Enchantress of Numbers (aria for soprano with piano from Ada Lovelace opera)

(duration – 6 mins)

An aria for soprano from my in-development Ada Lovelace opera, libretto by Neil Aitken. After the birth of her third child, Ada is excited to return to her work in mathematics with Charles Babbage as they attempt to build the first computing machine. But she quickly realizes that her husband expects something different – in his mind, this is the turning point at which she will settle down to become a more traditional society wife, putting her focus entirely on family and away from her passion for scientific work. Ada sings about this conflict, about being torn between what she loves and that which society and her husband imagine for her.

Preview score

Score available through Music Spoke here

Ada:
He says, it should be enough.
He says, that I should be satisfied.
Three children, a home,
a man who loves the woman
he thinks I am inside.


But this endless march from child to child,
from bed to table to bed again,
My husband’s voice, his hands, his touch,
have grown so dull with time.


And I dream of other things.
I long to sink myself again
deep in the wild math of stars,
To wonder how a bird flies,
and if with steam and fire,
I too might take to air.


I dreamed it once, years ago,
dreamed I rode in the skies
on an iron horse with metal wings.


Tonight, I take what is rightfully mine.
unlock with my pen, my mind
the dream inside this machine.


Tonight, each word that I set on the page,
will blaze a fiery trail through the sky,
my words will mark a path for those who come.
The future awaits my pen, my will, my mind.