Hello everyone – I just happened upon this score-follower video of my 2019 Proms piece ‘Courante’ and found myself thinking it had a theatrical feel to it. Actually it was written as an ‘overture’ to one of JS Bach’s Orchestral Suites at the request of the Dunedin Consort and the BBC Proms (an exciting occasion for me, as due to most of the programme being Bach, the Royal Albert Hall was packed to the gunwhales and I got to go out onto the stage and take a bow in front of 5,500 people!)
So here’s my question: if this were the overture to an opera, what would you expect that opera to be about?
Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments!
I’ll be giving you a proper update on my recent/current/upcoming activities in the coming days…
All best wishes,
Stuart
4 thoughts on “Is this an overture?”
Nice!
Part way through, my mind started imagining a community vigorously going about its business. A sense of purpose, perhaps a mission.
Towards the end I felt I was touching down in the countryside. Perhaps the South West. A hint of ritual. Hope, not comedy.
Perhaps we’re in a secluded community that has big plans, exists to address the world’s disastrous state in some way. A new beginning.
Tension between radicals and compromisers. Do we engage with the outside world? An ark for the future, or a doomed cult?
I like the busy, purposeful community idea – and also the natural tensions that eventually arise. There’s definitely a sense of urgency (albeit of a contained type) in the music, for me. And you’ve picked up on a sense of doubt and ambiguity at the end – in the composition process, this just emerged as a natural way of concluding it without making it seem too final, so that it led on to a sense of resolution when the D major of the Bach began (it’s a sort of inverted perfect cadence: A minor to D major).
Hi Stuart, the words that came to mind for me were dramatic, serious & forceful. Also although it has a peaceful ending I thought the timp. notes gave it a sort of unfinished business slightly menacing undertone.
Hope all well with you otherwise.
Best wishes
Tony
Hi Tony, that’s really interesting – when I first heard it I felt there was a slightly comical and playful air in the frantic and determined way the phrases stride upwards; but the sinister and melancholy undertone does come to dominate eventually I think. All is well thank you, as I hope it is with you too!
Stuart