Firstly, for lovers of classical music: after having done pop playlist for good old Frederick the Ambiguously Great, friends and foes, we now present the operatic and symphonic version. It's basically "Fritz: The Opera" with stolen tunes in best operatic tradition. We tried to find (English) subtitled versions, which wasn't always possible, but hopefully the music itself will explain why it fits that particular moment/character/relationship in history so well. And if you have no interest in the history, enjoy the concert starring some of the best singers and orchestras for its own sake.

Incidentally, during the weekend when I idly checked out fail_fandomanon, I saw the question "how would character x respond when confronted with their younger self (and vice versa?" applied to various fandoms. As I said to cahn and mildred_of_midgard, our historical fandom as actual, definite, canon on that question re: the main character, without needing time travel for it. How many other fandoms can say that? (If you're wondering, the canonical answer to that question is the infinitely screwed up relationship Friedrich II had with his younger brother Heinrich (aka 'l'autre moi-meme, so dubbed by the man himself).


Secondly, fanfiction that comes up with character combinations that canon didn't in an utterly real feeling way is the best. Have one from Star Trek: DS9:

Where Everybody Knows Your Name is set post-show and has Jake Sisko dealing (or not) with Ben's spoilery status quo post finale. Somehow, the dealing (or not) takes the form of hanging out wit Quark more and more. Both the Quark and the Jake voices are pitch perfect, and this is so my head canon now.

One more Beatles-related post, and then I'll shut up on the subject again for a while. But YouTube is a treasure dome with some amazing footage, both of the originals and cover versions. So, I present:

( How to earn your Greatest Band Of All Time Label: a decade in songs )