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Opus One: A Reader's Guide

Ryan Sylander

Act II: Chapters 9 through 18

WARNING: This guide contains big spoilers all over the place, so I strongly recommend reading Opus One before reading this document. I know it's not a murder mystery, so you won't perish if you read this first, but there's not much point in doing so.

If you are here looking for a piece of music, translation to a chapter title, song texts, or character lists, please look at part five, which is a spoiler-free appendix containing these elements organized by chapter, and has none of the random thoughts I've thrown in below.

Disclaimer One: This document contains links to videos of performances of the music described in Opus One. These performances are by real people, while the story is about fictional characters. No similarity of these real performers with characters in the story is implied in anyway, except that they are playing the same piece of music. The point of these links is to allow you to hear some of the music; it is not to suggest that the performers in the video were the basis for a character or a scene, nor should the videos be used as a representation of the characters' attributes. The videos are freely available on the web, and my links to them are a one-way connection. Please respect this fact.

Disclaimer Two: Regarding making recommendations about musical recordings and artists, I want to state that I have no financial interest in any of the recommended items. This document is not a commercial.

For those of you with slow internet, you might consider removing the '&fmt=18' (without the quotes) at the end of the YouTube links. This flag requests a better version of the video with higher audio quality, but may take longer to load on slower connections.

Act II: Chapters 9 through 18

Chapter 9: Gigue

-A gigue is a dance movement from the baroque time, originating from the jig. Usually lively, and based on groups of three notes (usually).

-The trio starts classes, including theory with Dr. Dobra. Richard starts working the front desk.

I used real exercises for the theory classes. Melodic dictations involve listening to a single line of melody, played on the piano, and writing it down. This includes using proper rhythm and notes.

Harmonic dictations are usually simpler rhythmically, but include multiple voices played at the same time (usually four). Bach chorales are one model for early theory classes.

In a class, though, they would be played much slower. A typical example would only be one or two phrases in length. These here are also more complex than the type of thing that would be seen in first semester. Sandra would be able to do these, which would be for a higher level class.

Sight singing is just that: looking at a melody you've never seen, and singing it while reading the notes. Usually it is done with syllables indicating the particular note, called solfège (Do Re Mi etc.). Good examples are lacking on YouTube.

Only one or two people ever commented on the self-jab in this chapter, heh heh.

Chapter 10: Courante

-Courante is another baroque dance movement. Generally a lively dance in triple meter, since it's French for "running."

-Richard meets Dave at the front desk, and checks out the recording session. More fun at night in the girls' room.

The piece in the recording session was made up. Having watched a number of recordings over the years, I've always found the process fascinating, so I wanted to give a taste of what goes on. It's quite different than performing live, since the notes are committed to tape/CD for all time. It amazes me how some artists can play a piece over and over, sometimes cut up into chunks, and still maintain a sense of flow and feeling in the playing when it's all put together.

Chapter 11: Andante

-Andante means 'going' or 'walking' in Italian, so in music it is used to indicate a moderate tempo: not too fast, not too slow.

-Richard has his second lesson. Classes continue, and the girls help Richard at the front desk. We meet Joel, Emily's ex. Richard helps out at the recording session.

The idea of Richard's dad calling all the time was a touch of humor I threw in here and there. My own dad is quite fond of making frequent calls to people, including his sons... !

Chapter 12: Sarabande

-Sarabande is another dance movement from the Baroque time. Also in triple meter (um, do we have a theme here yet?) and slower. Like a late summer afternoon by the lake.

-The trio makes a long journey to a music festival, and meets Allison.

Back in the day when I would occasionally hitch rides to distant places, I met Donny. Those kind of rides always make you wonder.

As I mentioned, Allison's story is somewhat autobiographical. We could perhaps have been professional musicians, but chose science instead. Sometimes, it's hard to deal with the results of a choice like that, and other times it's not. Writing this story has caused mixed feelings for me, in that it's been fun to get into the heads of these young musicians, but also sad to realize it wasn't me and it will never be me. Such is life.

Chapter 13: Quartet

-A quartet is a piece for four instruments or parts.

-Allison reminisces. The trio digs into their classes. Allison sets up a 'coincidental' meeting with Richard. That night, Allison hears Richard and Sandra perform for her, and is deeply moved.

Sandra's choice for a vocal is the aria Depuis le Jour, from the third act of the opera Louise by Gustave Charpentier.

Chapter 14: Duets

-A duet is a piece for two instruments or parts.

-Emily leaves Sandra and Richard to themselves after their practice room performance. Joey figures out the threesome. Allison joins them on her final night, and things get wild at the fountain after too much wine.

No music in this one. In retrospect, the fountain dare was probably over the top. But Emily had to get hers, so maybe not. I'll blame it on the wine, heh heh.

Chapter 15: Mit inniger Empfindung

-This is German, meaning 'With deep feeling, ' or 'With heartfelt feeling.' It is related to the indication Beethoven gives on the piano sonata Richard is playing: 'Mit innigster Empfindung' and is also used often by other Romantic composers such as Schumann and Mahler. My understanding of German is somewhat limited. Innig is a hard word to translate into English, but I think the best understanding, for me, is gained by listening to the music that the word describes.

-Richard has a tough lesson. Sandra and Emily go to watch Emily play in an orchestra concert. A nice date turns moody as Richard thinks about his past and frets over his lesson. Emily and Sandra hope for a good practice for him, but he returns to the room depressed.

The orchestra concert consists of an unnamed overture, followed by the Sibelius Violin Concerto, and then Beethoven's Symphony No. 3.

The violin concerto is a great Romantic piece. My favorite on this one is C. Ferras, who sadly took his life a few decades ago. Fortunately for us, there's a complete video of the concerto online, from 1965:

Here's another nice version by D. Oistrakh, from 1966:

The Beethoven symphony is represented by many conductors and orchestras on YouTube. A classic version is H. von Karajan's:

Chapter 16: Langsam

-Langsam is German for 'slow.'

-Richard completes his recording training. He finds an old recording of his teacher playing. Miscommunication leads to some tension between the trio. Emily finds a piece they can play together.

The twenty-four Etudes by Frederic Chopin are some of the greatest works written for piano. For me, they had to be in the story, so they make an appearance here. I'll just point you to some videos of the first one, which Irina plays in the flashback sequence. We'll see some others later when Richard is playing them.

The first Etude is a chorale-like melody which is 'hidden' in a series of arpeggios. It's pretty amazing how differently pianists play this. For me the variety of interpretations in classical music are one source of fascination with the genre. Check out the differences:

By this point in the story, it was clear that I needed the trio to play something together. Of course, my choice of instruments for them was somewhat lacking in foresight, since voice-horn-piano is not a common combination! Luckily, a scan through my CDs revealed something that would be close enough: Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. Tenor and soprano parts are somewhat interchangeable in terms of range (an octave apart), and piano accompanists are often called upon to play arrangements of the orchestra parts, so forcing the piece into the trio's repertoire wasn't a huge stretch. Still, I'm not really sure if the piece would work all that well with a soprano singing it. But, I'll claim artistic license on that one!

It could have been worse. Having Emily play bassoon would have surely meant commissioning a composition for them, which would have been difficult to justify. I'll offer some samples of the Serenade in the next section, when they actually play the piece.

Chapter 17: Serenade

-A piece written in someone's honor, usually in multiple movements. Here it refers to the trio's piece by Britten.

-Richard gives a tour of the control room. The trio gives the Serenade a run through on the Wexford stage, which leads to thoughts of a recital. Back in the room, Richard watches the girls, for a change. His next lesson is a success, in several ways.

In the control room, Dave has them listen to a recording of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. There is a somewhat famous recording by the Cincinnati Pops of the piece, which included recordings of real cannons. Really loud and crispy cannons, which could really give a stereo system some trouble at loud volumes! Word has it that you could see the blasts on the grooves of the LP version, and a successful playback of this record back in the day was indication of a really solid turntable and sound system. Most players would pop the needle right out of the track.

There are six of the eight parts of Britten's Serenade available online at the time of writing.

Chapter 18: INTERMISSION

-A break, at last!

-We learn of Irina and her husband, Harvey, and the genesis of her daughter Viktoriya.

No music here. With the story somewhat in hand, I wanted to give some background on an upcoming character, Viktoriya. Thus the intermission.

If you have feedback on this guide, please take a moment to send your thoughts. Also, please report dead links if you find them. Anonymous submissions are accepted.

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