Maren finishes the story of Seduction’s Servant, which she wrote during a production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. She also talks a bit about how she got into opera, and how COVID-19 has affected artists across the board.
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Transcript
(orchestra tuning)
Hello and welcome to The Bodice Ripper Project, an exploration of sexuality, feminism, and the journey to self-empowerment through the lens of romance novels.
I’m Maren Montalbano, opera singer, coach, and writer.
In this episode, you’ll hear the final two chapters of Seduction’s Servant, which I wrote during a production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. I’ll also be talking about how I got into opera in the first place.
So make yourself comfortable, loosen your bodice, and let’s begin!
(intro music plays)
Welcome back, or for those of you who are just joining us, welcome!
I’m so glad to have you here.
I hope you’ve been enjoying Seduction’s Servant. I certainly have been enjoying the editing process.
You know, podcasting is very new to me, but there’s something about audio editing that I find oddly satisfying. So maybe this is a match made in heaven.
I’ve especially enjoyed playing around with the background music, for these stories. It’s finding the right part of Marriage of Figaro to pair with the action of Seduction’s Servant. It feels like a little puzzle and honestly, I’m having more fun with this than I did with Otello and Venetian Vixen. Partly because I wasn’t as familiar with the capabilities of the editing software that I’m using, but also, you know, I couldn’t find any public domain versions of the opera Otello. Elgar is great, but he’s not Verdi. And I wrote all of these stories with this music in my head, literally, it was playing over the loudspeaker. It definitely informed some of the language that was going on.
Also, I’m so familiar with the Marriage of Figaro, that it was a fun game to find the right song or the right duet for each mood in Seduction’s Servant.
I know, I already mentioned that it’s my favorite opera, but it does bear repeating: Marriage of Figaro is indeed my favorite opera.
It’s the one I listened to the most. I probably had that entire memorized by the time I was 12, it became a huge part of my life and a big part of who I grew up to be my aesthetic.
I even ended up using the wedding march of Marriage of Figaro, which you’ll hear at the end of this story, in my own wedding. That’s how much I love this opera.
Anyway, I know that there are more operas out there besides Marriage of Figaro, even though that one is my favorite, and it’s certainly not the first opera that I was exposed to.
I was seven years old when I joined the San Francisco Girls Chorus. And a part of the Girls Chorus experience, girls who were under 13 years old or shorter than five feet qualified to be a part of the children’s chorus at the San Francisco Opera.
My first production there was Carmen. I was eight years old.
I loved it so much that my dad bought me an album of Carmen, and I completely ate it up. After that, all my birthday and Christmas presents were opera albums.
Some of them were LPs. Remember that? I don’t know if some of you even know what that is. No, I guess vinyl is a thing now. It’s retro. Oh my God.
Most of the opera albums that I have from that time period are CDs, but we did have some LPs.
I remember opening up the CD, pulling out the program booklet that we had. It wasn’t enough for me to just read the synopsis. I had to read the libretto and read along as I was listening. So I knew exactly what everybody was singing and how the story was unfolding. And I would listen to each opera obsessively until I had it memorized because I’m a nerd, but it was so cool for me.
The entire experience was incredibly cool.
When I got into college, I attended both New England Conservatory of Music and Tufts University – go Jumbos! I was in a five-year double-degree program. And I did have a bunch of experience in opera scenes and stuff before I went into college. So you’d think it would be a no-brainer to dive into an opera career, but I wanted to keep my options open.
I started off as a biology major at Tufts. Um, That didn’t last very long, honestly, but long story short, I ended up getting a drama degree at Tufts, along with my vocal performance degree at NEC. And instead of hanging out with the opera kids at NEC, I got into musicals. And after I graduated, I thought I was Broadway bound.
Most people, if they want to get into opera, they do apprenticeship programs each summer during their undergrad. And then after they graduate, they do postgraduate degrees. It ends up getting pretty expensive.
And I’m going to be honest. I couldn’t afford it.
What’s so funny is that I still ended up in opera, but a lot of people, they get to the point that I did, and they stop. They give up.
That prohibitive expense is one of the contributing factors to the systemic racism that I’ve talked about already, and classism of the opera culture. It’s not the music that turns people away, I think. A lot of it just has to do with money, or the perception of money.
You know, it’s so interesting. I think about where we are right now in COVID time.
In a way quarantine has kind of become the great equalizer.
People who were making lots of money in big, huge opera houses are in the exact same position as those of us who were just having a pretty steady career doing choral work with some solo stuff like me.
And you can look at it from several different perspectives, right? You could mourn the loss of something that was, or you can see it as a really amazing opportunity to reinvent yourself. And I’ve seen a lot of opera singers do this, by the way.
The thing that really gives me hope for the future is that, for the most part, all of the artists that I see on social media, in my own life, I see them figuring out a way to not just survive, but thrive in this new environment.
And it’s not just people. It’s arts organizations too.
I was just reading this article in the New York Times about how the New York Philharmonic, partnering with Anthony Roth Costanzo, who is a famous countertenor, they’ve acquired a pickup truck and they’re going around to neighborhoods in New York and creating these impromptu chamber music concerts out on the curb.
I think that’s amazing.
I know there are other arts organizations that are doing the same thing or similar things. I’ve already been a part of, and continue to participate in, a few out-of-the-box performance projects that use the fact that we’re not allowed to sing near anyone as the main focus of the art.
So maybe, in a way, many of these systemic problems that have been hanging over the opera world and the classical music world, maybe now, COVID is breaking that paradigm up? And there are so many more possibilities for what could be in the future.
Anyway, there’s way more here, but I already had a pretty heavy intro last episode. And I also know that you guys are actually here for the dirty stories, so I will cut it short for now.
Let’s get on with the story.
Where we left off, Lily and Samuel were helping each other bathe in the river, but they were interrupted by the count, who then was mysteriously attacked by a strange man. Both Lily and Samuel saved the count from his attacker and even managed to do so without any clothes.
…somehow forgetting her own state of undress and darting out of the rushes in a blur. She grabbed her sodden skirt from the riverbed and threw it over the stranger’s head as she knocked him back down to the ground.
The count and Samuel merely stared at her, mouths agape.
Seduction’s Servant
CHAPTER 5
Lily stared across the garden, dark except for the dim lights from the torches and lanterns that were now being lit by footmen. Everyone was excited for the masked ball, and Lily was no exception.
It was a few weeks after the incident by the river. Lily had gotten her introduction to the count, although it hadn’t gone exactly as she had planned. Needless to say, he had gotten to know a bit more about her than she intended, but her actions and those of Samuel had earned them both extensive gratitude from Count Almaviva.
He was so grateful, in fact, that this ball was in part being thrown in their honor. Samuel and Lily were invited as guests, and Lily had discovered a ball gown and mask in her bedroom that afternoon.
She looked down at herself, hoping that she had put her gown on properly. The neckline was so low that she was afraid her nipples would make a guest appearance to the ball as well. The corset, drawn extra tight by the housekeeper (Lily thought perhaps the old woman had been a little miffed at the special attention she was getting from the count), certainly complimented her figure, but as a result, her bosom practically spilled over her neckline with every breath she took. Her skirt and petticoat were so sheer that in the right light, one could easily see every curve of her legs and hips.
She was also adorned with a plethora of flowers, from wig to shoes…based on her outfit and mask, she guessed she was to be queen of the May.
As the guests began filtering into the garden, she affixed her mask to her face and stepped out of the shadows into the crowd. All the women were disguised as various fairy folk, Greek deities, or other fantastical characters, but the men were all wearing exactly the same outfit. In fact, it was very difficult to tell the difference between the servants and the guests, the uniform was so similar.
The orchestra soon began to play, and Lily was swept up into the dance, and she found herself in a whirl of masks and shadows. She searched the eyes of each of her dance partners, but as soon as she thought she had found Samuel, the dance steps whirled her around and she found herself facing someone else that looked exactly like Samuel.
Sometimes the dance steps allowed her partners to caress her bare neck or arms with theirs, and she shivered with excitement every single time it happened. She told herself that it was because Samuel was doing it, but truth be told, she could not be sure who it was taking those liberties.
And that excited her even more.
After several turns around the garden, she thought she had spotted Samuel. She almost called out to him, but he pulled one of the other guests aside and began whispering in her ear. Whatever he said was making her giggle and blush, and she moved closer to him and began stroking the lapel of his jacket.
Lily’s eyes narrowed. Two can play at that game, she thought, and she whirled back around to jump into the arms of her dance partner. He seemed a little surprised at her enthusiasm, but soon was using the dance to sneak as many touches and kisses as he could. His mask and hers prevented him from leaning in and kissing her on the lips, but he would first lean over to kiss the back of her hand, then surreptitiously turn her hand over and lay a heated kiss onto her wrist, setting her pulse racing. Soon enough, he pulled her into the shadows, leading her towards the maze in the middle of the garden.
CHAPTER 6
It was pitch dark, and though she could not make out his features, he kept his mask on as he began to explore more of her exposed skin with his lips. First he made his way from her fingertips, down her palm, spending time on her wrists, then up her arm to the inside of her elbow.
When her sleeve got in the way, he moved over it to spend time on the rapidly heaving globes above her bodice. With one deft move, he inserted his hand just below her neckline and released her taut buds from their prison, paying tribute to each of them with his tongue.
Her entire body was on fire now, and though she did not know this man, she still wanted him to give her the sweet release that until know she had only known with Samuel.
But he was not done with teasing her. As he kept his mouth on her creamy mounds, he reached down and began to pull her skirt up, caressing first her knees, then then her bare thighs above her garters. She was surely melting into a puddle as his hand moved higher.
Before he could get any further, several guests came around the corner, laughing and singing. The light of the lanterns and torches jolted Lily out her euphoria, and she jumped away from her partner.
The count was leading the party, and he stopped singing to laugh heartily. “Samuel!” He called. “I thought the lovely Lily was your lady love? Who is this wanton wench?”
Lily blushed and curtsied deeply, trying to tuck her breasts back into her bodice. “My most humble apologies, my lord,” she began. “I know I have taken advantage of your hospitality…”
Her apology made the count laugh even harder. “My dear girl,” he chuckled. “Something tells me Samuel will forgive your wantonness.” With that, he gestured to her partner, who was trying to slink back into the darkness.
All eyes were on him as he sighed and removed his mask.
It was Samuel, looking sheepish. “Can you forgive me?” he mumbled.
Lily turned bright red. It was him all along? She was at once relieved and disappointed.
The count, still chuckling, took each of them by the hand and pulled them back towards the group. “Looks like neither of you will stop until we make an honest couple out of you.” He then raised their arms as he turned them towards the guests. “We will have to turn this into a wedding!”
The guests cheered. Lily and Samuel looked at each other with shock.
Soon, though, they were all smiles and kisses, both before, during, and after the ceremony. They couldn’t seem to get enough of each other, and even before the evening was over, they had consummated their marriage at least three times in various places on the manor grounds.
The End.
And that’s the end of our story.
Join me next episode, when we leave the opera world and enter the world of the Renaissance Faire in Fairly a Maiden: a story of a Spaniard, an Englishwoman, and an Irish pirate.
He knew she was forbidden to him, but something pulled him towards her.
I’ll have you know that I pulled out some pretty ridiculous accents for this one.
Speaking of the Renaissance Faire, I have as many ties to the Ren Faire community as I do the opera community, and my best wishes go out to everyone working at and attending the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, which is opening at reduced capacity this weekend (Labor Day Weekend).
I met my husband at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, and Labor Day actually marks the very first day we met – I literally jumped into his arms. More on that story next week too.
In the meantime, tickets for the Fringe Festival show are available. Go to fringearts.com and search for “Bodice Ripper Project.”
Alternatively, you can go to bodiceripperproject.com and click on the “Purchase Tickets” link about halfway down the page.
While you’re there, sign up for my newsletter! I just filmed a bunch of super sexy scenes this week and I have photos that I’m sharing only with my subscribers.
I love hearing from you guys. If there was something that particularly struck you about this or any episode, please reach out to me on Instagram. I’m @supermaren.
The Bodice Ripper Project is a production of Compassionate Creative, and was conceived, written, and edited by me, Maren Montalbano. The background music during the story was excerpts lovingly assembled from a public domain version of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro – and the theme music was also written by yours truly. If you liked what you heard, I invite you to give this podcast a 5-star rating – you think it doesn’t make a difference, but it does! – and I’ll see you next time.