#florent moth

First, if you're here because you're in the MOR fandom, whether we interacted or not in the past, I love you, you're amazing (except you-know-who-you-are-and-what-you-did, you suck), and if you've ever posted within the fandom, thank you for keeping this community alive, even if barely, it is fantastic being able to share a passion for something that means a lot to me (and to many others) over a decade after the tour ended, and not that many small fandoms get that luxury, so thank you

Speaking of thanks, wanted to take a moment to be thankful to Florent Mothe for his performance as Salieri, without him I don't think I would ever have found interest in Salieri, and he means the world to me. He died over 200 years ago now, yet he feels like an old friend to many (I would make a Salieri haunting joke, but I'm being somewhat serious here, so no) and I am so happy I got to visit him and pay my respects last week. I love and care so much for him, and it meant the world to me, even if I was being a crying bitch about it...

If Salieri once said he was thankful for the "happy hours music had brought him", I am thankful for his music and the happy hours it brought me. Before him, I only had a mild interest in classical music, but he managed what no one else before him could and made it fun, and interesting, made me want to learn more about it, its history, the context surrounding some pieces that might have sounded boring to me in the past, and it completely changed my perspective and I am not trying to be dramatic when I say I think it made me a better person, it helped me really start trying to look under the surface, helped me want to know more about people where I didn't care all that much in the past, and I know I'm not perfect, far from it, but also neither is anyone, and that is part of the human experience and learning more about Salieri made me understand this, it made me see some beauty in life, in being alive, in all the flaws... He wasn't perfect, and despite what I sometime say, neither was his music, but it's still beautiful, and if I wasn't already sitting when I heard his requiem (one of the last pieces of music he wrote) being played, I think it would have brought me to my knees. it's not perfect because nothing is, but it is beautiful and that's all we ask of it, and Salieri thrived for beauty and improvement over perfection in its strictest sense and I love this? There are so many things I want to say about him and his music and how it genuinely helped me become who I am today, how it brought me the few things I like about myself and allowed me some peace of mind when I was at my lowest. Even in death, the man managed to mentor, teach, comfort, and I could try but I don't think I have the skills to properly express how grateful I am for him and how much this means to me, so instead I'll just move on. I hope you rest in peace Maestro, and I hope one day you will be remembered for who you were instead of being remembered as who people accused you of being. all those who knew you knew this rumor to be false, and one day so will the average person. In the meantime, I'll fight for you.

Also wanted to say thank you to @sadnuggetsworld for also paying respect to Salieri, it meant a huge deal to me that you took the time, energy and ressources to do this, and I don't think I've actually said this yet? But it was a pleasure to meet you.

Back to Florent Mothe and then I'm done, outside of Salieri, thank you for being a good person and a great singer, your own music is very moving, love your energy, hope to meet you again... Also, I named this fella after you, and he's my son, and I love him, and that's all for me today (edit: I posted the first chapter of Devil's Quill today by the way, it's available in english here and in french here )

Because