Realpolitik of the Smoky Skies - The Reboot

Unrequited: a suite of ill-fated love is a modest work for wind quartet by Charles Melda. It starts out surprisingly playful and careless. I had to double-check to make sure I hadn't stumbled into the wrong music hall because this sounded nothing like the composer who wrote the mournful Darkness: Before the Dawn and the lazily meditative Longing For. There are distinctive themes for characters in what is obviously a programmatic work. I was fortunate enough to speak with the twenty-five-year-old composer about the piece and the implied programme underpinning it.

"Yes, there are definitely character themes, or leitmotifs throughout; you're right about that," he explained. "The bouncy and frolicking theme heard at the very beginning of the piece is representative of a character I call 'the boy'. The lyrical theme introduced in the second movement is representative of a character I call 'the girl'. The second movement is a modestly scaled example of sonata form: the boy's theme is reintroduced after being the main feature of the first movement, then the girl's theme is introduced for the first time, then during the development section the themes interact and interplay just as the characters in the implied underlying story do."

When asked about the story he explained that the first movement was simply a carefree boy enjoying life, perhaps going for a walk on a sunny day, and the second movement was his delight in meeting the girl. The third movement, much more romantic in nature is obviously some sort of courtship and ends on a very happy note. It introduces a theme not directly associated with either of the characters. Charles agreed with my interpretation. "Yes, the theme in the third movement is more an encapsulation of the pleasant evening the two characters share. I envisage they spent time together strolling around the town and visiting a local fete or festival. There is a definite nocturne feel, especially in some of the low pedal-like chords, as well as the slight hint of dancing or perhaps dancing around issues."

The fourth movement introduces a new, aggressive theme. Charles explained: "Yes, something goes terribly wrong between the pleasant courtship of the third movement and the frenetic panic of the fourth. I haven't spelt it out; it could be any number of things that have imperilled the couple's romance." The fourth movement actually opens as a fugue, with the main, aggressive theme of the movement introduced by one instrument before that instrument moves on to a counter-melody while the next instrument takes over from where the previous instrument left it off. After the fugue plays out the movement then moves onto a swiftly-paced recitation of the main character themes. The piece builds to a dissonant climax, underscored by the harmonic minor scale performed by the bassoon which starts low and threatening but eventually raises the tenor plaintively up to a minor trill before the finale of the movement.

The fifth and final movement is a very slow and sad rendition of "the girl's" theme as a fugue. The theme starts out on a mournful clarinet, then passes to a low-pitched flute as the clarinet starts a counter-melody, then those two instruments move on to other counter-melodic lines as the bassoon takes over the "girl's" theme, and ultimately all three of those instruments step onward as a high-pitched oboe carries the main theme. The movement and the entire work ends on a very understated and unhappy tone.

When I asked Charles if this work was based on anything in reality he looked uncomfortable in admitting that it was. I did not press him any further so as to avoid causing him additional discomfort.

So what do I make of the latest offering from Charles Melda? It demonstrates an interesting range of emotions and musical structures from this young composer. From carefree and joyous, to playful, to romantic, to stressed and finally melancholic. The selective use of musical forms such as sonata form and fugue I also find interesting, given that his works published to date have been largely freeform affairs lacking the overt use of forms and structures.

I enjoyed the work, but by virtue of the story it tells and wide range of emotions explored within it is definitely more sophisticated than Darkness: Before the Dawn and more complicated and mentally and emotionally taxing than Longing For. I hesitate to say that it's more mature than the previous two works, because although that is the case I'm not sure we've really reached the level of maturity in Mister Melda's works that we will eventually experience. But for now I am enjoying his offerings and expecting great things from the future.

When I asked him what he was working on now he was noncommittal, but appeared to be holding details back for some reason. At first the most he would say is that he was working on something for a larger ensemble. So far from the composer we've had small ensemble works, with the cello ensemble of Darkness and the wind quartet of Unrequited and we've had a larger ensemble but still with a recognisably simple style in the string ensemble with flue and piano in Longing For.

Finally, when pressed, he conceded that one of the pieces he was working on at the moment was for a military band. Amazing! The son of a pacifist politician writing music for a military ensemble. I would never had predicted that. Unfortunately I could not get any further details from him, other than that it was a work in progress and might not be the next piece published. So I wonder what his next piece will be like, and whether it will be his first truly large-scale work. I look forward to it and I believe you should keep watch for any new works released at your local music hall under the name of Charles Melda.



Portrait of Charles Melda, composer (1830)

Story-wise, about a decade before the start of the game (which starts in year 1800) there was societal collapse (which we're referring to as The Fall), where the old kingdoms fell and after time reformed as new nations (what we're calling The Dawn). The game-runner cpm is playing the scenario as a constitutional monarch, and he commissions governments based upon popular election.

Our parliament is called the Senate, and it currently has seven seats which can be won at once-in-a-decade elections (of which we're in one at the moment, so good timing!) during which both us players and virtual voters (called 'POPs', and each POP represents an in-game citizen of each city) cast their votes.

In the beginning a provisional government formed led by Senator the Honourable Gustavus Gurra who became the first Prime Minister of Pulias, which at that point consisted of solely the capital city: Pulias City. He formed a political party, the Pulias People's Party (of which I'm a member) and Senator the Honourable Ernest Barnard (username Magnive) formed another political party, the Pulian Advancement Union. In the first decade (one in-game turn equals one in-game year in this particular scenario) the government founded a second city (named Haven of Peace) and a third (named Coventry). At this point the Senate was dissolved and the first general election was held.

In that election (scroll down a bit in that link) the Pulian Advancement Union under Senator the Honourable Ernest Barnard won the most seats, but no party won an outright majority. A coalition was formed between the dominant PAU and two smaller parties, the PPP and a militaristic and expansionist party (the National Expansion Party, now defunct) under the PAU Prime Minister, Senator the Honourable Heerlo.

The Second Senate (scroll down a bit in that link) developed the cities and scouted and met the other nation states and city-states. It expired after ten years (turns) and a second general election was held.

In that election, three parties were tied with two seats each (and the final seat went to an independent). The two most ideologically similar parties, the PAU under Senator the Honourable Ernest Barnard and the PPP under me, Senator the Honourable William Melda agreed to form a coalition government under the continued Prime Ministership of Senator the Honourable Heerlo.

Senator the Honourable Augustus Absoluti (username Et_Absoluti) founded a new imperialist party which formed the official opposition, and he became the first Leader of the Opposition.

In that, the Third Senate many laws were passed codifying rules and clarifying governmental powers and limitations. A military task force jointly led by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition went and destroyed a nearby Luddite encampment (what barbarians are called in this scenario).

Work commenced on a national railway network intended to span the entire nation. Other stuff happened, too, but the debates have lately revolved around the nation's use of force and whether to be a pacifist or militant civilisation (the PAU and PPP agree with the former, the PIP the latter in broad terms).

We're currently up to the mandated once-in-ten-years election campaign, where each party and candidate tries to win enough votes in each of the three cities to secure seats in the Fourth Senate and try to win government. If you win a seat in government you get a direct say in the running of the nation. If you don’t win government but still win a seat then you still get a say, because all orders and other bills need to be voted on by the whole Senate (including Government, Opposition and crossbench Senators).

Apart from the PAU (which are a pacifist, socially progressive/radical party with a wealth and production focus), the PPP (which are a pacifist, socially progressive/radical party with a cultural focus) and the PIP (which is militant but has apparently shifted focus from imperialism to militant liberalism) a fourth party has recently been founded: The Mossback Party under the leadership of its founder Dot Eitus (username Dot), it stands as an isolationist socially traditionalist party (so basically conservatives without the warlike factor).

At the moment we're in the election campaign for the 1832 general election, so you'll probably want to: pick a party to join (the list of parties and what they stand for can be found here, pick a city to base yourself in and a class (details about classes and a basic introduction can be found in the opening post), then get out there and give speeches to try and win votes (if you look under this post here under 'Lobbying' you'll see what the pressure groups are that you can try to appeal to in your speeches --- speeches can be as simple as 'I believe in this, I want to produce these units/buildings, improve these tiles, adopt these social policies, research these technologies, and do this with these military units').

Some pertinent posts detailing what the current situation in-game is can be found here and here.

If you have any other questions just ask and whoever's online will be happy to help (especially if they're trying to woo you to join their party ).