Mommy Dearest

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The world of opera is filled with many larger than life characters. In honor of Mother's Day, and looking for a way to endure that long Mother's Day brunch, we thought we would take a look at some of the less than ideal mothers that have graced the opera stage.

Because after all we love our mom, really, and we're sure glad she isn't...

- Azucena, perhaps the most dastardly of all operatic mothers, who burns her baby before Il Trovatore even begins.

- Herodias who gives her daughter Salome some "questionable" advice.

- Step-grandmother Kostelnitchka who drowns Jenufa's baby at the end of the opera.

- Margaret Garner, who cuts the throats of her children although she did it to save them from slavery so there is room for debate on this one.

- Medea/Medee who kills her two children however you want to spell it.

- Klytaemnestra in Elektra murders her husband and hides from her children.

- Madame de la Haltière the evil stepmother in Cendrillon.

- Gertrud in Hansel und Gretel

- The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute who threatens her daughter if she does not kill Sarastro.

So remember, call your mom this Sunday, because in the grand scheme of things she could've been much worse.

We're already working on our Father's Day list for next month.

- Edward

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