Karen O

Half grand opera, half roof-raising choral- orchestral spectacular, Berlioz’s ‘The Damnation of Faust’ caused a scandal in 1846 when it was first performed, and with its supernatural story and thumping good melodies, it’s still one of 19th century music’s most rivetingly sinful treats.

Connecticut, 1863. Union soldier Cyrus Task (Warren Oates), has returned from The War Between the States to his farm after losing his leg to a Rebel bullet. His wife (Nellie Bellflower), a devoutly religious woman, is scornful of Cyrus' phoney boasting about his brief war exploits, but is unable to deal with the knowledge that Cyrus has given her a sexually transmitted disease ("Cupid's itch," as the doctor calls it). Humiliated before God, she commits suicide by drowning herself in the farm's pond. Cyrus, at a loss how to raise his infant son, Adam, remarries and has another son, Charles…..