A couple weeks ago, Kendra posted about writing an expanded aria for Irene, as we felt that the character needed her own feature. The original text had suggested to me a foil of Pierre’s aria touting the miraculous benefits of radium, and in the new version, Kendra also included a clear reference to Marie’s aria, “I Take My Life in Measurements”. Irene’s aria is thus a blend of her parents’.
Pierre’s music shown here:
Becomes Irene’s music below:
Similarly, Marie’s phrases:
Becomes Irene’s lines:
Kendra has made some adjustments to the aria’s libretto and the closing dialogue as I’ve been working, giving Marie and Irene a bit more back and forth before the opera ends. I need to incorporate some of those changes and still have a few small holes in the accompaniment to fill in. Once that’s done, I will tackle the beginning of the opera, which is the only section left to write.