I loved Ophelia” is based on a melody from Johanna McKay’s 2016 Idyllwild Arts Summer Program Shakespeare’s World adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Johanna’s removal of Fortinbras and increased concentration on the Hamlet and Ophelia relationship unleashed an unexpected emotional intensity in the production, and gave the 10-13 year-old actors a powerful concentration of emotions to play.
During the process of fashioning this concert version I had an annoying series of extremely vivid, problematic, dreams in which I wasted REM time “working” in my
dream, and repeatedly woke exhausted. One dream concerned having to establish a thrift store in the country. All through the subsequent waking day, I worked on the store in my mind – rearranging its shelves, purchasing labels and furniture, etc. in the very same way I would think of a piece of music, mentally prepare to write an email, or any number of actually useful things. And no matter what I did, my mind just couldn’t give it up.
Ophelia is dead. Hamlet is aware of this. Yet his projection of their life together continues against his will. The first portion of “I loved Ophelia” is a depiction of the playful Hamlet/Ophelia relationship as darkened by the news of her death, and the second a depiction of Hamlet’s projections. The third and final section is a return of initial material. Although similar in structure to the first, this last is no longer a depiction.
This return is for the audience only. In the play, Hamlet is dead at this point.
