The Bryn Athyn Cathedral

 Here is an image I just created
using components that I gathered over a period of decades.

The Chancel in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral
at Christmas

This will be available for purchase
I expect to do it on canvas with a 20'x30' sized print
the price will be $300.

Notes;

ACT ONE

Regarding Lyrical Music

   In the earlier versions of A&O there was not a clearly defined sense of poetic style, particularly as it pertains to delivering the the concepts through vocal music. Recent conversations with a music artist regarding this piece have changed my perspective as to the viability of expressing the core representations lyrically.  

   It is interesting that I have a collection of poetry that does just that; express these concepts in prose. That's not to say that those pieces are right for A&O, but crafting the dialogue in that form, spontaneously never occurred to me for A&O, because I was more concerned with crafting the moments that encompass the whole of what needs to be conveyed, in a general sense.

Now that I am talking in all senerity about crafting the music and having had the experience of writing seventy songs for The Gnomes of New Hope (which I thank John Lodge for planting that seed in my brain), I am rethinking what A&O could be.

Some time ago, after removing the Third Act and turning it into a separate drama, I was left to torment about what could be done about not having a Third Act. For many years I meditated upon this without a solution.

But of course the Lord had it in mind what needed to be done. During all this time I performed the role of John the Revelator in a New Church Pageant. I did this for over fifteen years. But then the Lord chose to reveal to me what he wanted for the Third Act.

ACT THREE is to become an opera based on the Book of Revelations. Of course, like the rest of A&O, it will be outwardly structured on the events of the Apocalypse, but like all else, it will beinfused with the internal sense.

The whole point of A&O is to reveal the Second Advent of the Lord within His Word.

Although I wrote much of the structure of ACT THREE, those notes have been lost and will need to be reconstituted. But when the time comes, that will be possible, because it really is in me, having spent much time working on it already.

The really interesting thing now is that; I am seeing a real possibility that other sections of the piece are in fact well suited to a blending of dialogue infused with prose leading into lyrics.

I have found that this flows when the spirit descends upon me. It is only a question of allowing that to happen and having the inspiration to motivate the flow.

Now in this instance, I am inviting a collaboration to create the music, but not only the music, also the lyrics. So in order to create the right environment for that to happen, the Libretto needs to be flexible enough in terms of the moments that call for lyrical prose. 

As I structure the storyline components, I will need to select moments where lyrical content works in the flow of characterization and define the motivations of the characters and what it is they are trying to express. In some instances, those definitions will be lyrical prose and that prose may, or may not, be used in the lyrics presented in the finished product. There needs to be enough flexibility that those moments can be embellished, or even replaced by alternative lyrics, as long as the critical elements remain in the same vein, or a good approximation thereof, so the fabric of the piece remains sound.

You will find that I am going to combine posting older work with writing new material based on both those older versions and new material. I feel there must exist a certain continuity of style, especially now that Act Three will be taking on an operatic format. I believe that as I craft Act Three, I will need to craft a correspondence between the moments and content of Acts One, Two and Three. This, so the concept of correspondence exists both internal to the piece and in its message of correspondences between the Natural, Spiritual and Celestial degrees.

Lyrical moments are quite different than the symphonic backdrop of the piece. The symphonic will be more sweeping and less tied to specificity, but it will need to express the emotional content of the structure and leave room for the lyrical moments. So there is the need to blend in that regard.

I might not be possible to craft the music before much of the new material is crafted. But I some instances the surrounding circumstances may be crafted around the lyrics, if the lyrical moments are defined well enough to allow lyrics to be written that convey the essence of the moments that are allotted, or assigned to being lyrical, even without the fully developed surrounding circumstances, then that could work.

More later AG

ARCHIVE:

These notes are not (fully) infused with corespondential internal sense, from New Church teachings, they are inspired by the teachings of Charles Stanley. They are not derived from the script/Libretto, but are placed here for the sake of rewrites.

A) SCENE ONE; Adam  & Eve

    1) untried innocence, unawareness

    2) deception (outside source)

          a) implying the existence of other beings created before man, including angels, nephilim?

         b) are nephilim fallen angels?

    3) decision to disobey introducing sin, resulting in awareness of self, the differentiation of the finite and the infinite

    4) use of animal skins, blood shed in sacrifice, symbolic of Christ

    5) God sees the beginning and the end, the Alpha & Omega

          a) hence knew of Christ beforehand

    6) all second chances are based on Christ and being justified by faith, the pardon of sin, introducing us to live and walk in the sphere of God's grace.

    7) Eden cannot endure impurity and represents the perfect manifestation of creation in the natural degree.

       a) the celestial in the natural degree

       b) hence they cannot reside there because of their disobedience and consequent loss of innocence.

       c) They fell wholly into the lowest natural degree

   8) the Word of God is God's grace and kindness toward humanity without regard to merit of those who receives it 

Original 1975 Script

This subject is being moved to

 "I Am Alpha and Omega; Libretto"

as it pertains to the rewrites. 

The older versions will continue to be posted here. I will post the original screenplay separately and may rewrite this screenplay into a viable project once The Gnomes of New Hope is finished.

ARCHIVE;

 Here is a copy of the Original Script, 

which has been rewritten numerous times.

The current script is quite different.

There are items in this script that have been nixed

 for practical & content reasons.

I post it here as a matter of historical reference.

I will post the entire original script

(a few pages at a time) 

which are scans of the typewritten script.

Years of theatrical and writing experience

have made this project much more refined and practical.

The newest rewrite will be posted on this blog,

with links placed in the sidebar.

Commentary;

As I begin to post this script, 

that was originally written fifty years ago (in 1975),  

it has me thinking about the changes that were made 

in subsequent scripts.

 I realize that the script posted here was not the first version, as the first version was a screenplay.  I believe this version was the one I was working on in Boston, so I began this version around the time I met with The Moody Blues,  because I went to Boston two years after that.

 One very big difference is

 that I introduced the voice of God,

 thinking in His mind about the creation

and some of the correspondential elements 

of forming the natural world.

I tormented for some time over that, because 

I didn't want to be putting words into God's mouth.

But I concluded that as a theatrical endeavor, 

doing so based on the Word 

and the New Revelation given through Swedenborg, 

which has become the foundation for The New Church,

for over two hundred years now, 

well,  doing so may be acceptable, 

as long as it is done so under 

poetic artistic license.

Should God sing those words?  Possibly.  

It depends how that would be effected.

Although, he does say "Let us make man in our image" 

One very strong possibility is that the earths creation 

occurred after that of the Heavens (which is implied) 

and that spiritual beings were created before man. 

I will need to look into that more,

 but in that event, the singing voices 

could be the voices of angels. 

Thus transferring the expression of the creation 

to an array of SATB voices.

That may work quite well. I will need to locate 

the more recent versions of the script,

but even so, a new revision is called for, 

so that could be crafted as needed with new perspectives.

So, I will continue to post the original script here and most likely 

add commentary and possibly even interject updated material

 (as I can migrate it to newer computers).

AG