Your Top 5 Favorite Operas

[PerfectWagnerite]

My 5 are (in no particular order):

Die Walkure
Parsifal
Elektra
Rosenkavalier
Marriage of Figaro

[Jo498]

Menotti: Help! Help! The Globolinks is a children's opera with aliens (who can only be fought with non-electronic music)

[Rinaldo]

Not familiar with Handel's you listed but will seek it out. And I've always found Gloriana to have one the most powerful finales.

When it comes to Rinaldo, I'm highly biased, as it was my first introduction to baroque opera, but I still think it contains an amazing array of the most moving, memorable tunes Handel has written. The well-known aria Lascia ch'io pianga is just the tip of the iceberg.

https://www.youtube.com/v/3IqzuaQ5OJA

(the whole performance can be seen here)

As for Gloriana, my favourite moment (and also one of my favourite arias) is the achingly beautiful 2nd lute song that Essex sings to the Queen in the first act. Those descending notes with the violin joining in.. goosebumps every time.

https://www.youtube.com/v/uLPMeCt_JKw

[Florestan]

When it comes to Rinaldo, I'm highly biased, as it was my first introduction to baroque opera, but I still think it contains an amazing array of the most moving, memorable tunes Handel has written. The well-known aria Lascia ch'io pianga is just the tip of the iceberg.

Seconded. One of the most glorious and splendid Baroque operas.

[The new erato]

I think Ariodante may be my favorite.

[Mirror Image]

As for Gloriana, my favourite moment (and also one of my favourite arias) is the achingly beautiful 2nd lute song that Essex sings to the Queen in the first act. Those descending notes with the violin joining in.. goosebumps every time.

https://www.youtube.com/v/uLPMeCt_JKw

Yes, this particular section is absolutely exquisite. I first heard the 2nd Lute Song on a Edward Gardner recording on Chandos where he conducts the Gloriana Suite, but he kept this particular movement in-tact and it's so gorgeous.

[Reckoner]

There are very few operas that I'm familiar with in their entirety.

I'm rather enamoured of Glass' Akhnaten, Satyagraha, The Photographer and Les Enfants Terribles; Feldman's Neither; Adams' Nixon ... I guess that's six. 

But there are moments that I value highly from a vast array of operas.

[GioCar]

There are very few operas that I'm familiar with in their entirety.

I'm rather enamoured of Glass' Akhnaten, Satyagraha, The Photographer and Les Enfants Terribles; Feldman's Neither; Adams' Nixon ... I guess that's six. 

But there are moments that I value highly from a vast array of operas.

Glass' Einstein?

[Reckoner]

Glass' Einstein?

Sure, just not as much as some others.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I think Ariodante may be my favorite.

That's another great one, no doubt. As is Agrippina, which might actually be the one I enjoy most.

[Androcles]

I'm not particularly into opera, but the following list had had an effect on me:

Wagner: Parsifal, Borodin: Prince Igor, Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov, Weinberg: The Passenger, Hindemith: The Long Christmas Dinner

:-)

[nathanb]

For the many  of you who chose no italian operas, its like going to france without drinking one glass of wine or to the oktoberfest without having a single beer !

It's like playing basketball without a black guy: perfectly normal, but some stereotyping poster's going to get weird about it

[Cato]

Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury (If that counts too!)

Schoenberg's Moses and Aaron

Excellent choices!

Concerning Karl Birger-Blomdahl's science fiction opera:

I just discovered Aniara actually, I'm looking forward to hearing it today!   

So, what is your verdict?

[kishnevi]

Falstaff
Otello
Rosenkavalier
Zauberflote
Turandot

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Limiting to 5....

Britten: Albert Herring
Adams: Nixon in China
Berg: Wozzeck
Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

But also....
Brett Dean: Bliss
Britten: Peter Grimes
Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos
Glass: Einstein on the Beach
Glass: Akhnaten
Wagner: Ring Cycle
Wagner: Tannhäuser
Beethoven: Fidelio
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
Handel: Giulio Cesare

I might add

Britten: Turn of the Screw
Adès: The Tempest
Berg: Lulu

[Dax]

Gershwin - Porgy and Bess
Busoni - Dr Faust
Weill - Dreigroschenoper
Szymanowski - King Roger
Partch - Delusion of the fury

[André]

Bartok's Blueabeard's Castle is an opera only in a very limited sense: two singers, no action, the simplest decor imaginable. It's a fantastic work, but I don't think of it as an opera.

Turandot
Aïda
Il Trovatore
Norma
Die Walküre

Then:

Il Prigionero (Dallapiccola)
Elektra
Lohengrin
Dead Man Walking (Heggie)
Greek (Turnage)
Dialogues des Carmélites (Poulenc)
Fervaal (d'Indy)
Die Zauberflöte
Don Giovanni
King Roger (Szymanowski)

They all could move up the ladder, which generally happens when I listen to them. 

[Mirror Image]

Bartok's Blueabeard's Castle is an opera only in a very limited sense: two singers, no action, the simplest decor imaginable. It's a fantastic work, but I don't think of it as an opera.

It's true that the action of Bluebeard's Castle is stagnant, but this doesn't exclude it from being an opera because of the lack of action. It's a different breed of opera with the psychological drama being the most poignant feature (besides the incredible music itself).

[Jay F]

I'm not an opera fan, really, but I love La Boheme. Then it's a three-way tie for second place: Die Zauberflote, La Traviata (though it's mainly for "Di Provenza"), and Le Nozze di Figaro.

I can't think of a fifth.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

A few recent mentions of King Roger........I might go see that next year when Opera Australia is putting on a production