# Choral---Opera??



## Guest (Dec 22, 2008)

Although I enjoy opera now and then, Puccini, Bizet, Gluck, Mozart etc there is an awful lot that I do not like at all including “Wagner”. 
I have always favoured and loved : Choral, oratorio, Secular, religious ‘A Cappella’ in particular, and I think of it as more pure music and generally more superior to Opera which I find a bit cosmopolitan, I realise these comments may upset a few, I just wonder if anyone else also shares these preferences or am I a voice in the wilderness ?


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## JoeGreen (Nov 17, 2008)

It's really a matter of personal taste, I for one am an Opera "Buff" and find that some operas can be just as magnificient as any abstract piece of music. 
But I'm sure that there are many who would be sympathetic to your position.


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

I am with Andante on this one. As far as vocal music, opera certainly outshines other choral music in the eye of the general public, while a lot of it is just as good (if not better). Some of my favorite choral pieces are Beethoven's Fantasy for Piano, Orchestra and Chorus in C minor and _Meeresstille und Glückliche Fahrt_, Op. 112. Great, great music!!!!

Andante, what about incidental music? Would you put it in the same boat as opera?


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## ecg_fa (Nov 10, 2008)

I think there are many weak or second rate operas. Somewhat fewer weak
oratorios/choral/etc.-- possibly because in opera you have to come up with a
stageable 'entity' & many more things to consider. Still-- I like both (or all) forms about equally. Nothing to me when it works (which isn't always, or perhaps even often) is as magical as opera. I do like Wagner too-- if I have to def. be in the mood for him: kind of
like watching Westerns which his stuff always reminds me of for some odd 
reason !!

Ed


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2008)

Rondo said:


> Andante, what about incidental music? Would you put it in the same boat as opera?


Well, the two that immediately spring to mind are, "Rosamunda" and "Peer-Gynt" The they are both full of wonderful tunes and the Peer-Gynt suites certainly bring together a package which is very accessible to newcomers, incidentally [no pun intended] as I mentioned in another post, the DG. Neeme Jarvi version with the Gothenburg S.O. Barbara Bonney was a first recording of the uncut, original version with dialogue in Norwegian and presents it in a new, fresh production and is well worth a listen but perhaps not for newcomers. I really would not like to compare it to Opera, "chalk and cheese" if you know what I mean



ecg_fa said:


> I do like Wagner too-- if I have to def. be in the mood for him: kind of
> like watching Westerns which his stuff always reminds me of for some odd
> reason !!
> 
> Ed


I "kind of agree" I think a lot of Opera is really a basic story put together with music performed by excellent singers and very bad Actors, there is always an exception to the rule

My main point of the post was to gauge individual preferences between the two genres


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Andante said:


> I "kind of agree" I think a lot of Opera is really a basic story put together with music performed by excellent singers and very bad Actors.


It's impossible to 'act naturally' in an opera like in a play or a movie because singing instead of talking your way through life is in itself unnatural. There's relatively little action in opera too. They sing about what happened whereas in a movie you'd get to see it. Opera involves a lot of each character explaining his feelings about situations or the other characters - more monologues than you would have in a play or a movie as opposed to dialogues between the different characters. So one has to accept those differences to be able to fully enjoy opera I think.


> My main point of the post was to gauge individual preferences between the two genres


I love virtually every genre in classical music and most genres in popular music but opera is probably my most favorite genre of them all. So, if forced to choose between choral and opera I choose opera. But that says nothing about how I feel about oratorios, passions, requiems or masses - but everything about how much I love opera.


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

Andante said:


> ... the Peer-Gynt suites certainly bring together a package which is very accessible to newcomers, incidentally [no pun intended] as I mentioned in another post, the DG. Neeme Jarvi version with the Gothenburg S.O.


That is one of my favorite works, overall. The recordings I have are Blomstedt/SFO, and Jeffrey Tate/BPO.

Given how seemingly unpopular incidental music is compared to opera, I thought I would get your thoughts on it. With an exception of "Peer Gynt," I am not a huge fan of the genre. An experience as a pit musician for a local play years ago comes to mind. Any of you who have had this role can understand.


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## Guest (Dec 25, 2008)

Rondo said:


> That is one of my favorite works, overall. The recordings I have are Blomstedt/SFO, and Jeffrey Tate/BPO.
> QUOTE]
> 
> Are they both the uncut original versions?? I have not heard them


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

Andante said:


> Are they both the uncut original versions?? I have not heard them


The Blomstedt one is, I believe.


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