Piper in the Woods: An opera in one act
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“Piper in the Woods” is a one act opera for six principal singers plus SATB chorus, along with an ensemble of nine instrumentalists. The piece is based on a short story of the same name by Philip K. Dick. First published in 1953 in the Sci-Fi magazine Imagination, “Piper in the Woods” has since fallen into the public domain due to the magazine’s failure to renew the copyright. Set in the near future, the story follows Dr. Amelia Harris, a military physician sent to diagnose several patients, returned to Terra from duty on a distant asteroid called Y-13. They have returned claiming to have become plants. The search for the solution leads Harris on a journey of self-discovery and reflection. In adapting the original story into a libretto, I decided to make several modifications. I changed the gender of the main character from male to female to give the story a more balanced mix of men and women, expanded several scenes to better articulate themes, and re wrote large portions of dialogue to better suit the sung milieu of opera. One of the foundational ideas of the piece was for the chorus to serve as integral part of the accompanying ensemble in addition to the onstage roles they inhabit. This led me to devise a system of syllables and phonemes that are based on non-English words. These vocal sounds can easily blend with each other and into the instrumental fabric of the piece, and yet come to the fore when the chorus’ role shifts to onstage. It was decided that the character of the “Piper” would be written for a generally “High” voice, and not for a specific “Fach,” in order to open the role up for portrayal by people who identify as any gender, or as non-binary. The musical language is broadly tonal, and incorporates elements of rock and ambient electronic music, along with more traditional classical elements. The blending of electronic and acoustic textures is of paramount importance in the piece, with the human voice acting as a bridge between the two sonic areas.
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Abstract -- Synopsis -- Characters/vocal ranges -- Instrumentation -- Chorus phoneme list and IPA -- Piper in the Woods: an opera in one act -- Appendix : Libreto
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D.M.A.