Latest Draft - February, 2025
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet in A
Bassoon
Horn in F
Trumpet in C (Straight Mute)
Trombone (Straight Mute)
Timpani
Triangle
Cymbals
Caves
Snare Drum
Bass Drum
Marimba
Piano
Harp
Soprano
2 Mezzo-Sopranos
Alto
5 Tenors
SATB Choir
4 Violins I
3 Violins II
3 Violas
3 Violoncellos
2 Double Basses
Artists - John MacLachlan (composer)
Movements - 3 complete
Duration - 30'00" complete
Difficulty - Medium
Composition Opportunity - Personal Goal
In the distant future, the mad scientist Ezra works at extreme efficiency, aided by the absence of music in his time. The two main characters of the opera are Dori, a young woman who wishes to learn about music after reading about it in a book, and Lidi, a young man who wants to help Dori learn about music. These two approach Ezra and ask him to send them back in time to learn about famous composers of the past. As Dori and Lidi visit composers, it becomes clear that Lidi is sick, frequently clutching his stomach. Safe in his laboratory, Ezra, believing that he is alone, reveals his evil plan to trap Lidi and Dori in the past, to stop them from bringing the inefficiency of music with them to the future. The narrator overhears Ezra’s plan, and tries to intervene, but just as Lidi is about to reveal to Dori that he was working for Ezra, Ezra freezes Lidi in time. Ezra reveals that he has given Lidi a potion that forces him to be efficient, and that Ezra is planning to kill Dori.
At the beginning of part two, Lidi and Dori enter a concert house to hear an opera that Beethoven wrote after meeting Dori in the past. Dori and Lidi are both without memory, and Ezra steals Lidi, leaving Dori stranded in the past. Dori recalls her mission and makes a time machine to return to the future. When Dori arrives, she sees that Ezra has killed Lidi, but she escapes back to the past just before Ezra can kill her. To change the future, Dori writes an amazing piece of music; Ezra appears to try to stop her during the premier of her piece, but her music changes the future just enough to prevent Ezra from harming her. Dori returns to Ezra’s lab using her time machine in the past, but Ezra is still alive, threatening to kill Lidi. Dori distracts Ezra and Lidi throws him through the time machine, and the opera ends with Ezra stuck in the past, initially saddened that music will distract him.