Tear Jerker / Aida (Verdi)

• Much of what Aida goes through in the opera is extremely painful. First, she is torn between her Egyptian lover and her Ethiopian father and realizes that she cannot pray for the one while cursing the other. All she can do is pray for the gods to have pity on her. Then, Amneris figures out that Aida is in love with Radames and is pretty merciless to her (here's Dolora Zajcik menacing Aprille Millo in that scene) again reducing Aida to praying for pity. After that, when the Pharaoh announces that Radames may marry Amneris, his daughter, Aida despairs of ever seeing her fatherland again. Not even Aida's own father, Amonasro, will give her a break, instead bullying her into extracting the Egyptian strategic maneuvers from Radames. When she does, Radames is promptly accused of treason and sentenced to be Buried Alive, whereupon Aida, whose father was already killed, decides to die with her lover.