project outline - A MASQUE AT THE OPERA

Upcoming project
ANOTHER DERMARKISED VERDI LIBRETTO

A MASQUE AT THE OPERA
or,
THAT VERSION WHERE GUSTAVUS III
(AS STRAIGHT AS A RAINBOW IN REAL LIFE)
IS MADE BY VERDI --AND HIS FRENCH SOURCE--
TO BE SWEET ON FRU ANCKARSTRÖM
or
MAYBE IT WILL BE SET IN WESTEROS?
Source libretto by Antonio Somma
German libretto by Johann Christoph Grünbaum http://www.opera-guide.ch/opera.php?uilang=de&id=400#libretto

• Gustavus III (lyric tenor)
• Captain Jan-Jakob Anckarström, royal guard (lyric baritone)
• Elisa Anckarström, his wife (soprano or mezzo)
• Oskar, Gustavus's personal valet (coloratura soprano, en travesti)
• Ulrika, soothsayer (contralto)
• Lieutenant Adolf Ribbing, anti-royalist officer and leader of the plotters (bass-baritone)
• Lieutenant Horn, another anti-royalist officer and second-in-command of the plotters (bass-baritone)
• Kristoffer, non-commissioned officer (bass-baritone)
• The Lord High Magistrate (heroic tenor)
• Fru Anckarström's handmaid (mezzo)

CHORUS OF:
Courtiers, scholars, artists, performers, dignitaries, townspeople, peasants, officers, ranker soldiers, royal household servants, household servants to the Anckarströms, professional ballet dancers at the masque, conspirators

ACT 1
Scene I - The Levée
Scene II - The Lair of the Oracle (tre lustri -> "two decades")

ACT 2
One Scene - Setting - Runestones on the Execution Grounds

ACT 3
Scene I - The Drawing-Room at the Anckarströms'
Scene II - The Foyer at the Opera (Anckarströms about to be shipped "off to Russia")
Scene III - The Ballroom at the Opera


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ALTERNATE PREMISE - WESTEROSI VERSION - A MASQUED BALL? THE TRAGEDY OF KING AERYS THE SECOND?

• Aerys II Targaryen (lyric tenor)
• Lord Tywin Lannister, his right-hand man, advisor, former cupbearer (lyric baritone)
• Lady Joanna Lannister, wife to Tywin (soprano or mezzo)
• Varys, foreign eunuch, Aerys's personal valet (coloratura soprano, en travesti)
• Lysandra, wise woman of the woods, mystic, soothsayer (contralto)
• Lord Dennys Darklyn, anti-royalist officer and leader of the plotters (bass-baritone)
• Lord Frey, anti-royalist officer, second-in-command of the plotters (bass-baritone)
• Ser Andreas the Blue-Eyed, Stormlander bannerman, ie non-commissioned officer (bass-baritone)
• The Lord High Magistrate (heroic tenor)
• Enna, Joanna Lannister's handmaid (mezzo) --

CHORUS OF:
Courtiers, scholars, artists, performers, dignitaries, townspeople, peasants, officers, ranker soldiers, royal household servants, household servants to the Lannisters, professional springtime dancers at the masque, conspirators

ACT 1
Scene I - The Levée
Scene II - The Lair of the Oracle (tre lustri -> "two decades")

ACT 2
One Scene - Setting - Ruins of Harrenhall

ACT 3
Scene I - The Drawing-Room at the Lannisters', in the Tower of the Hand
Scene II - The Foyer to the Ballroom (Lannisters about to be shipped "to Volantis")
Scene III - The Ballroom