#opera headcanons

[rayatii]

nemorino, all multiples of 3

okayokayokayokayokay.

3. A song that reminds me of him:

"All I Do is Dream of You" (most famously heard in Singin' in the Rain), maybe? Honestly, so many basic cheesy love songs (like "All of Me" and stuff like that) could fit him, most of his characterization revolves around him being a lovesick simpleton.

6. My least favorite ship of him:

I swear I have literally never seen anyone ship him with anyone other than Adina, either straight or as lesbians. I wouldn't say the lesbian version is my *least* favorite, but I myself am a painfully straight chick with painfully straight desires, and I apologize for this.

9. My least favorite outfit of him:

His outfits are pretty of the same kind (i.e. nothing too remarkable) in most opera productions, period and modern, and I haven't seen one that stands out as being particularly bad, as of yet.

12. Sexuality hc:

Nemorino is not straight, or a lesbian, he is Adina-sexual/oriented! I'm probably inclined to believe that he's not as interested in sex as one might believe, or at least he hasn't given it much thought (let's just say that being an illiterate peasant probably doesn't give you the most fluid exposure to the concept of sex); he prefers *romantic* stuff, like cuddling and kissing. But he probably starts enjoying it more and more after some time.

15. Worst storyline he had:

I don't know if it counts as a storyline, but it's difficult for me to watch the Act 1 finale, because of all the suffering and humiliation he goes through (even tho it's very tame compared to most other operas).

18. How I think he was as a kid:

A typical rambunctious and hyperactive autistic kid, with way too much energy, a constant whirlwind of running, playing, climbing trees and swimming in the river; I'm drawing quite a bit of inspiration from my younger self to build my perceived characterization of him.

21. When do I think he was at his happiest:

Probably when Adina confesses that she loves him. And maybe even more after they are married and the rest of their lives start.

24. What do I think is a secret he has that he has never told anyone:

I don't know, I really picture him as someone who is very honest and very open about his feelings, so it would be very difficult to pinpoint something that he would never have told anyone, even something ridiculously trivial like "The goats who got eaten by wolves 3 years ago escaped because I'm the one who left the gate open" (I have no idea how I came up with this).

27. If he could meet a character from another show/movie/etc, who would be the most fun for him to meet?

Probably Figaro (from both operas), I guess? This dude is a self-proclaimed expert matchmaker, so he might give him some friendly love advice, and I'm sure the two would hit it off rather well. Yeah okay, Nemorino is a tenor, but a much nicer one than Barbiere!Count Almaviva.

30. The funniest scene he had:

Well, finally an easy question for once! Definitely the Act 2 bit where the chorus ladies swarm him after learning about his inheritance, which he still doesn't know, all while he's drunk out of his mind with "love potion".

[harry-leroy]

📁 💕💕

I’m currently writing a play adaptation of Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte called The School for Lovers, set in 1815 Austenite England. That said, I made the Italian names more English sounding and I’m doing a bit more with character development, one of those bits of character development being that Guglielmo and Ferrando know Alfonso because Alfonso knew Guglielmo’s father. It’s a constant teasing point for Alfonso - the constant ‘your father was nowhere near as naive as you’, ‘you’ll never be the man your father was’, etc. I think Guglielmo can be the most cruel character in Così, right to the bitter end. In my play adaptation, I wanted to develop that side of him by making him incredibly insecure. Here’s a bit of a scene I wrote! (Gallagher is Guglielmo, Alderton is Alfonso): 

CAPTAIN GALLAGHER: (to Mr. Alderton) You’re lucky I’m feeling kind today. I’ll let you choose an opponent. Hurry. My patience is thinning. Come, your proof or your sword. 

MR. ALDERTON: Gentlemen, this is most unbecoming for two captains at the table. I would have expected better manners from you, Gallagher. I know your father wouldn’t have tolerated this. 

CAPTAIN GALLAGHER: I pity him for having tolerated your wicked jests. 

MR. ALDERTON: He was a smart man. 

CAPTAIN GALLAGHER: Enough of this. Defend yourself with words or with blows. I leave that to you. 

- The School for Lovers, Scene 1: Wager 

[rayatii]

As an autistic person, and in following the footsteps of @carlodivarga-s and @madmozarteanfelinefantasy, two characters that I shall headcanon as being autistic are:

Don Ramiro from La Cenerentola (cannot for the life of him piece up the particulars of Angelina’s situation via only the vague details given to him, only understanding when everything gets cleared up for him from A to Z, and heavily fixated on the idea of finding a wife who’s not a gold digger. One could argue that he also hides from Clorinda and Tisbe around the bit of “Zitto zitto” to avoid getting overwhelmed from having to deal with their personalities and morals that overly clash with his. You can’t tell me he doesn’t get hyperfixated later on on the idea of finding Angelina again; how can you sing an aria as passionate as “Sì ritrovarla io giuro” and not be so???)

And Nemorino from L’elisir d’amore (intensely fixated on the “love potion” and the idea of getting Adina to fall in love with him; anything that stands in the way of his intents makes him very upset; believes literally everything everyone tells him and very likely rarely read body language that would give away any subtext to what people mean. “Una furtiva lagrima” is an exception and actually has him list out the details that stand out to him, but that’s because the situation is different from the ordinary for him and is also directly related to something that, as I said, he is heavily fixated on.)

Yes, maybe I’m looking too much into it, and I know that they both happen to be TENORS, which for opera people here is more than enough to justify their actions, reactions and decisions. But imo they make much more sense to me when I look at them from that lens, tenor or not. (also I have been hyperfixating on this idea since this morning XD)

[harry-leroy]

📁📁 if I send in two, do I get two?

Yes, indeed you do! (I’m writing these for my two favorite operas - I feel like sometimes I act like they’re the only two operas I really know about, which isn’t true but I just love them too much to talk about any other opera at this point hehehe) 

1. I would love to see a production of The Rake’s Progress where Tom is some kind of crazed genius inventor... who ends up misguided (because that’s the story). I’d love like a 1920s esque production! Also Tom is just totally depressed throughout the entire opera... until it gets worse, of course. 

2. In my play adaptation of Così Fan Tutte that I’m writing, Guglielmo and Fiordiligi (who have completely different names in my adaptation because I made it a regency Austenite adaptation, they are Captain Gallagher and Catherine) were already engaged but one day Guglielmo brings an injured officer (Ferrando) into his fiancee’s house because it was close and that’s how Ferrando and Dorabella fall in love (those two are Captain Fitzhenry and Isabelle). 

That was really run on but just imagine that Ferrando and Dorabella met when Ferrando got himself foolishly injured and he probably proposed to her not long after because he was out of it and in love hehehe 

[monotonous-minutia]

5 more opera headcanons 🥺

this one's a little random but based on a story I generated a verrrrrrry long time ago after watching my second Carmen production. there's that spoken-role character known simply as "the guide" who leads Micaëla to where Don José is in Act 3. when I was younger I thought to myself, it would have taken a bit of time for them to get there and there must have been some bonding along the way. I like to imagine they became friends after that and the guide was there to support Micaëla who was probably a little traumatized by the events of the end of the opera.

Ascanio and Fieramosca actually become kind of friends after Balducci gives up and stops pushing Fieramosca around and Fieramosca realizes he can't pursue Teresa anymore and fully embraces his identity as Disaster Bi and he and Ascanio actually have something to talk about now that Fieramosca has time for art again. Cellini isn't precisely thrilled and makes sure Ascanio knows he is still his mentor. Ascanio doesn't mind the extra attention.

The Composer and Zerbinetta start dating and are very cute together. Also they kiss a lot, screw you homophobic stage directors.

Idamante and Ilia adopt a bunch of the kids who were orphaned during the Trojan War.

Papageno and Papagena have exactly as many kids as they planned and they all live happily in Papageno's cabin in the woods (which does need to be expanded a bit to accommodate the growing family). they do come up with some more original names though. Pamina and Tamino come over to babysit sometimes when they need a break from being Royal and Papageno and Papagena need some quality time. they like birdwatching and taking long walks in the woods and climbing trees and stargazing. their kids all grow up with a deep knowledge and love of nature in all its forms.

thanks!

[monotonous-minutia]

i love asking this due to the insane variety of potential answers: top 5 operatic headcanons? (can be big things or tiny thoughts)

okay buckle up:

Hoffmann and Nicklausse are married (or get married soon after the show). thanks to this I can confidently say it's actually probably not even a headcanon but actually canon. (also they don't like have a wedding ceremony or anything they just go get their license at the courthouse because despite being a romantic Hoffmann doesn't like big weddings and Nicklausse being a Muse isn't overly attached to human customs and also doesn't want to draw attention to the fact that they didn't do this a long time ago.)

idk I may get some shade for this because it's absolutely not historically accurate or chronologically feasible but I like to think that after the events of Don Carlos Elisabeth lets Thibault go back to France because he's all shaken up after what happened at the auto-da-fé and its aftermath so she sends him to go work with her sister and he meets Urbain and they have some fun page escapades together and anything tragic that happens after that is future them's problem

Mignon/Sperata dumps Wilhelm and kicks him out of her father's house and lives happily with her father. One day at the market she bumps into Frédéric who's finally over Philine and apologizes to Sperata for laughing at her and they hit it off and eventually get together because genderfluid mezzos ftw

Sesto and Annio are already married when the opera begins and Sesto and Tito also get married at the end because this is obviously a thing that can happen.

Rosina kicks Almaviva out of the house after the events of Nozze and marries Susanna (who is still married to Figaro because that is also a thing that can happen)

wow lots of marriages in my headcanons lol. I'm sure I have a lot more but these are the ones most frequently in my head XD thanks!