Opera Game: 1858 Paris

Opera Game: 1858 Paris 1. Tune up and Overture 2. Developmentation 3. What the huh and oh-oh 4. Castling 5. Queenicide 6. Checkmate and Coda Vocal Ranges: Soprano E4 – Eb6 | Baritone Bb2 – G4 Composed in 2024 for Yue Yin and Benjamin Schoening, this piece is a literal transcription of an opera chess match—a musical setting of one of the most popular chess matches ever. The vocalists narrate the movement of the chess pieces, each voice represents the respective movement of black or white pieces. Where: Paris France in an opera house during an opera performance. They played in a private opera box and paid no attention to what opera was being performed (some of the audience for the match say it was either Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' or Bellini's 'Norma'). Winner: Paul Morphy at the white pieces. Morphy, an American, was a wiz at chess and was in residency in Europe beating the crap out of Europeans on the chess board. This lasted for several years... The reputation of which led to difficulty finding opponents (the United States raised the ante - offering large sums of money if an opponent would challenge and beat this chess wizard). While suffering infectious diarrhea, Morphy sought treatment of the day - resulting in leeches sucking a lot of blood out of his system. Adolf Anderssen (a German master and considered the world champion) thought he could beat a now lifeless Morphy; despite his best laid plans, Anderssen got the poop knocked out of him by Morphy (while he was lying in his bed). Eventually, the American returned home and endeavored to establish himself as a lawyer (he tried unsuccessfully after serving in the Civil War). He met his demise after exercising (he went for a vigorous walk and then dipped into a bath tub with water too cold, resulting in a stroke). Losers: Karl II, Duke of Brunswick and the Comte Isouard de Vauvenargues (an aristocrat) both playing the black pieces. We don't know much about Count Isouard, but the Duke led an interesting life. His father was very involved with the military, before his father faced Napoleon's forces he took his children to England - where Karl II was raised (because Napoleon's forces gunned down Karl on the battlefield). Off the chess board, Karl II was a loser - losing his rightful place as a ruler to his younger brother (despite diplomatic and physical attempts to depose his brother, he was actually pressed and had to retreat from an angry mob of rock throwers). He maintained the title of 'Exiled Ruling Prince,' but he had no followers to follow him. He also spent a lot of time in the courtrooms, claiming libel by the presses - but he was quite the loser there too. In fact, as Google grew the Duke's failed attempts resulted in the ability to share things on the internet without financially liability (lawyers used the Duke's failed attempts to sue the presses for legal defense), despite claims of historical liability against Google. We can say he did win, though, after his death a big statue was made of him (because he willed it so with his royal coffers). Thank goodness a giant hunk of metal memorializes this champion of losing.   Checkmate! This game is known for the clever use of developing the pieces, sacrificing valuable players, and building opponents confidence while sneaking in to capture the king. Though, I have a couple of other takeaways. (1) You could play chess during a 3-hour long opera, (2) you could play chess during a 3-hour long opera and not be side-eyed judged or kicked out, and (3) you could play chess during a 3-hour long performance and not be shot by one of the performers. Performance Notes Understandably, this may be a hard pitch to convince a pianist to add percussion instruments to their set up. It is different, but fun to play too… the ride cymbal goes right above the right side of the piano (near the performer). On the left side, on the floor, a smaller crash cymbal mounts on the floor with a bass drum pedal. If the pianist is unable to perform the percussion part (or it is too much fun), it is suggested that a percussionist may be brought in to perform the percussion parts notated in the piano part. Everything is straight forward… though, the singers are required to play some hand percussion and narrate chopped versions of the text. https://www.davidpeoples.com/