Opera, anyone?

[Lotus80]

A few days ago I went to see Madame Butterfly (by Puccini)at the Royal Theatre (Kongelige Teater) in Copenhagen, and I thought it was a huge succes! A captivating story, and fantastic music. It was an amazing experience!

But then I had a look at these forums, and I couldn't find a single thread about opera? Doesn't anyone care for this kind of music, and if that's the case, then why?

And if you're one the opera-buffs, then which is your favourite opera/composer/singer? What/who is not to be missed?

/Cæcilie

 

[fontanini]

me, I'm a opera lover
my favourate piece is Magic Flute,it is just such a melody from the heaven! And also I like Puccini's a lot like Turandot,and of course,Madam Butterfly!And also Tosca!

I'd really like to talk with opera fans!

 

[Mizar]

Im just really geting involved with oprea but what I have listened to i enjoy

in a few weeks im going see Handel's Messiah even though its not opera its stil chours vocal classical. im hoping it will be a good preformance. But if there is any really outstanding opreas/ opera peices that i should be aware of im more than happy to take a look into it.

 

[fontanini]

Beside opera what other music do u like? You like Bach? I like it a lot but it seems there're few chances that u could hear his work in concert. Since I'm here in Boston,most of the work BSO would like to perform is Beethowen.how I wish I could go to a Bach concerto.

 

[Jonathan]

Opera is simply great! My favorite operatic composer is Puccini, La Boheme in particular, however there are many other greats, such as Mozart, Bizet, and Delibes (Flower Duet!). I am also a big fan of the earlier composers such as Monteverdi.

Great stuff all around and glad to see some opera talk!

 

[rojo]

I like most any opera music by Puccini, although I`m no expert on opera. But I absolutely love Tosca, I know all the music in it pretty darn well (forget the names of the arias); talk about dramatic music! Wow. Not to be missed. Great clarinet solo etc.

I think opera gets a bad rap in general because it`s been too made fun of (like sopranos wailing away etc.) to be taken seriously except by people who are open minded enough to give it a chance.

Other problem- it`s too long- who`s got the time?

That being said, I can think of plenty of great arias from operas too...shall I start listing them?...

 

[hornsalvig]

Other problem- it`s too long- who`s got the time?

I'm playing R. Strauss "Der Rosenkavalier" this week in Aarhus (Denmark). That's a long one. Perfomence time from 18.00 to 22.45.

When that is said, then I find it very well composed. Strauss was one of the greatest - so rich in detail. The opera in general I don't know anything about. I'm sitting way down below the stage, and can hardly hear the singers.

Salvig

 

[rojo]

Wow, that is long!

I agree about R. Strauss- good stuff. Can`t remember any of the tunes in Der Rosencavalier at the moment, but I`m sure I`d recognize it if I heard it. I like his tone poems- Don Juan etc.

I guess some of the longest operas are probably by Wagner ex. the Ring cycle. That`s long too. But that doesn`t mean it`s not good!

Cheers!

 

[Lotus80]

I don't agree that opera as per definition is too long. Some operas can be too long, but that is just like any other piece of music or movie or play. It takes time to tell a story, and the well-performed operas I've seen hasn't felt long. Maybe if you feel you can't go see an opera without listening closely to every nuance of the music, then yes, I suppose it must feel like a long time. But one of the purposes of the opera is to entertain, to let you be captivated by the story and bring you to another time and place. To let you experience instead of just listen.

That is what I find so amazing about opera, compared to a collection of beautiful arias

 

[rojo]

Let`s face it- relative to most other musical works, opera is in general, long. Maybe I should have said that instead of `too` long. My mistake, I stand corrected.

I think what I really meant was that opera is something that a lot of people have difficulty getting into because it can be long. Guess it depends on the person and the opera/performance, as you said, Lotus80.

I stand by the rest of what I have said about opera on this forum (have made other posts about opera elsewhere on this forum).

Btw, of course an aria in its proper opera is much better than a string or collection of unrelated arias.

 

[Jette]

I have actually never seen/heard an opera, except in tv. The reason why: Those high notes are scaring me away

. I probably never get used to that, even though I`m a sucker for men singing in falsetto. But instead I love musicals (not the same I know). Is nearly 5 hours too long?, no I don`t think so, as Lotus80 already said it takes time to tell a story and sometimes it takes 5 hours

Jette

 

[Olivier Cayatte]

I'm a great opera lover too from Monteverdi to the contemporary opera, but I like especially :

- the Mozart operas (Le Nozze di Figaro is the best for me !!!

)
- Wagner operas
- baroque operas (my favourite composer is Jean-Philippe Rameau...)
- Janacek operas
- Strauss operas

but I also like the others

Olivier

Jean-Philippe Rameau / Discography

 

[rojo]

Ok, the question is not if opera is too long- we`ve gone over that. I only posted that as a possible reason why there were no threads posted in this forum about opera, which was Lotus80`s original question (see first post of this thread.)

Can we get back to discussing operas now?

Olivier- Mozart operas are indeed, lots of fun. And I love the drama of Wagner operas, although I`m not all that familiar with them.

 

[hornsalvig]

Maybe if you feel you can't go see an opera without listening closely to every nuance of the music, then yes, I suppose it must feel like a long time.

That is what keeps me going for a very long time. If a piece - opera or not - is NOT rich in detail, I often get very bored very quikly.

Salvig

 

[Lotus80]

I didn't mean, that opera should be lacking in detail, I only meant, that listening that way is much more demanding than just sitting back and enjoying the show

 

[corno]

If you're unfamiliar with a genre (any genre, not necessarily opera) even the "simplest thing - relatively speaking of course" might seem very complex. I think it's a matter of openmindedness, sometimes you might not even understand the simplest of effects in eg. a mainstream popsong.

 

[Todd]

And if you're one the opera-buffs, then which is your favourite opera/composer/singer? What/who is not to be missed?

I love opera. My tastes tend more toward the German heavyweights – Mozart, Wagner, Strauss, and Berg – and Verdi, but I also have a special fondness for some others. I love Mussorgsky. Both Boris Godunov, one of the supreme masterpieces of the genre, and Khovanshchina earn repeated listens. Berlioz is another, with his supreme masterpiece Les Troyens being one of my very favorite operas. And of course there is Leos Janacek and his five great operas. But I can’t limit myself to just those composers and works. Zemlinsky, Rautavaara, Szymanowski, Rossini, Krenek, Messiaen: all of these composers and more wrote substantial works worthy of a wide audience.

Perhaps one reason opera is less discussed is that the prospective listener must devote a good amount of time to each work; it’s not like listening to short piano sonata. In any event, more opera discussion and exploration is a fine thing.