As of last night, the entire Dieselpunk Opera has been (theoretcially) composed/recorded from first note to last. Yay!
I still have days of corrections, small additions and clean up work to do. There’s stuff back in Act 2 that has grown to drive me crazy over the past few weeks and the 3rd Act still has little holes in it, particularly in the last few songs.
As the middle opera in a trilogy, i made some very specific decisions for the DO as opposed to the Steampunk Opera. While the SO epically covers generations, which by the way the Atompunk Opera will likely do also, the DO covers 24 hours. It is supposed to be more intimate in characters and time frame, although epicness is still present.
The 3rd act also functions a bit more standardly. In the SO, every Act was like a mini operetta, covering an entire tragic story. In the DO, since i’m only interested in 3 (well, 4 it turned out) characters in a 24 time frame, it all builds to the 3rd Act more like a standard opera and the 3rd Act has a greater importance than in the SO. (Not that i’ve seen many standard operas, this is just my impression. Actually, i don’t know shit about real Opera, but don’t tell anybody.) I wanted the middle opera to narrow down it’s focus. 3 characters over a short space of time who, like in SO, preside over a crisis in New Albion.
I may have the Atompunk Opera move backwards in time. Don’t quote me on this. But i like the symmetry of the SO covering generations moving forward, the DO covering a day, and the AO covering generations moving backwards. While interesting, this is also possibly one of those ideas that sounds good on paper but will stall when i actually start thinking seriously about it. HowEVER.. one thing that makes it possible… Atompunk begins to move into actual Sci-fi. It’s a 1950s to the 1970s vision of the future, which is pretty sci-fi. So we COULD use time travel as a device and a character could move backwards in time, while following a linear plot progression.
So we COULD follow a character in a linear plot as they move backwards in time for whatever ridiculous reason i would come up with. We could even see how a certain family we begin with in the present got that way by following them gradually through to the past………… huh…. i just thought of that… that’s actually not bad….
Oh, hang on. I’m digressing. Okay, focus… we… yes, we are discussing the Dieselpunk Opera.
Actually, what i had wanted to mention is a wasted opportunity I have a battalion of soldiers who show up in Act 3 and figured they should have a little song theme they sing. So they do. The thing is, as i had to write the lyrics and give them a name and visualize them and think about them i really grew to like them. The Blood Red Dogs. If they had been around in my thoughts earlier in the process i would TOTally have worked them into the opera earlier and done a bit more with them. But alas… missed opportunity. If i do any one off bits i would explore them.
You could say “Well Paul, if you like them so much why don’t you just rework earlier bits?”
I’m saying you said that, i’m saying if you WERE to say that i would stab you in the eyes.
It is one thing to see if you can work something in when the entire thing lays spread before you, unassembled and unmade. Once it’s made, it’s like building a car and then suggesting the car have boat options. It would easier to design another vehicle then disassemble the car to add boat options. I would rework already done bits because the character needs brought out more, or the music doesn’t achieve what it’s supposed to or because the plot is unclear (or stupid).
Anyway… this 3rd Act demo will not available at all. I will send it to a couple very specific people for feedback but that’s that.
Since this is an opera there is death of course. I won’t say who. Not everybody dies, though, so it’s possible someone you really like will live. Or not. You can’t kill everybody all the time. Becomes predictable.
Anyway, i finally have the thing done so it can be considered as a whole. After a few days of doing corrections i’ll start a dialogue with the singers. I definitely have Lauren Osborn from the Steampunk Opera album on board, as well as Oliver Marsh from the workshop performance. I may or may not have my Jacqueline O’Brien, we’ll see.
So… uh…. that’s it. Back to work.
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I cannot rightly express how excited I am to listen to the full Dieselpunk Opera. Just in time, too; if I play the Steampunk Opera in the car one more time I think my wife may actually murder me.
I very much look forward to the final product. Please note that I’m the found and co-editor of the online Dieselpunk Encyclopedia and we have an article about your production. http://dieselpunksencyclopedia.wordpress.com/6-3-dieselpunk-music/
Thanks Larry! I’m a big fan of your site, as you may or may not know and go to it regularly.
I’m truly honored. I didn’t know that you even knew of my site.
Wow. I used it as a reference point while i wrote the piece to keep my imagining in world. You and dieselpunks.org were my go to sites.
Hah, I’m getting intrigued about this atompunk opera idea. Steampunk music has Victorian era aesthetic, and dieselpunk clearly has a sort of jazz aesthetic, but what’s atompunk? Motorik and early electronic influences? Is there any musical in the world that has that sort of sound?
Congrats!