Years ago I wrote what I like to call a “serious operetta” titled THE WATCHER ON THE SHORE (WOTS). Recently, I revised its first scene in order to enter a competition held by Hartford Opera Theater. Though I did not win, I got an email stating, “[We] want you to know that we regard your work highly and that ‘The Watcher on the Shore’ was in the Top 10 selections that were finalists.” (I also entered it into three or four other competitions for which the results have not come out yet.)

The entire scene is about 13 minutes long (of continuous music), of which the first third is an instrumental introduction, which is the sound file here.

This short piece begins with a melody used later on in WOTS for a song titled “I’d Like to Welcome Everyone,” making it appropriate for this instrumental opening. Next there is a representative section of the title tune. The ending is a succession of waltzes (a dance form given significance in the story), some truncated and one of them more romantic in style.

The basic theme of WOTS is the tension between different approaches to life, represented by the characters in that first scene (soprano and tenor). My focus is not on Objectivism, but the influence is likely much apparent.