Ilya Voxerelie (ILL-yah voks-ehr-ELL-ee)

Written by UmbralGoat

It's really not that hard, you know; just hit the right keys at the right times. The instrument makes the music, not me.

— Ilya

Ilya Voxerelie was a prolific musical performer and composer of the Grelvur Dek. He was considered a prodigy of his time and is still revered as a master of his craft.

Voxerelie composed hundreds of pieces of music in his short life, and most of their original manuscripts have survived to be preserved. Several of his smaller works, however, believed to be from his younger years, remain lost. Voxerelie has become the face of the musical era in which he lived, with works still performed throughout the world in the modern day.

Appearance

His stature never suggested genius. Then again, neither did his mouth.

— Peers about Voxerelie

Ilya was a rather petite wolf Fælen, standing at 165 centimeters by age seventeen. One of his most complimented features was his dark fur coat, said to shimmer purple in the right light. He had few other defining features besides his piercing blue eyes.

He was rarely spotted in public without his royal blue overcoat, under which he enjoyed wearing various colorful vests.

Youth

Ilya was born in Lavano, Taretaglia to a middle-class family of reputable musicians. His father, Savero Voxerelie, was a notable violinist and his mother, Ana Voxerelie, a pianist, both of which performed most frequently in their freetime.

At a very young age, Ilya expressed an interest in the piano his mother played, and by the age of five he astounded his parents with his ability to play the instrument, beginning with short melodies he thought of on the spot. His mother nutured his interest by teaching him the pieces she had learned, many of which he could play by age seven. By the age of ten, he had learned to notate his own melodies and began studying musical forms.

Ilya's father often persuaded him to perform publically, often at parties, which grew his reputation substantially. By his teenage years, he was performing his own pieces on the piano with scantily-notated manuscripts, preferring to improvise certain sections for himself. His improvisational skills were what astounded his mother the most.

It was impossible to tell where the written notes ended and Ilya's mind began...

— Ana Voxerelie

At age sixteen, his father began teaching Ilya to play the violin, and it was during this time that Ilya began to rapidly diversify his compositions, expanding into duets with piano and violin; as he learned of other instruments, it seemed he was developing new symphonic manuscripts every week. Ilya was often spotted in coffee shops composing works, claiming he enjoyed the ambience over the silence of home. At seventeen, he conducted his first symphony for a party of Taretaglian aristocrats.

It was at that performance that he was offered employment under Countess Deglia, who was fond of the young musician, and wished he would serve as her personal teacher. She also offered to commission works from him, which would be performed at other public events.

Mannerisms

You cannot let him from your sight for more than a moment. He is bound to get his nose where he does not belong.

— Ilya's friends

Ilya was a very personable peer among musicians. He made many friends and even a few rivals as he was elevated under the Countess.

As he began to travel for his performances, he enjoyed messing with bards he'd never met personally before. If he overheard some talking of his own works, he would butt into the conversation, claiming: "That Voxerelie is nothing but a fad, he's done nothing new but learn early in life," to which the musicians would vehemently defend Voxerelie's genius to his own face; being of such a modest stature, he would sometimes incur physical threats over this. He would keep this up until his company would finally introduce him and stun the unassuming bards.

Ilya's humor leeched into his works as well, and as he grew older, they seemed to target authority and tradition more than anything. A grand symphony's finale would draw on with false endings, each one fooling the audience into applause. A beautiful quartet would end one player's part early, turning it into a trio and leaving the player to sit in silence. He often undertook challenges to compose "anti-music" as he would call it, seeking to break as many rules as possible to poke fun at his contemporaries. All the while, many would claim they sound as musical as anything else he wrote.

by lagito37

Age
46 years
Date of Birth
19th of Mervur, 1785 TC
Date of Death
4th of Voliþivur, 1831 TC
Classification
Fælen, Canine (Wolf)
Ability
None

Height / Weight
165 cm (5'5") / 60 kg
Gender
Cis Male
Pronouns
He / Him