The Haunted Palace
Willard Overstreet_Art Dobrucki
This is the intro to "The Haunted Palace" with sound fx as it will appear in the larger work entitled "Poe Alone" as conceived by Willard Overstreet with orchestrations by Arthur Dobrucki.
El Dorado-Alone is the first video of what I have planned to be a continuous 12 poem/song long play with accompanying visual work totaling 74 minutes.
In addition to these two poems, I have written music and designed sound for 10 more poems which have been fully orchestrated by Art Dobrucki with additional orchestral touches that I have added mostly voices and guitars. I can only describe the entire work as a sort of rock opera as it incorporates band elements of bass, drums, percussion, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards and voice along with orchestral instruments. Whatever you want to call it, I do not believe Poe has ever been represented like this, with the poem used in it's entirety as a lyric, wrapped in sound and music taking you on a journey as directed by Poe's own words!
This project has been in the works for a long time and I'm not done yet but right now, I hope you will give it a run and enjoy this unique way to experience Edgar Allan Poe's poetry!
Selected poems by Edgar Allan Poe wrapped in sound and music!
"Poe Alone"
I am very excited to begin introducing pieces of a larger work entitled “Poe Alone” which is a 74 minute continuous music and sound journey through Poe’s poetry.
In total, I have selected 12 poems, each the lyric to music that I composed specifically for that poem. The project started on acoustic guitar, shaping the poems into a song, not paraphrasing but as it is read. Eventually after completing 9 of the poems I found a collaborator (Art Dobrucki) who added orchestrations and mini pieces used as intros or inserted musical interludes within the work. While in the process of orchestrating, I wrote music to 3 more poems which completed the journey!
Below you will find pieces of the larger work that provide examples of how things came together while Art and I were working on the project. Art's versions do not include sound or musical embellishments that appear in the complete work but are his compositions only which I then incorporated. The 2nd versions are how the pieces appear in the full work utilizing theater atmospheres, crowds, choir as well as natural sounds. These versions are just the intros to the overall poems which will be released at a later date.
This project has been a passion of mine for a very long time and this is just the beginning of the Poe journey! Please check back as there will be much more to come!