Last time, we discussed the theme that represented Sherlock’s sense of justice in the opera. His motives just and heroic, his thought processes mechanical and intellectual — however, Sherlock is like two sides of the same coin. While Holmes’ methods of investigation were tidy and methodical, his life was anything but. Watson describes him as being “bohemian”, and that his home was cluttered and in disarray. I wanted a more casual, relaxed theme to embody this side of Sherlock, and this is the theme that most often represents him in the opera. It’s jazzy, lighthearted, and evokes imagery of Sherlock lazily smoking a pipe in his robes, which is coincidentally how the director decided to stage the opening of the opera!

As a composer, my music is largely melodically and thematically driven. I find that my favorite music has melodic content that is both memorable and evocative of what it’s representing, and I try to exemplify this in my own compositions. When I composed my chamber opera, “A Certain Madness”, I had the time of my life creating musical material that would eventually accompany different characters or emotions on the stage. In the next few posts, I’m going to explain my compositional process behind a few of the different themes in the opera.