Die Ahnfrau, written in the trochaic Spanish verse form, has many of the outward features of the then-popular "fate tragedy" (Schicksalsdrama), but the characters are themselves ultimately responsible for their own destruction.
To some extent, the Civil War's most popular song guaranteed this fate.
The opera navigates in Shakespearean style between epic and drama, between the tragedy of the Russian people and the guilt-harrowed Tsar Boris, between popular comedy and the fate of the realm.
The fact that two leading lights of conservative jurisprudence decided against positions held by opponents of the health care law threatens to upend the popular notion that the fate of the law will be determined by judges along political lines.
Demand for commercial time in Super Bowl XLII was strong even before the writers' strike upended the prime-time schedules of the major networks and cast into doubt the fate of popular fare like "C.S.I.," "Grey's Anatomy" and the broadcast of the Academy Awards ceremony.
The fate of the popular vote now lies with Labor, which has indicated it is likely to vote it down.
The fate of the popular Yahoo-owned social network Tumblr is of particular interest in the recent acquisition talks.
Liberal immigration policies might not be politically popular, but it is the fate of liberals to be frequent holders of minority opinions, and we should do so proudly.
However, even under this relatively benign scenario, the LDP's subsequent prospects of running an effective government--and therefore keeping Mr Aso popular enough to avoid the fate of Messrs Fukuda and Abe--look bleak.
After months of uncertainty over the fate of the popular Brooklyn Bridge Park, city and state officials plan to sign an agreement on Tuesday that would allow limited private housing to be built there, to help pay an expected annual operating cost of $16 million.
Yet by one of the more perverse tricks of artistic fate, the most popular version of it today is a Russian ballet that contains nothing of Mazilier's choreography or much of Adam's music and in which Byron's original poem, heavy with tragic emotion, is distorted into an absurd romp.
