Favorite Opera

[trolls' bane]

For anyone who is a big fan of Opera and other types of calssical music, I wanted to find out which operas were most liked.

[joxy]

And what a breath of fresh air it is to enter the thread, after all the hot air on many adjacent ones!
Don Giovanni without a shadow of a doubt; the other three big Mozarts directly next in line.

[trolls' bane]

I have'nt heard that one yet, but I'll look one up. I think my favorite is Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen.
This is on the wrong place I guess, but I'd like to know where you type the location of a new avatar.

[joxy]

ALL of the Ring?! All x-teen hours of it?!

[trolls' bane]

No, I have'nt even heard the whole thing. I heard Siegfried (the first opera I ever heard), then just the other day I heard Das Rhinegold. I read the rest on some site that gives summarys on operas.

[trolls' bane]

Forgot. I'm listening to the Ride of the Valkries (all I own of the Ring), and it just ended.

[Mrs. Maggott]

James Levine has a "Ring" on tape (maybe DVD as well) with James Morris (bless him!) as Wotan. I sort of stumbled onto Das Rheingold one evening and was "hooked" with watching the entire series. The thing with Wager at least with The Ring cycle is not to view it as opera. He confused a whole lot of people when it was first offered because they were expecting the traditional operatic format with "arias". However, The Ring is actually drama with the dialogue couched in melody. And that is what makes it really enjoyable for people like me only if you understand the dialogue. The Levine version had sub-titles which didn't bother me and made the entire thing much, much more not only enjoyable but actually riveting. It was a great performance not only musically but visually as well. I recommend trying to obtain a copy of the tapes so that you have them to enjoy.

Otherwise, I have a number of operatic favorites both for watching (when I can afford a ticket to the Met or the NY Opera or when it's offered on TV) and listening. Pucchini is my favorite. The first three notes of Madam Butterfly has me blubbering like an idiot. Then there is Turandot (which I actually did see at the Met when somone offered my husband tickets they couldn't use!). For Verdi, there is, of course Aida (the last trio is heartbreaking!) and La Traviata (me mum's favorite). I am not a Mozart fan although I admit to the fact that his music is worthy of the veneration it receives. I also love Ralph Vaughn William's The Pilgrim's Progress which is classified as an opera although it is probably more of an oratorio. Bizet's Pearl Fishers is another opera with gorgeous music. There is a tenor largo and male duet in it that are absolutely breathtaking. And, of course, everyone knows his Carmen. Then there are the Russian operas such as Boris Gudenov and Kohvanchina by Modeste Mussorgsky. They require a lot of stamina (like The Ring), but much of the music is astonishing beautiful. I also actually attended a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coq Dor (The Golden Cockeral) with Beverly Sills (which shows how long ago that was!). Interestingly enough, it was also televised and recorded on that night which was rather unique.

[trolls' bane]

I've never seen one, but I've heard a few, and read about more. I've also heard Peace and War, Nixon in China, a few American operas, and one that I don't know the name of. I just got interested in classical music, and more recently in opera, so I haven't heard many.

[Mrs. Maggott]

I've never seen one, but I've heard a few, and read about more. I've also heard Peace and War, Nixon in China, a few American operas, and one that I don't know the name of. I just got interested in classical music, and more recently in opera, so I haven't heard many.
It is wise to have a copy of the libretto if the opera is in a language you don't understand. Indeed, even if it is, it is sometimes helpful. I found Gilbert & Sullivan (one of my favorites) difficult to understand (especially the so-called "patter" songs) until I followed along with the libretto and knew the words.

Opera is always better if you know what's going on because there is drama as well as music involved. During the "Letter Duet" in Madama Butterfuly, the American Ambassador asks Butterfly what she would do if Pinkerton did not return. Her answer repeated twice, "morte, morte" (death) is so much more breathtaking when you understand what she is saying although God knows, Puccini's music does not let the listener escape the gravity of the response!

Welcome to the universe ("world" is too small a description) of classical music. Try medieval and renaissance music as well as baroque, romantic and more modern works (I can't stand atonal stuff, but the works of Copeland, Stravinsky, Bernstein, Walton et al are marvelous!). Enjoy, enjoy!! :p :D

[joxy]

I've also heard Peace and War, Nixon in China, a few American operas....
Well, you've certainly begun your swim into the world of opera at the deep end of the pool!
As opera deserves a wide definition, and as you're talking about US products, I ought to have added a special word for Porgy and Bess, and even offered one for West Side Story.

[trolls' bane]

There's someone on my other vB board, Entmoot (which Beorn from here just joined the other day), that wants to write an opera about Turin Turambar. He's a student of composition. I said I'd help him as much as I could (found the thread entirely on accident yesterday), and that I would read the part of the Sil again, since I don't remember the story well, though I read it at least thrice.

[e.Blackstar]

Well, I've never been a HUGE pera fan, but last year in choir we sang a medley from Phantom of the Opera, and it was bloody BRILLIANT! I got to sing the "Think of me" solo, and I loved it.

[joxy]

I said opera deserves a wide definition but I don't think it can ever be wide enough to include stuff like Phantom.

That Latin quote is a bit gruesome; where did you get it from?

[Ol'gaffer]

The Phantom of the Opera is my favorite by far.


(and the Nightwish sung cover of it is brilliant also ;) )

[e.Blackstar]

the latin quote was from Rangerdave on the thread in Stuff and Bother: Latin-HELP!

[Barliman Butterbur]

For anyone who is a big fan of Opera and other types of calssical music, I wanted to find out which operas were most liked.

Puccini's "La Boheme," natch! You mean — there are OTHER operas?

Barley

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad." --Salvador
Dali 80b

[Barliman Butterbur]

Forgot. I'm listening to the Ride of the Valkries (all I own of the Ring), and it just ended.

It's too bad that Wagner was such an anti-Semitic SOB, because he wrote such dramatic and revolutionary music for his time, and was such a phenomenal orchestrator and master of chromatic harmony. I especially enjoy "The Magic Fire Music," and "The Overture to the Flying Dutchman." He, along with Berlioz, were precursors to modern film scoring, along with the the whole 19th-century Russian school, and the British composers Holst and Vaughan-Williams.

Barley

"When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking." --Rita Rudner 30b

[Andolian]

Those are all good, but The Magic Flute is undoubtedly to most enthralling opera to watch and listen. The Queen of the Night's arias are complete musical genious and beauty that the only way a man can compose so well is if the very hand of God writes it note by note.

[joxy]

Don't think me patronising or condescending - please! - when I say that view of Magic Flute from someone aged 18 means there is still hope for the world!

[Ronaldinho]

Any Opera by Wagner. I've only got 'The Flying Dutchman' on CD but I might get Tristan und Isolde 2moro...

[joxy]

Any Wagner, including Rheingold, Walkure, Siegried, and Gotterdammerung?!
They're a very different bunch from the Dutchman, the lovers, the singing contestants, and the religious festival.

[trolls' bane]

Well, there's more hope for the world if someone 13 says the same:p.