Talk:Der Sieg der Form über Substanz

Act I: The Wordsmith’s Folly

Scene 1: The Word Forge

Setting: A bustling piazza of St Mark’s Square, Venice. Don Figaro, an ageing wordwright works it his modest and careworn word-forge. Ouside there is a commotion. Don Figaro goes to the window and looks out.
A town crier announcing that the famous wordier Don Inago has returned from a lengthy mercantile trip to the South Indies and will be demonstrating his latest international techniques in verbiage before Gräfin Schümli Pflümli this very afternoon.
A group of ladies swoon at the very mention of Don Inago’s name.
Don Figaro, watching from his shop, sighs deeply.

Don Figaro: Hark, alack: the great verbotic marauder returns

With gilded horse and painted page he takes his punt
Salved so by syrup’d phrasery
And runs it up the Grafin’s grand canal.
While meantime here that small aperture which cast its motey beam
Upon this wordwright and shone a golden beam
Had the golden chance to engrave his mark
Upon the city’s merchantry snaps brightly shut.
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Scene 2: The Rival’s Deception

Introduction of Don Inago Montega, Figaro’s struggling competitor
Reveal of Inago’s scheme: he orchestrated Figaro overhearing his false boast
Don Iolio’s inner turmoil: suspicion about Inago’s role in his daughter’s disappearance
Don Figaro boasts about his plan, unaware of Inago’s deception and true financial state

Scene 3: The Punishment

Don Figaro’s aria: “Niente revisioni! Niente edizioni! Niente pause per il caffè!” (“No revisions! No editions! No coffee breaks!”)
Don Iolio is sent to work in the text smelting furnace, silently accepting his fate
Don Figaro’s inner conflict: pride in his son’s skills vs. frustration at his silence

Act II: The Illusion of Eloquence

Scene 1: The Furnace Room

Don Iolio meets Iolande, unaware of her identity
Iolande’s backstory revealed: her escape from slavery through poetry
They secretly operate the homunculus, their combined talent making it appear successful

Scene 2: The Facade of Success

Don Figaro celebrates the homunculus’s apparent success
Iolande, drawn by Figaro’s beautiful writing, struggles with her identity and past
Don Inago’s growing desperation as his plan backfires

Scene 3: The Betrayal of Substance

Don Figaro, emboldened by false success, orders more homunculi
Don Iolio and Iolande are made redundant
Iolande’s true identity is revealed, causing shock and confusion

Act III: The Collapse of Empty Words

Scene 1: Despair and Chaos

Iolande’s aria: “Sono Condannato a Essere un Poeta in un Mondo di Macchine” (“I am condemned to be a poet in a world of machines”)
Don Iolio’s lament: “Le parole hanno perso il loro significato” (“Words have lost their meaning”)
The homunculus malfunctions, spewing out gibberish

Scene 2: The Confrontation

Don Figaro realizes his mistake: “O! Consulente di Automazione Sciocco!” (“Thou foolish automation consultant!”)
Don Iolio finally confronts his father about the value of human creativity
The truth about Inago’s deception and Iolande’s past comes to light

Scene 3: The Pyrrhic Victory of Substance

Reconciliation between Don Figaro, Don Iolio, and Iolande
They work together to restore the art of true wordsmithing
Don Iolio’s final aria: “Ci sono più cose nel linguaggio di quanto la vostra macchina possa sognare” (“There are more things in language than your machine can dream of”)
The play ends with a crisp packet blowing across St. Mark’s Square, symbolising the transience of empty words and false progress