Harem of European women forcibly taken into Oriental harems—evident for example in the Mozart opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" ("The Abduction from the Seraglio") concerning the attempt of the hero Belmonte to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the "seraglio"/harem of the Pasha Selim; or in Voltaire's "Candide", in chapter 12 of which the old woman relates her experiences of being sold into harems across the Ottoman Empire. Much of Verdi's opera "Il corsaro" takes place in the harem of the Pasha Seid—where Gulnara, the Pasha's favorite, chafes at life in the harem, and longs for freedom and true love. Eventually
Rúni Brattaberg Rúni Brattaberg Rúni Brattaberg (born 1966 in Vágur) is a bass opera singer from the Faroe Islands, who works in operas around the world. He has been building his repertoire with Wagner (Gurnemanz, Hagen, Hunding, Fafner, Pogner, Heinrich) and other leading bass roles such as Osmin/The Abduction from the Seraglio, Timur/Turandot, Sparafucile/Rigoletto, Sarastro/The Magic Flute, Kaspar/Der Freischütz, the Doctor/Wozzeck, Rocco/Fidelio, and Basilio/The Barber of Seville in the ensembles of the Mainz, Ulm, Detmold, Bern, and Mannheim opera companies. In January 2017 he received the Faroese Cultural Prize. Rúni was born and raised in the village of Vágur on Suðuroy, the