Opera Is Llst On Me.

[Theland]

I have heard rave reviews about opera.
Believe me, I have tried and tried to listen to it, understand it, enjoy it, but with me it falls on deaf ears.

I simply don't get it, don't enjoy it, don't even like it.

Is it the Emperors New Clothes again? You know, kid yourself that it is good, to impress others?

It must be good for some, but it,is lost on me.

[Khandro]

It is absurd to think you could watch an opera, in a foreign language of a story which you knew nothing about & gain very much from the experience. You really need to research it, - the more the better, without which it would have about as much relevance as watching a game of chess without understanding the game or its rules.

[emmie]

you don;t need to do that, i wouldn't and can get the gist from the music. Besides which sung in Italian it's so romantic.

[dannyk13]

khandro, what a load of rubbish.Generally an opera programme contains an outline of the opera.You don't have to understand a language to enjoy the music.

[naomi24]

Khandro, nonsense like that serves only to endorse the impression that opera is elitist and not for the ‘masses’. As I said most opera houses - the world over - now provide surtitles.

On one memorable occasion at Verona, following the 100th performance of Tosca, I think, the company after taking its bow proceeded to push an upright piano on stage and launched into what I can only describe as Italian versions of Roll out the Barrel and the like. What a party that audience had! Opera elitist? Not a bit of it!

[vulcan42]

Danny, I've heard the Bocelli/Terfel version but INMO their voices don't blend well, I prefer Bryn Terfel singing this duet with Roberto Alagna.
Khandro, music affects the senses that watching a chess game, even if you know the rules, can never do.
The hairs on the back of my neck literally stand up whenever I listen to Sissal Kyrkjebo singing O holy night in Danish, and I don't understand a word.

[emmie]

i feel the same when listening to Jussi Bjorling
still one of the finest singers who ever lived.
I love Joseph Calleja too...

[emmie]

[naomi24]

Vulcan, you're so right. Music does affect the senses. This never fails to reduce me to floods of tears - and it's not even sad!

[dannyk13]

My hairs stand on end whenever I hear Gigli hitting the top notes.

[ladybirder]

I get goose bumps all over when listening to my favourite arias and I rarely listen to anything else other than opera nowadays. I really wish more people would listen to it and realise how wonderful it can be. Of course practically everyone loved Nessum Dorma but don't realise there are many more wonderful arias.
Emmie I do not agree with you re Callas, too many flat notes over too many years which of course is not a popular thing to say.
Listen to these two, wonderful.

[dannyk13]

Love the voice of Anna Netrebko

[ladybirder]

Gorgeous isn't it Danny. When her and Jonas Kaufmann (swoon) sang at the ROH this year the tickets were exchanging at £4k each!!!

[HansUrbancka]

A great tenor was John McCormack, who, in 1907 at 23 years of age, was the youngest principal singer ever to take the stage at Covent Garden. A magnificent tenor with brilliant breath control.

https://youtu.be/wSHnxlf2DPs

Another great in my mind is Rolando Villazon who was a judge some years back in the TV series...Popstar to Operastar. In 2007 he underwent surgery for a cyst on a vocal chord and it was three years latter that he returned to opera; singing even better.

https://youtu.be/vtdBBl0RkQo

Hans.

[dannyk13]

Ladybirder, I have a bit of doubt about Joans Kaufmann.He is always described as a tenor, but I have heard baritones with a higher voice than he has.

[ladybirder]

Yes I know Danny, we have had this conversation before. His voice has darkened over the years and I actually preferred it when he was younger but he is still referred to as a tenor and can easily still hit the high notes albeit his voice also now has a tenebrous quality. Still regarded as the best male singer in the world today I would argue.
You don't seem to like him??

[dannyk13]

Ladybirder, i don't dislike him, but I do prefer the voices of Andrea Bocelli , Joseph Calleja and Juan Diego Florez.

[shoota]

Perhaps Theland, you should try something light and 'fun'?

[The Builder]

Theland, I think it's worth remembering just how much has been handed down to us over the last three or four hundred years.
Victorian Music Hall was a direct descendant.
Music Hall lead to all the great 20th century Musicals... Rodgers & Hammerstein etc etc .

It's simply the notion of telling a story, first and foremost.
Recitative interspersed with arias being the origin of patter between popular songs.

"Guys & Dolls" is on over Christmas. A classic "opera" if ever there was one. Opera comes in all sizes. Personally, I can't "get" Wagner.
Friends keep plugging away at me, hoping for redemption, but I struggle.

Mozart; Rossini; Gluck, are my favourites. Not every clip put up on this thread is to my liking, but that's the way it should be. It's a huge subject. In fact, as huge as life itself. You take your pick.

I'm going to take a punt here, and suggest you read up on Wikipedia about Gluck's "Orfeo y Eurydice". Check the story, then go to good old Youtube and put up "The Dance of the Blessed Spirits". The version danced by Pina Bausch's great Tanztheatre.

I promise you, you'll love the story.

[ladybirder]

Danny I also like Joseph Calleja and Juan Diego Florez very much. But I don't count Bocelli as an opera singer, he mainly does concerts, not whole operas which is a different ball game. I do accept he is very popular though but I like to listen to a whole opera not bits and pieces. I didn't even like the three tenors doing what they did:-( If that makes me an opera snob then so be it.

[dannyk13]

:-)