One of the hardest things about writing a novel is carefully doing out the backstory, slowly building the plot, weaving it all into a careful tapestry bit by bit. Opera is like HI SO ANYWAY THE DUKE'S LOST SON ISN'T DEAD, ALSO THAT GUY THERE IS THE BADDIE. - ThreadSky

kjcharleswriter.com • 1 day ago

One of the hardest things about writing a novel is carefully doing out the backstory, slowly building the plot, weaving it all into a careful tapestry bit by bit.

Opera is like HI SO ANYWAY THE DUKE'S LOST SON ISN'T DEAD, ALSO THAT GUY THERE IS THE BADDIE.

Comments

osteoconnor.bsky.social•22 hours ago

I assume you're familiar with Anna Russell's explanation of Wagner's Ring Cycle? If not, there's lots of her on YouTube - recommended. Much better than the original.

daddybearinca.bsky.social•1 day ago

😝

moyotsvet.bsky.social•1 day ago

“Meanwhile Donatella, learning that Edoardo (believing her to have died in the shipwreck during the intermezzo) has married her hunchbacked aunt Prepostera, goes mad in a white nightie and drops dead after six minutes of intense coloratura. Everyone else immediately stabs themselves.”

hauntedtoasters.bsky.social•1 day ago

Flashback to Farnace spending four acts setting up the bloodiest tragedy since Hamlet, everyone's gonna die it's gonna be great—

And then the Queen of the Amazons decides that the Emperor is all right, actually, and of course your son can marry my daughter, and then everything was fine the end

hauntedtoasters.bsky.social•1 day ago

I have NEVER seen a piece of fiction whose last half hour was so clearly rewritten less than a day before the premiere because the writer's patron decided he didn't want a bloodbath tragedy after all, can you make it just a little less... Tragic? Give it a happy ending maybe?

hauntedtoasters.bsky.social•1 day ago

(... on googling it looks like i remember less of the plot than i thought, cause that's not the story, but i distinctly recall the EXTREMELY bait and switch ending that is completely unbelievable as anything other than a very last minute rewrite)

hauntedtoasters.bsky.social•1 day ago

(Hah! Opera Scribe agrees with me.
"This change of heart seems rather unconvincingly abrupt to modern audiences, but Baroque opera demanded a happy ending"
https://operascribe.com/2020/12/13/196-farnace-vivaldi/)

sosomanysarahs.bsky.social•1 day ago

I just went to La Boheme after seeing a long series of operas with Opera Plots, and it was amusing to see a performance where the characters had recognizable problems that flow from established personality traits. And even that one still has The Cough of Doom.

maryb2004.bsky.social•1 day ago

Someone in my opera-going group long ago used to ask before every opera “Is this a cougher?”

sosomanysarahs.bsky.social•1 day ago

Hahaha, it's a fair question!

madisondiazwrites.bsky.social•8 hours ago

Tbh that’s my struggle right now is slowing the story down enough to ensure it’s detailed enough to make sense. I want to speed through it so much that it’s now taking forever to fight my brain 😆