View source for Talentdämmerung

{{a|otto|{{image|The Chasm to America|png|''O! Great Yawning Chasm To The New World'' {{vsr|1886}}}}}}{{br|Der Kampf um Talente}}, sometimes performed in  Italian as {{br|La Lotta Per Attrarre Talenti}} (“[[The Struggle To Attract Talent]]”), is an unfinished operetta by winsome Austrian librettist and amateur composer Otto {{buchstein}}. Never performed in his lifetime, or for that matter since, a fully-formed script was recovered from his belongings in the opium den in Mandalay where he spent his last, fevered months.

There is some controversy about its provenance: some point to the self-interested work of {{Buchstein}}’s life-long antagonist {{jerrold}}, anxious to boost his consultancy fees. 
===Synopsis===

==== Act I ====
It is Venice in the 1890s. The mercantile markets are in disarray: there are brigands on the Silk Road, pirates around the Barbary Coast, and the arrival of venal bankers from the New World is threatening the profitability of the Venetian families. 

[[Provocatoria Presuntuosa|Provocatoria]], a minor Venetian noble and head of the Presuntuosa family, summons a council of her closest advisors to plan the firm’s survival. 

“Our supply of gold ducats, once the envy of the world, is dwindling. I shall hand it over to those of you who can demonstrate their strategy for adapting to the new environment.”

The Queen’s inner circle comprises: [[Complicatio]], who is responsible for [[Operations|workings of the firm]]; [[Ingraziatoro]], who looks after the firm’s best [[senior relationship manager|clients]], [[Regolamento]], who is in charge of compliance, and the hapless [[Triago]], who is [[general counsel]]. Also present is [[Jeremiah Nuncle|Nuncle]], the Queen’s diminutive special advisor. 
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{{dkt division of funds}}}}

[[Ingraziatoro]], who speaks in [[buzzword]]s, complains that with insufficient quality salespeople to build the franchise bands of roving mercenaries are picking off the firm’s most lucrative trade routes and diverting traditional riches to the Americans. There is but one thing for it: we must pay these roving mercenaries to bring the trade back to our firm! 
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{{dkt Ingraziatoro struggle}}}}

[[Complicatio]] immediately announces a programme to relocate the firm’s operations to [[Proverbial school-leaver from Bucharest|Bucharest]], to outsource those than cannot be transplanted to [[Don Inago Montega]], a local [[celery peddler]] who supplies cheap labour under water-tight [[service level agreement]]s. This, he assures the Queen, will instantly save thousands of ducats. 

{{Dkt outsourcing plan}}

The Queen claps excitedly. [[Jeremiah Nuncle|Nuncle]] makes cynical asides throughout, but the Queen pays them no attention.

Regolamenti has acquired a “homunculus” machine to surveil and ensure compliance with rules and procedures at a fraction of the cost, and with far greater speed and accuracy than humans can do. <ref>There are many aspects of the plot that, in passing, borrow from {{Buchstein}}’s other works, notably ''[[La Vittoria della Forma sulla Sostanza]]'', which featured a similar “Homunculus”.</ref> 

==== Act II ====
No sooner has Ingraziatore wasted all the firm’s resources on useless investment bankers, he returns to {{Provo}}. 

{{Script|Ingraziatoro}}: Good Queen we are beset around by
Difficulties of others’ making. our staff are furious. These new fancy-pants are lording their great riches over everyone, but they have not brought in any new business. In fact they are making it hard for us to keep the business we already have. and now our own loyal staff are  leaving. We must therefore raise their salaries to match the new mercenaries!”
“We must what?”
{{Script|Ingraziatoro}}: We must compete! This daily war for talent is intense! 
The necessary investment is immense.
{{Script|Nuncle}}: Cometh down the man, cometh down the hour? 
Cameth I down in the latest shower?

===Highlights===
Most famous rousing aria, accompanied by the string section playing “piccolini” — literally, “tiny violins”; shortened violin-type instruments specially-designed by {{buchstein}} for this opera<ref>An idea later taken up by, among others, Wagner, who invented his own “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_tuba Wagner Tuba]” for the Ring.</ref> — comes when Prepostero, senior managing partner of [[magic circle law firm|Magic Circle]] firm ''Slaughter Cowards Later'' stands upon a white cliff overlooking jagged rocks of the tempestuous ocean between Albion and the New World, shaking his fists and wailing into the chasm:

It is more beautiful in the original Italian, so we set that out in full, with a translation below.

{{quote|
Oh, Fato, con le tue sfortunate oscillazioni ed errori di valuta scandalosa <br>
Mi hai gettato nell’abisso della disperazione! <br>
Non sono amato! Sono desolato! <br>
Come posso cambiare le mie bollette senza valore <br>
Per servizi giuridici di alto livello nel nuovo mondo? <br>
Oh, fato, mi schiacci! <br>
La guerra per il talento era già dura <br>
Ma tu pesista nel renderlo più difficile! <br>
Questo si aggiunge a quello che era già un ambiente difficile. <br>
Dei, schioccati le guance! <br>
Segna le mie parole! Ascolta quello che ho da dire! <br>
Questo sarà un catalizzatore per più movimenti laterali <br>
}}
<div class="italic">{{quote|
“O, Fate, with your unfortunate swings and errors of outrageous currency <br>
You have cast me into the abyss of despair! <br>
I am unloved! I am desolate! <br>
How can I exchange my worthless bills <br>
For top-tier juridical services in the new world?<br>
O, Fate, you crush me! <br>
The war for talent was already tough <br>
But you must pesist in making it harder! <br> 
This adds to what was already a challenging environment. <br>
Gods, crack your cheeks! Mark my words!  <br>
Heed what I have to say! <br>
This will be a catalyst for more lateral moves”<br>}}
</div>
===The “More With Less” Aria===
Another memorable moment is when Prepostero, having been told by his major client’s [[general counsel]] [[Triago]] that the firm’s reserves are depleted and he will have to economise on external legal spend. Prepostero peremptorily snuffs out the candles and exits his client’s chamber. “I shall be the judge of that,” he roars. “Whose hand controls the whip, dost though think? Surely you don’t think it is you?” He spits, before leaving poor Triago distraught on the floor, from where he embarks on the beautiful, lachrymal aria ''Dovremo Solo Fare Di Più Con Meno'' (“We shall just have to do more with less”) only to be interrupted by the court jester Triago, listening from a nearby window, who snipes sardonic rejoinders to each of Triago’s complaints.

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{{More with less aria}}
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{{ref}}
{{c|Büchstein Operas}}