Comments on: Could Joseph have a stutter? http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/ Roger Bourland writes about music and life Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:23:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Roger Bourland http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/#comment-340 Roger Bourland Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:43:00 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/#comment-340 pucks-soul: Thanks for your kind remarks. FYI, the whole story is by Thornton Wilder, so I have done nothing but add a word here and there and, with his nephew's blessings, change a few words. Citrus: this piece will, if I'm lucky, find its way into college opera workshops and should be perfect for young opera diva/os wannabes. In that Hepzibah has a HUGE role, he's fine. Mary has a respectable amount of material to sing, but Joseph is really a very, very minor figure, so I'm looking for some legitimate way of augmenting what he has already. The stutter musically may really be no different than Handel's [obnoxious to me] manner of setting text by repeating words and phrases over and over. TW: point taken. Maybe as Citrus said, keep Joseph in a small role, which has traditionally been his role: a benevolent figure in the background. Thanks! pucks-soul: Thanks for your kind remarks. FYI, the whole story is by Thornton Wilder, so I have done nothing but add a word here and there and, with his nephew’s blessings, change a few words.

Citrus: this piece will, if I’m lucky, find its way into college opera workshops and should be perfect for young opera diva/os wannabes. In that Hepzibah has a HUGE role, he’s fine. Mary has a respectable amount of material to sing, but Joseph is really a very, very minor figure, so I’m looking for some legitimate way of augmenting what he has already. The stutter musically may really be no different than Handel’s [obnoxious to me] manner of setting text by repeating words and phrases over and over.

TW: point taken. Maybe as Citrus said, keep Joseph in a small role, which has traditionally been his role: a benevolent figure in the background. Thanks!

]]> By: pucks_soul http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/#comment-328 pucks_soul Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:58:24 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/#comment-328 In reading your first post regarding this "chamber opera" the Donkey is the central character correct? I think it is interesting that in your treatment even the donkey gets a more respectable place in the history of the Flight into Egypt than the man credited with raising the christ child. That is just an observation Roger not a criticism, I think it is a very unique way in which to tell the story, and I could see this as being a breakout peice that has "legs" so to speak. The stutter could be seen as offensive by some, but stuttering is just one of the miriad of human conditions, so why not or he could just be hard of hearing since he was considered to be an old man and sing loudly to the other character's annoyance. I can't wait to hear this completed I am sure it will knock our socks off. In reading your first post regarding this “chamber opera” the Donkey is the central character correct? I think it is interesting that in your treatment even the donkey gets a more respectable place in the history of the Flight into Egypt than the man credited with raising the christ child. That is just an observation Roger not a criticism, I think it is a very unique way in which to tell the story, and I could see this as being a breakout peice that has “legs” so to speak. The stutter could be seen as offensive by some, but stuttering is just one of the miriad of human conditions, so why not or he could just be hard of hearing since he was considered to be an old man and sing loudly to the other character’s annoyance. I can’t wait to hear this completed I am sure it will knock our socks off.

]]> By: citrus http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/#comment-327 citrus Tue, 11 Apr 2006 03:13:55 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/#comment-327 To much of Christianity, Joseph is the biological father of Jesus. The conservatives would have a fit. I think you should let him fit quietly and unobtrusively into the background, as the New Testament stories do. It would also be a delicate balance to keep from being offensive to stutterers and people who love them. It's just a tad cutesy for my taste. I think I would be irritated rather than amused. Citrus To much of Christianity, Joseph is the biological father of Jesus. The conservatives would have a fit.

I think you should let him fit quietly and unobtrusively into the background, as the New Testament stories do.

It would also be a delicate balance to keep from being offensive to stutterers and people who love them.

It’s just a tad cutesy for my taste. I think I would be irritated rather than amused.

Citrus

]]> By: twarner http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/#comment-326 twarner Tue, 11 Apr 2006 02:17:38 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2006/04/10/could-joseph-have-a-stutter/#comment-326 Because I obviously don't know the themes you are going for in this opus, it's hard to say whether it's disrespectful. Joseph is a minor character in every Christmas narration I've ever read (or heard), including the several in the Bible itself. I'm not sure, therefore, why you'd want to shine a light on him by setting him up with such an interesting (musically speaking) characteristic as a stutter. If you want to do this in order to make him seem less than a man or somehow more minor, then I don't think it's disrespectful but I do think that it wouldn't be the most effective way to go about it. Let us know what you end up doing! Because I obviously don’t know the themes you are going for in this opus, it’s hard to say whether it’s disrespectful. Joseph is a minor character in every Christmas narration I’ve ever read (or heard), including the several in the Bible itself. I’m not sure, therefore, why you’d want to shine a light on him by setting him up with such an interesting (musically speaking) characteristic as a stutter. If you want to do this in order to make him seem less than a man or somehow more minor, then I don’t think it’s disrespectful but I do think that it wouldn’t be the most effective way to go about it.

Let us know what you end up doing!

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