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The Works of Paul Corfield Godfrey and Volante Opera

Well, here it is.. more blame to heap on the Elven-folk.
I'm very close to punching the buttons and investing in a full 88-key electric keyboard/piano, along with my first set of training books.
This will be no '3-hour tour' on the S.S. Minnow, (Gilligan's Island), but a rather long-term commitment to master the thing.
Hopefully I can engage those whose fault this all is to keep on me so I stay diligent to the enterprise and objectives..!
 
If Ent goes and gets a piano and says it's my fault or me and Finno’s fault, I cannot even begin to describe how much amusement will delight me for life. 😂
 
Ent at Large said:
Well, here it is.. more blame to heap on the Elven-folk.
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What a delightful can of worms Maedhros has opened for us by simply bringing the opera to our attention! No regrets, though, and we Elven Besties are more than happy to take the blame for such a thing as this. 🤣

I am so glad you are getting thorough enjoyment out of this and are expanding your engagement with it exponentially! 😁
 
I would definitely be interested in such a thing!

Funny timing, because at this very moment I'm taking a short break from practicing my violin, which I rarely play these days. And I'm grouching about how much harder it is to play violin than to sing. 😂 Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony is also a BEAST to play.

But I'd like to get back into it more because I'm inspired by classical musicians who sing and play violin, like Dmitry Sinkovsky. I like this one album of his entitled, "Sinkovsky Plays and Sings Vivaldi." I want to be able to play and sing Vivaldi as well.
 
Maedhros_Nelyafinwë said:
I want to be able to play and sing Vivaldi as well.
Click to expand...

You are an amazing individual.
I want to be able to play and sing Vivaldi too, but with my clarinet or sax stuck in my mouth it's a wee bit difficult..! Part of why I've always wanted to learn the keyboard well.

I suppose if I fire one up and it doesn't get a lot of participation, it can just fade away... or maybe the other admins will fire me.. (I can always hope..!!)...

I'll give it a wee bit of thought and launch one. I'll think up some engaging way to 'introduce' it hopefully, so it invites folks to join in.

Or you can do so... take your pick.
 
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Ent at Large said:
You are an amazing individual.
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Again, we are in need of the Aww react! 🥺 But thank you, and so are you!

Ent at Large said:
I want to be able to play and sing Vivalid too, but with my clarinet or sax stuck in my mouth it's a wee bit difficult..!
Click to expand...
Lol, not at the same time! I realize you were likely joking but it can be hard to tell on the Internet.

Anyway, here's the album, in the form of a YouTube Playlist. He plays some of the songs on violin and sings the others.


Ent at Large said:
I suppose if I fire one up and it doesn't get a lot of participation, it can just fade away... or maybe the other admins will fire me.. (I can always hope..!!)...
Click to expand...
Or, the scant few of us who are interested will keep going back and forth and just bore the rest of the site. 😂 I have zero problem with that if no one else does. I have the feeling people will be interested, though. Tolkien's works are so full of music, and it attracts musicians. I'd bet there are plenty of people on the site who play an instrument of some sort, and want to talk about it.

Ent at Large said:
I'll give it a wee bit of thought and launch one. I'll think up some engaging way to 'introduce' it hopefully, so it invites folks to join in.

Or you can do so... take your pick.
Click to expand...
I think it would be good if you started it, since you already seem to be thinking about intro ideas. And since you're a mod, it might appear more broad and welcoming to the site as a whole.
 
Acknowledged.
I'm heavily invested in restructuring my home office now, to accommodate this new Piano Keyboard and all the accutrements - but I'll try to fit it in.
Maybe at break on lunch today... there's a thought... thank you..!

I've ordered up a bunch of 'practice' books for piano now too. Everything is due iin either this evening, or tomorrow. So ouch... gotta move, gotta move..!
So much fun.

(Looking at one of the practice books, which starts with the left twigs, lets me know I'm going to need to get an arborist in here to do some pruning. Hard enough to keep the twigs straight on the computer keyboard. This Piano thing is going to be WAY more interesting. Will need to just eliminate a few..!)

(p.s. - how can they cram SO many notes in between just 2 bars..! Actually, II do really know. It's just been a long time since I've looked at the punishment of "practice and learining' exercises intended to drive one into beauty bark.)
 
Those of you on Discord are already part of this conversation, but I just wanted to rave over the Silmarillion opera here too. I've been listening to Part 1, Fëanor, while following along with my vocal scores which arrived yesterday. The singers are so phenomenal! The Oath of Fëanor gave me goosebumps. It felt so intense and foreboding. I've also been really liking Morgoth's voice, which is dark and soft at the same time, making it sound very mysterious. It reminds me somewhat of the Phantom's voice in Phantom of the Opera. And of course, Simon here sounds epic as Fëanor, and I loved how he and all the Sons sounded together. Paul was kind enough to educate me on Discord about open keys, which is when the music all has C major as the key signature, and uses accidentals to communicate the complex and rapidly changing keys and modes.
 
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I really appreciate your participation and questions there, @Maedhros_Nelyafinwë. A lot of good learning comes out of such.
The use of 'open key' for key signature rather than overloading the staff with key changes is a prime example..!!
And I find with the music, just like reading Tolkien and taking something different away each time, the same happens with the opera. A different voice comes to the fore, a different force of delivery accentuating a particular thing or thought... Some of them are easy to listen to several times.

I've really enjoyed popping over to all the recordings on the Volante Productions site itself, too, where other short pieces are presented a-plenty.
I've listened to several of those multiple times as well.
Fascinating.
And Paul is an unusual composer... he really understands how the underlying music works, and delivers the mood wanted.
This was an extremely happy find!!
 
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This opera is briefly mentioned in this video about music inspired by Tolkien:

From 🌋Mordor to Metal: Tolkien's Legacy in Modern 🎶Music

Here is an interesting video essay by GirlNextGondor. It provides an overview and brief analyses of the many kinds of music inspired by Tolkien's works over the decades.
thetolkien.forum

It is mentioned in the 'Musical Interpretations' section, which starts 12 minutes in.
 
If you enjoyed open key signatures, I recommend Arnold Schoenberg, the composer who pioneered the 12 note system and threw rhythm and tonality out the window.
 
Andromadus the Invictus said:
If you enjoyed open key signatures, I recommend Arnold Schoenberg, the composer who pioneered the 12 note system and threw rhythm and tonality out the window.
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I’ve performed in Schoenberg’s opera “Moses und Aron” - it took two years to learn for a handful of performances… not something I’d care to repeat!

Paul’s music is tonal but often uses modal themes which don’t always conform to key signatures. Open key is the easiest way of reading them.
 
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Yeah... listen to some Schoenberg, atonal music is oddly beautiful.
 
Andromadus the Invictus said:
Yeah... listen to some Schoenberg, atonal music is oddly beautiful.
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Oddly beautiful is correct, you find things in it but hearing it all the time for two years and trying to memorise it for “Moses und Aron” almost sent me off the rails.

Schoenberg never finished “Moses und Aron”, so only two acts out of three exist… I’m glad I didn’t have to learn another act of it!

Others absolutely loved it though…
 
And I freely admit - I can’t remember a note of it now!!

So much work on it and it’s gone from my brain…
 
For the rest of you, regarding Paul Godfrey's "The Lord Of The Rings" opera, the cast is lining up, the vocals are being recorded, and it's all being moved forward to completion. Exciting times. I can hardly wait for it to be available.

(That said, I can hardly wait to finish listening to the Silmarillion Opera as well. Have quite a ways to go. "So much to do, and so little time." The Joker, Batman.)
 
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