Any Opera music fans here?
 

I've listened to a bit of Opera over the course of my life, but I was wondering if anyone had any good recommendations?

I thought I hated Opera until a week ago. Then I downloaded Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. It's excellent. Not too overblown and melodramatic, but definately emotional and beautiful.

La Boheme is pretty good, Remember Paul Smecker's Entrance in "The Boondock Saints" (99) ?

SWEET JESUS!! I LOVE THAT OPERA!!! Hell, the movie owns balls too. haha.

My personal favourite is Madame Butterfly. Its just beautiful!

Jen xx

my fav is Carmen.

One of my favorites is the Tosca by Puccini

Tosca - best opera of all time

I recommend any of the following:

Marriage of Figaro - Mozart
L'Elisir D'Amore - Donizetti
The Ring cyle - Wagner

All of the above got me interested in opera.

Carmina Burana anyday... any... day..

That actually isn't an opera. It's a cantata.

Oops, I meant Carmen - I was posting in a rush :D

Can anyone suggest some opera like that cheesy stuff they play in mafia movies or GTA or something. The slow/soft but really epic and emotional stuff. Nothing too....uh...I can't think of what you call over the top opera.

great do you have any other reccomendations my girl friend likes opra but I dont know ishhhs

Definitely Mozart; The Magick Flute and Marriage of Figarro is great too

i have a affection for Carmen

me2

personally i've always loved Lucrezia Borgia

Personally, I don't know the names of any opera singers or anything, but I love listening to opera. I think it's the most soulful & honest music there is, although I don't know any of the words. It's really heartfelt, for some reason I never like male opera singers, but absolutely love female opera singers. It's just so beautiful to hear them sing. I never really got much into classical or opera until I began meditating a few years back. Maybe it gets me more in touch w/ my feminine side.

its just not a genre ive ever been able to get into or looked at much but i am willing to take a dabble in it if anyone desperately wants to show me something.

I think Therion are pretty good.

will have a look

I love opera!

Look into 'Maria Callas' her voice is beautiful. I would recommend La mamma morta

Madame Butterfly...a definite yes...but I'm assuming you are already aware of the famous operas if you have been listening to the genre for a while. Lakme by Delibes is wonderful (It has that famous duet that used to be on the British Airways commerical). Also...if you want something really different....try some modern ones. Le Grand Macabre by Gyorgy Ligeti is pure genius (but brace yourself if you're not used to the avant-garde). Ghosts of Versaille by John Corigliano is also fabulous but you have to buy the VHS video. A recording does not exist. It is being shown at the Metropolitan in NY in 2010(?) or something like that.

I have great respect for the composers, performers etc., but opera just doesn't float my boat for the most part. To each his own though, I'm not going to knock anybody for listening to it.

I'll occasionally listen to portions of some of the more famous operas by greats such as Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Wagner etc., but I just can't sit and listen to opera for hours at a time.

opera is the great. its a high art of both singing and acting. i enjoy listening to opera/musicals but i definitely don't know that much about it.

the opera/musicals that i could remember the names of are the super popular ones... but i have listened/seen each of them between 5-10 times. specifically i think the story in 'phantom of the opera' is amazing.

these make for GREAT choices when you have a road trip and need something to hold your attention for more that 42 minutes.

cats, phantom of the opera, les miserables (drool), jesus christ superstar are some of the ones i really enjoy.

Absolutely abhor OPERA. I can appreciate the incredible talent that goes into it, but all that warbling drives me insane. Maybe if someone can recommend a nice gentle one to start with, then who knows? I'm never completely closed off to any genre I don't like (which is'nt many to be honest).

Below is a list of some of the most popular and more bearable ones to listen to.

Don't try to listen to any of these in one sitting, insanity followed by the onset of rigor mortis could result. :tramp:

Listen to one act per sitting.

Wagner--The Valkyrie
Wagner--The Mastersinger of Nuremburg
Mozart--The Marriage of Figaro
Mozart--The Magic Flute
Rossini--William Tell
Rossini--The Barber of Seville
Johann Strauss II--The Bat
Verdi--Aida
Puccini--Madame Butterfly
Tchaikovsky--Eugene Onegin

i guess what i called opera is probably more musical, but really check out any of those if that i listed. les miserables is about a revolution and a prisoner and its a really good story. get the original london cast recording, its a MUST.

This thread is about opera. "Les Miserables" is a musical, not an opera. Two completely different things. ;)

did you read my last thread? i just said that.

since i apparently am having trouble deciphering the two, instead of pointing out my mistake maybe you could enlighten me.

Chill out, dude. :p: I wasn't trying to put you down or anything. I just don't want people who don't know much about the genre, to read your post and think that Les Miserables is a classical opera.

If you catch an obvious mistake in any of my posts, feel free to mention it. I'll be more knowledgeable and better off having the correct info. ;)

The main differences between an opera and a musical:

1. In an opera, virtually everything is sung. There's very little if any spoken dialogue. Whereas in a musical, there's a lot of spoken dialogue with songs interspersed.

2. In a musical, the songs are usually sung in a normal singing voice, with microphones used for amplification. In an opera, microphones are rarely used, and the singing voices are often dramatically exaggerated, frequently loud and booming or shrill.

Appreciated! Will delve deeper.