Who is Opera's greatest villain, I say Pinkerton, challenge me!
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Ouch, very good. Yet Pinkerton never gets his just deserts
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Opera houses with poor acoustics.
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Regietheater directors!
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... and Lulu. Wish they could pair up!
And Kostelnička from Jenufa. I both hate and respect her a lot.
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Well he does get an American wife - just saying.Ouch, very good. Yet Pinkerton never gets his just deserts
I vote for Scarpia
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...and the statuette goes to ... IAGO!
First of all, Pinkerton is not inherently evil. He's an a**hole and unthinking but he has a change of heart and even excoriates himself for his past selfish behavior, meaning he has a conscience.
Scarpia is just doing his job but he's not thoroughly evil. He's egotistical and full of himself and enjoys exerting his power position. He even gives his vulnerability away when he says, "Tosca, you make me forget God!"
Claggart (who probably comes closest to Iago) has an axe to grind being that he has found himself in the untenable position of having romantic impulses toward Billy Budd and having to squelch them. He is mean spirited and psychologically insecure but that doesn't necessarily spell evil.
Don Giovanini is too busy being a Narcissist to be evil incarnate. Even he himself was shocked that he went as far as to kill the Commendatore. He actually didn't mean to do it.
Now Iago, on the other hand, is the epitome of evil because he has no conscience whatsoever. He admits it in the Credo.
He couldn't care less about anyone or anything (including his own wife). He's doubly dangerous because he has a certain charm that wins over people (typical of psychopathic behavior)
First of all, Pinkerton is not inherently evil. He's an a**hole and unthinking but he has a change of heart and even excoriates himself for his past selfish behavior, meaning he has a conscience.
Scarpia is just doing his job but he's not thoroughly evil. He's egotistical and full of himself and enjoys exerting his power position. He even gives his vulnerability away when he says, "Tosca, you make me forget God!"
Claggart (who probably comes closest to Iago) has an axe to grind being that he has found himself in the untenable position of having romantic impulses toward Billy Budd and having to squelch them. He is mean spirited and psychologically insecure but that doesn't necessarily spell evil.
Don Giovanini is too busy being a Narcissist to be evil incarnate. Even he himself was shocked that he went as far as to kill the Commendatore. He actually didn't mean to do it.
Now Iago, on the other hand, is the epitome of evil because he has no conscience whatsoever. He admits it in the Credo.
He couldn't care less about anyone or anything (including his own wife). He's doubly dangerous because he has a certain charm that wins over people (typical of psychopathic behavior)
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Disagree about Scarpia, raping women goes well beyond "doing his job".
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That one person who won't stop coughing.
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Barnaba from Gioconda.......
The final despicable act as Gioconda lays dying from self inflicted dagger in her chest (rather than give herself to the evil one)
Barnaba whispers to her that he just killed her crippled mother so she feel even more pain as she lay dying
The final despicable act as Gioconda lays dying from self inflicted dagger in her chest (rather than give herself to the evil one)
Barnaba whispers to her that he just killed her crippled mother so she feel even more pain as she lay dying
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Oh come now, Pinkerton is a nice young man who acts without really considering the consequences of what he is doing. That young men can and do such things in their youth only to regret them later is a sad fact of life. His remorse is genuine. We don't know how he lives with himself later on. The opera ends with him finding the body of Butterfly. That is probably a pretty hard thing to live with for the rest of your life.
My money's on Giasone in Medea. He uses Medea to win the Golden Fleece, doesn't blink an eye when she kills her own brother to stop her father's pursuit of them. He then fathers two children with her and suddenly ups and leaves to go and marry Creon's daughter. Medea's revenge is possibly a little over the top, but really it serves him right. He knew what he was getting himself into.
I don't think Pinkerton is the greatest villain he does terrible things but there is a real humanity there, he wants to do what's right even if he can't see that it's not right at all.
Nero from L'Incoronazione di Poppea should get an honourable mention as a villain.
Nero from L'Incoronazione di Poppea should get an honourable mention as a villain.
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It makes him sexually aberrant and a scumbag but rape in and of itself doesn't equate to evil incarnate. He has too much guilt for that.
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Ummmm WT actual F? Hope you or your family don't get raped any time soon!
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Can I believe you said that?
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