History Music / SoporAeternusAndTheEnsembleOfShadows

** Muisc/BlackSabbath's "Paranoid" from ''Music/{{Paranoid}}'' and "A National Acrobat" were covered for a compilation, as "Diô N'arâp (The unability within Time)" and "Tabor C'âlan O'itanâ (My Womb is barren, but I can conceive)", respectively. The bassline from their song "Under the Sun" was also quoted for "Shadowsphere (The Monologue-World and the subconscious Symbols)".

* RecordProducer: John A. Rivers, producer for goth/post-goth rock bands Love & Rockets and Dead Can Dance, produced ''"Es Reiten die Toten so schnell"'' through to ''Sanitorium Altrosa''. Cantodea took the reigns back after that.

* VocalEvolution: On the early albums and demos, especially ''"…Ich Tote Mich…"'', the vocals were very tortured, unprofessional and alternated between near-crying and singing fairly often. On the newer albums, she sings much more professionally, sounds more feminine, and has less of a pronounced accent. Cantodea had a habit of recording only one take of the vocals early on, and used it regardless of quality. This changed around the time ''Dead Lovers' Sarabande'' was being recorded.

* ContemptibleCover: ''Es Reiten die Toten so schnell'' features a nude Varney on the cover, standing in a crypt. The vinyl cover for ''"La Chambre D'Echo"'' features Varney laying down nude in a crypt.

* {{Transgender}}: Anna-Varney is male-to-female, but refuses hormone treatment or surgery for "spiritual reasons."

* NobodyOverFiftyIsGay: Averted. Cantodea is transgender, and although no birthdate has ever been officially given, is assumed to be around sixty.

* {{Transsexual}}: Anna-Varney is male-to-female, but refuses hormone treatment or surgery for "spiritual reasons."

* ShoutOut: The name Varney comes from the first vampire story, ''Varney the Vampire''. A song is named after its subtitled, "The Feast of Blood".
** Cantodea has turned several of EdgarAllanPoe's poems into songs. They were all re-recorded and paired with additional songs for the album ''POETICA''.

Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows is a German neoclassical darkwave band, whose sole constant member by Anna-Varney Cantodea. Formed in 1989 by Cantodea and Holger, the band has released 10 studio albums and six [=EPs=], or "[[InsistentTerminology sister albums]]". At the time of the project's start, Cantodea was living in complete isolation, afflicted by severe depression and close to blindness, and claims to have been "given" the music in her dreams by spirits, the "Ensemble of Shadows", thus forming Sopor Aeternus. Holger would leave the band after the demo recordings, but Cantodea would continue under the name.

** The music of Music/CatStevens' "I Think I See the Light" was used for "Todeswunsch (vers.)"

!! Discography

* ''Ehjeh Ascher Ehjeh''[[note]]''I am what I am]]''[[/note]] (1995; sister EP)

** The music of CatStevens' "I Think I See the Light" was used for "Todeswunsch (vers.)"
** BlackSabbath's "Paranoid" and "A National Acrobat" were covered for a compilation, as "Diô N'arâp (The unability within Time)" and "Tabor C'âlan O'itanâ (My Womb is barren, but I can conceive)", respectively. The bassline from their song "Under the Sun" was also quoted for "Shadowsphere (The Monologue-World and the subconscious Symbols)".
** {{Kraftwerk}}'s "The Model" received a TranslatedCoverVersion as "Modela est", which was sung in Latin.
** ''Have You Seen This Ghost?'' featured three covers: "It Is Safe to Sleep Alone" ("Sleep" by Marianne Faithfull), "Hello" by Lionel Richie and "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler.

* ''A Strange Thing to Say'' (2011; sister EP)
* ''Have You Seen This Ghost?'' (2010)

* ''Mitternacht - The Dark Night of the Soul''[[note]]''Midnight''[[/note]] (2014)

* GenreShift: "Ich Tote Mich..." was a standard synthesized darkwave album, with production values akin to that of BlackMetal. "Todeswunsch" was an abrupt switch to Medieval/Renaissance-influenced folk, using real instruments played by session musicians. The synthesizers made sparing return from ''Spiral Traveller'' until ''inverted Womb'', when elements of progressive rock began to entrench into Cantodea's work. From ''Es Reiten die Toten so schnell'' onward, it's been straight-forward neoclassical darkwave, with touches of ElectronicMusic and chamber music throughout.

** Later albums received a near-equal level of treatment. It's common now for her albums to become available as 128+-page coffee table books.

* VocalEvolution: On the early albums and demos, especially "Ich Tote Mich...", the vocals were very tortured, unprofessional and alternated between near-crying and singing fairly often. On the newer albums, she sings much more professionally, sounds more feminine, and has less of a pronounced accent. Cantodea had a habit of recording only one take of the vocals early on, and used it regardless of quality. This changed around the time ''Dead Lovers' Sarabande'' was being recorded.

* ''Les Fleurs du Mal – Die Blumen des Bösen''[[note]]''The flowers of evil'' [[/note]] (2007)

* MissingEpisode: There were apparently three demos recorded by Cantodea and Holger. Only the first, ''"Es reiten die Toten so schnell..."'' has been released publicly.

* CanonDiscontinuity: Despite hating ''Spiral Traveller'' and ''"Voyager"'', Cantodea has reissued both albums.

German DarkWave band formed by Anna-Varney Cantodea in 1989, at the time simply known as Varney. The band has released 10 studio albums, six [=EPs=] and three demos, only one of which has been released. At the time of the project's start, Cantodea was living in complete isolation, afflicted by severe depression and close to blindness, and claims to have been "given" the music in her dreams by spirits, the "Ensemble of Shadows", thus forming Sopor Aeternus. Lyrical themes in the band's early songs focused on the extreme pain of her life, the occult, her own spiritual discovery, and vampires, but later embraced her own coming to terms with her transsexuality, love, sex, and whatnot.

* GenreShift: "Ich Tote Mich..." was primarily synthesized, and had PostPunk and GothRock influence, and production values were very raw akin to BlackMetal. "Todeswunsch" had more of a Medieval/Renaissance-influenced sound, with gloominess still very much intact, but everything since "The Inexperienced Spiral Traveller" has been DarkWave based on ClassicalMusic, with "La Chambre D'echo" veering off into ElectronicMusic
* IAmTheBand: A man named Holger helped her record demo tapes, since the first LP was released, everything has been solely composed by Anna-Varney, with all other musicians being session musicians.
* NobodyOverFiftyIsGay: Averted. Anna-Varney is transgender, and although no birthdate has ever been officially given, is assumed to be around sixty.

* ShoutOut: Has turned several of EdgarAllanPoe's poems into songs.
* {{Transsexual}}: Anna-Varney is MTF, but refuses hormone treatment or surgery.
* VocalEvolution: On the early albums and demos, especially "Ich Tote Mich...", the vocals were very tortured, unprofessional and alternated between near-crying and singing fairly often. On the newer albums, she sings much more professionally, sounds more feminine, and has less of a pronounced accent.

* GenreShift - "Ich Tote Mich..." was primarily synthesized, and had PostPunk and GothRock influence, and production values were very raw akin to BlackMetal. "Todeswunsch" had more of a Medieval/Renaissance-influenced sound, with gloominess still very much intact, but everything since "The Inexperienced Spiral Traveller" has been DarkWave based on ClassicalMusic, with "La Chambre D'echo" veering off into ElectronicMusic
* IAmTheBand - a man named Holger helped her record demo tapes, since the first LP was released, everything has been solely composed by Anna-Varney, with all other musicians being session musicians.
* NobodyOverFiftyIsGay - averted. Anna-Varney is transgender, and although no birthdate has ever been officially given, is assumed to be around sixty.
* {{Transsexual}} - Anna-Varney is MTF, but refuses hormone treatment or surgery
* ShoutOut - has turns several of EdgarAllanPoe's poems into songs.
* VocalEvolution- on the early albums and demos, especially "Ich Tote Mich...", the vocals were very tortured, unprofessional and alternated between near-crying and singing fairly often. On the newer albums, she sings much more professionally, sounds more feminine, and has less of a pronounced accent.

German DarkWave band formed by Anna-Varney Cantodea in 1989, at the time simply known as Varney. The band has released 10 studio albums, six [=EPs=] and three demos, only one of which has been released. At the time of the project's start, Cantodea was living in complete isolation, afflicted by severe depression and close to blindness, and claims to have been "given" the music in her dreams by spirits, the "Ensemble of Shadows", thus forming Sopor Aeternus. Lyrical themes in the band's early songs focused on the extreme pain of her life, the occult, her own spiritual discovery, and vampires, but later embraced her own coming to terms with her transsexuality, love, sex, and whatnot.

Tropes applying to this group

* CreatorBreakdown - She has apparently suffered from depression since age SIX, because of being abused by her mother, hating herself after having an out-of-body experience, became suicidal at age 12, and later struggled with a cancer-like illness and near-blindness. She created the group after she absolutely couldn't take it anymore.

* Transsexual - Anna-Varney is MTF, but refuses hormone treatment or surgery

* NobodyOverFiftyIsGay - averted. Anna-Varney is transgendered, and although no birthdate has ever been officially given, is assumed to be around sixty.

* FauxSymbolism - well, sort of. Due to her use of Saturnian symbolism, people assume she is devoted to the Roman deity Saturn, when this is not the case. In Alchemical symbolism, Saturn is associated with old age, the physical realm, death, and materialism, with the Sun being God, and she explained in an early interview that "Saturn" is used to symbolize the extreme pain she has endured.

* ReclusiveArtist - as mentioned before, Anna-Varney was totally isolated before starting the project, leaving her house about once a month at best. She still doesn't get out much, refuses to play live, and interacts with her fans mostly through the internet.

German darkwave band formed by Anna-Varney Cantodea in 1989, at the time simply known as Varney. The band has released 10 studio albums, six [=EPs=] and three demos, only one of which has been released. At the time of the project's start, Cantodea was living in complete isolation, afflicted by severe depression and close to blindness, and claims to have been "given" the music in her dreams by spirits, the "Ensemble of Shadows", thus forming Sopor Aeternus. Lyrical themes in the band's early songs focused on the extreme pain of her life, the occult, her own spiritual discovery, and vampires, but later embraced her own coming to terms with her transsexuality, love, sex, and whatnot.

* GenreShift - "Ich Tote Mich..." was primarily synthesized, and had PostPunk and GothRock influence, and production values were very raw akin to BlackMetal. "Todeswunsch" had more of a Medieval/Renaissance-influenced sound, with gloominess still very much intact, but everything since "The Inexperienced Spiral Traveller" has been Darkwave based on ClassicalMusic, with "La Chambre D'echo" veering off into ElectronicMusic

* Transsexualism - Anna-Varney is MTF, but refuses hormone treatment or surgery

----