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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
So sue me.Dear Dr. Bill, I'm calling my lawyer even as we speak.  Wanna settle out of court? 
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Instead, write an opera about it. Electra Raped Again.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
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Hey, Dr. Bill... perhaps we can settle up with this. Here's the composer's program note from the Opera which is a thorpough and intriguing look at the process of adapting a pre-existing work as an operatic production, and I recommend any opera enthusiasts to read this for that in itself. But here is the point I was trying to make, Good Doctor, straight form the composer's lips: With first-time librettist, the late Henry Butler, an experienced actor and stage director, it was surprisingly easy to abandon the play's repetitive hyperbole. We retained the dramatic structure of the work and the nature of its characters, but supplanted its verbal excesses with direct, minimal language. The libretto became the play paraphrased, reduced to its essence, the excluded text being replaced in another way. It would become the dimension that eluded O'Neill: musical poetry.The essence of an operatic work is, of course, the musical treatment including the lyrics. A broader, more profound search takes place when the imagination is so fired by the drama that there is no resisting the urgency to re-interpret it musically. The aim is not to replace a work: O'Neill's Electra does not replace The Oresteia, and my opera does not replace the O'Neill play - neither is Shakespeare's Othello replaced by Verdi's equally masterful opera. But envisioning the larger canvass still leads to the critical question: can one add a compelling dimension to the original work? If not, does the same story retold in another medium need to exist?--both quotes Marvin David Levy http://www.mourningbecomeselectra.com/Background.htmThanks, BTW, for bringing this work to my attention, Dr. Bill...I look forward to seeing a production of it someday. The composer's essay demonstrates his integrity...must've been an intriguing production. Any opera aficionadoes out there familiar with Levy's work, or this particular piece?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear WO'N: Of course there had to be a lot of changes, to go from theatre to opera.
But the murders and motives need not have been changed. I just find it hard to
swallow a middle aged woman committing murder just to change bed ompanion.
And the other murders are almost equally pointless, except as they runin the
life of the daughter, which is the key part. The bitch deserved to suffer.
How different is the play in these matters?
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
But the murders and motives need not have been changed. I just find it hard to swallow a middle aged woman committing murder just to change bed companion.
And the other murders are almost equally pointless, except as they ruin the life of the daughter, which is the key part. The bitch deserved to suffer. How different is the play in these matters?
Dr. Bill, by focusing on the murder and motives, bed companions, etc. you're just scratching the surface. Did you read either link...either the review or Levy's essay? It's all there. These both provide the depth of subtext, the exploration of the greater forces beneath these acts as depicted in character and allegory going back to the original Greek treatment 2,500 years ago!
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear WO'N: I'm snowed under.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Dear Dr. Bill: And the snow's getting deep.
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