...Just put up with this, okay. :I

I've been debating doing this for a while, for one because it's almost completely irrelevant. OH WELL HAVE INTERNET WILL ABUSE.

The musical about Kronprinz Rudolf and Mary Vetsera was inspired by my second favorite book, and the songs are *awesome*, and many (or at least, the ones I could find with subtitles for you guys... ps the english versions of the songs are horrible. :I) apply to ocs B) So I'll put them up with a little history lesson, too B) as this is my favorite time in Austrian history besides Maria Theresa's.

Prolog-- Any absolutist nation/capital with a disgruntled middle class/peasants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQcYNoYNXck

The Hapsburg empire throughout it's 800 some years of rule was always absolutist. Even into the 20th century. So of course RUdolf's comment to his wife, Stefanie (who I will get to later--), "It's dark here inside" has a multitude of meanings. It could mean that there in the atrium of the theatre was the only place the Austrians cared to use electric lights, even though the rest of Europe had a good handle on them already. The austrians thought it was a fad, and would go away, and were in denial of any change, and Rudolf was an avid supporter of electricity. Which brings the next point of darkness/obsoleteness in the way the government was run. Rudolf wanted reforms but he wasn't Emperor yet and thanks to his relationship with his father would very well not be emperor unless he had a son. He didn't have a son. :I And last but not least it could be indicative of Rudolf's own feelings at the time, he was physically and mentally sick, and an alcoholic.

Du willst nicht hören (You don't want to listen)-- Amir and Arash ffff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_tvLO2DnfA&feature=related

This one is pretty self explanatory. XD Franz Josef didn't want Rudolf to succeed him because he really didn't get the army-ready son he wanted that would take after him. "Julius Felix" was actually Rudolf's alias for writing editorials for the top Viennese newspaper, which was later ransacked by pan-german activists for having unpopular opinions about the emperor and because it was run by Jews.

Ein Hübscher Krieg (A Pretty War/Battle)- Fränze (or, any other woman... like that. XD)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rpvNZYNbAQ&feature=related

...This is why I love Vienna at this time period. B) The man greeting the women in the beginning was using greetings not used by the rest of the world since the early-mid 1700's: "I lay myself at my lady's feet" for a woman, and "I kiss the hand" for a man. But they were used and enforced strictly in Vienna. And the rest, well. :/ It explains itself XD It's super cute, watch it B)

Du bleibst bei mir (You stay by me)-- Another one for Fränze, possibly for marie antoinette/Louis xvi era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V85iJF74mLw&feature=related

Someday I'll write an thesis on Archduchess Stefanie and her relationship to the family. I could say so much. She was Rudolf's wife, the only suitable woman of age at the time, and since Rudolf was Sisi's only son, she hated the woman, calling her "ugly little oaf" to her face and saying she danced like a camel. Interesting enough, that was how Sisi was torn apart when she joined the family, turning her cold and paranoid, which is what happened with Stefanie. Sisi became what she always hated. Anyway, Stefanie was royally screwed (in the most literal sense--) because the family hated her, her husband didn't hold her/the family's conservative views, and he was drifting away from her at an alarming rate. She had one child, a girl, but couldn't have another because Rudolf gave her Syphillis. He wasn't ever around, so she was constantly afraid and always had to watch her back for gossip/interlopers into the marriage/what have you. So this song is as much of a "don't leave me here alone" as it is a "I really hate you but i need you for power". Couldn't find a better video for it, sorry :/

Die Fäden in der Hand (Master of the Strings)-- Piter (Although he's not this enthusiastic. But I imagine this is what his inner thoughts look like)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nc-X1wlU3Q&feature=related

Eduard Taaffe was appointed Prime Minister of the empire because he was childhood friends with the emperor, and Franz Josef trusted him with anything. Taaffe played every part of the Austrian political world to his own advantage and to build up on the empire without any real foundation, including reducing schooling for children to return the empire into an Agrarian powerhouse, while the rest of the world moved on with industry. This is my favorite song of the whole musical B) The imagery seems very Piter to me. XD

Wie Jeder and're Mann (Like Any other Man)-- Cosim (Make that, "Like any other Nation"--)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhzhgCrQkoo&feature=related

This song-- he sings it so well it makes me cry XD The song shows a man who has done all he can with what he's given, but is stopped at every turn and is in fact trying to accomplish the impossible, with which he doesn't know if he can trust even his own ability. There's a line from the movie version of the book that inspired this, where Rudolf's discussing reforms with his father, and is saying, What about the poor, what about the sick, what about the people who aren't free? To which Franz Josef replies, "The title is Emperor. Not God."


......Herp Derp, are you still awake after all this.

HOLY SHIT, I cannot stop watching the die Fäden in der Hand video. And this is coming from someone who has a history of hating musicals/songs from musicals. XD Then again, the German makes everything better--/shot Good god, I need to draw something for this, this is one of the most fitting songs I've ever heard for Piter XD

I usually can't get into musicals that aren't movies, but combined with the subject and the stellar cast (the emotion from "Wie Jeder And're Mann", seriously XD and of course, Uwe Kröger, the guy that plays Taaffe, is like, so unbelievably great) im sure these songs are the most listened to on my ipod right now XD

The German really does make it better-- whatever you do, DO NOT click on the english version "The Master of the Strings". So much disappointment. It maybe has half the zeal of Uwe's version :'( XD