Happy or sad endings?

[Manon]

Do you like happy or sad endings in opera?

As i am an emotional person, I like sad, tragic endings.Puccini is my favourite composer.I like crying in his operas 

[Mozart]

I think humans respond way stronger to tragedies than comedies. Drama is more entertaining than humor. Must be why Im not very popular 


I always cry when Don Giovanni is over, why must it end! If only it had a sequel, Don Giovanni 2, the devil charmer...That would be a mega hit.

[mahlertitan]

happy, sad, they are all good, all part of the human experience.... i can go either way, maybe happy if i was sad, and sad if i was happy.

[marvinbrown]

Do you like happy or sad endings in opera?

As i am an emotional person, I like sad, tragic endings.Puccini is my favourite composer.I like crying in his operas 

  I have no preference Manon, so long as the music is good I could go either way.  Le Nozze di Figaro (happy ending) and Aida (sad ending) satisfy me on equal levels- so once again no preference.

  marvin

[Gabriel]

I like crying in his operas 

But you can also cry in a happy ending!

[Manon]

But you can also cry in a happy ending!

Yes, i can cry but.... i prefer to cry in a tragic end 

[Mark G. Simon]

The comic can be much more difficult to bring off in opera than the tragic. Comedy requires a lighter touch and more precise timing. One can wallow in ones tears for an indefinite amount of time, but a smile fades if one tries to extend it too long. I have a special admiration for the great comic operas such as Falstaff and Figaro.

[Anne]

I like the sad ones that twist your heart.

[Haffner]

I think that's the brilliance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. The "real" ending isn't particularly happy or sad; the feelings are left to the viewer.

[beclemund]

Happy or sad, either way, there is great emotional relevance on either side of that coin. An engaging performance is all I am looking for.

[Mozart]

I think that's the brilliance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. The "real" ending isn't particularly happy or sad; the feelings are left to the viewer.

Not to mention the quartet, the arias, the trio, the ending..and everything else I missed, except don ottavio he sucks.

[Gabriel]

Not to mention the quartet, the arias, the trio, the ending..and everything else I missed, except don ottavio he sucks.

The problem for don Ottavio is to find someone who can sing the role appropriately. I like both of his arias really a lot (as well as his participation in the rest of the opera).

[Mozart]

The problem for don Ottavio is to find someone who can sing the role appropriately. I like both of his arias really a lot (as well as his participation in the rest of the opera).

No, he is lame and boring. Look how boring his words are

DON OTTAVIO
Dalla sua pace la mia dipende;
Quel che a lei piace vita mi rende,
Quel che le incresce morte mi dà.
S'ella sospira, sospiro anch'io;
È mia quell'ira, quel pianto è mio;
E non ho bene, s'ella non l'ha.

I wish Don Giovanni killed him at the beggining to.

Best Character Donna Elvira
Worst Don Ottavio

Donna Anna is good in act 1 and boring in act 2.

[hornteacher]

"Sad" is "Happy" for deep people.

[Gabriel]

No, he is lame and boring. Look how boring his words are (...)

I would say the words are "simple" more than "boring". There is no necessary equivalence between both. (Now, if you find everything boring about don Ottavio, it is your very respectable opinion, even if I don't share it at all).

[yashin]

I suppose that happy endings only happen in the buffo comedies of Rossini and Mozart?

Am trying to think of how many of my favourite operas do have a happy ending.  Not that many.

The best writing and music comes from our inner-conflicts, our struggles and our depraved lust for power, wealth and sex.

I actually like Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Wet he may be, even a wimp but this conflicts nicely to the bad-boy of the opera Don Gio himself.  Good brother, bad brother as one opera company wrote about them.

Whilst i love my Rossini and Mozart i don't feel that emotional connection to the characters i feel when i listen to Janacek, Tchaikovsky and Puccini just to name a few. 

I also feel that apart from La Traviata i don't connect with the characters in verdi either.  They seem to be from another world.

[Hector]

I am not happy unless the stage is littered with bodies at the end.

That's one reason why I love Verdi.

That is my first preference but I like Rossini, Offenbach and Auber.

[marvinbrown]

I am not happy unless the stage is littered with bodies at the end.

  Well then in that case Hector I highly recommend Strauss' ELEKTRA !

  marvin

[Wendell_E]

I suppose that happy endings only happen in the buffo comedies of Rossini and Mozart?

Not at all.  Almost all older serious operas (Monteverdi, Handel, even Mozart) had happy endings.  Then there's Fidelio, I Puritani, Nabucco, Die Frau ohne Schatten, La Fanciulla del West, among others.

But basically, I'm with Hector.  The higher the body count, the better.   

[Anne]

"But basically, I'm with Hector.  The higher the body count, the better."   

Wendell,

You and Hector should love Moussorgsky's Khovanshchina - a whole church full plus innumerable soldiers, a boyar or two - lots of fun!