Favorite Opera (and we're not talking the Browser)

[LynneSin]

I love Opera and lately I've been digging the "Tales of Hoffman" by Offenbach.

What's your favorite Opera?

[Fovea]

1. Menotti's

The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore.
Which is more of an oratorio/mimodrama than an opera, but nonetheless it is an ignored masterpeice.

[MuseRider]

6. I'll have to check on

that one. I like Menotti.

[MuseRider]

2. Salome!

I saw it as it is traditionally done and I saw a modern version. Both were amazing. Strauss happens to be my favorite composer anyway. We have no Opera here so that is one thing my brother and I used to do when I would visit him in Houston. He worked for the Opera company so I saw a few of them but that is my very favorite of the few I have seen.

[catzies]

3. Figaro! Mozart's, that is. Followed by Die Zauberflote.

I can whistle the Queen of the Night's aria. :)

[rogerashton]

10. I'll take those in the reverse order.

Boito's Mephisotphele is really, um interesting. Good, too.

[PAMod]

54. I love Zauberflote

My voice teacher in college was Wendy Miller, a coloratura soprano who could belt out both Queen arias.

Hard to pick a favorite, but I guess that is it, front to back, also anything by Puccini.

[bif]

4. Der Rosenkavelier

followed closely by La Boheme and Turondot

[MuseRider]

5. YES!

Der Rosenkavelier has some of the most beautiful music, ahhh, I just love it.

[bif]

8. Isn't the trio near the end as close to sublime as it gets?

Heard it live with Kathlene Battle, Tatiana Troyanos and Elisabeth Suderstrom. Wow!

[MuseRider]

13. Live? You are so lucky.

I cry real tears every time I hear it. I LOVE when we occasionally get to play parts of it for the orchestra. I need to go out and get some Dvd's, my tape of it is shot I have watched it so often.

[bif]

21. I saw it with the Met when they used to go on the road

It was their last performance in Detroit after coming here for something like 40 years. Very emotional. At the end of the opera, people spontaineously broke into "Aud Lang Sine." I remember hearing the 100th anniversary broadcast live at the Met on the radio. They did the trio with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Fredricka Von Stade and Kathleen Battle. It was the best version I ever heard. Taped it but alas, the cassette wore out and it now sounds like crap.

[stopbush]

24. I heard it at the Met with Gwyneth Jones, Troyanos and Blegen.

Even better!

[Ramsey]

7. Lohengrin

by Wagner. That's my fave today anyway.

I also love The Pearl Fishers (Bizet), Turandot (Puccini's last opera), Lakme (Delibes), and Die Zauberflote (Mozart)

[Rabrrrrrr]

26. Did you happen to catch Robert Wilson's staging of Lohengrin

at the Met?

Jaw-dropping WOW!

Too bad some of the hold fuddy-duddy audience couldn't deal with it and felt the need to boo. I thought it was quite powerful in its minimalism, and if one was paying attention (which the old fuddy-duddy's clearly weren't), the light boxes and everything else have signifianct symbolic meaning. But even beyond that, it was just plain BEAUTIFUL.

[SOteric]

9. Aida

[ironflange]

40. I carried a spear in Aida once

Radames was a real practical joker, I don't think he missed anybody in the cast.

[TrogL]

11. Peter Grimes - Benjamin Britten

It isn't performed much any more because it's about child abuse and the protagonist comes off as a heroic character in the end (even though he does commit suicide).

I've met Peter Pears, who debuted the role.

[MuseRider]

16. That is truly amazing music

isn't it? It is so sad but so wonderful.

[stopbush]

29. I met Jon Vickers who OWNED the role

despite what Britten thought of his interpretation!

[TrogL]

61. I've seen him sing it

Did a good job, but too dramatic. I preferred Pear's more understated approach.

Vickers would have made a good Balfour.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. Tosca

and everything else Puccini wrote... :o

[BlackVelvetElvis]

14. Handel's "Julius Ceasar"

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Tristan Und Isolde. Einstein on the Beach

and the Ring Cycle and Turandot.

I tend to shun Italian opera (except for the genius Puccini), and go for the more serious stuff.

[MuseRider]

18. The Ring Cycle is a serious

committment! It was the first Opera I ever really listened to and it peaked my interest. I really know next to nothing about Opera but since my brother worked for the Opera I learned some. He and I listened to Turandot as he died so I doubt I will ever be able to hear it again.

[stopbush]

19. I just received the entire Boulez version of the Ring on DVD

today. A friend of mine at Universal Music sent it to me.

Can't wait to watch it again (I owned it on laserdisc), only this time, in Surround Sound.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. And I'm looking forward to standing through it again this Spring!

The Met does the Ring Cycle every four years, so this year will be my THIRD time to stand through it! (standing tickets are WAY cheaper, plus, I'd rather stand and have room to pace and move around for six hours than to sit in an enclosed chair for six hours)

YEE HAH!!

Turandot has such lovely music. I'd never heard it, and then a friend gave me a ticket to see it at City Opera, so I went. I'd known Puccini, of course, but never Turandot. Blew me away - so beautiful, even more so than Puccini's other stuff.

I can understand wanting to listen to it while dying.

[stopbush]

28. I find Puccini's Manon Lescaut to be his most beautiful music.

But I admit that I still get choked up at the end of La boheme, even after seeing it many times and singing in the chorus for numerous productions (at least when you're in the chorus, you leave after the start of Act 3, saving yourself the embarrassment of sobbing in front of your colleagues at the end of Act 4).

BTW - I've also sung in Puccini's Tosca, Turandot, Butterfly and...Le Villi!!

[Westegg]

25. My choices EXACTLY. Honey, you got EARS!

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. Woo hoo! Thanks!

Those are your four faves as well?

[ironflange]

41. I love Tristan too

Notice how the literal translation of "Vorspiel" is particularly appropriate here.

[Rabrrrrrr]

42. heh heh heh

:evilgrin:

[wryter2000]

17. Slap me

I'm one of those. I love ooompa Verdi. Rigoletto and Traviatta.

Also, Otello, Mefistofele, and the Barber of Seville.

[Sapphocrat]

20. Tough question!

Cav/Pag for the pure joy of it, La Boheme for the tragedy, Carmen for the hum-ability factor, Turandot for the costumes & scenery, Rigoletto for the catharsis when you've been screwed over.

You wouldn't have to twist my arm to see Tosca and Traviata again, either.

P.S. I hear Volpe's retiring as G.M. from the Met... in 2006.

[stopbush]

23. Too many to denote a fav, but

Pelleas et Melisande, Don Carlo, Werther, Trovatore, Boris Godonov (in the Rimsky-Korsakov vers), and many others.

BTW - Joe Volpe announced that he's retiring as head of the Met in 2006.

[Demeter]

30. TURANDOT!

Not only is the music lucious and gorgeous, but there's a relatively upbeat ending (for an opera), and a real story.

[Red State Rebel]

55. Turandot has my vote too

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[LynneSin]

34. ACK!!!! MY POST HAS BEEN GROVELBOTTED

:crazy:

[kodi]

32. toss up: Don Giovanni or Madame Butterfly

however, the most emotional to me is Isolde's Love-Death (Isoldens Liebestod) from "Tristan and Isolde."

[CBHagman]

33. Marriage of Figaro

Really, anything by Mozart is just fine with me.

First opera seen, at age 11: La Traviata.

Second opera seen, age 11: Madama Butterfly.

Favorite opera film: Ingmar Bergman (yes, THAT Ingmar Bergman) version of The Magic Flute. In Swedish.

[BL_Zebub]

35. Days of Our Lives!

I even guest starred on there for a while when I posessed Marlena :evilgrin:

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. And I totally forgot to add "Writing to Vermeer"

It was so stunning, so mind-blowing, so moving, that after the performance I forced my partner to walk around outside with me for a half an hour before I was ready to speak again.

[youngred]

37. La Boheme

Puccini

[aQuArius]

38. Not a huge Opera fan, but

I really like Porgy & Bess. I am more of a Broadway musical lover, even though my grandma insists I should've gone into opera singing as a profession. I really should look into Opera more, but I can't get enough Broadway.

[ironflange]

39. I'm partial to the Ring

Pretty time-consuming though.

[Mrs. Venation]

43. Wow, That's A Tough Question

I had season tickets to the Washington Opera for several years,and saw many excellent productions. Among the more memorable were:

Salome
La Boheme
Rigoletto
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Lucia de Lammermoor
Don Giovanni
Aida
Don Juan
The Magic Flute (saw that one twice)

Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. There were many more fabulous performances. Opera is wonderful!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. The Russians: Boris Godunov, Khovanshchina, Eugene Onegin

I also like Tannhauser and Don Giovanni.

[populistmom]

45. Madam Butterfly

Gotta love those romantic tragedies.

[noonwitch]

46. Rossini's "The Barber of Seville".

It's fun and light and the music is good. Yes, I will always think of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd when I see it, but that's not a bad thing.

I also like "Tosca" because it has a good story. I'm not a Wagner nor a Gilbert and Sullivan fan, however.

[arwalden]

47. All My Children... or Passions

[non sociopath skin]

48. Love "Tales of Hoffman" too...

.. Offenbach is an amazing composer. Which recorded version do you like?

The Skin

[TreasonousBastard]

49. Tough question.

Favorite? Can't say I have one. Some have great arias and duets, but it's tough to sit through the whole thing. And, a lot depends on the singers and staging. The acting better be good-- just getting the notes right doesn't cut it with me, not does spending too much time on sets and costumes.

Others, like much of Wagner, I'd prefer to listen to the music without the singing.

Carmen and Traviata are easy to sit through the whole thing. Carmen has more earworms than ABBA. Butterfly, Turandot, Aida, and a bunch of the light ones, too-- Rossini and Mozart were the greatest of hacks. Earworms abound, and you just feel good after watching their stuff.

I shall ultimately defer to my cat, who while "Un bel di" was playing, sat through the whole thing staring at the speakers with his ears perked and his eyes wide. Art that crosses species is a rare and marvelous thing.

Or, maybe he just thought he heard a bird in there.

[MrsMatt]

50. Bellini's "Norma"

the first live performance I saw (which was actually a dress rehearsal), the duet between Norma and Adalgesia was so perfectly sung I got goosebumps.

I also saw the Minnesota Opera production (1989/90 season)of "Carmen" which featured Denyce Graves in the title role (THAT was one amazing production).

[Rabrrrrrr]

51. Am I the only person who DOESN'T like Carmen?

Sat through it a few years ago - and that was outside, with wine and cheese and on a blanket, so I was relaxed and comfy, and didn't enjoy it much at all. It has that famous aria, which I am sick of hearing since it seems to get played everywhere and sung constantly at the italian opera restaurant I like to go to, but otherwise, it's kinda yucko.

IMO.

Tell me I'm not the only one?

[stopbush]

52. Yes, you are.

Next time you see it, pretend you're watching "Don Jose" rather than "Carmen." Jose's fall from honorable soldier to murdering nut job is really what the opera is all about.

[Rabrrrrrr]

53. it's not the story, it's the music

that drives me to not care any more after a while...

I think you are right, though - the interesting part of the story is the guy.

I just wish the music were better.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

56. I think Bizet is better indoors...

There are subtleties that are simply lost outside...regardless of how good the sound system is.

[Rabrrrrrr]

57. Nah, I've heard on recordings as well

Just couldn't get into it.

I think it's just one of those things that are the way they are. It's never struck me as very interesting, and probably never will.

Though I appreciate your passion for it. :-)

[stopbush]

58. I don't find any of the recordings to be absolutely satisfying.

Most of them feature a soprano as Carmen, and a soprano who has never even sung the role onstage, for that matter.

I'm waiting for some director to update the story to bush's Iraq adventure. Imagine if Jose was a US soldier who fell for a Muslim girl and deserted his unit to take up with al Qaeda! That scenario would probably have the same impact on today's audiences as the original story had on Bizet's audience.

I'm wondering if the problem you have with Carmen are the elongated melodic lines which resemble those of Berlioz. I've known people who are, how shall I say, motivically oriented in their music likes.

I think the biggest obstacle to enjoying Carmen is that not many singers are really equipped to show the opera to it's best advantage. Both Carmen and Jose are multi-faceted roles that require real French opera vocal techniques - you must have the voix mixte as well as dramatic capabilities. It's rare that you get two singers who both have those qualities, so you end up with a lop-sided production, ie: either a strong Jose or Carmen but not both. In those instances, the show is usually stolen by the one-dimensional role of Micaela which requires a singer with a sweet-sounding voice and little else.

I know, I'm getting long winded.

[Rabrrrrrr]

59. No, I like long melody, or absence of melody

One of the things that annoys me about Mozart et. al. sometimes, is the short melody lines over and over and over. I like Wagner. I like Philip Glass. I like Steve Reich. I also really like Berlioz.

I like your idea of redoing the show! If a producer/director had the guts to do it, I'd pay money to see it.

I know youa re passionate about wanting me to like the thing, and I can't say I *dislike* it. It just does nothing for me that compels me to keep listening, and if it fell out of the repertoire, I would never miss it or care.

[qwertyMike]

60. Oops

Not an opera
Mahler's 9th that is

Opera - christ I cry at them all

Puccini, Verdi, Pete Townshend (ormerly of the "Who Me?")