Jusqu'à ce que

*Jusqu'à ce que* is a newly commissioned French opera. The opera starts at 8 P.M and runs for a bit under three hours. The opera is performed in the Chantaclear Lyric Opera House. The librettist is French. It has a cast of seventy-five, with some doubling of roles, frequent disguises, and an array of intricate political and romantic machinations. One must review the libretto carefully because a good deal of the family intrigue happens before the start of the opera. The lead actress is Arabella Filigree, an American soprano. The plot of the play is very difficult to follow. It is, to put it generously, highly experimental in plot and structure.

## The Opera Itself

The opera begins with a shepherdess disguised as a sailor (played by Arabella Filigree) singing a threatening aria to a Russian messenger wearing a big black braided beard. He is holding a scroll, and Arabella is pointing to it and singing "*Non! Non! Non!*"

A tenor standing in a haycart sings a very slow recitative about how he has to make up his mind about something to do with love or honor.

Arabella sings a coquettish aria about flowers and her emotional whirlwind and Bohemian pirates.

Things are briefly cheerful as the Grand Duke receives an honor, prepares to slay a dragon, or prepares to marry a milkmaid or fairy seamstress.

There is a lengthy ballet portion in which a group of shepherdesses dance in springtime. Then, several gravely wounded soldiers and shepherdesses sing about a gnome's treasure.

The stage clears, and the orchestra plays an E-flat major chord. It plays an E-flat major chord again, and then again, and then again.

A surprising solo from a tuba plays the what may be leitmotif. The tuba underscores the quiet tread of the Bohemian pirates, who are going to try to assassinate the Czar, the Grand Duke, or the dragon. (The object is most likely the Grand Duke, as the next scene is his funeral.)

The opera is in a minor key for twenty minutes or so leading up to the finale. The tension of the minor key gloriously resolves to major as the final scene opens with blaring trumpets, the crash of cymbals, and the pluck of the harp in a rousing and triumphant G major. The whole company crowds onto the stage, with Arabella at center stage singing a tearful threnody about the death of the Grand Duke. Six mournful pallbearers bring forth the Grand Duke's coffin, followed by The Wyrm of the Gods arriving to triumph at his death.

## Audience

*Jusqu'à ce que* is attended by a number of important characters in *Cakes and Ale*:

* Matilda Featherstonehaugh
* Marmaduke Featherstonehaugh
* Chervil St. Clair
* The Jolly Good Person (possibly)
* Fitzie (possibly)
* Gilberto Ordoñez
* Haze Vermillion
* Parsnip

*Jusqu'à ce que*'s audience also contains university classicists, philanthropists, opera critics, a steel magnate, a tedious ornithologist, an army captain, a foreign emissary, a millionaire playboy, aspiring novelists, ballet dancers, retired tycoons, superannuated debutantes, fashionable doyennes, unflappable patriarchs with monocles, chatty chatelaines and haughty hoydens.

## Reputation

The day leading up to the opera's premier, Matilda describes *Jusqu'à ce que* as "The tragic story of a forbidden love and the something or other about a czar and a fairy seamstress and a dragon. I believe there are fourteen deaths in the first act alone. Heady stuff. Very artistic."

Shortly before the opera, Fitzie remarks, "I understand that it will be the event of the season. Everyone will be talking about it."