also found myself thinking more about the intentions I want to get across with each scene, and how electronic parts play a part in what I want to convey.
While it has been a long time since I revisited the subject since the spring of 2023, what I still remember was apparently enough to write (and re-write, especially during the composition process) my own libretto for the project. However, by that point (spring 2024), it has long moved out of the realm of enthusiasm-fueled writing, which brought its advantages and disadvantages. I found myself being more selective of what I wanted to include for the opera, and being more discerning of what would fit what I want to convey. At the same time, writing the music now feels more like a chore than it had back in 2022-2023. I suppose it's part and parcel of the composition process. Besides, I want to write other things after 2 years of musing on the same subject through music. But I would be lying if I said it wasn't having a dampening effect on how I percieve my composition progress- I'll power through it, anyhow.
With all that being said, I will have to work on the remaining scenes. The most challenging part of writing, it seems, is how to start- and sufficient ideas of how to shape my vision for each scene needs to be available before I do. But that's what the precompositional stage is for, I suppose. Now if only I can do it quickly enough to get started sooner than later...
I've recently become interested in ambient and electronic media, as hinted at by the above inclusion of it in my opera project. But exploring that can be a side venture for now, kind of in the same way one picks up crocheting or baking as a hobby. In other words, I might start creating electronic tracks for fun. If I do post them, expect them to be on a side page linked in the Compositions page.