Nightingale Incorporated

Uh.... do I really need to? The comments run through the entire piece. There's not really anything more to say. I'll comment more on range laterl.

That trill would be more comfortable with the F attachment trigger. Also, I would look at that and consider a flutter tongue, so be sure of what you want. I think the range is very playable for the piece, and even proves quite interesting in some places. I personally don't like playing too high too often, but my comfort range is in pedal tones. I will comment more later on.

This doesn't belong in the vocal section. 1) There is no text to be set 2) It is basically an orchestration of the same sonata, only you decided to call the instruments voices 3) The parts are unsingable 4) It displays no real arranging talent of any kind on your part Add text, remove about half the parts (the ones which are unneccessary), and be more creative with your arrangements. As it is, this piece belongs in the "Workshop" area, and should never be displayed as a "choral piece"

While I haven't spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the idiosyncracies of the score, it seems to be very well written. One moment that stuck out to me was your phrasing on the word "keinen" which should have the accent on the first syllable "kei-", but you wrote an ascending line on the first syllable leading to the downbeat of the next measure on the syllable "-nen" which is simply awkward to sing. It's not entirely uncommon to see this done, and even some master composers get away with things like that, but it is certainly not easy to sing (atleast, not with the proper emphasis and word stress). The only other issue I have is that the soprano doesn't explore at all through her range. It's really not a soprano line at all, and could be sung easily by a mezzosoprano or a lyric baritone down the octave. Bear in mind that sopranos are entirely capable (and ready and willing) to sing above the staff almost as frequently as they sing within it. It is a terrific line, and I wouldn't suggest changing it, but I would consider listing it for mezzo, baritone, or countertenor for a broader appeal. If you were to do this, more singers would view it as a challenging work, and you don't have to deal with the prima donna sopranos who will gripe and moan about how the G above the staff is the highest note they get to sing (and trust me, they will). Also, I wonder if you could post an English translation for the text. My German is a little rusty and I am too lazy to translate it myself!

Pardon me, but this is a forum, so if you don't want help with your piece, or advice, this may not be the best place to post it. I was giving you my opinion with the understanding that others had asked you for the score as well. As I said, there is really no reason for me to listen to a score where the emphasis is on singing and text if there isn't actually any singing or text involved in the samples. You might as well call it a symphony, and I'd be much more inclined to comment on it then. However, I am a singer, and I am therefore intrigued by the notion of modern opera, so I like to offer my assistance any way I can if I find out someone is writing an opera, or needs to get it performed. I have not listened to your opera, I don't know if it's good enough to gripe and moan about, I just know that you, like so many others before you, have taken the singing out of the one art form that is entirely based on singing. When others post songs, but only post a MIDI file, I give them the same speech. This is a learning community, and if you feel you have reached a level of expertise that you think you can get by just fine without any help, then fine. Don't expect any help or support from me. But if I wasn't an oboist, but I was writing an oboe concerto, I'd probably want a few comments from an actual oboist so I could succeed. My roommate is a very skilled composer, yet he constantly asks me for help while he's writing vocal/choral stuff. If you're a singer, the point may be mute, but only if you're actually an opera singer. It certainly wouldn't hurt you a bit to elicit the help of your fellow colleagues.

I don't mean to sound redundant here, but you are simply shooting yourself in the foot by refusing to post the text/score/libretto. The fact of the matter is that opera is based entirely around the libretto. It is the key fundamental part of any opera. I don't understand why you think you would be "giving something away" when in actuality, you're just confusing everyone by responding to their comments with "Well I meant to do that because of this character I'm not going to tell you anything about" or "Well, I had to include that because this scene depends on it, even though I won't tell you how or why." I typically make it a point to never listen to a composition unless it has a score or live performance. This is simply because the context can never be understood, the text setting cannot be fully appreciated, and the fact that you're working on a part of this score that you probably will need a lot of help on, but won't get any until it's too late. As a singer I find this aggrivating, and as an opera singer I find it insulting. I spend all my time making sure that I can convey the meaning of the text and be clearly understood through the orchestra and ensemble. The actual music is actually one of the smallest parts of what I do as an opera singer. So I've had my say, include it with everyone elses, but you will never get a decent critique of this work without the score. It's just plain pointless to post anything without one.

Well, I completely disagree with the comment about the range being too extreme in any direction. And decent High School Choir should have no problem with this at all. One comment I would make is that you should add a baritone line to sing a fifth above the low Eb's in order to support them. This has to do with the overtones of parallel fifths. Sure, singing an octave above it would reinforce it, but singing a Bb would make it completely different, and just what this piece needs. I frankly had to chuckle at the tempo marking "Waiting for a Messiah" which obviously means quarter note to 84bpm Hahahaha. I've been waiting for my Messiah for a lot longer than 80 beats per minute! Sorry, I just found that rather comical. I would suggest expanding your phrases a bit more. Obviously there is more music to follow after this, but it seems that all the phrases are short and choppy. That's a decent technique to use sometimes, but not all the time. For instance, you have the altos and sopranos singing "My deliv'rer" with the last not staccatto. I don't think it's really all that necessary. In fact, with a setting like this, you hardly have to put any articulations in at all. Most of it will come naturally to the singers, and are mostly to the director's disgression anyway! Good piece, look forward to seeing more.

Unfortunately, your great time spent on text setting for the Ave Maria will never be fully appreciated unless you post a score!

Is there text to this piece? I was hoping the recording you would have posted would have been the live recording you mentioned. I would appreciate either hearing the live performance or seeing the score so that I might comment on the text (or atleast see the text set to music). It sounds wonderful from the samples you have posted. I'd be interested in learning more about this piece.

Actually, I think this piece could be done quite effectively without adding instruments, but rather, taking the instruments away. What you have here is a simple, but overall pretty oboe solo (played, for some reason, by 3 oboes). You then have the piano and the strings basically trading off for attention, but the piano seems to be winning out as far as interest goes. The timpani and tuba add nothing to this piece, neither to much of the strings. Therefore, I suggest you can the idea for orchestra on this piece and reduce it to piano and oboe. If you do, you will have a most effective piece. The problem is, you would have to add so many more colors and subthemes to make this piece work as an orchestral piece. When really, if you wanted to make this piece work, you need only to strike the string section, put it all in the piano. Take the melody out of the piano, and give it exclusively to the oboe, and then just add more ornaments and techniques to the oboe to make it more challenging. I think if you do that, you'll have a very nice oboe/piano duet.

I would seriously like to hear a recording of this. I thought, because of it's nature, you could have gone a little bit more extreme with the tenor voices. My school sang a Russian song last year where the tenors went to high Bb's and the basses sang down to low C's. I think you can explore more colors if you explore more of the ranges. I love slavic music!

Well, ok, a soprano at that register is not going to be heard amidst the clamour around her. As a general rule, as the orchestra gets louder and fuller, the vocalist will typically tend to get higher and more cutting. However, a mezzo would probably would be able to be heard, seeing as it is in her range. You've got to trust me about this. You could have the whole orhestra playing at fff and unless you have your singer purposely blending into the works, she will be heard. It's one of the amazing tricks of the human voice, and a major reason why I am a vocalist. But I won't press the issue, just letting you know my opinion.

I completely disagree with you on the concept of a soprano not being heard over an orchestra that size. Singers are trained to cut through an orchestra of any size without putting their instrument at risk. It's a major part of singing opera, as you can imagine, singing through a major orchestra. Also major cantatas and some symphonies utilize this practice of solo voice singing with the support of orchestra and chorus. The only difference there is that the soloist is typically in front of the chorus.

Way too low for soprano. It might as well have been written for mezzo or contralto. They both would easily have the notes up top, and it lies in the more comfortable part of their range. Unfortunately, I can't really judge this as an aria because I really can't understand any of the text. It would be better described as an orchestrated song. Are there others in the set, or is this the only one? You'll find it exceedingly difficult to have performed if you don't present it as a set. An aria, just to let you know, is typically from an opera or operetta and is usually programatic, or tells a story. Basically, it is set for a specific character, and is, therefore, usually not transposable for different singers. Obviously you wouldn't transpose a piece written for voice and orchestra, but I think this piece could be performed by either mezzo-soprano, counter-tenor, or bass. Unless, of course, the text is specific to a gender, or a specific person. Unfortunately, as I noted before, the text is not easily understood, and the setting is difficult to interpret without a score. Therefore, this is as good a review as you can expect from me at the time.

I could, but I don't neccessarily prefer the voice sound. You can change the sound to anything you wish.