# Can Your Liking for an Opera Depend Mainly on the Performance?



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Listening in a state of something like wonder, the other day, to the deeply expressive performance of Don Jose's "Flower Song" by Carl Martin Oehmann, I couldn't help realizing that _Carmen_ is an opera I'm ordinarily lukewarm about but was loving passionately as I heard how marvelously Oehmann seemed to bring out all the aria's potential. It was a perfect instance of a performance altering my perception of music, and it made me wonder how many people have similar experiences with certain operas and performances.

The same opera, _Carmen,_ is similarly made much more interesting to me than usual by Maria Callas, whose infinite creativity in articulating Carmen's lines leaves me wide-eyed and muttering, _sotto voce,_ things like "holy crap" and "genius." Her colleagues on that recording are all highly competent, but I know I'd have no interest in hearing the opera based solely on their contributions.

What operas do you enjoy much more when the singing or conducting is extraordinary? Are there operas you don't normally care for, or even dislike, that are virtually transformed for you when they're magnificently performed? If so, are there specific recordings and performers that can work for you the alchemist's miracle of transforming lead into gold - or, contrarily, those who seem to misrepresent a work you love to the extent that you almost question what it is you liked about the opera in better performances?


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Not really, in my case.

Of course, I much prefer good performances, to bad performances. But the quality of the performance itself, doesn't really change my feelings about the opera. Simply, it will be an opera I liked (or not), played well, or bad, or indifferently,...


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## Music Snob (Nov 14, 2018)

For me the answer is unequivically yes. In my opinion there is too much lukewarm conducting which in turn may not capture someone’s attention- in all forms of music. With opera not only does this truth apply but the factor of singing and acting abilities (or lack thereof) can easily sway someone one way or another.


In my opinion I find that Mozart suffers quite a bit from inadequate performances... I’m still awaiting a better Cosi fan Tutte. Something tells me I will be waiting a long time.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Can Your Liking for an Opera Depend Mainly on the Performance?*

Well of course. Unless you mean by "performance" - "production."

Performance embraces all aspects of the effort: the *singing*, of course, but also the *orchestral texture and playing*, *conducting*; *acting* of the singers; *physicality/appearance* of the singers; *stage sets*; and *overall production values*.

A couple of years ago I watched Macbeth with Netrebko and enjoyed it mainly because of her performance, which was acted very well, she looked great, and her singing was wonderful. It was a modern production, but worked.

I vastly prefer operatic productions which are multi-dimensional as opposed to one-dimension where the priority is solely on the singers/singing. Of course, since I experience operas nowadays through recordings, the orchestral playing and singing are the two posts upon which I rest my experience.

I have subscribed to Met On Demand but it is somewhat expensive and sometimes the productions are sometimes not of interest. There is a YouTube channel with full length operas for a limited period of time.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

About 15 years ago I was asking members of another opera forum about Wozzeck, and the enthusiasm which I encountered showed up in my mailbox with gifts of the opera from two fans. So I proceeded to listen to them in my car and hated the first one. Trying to be fair, I tried the second one and still found I really disliked that opera and threw it aside -- after all, I DID try!
Fast forward to several months later when we purchased a small apartment in NY 3 blocks from the Met and invited some opera friends to celebrate our getaways with some wine and cheese.
One suggested that we first all go to the performance at the Met that night and, just my luck, it was _Wozzeck_.
We were less than enthused but being good hosts decided to join the group before the party. 
Wonder of wonders! We both flipped over it. Now whether Levine had anything to do with it, or the stupendous acting by the singer who played Wozzeck, or the impact of the story which suddenly hit me once it came alive visually, I am not sure but we will never miss buying tickets whenever it comes to our area.
The most interesting part of this tale is that normally the story takes back seat to the voices these days, now that I have seen so many of the same operas so often. I will pass up a popular opera if I am not enthused by the cast.
But there is no doubt that a lukewarm opera could warm me up if the performances are stellar like Carl Martin Oehmann's (which blew me away!)
So the answer is, yes, the performance is uppermost in enhancing the pleasure I receive from an opera. And when I say "performance" I mean the voice, the interpretation of the arias, and the commitment to the depth of feeling they bring to the character.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Cherubini's Medea isn't high on my must see lists, but I would have paid $1000 a ticket to see Callas in it.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

We had a thread recently asking which operas people felt were better seen and heard than merely heard. That's a different question, but a related one. I imagine I would enjoy almost any opera in a good theatrical performance, and I often think, while listening to a vocally mediocre Met broadcast, that the thing is probably coming across much better in the theater. Most singers, even some great ones, have vocal flaws or shortcomings of one sort or another, but if they look good and act well their shortcomings naturally will matter less to most people.

To my original question, I can think of quite a few operas I tend to listen to only if they're splendidly sung and/or conducted. Most of the bel canto rep falls into that category for me; I need virtuosic singing/vocal acting to attract me to most of Rossini, Donizetti Bellini, and early Verdi. Verdi's _Ernani_ is chock-full of great tunes, and it doesn't surprise me that it was a popular opera back in Caruso's day but only gets the occasional performance now. We're lucky to have Battistini's recordings of its baritone arias, and any number of fine soprano versions of "Ernani involami," to remind us of why it was popular and what's required of singers to do that sort of music justice. The classic case of this is probably Bellini's _Norma,_ which as musical drama is certainly among the best of bel canto but which asks so much of the performer of its title character that despite it's continued popularity over two centuries it still rarely gets an adequate musical realization. Without that, I'm content to leave it alone.


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