# Favourite operas in unusual languages



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

One of most kewl things about opera is possibility to hear new, often exotic languages. Whoever limits himself to operas from few major opera countries loses a lot of pleasure.

To make safe statement, languages which I would consider usual are: *German, Italian, French and Russian*. All have their famous highlights (eg. Wagner, Verdi, Bizet, Tchaikovsky) which make them part of standard repertiore and therefore they create the list of most frequently heard languages on operatic stage.

This thread is for those who enjoy exploring operas in other languages and would like to share their experiences.

As for me:

La Vida Breve is the only opera I've heard in *Spanish*. Very nationalistic opera (no, it not glorifies Spain, it's influenced by it's traditional music) and to make it short, very good and worth of listening. There is also El Retablo de Maese Pedro but it's very short work and not really significant. Both were written (must I say this?) by Manuel de Falla.

As for *Czech*. Dvorak only know I do. Rusalka is nice, but I can't say it's masterpiece and I hope to find better music in operatic works by Janacek or Smetana which I have yet to explore. Czech language, by the way, sounds pretty funny to me. It's like all-diminutive.

*Polish* is not exotic to me, but generally it's very exotic for opera lovers. My favourite opera is King Roger by Szymanowski, a work one of a kind - indescribable. There is also guy called Stanisław Moniuszko which I personally do not like too much, but he is very good choice fot people that enjoy early romantic operas (Bellini, Weber).

*Hungarian*! I can not boast with any knowledge and I confess that I know only Bluebeard's Castle, by Bartók of course. Seems to me that it's not one of most melodious languages in the world.

I can think of couple operas in *English* but I never liked any of them. It's kind of strange to hear language of popular music in opera, at least for me. It may change when I'll get to Britten's chamber operas - this genre is pretty dominated by Britons so there is no other way.

I always wanted to hear opera in Scandinavian language but so far it didn't work. Sibelius gave up on his opera, Grieg didn't even attempt to write one, Alfven and Atterberg are not recorded... POVERTY


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

*English* is unusual? Well, for operas maybe it is. Still, aside from Gershwin, I particularly like the Britten operas, especially Death in Venice.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Purcell's Dido and Aeneas would be my favourite in English... but like Art Rock I don't see it as unusual. There is Purcell, Handel, Gay, and particularly 20th and 21st Century output (Gershwin, Adams, Glass, Britten, Birtwhistle, Knussen etc).

I'm just beginning to explore Janacek so can't really coment, but I like the Bartered Bride and Rusalka.

The only Scandanavian opera I've heard of is Nielsen's Maskarade - there is a very complimentary thread somewhere about this in the opera forum. I thought of buying the DVD but got put off by Amazon comments about the video editing.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Martinu*- _The Greek Passion_ (an opera originally employing the English translation from the Greek novel by Kazantzakis, it was later translated into Czech for the Prague premier).

*Danile Catan*- _Rappaccini's Daughter_ and _Florencia en el Amazonas_ in Spanish

*Osvaldo Golijov*- _Ainadamar_ (Spanish)

Of course there are plenty of English operas: *Purcell, John Blow, John Gay, Gilbert and Sullivan, Delius* (_A Village Romeo and Juliette_), *Britten, Thomas Adès, Gershwin, Gian Carlo Menotti, Phillip Glass,* etc...

Other Czech operas (beside Dvorak) would include *Janacek's* operas such as _The Excursions of Mr. Broucek _and _The Cunning Little Vixen_.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

What about *Klingon*? Personally, I've never heard one, but I've heard that some people really enjoy them.

On a side note, if anyone has a libretto for a Klingon opera, I'd be happy to compose for it (or at least try).


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Kopachris said:


> What about *Klingon*? Personally, I've never heard one, but I've heard that some people really enjoy them.
> 
> On a side note, if anyone has a libretto for a Klingon opera, I'd be happy to compose for it (or at least try).


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Einojuhani Rautavaara has written a lot of Finnish operas, and word has it they're really good, if different from regular operas.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Aramis said:


> As for *Czech*. Dvorak only know I do. Rusalka is nice, but I can't say it's masterpiece...


I don't disagree. Fortunately, Smetana's _The Bartered Bride_ *is* a Masterpiece, 
and is herewith recommended unhesitatingly!


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

I'm still getting my feet wet in opera...


Hungarian: Háry János


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

mamascarlatti said:


> The only Scandanavian opera I've heard of is Nielsen's Maskarade...


Which is a surprise considering the sheer number of other types of classical vocal music in Scandinavian languages.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

the Chinese Opera considered all their opera will not perform to the best if not done in Chinese. Obviously because mandarin have so many historical/contextual idioms that other languages will not able to translate perfectly. ;P

btw, as I remember, I also don't remember notable opera in English...


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

jurianbai said:


> btw, as I remember, I also don't remember notable opera in English...


Peter Grimes and Dido & Aeneas.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I've just watched Jenůfa and this is now my favourite "unusual language" opera.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

jurianbai said:


> btw, as I remember, I also don't remember notable opera in English...


How about _H.M.S. Pinafore_?


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I disagree about Rusalka. It's a wonderful opera with absolutely gorgeous music. It may be a bit static dramatically,but the music is so beautiful it doesn't bother me. Don't miss the superb Decca recording with Renee Fleming,Ben Heppner and the late ,lamented Charles Mackerras conducting the Czech Phil. 
You could also try the DVD from the Paris opera with Fleming,conducted by James Conlon,which I have. The production is a bit odd,but the gorgeous music still comes through.
Another opera by Dvorak you should try is the delightfully droll comic opera The Devil and Kate,written at around the time of Rusalka,but not nearly as well known.
It's one of the funniest comic operas of all time, and features an obnoxious young overweight woman who gets involved in a strange hellish plot and a devil who is not sinister and threatening but a total wimp. The music is irresistably effervesecent and witty. I have the excellent Supraphon recording. This should be better known. Audiences would love it!
I also love the Janacek operas, such as Jenufa, Katya Kabanova,The Cunning Little Vixen, 
The Makropoulos Case, The excursions of Mr. Broucek and From the House of the Dead.
If you want to get to know his operas, get the Mackerras recordings on Decca posthaste. I believe they are also available in a box set currently,although I'm not sure this is still available.
Smetana's Bartred Bride is also wonderful, and you should try his tragic opera Dalibor,too.
The storiy has some similarities to Fidelio but ends tragically. It's a powwerful opera that ought to be performed more often outside the Czech republic.
Opera fans who don't know the Czech repertoire don't know what they're missing.
Fortunately, the operas of Janacek are now well-established in the international operatic repertoire,and more and more prominent non-czech singers are singing them .


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> I disagree about Rusalka. It's a wonderful opera with absolutely gorgeous music. It may be a bit static dramatically,but the music is so beautiful it doesn't bother me. Don't miss the superb Decca recording with Renee Fleming,Ben Heppner and the late ,lamented Charles Mackerras conducting the Czech Phil.


I have the Fleming recording.

There are couple of things that make me think about Rusalka the way I do. First of all it's backward like hell. I'm not extremist in this case, but the way Rusalka differs from it's contemporary music is scary. Secondly, except the highlights there are plenty of really weak moments - when our lovely prince looks for rusalka in last act and sings _BILA MOJE LANI_, that's so awkwardly written. Also the finale, just after last words of rusalka, it sounds like Dvorak would like to write greatly _pathetique_ exultation, but was totally uninspired and wrote some silly fudge. That's how it sounds to me.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Hungary's Romantic national opera:

*Ferencz Erkel*: Bánk Bán (Libretto: József Katona)

It is about a rebellion against a foreign (German) queen in Hungary around the middle ages. This kind of thing was fairly topical when it was written when Hungary was under Austrian (Hapsburg) rule in the C19th. For many years, the opera was banned, but it was the first opera to be performed in the new Budapest opera house during the late C19th. Ironically, Emperor Franz Josef was in attendance.

Here the main aria "Hazam, hazam" (My homeland) sung by tenor Simándi in the title role (from a film made for TV in the late 1960's or early '70's when the opera was revived). I have the same cast on Hungaroton cd & I like digging it out once in a while.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Back in the 70s,DG had an LP recording of an opera in believe it or not,Georgian, by the Georgian composer Zakharia Paliashvili. I don't believe it's been reissued on CD, but I would definitely like to hear it. It's called Absalom and Eteri,and is based on Georgian legends.
I've heard this language,which is not related to the Slavic langfuages at all and is different from them as Basque is from Spanish,and even has its own strange looking alpahbet.
It's also extremely guttural and has absolutely unpronouncable consonant clusters.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Aramis said:


> I can think of couple operas in *English* but I never liked any of them. It's kind of strange to hear language of popular music in opera, at least for me. It may change when I'll get to Britten's chamber operas - this genre is pretty dominated by Britons so there is no other way.


That's because you have not listened to any of Handel's English operas. While he never used that term "opera" for his dramatic English oratorios or _Musical Drama_ (which he carefully used for commercial reasons even in the Baroque), a few of these works were clearly operatic/dramatic. These were the first significant English operas and certainly the greatest ever written. (You can forget Benjamin Britten). You might like to listen to some. Modern performances have included successful staging of these works as operas.

I would recommend _Semele_ (1743), _Hercules_ (1744) and one of my favourite, _Theodora_ (1749). There is an excellent recording on DVD of _Theodora_, fully staged under William Christie with David Daniels.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> That's because you have not listened to any of Handel's English operas. While he never used that term "opera" for his dramatic English oratorios or _Musical Drama_ (which he carefully used for commercial reasons even in the Baroque), a few of these works were clearly operatic/dramatic. These were the first significant English operas and certainly the greatest ever written. (You can forget Benjamin Britten). You might like to listen to some. Modern performances have included successful staging of these works as operas.
> 
> I would recommend _Semele_ (1743), _Hercules_ (1744) and one of my favourite, _Theodora_ (1749). There is an excellent recording on DVD of _Theodora_, fully staged under William Christie with David Daniels.


And a wonderful _Hercules _with Joyce DiDonato. I'm also very fond of _Solomon_.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Oedipus Rex is set to a libretto in Latin, can't get more exotic than that.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Almaviva said:


> Oedipus Rex is set to a libretto in Latin, can't get more exotic than that.


Philip Glass- _Satyagraha_... Sanskrit.:devil:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Wow, Sanskrit? Who can sing that???


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Almaviva said:


> Wow, Sanskrit? Who can sing that???


Um people who know Sanskrit?

Sibelius wrote another opera, I think in Swedish: The Maiden in the Tower. I dunno if it's been mentioned here yet, but it's a small one-act.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

World Violist said:


> Um people who know Sanskrit?


It was a rhetorical question.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Philip Glass- _Satyagraha_... Sanskrit.:devil:


Ah Glass I think he has used some of the more unusual languages in his operas - what about Akhnaten, some bits are in Akkadian which hasn't been spoken since 100 years into the common era.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> Sibelius wrote another opera, I think in Swedish: The Maiden in the Tower. I dunno if it's been mentioned here yet, but it's a small one-act.


What? Sibelius wrote opera? I thought that he abandoned the idea early in youth, he was about to compose something about bunch of geezers building boat or something under the influence of Wagner but then he turned it into few symphonic works.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Aramis said:


> What? Sibelius wrote opera? I thought that he abandoned the idea early in youth, he was about to compose something about bunch of geezers building boat or something under the influence of Wagner but then he turned it into few symphonic works.


 Lol Aramis.

He did end up composing that, well sort of, it was called Veneen luominen (The Building of the Boat), he thought Opera would be the direction of his compositional life but nay, the 'opera' became the Lemminkäinen Suite.

He composed the Jungfrun i tornet (The Maiden in the Tower) for charity, but thinking about it, is Suomi such an unusual language, tis very unique, yeah I suppose it is - lets see if we can find a weirder one than Akkadian though.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Opera in Chingleash?*

The first Emperor by Tan Dun, half in Chinese, half in English...Nice listening to it...Just one time.

Martin Pitchon


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Philip Glass- _Satyagraha_... Sanskrit.:devil:


Sanskrit is quite a sacred language from Buddha religion.

how about Cantonese and hokkien ??? or this epic video :


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

In the last few days I listened to several of the ones quoted here, all wonderful.
Jenufa, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Bartered Bride, Bluebeard's Castle. These are all outstanding masterpieces. I have just received in the mail From the House of the Dead.

The Spanish operas you've quoted by de Falla are kind of all they have in the strictly operatic repertoire. However they have dozens and dozens of zarzuelas (the Spanish equivalent to operettas), and they're worth exploring - the problem is that they're rarely recorded and even more rarely staged outside of Hispanic countries like Spain itself, Mexico, and Cuba. Maria Fernanda is one exception, you do find it on DVD, and I have it, it's with Placido Domingo and it is very good. Nothing extraordinary, but good.

Regarding what you said about opera in English, like other users said, there are plenty of *very good* operas in English. You need to give them a try. I agree that English is not the best sounding language for opera, but many American and British composers have nevertheless composed exquisite operatic masterpieces.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

About Finnish opera. Sibelius's The Maiden in the Tower has been mentioned, but it's in Swedish, our second official language. Isn't Swedish exotic enough? Then Eino Juhani Rautavaara has also been mentioned, but our most famous opera composers must be Aulis Sallinen (Ratsumies, Punainen viiva, Kunigas lähtee Ranskaan, Kullervo, Palatsi, Kuningas Lear) and Joonas Kokkonen (Viimeiset kiusaukset). I haven't seen them all, but Punainen viiva (The Red Line) made as strong an impression in me as The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.


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## tannhaeuser (Nov 7, 2011)

Glass' Akhnaten is also partly in Hebrew, and partly in ancient Egyptian.

Hokkien opera? wow way to put my pauper's native tongue to opera.


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## peeknocker (Feb 14, 2012)

*Mykola Lysenko's "Taras Bulba"*

I quite like the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko's operatic adaptation of Gogol's "Taras Bulba." The opera is sung in Ukrainian and despite some structural problems alluded to by the scholarly author of the Wikipedia page on this opera, it does contain some strikingly original passages of music. I am a bit biased as I am currently revising newly translated English subtitles for a video of a recent Ukrainian telecast of the opera. The video was posted at intoclassics over a year ago and contains no subtitles whatsoever. I then began a difficult search for the libretto or vocal score, but was unable to find them anywhere. Neither of the several audio recordings of the opera contained a libretto in Ukrainian (let alone in any other language). I finally succeeded in enlisting the aid of an internet friend who maintains a website devoted to translating opera subtitles into Russian (as most opera DVDs neglect to include Russian subtitles). Philipp spent some time working in the Ukraine and at my request he selflessly set about transcribing in Ukrainian the libretto by listening to both video and audio recordings. Several months later I finally located an old copy of the vocal score at a library in Canada. I then scanned this score, which included both Ukrainian and Russian text. Philipp used this to revise his Ukrainian transcription, correcting any errors and filling in some blanks. THEN, not wanting to ask Philipp for any more of his time, I enlisted the help of a brilliant young Ukrainian-born Russian Conservatory student named Andrew who gallantly set about translating into English from the original Ukrainian the subtitles that Philipp prepared. After a great deal of work, Philipp then reviewed Andrew's translation and suggested a few changes. The project is now at the stage where, as a native English speaker, I will revise the English whenever needed, as well as simplify some of the added explanatory notes (for unfamiliar historical terminology used in the opera). I am also making a few revisions to the timings of the subs. When this is finished I will then convert the original avi video (I have the blessing of the original Ukrainian uploader) to MPEG VOB format and the final DVD will contain English, Russian and Ukrainian subtitles.

I am currently finishing up a couple other opera subtitle projects (creating custom subtitled DVDs of public domain videos of "La Wally," "Maria di Rohan," "Maria de Rudenz," et. al) and expect to finish the "Taras Bulba" project in the next couple of months. The final DVD (and AVI English hardsubbed variants) will be available to download gratis at numerous sitespopular with the opera-loving crowd.

:tiphat:

Paul
Canada


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Welcome, Peeknocker! I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts in this forum.


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## peeknocker (Feb 14, 2012)

MAuer said:


> Welcome, Peeknocker! I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts in this forum.


Thank you. That's very kind of you!


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## peeknocker (Feb 14, 2012)

Last year, among many other rare opera video subtitle projects, I also prepared a custom *English-subtitled *DVD of an old Danish telecast of Carl Nielsen's "Saul and David."

The custom DVD9 can be downloaded here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?7g2d9f8v3kbsa


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I just have a CD with plenty of MP3 complete Western operas...sung in Russian....LOL They sound terrific...Maybe because I'm getting used to this language.

Martin


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## jalex (Aug 21, 2011)

Szymanowski's King Roger is absolutely brilliant. It's a travesty that it didn't make the 'recommended operas' list. There is a full performance on Youtube (the production at the beginning looks a bit weird, but it goes away):


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Just recieved a copy of Rautavaara's "Vincent". Quite intimidating at first, but I am beginning to digest it slowly. It is the first opera from the modern era I have listened to (latter half of the last century) other than Barber's short "Hand of Bridge". I was particularly amused when one of the singers had to sing the word kolmekymmentakuusivuotias. The plot is very abstract, though the libretto and liner notes have been infinitely useful in helping me understand what is going on when I don't have the benefit of video as well as audio.


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## zeszut (Aug 9, 2012)

to superhorn: unable to send you a pm (i just joined and cannot pm until i have five posts) to let you know that i once owned the absalom & eteri LP set. it was transferred to CD a while ago. i just recently ripped it to mp3. it consists of five mp3 files each 17-21 mb. if you contact me i could email them to you.


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## zeszut (Aug 9, 2012)

as for unusual languages ... 

there is blomdahl's swedish-language opera "aniara". while i don't consider swedish "unusual", the opera does take place in a spaceship originally headed toward mars. though curiosity did a soft landing there earlier this week, the cast of aniara were knocked off course by a meteor and missed .... 

edit: how could i forget tanner's "boy with dolphin" sung in english and ... hawaiian.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Just to add another language not yet cited, I've recently watched Gogo no Eiko by Henze, sung in japanese (libretto is based on a Mishima novel so it kind of make sense).


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Rondo said:


> I'm still getting my feet wet in opera...
> 
> Hungarian: Háry János


Lord! I had no idea Hary Janos was an opera. I have very fond memories of its music from when I was a piano student (but that was a different millenium, and besides, the wench is dead) ...


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

If you haven't seen the Da Capo DVD of Carl Nielsen's scintillating comic opera "Maskarade", which is the Danish national opera, 
get it post haste ! This is a fun comic opera, one of the best ever written, and deserves to be more widely performed .
The performance is from the recently opened state of the art Royal opera in Copenhagen conducted by noted Danish conductor Michael Schonwandt, with an all Danish (one Norwegian) cast of singers who are not superstars but outstanding artists .
There are English subtitles , and a booklet with plenty of interesting information about the opera .
The entire cast, chorus and audience seem to be having a ball ! So will you. 
There is also an excellent Decca CD conducted by the German maestro Ulf Schirmer with the chorus and orchestra of the Danish radio, but this may be hard to find ,plus another DVD sung in German from the Bregenz fesitval which I have not seen .
Nielsen's other opera, the Biblical Saul and David , is vastly different but also wonderful . I have the superb Chandos recording with Neeme Jarvi conducting, and the late bass Aage Haugland as the doomed king Saul . This may also be hard to find, but it's definitely worth looking for .


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Hary Janos is not really a full-fledged opera, but rather a play with musical numbers . I remember the Decca recording of the complete score with the sadly short-lived conductor Istvan kertesz and the LSO. , which also had the late Peter Ustinov as the narrator readng a specially prepared narration in English way back from the early 70s on LP. 
The singers were some of the leading Hungarian opera singers of the time . Some critics thought that the narration was hokey and unconvincing, including the late George Jellinek, a Hunagarian native who was an expert judge of this , but i remember the recording as being highly entertaining an dmusicaly first rate .
I don't believe it's been reissued in this form, but I believe the musical parts have .


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Welcome to the forum , Zeszut ! Thanks for the info on the Georgian opera . I'll definitely check it out .


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## Jimm (Jun 29, 2012)

Stockhausen was a master of phonetics since the beginning .. and often invented his own languages .. and there are instances where he combines and synthesizes several world languages throughout his canon. There are instances of this throughout his magnum opus LICHT, for instance.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

superhorn said:


> Hary Janos is not really a full-fledged opera, but rather a play with musical numbers . I remember the Decca recording of the complete score with the sadly short-lived conductor Istvan kertesz and the LSO. , which also had the late Peter Ustinov as the narrator readng a specially prepared narration in English way back from the early 70s on LP.
> The singers were some of the leading Hungarian opera singers of the time . Some critics thought that the narration was hokey and unconvincing, including the late George Jellinek, a Hunagarian native who was an expert judge of this , but i remember the recording as being highly entertaining an dmusicaly first rate .
> I don't believe it's been reissued in this form, but I believe the musical parts have .


Thanks for the info. I'll keep my eyes open for it ...


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## zeszut (Aug 9, 2012)

superhorn said:


> Welcome to the forum , Zeszut ! Thanks for the info on the Georgian opera . I'll definitely check it out .


sorry, i think i wasn't clear. i said "it was transferred to CD ... ". what i meant to say is "I transferred it to CD ..".

PM me if you want it.

can i at lease respond to a pm if i don't have enough posts to start a pm?


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

zeszut said:


> can i at lease respond to a pm if i don't have enough posts to start a pm?


... OR, you could do like the rest of us and just leave a bunch of nonsense posts until you reach your quota .... :lol:


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## zeszut (Aug 9, 2012)

sounds like a GREAT idea, guy. btw .. this will be my fifth post and open up pm's for me. yay.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Orffs Catulli Carmina is in Latin and his Trionfo di Afrodite is in Latin and ancient Greek.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Are there any operas in either Irish or Welsh?


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

superhorn said:


> If you haven't seen the Da Capo DVD of Carl Nielsen's scintillating comic opera "Maskarade", which is the Danish national opera,
> get it post haste ! This is a fun comic opera, one of the best ever written, and deserves to be more widely performed .
> The performance is from the recently opened state of the art Royal opera in Copenhagen conducted by noted Danish conductor Michael Schonwandt, with an all Danish (one Norwegian) cast of singers who are not superstars but outstanding artists .
> There are English subtitles , and a booklet with plenty of interesting information about the opera .
> ...


Maskarade is really one of the greatest comic operas ever. And the libretto is hysterical! Provided you read Danish, of course.

And there are no Norwegians on the DVD. There is a Swede, though.


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## peeknocker (Feb 14, 2012)

superhorn said:


> Hary Janos is not really a full-fledged opera, but rather a play with musical numbers . . .


One of my opera subtitle projects this year has been to create English subtitles for a rare 1965 color Hungarian film of "Hary Janos." After numerous unsuccessful attempts to enlist a Hungarian-speaker to assist me in this endeavor, I finally was put in touch with a fellow back in the spring. We completed about 20 minutes of subtitles, but sadly he has been MIA ever since. The method I devised was for me to send him brief snippets of dialogue from the film in mp3 format and then he would transcribe the Hungarian text, as well as provide an English translation. Hopefully I will be able to find someone else who is willing to collaborate on this project. It's a very enjoyable film adaptation and I hope to be able to finish the subs. I even acquired a vocal score from a local library for the purpose. I have a copy of an English translation of the songs. But I need a Hungarian-speaker to translate the spoken dialogue.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

peeknocker said:


> One of my opera subtitle projects this year has been to create English subtitles for a rare 1965 color Hungarian film of "Hary Janos." After numerous unsuccessful attempts to enlist a Hungarian-speaker to assist me in this endeavor, I finally was put in touch with a fellow back in the spring. We completed about 20 minutes of subtitles, but sadly he has been MIA ever since. The method I devised was for me to send him brief snippets of dialogue from the film in mp3 format and then he would transcribe the Hungarian text, as well as provide an English translation. Hopefully I will be able to find someone else who is willing to collaborate on this project. It's a very enjoyable film adaptation and I hope to be able to finish the subs. I even acquired a vocal score from a local library for the purpose. I have a copy of an English translation of the songs. But I need a Hungarian-speaker to translate the spoken dialogue.


What an interesting project & shows how complex sub-titling is. Hope you find another Hungarian speaker to help you complete the project.


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## Pamina (Sep 5, 2012)

My favorite in this category would definitely be Satyagraha. it's gorgeous! especially the final tenor solo. great music to use for yoga or meditation.


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