# Post-curtain headcanons?



## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

A lot of operas end on a sort of cliffhanger, or with some characters alive but Probably Not For Long 

Any headcanons on what happens in these cases? 


My theories:

- Lucia di Lammermoor: Lucia (and probably Edgardo) become ghosts and haunt Enrico. He really had it coming since he threatened to do the same to Lucia. If the madness runs in the family, he will probably get it at some point. 
- Carmen: José is doomed. I imagine he's executed just as he was in the novella.
- Un ballo in maschera: I don't think Renato and Amelia can fix their marriage. They will probably try to stay together for the kid but they will never be the same. 
- Il trovatore: Azucena declared she was already dying, so I imagine she dies no matter what. Di Luna probably can't handle the guilt and kills himself. (But he still gets to sing for like five minutes. Naturally.)
- Parsifal: how does Lohengrin happen if the Grail Knights are all about chastity and Kundry is dead anyway? A mystery... (midichlorians, probably)
- Don Giovanni: yeah... no way will Anna ever marry that useless tenor. Ottavio dies a virgin at 80.
- Eugene Onegin: Onegin probably tries to party hard and drink to forget and eventually dies in a duel because karma's a bitch.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

_Wozzeck_ - Andres seeks justice for the death of his friend and slits the Drum Major's throat with a razor for his adultery with Marie which drove Wozzeck over the edge. The Doctor intercedes for him and is allowed to use him as a guinea pig but the Captain is markedly reluctant to let Andres take over Wozzeck's shaving duties.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Sieglinde said:


> - Parsifal: how does Lohengrin happen if the Grail Knights are all about chastity and Kundry is dead anyway? A mystery... (midichlorians, probably)


In Wolfram von Eschenbach's _Parzival_ Lohengrin's mother is Condwiramurs. She is Gurnemanz's niece. Wagner's Kundry is a composite of various characters from _Parzival_, but not Condwiramurs.

At any rate, my post-curtain headcanon here is that the grail society under Parsifal will be very different than under Amfortas, not focused on chastity or separation at all.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

*Jenůfa* - Jenůfa and Števa can't stay away from each other. She and Laca have a child first, but her next child is Števa's. Karolka knows that Števa (probably) fathered Jenůfa's child, but doesn't say anything in part because she doesn't know what to do and this isn't his only dalliance.

*Der Rosenkavalier* - Octavian eventually ages into Ochs, though things are fine for a while. He really does love Sophie, but he's also weak. Sophie ages elegantly; she continues to learn a lot from the Marschallin and the younger lady always suspects the older of not saying everything. The Marschallin dies almost 40 years later in 1780.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Little Trouble grows up in America and goes to Harvard, becomes a lawyer, and quips, "Cio Cio who? Never heard of her."


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Little Trouble grows up in America and goes to Harvard, becomes a lawyer, and quips, "Cio Cio who? Never heard of her."


He becomes an American agent and get stationed in Japan where he meets a girl named Naomi. Unfortunately Naomi dies in the nuclear bombing of Nagazaki.

This is what happens in Shigeaki Saegusa´s opera Butterfly Jr.

Third act.

I prefer Chushingura by the same composer.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

IS there an actual opera of Chushingura? Because oh boy, sign me the **** up! I love that story.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Sieglinde said:


> IS there an actual opera of Chushingura? Because oh boy, sign me the **** up! I love that story.


Yes by Shigeaki Saegusa with really beautiful music you can see it here:

Part 1

Part 2


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

What on earth is a headcanon?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)




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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Sieglinde said:


> - Un ballo in maschera: I don't think Renato and Amelia can fix their marriage. They will probably try to stay together for the kid but they will never be the same.


I think Renato/Holberg/Anckarström gets flogged and beheaded. That is what happened to Anckarström.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

LezLee said:


> What on earth is a headcanon?


Personal (that is, within your own head) explanations, interpretations, background stories, continuations, and so on that are not from (or even necessarily supportable by) official sources.

Here the main official source is the opera, possibly including what the creators may have said about it, source material, and/or productions of the opera.

A lot of fan fiction is writing out head canon but it doesn't need to be that developed.

My head canon is that well before _Das Rheingold_ Wotan was an air elemental, not quite a conscious being, playing with Loge, Erda, and the Rhine. But because the mortals ignored him in their worship he gave up an eye to make his spear from the World Ash and made himself into a god.

This is not from anything Wagner wrote, and I haven't seen it in any of the source materials (and certainly is in conflict with some of them). But you're also not going to convince me it's not true.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I always worry about Marzeline in *Fidelio*. Beethoven allows her only a simple "Weh mir, was vernimmt mein Ohr" when Fidelio's female sex is revealed. But how does she cope with learning that the man she was in love with and thought she was going to marry is actually a woman? My guess is she ends up with mental health issues, rejects Jacquino, but is seduced by some soldier, or prison guard, has a child out of wedlock, and ends up in a mental institution.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

Sloe said:


> I think Renato/Holberg/Anckarström gets flogged and beheaded. That is what happened to Anckarström.


Historically, yes, but Gustavo pardons him. Because he's a rare case of a Nice Tenor


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