my other thoughts upon finishing berenice
we don't see enough of selene, but her arias are all bangers- especially the ones in act 3.
"questa qual sia beltà," how it reveals that sel's basically playing arsace and reminded me of the duality of her character. we see her both as a sensitive, vulnerable person and as someone cunning, but the implicit malice within the latter didn't come off as too overt to me. really good.
also shoutout to aristobolo for having a conscience ( i love you, sympathetic bass man )
i found it funny when they had bernie just read the letter. took me out of the story a bit, but i think it works. to me, it's a reminder that berenice may be called an opera seria, but that doesn't mean it's all depressing and melodramatic.
arsace. what.
