Opera Comes to Lake Wobegon?

Michael Barone speaks with composer Andy Stein.

MICHAEL BARONE: Andy Stein, our Da Ponte, our Hofmanstahl ... what is this process like for you? It's one thing to have to blend and bend words for a composer's need, but it's another thing to have to bend to a librettist's demands and also fill in the gaps between composers from whom the librettist is borrowing.

ANDY STEIN: There's a lot of interesting challenges. The original premise, which was of course Garrison wanted to write new words to well known opera hits, gives us a stylistic smorgasbord to work with as a premise so that we're not confined. When you listen to an album/CD of the Three Tenors or anything like that, we're used to hearing different styles on one record today. So I figured that was not really a problem, and we could just enjoy the different styles. The original music is usually imitating a specific style of some sort, and then Garrison just writes fun lyrics and we have fun with it, and then he changes them and we have more fun and try to change the music.

JMB: So how many composers are you borrowing from? You've got Bizet, Habbanera ...

AS: Yeah we have Bizet, we have a lot from various things of Verdi and Puccini. And Leoncavallo. We have Donizetti.

JMB: No Strauss and Wagner?

AS: There's a little bit of Wagner, just for six measures. There's some of Beethoven's Ninth.

JMB: And how much of you?

AS: A fair amount. Probably about a third or a half-depending on how much you think about the glue.

JMB: The process began how long ago?

AS: Garrison asked me on board last August or July.

JMB: Did you sit down with favorites from operas and pick out things, or did he have a list already?

AS: Well, he had a list of his favorites, and we picked out some more, and we kind of stewed on it for a while. We had a completely different plot figured out.

JMB: What was the original?

AS: Oh there was something about a Midwestern opera company that was not doing very well financially and what are they going to do ... touring around ... and it sort of didn't go anywhere ... and then we got into the human interest, and Garrison had a totally different idea and it was great.

JMB: Does he take cues from you, or do you simply say that's a good idea Garrison?

AS: We're back and forth a lot. Sometime there'll be a moment for instance that he had as a recit, and I realize this is a very important moment in the plot, and I'd say, "This merits a song. Could you give me just a few more words?" and 20 minutes later I've got a beautiful poem in the e-mail, so its really fun that way.

JMB: So that's something that you'll set originally?

AS: Yeah, that's right.

JMB: Does this get you itching to be allowed to do the whole thing yourself someday?

AS: Actually I love having stylistic restraints when I write music. It being 2002, it's hard to figure out what style to write music in today. And I'm glad I don't have to think about that problem. So having an opportunity like this, in which the decisions come from the opera. He writes a poem, and I say this really sounds like a soprano soliloquy in a Mozart aria. Then I go and dig into my Mozart and walk around with Mozart in my Walkman for a few days, and then I write a Mozart. And then there was another poem that really sounded like a Puccini reminiscence kind of a thing, so I did the same thing with that.

JMB: So you're sort of a Mr. Olson type. You like life within boundaries.

AS: I wouldn't compare myself to Mr. Olson, because I like to change prison cells different times. I like the boundaries, but I don't want to stay in any particular ... I like changing around, and that's what was fun about this particular project.

JMB: Overall, the biggest challenge in this project for you has been ...?

AS: Just the sheer quantity of work in the small amount of time. It's just a lot of notes. A lot of music for a lot of people. Things happen at the last minute. We have new stuff being written.

JMB: Dynamics between all the elements ... Everyone keeps a cool head through all this.

AS: Yeah, it's a working relationship. Sometimes you get mad, but it's just about that, it's not about the people. And sometimes it's just great. He comes up with some great stuff, and I feel pretty good about what I've come up with, and Andreas is wonderful to work with. He's a real master of opera. He's had vast experience with opera and has helped me a lot with the traditions of operatic performance. I have full confidence that that's being taken care of.

JMB: So if were to be asked to do this again, you'd say sure.

AS: Yeah. My eyes would be open, and I'd know what to ask for in terms of assistance and time. I've been out here all week, so I've been working at the computer at MPR, and I e-mail my scores to my copyist back East who pulls out the parts and makes them nice, and he e-mails the parts these days to Lee Blasky, Maria's husband, who then prints them out and sends them in with Maria in the morning, and that's how the orchestra gets their parts these days.

JMB: Mozart would marvel.