raspberryhunter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raspberryhunter) wrote2018-10-09 09:49 pm
raspberryhunter) wrote2018-10-09 09:49 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Yuletide 2018
Dear Yuletide writer,
Uh, apparently it is my Yuletide tradition to write Way Too Many Words. Feel free to ignore these ideas and use your own — I love seeing how other people think about my favorite fandoms, and I love seeing interpretations that are different from mine (some of my favorite fics are the ones that made me look at things in a new way). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. (In fact, this is the first year I've ever bumped up against the max number of allowable requests!) I have gotten some wonderful stories for some of these canons, and I want mooooore :D
General: I am open to most things! I am a fan of gen, but I'm totally open to het/slash/femslash. I will enthusiastically read whatever rating you would like to write. I love fork-in-the-road type AUs for any fandom; I am on board for setting-changed AU for all fandoms except Schiller. I am also totally open to alternative ways of telling stories -- IF, epistolary fic, poetry, what-have-you, I'm up for it! Crossovers would also be fine between these fandoms (except not crossing over Schiller and Verdi unless you're doing some sort of multi-universe thing).
Things I love: (I don't expect all of these by any means, this is just a sampling of Things That Make Me Happy): I love worldbuilding fic and plotty fic. I love character-driven fic that thinks hard about the ramifications of characters' choices. I love most of all for there to be some sort of character arc, or characters (and/or the reader) coming to a greater understanding of something or someone during a fic. I love and adore deep friendship/partnerships, especially platonic ones, of all gender-variety. I love loyalty and duty bonds (and I have a special place in my heart for physical expressions of fealty bonds, like kneeling or ritualized oath-swearing or salutes). I love it when all the characters are understandable rather than straight-out villainous or malicious, or where expectations of malice are subverted. I love when something or some implication is clear to the reader that is not clear to the characters, or some subset of the characters, because we have knowledge (about the actual canon, for example) that they don't have.
DNW: PWP; unrequested poly; graphic gratuitous violence/gore; infidelity involving characters whose fidelity is an important part of their character (that is to say either Verdi or Schiller Elisabeth) or involving characters who plausibly or canonically have functional romantic relationships (like Annio and Servilia). (I have no problems with infidelity for characters like Philip, who is doing it canonically.) Darkfic/tragic endings/character death is great and even encouraged (but please tag!) for all these fandoms except for Clemenza (where darkfic is fine, but no character death and please at least a somewhat-hopeful ending). Please no references to current politics.
Der Ring des Nibelungen (Brunnhilde, Sieglinde) - More Brunnhilde and Sieglinde please!! I would *love* an AU where Sieglinde survives and gets to actually parent Siegfried properly, maybe with Brunnhilde?? Or, if not parenting him together, how does it work when Brunnhilde meets Sieglinde again, and alt!Siegfried? Now that they can work together (and if Siegfried is raised to be wise and observant instead of an idiotic brat), can they somehow still take down the gods without all dying horribly? (And how does it even work if Siegfried is nice enough not to break Wotan's staff? Or is he wise enough to break it, even if he's nicer? Or is there another solution? How does all this interplay with the curse on the Ring?)
If that's not something you're interested in, I love their interaction and the emotions they have together, that amazing scene where Brunnhilde and Sieglinde really connect through Sieglinde's future child… Maybe a very slight AU where they have a bit more time before Brunnhilde has to face Wotan? What would they talk about? Can they support each other? (I'd love it if Sieglinde was also able to offer Brunnhilde some comfort and wisdom, if it were a mutual sort of thing.)
Canon notes: Much of the Ring Cycle is available on Youtube. I'm basically imprinted on the Boulez version of Die Walkure with Donald McIntyre and Gwyneth Jones. Unfortunately Acts I and II got taken down; Act III is available with English subs here (Act III). I also rather liked the Sawallisch version of Walkure here (Part 1) although Part 2 has gotten taken down :(
Librettos are also available free on the web — English translation here, and probably other places of which I am unaware. I really like Andrew Porter's English translation, which is available on Amazon.
Canon DNW: For this one I'm totally okay with dark (source canon is the end of the world, after all), but a) I don't want Brunnhilde/Siegfried if she is acting in an explicitly parental role towards him, and b) if Siegfried is nicer, I'd like that to have some sort of positive effect, even if overall it ends badly for Our Heroes.
Macbeth - Shakespeare (Macbeth, Three Witches) - Okay, so, I have a specific request for this one that you DO NOT have to follow. So, I watched a production of Verdi's Macbeth (you do not have to be familiar with this opera, this is just the backstory) -- it's one of those strange modern productions -- and Duncan (a non-speaking/singing part, in the opera) is this very odd-looking small person in goldface. Then Macbeth comes out and his hands are covered in green (and he and Lady Macbeth are smearing it all over each other) -- and I thought, OH, Duncan is an ALIEN. Duncan and Macduff represent the alien takeover of Earth, and the witches are the resistance and are trying to get Macbeth to kill the aliens and save Earth! Only Macbeth has been brainwashed by the aliens so he's still totally conflicted about it! And Banquo is a collaborator! (I have screenshots here, and a link to the youtube video of the production in question.)
...This did not turn out to be what that production was about, but now I totally want Alien Takeover AU of Macbeth. I want the AU where Duncan and Macduff are representative of the aliens who have taken over Earth, and Macbeth is a human who at the start of the play thought Duncan was his rightful ruler. Go wild with everything else! Is Hecate the leader of the Human Resistance? You don't have to go with my interpretations of the witches or Banquo or whatever. (but, okay, I am totally here for the alien blood being an aphrodisiac)
If you do not feel like writing alien AU (and who could blame you?) I would also just love anything that dealt with the witches and how they interact with Macbeth, particularly in terms of the prophesying. I've always been fascinated by the sort of prophecy that comes true because it's a prophecy and people bend themselves in pretzels to actually make it work out (whereas if it had never been spoken, perhaps Macbeth wouldn't have had the impetus to kill Duncan). Do the witches know that they're inciting him to murder? Is this something they want? What if he hadn't killed Duncan; would the prophecy still have come true? Would it still have been a tragedy, then? When the Second Apparition says "Be bloody, bold, and resolute," I mean... this doesn't actually seem like good advice. I guess it is really just supposed to set off the "no woman born" thing, but... what would happen if Macbeth weren't bloody, bold, and resolute? Would something worse happen? What is the relationship between the Witches and the Apparitions?
Canon notes: I do not have a particular production of Macbeth I feel strongly about. The play is available online e.g. here.
Canon-specific DNW: ...I don't think I have canon-specific DNW's for this play.
Turandot - Turandot, Liu - I was so thrilled to see this in the tagset! I adore this opera and at the same time it totally hurts my head. There is the repeated, moving theme of sacrifice (but only for ROMANTIC LOVE!); the whole lovely idea of vulnerability, of putting your life in someone else's hands (this would have worked much better IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THE PART WHERE SHE JUST TORTURED AND KILLED HIS FRIEND); the concept of the ice maiden thawing, growing up and gaining the emotions of remorse and regret (IF ONLY IT HADN'T BEEN AS A RESPONSE TO SEXUAL HARASSMENT KISS); the feminist sensibilities of Turandot (if only they hadn't manifested in her KILLING PEOPLE, also in being completely betrayed in the last act); the incredibly sweet Timur-Liu filial relationship (terribly shortchanged by the revelation she's only taking care of him because Calaf smiled at her WHAT).
Write me a story where Turandot and Liu have a relationship that doesn't depend on Calaf! Friendship, loyalty-liege, rivalry, mentoring, romantic, frenemy, professional partners, whatever, I'm up for it. One thing I'd love to see is a rewriting of the fairy tale so that the romance is between Turandot and Liu -- how awesome would that be?? How would Calaf and Timur fit in? (I love Timur and the Three Ministers, by the way.) How would the riddles fit? Would the story end with Liu guessing the riddles or would there be some drama after that? Or! What about a story where there's some sort of loyalty and/or friendship between Turandot and Liu, either retconning the opera or having it develop somehow within the course of the opera, either would be wonderful. Or! What if Turandot and Liu were actually rival powers playing a dark game here (with Calaf a pawn?), for reasons you will tell me in the fic? Or write me a total AU! I would adore academia-Turandot (Professor Turandot, grad-student Liu, Calaf as a... oh, I don't know, project manager in industry? Administrator? Admin assistant?), lawyer draaaaama, SPAAAAACE, cyberpunk, random-fantasy-land, whatever!
I have no problems with Calaf being a major character (and would in fact rather he appear than not, although honestly feel free to change his character so he's less of a total jerk); however, if the story is going to be a happy ending (not dark) for both Turandot and Liu, I'd like him not to be killed by Turandot. (I am totally fine with her killing him in a less happy or darker story, or if he dies for some other reason. But come on Turandot, you can't just go around killing people because you feel like it, even if they are tenors!) I definitely do NOT want Liu to die specifically for Calaf (although again if she dies for any other reason that's fine!)
Canon notes: I am halfway through the Met Turandot available on Met on Demand and (although I think they go a little overboard on spectacle) I really like it so far! Poplavskaya as Liu is marvelous. But I am not wedded to any particular production. An Italian/English libretto is available here.
DNW: Pairings that are both non-canon and non-requested, Turandot or Liu murdering another character if the story is not meant to otherwise be dark. Liu dying for Calaf.
La Clemenza di Tito - Mozart (Tito, Sesto, Vitellia, Servilia) - Ahhhh, all these super super strong loyalty and friendship and romantic relationships sometimes conflicting with each other and sometimes supporting each other! People struggling between their private emotional feelings and public duty! Duets where people profess their not-necessarily-romantic love and adoration and BFF-ness for each other! (although, okay, in the Met 2012 production I watched Tito/Sesto had clear romantic undertones, and yes, I have All The Feelings about that too.) The triumph of mercy and redemption and love over tragedy! I love it all!
Note that Annio was not nominated, but I sort of feel like the five main characters come as a set? So I'm going to provide prompts for all five of them; just ignore the Annio ones if you didn't sign up to write him. Also note that I just watched this (and fell in love) right before signups so I may get details wrong; if so, please feel free to correct me.
I want... whatever you want to write. Seriously, I will take all of it, with as many characters as you want to give me; I asked for all four (*cough* five) and that is still my preference for this opera, but if your idea uses fewer characters then go for it. I want all the Annio and Sesto backstory, how did they get to be such great friends, you know Annio was intriguing on Sesto's behalf during the entire opera when he's not on stage in addition to when he's onstage, post-canon fic with them? In the Met 2012 production Tito sort of put Sesto and Vitellia together (although they kind of sprang apart once he was no longer right there, ha); tell me about Sesto and Vitellia after the opera -- do they stay together? do they tear each other apart? do Annio and Servilia save them from themselves? (I feel like they're terrible for each other, but I would be fine being convinced otherwise.) Annio and Servilia, both independently and together, are The Best, I would love anything about them, clearly they are a power couple who goes around Being Awesome, tell me about that! I love "Ah, perdona al primo affetto" so much, they are the best, tell me about another time either Annio or Servilia, or both, have to deal with that choice between private emotion and public duty (and kick butt at it, too). The Met 2012 staging of "Deh, per questo istante solo" immediately made me have lots of shippy feeligns for Tito and Sesto. (ETA: I am more than happy for you not to ship them! As I may have mentioned, I adore friendship/loyalty relationships without romance.) What does their relationship look like after the opera? (I got the sense from Met 2012 that Tito was distancing himself from and pairing off Sesto/Vitellia, which makes me wonder whether Tito and Sesto are just pining for each other afterwards, either as friends or romantically.) If they were romantically involved before the opera started, what did Vitellia think of it? (Heck. What did Servilia and Annio think about it?) In general it is so messed up for Vitellia to order Sesto to kill the man and emperor he loves, whether it's in a friendship or romance sort of way -- more exploration of that dynamic? Servilia and Vitellia need more time together! Maybe post-canon? Can Servilia teach Vitellia how to be a functional human being who doesn't manipulate her lovers to kill, er, their lovers? I would be okay with poly for this canon if your story goes that way.
Then there's all of the musing about what it means to be a good ruler and whether mercy is always the good choice etc., and I want alllll of the digging into that too. Is it always the good choice? Well, obviously it is always the right choice when it's my darling Sesto, but is this always true? (I also love poor put-upon Publio and would not mind more of him either.)
Canon notes: I very strongly imprinted on the Met 2012 version with Elīna Garanča as Sesto and Kate Lindsey as Annio. (Don't feel you need to watch it, but I think it's a great first one!) This is available on Met on Demand. An Italian/English libretto is available here.
DNW: No death or really unhappy endings (ambiguous or unhappy-but-hopeful endings are fine). I enthusiastically welcome a darker take on the opera, or picking apart things which maybe aren't quite as cut-and-dry as the opera makes it look, but I love the opera partially for the way it's so hopeful, and I don't want any of them dead or super awful unhappy at the end of the fic.
Don Carlo(s) - Verdi (Rodrigo) -- I am familiar with both the French and Italian versions.
I would like Rodrigo and any of the other characters. Honestly I would go for Rodrigo and any character or in ensemble, including characters not nominated. And he does not need to be a main or POV character!
I love this opera so much for lots of reasons; I just feel like Verdi (and Mery/du Locle) love all the characters a lot, despite their flaws and dysfunctionality, and it makes me love them all too. (Well, except the Grand Inquisitor, who just frightens me -- which I also enjoy.) And I think the biggest thing for me is that I absolutely adore loyalty and friendship/love relationships, and I'm just fascinated with the interplay with and tension between different loyalty and love bonds in the opera. And Rodrigo is the principal example. Rodrigo's primary loyalty and love is to Carlos, and Rodrigo and Carlos have a beautiful mutual friendship and loyalty that I love very much. And then I feel that in the opera Rodrigo also has a strong secondary bond to his king, to whom he's sworn allegiance and who represents Spain, which he also loves (and dies for, as well as for Carlos and Flanders). And although the loyalty and love bonds here are neither as mutual or as strong as Rodrigo-Carlos, Philip seems to be trying to grope his way towards that (and failing). And Elisabeth also has a similar setup to Rodrigo, though more conflicted: she has made vows to Philip, and he has her primary loyalty (if under some duress), but she also loves Carlos and is loyal to the best in him. And then there's a (mostly implied, but still there) friendship/loyalty bond between Elisabeth and Eboli that gets betrayed; in some sense it's the dark mirror of Carlos and Rodrigo... To me it's the very strength of these bonds that turns everything to tragedy when they collide, and I love it.
The whole Rodrigo-Carlos-Philip loyalty triangle (and mirrored by the Elisabeth-Carlos-Philip love triangle) is just fascinating to me. Anything that explores this would be great. Philip in particular is just such a terrible and fascinating character who brings a lot of his problems on himself, but it's hard to listen to that gorgeous music and not feel a little for him. (I have totally imprinted on Ferrucio Furlanetto's amazing Philip, and I absolutely adore the interaction between Furlanetto and Keenlyside in Restate (Met version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWDfHDRlTxo )
Rodrigo and Elisabeth only ever canonically speak in the scene where Rodrigo gives Elisabeth Carlos' letter, but we know that they spoke at least one time off-stage (before his death). And then in the Hampson-Harteros Salzburg performance Rodrigo and Elisabetta speak their auto-da-fe asides to each other, and those four lines alone made me really fascinated in what kind of friendship they might have, united as they are in their devotion to Carlos. And how does Elisabeth respond to this whole Rodrigo-Carlos-Philip triangle, or is she even aware of it? How does Philip talk to her about it, if he does?
Eboli wasn't nominated, but now I'm sort of interested in the way Carlos-Rodrigo mirrors Elisabeth-Eboli; what would a fic with the four of them look like? What would Rodrigo and Eboli have to say to each other if they could really talk truly and deeply about their feelings for their Prince and Queen? Or if they couldn't but could only refer to it in a veiled (ha) way? How do Rodrigo and Eboli feel about the fact that Rodrigo pulled a knife on her? Were they friends before that? (I kind of like to think they were; it adds to that scene; but I'd be interested either way.) How would they (could they?) interact after that?
I am happy for you to ship any combination of characters or keep it gen/restricted to canon ships -- I think both can be fascinating. (My personal headcanon for the non-canon pairings tends to be gen or UST-romantic-feelings-totally-sublimated-into-loyalty-bonds, but I also think it's totally interesting to see these very strong relationships through the lens of romantic/sexual pairings.) With one exception: because Elisabeth's fidelity is such a major component of her character, I do NOT want a consummated romantic/sexual relationship with Elisabeth and anyone else (except, obviously, Philip), and I'd prefer not to have any sort of romantic relationship between her and Rodrigo, even unrequited, because quite frankly the poor woman has enough going on with the men in her life. (Except in cases where one can sidestep Carlos and/or Philip: for example, a) the extremely messed-up dubcon scenario where Philip commands her to, b) canon-divergence where both Philip and Carlos somehow die (do they kill each other in the swordfight?) and she is left picking up the pieces (and maybe figuring out how to rule??) and mourning with that best of courtiers (which now that I think of it would also make a fantastic gen/UST-romantic-feelings-sublimated-into-political-counseling fic), or c) an AU where everyone's character and/or the cultural milieu is changed enough that this becomes possible. Like, if it's Space AU and Space Queen Elisabetta deposes Philip... You get the idea.)
Please tag if ending in tragedy, but if tagged I am totally here for super tragic endings and also equally here for fix-it -- whatever works more naturally for your fic!
Canon notes: My first Don Carlo, and the one that has imprinted on me forever, and the one I would absolutely recommend as a first one, is the Alagna-Poplavskaya-Keenlyside-Furlanetto Met 2011, which is available on Met on Demand. I adore all the singers in this one (Alagna is perhaps slightly weaker than the rest of the cast singing-wise, but still acquits himself quite well); they are all also extraordinary actors (Furlanetto and Poplavskaya, oh gosh); and the videography elevates it to practically cinematic. Keenlyside is absolutely stellar although I will say his interpretation of Rodrigo here is a little more emotional and rough than I really envision him.
There is a very similar ROH (2007) production with all the same singers except with Villazon swapped in for Alagna. I prefer Villazon's singing; I also prefer the Keenlyside/Villazon Carlo/Rodrigo relationship and Keenlyside's Rodrigo in this one, where Rodrigo absolutely loves his Carlo and is a little less frenetic and more simply adoring about it; but the Met has so much better videography that it is the one I'd recommend as a first one.
I also utterly adore both Thomas Hampson (Salzburg 2014) and Sherrill Milnes (also available on Met on Demand) as Rodrigo -- their interpretations are more courtly and less soldierly than Keenlyside's, and their Rodrigos might actually be a bit closer to what's in my head. (I may be able to hook you up with the Met 2011, the ROH 2007, or the Salzburg 2014 -- PM or email me at this username at gmail. I will also probably delete this parenthetical sometime after signups end.)
Canon DNW: Consummated romantic relationship with Elisabeth and anyone else except Philip. Any romantic relationship between Elisabeth and Rodrigo (except as noted above).
Don Carlos - Schiller (Any) -- For this canon I am asking for Schiller specifically, not the opera, because I'm fascinated by how complicated all the characters are, particularly compared to the opera. Though Posa still loves Carlos (even there I'm not entirely sure what his feelings exactly are towards Carlos and how much of it has to do with Carlos agreeing with him about liberty, etc.) he is much more of a zealot and really rather a manipulative bastard, and doesn't particularly feel the loyalty to Philip that I think opera!Posa does, which makes him more complex and fascinating (if perhaps not hitting my loyalty buttons in the targeted way opera!Posa does). Elisabeth is openly political and cheerfully totally awesome and I love her very very much.
So -- give me something that shows off the complexity of the characters! One big thing I've been thinking about is that after I read the play, I thought that if Posa had told Carlos his plans (maybe Carlos forces him to?) that everything would have been okay. And of course that would have staved off the immediate problems, but it wouldn't have fixed the fundamental issues, because that whole Posa-Philip-Carlos triangle is still there and set to explode. (The Philip-Carlos-Elisabeth triangle, too, but let's face it, Posa is the fulcrum on which Philip and Carlos turn, really.) Is there a way to save this? Or does it inevitably become tragedy anyway? Please tag if ending in tragedy, but if tagged I am totally here for super tragic endings and also equally here for fix-it -- whatever works more naturally for your fic! (I must admit that for Schiller it seems to me that super tragic is a lot more likely.)
Or: Posa and the Queen seem very familiar with each other in the play -- how do they get to be such good friends? Perhaps hijinks in which they outwit the King before the start of the play? (Note: please no consummated attraction between Posa and Elisabeth. Because Elisabeth would never! Though one-sided admiration/fan-worship/attraction on Posa's part is pretty much canon and I'm totally here for that. And, I mean, I'm even up for Elisabeth secretly admiring and maybe even being attracted to Posa too (her last lines to him seem to imply a former admiration, at least), but she'd never act on it, even a bit.) (Wait! What if Posa/Philip were a thing and Elisabeth knew about it and their scene in Act IV, Scene III is all about that?? HMM.)
Or: Elisabeth is by far the most awesome character in the play. She is super awesome. Anything with her, really! I read the ending of the play as ambiguous; is there any way to save her? Can she somehow fix things with Philip? Does she even want to? Gosh, what is her private relationship like with Philip, who cares not at all about her Flanders ambitions (but she certainly cares) but who practically has a secret police reporting on everyone, so that she pretty much has no expectation of privacy?
Or: What is the relationship between Posa and Eboli? Posa is extremely suspicious of her the whole time (sometimes correctly, sometimes maybe a little more than he needs to be). Is there backstory there? Posa says he hasn't talked to her very much, but have they perhaps clashed before in some way? (...what if they fell into bed together? What would their pillow talk be like? Would it be full of them sniping at each other and suspecting each other of plots??)
Or: really anything that speaks to you about these complicated characters!
This one is an everything-goes shipping zone! Ship everyone with everyone else! or don't! I am here for all of it, except consummated romance with Elisabeth and anyone else (except for Philip, of course).
Canon notes: I have sadly not been able to see this one, so I have no headcanon based on actual sets or actors or anything. I have read the Gutenberg translation available here.
If you know of any way I can get hold of this (German or English is fine, doesn't need to be subbed, I am willing to pay reasonable amounts, but does need to be US-region-compatible) please let me know!! I would love to watch this!
DNW: Different-setting AU's, for this one (canon divergence is always fine). Consummated attraction between Posa and Elisabeth (or Elisabeth and anyone except Philip). This Posa seems to be rather more loyal to his own vision than he is to either Carlos or Philip (honestly, part of what I think is so fascinating about him is that no one actually knows exactly his primary loyalty, probably not even him); don't make him into opera!Posa.
(lightly edited 10-22-18 to stress that (a) I am happy with gen or ships for all relationships mentioned here, and (b) I love lots of ways of telling stories)
Uh, apparently it is my Yuletide tradition to write Way Too Many Words. Feel free to ignore these ideas and use your own — I love seeing how other people think about my favorite fandoms, and I love seeing interpretations that are different from mine (some of my favorite fics are the ones that made me look at things in a new way). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. (In fact, this is the first year I've ever bumped up against the max number of allowable requests!) I have gotten some wonderful stories for some of these canons, and I want mooooore :D
General: I am open to most things! I am a fan of gen, but I'm totally open to het/slash/femslash. I will enthusiastically read whatever rating you would like to write. I love fork-in-the-road type AUs for any fandom; I am on board for setting-changed AU for all fandoms except Schiller. I am also totally open to alternative ways of telling stories -- IF, epistolary fic, poetry, what-have-you, I'm up for it! Crossovers would also be fine between these fandoms (except not crossing over Schiller and Verdi unless you're doing some sort of multi-universe thing).
Things I love: (I don't expect all of these by any means, this is just a sampling of Things That Make Me Happy): I love worldbuilding fic and plotty fic. I love character-driven fic that thinks hard about the ramifications of characters' choices. I love most of all for there to be some sort of character arc, or characters (and/or the reader) coming to a greater understanding of something or someone during a fic. I love and adore deep friendship/partnerships, especially platonic ones, of all gender-variety. I love loyalty and duty bonds (and I have a special place in my heart for physical expressions of fealty bonds, like kneeling or ritualized oath-swearing or salutes). I love it when all the characters are understandable rather than straight-out villainous or malicious, or where expectations of malice are subverted. I love when something or some implication is clear to the reader that is not clear to the characters, or some subset of the characters, because we have knowledge (about the actual canon, for example) that they don't have.
DNW: PWP; unrequested poly; graphic gratuitous violence/gore; infidelity involving characters whose fidelity is an important part of their character (that is to say either Verdi or Schiller Elisabeth) or involving characters who plausibly or canonically have functional romantic relationships (like Annio and Servilia). (I have no problems with infidelity for characters like Philip, who is doing it canonically.) Darkfic/tragic endings/character death is great and even encouraged (but please tag!) for all these fandoms except for Clemenza (where darkfic is fine, but no character death and please at least a somewhat-hopeful ending). Please no references to current politics.
Der Ring des Nibelungen (Brunnhilde, Sieglinde) - More Brunnhilde and Sieglinde please!! I would *love* an AU where Sieglinde survives and gets to actually parent Siegfried properly, maybe with Brunnhilde?? Or, if not parenting him together, how does it work when Brunnhilde meets Sieglinde again, and alt!Siegfried? Now that they can work together (and if Siegfried is raised to be wise and observant instead of an idiotic brat), can they somehow still take down the gods without all dying horribly? (And how does it even work if Siegfried is nice enough not to break Wotan's staff? Or is he wise enough to break it, even if he's nicer? Or is there another solution? How does all this interplay with the curse on the Ring?)
If that's not something you're interested in, I love their interaction and the emotions they have together, that amazing scene where Brunnhilde and Sieglinde really connect through Sieglinde's future child… Maybe a very slight AU where they have a bit more time before Brunnhilde has to face Wotan? What would they talk about? Can they support each other? (I'd love it if Sieglinde was also able to offer Brunnhilde some comfort and wisdom, if it were a mutual sort of thing.)
Canon notes: Much of the Ring Cycle is available on Youtube. I'm basically imprinted on the Boulez version of Die Walkure with Donald McIntyre and Gwyneth Jones. Unfortunately Acts I and II got taken down; Act III is available with English subs here (Act III). I also rather liked the Sawallisch version of Walkure here (Part 1) although Part 2 has gotten taken down :(
Librettos are also available free on the web — English translation here, and probably other places of which I am unaware. I really like Andrew Porter's English translation, which is available on Amazon.
Canon DNW: For this one I'm totally okay with dark (source canon is the end of the world, after all), but a) I don't want Brunnhilde/Siegfried if she is acting in an explicitly parental role towards him, and b) if Siegfried is nicer, I'd like that to have some sort of positive effect, even if overall it ends badly for Our Heroes.
Macbeth - Shakespeare (Macbeth, Three Witches) - Okay, so, I have a specific request for this one that you DO NOT have to follow. So, I watched a production of Verdi's Macbeth (you do not have to be familiar with this opera, this is just the backstory) -- it's one of those strange modern productions -- and Duncan (a non-speaking/singing part, in the opera) is this very odd-looking small person in goldface. Then Macbeth comes out and his hands are covered in green (and he and Lady Macbeth are smearing it all over each other) -- and I thought, OH, Duncan is an ALIEN. Duncan and Macduff represent the alien takeover of Earth, and the witches are the resistance and are trying to get Macbeth to kill the aliens and save Earth! Only Macbeth has been brainwashed by the aliens so he's still totally conflicted about it! And Banquo is a collaborator! (I have screenshots here, and a link to the youtube video of the production in question.)
...This did not turn out to be what that production was about, but now I totally want Alien Takeover AU of Macbeth. I want the AU where Duncan and Macduff are representative of the aliens who have taken over Earth, and Macbeth is a human who at the start of the play thought Duncan was his rightful ruler. Go wild with everything else! Is Hecate the leader of the Human Resistance? You don't have to go with my interpretations of the witches or Banquo or whatever. (but, okay, I am totally here for the alien blood being an aphrodisiac)
If you do not feel like writing alien AU (and who could blame you?) I would also just love anything that dealt with the witches and how they interact with Macbeth, particularly in terms of the prophesying. I've always been fascinated by the sort of prophecy that comes true because it's a prophecy and people bend themselves in pretzels to actually make it work out (whereas if it had never been spoken, perhaps Macbeth wouldn't have had the impetus to kill Duncan). Do the witches know that they're inciting him to murder? Is this something they want? What if he hadn't killed Duncan; would the prophecy still have come true? Would it still have been a tragedy, then? When the Second Apparition says "Be bloody, bold, and resolute," I mean... this doesn't actually seem like good advice. I guess it is really just supposed to set off the "no woman born" thing, but... what would happen if Macbeth weren't bloody, bold, and resolute? Would something worse happen? What is the relationship between the Witches and the Apparitions?
Canon notes: I do not have a particular production of Macbeth I feel strongly about. The play is available online e.g. here.
Canon-specific DNW: ...I don't think I have canon-specific DNW's for this play.
Turandot - Turandot, Liu - I was so thrilled to see this in the tagset! I adore this opera and at the same time it totally hurts my head. There is the repeated, moving theme of sacrifice (but only for ROMANTIC LOVE!); the whole lovely idea of vulnerability, of putting your life in someone else's hands (this would have worked much better IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THE PART WHERE SHE JUST TORTURED AND KILLED HIS FRIEND); the concept of the ice maiden thawing, growing up and gaining the emotions of remorse and regret (IF ONLY IT HADN'T BEEN AS A RESPONSE TO SEXUAL HARASSMENT KISS); the feminist sensibilities of Turandot (if only they hadn't manifested in her KILLING PEOPLE, also in being completely betrayed in the last act); the incredibly sweet Timur-Liu filial relationship (terribly shortchanged by the revelation she's only taking care of him because Calaf smiled at her WHAT).
Write me a story where Turandot and Liu have a relationship that doesn't depend on Calaf! Friendship, loyalty-liege, rivalry, mentoring, romantic, frenemy, professional partners, whatever, I'm up for it. One thing I'd love to see is a rewriting of the fairy tale so that the romance is between Turandot and Liu -- how awesome would that be?? How would Calaf and Timur fit in? (I love Timur and the Three Ministers, by the way.) How would the riddles fit? Would the story end with Liu guessing the riddles or would there be some drama after that? Or! What about a story where there's some sort of loyalty and/or friendship between Turandot and Liu, either retconning the opera or having it develop somehow within the course of the opera, either would be wonderful. Or! What if Turandot and Liu were actually rival powers playing a dark game here (with Calaf a pawn?), for reasons you will tell me in the fic? Or write me a total AU! I would adore academia-Turandot (Professor Turandot, grad-student Liu, Calaf as a... oh, I don't know, project manager in industry? Administrator? Admin assistant?), lawyer draaaaama, SPAAAAACE, cyberpunk, random-fantasy-land, whatever!
I have no problems with Calaf being a major character (and would in fact rather he appear than not, although honestly feel free to change his character so he's less of a total jerk); however, if the story is going to be a happy ending (not dark) for both Turandot and Liu, I'd like him not to be killed by Turandot. (I am totally fine with her killing him in a less happy or darker story, or if he dies for some other reason. But come on Turandot, you can't just go around killing people because you feel like it, even if they are tenors!) I definitely do NOT want Liu to die specifically for Calaf (although again if she dies for any other reason that's fine!)
Canon notes: I am halfway through the Met Turandot available on Met on Demand and (although I think they go a little overboard on spectacle) I really like it so far! Poplavskaya as Liu is marvelous. But I am not wedded to any particular production. An Italian/English libretto is available here.
DNW: Pairings that are both non-canon and non-requested, Turandot or Liu murdering another character if the story is not meant to otherwise be dark. Liu dying for Calaf.
La Clemenza di Tito - Mozart (Tito, Sesto, Vitellia, Servilia) - Ahhhh, all these super super strong loyalty and friendship and romantic relationships sometimes conflicting with each other and sometimes supporting each other! People struggling between their private emotional feelings and public duty! Duets where people profess their not-necessarily-romantic love and adoration and BFF-ness for each other! (although, okay, in the Met 2012 production I watched Tito/Sesto had clear romantic undertones, and yes, I have All The Feelings about that too.) The triumph of mercy and redemption and love over tragedy! I love it all!
Note that Annio was not nominated, but I sort of feel like the five main characters come as a set? So I'm going to provide prompts for all five of them; just ignore the Annio ones if you didn't sign up to write him. Also note that I just watched this (and fell in love) right before signups so I may get details wrong; if so, please feel free to correct me.
I want... whatever you want to write. Seriously, I will take all of it, with as many characters as you want to give me; I asked for all four (*cough* five) and that is still my preference for this opera, but if your idea uses fewer characters then go for it. I want all the Annio and Sesto backstory, how did they get to be such great friends, you know Annio was intriguing on Sesto's behalf during the entire opera when he's not on stage in addition to when he's onstage, post-canon fic with them? In the Met 2012 production Tito sort of put Sesto and Vitellia together (although they kind of sprang apart once he was no longer right there, ha); tell me about Sesto and Vitellia after the opera -- do they stay together? do they tear each other apart? do Annio and Servilia save them from themselves? (I feel like they're terrible for each other, but I would be fine being convinced otherwise.) Annio and Servilia, both independently and together, are The Best, I would love anything about them, clearly they are a power couple who goes around Being Awesome, tell me about that! I love "Ah, perdona al primo affetto" so much, they are the best, tell me about another time either Annio or Servilia, or both, have to deal with that choice between private emotion and public duty (and kick butt at it, too). The Met 2012 staging of "Deh, per questo istante solo" immediately made me have lots of shippy feeligns for Tito and Sesto. (ETA: I am more than happy for you not to ship them! As I may have mentioned, I adore friendship/loyalty relationships without romance.) What does their relationship look like after the opera? (I got the sense from Met 2012 that Tito was distancing himself from and pairing off Sesto/Vitellia, which makes me wonder whether Tito and Sesto are just pining for each other afterwards, either as friends or romantically.) If they were romantically involved before the opera started, what did Vitellia think of it? (Heck. What did Servilia and Annio think about it?) In general it is so messed up for Vitellia to order Sesto to kill the man and emperor he loves, whether it's in a friendship or romance sort of way -- more exploration of that dynamic? Servilia and Vitellia need more time together! Maybe post-canon? Can Servilia teach Vitellia how to be a functional human being who doesn't manipulate her lovers to kill, er, their lovers? I would be okay with poly for this canon if your story goes that way.
Then there's all of the musing about what it means to be a good ruler and whether mercy is always the good choice etc., and I want alllll of the digging into that too. Is it always the good choice? Well, obviously it is always the right choice when it's my darling Sesto, but is this always true? (I also love poor put-upon Publio and would not mind more of him either.)
Canon notes: I very strongly imprinted on the Met 2012 version with Elīna Garanča as Sesto and Kate Lindsey as Annio. (Don't feel you need to watch it, but I think it's a great first one!) This is available on Met on Demand. An Italian/English libretto is available here.
DNW: No death or really unhappy endings (ambiguous or unhappy-but-hopeful endings are fine). I enthusiastically welcome a darker take on the opera, or picking apart things which maybe aren't quite as cut-and-dry as the opera makes it look, but I love the opera partially for the way it's so hopeful, and I don't want any of them dead or super awful unhappy at the end of the fic.
Don Carlo(s) - Verdi (Rodrigo) -- I am familiar with both the French and Italian versions.
I would like Rodrigo and any of the other characters. Honestly I would go for Rodrigo and any character or in ensemble, including characters not nominated. And he does not need to be a main or POV character!
I love this opera so much for lots of reasons; I just feel like Verdi (and Mery/du Locle) love all the characters a lot, despite their flaws and dysfunctionality, and it makes me love them all too. (Well, except the Grand Inquisitor, who just frightens me -- which I also enjoy.) And I think the biggest thing for me is that I absolutely adore loyalty and friendship/love relationships, and I'm just fascinated with the interplay with and tension between different loyalty and love bonds in the opera. And Rodrigo is the principal example. Rodrigo's primary loyalty and love is to Carlos, and Rodrigo and Carlos have a beautiful mutual friendship and loyalty that I love very much. And then I feel that in the opera Rodrigo also has a strong secondary bond to his king, to whom he's sworn allegiance and who represents Spain, which he also loves (and dies for, as well as for Carlos and Flanders). And although the loyalty and love bonds here are neither as mutual or as strong as Rodrigo-Carlos, Philip seems to be trying to grope his way towards that (and failing). And Elisabeth also has a similar setup to Rodrigo, though more conflicted: she has made vows to Philip, and he has her primary loyalty (if under some duress), but she also loves Carlos and is loyal to the best in him. And then there's a (mostly implied, but still there) friendship/loyalty bond between Elisabeth and Eboli that gets betrayed; in some sense it's the dark mirror of Carlos and Rodrigo... To me it's the very strength of these bonds that turns everything to tragedy when they collide, and I love it.
The whole Rodrigo-Carlos-Philip loyalty triangle (and mirrored by the Elisabeth-Carlos-Philip love triangle) is just fascinating to me. Anything that explores this would be great. Philip in particular is just such a terrible and fascinating character who brings a lot of his problems on himself, but it's hard to listen to that gorgeous music and not feel a little for him. (I have totally imprinted on Ferrucio Furlanetto's amazing Philip, and I absolutely adore the interaction between Furlanetto and Keenlyside in Restate (Met version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWDfHDRlTxo )
Rodrigo and Elisabeth only ever canonically speak in the scene where Rodrigo gives Elisabeth Carlos' letter, but we know that they spoke at least one time off-stage (before his death). And then in the Hampson-Harteros Salzburg performance Rodrigo and Elisabetta speak their auto-da-fe asides to each other, and those four lines alone made me really fascinated in what kind of friendship they might have, united as they are in their devotion to Carlos. And how does Elisabeth respond to this whole Rodrigo-Carlos-Philip triangle, or is she even aware of it? How does Philip talk to her about it, if he does?
Eboli wasn't nominated, but now I'm sort of interested in the way Carlos-Rodrigo mirrors Elisabeth-Eboli; what would a fic with the four of them look like? What would Rodrigo and Eboli have to say to each other if they could really talk truly and deeply about their feelings for their Prince and Queen? Or if they couldn't but could only refer to it in a veiled (ha) way? How do Rodrigo and Eboli feel about the fact that Rodrigo pulled a knife on her? Were they friends before that? (I kind of like to think they were; it adds to that scene; but I'd be interested either way.) How would they (could they?) interact after that?
I am happy for you to ship any combination of characters or keep it gen/restricted to canon ships -- I think both can be fascinating. (My personal headcanon for the non-canon pairings tends to be gen or UST-romantic-feelings-totally-sublimated-into-loyalty-bonds, but I also think it's totally interesting to see these very strong relationships through the lens of romantic/sexual pairings.) With one exception: because Elisabeth's fidelity is such a major component of her character, I do NOT want a consummated romantic/sexual relationship with Elisabeth and anyone else (except, obviously, Philip), and I'd prefer not to have any sort of romantic relationship between her and Rodrigo, even unrequited, because quite frankly the poor woman has enough going on with the men in her life. (Except in cases where one can sidestep Carlos and/or Philip: for example, a) the extremely messed-up dubcon scenario where Philip commands her to, b) canon-divergence where both Philip and Carlos somehow die (do they kill each other in the swordfight?) and she is left picking up the pieces (and maybe figuring out how to rule??) and mourning with that best of courtiers (which now that I think of it would also make a fantastic gen/UST-romantic-feelings-sublimated-into-political-counseling fic), or c) an AU where everyone's character and/or the cultural milieu is changed enough that this becomes possible. Like, if it's Space AU and Space Queen Elisabetta deposes Philip... You get the idea.)
Please tag if ending in tragedy, but if tagged I am totally here for super tragic endings and also equally here for fix-it -- whatever works more naturally for your fic!
Canon notes: My first Don Carlo, and the one that has imprinted on me forever, and the one I would absolutely recommend as a first one, is the Alagna-Poplavskaya-Keenlyside-Furlanetto Met 2011, which is available on Met on Demand. I adore all the singers in this one (Alagna is perhaps slightly weaker than the rest of the cast singing-wise, but still acquits himself quite well); they are all also extraordinary actors (Furlanetto and Poplavskaya, oh gosh); and the videography elevates it to practically cinematic. Keenlyside is absolutely stellar although I will say his interpretation of Rodrigo here is a little more emotional and rough than I really envision him.
There is a very similar ROH (2007) production with all the same singers except with Villazon swapped in for Alagna. I prefer Villazon's singing; I also prefer the Keenlyside/Villazon Carlo/Rodrigo relationship and Keenlyside's Rodrigo in this one, where Rodrigo absolutely loves his Carlo and is a little less frenetic and more simply adoring about it; but the Met has so much better videography that it is the one I'd recommend as a first one.
I also utterly adore both Thomas Hampson (Salzburg 2014) and Sherrill Milnes (also available on Met on Demand) as Rodrigo -- their interpretations are more courtly and less soldierly than Keenlyside's, and their Rodrigos might actually be a bit closer to what's in my head. (I may be able to hook you up with the Met 2011, the ROH 2007, or the Salzburg 2014 -- PM or email me at this username at gmail. I will also probably delete this parenthetical sometime after signups end.)
Canon DNW: Consummated romantic relationship with Elisabeth and anyone else except Philip. Any romantic relationship between Elisabeth and Rodrigo (except as noted above).
Don Carlos - Schiller (Any) -- For this canon I am asking for Schiller specifically, not the opera, because I'm fascinated by how complicated all the characters are, particularly compared to the opera. Though Posa still loves Carlos (even there I'm not entirely sure what his feelings exactly are towards Carlos and how much of it has to do with Carlos agreeing with him about liberty, etc.) he is much more of a zealot and really rather a manipulative bastard, and doesn't particularly feel the loyalty to Philip that I think opera!Posa does, which makes him more complex and fascinating (if perhaps not hitting my loyalty buttons in the targeted way opera!Posa does). Elisabeth is openly political and cheerfully totally awesome and I love her very very much.
So -- give me something that shows off the complexity of the characters! One big thing I've been thinking about is that after I read the play, I thought that if Posa had told Carlos his plans (maybe Carlos forces him to?) that everything would have been okay. And of course that would have staved off the immediate problems, but it wouldn't have fixed the fundamental issues, because that whole Posa-Philip-Carlos triangle is still there and set to explode. (The Philip-Carlos-Elisabeth triangle, too, but let's face it, Posa is the fulcrum on which Philip and Carlos turn, really.) Is there a way to save this? Or does it inevitably become tragedy anyway? Please tag if ending in tragedy, but if tagged I am totally here for super tragic endings and also equally here for fix-it -- whatever works more naturally for your fic! (I must admit that for Schiller it seems to me that super tragic is a lot more likely.)
Or: Posa and the Queen seem very familiar with each other in the play -- how do they get to be such good friends? Perhaps hijinks in which they outwit the King before the start of the play? (Note: please no consummated attraction between Posa and Elisabeth. Because Elisabeth would never! Though one-sided admiration/fan-worship/attraction on Posa's part is pretty much canon and I'm totally here for that. And, I mean, I'm even up for Elisabeth secretly admiring and maybe even being attracted to Posa too (her last lines to him seem to imply a former admiration, at least), but she'd never act on it, even a bit.) (Wait! What if Posa/Philip were a thing and Elisabeth knew about it and their scene in Act IV, Scene III is all about that?? HMM.)
Or: Elisabeth is by far the most awesome character in the play. She is super awesome. Anything with her, really! I read the ending of the play as ambiguous; is there any way to save her? Can she somehow fix things with Philip? Does she even want to? Gosh, what is her private relationship like with Philip, who cares not at all about her Flanders ambitions (but she certainly cares) but who practically has a secret police reporting on everyone, so that she pretty much has no expectation of privacy?
Or: What is the relationship between Posa and Eboli? Posa is extremely suspicious of her the whole time (sometimes correctly, sometimes maybe a little more than he needs to be). Is there backstory there? Posa says he hasn't talked to her very much, but have they perhaps clashed before in some way? (...what if they fell into bed together? What would their pillow talk be like? Would it be full of them sniping at each other and suspecting each other of plots??)
Or: really anything that speaks to you about these complicated characters!
This one is an everything-goes shipping zone! Ship everyone with everyone else! or don't! I am here for all of it, except consummated romance with Elisabeth and anyone else (except for Philip, of course).
Canon notes: I have sadly not been able to see this one, so I have no headcanon based on actual sets or actors or anything. I have read the Gutenberg translation available here.
If you know of any way I can get hold of this (German or English is fine, doesn't need to be subbed, I am willing to pay reasonable amounts, but does need to be US-region-compatible) please let me know!! I would love to watch this!
DNW: Different-setting AU's, for this one (canon divergence is always fine). Consummated attraction between Posa and Elisabeth (or Elisabeth and anyone except Philip). This Posa seems to be rather more loyal to his own vision than he is to either Carlos or Philip (honestly, part of what I think is so fascinating about him is that no one actually knows exactly his primary loyalty, probably not even him); don't make him into opera!Posa.
(lightly edited 10-22-18 to stress that (a) I am happy with gen or ships for all relationships mentioned here, and (b) I love lots of ways of telling stories)