# Returning to Opera after a year of wandering through other genre



## Adam Hegg (Mar 23, 2016)

Hi, 

Forgive the nature of this post, I recognize that initially it might read as a "I want to be part of the club" post (no lie: to some extent that's true) but there is something more to it. 

I fell bass over soprano for Opera a few years ago and went in hard. I think maybe a little too hard. I took a break for a couple differnt reasons. One, my family (wife, 4 and 6 year old girls) weren't super into me playing opera in the house on a day to day basis. I totally get that and I don't want my girls to hate the form, so I aquiesced and found things they did like. Then I fell for them.

I am wondering if this is something typical of us operaheads. Are we searchers? Do we tend to find things and drill down to learn as much as we can about them and immerse ourselves in them? Ultimately I have found the tendency to be rewarding. Whether I am reading far into a writer or genre or listening closely to artists, bands, ensembles and so forth I have found my experience with that rewarding. 

So here are my opera related wonderings: 

Is this 'mania' or, to put it in a more salutary light, 'focus' on this genre we love so much something that crosses into the rest of your life and do you find yourself benefiting from it in the real world? 

when you meet a citizen who finds out you like Opera and they ask something along the lines 'ew, why?' (forgive the nomenclature, I teach middle school) what do you say? I have the hardest time articulating my response. If I have a half an hour and a device with clips loaded I can make a convert but often my repsonse is no more articulate than the question posed. For some reason I feel like a 400 year tradition rich with history, revolution and invention requires more than "d'unno. s'cool."
What's your elevator answer? 

Have you ever stepped away from Opera? If so what brought you back? (for clarity I didn't leave, it was always something I enjoyed I just stopped filling all my free time with it...but the pendulum has swung back 

I realize these are newbie quesitons and that's fair because I'm sort of new...again. I just love it and love hearing from other converts why they love it.

Thanks


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

I think circumstances - location, family and work commitments - can definitely distract from an ongoing opera hobby. And yes, I think hobby is a good word in this respect.


Have you ever stepped away from Opera? 
Yes, when I moved away from convenient live opera options, and perhaps a mid-life crisis had me exploring rock etc after a long journey through opera and classical. Alas it was a phase, although I still have great respect form modern performers who aspire to create truly artful work. These days I'm firmly back in the opera and classical camp (I very much see them as one) and with so much more knowledge I understand how much there still is to be explored.

What's your elevator answer? 
Since my mid-teens I've been a capacious devourer of music (and can talk in-depth about many genres) and feel that opera is the most fulfilling for me as a listener and certainly as an attender of live events. Love the tunes, love the performances, and generally find it engrossing. Have to say that I can't separate opera from classical music in general. I go to more opera than classical (I think), but most of my home listening is the latter.


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## davidglasgow (Aug 19, 2017)

> Is this 'mania' or, to put it in a more salutary light, 'focus' on this genre we love so much something that crosses into the rest of your life and do you find yourself benefiting from it in the real world?


I believe that my interest in opera, which has long since developed into something of an obsession, probably has benefited me in the real world. I've made friends at performances, had more to talk about with friends who are interested and less directly it has broadened my interests significantly.

For me, opera is an accessible way of being introduced to different literature, different cultures and traditions which can't be a bad thing. If I can be glib and call opera my 'gateway drug' to the arts, then it would not be too far from the truth.

For instance, listening to recordings by Maria Callas as well as reading reviews, librettos etc. lead me to Classical repertoire e.g. Cherubini, Gluck, Spontini which is a bit off the beaten path. This interest meant that when I have subsequently been studying Classics at university I've already absorbed a surprising amount about Greek and Roman mythical literature introducing the characters, their motivations etc without working too hard.

Curiosity about the operas also encourages interest in other languages, history, maybe even travel and broadens your interests just for conversations and being a good reader. You might also be interested in performers' lives and the lives of composers which leads to history, sociology and philosophy too.



> when you meet a citizen who finds out you like Opera and they ask something along the lines 'ew, why?' (forgive the nomenclature, I teach middle school) what do you say? I have the hardest time articulating my response. If I have a half an hour and a device with clips loaded I can make a convert but often my repsonse is no more articulate than the question posed. For some reason I feel like a 400 year tradition rich with history, revolution and invention requires more than "d'unno. s'cool."
> What's your elevator answer?


I would have to say that opera is brilliant because it is a really complete art form - there is obviously singing but also orchestral virtuosity, often beautiful visual panoramas, perhaps dancing, it is full of drama and perhaps spoken dialogue so it touches on all the arts and perhaps has something for everyone. There is also probably an opera/ great extracts for every kind of mood you are in and whatever time you have spare. It can be thrilling with so many talented people coming together in each production or recording and you can sample their work.



> Have you ever stepped away from Opera? If so what brought you back? (for clarity I didn't leave, it was always something I enjoyed I just stopped filling all my free time with it...but the pendulum has swung back


I've never really got sick of opera but there are times that I am more aware of its potential limitations e.g. being overly dramatic, too fraught and sometimes silly: badly sung, poorly produced operas can be a drag and simply get on your nerves. At that point, if it starts seeming a bit stale, I err towards easier listening such as popular classical music, film scores etc before going back to old favourites for a re-listen... then I'm off exploring again


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Is this 'mania' or, to put it in a more salutary light, 'focus' on this genre we love so much something that crosses into the rest of your life and do you find yourself benefiting from it in the real world?

_I am in the twilight of my life and can truthfully say that opera has never ceased to enrich my life._

when you meet a citizen who finds out you like Opera and they ask something along the lines 'ew, why?' (forgive the nomenclature, I teach middle school) what do you say? I have the hardest time articulating my response. If I have a half an hour and a device with clips loaded I can make a convert but often my repsonse is no more articulate than the question posed. For some reason I feel like a 400 year tradition rich with history, revolution and invention requires more than "d'unno. s'cool."
What's your elevator answer?

_My "elevator answer" is very simple because it is honest. I say to them, "because it speaks to me in a very special way and without it I would feel a great loss."_

Have you ever stepped away from Opera? If so what brought you back? (for clarity I didn't leave, it was always something I enjoyed I just stopped filling all my free time with it...but the pendulum has swung back

_I don't really "buy" the reason that you walked away from opera was because your family didn't like it, causing you to give it up for a while. Perhaps something else was going on in your life, because all you really had to do if you couldn't bear to give it up was to get a set of earphones and listen quietly in a spot that pleases you. Win-win situation._


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

> Have you ever stepped away from Opera?


No, the older I get the more I like it, more some kind of addiction. 
( Rather this then booze or drugs. )


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## Adam Hegg (Mar 23, 2016)

you're absolutely right! I blame my family not one bit. I misspoke, forgive me. It was a convenient reason to dip away to more surface or easily digestible culture. I would never level any blame for any choice I make on my family. They are not responsible for my choices, only I am.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Adam Hegg said:


> you're absolutely right! I blame my family not one bit. I misspoke, forgive me. It was a convenient reason to dip away to more surface or easily digestible culture. I would never level any blame for any choice I make on my family. They are not responsible for my choices, only I am.


Frankly, it's not so terrible to walk away from something you've always loved -- and then go back again.
A little respite sometimes makes the return that much sweeter.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

> What's your elevator answer?


Hmmm. You know what? Four years ago I would have wondered why people liked opera. I thought they were the precendent of those greedy works called "musicals" where actors just made exposition instead of acting. Our problem is that today we *demand* works to be plausible, like they have to resemble real life no matter if we watch Spotlight or Spiderman. *I had to smash that wall* to discover a world of orchestral, vocal and sometimes theatrical enlightement. It's an endless world to discover, live or in discography. Also, a tough path because we need "spoilers" to enjoy an opera. If you don't ever try opera, please, tell me something enlightening that fills your life with curiosity. I would like to be a geek of motorbikes but I haven't even got drive license yet. So, what makes your life complete, instead?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Adam Hegg said:


> I am wondering if this is something typical of us operaheads. Are we searchers? Do we tend to find things and drill down to learn as much as we can about them and immerse ourselves in them?


I love drilling down into a particular work. Right not it is Puccini's La Fanciulla del West. I discovered it a couple months ago and now I have 3 CD sets and all 9 DVDs (7.5 watched already). Then I will move on to another but I always come back to them. My first drill down was Beethoven's Fidelio. There have been many others.

As for your listening at home, try a single earbud (there are some that combine the channels) to wear while working around the house, shopping, etc. That is what most of my listening is and then I try to do some opera on video in the late evening.


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## Adam Hegg (Mar 23, 2016)

As a former lurker on this board I knew of your drill-downs and have been envious 

I am a one-ear bud kind of guy. Though that is usually a book or podcast informing me of things to enrich my listening. That being said I spent most of today with a couple performances in my ear and enjoyed it but really couldn't wait until i could sit down with my proper headphones and bliss out.

I am a terribly anxious person and have a frustrating relationship with video. I love it in theory but can never make myself sit and watch as I do when I am in fact at the Opera House (MN Opera is my local company). That being said I am eternally grateful that so many recordings exist for me to watch and listen. 

I am trying to find my "drill down" Project. So many candidates! This weekend I have listened to Verdi's Macbeth and Rigoletto, Bizet's Carmen and the first act of the Solti Rhinegoldt. I have done 'first listens' to perhaps 50 of the 200 on the list here and have never pulled my headphones off in boredom or frustration. I'm excited to keep surveying and then digging into first a composer then a particular work. 

your encouragement helps spur me on!


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