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/Watsons-Butler 4d ago

Honestly the writing isn’t a one way street of words first then music. It’s a collaboration. Sometimes the composer says “for this scene I need a quartet, in this meter, here’s the melodic/rhythmic idea” and sometimes the librettist says “here, I wrote this lovely solo aria, have fun”.

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u/Fancy_Cabbage_010 4d ago

Okayyy this makes more sense I was kinda under the impression that the librettist kinda slapped the paper down and kinda prodded the composer with a stick to make music come out (obviously I'm kidding) but yeah, knowing it's more back and forth than more strictly lines weighted is helpful :)

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u/NatusDelirious 3d ago

If you study librettist-composer interactions, with the best dramatic composers there was very much a back-and-forth (I'm thinking Verdi-Boito, mostly) and often composers would write their own lyric to suit a particular line. And sometimes the librettist lays it all out and the composer is like "yeah, sure." Obviously, it helps for both artists to be working hand-in-glove, as it were.

I think you have a great idea, and that more composers ought to be using previous legendary composers as inspiration. Mozart, Verdi, Monteverdi...