Opera, anyone?

[troubleinwinter]

[troubleinwinter]

1. Singers?

Ceceli Bartoli, Frederica von Stade

[Barad Simith]

2. I am opera challenged, but willing to learn

Other than Satyagraha by Glass, I have no experience with opera.

Can you recommend your favorite operas? The longer the list, the better.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. I'd say start with the semi-comic ones

Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, and Gianni Schicchi. They're all very accessible and contain well-known music.

Of all the serious operas, Carmen probably has the most familiar music. When I first saw it, I was surprised at the number of tunes I recognized.

If you can get the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts in your area, have them on in the background while you're doing your Saturday chores. That's a good way to absorb the music subliminally.

A lot of opera companies these days provide supertitles (translations projected over the stage) or seatback subtitles. These allow you to follow the plot without having to use a penlight to read a printed libretto.

[Princess Turandot]

14. I think Carmen is a good one to start with..

because the music is so familiar. La Traviata, Rigoletto and Tosca are good ones as well. Turandot, which is Puccini's last opera actually finished by someone else, is one you can wait on: the soprano role is hard to sing and to listen to.

If you have an opportunity to see one, if it is a big house, follow the advice someone once gave me: sit close enough to see whose mouth the words are coming out of :). Also, more are coming out on DVD these days. The Metropolitan Opera's productions for recording are traditionally staged and always well-sung.

I like Russian Opera, but that may be an acquired taste. My favorite is Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky. Stay away from Wagner initially.
I don't think operas sung in German in general are as tuneful as the Italian and the French. (Be careful if you buy a budget priced recording of an opera by a German opera company; they often translate the words into German, which is pretty weird!) Operas sung in English are for me almost as hard to understand except for the men's voices.

[lastliberalintexas]

17. La Boheme

A couple of people already mentioned Carmen and the more comedic operas, and they are great to start with. But I have to add La Boheme to the list. You'll also recognize many of the pieces in Puccini's operas, and this is probably his best.

[Matilda]

20. When I wanted to learn more about opera,

my mother bought me a compilation LP of arias by various singers.
Then I bought recordings of highlights of those I liked best, and
then moved on to full recordings, and recordings made by the singers
I liked.

After a year or so, I subscribed to The Australian Opera, which
was a wonderful way to expand my knowledge. With a subscription
you get to see works you perhaps wouldn't have chosen and can be
pleasantly surprised.

[MuseRider]

6. I played with Frederica von Stade

once about 10 years ago. She is a wonderful person as well as a wonderful vocalist. She goes by Flicka.

[Princess Turandot]

12. Domingo, Domingo, Domingo..

heehee

Thomas Hampson
Renee Fleming
Mirella Freni
Leona Mitchell
Eva Marton
Frederica as well
Domingo

[Fleurs du Mal]

3. Oh yes!

So many favorites, but I can give a list of some of my tops:

Lucia di Lammermoor, L'elisir d'amore - Donizetti
Tosca, La Bohème, Madame Butterfly - Puccini
Rigoletto, La Traviata, La Forza del Destino, Don Carlos, Aida, Otello,
Falstaff - Verdi
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L'italiana in Algeri, Il turco in Italia - Rossini
Les Contes d'Hoffman - Offenbach
La sonnambula, Norma - Bellini
Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier - Strauss
Tristan und Isolde, Der Ring des Nibelungen - Wagner
Cavalleria rusticana - Mascagni

[non sociopath skin]

4. I'd add ...

Bizet's Carmen and Pecheurs de Perles
Puccini's Turandot
Verdi's Nabucco
Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Magic Flute and Don Giovanni
Massenet's Werther and Manon
Gounod's Faust and Romeo and Juliette

and for sheer enjoyment and eccentricity
Virgil Thompson's Four Saints in Three Acts

The Skin

And, sorry, but Wagner wouldn't be on my list.

The Skin

[Princess Turandot]

13. Wagner's Flying Dutchman's isn't too overwhelming..

I like him in small doses (I couldn't do a 4 day ring cycle thing although I have seen them separately over the years.)

Nabucco is actually a lovely opera. They don't seem to perform it much, since it doesn't have much of a plot, but the music is beautiful.

[MuseRider]

7. I know little about Opera

but I love it. My brother was in Opera in Houston and was teaching me about it slowly when he died so my knowledge is small but he took me to several when I would visit. My favorite? Salome by Richard Strauss.

[troubleinwinter]

8. Here's a piece you can listen to.

http://www.azopera.com/learn/synopsis/audio/Au_Fond_Du_Temple_Saint.mp3.

It's a beautiful duet "au fond du temple saint", from the opera by Bizet, "The Pearl Fishers"

Performed by Jussi Bjørling (regarded by many as one of the greatest tenors of the 21st century) and Robert Merrill.

[Fleurs du Mal]

9. Awesome combo

One of my all-time favorite recordings is Verdi's Rigoletto with Björling, Merrill, and Peters. Björling's voice is divine - so clear and effortless.

*edit. Anyone who has never heard Björling and is interested, have a listen to the start of Questa o Quella or the more familiar La Donne E Mobile from Rigoletto (both are realplayer files from the Tower Records listing.)

Merrill is my favorite Figaro in The Barber of Seville as well.

[CBHagman]

10. I adore that duet, especially by those two gentlemen.

RCA included it in their "Opera's Greatest Moments" (definitely one of the compilation discs actually worth buying).

For another heart-stoppingly beautiful duet, listen to "Dome epais le jasmin" (The Flower Duet) from Lakme. I remember my stepmother playing that on LP when I was a kid, and it just stopped me in my tracks.

[Princess Turandot]

11. yes, yes yes.............

I saw Traviata when I was about 25, was amazingly indifferent during the first act, then became enthralled during the second act, and it went on from there. I live in NYC, and subscribed to the Met for almost 20 years, until my opera-partner got transferred out west and it got so expensive.

My three favorites are:
Turandot (quite a surprise, eh?)
Cav
and Tosca.

I have a recording of Cav conducted by Mascagni..one of those Nimbus re-recordings, which is kind of spooky. I like to buy recordings of lesser known operas by known composers.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. My first opera

was a telecast on CBS (back in the days when network TV showed cultural programming on Sunday afternoons instead of sports) of Lucia di Lammermoor sung in English.

I was nine or ten years old, but I really got into it, especially when Lucia just stared mournfully when Edgardo asked her to explain herself. "Tell him you were tricked into marrying the other guy!" I remember shouting at the television.

Now with arts programming ghettoized on PBS, accidental exposure to the performing arts is less likely to happen.

[Princess Turandot]

19. Yikes! Lucia when you were ten?..

I hope they hadn't done up the blood on the nightgown too much at the end. The last time I saw that staged, the Lucia practically had blood dripping off of her. What a gal! Almost as good as Turandot :)

[TrogL]

16. Peter Grimes

brought me back to opera.

Unfortunately it's rarely performed because it's politically incorrect.

[MuseRider]

18. That is a really

good Opera. I should really study it more and learn it. I heard it once and loved it.