If you want to brush up on your parenting skills, especially what not to do, consult these operas. Today’s episode was all about moms – mostly awful ones but with a few we love thrown in for good measure. I also played a couple for my kids because they needed some reassurance after hearing all these tales and a stiff drink is not yet an option.
Here’s what we played:
Baby Mine, Bonnie Raitt & Was (Not Was)
Il Trovatore; Condotta all’era in ceppi; Giuseppe Di Stefano/Fedora Barbieri/Orchestra Del Teatro Alla Scala, Milano/Herbert Von Karajan
Iphigénie en Tauride; Act 4 – Scene 7. Air. “Dans cet objet touchant”; Simon Keenlyside Gluck
Agrippina; Act 3. Chorus: Lieto il Tebro increspi l’onda; Capella Savaria, Nicholas McGegan Handel
Whip-Smart; Liz Phair
Cherubini: Medea: Son vane qui minacce
Kate Bush; Mother Stands For Comfort (get it? oh I slay me)
Hérodiade; Scene III: “Venge-moi d’une supreme offense”; San Francisco Opera
Die walkure; The Ride of the Valkyries; London Symphony Orchestra George Richter
Weezer; Butterfly; Pinkerton
The Magic Flute – Der Hölle Rache – Queen of the Night’s Aria, Act 2 ; Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Suor Angellica; Ave Maria, piena d grazia; Puccini -Sutherland
Suor Angellica; Senza mamma, o bimbo, tu sei morto; Puccini-Sutherland
Suor Angellica; Ah, son dannata! Puccini S-Sutherland
Lenny Kravitz; Butterfly; Mama Said