2.1.6 Opera and stage musicals
The music, lyrics and dialogue to opera and stage musicals are
usually set out in one or more of the following forms:
- A Conductors’ Score containing the full orchestral and vocal
parts, together with libretto cues if there are spoken passages.
- Orchestral Parts containing the music for the individual
instruments of the orchestra or band.
- A Vocal Score containing all vocal parts with piano
accompaniment. The accompaniment is usually an orchestral
reduction, and if so the name of the original orchestral instrument
is often indicated. Vocal scores sometimes includes stage
directions and libretto cues.
- A Vocal Book containing just the vocal parts
(no accompaniment), sometimes combined with the libretto.
- A Libretto containing the extended passages of spoken
dialogue usually found in musicals, together with the words to the
sung parts. Stage directions are usually included. LilyPond can
be used to typeset libretti but as they contain no music
alternative methods may be preferable.
The sections in the LilyPond documentation which cover the topics
needed to create scores in the styles commonly found in opera and
musicals are indicated in the References below. This is followed
by sections covering those techniques which are peculiar to
typesetting opera and musical scores.