Your favorite opera?

[pagerbear]

I have several, but Cosi fan Tutte is way high on my list!

[Goldmund]

1. Tristan & Isolde

[meti57b]

2. at our house, the opera we listen to all the time is the cat opera.

They are especially talented at the "It's Time for Dinner, Where Is It?" trio.

[pagerbear]

You might like

Rossini's comic song "Duet for Two Cats"

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Gounod's "Faust".

And then Wagner's "Ring" cycle...Mozart doesn't really do it for me...

[pagerbear]

4. <gasp!> Mozart doens't do it for you?!

What is wrong with you?!!!!

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. Depends on who you ask...heh...

I just don't like Mozart...when it comes to classical music, I prefer Beethoven; when it comes to opera, I prefer Verdi and Wagner. I regard Mozart as a little overrated (of course, I realise that many people are of a different opinion, and I respect that).

[pagerbear]

7. I respect your opinion

...but I don't agree.

I do love Beethoven (although his opera/choral/vocal music don't do much for me--although I might change my opinion of Fidelio based on the Met production with that Finnish soprano whose name I can't remember) and Verdi and Puccini. Wagner to me seems overrated, but I wouldn't rule him out.

[Spider Jerusalem]

I think it's probably my saturnine temperament...

Mozart seems to be the composer of choice for happy people. I am not by nature a really happy person...I seem to prefer more darkly textured musical works. For me, they have a greater resonance. Were I more generally cheerful and optimistic, I might like old Wolfgang, but as it is he seems a little fluffy...but, hey, if there were no difference of opinion, exchanges like this would be kind of pointless.

[pagerbear]

17. There's some wonderful dark Mozart!

Some very moody stuff. A lot of Don Giovanni is sort of dark. Although opera at that time was supposed to be the kind of light entertainment you mention.

Funny--I'm usually pretty cynical and live with depression of varying degrees most of the time, but I still adore Mozart.

[Art_from_Ark]

80. Mozart's Magic Flute is very dark

The Queen of the Night sings her aria:

Revenge cooks a foul hell in my heart
Death and despair
Death and despair burn all around me

If you don't make Sarastro feel the pain of death
You are no longer my daughter

May you forever be abandoned
May you forever be forgotten
May you forever be tormented
By all the forces of Nature
If you don't bump off Sarastro

Hear me, o gods of revenge
Hear me make this oath

[mobuto]

15. Mark Twain said it best

"Wagner's music is better than it sounds."

[wryter2000]

23. Someone really will have to slap me

I love Wagner's music, but the operas are too danged long! People in strange clothing marching up and down the stage, bellowing, while absolutely nothing is happening in the story. I know that's the ultimate heresy, but I understand Verdi felt pretty much the same way.

Okay, I'll take my beating now. :spank:

[Rabrrrrrr]

28. AHHHHHHHH!

Absolutely nothing happening?

Wagner is "to think about", while watching and enjoying the music. The depths of meaning are vast. It's not light entertainment like Italian opera - Wagner always has a point, a theme, that he's exploring in the best tradition of the Greeks and German writing. Wagner is FULL of action, but it's not seen action, it's felt and thought about action.

Mostly, he's talking about love and being human and art. Not silly little love betixt a maid-servant and a general in some count's castle in Naples, etc., but LOVE.

[mobuto]

51. Its thinking-music but its also anti-intellectual

which is a somewhat difficult combination. You want music that really makes you think? Listen to some of Beethoven's late quartets or a Bach fugue. Wagner's music is full of sound and fury and signifies nothing. As for the specific subject matter of the Ring Cycle, I think its clear from the historical record that a very sinister allegory was hinted at - Wagner's struggle of supermen against a less-than-human evil enemy was as political as his worst enemies have said it is.

[Rabrrrrrr]

72. I was speaking only of opera

not all music.

Of course the fugues and beethoven's (and also Cage's and Reich's and Schoenberg's and Ives' and Stockhausen's and Mihaud's and etc.) music are to think about, and intellectual. And I don't see Wagner as being anti-intellectual.

But I was only referencing opera.

And I disagree with you on the uberman idea of Wagner, especially in the Ring Cycle. I think Wagner takes a bum rap becuase Hitler likes his music, and people get all emotional about that, even though it's quite obvious Hitler was screwed up because he called Germany "The New Siegfried", and as we all know, Siegfried gets killed before the Ring Cycle is over because he was a hubristic idiot moran.

[pagerbear]

33. Wagner and Brahms were arch enemies

It is said a reporter approached Brahms to tell him Wagner had died, and Brahms said "Who?"

[gula]

61. Try the Ring Cycle in 20 minutes

done by Anna Russell. It is hilarious.
http://www.bikwil.zip.com.au/Vintage10/Anna-Russell.html

[Rabrrrrrr]

73. Oh, that is hilarious!!

I love that thing!

"So he falls in love with his aunt..."

[JVS]

64. Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk was limited by technology of the time

I'd like to see what he could do with film. That ought to rectify the "nothing is happening" stuff

[wryter2000]

19. Hi, pager

Welcome to DU.

[murielm99]

6. I love the Ring Cycle too...

but I also like Carmen.

[commander bunnypants]

8. Any opera

with a women wearing a horned helmet.

Just kidding.

I like Carmen

DDQM

[pagerbear]

9. Carmen with a horned helmet?

That would get sorta hot and uncomfortable in Seville, doncha think?

[commander bunnypants]

16. mmmm Sweating female

gobble, gobble.

DDQM

[mobuto]

52. How about Abduction from the Seraglio

in Nordic dress? That's got to be a novel interpretation and it'd beat even Carmen.

[pagerbear]

67. Die Walküre

...in 17th century dress?

[terrya]

10. Dumb question. Did Gershwin compose an opera?

I've heard "Porgy and Bess" referred to as opera.

That would be my favorite.

Terry

[pagerbear]

13. Yes

Porgy and Bess is a great opera. There's a pretty good production--British, if you can imagine!--available on video/DVD. (I express wonder at it being British because, for those not familiar with it, Porgy and Bess is about poor black people in a Charleston slum in the early part of the 20th century.)

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. No

Porgy and Bess is a glorified musical, albeit a good one. :-)

There, I've started the "Is Porgy and Bess an opera or a musical?" flamewar. :evilgrin: FLAME AWAY!!

[nostamj]

11. oh, that's hard...

Rossini's 'Cenerentola' is a favorite.

I also love Adam's 'Nixon in China'

[mobuto]

12. Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District

I'm really not an opera buff, but I do enjoy them from time to time. I also particularly like Boris Gudonov, Don Giovanni, Tosca - the lack of obvious similarity reveals my dilettantism.

[CO Liberal]

14. "What's Opera, Doc?"

"Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit...."

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. O Mighty Warrior, of great fighting stock...

Might I inquire to ask, eh . . . what's up doc?"

Found the lyrics here. EXCELLENT cartoon! HJopefully it will be on the next Warner Brothers Cartoons DVD set. The first set had "Rabbit of Seville". Though they might wait for the third DVD set to put out "What's Opera Doc"


http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/d/r/dryfoo/www/Funny-pages/op-doc.html

[GOPisEvil]

29. Ack! Beaten to the punch!

:P

[wryter2000]

18. Don't hate me

Ooompa Verdi -- Traviatta and Rigoletto

Also Otello and Boito's Mefistofele. And The Barber of Seville.

[pagerbear]

26. Why would I hate you?

Those are great operas!

I once saw Barber in Danish. In Denmark. It was great fun!

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. The Ring Cycle, Einstein on the Beach, Writing to Vermeer,

Turandot, Tristan Und Isolde, Akhnaten. I also really enjoyed The Black Rider, POEtry, and Time Rocker. Laurie Anderson's "Moby Dick" was also brilliant. It's too bad that so much truly GOOD opera is performed only once; or rarely, offered up for a second tour.


I'm not a Verdi fan, nor really much of a fan of Italian opera in general. I guess I like my stories and my music a little more serious (the Italian exception being Puccini, who *did* write serious, and exciting, opera).

I also like Cosi Fan Tutti (however it's spelled). Went to a production at the Met a few years ago, going solely because it was Cecilia Bartoli performing. It was in the midst of a MAJOR flu/cold epidemic here in the city, so Cecilia was out sick, as well as two other of the leads, so the show was one regular lead and 3 stand-ins, and it was WONDERFFUL. I'd never heard the opera before, but enjoyed it immensely - I think it's Mozart's best. And I still haven't seen Cecilia on stage yet. sigh.

[Khephra]

22. Sweeny Todd

[demnan]

24. Don Giovanni - Mozart

But there are many others I love. Great thread for Madam Butterfly's birthday, by the way.

I'll weigh in on Porgy and Bess - a close number 2 and a great American opera. I have it on CD with Loren Mazel and the Cleveland with Willard White as Porgy. Kathleen Battle sings "Summertime".

[GOPisEvil]

27. Oh Bwunhilda...you are so wuvwy...

Yes, I know it...I can't help it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. Bwunhilda, beeee my wuv!!

Though sadly, GOPisEvil, you were a tad late with this one.

:evilgrin:

[GOPisEvil]

31. Day late and a dollar short - title of my autobiography

:-)

Maybe I should write an opera about it! :think:

[Rabrrrrrr]

32. Go for it!

And make it 16 hours long.

[GOPisEvil]

34. Why not an hour for every year of my life?

35 and counting! :D Sort of like the cricket match of opera!

[Rabrrrrrr]

35. That would be great!

And every year, you add another hour to the opera.

And mostly it's just German guys on stage in black turtlenecks, smoking French Cigarettes, and not actually saying anything. Occasionally, a head of lettuce explodes, or a fork truck drives across the stage, or a monkey hurls feces at the audience, but otherwise, it's pretty static.

[GOPisEvil]

40. *snarf*

Is this opera, or performance art? Eh, either way, I'm applying for an NEA grant. :D

[Rabrrrrrr]

44. Little bit of both

:-)

Go NEA!

[peekaloo]

36. The Mikado

saw it in Houston (opera capital of the world :P ) with Eric Idle in the cast. He even updated some of the songs to take swipes at Ronnie Raygun!

[pagerbear]

38. Ooh! We could start a whole new G&S thread!

I have the English National Opera production with Eric Idle on videotape--the production you saw was based on the ENO production. It was done at NY City Opera and other places as well.

[gator_in_Ontario]

37. All My Children

ooops wrong kind of Opera...hee hee

[pagerbear]

39. OMG!

A thread I started is flaming! What does that say about me?

[JVS]

62. It says that you are a provocateur!

:-)

[pagerbear]

65. Me? A pro....what you said?

[bif]

41. Der Rosenkavelier- R. Straus

Then, anything by Puccini

[NoPasaran]

42. The Stoned Guest

PDQ Bach's masterpiece.

[pagerbear]

43. Nope. Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice

Or the Abduction of Figaro

[Burma Jones]

50. The Tragic Aria, "Look at Me"

Brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.

[gulfcoastliberal]

45. Tosca

It's the only opera I've seen. Saw it about 3 weeks ago!

[pagerbear]

46. Tosca is a great initiation

I hope you see more opera! It's wonderful!

[gulfcoastliberal]

48. I Plan on Seeing More!

The Elixir of Love is the next one showing here in NW Florida. I think it's some kind of comedy opera.

grammer edit

[pagerbear]

49. Elixir

...is a wonderfully charming opera! It's curious no one has mentioned it or any other Donizetti opera among their faves.

[Rabrrrrrr]

47. Tosca was my first opera, too!

In Saginaw, when I was in college.

Though I'd heard many opera before then, it was the first I was able to attend.

[Barad Simith]

53. "Satyagraha"

Philip Glass

[Beaker]

69. I saw that POS at the lyric opera in Chicago 15 years ago or so...

an opera performed in Hindi, the plot takes place during two weeks in the life of Ghandi when he was in South Africa...

my new girlfriend at the time really wanted to see it, and i really wanted to sleep with her, so we went.

[Rabrrrrrr]

74. No, it's beautiful!

Some truly beautiful stuff.

But if one does not like Glass, one is never going to like Satyagraha. :-)

[Beaker]

77. I like philip glass well enough...

and I enjoy opera-
but satyagraha just didn't do it for me.

sorry.

[Rabrrrrrr]

81. I think Satyagraha is the weakest of the 3 portrait operas

And don't listen to it anywhere near as much as Einstein or Akhnaten, so I can understand you're not being so keen on it.

I *do* think it's beautiful, but riveting? Not quite, and if it suddenly fell out existence, I wouldn't necessarily feel bad.

[Ediacara]

75. Satyagraha is FANTASTIC

But ya... if you don't like Glass, you WILL NOT like Satyagraha.

[Snow]

54. If you like "Cosi fan Tutte", do you hate sopranos?

My daughter is a developing coloratura, fast agile voice, excellent high range, but that sucker's beyond her. She can sing "Queen of the Night", too, but still can't handle Cosi fan tutti. Where did Mozart find these women?

Also, does nobody here like the eastern opera? How about Dvorak, or Rimsky-Korsakov? Rusalka, Hymn to the Sun? Or the Invisible CIty of Wherever-it-was? (Okay, so I don't know those operas very well, either - but it's beautiful music)

[pagerbear]

56. How old is your daughter?

If she's very young she should look at things more suited to a young soprano, including Despina in Cosi. I hope she's not looking at Fiordiligi. Fiordiligi should be sung by a full lyric soprano--Renee Fleming, Carol Vanness, say, but not really a true coloratura.

[Snow]

58. She's 19....

and she does generally stick with things suitable to her stage of development; it's something to be careful of with teachers. She isn't actually working on Queen of the Night, for instance, it's simply that she's looked at it a few times & knows she could sing it. She really likes fast stuff - Mozart's Exultate jubilate, Handel she really loves. Has a lot of fun with Fledermaus, the maid - ummmm, Adele - and the Juliet role by Gounod (13-year-old girl goes to her first prom sort of thing - you could see this being sung in a 50's crinoline prom dress). The heaviest thing she's singing at the moment is Puccini, Un Bel Di, and that's in part because she's always wanted to try it, and in part because it's a good diction exercise - it's really word-busy. But, no - no Fiordiligi. She does sing that lyric thing all the girls her age seem required to do - O Mio Babino Caro - but that's okay, even if she does roll her eyes expressively at me when she sings it (No, I'm not taking you shopping at Porto Rosa; that place is way to expensive. Jump off the old bridge if you want).

[pagerbear]

68. Cool.

Keep us posted on her performing activities.

[Butterflies]

55. Carmen

[jpgray]

57. Cliched, maybe, but Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov

I like the 1869 version, but Rimsky-Korsakov's has some good qualities, especially Karajan's take on it. :)

[gula]

59. The Consul

by Gian Carlo Menotti.

The unfortunately always relevant story about people trying to flee an oppressive regime. The typewriter musical piece haunts me to this day.

[Book Lover]

60. La Traviata

We studied it in fourth-year Italian. Plus I used to be able to sing (nearly) all of Violetta's part...

[MrsMatt]

63. Am I the only one who loves "Norma"?

This is the second thread I've seen re: favorite opera in the past week or so, and I appear to be the lone Bellini fan!

[pagerbear]

66. I friggin' love Norma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was doing chorus with Greater Miami Opera when Carol Neblett tried to make a comeback with Norma!

[Piltdown13]

70. Hmmm...Probably "The Magic Flute"

However, the IU opera performed "The Abduction from the Seraglio" last fall, and I went. I had previously only been familiar with the parts featured in "Amadeus," and I was amazed at how wonderfully entertaining the opera is!

I've seen a few other operas, but I can't wait to see a really good production of "The Magic Flute," preferably in German. I've seen it performed once, but unfortunately the soprano singing the Queen of the Night was having a bad day or something -- not even close to pulling off the difficult parts.

Of course, I do have a fondness for "Figaro" too, maybe because it contains the only arias I was ever able to sing (not a "real" singer, but I did take voice classes in college, just to see if someone could teach me how to carry a tune. The answer -- yes, for the most part, if I practice the songs A LOT!).

[pagerbear]

79. I went to IU too

Many years ago. Didn't stay long--the "Opera Factory" totally overwhelmed me. (I hope readers of this thread aren't surprised to learn I studied to be an opera singer.)

Oh, and there are few things more painful than an inadequate Queen of the Night!

[snoochie]

71. Carmen!

L'amour est un oisseau rebelle...

Love that song! (hope I didn't butcher it too badly!) :)

[Ediacara]

76. just one favorite?

God, I like 'em all! From Aida and Turendot to Savitri and Satyagraha.

[Beaker]

78. "Tommy" by The Who.

or:
"Cube-E The History of American Music in 3 E-Z Pieces" by the Residents.