# Your Least Favorite Arias



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

We've been listing our favorite arias in the other thread. Now, what are some arias you don't care for as much?

As fond as I am of LA TRAVIATA, and of the duet between Violetta and Germont, I've never really liked Germont's "Di Provenza." To me it sounds melodically "square" and uninteresting -- that is, unless it's sung with a lot of dynamic and expressive contrast, the way Verdi marked in the score. And even then I wouldn't put it among my favorite Verdi arias for baritone.

Another one I don't like that much is Ford's "E sogno o realita?" from FALSTAFF, but I think that might be partly because I've heard a couple of baritones basically shout their way through it rather than sing it. But I guess it's more properly a _monologue_ (like "Pari siamo" in RIGOLETTO) rather than an _aria_ (not that that excuses shouting!).

And -- this is going to sound really cranky -- "Vissi d'arte" from TOSCA has never been a favorite of mine, despite the fact that I love TOSCA as a whole.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Anything from Carmen.


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Funny, I'm not a fan of vissi d'arte either, but I love di provenza.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

"Cielo e mar!" is not really a personal favorite.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Au Fond Temple Saint.

That male duet from the Pearl Fishers! Arrggghhh. I really hate it.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

My first thoughts for the candidates of least favourite arias are Mozart's _O wie will ich triumphieren_ or _Welche wonne welche lust_ and the Papageno numbers from _Zauberflote_. Simply annoying, neither fun nor beautiful. I dislike them intensely. Then there's _Se vuol ballare_ - really boring piece in my opinion, same with _Vendetta_ aria in the same opera. And I'm great Mozartian geezer, mind you.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Lucia's mad scene. I'm not a great fan of bel canto or sopranos, and it's so damn long. I just wish she'd shut up and die and we can get back to Edgardo.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I feel like that about the ends of Traviata and Boheme and Rigoletto.
ZZZZZZ


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## Revenant (Aug 27, 2013)

Colline's aria in Boheme, _Vecchia Zimarra_, is drenched in prosaic bathos-shtick. It's dry pea soup and it drags, albeit mercifully (well, almost mercifully) short. Giaco was just trying to slow the tension of the deathwatch or throwing a bone to the basso so he'd have a solo in the opera. I never liked it.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

mamascarlatti said:


> Lucia's mad scene. I'm not a great fan of bel canto or sopranos, and it's so damn long. I just wish she'd shut up and die and we can get back to Edgardo.


Oh, wow! Lucia's Mad Scene is one of my favorites, especially that "Del ciel clemente..." melismatic passage and the cabaletta. But Edgardo's big final scene is great, too.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Aramis said:


> My first thoughts for the candidates of least favourite arias are Mozart's _O wie will ich triumphieren_ or _Welche wonne welche lust_


pah, lighten up!

I really don't care for Cornelia's arias in Giulio Cesare, also Cara sposa from Rinaldo. I like Scherza, infida so I'm not heartless


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

mamascarlatti said:


> Lucia's mad scene. I'm not a great fan of bel canto or sopranos, and it's so damn long. I just wish she'd shut up and die and we can get back to Edgardo.


And I'd think that baroque opera veterans should be entirely immune to the "shup up so we can get to next point already" kind of thing.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Itullian said:


> Anything from Carmen.


That's really strange coming from you--you must have heard the wrong interpretations.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Cosi fan tutte - any aria. I still have no idea why that opera was resuscitated.

Despite it's popularity, I'm not a great fan of Le Nozze either. I find the overture and Voi che sapete to be exellent but the rest is drab. There's worse operas out there but I expect better music from a guy who is short-listed as _one of the best._


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Couac Addict said:


> Cosi fan tutte - any aria. I still have no idea why that opera was resuscitated.


Let Mr. Bean explain you one of them, wretched man:


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> Cosi fan tutte - any aria. I still have no idea why that opera was resuscitated.


just to annoy you! aggressive earworm:


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## Dongiovanni (Jul 30, 2012)

Couac Addict said:


> Cosi fan tutte - any aria. I still have no idea why that opera was resuscitated. [/I]


I admit, at some moments in Cosi it seems da Ponte and Mozart where on a completely different plan. But I agree with Mr. Bean.



Couac Addict said:


> Despite it's popularity, I'm not a great fan of Le Nozze either. I find the overture and Voi che sapete to be exellent *but the rest is drab.* [/I]


Ouch ! Really ? Really ???


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Couac Addict said:


> Cosi fan tutte - any aria. I still have no idea why that opera was resuscitated.
> 
> Despite it's popularity, I'm not a great fan of Le Nozze either. I find the overture and Voi che sapete to be exellent but the rest is drab. There's worse operas out there but I expect better music from a guy who is short-listed as _one of the best._


Good grief! MEDIC! Order a CT scan!


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

moody said:


> That's really strange coming from you--you must have heard the wrong interpretations.


Why strange?


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Aramis said:


> Let Mr. Bean explain you one of them, wretched man:


Sorry, I was too distracted by his face to listen to any of it. He _does _look like Mr. Bean. I bet Villazon has tipped over his fair share of Reliant Robins.


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## Annied (Apr 27, 2017)

What a good thread! 

For me it's Federico's lament from L'arlesiana. Commonly referred to by me as Federico's b***** lament. For reasons that are unfathomable to me, no tenor seems to be able to resist including it on a CD of selected arias and I can never resist setting my hi-fi to skip it.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

"Caro nome" from Rigoletto. I've heard that enough for one lifetime.

Maybe I'm just jealous because no female ever sang that about me.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

no one's said Nessun Dorma yet? I can't stand that friggin aria.....


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## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> no one's said Nessun Dorma yet? I can't stand that friggin aria.....


I know! It's so cheesy, and not nearly as impressive as it sounds.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Anything with the words Merry, Widow, Cosi, Fan, and Tutte.


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## dillonp2020 (May 6, 2017)

I don't like "Libiamo Ne'lieti Calici" from La Traviata.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Any aria sung by a countertenor, makes me wanna puke .


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Pugg said:


> Any aria sung by a countertenor, makes me wanna puke .


I puke as soon as a countertenor sings a note.


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## DonAlfonso (Oct 4, 2014)

"Pur ti miro, Pur ti godo" is one of my favourite arias and Oberon in Midsummer Nights Dream is a great countertenor role. Sounds like blind prejudice to me.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

I absolutely loathe Celeste Aida, particularly when it is sung by ... well ... most tenors. The melody sounds like dredging up muck by the bucketload. Ce .... le-e- .. ste-a-i-DUHHHH! Is this the same man who wrote La Donna e Mobile? 

And regarding Nessun dorma ... all those folks singing it on those popular TV shows have no Freakin' Clue how to sing Italian. And yet the plebes (and the Clueless Judges) clap, cheer, and yuck it up like they have just witnessed the incarnation of the next Adelina Patti. It's all so incredibly tiresome. 

Thus concludeth my rant.

Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

DonAlfonso said:


> "Pur ti miro, Pur ti godo" is one of my favourite arias and Oberon in Midsummer Nights Dream is a great countertenor role. Sounds like blind prejudice to me.


Perhaps it's deaf prejudice instead! :lol:

(Although I largely agree ... most of the countertenors I have heard have been of the bargain counter tenor variety.) But there are a few exceptions that I enjoy ... Iestyn Davies comes to mind.

Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

DonAlfonso said:


> "Pur ti miro, Pur ti godo" is one of my favourite arias and Oberon in Midsummer Nights Dream is a great countertenor role. Sounds like blind prejudice to me.


I'm definitely prejudiced against countertenors, but its not blind or deaf. FYI I also equally despise female basso profundos


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Bonetan said:


> I'm definitely prejudiced against countertenors, but its not blind or deaf. FYI I also equally despise female basso profundos


LOL wouldn't those be bassas profundas?

Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Barelytenor said:


> I absolutely loathe Celeste Aida, particularly when it is sung by ... well ... most tenors. The melody sounds like dredging up muck by the bucketload. Ce .... le-e- .. ste-a-i-DUHHHH! Is this the same man who wrote La Donna e Mobile?
> 
> And regarding Nessun dorma ... all those folks singing it on those popular TV shows have no Freakin' Clue how to sing Italian. And yet the plebes (and the Clueless Judges) clap, cheer, and yuck it up like they have just witnessed the incarnation of the next Adelina Patti. It's all so incredibly tiresome.
> 
> ...


I've always disliked it too - along with much of the opera it's in - and I can't put it better than you have. Sometimes I think Verdi didn't care much for this grand, grand, grand opera assignment, and so he produced something with more than a whiff of vulgarity.

But speaking of off days for geniuses, I just tap my fingers through Erik's dreary arias in _Der Fliegende Hollander._ Luckily Wagner soon figured out that he wasn't Bellini.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Barelytenor said:


> I absolutely loathe Celeste Aida, particularly when it is sung by ... well ... most tenors. The melody sounds like dredging up muck by the bucketload. Ce .... le-e- .. ste-a-i-DUHHHH! Is this the same man who wrote La Donna e Mobile?


Amen to Celeste Aida, but I'm not a fan of La Donna e Mobile, either...

There's some good music in the last two acts of Aida, but I can't remember the last time I willingly listened to the first two acts.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

*Chorus in Search of a Melody*

Couldn't agree more about Höllander. Not to mention the dreadful Höllander choruses which I had to sing Back When. "Steuermann, lass' die Wacht / Steuermann, Herr zu uns / Ho, he, je, ho-o, / Hisst die Segel auf, Anker fest / Steuermann her!" Makes you feel sorry for poor Senta, who (much) later has to sing a derivative of the same "melody" slowed down!

This reminds me why I, despite listening to a lot of Wagner, haven't listened to Fliegende Höllander for years! "Hussassahe"? Really?






Mit freundliche Grüßen, :tiphat:

George


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

wkasimer said:


> There's some good music in the last two acts of Aida, but I can't remember the last time I willingly listened to the first two acts.


I just wish they'd go right to the tomb scene - and bring back Caruso and Gadski to sing it:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Barelytenor said:


> Couldn't agree more about Höllander. Not to mention the dreadful Höllander choruses which I had to sing Back When. "Steuermann, lass' die Wacht / Steuermann, Herr zu uns / Ho, he, je, ho-o, / Hisst die Segel auf, Anker fest / Steuermann her!" Makes you feel sorry for poor Senta, who (much) later has to sing a derivative of the same "melody" slowed down!
> 
> This reminds me why I, despite listening to a lot of Wagner, haven't listened to Fliegende Höllander for years! "Hussassahe"? Really?
> 
> ...


What's wrong with the sailors' choruses? I think all the nautical stuff is great!


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

For me the Sailor's chorus is one of the highlights of Höllander.


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## Scott in PA (Aug 13, 2016)

La Donna e Mobile, which is musically impoverished compared to Celeste Aida.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Scott in PA said:


> La Donna e Mobile, which is musically impoverished compared to Celeste Aida.


Part of the difficulty with "Celeste Aida" is, simply, its difficulty. It's a simple melody but hard to sing with the necessary ease and elegance (and never mind Verdi's requested soft ending!). That's part of the problem with "Di provenza il mar" too; it can sound square, ungainly and dull because baritones don't have the easy legato and dynamic control it needs. If you don't care for the latter aria, try Battistini:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Annied said:


> What a good thread!
> 
> For me it's Federico's lament from L'arlesiana. Commonly referred to by me as Federico's b***** lament. For reasons that are unfathomable to me, no tenor seems to be able to resist including it on a CD of selected arias and I can never resist setting my hi-fi to skip it.


Whoa! I just noticed this post. Perhaps you need to hear my avatar sing it:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Scott in PA said:


> La Donna e Mobile, which is musically impoverished compared to Celeste Aida.


And jet, I wish I wroth that piece. :devil:


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Bellinilover said:


> And -- this is going to sound really cranky -- "Vissi d'arte" from TOSCA has never been a favorite of mine, despite the fact that I love TOSCA as a whole.


I recall reading that this aria is kind of out of place, breaking up the action, hindering the progress of the opera. I do think I would not mind if this aria disappeared from Tosca. Maybe I should delete that track on my mp3 player?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> I recall reading that this aria is kind of out of place, breaking up the action, hindering the progress of the opera. I do think I would not mind if this aria disappeared from Tosca. Maybe I should delete that track on my mp3 player?


One word:

Nooooooooooooooooooooo


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I used to hate "di quella pira" but now I get the greatest kick out of waiting to see what the tenor is going to do with that (unwritten) high note.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

This is then a very nice recording for you. 










Though maybe you already know it, of course.


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## Annied (Apr 27, 2017)

Woodduck said:


> Whoa! I just noticed this post. Perhaps you need to hear my avatar sing it:


Sorry, but not even the lovely Joseph Calleja can win me over and if he can't, then I'm afraid no one can.


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## LouisMasterMusic (Aug 28, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> no one's said Nessun Dorma yet? I can't stand that friggin aria.....


My mother will agree with u on that one. I also think it's way too overplayed when compared with ''Non piangre Liu'' from the same opera.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Rataplan. Surely the worst thing Verdi wrote. It's embarrassing!


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## Scopitone (Nov 22, 2015)

Aramis said:


> Let Mr. Bean explain you one of them, wretched man:


God help me, I adore this muppet man.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Don Fatale said:


> Rataplan. Surely the worst thing Verdi wrote. It's embarrassing!


Totally Agree! :lol:


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Can't stand "O mio babbino caro" nor anything from La Bohème.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Tuoksu said:


> Totally Agree! :lol:


I actually think the single worst piece Verdi ever wrote was the STIFFLIO overture. "Rataplan" from FORZA is surely #2, though.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Don Fatale said:


> Rataplan. Surely the worst thing Verdi wrote. It's embarrassing!


It really should be in a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, with appropriate choreography (don't ask me what).

_Forza_ is surely the weakest of Verdi's mature operas.


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## Troy (Apr 23, 2015)

I went to see "Don Carlo" today at Palace Cinemas and I was reminded of this thread because I don't like any of Eboli's Arias. The Veil Song seems pretty trite for a great bit of foreshadowing. And "O Don Fatale" I've never liked.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Troy said:


> I went to see "Don Carlo" today at Palace Cinemas and I was reminded of this thread because I don't like any of Eboli's Arias. The Veil Song seems pretty trite for a great bit of foreshadowing. And "O Don Fatale" I've never liked.


You must be one of the very few.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Tuoksu said:


> Can't stand "O mio babbino caro" nor anything from La Bohème.


Probably because it's usual with aspiring sopranos to perform it as "nice and simple piece" at each and every opportunity (I have witnessed it myself many times) to disastrous results.

Surely, you can't resist the absolutely charming Maria Callas:





Back on topic, having just ordered my 20th recording of Don Carlo (this time with Cerquetti, Lo Forese, Bastianini, Barbieri, Siepi, Neri), nonetheless I would say "Non pianger, mia compagna" leaves me quite cold. There are instances when conductors preferred to remove the first half completely (Karajan and Santini, for example) and, honestly, I cannot blame them


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Azol said:


> Probably because it's usual with aspiring sopranos to perform it as "nice and simple piece" at each and every opportunity (I have witnessed it myself many times) to disastrous results.
> 
> Surely, you can't resist the absolutely charming Maria Callas:


Partially yes, but I really just find it extremely plain and boring. I'd rather listen to "_Nel cor piu non mi sento_" :lol:
Maria makes everything sound better than it actually is, so yes


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Casta Diva from Normal really doesn't do much for me. 

A large chunk of Act I in Tristan (prior to the potion scene) It's highly dramatic, but not as melodic as is my preference.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sonata said:


> Casta Diva from Normal really doesn't do much for me.
> 
> A large chunk of Act I in Tristan (prior to the potion scene) It's highly dramatic, but not as melodic as is my preference.


I just dropped from my chair Sonata , but hey, whatever floats your boat.


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