Witches and Bitches: Opera that goes bump in the night…
Join me as we explore some spooky operas, with ghosts, witches, and scary characters designed to chill you to the bone.
Each opera will get a spooky rating out of 5 (yes that’s right, I’ll be judging, comment with your opinion, it’s always welcome!), these are perfect operas to listen to on these dark and stormy nights… just don’t take any life lessons from this lot!
The Turn of the Screw, Britten
Aren’t kids lovely?… em. Yesssss, when they aren’t possessed or summoning ghosts.
This young Governess arrives at a bleak house far from anywhere, to look after two children. She has never met her employer, and has strict instructions not to contact him… which is surely a fairly big employment red flag, pre modern safeguarding procedure!
Various spooky ghostly moments and stories of terrible things happening in the past lead up to the boy being posessed, and admitting he didn’t deliver the letter which was written to get help, and blaming it all on a ghost. This gets rid of the ghost but also kills the boy.
There is no happy ending just regret, tears, and questions. Lots of questions!
SPOOKY RATING: 5/5
Lulu, Berg
A rare night out away from your darling children, babysitter watching your netflix, expensive Ubers, this is probably not the ‘date night’ opera for you… not unless you are both into some fairly serious dark things.
We follow femme fatale Lulu as she spirals from affluent mistress in Vienna, to prostitute in London who brings home Jack the Ripper and becomes one of his victims.
Lulu is described as the woman ‘who became the destroyer of all because everyone destroyed her.’ A. Elliott, A History of Twentieth-Century Music in a Theoretical-Analytical Context, Hoboken: Taylor and Francis
All the characters are seen as victims of society, leading awful lives, the music is very complicated serialism (don’t expect to go home singing any tunes), there is often a film element added, it is an artistic triumph but not a toe-tapping upbeat experience.
If you love dark stories exploring the dark corners of society and ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ (not forgetting women’s inhumanity to women) this is the opera for you. Maybe not spooky as such, but very dark…
SPOOKY RATING: 4/5
Macbeth, Verdi
Ah yes. The Power Couple who want it all, and are happy to get it any way they can… We all know ‘The Scottish Play’ and the many superstitions in the theatre associated with it.
This opera features witches, battlefields, refugees, revenge, ghosts, executions, castles, a very persuasive wife, and some tricky laundry and cleaning issues. Turns out, blood really is a tricky stain.
SPOOKY RATING: 5/5
Un ballo in maschera
Hands up who loves a good party?… - thank you, I can see you all, you may put your hands down now- well, this opera has a party, a masked ball. But think ‘Married at First Sight’ dinner party around week 5 and times that by 10, and you’ll not be far off the levels of drama.
Set at the end of the 18th century, Riccardo loves Amelia, Amelia loves Riccardo. But, Amelia is married to Renato.
Riccardo learns of some conspiracies against him, and is also told that a local woman, Ulrica, is guilty of witchcraft. There are calls for her to be banished. They go to her house in disguise to find out for themselves.
Instead, Ulrica makes a prophecy, advises on a magic herb, and generally sets about several storylines that end with multiple misunderstandings and people vowing to kill someone else.
In the end, Riccardo is killed at the Masked Ball, but discloses that Amelia was entirely faithful to her husband and did not break her marriage vows… He pardons the conspirators and dies.
SPOOKY RATING: 1/5
Lohengrin, Wagner
Wagner’s opera sets a story that could easily be a new action movie to music.
The people of Brabant suffering political quarrels and division, and also from an evil power from pagan times, seek to return the region to pagan rule. A mysterious charismatic Knight sent by God arrives with superpowers, to unite the people and defend Elsa, who has been wrongly accused of murder.
The one condition is no one must ask the Knight his name, or his origin… Batman?… Mandalorian?…!
SPOOKY RATING 3/5
Hansel and Gretel, Humperdink
Ahhhh, more cute kids in a lovely fairytale! not quite. Humperdink writes a few beautiful tunes in this opera based on the Grimm brother’s fairy tale, so it’s not as dark as some of the other operas in the list.
The opera was proposed to Engelbert Humperdink (No, not that one) by his sister who had written a few sketches and tunes, which they fleshed out with her libretto into the opera.
Hansel and Gretel are meant to be doing their chores, but are too hungry to work. When their mother returns, she is furious they haven’t don’t their chores, threatens to beat them, a jug of milk is upturned… so she sends them out into the woods to pick strawberries.
When their father returns home drunk but having bought lots of food, he is shocked to hear the children are in the wood where the evil Gingerbread Witch is said to live. She lures children with her sweets and cakes, then cooks them in the oven where they turn into gingerbread and she eats them. Yes. Really.
In the forrest the children are protected by angels and the Sandman, and the Dew Fairy. Inevitably, this is not enough, and the children are caught nibbling on the gingerbread house… however, the children manage to trick the Witch and push her into the oven instead, also undoing her magic and freeing lots of other children who have been turned into gingerbread, turning them back into children again.
Mother and Father return, hugs all round, and stern warnings about naughty people getting their comeuppance! This popular opera often performed at Christmas is a dark fairytale but definitely full of fun and magic suitable for children.
SPOOKY RATING 3/5
Faust, Gounod
Like all good stories, this opera starts with a pact with the Devil. Well, we all know that will go well!
Marguerite is young and beautiful, Faust is an ageing scholar. He curses his age, fails to kill himself due to his faith, but when Mephistopheles agrees to help him gain his youth in exchange with helping him in Hell, he readily agrees thinking he will win Marguerite with his new youthful appearance.
Let’s not go into all the troubling and ridiculous issues this opera raises, least of all why Faust spends less time agreeing to the terms given to him than most of us spend choosing our daily coffee order.
This opera has a long and complicated story full of witches, angels, and the theme of being saved… based on Goethe’s poetic drama, a gothic ‘good versus evil’ horror movie set to music. It really ticks all the Spooky boxes.
SPOOKY RATING: 5/5
I hope you’ve enjoyed this bonus Spooky rundown of operas - there are many more I could have added. What is your favourite? As ever get in touch in the comments with your pick.