Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers

Started by Jaakko Keskinen, April 14, 2017, 05:50:47 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Jaakko Keskinen

Any composer who has written even one single opera, counts.

My current list:

Richard Wagner
Giacomo Puccini
Giuseppe Verdi
Richard Strauss
Claude Debussy
Hector Berlioz
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Carl Maria von Weber
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

ComposerOfAvantGarde

#1
In no particular order other than Wagner up the top.....

Wagner
Britten
Puccini
Berg
Ligeti
Brett Dean
Sciarrino
Mozart
Monteverdi
Strauss

Although if I had more choices I'd also include Schoenberg, Vivaldi, Handel, Charpentier, Rameau and Verdi.

Sergeant Rock

Wagner
Verdi
Mozart
Zemlinsky
R. Strauss
Puccini
Janáček
Vaughan Williams
Haydn
Korngold
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

some guy

Berlioz
Saint-Saens
Dvorak
Janacek
Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Kutavicius
Lachenmann
Shields
Means

Drasko

Monteverdi
Lully
Rameau
Gluck
Mozart
R.Strauss
Tchaikovsky
Mussorgsky
Verdi
Berg

Spineur

#5
Sort of by order of preference.  Except for Mondonville and Ibert, I have seen live performance of one or more operas composed by these composers.

Mozart
Verdi
Puccini
Mussorsky
Wagner
Donizzetti
Bellini
Poulenc
Gounod
Massenet
---------------------
Supplementary list
Prokofiev
Strauss
Debussy
Bizet
Meyerbeer
Saint Saens
Rimsky-Korsakov
Tchaikovsky
Rameau
Monteverdi
Haendel
Ibert
Beethoven
Berg
Martinu
Britten
Berlioz
Gluck
Lully
Mondonville
Rossini
Offenbach
---------------------------------
Composers whose operas I listen to occasionnally but would probably not pay a ticket for a live performance

Schoenberg
Haydn
Bartok
Janacek
Dvorak
Shostakovich
Enescu
Johann-Christian Bach
Charles Gretry




James

Bartok, Bluebeard's Castle (bizarre & powerful, the only opera I like as a whole)
Action is the only truth

Mahlerian

Perhaps these ten for me?

Monteverdi
Mozart
Weber
Wagner
Mussorgsky
Debussy
Schoenberg
Berg
Britten
Henze
"l do not consider my music as atonal, but rather as non-tonal. I feel the unity of all keys. Atonal music by modern composers admits of no key at all, no feeling of any definite center." - Arnold Schoenberg

bhodges

Bartók
Berg
Britten
Janáček
Prokofiev
Rimsky-Korsakov
Schoenberg
Shostakovich
R. Strauss
Verdi

Runners-up:

Debussy
Henze
Hindemith
Lachenmann
Mazzoli
Neuwirth
Puccini
Schreker
Tchaikovsky
Wagner

--Bruce

nathanb

Quote from: Brewski on April 14, 2017, 10:39:20 AM
Bartók
Berg
Britten
Janáček
Prokofiev
Rimsky-Korsakov
Schoenberg
Shostakovich
R. Strauss
Verdi

Runners-up:

Debussy
Henze
Hindemith
Lachenmann
Mazzoli
Neuwirth
Puccini
Schreker
Tchaikovsky
Wagner

--Bruce

I essentially quit watching television and film for a few years once I entered full fanaticism for this whole music thing (more time for music = less time for everything else). Neuwirth's Lost Highway was something of a watershed work for me. A piece of music that made me return to film. Neat.

mc ukrneal

My list might be:

Offenbach
Donizetti
Verdi
Monteverdi
Humperdinck
Puccini
Mozart
Britten
Rimsky-Korsakov

That leaves one to go. I would choose Bizet from (though ask on another day and I may say Lehar):
Rossini
Bellini
Saint-Saens
R Strauss
Bizet
Lehar
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

TheGSMoeller

Berg
Mozart
R.Strauss
Wagner
Monteverdi
Rameau
Purcell
Glass
Prokofiev
Puccini



kishnevi

Nothing much out of the ordinary in my list.
In no real order
Wagner
Mozart
Verdi
Bellini
Donizetti
Puccini
Britten
R Strauss
Ravel
Rossini

On at least some days, Handel would make the list in place of Britten or Ravel.

GioCar

Wagner
Mozart

Berg
Debussy
Monteverdi
Mussorgsky
Puccini
Rossini
Verdi

Too many candidates for the 10th place...


Mirror Image

I'm not a huge opera fan, but here goes nothing:

Bartók
Ravel
Janáček
Shostakovich
Berg
Schoenberg
Debussy
Szymanowski
Britten
Martinů

Turner

#15
Monteverdi
Mozart
Weber
Wagner
Mussorgsky
Busoni
Szymanowski
Saariaho

Last two: undecided. Candidates are Rameau, Purcell, Händel, Bellini, Donizetti (well, some of them), Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Janacek, Rachmaninov.

Florestan

#16
In chronological order

Vivaldi
Handel
Mozart
Weber
Rossini
Donizetti
Bellini
Verdi
Bizet
Puccini

Other composers who wrote at least one opera I thoroughly enjoyed: Cesti, Mondonville, Rameau, Cimarosa, Galuppi, Haydn, Federico Ricci, Flotow, Gounod, Delibes, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, R. Strauss
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

ComposerOfAvantGarde

Quote from: Thatfabulousalien on April 14, 2017, 10:58:17 PM
Chronologically:

Monteverdi
Wagner
Bartok
Stravinsky
Janacek
Penderecki
Ligeti
Kagel
Stockhausen

I can't think of the rest  :-[

Possibly Berg or Busoni, but there was one in particular that I really got into a few weeks ago, tryna remember....  ::)
What Janacek opera should do you recommend? Also.......are you a Wagner fan at all?

ComposerOfAvantGarde

Quote from: Thatfabulousalien on April 15, 2017, 01:00:06 AM
For Janacek:   From The House Of The Dead, The Excursions of Mr. Brouček


Of course I love Wagner....why else did I put him on my list???  ::)

Well I am an idiot for not seeing the Wagner on the list! :laugh: There is a Boulez-conducted DVD of From the House of the Dead which I haven't seen.........hmmmmmmm......my bank account is currently aching a bit though

Mahlerian

Quote from: jessop on April 15, 2017, 01:54:01 AM
Well I am an idiot for not seeing the Wagner on the list! :laugh: There is a Boulez-conducted DVD of From the House of the Dead which I haven't seen.........hmmmmmmm......my bank account is currently aching a bit though

DO IT.  Chereau's production is great as well.  I feel stupid for forgetting Janacek yesterday when making my list, as he certainly was an excellent opera composer.
"l do not consider my music as atonal, but rather as non-tonal. I feel the unity of all keys. Atonal music by modern composers admits of no key at all, no feeling of any definite center." - Arnold Schoenberg