on Writing Greenland

Outline:

• PART I - Collaborating with Aleksandar Hut Kono

  • Balancing the demands of both creators

    • Evan’s Symphonic Moment & Aleks’ Dialogues

  • Finding the right story:

    • Cecile

    • Ejiro

    • Pitching Projects

  • Seeking Drama - not morality

    • Alaska becomes Ice Pick becomes Greenland

  • Thinning out the libretto (from over 4000 words to under 2000)

    • Editing with outside eyes - Martin Lloyd Evans and Stephen Plaice

    • Actors’ reading

    • Final Draft (March 23, 2015)

• PART II - Music

  • Workshops

    • Quarter-tone chorales, text setting/stylization, and sprechstimme

    • Take-aways: Yes to 1/4-tones, Devised a stylization scheme, switched from un-pitched sprechstimme to pitched notation

  • Analyzing the libretto for:

    • Sections, lines breaks, character motivations, syllables, etc.

    • Section lengths determined by how many lines and line-delivery rate

    • Leitmotifs!!!!!!!!!

      • Cold, doubt, ‘Nazi’, ‘America(!)’, the ‘Death Chord’, ‘Aurora music’, Love, Film, Radio, etc.

      • Mapping Leitmotifs into the libretto, line-by-line

  • Harmonic Mapping

    • Each A-section was assigned a ‘fundamental pitch’ per singer

    • The Aurora was built

    • Each C-section was assigned a ‘fundamental pitch’ per singer

  • Text-setting

    • The text was set within each section in relative rhythmic fragments (to be spaced out re: the sectional timings)

    • In the Aurora, the text was set in response to each ‘Aurora Burst’

    • The CM’s aria in the C-section was set separately and fit into the C structure

  • NOW MUSIC (e.g. actual notes)

    • Pitches were only sorted for the ‘key’ of each section and the underlying Aurora harmonies

    • Then leitmotifs were actually written, some of which were transposed per key (love), some not (film, radio, doubt).

    • The rhythmically (and gesturally) organized text of the A and C sections were mapped onto notes of the Death Scale that was transposed per singer per sectional ‘key’

    • Finally, this coalesced quickly into the engraved vocal score (written entirely between April 22nd and April 28th).

    • With the vocal score complete, in rehearsals with the singers, orchestrational notes were added to the vocal score

      • Orchestration was begun on May 9 and finished on June 12

      • Major Orchestration plan: Sparse through Section A (Piccolo, Bass Cl. Contrabassoon) and thin strings (sul pont., non-harmonic voicings, etc.), then rich in the Aurora (Flute, Cl., Bassoon) and think strings.

  • Revisions

    • Major cuts in the Aurora section during the initial production period (total of ~43 bars cut)

    • Re-writing of some text (e.g. “swine” -> “bitch”, “Give me the gun, at once!” -> “Give me that back, at once!”, etc.)

    • After the initial run - changes to the baritone part for the January 2016 revivals in London and Budapest (and some changes in the way the Recits are organized).

    • In preparation for Philadelphia revival: significant changes to CM part to fit Anthony’s bass voice, as well as additional reorganizing of the Recits.

PART III - Questions!?