# Neglected Opera Masterpieces



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Seems like a thread that should have been done before, but I don't remember it. Your idea on the most neglected masterpiece of the last few centuries?

I've just discovered Il Pirata (Bellini), so I'm voting for that one. Wow! That's all I have to say about that. Gorgeous music.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

I suppose it's not on the same level of neglect as _Il Pirata,_ but I'd like to see 50% more productions of Boito's _Mefistofole_ and 50% less of Gounod's _Faust_.


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## Glissando (Nov 25, 2011)

Handel's operas were totally neglected for two hundred years. Although its dramatic and textual elements are not as engaging as in modern opera, and although the da capo aria format can sometimes lead to formulaic results, I still think the music in Handel's operas is as powerful as Mozart or Wagner. _Semele_, for example, is simply staggering. If you look at books about opera that were published forty or more years ago, Handel's name is barely mentioned. This neglect has been made up for in recent years by a Handel revival, thankfully.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Glissando said:


> Handel's operas were totally neglected for two hundred years. Although its dramatic and textual elements are not as engaging as in modern opera, and although the da capo aria format can sometimes lead to formulaic results, I still think the music in Handel's operas is as powerful as Mozart or Wagner. _Semele_, for example, is simply staggering. If you look at books about opera that were published forty or more years ago, Handel's name is barely mentioned. This neglect has been made up for in recent years by a Handel revival, thankfully.


Hercules and Solomon are my favorites among Handel's operas! I'm glad, too, that they've been revived more and more of late.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Schumann's Genoveva has suffered exaggerated criticisms from the very first.

I find this opera to be characterized by a skillful weaving of the textual drama and the content of the music itself. I don't find the orchestration at all weak, contrariwise, it's quite bold and wholesome. Somehow wikipedia's article on Genoveva mentions that Schumann wanted to abolish recitative by excising it from this opera. It was indeed his opinion that recitative disrupts the musical and dramatic flow of an opera, but recitative still abounds in Genoveva. Even a cursory glance over the score will reveal prominent sections ostensibly labeled as recitative and following through in the music, which is no late interpolation, but rather issuing directly from Schumann's pen.


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## Marisol (May 25, 2013)

Glissando said:


> Handel's operas were totally neglected for two hundred years. Although its dramatic and textual elements are not as engaging as in modern opera, and although the da capo aria format can sometimes lead to formulaic results, I still think the music in Handel's operas is as powerful as Mozart or Wagner. _Semele_, for example, is simply staggering. If you look at books about opera that were published forty or more years ago, Handel's name is barely mentioned. This neglect has been made up for in recent years by a Handel revival, thankfully.


Agreed. 
However I still think Handel's operas are underperformed and not recorded enough.

This performance I think is stunning and it works well with the viola da gamba because it leaves more space for his voice, but the gamba player is struggling because it is so hard to play, but the energy is great:


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Cavaradossi said:


> I suppose it's not on the same level of neglect as _Il Pirata,_ but I'd like to see 50% more productions of Boito's _Mefistofole_ and 50% less of Gounod's _Faust_.


Ah, you dreamer ... yeah Faust is kind of a guilty pleasure. As for Mefistofele, well, Sam Ramey kind of blew the roof off in that production with the San Francisco opera he did, and I hardly remember the music ... suppose I should get a copy for just listening, and see what's there, eh?


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Glissando said:


> Handel's operas were totally neglected for two hundred years. Although its dramatic and textual elements are not as engaging as in modern opera, and although the da capo aria format can sometimes lead to formulaic results, I still think the music in Handel's operas is as powerful as Mozart or Wagner. _Semele_, for example, is simply staggering. If you look at books about opera that were published forty or more years ago, Handel's name is barely mentioned. This neglect has been made up for in recent years by a Handel revival, thankfully.


I should check out Semele, no doubt. I had some instrumental Handel - no wait, it was an oratorio! never mind. Anyway, I've had some good experiences with Handel. The Met's recent Giulio Cesare was kind of unpleasant for me, so I'm feeling a bit gunshy right now, but I'm sure I'll stagger back in his direction in the not too distant future ....


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Novelette said:


> Schumann's Genoveva has suffered exaggerated criticisms from the very first.
> 
> I find this opera to be characterized by a skillful weaving of the textual drama and the content of the music itself. I don't find the orchestration at all weak, contrariwise, it's quite bold and wholesome.


Oo. Bold and wholesome. How can I resist.


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

Interesting that all the replies have mentioned operas so far, so I may as well stay on this theme. 

If I could read the question and then go back about 25-30 years ago I would have said that Zemlinsky's operas never got a fair crack of the whip. Over the last two or three decades all have now been recorded (mainly either by James Conlon on EMI or Gerd Albrecht on Capriccio, so huzzah for them) and the two or three more popular ones have been staged occasionally, but whether in live performance or on recording they still seem to largely go under the radar even if total neglect may be putting it too strongly. 

That in itself is a pity - the three I've heard (A Florentine Tragedy, The Dwarf and the posthumously-orchestrated King Kandaules) are musically taut, full of drama both 'melo' and 'pyscho' and are certainly worth investigating for those who like full-blooded post-Romantic opera.


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## Marisol (May 25, 2013)

elgars ghost said:


> Interesting that all the replies have mentioned operas so far...


Probably because the topic is posted in the Opera section.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

I know, I know,...I've championed these quite a bit in the past but I'll never get over how simply great each and every moment of these variations is yet they are rarely performed or recorded. I speak of Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme of Chopin. If you have the opportunity, get the disc by Earl Wild and I assure you that you will cherish it.

Another set of variations I find to be at least a little 'neglected' are the 32 WoO of van Beethoven. You'll hear Diabelli or Eroica anyday before the masterpiece that is the c-minor set.

***Sorry, guys! I don't navigate here through the individual forums, rather, through what's posted newest by basically clicking unread posts after finishing a thread...anyway, I didn't know this was the opera section***

Since I'm not really an opera guy, I'm gonna say this one at :45.


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

Marisol said:


> Probably because the topic is posted in the Opera section.


Ah, yes, so it is...um...good point and very well made. Serves me right for never taking any notice of the forum sub-headings!


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

For the hundredth time, _La fanciulla del west_... And, just to shake things up, _Die Tote Stadt_


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

elgars ghost said:


> Interesting that all the replies have mentioned operas so far, so I may as well stay on this theme.
> 
> If I could read the question and then go back about 25-30 years ago I would have said that Zemlinsky's operas never got a fair crack of the whip. Over the last two or three decades all have now been recorded (mainly either by James Conlon on EMI or Gerd Albrecht on Capriccio, so huzzah for them) and the two or three more popular ones have been staged occasionally, but whether in live performance or on recording they still seem to largely go under the radar even if total neglect may be putting it too strongly.
> 
> That in itself is a pity - the three I've heard (A Florentine Tragedy, The Dwarf and the posthumously-orchestrated King Kandaules) are musically taut, full of drama both 'melo' and 'pyscho' and are certainly worth investigating for those who like full-blooded post-Romantic opera.


Wow - excellent suggestion, thanks!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> For the hundredth time, _La fanciulla del west_... And, just to shake things up, _Die Tote Stadt_


Hmm ... if it's in the Met's repertory it can't be TOO neglected, can it? (fanciulla). I just looked over the wiki summary of Tote Stadt and it does look awfully interesting. Looks like there's a fair number of recordings out there, so I should have no trouble finding it!


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## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

I wouldn't exactly call it a "neglected masterpiece" but Il Tabarro (the cloak), part of Puccini's trilogy, is given short shrift and it's a superb short opera, intense emotions, quite "modern", and has a stunning finale. One of my fave operas and we surely don't see it often enough.


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

katdad said:


> I wouldn't exactly call it a "neglected masterpiece" but Il Tabarro (the cloak), part of Puccini's trilogy, is given short shrift and it's a superb short opera, intense emotions, quite "modern", and has a stunning finale. One of my fave operas and we surely don't see it often enough.


Il Tabarro is a fine work. Zemlinsky's one-acter The Florentine Tragedy is cut from similar cloth (no pun intended) in the way that the almost suffocating tension is ratcheted up as the drama unfolds, and the cuckolded parties in both operas also attempt to play it cool before killing their rivals. Both operas manage to cram in quite a lot into their respective 60 or so minutes.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

Just for the centenary. It's been getting more recognition. But it's still in the second echelon of the repertory. What I mean is that it should be up there with _Tristan_ and _Butterfly_ and _Rigoletto_ as a masterpiece.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

katdad said:


> I wouldn't exactly call it a "neglected masterpiece" but Il Tabarro (the cloak), part of Puccini's trilogy, is given short shrift and it's a superb short opera, intense emotions, quite "modern", and has a stunning finale. One of my fave operas and we surely don't see it often enough.


I'd add _Suor Angelica_. Plot aside, the music is exquisite.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

katdad said:


> I wouldn't exactly call it a "neglected masterpiece" but Il Tabarro (the cloak), part of Puccini's trilogy, is given short shrift and it's a superb short opera, intense emotions, quite "modern", and has a stunning finale. One of my fave operas and we surely don't see it often enough.


I agree _Il Tabarro_ is both highly atmospheric and dramatic and seems to be the odd man out in one-act pairings. Actually, I prefer for _Il Trittico_ to be presented intact, taking the full ride from sinister to sublime to silly in one evening as Puccini intended.

_Die Tote Stadt_ is a great suggestion. I've _never_ come across it in twenty years of opera-going, and at this point it's one I'd go out of my way to see. It's so neglected it didn't even make it on my neglected masterpieces radar!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> Just for the centenary. It's been getting more recognition. But it's still in the second echelon of the repertory. What I mean is that it should be up there with _Tristan_ and _Butterfly_ and _Rigoletto_ as a masterpiece.


Gotcha. Well, you may be right, I don't know ...


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## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> Just for the centenary. It's been getting more recognition. But it's still in the second echelon of the repertory. What I mean is that it should be up there with _Tristan_ and _Butterfly_ and _Rigoletto_ as a masterpiece.


I've never thought Butterfly was all that good, sorry. Sure, it's a heckuva lot better than 95% of all other operas, but it's certainly not up to other best operas of Puccini. Just my personal opinion, based a lot upon the well-meaning but unsuccessful attempt to create "Oriental" sounding themes.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

There are so many operas which I've heard on recordings over the years but which are hardly ever perfored live . But fortunately, the operatic repertoire as a whole has become more diverse than ever before, and more and more long neglected operas ar e being revived everywhere, and there are countless obscure operas available on CD and now on DVD .
Here's a random list of rarely heard operas which have been getting performed : Richard Strauss : Die Liebe der Danae. Friedenstag . Die Agyptische Helena .
Intermezzo . 
Eugen D'Albert. Tiefland. Roussel: Padmavati. Enescu : Oedipe. Howard Hanson : Merry Mount .
Walter Braunfels. Doe Vogel (don't know how to do umlauts on the computer.)
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: The Passenger . Antonio Carlos Gomes. Il Guarany. Wolf-Ferrari . Sly.
Franco Alfano. Cyrano De Bergerac. Dvorak. The Devil and Kate. Zemlinsky . The Dwarf . 
Franz Schreker. De Gezeichneten . Prokofiev. Semyon Kotko . Massenet. Herodiade.Schubert. Fierrabras.
Szymanowski.King Roger. Zandonai. Francesca Da Rimini . Nielsen. Maskarade . Martinu. The Greek Passion.
Pfitzner. Palestrina . Tchaikovsky. Mazeppa. And so on .This is just threp of the iceberg.
40 or 50 years ago, your chances of seeing any of these operas unless you visited the countries of their origin, were non-existent . In some ways , operagoers today have it better than ever .


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Saint Saens - Henry VIII*. I discovered it on a very good DVD with a title singer who was excellent and looked as though he had just stepped out of a contemporary portrait. I prefer this to Donizetti's Anna Bolena.










*Charpentier - Louise.* Great music and a heroine who refuses to die or give in.

This is a very good recording. I wish an opera house would put it on, it's very dramatic and modern audiences would love it.










*Massenet - Le Cid*. Atmospheric music.

*Monteverdi - Il Ritorno D'Ulisse in Patria*. It doesn't seem to get as much show time as the other two, but it's my favourite, particularly in this DVD:










V*erdi Stiffelio*. Tuneful as always and a great story.


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## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

To talk about neglected masterpieces is a titanic task. One should go deep through 400 years to find great works of art that were forgotten. I'd rather not mention any opera for the sake of not forgetting others.


However, i'd just like to write to say that i enjoy Faust very much. For quite some time, i've been noticing that i'd might be the only one here. The love duet, in act 3, is marvelous, i enjoy the chorus sections very much, i vibrate with the sword duel as much as Don Giovanni's and Lohengrin's, the scene in the Church is terrifying and the finale is astonishing. I think it's the french opera that i hear the most (french opera isn't exactly my ground yet. I need yet much to learn from it)


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

I second _Louise_. A real masterpiece of an opera. The third act is as good as any single act in opera.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

superhorn said:


> There are so many operas which I've heard on recordings over the years but which are hardly ever perfored live . But fortunately, the operatic repertoire as a whole has become more diverse than ever before, and more and more long neglected operas ar e being revived everywhere, and there are countless obscure operas available on CD and now on DVD .
> Here's a random list of rarely heard operas which have been getting performed : Richard Strauss : Die Liebe der Danae. Friedenstag . Die Agyptische Helena .
> Intermezzo .
> Eugen D'Albert. Tiefland. Roussel: Padmavati. Enescu : Oedipe. Howard Hanson : Merry Mount .
> ...


Huh. And these all seem like masterpieces to you? I mean, I saw Fierrabras and I wouldn't do it again. The music wasn't bad but the drama was ... seemed ... undramatic. I don't know. Maybe it was the production.

Let me put it this way. If you had to pick just one of the operas you mentioned to say, hey, THIS is the real stuff ... which one would you pick?


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> *Saint Saens - Henry VIII*. I discovered it on a very good DVD with a title singer who was excellent and looked as though he had just stepped out of a contemporary portrait. I prefer this to Donizetti's Anna Bolena.


Well, I didn't like Anna Bolena that much - I thought Maria Stuarda was better - but if it's Saint Saens, sign me up, I love his music.



> *Charpentier - Louise.* Great music and a heroine who refuses to die or give in.


WOAH- and there's a recording with Cotrubas AND Domingo, too? yeesh - I have to get THAT one.

Thanks.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

dionisio said:


> To talk about neglected masterpieces is a titanic task. One should go deep through 400 years to find great works of art that were forgotten. I'd rather not mention any opera for the sake of not forgetting others.
> 
> However, i'd just like to write to say that i enjoy Faust very much. For quite some time, i've been noticing that i'd might be the only one here. The love duet, in act 3, is marvelous, i enjoy the chorus sections very much, i vibrate with the sword duel as much as Don Giovanni's and Lohengrin's, the scene in the Church is terrifying and the finale is astonishing. I think it's the french opera that i hear the most (french opera isn't exactly my ground yet. I need yet much to learn from it)


Oh, I like Faust too. But you can't say it's neglected. And I think the ending suffers - somehow the dramatic ground shifts under my feet and I find myself rooting for Marguerite, when I spent the whole opera rooting for Faust.

And you know what else - Mephistopheles offered him any woman in the world, and he chose Marguerite. And then Meph did not deliver, right? So Faust is going to heaven? with bloody hands? It's just confused and wrong. Gounod should have had Faust willingly abandon his right to heaven to give Marguerite the chance at it - not sure how he would have worked it in practice but that's what should have happened dramatically. That way even though Faust is damned he can still be high in our hearts.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

guythegreg said:


> Huh. And these all seem like masterpieces to you? I mean, I saw Fierrabras and I wouldn't do it again. The music wasn't bad but the drama was ... seemed ... undramatic. I don't know. Maybe it was the production.
> 
> Let me put it this way. If you had to pick just one of the operas you mentioned to say, hey, THIS is the real stuff ... which one would you pick?


I'm jumping in here and saying that there are definitely some on this list I would agree with.

Franz Schreker. Die Gezeichneten - has a particularly beautiful overture, but all the music is very lush.

Szymanowski. King Roger. Is very lovely. You can catch a good performance on YouTube, almost complete.

Prokofiev. Semyon Kotko. I heard this the other day and listened twice. I'd love to see it staged, it sounds fun.

Tchaikovsky. Mazeppa. Yes, this is my third favourite Tchaikovsky after Onegin and Pique Dame.


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## Guest (Jun 6, 2013)

mamascarlatti said:


> I'm jumping in here and saying that there are definitely some on this list I would agree with.
> *Franz Schreker*. _Die Gezeichneten_ - has a particularly beautiful overture, but all the music is very lush [...]


Indeed. as is his _Der ferne Klang_. Please see my post #18 on the 'Which forgotten composers do you believe worth rediscovering' thread.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

_Die Konigen von Saba_ by Goldmark


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> Ah, you dreamer ... yeah Faust is kind of a guilty pleasure. As for Mefistofele, well, Sam Ramey kind of blew the roof off in that production with the San Francisco opera he did, and I hardly remember the music ... suppose I should get a copy for just listening, and see what's there, eh?


Germans refuse to call the Gounod "Faust," instead dubbing it "Marguerite."


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Why this has turned into neglected opera only is puzzling, but while it is there...
Stavinsky's _Le Rossignol_ is not performed nearly enough. It is a real charmer, and lovely when staged.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Neglected yes,masterpieces I don't think so.


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## Hesoos (Jun 9, 2012)

Wagner's Rienzi, Rossini's Guglielmo tell, Gomes's Il Guarany, Donizetti's La favorita, Cherubini's Medea, Verdi's Jerusalem, Gluck's Paride ed Elena, Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, all Meyerbeer, Auber's La muette de Portici, Spontini's La Vestale... 
There are a lot of neglected masterpieces! .... I'm very sorry specially for Rienzi


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## Zabirilog (Mar 10, 2013)

Verdi's Luisa Miller. It's fantastic and underrated...


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Hesoos said:


> Wagner's Rienzi, Rossini's Guglielmo tell, Gomes's Il Guarany, Donizetti's La favorita, Cherubini's Medea, Verdi's Jerusalem, Gluck's Paride ed Elena, Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, all Meyerbeer, Auber's La muette de Portici, Spontini's La Vestale...
> There are a lot of neglected masterpieces! .... I'm very sorry specially for Rienzi


Masterpiece refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise and is considered the greatest work of a person's career.
Do you really think that Rienzi and La Favorita are their composers' greatest works ?


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Depend on what you mean for "masterpiece" and "neglected" but if the question is basically lesser known and lesser staged operas you would like to see more often then my answer would be:

Manfroce: Ecuba
Gnecchi: Cassandra
Wolf-Ferrari: I quatro rusteghi
Alaleona: Mirra
Mascagni: Il piccolo Marat, Isabeau and of course Iris (my favorite Opera)
Malipiero: L'Orfeide, La bottega del caffè, Torneo notturno
Casella: La favola di Orfeo, La donna serpente
Margola: Il mito di Caino
Refice: Cecilia, Margherita da Cortona
Montemezzi: L'incantesimo
Dallapiccola: Volo di notte, Il prigioniero
Porrino: I Shardana
Sutermeister: Die schwarze Spinne
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (does it qualify?)
Panizza: Aurora, Bisanzio


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Tchaikovsky. Mazeppa. Yes, this is my third favourite Tchaikovsky after Onegin and Pique Dame.


Well, yeah, but Pique Dame is your second. We've spoken of this before. It's not a masterpiece.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Why this has turned into neglected opera only is puzzling, but while it is there...
> Stavinsky's _Le Rossignol_ is not performed nearly enough. It is a real charmer, and lovely when staged.


You ARE aware that this is the opera board, right? Just a heads up ...

I'll keep my eyes open for Rossignol. Thanks.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Bardamu said:


> Depend on what you mean for "masterpiece" and "neglected" ...


Whatever masterpiece means to you. If you deny the word has validity, if the word doesn't mean to you what it means to others, well, no one will understand your answer. There are operas that blow me away. That's what I mean by a masterpiece. That's what happened to me when I listened to Pirata. I am hoping there are those reading who can think of operas that blow them away that they never get an opportunity to see, and that's the suggestion I'm looking for.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

moody said:


> Masterpiece refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise and is considered the greatest work of a person's career.


Ah, no, actually, not as I was using the word. When I use it it's totally subjective, except for Mamascarlatti, who insists on picking operas I hate.  That is, if YOU think the work is a masterpiece and you never see it, that's the suggestion I'm looking for.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> _Die Konigen von Saba_ by Goldmark


... Good one.


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## Hesoos (Jun 9, 2012)

moody said:


> Masterpiece refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise and is considered the greatest work of a person's career.
> Do you really think that Rienzi and La Favorita are their composers' greatest works ?


From wikipedia, masterpiece:"In modern times it is used for an exceptionally good piece of creative work[2] or the best piece of work of a particular artist or craftsman"
I thought about good pieces in general...

About best pieces of any composer: 
Il Guarany, Medea, La muette de Portici, La vestale


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Szymanowski. King Roger. Is very lovely. You can catch a good performance on YouTube, almost complete.


Woah. You were right about this one.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

guythegreg said:


> Ah, no, actually, not as I was using the word. When I use it it's totally subjective, except for Mamascarlatti, who insists on picking operas I hate.  That is, if YOU think the work is a masterpiece and you never see it, that's the suggestion I'm looking for.


Well,Im afraid it doesn't work that way because I speak English and know very well that if somebody says "I will now unveil my masterpiece" ,that person means it's his best ever. You can't have three masterpieces!


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## Hesoos (Jun 9, 2012)

A while ago I made my master **** :lol: Now I can rest in master peace...hehe


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

superhorn said:


> Walter Braunfels. Doe Vogel (don't know how to do umlauts on the computer.)


Die Vögel - copy/paste from some site that has the umlaut.

Tchaikovsky's The Sorceress (The Enchantress)
Taneyev: The Oresteia. Being done at Bard this summer!


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

moody said:


> Well,Im afraid it doesn't work that way because I speak English and know very well that if somebody says "I will now unveil my masterpiece" ,that person means it's his best ever. You can't have three masterpieces!


So Rembrandt painted only one masterpiece, the rest were all lesser works? Same for Michaelangelo? Botticelli? DaVinci? Monet? Picasso?

Beethoven probably felt his 5th Symphony was his masterpiece, til he wrote the Sixth, then the Seventh...


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## Hesoos (Jun 9, 2012)

I just checked the dictionary...(I don't speak english very well)
I understand that masterpiece means a perfect work, if you can make a masterpiece you become a master (maestro) or teacher. But if you say THE masterpiece, then it means the best ever. 1-a good work, 2-THE best work.

The first masterpiece from Wagner I think that it is Rienzi (my opinion, others could say The flying Dutchman), the 2 former works were not yet "Wagner", he was trying stiles and learning. THE masterpiece from Wagner is The Ring, A masterpiece from Wagner could be Lohengrin or Tristan (some of his "perfect" works). In the case of Verdi, his first masterpiece was Nabucco.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Radames said:


> Die Vögel - copy/paste from some site that has the umlaut.
> 
> Tchaikovsky's The Sorceress (The Enchantress)
> Taneyev: The Oresteia. Being done at Bard this summer!


Print it as Die Voegel--that is quite correct.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Cavaradossi said:


> So Rembrandt painted only one masterpiece, the rest were all lesser works? Same for Michaelangelo? Botticelli? DaVinci? Monet? Picasso?
> 
> Beethoven probably felt his 5th Symphony was his masterpiece, til he wrote the Sixth, then the Seventh...


That is quite right,if an expert is giving a lecture on Rembrandt he would say regardless of how good all the paintings were,"This is considered as Rembrandt's masterpiece ".I suggest we try to be sensible, you would not talk about masterpieces until an artist was dead or we have a situation where you would say Beethoven's 9th is his masterpiece,but then so is his 6th and by the way so is his 7th.
The word is MASTERPIECE ,so are you telling me that if you were asked to chose Rembrandt's masterpiece you would reply that they all were ,not taking the conversation far forward really is it?


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Hesoos said:


> I just checked the dictionary...(I don't speak english very well)
> I understand that masterpiece means a perfect work, if you can make a masterpiece you become a master (maestro) or teacher. But if you say THE masterpiece, then it means the best ever. 1-a good work, 2-THE best work.
> 
> The first masterpiece from Wagner I think that it is Rienzi (my opinion, others could say The flying Dutchman), the 2 former works were not yet "Wagner", he was trying stiles and learning. THE masterpiece from Wagner is The Ring, A masterpiece from Wagner could be Lohengrin or Tristan (some of his "perfect" works). In the case of Verdi, his first masterpiece was Nabucco.


I'm sorry but you are just trying to get things to fit your wishes. "Rienzi" is no masterpiece at all.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

guythegreg said:


> *There are operas that blow me away*. That's what I mean by a masterpiece. That's what happened to me when I listened to Pirata.


I'm fine with this concept, depend on the context.

From my previous list the ones that more "blew me away" were Mascagni, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dallapiccola, Wolf-Ferrari, La bottega del caffè (Malipiero).
But really I appreciated the rest as well.

Since this is a "suggest overlooked operas" thread en travesti I thought a list could be of interest for some.

Most of those are available on youtube (samples or complete).
Only Margherita da Cortona is completely missing, I believe.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

moody said:


> I'm sorry but you are just trying to get things to fit your wishes. "Rienzi" is no masterpiece at all.


So, for you it's "Meyerbeer's worst opera," then?


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

If "Padmavati" by Albert Roussel, which I've written about here and elsewhere on the internet before, is not a genuine masterpiece, than I don't know what an operatic masterpiece is .
It's like no other opera you've ever heard ,and the music and orchestration are fantasitcally colorful ,haunting and fascinating . Unlike such entertaining but pseudo Indian operas like Lakme and the Pearl Fishers, 
Padmavati has an authentic Indian feeeling and sound to it . Roussel had spent time visiting India , and absorbed the atmosphere and heard Indian music at the source . 
The most recent performances anywhere were about five years ago in Paris ,and the director was from India ,and one of the leading Bollywood film directors, doing his first opera ! Unfortunately, it has yet to come out on DVD . You can see exceprts from it on youtube , and if you cna find the superb EMI recording with Marilyn Horne, Nicolai Gedda and Jose Van Dam, grab it !
About a year ago, Christoph Eschenbach led expcerpts from it at a concert with the National symphony in Washington, and it was coupled with the world premiere of a work by an Indian composer mixing Indian and western instruments . Interesting program, but I wished Eschenbach had given a concert performance of the whole opera, which has yet to be staged in the U.S.A. or even done complete in concert. Leon Boststein, where are you ?


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## mtmailey (Oct 21, 2011)

I say Tchaikovsky e-flat symphony they call it symphony 7 people do not talk it,there are also few recordings of it.I have it on LP home.Also Elgar symphony 3 sounds great not to many albums of that great work.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Mahlerian said:


> So, for you it's "Meyerbeer's worst opera," then?


Funny you should say that,this is what von Westerman had to say
; "The text of Rienzi clearly shows Wagner's adherence to the style and nature of grand opera...Rienzi and Das Liebesverbot can be considered as a preparation stage in Wagner's development.as a tribute to,and a means of escape from the taste of his times".


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

guythegreg said:


> Ah, no, actually, not as I was using the word. When I use it it's totally subjective, except for Mamascarlatti, who insists on picking operas I hate.  That is, if YOU think the work is a masterpiece and you never see it, that's the suggestion I'm looking for.


Do you like Onegin, Greg, or is all Tchaikovsky a no-no for you?

Mazeppa is quite different from Pique-Dame, more traditional in feel, I think.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

kv466 said:


> I know, I know,...I've championed these quite a bit in the past but I'll never get over how simply great each and every moment of these variations is yet they are rarely performed or recorded. I speak of Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme of Chopin. If you have the opportunity, get the disc by Earl Wild and I assure you that you will cherish it.
> 
> Another set of variations I find to be at least a little 'neglected' are the 32 WoO of van Beethoven. You'll hear Diabelli or Eroica anyday before the masterpiece that is the c-minor set.
> 
> ...


Axur Re d'Ormus


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Bardamu said:


> I'm fine with this concept, depend on the context.
> 
> From my previous list the ones that more "blew me away" were Mascagni, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dallapiccola, Wolf-Ferrari, La bottega del caffè (Malipiero).
> But really I appreciated the rest as well.
> ...


Thanks. And, dang! There was a performance of Il Prigionero here in NYC two nights ago. Crap. Well, I probably wouldn't have gone anyway.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

superhorn said:


> If "Padmavati" by Albert Roussel, which I've written about here and elsewhere on the internet before, is not a genuine masterpiece, than I don't know what an operatic masterpiece is .
> It's like no other opera you've ever heard ,and the music and orchestration are fantasitcally colorful ,haunting and fascinating . Unlike such entertaining but pseudo Indian operas like Lakme and the Pearl Fishers,
> Padmavati has an authentic Indian feeeling and sound to it . Roussel had spent time visiting India , and absorbed the atmosphere and heard Indian music at the source .
> The most recent performances anywhere were about five years ago in Paris ,and the director was from India ,and one of the leading Bollywood film directors, doing his first opera ! Unfortunately, it has yet to come out on DVD . You can see exceprts from it on youtube , and if you cna find the superb EMI recording with Marilyn Horne, Nicolai Gedda and Jose Van Dam, grab it !
> About a year ago, Christoph Eschenbach led expcerpts from it at a concert with the National symphony in Washington, and it was coupled with the world premiere of a work by an Indian composer mixing Indian and western instruments . Interesting program, but I wished Eschenbach had given a concert performance of the whole opera, which has yet to be staged in the U.S.A. or even done complete in concert. Leon Boststein, where are you ?


What a fantastic suggestion, thanks! See, this is the kind of passion I was looking for ...


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Do you like Onegin, Greg, or is all Tchaikovsky a no-no for you?
> 
> Mazeppa is quite different from Pique-Dame, more traditional in feel, I think.


Sorry. I meant it a good deal more humorously than it sounded.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

moody said:


> Funny you should say that,this is what von Westerman had to say
> ; "The text of Rienzi clearly shows Wagner's adherence to the style and nature of grand opera...Rienzi and Das Liebesverbot can be considered as a preparation stage in Wagner's development.as a tribute to,and a means of escape from the taste of his times".


It's definitely a grand opera in style and form. Even Der Fliegende Hollander still shows influences from grand opera on its surface. It's also my opinion that Wagner's music improved the further he got away from that style....


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Cavaradossi said:


> I suppose it's not on the same level of neglect as _Il Pirata,_ but I'd like to see 50% more productions of Boito's _Mefistofole_ and 50% less of Gounod's _Faust_.


Oh definitely!!!!!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

moody said:


> Neglected yes,masterpieces I don't think so.


How about overlooked or neglected gems by master composers, then?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

moody said:


> Well,Im afraid it doesn't work that way because I speak English and know very well that if somebody says "I will now unveil my masterpiece" ,that person means it's his best ever. You can't have three masterpieces!


A masterpiece is a masterly work by a master, and there can easily be more than one. It is not a singular superlative, like "Best" or "Favorite" - which are more than frequently inaccurately used.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

PetrB said:


> A masterpiece is a masterly work by a master, and there can easily be more than one. It is not a singular superlative, like "Best" or "Favorite" - which are more than frequently inaccurately used.


This is now becoming tiresome,what will you reply in the case of being asked for Beethoven's masterpiece ?
"Well now I have five or six here".
That cannot be and makes no sense,but don't feel obliged to answer because this my last on this ridiculous point.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

moody said:


> This is now becoming tiresome,what will you reply in the case of being asked for Beethoven's masterpiece ?
> "Well now I have five or six here".
> That cannot be and makes no sense,but don't feel obliged to answer because this my last on this ridiculous point.


You are both right. It is both. See for example the Wikipedia entry for masterpiece where it says: "In modern times it is used for *an exceptionally good piece of creative work*[2] or *the best piece of work of a particular artist or craftsman*.[3]"


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

tyroneslothrop said:


> You are both right. It is both. See for example the Wikipedia entry for masterpiece where it says: "In modern times it is used for *an exceptionally good piece of creative work*[2] or *the best piece of work of a particular artist or craftsman*.[3]"


Thank you for finally clearing that up. As further evidence I submit the OED's definition of masterpiece: http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/masterpiece?q=masterpiece

I would submit as another beglected masterpiece by Korngold, _Das Wunder der Heliane_. A rather ludicrous plot (though one with an at least admirable message (beauty will save us)), and some really powerful music. The highlight is the gorgeous aria for soprano in act II.

I only recently discovered this opera, and indeed, all of Korngold's music. He has quickly become one of my favorite opera composers. He really uses the vast orchestra common to the time period in an individual way, and especially in _Heliane_, he's able to craft scenes that seem to transport you to another place. I also find that there are many operas in which a few really inspired passages are bogged down by seemingly endless longueurs (I'm looking at you, Richard (both of them actually)). Korngold can keep the movement going. I attribute the dramatic tension in Puccini's operas to both the emotional and psychological depth of the music, but also to the fact that he will keep things going, moving, until a climactic moment when he introduces repose. Korngold's operas are similarly dynamic, although they don't reach quite the heights of Puccini's. Anyway. _Heliane_ is usually described as a "post-Romantic effusion" or some such thing. To me it is a (rather silly) story beautifully told, with some real feeling. Korngold isn't afraid of his feelings like so many critics seem to be, and _Heliane_ shows all of his emotional range.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> Thank you for finally clearing that up. As further evidence I submit the OED's definition of masterpiece: http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/masterpiece?q=masterpiece
> 
> I would submit as another beglected masterpiece by Korngold, _Das Wunder der Heliane_. A rather ludicrous plot (though one with an at least admirable message (beauty will save us)), and some really powerful music. The highlight is the gorgeous aria for soprano in act II.
> 
> I only recently discovered this opera, and indeed, all of Korngold's music. He has quickly become one of my favorite opera composers. He really uses the vast orchestra common to the time period in an individual way, and especially in _Heliane_, he's able to craft scenes that seem to transport you to another place. I also find that there are many operas in which a few really inspired passages are bogged down by seemingly endless longueurs (I'm looking at you, Richard (both of them actually)). Korngold can keep the movement going. I attribute the dramatic tension in Puccini's operas to both the emotional and psychological depth of the music, but also to the fact that he will keep things going, moving, until a climactic moment when he introduces repose. Korngold's operas are similarly dynamic, although they don't reach quite the heights of Puccini's. Anyway. _Heliane_ is usually described as a "post-Romantic effusion" or some such thing. To me it is a (rather silly) story beautifully told, with some real feeling. Korngold isn't afraid of his feelings like so many critics seem to be, and _Heliane_ shows all of his emotional range.


I just ordered this a few days ago, looking forward to it all the more. Especially when it's recommended by a fellow FdW lover!


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

mamascarlatti said:


> I just ordered this a few days ago, looking forward to it all the more. Especially when it's recommended by a fellow FdW lover!


I can see why Puccini loved Korngold. I read somewhere that _Die tote Stadt_ was his favorite opera.


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## Hoffmann (Jun 10, 2013)

I think _Die Tote Stadt_ might well be the one opera listed in this thread that truly qualifies as a neglected masterpiece - using Tyronelothrop's "the best piece of work of a particular artist or craftsman" definition. I don't know _Padmavati_ by anything other than knowing of its existence, but it might also qualify.

The other operas may be really wonderful and are unquestionably neglected by very cautious opera house programmers, but Tote Stadt is way better than its occasional performances would indicate. I saw an outstanding student production at Catholic University 10 or 12 years ago, and the one problem the opera has, I think, is casting the role of Paul, who needs to be a heldentenor with the ability to sing a tough role and the stamina to be on stage nearly every minute of the opera.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

"Die Tote Stadt" is not altogether neglected, has had a fair number of productions in recent years ,and the New York City opera's production ,dating back to I believe the 1970s, was critically acclaimed .


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

I was thinking of Schubert's _Sakontala_ ! Perhaps not a Masterpiece next to other fabulous operas, but nevertheless very touching for me. 
_Elena_ by Cavalli has not been staged since the 1650s and is being revived in the South of France at the moment. I listened to the Overture, so far it's marvelous!

Liszt also wrote a relatively unsuccessful opera called _Don Sanche_, an opera in French, recorded and published once by the Hungaroton.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Pantheon said:


> I was thinking of Schubert's _Sakontala_ ! Perhaps not a Masterpiece next to other fabulous operas, but nevertheless very touching for me.
> _Elena_ by Cavalli has not been staged since the 1650s and is being revived in the South of France at the moment. I listened to the Overture, so far it's marvelous!
> 
> Liszt also wrote a relatively unsuccessful opera called _Don Sanche_, an opera in French, recorded and published once by the Hungaroton.


I see nothing about this opera by Liszt in the wiki article. Have you read the libretto? Do you know what it's about? I mean, it sounds kind of interesting - Don Sanche is kind of a cross between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza! Or could be, I suppose.


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

I did a bit of research, and here is a little sneak-peak!






As for a synopsis and wikipedia article, check here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Sanche

I have not read the libretto entirely I'm afraid. My discovery of Don Sanche is quite recent !

I hope you like it!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Thanks, I do like it. It's not at all what I imagined, which is usually good. I appreciate you looking into it a bit further - should have occurred to me to just search on the opera name, instead of stopping with the Liszt article!


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

It's my pleasure! I'm also very interested! I wish I could get a copy, but it's quite expensive as it's the only recording - ever.


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Don't know if it has been mentioned already but Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex is perfection, and almost criminally under-performed.

I also have yet to see a production of Bluebeard's Castle, another favourite of mine.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Jobis said:


> Don't know if it has been mentioned already but Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex is perfection, and almost criminally under-performed.
> 
> I also have yet to see a production of Bluebeard's Castle, another favourite of mine.


Thanks so much! I don't think anyone DID mention them. They're going on the list!


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

Jobis said:


> Don't know if it has been mentioned already but Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex is perfection, and almost criminally under-performed.
> 
> I also have yet to see a production of Bluebeard's Castle, another favourite of mine.


Oedipus Rex is wonderful I must admit. However which "Bluebeard's Castle"?
The one by Bartok or Dukas (_Ariane et Barbe-bleue_)? Any case they are both great! Especially Bartok's!


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Pantheon said:


> Oedipus Rex is wonderful I must admit. However which "Bluebeard's Castle"?
> The one by Bartok or Dukas (_Ariane et Barbe-bleue_)? Any case they are both great! Especially Bartok's!


I had Bartok's in mind, didn't realise there was another opera of the same subject!


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

Jobis said:


> I had Bartok's in mind, didn't realise there was another opera of the same subject!


In that case, read this! It may interest you  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_et_Barbe-bleue
Being of Hungarian origin, I naturally relate better to Bartok's, but it's interesting to have many interpretations in mind.
I came across this work in the library - there are French back issues of "Avant-scène" which compiles librettos, analyses and background knowledge of selected operas. They decided to do a double-decker with both Bartok's and Dukas' work.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Pantheon said:


> In that case, read this! It may interest you  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_et_Barbe-bleue
> Being of Hungarian origin, I naturally relate better to Bartok's, but it's interesting to have many interpretations in mind.
> I came across this work in the library - there are French back issues of "Avant-scène" which compiles librettos, analyses and background knowledge of selected operas. They decided to do a double-decker with both Bartok's and Dukas' work.


There is also a newish DVD.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> Thanks so much! I don't think anyone DID mention them. They're going on the list!


These are both tremendous scores, the Stravinsky monumental, the Bartok arguably one of his most lush pieces.
Stravinsky ~ Oedipus Rex





Bartok ~ Bluebeard's Castle, here, the first of a handful of links to a complete performance, Sir Gyorg Solti, conducting.


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Brahms - Theme and variations upon a theme of Schumann, Op. 9

Such a beautiful work which is rarely performed, if _ever_.


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

PetrB said:


> These are both tremendous scores, the Stravinsky monumental, the Bartok arguably one of his most lush pieces.
> Stravinsky ~ Oedipus Rex
> 
> 
> ...


I've actually only ever listened to recordings of Bluebeard's castle with a rough idea of the 'plot' so it'll be interesting to hear and see it altogether, lyrics and all! Thank you.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Hope you don't mind, Greg, but I've changed the title of the thread so that those strange people who don't like opera don't feel tempted to post instrumental-only masterpieces.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Hope you don't mind, Greg, but I've changed the title of the thread so that those strange people who don't like opera don't feel tempted to post instrumental-only masterpieces.


They do seem to wander in and start scribbling, don't they ...


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

A Village Romeo and Juliet which is ranked 646 on Operabase.com:


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

tyroneslothrop said:


> A Village Romeo and Juliet which is ranked 646 on Operabase.com:
> View attachment 19946


Checked out the wiki article - boy it's baritone heavy isn't it? And with characters like "The Dark Fiddler" and "The Gingerbread Woman" I'm predisposed to like it ...


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> Checked out the wiki article - boy it's baritone heavy isn't it? And with characters like "The Dark Fiddler" and "The Gingerbread Woman" I'm predisposed to like it ...


I warn you to not watch the Weigl movie. I find it grotesque _(from a lip-synching perspective--the most outlandish and impossible voices come out of the various movie actors)_. This is one opera where the only acceptable versions (for myself at least) are all CDs.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

tyroneslothrop said:


> I warn you to not watch the Weigl movie. I find it grotesque _(from a lip-synching perspective--the most outlandish and impossible voices come out of the various movie actors)_. This is one opera where the only acceptable versions (for myself at least) are all CDs.


I consider myself warned!


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> I consider myself warned!


For example, Vreli is a 7 yo girl in the movie with an adult soprano voice. Not joking.


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## Hoffmann (Jun 10, 2013)

I've never even heard of _A Village Romeo and Juliet_! It may be neglected on purpose:devil:


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## Hoffmann (Jun 10, 2013)

I went back and reviewed all of the thread entries and there is an obvious neglected master: Rossini.

I think Rossini may be some kind of a genius and largely unappreciated - Rossini wrote 39 operas of which about 4 receive regular performances (Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, Il Turco in Italia, L'italiana in Algeri). While many of his other operas are masterpieces by any definition, Semiramide surely deserves a more regular place in the repertory - as does La Donna del Lago, Guillaume Tell, Tancredi and maybe others.

Keeping in mind that neglected does not mean 'never' some of these might have been done somewhere in the world in recent years - I know that ROH just performed a killer La Donna del Lago, Santa Fe did Maometto II a year or two ago and the Met did Le Comte Ory. But, there are a lot of the same operas done in numerous opera houses around the world in the same year. It's true, of course, that there aren't that many singers who can handle the tessitura in Rossini operas, resulting in the operas falling by the wayside.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

Hoffmann said:


> I've never even heard of _A Village Romeo and Juliet_! It may be neglected on purpose:devil:


You should try it out! You might like it!


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

Hoffmann said:


> I went back and reviewed all of the thread entries and there is an obvious neglected master: Rossini.
> 
> I think Rossini may be some kind of a genius and largely unappreciated - Rossini wrote 39 operas of which about 4 receive regular performances (Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, Il Turco in Italia, L'italiana in Algeri). While many of his other operas are masterpieces by any definition, Semiramide surely deserves a more regular place in the repertory - as does La Donna del Lago, Guillaume Tell, Tancredi and maybe others.
> 
> ...


But don't you think Rossini recycled a lot of his music and there were a bunch of duds? Some of my most disliked operas are Rossini pieces, like _Mosè in Egitto_.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

This is really good! Too bad they don't perform it more often...


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

Celloman said:


> This is really good! Too bad they don't perform it more often...


I'm seeing this live at the Met on October 19th! I'm seeing this live at the Met on October 19th!

(I just had to say that :lol


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

tyroneslothrop said:


> I'm seeing this live at the Met on October 19th! I'm seeing this live at the Met on October 19th!
> 
> (I just had to say that :lol


Cast please!

And see, we could have had this in Live in HD instead of (yawn) another Cenerentola


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Cast please!
> 
> And see, we could have had this in Live in HD instead of (yawn) another Cenerentola


Conductor: James Conlon
Oberon: Iestyn Davies, countertenor
Tytania: Kathleen Kim, soprano (lyric coloratura)
Lysander: Joseph Kaiser, tenor
Demetrius: Michael Todd Simpson, baritone
Hermia: Elizabeth DeShong, mezzo-soprano
Helena: Erin Wall, soprano
Bottom: Matthew Rose, bass

Well, lost amid the Verdi 200 and Wagner 200 celebrations is the Britten 100. So this performance is part of that.

What is personally surprising to me is less that _A Midsummer's Night Dream_ won't be on Live in HD, than the fact that the Met's own commission, _Two Boys_, won't be on Live in HD for 13-14. I mean, the Met paid for the latter to be composed!


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Hoffmann said:


> It's true, of course, that there aren't that many singers who can handle the tessitura in Rossini operas, resulting in the operas falling by the wayside.


I'd say there are a lot of excellent Rossinians these days, and big names at that. However, Rossini isn't _cool_ to name-drop. You hardly ever see anybody professing unabashed love for the man. His stuff is rarely dark and almost never brooding, which tends to be viewed with suspicion (a bit too light-hearted to be taken seriously, unlike "cousins" Bellini and Donizetti, who saved their hides with their tragic heroines). It's true that he recycled a lot of his own music and wrote duds, but who wouldn't, if they premiered 1-2 operas every year for over a decade, while running theatres and other ventures at the same time? And he only recycled his good tunes


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

tyroneslothrop said:


> Conductor: James Conlon
> Oberon: Iestyn Davies, countertenor
> Tytania: Kathleen Kim, soprano (lyric coloratura)
> Lysander: Joseph Kaiser, tenor
> ...


Wow what a great cast - Davies, Kim, Kaiser, DeShong, Rose. Now I'm REALLY peeved at lack of HD.


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## rborganist (Jan 29, 2013)

Richard Strauss's Capriccio and Arabella are done very seldom, and they do not require staggeringly huge casts (unlike Der Rosenkavalier which somehow gets staged quite often) or Die Frau Ohne Schatten (which also requires quite a large cast and gets staged more often that Arabella or Capriccio. Verdi's Nabucco is only staged occasionally, but that is probably because of the difficulty of finding a soprano who can survive the demands of the role of Abiaille; it has ended the career of many a soprano who sang it too early or too often. I aggree with La Fanciulla del West and would add Il Trittico (Gianni Schicchi, Il Tabarro, and Suor Angelica) and La Rondine to the list. And, if you can find two coloratura sopranos who enjoy playing off each other, Mozart's Del Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) is a lot of fun. Pair it with a couple of other one act operas such as Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona and Poulenc's La Voix Humaine (which only require one singer) and even Menotti's The Telephone.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I can't agree that Nabucco is staged rarely - Even in the last year there has been a production at la Scala with Nucci, transferred to the ROH with Domingo - saw them on YouTube - the Domingo one is still available:


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

So thanks to this thread I've listened to Il Pirata.
I'm unimpressed actually, I enjoyed I Capuleti e Montecchi and La sonnambula much more (the latter is actually my favorite Bellini opera).



deggial said:


> I'd say there are a lot of excellent Rossinians these days, and big names at that. *However, Rossini isn't cool to name-drop. You hardly ever see anybody professing unabashed love for the man.* His stuff is rarely dark and almost never brooding, which tends to be viewed with suspicion (a bit too light-hearted to be taken seriously, unlike "cousins" Bellini and Donizetti, who saved their hides with their tragic heroines). It's true that he recycled a lot of his own music and wrote duds, but who wouldn't, if they premiered 1-2 operas every year for over a decade, while running theatres and other ventures at the same time? And he only recycled his good tunes


Really?
He is one of the the most performed opera composer.

Personally I prefer him over Mozart.


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## msegers (Oct 17, 2008)

I wonder if I dare say this, but here goes: something by Meyerbeer. Earlier this year, there was a revision of _L'Africaine_, which, since there is no African woman in the opera, was renamed_ Vasco da Gama_, Meyerbeer's working title.

Dame Joan Sutherland chose _Les Huguenots_ for her final performance, and Deutsche Oper Berlin pulled off a vaguely 20th-century-ish production which used to be on Youtube. Despite a beach ball, it came across better than I had expected.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

A few more names of operas that should be performed more (because good) but are actually (almost) forgotten:

Mercadante: Il bravo (even better than his Il giuramento IMO)
Catalani: La falce
Boito: Nerone (the true masterpiece Boito left behind in the music field)
Busoni: Arlecchino ovvero le finestre (such a bitter irony)
G.F. Malipiero: Filomena e l'infatuato (I like the operas he wrote in the 1920s)
Porrino: Gli Orazi


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## msegers (Oct 17, 2008)

Many of Giacomo Meyerbeer's works would fit here. His _Dinorah_ is quite a charmer, although there are only a couple of audio recordings and only one DVD, which has become my favorite opera DVD. There is one aria, "The Shadow Song," in which the soprano sings a duet with herself (her shadow), that has been recorded by almost all the great sopranos, but the rest of the charming opera is almost unknown. Here is "The Shadow Song" from the DVD: 



.

Another neglected opera (only four performances ever at the Met, no professional DVD) is _La Wally_ by Alfredo Catalan. It also is known for a single aria, "_Ebben? ne andro lontana_," which has been recorded by quite a list of great sopranos and was featured in two films, _Diva_ and _A Single Man_. I found it only because someone who posts on Youtube rather rare operas with English subtitles posted it recently: 



. I am amazed that this is so neglected. It is full of wonderful music for voice and for orchestra alike.

Oops... I see that last year I posted a comment about Meyerbeer here. Oh, well, anything to spread the word about that neglected composer.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Well, Wagners big 10 are never in neglect, so I'm ok.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Bardamu said:


> Really?
> He is one of the the most performed opera composer.


I was agreeing with Hoffmann that it's the same few operas all the time whereas there's more to choose from.


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## Zandonai (Mar 31, 2014)

Francesca da Rimini by Zandonai (hence my call sign). Huge and seldom performed. The Met did it once, with Domingo singing like God. Difficult to track down. I have it on CD AND DVD.

I particularly love the old recording with Ruggiero Bondini. Almost impossible to find. Bondini was wonderful in this but seems to have done little else.

Zandonai


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> Thank you for finally clearing that up. As further evidence I submit the OED's definition of masterpiece: http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/masterpiece?q=masterpiece
> 
> I would submit as another beglected masterpiece by Korngold, _Das Wunder der Heliane_. A rather ludicrous plot (though one with an at least admirable message (beauty will save us)), and some really powerful music. The highlight is the gorgeous aria for soprano in act II.
> 
> I only recently discovered this opera, and indeed, all of Korngold's music. He has quickly become one of my favorite opera composers. He really uses the vast orchestra common to the time period in an individual way, and especially in _Heliane_, he's able to craft scenes that seem to transport you to another place. I also find that there are many operas in which a few really inspired passages are bogged down by seemingly endless longueurs (I'm looking at you, Richard (both of them actually)). Korngold can keep the movement going. I attribute the dramatic tension in Puccini's operas to both the emotional and psychological depth of the music, but also to the fact that he will keep things going, moving, until a climactic moment when he introduces repose. Korngold's operas are similarly dynamic, although they don't reach quite the heights of Puccini's. Anyway. _Heliane_ is usually described as a "post-Romantic effusion" or some such thing. To me it is a (rather silly) story beautifully told, with some real feeling. Korngold isn't afraid of his feelings like so many critics seem to be, and _Heliane_ shows all of his emotional range.


I agree, this is an opera, and Korngold is a composer, worthy of much more attention. Even _Die Tote __Stadt_ is neglected, but _Das Wunder der Heliane_ was completely unknown to me for most of my life. I'm glad I chanced upon the one available recording, which is quite good. Renee Fleming sings this aria beautifully in your clip, but I'd urge everyone to hear as well the old recording of "Ich ging zu ihm" by Lotte Lehmann, the greatest early performer of the role of Heliane, also on YouTube and accompanied by the text with translation. Even without benefit of modern sound, her singing is transcendental.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> I agree, this is an opera, and Korngold is a composer, worthy of much more attention. Even _Die Tote __Stadt_ is neglected, but _Das Wunder der Heliane_ was completely unknown to me for most of my life. I'm glad I chanced upon the one available recording, which is quite good. Renee Fleming sings this aria beautifully in your clip, but I'd urge everyone to hear as well the old recording of "Ich ging zu ihm" by Lotte Lehmann, the greatest early performer of the role of Heliane, also on YouTube and accompanied by the text with translation. Even without benefit of modern sound, her singing is transcendental.


--
Breathtaking. Thanks.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

deggial said:


> I'd say there are a lot of excellent Rossinians these days, and big names at that. However, Rossini isn't _cool_ to name-drop. You hardly ever see anybody professing unabashed love for the man. His stuff is rarely dark and almost never brooding, which tends to be viewed with suspicion (a bit too light-hearted to be taken seriously, unlike "cousins" Bellini and Donizetti, who saved their hides with their tragic heroines). It's true that he recycled a lot of his own music and wrote duds, but who wouldn't, if they premiered 1-2 operas every year for over a decade, while running theatres and other ventures at the same time? And he only recycled his good tunes


I know it's a super late reply, but the thread seems to have been resuscitated, and it's pertinent to the thread as a whole... 

Sure he's light-hearted, but no more so than Mozart. All of Mozart's most famous operas are comedies. I will take up your challenge, though: I adore Rossini. The man wrote tuneful, interesting music, and was a master of the opera house for years. He earned even Wagner's respect, which is a pretty tall order. And on the subject of neglected masterpieces, his _Guillaume Tell_ (which may already have been mentioned earlier) is universally known but almost never performed. But it is astounding. It far outpaces anything done up to that point, and I mean anything. It is a work of the highest genius. And it was an inspiration for almost all future composers of Grand Opera, including Wagner, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Donizetti, and Puccini; I can think of no higher recommendation.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

HumphreyAppleby said:


> I know it's a super late reply, but the thread seems to have been resuscitated, and it's pertinent to the thread as a whole...
> 
> Sure he's light-hearted, but no more so than Mozart. All of Mozart's most famous operas are comedies. I will take up your challenge, though: I adore Rossini. The man wrote tuneful, interesting music, and was a master of the opera house for years. He earned even Wagner's respect, which is a pretty tall order. And on the subject of neglected masterpieces, his [I*]Guillaume Tell[/I] (which may already have been mentioned earlier) is universally known but almost never performed. But it is astounding.* It far outpaces anything done up to that point, and I mean anything. It is a work of the highest genius. And it was an inspiration for almost all future composers of Grand Opera, including Wagner, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Donizetti, and Puccini; I can think of no higher recommendation.


Its a magnificent masterpiece.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

I think Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride should definitely be in the list.


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## BaronScarpia (Apr 2, 2014)

Anything by Poulenc or Ravel - two utterly fabulous composers. Poulenc's are especially under-performed.


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## crimbo (Feb 1, 2014)

Malipiero - Sette canzoni. No recordings I think.


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## BaronScarpia (Apr 2, 2014)

[B said:


> crimbo[/B]
> 
> crimbo;652517]Malipiero - Sette canzoni. No recordings I think.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Malipiero-L...UTF8&qid=1398965527&sr=8-2&keywords=l'orfeide

Voilà!

Thinking about it, there are a couple more operas I'd like to see recorded in full:

Orlandini's Berenice
Keiser's Fredegunda
Porta's Ifigenia in Aulide

These three operas were basically unknown until about 2011, when Joyce DiDonato and Alan Curtis started creating her album Drama Queens. Fredegunda and Ifigenia were catalogued, but the existence of Berenice was not known. It must have been so exciting to be the first person to see the manuscript in hundreds of years!


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Sadko deserves more love. It's essentially a "Road movie" without Bing and Bob on a camel.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

After reading thru this thread, imho, only 1 opera qualifies.
The towering masterpiece William Tell.
This magnificent, melody packed beauty should be standard anywhere possible.


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## Revenant (Aug 27, 2013)

Itullian said:


> After reading thru this thread, imho, only 1 opera qualifies.
> The towering masterpiece William Tell.
> This magnificent, melody packed beauty should be standard anywhere possible.


Possible is the operative term here, Itullian. Not an easy opera to stage successfully, it seems. And the tenor part is a killer.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Couac Addict said:


> Sadko deserves more love. It's essentially a "Road movie" without* Bing and Bob on a camel*.




Will give it some love today!


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Revenant said:


> Possible is the operative term here, Itullian. Not an easy opera to stage successfully, it seems. And the tenor part is a killer.


Agreed, take out the high notes maybe?
And scale the production back a little.
The music is so great.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

sospiro said:


> Will give it some love today!


After your Verdi :lol:


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Itullian said:


> After your Verdi :lol:




Actually not after but during the Verdi. I like to intersperse my Verdi listening/watching with something different along the way.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

How bout Hansel and Gretel?
Masterpiece? Under performed?


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Itullian said:


> How bout Hansel and Gretel?
> Masterpiece? Under performed?


I have seen two performances of it over the past few years. The Met HD and a performance staged by the Virginia Opera.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Menotti the Last Savage.*

In another thread I mentioned Menotti's _The Last Savage_.

http://www.talkclassical.com/28522-underrated-little-know-operas-2.html#post541954


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## msegers (Oct 17, 2008)

Zandonai said:


> Francesca da Rimini by Zandonai (hence my call sign). Huge and seldom performed. The Met did it once, with Domingo singing like God. Difficult to track down. I have it on CD AND DVD.
> 
> I particularly love the old recording with Ruggiero Bondini. Almost impossible to find. Bondini was wonderful in this but seems to have done little else.
> 
> Zandonai


A 2013 Met production is available on Youtube in three parts, the first one at -


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Revenant said:


> Possible is the operative term here, Itullian. Not an easy opera to stage successfully, it seems. And the tenor part is a killer.


Especially if Jemmy doesn't _sois immobile_.


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## crimbo (Feb 1, 2014)

d'Indy - Fervaal


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## Revenant (Aug 27, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> Especially if Jemmy doesn't _sois immobile_.


Good one! The crossbow archer is the baritone, but well played sir. As the Marschallin would say, Ha Ha Ha Ha...ha...ha ha.


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## Nervous Gentleman (Mar 15, 2014)

Gustave Flaubert's classic historical romance "Salammbô" inspired several operatic adaptations, perhaps the most notable being the rarely performed but absolutely essential adaptation by Camille du Locle with music by Ernest Reyer (composer of "Sigurd"). The opera, one of the grandest of French grand operas, successfully interweaves passages of savage ferocity (suggestive of the horrific violence unflinchingly depicted by Flaubert in detailing the Carthaginian war against barbarian mercenaries) and moments of lush, romantic exoticism. Salammbô is the nubile, eroticially-charged, python-adoring daughter of Hamilcar, a Carthaginian strongman, who selflessly makes use of her ample physical charms to wrest from barbarian control the sacred Zaimph, the divinely-wrought veil of the Punic goddess Tanit. The opera's centerpiece, that of Salammbô's dolling herself up and then discreetly visiting in his private tent the leader of the marauding mercenaries, Matho, is reminiscent of the story of Judith and Holofernes; only in this version the self-sacrificing Carthaginian maiden and disciple of Tanit falls hopelessly in love with her ravisher and refrains from seizing the opportunity afforded by their private rendezvous and cutting him down. While the libretto roughly follows the structure of the original novel (excluding the lengthy and remarkably detailed and vivid recreations of the successive battles and hardships), it adds the archetypal tragic ending in which the triumphant Salammbô opts to plunge a sword into her own bosom rather than strike down her imprisoned lover, the last of the defeated mercenaries.
As in the case of many once celebrated but now unjustly neglected operas, there has never been a commercial recording made available of this exciting and enthralling masterpiece. There is, however, a radio broadcast in circulation among private collectors and grey market dealers of a superb and largely unexpurgated semi-staged performance in Marseilles from 2008, featuring the striking and husky-toned American mezzo Kate Aldrich, whose breathless and emotive delivery is just right for the role. 
As this opera is not available commercially and it is difficult to locate a bootleg (nor do I wish to encourage anyone to patronize the grey market dealers, who tend to be unscrupulous crooks), I have uploaded to YouTube the entire 2008 performance referred to above. This recording is believed to be in the public domain.

French-English libretto:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/114893


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## Signor Crescendo (May 8, 2014)

Meyerbeer! Where to start?

A few years ago, I saw the DVD of the Joan Sutherland _Huguenots_. By the end of the first act, I was asking why on earth it was supposed to be so bad; and by the fifth act, I'd vowed to track down all of Meyerbeer's operas. He has the dramatic power and characterisation of Verdi, the warmth and grace of Mozart, the verve of Rossini, and as much to say as Wagner. The key difference, I'd hazard, is that Wagner's attitude is introverted, whereas Meyerbeer is an extrovert. Wagner is concerned with Schopenhauerian metaphysics, the renunciation of the world (_Parsifal_), and the individual's interior world of emotion (_Tristan_). Meyerbeer is a humanist, concerned with the problems of history and society, with bigotry, fanaticism, power politics, imperialism, and with how people can rise above categorical thinking (class, creed, race) to recognise the humanity of others and live in harmony.

_Les Huguenots_, _Le prophète_, and _Vasco da Gama_ are all stunning works, and should be mainstays of the genre. _Robert_ is the weakest of the mature operas; it feels close to Auber's _Muette_ or Rossini. _Dinorah_ is a charming pastoral, and _L'étoile du nord_ is a delightful Russian opéra comique. Of the Italian operas, _Il crociato in Egitto_ and _Margherita d'Anjou_ (with a splendid Act I finale, and a trio developing into a sextet in Act II) are the two best.

_Sigurd_ (Reyer). 
@Nervous Gentleman: Thank you! I've been wanting to hear _Salammbô_ for ages.

_Straszny dwór_ (Moniuszko): Extremely tuneful Polish comic opera; has several excellent ensembles, a beautiful bass aria, and a mazurka. Check these out: 



 and 





_Benvenuto Cellini_ (Berlioz): I much prefer it to _Les Troyens_, which, despite many superb passages (the Octet "Châtiment effroyable", the Royal Hunt & Storm), is also very static (the Carthage section) and consistently high-minded, so becomes monotonous. _Cellini _, on the other hand, is Romantic (in the Victor Hugo sense), full of couleur locale and blending the grotesque with the sublime; it's a big opera, with characters from different social classes, and a wide range of moods. Above all, it's full of vitality.

Massenet's _Esclarmonde_ - if there are singers who can sing it! It has one of my favourite moments in opera, the electrifying invocation scene: "Esprits de l'air, esprits de l'onde!"

There are a lot of Russian operas which simply aren't done in the West: Glinka (_Ruslan_, _A Life for the Tsar_), Rimsky-Korsakoff (_Sadko_, _The Invisible City of Kitezh_). And many of the earlier French and German works have fallen out of the repertoire: Grétry's Richard _Coeur-de-lion_, Boieldieu's _La dame blanche_, with its very fine Act II finale ("Ah! Quel bonheur!"),
Hérold's _Zampa _and _Le pré aux clercs_, Marschner, Spontini, Nicolai's _Lustigen Weiber von Windsor_, Lortzing.

I'd also like to hear more of Halévy. _La juive_ is excellent (the Act III anathema finale is superb - and one R. Wagner was listening...), but what are _La reine de Chypre_ (admired by Wagner), _Guido et Ginevra_, _Le juif errant_, and _Les mousquetaires de la reine_ like?


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Stuck between Donizetti and Bellini's reigns, Mercadante raising popularity and Verdi's ascension La marescialla d'Ancrè is an obscure opera by Alessandro Nini, first staged in 1839 in Padua.
I've heard the story isn't that good but to me it is a great pleasure to listen.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Itullian said:


> How bout Hansel and Gretel?
> Masterpiece? Under performed?


neither, as per my humble opinion. However, thank you to whoever it was in the nasty scenes thread that signaled Hindemith's _Sancta Susanna_ - now that was a revelation. Really great stuff in 25min!


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## Rangstrom (Sep 24, 2010)

Leoncavallo's I Medici (in the DGG/Domingo recording) is lusher and more expansive than I expected. Maybe not a masterpiece, but certainly worth spending some time with.

As a side note: I've yet to be disappointed with any Opera Rara recording that I've purchased.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Anton Rubinstein: Demon 1871*

A masterpiece indeed, forgotten in the West, but not in Russia:










complete with English subtitles




with Georg Ots, one of the best Estonian baritons

Wonderful reflective arias, choir scenes and a libretto based on a poem of Lermontov.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Itullian said:


> How bout Hansel and Gretel?
> Masterpiece? Under performed?


Hansel and Gretel is one of the most performed operas in the world.

My suggestions are: 
The Love of Three Kings by Italo Montemezzi,
Iris by Pietro Mascagni 
Der Freischütz and Euryanthe by Carl Maria von Weber.

Der Freischütz is one of the most beautiful operas ever full with beautiful and exciting music and also with an exciting plot. No dull moment at all. It is difficult to see why it is not performed more often.


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## Danforth (May 12, 2013)

Othmar Schoeck's _Penthesilea_


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## Nervous Gentleman (Mar 15, 2014)

Sloe said:


> Hansel and Gretel is one of the most performed operas in the world.
> 
> My suggestions are:
> The Love of Three Kings by Italo Montemezzi,
> ...


I don't think any of these could be said to have been "neglected." There are multiple recordings of all of these operas. Why even yesterday afternoon I was listening to an English-language live performance from the 1950s of "The Love of Three Kings." A better candidate for Montemezzi would be "La Nave" after a play by the brilliant Italian nationalist writer Gabriele d'Annunzio. There was a fantastic production of this a couple of years ago in New York of which there is an excellent bootleg in circulation. Other than this, I do not know of any other recording. Then there is his "Giovanni Gallurese," a few excerpts of which are preserved in an RAI recording from 1971.

Of course, who is to say whether a particular opera is a "masterpiece" or not? But there are certainly many fine operas of which only fragments have ever been recorded or which have never been recorded at all. I can think of quite a few operas that I am very fond of and which I know only from piano/vocal reductions.

Likewise, there are multiple recordings available of "Der Freischütz." No doubt the reason that it is so infrequently performed outside of German-speaking countries is that it contains a large amount of spoken dialogue (that said, I also have an English version of this opera from 1961 which, strange to report, I was also listening to yesterday afternoon!  Really, what are the odds?! If anyone would like to hear this, let me know. It has never been commercially available and is believed to be in the public domain).


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Nervous Gentleman said:


> I don't think any of these could be said to have been "neglected." There are multiple recordings of all of these operas. Why even yesterday afternoon I was listening to an English-language live performance from the 1950s of "The Love of Three Kings." A better candidate for Montemezzi would be "La Nave" after a play by the brilliant Italian nationalist writer Gabriele d'Annunzio. There was a fantastic production of this a couple of years ago in New York of which there is an excellent bootleg in circulation. Other than this, I do not know of any other recording. Then there is his "Giovanni Gallurese," a few excerpts of which are preserved in an RAI recording from 1971.
> 
> Of course, who is to say whether a particular opera is a "masterpiece" or not? But there are certainly many fine operas of which only fragments have ever been recorded or which have never been recorded at all. I can think of quite a few operas that I am very fond of and which I know only from piano/vocal reductions.
> 
> Likewise, there are multiple recordings available of "Der Freischütz." No doubt the reason that it is so infrequently performed outside of German-speaking countries is that it contains a large amount of spoken dialogue (that said, I also have an English version of this opera from 1961 which, strange to report, I was also listening to yesterday afternoon!  Really, what are the odds?! If anyone would like to hear this, let me know. It has never been commercially available and is believed to be in the public domain).


Of course you can put things in different perspective. Is it neglected because it was performed a lot 50 or 100 years ago but not during the last 50 years? In some way you are right. The operas I mentioned are still very seldom performed anywhere and I would say they are as neglected or as appreciated as Il Pirata the original posters suggestion. There are many operas that are neglected. People have also in this thread suggested La Fanciulla del west, La Juive and Willhelm Tell operas that are all more performed than the three I suggested.

Der Freischütz is another thing it is the 52:th most performed opera in the world in that case you would say and me too that it is not neglected the thing is it is an opera I love.
An opera with large spoken parts is The Magic Flute and that is one of the most performed operas in the world that every living person knows about so I don´t think that has to do with it. And even if it is in German there are subtitles. And I think most people that speak languages that are related to German can understand sentences like eine Freikugel ot meine Ureltervater.

And my opinion about a masterpiece if it is that good that you listen to it several times for several days then it is a masterpiece.

And thank you for Salammbo.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Nervous Gentleman said:


> I don't think any of these could be said to have been "neglected." There are multiple recordings of all of these operas.


Of course there are more obscure operas and some are in desperate need of a good recording (for example Mascagni's Parisina) however , despite how popular they were before WW2, nowadays Iris and L'amore dei tre re are rarely performed and that's a pity.
They are neglected in the sense they should be more often performed (and hopefully with better casts).


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Bardamu said:


> Of course there are more obscure operas and some are in desperate need of a good recording (for example Mascagni's Parisina) however , despite how popular they were before WW2, nowadays Iris and L'amore dei tre re are rarely performed and that's a pity.
> They are neglected in the sense they should be more often performed (and hopefully with better casts).


Parisina is also a good example.


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## Svelte Silhouette (Nov 7, 2013)

Der Freischütz got me as it is lovely but oddly rarely performed and I've no idea why


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## Roi N (Oct 22, 2013)

The king of neglected opera works is Haydn. The man has 13 operas (if I'm not mistaken), and really good ones. The Two that stand out are _Il Mondo Della Luna_ and _L'anima Del Filosofo (Orfeo and Euricide)_. These two operas are completely different - one is a comedy (and a rather bizzare one as that) and the other is one of the best tragedies in existance.
The music in _Il Mondo Della Luna_ is great - the overture is probably his best overture (it is also the first movement of his 63rd symphony), and Buonafede's aria "Che mondo amabile" is a must for any opera lover.
_L'anima Del Filosofo_ is by far his best opera. From the forbidding tones of "Ferma il piede", "Urli orrendi disperati!" and the finale, through the beauty and grace of "Cara speme", "Come il foco allo spendore" and "Chi spera a no spera" and the sheer power of "Mai non fia inulto" and "Al tuo seno fortunato", this opera is truly one of the finest to be composed. It also has great choruses throughout (as required in a greek tragedy) - "O poter dell'armonia", "Finche circola il vigore" and "La giustizia la regina" to name but a few.
Haydn's operas have always been neglected, for a reason unknown to me. They are pillars in the entire acheivements of music, no less.


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## Cantabile (May 24, 2014)

Haydn is indeed the king of neglected operas!!! I have been very curious about the Haydn operas- a friend of mine studied them decades ago as an undergrad in music history and really liked them. I hadn't even known Haydn had written any, so was quite surprised. They are still neglected as ever, it seems. Anyone ever seen one on stage?


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## Cantabile (May 24, 2014)

Schubert wrote operas! Some 16 of them. Does anyone know anything about them? Are they any good?


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Cantabile said:


> Schubert wrote operas! Some 16 of them. Does anyone know anything about them? Are they any good?


I have listened to Die Zwillingsbrüder, Alfonso und Estrella and Fierrabras and some others.
They are rather good but not among the best. The problem is that he did not have the best writers for the librettos there is nothing wrong with the music.
Die Zwillingsbrüder is a singspiel with some pleasant songs.
Alfonso und Estrella is one of the first operas in German with no speaking dialogue composed the same year as Euryanthe. It has good music the problem is that listening to it it feels like a set of different songs instead of one opera there is nothing linking them together. It is still an opera that causes ear worms. I would say Euryanthe is better both for the music and singing and that it is better linked together.

Then remember he was only 31 years old when he died.
He was born the same year as Donizetti who had he´s first big success with Anna Bolena in 1830 two years after Schuberts death that is also the earliest written among he´s more famous operas. We can only imagine what he could have done if he could have lived at least as long as Donizetti.


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## msegers (Oct 17, 2008)

Yesterday, I discovered Francesco Cilea's opera, _L'Arlesiana_, which is available at -





It is pretty much known for a single tenor aria, "The Lament of Federico." But for me there were very few minutes that didn't have me almost overwhelmed by the lushly beautiful music.

There is someone named Paul Greif who has posted a number of seriously neglected operas on Youtube, complete and with English subtitles (sometimes subtitles in other languages as well). For some of the operas, he has created his own subtitles. Among the amazing operas that I have found in his postings are _Dantons Tod _(Gottfried von Einem) and _La Wally_ (Alfredo Catalani). The video quality is not always very good, but the videos are the best, usually only videos available. Do check his page at -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCINvl6FrNmN-zIsjtIAOc7w/videos


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Indeed, the Lament of Federico (a role that was premiered by none other than Enrico Caruso) is the best known aria from _L'Arlesiana_, but there are other gems in the score. Especially one of the mother of Federico, Rosa Mammai, "Esser madre è un inferno". Though the vocal writing of Rosa Mammai is rather for a mezzo, this aria has been sung by some great sopranos like Claudia Muzio, Renata Tebaldi and Mirella Freni.






Curiously, it was not included in the original version premiered in 1897, but in a later revision.

I agree that this is an opera filled with "lushly beautiful music".


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

schigolch said:


> Indeed, the Lament of Federico (a role that was premiered by none other than Enrico Caruso) is the best known aria from _L'Arlesiana_, but there are other gems in the score. Especially one of the mother of Federico, Rosa Mammai, "Esser madre è un inferno". Though the vocal writing of Rosa Mammai is rather for a mezzo, this aria has been sung by some great sopranos like Claudia Muzio, Renata Tebaldi and Mirella Freni.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Here is Federico's lament in a performance of supreme poetry:


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## sharik (Jan 23, 2013)

*
Rimsky-Korsakov* _The Snow Maiden_










an animation movie based on the opera -


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Cavaradossi said:


> I suppose it's not on the same level of neglect as _Il Pirata,_ but I'd like to see 50% more productions of Boito's _Mefistofole_ and 50% less of Gounod's _Faust_.


You (and I) will get our wish granted next season at the Met.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

guythegreg said:


> Ah, you dreamer ... yeah Faust is kind of a guilty pleasure. As for Mefistofele, well, Sam Ramey kind of blew the roof off in that production with the San Francisco opera he did, and I hardly remember the music ... suppose I should get a copy for just listening, and see what's there, eh?


Hardly remember the music?
Oh my! Hie thee to a CD immediately. The music is totally spectacular. There is even a memorable soprano aria (L'altra notte")


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Cantabile said:


> Haydn is indeed the king of neglected operas!!! I have been very curious about the Haydn operas- a friend of mine studied them decades ago as an undergrad in music history and really liked them. I hadn't even known Haydn had written any, so was quite surprised. They are still neglected as ever, it seems. Anyone ever seen one on stage?


No; but I've been absolutely delighted by the recordings on the massive Dorati set. The operas are wonderful gems!


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

I doubt anyone mentioned Auber's Gustave III yet, I just got the CD boxset and I can't recommend it highly enough:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Has anyone heard any of Ginastera's operas? I've been looking for recordings, but haven't found anything.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

*Aarre Merikanto's* "Juha" which I'm playing right now.
Most Russian and French operas.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

While I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, Vaughan Williams'_ Sir John in Love_ deserves to be heard as much as most other Shakespearian operas.









And on the subject of Shakespearian operas, there is also Holst one act gem _At the Boar's Head_


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Any opera by Rameau has been neglected until William Christie came on the scene.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Perhaps two of these three might not actually be considered "neglected", but they are three of my favorites and, for my satisfaction, have not been given enough recorded performances from which to choose:

Monteverdi: *Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria*
Schumann: *Genoveva*
Bartok: *Bluebeard's Castle*


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I recently discovered Umberto Giordano´s Siberia from 1903.
A perfect opera full with extremely beautiful music that strikes me enormous about a girl who suffers and dies a tragic death I get years in my eyes from Stefana's death from just listening to it . But despite this it had only three productions last year of those were two concert productions. It could just as well have been 300 or 3000. Therefore I dare to call it a neglected masterpiece.











Love it.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

This one, quite popular its first 100 years has been sadly neglected in the last 50 years but for performances in Germany and small opera companies in the USA. There are no commercial videos and only a handfull of CD recordings. This video is excellent:


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Paladilhe's _Patrie_.










One of the last successful French grand opéras (1886). Subject: the Dutch Revolt against Spain. 
Arthur Pougin called it "a music full of grandeur, passion, emotion, poetry, with a superb libretto". Good article here (en français).

It's never been recorded in full. Three pieces:


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

*Ernest Reyer - La statue*

AN UNKNOWN OPERA THAT BERLIOZ, BIZET, AND MASSENET ALL PRAISED

The opera was as successful as Gounod's _Faust_, and was performed for two years. Writing in 1909, Adolphe Jullien thought that if Mme Carvalho, the first Marguerite, had sung Margyane, the work would be as popular, its tunes as well-known, as Gounod's opera. He praised its poetic charm, the grace of the melodic inspiration, the finesse and lightness of the comic scenes and the power of the dramatic ones, and the lively oriental colour of the score.

Bizet thought it the most remarkable work written in France for twenty or thirty years.

Massenet, who played the timpani in the orchestra, called it a superb score.

Berlioz considered Reyer an important composer, a musician in love with style, character and true expression. He thought that _La Statue_, like Weber's operas, was moving, the melody original, witty and natural, the harmony colourful, and the instrumentation energetic without brutality or violence.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

*Fromental Halévy*

Leader of the French school, and the opera composer whose complete works I most want to hear. Don't these whet your appetite?

_L'éclair_
An intimate work: 4 soloists, no chorus - written the year after his grand opera masterpiece, _La juive_. A hit in Paris, & performed worldwide; "its delicious score," Félix Clément wrote, "proves the suppleness of the composer's talent..." 
_Revue & gazette musicale_ called it "a musical _tour de force_..." Years later: "This is not the traditional sort of music which pleases by offering easily memorisable tunes. It is innovative, original, eminently distinguished; it is sprightly and attractive, blazing a new trail, audacious as well as graceful, knocking on the doors of the future with lively, rich, animated, powerful orchestration, one that has nothing in common with that brass band sound which has been grandiloquently described as Modern Instrumentation... Originality, richness and variety loom large from every section of the orchestra. It is a drama, a many-voiced musical comedy, radiating life and youth."
One recording, in German. Here's the tenor aria:





_Guido et Ginevra_
Historical opera, set in Renaissance Florence. 
Berlioz considered it a work of great value, with many beautiful pieces. "The score of _Guido et Ginevra_ adds a beautiful jewel to M. Halévy's crown. Placed on the borders of the Italian and German schools he worthily continues the great tradition of Méhul, Lesueur and Cherubini, revitalising it by drawing on new sources, and rising as its glorious representative."

Michael Spyres singing an aria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI_TdwHHen4;
and a duet: 





_La reine de Chypre_
Same plot as Donizetti's _Caterina Cornaro_.
Wagner and Berlioz admired it; Félix Clément considered it a rich, admirable score, with perhaps the best of all modern libretti. 
I saw it last year in Paris; even missing a tenor, it's a wonderful opera, the equal of mature Verdi.

The once-famous duet (1907): 



; (1919): 




Michael Spyres again: 





_Charles VI_
Patriotic historical opera set during the 100 Years' War.
Félix Clément: "A remarkable work that does great honour to the French school." Blanchard (_Revue & gazette musicale_) & Théophile Gautier also hailed it.
Needs a better recording than the Compiègne production; but some terrific scenes (the card duet, the procession of ghosts).









The King's mad scene: 




The Dauphin's air: 





_Les mousquetaires de la reine_
Swashbuckling opéra comique, à la Dumas.
A hit. Clément: "Without doubt the best work the maestro wrote for the Opéra-comique; all carries the mark of his exquisite sensibility and the distinction of his wit." Blanchard: "This is the most outstanding score of our time ... indisputably places the composer at the head of our French school of music."

Aria, rec. 1930: 





_Le val d'Andorre_
Pastoral opera.
Berlioz wrote that it was one of the most universal, spontaneous, and brilliant successes he'd ever seen - and he agreed with the crowd. "I can't think of many operas that furnish such a number of remarkable pieces, pieces that, what's more, have the rare happiness of being noted and appreciated at once."
_Revue et gazette musicale_: "This is the most brilliant total success ever recorded at the Opéra-Comique. It is epoch-making... It offers that rare fusion of the frolicsome and the pathetic, with a score by a great master, written with a genius's verve and a profound knowledge of the art. It is unlike any other work of his; different aims, different effects. What we find is purity, delicacy, imagination and mastery - all of which are the elements of his musical individuality."

Goatherd's aria: 





_La fée aux roses_
Another hit, this one set in magical India. Berlioz praised the "brilliant and rich score" (too rich, he wondered?). "The score," Clément wrote, "is full of delicious thoughts, suave inspirations, and ingenious details of orchestration."

_La tempesta_
Adaptation of Shakespeare. Rapturously received at its première in London; the _Daily News_ thought it its creator's masterpiece. "It is the work of a poet as well as a musician. Like all Halévy's work it is profound in thought and masterly in construction, while it is bold, free, imaginative and dramatic, with a great deal of expressive melody, set off by the most varied and elegant instrumentation."

_Le juif errant_
Monumental mythico-historical opera, set in 12th century Antwerp & the Byzantine Empire. Ends with Judgement Day.
_Revue & gazette musicale_ thought it Halévy's best work since _La juive_. Théophile Gautier believed it an important philosophical work; "_Le juif errant _is a symbol of humanity moving on in search of an ideal".

_Jaguarita l'indienne_
An opera about colonialism, set in 18th century Dutch Guyana.
Clément thought it one of Halévy's best opéra-comiques. "Invention, conscientious and elegant interpretation of the poem, new and original harmony, rich and varied instrumentation, the opera of _Jaguarita_ offers all these qualities to the highest degree... One of those operas that musicians always hear with pleasure."


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Sloe said:


> I recently discovered Umberto Giordano´s Siberia from 1903.
> A perfect opera full with extremely beautiful music that strikes me enormous about a girl who suffers and dies a tragic death I get years in my eyes from Stefana's death from just listening to it . But despite this it had only three productions last year of those were two concert productions. It could just as well have been 300 or 3000. Therefore I dare to call it a neglected masterpiece.
> 
> Love it.


Check Alfano's Risurezzione if you haven't yet, the two share a common subject and it is worthy to be listened.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Bardamu said:


> Check Alfano's Risurezzione if you haven't yet, the two share a common subject and it is worthy to be listened.


I have and it didn´t really stuck I can give it a second chance.
Speaking of Alfano I am as I know you also are very fond of La Leggenda di Sakultana:






I also like Il Dottor Antonio:


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I have listened a lot to Amilcare Ponchielli´s I Lituani.






This is an opera that is on top all the time and really is mmm. Unbeliavable it is not a warhorse.


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