Opera fans, I need help

[enigmatic]

I got a humourous (yet prickly) email from a listener this morning asking me if my boast of playing everything on my overnight show was true, why didn't I play any opera? Well, I had no answer because I know nothing about opera and I'm really too fond of it:)

But you know, the lady who wrote me was right; I should play some opera pieces on my show, so I'm asking you for help. I need a few short (around 5-10 minutes) pieces to put in the rotation; does anybody have any ideas on what I could play?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

1. Anything by Andrea Boccelli.

[chookie]

4. Not for purists

Boccelli is thought of as a pop artist who performs operatic selections, not a vocal artist.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

6. Oh PPPPPPPPPPPP.

[enigmatic]

8. Hey, I'll play anything

So onto the rotation it goes:)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

10. Thank you!!

[chookie]

14. Pardon me, but...

... his voice is pleasant, and that is all. I don't mean to ruin your pleasure -- enjoy him all you want. His voice does have beauty. Light voices are very popular. I personally can't stand him. But probably, if it is an eclectic broadcast, your choice of Boccelli is an excellent one, because he appeals to people who are not purists. I didn't mean to diss you, friend -- I was just making a point that Boccelli does not appeal to purists.

WE'RE HERE
WE'RE ELITISTS!
WE'RE HERE!
WE'RE ELITISTS!

[Crazy Guggenheim]

46. Oh I know. But when I heard his voice I got interested in opera.

I'm not a opera fan.

[Misunderestimator]

18. Yep... he's a pop singer all right.

[The empressof all]

2. Flower Duet from Lakkme or the Opera Babes

Absolutely gorgeous and my personal favorite. Opera Babes were street singers in London and had a CD last year that became fairly popular amongst non-opera buffs.

[enigmatic]

3. Right on

I'm writing these down...

[The empressof all]

5. Here's a link for info on Opera Babes

I bet they even sing the Flower Duet.

http://www.sonyclassical.com/music/87803/splash-f.html

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot

La donna è mobile from Verdi's Rigoletto
Habañera from Bizet's Carmen

Since you're into eclectic programming, check out some of Kiri Te Kanawa's cds. She does an amazing job crossing over from opera to jazz standards.

[enigmatic]

9. Thanks for this

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. All those were my first thoughts

[sundog]

56. yeah, i love it too

:)

[The empressof all]

11. Don't forget Summertime from Porgy and Bess

One of our great American Operas.

[nuxvomica]

50. Purists may disagree about whether that's "opera"

Cuz of the use of spoken dialogue. But if it isn't, it's opera's loss. "Porgy and Bess" is terrific, along with just about anything by Gilbert and Sullivan (referring to your other post). You have excellent taste. :-)

[Rabrrrrrr]

52. I certainly refuse to call it opera

It's a nice musical, or maybe even musical theater, but it ain't opera.

[The empressof all]

64. It's been produced at the Met

That's good enough Opera chops for me. But agree that with the dialogue it doesn't fit the mold.

I think it startles some when it's called an Opera as it's more accessible and so familiar to us, more so than that "European Stuff"
Opera initially was entertainment for the masses and somehow evolved into developing an elitist reputation. It's a shame because it really is the total package IMHO when it comes to entertainment.


http://www.answers.com/topic/porgy-and-bess

[chookie]

12. here's a few

It depends on the mood you want to set.

Heartbreakingly beautiful: try "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca (Puccini) or "Un bel di" from Madame Butterfly (Puccini)

for outrageous bravado -- "Di quella pira" from Il Trovatore (Verdi)

Simply ravishing "Mio bambino caro" from Gianni Schicchi/Il Trittico (Puccini)

Sexy and feminine "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" from Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saens)

[enigmatic]

13. Thanks

this is great stuff...

[FuzzySlippers]

15. "Che gelida manina" and "Si, Mi chiamano Mimi"

and the duet that follows from "La Boheme".

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. Nina Simone's version of The Black Swan would be a good

crossover piece

[enigmatic]

17. Oh yeah!

Have you heard her version of "I Shall Be Released"? Beautiful..

[Misunderestimator]

19. Good suggestion.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

28. you made me love that song :)

[Misunderestimator]

20. I think the duet "Sull'aria" from The Marriage of Figaro

might be nice... it was used really effectively in The Shawshank Redemption.

If this is not a classical station, you shouldn't go with any "loud" operatic pieces... like ANYTHING by a tenor (or frankly, anything solo). JMO. You also probably want to keep the music familiar, like this duet.. or the Lakme duet or the Barcarole from The Tales of Hoffman. Also... instrumental pieces would be good, some opera overtures work well in the time limit... or the Intermezzo from La Gioconda comes to mind (which is the prelude to ACT III).

[khashka]

21. A couple suggestions

1. Dido's Lament from Purcell's Dido and Anaeus. It's in English, it is beautiful, it is heartbreaking. Plus you can get it off that Intro to Music Appreciation CD that's been in the back of your closet since college.


2. The bit off The Fifth Element soundtrack that starts out as Lucia but then turns kinda weird and Bronski Beat ish. Always a great choice if you wanna fuck with people's minds.

Khash.

[flordehinojos]

22. you might want to try:

some of the following:
Grand March from Verdi's Aida.
Barcarolle from Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.
Habanera and Toreador Song from Bizet's Carme.
Caro Nome from Verdi's Rigoletto.
and
Musetta's Waltz from Puccini's La Bohême.

[NV Whino]

23. Can't go wrong with

Libiamo from La Traviata. (AKA the drinking song.)

March of the Toreadors from Carmine.

Most everyone, even if they don't know opera, will recognise those. Start with the easy ones and wean them on to the harder stuff. God, how can you not like opera? There's some great music in opera.

[yellowdogintexas]

24. check out some of the Wagner used in Warner Bros cartoons

as it will be very familiar to everyone.

There are some CD's available of the music used in cartoons.


Figaro, Figaro figarofigarofigaro...remember that one when Bugs and the tenor duke it out ?

[quiet.american]

25. Can't go wrong with O Mio Bambino Caro! n/t

[Aristus]

33. Lovely aria! Only it's "O Mio BABBINO Caro".

"Oh my darling daddy" not "Oh my darling baby".

The singer is begging her father to be allowed to marry the man she loves. If she cannot marry him, she threatens to jump off of the Porta Rosa bridge.

[quiet.american]

34. Okay, I knew I was going to get nailed on that! :) n/t

[Aristus]

35. No worries, friend. Just the fact that you know the aria and recommend

it proves you have exquisite taste in music! :thumbsup: B-)

[quiet.american]

37. Cheers! :) :) n/t

[Mokito]

26. Some of my favorites

'9th Symphony' by Ludwig Von Beethoven,

'Carmina Burana' by Carl orff,

'Le Symphonie Fantastique' by Hector Berlioz (not really an opera but still good)

[China_cat]

27. Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute.

There are several pieces from Aida.

Try the 'Best of Opera' cds. (3 or 4 now) Several pieces collected on each one that would fit what you need.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

29. The Seguidilla aria from Carmen

where the Gypsy girl Carmen, imprisoned for stabbing a co-worker, sings to seduce the soldier Don Jose to release her ("Pres des ramparts de Seville, etc."). It is sheer magic and charm and I'm sure that even non opera fans would immediately recognize it. In fact, virtually anything from that Opera would be great. Also very recognizable and charming to your listeners would be "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto and the "Libiamo" or Brindisi Drinking Song from from La Traviata.

[Rabrrrrrr]

31. "Trial" from the opera "Einstein on the Beach" by Philip Glass

That will definitely help push the "eclectic" part of your show.

[Rabrrrrrr]

32. And of course, there's Ride of Valkyries. Bit cliche, sure, but still good

[OffWithTheirHeads]

38. That's a long 5 minutes.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

39. Quando Men Vo, Puccini, 2min, 18 seconds

One of my personal favorites.

[wellstone dem]

36. whoops

I thought this was an Oprah thread

[OffWithTheirHeads]

40. And.... The quick count goes to Puccini

So check it out. Almost anything by
Puccini but I agree with many folks here. Play something that your audience might have heard before but didn't know what it was.

[BrotherBuzz]

41. Carmen Jones

Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen translated and updated with an African-American cast in a WWII Southern US military-base and defense plant settings. Same great music, but with lyrics that even I can understand. ;)

[KatyaR]

42. Here's a few . . . .

Cecilia Bartoli - La Cenerentola, Nacqui all'affanno...Non più mesta

Beverly Sills - The Ballad of Baby Doe, "Always Through The Changing," or the "Silver" aria

For old school, how about Renatta Scotto, Teresa Stratas, Leonie Rysanek, Renata Tebaldi, or Renee Fleming. Then there's Deborah Voight, Kiri Te Kanawa, Kathleen Battle, or Frederica von Stade . . . .

If you didn't want to sound quite so "opera-ish," you could also include something from Threepenny Opera, and NOT Mack the Knife--get the original Lotte Lenya recording in German, it's very German cabaret-ish sounding--maybe "Solomon Song" or "Pirate Jenny" for something different.

Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" is considered opera by some, so you could include something from that. Gilbert and Sullivan is always easy to listen to. "The Merry Widow" would also be good.

This is fun!!

[The empressof all]

44. I love Gilbert and Sullivan

They've given me some of my best ear-worms

[Sugar Smack]

43. The Wedding March from the Marriage of Figaro

And anything from Strauss's Die Fledermaus.

[Sugar Smack]

48. I forgot anything from Lucia di Lammemoor!

check that one out and get a little thrill!

Boy, you really have some good things ahead of you, mister!

:D

[the_spectator]

45. There's so much great opera out there -

and all so different as well. I like Puccini - but I also like Wagner. Actually, Handel operas are pretty cool as well, and their arias are self-contained, and so can easily fit into the kind of radio programming you are doing.

But let me put in a good word for Massenet as well. French composer, late 19th century, his arias are often just so melodic and beautiful that it makes you melt. Plus, he's not as well known as he used to be: many people may have heard the "Meditation" from Thais, but usually that's about it. There are a few delicious arias in his Manon Lescaut for example.

Stay away from Verdi though! I have an extreme aversion to Verdi. Is it just me, but I find that Verdi doesn't seem to have any real lyricism or melody about him at all. I hear Verdi, and all I hear is a bunch of over-emoting Italians creaking the floorboards in the process of fucking or knifing each other, or bewailing various fucking or knifings that had previously taken place.

[CitrusLib]

47. LOL, you hit on exactly why I like Verdi.

I adore the quartet from Rigoletto. I think his Shakespeare operas are pretty dreary, but overall Joe Green offers up some pretty good theatre. :)

[the_spectator]

55. I see where you're coming from:

Verdi certainly may be great Theatre. I guess I enjoy opera coming from a music point-of-view, plus, I haven't actually SEEN many of them, and experience them much more often as a purely auditory experience (on the radio, etc.). I can definitely buy the idea that Verdi as a visual as well as aural theatrical experience could be cool though!

[Betty]

51. But I love the Verdi Requiem

much better than any opera he ever wrote, in my opinon.

[the_spectator]

57. You know, I've never heard his Requiem!

Could be interesting though. Requiems often are, aren't they? Like that Mozart Requiem -- it's my favorite Mozart work, and it's so un-Mozart in many ways.

Plus that ROSSINI Requiem he wrote as an old man! I LOVE that opening, I THINK it is the Kyrie, that just absolutely BOUNCES like no other classical piece I've ever heard! I keep waiting for someone to use that piece as movie-music at some point for like an "activity-montage" -- you know, like when the gang of bank-robbers puts its plan into action. Or perhaps the opening scenes of a movie about some over-busy city-type -- you know, as he multi-tasks his way out of bed in the morning and into his office 15 minutes?

[Rabrrrrrr]

53. I'm with you on Verdi. Talk about overhyped lack of creativity.

Pfagh.

I mean, Italian opera is, by and large, a farce anyway (except Puccini, who WAS creative!), but Verdi makes it even more intolerable.

[the_spectator]

60. Thanks!

Especially since even this newbie can notice when he gets a friendly comment from a DU big-shot!
:patriot:

[Rabrrrrrr]

61. Oh, I didn't even see you were a newbie!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

And I'definitely m no DU big shot.

Carry on, soldier!

And burn those Verdi CDs.

[bettyellen]

49. i know andy loved puccini

thanks for this.

[Parche]

54. Opera

I didnt know Miss Winfrey could sing!!

[Lilyhoney]

58. Ave Maria is so beautiful. n/t

[MissHoneychurch]

62. you are so right

wonderful. Love it too.

[MissHoneychurch]

59. Carmen

oder auch Gilbert und Sullivan, Mozart .... there are a lot of great pieces. G&S had some funny operas. My favorite by them is The Mikado.

[hippywife]

63. I absolutely love to hear Pavarotti

sing Nessun Dorma from Turandot. I love it so much I used it in my wedding. It is a beautifully, dramatic and moving piece of music. It really does kinda rock in its own way.

You can listen to a bit of it here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000041XX/qid=1120943355/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl15/002-9824062-3847225?v=glance&s=classical&n=507846

[enigmatic]

65. Whoa...

Thanks for all the suggestions! My local library has an incredible opera CD collection, so I'm writing all these down and heading there on Monday to load up.

Thanks again everybody:)