Book:Maskerade/Annotations

When Death is trying to persuade the reluctant swan to sing just once - everyone knows the well-known fact that a swan will sing only once in its life, just before it dies (hence swan-song, a last defiant flourish of life just before The End. not just a shout-out to the ballet Swan Lake, but take a closer look at what the swan actually sings translated out of Überwaldean.

Schneide meinen eigenen Hals

Or

I'm cutting my own throat.....

The Opera, as was, ends with Agnes Nitt's last defiant song of rage that effectively discharges the accumulated almost-magic and sets the stage for a new era of light operetta and musicals.

It ain't over until the fat lady sings....

Just a thought here on a visual gag. Nanny Ogg as ballerina. On the Muppet Show, wasn't there a running gag where Miss Piggy would insist on the prima ballerina spot, and as "Ballerina Pig" would act as much the same sort of highly visible sack of bricks in a tutu?