Top 10 Favorite Operas

[classicalgeek]

From the limited amount that I've heard:

Barber: Vanessa
Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle
Beethoven: Fidelio
Bizet: Carmen
Dvorak: Rusalka (Dimitrij is also fabulous)
Hanson: Merry Mount
Mozart: Don Giovanni (had the privilege of playing it recently!)
Janacek: Jenufa
Poulenc: Dialogue des Carmelites
Puccini: Turandot

There's so many composers whose operatic output I need to explore much further: Wagner, Strauss, Verdi, Respighi, Zemlinsky, Schreker, Korngold, Weber, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Massenet, Berlioz, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Smetana....

Great list, Kyle. I too haven't heard a lot of opera - one trick is finding the time! I don't like to listen to music in bits and pieces - and finding two or three hours of uninterrupted time can be quite difficult.

From the ones I've heard, though, I can come up with ten favorites:

Berg: Wozzeck (I did an in-depth study of it in college, including attending a concert performance by the Cleveland Orchestra, and I've been in love with it ever since.)
Britten: Peter Grimes
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (I can't choose just one!)
Janacek: Jenufa
Strauss: Elektra
Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle
Poulenc: Dialogue des Carmelites
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
Smetana: The Bartered Bride

[Lisztianwagner]

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (I can't choose just one!)

But it's right that way, Der Ring can't be divided! 

[Karl Henning]

From the limited amount that I've heard:

Barber: Vanessa
Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle
Beethoven: Fidelio
Bizet: Carmen
Dvorak: Rusalka (Dimitrij is also fabulous)
Hanson: Merry Mount
Mozart: Don Giovanni (had the privilege of playing it recently!)
Janacek: Jenufa
Poulenc: Dialogue des Carmelites
Puccini: Turandot

There's so many composers whose operatic output I need to explore much further: Wagner, Strauss, Verdi, Respighi, Zemlinsky, Schreker, Korngold, Weber, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Massenet, Berlioz, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Smetana....

I'd say that you remind me, Kyle, only it's something I've particularly looked forward to, in the Mitropoulos box: Barber's Vanessa. I believe I recall that Paul (springrite) is an enthusiast....

[Pohjolas Daughter]

But it's right that way, Der Ring can't be divided! 

PD

[Florestan]

Auber's I don't know.  What do you like about it (without revealing too much about the plot!)?

Sorry for the belated reply, PD.

Fra Diavolo is a charming and witty opéra-comique, brimming with memorable tunes, exuding good humour and joie de vivre --- a perfect embodiment of the French modern-yet-not-Romantic musical esthetics of the 1830s. Give it a try.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Sorry for the belated reply, PD.

Fra Diavolo is a charming and witty opéra-comique, brimming with memorable tunes, exuding good humour and joie de vivre --- a perfect embodiment of the French modern-yet-not-Romantic musical esthetics of the 1830s. Give it a try.

Thanks!

PD

[kyjo]

I'd say that you remind me, Kyle, only it's something I've particularly looked forward to, in the Mitropoulos box: Barber's Vanessa. I believe I recall that Paul (springrite) is an enthusiast....

You won't be disappointed, Karl! Anyone who enjoys Barber's soulful lyricism can't afford to miss his single most substantial work. I've also listened to a bit of his other opera, Antony and Cleopatra (which had a rather disastrous premiere, IIRC), and it was quite excellent as well.

In a rather similar passionately neo-romantic vein as Barber's operas is Alwyn's Miss Julie, which now has two recordings on Lyrita and Chandos.