Favourite Verdi Opera

[Tsaraslondon]

My favourite Verdi opera tends to be the one I am listening to or seeing at a given time, so choosing my top three was very difficult. In the end I plumped for Traviata, Don Carlo and Otello, but hated leaving out Falstaff, which is a miracle of invention. I left off the list Jersualem (a reworking of I Lombardi) and Aroldo (a reworking of Stiffelio), but left in all the early operas, as I've no doubt some eccentric will choose Alzira and declare it a far greater work than Otello 

[Sammy]

La Traviata, La Forza and Aida.

[The new erato]

Otello.

[San Antone]

Far and away I like Otello best, and my favorite production/recording is the Met's with Domingo in the title role.  The other two votes went to Rigoletto and Simon Boccanegra.

[Drasko]

Haven't heard most of the early operas (do intend to in the future). Of the rest my favorites are Otello, Il Trovatore, and for third is toss between Boccanegra and Ballo, voted for Ballo this time.

[Sergeant Rock]

Un Ballo, La Forza and MacBeth.

Sarge

[nico1616]

Don Carlo, Aida and Rigoletto.
Otello and Ballo would be my number 4 and 5.

[bhodges]

Otello
Falstaff
Macbeth

But I realize, looking at the list, that I haven't heard a number of these - have to fix that!

--Bruce

[Tsaraslondon]

A pathetically small amount of people voted in the poll. The results, for what they are worth, are

1. Otello
2. La Traviata
3= Don Carlo
3= Falstaff

[The new erato]

Quaity is what counts. We rooted for Othello.

Would you have wanted a large turnout and Il Trovatore?

[Drasko]

Would you have wanted a large turnout and Il Trovatore?

And what would be wrong with that?

A pathetically small amount of people voted in the poll. The results, for what they are worth, are

1. Otello
2. La Traviata
3= Don Carlo
3= Falstaff

You missed Rigoletto, tied with La Traviata for second place.

[mc ukrneal]

And what would be wrong with that?

Yeah - I voted for Il Travotore. I couldn't help myself. There are just so many parts that I love so much. Whenever I say, "Oh, I'll just listen to a part of it," I find myself listening to the end. Sure, the story can be disjointed, but who cares when there is that music (and passion)!

[The new erato]

And what would be wrong with that?

You missed Rigoletto, tied with La Traviata for second place.

Mainly that the libretto is big time silly, compared to Verdi's better operas.

[Tsaraslondon]

Quaity is what counts. We rooted for Othello.

Would you have wanted a large turnout and Il Trovatore?

Still a great opera, brimming with melody and invention. Not Verdi's best, by any means (well Otello is one of the greatest operas ever written, by anyone), but one of the three (the others being Rigoletto and La Traviata) that heralded his great middle period.

The first Karajan recording (with Callas) always strikes me as finding the right balance between elegance and crude vigour.

[mszczuj]

It was too hard to decide. Otello, Falstaff, Aida was my first obvious answer but the second was Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata - very simple and good choice as well.  And there were still Un Ballo and Don Carlo. Just no way to choose less than eight.

[Mirror Image]

My favorite Verdi opera is Bluebeard's Castle by Bartok.

[Tsaraslondon]

 

My favorite Verdi opera is Bluebeard's Castle by Bartok.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

It would be extremely difficult to pick just one. I have narrowed it down to top 3:

Simon Boccanegra
Aida
Falstaff

If only one had to be picked I would probably go with Aida. Verdi composed superb "egyptian sounding" italian music in this. Only "flaw" of the work that I can find is that Aida's role tends to get overshadowed by Amneris, one of the most impressive mezzo roles Verdi (or anyone) ever wrote. However that is not necessarily a bad thing. At first my favorite number from Aida was Su! del Nilo but after time I have grown increasingly attached to Ma tu re tu signore possente.

Simon boccanegra doesn't have remarkable flaws apart from Paolo having a bit too small role. He is definitely one of my favorite, if not the favorite Verdi villain/s.

As for Falstaff, I confess: at first I really didn't like it, probably because it didn't appear to have as many great melodies as in many other Verdi operas. But after relistening it several times I begun to adore this work. The strength of structure in this opera is remarkable.

On honorary mentions I should mention Don Carlos, Rigoletto and un ballo in maschera. I never really cared that much about La Traviata (apart from libiam and sempre libera).

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I actually forgot to mention Othello. Seriously? Not necessarily my first choice for favorite, but it is certainly near the top and there is no denying it is among Verdi's most supreme achievements.

I still haven't listened to Verdi's Macbeth, but considering his two other Shakespeare operas are magnificent, I suspect I am going to have a good time. (Of course Macbeth was composed several decades earlier, although it was revised.)

My ultimate favorite Verdi opera jumps between Don Carlos, Aida, Simon Boccanegra, Rigoletto and Falstaff. Today it is Boccanegra.

[(poco) Sforzando]

There was a time I was obsessed with Falstaff. I still consider it Verdi's most remarkable achievement, light years ahead even of his most mature tragic works in its intricacy of style, but for some reason it has finally lost its freshness for me and I think it best left alone at this point.

I still like Aida, Otello, Forza, and parts of Simon and Don Carlo. At their best the last two are the equal of anything in Verdi, but there are many lapses and dead spots in both. (I don't think Verdi ever wrote better than the fourth act of DC, but Rodrigo's dying aria for example is interminable, and the ending makes absolutely no sense.) From the earlier period, I like the "big three" equally. As for Macbeth, sorry, dramatically it doesn't work at all, and musically it comes fully to life only in the music for Lady Macbeth.

But my favorite Verdi "opera" is probably the Requiem Mass.