The crescent crown atop the head of the late Commandatore in the opera Don Giovanni

Fine arts Magnet / Mozart
Originally uploaded by trudeau

The crescent-shaped hat shown atop the ghost of the Commander in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni is called a chapeau bras.

A chapeau bras is a three-cornered hat worn by gentlemen in full dress in the 18th century, that could be folded flat and carried under the arm (chapeau, French for 'hat' and bras, French for 'arm').

Its shape implies
- a battleaxe
- the crescent moon, as in the crescent and star symbol of Islam.
- a crescent wrench.
- crescent roll, or croissant.
- the wings of an eagle.


additional vocab -
- scatalogical: humor dealing with bodily functions such as farting or peepeeing. Or, in the field of anthropology, study of fecal matter (skat, Gk) and the deductions thereupon.
- opera buffa: a comic opera characterized by everyday settings, local dialects, and simple vocal writing. The type of comedy could vary, and the range was great: from Rossini's The Barber of Seville in 1816 which was purely comedic, to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 1786 which added drama and pathos, says Wikipedia.