WoolfSong, an opera-in-progress, explores the creative process
as it is revealed by a solitary figure, the writer Virginia Woolf,
and the characters she brings forth from her mind. As they materialize,
she sketches and redefines them, with each stroke delving deeper into
the labyrinth of their psyches. Woolf wrote that she heard her work
first as music and then put it into words. I take her words and filter
them back through my mind into music.
In the sample, Woolf does battle with the voices that interfere with
her work, invading the clear space of her mind. She struggles to converse
with the voices, then move past them to begin to outline a character,
an idea. Fragments of a melody emerge, first in her voice, then taken
up by the violin, as the character emerges from the initial sketch
and flesh is put onto the bones. The scene takes on color and dimension
as the other instruments enter, providing harmonic support and emotional
context.
I envision the twinning or doubling of players to embody characters,
a musician to articulate the musical information, a dancer, actor
or singer to expose the mood, reveal the essence, rotating the prism
to visualize the character who is, in turn, an aspect of the creator,
the artist.
