2021: The Phantom of the Orchestra Pit

Severance Hall played host to one of the most beguiling mysteries of the early 2020s.

In late 2021, during rehearsals for a newly discovered piece of music — a violin-led orchestral suite with no identifiable composer — strange fluctuations in Glamour were reported by Kithain patrons of the Cleveland Orchestra. Performers claimed the music “played itself,” and that their fingers moved with a will not entirely their own. Mortals were enchanted into a hush, often forgetting entire movements or swearing they’d heard something entirely different.

The phenomenon sparked curiosity in both baronies. Musicians and artists speculated that it was the work of a Forgotten Kithain composer, desperate to return through their final, incomplete masterpiece. Baron Veylon ap Liam declared that he wished the commission of a full performance that he and his husband could attend.

The Satyr Echo, a Grump by chronology but still vibrant in spirit, became enamored with the piece. Known for their lifelong efforts supporting Dreamers and artists throughout Cleveland, Echo saw an opportunity to build camaraderie between the Moondog Barony and the Doan's Corners Barony. They organized a fae-centric concert series to celebrate the music — and all the mysteries it represented.

That dream unraveled the moment Tucker Funt entered the scene. A vicious music columnist and occasional radio commentator, Funt’s words had ended musical careers and closed venue doors. What the Kithain came to understand too late is that Funt is no mere critic. He is an Autumn Person — one whose cynicism exudes Banality like poison ink. His reviews don’t merely discourage; they extinguish.

When Echo met Funt at a charity event, something in their fae soul fractured. The moment was felt by every Kithain in attendance — a sudden stillness, like the hush before a concert breaks. Echo left without a word and quietly withdrew from public life.

In the years that followed, they were seen only rarely: walking the lakefront alone, listening to jazz through their headphones while sipping tea in a Gordon Square coffee shop, or observing a Playhouse Square performance from the back row. By 2024, they had vanished entirely. It is now widely believed that Echo succumbed to the Forgetting, their once-vivid Glamour fading like the final chord of a great composition.

Legacy

The musical suite that began the haunting remains. To mortal eyes, the pages are blank. But to those with Glamour, they shimmer faintly. A few fae have taken to calling it The Phantom Sonata. Though no one has dared to play it again in full, rumors persist that its final movement was never written — or waits for the right hands to finish it.