The other day e. showed me an article that said that some people are putting together a Klingon opera. As in, an opera about Klingon lore, sung in Klingon.
After my brain was through exploding, I began to really think about it from a musician’s perspective. Ignoring, for a moment, the origin of the whole thing, we have a culture, the text of an opera, and the language. There’s no clues that would remotely indicate what the music would sound like. So… what would Klingon music sound like?
Some might be tempted to go the ultra-modern route, because anything concerning space seems futuristic and modern. Composers didn’t think about space much before the twentieth century, because we didn’t know terribly much about space before then. Holst didn’t even write The Planets until 1914.
Also, the Klingon language might lend itself better to a technique like Sprechstimme, most often associated with Schoenberg. In sprechstimme, words are more spoken than sung – but in an eerie way, not very conversational. You might think that a non-conversational tone wouldn’t work well in an opera, but trust me, expressionist operas get their scenes across just fine.
On the other hand, this particular Klingon opera is supposed to be based on the earliest, most epic tale of a hero. Presumably it would have been written far in the past. Perhaps the modern composers should go for the historic route, looking at our own early music for inspiration? Maybe the opera should be less sprechstimme, more classic recitative, less Schoenberg, more Scarlatti.
Still another option: what I like to call the “John Williams approach.” Supposedly this is an epic tale. Perhaps a soundtrack that evokes such a grand scale to our current audiences would be the best way to go. If it’s the story that’s the focus, you want to relate to the audience in any way possible, correct? This is why there are modern versions of Shakespeare; it’s not that the original setting is inferior, it’s that the performers don’t want the audience to be hung up on anything that prevents them from absorbing the story.
So what if you were to set music to an alien culture? What does “space music” mean to you? And what fictional cultures are best for such a treatment?
About j
Sorry to burst your bubble J but Klingons have been signing in Star Trek (as in actual TV show episodes) for years.
Still, it is a very unique post. I liked it
Marc – WelshScribe´s last blog post..How To Effectively Manage Your Time
Actual opera? Because I’ve heard of war songs, and drinking songs, but not opera. And just plain old singing, and opera, they’re two different animals.
Good point. Hadn’t thought of that
Marc – WelshScribe´s last blog post..Storytelling In Carmarthen | Adult Learner’s Week
Damn straight actual opera.
Klingon opera was a huge running gag throughout TNG (and DS9 to a lesser extent).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0jLi1peB4E
Bam!
(It cuts off at a Ferengi walking in shouting “What is that dreaful racket?”)
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Well, I learn something new every day!
Still, most of my article still holds. These people have a libretto, but they still need to compose the opera from scratch. Composing a new opera based on an ancient text would have the same challenges in any culture where the intended audience is a DIFFERENT culture, hearing the story and music with fresh ears.
Besides, assuming that the Klingons are as diverse a people with as long of a history as Earthlings, Melota (which sounds pretty close to my expressionist assessment) could very well be a form of Klingon opera that would be considered inappropriate for the story of Kahless the Unforgettable.
Dear J,
Thank you for your interesting and insightful piece.
You have hit on some of the most essential questions in the project. If you compare our project to lets say ancient Greek music, we have about the same amount of prior information to go on. In fact those of us studying Klingon music have the advantage of being able to see and hear Klingons perform their music, all be it in very short fragments. It is essentially a question of making certain assumptions to fill in the blanks. The more blanks there are, the more you must rely on these assumptions and the more freedom you are able to take in your interpretation.
To try to put it in our own human terms; the core idea’s of Klingon music are very John Zorn, with a samurai twist (think of the game pieces like ‘Cobra’) It is music that is based on confrontation rather than harmony and the players are literally musically battling each other on stage. The theme’s of the opera are very Wagnerian (epic battles, tragic love and plenty of blood.) Our approach to the audience will be a mix between your Scarlatti and John Williams ways. We wish to honor the authentic Klingon ways of playing or a least get to know them before we start to make them palatable for a modern human audience. A large part of our current research is therefore based around the musicological basics and the development Klingon instruments.
Have a look on our youtube channel for examples of our research up to this point.
Many thanks and I hope to have a least answered some of your questions.
Qapla’ (success in Klingon)!
Floris
Floris Schönfeld
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Klingon Terran Research Ensemble
De Constant Rebequeplein 20 A
2518 RA Den Haag
info@ktre.nl
http://www.ktre.nl/NEWS
http://www.youtube.com/user/KTResearchEnsemble