- “The war between the East and the West was growing more violent by the day...Draco, a soldier from the West, thinks of his love, Maria, back at home...”
- —Impresario's narration
The Opera Maria and Draco is an event in Final Fantasy VI and the collective name of a set of four tracks, written by Nobuo Uematsu and Yoshinori Kitase, featured in the game's original soundtrack, later released as a single track in multiple album compilations.
The four tracks that play during the sequence are "Opening," "Aria di Mezzo Carattere," "The Wedding," and "Grand Finale?". The "Aria di Mezzo Carattere," one of Final Fantasy's most famous musical themes, is performed within the opera.
In order to establish contact with Setzer, the owner of the only functional airship in the World of Balance, the Blackjack, Celes impersonates the opera singer Maria, with whom Setzer is in love. Although Celes successfully poses as Maria for the majority of the opera, Locke discovers during the performance that Ultros is planning on dropping a weight on Celes from the rafters.
The opera is mostly in the game for one's enjoyment but also features a small game element. Three times during the opera the player has to pick the correct line for Celes to sing. Failing to do so will stop the opera and the player must do a new attempt; it is easy to guess which line is the correct one, however. (more...)