Thoughts on Opera -

[Henry Bemis]

Right now, I'm started something of a concentrated effort to get into opera. Being a shameless musical theater fan, I feel it shouldn't be too much of a leap, to go from a lotta music to all music. Thing is, I just haven't been able to crack it, much less understand how such a seemingly musty, self-important thing inspires such vocal enthusiasm. The thing that really undermines it, for me, is the text; all the glorious music and stellar performances can't change the fact that half the time, you're singing stuff like "I'm going to answer the door" or "I'm going to read the letter."

The only two operas I admire on any level are Porgy and Bess and Dead Man Walking, both of which, incidentally, are written by people with musical theater credit. They know what moments really, really count.

Or maybe I'm an idiot.

Could someone help this opera skeptic?

 

[Watcher]

I've seen a few operas. Mostly ones in Vancouver that were written for a Canadian audience. I've yet to see any of the classics.

One thing I find interesting is how most famous Operas are adaptations of plays nobody puts on anymore.

I really should see more Operas but they're pretty expensive to go see. You most definitely get your monies worth with the high production values though. Not every joe shmoe with a BA in acting can be in an opera. Most of the actors have at least 10+ years alone in singing opera, and at least a BA/MA in Opera specifically.

 

[geewizz]

Like you I once thought that Opera was only for stuffy, self-important types with more money than sense. When I closed my eyes and tried to imagine an opera I thought of rich miserable old women sitting in the mezzanine with old-timey brass opera binoculars with her half-asleep husband whispering horrible things about the perky-breasted, angelic sounding young beauty on stage singing Carmen. I couldn't stand the thought of sitting through an opera performance simply for the bad company and inaccessibility of the performances. I didn't exactly grow up with any music appreciative family and/or the silver spoon in my mouth that seems to be a prerequisite to this kind of thing. I always thought I'd be out of place and that Opera/Musical Theater was just "not for my type"

Having met a girl who sings (mostly classical) opera and her family who seem to enjoy opera seems to have humanized the whole thing for me. I'm not a huge fan yet but I do love to hear her practice and I can recall a few songs, I'd love to get into it more but some barriers are much harder to break down than others. Romance languages seem to be prevalent in Opera and some knowledge of them goes a long way into appreciating the art form. I was put a little at ease about the matter having realized that my girlfriend practices with translations under the music to get a feel for the mood and context of each verse and how it should be sang.

I've been listening to (relatively) new opera here and there sang in English, it really goes a long way with appreciating it all.
If you haven't already check out Benjamin Brittens Turn Of The Screw. I won't spoil it but I will say that it was written in English natively by a British composer.

[youtube]nBnsvppTJ7o[/youtube]

 

[Golly]

I'm currently a senior at a music school, and have been studying voice performance, which focusses primarily on art song and opera. Going in, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Musical theater will probably always be my first love, but since my voice is my strongest asset in regards to performance, I took a more classical direction. I knew very little about opera going in, save for the names of some of the famous ones and their composers.

I'm still no expert, but what I've learned over the last few years has only made me like opera more. It's basically elevated musical theater, where composition and vocal technique are held to a higher standard. Because the bulk of it was written before the 20th century, you're going to get a few moments that are considered pretty awkward by contemporary standards. For example, baroque arias are more often than not, the same 4 lines of text and melody repeated again and again over the course of at least 4 minutes. This is made less dull with the help of vocal embellishments, but sometimes it isn't enough.

However, a well done Mozart opera can still be very effective, and exceptional performers can still make the stodgiest of Handel arias entertaining. This is because a lot of the emotions that the characters face in opera, are still faced today, in both real life and musical theater. Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro may feature some more implausible and old fashioned conflicts, but that hasn't stopped us from enjoying over the top Period films. Even if Period-style isn't to your taste, many companies stage modernized productions with modern sets and costumes, to help bring the story to our world.

Since I've already made a lengthy post, I hope it's OK if I leave with a lengthy list of recommendations:

Spoiler

-Don Giovanni - Mozart
-Le Nozze di Figaro- Mozart
-The Magic Flute- Mozart
-The Barber of Seville- Rossini

-Most things by Menotti. He composed throughout the 1900s, and so his operas have a very musical theater aesthetic. Plus, they're in English! I haven't seen or heard The Consul in full, but the "I shall find for you shell and stars" aria is heartbreaking in context, and just really pretty out of context. Also, I'm in a scene from The Medium this semester, and it's also very good. Old Maid and the Thief is one of his best known works, and I would definitely recommend that.

-La Boheme- Puccini
-Tosca- Puccini
-Most things by Puccini, really. Even La Rondine at least has beautiful music. Beware of earworms though. The music, however lovely, will be stuck in your head for days.

-Ghosts of Versailles- Corigliano (It's basically Marie Antoinette meets Figaro fanfiction. It's a little avant garde sometimes, but I really enjoyed it and it has a cute ending). Also in English!

I'm ashamed to say that in spite of it being a huge Britten year (his centennial), I really haven't seen many/any of his operas. I would love to see Turn of the Screw and Peter Grimes. My school is putting on Rape of Lucretia, though, which I'm pretty excited for. Britten wrote many off-kilter things (if you haven't guessed by some of the titles), and his music has a really neat, eerie, otherworldly quality while still remaining tonal.

Similarly, I'm depressingly ill-versed on my Wagner, but everything I've heard is lush and overwhelming, in a good way. He's like Puccini if Puccini went rogue...before Puccini's time. So I can probably recommend the Ring Cycle and Tristan und Isolde in good faith.

And I really need to watch/listen to Dead Man Walking. This is literally the umpteen hundredth time I've heard of how wonderful it is.
Also:

Spoiler

I personally think Carmen is really dumb. Like, everything about the plot is just...dumb. Don Jose's an idiot who just ruins his life for a pretty lady. Also, The Seguidilla >>> The Habañera any day

Phew...Hopefully this post was actually kind of informative and not a wall of complete spergdom.

 

[Henry Bemis]

Definitely giving Britten a listen. In general, I'm kinda going backwards, starting with contemporary English and working my way up to the old stuff. I'm also reading a book that I've had lying around forever: Fortissimo, a journalist's account of the Lyric Opera's 2003-4 season, particularly its training program.

Reading the book, however, emphasized the other thing that kinda rubs me the wrong way about the genre: that a singer can so easily replace another at perilously short notice. Call it my bias toward musical theater, but is there not the least bit concern for directorial vision? Chemistry?

 

[Ca Ira]

I second the recommendation of "The Magic Flute." The plot features a lot of heavy-handed allegory, but the music is irresistibly brilliant. Also, there's a character whose approach to romance is a lot like Chris's.

 

[Zeorus]

Being one who's going into musicology, I have a passable familiarity with opera (although it's not my specialty). For composers, I recommend Claudio Monteverdi, W. A. Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner and Philip Glass.

EDIT: Derp, forgot Lully.

 

[Morbid Boredom]

Call it my bias toward musical theater, but is there not the least bit concern for directorial vision? Chemistry?

Opera is like Shakespearean Theater -Chemistry is superseded by technique.

I grew up listening to a lot of (Italian) opera as my father was a trained singer and don't see it as all that different from other types of music. My favorite opera is Madama Butterfly, but again, that's pretty typical and what I grew up with.

If you want something rather different, there's an English-Language opera about Lizzie Borden, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Borden_(opera).

I strongly recommend The Magic Flute, as well.

 

[MerriedxReldnahc]

I really enjoy Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata, and would love to be able to sing it but I don't know the actual words, and even if I did my opera singing is bad enough to peel the paint off the walls.