A Night at the Opera

I've never really liked opera, but two weeks ago I went to a student dress rehearsel of "La Traviata". Wow! I'm now in :love:LOVE:love: with this art form. It was amazing to watch and listen to and I just can't get it out of my head. I'm from a small city and there is only a full opera performed at our theatre every two years but it is well worth the wait. I'm so excited to see other performances in the future.
By the way, "La Traviata" is a gorgeous tragic romance for all you sappy people like me...:whistle:

If you have any experiences at the opera, please share! I'd love to read them!

I really love opera, especially if it's performed in a modern setting. I must have seen 14/15 different opera's so far. For me it's not only the singing but the whole experience, the costumes, the decors, the lightning and the music.

For me it's not only the singing but the whole experience, the costumes, the decors, the lightning and the music.

Yeah, I was really impressed with that too! There was one part in a bedroom and the scene started early in the morning and as the scene went on the light in the window got brighter and more yellow. It was spectacular!

I'm soooo lucky that I go to a school that puts on roughly six operas a year! :love: My first opera was Eugene Onegin, which I am ashamed to admit I partially slept through. Since then I've seen Don Giovanni, Arabella, Madama Butterfly, and Rigoletto. I'm going to see Susannah hopefully next weekend and am really excited about it.

I'd have to say that my favorite opera so far has definitely been Madama Butterfly. It was so poignant and tragic, and the cast I saw did such an amazing job with it.

What is everyone's favorite opera?

As an opera lover, I'm lucky for living in the capital. The theatre where the operas are played offers tickets for the youngsters (under 26-years.old) at a very cheap price.

It's true that they sell them just an hour before the performance begins, that there are very few of them (they're the not-sold tickets, so sometimes there are 50 left, and sometimes just 10) and that you have to spend the entire afternoon in the queue, but it's worth the sacrifice. I've watched almost as many operas in the last two years as any millionaire: Il Barbiere di Seviglia, La Bohéme, Lohengin, Dame Pique (well, this one I saw in a giant screen they placed outside the theatre, they do it sometimes in summer... at the end, the singers get out of a balcony to greet the people who's seeing it at the street, it's very funny), Don Giovanni... Last week I saw Boris Godunov, but last July I couldn't get the tickets for Madama Butterfly; there were so many people and so few tickets...

It's not the same, but when you can't get tickets, the DVD is a good option, too, And the radio, though you miss half the fun, for you can't see...

Posted by Lisa_Turpin:
What is everyone's favorite opera?

Mine is Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, followed by his Magic Flute and Tchaikovsky's Dame Pique. Puccini's Turandot and La Bohéme are at the top of the list, too.

Mine is Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, followed by his Magic Flute and Tchaikovsky's Dame Pique. Puccini's Turandot and La Bohéme are at the top of the list, too.
Ooooo, both Le Nozze di Figaro and La Bohéme are playing at our Opera theater later this season, and I'm very excited to see both of them! :D

It may have been becuase of the opera I went to, but I am not a Fan. But then I was also the one who fell asleep watching the Nutcracker ballet....:err: I was younger then, of course....

Ooooo, both Le Nozze di Figaro and La Bohéme are playing at our Opera theater later this season, and I'm very excited to see both of them! :D

I would love to see La Boheme. I am a huge RENT fan and would love to see the opera that inspired it. Technically RENT is an opera as well, so I guess that goes in this thread as well. And Miss Saigon. Like RENT, not really what one would normally think of as an opera, but by definition it is. Good stuff.

Overall, I like Opera, although it's not my absolute favorite form of music. In my opinion, it's at its prime as the full theatrical experience, and weaker when just listened to on radio or CD. Staged concert performances can be fantastic as well, although it depends so much on the quality of the staging. I saw the Cleveland Orchestra's staged concerts for Wagner's Das Rheingold and Die Walkuere, and they were phenomenal, but a staged concert of Puccini's Turandot that I saw was only fair (despite the fact that Turandot is one of my favorite operas). I've seen Puccini's Madam Butterfly, Turandot, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, and Bizet's Carmen in full theatrical performances, and they were all wonderful.

Other favorite operas include Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman, Mozart's Magic Flute, and Puccini's Tosca.

I think my favourite opera's are Die Töte Stadt by Korngold, Tannhäuser by Wagner, L'Orfeo by Monteverdi and Don Carlo by Verdi. All of these I've seen live and the last one was directed by Riccardo Chailly. It was his last performance as chief conductor of the Dutch Opera and a special evening.

I have seen only one opera in theater: I saw Lohengrin.
It´s a Wagner opera.

But it´s important first to know about the music and the story. I didnt with Lohengrin.

I got these days the album and booklet of Carmen, so I will be able to understand the opera Carmen at least

I think my favourite opera's are Die Töte Stadt by Korngold, Tannhäuser by Wagner, L'Orfeo by Monteverdi and Don Carlo by Verdi. All of these I've seen live and the last one was directed by Riccardo Chailly. It was his last performance as chief conductor of the Dutch Opera and a special evening.

Die Töte Stadt, Tannhäuser, L'Orfeo and Don Carlo? You're really eclectic!

I watched Die Töte Stadt on TV (I couldn't go to Barcelona and see it live and, especially, I couldn't afford it!) and liked it, though the staging didn't help very much. I don't understand why some directors need to feel so modern; at last you don't understand anything. But the part of the procession was beautiful.

I haven't seen Tannhäuser, though I've listened to it on the radio several times. The Pilgrims' chorus is great, but I'm afraid I have a personal problem with Wagner: he's a genius, he wrote wonderful things... But he's a bit... uf! He takes 20 minutes to say something that only needs 10. That's the impression I took from Lohengin. However, I'd like to see Parsifal.

By the way, now we're talking about our favourite operas, does anyone have a favourite singer?

I love Plácido Domingo's voice (and it's not national pride!). And, at singing Rossini, I think Juan Diego Flórez is the best. I saw him (live) singing Il Barbiere di Seviglia in Madrid, and I almost fall in love with him as much as Rosina.

About the girls... Cecilia Bartoli and Teresa Berganza for Rossini. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf for Puccini (despite she never lost a bit of German accent), and Maria Callas for almost anything she sang.

Die Töte Stadt, Tannhäuser, L'Orfeo and Don Carlo? You're really eclectic!

The Opera company I am going to has a great variation of classical and newer operas (like Dr Atomic) and an excellent artistic director who makes much praised work. So it's easy to see so many different opera.

I watched Die Töte Stadt on TV (I couldn't go to Barcelona and see it live and, especially, I couldn't afford it!) and liked it, though the staging didn't help very much. I don't understand why some directors need to feel so modern; at last you don't understand anything. But the part of the procession was beautiful.

I actually prefer modern settings to the traditional. If you just read the libretto beforehand I find I can follow the opera pretty well. But I am lucky in that way that the Dutch Opera always uses subtitles in Dutch or English (in case of Italian, French and German operas)

I haven't seen Tannhäuser, though I've listened to it on the radio several times. The Pilgrims' chorus is great, but I'm afraid I have a personal problem with Wagner: he's a genius, he wrote wonderful things... But he's a bit... uf! He takes 20 minutes to say something that only needs 10. That's the impression I took from Lohengin. However, I'd like to see Parsifal.

Most Opera composer take their time, but I know what you mean. Sometimes the story just doesn't move on.

By the way, now we're talking about our favourite operas, does anyone have a favourite singer?

I was lucky to see Rolando Villazón in Don Carlo and he was amazing. But in general I don't really have favourites, as long as they play their part like they should I am happy.

I love Cecilia Bartoli, how she discovers forgotten works and bring them back to attention.

I just saw Susannah by Carlisle Floyd the other night, and it was amazing. It was so poignant and beautiful. The cast was really wonderful and sensitive, and the girl who played Susannah was simply wonderful. I was especially touched by "Trees on the Mountain." The revival scene though... *shudder* It was sooo creepy. Very scary to think there are people like that in the US and around the world.

I saw Tristan Und Isolde last week. I liked it quite a lot, though, as I've said before, I'm not precisely a Wagner fan. I suppose the setting helped, because it was not one of those paranoias you so often see made. However, I still don't understand why they were dressed like Middle age in the first act, like XIXth century in act two and like nowadays in the third one (my friend says it was to show that love is eternal, but I don't know).

However, I keep my opinion about Wagner: beautiful orchestral music, beautiful chorus, odd singing and excessive lenght. Five hours is too much.

I saw Tristan Und Isolde last week. I liked it quite a lot, though, as I've said before, I'm not precisely a Wagner fan. I suppose the setting helped, because it was not one of those paranoias you so often see made. However, I still don't understand why they were dressed like Middle age in the first act, like XIXth century in act two and like nowadays in the third one (my friend says it was to show that love is eternal, but I don't know).

However, I keep my opinion about Wagner: beautiful orchestral music, beautiful chorus, odd singing and excessive lenght. Five hours is too much.
I admire you for going and sitting through all five hours; Wagner can be quite excessive. I would agree with your friend that they were trying to show that love is the eternal story, and Tristan and Isolde's tale transcends all time.

We just finished up our opera season down here with Les Contes d'Hoffman, which was quite funny in a tragic sort of way and a little trippy at times. The story line was incredibly entertaining, and I really enjoyed the music.

I'd have to say that my favorite operas to date are Susannah and The Marriage of Figaro. Both are absolutely brilliant in different ways. Mozart is a true genius, of course, when it comes to the opera, and I loved Carlisle Floyd's haunting and beautiful Susannah. One of the most interesting choices that he made is that, after the preacher violates Susannah, she doesn't sing in the next scene or so--only speaking. I managed to get hold of a wonderful recording of it, and I'm listening to it all the time! :rockon:

Posted by Lisa_Turpin:

I admire you for going and sitting through all five hours; Wagner can be quite excessive. I would agree with your friend that they were trying to show that love is the eternal story, and Tristan and Isolde's tale transcends all time.

I suppose both you and my friend are right. It makes sense, at least, and that's more than can be said of many opera settings. But if five hours are hard for us listeners, comfortably sitting on our seats, imagine for the singers! When poor Tristan came out to salute at the end of the opera I thought he was going to faint. The poor man barely could stand on his feet.

We just finished up our opera season down here with Les Contes d'Hoffman, which was quite funny in a tragic sort of way and a little trippy at times. The story line was incredibly entertaining, and I really enjoyed the music.

Hoffmann...:love: So beautiful a story. I watched it last year and ended up crying; the message at the end is so... according with me, I suppose :lol: What it frustrated me a bit was that at getting out the theatre I heard saveral people commenting about the Barcarole: "oh, I didn't know the song of the yoghurt commercial was here!". One of the most beautiful songs ever written and it's "the song of the youghurt commercial"!!!:grumble: