Opera is an art form that has been much criticized over the years because of it’s outrageous and farfetched stories. If you think that a musical is silly because of its singing and dancing, then Opera is very silly because it features a world where each of the people in the story sing instead of speaking, and you can see a person sing their lungs out for ten minutes before they die, no matter how badly wounded he is. Other than that, what makes opera silly is the outrageous plots. Just think of babies switched at birth, or love potions that turn out to be poisons. Also, people in operas like to cross-dress as well so it’s not surprising if you’ll find men singing in a women’s voice while playing women disguised as men. Pretty confusing, right? Now we laid down how weird opera can be, let’s take a look and discover some of the strange and unusual operas.
La Nonne Sanglante by Charles Gounod
There are several opera plots that feature a man who accidentally marries the wrong woman. But what makes this opera weird is that the man in this story accidentally marries a dead one. La Nonne Sanglante may have taken the gothic horror genre several steps too far.
It follows the story of lovers Rodolphe and Agnes however, their families are not in good terms. That’s why to make peace, a helpful hermit suggested that Agnes should marry Rodolphe’s brother. That’s why Agnes decided to plot a haunted story so that the attention of the people will be much less focused on her. So she disguised herself as a ghost of a murdered nun that is known to haunts the castle grounds. Eventually, Rodolphe’s brother allowed him to legitimately marry Agnes. However, he is now haunted by the real ghost of the nun who will only free him from his vows if he finds and kills her unidentified murderer.
Bluebeard’s Castle by Bela Bartok
What makes this opera weird? Well, for starters it features a creepy castle with secret rooms, dead ex-wives, and the unusual cold relationship of Bluebeard and his new wife. The scariest thing about this opera is the music because it sounds like something that was made for a Hitchcock film. The music seems to be uncomfortably soft and impossibly loud.
The Turn of the Screw
This opera features haunted houses, mental health red flags, ghost sightings, hallucinations, and even child-adult relationships. The musical score in this opera can make you hear and feel moments of fear, and the natural and the supernatural world but it doesn’t give out any hints on which part of the story are true and which are not. Although it is not exactly a sensational and shocking kind of ghost story, The Turn of the Screw has its way of accumulating restlessness and unease. Top that off with the music that makes a world seem that everyone is creepy.
The Nose by Dmitri Shostakovich
Based on its title, The Nose is about a man who wakes up without a nose and he embarks on a journey to find it. To top it all off, this opera comes with some odd circus music that makes you feel like you’re on some sort of drugs. This opera is not just weird, it is also nonsensical, overstimulating and chaotic.
Dinorah by Giacomo Meyerbeer
This opera follows the story of Dinorah as her home was destroyed by a storm on the day of her wedding while her fiancée, Hoel, snuck off in search of a treasure. Dinorah became furious as she roamed the countryside while wearing her bridal gown along with her pet goat.
On the other hand, Hoel is still searching for the treasure of legendary fairy folk. He then discovered that the first person who touches it will die. That’s why he returned home to enlist a coward bagpiper as his unlucky entertainer. And when he sees Dinorah, he was unable to recognize her despite the wedding dress. However, Hoel along with his stooge and Dinorah followed the pet goat because it is said that it will lead them to the treasure.
But, a strong storm breaks out which scared the goat and made it run across a tree over a ravine. Dinorah attempted to save the sheep but lightning shattered the bridge and hit her. When Hoel comes to her rescue, he finally recognized her because of her necklace.
And as far as weird operas go, Hoel’s singing restores Dinorah’s sanity and he made her believe that everything that happened was all just a dream. However, her pet goat was not resurrected by Hoel’s singing.
If you want a hair raising experience, then we suggest you go and look for these operas and watch them online.