Lust, murder and revenge...

Murder for your ears is one thing, with lyrics laden with death and revenge, but what about murder for your eyes as well, and all cleverly disguised as high brow art?

I'm talking about opera, of course.

If you want a veritable feast of songs about lust, murder and revenge, it's hard to go past opera.

I lay no claim to knowledge about opera, and have not experienced many (hubby would rather have an anaesthetic-free arm amputation than endure one) but whenever I see advertisements for the latest performance of a famous opera there's usually blood, or a drop-dead gorgeous, buxom woman, usually the cause of the problem. Case in point, this image from the New Zealand Opera season of Lucia di Lammermoor.

Operas I could think of that involve murder, with my very limited knowledge;

Carmen
Lucia di Lammermoor
Rigoletto
Don Giovanni
West Side Story - well, it was almost opera, wasn't it?

When I googled "opera with death", as you do, I came across this interesting article called Operatic Death, which sums themes of death up nicely.

So there you go, next time you feel the need for a visual and aural treat full of lust, murder and revenge, pull out your tux, find your best frock, gloves and baubles and head to the opera.