Greatest Opera Composer - Ever

Started by Franco, December 10, 2009, 10:09:52 AM

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Let's keep this simple - choose one, of these three:

Verdi
7 (31.8%)
Mozart
6 (27.3%)
Wagner
9 (40.9%)

Total Members Voted: 15

Voting closed: December 11, 2009, 10:09:52 AM

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: Superhorn on January 05, 2010, 07:58:14 AM
  Hollander,Tannhauser and Lohengrin may not be quite as great as the mature Wagner, but they're still wonderful operas.
I tend to think had Wagner quit after writing these three he would already be considered one of the great opera composers ever already. And just when you think he couldn't top The Ring, Meistersinger and Tristan he crowns it off with Parsifal.

Sarastro

Quote from: 71 dB on January 05, 2010, 07:32:35 AM
I am not interested about Verdi's music based on what I heard.
You heard a tiny bit from Verdi's middle period. He was not a static figure, and his operas are not the same. I would even say he was the most diverse and progressing composer -- from operas such as Nabucco he went all the way to Otello! No other composers has shown such imperial progression and such dramatic change in style.

Lilas Pastia

Quote from: Superhorn on January 05, 2010, 07:58:14 AM
   Wagner is the least uneven of the three. Everything from Der Fliegende Hollander to Parsifal is wonderful.  Wagner simply matured as a composer. None of these works is a dud, unlike some of the other two composers lesser works.

C'mon, this is double standard. You take Wagner's mature works (that's 10 operas) and go on to say that Mozart and Verdi wrote duds in their 'lesser works'. Do you care to identify them? I'm sure they'd come out to be from their composer's youthful works. And what operas had Wagner composed at 36 years of age?

As for Wagner's librettos and work duration, they're part and parcel of the finished product. Which means that to some they'll always be beyond improvement  ;D. That doesn't take away their extraordinary qualities.

I have quite a lot more Wagner operas lined up for listening than Verdi's or Mozart's. Delving into Wagner is an extraordinary experience. But it shouldn't obliterate one's critical faculties.

71 dB

Quote from: Sarastro on January 05, 2010, 02:25:10 PM
You heard a tiny bit from Verdi's middle period. He was not a static figure, and his operas are not the same. I would even say he was the most diverse and progressing composer -- from operas such as Nabucco he went all the way to Otello! No other composers has shown such imperial progression and such dramatic change in style.

How is it possible that I have never heard good Verdi? Something that interests me? Why Verdi makes me cringe? The answer is very easy to me: Verdi is not my cup of tea. Rameau, Handel and Puccini are because no matter what I hear from them I like it.
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Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
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Superhorn

   Mozart's early operas. although they show amazing talent forsuch a young composer,don't come even remotely close to the greatness of Figaro,Don Giovanni,The Magic Flute,Cosi Fan Tutte etc.
  Mozart wrote operas on commission, unlike Wagner, who did everything by himself and worked so long and carefully on hi soperatic projects.
  And  operas like Un Giorno Di Regno, Ernani, Nabucco, Il Corsaro,Alzira and I Masnadieri also don't come anywhere near the greatness of
Falstaff and Oteelo.

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: 71 dB on January 06, 2010, 01:35:16 AM
How is it possible that I have never heard good Verdi? Something that interests me? Why Verdi makes me cringe?
You should definitely listen to Otello. I am not a big Verdi fan myself but I make an exception for Otello and Don Carlo.

71 dB

Quote from: Superhorn on January 06, 2010, 07:48:08 AM
   Mozart's early operas. although they show amazing talent forsuch a young composer,don't come even remotely close to the greatness of Figaro,Don Giovanni,The Magic Flute,Cosi Fan Tutte etc.

In fact I prefer Mozart's many early operas because they are composed by an ambitious young genius, not "Mozart the entertainer of common people with bad taste".
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

71 dB

Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on January 06, 2010, 12:30:27 PM
You should definitely listen to Otello. I am not a big Verdi fan myself but I make an exception for Otello and Don Carlo.

Okay, but that will be Verdi's last chance.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Sarastro

Quote from: 71 dB on January 07, 2010, 06:44:27 AM
Okay, but that will be Verdi's last chance.
As if Verdi needed a last chance...

knight66

71bd, your remarks can be superbly quotable, for all the wrong reasons.

You cheered my day up; as I see out of the window that it is snowing in a rather desultory way, snow-on-snow. 

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

knight66

Nice for you two to have found one another. To start with I though you were about to write something sensible. Why would I imagine 2010 should be different from 2009.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Trouble

Not really.  You didn't get to vote -- I didn't get to vote.  (Some poll that is!)
Looks like Verdi wins! ;D

Lilas Pastia

I think the poll initiater pulled out while Wagner was ahead, leaving us with a feeling of frustration. Coïtus interruptus...

Guido

You're all wrong anyway. Bartok is the correct answer.
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

greg

No, the correct answer is Brahms. Because he didn't write an opera. Because opera sucks.


>:D :D ;)