# Favorite non-Aria/Recitative Moments



## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

If this is already a thread, I apologize.

For a while, I've been fixated on "Alfredo Voi!" from... Well, which other opera has an Alfredo?  The string section is just so stimulating!

What moments in opera do you really like that are not arias or duets?


----------



## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

marinasabina said:


> What moments in opera do you really like that are not arias or duets?


The overture.............


----------



## Guest (Oct 22, 2014)

"Ahi caso acerbo," Monteverdi's Orfeo.


----------



## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> The overture.............


Well? Which one?


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

marinasabina said:


> If this is already a thread, I apologize.
> 
> For a while, I've been fixated on "Alfredo Voi!" from... Well, which other opera has an Alfredo?  The string section is just so stimulating!
> 
> What moments in opera do you really like that are not arias or duets?


_Amami Alfredo_, and the whole section leading up to it, especially when delivered with the white hot intensity of Callas at La Scala in 1955 under Giulini; so intense in fact that the audience bursts into a spontaneous round of applause.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Nothing is more powerful than the Prologue from "Mefistofele"


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

the Triumphal March from Aida (especially when sung by Marisa Galvany)
....yeah, I know right? so original....not!


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Two by Bellini come to mind. The first is the passage that connects "Casta Diva" to its cabaletta in NORMA ("Fine al rito..."). The second is the passage involving Elvira, Riccardo, and Giorgio that connects "Qui la voce" to "Vien, diletto" in I PURITANI. 

For whatever reason, my heart is in my throat every time I hear the overture to Verdi's LUISA MILLER. There's just something about it that makes me feel the way the singers probably feel while waiting backstage for the opera to begin. Other overtures evoke this feeling for me too but not quite to the extent that LUISA's does. From the same opera I also love Miller and Luisa's "dialogue" leading up to their duet in Act III -- extremely moving.


----------



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

nina foresti said:


> Nothing is more powerful than the Prologue from "Mefistofele"


Love that opera.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Two of my favorite moments: Otello's monologue "Dio! Mi potevi scagliar," which may be for me the most heartbreaking few minutes of music Verdi (or anyone) ever composed; and Tristan's serene vision, following his unspeakably harrowing delirium culminating in his curse upon the love potion and upon himself, of Isolde floating across the sea on petals of flowers, "Und drauf isolde, wie sie winkt," ending with the cry "Ach, Isolde! Isolde! Wie schoen bist du!"

I'm gettin' the shivers right now.


----------



## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Sentimental, perhaps, but I love the Humming Chorus in _Madama Butterfly_, and I've always found Butterfly's exchange with Kate Pinkerton heartbreaking.


----------



## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

GregMitchell said:


> _Amami Alfredo_, and the whole section leading up to it, especially when delivered with the white hot intensity of Callas at La Scala in 1955 under Giulini; so intense in fact that the audience bursts into a spontaneous round of applause.


I found it on Youtube. Amazing interpretation!


----------



## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

I like the argument between Nerone and Seneca that eventually culminates in the latter's death sentence. It perfectly balances lofty ideas with down-to-earth verbal brawling.


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

the scene from Tosca where she kills Scarpia


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Jobis said:


> I like the argument between Nerone and Seneca that eventually culminates in the latter's death sentence. It perfectly balances lofty ideas with down-to-earth verbal brawling.


In what opera?
There are several operas about Nero.


----------



## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Sloe said:


> In what opera?
> There are several operas about Nero.


L'incoronazione di Poppea.


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> the scene from Tosca where she kills Scarpia


enjoy!


----------



## Idit (Nov 9, 2014)

In quali accesi - Dona Elvira's recitativeo before Mitradi in Don Giovanni by Mozart


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

the finale of Verdi's Attila


----------



## Pamina (Sep 5, 2012)

I like several: Musetta's prayer in the 4th act of Boheme, "e Susanna non vien" recitative before "Dove sono" in Nozze, and two of Pamina's little "moments"--"Herr, Ich bin zwar Verbrecherin" and the spoken words right after "Der Hölle Rache" ("Morden soll Ich? Götter! Das kann Ich nicht. Das kann Ich nicht!" 

I also love Butterfly's exchange with Kate. It's so touching! And that moment when Rigoletto realizes his daughter is dead "Gilda, mia Gilda, è morta! I'm sure there are others I will think of.


----------



## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

I love King Marke's segment at the end of Tristan und Isolde:


----------



## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Intermezzo from _Vanessa_


----------

