Joseph Méry (of Don Carlos fame) to Félicien David I the late 1850s: “okay...hear me out...what if your new opera involves *checks notes* a dude who gets killed by divine lightning and then Satan himself, played by the same singer, comes in and disguises himself as the dude, and then a bunch of other shit happens and then Mount Vesuvius erupts?”
David: “...seems legit”














