# The vocal performances?



## Parzi (Nov 20, 2013)

Hello everybody and merry Christmas to all of you.

This is my first post in this wonderful forum. I always come here to read your helpful posts on Opera and its many aspects which is something very helpful & educational.

My question is that I've seen a handful of Opera by now, But what I want to know is, how can someone who's not very knowledgeable musicology or even in terms of the spoken language of the pieces (Italian, German, French) can differentiate the good or the bad vocal performances of the singers?.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

The good news is that even as a newcomer at live operas you can tell almost as well as the experienced opera-goers, which are the great singers or who is having a particularly good performance. You can tell they're hitting the notes, with good tone, volume and expression and you like what they're doing.

The old adage is invariably true, you know it when you hear it.

Season's greetings, and welcome to the forum.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Parzi said:


> Hello everybody and merry Christmas to all of you.
> 
> This is my first post in this wonderful forum. I always come here to read your helpful posts on Opera and its many aspects which is something very helpful & educational.
> 
> My question is that I've seen a handful of Opera by now, But what I want to know is, how can someone who's not very knowledgeable musicology or even in terms of the spoken language of the pieces (Italian, German, French) can differentiate the good or the bad vocal performances of the singers?.


Experience. Someone who is just getting into classical music might not be able to differentiate between a good performance vs a superlative performance of, say, a Chopin etude but as you listen more you develop that ability. Ditto opera. When I first started listening to opera I thought some singers were great who today I'd be embarrassed to admit having liked. (crossover style singers). Your taste just naturally develops the more you listen. Don't stress too much right now about whether a singer is great, good, or mediocre -- just find things you like and listen to more and the rest will come naturally.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

I agree with both above posters: trust your instincts. Also, experience. The more you listen, the more you will be able to tell the finer points of a performance. Listen to a few different recordings of the operas you like. See how this and that singer has done things differently, see which ones work better for you. Rule of thumb: the most famous singers are all good, never mind the bickering among fans of this or than singer. At that level it's a matter of personal preference. Once you find some very famous ones you like you can take it from there and find more obscure ones who are also interesting and you mind end up liking even more (some of the lesser known ones are no less good but maybe have recorded less of had shorter careers). Also you might spot up and coming singers to watch for.


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## Parzi (Nov 20, 2013)

Thanks for the response.

I think you guys are right about instincts, because With some of the productions I've seen I think I can spot the good performances even without having the critical view to know why exactly.

And thanks again to all of you for the advices and the assurances. I am in my way to watch more operas, and if there are any other suggestions, please feel free to post them.


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