# Discovering Opera



## ShyBelgian (Nov 23, 2010)

I was just wondering how most opera lovers here approach a new opera. 

Do you read the synopsis first or do you take a look in the libretto? 
When playing it for the first time do you let the music overwhelm you (like lying down on the coach, eyes closed and mind set on the music) or do you focus on the lyrics with the libretto in hand?
Do you prefer listening while checking out the sheet music, and if so with a full score or a vocal score?
Do you like lots of background information first, or do you save that for afterwards?

just wondering


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## Gualtier Malde (Nov 14, 2010)

In my opinion there's just so much to potentially pay attention to (voices, orchestra, lyrics, stage business) that it's pointless to try to absorb it all at once. Especially post-Wagner leitmotif style operas seem to require repeated listening, or at least I can't keep 50 different motives in my head immediately. But that's just the beauty of it, you can discover something new every time.

I usually read a plot synopsis and then focus on the lyrics (subtitles) the first time and then move on to the music. I don't use the score as a whole, but sometimes I get curious about some detail and then check this afterwards.

That's watching DVDs, a live performance is of course a more "serious" thing and maybe deserves more careful preparation to get the most out of it.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

ShyBelgian said:


> I was just wondering how most opera lovers here approach a new opera.
> 
> Do you read the synopsis first or do you take a look in the libretto?
> When playing it for the first time do you let the music overwhelm you (like lying down on the coach, eyes closed and mind set on the music) or do you focus on the lyrics with the libretto in hand?
> ...


I usually do my homework first. I read about the opera, the context of its creation, the moment in the life of the composer when that particular opera was being created. In certain cases I even read the entire libretto first, but this happens relatively rarely. I usually follow the libretto during my first encounter with the opera (be it by supertitles or subtitles, or if it's a CD, I read it while I listen to the opera).

I like to approach an opera for the first time in a visual format, if available (be it attending a live performance, or seeing it in a movie theater during a live broadcast, or watching a DVD or blu-ray), but this is a matter of great controversy. There's a thread here about it:

http://www.talkclassical.com/10920-seeing-vs-listening-opera.html

In certain cases of very ambitious, towering works, I'll do extensive preparation beforehand - for instance, I studied for 16 hours before I first listened to Berlioz's _Les Troyens_, and I read a book about Wagner's Ring before I first watched it.

I'm not a musician so the score wouldn't help me, although I can read music in a rudimentary manner.

But that's just me, given the fact that opera is my number one hobby. I think that there is nothing wrong with approaching an opera much less prepared and just dive right into the beautiful music and the visual/staging/acting aspects (if available). You can always then go for seconds (and thirds, and fourths...), with more preparation.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I mostly have CDs but recently started getting DVDs (thanks to some excellent tips & advice from the good peeps on here).

Before I listen to a CD, I read the synopsis & then read the libretto as I listen. I usually know an opera really well before I watch the DVD so I know the story & don't always use the subtitles. And sometimes I put on the original language subtitles so I can 'see' what words they're actually singing.

I've never been to an opera I didn't already know well & it's great to be able to anticipate actions and scenes. I'd recommend doing 'homework' before you go.


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## danslenoir (Nov 24, 2010)

I'm afraid I take a bit of a "shot in the dark" approach when it comes to discovering new operas. One of the perks of my job is that most of the time I'm working on my own so am able to have my headphones plugged in. When a particular opera pops into my consciousness, through a review/recommendation or suchlike, I'll bring up the synopsis on Wikipedia and have a quick read, then if I'm not put off by that for some reason I'll bring up a full recorded version on Spotify and listen to the first and last five tracks, in addition to any notable arias I know are in that opera. If it strikes a chord, I'll give it a more extensive listen and if I really like what I hear I'll order a DVD. 

I daresay there are better ways of doing it, and after 4 years of listening to opera I've only ever listened to 15 all the way through which gives some indication as to how many stick and how many don't. I guess my problem is that I like instant (or almost instant at least) gratification and don't really have the inclination to listen to pieces in full multiple times over without getting much back in terms of enjoyment.


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## karenpat (Jan 16, 2009)

I usually kind of bump into things either on youtube, itunes or spotify and if I get curious enough I go to wikipedia and check for a synopsis. (just to get the idea, I tend to lose track of the plot anyway) In terms of DVDs I tend to discover clips on youtube, watch as much of the particular opera I can on there, before I buy it....though sometimes one video may be enough to get me convinced. I do have to do some research before listening/watching in any case so I don't feel completely lost.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm put off somewhat if I read that the libretto is below par. For example, this has deterred me from listening to certain operas by von Weber - I'm sure his music's excellent but the strength of the story (and the actual storytelling) should aspire to be on equal terms with the music, especially from that era.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

elgars ghost said:


> I'm put off somewhat if I read that the libretto is below par. For example, this has deterred me from listening to certain operas by von Weber - I'm sure his music's excellent but the strength of the story (and the actual storytelling) should aspire to be on equal terms with the music, especially from that era.


Euryanthe - its libretto was written by a lady who was practically an amateur and she had to rewrite it nine times to get it into a workable shape, and it still sucks. But the music is sublime, to a point that compensates for the weak libretto, so that Euryanthe is still one of my favorite operas.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

My approach has always been to read the synopsis first and listen to a recording while following the English translation next to the original libretto,which most recordings provide,though not all. 
I got accustomed to doing this over 40 years ago when I was just a teenager,and it worked for me.Now I know the standard operas and quite a few others that I don't need the libretto at all any more. In addtition,I gained a familiarity with Italian,French,German,Russian and Czech,and even Hungarian! When I started to take German in Junior high School, I was already fairly familiar with this language,which was a help.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I'm a visual guy so I just watch a DVD with the subtitles on.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I usually read over the brief synopsis and then listen through the music first. On a second hearing I'll sit down and and follow the libretto... perhaps even do a bit reading up on the work ahead of time. The operas that resonate most with me, I seek to find in full production on DVD as it would seem obvious that the ideal for experiencing opera is in the full theatrical production.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> I seek to find in full production on DVD as it would seem obvious that the ideal for experiencing opera is in the full theatrical production.


Hey, you'd be surprised with how many people disagree with this idea. I agree entirely with you on this (thus my sig) but I've seen many people, including here (there's a thread about it) advocating for the opposite view and saying that opera is just music and staging doesn't matter, which is something I can barely understand. If they were right, operas would be only presented in concert form, or people would compose song cycles, not operas. For me, opera is obviously stage art, and props, costumes, acting, etc are an integral part of opera.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Hey, you'd be surprised with how many people disagree with this idea. I agree entirely with you on this (thus my sig) but I've seen many people, including here (there's a thread about it) advocating for the opposite view and saying that opera is just music and staging doesn't matter, which is something I can barely understand. If they were right, operas would be only presented in concert form, or people with compose song cycles, not operas. For me, opera is obviously stage art, and props, costumes, acting, etc are an integral part of opera.

Well... many people... especially at a music forum such as this... are only interested in opera as music... and of course I do listen to it as such a good deal of the time. But as a visual artist, I am enthralled with the entire visual and aural spectacle that is opera. I also suspect a great deal more would be enamored of opera if they approached it as an entire visual/aural experience... especially in live performance. My wife has never been even interested in opera, but she absolutely loved her first experience of a live opera performance (The Magic Flute) and broke down in tears several times during the performance.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> My wife has never been even interested in opera, but she absolutely loved her first experience of a live opera performance (The Magic Flute) and broke down in tears several times during the performance.


That's a nice story. Has she remained interested after this experience?


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## Lipatti (Oct 9, 2010)

I was on the brink of starting a thread with the exact same title, when I realized that this one still comfortably lies on the first page. So, I hope I'm excused for writing my enquiry here!

I'm also new to opera, though not to classical music in general. It's basically all I ever listen to, and I also play the piano. My only previous approach to opera has been through various CD compilations, though I did attend some live performances in my childhood.

However, it's only lately that I have become interested in opera in its fullest scope, as a visual art. In the last weeks I have watched Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte, and Die Zauberflote is now waiting for me every moment. I have loved every bit of what I've seen until now, but do you have any suggestions on what I could explore next? It feels somewhat natural to move on to 19th century Italian opera, or maybe Wagner; or should I rather move backwards in time to the earlier ones? 

One of my main issues with opera is that it seems like it's quite an expensive hobby - especially for me as a student. I don't have a lot of money to spend on DVD's, and attending live performances is also quite expensive (besides, the repertoire of my local company here in Oslo is rather scarce, though I have already bought tickets for Eugene Onegin in December). I'm considering the 15$ per month subscription with MetPlayer, does it sound like a good deal?


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Lipatti said:


> One of my main issues with opera is that it seems like it's quite an expensive hobby - especially for me as a student. I don't have a lot of money to spend on DVD's, and attending live performances is also quite expensive (besides, the repertoire of my local company here in Oslo is rather scarce, though I have already bought tickets for Eugene Onegin in December). I'm considering the 15$ per month subscription with MetPlayer, does it sound like a good deal?


Yes - subscribe to Met player. The first week you don't have to pay anyway and if you don't like it (which is extremely unlikely) you can cancel your subsription before your week is through. Met player will also help you to get familiar with much (though definitely not everything) of the core repertoire.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Lipatti said:


> I was on the brink of starting a thread with the exact same title, when I realized that this one still comfortably lies on the first page. So, I hope I'm excused for writing my enquiry here!
> 
> I'm also new to opera, though not to classical music in general. It's basically all I ever listen to, and I also play the piano. My only previous approach to opera has been through various CD compilations, though I did attend some live performances in my childhood.
> 
> ...


Welcome to the forum, and to a lifetime of pleasure with opera!:tiphat:

About what to explore next - there's no wrong way, any of the directions you've mentioned are worth taking - 19th century Italian operas, baroque operas, Wagner, it's all good. You may want to consult our Top 100 Recommended Operas thread, we've worked through the top 59 already so you can see a list of the 59 most recommended operas in the opinions of our members.

About expenses, try your local library, I'm sure they'll have operas you can borrow. As a student, talk to your university and see if they can subscribe to Naxos as an institution; Naxos has hundreds of opera videos that affiliates of a subscribing institution can watch for free. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/home.asp?rurl=/default.asp

MetPlayer is a good deal. They have approximately 70 opera videos and many more audio files. Try first their 7 days free trial to see if your equipment (hardware) is OK for their requirements. For your first free trial experience I suggest their HD video of Il Barbiere di Siviglia with di Donato and Flórez, it's a wonderful production.

There are some sources of free opera in the Internet. Opera Today has free audio files that you can listen to (complete operas) while you read the libretto which you can download from other sites. Here are the links for Opera Today and for several sources for libretti:
http://www.operatoday.com/content/repertoire/
http://www.opera-guide.ch/opern_komponisten.php?uilang=de&first-letter=A
http://www.librettidopera.it/frame_aum.html
http://www.kareol.es/autor.htm
http://opera.stanford.edu/
http://www.naxos.com/education/oper...idelio&libretto_file=English/0_Title_Page.htm

There is also a web site that has opera videos that in certain cases you can watch for free (just a few are free, mostly short documentaries but they do have four or five complete operas for free), and in most cases you can rent as per-per-view for some 5 dollars per opera. http://www.classicaltv.com/

You can watch some complete operas on YouTube. Sometimes users upload complete operas in chunks of ten minutes. Even when you don't find complete operas, YouTube is a great resource because you can find literally thousands of arias, just type the name of the aria or the name of a major singer on their search engine and you'll find dozens of videoclips with arias.

There is a company called House of Opera that burns DVDs of operas that are in the public domain, recorded from TV, etc. They ship these DVDs to you for bargain prices (they often do sales, and during one of their sales you can find hundreds of opera DVDs for $5 each). The quality of the image and sound is hit and miss, these are non-commercial versions, but actually I've had some luck and have bought some pretty good versions in terms of image and sound from them. http://www.operapassion.com/

Congratulations on having tickets to Eugene Onegin, it's a spectacular opera that I'm sure you'll love.

Welcome again, and come back to tell us the results of your explorations and to ask any other questions you may have.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Although there are obvious advantages to watching opera on DVD - after all, opera is supposed to be a visual spectacle as well as a musical one - I prefer to listen to opera on CD: I find that trying to conjure up the action in my mind's eye actually helps with the listening experience. This might also be influenced by the fact that I am not a great fan of contemporary stage sets and costumes - i.e. Wotan HAS to wear a winged helmet and a cloak, not a frock jacket and braces!


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

elgars ghost said:


> Although there are obvious advantages to watching opera on DVD - after all, opera is supposed to be a visual spectacle as well as a musical one - I prefer to listen to opera on CD: I find that trying to conjure up the action in my mind's eye actually helps with the listening experience. This might also be influenced by the fact that I am not a great fan of contemporary stage sets and costumes - i.e. Wotan HAS to wear a winged helmet and a cloak, not a frock jacket and braces!


Well, there's really no need to choose for one at the exclusion of the other. I enjoy both watching DVD's and listening to CD's. And not all DVD's feature modern productions. At this point there's such a high number of opera DVD's out there that there are both traditional and updated productions for sale from many operas.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Lipatti said:


> I was on the brink of starting a thread with the exact same title, when I realized that this one still comfortably lies on the first page. So, I hope I'm excused for writing my enquiry here!
> 
> I'm also new to opera, though not to classical music in general. It's basically all I ever listen to, and I also play the piano. My only previous approach to opera has been through various CD compilations, though I did attend some live performances in my childhood.
> 
> ...


Hello Lipatti & welcome to the forum. It's great to welcome another opera fan.

I would agree with most of what Almaviva says so I won't repeat it. Hope you enjoy Onegin & you can post a review on here.


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## Gualtier Malde (Nov 14, 2010)

I don't really have anything to add to what the more competent folks here have said already other than if you already know a main operatic language (Italian, German, French), it might make sense to focus on that part of the repertoire first, you'll get much more out of it.


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## Lipatti (Oct 9, 2010)

Wow, thank you so much for the overwhelming response I've gotten so far. It definitely helps to be guided by people with experience when venturing into such an excitingly vast new territory as opera is.

As I've already said, I haven't seen many operas yet, but earlier today I listened to Cavalleria Rusticana, which I found lying in the CD shelves - a rather cheap version, but good nonetheless. The orchestra did it's job very satisfactorily and the soprano singing Santuzza's part stood out for me from the bunch. Not exactly fireworks, but a nice way to listen to opera on a Sunday afternoon. This was also my first experience with a full audio-only opera. I read the synopsis beforehand and with my basic Italian-skills managed to hold on to the plot. It's certainly something else than the Mozart operas I've been accustomed to, not just in terms of musicality, but even more so in terms of the story, this is much more like naturalism in literature. Almost like watching a film by Luchino Visconti - at least this is how I pictured it.

Anyway, thanks again for the tips and I think I'll subscribe with the Met player. Seems like they have a lot of interesting stuff for newbies there. I will check out Il barbiere di Siviglia, Almaviva - that's one I've wanted to watch for some time!


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Lipatti said:


> As I've already said, I haven't seen many operas yet, but earlier today I listened to Cavalleria Rusticana, which I found lying in the CD shelves - a rather cheap version, but good nonetheless. The orchestra did it's job very satisfactorily and the soprano singing Santuzza's part stood out for me from the bunch. Not exactly fireworks, but a nice way to listen to opera on a Sunday afternoon. This was also my first experience with a full audio-only opera. I read the synopsis beforehand and with my basic Italian-skills managed to hold on to the plot. It's certainly something else than the Mozart operas I've been accustomed to, not just in terms of musicality, but even more so in terms of the story, this is much more like naturalism in literature.


Yes. Cavalleria Rusticana is a so-called "verismo opera" which was a movement in late 19th-early 20th century Italian opera that aimed for more realism, and often of a rather violent nature. In fact, Cavalleria was the first opera of this 'genre.'



> Anyway, thanks again for the tips and I think I'll subscribe with the Met player. Seems like they have a lot of interesting stuff for newbies there. I will check out Il barbiere di Siviglia, Almaviva - that's one I've wanted to watch for some time!


There's also lots of great Mozart on there.....and Cavalleria Rusticana.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Lipatti said:


> but even more so in terms of the story, this is much more like naturalism in literature. Almost like watching a film by Luchino Visconti - at least this is how I pictured it.


Hey, good start, you have a knack for these things, since in other words you have immediately identified that Cavalleria Rusticana belongs to the Verismo movement. Another representative of the same movement, often presented in a double header with Cavalleria Rusticana given that they are both short operas that share the same style, is I Pagliacci. That's what you'll see referred to as "Cav and Pag."


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