Opera Cancer Ward link

Hello...Just sharing the news of the completion of my third opera with everyone. Opera, "Cancer Ward," based on the novel by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in 17 scenes, including Overture. The libretto is in Russian -- English translation of the libretto can be found with the audio files by going to the music page of the link below.

Link to audio files and English translation of librettos by scene.

Fourth Opera (draft post)

Θηβαι is the greek word for Ancient Thebes -- the site of the great palaces of the Valley of the Kings, and the Valley of the Queens; the site of the Luxor Temple; and the al-Karnak -- a great Temple complex. Thebes was the capitol of the unified Ancient Egypt. But it is not the Thebes of Oedipus. The Myceneans were precursors to the Greeks, and Thebes was one of their major cities -- as was Athens. Mycenean artifacts have been found in Caucus Georgia, Bavaria Germany; and Mycenean bronze battle axes dating from 13th century BC have been found in Ireland, Wessex, and Cornwall, England.

The distance from Athens to Thebes, Greece is not great. As a matter of fact, Google Map says the driving time is about an hour and ten minutes. Athens is in a region, called Attica, while Thebes Greece, is in a region, called Boeotia, and is separated from Athens by a mountain range, the Cithaeron range. The Cithaeron range, located just north of Athens, attains heights of 4500 ft. What makes this interesting, is, that, while we are aware that the history of the rivalry between Athens and Sparta is storied and well known, the Boeotian city-state (polis) of Thebes was also a rival of Athens, and was a major player in the Ancient Grecian struggle for dominance and supremacy.

Ogyges was a mythical aboriginal king of Thebes. Poets referred to Thebans, as Ogygidae, in Greek, 'Ωγυγιδαι. Ogygian is a word, or more properly, a name, that also refers to a world wide deluge in Greek mythology. This name is related to the word Okeanos, and to the Phoenician word meaning, "to encircle." Later Ogygian came to mean, "from earliest days." Aeschylus would distinguish Boeotian Thebes from Egyptian Thebes, by referring to Thebes of Egypt, as "Ogygian Thebes."

Mycenean
Mycenae, Tiryus
Pylos
Athens
Thebes, Orchomenus
Iolkos
Knossos
Settlements: Epirus, Macedonia, Islands in Aegean Sea, Coast of Asia Minor, Levant, Cyprus, Italy
Mycenean artifacts in Georgia, Caucus; amber artifact Bavaria Germany; bronze battle axes dating from 13 th c. bc Ireland, Wessex, Cornwall in England

Unlike Minoans who relied upon trade, Myceneans were people of conquest
warrior aristocracy
Neolithic
Early Bronze Age 2000 BC Indo Europeans 2100-1700 BC some say 1000 years earlier

Late Bronze
Late Helladic I II III
megaron, or throne room
link Amenhotep III Queen Tiye of Egypt

1200 BC decline > Bronze Age Collapse
causes: (?) Dorian Invasion (from north); Sea Peoples > destroyed Hittite Empire, 19th and 20th dynasties of Egypt; drought; earthquakes

divine> any object that inherited an internal power (anime)
Hindus> dyaus Pita Latin>deus pater > Jupiter

Mycenaen> before 1000 BC
Ancient Thebes  Θηβαι
Mycenean city Μυκηναι or Μυκηνη

Boeotia > Boeotian city-state (polis)
located north of the Cithaeron range
Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysius
major rival of Athens
sided with Persians/ Xerxes/ 480 BC invasion
Theban forces under command of Epaminondas
battle of Leuctra 371 BC
Sacred Band of Thebes - elite military unit
Battle of Caeronea 338 BC
Battle of Deluim/Battle of Haliantus/Battle of Coronea
Death of Epaminadas at Battle of Mantinea
Thebes -- birthplace of Herakles

Orchomenos and Thebes
2500 BC Minyas
1500 BC Kadmus
Phoenicians

'Αμφιων and Ζηθος
Amphion is the son of Zeus and the nymph Antiope, the queen of Thebes.
Zethus > twin brother
Amphion learned music from Hermes and with a golden lyre built Thebes by moving the stones into place with the sound of his playing.
Built the walls around Cadmea, the citadel of Thebes.
Married Niobe >killed himself after loss of wife and children (>the Niobids) at the hands of Apollo and Artemis.

Other Amphions> Son of Iasus and Persephone (a mortal, not the wife of Hades). Said to be king of the Minyans of Orchomenus, in Boeotia.

panflute, panpipes syrinx > συρινξ >plural syringes
Συρινξ  > nymph and follower of Artemis, known for her chastity

word music comes from the Muses, daughters of Zeus, patron goddesses of creative and intellectual endeavors.

Sicyon Sikyon Σικυων  gen. Σικυωνος

Sonato and Fugue

If I could have attained artistry early in life, on an instrument

I think I would have led a life of music, and married

A viola, or flute, or even bass-viol player

As it is, I am grateful to have learned piano

(better late, than never)

I learned up to seventh hand position on cello

And was in the Junior State Orchestra

I never claimed to be a virtuoso at all

no Pablo Casals or Yo-yo Mah

(When your instrument is neither German, nor Italian

But a four hundred dollar “Kay”, carried around in

A cheap cloth carrying case

Its hard to think of your next career move as music fated.)

I’ve studied music from a score,

and have even waved a baton, in a conducting class --

Though conducting in front of a Panasonic

is not quite the same thrill, I’m sure.

Of leading the Bolshoi opera or ballet, or even the Philarmonic.

Nonetheless, I freely admit, writing music is the most

Beautiful thing I’ve done with my life, and with that I am elated.

Alphabeticization and the Automation of Grey Space

Alphabeticization and the Automation of Grey Space

A few preliminaries. When counting to the number eight in English, the following words are used:

one two three four five six seven eight

The word "seven" has two syllables. Logically, it takes longer to say a word of two syllables, than a word of one. Adopting French words, and using "cat" for quatorze, and "can" for quinze, the way I count aloud to fifteen is as follows:

"one two three four five six sept huit nine ten onze douze treize cat can"

It does not take a long while to satisfy yourself that one can, indeed, count faster and more evenly by substituting one syllable words for words of two syllables, (or more).

Somewhat similar in spirit, I have substituted symbols for two digit numbers.

Using the Hindi symbol ४ for 23, (it is the symbol for 4 in the Hindi writing system for numbers), and the Spanish symbol ¡ for 25, , here are my symbols up to thirty:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 < ! = ( ) . + : [ ] > / V ४ - ¡ ≠ * % @ ^

They're use is more for alphabeticization, which shall be explained, than for counting.

In what follows, I do not attempt to prove the value or truth of what I say, but try to simply describe what I have done.

I have spoken about the interaction between our consciousness and imaginary space, suggesting that the act of consciousness occurs in this imaginary space. Evans in his textbook, "Biophysics", describes our physical bodies as having a biochemical-electrical energy output equivalent of approximately 40 watts. When the spacecraft Voyager was at a distance of a billion miles from Earth, it relayed a signal of approximately 1/10 of a watt. It is easier for us to think in terms of interacting with space, if we think of consciousness as having a physical means -- that is, a form, in this case, energy, directed in some manner. It is less easy for us to think of an object, or a construction -- an inanimate object,  as interacting with space.

Zen Buddhism teaches, among other things, that all things in the universe are connected, and that, further, all things have consciousness. In Buddhism, there is great importance and significance, as well,  attached to the idea of order.

The Earth is basically a sphere, or more precisely, a spheroid. The discipline of Spherical Trigonometry is an invaluable, and perhaps, incomparable, tool for ordering points on the surface of sphere. With it, we are able to locate points in space, on the surface of our planet, and determine the distance and (apparent) direction between points. In other words, using Spherical Trigonometry, we are able to order points on the surface of the Earth, the space that we live in.

(As an aside, there is a formula for locating objects on a Spheroid, derived from Spherical Trigonometry. Beautiful in appearance, it is a bit beyond the realm of Trigonometry, and more in the realm of Calculus of Variations, (third or fourth year calculus)).

A construction that I have found useful in my past, is something I refer to as a "stack". Quite simply, a stack is a construction using index cards, each card referred to as an element, representing a point on the Earth. The stack elements are arranged according to distance from the base, which is the first element in a stack.

Our names are labels, and a name is an incredibly important bit of information about a person. Names are used to identify us, address us, get our attention, refer to us, title for reference any relevant data about us.

Our phone numbers also, are important. They do not simply allow specific communication between telecommunication devices, but, like a name,  can also be thought of as an address, locating a person in space. A Social Security number can be thought of the same way -- not just as an identifying number, but as a location, or address,  in space.

In the stack constructions I used, anything can be used as an element, but, simply put, I used the phone number of the Criminal Court of a geographic and political unit at the equivalent level of a county, and that by using these phone numbers as elements to a stack, written in an alphabeticized manner to order space, I found I was able to reduce or eliminate stress.

Sounds simple, but in practise, I found that a stack would need about six or seven hundred elements, before I found it to be effective. By "effective," I mean that the grey space in the field of my imagination -- that is, my sensory apparatus directed towards imaginary space -- appeared stable, and self sustaining. It is in this sense, that I refer to grey space as being, "automated," though, the action is performed by a simple stack construction, and not a "machine". At one point, I maintained about fifteen to eighteen stacks, that is, stacks with a different base.

 "Alphabeticize" -- is a word I coined to describe the process I use for converting text to an expression which allows control over the way it interacts with imaginary grey space.  It is a process I use to this day, and is at the core for what I describe as "automating grey space". It is somewhat abstract, but not terribly difficult to grasp.

It will be more convenient at times to refer to its form as a program -- and its action as programming.

We take a lettered phrase, and group all like letters with each other.

Jack and Jill went up the hill.

aacdeehhiijjkllllnnpttuw

(A good way to check for completeness is to compare the total letter counts of both lines).

We then assign numbers to indicate the number of times the letter occurs in the phrase -- the frequency of occurence.

Jack and Jill went up the hill. (24)

2   1  1  2  2  2 2 1 4  2  1 2  1 1

aa c d  ee hh ii jj k llll nn p tt u w (24)

We then order the groups from highest number to lowest, keeping alphabetical order within the subgroups:

4 2  2  2  2  2  2  2  1  1  1  1  1  1 

k a  e  h  i   j    n  t  c   d  k  p  u   w

We define the highest number as zero, and assign letters in sequence as follows:

0 A a B b C

4 3 2 1  -  +

Alphabeticization, in the long form, consists of two lines, coupled. Each letter in the bottom line, has a corresponding value in the top line, represented by zero, or a letter. It may have either a positive or negative value, depending on the "value" given the letters not in the phrase.

0aaaaaaaBBBBBBCCCCCCCCCCCC

kaehijntcdkpuwbfgmoqrsvxyz

Though this line has a positive value, it is a positive value of the negative "image" of the phrase, much like a footprint in the sand is a "negative image" of the foot that made the print.

In the short form, or label form, numbers are assigned to the letters beginning with one as follows:

1 2 3 4

A a B b

AAAAAAaaaaaaab

cdkpuwaehijntk

Let me explain the same thing, a different way.

If we allow the letters of the alphabet to represent digits, (as they are in many languages), assigning "one" to the first letter, "two" to the second letter, "three" to the third letter, and so on, we have a system where a letter may represent either a letter or a number.

In English, and many other languages, a letter will have a corresponding "small case" letter. We assign "one" to the first letter, and "two" to the small case letter, "three" to the second letter, and "four" to the small case of the second letter.

A  a   B   b

1  2   3   4

If we take a word, say, "remedy", we arrange all of its letters in alphabetical order -- d ee m r y.

We then assign letters representing the frequency of occurrence of the letter in the word, (or phrase).

1   2  1  1 1

d  ee m r y

We then substitute the letter for the number in the frequency line:

A  a  A  A  A

d  e  m  r  y

We then put the elements in order, from lowest to highest frequency:

A A A A a

d m r y e

This is the short, or label form.

For the long form, when we put the elements in order, we go from highest to lowest frequency. We then add the letters of zero frequency, (in order):

2  1  1  1   1  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

e  d m  r   y   a b c  f g h  i  j  k  l n o p q  s  t u v w x z

We then assign letters representing the frequency of occurrence to the letter in the bottom row, assigning the highest number the value of zero, as follows:

0 A

2  1 

0 A A A A

e d m r y   a b c  f g h  i  j  k  l n o p q  s  t u v w x z

The value of the expression is determined by the assigned frequency letter over the "excess", or the letters not in the expression. If the letter is the next letter after the letter with the value of one, the expression is considered to have a negative value. If the letter over the "excess" letters is the second letter after the letter with the value of one, the expression is considered to have a positive value.

0 A a  B

2  1 -  +

0 A A A A  a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a

e d m r y   a b c  f g h  i  j  k  l n o p q  s  t u v w x z  is the negative form of the alphabetization of the

word, "remedy".

0 A A A A B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B

e d m r y   a b c  f g h  i  j  k  l n o p q  s  t u v w x z      is the positive form of the alphabetization of

the word, "remedy".

As an actor, I have used both positive and negative forms. Both have worked, but I invariably use the positive form.

When dealing with text as a composer, I will generally use the negative form. Here is an example in Russian:

Раковый корпус носил и номер тринадцать. Павел Николаевич Русанов никогда не был и не мог быть суеверен, но что-то опустилось в нём, когда в направлении ему написали: "тринадцатый корпус". Вот уж ума не хватило назвать тринадцатым какой-нибудь протечный или кишечный.

00АБГгддеЁЁёЖЖжжЗЗззИИЙЙЙЙЙЙййййй

аноиетврклуспыдмйьбчгцёжзхшщфъэюя

Early Biography

Early Biography

I was born in Porter Hospital in Denver Colorado, part of the Rocky Mountains of the Western United States. Possibly because my mother was Japanese, and because I was an avid reader as a child, I grew up regarding the mountains as spiritual beings, with whom I communicated as friends. My mother had remarried a Japanese American, my stepfather, Jim, who introduced me to the Great South West, on trips that he, my mother and I, would take during holidays. I believe my mother, who, among other things, loved geology, loved the South Western Desert of the United States; I, as well, have come to regard this area as, 'magical'. My fondest memories of my mother are of her, wandering off the road by herself on foot, and disappearing into the desert....she would return after a long while, stepping carefully, and she always seemed, at these times, to be part of other worlds. ....

It was my stepfather who told me the legend of Red Rocks. I am fond of claiming that he taught me how to hunt and fish. Trout fishing, yes, perhaps, but hunting would be a far cry, though the imagination of a young child with a pellet gun can be forgiven its excesses. The guns my stepfather had in his gun cabinet were impossibly big and heavy for a child. He was an army corpsman, who had fought in Sciliy and Italy. His parents were from the city of Nagasaki. The legend I remember being told, was that an indian warrior could go to Red Rocks, to ask the meaning of life. But the warrior who did so had to be deemed worthy of this revelation, or else there was a terrible penalty inflicted of madness and death by the Gods. There is an area near Denver called Red Rocks....it is a natural amphitheatre carved into the mountains, just outside of Boulder, and is a venue for, among other things, concerts. ....

As a child, I prayed, oh, perhaps a handful of times. One of these few times, I had hot tears down my face. I was listening to Tchaikovsky, his sixth symphony, and asked God that I would be able to write such music. I am fond of thinking to this day, that God thought, "Well, if you are going to learn how to write music like Tchaikovsky, then you will have to learn how to suffer like Tchaikovsky." ....

My mother, perhaps rightly, felt my educational opportunities were better with my father, and so I met my father when I was ten years old. However, it was actually his younger brother, my uncle Jess, who confirmed what my mother had told me about my heritage on my father's side. My grandfather, an emmigrant tailor from Kiev, Ukraine, whose name was 'Bardovsky--with fourteen letters after it', (my uncle's words), arrived at Ellis Island in New York; and, as with many emigrants at that time, he was given a new name, perhaps to 'americanize' him, perhaps simply so that they could fit his name on a nameplate. The name that was on my grandfather's nameplate was 'Lieberman'. ....

And so, much to my amazement, I was to learn that I am Japanese with a trace of very old Dutch on my mother's side, and Ukrainian Jew on my father's, bearing a German name. It is ironic, that you are not considered Japanese unless your father is Japanese, and you are not considered Jewish unless your mother is Jewish. Most people are neither of both....I am both of neither.....

It would not be difficult to pinpoint a critical, or turning point in my life. While going cross country on a bicycle, I was hit by a truck. It occured near Sterling, Colorado, on highway 76, a two lane highway with unpaved dirt shoulders, not far from the border of Nebraska into Colorado. Hearing an unusually loud sound of a truck engine, I glanced over my shoulder to see a truck passing traffic -- on the dirt shoulder. What was alarming, was the fact that the wheels were spinning so fast, they were skidding over the dirt shoulder. It was very possible that this driver was not aware that he did not have control of his vehicle.

As an actor, I had once read a brief description of the technique of stuntmen, when they are about to receive an impact. "You take a deep breath, relax, and slowly expel the air from your lungs".....turning back towards the direction my bicycle was moving, I took a deep breath, and calmly, slowly expelling the air from my lungs, I heard the loud blast of a truck horn...and then another. My next sensation was of my body being slowly lifted off the bicycle...while my field of vision narrowed down against a black background to points of light, and then out. There is a sensation of a flow of energy from deep down in the earth, and what I can only describe as a visual sensation -- with the eyes closed, a heightened perception of the eyes "swimming". I opened my eyes....to be looking up into the faces of three men, staring down at me.

The fear of paralysis is a very real fear. Whether ill-advised or no, my first impulse was, quite simply, to get up and see if I could still walk. What one does automatically, however, now turns into acts that must be evaluated carefully beforehand. I did a slow sit up -- and stopped, literally holding my position midway into a sit up. Disregarding the pain in my head, (think volcanic), I carefully digested the information that my back was telling me -- my physical excellence, of which I had been so proud of as a youth, and as a young adult -- was gone. Forever. I continued my sit up, and slowly got to my feet, unable to turn or move my head, because of the pain, and fear of hurting myself further. To distinquish the difference between fear and pain requires an intellectual distinction simply not worth the effort, when you are severely hurt.

When I was on my feet, there was a smile on my face. I looked across the highway. There, a truck burned. A voice behind me, simply said, "The driver in that truck was killed." Realizing that there was more than just my life that had come to a critical turning point that day, I said, "Oh my God, "....and got back to the ground, on my back, and waited for the ambulance. I was first taken to Sterling Hospital. Reality has a filmic quality, as your consciousness blacks out from time to time, much like a film that is edited with bits of film left out. This wasn't pleasant, but the crisis, in terms of my attitude, and perhaps, my life, actually came that first night, after I had been taken to Lutheran Hospital, in Denver. Your body expends a prodigious amount of energy when you are hurt. Exhausted, I knew that sleep was going to be upon me soon. The sensation in my head, was like a knot -- highly tightened. A fear came upon me, that with sleep, this knot would loosen, and I would bleed to death. I noted, before I slept, that there was a nurse, sitting on a chair across from the door entrance to my room. She was reading a book. I took comfort in her presence, as I went to sleep. The first night of many I went to sleep, not knowing if I would be alive the next morning or not. ....

It seems incredible to me, that I did not learn until several days later, that the highway patrolman first arrived on the scene of the accident gave me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It may just be the way that I remember it; at any rate, I take this opportunity to thank him, again, for saving my life.

I have experienced pain, pain that was....boundless, without bottom, day in and day out. For nine years of my life, I went to bed, not knowing if I'd be alive the next morning or not. With unremitting pain, the body expends great amounts of energy....exhausted I would lie down to sleep, and lying down, craving sleep, my head would make loud gurgling noises....I'm sure it was the effect of damaged nerves in my head, but the noises felt like they were in the center of my head. They could not be meditated away, and they not only deprived me of sleep, they made me feel helpless and would throw me into despair.

There is no real threshold of pain.... you merely go through whatever strategies you have for dealing with more than you can cope with. And Lord help you, if you or your body have no strategies.........

After time, I gained weight, because eating food became an outlet, a form of release. I became unattractive, but not just because I was overweight. After a few years, the pain had distorted my face....to other people it appeared I was constantly angry and unpleasant. And so I became more isolated. Pain eventually coarsens your personality. Sex takes on a particular quality, I think related to the prodigious amounts of energy your body is expending, perhaps to the fact that the physical act becomes no longer an expression of love, but a hunger....it is like a bright intense light inside of you, that somehow catches people....I didn’t so much meet people with whom later I had sex.....it was more like colliding with them on the street....one could actually sense the change of life-paths.....

With pain, after a long while, what you regard as your mind becomes reduced to a mechanical level....you filter ideas, and people, with a single criteria....does this help you alleviate pain?....does this help you live?.........

There are pictures of myself with the beautiful mountains of Yosemite in the background. I'm 57 now....I was 26 or 27 when these pictures were taken, some thirty years ago, and two to three years after my accident....I was in ferocious pain.....

Link to audio files to the complete opera, "Cancer Ward."

The audio files use synthetic voice patches, and are unable to sing words. The opera is in Russian, but, the following link will take you to the English translation of the libretto by scene, if you click through to the Music Page, and select "full information" for each audio file. (Each audio file is a complete scene of the opera).

 http://www.soundclick.com/operacancerward

If you are interested in examination of the score, my email address is:

Opera, "Cancer Ward" : Composer's email address.

Opera, "Cancer Ward" : some remarks on Scenes 6 and 7

Sixth and Seventh scene from the opera, "Cancer Ward."

I am currently working on the seventh scene, which corresponds to the sixth chapter of the book, "History of an Analysis," the meeting between Dontsova and Kostoglotov. When I first began to sketch out a plot, it was this scene, which I regarded as my first "objective" to reach, when I began to write the music. I had thought of this scene as somehow concluding the first portion of the opera, in plot terms. Having studied script writing for movie and television, the corresponding place it would take is the rising action, where characters in a script begin to encounter the obstacles and difficulties,that lead to the climax, or, halfway point, (in a film or television script). It is gratifying to finally have reached this first objective. It is not difficult to believe, that, the envisionment of a work, is different than the work as it becomes experienced in actual finished form. Theory, is different than practise. How we imagine something is different than how we perceive the reality. From the beginning, I have imagined the length of the opera as three hours, and, I imagined the sixth scene as occurring around the 40-minute mark of the opera. The way the opera stands now, this scene actually now occurs at the 1 hour and 15 minute mark. The music bed for this scene runs well past 14 minutes. This running time will invariably increase, when the singing parts are added, running past the one and a half hour mark -- the halfway mark to a three hour opera. This is a very large discrepancy, between the way the opera libretto was imagined, and, the way that the score is being manifested, in practise. (I should add, that in American Films, the standard script is for two hours of film. So the 40-minute plot point in a two hour film, would correspond to a one hour mark in a three hour opera, if one allows similarity between the film script, and opera libretto. This is by no means a convention-- I simply employ the structure of the written standard film script as one means to help analyze and evaluate my libretto writing)

.

Counting the Overture and Chorus as the first scene, one and a half hours divided by seven scenes, roughly averages to just about 13 minutes per scene -- a startling change from the experience of my first two operas, where scenes of seven to eight minutes, were considered, "long." Because I identified what is my seventh scene as an objective, I first approached the scene before it, with some impatience. This is the scene which is the 4th chapter in the novel, and is titled in the book, as, "The Patients' Worries." It is my sixth scene, and I title it as, "First Rounds." The scene is about as exciting as a doctor examining a patient. And, as a matter of fact, the scene has Dr. Dontsova examining not one, but six patients on the ward. I included it in my opera, because it sets up the meeting between Dr. Dontsova and Oleg Kostoglotov, a scene which I considered pivotal, from a plot standpoint. One of the pleasures of being intimately involved with creating an opera from Solzhenitsyn's, "Cancer Ward," is the ability to make discoveries, which might otherwise have gone by unnoticed. The stubborness of Oleg Kostoglotov, and the outburst of Pavel Rusanov, both might be considered as being the "heart" of this scene -- if one bothered to think of this scene as having one. But it is Dr. Dontsova's meeting and encounter with Azovkin which, for me, as the composer of this scene in an opera, which provides this scene with a remarkable human quality of sadness, and irony. (I should be careful to say, that I am commenting on how I interpet this scene musically as a composer, and, not, as an expert of Literature -- Russian, or otherwise!). Solzhenitsyn writes how Dr. Dontsova's mood of frustration and irritation carries over, from both Rusanov and Kostoglotov. Solzhenitsyn writes of Dontova: "Dontsova, weary of the argument (with Rusanov), hoped to be cheered up at the next bed, (Kostoglotov). And, Solzhenitsyn writes of Dontsova, after her unexpected clash with Kostoglotov, "She was now looking at Azovkin. She had not yet been able to switch the annoyance from her face or voice." This "carry over" of emotions is reflected in the music. But the emotions of Dontsova, as she recovers from her anger and frustration with Rusanov and Kostoglotov, and begins to engage with the hapless youth Azovkin, convincing him that some time away from treatment will give him time to "rest," -- when actually, he is being dismissed because he is incurable, and his dismissal will reflect in more favorable hospital statistics -- provides, for me, the "drama" of this scene, making the "fireworks" between Dontsova and Kostoglotov, and Dontsova and Rusanov, simply, "dramatic." One more word about this scene, (the opera's scene six, chapter 4 in the book). Despite the threat of Pavel Rusanov to act officially against Dontsova, I find Dontsova fighting for Rusanov's life, even though her words might seem to convey indifference to his life. It is because of Dontsova, and, only because of Dontsova, that Rusanov remains in the hospital to treat his lyphoma. A profound glimpse into the dedication and heart of Dontsova.