Never really delved directly into opera. I've listened to excerpts that are from operas, and Madam Butterfly(Which somebody I knew won in a contest, and gave to me). It's a really really good classical piece, in my eyes.

Albeit, one opera I've ALWAYS wanted to see a tape of in entirety is Ligeti's "La Grand Macabre". Any clip I've seen of it has been amazing:



I can't seem to find any copies of the full thing, though. Shame, I can find the soundtrack but without what I'm seeing here as visuals, I can't imagine enjoying it as much(albeit it's very fun to listen to).

Skaligo, I'd never heard of the "La Grand Macabre" opera by Ligeti.

The staging in that YouTube clip certainly makes it look tantalizing, but this description of the opera from Wikipedia makes it look downright delicious:

An "anti-anti-opera" with an overture that is a mixture of rhythmic sounds scored for a dozen car horns! :laughing:

Now *I* want to see this/hear this, too! I think you are very right that without the sets, the opera would lose most of its meaning.

Here, this is an odd clip: "Gepopo (Barbara Hannigan), the chief of the secret service, informs Prince Go Go of the panic in the streets as the citizens learn of the impending end of the world." This person below must be Gepopo. Move over, Lady Gaga!!

I've only recently started listening to opera. Out of the three I've really sat down to listen to, La Boheme is by far my favorite. The other Puccini I've listened to, Madama Butterfly, seemed too theatrical for my taste. The third opera I've listened to is La Traviata, which I also liked, but still not as much as La Boheme and not enough to become a listening staple like La Boheme is for me.

That's my two cents on opera, more like one cent I guess.

I've started to listen to some of the orchestral pieces written by the Russian composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, for operas. I still have to listen to much of the actual *singing* but here is one of his compositions from the ballet-opera "Mlada" that I enjoy because of its happy, brilliant sound. I especially like 1:12 - 1:30, which is great fun to play on the violin. It feels exciting! :)

Rimsky-Korsakov - "Mlada" opera, "Procession of the Nobles"



Next is a scene from the actual opera-ballet (which features background singing). Seeing this scene (below) made me wonder what the heck is going on. So I looked it up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mlada_(Rimsky-Korsakov) and find that the plot is rather interesting to me (although typically melodramatic as operas and ballets often seem to be) because of the second murder, which disturbs me more than the first one.

Plot: A woman kills a man's bride to try to claim him as her own. The bride's ghost hovers around her love. Eventually he realizes the murderess for what she is and kills her after she confesses her sin (eek! So much for forgiveness :rolleyes:). The bride and groom are reunited in heaven.

Nina Ananiashvili in "Mlada":

Listen to his Christmas Eve Suite, I remember liking that.

I have never actually listened to Rimsky-Korsakov's operas. Thank you for posting that Vegangelica!

Never appreciated it before college, but I'm growing to like some of it. Like Andrea Chenier:

This is the most beautiful opera piece I've ever heard.

If someone were to wander into a music forum and hear just one song, this is the one I hope it would be. I will always be grateful to the person who shared this song with me so that I could enjoy it. Thank you.

"Marietta's Lied" - Die tote Stadt, an opera by Erich Wolfgang Korngold http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_tote_Stadt
sung by Kiri Te Kanawa

i am hardly a connoiseuer but love Puccini's Madama Butterfly immensely, especially Un Bel Di Vedremo

Didn't even know he did them, should check them out cause he's a genius.