The Bells (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

"Then, all at once, behold!--for it seems at times, as though the ear also possessed a sight of its own,--behold, rising from each bell tower, something like a column of sound, a cloud of harmony."



[ Link ] to The Bells.

For the opening of the Hunchback of Notre Dame Leah, the director, wanted to have the house lights up. The cast would wander onto the stage as music would be playing on the sound system.

"First, the vibration of each bell mounts straight upwards, pure and, so to speak, isolated from the others, into the splendid morning sky; then, little by little, as they swell they melt together, mingle, are lost in each other, and amalgamate in a magnificent concert."

I used the chant Ubi Caritas as the basis for the bell peel. “Where charity and love are, God is there.” This summarizes the time that Quasimodo and Esmeralda will spend together at the top of Notre Dame.

When the bell peel is done, one of the cast members would have a guitar and they would start playing along with the song.

"It is no longer anything but a mass of sonorous vibrations incessantly sent forth from the numerous belfries; floats, undulates, bounds, whirls over the city, and prolongs far beyond the horizon the deafening circle of its oscillations."

Italics text is a quote from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Journey to Opening Night, part 2

To recap from part 1, In September or so I became part of the design team (as composer) for an adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The director (Leah) and I agreed that I should get a copy of the script and start looking at it to determine what musical cues to write. I had assume that Leah had found an adaptation that was already written and had been performed. Turned out it would be a bit more exciting. Mitchell "Bucky" Fay, long time member of the Cromulent Shakespeare Company, was doing a new adaptation. So Leah, Bucky and I met to discuss the show. I found out the script was going through some revisions and I would get hold of it when those revisions were done.

Leah told me this was a play, not a musical, which was somewhat of a relief. I have worked on a few musical projects now, and they are big jobs and very time consuming. I was looking for something a bit smaller in order to try to keep my sanity between family, work, and fun music projects. In my mind I thought this would just be a few sound cues to set scenes. I was wrong.

It didn't turn into a musical, but when I got my hands on the script I found out that there were 5 songs in it—and a number of them for the entire cast. Writing songs is very different than writing instrumental music for me. With instrumental music I can just thinking of where I want the melody and harmony to go and then write out the music. With songs, everything has to fit in with those pesky words. That takes more time. The other “problem” is that I love doing it.

The chance to write music for Quasimodo and Esmeralda was a really exciting prospect for me. Also I wondered if Frollo might have a song or two. But I had to remind myself that this was not a musical. Also Leah had told me that the casting had been done without regards to musically ability. I didn't know if any of the cast felt comfortable singing on stage.

So the next step was to send out a survey to the cast to ask what kind of musical background they had. Once I knew that I could start thinking about specific songs. You don’t need to be classically trained singer to sell a song. But I believe the performer has to feel comfortable. In order to do that the composer needs to have some understanding of the performer’s voice so that an appropriate piece for both the performer and the character can be written.

The surveys came back and it was clear that we had a real mix of people with musical experience and without. Esmeralda could sing, but Quasimodo and Frollo did not have a lot of musical experience. Since we had a mix of experience I needed to take that into account as I wrote the songs for the entire cast.

(Next time: the writing of the songs begins…)

The Journey to Opening Night, part 1

Well, it is one week and one day later, but Hunchback of Notre Dame had a great opening night. Since about September I've been working on original music for an adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. The Cromulent Shakespeare Company had decided to do this in repertory with Richard III and not only share the cast but also the set and costumes. Now this is a BIG undertaking.

I first heard about this when I saw a status from Leah Cooper that she was going to direct Hunchback. That caught my attention for several reasons: 1) I have seen Leah's work before and have great respect for what she brings to the stage, 2) I had worked with Leah before and knew what a wonderful collaborative experience she creates, and 3) I only knew Hunchback through the Disney movie.

Now for all lovers of Hugo's novel, I can just imagine the rolling of your eyes regarding Disney. Culturally Hunchback is just part of us. Even if you never read the book or saw any of the many adaptations for the screen, you know the basic characters of Quasimodo and Esmeralda. Since I was not familiar with any adaptation before Disney, I didn't have a strong negative ("This is an Abomination!!!") reaction to the movie.

The movie is not a Ratatouille, but it is not horrible either. It took the broad outline of the story and combined characters, made at least one villain good, and came out with a happy ending. The happy ending part has been done before--see the 1938 movie version. But even having not read the book, I knew you had to approach it as something different from what Victor Hugo intended.

I knew Leah well enough that I knew I could ask if she was thinking of music for the adaptation and so I did. And to my great happiness she said she would love to work with me again! (Yea!!!) Next step was to see the script.

The Minneapolis Rag

I have been away for a while from my blogs. Sorry, the election just held my attention too much. Before I left my blogs to their own devices, I did upload this "Minneapolis Rag" to my website, but I never posted a link to this blog.

I'll add a bit more to this entry later about the song.



[ Link ] to The Minneapolis Rag

Microtune, #3, Fanfare for an unsettled night

I'm having an unsettled tonight. Nervous energy lashing out in odd directions. Angry at nothing. Cranky just to be cranky.



[ Link ] to Microtune, #3

Big Band Swing on Pandora

I have a new toy: Pandora Radio. Finally I can create a radio station that plays Baroque Choral, Big Band Swing, Billy Joel, The Beatles, among others. Right now I'm listening to Side by Side sung by Anita O'Day.

Sometimes I think I was born at the wrong time--I love this music. But I love working on computers too much to have been born during the Big Band era. Actually this is the music of my parents. Both of them drew up during the depression and came of age in the 40's. Maybe it was something passed on through the genes or through the songs they hummed to me.

The other thing I've found is that this is great music by which to write code. Something about listening to the winds and writing Java just fits.

CD Review: The Grapes of Wrath / Live from the Minnesota Opera World Premiere

Amazon.com: The Grapes of Wrath/Live from the Minnesota Opera World Premiere: Ricky Ian Gordon, Grant Gershon, Deanne Meek and Brian Leerhuber: Music

I want to like this opera. I love Ricky Ian Gordon's music. His Bright Eyed Joy is one of my favorite CDs that I have listened to over and over again.



I have now experienced the opera 3 different ways: I was lucky enough to see a dress rehearsal. I also saw a full performance during the initial run at the Ordway. And now I have listened to the entire CD. Although I love much of the music in Grapes of Wrath I find that I enjoy the individual parts of the work. The whole does not move me the way I wish it did. My biggest issue is with Michael Korie's libretto. It is WAY too long. Also the mixing of the stylized dust bowl speech patterns with the operatic singing does not work for me. And diction is an issue--at times I can't understand what is being sung and at other times it is too perfect for the dialect of the text.

Any yet, there are moments. The opening chorus of "The last time there was rain" and the death of Noah as he sings "I can be a help" stand out for me.

With the material presented on this CD I hear the potential of a wonderful American Opera, but the story telling needs to be tighter. That being said I am still looking forward to what Mr. Gordon writes next.

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