A Librettist

Opera is considered a art form encompassing drama with theater, dance and music. A classic opera will have dialogue in complete song or at least include dialogue with a pitched tone. It is about stories of love, loss, tragedy, victory and hope set to music and song and both visually appealing and beautiful upon completion.

I am sure you recall the movie, "The Fifth Element" with Diva Plava Laguna, that tall blue lady doing a charity performance? She sings a song from the opera, "Lucia Di Lammermoor" with a modern twist. A excellent and beautiful part of that movie. A opera about being forced into a unwanted political marriage and being in love with another. It was based upon a true occurrence.

A majority of opera’s are outlined in a ‘Libretto’, a book containing the literary form and structure of a opera, operetta or oratorio. It is the composer who will base his musical score upon this specific book depending upon the scansion of the literature. Think of scansion as referring to the rhythm and flow of the words put together and can usually be heard when you read out loud. A opera is written entirely in verse or prose and put to song.

The Libretto is the initial beginning of putting together a opera and is usually commissioned by the opera company. Collaboration between the composer and ‘Librettist’, (writer of the Libretto) is done together and may take months to combine the dialogue and music and many changes are arranged and rearranged throughout the process to completion.

The composer must be able to create his music to reflect and flow with the emotions of the characters and scenes throughout the opera for aria’s, duets, ensembles and include the voice styles (sounds) of the singers with voice ranges in coloratura, soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass, contralto, tenor, and baritone plus be able to balance or complement with the singer’s voice volume and projection.

A Libretto is best done in a popular language of opera’s which is usually French, Italian (considered the first to introduce the art) or German and some English. If you already speak any of these as a second language you have an extra advantage. You will need to decide what your goal is with your Libretto and know that a highly detailed plot synopsis may be preferable to a translation in libretto format. Yes, there is a format –> Libretto Format Sample.

The idea of getting commissioned to write up a Libretto would prove to be a honor, challenging and interesting profession even though you would have a limited list of clientele. The rewards would be that of possibly leaving behind a published, memorable and beautiful opera for future generations to enjoy and your name included as part of the team in the creation of that opera.

I know that not everybody is interested in Opera. It does require a different taste altogether but there are rock bands that do include opera as part of their own music, like Night Wish, a favorite of mine I will admit. Metal and Opera, imagine that.

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