What kind of story would go with Chopin?

[OokamiKasumi]

What kind of Story would go with orchestral piano music?
-- Musopen.org just released a whole pile of very nice classical piano music by Chopin as Public Domain. Some are only a few minutes long, some much, much longer. They're perfect for a Visual Novel full of angsty feelings.

Any suggestions on what kinds of stories would go with classical piano music?

[akemicchi]

• Any game set in the same timeline as Chopin.
• A game about musicians. Chopin can be a character's theme song!
• I played a horror game that used classical music. Granted, the horror parts did not have Chopin playing in the background...

Those are the only ones I can think up of at the top of my head. Are you planning on making a game with it, or are you just brainstorming for curiosity's sake? *v*

[ShippoK]

What kind of Story would go with orchestral piano music?
-- Musopen.org just released a whole pile of very nice classical piano music by Chopin as Public Domain. Some are only a few minutes long, some much, much longer. They're perfect for a Visual Novel full of angsty feelings.

Any suggestions on what kinds of stories would go with classical piano music?

You could go the Enternal Sonata way.

[OokamiKasumi]

• Any game set in the same timeline as Chopin.
• A game about musicians. Chopin can be a character's theme song!
• I played a horror game that used classical music. Granted, the horror parts did not have Chopin playing in the background...

Those are the only ones I can think up of at the top of my head. Are you planning on making a game with it, or are you just brainstorming for curiosity's sake? *v*

Something Victorian era would also work.
-- Chopin was very popular during that era for 'parties' and 'fetes'. Chopin wrote a number of nocturnes and waltzes too!

A horror game with classical piano? That sounds interesting! Was it good?

I am determined to make a game with this music.
-- In fact, my first attempt to make a game featured Chopin's nocturnes. The problem was, I simply couldn't come up with an end for the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You could go the Enternal Sonata way.

Wow... A full on RPG with Chopin being the central theme -- and a player character too! What a neat idea! However, any sort of RPG is a bit --actually, quite a bit-- beyond my skill level in game-craft.

[akemicchi]

Oh, the game was good! I don't remember the title anymore though, but I remember the music stuck out the most to me. It was different, in a good way. It was also set in something like the Victorian era, so the music fit in.

I see! Great! I hope you get lots of good ideas from this. >v<

I'm listening to some of Chopin's pieces from the site now, and I'm also thinking a mystery game would do well for some of the more dramatic pieces. Though the setting should still probably be set in an era where classical music thrived. Unless you want to try something new and different, of course.

[OokamiKasumi]

...I'm listening to some of Chopin's pieces from the site now, and I'm also thinking a mystery game would do well for some of the more dramatic pieces. Though the setting should still probably be set in an era where classical music thrived. Unless you want to try something new and different, of course.

What about something in art deco, 1930 film noire style?
-- A lot of old silent films used classical music as their backgrounds.

[Haze]

Ah yes, Eternal Sonata. I got that game a while back, but I still haven't finished it. It's good, though. The music is very well done, too. The parts about Chopin's life though, while they were interesting, were a bit slow-paced.

Anyway, I have a Chopin CD I bought some time ago that I still listen to. Here are the stories I get from the songs; maybe it'll help give some inspiration(although film noire sounds interesting as well):

Prelude op. 28/15 "Raindrops" sounds like someone on their deathbed, saying their last words, until about 1:30 where the person dies. Family and friends are grieving until about 4:00 where they decide to happily remember the things the person had done in his/her lifetime instead.

Etude op.10 No. 5 in C minor "Black Keys" sounds a little like a chase scene or a couple arguing, although it also sounds like something that could play during a particularly hilarious scene in a VN.

Etude op.10 No. 12 in C minor "Revolution" sounds like a battle that one side cannot possibly win, or like 2 people talking in an otherwise empty room, one with the means and reason to kill the other.

Berceuse/Lullaby op. 57 in D flat major sounds like a love confession, hand holding, or the joy of dancing in the rain.

Ballade op. 47 in A flat major sounds like a mother telling a lighthearted story to her daughter-perhaps a story from the mother's childhood, how the mother met her husband, or perhaps a bedtime story. At about 2:00, the story gets a little grim-perhaps something particularly bad was recalled about the story. At about 3:00, everything is fine again, but the mother cannot decided whether she wants to tell a happy story or a darker one, and the story continues to change(at about 4:20 and 5:50), although it ultimately ends happily. It can also be about a father with 2 sides, one happy and kind, and one angry and abusive, to reflect the changing moods of the song.

Nocturne op.62 No.2 in E major sounds like 2 friends dancing at a Victorian-era party, until about 1:00 where one pushes the other away. Shocked, the one not pushed away doesn't know what to do, and he tries dancing with others, but that doesn't satisfy him. At about 3:00, he finds someone else to dance with but he is still glancing at the person from the beginning from time to time.

Funeral March op. 35/2 in B flat minor sounds like, of course, a funeral, but the song's happy moments(from 1:05-1:30, 1:40-2:05, 6:55-7:20, and 7:30-7:55) makes me think that perhaps the whole funeral is some sort of prank or a farce. Either someone faked their death and is attending their own funeral or the funeral is some sort of play and the name of the one supposedly in the casket is a member of the audience. It could also be about someone faking their death, attending their funeral, and being killed at said funeral, for a bit of irony.

Well, I hope my ramblings help somehow. Looking at the site now, it looks like not all these songs are on there-sorry about that! Raindrops, Revolution(listed as "Revolutionary Etude"), the Ballade(although it's played a lot slower on the site), the Nocturne(played slower too), and Funeral March(number 5 under "Sonata No.2 in B flat minor Op.35") are all there, though, as I mentioned, the timings might be a little different.

[arttorney]

The similarity to silent movies is one of the things that really intrigues me about VNs. Another genre out of that era that you might be able to freshen up is the cowboy movie (with which you can go steampunk). Some of the Chopin could blend in there OK I think, though historically they seem to have gone for a lot of orchestral overtures (e.g. William Tell, Light Cavalry Overture) for material like chase scenes. Piano music has been used successfully to parody that old timey stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Do-Right

For an art deco feel check out Metropolis. It's a little more cerebral, being a political allegory. I think for expressionism pieces like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari much weirder music may be in order.

[Timberduck]

Ive listen to some chopin for the past hour and came up with this.
VN about something to do with ww1
Life on the western front living in a trench
massive lost of life.
your on your way home from picking berries with your sister
your sister left early and you said you will meet up with her home with your mother.
your father has died in the war already.
on the way home you were nabb by an officer as a young poor kid you are forced to go to the western front immediately.
on they way to the front, you herd word that 10 000 has died the night before and there sending another wave later before the end of the day.
you try to escape but, if you did the officer would shoot you for abandonment and be considered a coward.

at the front your overwhelmed by enemy machine gun fire and forced to go over the top and die
you do it and 50 feet into the ordeal men are falling down all around you.
then suddenly you are hit in the heart
wounded and crying all around. your dying in no mans land alone cold and sadden that your mother doesn't no were you are
and out of the dark clouds the sun appears with rain, a sun shower. while rain drop prelude plays in the background.