My mother was here for a few days, and I got to live in a bubble for that time - surrounded by care and familiarity. I realize that there are two downsides (at least) to guests visiting me. One is that I don't get to sleep as much. Two is that they leave at some point, and then I have to get used again to living in a completely foreign country all over again. There's also the downside of not composing as much. OK, four downsides.
Still, I recovered from the little gloom that hovered over me yesterday after my mom left, and today I sat pretty much from 9:00 to 17:00 and composed. Took some breaks in the middle, but more or less worked very intensely for many hours.
Nowadays I'm orchestrating the aria of Mauritzia, a very desireable woman, unreachable, except for the charmant Jorge. She is approaching her admirer, Khutner, and puts his head between her thighs, and starts singing... She describes how she wants to be used by her man and thrown exhausted to the beach like a flapping fish... Khutner gets really excited, until she ends the aria with "oh! Jorge!" and then realizes that she wasn't talking about him at all...
This aria is very hard for me to write. It's a coloratura soprano role. I started it very clean, with a solo violin playing in Stephane Grappelli style, low brass providing a transparent measured accompaniment. I don't know - I feel as though this aria is almost too pure and transparent, like something that would be done by Verdi, not by a 21st century composer. Well - I did go to see La Traviata last week. And it's true that other parts of the scene are much more messy and contrapuntal, so maybe it doesn't hurt to have some simplicity and transparency as a contrast.
What do you think? If anyone has any suggestions or comments, I'd be happy to hear some.
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