Your Preferred Category

[Haffner]

I'm very surprised at the low count for the vocal category.  Guess there aren't many folks on the board who have the view of a past
co-worker of mine - "How can you listen to music that has no singing?".

This might sound strange, but if Wagner had never written his music for voice, orchestral music would have been my preferred category, not Opera.

[adamdavid80]

I'm very surprised at the low count for the vocal category.  Guess there aren't many folks on the board who have the view of a past
co-worker of mine - "How can you listen to music that has no singing?".

14.6% ain't bad...better than Bob Barr!

[Kuhlau]

I'm very surprised at the low count for the vocal category.

Vocal would've been my second choice. I adore song and choral works (accompanied or a capella), and have some tolerance for opera.

FK

[Homo Aestheticus]

Marvin,

Great minds think alike mon ami  !

Yes they do!     

However I feel compelled to ask you: how do you feel about Puccini's and Mozart's operas??

I love Puccini... I like the operas of Mozart, but was he really such a great musical dramatist ? Was he really a superb melodist in his operas as people say ? And are his mature operas really that distinctive ? Any more distinctive than say, Strauss'  Elektra  or  Verdi's   Falstaff  ?

Let me put it this way:

I would appreciate it very much if someone could explain to me why Mozart's mature operas should be regarded as......"the crowning jewels in opera's crown"

[marvinbrown]

Marvin,

Yes they do!     

I love Puccini... I like the operas of Mozart, but was he really such a great musical dramatist ? Was he really a superb melodist in his operas as people say ? And are his mature operas really that distinctive ? Any more distinctive than say, Strauss'  Elektra  or  Verdi's   Falstaff  ?

Let me put it this way:

I would appreciate it very much if someone could explain to me why Mozart's mature operas should be regarded as......"the crowning jewels in opera's crown"

  Well as an opera fan all I can say is that comparisons between Mozart's operas and those that came after his death can not be made.  Music had changed, thanks to Beethoven, after Mozart's death.  The Romantic movement had been ushered in and Verdi and Wagner made profound changes to opera as a "genre".  Recititivos were fused in with arias/ensembles. Wagner introduced the concept of the leitmotif into opera and so on. Later Richard Strauss, Alban Berg  introduced modernism and atonality which further changed opera.

  That said I find Mozart's operas to be amongst the best from the Classical era.  Don Giovanni comes to mind as a remarkable masterpiece.  Mozart was very capable of presenting to his audiences dramatic scenes and haunting music to match, The Commendatore Scene at the end of Don Giovanni comes to mind. 

  marvin   

[Haffner]

  Well as an opera fan all I can say is that comparisons between Mozart's operas and those that came after his death can not be made.  Music had changed, thanks to Beethoven, after Mozart's death.  The Romantic movement had been ushered in and Verdi and Wagner made profound changes to opera as a "genre".  Recititivos were fused in with arias/ensembles. Wagner introduced the concept of the leitmotif into opera and so on. Later Richard Strauss, Alban Berg  introduced modernism and atonality which further changed opera.

  That said I find Mozart's operas to be amongst the best from the Classical era.  Don Giovanni comes to mind as a remarkable masterpiece.  Mozart was very capable of presenting to his audiences dramatic scenes and haunting music to match, The Commendatore Scene at the end of Don Giovanni comes to mind. 

  marvin   

This is really well written!

I like Mozart's operas, and I consider Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte , and Die Zauberfloteto be masterpieces. But it's hard for me to listen to them after Wagner. They just seem very light. I tend to have issues with folks whom consider opera to be Mozart's finest genre. Give me the String Quintets, the Piano Concertos, and the last five symphonies over all his operas save Don Giovanni.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I like Mozart's operas, and I consider Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte , and Die Zauberfloteto be masterpieces. But it's hard for me to listen to them after Wagner.

I sometimes have the same problem. Only not just with Mozart. Wagner sometimes can put the hex on me so intense I need to take a break from music altogether. His invention digs into my memory and all else seems facile for a spell. Doesn't last long, though.     

I tend to have issues with folks whom consider opera to be Mozart's finest genre. Give me the String Quintets, the Piano Concertos, and the last five symphonies over all his operas save Don Giovanni.

I think that's a minority view, however. Mozart's operas are generally regarded as the crown jewels of his output, perhaps along with his piano concertos.

Not that the rest of the works you mention are sub-par at all but overall I find Mozart at his most colorful in his operas, his piano concertos next. It's his expert use of the winds that makes these works so special. Nowhere else do the winds play such a prominent role, not even in the last four symphonies. There just seems to be an extra kick to Mozart when he's stretching an orchestral canvas to its limits. With the winds ramping up the support the musical textures become that much richer and deeper. Add to all that a top layer of either voices or piano and the canvas is complete.

Great, great Mozart, for me.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I can be just as happy with any of the four categories. My mood probably plays more a part than anything in determining my daily dose.

[Superhorn]

   I have no preferred category. There is so much wonderful music, whether orchestral, operatic,chamber, solo piano, or what have you I can't choose.
  I don't have a favorite composer, or favorite work by any individual composer, and find it very hard to choose one "best" recording of any individual masterpiece. You might as well ask a mother of 12 children which is her favorite.
  I like some things in music more than others, but I just can't choose favorites.
  That's true of my tastes in general. I don't have a favorite food, drink, movie, television show, book,magazine, painter,sculptor,novelist,playwright or poet.
  And I could never onderstand people having a favorite color. I like all colors equally.

[Bulldog]

   I have no preferred category. There is so much wonderful music, whether orchestral, operatic,chamber, solo piano, or what have you I can't choose.
  I don't have a favorite composer, or favorite work by any individual composer, and find it very hard to choose one "best" recording of any individual masterpiece. You might as well ask a mother of 12 children which is her favorite.
  I like some things in music more than others, but I just can't choose favorites.
  That's true of my tastes in general. I don't have a favorite food, drink, movie, television show, book,magazine, painter,sculptor,novelist,playwright or poet.
  And I could never onderstand people having a favorite color. I like all colors equally.

Make a stand!  You just might find it very satisfying.  Also, not a good idea to equate music with children.

[adamdavid80]

Make a stand!  You just might find it very satisfying.  Also, not a good idea to equate music with children.

Yeah, pick a side!  We're at war here!  You're either with us or you're against us!  Music isn't for commies!!!

[Bulldog]

Yeah, pick a side!  We're at war here!  You're either with us or you're against us!  Music isn't for commies!!!

Nor for socialists or terrorists.  Just for capitalist pigs like me.

[Bulldog]

The voting has closed.  As expected, orchestral music wins the day.  Did this poll prove anything?  Yes, that folks tend to prefer a whole bunch of instruments playing at the same time.