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The Music Room => General Classical Music Discussion => The Polling Station => Topic started by: Jaakko Keskinen on April 14, 2017, 05:50:47 AM

Title: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Jaakko Keskinen on April 14, 2017, 05:50:47 AM
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
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 14, 2017, 06:11:49 AM
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.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Sergeant Rock on April 14, 2017, 06:14:49 AM
Wagner
Verdi
Mozart
Zemlinsky
R. Strauss
Puccini
Janáček
Vaughan Williams
Haydn
Korngold
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: some guy on April 14, 2017, 06:17:40 AM
Berlioz
Saint-Saens
Dvorak
Janacek
Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Kutavicius
Lachenmann
Shields
Means
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Drasko on April 14, 2017, 06:21:02 AM
Monteverdi
Lully
Rameau
Gluck
Mozart
R.Strauss
Tchaikovsky
Mussorgsky
Verdi
Berg
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Spineur on April 14, 2017, 06:45:26 AM
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



Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: James on April 14, 2017, 07:42:59 AM
Bartok, Bluebeard's Castle (bizarre & powerful, the only opera I like as a whole)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Mahlerian on April 14, 2017, 09:26:28 AM
Perhaps these ten for me?

Monteverdi
Mozart
Weber
Wagner
Mussorgsky
Debussy
Schoenberg
Berg
Britten
Henze
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: bhodges 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
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: nathanb on April 14, 2017, 11:16:14 AM
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.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: mc ukrneal on April 14, 2017, 11:22:47 AM
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
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: TheGSMoeller on April 14, 2017, 03:38:07 PM
Berg
Mozart
R.Strauss
Wagner
Monteverdi
Rameau
Purcell
Glass
Prokofiev
Puccini


Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: kishnevi on April 14, 2017, 03:48:40 PM
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.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: GioCar on April 14, 2017, 08:30:10 PM
Wagner
Mozart

Berg
Debussy
Monteverdi
Mussorgsky
Puccini
Rossini
Verdi

Too many candidates for the 10th place...

Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Mirror Image on April 14, 2017, 08:38:18 PM
I'm not a huge opera fan, but here goes nothing:

Bartók
Ravel
Janáček
Shostakovich
Berg
Schoenberg
Debussy
Szymanowski
Britten
Martinů
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Turner on April 14, 2017, 10:22:51 PM
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.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Florestan on April 15, 2017, 12:09:37 AM
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
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 15, 2017, 12:55:42 AM
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?
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 15, 2017, 01:54:01 AM
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
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Mahlerian on April 15, 2017, 07:44:59 AM
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.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: some guy on April 19, 2017, 01:18:24 PM
Mahlerian knows this story already, I think.

I got "into" opera with Janacek. I really liked Janacek's music. A lot. But there's really not all that much that's not an opera. So if you like Janacek as much as I did, you have one option: listen to opera.

Magic!

And after that, I could listen to any old opera by anyone and enjoy it as much or as little as I would enjoy a piano concerto or a symphony or a string quartet by anyone. So much so, that I could hardly imagine how anyone, myself included, could ever have thought of "opera" as a special category and one fairly challenging to get into.

Well, whatever. That was then, and now is now.

I'm much happier with now.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: North Star on April 19, 2017, 02:27:09 PM
Janáček
Mozart
Berlioz
Monteverdi
Britten
Prokofiev
Berg
Ravel
Mussorgsky
Strauss
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: bhodges on April 19, 2017, 02:39:59 PM
Quote from: nathanb on April 14, 2017, 11:16:14 AM
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.

Admirable! And that's a great story about the Neuwirth. (I have only seen it once, but thought it deserves an extravagant production sometime, somewhere.) Also, have only seen the film once -- when it first came out -- and as a Lynch fan, need to do at least one repeat! I'm a little surprised someone hasn't done an opera based on Blue Velvet.  ;D

--Bruce
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 19, 2017, 03:15:58 PM
I wonder if Alien knows the opera Lost Highway, him being a Lynch fan....
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: TheGSMoeller on April 19, 2017, 03:43:46 PM
Quote from: jessop on April 19, 2017, 03:15:58 PM
I wonder if Alien knows the opera Lost Highway, him being a Lynch fan....

I wasn't aware of this. Is it based on Lynch's film? Who did the libretto?
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Dee Sharp on April 19, 2017, 03:47:40 PM
Puccini
Verdi
Mozart
R. Strauss
Janecek
Bellini
Floyd
Britten
Rossini
Bizet
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: bhodges on April 19, 2017, 04:03:33 PM
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on April 19, 2017, 03:43:46 PM
I wasn't aware of this. Is it based on Lynch's film? Who did the libretto?

Yes, it's based on the Lynch. Libretto is by Neuwirth and Elfriede Jelinek. Have not yet heard the recording!

[asin]B000N2H8IW[/asin]

--Bruce
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: TheGSMoeller on April 19, 2017, 04:17:23 PM
Quote from: Brewski on April 19, 2017, 04:03:33 PM
Yes, it's based on the Lynch. Libretto is by Neuwirth and Elfriede Jelinek. Have not yet heard the recording!

[asin]B000N2H8IW[/asin]

--Bruce

Interesting. I would love to hear it.
Thanks, Bruce!
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: bhodges on April 19, 2017, 04:31:03 PM
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on April 19, 2017, 04:17:23 PM
Interesting. I would love to hear it.
Thanks, Bruce!

It was done here in 2007, in a modest production. Apparently there were problems balancing the electronics, but even so, I thought it was definitely worth a second hearing.

--Bruce
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 19, 2017, 07:25:38 PM
Sciarrino is an UNDERRATED composer of operas! Not just Luci mie Traditrici, but his operas based on Macbeth and Lohengrin are pretty good too!
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Mirror Image on April 19, 2017, 07:29:14 PM
Quote from: jessop on April 19, 2017, 07:25:38 PM
Sciarrino is an UNDERRATED composer of operas! Not just Luci mie Traditrici, but his operas based on Macbeth and Lohengrin are pretty good too!

Underrated to describe a 21st Century composer? Ummm...they're all underrated aren't they, Jessop? :-\
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 19, 2017, 07:33:49 PM
Quote from: Mirror Image on April 19, 2017, 07:29:14 PM
Underrated to describe a 21st Century composer? Ummm...they're all underrated aren't they, Jessop? :-\
Underrated on this thread, considering his operatic output
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Mirror Image on April 19, 2017, 07:42:03 PM
Quote from: jessop on April 19, 2017, 07:33:49 PM
Underrated on this thread, considering his operatic output

Oh, I'm not surprised by this at all. A lot of people just don't have much interest in contemporary classical music. Sciarrino could compose forty operas, but this doesn't mean I'm going to have an interest in what he does or anyone else for that matter. The bottomline is if the interest in the composer is there, then there will be mentions of him and since there's not, you'll have to formulate your own conclusions. To be even more honest, I really find your's and Alien's attitude about contemporary classical interesting because it seems to me you guys somehow expect others to know who you listen to and, most of all, actually listen to these composers. Not everyone is as bold and adventuresome as you guys.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on April 19, 2017, 09:20:24 PM
Quote from: Mirror Image on April 19, 2017, 07:42:03 PM
Oh, I’m not surprised by this at all. A lot of people just don’t have much interest in contemporary classical music. Sciarrino could compose forty operas, but this doesn’t mean I’m going to have an interest in what he does or anyone else for that matter. The bottomline is if the interest in the composer is there, then there will be mentions of him and since there’s not, you’ll have to formulate your own conclusions. To be even more honest, I really find your's and Alien’s attitude about contemporary classical interesting because it seems to me you guys somehow expect others to know who you listen to and, most of all, actually listen to these composers. Not everyone is as bold and adventuresome as you guys.

Well, I think everyone is adventurous in their own way. I probably wouldn't have listened to much 19th century music if it were not for other people's enthusiasms and explorations of that repertoire, just to give one example. I find it interesting to see the names of composers that pop up on GMG are often different to names that pop up on other forums and different again to names that pop up in the media. For example, I have read lots of news recently about Du Yun (opera related news, too!), but I haven't yet noticed conversations about Yun on this forum.

My 'underrated' exclamation was really more of a sardonic joke, though, but with an element of honesty as well. Sciarrino is a composer whose opera Luci mie Traditrici has had an unusually large number of performances and recordings for an opera from the late 90s. When repertoire is being performed lots then I suppose people are just more exposed to it and it there are more reviews to read and articles that appear in the news.......

My own assumptions get the better of me; not everyone necessarily follows what's happening in music around the world!

In the end, I can only be thankful for the plethora of recommendations I have received from you, Alien and others; it really is because of each individual's unique enthusiasms does this forum have such a wealth of information anyway. It is really because of everyone else that I listen to what I listen to and advocate the music I wouldn't have come across otherwise. :)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Chronochromie on April 26, 2017, 09:32:17 AM
Quote from: jessop on April 19, 2017, 07:25:38 PM
Sciarrino is an UNDERRATED composer of operas! Not just Luci mie Traditrici, but his operas based on Macbeth and Lohengrin are pretty good too!

If I had seen this thread and felt like making a list I'd mentioned him and Luci and Macbeth, certainly.

Edit: Alright, here goes:

Monteverdi
Rameau
Mozart
Berlioz
Wagner
Verdi
Debussy
Schoenberg (Erwartung counts, right?)
Berg
Sciarrino

Honorary mentions to composers who only wrote one complete opera (yes, I know Berg technically didn't finish Lulu...) that I love: Mussorgsky, Debussy and Messiaen.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 18, 2017, 06:18:20 PM
I might update my list:

Wagner
Britten
Reimann
Henze
Sciarrino
Schreker
Berg
Puccini
Strauss
Mozart

....Dean, Monteverdi, Schoenberg, Furrer, Neuwirth, Adams, Glass, Handel, Vivaldi.....
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Contemporaryclassical on June 24, 2017, 10:23:31 PM
Monteverdi
Purcell
Rameau
Salieri
Mozart
Beethoven
Berlioz
Schoenberg
Shostakovich
Feldman
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Wanderer on June 24, 2017, 11:58:51 PM
Top 10 (not in order of preference)

Mozart
Beethoven
R. Strauss
Wagner
Puccini
Zemlinsky
Janáček
Schreker
Korngold
Tchaikovsky


Runners-up:

Berlioz
Debussy
Saint-Saëns
Szymanowski
Berg
Bartók
Salieri
Haydn
Shostakovich
Vivaldi
Mussorgsky
Prokofiev
Rimsky-Korsakov
Hindemith
Offenbach
Rossini
Busoni
Donizetti
Monteverdi
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: zamyrabyrd on June 25, 2017, 12:39:12 AM
Mozart
Verdi
Puccini
R. Strauss
J. Strauss
Offenbach
Massenet
Tchaikovsky
Debussy
Bellini

ZB
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 25, 2017, 03:43:48 AM
Quote from: Conor71 on June 25, 2017, 03:40:11 AM
I'm electing not to list Composers for whom I only know 1 or 2 works so that only leaves:

Mozart
Puccini
Verdi
Wagner


If you like Puccini and Wagner....maybe Schreker can be next to add to your list? ;D
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Autumn Leaves on June 25, 2017, 03:45:34 AM
Quote from: jessop on June 25, 2017, 03:43:48 AM
If you like Puccini and Wagner....maybe Schreker can be next to add to your list? ;D

Defintely! ;D
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Autumn Leaves on June 25, 2017, 03:50:30 AM
Quote from: Alberich on April 14, 2017, 05:50:47 AM
Any composer who has written even one single opera, counts.

Alright, sorry I should have read the opening post (I will retract my earlier statement..).
New list:

Bizet
Leoncavallo
Mascagni
Mozart
Puccini
Ravel
(R) Strauss
Tchaikovsky
Verdi
Wagner


:)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Dancing Divertimentian on June 25, 2017, 08:30:22 AM
Berlioz
Prokofiev
Handel
Strauss
Martinu (hardly anybody knows this side of Martinu, beyond, perhaps, Julietta).
Mozart
Wagner
Britten
Janacek
Rimsky-Korsakov

My stowaway: Berg

Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ritter on June 25, 2017, 09:11:52 AM
My two cents worth:

Monteverdi
Rameau
Gluck
Mozart
Berlioz
Wagner
Debussy
R. Strauss
Berg
Dallapiccola


That's my top 10 (right now). Runner-ups (another 16  ::) ):

Lully
Beethoven
Rossini
Spontini
Mussorgsky
Chabrier
Schoenberg
Prokofiev
Křenek
Ravel
Bartók
Enescu
Ginastera
Eötvös
Birtwistle
C. Halffter


Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 26, 2017, 01:54:45 AM
Janacek has been a glaring omission from my lists, one which I ought to fix. After seeing The Cunning Little Vixen with friends I think I might explore some of his other ones.

Where should I go next?
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: North Star on June 28, 2017, 12:59:26 AM
Quote from: jessop on June 26, 2017, 01:54:45 AM
Janacek has been a glaring omission from my lists, one which I ought to fix. After seeing The Cunning Little Vixen with friends I think I might explore some of his other ones.

Where should I go next?
Makropulos Case, From the House of the Dead, Excursions of Mr. Broucek, Kát'a Kabanová. Read the synopses and pick the one you fancy most at the moment.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 28, 2017, 02:18:18 AM
Quote from: North Star on June 28, 2017, 12:59:26 AM
Makropulos Case, From the House of the Dead, Excursions of Mr. Broucek, Kát'a Kabanová. Read the synopses and pick the one you fancy most at the moment.
Shall do. Thank you for the suggestions. :)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: nathanb on June 29, 2017, 08:24:06 AM
Ashley
Berg
Birtwistle
Monteverdi
Mozart
Rautavaara
Reimann
Sciarrino
Stockhausen
Wagner

Or something like that, I guess. Furrer, Neuwirth, Rameau, and so on make for some tough exclusions.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 29, 2017, 12:49:02 PM
Wtf I love Birtwistle operas yet never included him on my lists?????


Nathanb who is Ashley and what do you recommend? :)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: nathanb on June 29, 2017, 03:46:55 PM
Quote from: jessop on June 29, 2017, 12:49:02 PM
Wtf I love Birtwistle operas yet never included him on my lists?????


Nathanb who is Ashley and what do you recommend? :)

You've gone all this way and never heard of Robert Ashley?
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 29, 2017, 06:28:50 PM
Quote from: nathanb on June 29, 2017, 03:46:55 PM
You've gone all this way and never heard of Robert Ashley?

All what way? I'm still fairly new to music. I don't have as many years experience of understanding as other people on this forum, which is why I'm here! :)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 29, 2017, 06:31:03 PM
Okay I just checked Wikipedia and it says he is American. I don't know many American composers, so that's probably why. It seems as if his operas would really be interesting to me. Thanks for bringing him up!
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: nathanb on June 29, 2017, 07:41:55 PM
Quote from: jessop on June 29, 2017, 06:28:50 PM
All what way? I'm still fairly new to music. I don't have as many years experience of understanding as other people on this forum, which is why I'm here! :)

Well, I think you were already on TalkClassical when I was just starting to obsess over Beethoven for the first time, just sayin' ;)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: ComposerOfAvantGarde on June 29, 2017, 08:08:35 PM
Quote from: nathanb on June 29, 2017, 07:41:55 PM
Well, I think you were already on TalkClassical when I was just starting to obsess over Beethoven for the first time, just sayin' ;)
Hah yep fair enough. I find it particularly difficult to discover American composers; from my perspective as an outsider it's difficult to see as diverse a representation of styles in the relatively more avant-garde movements as one can see quite easily in the music that has come out of Europe. It might just be some kind of bias I have towards certain styles, though.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Chronochromie on July 12, 2018, 06:33:10 PM
Monteverdi
Rameau
Mozart
Berlioz
Wagner
Mussorgsky
Janacek
Berg
Schoenberg
Sciarrino
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: San Antone on January 19, 2020, 02:10:21 AM
I don't have 10 favorite composers of opera, but this list is of the relatively few composers whose operatic output I listen to fairly regularly.

Verdi
Mozart
Debussy
Gershwin
Puccini
Britten
Berg

I'd like to include Stephen Sondheim because, IMO, Sweeney Todd is at least operatic, and Passion could be considered an opera.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Biffo on January 19, 2020, 02:21:34 AM
Haven't seen this thread before, so here goes

Monteverdi
Purcell
Handel
Mozart
Berlioz
Wagner
Janacek
Verdi
Weber
R Strauss
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Mirror Image on January 19, 2020, 06:54:44 AM
Here goes nothing....

Debussy
Ravel
Bartók
Britten
Szymanowski
Berg
Martinů
Enescu
Janáček
Barber

Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Symphonic Addict on January 19, 2020, 03:40:00 PM
From what I've heard so far, I can only go with these:

R. Strauss
Puccini
Wagner
Janacek
Vaughan Williams
Nielsen
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: André on January 19, 2020, 04:34:03 PM
I'll go for composers who wrote more than one opera.

Verdi
Puccini
Bellini
Mozart
Bizet
Gounod
Massenet
Wagner
Strauss
Janacek

I admit to not liking baroque and early classic operas very much. Also, I have a big blind spot: russian opera (except Pique Dame and Eugen Onegin).

Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Symphonic Addict on January 19, 2020, 05:11:28 PM
Wrong thread, Daverz.  :P
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: vandermolen on January 20, 2020, 12:21:38 AM
I hardly ever listen to opera but have enjoyed those by.

Vaughan Williams ('Pilgrim's Progress' arguably his greatest work and 'Riders to the Sea).'
Mussorgsky
Martinu
Prokofiev ('War and Peace')
Britten 'Peter Grimes' - up to a point.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: San Antone on January 21, 2020, 04:48:32 PM
Quote from: San Antone on January 19, 2020, 02:10:21 AM
I don't have 10 favorite composers of opera, but this list is of the relatively few composers whose operatic output I listen to fairly regularly.

Verdi
Mozart
Debussy
Gershwin
Puccini
Britten
Berg

I'd like to include Stephen Sondheim because, IMO, Sweeney Todd is at least operatic, and Passion could be considered an opera.

I will add Bernstein to this list since I listened to Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place today and foudn them very charming and wonderful operas.

Verdi
Mozart
Debussy
Gershwin
Puccini
Britten
Berg
Bernstein
Sondheim
(so sue me)

I still have one more slot to fill, and will post again once I've figured who is #10.

8)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: JBS on January 21, 2020, 05:01:08 PM
Quote from: San Antone on January 21, 2020, 04:48:32 PM
I will add Bernstein to this list since I listened to Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place today and foudn them very charming and wonderful operas.

Verdi
Mozart
Debussy
Gershwin
Puccini
Britten
Berg
Bernstein
Sondheim
(so sue me)

I still have one more slot to fill, and will post again once I've figured who is #10.

8)

Sondheim is indeed quasi-operatic, and some of his stuff is closer to grand opera than some operettas that regularly pass as opera house fodder (Merry Widow, I`m looking at you. But you're not the only one.)  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Claude Michel Schonberg [Les Miserables] might also qualify.

Did I ever make a list?

Current version at least
Mozart
Wagner
Verdi
Puccini
Rossini
Britten
Berlioz
Bellini
Gershwin
Donizetti
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: San Antone on January 21, 2020, 05:18:39 PM
Quote from: JBS on January 21, 2020, 05:01:08 PM
Sondheim is indeed quasi-operatic, and some of his stuff is closer to grand opera than some operettas that regularly pass as opera house fodder (Merry Widow, I`m looking at you. But you're not the only one.)  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Claude Michel Schonberg [Les Miserables] might also qualify.

Did I ever make a list?

Current version at least
Mozart
Wagner
Verdi
Puccini
Rossini
Britten
Berlioz
Bellini
Gershwin
Donizetti

Thanks for the seconded motion on Sondheim  :D  I actually saw a production of Sweeney Todd at the New York City Opera, so 'nuff said.   ;)  But I can't go there with the other names you mentioned. ALW is one of a handful of composers whose music I actively despise.  ???

But, I figured out who my #10 is: Rossini, after reading your list.  Don't know why I left him out to begin with ?  Although I like Damnation of Faust, Berlioz didn't make the cut since I really like Rossini a lot more.

So here's my complete list (I am a little surprised that I came up with ten since at the outset I didn't think I listened to opera that much).  These ten are all composers who wrote at least one opera which I really like and listen to often (some only wrote one opera).   ;D

Verdi
Mozart
Debussy
Gershwin
Puccini
Britten
Berg
Bernstein
Sondheim
Rossini


Listening to Otello by the Big R right now:

(https://img.cdandlp.com/2016/02/imgL/117977067.jpg)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: JBS on January 21, 2020, 05:31:19 PM
Quote from: San Antone on January 21, 2020, 05:18:39 PM
Thanks for the seconded motion on Sondheim  :D  I actually saw a production of Sweeney Todd at the New York City Opera, so 'nuff said.   ;)  But I can't go there with the other names you mentioned. ALW is one of a handful of composers whose music I actively despise.  ???

But, I figured out who my #10 is: Rossini, after reading your list.  Don't know why I left him out to begin with ?  Although I like Damnation of Faust, Berlioz didn't make the cut since I really like Rossini a lot more.

So here's my complete list (I am a little surprised that I came up with ten since at the outset I didn't think I listened to opera that much).  These ten are all composers who wrote at least one opera which I really like and listen to often (some only wrote one opera).   ;D

Verdi
Mozart
Debussy
Gershwin
Puccini
Britten
Berg
Bernstein
Sondheim
Rossini





I said Webber's music was quasi-operatic.  I didn't say it was good music.  :P

In regards to Berlioz, have you ever heard Benvenuto Cellini or Beatrice et Benedict? They are worth more than one spin, I think. And Les Troyens, too.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: San Antone on January 21, 2020, 05:59:17 PM
Quote from: JBS on January 21, 2020, 05:31:19 PM
In regards to Berlioz, have you ever heard Benvenuto Cellini or Beatrice et Benedict? They are worth more than one spin, I think. And Les Troyens, too.

No, the only opera by Berlioz I've heard (watched, actually) is DoF. The recent Met production with the visual effects was really quite good, as were the singers.  Something about Berlioz's style is not for me, the big orchestral sections, e.g. - but I will take a gander at the three you mentioned, just for the heck of it.

But I am pretty happy with my list as it is.

8)
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: JBS on January 21, 2020, 06:37:32 PM
Quote from: San Antone on January 21, 2020, 05:59:17 PM
No, the only opera by Berlioz I've heard (watched, actually) is DoF. The recent Met production with the visual effects was really quite good, as were the singers.  Something about Berlioz's style is not for me, the big orchestral sections, e.g. - but I will take a gander at the three you mentioned, just for the heck of it.

But I am pretty happy with my list as it is.

8)

Well, remember Berlioz didn't think of DoF as a staged work, but as an orchestral work. The Warner Complete Berlioz set, for instance, puts it with the orchestral works, not the stage works.  Whereas Benevenuto, Troyens, and B&B were meant to be fully staged works performed in theater.
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: bhodges on January 21, 2020, 06:59:09 PM
I have no problem considering Sondheim as operatic, especially given Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music, though the latter might be a better fit with operetta.

My ten, after giving serious consideration to Mozart, Wagner, and Puccini:

Bartók
Berg
Britten
Janáček
Prokofiev
Rimsky-Korsakov
Franz Schreker
R. Strauss
Tchaikovsky
Verdi

--Bruce
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: FelixSkodi on May 23, 2020, 12:41:27 AM
1. Antonio Salieri
2. Liza Lim
3. Hugo Wolf
4. Jules Massenet
5. Sergei Prokofiev
6. Karlheinz Stockhausen
Title: Re: Your Top 10 Favorite Opera Composers
Post by: Biffo on May 23, 2020, 12:56:40 AM
In loose chronological order -

Monteverdi
Handel
Mozart
Berlioz
Verdi
Wagner
R Strauss
Janacek
Vaughan Williams

Several composers have written single works that I have enjoyed over the years, most notably Beethoven but also Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Berg, Puccini & Mussorgsky

Vaughan Williams is a special case; he wrote one work I love, The Pilgrim's Progress but it probably works better as a recording, staging it seems to be problematical.