Favourite Opera

[Michel]

We do not, I think, support Pologamy, so we should not have more than one favoruite opera.

Like a wife, you have to commit to one. What is it, and why?

Mine is Cavalleria Rusticana. Words cannot describe my love for it, so I offer only this short video clip, whose images sum it all up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1X7V65Sfpo&feature=related

[Wendell_E]

Lulu.  Sex violence, gorgeous late-romantic(ish) music, a lesbian.  Something for everyone.

I don't support polygamy, but I do cheat a lot.   

[marvinbrown]

  Tristan und Isolde The more I listen to it the more I fall madly in love with it. 


   marvin

[Operahaven]

Like a wife, you have to commit to one. What is it, and why?

Impossible for me...

But when all is said and done I think it would have to be  Das Rheingold..... for its Spring-like quality, its fresh and limpid beauty, its magnificent spaciousness and power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns9Mh9XZZ6c

[lukeottevanger]

One of my favourite operas is Bluebeard's Castle, and I take my cue from the Duke in having more than one wife....

[Michel]

One of my favourite operas is Bluebeard's Castle, and I take my cue from the Duke in having more than one wife....

Ha! I watched this in Leeds once, where John Tomlinson's spit was landing on my face I was so close to him. Brilliant!

[Sergeant Rock]

Die Walküre. Two totally dysfunctional families and noisy women on flying horses taking warriors to a warrior's paradise...my idea of a happy ending.

Sarge

[Mozart]

Can't I have an orgy with Figaro and Don Giovanni?

[knight66]

Can't I have an orgy with Figaro and Don Giovanni?

Whatever floats your boat.

Tristan here too, lots of bang for your bucks and it is like taking a drug. On the whole I prefer to listen to it rather than watch it. Two overstuffed armchairs getting it on with one another rather undermines the experience.

Mike

[bhodges]

Lulu.  Sex violence, gorgeous late-romantic(ish) music, a lesbian.  Something for everyone.

It warms my heart that Lulu is someone's favorite opera.  While I might not put it as my top choice, it's way up there, for sure. 

Mine: Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, although after seeing Peter Grimes again last night, I'm wavering.

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Bartok's Bluebeards Castle ... a monodrama. So powerful and weird ... honestly I loathe opera ..though sometimes music found in them can be striking & even profound.

It is weird, isn't it...and many writers seem to think it's almost best experienced unstaged, the better to let your mind conjure up images from the score.  Certainly the one production I've seen--in 1989 at the Met with Jessye Norman and Samuel Ramey, conducted by James Levine--was unsatisfactory.

--Bruce

[knight66]

Mine: Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, although after seeing Peter Grimes again last night, I'm wavering.

--Bruce

I think the one-act works should count as a half and you can choose another to make up the evening. How about Oedipus Rex, another oratorio-like work, but it packs a punch.

Mike

[bhodges]

Oedipus Rex is something I should get to know better; have only heard it once or twice.  When the Met staged Bluebeard, they paired it with Erwartung, which worked pretty well.

--Bruce

[knight66]

Oh well, you have designed yourself a fun evening. 

Mike

[bhodges]

Oh well, you have designed yourself a fun evening. 

Mike

Yes, as they say, "a laff-riot." 

--Bruce

[marvinbrown]

Whatever floats your boat.

Tristan here too, lots of bang for your bucks and it is like taking a drug. On the whole I prefer to listen to it rather than watch it. Two overstuffed armchairs getting it on with one another rather undermines the experience.

Mike

  Great minds think alike Mike  - regarding the overstuffed armchairs comment, I take it you are refering to the MET Levine recording?? 

  marvin

[greg]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


i haven't listened to any operas in a long time, rarely listen to any more than once.

BUT if I had to choose a favorite, it might be Poulenc's Dialogues de los Carmelites

[PerfectWagnerite]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


i haven't listened to any operas in a long time, rarely listen to any more than once.

BUT if I had to choose a favorite, it might be Poulenc's Dialogues de los Carmelites

I like it too. The plot is certainly unusual, nothing like seeing a bunch of nuns getting their heads lobbed off.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I like it too. The plot is certainly unusual, nothing like seeing a bunch of nuns getting their heads lobbed off.

Agreed, but you don't actually see it, you just hear the thuds....

Silly question, but if one: Falstaff.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Agreed, but you don't actually see it, you just hear the thuds....

Of course not, it would be kind of hard to stage. Of course you can guillotine a bunch of mannequins in the opera house I suppose.