| Christabel Sistine | |
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Japanese Name |
クリスタベル・サスティーン |
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Romanized Name |
Kurisutaberu Sasutīn |
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Nickname(s)/Alias(es) |
- |
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Debut |
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Voice actor |
中原麻衣 |
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Status |
Deceased |
Christabel Sistine was a musical automaton, a skillful violinist created by Dallaglio Hayward and said to be the only capable of playing the Phantom Scores. She is present in the Phantom Score story.
Background[]
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Hoping to honor his late father, an unsuccessful maker of musical automata, Dallaglio developed a machine capable of playing the Phantom Scores. Only a doll closer to a human would be able to play the works of Guglielmo Baldini. Dallaglio taught and adjusted her, starting from a baby-like stage. The project was funded by Kendrick, a manager who saw in Christabel an opportunity to control the kingdom. He plans to have the violinist play the addictive composition known as Utopia to turn the audience into slaves. Eventually, Dallaglio started to wish for her happiness after noticing that she was more than a simple doll. They’ve always been together. She needs to be tuned periodically. Dallaglio owns her blueprints.
It’s said that Christabel plays for money, performing only to a handful of aristocrats and members of wealthy families. People spent fortunes to listen to her. Mr. Kendrick invested heavily in her development and even in the construction of her own concert hall, a venue with one thousand seats. Located in the center of London, the Sistine Hall (サスティーン・ホール Sasutīn Hōru) is a huge, beautiful building with dome-shaped roof, intimidating as a church. Christabel was supposed to play for Kendrick only while the hall was being built. The place was featured in an article a few days before its inauguration. The basement right under the stage became Christabel’s room. The vast space smells oil because of a machine the size of a small car, an aggregate of metallic parts. The apparatus is connected to a large piano used by Christabel’s accompanist, another automaton created by Dallaglio in the form of a man wearing black tailcoat. The pianist looks more like a doll compared to Christabel, although he’s also used during her performances.[1] In the anime, the pianist has a womanly appearance.[2]
Personality[]
Christabel, as seen in the light novel.
As a doll, Christabel face is expressionless. She acts as if playing music is her only purpose. Once she starts performing, she doesn’t stop. Famous as a violinist, it’s said that she’s the only musician able to play the compositions of Guglielmo Baldini. She somehow knows how to deliver a message to her audience through her violin. The musician has problems to understand concepts such as happiness, beauty and death. At first, she couldn’t comprehend Dallaglio’s kindness, but eventually his feelings made her express herself and act of her own will. He's certain that Christabel is more than an emotionless doll. She sees the pianist automaton as a friend.[1]
Appearance[]
Christabel has a golden hair that reaches the floor and a skin so pale that she seems unhealthy. Using a gorgeous white silk dress, she has the appearance of a young woman of 18 or 19 years old.[1] In the anime, her face and impressive blue eyes are vacant. A line around her neck makes her look more like a doll. She usually wears white wristbands and dresses. Christabel’s blond hair is adorned with a white hair clip and combed into an elaborate bun, although locks hang from the back of her head. In the park, she’s seen with brown-and-white dress and a hat with a blue ribbon.[2]
Plot[]
Christabel watches Dallaglio play the piano.
Christabel wakes up, raising the upper part of her stiff and cold body to silently watch Dallaglio play the piano in the corner of the room. She’s not sure why he placed a bouquet of pale flowers on the bedside table. He will take her to the park so she can see beautiful things and happy people. More important, he wishes for her happiness. Christabel doesn’t understand his kindness.
Christabel plays with Hugh's violin.
In the park, she walks away from him, probably attracted by Hugh’s violin. She asks to borrow the instrument. Afraid of her, Dalian hides behind Hugh. Dallaglio appears out of breath and apologizes for Christabel’s attitude. He fixes the violin, then Hugh agrees to her request. She produces a heinous sound at first, but soon a crowd forms to watch her performance and listen to the beautiful melody. The passersby recognize the famous violinist Christabel Sistine. Dallaglio wants to avoid too much attention, but she won’t stop playing. He drags her away after asking to borrow the violin.
At a used bookstore, Hugh finds a pamphlet depicting Christabel. During their conversation with the shopkeeper, Hugh and Dalian learn that she’s a musician who plays for money and has potential to perform the Phantom Scores, elaborate works composed by Guglielmo Baldini. Dalian decides to meet her once again at the Sistine Hall, a venue financed by her manager. The place will be inaugurated in a few days.
Christabel welcomes Hugh to her room.
During the inauguration day, Hugh and Dalian follow Dallaglio to the basement below the stage of the Sistine Hall. The couple is attacked and restrained by one of Kendrick’s men. When Hugh regains consciousness, Christabel welcomes him to her room. According to her, they saw something they weren’t supposed to see. The elevator nearby is loaded with a pianist automaton created by Dallaglio to accompany Christabel during the ceremony where she would play a Phantom Score.
Christabel plays the Twilight.
She performs for Hugh, attracting Dallaglio’s attention. Kendrick also appears and affirms that he plans to use Christabel to control the audience. It’s revealed that Christabel is another one of Dallaglio’s creations, although he ensures that she has her own will. Dallaglio threatens to publish her blueprints if she's forced to play. Dallaglio is shot by one of Kendrick's men. Christabel doesn’t understand the meaning of Dallaglio being shot. Dalian explains that he is dying. Christabel, showing no emotions, leaves for the stage to start the inauguration ceremony. Underground, Dallaglio talks about his motivation to create the violinist automaton and how he desires for her happiness. The first music Christabel performs is a message telling people to run away. Then, instead of playing Utopia, as ordered by Kendrick, she plays Twilight, making the building collapse. Hugh witnesses the partially broken doll smiling during her final moments. Her body was never found. Dalian suggests that Dallaglio changed her mechanisms to make her play the wrong Phantom Score. Other theory is that Christabel really acted of her own will to express her sadness for Dallaglio's death.[1]
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Trivia[]
- Automata are self-operating machines designed to automatically follow a predetermined sequence of operations and sometimes give the illusion to the casual observer that they are operating under their own power. Early examples of automata are tools, toys, religious idols and prototypes for demonstrating basic scientific principles in Ancient Greek.[3] In his 1206's writings, Muslim inventor Ismail al-Jazari described a musical robot band operated by hydraulic switching.[4]
- In 1837, Italian newspaper publisher Giovanni Antonio Galignani reported about an impressive violin player automaton designed by Monsieur Marreppe after many years of study and labor. It was a well-dressed figure of a man, very convincing and natural, which would bow to the audience and play in an orchestra, moved at the conductor's will. According to the creator, it could perform any piece of music.[5]
- Viola Duplessis is another automaton.[6]
- The dome-shaped design of the Sistine Hall is probably based on the Royal Albert Hall, a concert hall with a capacity of up to 5,272 seats on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, completed in 1871.[7]
- Mai Nakahara is also a musician, releasing five albums as a singer by 2016.[8] She voiced Tortinita Fine, a leading female character who attends music school in the Japanese visual novel Symphonic Rain.[9]
- The pieces performed by Christabel were purposely made to be technically difficult, since she's supposed to be a reputed violinist. The music Hugh and Dalian heard in the basement of the concert hall was particularly meant to be played by machines.[10]
References[]
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