After taking a bit of a break to work on libretto projects, I am starting the next part of the Ox213 project: accounting for the songs with a mix of unseperated and seperated passages.
If you haven't seen my last blog post, the rundown is that majority of Ox213's French-language songs had a mix of 'seperated passages' (passages that were seperated by rests) and 'unseperated passages' (those that weren't). So I'm taking the extra step of figuring out whether these songs really count as having a mix, and if so why. So far I have had to emend my current description for Ce moys de may, and I anticipate there will be more to change as I go on. But this exercise will also help me notice some patterns in regard to how some syllables are treated, and why some untexted passages are written the way they are. For example, words without 'e' endings don't get split often or not at all, so a passage ending on such a word (eg. 'esbatement', in fol. 9v) might appear as an unseperated passage regardless of whether it was performed as written or as a melisma. So you get an idea how factors like this can complicate things. I am only just starting to get a sense of them, too.
There have been some new additions to the website. Namely, I have updated the "Compositions" page to reflect current opera projects. I promise to add individual pages about them and what they're about soon, but for now I only have the time to list the three projects that I'm working on: The Murals of Mur, a one-act opera that started development when I was in university, Ermessenda, a libretto that I need to revise extensively and write more for, and Mort, tu as navre (working title), a new project that is currently in the planning and writing stages. Expect more information about them soon. I also intend to update the 'Research' page, once I revise my paper from last fall's directed study.
Happy Pride Month- here's a song that my friend Niki Simerly recommended to me one day. 10/10, no notes.