Good introductions to the world of opera

[hautbois]

2 years ago i watched on dvd Tristan. 30 minutes and i dozed off. Then i took on Rusalka, 40 minutes. Realising how ridiculous i was, i bought Anne Sophie's Carmen and loved it. But i never really got into opera (I really love Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel despite what most people think of it as mediocre, i love light and beautiful music so to say. Solti/VPO was a great buy.) I 'passed the test' for Mahler and most 'standard' orchestral music if you know what i mean.

Who wrote short operas that are well worth mention, containing beautiful beautiful beautiful music? (Recordings to suggest?)

Howard

[JoshLilly]

Ever try Arthur Sullivan operas? For example, The Mikado, which is one of my all-time favourite operas.

[bhodges]

2 years ago i watched on dvd Tristan. 30 minutes and i dozed off. Then i took on Rusalka, 40 minutes. Realising how ridiculous i was, i bought Anne Sophie's Carmen and loved it. But i never really got into opera (I really love Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel despite what most people think of it as mediocre, i love light and beautiful music so to say. Solti/VPO was a great buy.) I 'passed the test' for Mahler and most 'standard' orchestral music if you know what i mean.

Who wrote short operas that are well worth mention, containing beautiful beautiful beautiful music? (Recordings to suggest?)

Howard

Howard, it sounds like Puccini's Il Trittico (three one-act operas) might be just what you're looking for.  (I've been thinking about it lately since the Met is doing a new production in a few days.)  You have almost certainly heard "O mio babbino caro" from one of the three operas, Gianni Schicchi, and all three have beautiful music in them.  I don't have a recording to suggest, but someone surely will.

--Bruce

[jochanaan]

Howard, it sounds like Puccini's Il Trittico (three one-act operas) might be just what you're looking for.  (I've been thinking about it lately since the Met is doing a new production in a few days.)  You have almost certainly heard "O mio babbino caro" from one of the three operas, Gianni Schicchi, and all three have beautiful music in them.  I don't have a recording to suggest, but someone surely will.

And Gianni Schicchi is very funny too.

My introduction to opera was through Verdi and Mozart.  Mozart's opera music is as beautiful as everything else he wrote, and I still think Verdi is one of the greatest of all opera composers.  Benjamin Britten also wrote wonderful operas.  And Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas adds brevity to its musico-dramatic virtues; it takes just under an hour for its three acts.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Howard, it sounds like Puccini's Il Trittico (three one-act operas) might be just what you're looking for.  (I've been thinking about it lately since the Met is doing a new production in a few days.)  You have almost certainly heard "O mio babbino caro" from one of the three operas, Gianni Schicchi, and all three have beautiful music in them.  I don't have a recording to suggest, but someone surely will.

--Bruce

I like Il Trittico also. The first opera The Coat is extremely creepy and you in for a shock at the end. Gianni Schicchi is probably one of Puccini's masterpieces. The only one I don't like is Sister Angelica, never seems to take off and is too much of a tearjerker.

I have this recording:



with an all-star cast such as Domingo, Gobbi, Horne, Scotto, etc. Not sure whether it is still in print though.

[Sergeant Rock]

Who wrote short operas (Recordings to suggest?)

Howard

Don't be such a wimp, Howard...buy Der Ring das Nibelungen, set aside a day of your life (you'll need 14 to 16 hours), listen and enjoy 

Sarge

[pjme]

Poor Suor Angelica - a tearjerker...well yes, if it is badly performed or staged (difficult, difficult!!) - but when Riccardo Chailly performed it in 1999 with Cristina Gallardo-Domas, it became an almost dark & sinister story of suppressed sexuallity and sheer folly. Gallardo Domas was stunning and so was the Concertgebouworchestra !

A lovely little opera is Frank Bridge's The Christmas rose - once available on Pearl.

[stingo]

What about operetta - as in Gilbert and Sullivan? I remember seeing a Canadian production of The Mikado on DVD that was great.

I also enjoy Chandos' Opera in English series - particularly The Marriage of Figaro.

[Anne]

"Short operas with beautiful, beautiful melodies."

If you are enjoying the opera, you won't mind if it 2hrs or so long.

It has been recommended that one way to get into opera is to find a singer you like very much.  For me it was Pavarotti.  A lot of people think his voice is gorgeous.  He has a lot of CD's with just famous arias (songs).  Every music store has Pavarotti CD's.

What I did in the beginning of learning to like opera was to look for any opera that had his name on it.  That method helped get me started.  His friend in the opera world was Joan Sutherland (a soprano) whose husband is Richard Bonygne (a conductor).  There is a third singer, Marilyn Horne (mezzo-soprano) a friend of Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland.  Any CD that has those singers in the performance will be great.

Marilyn Horne sang a lot of Rossini (composer) operas.  Bellini wrote gorgeous melodies.  Try his opera named Norma.  I have 2 CD's of that opera.  1 is with  Sutherland, Horne, Alexander.  2) The other is with Sutherland, Pavarotti,Caballe, Ramey.  Ramey is a wonderful bass.

Bellini also wrote I Puritani .  My recording has Sutherland, Pavarotti, Ghiaurov (another wonderful bass).

Another opera I'd suggest with beautiful melodies is La Boheme written by Puccini.  That opera has been helpful to many people just starting to learn to like opera.  A good recording of La Boheme has Pavarotti and Mirella Freni (wife of Nicolai Ghiaurov) singing.

Another composer to try is Verdi.  He wrote Rigoletto.  Pavarotti sings in that opera.

And finally one last composer who many would say should have been mentioned before all others and that is Mozart.  He wrote Le Nozze di Figaro (Marriage of Figaro).  I don't have a favorite recording of that.  Maybe someone else could suggest a recording.

I hope you try and enjoy some of the suggestions.

One last thing.  Opera is a story, is music, is drama.  It really helps to see the opera sung on stage.  There are DVD's for every opera that I mentioned.  I gave you the CD recommendation.  The DVD's might not have the same cast.  You have a lot of beauty ahead of you.  I know many of us envy your journey.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

We had a discussion not long ago on the old board about short (one act) operas.

Look here.

I'd add Martinu's one-act operas to the list. Some averaging a mere half-hour.

[mahlertitan]

Verdi's Il Trovatore, J.Strauss Jr's Die Fledermaus, and my peresonal all time favorite: Franz Lehar's Merry Widow

[hautbois]

Sounds good guys, thankyou for all the suggestions so far! I think i will go for Mikado, maybe Paggliacci, some Mozart, and some Puccini (I did not enjoy Callas/Tosca  ).

Howard

p.s: Sarge, i don't want to get a stroke.

[knight66]

Verdi's Il Trovatore, J.Strauss Jr's Die Fledermaus, and my peresonal all time favorite: Franz Lehar's Merry Widow

That surprises me, but I do rate it highly and enjoy that old Schwarzkopf recording. Which recording do you have?

Mike

[mahlertitan]

That surprises me, but I do rate it highly and enjoy that old Schwarzkopf recording. Which recording do you have?

Mike

i have the schwarzkopf recording as well, additionally i have the recent DVD one with San Francisco PO, which was exquisitely done.

[Brian]

Kalman's operetta Die Csardasfurstin deserves a good word. Imagine the fun, light music of Johann Strauss mixed with the operatic style of Franz Lehar mixed with the melodic genius of Bizet's Carmen mixed with Hungarian gypsy styles and colors and you have ... the music of Imre (also known as Emmerich) Kalman. 

[marvinbrown]

2 years ago i watched on dvd Tristan. 30 minutes and i dozed off. Then i took on Rusalka, 40 minutes. Realising how ridiculous i was, i bought Anne Sophie's Carmen and loved it. But i never really got into opera (I really love Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel despite what most people think of it as mediocre, i love light and beautiful music so to say. Solti/VPO was a great buy.) I 'passed the test' for Mahler and most 'standard' orchestral music if you know what i mean.

Who wrote short operas that are well worth mention, containing beautiful beautiful beautiful music? (Recordings to suggest?)

Howard

   Hello Howard, You have received some excellent recommendations for short operas "containing beautiful, beautiful beautiful music".   You mentioned that you were going to go for Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, this is usually coupled with another very short opera I am fond of called Cavalleria Rusticana (I believe they call these two operas the Cav & Pag), both very enjoyable operas with beautiful music.

   marvin

[Heather Harrison]

Howard, it sounds like Puccini's Il Trittico (three one-act operas) might be just what you're looking for.

There is a DVD of Il Trittico:



This is the only DVD that includes all three of these operas.  It has some problems here and there, but generally it isn't bad, although I wish there were more performances to compare it with.  My favorite of the three is Suor Angelica, but then I love sentimental tearjerkers.  I recently saw a production of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi at the University of Utah.  Their performance of Suor Angelica was at least as good as the one on the DVD (they have a great student opera company), and their performance of Gianni Schicchi was also well-done and the students obviously had a lot of fun with it.

Here is another short opera that I like:



This is a little-known short festa teatrale (a ligher form of opera seria) by Gluck.  It is only available on CD, and I doubt it is likely to appear on DVD any time soon.  Even if it did, it might be difficult to make the production interesting to modern audiences.  The form is the usual pre-reform succession of recitative and aria, and the style is typical of the early Classic period.  If you like Mozart and want to tread a bit off the beaten path, you might like this one.  It has a number of gorgeous arias, and it is well performed.  I find myself listening to it often.

Heather

[Michel]

I think undoubtedly, you ought to get Die Fledermaus. And Karajan's.

[Maciek]

Well, Howard, did any of the recommendations work?

I was going to recommend Szymanowski's King Roger (but forgot ). It's short (fits on one disc) and it was the first opera ever that really grabbed me. There is so much passion in the music it's difficult to turn it off once it starts (every time I want to check just one track I end up listening much longer...). I'm not sure it is such a good "introduction" though, because for a very long time it remained the only opera that I really loved. Anyway, it certainly is an opera that most people who are not opera lovers enjoy, so it's a pretty safe bet you'd like it...

Maciek

[Ciel_Rouge]

I started a similar thread on another forum and I am now a happy new-born opera fan after listening to the complete Dido and Aeneas. I guess it is great for starters due to its brevity and intensity and melodic value. Might be a good start for anyone who already likes baroque.