Opera

Opera was a musical form of theater characterized by dramatic singing and varieties of overtures and arias, typically performed by actors in flashy chimerical costumes. Operas typically told stories, often driven by faithful coincidences. The structure of an opera consisted of scenes that comprised acts, and each act was punctuated by intermezzo. Deities considered patrons of opera were Milil and Finder Wyvernspur.

"I've heard that people commit murders at the operas and no one notices because everyone on stage is bellowing at the top of his lungs."

- Olive Ruskettle

Opera Across the Realms
"Attending the opera would be interesting in Menzoberranzan. During the overture, the audience could place bets on whether more drow will die onstage or off."

- Liriel Baenre

In Sembia, opera was considered entertainment suitable for nobility. The Sembian opera was accompanied by glaurs, zulkoons, and thelarrs, as well as choral clerestory. The city of Selgaunt had an open-air amphitheater used for operatic performances. The theater, the stage, and its benches were made of carved limestone. The amphitheater - the Palace of Beauty, was constructed by Andeth Ilchammar the Hulorn of Selgaunt. It was used as a theater, a concert hall, and an art gallery, and the place was a gaudy architectural atrocity. The theater's foyer was decorated by a statue of Rauthauvyr the Raven, the founder of Sembia, slaying a gorgon. Quite obviously, Sembian opera was entertainment for the rich and noble. Common folk was not allowed into the theaters. Instead, commoners frequented playhouses, and nobles who visited them did not mind mingling with simple laborers and tradesmen. playhouse Entrance fee ranged from five coppers to a single silver raven for those willing to sit in the gallery, and balcony seats were priced at one golne fivestar.

In the City of Splendors, Waterdeep, opera was performed in the Lightsinger Theater located in the Sea Ward. The venue sold tickets and required format attire to attend. The establishment was frequented by Mirt the Moneylender.

Ravens Bluff Stane Opera House was a popular and renowned theater. The most successful performers of the city opened acting schools to train the next generation of singers. And the nobility was known to hire opera singers for private at-home performances. Some noble and wealthy Ravenian families put singers, actors, and other thespians on the payroll, supporting them through their acting career's twilight years. Stane Opera House was known to put seasonal operatic performances known for their abstract experimental nature. The theater was a mere moderate success and existed thanks to noble families' of Ravens Bluff generous patronage. Stane Opera House was a grand black marble structure on the Lamorgyr's Ride.

Opera companies from the nation of Thay often traveled abroad to perform in other regions. Sembian opera-loving nobility considered new Thayvian operas to be an event not to be missed.

Opera from Tantras of the Dragon Reach was considered an acquired taste. Danilo Thann, a Waterdhavian Harper agent, once compared it to a loud unnerving cacophony of frog croaking that reverberated and seemingly closed around the listener. The sound was very similar to singing Tantrasan opera in a small bathchamber.

The city of Eshpurta in Amn sponsored arts and culture programs, including opera, possibly as oversompensation for being considered a backwater city.

Opera, on occasion, was used as a subtle weapon when handled by the Harpers. A ranking Harper agent Morala of Milil wrote an opera - Wizards in Love, to subtly undermine evil schemes by Cassana, an evil wizard with powerful friends. The Harpers could not move against the evil sorceress in the open. Instead, the opera gained popularity, informing folk of the Realms of Cassana's deeds. Eventually, the embarrassment and social backlash forced Cassana to leave North Faerûn.

The drow high priestesses of Menzoberranzan used opera as a torture implement believed by some to be a punishment greater than transformation into a drider. The drow operatic singing was the art of "producing unintelligible shrieking sounds that burn the ears and send disrupting shivers through the spine, much like the famed "quivering palm" of some clerical warriors," according to Drizzt Do'Urden.

Operas were even performed in the underwater cities by the sea elves of Myth Nantar. The festfall called The Whirlpool was the main opera theater of the city. The aquatic opera was performed alongside whale singing and was rumored to have healing spells woven into the music.

Notable Operas
"Opera is the sound of nightingales sighing in sympathy over the tomb of a maiden whose ghost weeps of its broken heart, lamenting true love lost and wasted-except when it sounds more like cats on a still summer night, yowling in heat right outside one's window."

- Storm Silverhand


 * The Fall of Myth Drannor, a long-winded and exhausting opera in several parts with a grand finale. The opera depicted the events of the Weeping War and the destruction of the City of Song Myth Drannor, written and popularized sometime before 1368 DR. 
 * The Fall of Tiamat, one of the operas performed at the Lightsinger Theater of Waterdeep that told the story of Tiamat's defeat at the Well of Dragons in 1479 DR. The opera was sang entirely in the Giant language.
 * Visions of Chaos, a dangerous musical work penned by a renowned and mysterious genius composer Guerren Bloodquill who was rumored to have been a mystic who entered a pact with infernal creaturs in exchange for his talent.
 * The Tragic Redemption of Vhaemas the Bastard, was a opera tragedy about the Twelfth War commisioned by the Prince Regent of Myth Nantar.
 * Wizards in Love, an opera popular in Ravens Bluff, Cormyr, Sembia, and the Dalelands that dramatized the lives of Cassana the Cruel and her lover Zrie Prakis, written by Morala of Milil. It told the story of Cassana's kidnapping by pirates, separating her from Zrie. The wizards stayed apart for a long time. They grew narcissistic, vein, and powerful. Eventually, when the lovers met again, all they did was argue over who was more powerful. They dueled. In the opera, Cassana felt remorseful over her first love's death in the duel and encased his bones in a glass sarcophagus to keep by her bed until the rest of her life. Cassana's Lament from the opera was performed in falsetto (Cassana's parts) and tenor (Zrie Prakis' parts).
 * Wulfgar and the Crystal Shard, an operatic adventure epic about a barbarian, a dwarf, and a drow from Icewind Dale. A copy of the opera's recording was held within a jar of mists in the library of the Cassalanter Villa in the late 15 century DR.

History
In 1368 DR, Ayryn Farlight held a scrying session for select members of the Society of Sensation of Sigil, using her sorcerous gift to observe various deities of Toril. When she attempted to scry Tymora, her magic sight was redirected by the goddess to Milil, the god-Lord of Songs, who was delighted to have an audience. The deity used magic to affix the scrying and performed a plethora of songs. Eventually, the Sensates started getting bored of the performance, to which Milil responded by starting to sing an opera - the Fall of Myth Drannor. The long and torturous performance was a punishment for trying to spy on a god.

In 1370 DR, the matriarch of House Uskevren, Shamur Uskevren, and her unruly daughter Thazienne Uskevren attended an opera in Selgaunt's amphitheater. Strange events started affecting the nobles who attended the performance. People became affected by chaos magics, plunged into delirium, and some were tossed across time to relive their past. This was caused by the Visions of Chaos, a lost opera penned by Guerren Bloodquill. The opera was an arcane wok of music that created absolute chaos and discord. Once it started, the musicians went into a trance, mindlessly performing the magical work of theater. Shamur and her daughter successfully stopped the chaos, saving the lives of all in attendance.

Notabe Singers
Joel of Finder, the so-called Rebel Bard who posessed a singing range enough to perform operas in falsetto and tenor.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
 * Novels
 * Finder's Bane &bull; Tymora's Luck &bull; The Halls of Stormweather &bull; Black Wolf
 * Azure Bonds &bull; The Wyvern's Spur &bull; Song of the Saurials &bull; Elfsong &bull; Masquerades &bull; The Mage in the Iron Mask &bull; The Shattered Mask &bull; Lord of Stormweather &bull; The God Catcher
 * Azure Bonds &bull; The Wyvern's Spur &bull; Song of the Saurials &bull; Elfsong &bull; Masquerades &bull; The Mage in the Iron Mask &bull; The Shattered Mask &bull; Lord of Stormweather &bull; The God Catcher