The Harry Potter Opera Cycle: Sample: Half-Blood Prince

The Harry Potter Opera Cyclewww.harrypotteropera.comThis is a portion of a theme that first appears in the sixth opera of the cycle, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and develops in the seventh opera, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I used Finale 2008 for scoring and audio output, and I'm sorry to say that because Finale doesn't like Vista, I wasn't able to add articulations, so the resulting audio sample is a touch vertical.The ground bass represents a static set of characters and situations, while the oboe (voice) is a dynamic and sympathetic character (not telling which!). The theme occurs at crises in both operas and develops texture with the maturity of the characters and complexity of situations. I hope to move it into atonality in the seventh opera; Im still playing with the tonality of Deathly Hallows, which is certainly heldic.Tiffany Moon, composerwww.harrypotteropera.com

The Harry Potter Opera Cycle: Sample: Half-Blood Prince

The Harry Potter Opera Cycle

www.harrypotteropera.com

This is a portion of a theme that first appears in the sixth opera of the cycle, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and develops in the seventh opera, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I used Finale 2008 for scoring and audio output, and I'm sorry to say that because Finale doesn't like Vista, I wasn't able to add articulations, so the resulting audio sample is a touch vertical.

The ground bass represents a static set of characters and situations, while the oboe (voice) is a dynamic and sympathetic character (not telling which!). The theme occurs at crises in both operas and develops texture with the maturity of the characters and complexity of situations. I hope to move it into atonality in the seventh opera; Im still playing with the tonality of Deathly Hallows, which is certainly heldic.

Tiffany Moon, composer

www.harrypotteropera.com

The Harry Potter Opera Cycle: Sample: Half-Blood Prince

Without a visible score or a specific dramatic moment to relate to, I can't say too much about this excerpt in a dramatic sense. I can comment in terms of its technical aspects however. First, if this is an opera for children's voices, the orchestra is oddly large. In addition, the orchestration is oddly dense. Even the best-trained child vocalists will have a hard time projecting above such density without straining and risking injury. I would look to many of Britten's theatrical works for reference in how developing voices are treated in solo (particularly "Turn of the Screw").

Must get started on dinner - more to come!

Christopher,

Thank you for writing. The sixth and seventh Harry Potter operas are dramatic and heldic, respectively; they are intended to be heavy, and they are scored for adults only. The first two operas, both of which are light lyric, are the only selections of the seven in which children and teens are cast.

NB: I teach voice in SD, and I specialize in children. My music degree's focus was opera; I've studied voice capabilities fairly well. You might enjoy researching some of the newer scores for young voices; The Little Prince has an interesting score for boy soprano.

To be fair, I haven't posted my plans for the scoring of each book, where style and genre differences are concerned, on the opera's Website; these will contain the style and voice types for each opera. I hope to do this in the coming months; I'll have more score samples, including Harry's first aria for boy soprano, up then also.

Hello Tiffany,

Well, honestly cannot say much about it except that I listened to the video clip on you tube and that I clicked it away after a while. Why? I think for the same reasons as mentioned above: the orchestration is too dense - really too dense! - to work, especially with the triads (do not know the name in english for the three notes on one beat) which are overwhelming with little variation at least in the fragement I heard. Nevertheless, it is an ambitious project and I wish you the best of luck with it.

Wofgang Sachs

Christopher,

Thank you for writing. The sixth and seventh Harry Potter operas are dramatic and heldic, respectively; they are intended to be heavy, and they are scored for adults only. The first two operas, both of which are light lyric, are the only selections of the seven in which children and teens are cast.

NB: I teach voice in SD, and I specialize in children. My music degree's focus was opera; I've studied voice capabilities fairly well. You might enjoy researching some of the newer scores for young voices; The Little Prince has an interesting score for boy soprano.

To be fair, I haven't posted my plans for the scoring of each book, where style and genre differences are concerned, on the opera's Website; these will contain the style and voice types for each opera. I hope to do this in the coming months; I'll have more score samples, including Harry's first aria for boy soprano, up then also.

I understand now - that makes some good sense, scoring each opera for a basic progression of vocal maturation. Does this mean you are writing all seven operas simultaneously, filling in pieces like puzzles?

I'm very familiar with The Little Prince - it's a wonderful work with some great parts for children's voices - as well as some roles which are wonderfully flexible, taking into account a range of developmental progress.

(My music degree's focus was in composition, and within that major, I chose to focus on opera and vocal music.)

A very ambitious endeavor. Best of luck to you!

Not sure how this is a large vocal ensemble (i.e. chorus), but I'll go ahead and comment anyway. In my opinion the music in this clip was a little unoriginal, and sometimes seemed a little bit sloppy (but I suppose it's hard to say without a score). Maybe there are better points of the opera that you could show us?

If not, then I wish you luck with this rather odd project, and hope that it will turn out nicely. Have you had any correspondence with J.K. Rowling, then?

Not sure how this is a large vocal ensemble (i.e. chorus), but I'll go ahead and comment anyway. In my opinion the music in this clip was a little unoriginal, and sometimes seemed a little bit sloppy (but I suppose it's hard to say without a score). Maybe there are better points of the opera that you could show us?

If not, then I wish you luck with this rather odd project, and hope that it will turn out nicely. Have you had any correspondence with J.K. Rowling, then?

Not my cup of coffee but then ... it just could be me. In my view the fragment is too short to allow any well based comment. Think it is a big undertaken: 7 operas.... would take a life time to compose something like that. Could not say I was swept of my feet by the fragment I listened to, but I am intruiged to get to know more of the operas, if it is only by the concept...

Kind regards,

WS

Not sure how this is a large vocal ensemble (i.e. chorus), but I'll go ahead and comment anyway. In my opinion the music in this clip was a little unoriginal, and sometimes seemed a little bit sloppy (but I suppose it's hard to say without a score). Maybe there are better points of the opera that you could show us?

If not, then I wish you luck with this rather odd project, and hope that it will turn out nicely. Have you had any correspondence with J.K. Rowling, then?

Not my cup of coffee but then ... it just could be me. In my view the fragment is too short to allow any well based comment. Think it is a big undertaken: 7 operas.... would take a life time to compose something like that. Could not say I was swept of my feet by the fragment I listened to, but I am intruiged to get to know more of the operas, if it is only by the concept...

Kind regards,

WS