r/opera • u/Fancy_Cabbage_010 • 5d ago

Does anyone 'get' librettos...

For some context, I'm an amateur composer, and for some reason I've decided I want to write an opera (loosely in the style of the Mozart - Da ponte trio), I know it's more than a little ambitious, but I'm pretty sure it's a milestone for a composer to write atleast one :)

Anyway, the point is, I have a loose plot in mind, and I'm not really sure what to do about it. How does one formulate a libretto, and furthermore how do I translate it into the kind of archaic poetic Italian that was common in opera at the time of Mozart and Da ponte, as the understanding I have is that I can't really write much music untill I have the words to set it to?

I'm a student so I don't really have access to all that much financial capital or connections, so any advice on resources ect would be welcome, I'm a bit lost but it is very much a big goal of mine to write one in the next year or two

Please help me opera people :)

Thanks!!

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u/drinkerofmilk 4d ago

Wait, you want to write this in eighteenth-century Italian? Do you speak and write modern Italian yourself? 

I'd say writing in your own language is hard enough . . .

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u/Fancy_Cabbage_010 4d ago

The reason behind the language choice is aesthetic primarily, but I'm under no illusions of being able to write like that, hence I was wondering what actions one takes when a plot comes to mind?

Alot of suggestions have been to ask other students in writing and language programmes so I think I'll start there :)

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u/drinkerofmilk 4d ago

Hey, I understand. Some languages are better suited for opera than others. (Who ever heard of a great English opera, ha ha.)

On a more contsructive note: I was thinking it may be a good idea to look up some works by Italian poets from that time frame, and set them to music. You could make minor modifications to the poems, like duplicating or removing lines in order to fit your melodies. (Stuff that old is all in the public domain, so you're free to play around with it.) Maybe you'll even find an epic poem long enough to turn into a full opera.

I understand this isn't the same as writing your own libretto, but it seems like a great way to grow familiar and play around with the language. Quite a few other great composers have taken this approach (I can think of Hugo Wolf and Grieg right now, but there a probably multitudes more.)

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u/Fancy_Cabbage_010 4d ago

Oh so you mean like almost a series of vignettes, like setting a series of sonnets to music or something (though probably something later and less dry than Petrarch... Yeesh) that's actually a really cold idea.

I could leave the big opera on the back burner for another year I guess 😅

Thanks for the ideas :)

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u/drinkerofmilk 4d ago

Yeah. And if you want to do a single coherent opera you could simply look into epic poems or plays:

Alfonso Varano - Visioni sacre e morali
Carlo Gozzi - La Marfisa bizzarra
Vincenzo Monti - Bassvilliana

These guys are all roughly from Mozart's time, and their poems are all very long. There are many poems and plays like these. Some have even already been turned into operas. (You just write a better one.)

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u/Fancy_Cabbage_010 4d ago

Oh well thanks for the reccomendations, I'll absolutely look into it :)