# Writing opera: words or music first?



## voyaging (Jul 25, 2009)

When a professional opera composer writes an opera, does he usually write the music first or the words first?


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

He usually don't write words himself. Anyway - words before music, of course.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Aramis said:


> ...words before music, of course.


Generally true, to be sure.

There is one famous and notable exception to the above... *Gilbert* & *Sullivan*-- 
(though this belongs to the world of Operetta, not Opera).


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Chi_town/Philly said:


> Generally true, to be sure.
> 
> There is one famous and notable exception to the above... *Gilbert* & *Sullivan*--
> (though this belongs to the world of Operetta, not Opera).


Well, Operetta is arguably a sub-genre of Opera. It uses classical voices and kinda like the Singspiel which everyone accepts as an 'opera genre' it has spoken dialogue instead of sung recitatives.


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## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

Aramis said:


> He usually don't write words himself. Anyway - words before music, of course.


Maybe, maybe not-- Anton Rubinstein once got ahead of one of his librettists, and showed up at the fellow's apartment with pages and pages of music written to the words 'rats, mice, rats, mice'  . Richard Strauss, who rarely wrote his own libretti, was nonetheless known to provide detailed instructions regarding rhythm and meter to his librettists-- and his opera _Capriccio_, perhaps the best statement on this question, ends in uncertainty as to which, the poet or the composer, is the more important. Famously, Antonio Salieri also wrote an entire short opera on the topic, _Prima la musica e poi la parole_, the title of which ('First the Music, and Then the Words') indicates the position taken (it's even funnier than the title suggests, as there are fights not only between composer and librettist but between two sopranos and the composer and then between the two sopranos, and then between everybody).

In short, there is no absolute answer; while it is true that the words usually come first, composers often show little compunction in rearranging them for musical purposes, or simply ignoring them (which is why some choral or vocal pieces have some very strange placements of emphasis).


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