I have always loved Agnes as a character and felt so sorry for her in Maskerade. Not only was she trying to establish a career for herself (that wasn't witchcraft), but she also ended up playing second fiddle to someone with no talent at all.
Perhaps, but the description of Christine's singing always made me laugh. Kesta?! Maleydetta!! Porter see bloker!!
In M!!!!!, Agnes shows some signs of the deviousness (or cunning?) that is the hallmark of Discworld witches when she switches rooms with Christine. (It's also funny that Christine thinks of herself as a great singer. "I will need the big mirror now that I am a prima donna!! You don't mind, do you?!")
Yes, Christine's treatment of Agnes is appalling. But to do Christine justice, she is ... how shall I put it ... not smart. To quote Mr Salzella: "[Agnes] shows a remarkable grasp of the role ... [Christine] shows a remarkable grasp of wearing a dress ... Between them, they make one prima donna."
I've performed light opera for nearly 7 years (and classical music for 16 now), so M!!!!! always makes me laugh.
Oddly, real opera doesn't have much of a problem with their singers being of a large stature, unlike the book does.
Of course it's not how opera works - or, at least, how it worked in the past. Singers like Luciano Pavarotti, Renée Fleming and Beverly Sills are classic examples of, er, "pleasingly plump" singers who were able to sing well above the orchestra, but there were exceptions. For example, Jose Carreras is only 170 centimeters tall (5" 6') and has average body mass. Another exception is Norman Treigle, a great bass who was comparatively cadaverous.
Tastes in opera began to change in the 1970s. People began to want more realism in looks, acting and direction. No one would accept an obese Monserrat Caballe as a tubercular Mimi (La Boheme) or a portly Luciano Pavarotti as Alfredo (La Traviata), however beautiful. Singers who were larger lost weight. Deborah Voight, who shed 100 lbs, is a well publicized and controversial example. Others work very hard to keep it off.
It’s a misconception that opera singers are generally overweight. Some are, but most aren’t. Most are is physically fit because opera is physically demanding.
Larger singers are more suited to Wagnerian roles, which is where the "fat lady" comes in. But it's ludicrous to have a large person play a role like Violetta or Mimi where the heroine dies of consumption, and it was a major stumbling block for people to take opera seriously for a long time.
It's only relatively recently that opera companies started using singers that are more aesthetically pleasing in their looks but still have good voices than large women with very powerful voices, in such roles, because they deem the overall effect more important.
I realise that Agnes was used, to a degree, as a tool to get Nanny and Granny to A-M, but she's hardly a minor character. Nanny and Granny seem to find it ridiculous that any girl given the chance to be a witch, wouldn't jump for it. But she has purposely distanced herself from Lancre and is determined to make the most of her freedom.
And she gains her freedom by TSC, doesn't she? Her witching career is part-time, at best. Her full-time career is singing.
Agnes also shows up in The Sea and Little Fishes, though she is mainly an observer. I like to think that she later gets to take at least third place in the Lancre Witch Trials, probably with something voice-related.
Hmm. Ventriloquism, perhaps? I think she pulls off that trick during her audition, mistaking it for "voice projection".
"Where would you like me to project it? Up here? Or here? Or there? Or there?"
Meanwhile, Bucket and Salzella look around themselves in confusion. Where are those voices coming from?
