Research and Creation of a new libretto for opera/oratorio

I recognise the importance of a symbiotic and dialogic approach with this being a project that is driven by its collaborative framework. However, here I will outline some initial ideas I could contribute. My suggestion for a setting would be a city during a wartime blackout with the central character being a pregnant mother. The reasons for this are partly narrative and dramatic - the inversion of standard values - light being safety, darkness being danger, and the mirroring of the child inside the womb and the citizens waiting inside the city. However, this setting would also allow for a wide array of song varieties that could be used or resisted by the poet and composer, examples being wartime propaganda songs (the themes generally of victory interestingly at odds with a town awaiting assault), and lullabies (which do already have a history of balancing ideas of safety with an awareness of dangers which could be explored further).

The practice-based element of this project ties in directly with the historical framework. To begin with, I will develop my understanding of selected poet-librettists (eg W.H. Auden, Alice Goodman, David Harsent and Don Paterson). This could be augmented by oral history interviews with chosen writers, which will focus on the process of creating a libretto and what they see as the differences in the approach compared to their existing poetry practices, and what they see as successful points of contact between poetry and music. This will give me an enhanced insight into the creation of libretto.

This programme of research will then necessitate detailed, historical study. Ideally in direct collaboration with the composer, this could manifest as a series of archival visits and dual attendance at live performances. These will then be used in the creation of the new songs and performance sketches. It would be interesting to keep a joint critical journal, that charts and highlights our evolving interactions, in order to monitor progress and reflect on key ideas.

This research will culminate in a new contemporary opera that has made use of the exemplary partnership of MMU and RNCM coupled with the unique supervisory team. While the collaborative practice-based output will be the centrepiece of the submission, I will augment this with a body of written and theoretical work which unpacks the context and process of what particularly poets can bring to the libretto form.