Exodizer

I'll explain what I mean. The difference between an opera and an Oratorio is an Oratorio is strictly a concert piece while an opera is musical theater. What I mean is the opera scores I have, I could not tell that they were not Oratorios by the score (maybe you can, I don't have any Oratorio scores, so I guess I wouldn't know). What is the difference, I guess is what I'm asking.

I have the scores to a few opera and all they have is the music. I'm wondering about the structure so-to speak of everything else in an opera that isn't music. I don't know how to write that at all. Is it the same as a play (my mother is a playwright so I know quite a bit about it)? I have an idea of a story for an opera and lots of musical ideas having to do with it running through my head, but I don't know how to write it. Also do I write one long score, or a score for each aria, or both? Any resources to help me out? (I'm not sure if I ever intend to finish this, being a music student, but I get bored of writing the same sorts of things over and decided to give this a try.)

I know the first movement sounds flashy, but it's actually still simple. I was planning on having the rest of the fourth movement as being "flashy" to get the whole classical fast, slow, moderate, fast classical idea, but that comment about stepwise harmonic motion hit me like a bullet. I knew there was something wrong with it but couldn't place my finger on it. Oh and about the key signatures, I will remove the C minor. In fact I meant to do that, but that whole penatonic scale part is just eaiser to write as Db Major. It isn't Db major. Infact it's mostly keyless, just easier to read for me. I'll ask the player.

Alright so I have comp class and you have to have a work under 5 minutes. I definatly won't meet the 5 minute requirement but my teacher likes it, so he doesn't seem to mind. Last year we had someone with a 20 minute work of having piano strings pulled against piano strings to make a piano sound like a huge violin. It was pretty awful in my honest opinion. I think the 5 minutes was to safeguard against that. Why I mention that is that the movements seem so sort because of that (I don't really mind having them short, Ginastera is another one of my favorite composers and his movements of his piano sonatas tended to be short) I have a pretty modern style, so if your not into that you probaly won't like this. My favorite Piano work is Berg's Piano Sonata and this sounds nothing like that, but at least they are both modern. This is kinda neo-classical, because the movements are classical forms. First movement is a Rondo Second is Sonata (well no, not really) Third is Minuet and Trio Fourth is Theme and Variations. I'm not done with the fourth movement. There's the theme and 3 variations and the begining of the fourth. By the end I think I'll have 7, but I have enough ideas for like 20 or so. So I'm not entirely sure what each one is. The third variation is more like a tangent and has very little to do with the theme. It looks hard to play, It sounds hard to play and it's really easy to play. I wrote it so a friend can perform it. He's 19 like I am, but I think this piece is still way under his level. There's a fairly difficult part in the imitative counterpoint section in the third movement. But it's one part in the whole thing. I would love any sort of criticism or what not. Mp3s Movement 1 Movement 1 Rondo.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage Movement 2 Movement 2 Sonata.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage Movement 3 Movement 3 MInuet and Trio.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage Movement 4 Theme and Variations.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage Piano Sonata Rondo.MUS Piano Sonata, Sonata.MUS Piano Sonata Minuet.MUS Piano Sonata Theme and Variations.MUS 1st Movement.pdf Movement 2.pdf Finale 2008 - [Piano Sonata Mvmt. 3.pdf Theme and Variations.pdf

I understand not liking Bolero as he said himself something along the lines of, it's a piece for orchestra without music, but the orchestra is still brilliant. There is no compositional depth to the piece, but the bulid up and the orchestration is Ravel. I still like the piece. I can't stand the Nutcracker. The first movement is alright (or act...) but the second just goes on way too long. Verdi in general, I once said to a friend of mine (a very talented soprano) that Verdi's operas are long vocal concertos. She, of couse, got angry and proceeded to say Pucchini (my favorite opera composer) was the operatic equvilent to new age music. I don't like Beethoven's 3rd symphony. Every other one I cherish (even the first which isn't nearly as good as any other one), but the third drives me up a wall. Haydn. Just Haydn in general I find very boring. He might very well have been the most influencial composer who ever lived, but just compared to Bach or Mozart, I find his music particularly boring. Baroque Opera. I love Opera, but anyone from the baroque peroid is about as interesting as Frank Sinatra (I have heard specific arias I've liked very much, but I can't even sit through a Baroque Opera). Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto. I Liked the 2nd one a bit more, but it's not particular high on any list. I like Chopin alot, but Rachmaninoff is like Chopin without that incredibly sense of melody.

Yeah I think your right gollam. That's good advice. I'm not going to use that as a theme as I don't like it, but that other melody doesn't quite work as one either. Thank you.

The intro (first 10 seconds or so) is what you would use as the main theme? I was going to scrap that I didn't like it (or is that what your refering to as the scale theme with the flute playing the Doiran scale)?

Segerstam should be even deader than Haydn (like 2x times as dead) and hes still alive. Leif Segerstam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia If this 9 thing is true then he would have to be like 23 times as dead as beethoven right now.

I wasn't speaking in a minimalistic sense. I love Einstein on the Beach and it's extremely repetitive, but I was asking whether or not it worked in this scenario.

Well it's an orchestra piece and I think I'm over using this theme (it's not a very long one either) here's what I have to far. orchestra piece.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

I've had to write for a trombonist and I clearly remember in some of my class mates pieces the teacher corrected them because the trombonist would've choked. They weren't tied.

Usually I'd mention that the flutist needs to breath, but I think some may be able to get this in one breath. A word of advice. A signle melodic line is very rarely interesting. Although most of us (if not all) love a great melody, it is far less the melody, but rather the harmony and structure that goes with it. You should try harmonizing that line with another instrument (or the same one) or a few instruments.

This is a great piece for killing horn players as every single one would choke to death (they need to breath.... it's not like they are some computer playing back your composition). The ending sounded a bit to abrupt. In fact way to aburpt. Like you were going to continue it and it just ends (The third movement of Beethoven's 8th Piano Sonata does that too but that works pretty well; this sounds too forced). And in the begining why are you tying a note to a rest. I'm definatly no expert on articulation, but that's one I haven't seen before.

It's catchy. It's like hearing some metal instrumental on trumpet with a jazz twyst. The begining was by far my favorite part. I thought you were going to do phase music and I thought to myself I gotta hear this, but it ended up being just catchy. I really like the transition to F Dorian (did I get this right?) also. On the technical side you should really switch to Tenor Cleff for some of those Trombone 1 and 2 parts. Every Trombonist I meet prefers it cause they hate ledger lines.

A couple things. I didn't think a flute could glissando. I liked the chromatic harmony, but the diatonic harmony was a bit too eceltic. Woodwinds to my ears always work with alot of chromaticism. This is not the case for say Trumpet (I mean it can work just like anything could work, but I've heard so many great 20th atonal flute and woodwind pieces while I never have really heard a trumpet work well with 20th centurism other than in an orchestra), so I woul really suggest epxanding those chromatic ideas as they are perfect for your five instruments. One of the key pieces of woodwinds and more the flute than anything else is their ability to easily play incredibly fast. You only seem to use that a few times which is fine. Also their are times when the Oboe player would die of suffocation. The thing that bothers me the most though is that you came up with this great motive (the first half of measure 10 for the Horn in F) and didn't expand on it at all. At least that's my opinion.