#opera seria

[zisurru]

✨il gran senesino✨

by lin doyle @ cygni tattoo

original art by anton maria zanetti (~1725)

[ceruleansonata]

Arioso

part 1

He watches that head go flying. The spray of blood.

No.

Not again.

"Vanessa!!!!!!" he screams, fighting back against the frenzied crowd as he searches for his sister, his heart pounding. Not again. He can't lose anyone else. "Vanessa Nightray!!!!!!!"

"Elliot!!!!!" He hears his name and turns, but the orange glow of flames licking up the billowing curtains catches his eye instead. He feels his stomach turn.

A hand grabs his arm roughly and Elliot jumps, turning quickly to see his panicked sister, her valet right behind her. "Elliot!! Why are you just standing there, we need to go!!!"

"I was looking for you!!!"

"Well you found me, let's go!!!!" she grabs him by the wrist, dragging him toward the door leading straight out to the courtyard. But Elliot glimpses the sight of a bubbling, bulbous form opening its gruesome mouth in the corner of his eye.

He pulls his arm away.

"I can't just run away and leave everyone else to die!!!!"

"What?!" Vanessa snaps as she turns. Behind her, that awful Chain launches its tongue, severing the head of another panicked partygoer.

Elliot feels sick.

"You and Hans get to safety!!!! I'm going to help Gilbert stop this thing!!"

Vanessa grabs her little brother by the shirtfront, yanking him inches from her enraged face. "You've got to be kidding me!!! Now is NOT the time to play the hero!!! Aren't you always ranting and raving about how much you HATE self-serving sacrifice?!"

Elliot is caught off guard by his sisters assault. But he swallows down his surprise with a gulp.

"If we run away, we're just confirming the rumors about our family. That we're cowards and traitors!! I don't want to live in the shadows anymore, Vanessa. And I can't just run away and wonder if I could have saved even one more life!!!"

"What good is a family name if you're dead, Elliot?!" she screams, tears in her blue eyes. "Don't you realize you're the only one I have left?!"

Suddenly, Elliot goes quiet.

Oh.

"Fred, Claude, Ernest. Our father... Our mother's lost her mind and fallen prey to the lies of that creep... And you want to risk your life over that Vessalius brat?!"

Elliot hasn't seen his sister cry like this since Claude and Ernest died.

He takes her into his arms, hugging her despite the chaos behind them. "I know. I'm sorry, Vanessa."

His stomach sinks.

"But I still don't want to run away. I came here to investigate the Headhunter. And this obviously has something to do with it. I owe it to everyone we've lost to at least find out why," he explains, calmer now. "And I'm not the only one left. Gilbert is still here, too. And he has Raven. He knows how to fight."

Sure enough, he spots his adoptive brother running in their direction.

Vanessa frowns. "We can't trust that guy, Elliot--"

"For now, we have to. Look. I'm not going to die that easily," he promises his sister. "Got it?"

She takes a deep, deep breath. "Then I'm not running away either."

"Hold on--!!" Elliot raises his tone again in surprise. "Yes you are!!!"

"No!!! Hans and I both have guns, and martial training too. And that HAS to be more useful than your old sword!!!"

Elliot starts to argue, but he's cut off by Gilbert calling his name.

Suddenly, everything happens very quickly.

Gilbert jumps over a table, tackling both Elliot and Vanessa to the ground.

Humpty Dumpty's razor sharp tongue whizzes over their heads as Gilbert pulls the table onto its side as a shield.

Which is why Elliot doesn't realize at first that Hans is not so lucky.

[garland-on-thy-brow]

Genders? Yes, of course I know them: first soprano, prima donna, tenor, secondo uomo, seconda donna, l'ultima parte, and the who-the-fuck seventh character.

[monotonous-minutia]

Operablr Pride Month 2024 Week #3 (June 15-21)

Can't believe we're already halfway through the month!!

Erismena (Cavalli/Aureli)  Keywords: Baroque opera, trouser roles, sapphic, GNC character, genderbending, Italian opera

The Hours (Puts/Pierce) Keywords: Opera in English, historical opera, lesbians, queer characters

Lucio Silla (Mozart/Gamerra) Keywords: Italian opera, trouser roles, sapphic, MLM, poly, opera seria

Summaries, libretti, recommended productions, and more under the line! (Disclaimer: I have not necessarily seen all the productions recommended here. Most of them are those that have been recommended to me.)

Erismena

Libretto: (Another obscure one I can't find!) Summary: Starts on page 7 of this PDF Productions: Aix 2017 (English subs) Opera on Video search link: Erismena Cavalli - Opera on Video Bonus: We have a lot of Cavalli this year! Some info on "the most important Italian composer of opera in the mid-17th century." And here! Francesco Cavalli | Opera World (opera-world.net)

The Hours

Libretto: (too new. Not having luck with libretti this year lol) Summary: Metropolitan Opera | The Hours (metopera.org) Productions: Can find on Met on Demand or on VK Bonus: 2024 performance program!

Lucio Silla

Libretto: Lucio Silla Libretto | Mozart | Opera-Arias.com (Italian-translate enabled) Summary: Lucio Silla - Wikipedia Productions: Salzburg 2006 (English subs) Part 1 Part 2 Opera on Video search link: Lucio Silla Mozart - Opera on Video Bonus: Not as clement as our fave Tito perhaps but this guy sure led an interesting life: Sulla - Wikipedia

[fuckyeahfarinelli]

Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli, born 315 years ago

[hollywoodparty]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Idomeneo, re di Creta K. 366

[monotonous-minutia]

Hannah Esther Minutillo as Annio in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito

(Opéra National de Paris, 2005)

[monotonous-minutia]

Idomeneo is 50% Idamante breaking my heart and 50% me saying “Idomeneo, stop being such a tenor.”