Helia Rising

An opera exploring the people and events leading to the discovery of the nuclear chain reaction and the development of the first atomic bomb.

Leo's Discovery

On a misty London morning in 1934 Szilard theorized the nuclear chain reaction, but fearful of its potency as a weapon he vowed to keep the information secret from Germany. The myopic nature of his laboratory experiments and his exacting methods demanded a similarly meticulous musical style. I rigorously employed melodic and harmonic symmetry as a structural foundation, and limited the melody almost exclusively to intervals of a second. His Hungarian roots were suggested by using musical elements from the Hungarian folk music style which renders his motif in a recognizably exotic flavor. This motif would recur throughout the opera as a representation of his troubled conscience.

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Gertrude's Lament

Szilard's wife (Gertrude Weiss) wakes in the night from a fitful sleep and laments over the approaching outbreak of war in Europe. The lyrics are peppered with references to a disquieting sense of calm before the storm and is echoed in the music by a shifting tonality which hovers uneasily around the tonic. Her distress is reinforced using unstable ornamental turns toward the end of her melodic phrases, and these are emphasized in the accompaniment. Aware of the importance of Szilard's discovery, she urges him to carefully consider his responsibility, to be mindful of the past, and to follow his conscience.

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