Feuding Families in Opera

Are family arguments turning up the heat on your Summer? They may be pretty much par for the course in family life, but the world of opera takes family feuding to the extreme. Here are Welsh National Opera’s top operas for family in-fighting, from the conniving and comical to the downright dangerous.

Janáček’sJenůfa (1904)

You could describe Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfaas the ultimate operatic family tragedy. The village girl Jenůfa is attacked and has her cheek slashed when she refuses her beloved’s step-brother, Laca. She is later hidden away by her stepmother, Kostelnička, for giving birth to a baby outside of wedlock. The baby’s father, Števa, refuses to acknowledge his son so Kostelnička turns to Števa’s half-brother, Laca, to see if he will marry her and save them from their dreadful family shame. Telling him that the baby has died of a fever, Kostelnička steals the baby boy away from Jenůfa at night and drowns him in the river.

Debussy’sPelléas et Mélisande (1902)

Taking place in the imaginary kingdom of Allemonde, the King Arkel rules over all in Claude Debussy’s French masterpiece Pelléas et Mélisande(1902). His grandson, Prince Golaud finds the young Mélisande wandering alone, lost in the forest, and brings her back to the family castle where he marries her. Soon however, Mélisande grows attached to Golaud’s younger half-brother Pelléas, and the jealous Golaud tries to uncover the two’s relationship, even using his own child to spy on them. The young couple agree to meet at night where the defenceless Pelléas is struck down and killed by his older brother; the grieving Mélisande dies soon afterwards having given birth to a daughter.

Mozart’s The Magic Flute(1791)

Vengeful and vindictive in equal measure, the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute is one hell of a family disruptor, so much so that she tears her daughter, Pamina, away from her father Sarastro, the Priest of the Sun. The Queen commands Pamina to murder Sarastro, giving her a dagger to fulfil the act – fortunately Pamina doesn’t follow through, and the Queen and her ladies are vanquished at Sarastro’s Temple of the Sun.

Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (1918)

If you’re looking for an opera of family squabbling in a more light-hearted vein, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi is your best bet. It’s a story about a greedy family (the Donatis) who have recently been disinherited out of a significant fortune by their relative, so they enlist the help of Gianni Schicchi, a fraudulent trickster renowned throughout Florence, to help reclaim their inheritance. It’s a great, fast-paced comedy, only around an hour in length, that sees the family bicker themselves into obsolescence and Gianni Schicchi emerge triumphant.

You can catch WNO’s new production of Gianni Schicchi in Il tritticofrom September 29 at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre, before it tours as a double bill Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi to Llandudno, Plymouth and Southampton. A special concert performance of Il trittico will take place at Oxford’s New Theatre on 25 October 2024.