Ryan Sylander Opus One: A Reader's Guide Act III: Chapters 19 through 27 http://www.asstr.org/~ryansylander/
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 III: Chapters 19 through 27
Chapter 19: Mazurka -A mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter.� Chopin wrote many for the piano. -Richard does poorly on his theory midterm, but does better in his lessons.� Irina invites him to her house for Thanksgiving. Richard finds out he has learned one of the Chopin Etudes with improper technique, which can happen when a teacher is not there to be a guide.� The particular one, Opus 25 No. 10, is based around octaves.� On a piano, the two keys that form an octave are 6.5 inches / 16cm apart.� Easiest played with thumb and pinky, but if you also use your ring finger on alternating notes, the top notes of a series of octaves can be played smoother than if you just use the pinky each time.� (Think of it as walking on two legs, as opposed to hopping on one.) There�s a video of this etude from overhead which shows this technique.� In the first section, the ring finger is mostly used for black keys, while the pinky is mostly used on the whites.� Later, during the more lyrical part, it�s more mixed in usage.� There is a slight mismatch in audio and video, but still worth a look if you want to see the technical aspect I describe.
Chapter 20: Passacaglia -A passacaglia is a slow piece which works with a� repeated bass pattern or chord progression. -Richard helps on Irina�s recording sessions, which leads to tiredness and a warning from Dr. Dobra.� On the other hand, Sandra is asked to move to a higher level theory class.� Richard is highly suspect of Dobra�s request, and things come to a head with him and Sandra.� A mistake at the recording session leads Dave to remove Richard from the team.� Things get worse with Richard and Sandra, until she stuns him in theory class. No new music in this chapter.� How realistic is Sandra�s talent?� I�ve known a couple of people like her.� It�s quite rare, like Dobra says, and a different way of thinking.� But they definitely exist.
Chapter 21: Canon -A canon is a piece with a melody that is repeated or echoed soon after the start of the melody, so that the repetitions sounds against each other.� -Richard makes things right with Sandra, but things with Emily get weird.� Sandra tries to help Richard with theory, while Emily goes out with Joel, and doesn�t return for dinner. If Richard�s tutoring session with Sandra was confusing to read, good.� Richard didn�t understand her either!
Chapter 22: Traurig -German for sad. -Emily wakes up on Joel�s couch.� Walking home in the early morning proves to be a mistake.� Richard and Sandra stick with Emily despite her infidelity.� Emily�s dad makes an important decision. This was the last chapter I posted before my own real life got ugly.� A number of deaths occurred in my circle, and the diagnosis of a close friend with cancer sent me into a funk.� It took me nine months to get the next chapter out.� There were times when I couldn�t see myself working on the story ever again, so far gone were the characters from my head.� My friend successfully finished her chemo cycles in March with good prognosis. �Still, writing was far from my mind at that point.� In the end, it took music to get me out of my depression.� The Metropolitan Opera has been doing live HD broadcasts of some of their opera productions, broadcasting them in movie theatres around the world.� In April 2008, I went to see Wagner�s Tristan und Isolde at a local theatre, and that relit the fire.� A reread of the story was all that was needed to get the trio talking in my head again. Leaving the story unfinished would have been difficult on me, since I�d probably regret it for a very long time.� Thankfully, the muse returned. I find it interesting that I stopped just about at the halfway point in terms of word count.� The first half took me about fourteen months to write, and the second half took me about four months.� Go figure. If you are interested in those live Met broadcasts, visit here for locations and dates: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx
At the end of this chapter, Emily�s dad is working on Mahler�s Symphony No. 3.� Links to that will be provided in a later section.
Chapter 23: Moderato -The Italian musical indication for moderately paced. -Emily relives the events of the previous night, as well as some events from her past, while Richard and Sandra are there for her.� A run in with Joel doesn�t help the situation, but at last the miserable day ends quietly. I never wanted the theft of the horn to be the focus of this episode, so I resolved that issue right off the bat in this chapter.� Of course, there was some symbolism associated with the horn, but the story was not going to be a crime drama! �The views of the characters do not necessarily represent those of the author,� but in this case, the trio�s view of multiple soul mates does agree with me.
Chapter 24: Ballet en Cinq Mouvements -Ballet in Five Movements. -The trio splits up for Thanksgiving.� Richard enjoys the company of Irina�s husband and daughter, while Sandra reunites with her ex-boyfriend for the first time since going to Wexford.� Emily has to deal with her own admirer at Sandra�s house.� Emily sees another side to Sandra�s musical talent.� In New York, Richard�s family gets a surprise CD in the mail.� I like throwing in odd writing bits at times.� Sometimes I get complaints:� the ellipses at the end of chapter twenty-three were confusing to some.� Other times, people seem to like the weird stuff:� the single-sided phone conversation at the beginning of this chapter got good marks for enjoyment from readers, since the girls� side was offered later on.
When Richard arrives at Irina�s house, she is playing Chopin�s Prelude Opus 45.�
The music at Sandra�s party is a bit different from Irina�s.� I�m a fan of many musical styles.� Roanoke is a classic twin fiddle number.
Love the ending:� �Boy, you can�t beat that kind of music with a stick, now, I don�t care what you say��� Many a classical violinist or bass player has tried to play bluegrass and failed (and vice versa, of course).�
Chapter 25: Hymn -A hymn is a song of praise.� Here it refers to the movement of the Serenade the trio works on. -Richard applies himself to theory lessons and improves in time for the final.� The odd but brilliant Nelson Jackson lends a hand with the Serenade.� Sandra�s workload leaves Richard and Emily time to have fun.� The eavesdropper is discovered at last.� The trio contact Allison, and find out she will be coming for the recital. �The semester ends well, but parting is hard. Nelson was inspired by a real teacher I�d heard stories about, and Sandra�s �final� was inspired by some baroque pieces for single voiced instruments.�
Chapter 26: Rhapsody -A rhapsody is a loosely structured piece which often gives the impression of being improvised.� Here it refers to the piece played by Richard and Arlene. -Richard is back in New York, and is teased not only by his two lovers, but an ex as well.� He�s glad to see William, a fellow pianist, but not as excited at having to fend off a crazed Arlene.� Then, surprise!� Someone comes to visit. The background music for Mr. Schatten�s party is, of course, Puccini: Turandot.� (This is actually one of the first operas I ever saw.)� The most famous aria is Nessun Dorma, most famously sung by Pavarotti on the most famous Three Tenors album.� Do a search on �pavarotti nessun dorma� and you�ll find 623 videos on YouTube.� Throw in other tenors, and it�s more than a few results.� I�m not going to sort through that to recommend one!�
William was one of my favorite characters to write for.� I finally had an excuse to use some of those ten dollar words in dialogue instead of prose, heh heh.
Arlene busts out a classic show piece for the party, Liszt�s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.�
The piece has also been used in two famous 1946 cartoons: Tom and Jerry, and a Bugs Bunny Episode (cf. William�s rude comment about Arlene�s show�). They didn�t mess around at MGM back then:� unlike the Bugs video, the notes Tom is drawn as playing are actually right!� Well, in the beginning part anyway� Finally, the musical comedian V. Borge used the piece in one of his skits.� I suppose I ripped off the basic premise from him, but my version has a little extra, er, flirt.
Chapter 27: Romanza -A sentimental and tender piece of music. -Emily�s visit proves frustrating as Richard sticks to his promise.� Still, the short visit is not a complete loss.� Back at Wexford, Richard has his own surprise planned, and a romantic evening ensues. When I had this chapter pretty much ready, something kept nagging at me.� Then it hit me: the girls wouldn�t let Richard get through the night without a thorough explanation of all his planning!� So I added the hot tub scene after the explosion. I figured I�d give the trio one last night of bliss before I put them through the wringer in the second semester.
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