Learn Dothraki and Valyrian

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Khal_Qana on May 14, 2016, 05:08:07 pm

Title: Jahakmen
Post by: Khal_Qana on May 14, 2016, 05:08:07 pm
Over the summer I plan on undertaking the large project of writing the first opera composed and written completely in Dothraki. So far I have the very loose outline of the plot and I would like some feedback on it:

Part one

Part Two

I plan to go on about how the son starts his own khalasar of bald men and lead an attack on his father. They end up losing and the Khal is forced to execute his beloved son. The queen commits suicide in the same river where she met the man, and the Khal is left to live with the crushing loss of his son and wife, even though he believed he did nothing wrong.

This is all I have for now and my computer battery is almost dead. Please give thoughts and constructive criticism of the outline so far. Thanks!

P.S.
It's supposed to be a tragedy, so no bellyaching about it being too sad  ;)
Title: Re: Jahakmen
Post by: Khal_Qana on May 17, 2016, 07:45:35 am
Hmm, I suppose an opera in Valyrian would be good as well. There are plenty of interesting Targaryens that deserve a story of their own and someone could definitely make an incredible opera written in Valyrian. It is a language influenced by the sounds of french, and romance languages in general and would sound rather pretty.

And as for time, I'd hope for it to be less than Wagner's 15 hour monstrosity but it would be nice to have it longer than just a few hours. Somewhere from the 5 to seven hour mark would be good. This will probably take a few years unless I decide to follow through and make it a real performance piece. In my state's capital, Minneapolis, the Klingon production of Hamlet and the Klingon opera 'U' are performed from time to time, so I know there's an audience for a conlang based opera. This weekend I'll be making a full plot outline and get started on drawing a storyboard. Over the summer I'll start composing the songs and once that is all finished I can quickly make the script. I'm certainly excited to work on this now  :D

Title: Re: Jahakmen
Post by: Hrakkar on May 19, 2016, 12:22:23 pm
Not a completely crazy idea. There is an opera in Klingon, that has been regularly performed, at least in Europe.
Title: Re: Jahakmen
Post by: Khal_Qana on May 23, 2016, 03:14:28 pm
I have a few motives written down for certain characters. Currently, I have a motive for the love between Jhine (the princess) and Qero (the braidless man):

time signature: 3/4
key: D major pentatonic with variant accidentals

first beat d50 played in bass, held for full measure
second beat e64 and f#66 harmonic, d62 quick grace note before e64; held for the rest of the measure


I have a sequence to represent the khalasar:

time signature: 6/8
key: D major

quadruplet arpeggio pattern d50, d62, b71, c72; twice each measure for two measures
resolved to quadruplet arpeggio pattern d50, d62, b71, d73; twice each measure for four measures


and I have a sequence that representes the spirit of joy that comes from strength:

time signature: 6/8
key: D major

three eight notes on each down beat. Two down beats a measure. four down beats.
1) d50 to a57 d62 harmonic back down to d50
2) e52 to a57 d62 harmonic back down to e52
3) g55 to a57 d62 harmonic back down to g55
4) f#54 to a57 d62 harmonic back down to f#54
*let the a57 d62 harmonic ring through

That's what I got so far. I'm composing on my guitar right now so if you have one lying around feel free to play along. I've tuned the 6th string to a d50 and my 3rd string to a f#66