# What Genre of Classical music do you have the hardest time enjoying?



## mahlernerd (Jan 19, 2020)

For me, it’s choral music. I enjoy pieces for the first ten minutes or so, but after that, it starts to bore me a bit. How about you? What genre of classical music do you have the hardest time enjoying?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Every category has lots of pieces I enjoy a lot, so my pick would be "none of the above".

I would say though that in three categories I enjoy music from renaissance to contemporary, whereas for opera it's time-wise from Weber/Rossini to Britten.


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

I play opera/choral/vocal works the least, but only relatively speaking - the main factors which makes me avoid particular types of music are era and certain instruments.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

I love all of it!! Solo, chamber and opera were all initially quite difficult for me to appreciate but now I utterly love all of them. I have always liked orchestral and I’m half Estonian living in Estonia - choral music runs in my blood although I think it’s the category I listen to least often.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Other: Modern classical.


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## caracalla (Feb 19, 2020)

Lieder - the combination of the human voice and the piano is something I dislike intensely. No idea why. Second would be opera. In most cases, I'll happily pillage them for arias, overtures, etc I want, but get very bored trying to listen to them right through. I have no problem at all with vocal music (solo or choral) in any other context.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Is Mahler a genre? I start out enjoying every one of his symphonies, and then two hours later I'm just like "when is this going to end?"

Opera doesn't really do it for me, either. I'm happy to go to one, but recordings just don't grab me.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I enjoy all genres, but rarely listen to a capella choral works or to solo voice with piano.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I only got into opera at the start of this year, and have found a lot that I’ve enjoyed. But I also don’t care to read along with the libretto, watch an online production, and devote 3 hours of my time that could be spent listening to other music - all things I recognize as essential to experiencing opera as a complete art form, but which I simply don’t enjoy doing very much. So more often you’ll find me enjoying “bleeding chunks” (especially of Wagner). I have a tough time envisioning routinely sitting through complete Mozart and Verdi operas like many here seem to.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

I voted that I enjoyed opera the least. I thoroughly enjoy discs of arias by different artists, but I have yet to take the time and effort required to become a true opera fan. When I finally get to retire (another 3-4 years), I'm hoping I'll have enough time on my hands to explore the genre.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Opera would be my pick for least appreciated.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

2. solo instruments (jugglers of one object)
1. lieder (jugglers of one object plus unholy howling)


Opera is fine by me because there is an orchestra in the pit.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

If you mean what genre of Classical will make me go completely deaf early on, then the answer is Wagner. The vocals go soft and then suddenly twice as loud as the orchestra. Atonality is a godsend in comparison; quite unfortunate, as I love partaking in the deafining majesty of Wagner, but my excellent ears do not. Not much thought imo goes into recording.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Opera is my least listened to genre, only because listening to an opera takes a certain amount of commitment not required of other genres. But the genres you listed aren't really make or break for me, I enjoy any of those if I like the music/composer. Probably my least liked genre if I had to pick one would be solo instrumental, I like lots of layers of stuff going on in my music. but I didn't pick it on the poll because I love other chamber music too much to do it dirty like that.


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## CC301233 (Jul 14, 2020)

I also wanted to vote "None of the above" myself, but had to vote something. I know the least about Chamber music. I don't know why there aren't many Opera fans here. I love Opera and I'm surprised you haven't yet heard of the young 11/yo lady that sings Opera as well as any grown adult. She was featured on America's Got Talent and came in 9th place in 2019. I thought she should have won, but the AGT viewers weren't going to vote for her, primarily because they don't understand opera either. That, and they prefer voting for artists with disabilities (autism, etc.). Ah well.


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## ribonucleic (Aug 20, 2014)

Is Maria Callas a genre?


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

Only choral music. I just couldn't get through Gardiner's Bach Cantata. I tried and failed many times (and often ended in Gotterdammerung bombarding my neighbors).


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## ribonucleic (Aug 20, 2014)

UniversalTuringMachine said:


> Only choral music. I just couldn't get through Gardiner's Bach Cantata. I tried and failed many times (and often ended in Gotterdammerung bombarding my neighbors).


The only way I'm making it to the end of the B Minor Mass is physical restraints and amphetamines.

I get it! God is great. Let's move on...


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Another vote for opera. I can't understand the words, even when it's in English, so I have to bury my head in a libretto, and that's a bother. There are operas that I do like, but I rarely listen to them because of that darned libretto thing.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I don't see it as an issue because I listen to the content of the music. The genre is irrelevant. As for opera? No, I don't understand German or Italian so I listen to the singers phonetically, and the musical phrasings and timbre of the voice. Since I've been a member here for the past ten years I've expanded my listening from symphonies, tone poems and concertos to all genres of classical music.


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

I am surprised at how many forum members dislike opera. You guys are missing out. There is something truly special about magnificent bel canto singing that can't be found anywhere else, all that's required is a pair of wooden ear and a beating heart.


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

Opera, anything apart from Wagner makes my teeth hurt.


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## Music Snob (Nov 14, 2018)

Most Baroque music- especially flute-centric baroque music.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Nothing. I listen to all of it.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I only got into opera at the start of this year, and have found a lot that I've enjoyed. But I also don't care to read along with the libretto, watch an online production, and devote 3 hours of my time that could be spent listening to other music - all things I recognize as essential to experiencing opera as a complete art form, but which I simply don't enjoy doing very much. So more often you'll find me enjoying "bleeding chunks" (especially of Wagner). I have a tough time envisioning routinely sitting through complete Mozart and Verdi operas like many here seem to.


Re: Mozart, don't knock it til you try it. Don Giovanni and the Magic Flute are a pleasure to listen to in full (though I'll usually break it up, one act a day or so).

Having gotten that out of the way, opera is the genre I struggle with the most. I don't know what it is... maybe because of the dramatic element? It could be that I want music and drama/literature to remain separate worlds, and my attention span dwindles when they are combined into one. (This would also explain why I struggle with musical theater). Moreover, I find operatic plots (and characters, for the most part) soooo boring, often plain stupid. There's a suspension of disbelief, which on top of the other issues with it amounts to a good amount of effort on my behalf to enjoy the stuff, and it just doesn't net positive for me. I hope that this all changes for me in the future. I know there is tons of great opera out there, and I would love to fall in love with it like so many here have. So I'll keep trying.

I also don't listen to Lieder/songs (esp. vocal and piano) as much as I would like to, but I wouldn't say I have a real problem with it. Aside from that, I love it all: orchestral/symphonic, solo/chamber, sacred/choral, etc. etc.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

flamencosketches said:


> Re: Mozart, don't knock it til you try it. Don Giovanni and the Magic Flute are a pleasure to listen to in full (though I'll usually break it up, one act a day or so).


I have heard probably 80% of Figaro and Zauberflöte (cutting out all the recitatives) and 40% of Giovanni and my overall impressions are that they sound like a stream of beautiful tunes with little dramatic structure. I do love to listen to them occasionally but I can't say they strike me as particularly impressive overall operatic creations in the way that Wagner and Puccini's operas do. But that's a product of the times, too, before opera was fully developed into what we know it as today.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I have heard probably 80% of Figaro and Zauberflöte (cutting out all the recitatives) and 40% of Giovanni and my overall impressions are that they sound like a stream of beautiful tunes with little dramatic structure. I do love to listen to them occasionally but I can't say they strike me as particularly impressive overall operatic creations in the way that Wagner and Puccini's operas do. But that's a product of the times, too, before opera was fully developed into what we know it as today.


The dramatic structure is there, _you're_ the one skipping the recitatives. :lol: Mozart's operas are definitely no lesser or more underdeveloped in any way (dramatic, musically, etc) than any of Wagner's or Verdi's.


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I have heard probably 80% of Figaro and Zauberflöte (cutting out all the recitatives) and 40% of Giovanni and my overall impressions are that they sound like a stream of beautiful tunes with little dramatic structure. I do love to listen to them occasionally but I can't say they strike me as particularly impressive overall operatic creations in the way that Wagner and Puccini's operas do. But that's a product of the times, too, before opera was fully developed into what we know it as today.


Try Currenztis' Figaro or Don Giovanni, I know, I know, you just have to trust me on this.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Operatic music has been a genre I have never been drawn to, but I do enjoy a couple of operas. I'm fine with vocals in cantatas, oratorios, song/lieder/melodies, choral, etc, but, for some reason, I have just never been able to appreciate operatic vocal writing. I will say that one of my favorite operas is Debussy's _Pelléas et Mélisande_. For me, this is one opera where they're howling, screaming, grunting, etc. Also, the drama onstage is more subdued and the vocal writing doesn't jump up and down. I feel the same way about Bartók's _Bluebeard's Castle_.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

From the Baroque on I prefer my music straight, no chaser — that is, music in its pure form — instrumental music. 

I'm only half joking when I say: Opera isn't music, it's musical theater. But I like a lot of opera.

I really like Medieval and Renaissance vocal music too. And art songs of any era.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

CC301233 said:


> I also wanted to vote "None of the above" myself, but had to vote something. I know the least about Chamber music. I don't know why there aren't many Opera fans here. I love Opera and I'm surprised you haven't yet heard of the young 11/yo lady that sings Opera as well as any grown adult. She was featured on America's Got Talent and came in 9th place in 2019. I thought she should have won, but the AGT viewers weren't going to vote for her, primarily because they don't understand opera either. That, and they prefer voting for artists with disabilities (autism, etc.). Ah well.


Check out the right opera section


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I love them all except from some experimental composers, spend one hour on sound cloud and you lost the plot.


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## caracalla (Feb 19, 2020)

UniversalTuringMachine said:


> I am surprised at how many forum members dislike opera. You guys are missing out. There is something truly special about magnificent bel canto singing that can't be found anywhere else


Well, I for one wouldn't disagree about the bel canto. But missing out? Not entirely - the good things can be (and frequently are) cherry-picked and presented as concert pieces. I'm grateful enough for opera's existence, I just don't want to sit through it. I don't think those of us who treat operas as quarries can reasonably be counted as opera-lovers though.


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

caracalla said:


> Well, I for one wouldn't disagree about the bel canto. But missing out? Not entirely - the good things can be (and frequently are) cherry-picked and presented as concert pieces. I'm grateful enough for opera's existence, I just don't want to sit through it. I don't think those of us who treat operas as quarries can reasonably be counted as opera-lovers though.


A mad scene would be completely different if you take it out of the drama. You just don't get the same overwhelming effect of the immolation scene if you haven't been immersed throughout the ring cycle. That unique experience is what's missing in the concert version. You can't jump straight to the climax of a Bruckner symphony for a transformative experience without trudging through all the deliberate developments.


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## CC301233 (Jul 14, 2020)

Rogerx said:


> Check out the right opera section


I saw that.... Excellent! But I'm also seeing the poll above and, clearly, there aren't too many fans of opera, that responded here to the poll.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

In classical music, I sometimes have trouble with pieces that are conceptual or serial or Ultra-Modern or whatever you want to call it, though there are a small handful of fairly abstract works by composers such as Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Varese, Berio, Sessions, Davidovsky, Carter, Cage, that I've come to find almost listenable, and even a some works that I've even come to enjoy. This would also include the works of Stravinsky and Copland after when they had jumped the fence and began to apply a serial or atonal approach to their compositions.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

This is not a genre, but it's one thing I find despicable:
"non-HIP performances of pre-Romantic keyboard music"


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I have heard probably 80% of Figaro and Zauberflöte (cutting out all the recitatives) and 40% of Giovanni and my overall impressions are that they sound like a stream of beautiful tunes with little dramatic structure. I do love to listen to them occasionally but I can't say they strike me as particularly impressive overall operatic creations in the way that Wagner and Puccini's operas do. But that's a product of the times, too, before opera was fully developed into what we know it as today.


Try these sections:

*[ 26:00 ~ 32:30 ]*
*[ 1:23:30 ~ 1:28:30 ]*
*[ 2:01:00 ~ 2:06:00 ]*
*[ 2:21:30 ~ 2:27:30 ]*


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

CC301233 said:


> I saw that.... Excellent! But I'm also seeing the poll above and, clearly, there aren't too many fans of opera, that responded here to the poll.


Some of our opera fans isolate themselves in the opera forum. I would find that analogous to house arrest, but I'm not an opera enthusiast.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Bulldog said:


> *Some of our opera fans isolate themselves in the opera forum.* I would find that analogous to house arrest, but I'm not an opera enthusiast.


That's true - I think many of the most knowledgeable TC opera fans (not all of them though) spend most of their time in the opera subforum. Worth checking out for sure! It's a very enjoyable and generally relatively civil subforum . Then again I'm a bit of an opera fanatic...


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## TMHeimer (Dec 19, 2019)

I am in the majority re Opera. It's long and in a foreign language. I have enjoyed playing clarinet in bands accompanying opera singers. Sometimes there have been problems rehearsing as some of the singers we've had have been outstanding but not versed in concert band arrangements and not the greatest regarding the mechanics of rehearsing with a band--measure numbers, etc.
Same problems with accompanying singers doing medleys of musicals. But I enjoy the latter better.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

My order of preference and rough listening proportions:

*1. Opera Music* 95%
2. Orchestral Music 4%
3. Choral/Vocal Music 1%
4. Solo/Chamber Music >0% but not by much


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I'm not much into non-orchestrated lieder as I don't like the combination of solo piano with voice, so I voted for _Choral/Vocal Music_.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Genres I enjoyed early on: 
1. Begginner Romantic Era symphonies like Tchaikovsky
2. Baroque Concertos by Vivaldi and Bach

Genres that I took to after some time:
1. Classical Era Symphonies
2. More Romantic Symphonies like Brahms and Mahler
3. Concerto Grossi
4. Concertos
5. Bach Cello Suites
6. Choral works like Masses and Oratorios
7. String Quartets
8. Piano Quintets

Even later 
1. Modern Era works
2. More chamber music
3. Some Avant-garde

I still have problems with
1. Early music 
2. Keyboard music 
3. Piano Trios
4. Webern
5. OPERAS


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Allerius said:


> I'm not much into non-orchestrated lieder as I don't like the combination of solo piano with voice, so I voted for _Choral/Vocal Music_.


That has been a tough one for me to get into also. When I saw Joyce DiDonato sing Schubert's Winterreise in concert, I finally appreciated some lieder. But I have not expanded out from that one piece.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Opera since it takes the most time and effort. I enjoy it in the theater but not at home. I ususally listen to excerpts at home.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Opera post-Mozart. I've never really listened to any such opera in its entirety, only highlights or arias here and there. If it were a poll category I'd also say ballet. Just does nothing for me.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I do find that I often don't respond to Romantic choral music but other than that I enjoy all the categories in the poll. I am surprised that so many find opera difficult. There is so much variety that I would have thought there was something for everyone. Perhaps it is the length?


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## ThaNotoriousNIC (Jun 29, 2020)

The genre I have the most difficult time enjoying is choral music, in particular, most masses, requiems, and purely choral works. I am a sucker for opera because of the drama in the music but that has not yet translated to choral works. The only exceptions for me are Bach's Mass in B Minor, cantatas, and Passions, which I have come to adore.

I can understand where people are coming from in regards to opera. I too did not like opera for years. I was turned off by the foreign languages, I was not familiar with the singing techniques/voices, and were very long in comparison to a majority of orchestral and chamber works. My perspective, however, changed after I was in a pit orchestra for a production of Lehar's Merry Widow. That served as my first major exposure into the genre and I particularly liked arias. For a few years, I listened only to overtures and arias from top 100 collections online, which further exposed me to some of the repertoire (although I had absolutely no context or idea of what the singers were singing about). I also watched a production of Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte at the Met. I liked it, but it did not really grab me outside of a few great arias. About four years ago, I finally sat down and listened to my first set of operas on streaming, Wagner's Ring Cycle. Once I took the journey through the entire cycle over a two week period, I was caught hook and sinker. It took a long time for me to get into opera and I can see why many people may not want to listen to it.


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## ZJovicic (Feb 26, 2017)

haha... seems like opera is "winning" big time.
I voted for opera too.
Though there are many arias that I love... but opera as a whole thing, still hasn't reached deep to my heart.


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## Rambler (Oct 20, 2017)

I went for Opera as my least favorite genre, but I actually listen to a fair bit of opera. I'd probably single out 19th century opera by Italian composers as a problem area for me. But I do keep trying with it.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Not only is opera faring badly, the other vocal category is secure in 2nd place. Could it be that classical music is not kind to the voice?


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

I'd vote for opera music because I prefer it with the singing included ....


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Couldn't see country on the list


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## Caesura (Apr 5, 2020)

I like bits of all (some more so than others) but I'd probably say solo/chamber music has my vote.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

For me, its more of a sacred vs. secular preference. I've noticed almost all of the music I listen to is secular. So in general, I don't listen much to:

Cantatas (EXCEPTION is Bach's Coffee Cantata - which is secular)
Masses
Passions
Oratorios
Opera Seria

Music I listen to most of the time includes:
Symphonies
Concertos
Chamber works
Piano Sonatas
Opera Buffa
Baroque Dance Suites
Concert Overtures
Ballet Suites

This is not a judgement of any type of music, just my personal preferences.


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