Music drama

I woke up this morning with what I think may be a music drama in my head. Music! Voices! I've been thinking about this scenario, for a while even thinking of coming out of retirement as a playwright to write it as a play. 5-characters, one setting. But this is a good opportunity to try my hand at my emerging notion of music drama. I don't have the skill, and never will, to do this entirely alone, so I will be sending what I put together to John with the tagline HELP! But what I have in mind is setting down the drama as sung, including the music lines, then letting John polish same and write an arragement. For example, my notion is that this story would be accompanied by a string quartet only. Future stories would be a dixieland band, a blues band. I want small ensemble accompaniments in a chamber opera setting. Since this story has been so much on my mind, I'm relieved that it has grown into musical expression, so I don't have to come out of retirement as a playwright, after all.

When I get home, I'm going to start on this piece, I hope. Something that is back burner, letting the material come slowly.

I also am eager to get back to my Cold War novel. And, of course, first things first, one last polish of the libretto before sending it to John. Onward.