Eat full libretto, digest, shit full opera

 

 

The damn thing is more or less implemented:

but used sparingly, because I don't like the results. I don't really believe it could be tuned up, or modified to produce better music.

Generalities

main input:
the prepared libretto – in this case txti-iii – showing:

additional input:
  1. the motives: read file moo.txt, make hash %mot
  2. dramatis personae, with vocal ranges

output:
the score, music and text: several files called act-scene, e.g ii-v

Program template

Comments in the libretto

All the comments are text in braces. These braces must be both on the same line, and they do not nest.

Some comments are meaningful, the program should recognize:

Other comments are purely informative; in the sample below, they show in magenta: 

{===	ACT V. SCENE V.}
{=================================}
{---	Dunsinane. Within the castle.}
 
{mot lady_macbeth min down}

{---		A cry of women within.}
{muz women choir}
 
{---		enter Doctor.}

RHY u/

  MACBETH. Where`fore   that cry?
  DOCTOR.            The Queen, my lord, is dead. {cada}

{mot macbeth_doom}

  MACBETH. She should have died here`af`ter; {+cada}
 
    To`+mor`row, and to`+mor`row, and to`+mor`row {cadc}
    Creeps  in this pet`ty pace from day to day
    To the +last syl`lable of re`+cor`ded time; {+cadc} 
    And all our +yes`ter`days have ligh`ted +fools
    The way to dus`ty +death.{++cadc}  Out, out, brief candle!{+++cadc}
    Life's but a wal`king +sha`dow, a poor +pla`yer
    That +struts and +frets his hour up`on the stage
    And then is heard no more.{cadd}  It is a tale
    Told by an +i`diot, full of +sound and +fu`ry,

RHY /u

    +Sig`ni`fy`ing  +no`thing.{+cadd}

{---		resolute}

{mot macbeth_hope up}


RHY u/

    I will not be a`fraid of +death and +bane {cadb}
    Till +Bir`nam Fo`rest come to +Dun`si`nane. {+cadb}

{muz male choir, march; soldiers pick up the music above }

What to do with text

What to do with motifs

The motifs are pitches with some supporting chords, but without durations. Conclusion: none of the filler, xcab or enigma programs will work "as is" (as of 1/27/13), but they can be modified without much effort.

Rhythm from text

Suitably annotated and parsed, Act IV Scene I 
{===	ACT IV. SCENE I.}
{=========================}
 
{---		A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder.}
 
{---		Enter the three Witches.}

 
RHY /u

  FIRST_WITCH. Round a`bout the +caul`dron go;{cada}
    In the +poi`son'd en`trails throw.{+cada}
    +Toad, that un`der +cold +stone
    Days and nights has thir`ty`+one;{++cada}
 
  THREE_WITCHES. Dou`ble, dou`ble, +toil and trou`ble;{cadz}
    +Fire burn and +caul`dron bub`ble.{+cadz}
becomes: 

 
 
iv-i104adk	<seg	cada
iv-i104adp	inp			  FIRST_WITCH. Round about the cauldron go;{cada}
iv-i104adu	line	4
iv-i104adv	mot	cauldron
iv-i104adz	role	FIRST_WITCH
iv-i104aee	syl	_Round
iv-i104aej	syl	a-
iv-i104aeo	syl	_bout
iv-i104aet	syl	the
iv-i104aey	syl	+caul-
iv-i104afd	syl	dron
iv-i104afi	syl	_go
iv-i104afn	cad	{cada}
line 4 : 1 stress start seg cada motif: cauldron 
 

iv-i105afs	inp			    In the poison'd entrails throw.{cada}
iv-i105afx	line	5
iv-i105agc	syl	_In
iv-i105agh	syl	the
iv-i105agm	syl	+poi-
iv-i105agr	syl	son'd
iv-i105agw	syl	_en-
iv-i105ahb	syl	trails
iv-i105ahg	syl	_throw
iv-i105ahl	cad	{+cada}
line 5 : 1 stress 
 
 
 iv-i106ahq	inp			    Toad, that under cold stone
iv-i106ahv	line	6
iv-i106aia	syl	+Toad
iv-i106aif	syl	that
iv-i106aik	syl	_un-
iv-i106aip	syl	der
iv-i106aiu	syl	+cold
iv-i106aiz	syl	+stone
line 6 : 3 stresses 
 

iv-i107aje	inp			    Days and nights has thirtyone;{cada}
iv-i107ajj	line	7
iv-i107ajo	syl	_Days
iv-i107ajt	syl	and
iv-i107ajy	syl	_nights
iv-i107akd	syl	has
iv-i107aki	syl	_thir-
iv-i107akn	syl	ty-
iv-i107aks	syl	+one
iv-i107akx	cad	{++cada}
iv-i107alc	seg>	cada
line 7 : 1 stress end seg cada 
 
 
iv-i108alh	<seg	cadz
iv-i108alm	inp			  THREE_WITCHES. Double, double, toil and trouble;{cadz}
iv-i108alr	line	8
iv-i108alw	role	THREE_WITCHES
iv-i108amb	syl	_Dou-
iv-i108amg	syl	ble
iv-i108aml	syl	_dou-
iv-i108amq	syl	ble
iv-i108amv	syl	+toil
iv-i108ana	syl	and
iv-i108anf	syl	_trou-
iv-i108ank	syl	ble
iv-i108anp	cad	{cadz}
line 8 start seg cadz 
 
 
iv-i109anu	inp			    Fire burn and cauldron bubble.{cadz}
iv-i109anz	line	9
iv-i109aoe	syl	+Fire
iv-i109aoj	syl	burn
iv-i109aoo	syl	_and
iv-i109aot	syl	+caul-
iv-i109aoy	syl	_dron
iv-i109apd	syl	bub-
iv-i109api	syl	_ble
iv-i109apn	cad	{+cadz}
iv-i109aps	seg>	cadz
line 9 : 2 stresses end seg cadz

One can see the regular trochaic rhythm, verses of 7-8 syllables dum-ta, dum-ta, ..., and the irregular "feet" pattern; each line has a different number of stresses. I call feet, for short, the sprung rhythm groups containing precisely one stress each – this is my idea about English stress-timed prosody. One may force all the verses to the same number of feet, using repetition (so common in librettos; but to do this to Shakespeare, and automatically!) or add non-vocal musical items to make all verses last the same, or ... On the other hand, if we deal with English prosody, all feet should last the same.

After a time signature is chosen, the lines above provide a complete recipe for rhythm.

I have now ( 3/29/2013 ) a full conversion from text to rhythm to chords, e.g. 


iv-i103ada	rhy	/u

iv-i104adg	ttl	          best of 13, 2 cadences	STRICT
iv-i104adh	gra	grade 140	tonality 4015, cminx
iv-i104adu	role	FIRST_WITCH
iv-i104adz	pros	_Round a- bout the +caul- dron#go	ter 12/8	8 to 12 units
iv-i104aee	syl	Round	0,11,2,7	2 units		acc 3 
iv-i104aej	syl	a	1		1 units		acc 0 
iv-i104aeo	syl	bout	0,2,7,8		2 units		acc 1 
iv-i104aet	syl	the	1,7		1 units		acc 0 
iv-i104aey	syl	caul	0,3,7		2 units		acc 2 
iv-i104afd	syl	dron	1,11,5,8	1/2 units	acc 0 
iv-i104afe	syl	go	0,7		1/2 units	acc 0
iv-i104afk	cad	126	0;11;0	ROOT	0 1 0	CHORDS	0 3 7;1 5 8 11;0 3 7	ASUBV melcad 

iv-i105afz	pros	_In the +poi- son'd _en- trails _throw	ter 12/8	8 to 12 units
iv-i105age	syl	In	7,8		2 units	acc 3 
iv-i105agj	syl	the	1,7		1 units	acc 0 
iv-i105ago	syl	poi	0,7,8		2 units	acc 1 
iv-i105agt	syl	son'd	0,11,7		1 units	acc 0 
iv-i105agy	syl	en	0,7		2 units	acc 2 
iv-i105ahd	syl	trails	1,11,5,8	1 units	acc 0 
iv-i105ahi	syl	throw	0,3,7		1 units	acc 1
iv-i105ahn	cad	126	0;11;0	ROOT	0 1 0	CHORDS	0 3 7;1 5 8 11;0 3 7	ASUBV melcad 	

iv-i106aic	pros	+Toad that _un- der +cold +stone	ter 12/8	8 to 12 units
iv-i106aih	syl	Toad	0,1,11,7	2 units	acc 3 
iv-i106aim	syl	that	1,7		1 units	acc 0 
iv-i106air	syl	un	2,7		2 units	acc 1 
iv-i106aiw	syl	der	0,11,7		1 units	acc 0 
iv-i106ajb	syl	cold	0,11,3,5	2 units	acc 2 
iv-i106ajg	syl	stone	0,11,7		1 units	acc 0 

iv-i107ajv	pros	_Days and _nights has _thir- ty- one	ter 12/8	8 to 12 units
iv-i107aka	syl	Days	1,11,2		2 units	acc 3 
iv-i107akf	syl	and	1,11,7		1 units	acc 0 
iv-i107akk	syl	nights	1,11,5,7,8	2 units	acc 1 
iv-i107akp	syl	has	1,11		1 units	acc 0 
iv-i107aku	syl	thir	0,1,7,8		2 units	acc 2 
iv-i107akz	syl	ty	5,7		1 units	acc 0 
iv-i107ale	syl	one	0,7		1 units	acc 1
iv-i107alj	cad	128	11;0	ROOT	7 0	CHORDS	7 11 2 5;0 3 7	AUTHENTIC   melcad
which actually means, after some interpretation:

For instance, the line: 

iv-i107aka	syl	Days	1,11,2		2 units	acc 3
assigns to the syllable Days the chord 1,11,2 = C#,B,D lasting two units. To see what the units are, look above at the line: 
iv-i107ajv	pros	_Days and _nights has _thir- ty- one	ter 12/8	8 to 12 units
which shows the time signature 12/8, so two units = two eights = one quarter. These units are just the denominator in the signature. There are also 1/2 units, 
iv-i104afd	syl	dron	1,11,5,8	1/2 units	acc 0
in this case sixteenths.

It can be seen that the lines usually end with tame cadences, but the harmony is quite dissonant.

This example is unretouched, so I am now ( 3/29/2013, somewhere) on my way to the silly goal.

Couplets

The prosody program neopro.pl  automatically builds couplets, i.e. two lines segments besides the segments from cadences.

Very important:   for the couplet algorithm to work, enter

{cada}
...
{+cada}
near the beginning and
{cadz}
...
{+cadz}
near the end of every scene. The couplets are only created between cadences, so these two are the minimum required. The commands {cada}, {cadz}  may stand on any lines that rhyme, or complete each other by sense ; when the melody is composed, there will be "answering" phrases.