#segeste

[unulf0]

four-way between bajazet, grimoaldo, segeste, and massimo. i mean who said that?

[unulf0]

okay. we're doing this now, i guess.

[unulf0]

i think i'm beginning to be able to pinpoint it now- ersinda and segeste resemble certain unsavoury types i've encountered and do so to an uncanny degree. segeste's whole sellout thing reminds me of certain local politicians, for one. as with any opera of this period, he's rather exaggeratedly evil, but regardless, i very much admire coluzzi for writing such timeless and universal characters.

[unulf0]

tragic: boat aria in hot new ( it premiered in 1732 and this recording is from 2017 ) opera you picked up is assigned to the worst character.

[unulf0]

couldn't take it any longer, had to start listening.

segeste is a tenor?? oh, i need to push him off a cliff. immediately.

[unulf0]

loudly* going "SELLOUT" whenever segeste shows up.**

*mentally

**note to myself-from-a-few-hours-later: please do not actually do this when you're listening to germanico. or any opera.

[unulf0]

i don't have the designs for the cast of arminio finalised yet ( i'll do that later ) but i need to get set design + staging down so i've been drawing them as silhouettes. here are some things from act 2! ( under the cut because there are quite a few + most are GIFs and the flickering may bother some people )

( so... warning for flashing, an uncanny drawing of an eye, and a mention of one of the characters attempting to off themself )

act 2 scene 3 - contrary to what the original word-book says, varo and segeste remain after they finish their lines ( "e di affligger tusnelda il core avrò" ). as the accompaniment for arminio's aria ( "duri lacci" ) in the next scene starts, he is lowered in a glass box.

( i should give the context that he is put in a variety of unconventional bounds throughout the opera- to quote my notes, if we're going to hold him captive for most of the story, we might as well be creative about it. :p )

scene 4 remains here, and then at the end of arminio's next aria ( "sì, cadrò" ) the camera pans sideways, to tusnelda. scene 5 begins. segeste walks up to her, and as they talk...

...the darkness fades to reveal them standing in a space filled with staircases and walkways made of metal, the kind you'd see in a factory, perhaps. she cries, he tries to stop her, she sings an aria ( "al furor che ti consiglia" ).

i didn't illustrate scene 6 because it happens in the same place, but ramise enters and tries to stab segeste ( "principe senza fede, padre disumanato!" ). she's followed by sigismondo, who pleads with her and tries to stab himself. she takes the weapon, then sings an aria ( "niente spero, tutto credo" ), in which she moves around the complex of stairs and walkways a whole lot. sig follows her around too, though keeping some distance. once she's done, there's a pause in the music, and...

the set splits apart, leaving sigismondo on a ladder, alone in the void. he whines ( as he often does ) to nobody in particular ( "o ramise, o segeste, ambo fatali!" )

his aria ( "quella fiamma" ) starts soon enough, and there, he's just on the ladder, occasionally climbing around. images flicker in the background- polygons, parts of faces.

in the last verse he climbs down the ladder and the scene ends with him getting to what is presumably the floor ( which we can't tell, because it's all just a white void ) and walking off.

the next scenes require more detailed images of the characters' designs, so i haven't drawn them just yet :/ but hopefully this is enough for the moment.

[thingsdavidlikes]

Segeste by brunoteam77