# The TC thirty day opera challenge



## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

This is a shameless rip-off from an idea someone had on Facebook, but rather than suggest that we all migrate there, I thought we could do one here on TC. I've adapted the questions somewhat so that if anyone want to do the Facebook challenge too they don't get too bored.

It's the thirty day opera challenge. You post answers to these on thirty days, preferably consecutive. *New posters can join in at any time.* Feel free to post videos illustrating your answers.

Day 1: Favourite final scene in any opera
Day 2: Favourite Italian language opera
Day 3: Most ridiculous opera plot twist
Day 4: Your most recent discovery/obsession
Day 5: Best mad scene
Day 6: Favourite opera character and why
Day 7: Favourite English language opera
Day 8: Best declaration of love
Day 9: Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs
Day 10: Favourite male singer
Day 11: Favourite French language opera
Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with
Day 13: Best death scene
Day 14: First opera you fell in love with
Day 15: Favourite compilation/recital CD
Day 16: Favourite female singer
Day 17: Best villain in an opera
Day 18: Favourite "other" language opera
Day 19: Aria that you think is sexy
Day 20: Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with
Day 21: Most heart-rending aria
Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed
Day 23: Favourite German language opera
Day 24: Favourite overture/prelude
Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart
Day 26: Aria that you sing in the shower 
Day 27: Favourite voice type
Day 28: Favourite Russian language opera
Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music
Day 30: Best live opera experience


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Sounds like fun!

I'll begin with day 1 then. My favorite final scene from an opera is _Le Nozze di Figaro_. While many operas end in death and heartache, the finale of _Le Nozze_ is the antithesis of both - reconciliation stitching together back the harmony of love and completely reversing the violence that has been foreshadowed for much of the fourth act. In many ways it's the classic way of bringing the 'day of chaos' to a close, but there's a reason it's so classic. With a single action, the forgiveness of the countess (which I really feel 'saves' the opera even more than the apology of the count) affirms goodness and peace not only to the palace but to the hearts of the viewers as well. The music in the finale is like an 'anthem' to this harmony and Mozart is just so ingenious even to the farewell 'bang' when everyone finally departs.

If I could pick two more I'd probably go with _Tristan und Isolde_, simply because of the 'Liebestod' and its beautiful depiction of love, or _Gotterdammerung_, which in my opinion is just far too exciting and climactic to ignore when it comes to 'great finales'.

Great, I just highlighted the endings of the top 3 operas on our recommended list of 100. Sorry for being a bit boring, but I'm sure others will think of something a little more obscure!


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Air said:


> simply because of the 'Liebestod' and its beautiful depiction of love


I think it has very little to do with love actually

It's my choice for day one nevertheless


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Aramis said:


> I think it has very little to do with love actually


Can you explain? I'm really curious.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

_Lulu_, the Act 3 ending, only available since Friedrich Cerha just put together all of Berg's notes and musical ideas.

Lulu and Jack the Ripper strike a deal, while the Countess sings a beautiful monologue. We heard the voice of Lulu: "Nein! Nein!", a _tutti_ in the orchestra, Lulu is dead and Jack stabs the Countess. While Jack exits, a melody sounds in the violins, up and down like the dying breath of Geschwitz:

"Lulu! Mein Engel! Lass dich noch einmal sehn! Ich bin dir nah! Bleibe dir nah! In Ewigkeit!"

Lulu, Angel of Mine!. Wish I could see you once more! … I'm at your side!. I will remain at your side!. For Eternity!.

Here we can see Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Countess Geschwitz), Patricia Petibon (Lulu) and Michael Volle (Jack), in a nice production last year, in Szalburg:


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Air said:


> Sorry for being a bit boring, but I'm sure others will think of something a little more obscure!


Nope, not me. I'm going with Die Walkure . . . Brunnhilde's final impassioned plea, Wotan's tender, heart wrenching farewell, and the fiery, defiant, yet strangely gentle conclusion.

I'm so tempted to name a few other absolute favorites, but I won't steal other people's thunder.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Air said:


> Can you explain? I'm really curious.


For me the final aria is the point when all conventional opera listening ends - I forget about characters and events that occured as something literal, the opera becomes symbolic - this aria, for me, is not lament bound to emotions of character mourning after losing lover, bound to the opera, it's like most perfect expression of eternal longing for something unknown and mysterious, the deepest of all human feelings known to me, in her singing there is something that evokes it in me as no other work, that is the reason for which I treasure Tristan so much, why I put it almost above all the rest of music.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

schigolch said:


> _Lulu_, the Act 3 ending, only available since Friedrich Cerha just put together all of Berg's notes and musical ideas.
> 
> Lulu and Jack the Ripper strike a deal, while the Countess sings a beautiful monologue. We heard the voice of Lulu: "Nein! Nein!", a _tutti_ in the orchestra, Lulu is dead and Jack stabs the Countess. While Jack exits, a melody sounds in the violins, up and down like the dying breath of Geschwitz:
> 
> ...


I'm not sure this could ever be my favourite, but it certainly wins the prize for most harrowing, especially in this production. Seeing this has strengthened my determination to get this DVD when it eventually comes out. Petibon is fantastic.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

My own favourite (currently) is the ending to Eugene Onegin. I think it's that feeling of lost opportunities, that gentle melancholy to start with, that builds up to a storm of renunciation.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Sure, why not. I can do this.

1: My favorite final scene in any opera...to be fair I'd have to say Tristan und Isolde. It's definitely the most emotional and breathtaking I've yet heard.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> My own favourite (currently) is the ending to Eugene Onegin.


I 100% second that choice!

Oh wait . . . I've already picked something else. 

This is so *hard*!


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

I actually like the Rimsky ending of Boris Godunov with the simpleton lamenting the unending suffering of the Russian people. "Ah-ha, ah-ha" taken over by the orchestra


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

amfortas said:


> I 100% second that choice!
> 
> Oh wait . . . I've already picked something else.
> 
> *This is so *hard*! *


He he that's part of the fun:devil:. But there is a good chance that someone will pick one of your favourites. Can't really argue with any so far.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> Can't really argue with any so far.


Yeah, they're all pretty good, except for that Gotter-dammer-thingy-whatever. What the hell is *that*?


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

TxllxT said:


> I actually like the Rimsky ending of Boris Godunov with the simpleton lamenting the unending suffering of the Russian people. "Ah-ha, ah-ha" taken over by the orchestra


Will have to pay more attention to that.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

It's hard to think of a favorite since there are so many operas with good endings, but one came immediately to my mind so it's gotta be my favorite, at least for today (these things change): Pélleas et Mélisande. That final death scene is heartbreaking and I couldn't stop thinking about it for a long time after I first encountered it. The little twist with the baby at the very end is very clever as well. What a spectacular ending! I had goosebumps all over.

For the record, Boris Godunov's ending with the Simpleton is in my opinion far, far superior to the ending with Boris' death. Ending with the Simpleton (as intended by the composer) gives to the opera a lot more gravitas, a sense of a historical arc, a statement about Mother Russia, makes of it something grand, rather than just the death of the main character at the end like in hundreds of other operas. One doesn't fix what is not broken, and Rimsky-Korsakoff's idea of switching the scenes was incredibly stupid, in my opinion. Please, RK, leave that masterpiece alone!

@Natalie: very good idea for a thread!!!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> I actually like the Rimsky ending of Boris Godunov with the simpleton lamenting the unending suffering of the Russian people. "Ah-ha, ah-ha" taken over by the orchestra


Hey, that's not the Rimsky ending! That's the Mussorgsky ending. Rismky ends it with Boris' death. Or am I mistaken?


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

You are correct, sir. Mussorgsky originally ended the opera with Boris's death (1869), but his revised version ends with the Kromï Forest scene, which includes the Simpleton (1872). Rimsky-Korsakov's revision switched those two scenes and thus ends, once again, with Boris's death. These days R-K gets a lot of criticism for this move, but at least he could claim it reflected the composer's original intentions.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Can I count Don Giovanni since the penultimate scene is sometimes used as the final scene?


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

rgz said:


> Can I count Don Giovanni since the penultimate scene is sometimes used as the final scene?


Yes it is in this production:






And it's certainly a humdinger!


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I suppose that now it's past midnight I can get 2 out of the way.

2: Don Pasquale. Rather easy considering it's the only Italian opera I've really liked.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

World Violist said:


> I suppose that now it's past midnight I can get 2 out of the way.
> 
> 2: Don Pasquale. Rather easy considering it's the only Italian opera I've really liked.


Not a great fan then WV? What did you like about Don Pasquale?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Yes, it's past midnight so on to question number two.
Very difficult question since there are so many Italian operas that are among my very favorites.
I suppose the question is about opera in Italian by an Italian composer, not just merely in Italian language otherwise we'd have major composers like Handel and Mozart, which would entirely complicate the choice. But then, it's an interesting problem. If we don't consider Handel's operas in Italian as Italian operas, where do we place Handel in subsequent questions? German as per his birth? British as per his place of residence? Or Italian as per the majority of his operatic works? And how do we consider Italian opera without Mozart's three Da Ponte operas, which were, after all, co-authored by an Italian?

Anyway, I'll wait for Natalie's clarification since she is handling this project, but in the meantime, I'll consider my options only from the standpoint of composers who were Italian by birth - or were born in the peninsula before it was unified in the modern country of Italy.

Let me get organized and see by composer and genre, which ones I like the best.

From Monteverdi my favorite is L'Orfeo
From Landi, Il Sant'Alessio
From Pergolesi, La Serva Padrona
From Leo, L'Alidoro
From Salieri, Tarare
From Cimarosa, Il Matrimonio Segreto
From Rossini, in the serious genre, Ermione; with Armida and Elisabetta being close (I know people will find it strange that I'm not quoting stuff like Guglielmo Tell or Semiramide, but I do like the above three a lot better than these usual suspects).
From Rossini, in the comedic genre, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, with L'Italiana in Algeri, La Pietra del Paragone, Il turco in Italia, Le Comte Ory, L'Equivoco Stravagante, and La Gazzetta being notable honorable mentions. Why so many? Because they are equally good.
From Donizetti, in the serious genre, Lucia di Lammermoor, with Roberto Devereux being a close second. Honorable mentions go to Maria Stuarda, Lucrezia Borgia, and La Favorita.
From Donizetti, in the comedic genre, L'Elisir d'Amore, with Don Pasquale being a close second. I can't count La Fille du Régiment, can I? (Another question for Natalie). Rita is an honorable mention.
From Bellini, Norma, with honorable mentions for I Puritani, La Sonnambula, and I Capuleti e i Montecchi
From Verdi... oh boy.
Let's see. In the serious genre, it's gotta be a five-way tie for first place, with La Traviata, Don Carlo, Otello, Rigoletto, and Simon Boccanegra. Honorable mentions go to Macbeth, Il Trovatore, Aida. In the comic genre, Falstaff.
From Ponchielli, La Gioconda
From Boito, Mefistofele
From Catalani, La Wally
From Mascagni, Cavalleria Rusticana, with honorable mention to L'Amico Fritz
From Leoncavallo, I Pagliacci
From Puccini, in the serious genre La Bohème, with Tosca, Madama butterfly, Turandot, and Il Tabarro being honorable mentions. In the comedic genre, Gianni Schicchi
From Giordano, Andrea Chénier
From Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur

So this is it for best work by composer.
How can one possibly get to one and only one?

I guess I'd have to put it to myself in a different way: if I had to permanently destroy one and only one Italian opera and erase all trace of it in humankind's memory, which one would make me cry the hardest in desperation for the loss? I mean, artistic loss, not historical importance - because if it's the later, I would have to say L'Orfeo because it was the first really successful opera - wiping it out might wipe out the whole art form!

Let me re-read the whole list above and decide.

I'll read the whole thing again and see. First, let me eliminate all the honorable mentions, all the close seconds, and all the composers for whom I picked one because it's the best one for that composer, but can't compare with the ones by the top composers.

I'd then stay with:

L'Orfeo
L'Alidoro
Ermione
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Lucia di Lammermoor
L'Elisir d'Amore
Norma
La Traviata
Don Carlo
Otello
Simon Boccanegra
Rigoletto
Falstaff
Mefistofele
Cavaleria Rusticana
La Bohème
Gianni Schicchi
Andrea Chénier
Adriana Lecouvreur

OK, let's now eliminate comedies except for the best two, and very good serious ones but they're still not as good as the top ones.

Now I got

L'Orfeo
Ermione
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Lucia di Lammermoor
L'Elisir d'Amore
Norma
La Traviata
Don Carlo
Otello
Simon Boccanegra
Rigoletto
Mefistofele
Cavaleria Rusticana
La Bohème

Okaaayyy... now it's becoming super hard. All 14 above are astounding masterpieces.
Each cut now fills like I'm being stabbed.

I suppose I could do away with Cavaleria Rusticana and Mefistofele.

12 left.

Next I'd eliminate L'Elisir d'Amore and Ermione.

10 left.

L'Orfeo
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Lucia di Lammermoor
Norma
La Traviata
Don Carlo
Otello
Simon Boccanegra
Rigoletto
La Bohème

I need to get the 5 Verdis down to a more manageable number. OK, painfully, tearfully, I'll cut off Simon Boccanegra and Rigoletto, which I consider to be very very very slightly a little tiny bit less good than the other three. We're down to 8.

L'Orfeo
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Lucia di Lammermoor
Norma
La Traviata
Don Carlo
Otello
La Bohème

For now, I throw the towel. I'll have to try again at some other time later today to bring these 8 down to one, a task that I consider to be utterly impossible.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Since today's challenge is to choose our 'favorite Italian _language_ opera', I'll go with exactly that - my favorite opera in the Italian language, including Handel, Mozart, & co.

I can't leave _Le Nozze di Figaro_ out of this one either to be honest, but choosing only one feels like an injustice to Verdi and Handel, so I'll throw in _Giulio Cesare_ and _Otello_ as all ranking nearly equal. I'm also gonna try to sneak in _Lucia di Lammermoor_ too if I can, since it's simply a gem.

Of course, if I choose one, it will probably have to be _Le Nozze_, but to make things a bit easier I'm going to try to play this game without repeats. So I'll go with my next favorite Italian opera after Mozart's masterpiece, _Giulio Cesare_ by Handel. I certainly love watching the Glyndenbourne Cesare DVD as much as any Mozart production I know.

Sorry to make it so difficult for you Alma by adding on Mozart and Handel - I tell you I admire your spirit deeply. I guarantee you that if I were familiar with half of the number of operas you are, I would probably find it just as difficult to isolate one as a favorite as you do.

But good on Natalie. This is quite a 'challenge' indeed.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

The question means exactly what it says, to try and reduce complications of deciding nationalities for people like Handel. There are one or two few problems still, notably Don Carlo/Carlos, Lucia/Lucie - but then you'd just need to decide which language you are going to allocate it to and quote the title in that language.

So now you're even more in the proverbial, Alma:devil:.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

_Nozze _for me, with _Lucia _being a very, very close second.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

So many....

Today, I will go for a somewhat neglected gem.

Vincenzo Bellini wrote _Beatrice di Tenda_ just between two masterpieces like _Norma_ and _I Puritani_. It was also the last time the splendid Felice Romani was in charge of the libretto.

There were some difficulties from the beginning, and bitter discussion between Bellini and Romani, but in the end they gave us a flawed, but marvelous opera.

Many numbers are outstanding, but I will single out two of my favorites:

"Come t´adoro e quanto", Filippo's aria, sung by Renato Bruson:






"Ma la sola, ahimè! son io...Ah! la pena in lor piombò", Beatrice's cavatina, sung by Joan Sutherland:


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Hey, that's not the Rimsky ending! That's the Mussorgsky ending. Rismky ends it with Boris' death. Or am I mistaken?


In my head Karajan's Boris is singing around, with the Simpleton's end, which _is_ how Boris Godunov should end. Now I am sure that Karajan followed Rimsky, but did the old fox switch scenes again? I'll have to listen to it again. With pleasure & involvement.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Arghhh.... my attempt to leave Mozart and Handel out of the Italian business fell flat. I was hoping Natalie would say - good point, let's be fair to the Italians and leave these two out. No luck. Now what is a poor Italian-American like me supposed to do? I struggled mightily to bring the fabulous opera heritage of my people down to 8, which caused me enormous pain and made me pace around the house crying out loud, and now you want me to add Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan Tutte, Giulio Cesare, Ariodante, Rinaldo, Orlando, Tamerlano, and Theodora to the mix? (with honorable mentions to Idomeneo, Il Re Pastore, La Clemenza di Tito, Rodelinda, Alcina, Admeto, and Partenope)??? What, you wanna kill me??? Oh, and I'd have to also add Martín y Soler's Il Burbero di Buon Cuore. 

OK, so be it. I'll eliminate the latter first because as good as it is, it isn't as good as Il Barbiere.
I'll bring the three Da Ponte operas down to two by taking out Così which is a tiny itty bitty little bit less good than Le Nozze and Don Giovanni. With all the Handel Honorable Mentions out of the picture, it's a question of taking a surgeon's knife and cut deeply - oh, the pain - to bring the Handel operas to a more manageable number, by keeping only my three favorites among all these gorgeous, gorgeous works: it will have to be Giulio Cesare, Hercules, and Theodora.

OK now I have 5 more to add to the original 8, and all 12 are equally spectacular. I throw the towel again, harder than the first time, and will have to keep working on getting 12 down to 1 once I recover from the emotional trauma (I hope I do). Darn Natalie!!!

(PS I corrected a typo in my first post from mean time to meantime, but I suppose it *is* a *mean* time).

Edit - Oh wait, Hercules and Acis and Galatea are in English, oops. Head off. So now back to 11 since Acis had been axed already.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

schigolch said:


> So many....
> 
> Today, I will go for a somewhat neglected gem.
> 
> ...


Oh, good to know that it is so good - I was under a different impression. I own it, but it is in my unwatched pile (and I mean *in* the pile, not *on* the pile, because it is somewhere in there, buried by the other 60). I'll dig it out of there and move it to a place closer to the top of the pile.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I'm tired of this, I'm obsessing about it and I need to go to work - I'm very late, shame on me.

I'll throw out the window all reasonable considerations about masterpieces like Nozze and Giulio Cesare, and just go with my Italian blood and pick Otello.

It is musically phenomenal with its written through score, its libretto is spectacular (viva Boito!), the opening scene is one of the best ever, the dramatic force is almost unrivaled, the last few scenes are deeply impressive, and it is by Verdi. I just can't vote for best Italian opera and give it on a plate to some Austrian guy or some German guy (even when these "some other guys" are named Mozart and Handel). I just can't. Otello it will be. There!

(Deep inside I know I like La Traviata even better, but I recognize the musical superiority of Otello, and the better libretto - so while Otello is not my most loved Italian opera, it is the one I consider to be the best)


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

mamascarlatti said:


> Not a great fan then WV? What did you like about Don Pasquale?


Nope, still not a fan. I'm still holding out hope that something will click someday. 

I've actually been somewhat afraid to listen to/watch Don Pasquale since the first time, as that was the Met performance of some months ago that they broadcast all over TV and stuff (Anna in one of the lead roles). It was a very fun performance, and the piece was very fun. All rather infectious, so I liked it.

And tomorrow's gonna be very hard for me...


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I sympathize with the difficulty people are having as they try to choose their favorite Italian language opera. For me though, it's an easier decision. The air gets much more rarified at the very top, and only a handful of works can maintain that lofty altitude. Out of my ten favorite operas (you can tell I've given some thought to this already), three are in Italian, so it comes down to a choice from among that relatively small number.

From here it does get tougher. But with a good deal of trepidation, and subject to change at any moment, I'll go with Otello over Don Carlo and Le Nozze di Figaro. Alma has already made the case for Verdi's late masterpiece very eloquently (post # 31), so I'll leave it at that.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 1- Wotan's farewell- Wagner- Die Walkuere
Day 2- Mozart's Nozze di Figaro


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

My Day 2: Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (preferably as done by John Eliot Gardiner). Not just because of being the first ever opera, but also because bringing forward the Italian language so lovely (which was problably also something quite new).


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

Day 1 Last scene of Die Walkure
Day 2 Don Giovanni


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> My Day 2: Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (preferably as done by John Eliot Gardiner). Not just because of being the first ever opera, but also because bringing forward the Italian language so lovely (which was problably also something quite new).


L'Orfeo = the first ever successful opera, since technically Peri started composing opera before Monteverdi.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I had a tough day 2 (although I'm quite satisfied with my selection) but fortunately day 16 will be quite easy for me.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Almaviva said:


> I had a tough day 2 (although I'm quite satisfied with my selection) but fortunately day 16 will be quite easy for me.


But that's, like, two weeks from now! How are you going to hold up!?


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Day 1: Final scene of "_Fidelio_" with soloists and chorus. That was easy.
Day 2: This is tough -- like asking a kid in a candy store to pick only one item. But I think "_Rigoletto_" would have to be my very, very, very favorite Italian-language opera.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> . . . fortunately day 16 will be quite easy for me.


If you're looking forward to Day 16, you're gonna' *love* Day 31: Opera singer you would most like to have sex with!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Day 2:

I'm torn between Don Giovanni, Nozze di Figaro, Otello and Don Carlo.

But the answer that whispers itself into my heart is Don Carlo. I’ve loved this opera for years and years, it’s got everything - love, friendship, despair, jealousy, plotting, renunciation, longing, political intrigue, death, farewells, a strong female character, all spun together into the most wonderful web of music.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

With all the great Wagner endings- the "Liebestod" from _Tristan und Isolde_, the "Abschied" from _Die Walküre_, the "Immolation Scene" from _Götterdämmerung_- it might be surprising to discover that I'd select the ending of _Tannhäuser_ as personal favorite. Perhaps it's a consequence of my long-held view that Tannhäuser is in so many quarters a frightfully misunderstood character. [I keep threatening to write an article about this... one day, I will.]

As for question 2- if asked to select the _greatest_ Italian language opera, I'd probably go with 'Marriage of Figaro.' However, the question to hand is _favorite_ Italian language opera- so I can answer with Puccini's _La bohème_ and retain a completely clear conscience.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

amfortas said:


> If you're looking forward to Day 16, you're gonna' *love* Day 31: Opera singer you would most like to have sex with!


 What I really look forward is to be able to one day phrase this one differently - "the one you have liked having sex with the most."  Like I said, any day now Anna will dump that Uruguayan bore and move in with me. Hey. The guy hasn't even married her yet. Talk about trouble committing! She won't put up with him for much longer. It's going to happen. I check my mailbox every day, I'm just waiting for her message saying that she is fed up with him and is coming over.
[Alma realizes that he forgot to take his antipsychotic medication today - oops]


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

My day 3... Virtually the whole of Götterdämmerung...don't think I'll ever get used to that.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

On day 3, I'd like to say that, in my view, many 'ridiculous opera plot twists" are just due to the antinaturalistic nature of the genre itself.

Having said that, there are some plots that really leave you wonder. Walking a little bit out of the mainstream, let's take _Condor_, from the brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Gomes.










In a unrecognizable Samarcanda, in the 17th century, queen Odalea must remain chaste. A band of robbers, the Black Horde, leaded by Condor, is ravaging Samarcanda. But then Condor meets Odalea and... yes, they fall in love. Zuleida, Odalea's mother, confess the queen Condor is no other than the lost son of sultan Amurath. Odalea promotes Condor to the exalted job of Grand Visir but the people of Samarcanda, understandably angry for this course of events, revolt. Almanzor, a wicked wizard, curse the queen and only the sacrifice of a true lover can save her. Of course, Condor volunteers and stabs himself, promptly followed by Odalea.

If someone is interested, the opera is available in youtube:


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Day 3:
All operas that contain a _Deus ex machina_ twist, twisting everything into soapy sweet nothings. Gluck's _Orfeo ed Euridice_ has it and it causes me from the very beginning not to immerse myself too much into the story. In a sense there is in Wagner's _Ring_ also this _Deus ex machina_ twist, the _Deus_ being Wagner himself as librettist who forces the story to follow a cyclical course (Rise, Shine & Sink). No, rather give me hell like in _Don Giovanni_ !!!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

schigolch said:


> On day 3, I'd like to say that, in my view, many 'ridiculous opera plot twists" are just due to the antinaturalistic nature of the genre itself.
> 
> Having said that, there are some plots that really leave you wonder. Walking a little bit out of the mainstream, let's take _Condor_, from the brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Gomes.
> 
> ...


Wow, I'm impressed. You know Carlos Gomes! I know two of his operas and like them a lot - Il Guarany, and Salvator Rosa. Two others belong to my unwatched pile: Lo Schiavo, and Fosca. What do you think of these two? I didn't know Condor, thanks for the link, I'll check it out.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Well, day 3 is relatively easy for me. I'm just a bit torn between Ernani [A: We're enemies but honor makes of me a host and of you a guest. B: No worries, if you tell me, I'll kill myself. Later - B: I'm happy, I got the girl. A: Kill yourself. B: Oops, OK. (Kills himself)] - and Il Trovatore [I'll kill my enemy's baby. Oops, wrong baby, I just tossed my own baby into the bonfire!].

I'll go with Il Trovatore. Ernani at least does it at the end, while Il Trovatore is entirely built around this outrageous event. Whaaaat? What mother does that???.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Wow, I'm impressed. You know Carlos Gomes! I know two of his operas and like them a lot - Il Guarany, and Salvator Rosa. Two others belong to my unwatched pile: Lo Schiavo, and Fosca. What do you think of these two? I didn't know Condor, thanks for the link, I'll check it out.


Well, _Fosca_ is a bit of a disappointment if you already know the other two operas, but I think it's worth a hearing. There is one complete version in youtube, or there was.

_Lo Schiavo_ is more like _Condor_, just a curiosity. Again, you can find the opera in youtube.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 3: I have to agree w/ Txllxt. 

I am not a big fan of Deus ex Machinations in plots... (it sometimes strikes me as cheap or lazy)

the most well known, I suppose is Don Fernando in _Fidelio_ ... so I will have to go with Beethoven's Ouvre...


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 3

It's got to be _Il trovatore_.

I've just spent the weekend with some friends who know nothing about opera but do know of my obsession. We were in a music shop & my friend picked up the Cura/Hvorostovsky DVD & asked me what it was about. I didn't even try to explain - I can't even explain it to myself.

Great version of _stride la vampa_.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

schigolch said:


> On day 3, I'd like to say that, in my view, many 'ridiculous opera plot twists" are just due to the antinaturalistic nature of the genre itself.


A very good point. As another example, the story of Turandot derives from a Persian fairy tale, and is fine if seen in that light. Looked at a bit more naturalistically, though, it's hard not to lose patience with Calaf, who falls in love at first sight with a princess he knows is a bloodthirsty murderer. He risks his life in a difficult trial, all to win a woman who clearly has no desire other than to see him dead. Even after she tortures and provokes the suicide of his devoted servant girl, Calaf remains fixated on melting the heart of the brutal princess--and, of course, succeeds in the end. The lovers join hands, the chorus swells in triumph, and all is forgotten or forgiven.

A fairy tale, to be sure. In real life, no one would be that besotted with a woman that evil!

[Oh wait . . . just remembered . . . my last girlfriend . . . hmmm . . . ]


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, I'd say that Turandot hate Men, as a category. However, she loves Calaf, as a man, and that redeemed her. This is in Puccini's opera, and also in Schiller.

However, other operatic adaptations, like Busoni's _Turandot_, are more related to a pantomime, to Gozzi's original 'Commedia dell'arte'. I wish we could also hear someday the german versions from Danzi and Reissiger, or the _Turanda_ from Bazzini.

I find irresistible this "Signore Ascolta", sung by Magda Olivero, in a wonderful recording with Gina Cigna and Francesco Merli, in 1937:


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

sospiro said:


> Day 3
> 
> It's got to be _Il trovatore_.
> 
> ...


I agree with Annie on this one


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Day 1: Tristan and/or Nozze
Day 2: Falstaff
Day 3: The fact that Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth was from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)

Day 3 will go to the great surrealist opera by Prokofiev, _The Love for Three Oranges_. I think the title of the work is enough for one to go - "um, wtf?"


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

In Verdi's "_Alzira_," the ridiculous twist is saved for the end. For most of the opera, the Spanish conquistador Gusmano has been carrying on like a cross between Scarpia and the Conte di Luna, persecuting and torturing the Inca tribal chief Zamoro while pursuing Alzira, the daughter of another tribal chief (and Alzira, of course, is Zamoro's sweetie). Gusmano pressures Alzira's old man into promising her to him in marriage, and in fact, is at the altar with her when Zamoro turns up and stabs him (Gusmano). And here's where the ridiculous twist comes in. Instead of just dying, or at least cursing Zamoro, Alzira, and everyone else before he dies, Gusmano suddenly becomes the model of Christian virtue, pardoning Zamoro and giving his blessing to the marriage of Zamoro and Alzira. The opera ends with those onstage singing the praises of Gusmano's noble gesture . . . and the rest of us wondering "WTF?"


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Didn't know I could post retrospectively (ignore me Nat if I've got this wrong)

Day 1: Favourite final scene in any opera

Mefistofele - so satisfying. You _know_ Satan is not defeated.






Day 2: Favourite Italian language opera

Verdi

Oh - I have to choose *one*, right?



_Simon Boccanegra_ 

Chosen this clip because we see the Lovely Lukas in make-up _and_ hear him sing.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Day three.

However tempting I find Ernani, Trovatore wins for me. Apart from the wrong baby fiasco, there is also the bit where Leonora tells evil count Luna that she will sleep with him if he lets her boyfriend Manrico go. To avoid this terrible fate, she then takes poison well in advance, so that she can die very publicly in front of Luna, BEFORE Manrico is released, thus guaranteeing her boyfriend's execution at the hands of the infuriated count, as well as her own death.

I'd have just slept with him - how bad can it be?


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Fourth day.

There are several operas coming to my mind, but I'll settle for _Mirra_.










This opera was composed in 1912 (though it was not premiered until 1920, in Rome), by Domenico Alaleona, an italian musicologist and musician, close friend of Arturo Toscanini. It was his only opera.

The libretto is based in a play from 18th century, by Count Alfieri, and also inspired in latin poetry by Ovidio.

Mirra (sopran), is the daughter of Cyprus' king, Cirino (baryton), and is engaged to prince Pereo (tenor). However, the young Mirra is looking haggard, not your typical bride to be. Finally, she refuses to be married to Cirino, and discuss with her mother Cecri (mezzo), accusing her of being the origin of all her woes.

Cirino faces Mirra and, to his horror and surprise, discovers that her daughter is desperately in love with him, to the point of taking her own life, so she can renounce her guilty passion.

There is some good music inside this plot, just take a look at the 'Intermezzo' (something inescapable in Italian opera at the time), and the lovely duet between father and daughter:

Intermezzo

Cirino and Mirra


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

Day 1 (Favorite final scene in any opera): La Traviata

I chose to show Gheorghiu's performance because this is my favorite interpretation/staging of the opera. 
I have to say that she is my favorite Violetta. I cannot doubt her immense talent and her commitment to this role, even if her reputation is less than desirable these days...


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

4th day:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

day 4 - Il Burbero di Buon Cuore, by Martín y Soler. I was surprised with the high quality of this opera buffa that flew under the radar for 200 years until it was revived in 2007. The libretto is by da Ponte, and Mozart wrote two of the arias.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Somehow, I missed this thread completely until now. So, we are up to day 4?

Day 4: Your most recent discovery/obsession
_La Gioconda_, by Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-86).


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

You can still add in your day 1, day 2 & day 3: we love to see someone sweating like Alma over his single & only Italian opera! :devil::lol:


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

day 4- the operas of Antônio Carlos Gomes, beyond _Il Guarany_

there are some really good extant live recordings from the Teatros Municipal of Sao Paulo and Rio

most of his operas were huge successes in Italy and of course Brazil; and I can hear why!


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

My most recent discovery/obsession? That would probably be . . . Talk Classical! It's been a real pleasure to find this site, with so many knowledgeable, friendly people who share my passion for opera.

Another recent discovery . . . I live near one of the largest libraries in the U.S., but somehow have only just now gotten around to checking out its media collection--to discover, not surprisingly, that it has an impressive catalog of opera DVDs (haven't even gotten to the CDs yet). I've been having a great time catching up on productions I hadn't seen. The library is proving to be a very helpful resource, since my current financial situation severely curtails my buying power.

But you're probably looking for an *opera* . . . in which case I'll go with one sadly not yet on DVD: Enescu's Oedipe (1931). I, like so many others, have neglected this twentieth-century masterpiece, which tells the whole long, tragic story of Oedipus, from birth to death, in varied but richly beautiful music. (I also must confess that I have to make some atonement regarding this work: its U.S. premiere took place, just six years ago, here in my home town--and I passed it up!!!)


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

My most recent discovery is so recent that it hasn't even taken place yet. :lol: It will take place tomorrow evening, when our local opera company performs John Adams' "_A_ _Flowering Tree_." The little promotional video the company posted on YouTube sounded promising.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

My day four: Mussorgsky. Sure, it isn't really all that recent, but I think it's my most recent operatic venture that I've been at all obsessed with. And I haven't yet heard Khovanschina, but it's on my wishlist. So I ought to have heard it within the next half year or so...


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
*Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)*

Runner up for Day 4 - A Village Romeo and Juliet (Delius).


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 4: Your most recent discovery/obsession

Ever since I got up to listen to Massenet's Don Quichotte live from Seattle Opera, I've been obsessed with it. I've bought every recording including the Italian version (thank goodness there aren't that many), the DVD of the opera and the black & white film 'The Adventures of Don Quixote' starring Feodor Chaliapin. Chaliapin sang the role at the premier & John Relyea got the film as part of his homework for the role. He also read Cervantes' book but I have to confess I haven't managed to read it all the way through.

Seattle Opera kindly sent me a recording of the live broadcast so I've also got a CD with John Relyea as the Don. They also sent me a programme which included a short history of the opera written by Speight Jenkins, the Director of Seattle Opera.

The beautiful serenade "Quand apparaissent les étoiles"


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

My most recent discovery is the soprano Kristine Opolais.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I've just emerged from a Billy Budd obsession and am now in a Pique Dame one. I've watched it three times in a row, twice with Misha Didyk and once with Domingo who is just wrong for this role, and have a terrrible earworm which goes "tri karti, tri karti, tri karti" in my head all the time. I've also learned the Russian for "you beautiful thing, you".


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> I've also learned the Russian for "you beautiful thing, you".


So when you meet Dima, you'll understand at least *some* of what he says to you!


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> I've just emerged from a Billy Budd obsession and am now in a Pique Dame one. I've watched it three times in a row, twice with Misha Didyk and once with Domingo who is just wrong for this role, and have a terrrible earworm which goes "tri karti, tri karti, tri karti" in my head all the time. I've also learned the Russian for "you beautiful thing, you".


The best way to widen your horizon and to learn other languages is opera, starting for example with "Любви все возрасты покорны:" (Prince Gremin's Aria, Eugene Onegin)


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Acccck!!! How did I miss this thread? It must have been while bickering endlessly on the Atonal Music thread. Well let's try to rapidly catch up:

*Day One: Favourite final scene in any opera:*

I love the tragic ending of _La Traviata_... but I think I'll have to go with the shocking/disturbing ending of Richard Strauss' _Salome_:
















*Day 2: Favourite Italian language opera*:

Easy: _Le Nozze di Figaro_- Mozart

*Day 3: Most ridiculous opera plot twist*:

Hmmmmm...  Not so easy. There are lots of ridiculous plot twists in opera, aren't there? Perhaps the most ridiculous plot as a whole of any opera that I admire is that of Berthold Goldschmidt's _Der gewaltige Hahnrei_ with the most convoluted psycho-sexual drama including a husband repeatedly attempting to force his wife sexually upon others to assuage his own fear that she is cheating on him.

*Day 4: Your most recent discovery/obsession*:

It must be Britten's _Turn of the Screw_ which I found quite powerful.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

@ Amfortas: I have that Oedipe CD and it is indeed quite good. Our friend World Violist is completely in love with it. This opera should be produced in visual medium.

@Air: good choice for day 4, it is spectacular!

@jflatter: I'm very curious about her, but it looks like her Rusalka hasn't been released in the United States yet. Can't wait.

It's 12:09 AM so, on to day 5. What is the question already? Best mad scene.
Oh well, there are many that are excellent. I'd be between 3 of them - I consider Salome's final scene as a mad scene although it's not your typical one. The one in Handel's Hercules is sublime. And of course, the one that will most likely be most people's choice in Lucia di Lammermoor is phenomenal for its duration, complexity, and beautiful music, so in spite of its overexposure, it is my choice.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 5: Best mad scene

I don't know enough 'madness scenes' to really make an informed choice but I do love Lady Macbeth's sleep-walking scene so I'll say that.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

My day 5...well, I don't know very many mad scenes (my operatic knowledge doesn't quite extend to even that point). I mean, there's always Peter Grimes, which is harrowing.

But really, my favorite mad scene isn't really a "mad scene" at all. In Curlew River, the central character is a madwoman, who is given some of the most interesting solo flute music to accompany her (wide-ranging melodies, most of it flutter-tonguing). The effect is entrancing and creepy, and so while it isn't really a terrifying hell-for-leather mad scene, it's my favorite mad "portion" of an opera.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Day 5: Easiest day of the bunch





The subsequent parts are linked in related videos


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

Is when Wotan kills Hunding a mad scene. He is obviously a bit mad that he has been stitched up by Fricka to kill his son


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

rgz said:


> Day 5: Easiest day of the bunch
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hands down. 

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)
*Day 5. "Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)*

Runner up for Day 5 is "Where shall I fly?" from _Hercules_ by Handel.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Day 5

In this case there is not a single doubt in my mind.

Elvira's mad scene in _Puritani_ is a fantastic achievement by Bellini, and when it's sung with such abandonment like this Callas version... operatic magic:


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

5th day: I stick firmly to Boris, either done by Ivan Petrow (great Russian bass of the 60ties), Nicolai Ghiaurov or Boris Christoff. The orchestral music of Mussorgsky with heavenly notes falling apart & dispersing into nothingness towards earth is heartbreaking. 'Vanity of vanities', 'power corrupts', I like the fact that Boris remains deeply human throughout and that you feel one with the Russian people who are witnessing it with compassionate fright. Their leader is going mad, what will become of them ? (So often they had to deal with leaders going out of control)....


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## rsmithor (Jun 30, 2011)

Not to overplay my answer to Day 1: Favourite final scene in any opera... My pick is also Berg's Lulu... from the moment I heard act three completed at the Met in 1979, I was toast... the wave of sound coming from the pit that night... filled every corner of the Met's massive hall... I heard people around me gasp!!!... followed by equally utter silence... I still get goose bumps every time . Favourite? yes, like a right hook to the gut...


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

rsmithor said:


> Not to overplay my answer to Day 1: Favourite final scene in any opera... My pick is also Berg's Lulu... from the moment I heard act three completed at the Met in 1979, I was toast... the wave of sound coming from the pit that night... filled every corner of the Met's massive hall... I heard people around me gasp!!!... followed by equally utter silence... I still get goose bumps every time . Favourite? yes, like a right hook to the gut...


Welcome on TC, welcome in the Opera section :clap: :trp:


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

sospiro said:


> Day 3
> 
> It's got to be _Il trovatore_.


I'll join you (and _Almaviva_) in adding another vote to this one. Now, I hope that nothing I say puts anyone off of _listening_ to 'Il trovatore,' where the music does succeed in sweeping all else away. Now, there are innumerable improbable plot turns in opera- and not even the opera that I might count as the very greatest (Tristan und Isolde) is free from it [e.g.: the whole 'Tantris' episode in the Act I retrospective, about which Ernest Newman said- imagine if Winston Churchill had found safety in WW II Germany by presenting himself as "Chinston Wurchill."]. However, _Il trovatore_ really gets its own special category for the sheer number of ways in which plot development beggars credulity. There's the incredible (that is to say, NOT credible), the incoherent, and the hackneyed. One could devote an entire thread to them all, which (taken as a whole) results a brew that really IS the distilled essence of suckage.

It's an amazing testimony to the power of Verdi's music that the big tunes here have a chance of making people overlook the _supervaccuo_ text of the tale.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Day 5: Best luunee scene? Luunee _Lucia_ by Donizetti.

Handel's _Orlando_ has an amazing mad scene when the hero goes mad, perhaps the most amazing stretch of mad scene music in all Baroque opera that I have yet come across (in other words, in Handel's opera oeuvre).


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

My goodness. I feel as if my job taking away all my Internet time.

Day 4: The first and 2nd act quintets from Die Zauberflöte (_Hm, hm, hm, hm (and so on and so forth)_ and _Nur stille!_). Also the Rene Jacobs _Zauberflöte_.
Also, this:





Day 5: It has to be _Where Shall I Fly?_ from _Hercules_, although the mad scene from _Lucia_ comes in at a rather close second.


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*I thought I would catch up, so here we go...*

*Day 2 - Favourite Italian language opera:*

This is a hard one, but I have to answer with La Traviata again.

*Day 3 - Most ridiculous opera plot twist:*

Il Trovatore!

*Day 4 - Your most recent discovery/obsession:*

Hamlet






*Day 5 - Best mad scene:*

This is hard! 
But I have to go with Lucia's mad scene.
It would take me too many words to explain why - It is simply genius.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I won't say I have a _recent_ obsession- but maybe I have two continual ones- *Tristan und Isolde*-- and *Götterdämmerung*. [And] since there's a part of me that thinks that to maintain a measure of fixation on 'Tristan und Isolde' is not much more than giving that masterpiece its due, then I'll opine that my attentions toward *Götterdämmerung* are more in line with what we commonly understand as obsession (i.e.: _disproportionate_ attention).

First of all, there's the multiple recorded versions. Then, there's the study-score. Then, there are the essays, interpretations and analyses (Cooke, Newman, May, _et al_).


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I'm not sure it counts as an entire mad "scene" -- but I like Elettra's aria ("D'Oreste, d'Aiace") when she loses it near the end of "_Idomeneo_."


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

The above choices are all great. Mine's a little off the beaten track; a gentler take on madness, without the disjointed extremes. From the final scene of Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire: Blanche dreams of traveling and eventually dying at sea--unaware that a doctor will soon arrive to take her to the asylum.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I'm in the _Where Shall I Fly?_ camp. The words are so powerful, and the sad thing is you know she's just brought it all on herself.

I like the Lucia mad scene too, particularly with the glass harmonica. It adds a wonderful eeriness. It's a pity they didn't have it for the Dessay Lucia.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I agree that the mad scenes from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellini's Puritani (especially sung by Callas) came immediately to mind... but as Alma suggested, I find I have to go with Strauss. Salome's crack-up and the end of the opera just raises the hairs on the back of my neck... especially when performed by Teresa Stratas, who absolutely owns this role in DVD. Her mannerisms... her twitching facial features, tics, and warped smiles are madness itself:
















Of course _Elektra_ is not far behind.






Mad for much of the opera, her final insane death dance in the bloodied waters following the killing of her mother and her lover and his henchmen by Orestes is overwhelming.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> I agree that the mad scenes from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellini's Puritani (especially sung by Callas) came immediately to mind... but as Alma suggested, I find I have to go with Strauss. Salome's crack-up and the end of the opera just raises the hairs on the back of my neck... especially when performed by Teresa Stratas, who absolutely owns this role in DVD. Her mannerisms... her twitching facial features, tics, and warped smiles are madness itself:
> 
> Of course _Elektra_ is not far behind.
> 
> Mad for much of the opera, her final insane death dance in the bloodied waters following the killing of her mother and her lover and his henchmen by Orestes is overwhelming.


You've definitely got a point there, they are both barking. Very unsettling.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

The conclusion is, opera as a genre provides the best mad scenes ever. Lucia, Boris, Salome, Elektra, I Puritani, Hercules, Hamlet, Streetcar... they're all spectacular!


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

MIDNIGHT!!!

Day 6: Favourite opera character and why – Le Pèlerin (from L’amour de loin), particularly Monica Groop’s portrayal in the DVD, in which there is an incredible amount of clarity, depth, and sheer simplicity. No browbeating à la Wotan. I can really respect this character.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Day 6 - Hans Sachs. Such a nice guy! And he was a real life person. I wonder what he'd have thought of the opera.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> Day 6 - Hans Sachs. Such a nice guy! And he was a real life person. I wonder what he'd have thought of the opera.


Oh yes. I DO like Hans Sachs until he gets all paranoid about German art at the end. But I'll have to wait until tomorrow to nominate mine.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Day 6

There are many, as one can imagine.

However, I will choose Tancredi today.

With this opera, Rossini is able to transmit in music the message of _Tancrède_, and even to go beyond the Voltaire's original: candor, purity, valour, the willing sacrifice of a hero, an ideal, a character that transcends reality. Capable of love more as an abstract emotion, than as a carnal instinct.

In this youtube we can listen to Marilyn Horne as Tancredi, and Enedina Lloris as Amenaide, in a pleasant production at Liceu, Barcelona, back in 1989:


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*Day 6 - Favourite opera character and why:*

For me it is Tatyana. 
She is a character with so much intelligence and with a strong moral center, however her innocence and her blinding love force her naivety. The Opera shows her growth from shy girl to confident women and her character makes me feel such sympathy. Her story breaks my heart.


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

My favourite character has to be Wotan. A complex little fellow.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

6th Day: My favourite opera character is Don Giovanni. Not that I ever would like to meet him in real life, but he time&time again strikes me as more *real* than most of the other opera showoffs: such an one-mindedly selfish & creepy womaniser who nevertheless manages to stay an aloof gentleman by all accounts. Intriguing...


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Oh yes. I DO like Hans Sachs until he gets all paranoid about German art at the end. But I'll have to wait until tomorrow to nominate mine.


 Well, that wasn't Hans Sachs' fault but rather that of Wagner.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Not sure I have a single favorite, but *one* of them is Papageno. Maybe not the most intelligent, courageous, or high-minded fellow, but good hearted, good humored, and ultimately irresistible.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 6: Favourite opera character and why

It's so difficult to choose but at the moment my favourite is Don Quichotte. He's sweet and kind and generous; courageous, honourable and dignified. Quite mad of course but his madness is 'sublime'.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Day 6: Favourite opera character and why

Maybe Susannna. She's that rarest of creatures in the world of opera -- a woman who is at least as smart as the men around her. So many operas portray women as helpless victims unable through their will or efforts to affect the world around them; I once joked to my mom that there are only two opera plots: comedies, wherein terrible things happen to a woman but it all works out in the end, and tragedies, wherein terrible things happen to a woman and she dies at the end. But in Nozze, Susanna is the mastermind behind everything that happens.

In fact, women tend to be portrayed as equals in many of Mozart's operas. The Queen of the Night might be evil and die in the end, but she was a woman's libber some 2 centuries before the term even existed, insisting that she had as much right to her husband's legacy as did Sarastro.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I'm torn between Don Giovanni and Papageno for the very same reasons as already suggested. I'd probably go with Papageno as a unique and lovable character who brings all the fantasy of _Die Zauberflöte_ down to earth.

Who can help not smile as Papageno gets out of trouble so ingeniously... and so comically:






And what other character could possible pull off a flirtatious love duet that begins so inanely: Pa-pa-pa-pa... ? Absolutely delicious!






Of course... if I'm in enough a warped state of mind... or drunk enough... I find myself choosing rather Bellona, the "goddess" of Warfare from Rameau's _Les Indes galantes_... specifically the Bellona from William Christie's production that looks so ever much like Dee Schneider of Twisted Sister fame!:lol:


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

rgz said:


> Day 6: Favourite opera character and why
> 
> So many operas portray women as helpless victims unable through their will or efforts to affect the world around them; I once joked to my mom that there are only two opera plots: comedies, wherein terrible things happen to a woman but it all works out in the end, and tragedies, wherein terrible things happen to a woman and she dies at the end. But in Nozze, Susanna is the mastermind behind everything that happens.


My favorite, for many of the reasons you explained so very well, is Leonore (Fidelio). Yes, she is a less complex character than some others because she represents an ideal. But this is a woman who doesn't sit around and wait for things to happen to her. She is also someone who is able to face her own fears and persevere in spite of them.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Day 6 - Not difficult, Minnie from La Fanciulla del West. She is kind, loving, giving, a little naive but not silly, brave, self-reliant, and a successful entrepreneur in unforgiving circumstances. And she's not a victim, ever. She fights for her man and her happiness, even if it means cheating, but in the end she gets her way because of the affection and respect she has inspired in all who know her.

I also have a soft spot for naughty Manon. Can't think why.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)
Day 5. "Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
*Day 6. Don Giovanni from Don Giovanni (Mozart)*

Runner up from Day 6: Carmen from Carmen. Kinda sexy and also a bit dark and complex. With my two day 6 choices I've realized that I tend to gravitate less towards happy-go-lucky characters as more towards darker, and more emotionally complex "anti-heroes". The Don just speaks so much about the wretchedness of humans and despite his immorality and ultimate demise, there's still so much to admire, to sympathize, and to analyze within his character. One can see him as hero as much as one sees him as a villain.

Not to say I don't like happy-go-lucky characters. After these two I'd probably go with one of the lighter Mozart personalities - Susanna, Figaro, Papageno, Cherubino and Leporello even... I love them all.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Air said:


> I've realized that I tend to gravitate less towards happy-go-lucky characters as more towards darker, and more emotionally complex "anti-heroes".


Don't worry about it; we all have a dark side. If I hadn't chosen Papageno, I probably would have gone with that wacky, self-mutilating party animal, Klingsor! :cheers:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

rgz said:


> In fact, women tend to be portrayed as equals in many of Mozart's operas. The Queen of the Night might be evil and die in the end, but she was a woman's libber some 2 centuries before the term even existed, insisting that she had as much right to her husband's legacy as did Sarastro.


Well, I don't know. There are some terrible moments as well, like Zerlina asking Masetto to beat her up. Or the whole Così fan Tutte situation.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

No way to stretch it to 30 days, I do it all in one post.

Day 1: Favourite final scene in any opera - Götterdämmerung finale
Day 2: Favourite Italian language opera - Don Giovanni
Day 3: Most ridiculous opera plot twist - Too many to count.
Day 4: Your most recent discovery/obsession - Billy Budd, although it's been going on for 1,5 year.
Day 5: Best mad scene - Grimes. No coloraturas and absolutely haunting.
Day 6: Favourite opera character and why - can't choose only one. 
Day 7: Favourite English language opera - Billy Budd
Day 8: Best declaration of love - Richard, to Amelia. 
Day 9: Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs - DVD - 
Day 10: Favourite male singer - only ONE? At least one per range! Tenor - Langridge, baritone - Bastianini, bass - Székely.
Day 11: Favourite French language opera - Carmen. Actually, the only French opera I like.
Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with - So it's "beer" what they call it now? Well, if it's really just a beer - Donald McIntyre, the loveliest Wotan ever.
Day 13: Best death scene - Pffff... maybe Rodrigo? Or Richard? Both serious tearjerkers.
Day 14: First opera you fell in love with - Trovatore
Day 15: Favourite compilation/recital CD - dunno... I have so many with the same few dozen arias I got bored of "best arias" cds. I prefer the whole opera.
Day 16: Favourite female singer - Callas
Day 17: Best villain in an opera - Hard... so many candidates! Hagen? Claggart? Scarpia? Grand Inquisitor?
Day 18: Favourite “other” language opera - László Hunyadi, Hungarian.
Day 19: Aria that you think is sexy - Deh vieni all finestra. *melts into poddle*
Day 20: Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with - Mozart. He seems like a fun-loving fellow.
Day 21: Most heart-rending aria - All three of Vere's arias. He needs a hug so badly.
Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed - Rossini. Except for a few arias.
Day 23: Favourite German language opera - Ring
Day 24: Favourite overture/prelude - I'm not into overtures. Most of them are just too damn long. And when the director tries to do something with them, even worse.
Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart - Britten. I kinda find him hot (which is wrong on so many levels) and his music is just gorgeous and heartbreaking. Also, him/Pears = OTP.
Day 26: Aria that you sing in the shower - Die Hölle Rache
Day 27: Favourite voice type - basso profondo
Day 28: Favourite Russian language opera - Boris
Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music - Billy Budd, Don Carlo, Tosca
Day 30: Best live opera experience - Magic Flute in St. Margaretchen.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Well, I don't know. There are some terrible moments as well, like Zerlina asking Masetto to beat her up. Or the whole Così fan Tutte situation.


Pamina isn't exactly a firecracker either.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Sieglinde said:


> Day 9: Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs - DVD -


Aw! I wanna hear your DVD choices! 



Sieglinde said:


> Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart - Britten. I kinda find him hot (which is wrong on so many levels) and his music is just gorgeous and heartbreaking. Also, him/Pears = OTP.


OTP ???

I'm so out of it, I had to look it up. At first I thought you meant OPP, which seemed wrong on even *more* levels. Big relief to find out I was mistaken!


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Day 7: Favourite English language opera

For once I'll jump the gun, beat the rush.

I know I won't be alone in this choice, but so be it. A landmark of the twentieth century.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

It's more fun to go one day at a time so that we can all make comments about other people's choices and our choices. No jumping the gun for me.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> It's more fun to go one day at a time so that we can all make comments about other people's choices and our choices. No jumping the gun for me.


Yup, it doesn't count if you do it all in one go, being a thirty DAY challenge not a thirty question one. It's process, not product, that makes it fun. And taking the time to read other people's contributions. And having the self restraint to wait.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Alright, day 7, favorite English-language opera: Curlew River.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

OK, past midnight, day 7. English language opera.

It's not as painful as the Italian language opera challenge, but still, there are some that make it hard to pick just one.

Let's start by top 15:

Dido and Aeneas, The Fairy Queen, Hercules, Acis and Galatea, The Rake's Progress, Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Death in Venice, Porgy and Bess, The Pilgrim's Progress, Candide, Powder Her Face, The Ghosts of Versailles, Doctor Atomic, and The Minotaur.

Now, down to top 10:

Dido and Aeneas, Hercules, The Rake's Progress, Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Porgy and Bess, Powder her Face, The Ghosts of Versailles, Doctor Atomic, The Minotaur.

I'd select as top five - Hercules, The Rake's Progress, Peter Grimes, Porgy and Bess, The Minotaur.

Now, to bring it down to three: Hercules, Peter Grimes, Porgy and Bess.

Two: Hercules, Peter Grimes.

Winner: Peter Grimes.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Of course this is going to be a clean sweep for Britten with a sprinkling of Purcell. :lol: I dare someone to put up a non-Purcell, non-Britten English-language opera as their favorite. I really doubt it'll happen.

EDIT: Come to think of it, some people have put forth Porgy and Bess on other threads, so never mind.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

World Violist said:


> Of course this is going to be a clean sweep for Britten with a sprinkling of Purcell. :lol: I dare someone to put up a non-Purcell, non-Britten English-language opera as their favorite. I really doubt it'll happen.
> 
> EDIT: Come to think of it, some people have put forth Porgy and Bess on other threads, so never mind.


I think that Handel and Stravinsky, while not native speakers, are strong competition.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)
Day 5. "Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Day 6. Don Giovanni from Don Giovanni (Mozart)
*Day 7. Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)*

Runner up for Day 7: A Village Romeo and Juliet (Delius) and Hercules (Handel). Haven't heard any of the Britten operas yet.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 7: Favourite English language opera

Billy Budd

I've started to like Nixon in China but it's got to be Billy

How I wish I'd seen this production


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I will go with _Nixon in China_ for this one.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Day 7: as Handel himself constantly does his crossovers from opera into oratoria & back I would like to nominate here his Messiah, especially for the King's English (King James translation). When this is not  allowed, I'm happy to settle with Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Also Porgy and Bess crossed my mind (being already so full with crossovers  ), but do they really sing English  overthere?


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*Day 7 - Favourite English language opera:*

Hercules


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

World Violist said:


> Of course this is going to be a clean sweep for Britten with a sprinkling of Purcell.


Well Handel is very strong competition. About three months ago I'd have said Hercules.

That said I'm going for Billy Budd. I'd have liked to have seen the Simon K version too Annie. That Claggart looks demn scary.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 7 - Favorite English language opera*: Weber's "_Oberon_."

Forgive me for jumping the gun a little, but I'll be off celebrating my independence over the next few days and probably won't be able to get to my computer.

*Day 8 - Best declaration of love*: Funny how two of opera's biggest cads -- the Duke of Mantua and Lt. Pinkerton -- have some of the most beautiful expressions of love. I guess my top choice would be the former's "E il sol dell'anima."

*Day 9 - Three desert island DVDs/CDs *- All DVDs: "_Fidelio_" with Nylund and Kaufmann; "_La Clemenza di Tito_" with Kaufmann; and "_Tosca_" with Magee, Kaufmann, and Hampson

*Day 10 - Favorite male singer*: Gee, I wonder who . . . ? My favorite Gummi bear gourmet, the one and only Jonas!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Air said:


> Haven't heard any of the Britten operas yet.


If you like DVDs try the film of Turn of the Screw, or the Glyndebourne Billy Budd.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Almaviva said:


> I think that Handel and Stravinsky, while not native speakers, are strong competition.


...And since this we've gotten a Handel and a John Adams. I sit corrected.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

MAuer said:


> *Day 7 - Favorite English language opera*: Weber's "_Oberon_."


 Wow! I didn't even know that Oberon was in English! I must get to know it! Any recommendations? I'd guess that Sir Gardiner's version on period instruments is the way to go - it's also expensive.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> Day 7: as Handel himself constantly does his crossovers from opera into oratoria & back I would like to nominate here his Messiah, especially for the King's English (King James translation). When this is not  allowed, I'm happy to settle with Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Also Porgy and Bess crossed my mind (being already so full with crossovers  ), but do they really sing English  overthere?


 Well, I don't think _Porgy and Bess_ is crossover. It's a _bona fide _opera. It's only due to prejudice against a composer previously involved with musicals that opera houses were slow to embrace it, but there is no doubt that the music structure is entirely operatic, and it is supposed to be sung with operatic technique. And a darn good one it is! The English used is certainly idiosyncratic of the African-American heritage, but similar oddities exist in other English-language operas in terms of historical periods. I think _Porgy and Bess_ is a very worthy candidate for best opera in English, and it made my top 3. It's just unfortunate for Gershwin that the field is packed with such strong competition as Handel's _Hercules_, Stravinsky's _The Rake Progress_, and Britten's operas, but in my opinion _P&B_ is up there with the best.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> OK, past midnight, day 7. English language opera.
> 
> It's not as painful as the Italian language opera challenge, but still, there are some that make it hard to pick just one.
> 
> ...


Strange. This is *exactly* how I arrived at Peter Grimes.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Let's start by top 15:
> 
> Dido and Aeneas, The Fairy Queen, Hercules, Acis and Galatea, The Rake's Progress, Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Death in Venice, Porgy and Bess, The Pilgrim's Progress, Candide, Powder Her Face, The Ghosts of Versailles, Doctor Atomic, and The Minotaur.


It's interesting to see in this list _The Minotaur_, and yet miss the arguably best opera by Harrison Birtwistle, and one that really received a lot of attention back in the 80's, _The Mask of Orpheus_. Perhaps it is too avantgarde. Something similar could perhaps be said about a great opera by Brian Ferneyhough, _Shadowtime_, premiered in 2005.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Where the challenge of the favorite Italian-language opera was deciding between too many, here it is deciding between far too few... at least far too few that I am familiar enough with. Among my choices:

Purcell- _Dido and Aeneas_
Benjamin Britten- _The Turn of the Screw, Peter Grimes, and A Mid-Summer Night's Dream_
Delius- A Village Romeo and Juliet
Philip Glass- Einstein on the Beach
Gerschwin- Porgy and Bess
Ades-The Tempest

While I quite like the quirky weirdness of _Einstein on the Beach_ I don't think I could go with it as my favorite. Purcell's opera has the magnificent "Dido's lament"... but damn it! _Porgy and Bess_ has _Summertime, A Woman is a Sometime Thing, I got plenty o' nuttin', It ain't necessarily so_... and more, while Delius' _A Village Romeo and Juliet_ is undoubtedly the most unabashedly beautiful:






In the end I'll have to go with Britten's _A Turn of the Screw_... for overall drama and atmosphere and menace.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

amfortas said:


> Strange. This is *exactly* how I arrived at Peter Grimes.


 Great minds think alike.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

schigolch said:


> It's interesting to see in this list _The Minotaur_, and yet miss the arguably best opera by Harrison Birtwistle, and one that really received a lot of attention back in the 80's, _The Mask of Orpheus_. Perhaps it is too avantgarde. Something similar could perhaps be said about a great opera by Brian Ferneyhough, _Shadowtime_, premiered in 2005.


 It's just because I don't know _The Mask of Orpheus_, but the recommendation is duly noted. I found _The Minotaur_ to be simply spectacular, I really loved it. So, if _The Mask of Orpheus _is even better, I'll be very curious to explore it.

P.S. - From other recommendations for operas that I don't know, I tried to purchase _Einstein on the Beach _but got discouraged by the outrageous prices - between $150 and $190. What the hell, why is this opera so expensive??? On the other hand, I did order a copy of _A Village Romeo and Juliet._


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Day 8! Best declaration of love: I kinda want to say "L'amour de loin" again, but can anything really top the derailed apotheosis of the love duet from _Tristan und Isolde_?


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)
Day 5. "Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Day 6. Don Giovanni from Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Day 7. Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
*Day 8. The Presentation of the Rose from Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss) and Love Duet from Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)*

I'm not sure the Love Duet from Tristan is so much a declaration rather than a culmination... but if so my soul is torn in two... and I simply can't _not choose_ The Presentation of the Rose from Der Rosenkavalier either. It's so subtle, so simple and so pure yet at the same time not - bountiful, all-encompassing, soaring to places no other music can. But if Tristan does count, I have to go with both... there's really no other way of doing it.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Air said:


> I'm not sure the Love Duet from Tristan is so much a declaration rather than a culmination... but if so my soul is torn in two... and I simply can't _not choose_ The Presentation of the Rose from Der Rosenkavalier either. It's so subtle, so simple and so pure yet at the same time not - bountiful, all-encompassing, soaring to places no other music can. But if Tristan does count, I have to go with both... there's really no other way of doing it.


I would say that the Tristan und Isolde duet starts a while back, and that's the actual declaration or something like that...and then it naturally progresses to the big almost-climax. So I'm saying it counts purely on musical-chronological grounds...

Still, if people don't agree with me then they can just say I answered with L'amour de loin...I've got no problem with that.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

From other recommendations for operas that I don't know, I tried to purchase Einstein on the Beach but got discouraged by the outrageous prices - between $150 and $190. What the hell, why is this opera so expensive??? On the other hand, I did order a copy of A Village Romeo and Juliet.

Einstein of the Beach seems to be out of print... again. Last summer it was re-released (the green cover version) and I picked it up for about $15.

I wonder the same about Wagner's Ring. The Solti and Keilberth recordings are grossly overpriced in comparison with others... but as a sworn Wagnerian and Ring fanatic I'll eventually need to bite the bullet.

Enjoy the Delius.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 8: Best declaration of love

Alfredo's to Violetta at the start of _La Traviata_.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I think perhaps this declaration of love by a man in the threshold of old age, to a younger woman, and explained to the guy that loves her!. Sung by an incredible Mark Reizen at 90 years old:






Or perhaps, this one from a woman who is about to die:

_ Ho tante cose che ti voglio dire,  o una sola, ma grande come il mare,  come il mare profonda ed infinita...  Sei il mio amore e tutta la mia vita!_


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Day 8 for me:

Tristan und Isolde's _Liebestod_ is wonderful and belongs to one of my very favorite operas but I'm not sure it qualifies as a declaration of love. Besides, it comes out of a love potion!

Der Rosenkavalier - The Presentation of the Rose - is definitely not a declaration of love. It's love at first sight but no love gets declared in that scene, except for the fake love professed by the Baron through his cousin. Check the lyrics, folks, they see each other and make comments about how the rose smells good. Then they say to themselves, not to each other, how they feel happy in that moment and make plans to try and manage to stay together. There is no "I love you." Here is a translation:

*OCTAVIAN*
(_A little nervous)_
I was given the honor 
To present...
In face of the noble and illustrious betrothed,
In the name of my cousin,
Of the Lerchenau family,
The rose that symbolizes his love

*SOPHIE*
(_taking the rose)_
I'm much obliged to your grace.
I'm much obliged to your grace
For all eternity.

_(She gets a little confused_
_While she smells the rose)_

It does indeed smell
As if it were a real rose 

*OCTAVIAN*
Yes, it has some drops 
Of Persian rose extract 

*SOPHIE*
It is like a celestial rose . 
Of the most sacred of paradises. 
Don't you think so?

_(Octavian bows over the rose _
_That Sophie sustains. Then he straightens up _
_And looks at Sophie's mouth)_

It is like a hail from the sky. 
It's almost more than what one can stand.
It attracts one like if it tied a knot
Around one's heart

_(In low voice)_

When and where 
Have I felt so happy?

*OCTAVIAN*
(_following her, unconsciously)_
When and where 
Have I felt so happy?

*SOPHIE*
_(to herself)_
I have to go even thought it would be like
Dying in route.
But I won't die. This is far away.
We got time, and eternity will melt into
This happy moment
Which I won't forget for as long as I'm alive.

*OCTAVIAN*
(_at the same time)_
I was a young man
Who didn't even know her.
But, who am I?
How would I manage to be with her?
How would I manage to bring her to my side?
If I weren't a man
My senses would have abandoned me.
This happy moment
I won't forget for as long as I'm alive.

Mimi on the other hand does declare her love at the end of the sequence that starts with _Che gelida manina, _continues through _Mi chiamano Mimi_, and ends with _Oh soave fanciulla. _So this one could qualify.

But my choice is Alfredo's _Un dì, felice, eterea _in _La Traviata. _That soaring declaration of love that comes back several times later in the opera as a leitmotif is very beautiful and superlative - "that love that is the pulse of the entire universe" - and contains a very clever definition of love - "cross (torture) and delight."

_Un dì, felice, eterea,_
_Mi balenaste innante,_
_E da quel dì tremante_
_Vissi d'ignoto amor._
_Di quell'amor ch'è palpito_
_Dell'universo, Dell'universo intero,_
_Misterioso, altero,_
_Croce e delizia al cor.
_ _Misterioso, Misterioso altero,_
_Croce e delizia al cor._
_
One day, you, happy, ethereal,_
_appeared in front of me,_
_and ever since,trembling,_
_I lived from unknowing love._
_That love that's the_
_pulse of the universe, of the whole universe,_
_Mysterious, proud,_
_torture and delight to the heart._
_Mysterious, mysterious and proud,_
_torture and delight to the heart.

_Starts at 1'28"


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Best declaration of love:






It's not face to face declaration though, it's monologue of female character dealing with her feelings alone - it ends not with "I love you" but with "I love him", a declaration she makes before herself.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Prokofiev: Semyon Kotko, Act Three, Scene 1*

Day 8: Best declaration of love. Prokofiev: Semyon Kotko, Act Three, Scene 1. Lovely music accompanying Sofya and Semyon, when she tells of her dream (about being alone) and he comforts her ("We can dream of many silly things"), going higher &higher, wider&wider in such a lyrical outburst of love, that my heart is melting in the same fire together with them :kiss:


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*Day 8 - Best declaration of love:*

I don't know if it is classed as a 'declaration' as such, 
but my choice is "La fleur que tu m'avais jetee" from Carmen


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Almaviva said:


> Besides, it comes out of a love potion!


That's just a "plot development."


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

Day 7 Peter Grimes a great piece of musical theatre.
Day 8 The Love Duet from Tristan und Isolde


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I'll go with Walther's Prize Song from Die Meistersinger--a declaration of love before an entire community that wins him not only the girl but also a place among the revered masters.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> But my choice is Alfredo's _Un dì, felice, eterea _in _La Traviata. _That soaring declaration of love that comes back several times later in the opera as a leitmotif is very beautiful and superlative - "that love that is the pulse of the entire universe" - and contains a very clever definition of love - "cross (torture) and delight."


This indeed is lovely, but let's have someone other than Mr Bean to do it:


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I love "Ya vas lyublyu" from Pique Dame. Yeletski seems such a genuinely nice caring guy, WHAT IS LISA THINKING going off with that obsessive idiot Hermann?






My other choice is a completely different kind of love: it's the recognition scene between Odysseus and his son Telemaco in Il Ritorno D'Ulisse in Patria. It's such a poignant and touching evocation of parternal love and filial yearning. Makes me weep every time.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 7: Favourite English language opera
> Day 8: Best declaration of love


I think I missed a few "days". Some of these are simply to hard to pick!

*Day 7* goes to the greatest operas ever written in English, _Semele_ or _Hercules_. While Handel, for commercial reasons, tried to disguise these works as "oratorio". These were not oratorios because neither were of Biblical religious stories but were of Greek and Roman mythologies.

*Day 8* goes to one of the most elegant and romantic at the same time:-


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 8: Best declaration of love*

This one I've put off for some time now as I pondered.... thinking through all the obvious declarations of love... browsing through my operas on the shelves to see if anything would jump out at me as standing out from all the rest. Surely _Tristan und Isolde_... that most Eros-laden opera... or _La Traviata_ or something else by Puccini or Verdi. But then I kept thinking... what of Mozart? The Count's confession before the Countess and her absolution of all his philandering at the climax of Le Nozze di Figaro is surely laden with the expression of love...

And then it hit me:






What could be a greater expression of love than Papageno's as he stutters is astonishment before his beloved... unable at first to even put his thoughts into words?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> This indeed is lovely, but let's have someone other than Mr Bean to do it:


 You didn't think I picked that version because of *him*, did you?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I love Anna myself... but that has to be the most lame setting ever for such a Romantic opera. Just thinking of what might have been... lots of _fin de siecle_ chintz, a plush divan with plump embroidered pillows, a bed overflowing with tulle and lace... and Anna appropriately attired in pearls, and shimmering satin as if in a painting by Ingres:










placing on display a generous view of her décolletage!... ummmm.... errrr... I mean a generous display of her vocal abilities.:devil:

Now excuse me while I take a cold shower. I'll be sure to keep the water running for Alama...:lol:


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> I love Anna myself... but that has to be the most lame setting ever for such a Romantic opera. Just thinking of what might have been... lots of _fin de siecle_ chintz, *a plush divan with plump embroidered pillows*, a bed overflowing with tulle and lace... and Anna appropriately attired in pearls, and shimmering satin as if in a painting by Ingres


Funny you should mention that divan and pillows: I just got finished watching the set of videos taken by a fan of Angela Gheorghiu of the famous (to J Kaufmann fans) La Traviata at the Met in Feb 2006. (I was ecstatic to learn this existed, alas the last uploaded video cuts off in the middle of Violetta's final scene...)

ANYWAY, during this aria Alfredo is clambering over the divan, which looks as though it should be more solid and less poufy, causing some wobbling (not in the singing!) and then the pillows seem to be giving way until it looks as though Alfredo might fall over Violetta! Fortunately she jumps up and moves away to respond. I suppose some of this (especially if it is one of the first performances) might be J Kaufmann's unfamiliarity with the set--he does say he hit his head on a lamp on his first entrance which unfortunately is not included in these videos! :lol:

I agree with you somewhat about the minimalist production, but lord after some of the regie-things I've seen (check out the trailer for the new Saint Francoise d'assise at the Bavarian State opera for one although I doubt it will be on youtube with male nudity) the Traviata production seems positively tame.

I vote for this too--but I don't know enough opera to have 30 days' worth of favorites--I'm enjoying reading everyone else's!:tiphat:


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Minimalism in staging just leaves bored. The Messiaen crosses over the boundaries in to the realm of Eurotrash... although I've seen far worse. This production of Schreker's _Die Gezeichneten_ for example, takes a tale set in Renaissance Genoa and places it on what is apparently a lunar landscape. The main character, a hunchbacked aristocrat/artist has apparently become a 1970s drag queen trying out the latest line of Mary Kay cosmetics!?






Lovely music, though.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> placing on display a generous view of her décolletage!... ummmm.... errrr... I mean a generous display of her vocal abilities.:devil:


Anna has had traditionally staged Traviatas as well. I just love this staging. I don't understand why you guys don't like it. She is lovely with her red dress, and I like the minimalistic setting quite a lot. Her acting is fabulous in that version. But I'm pleased that you also like her boo.. cough, cough, I mean, her vocal assets.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

OK, the three desert island discs.
I suppose I can't cheat and get a box set like the M22 or the Barenboim Ring. I'll be fair and take only individual discs. And I don't want to take Giulio Cesare and Les Indes Galantes any longer. Well, I'll have to take at least one of Anna with me.




























Yay, Midnight. I can post the above already, and Happy Birthday, United States of America!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Minimalism in staging just leaves bored. The Messiaen crosses over the boundaries in to the realm of Eurotrash... although I've seen far worse. This production of Schreker's _Die Gezeichneten_ for example, takes a tale set in Renaissance Genoa and places it on what is apparently a lunar landscape. The main character, a hunchbacked aristocrat/artist has apparently become a 1970s drag queen trying out the latest line of Mary Kay cosmetics!?


I hear you, and I didn't like the drag queen thing myself - although I loved the opera, it's such a beautiful opera!
But there is nothing outrageous in the Salzburg 2005 Traviata. It is definitely not Eurotrash. That production is not boring at all, thanks to the very good acting, and all the staging solutions that were found (like the big door on the left, the use of the space upstairs on top of the white wall).
And the thing is, Verdi himself asked _La Traviata_ to be staged in contemporary costumes (that is, those of the time when the opera is being staged, not those of the time of the story), since he wanted the audience to relate to and identify with the characters on stage.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

My three opera stuffs:




























Fairly predictable coming from me, but there were a few contenders...


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> I hear you, and I didn't like the drag queen thing myself - although I loved the opera, it's such a beautiful opera!
> But *there is nothing outrageous in the Salzburg 2005 Traviata*. It is definitely not Eurotrash. That production is not boring at all, thanks to the very good acting, and all the staging solutions that were found (like the big door on the left, the use of the space upstairs on top of the white wall).


See, this is where we disagree, The bull fighting scene in Act 2 is ridiculous. I feel embarrassed and can't wait for it to be over when I watch it. I generally find this a very brutal harsh Traviata.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

I've changed Day 8 due to Alma's correction of my previous picks. And I'll have to go with his pick from La Traviata for sure too.

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)
Day 5. "Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Day 6. Don Giovanni from Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Day 7. Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
Day 8. "Un di felice, eterea" from La Traviata (Verdi)
Day 9.

I feel that pictures probably speak more than words here. 




























Predictable, but I really do love these three more than anything else I could possibly pick.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 9: 3 desert island CDs*


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)




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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

*Day 9 - Blu Ray top 3*


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 9: Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> See, this is where we disagree, The bull fighting scene in Act 2 is ridiculous. I feel embarrassed and can't wait for it to be over when I watch it. I generally find this a very brutal harsh Traviata.


 I love the bull fighting scene, and thought that the masks were clever. But I still love you, Natalie.:kiss:


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Day 1: Favourite final scene in any opera
Like Alma said, it is so difficult to choose a favorite ending because there are so many good ones -

Day 2: Favourite Italian language opera
This one is easy, La Traviata for me

Day 3: Most ridiculous opera plot twist
Il trovatore by Verdi

Day 4: Your most recent obsession
Cecelia Bartolli

Day 5: Best mad scene
"Where shall I fly?" from Hercules by Handel

Day 6: Favourite opera character and why
Papageno at the moment as I've just watched Die Zauberflöte on blue ray

Day 7: Favourite English language opera
Peter Grimes by Britten

Day 8: Best declaration of love
Un dì, felice, eterea from La Traviata by Verdi

Day 9: Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Three Desert Island CDs:










The ultimate in icy eroticism... like a painting by Ingres. Karajan and the Berlin Phil. are perfection itself.










Sheer joy. None have (or will) match Popp as the Queen of the Night. Bohm's Wunderlich may have Klemperer's Gedda beat, but the Klemperer surpasses its only real competition with every other singer. It has such a rich company of singers that Klemperer employs talents on the level of Schwarzkopf and Ludwig in minor roles.










Need one say anything about this iconic recording?

3 desert island DVDs:










The first opera I ever saw... back in the mid-to-late 80s... and I was immediately seduced.










A brilliant rendering of an incredibly disturbing drama. Stratas is a portrait of madness and absolutely owns this role. Interesting that two of my favorite DVDs feature her... and her _La Boheme_ is damn good as well.










This is the production that recently drew me to opera on film/video. I should also credit this production with piquing my interest in the French Baroque... and Baroque music beyond Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi in general. It also turned my on to William Christie's other efforts. The exotic Danielle de Niese is absolutely enticing. Patricia Petibon is at once unique, quirky, and charming... and nothing can beat the goddess of war, Bellona, as an over-the-top Dee Schneider from Twisted Sister look-alike.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


>


Handel? Never would have guessed.:lol:

I have the first two recordings but thanks for the _Rinaldo_ recommendation. I've long loved Bartoli.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs

Some members have just put three but StLuke put three of each - is that OK?

DVDs










This is & always will be my favourite opera & this DVD has three of my all time favourite singers: Plácido Domingo, Joseph Calleja & Lukas Jakobski. It will be a reminder of a wonderful night.










Just so I can see Sam Ramey's chest.















To brighten my solitude & to remind me of Alma.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

CDs

My precious recording of Don Quichotte from Seattle Opera. Not commercially available but guaranteed not a 'boot leg'. I would need to take the programme with me as well. 












One of the first opera CDs I ever bought & still my favourite version










Because I love this version


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Can I pick 5? Or 10? Or 20?

Sigh . . . guess not . . .

OK, I'll simplify matters and just focus on DVDs.










This one's easy. After more than thirty years, still my favorite production of my favorite opera. Chereau's modernized Ring cycle was controversial at the time, but in Die Walkure he focuses on the performers to make immensely compelling drama. His few innovative touches--a pendulum, a mirror, a winding sheet--are all used aptly and memorably. He also has the most attractive, committed pair of Volsung twins in Peter Hofmann and Jeanine Altmeyer, along with Gwyneth Jones as a vulnerable, impassioned Brunnhilde. The staging is simple and dark, but the final act's Isle of the Dead set has become iconic.

Having got that out of the way, the next two are tough. Reserving the right to change my mind at any second, my choices right now are:










Heiner Muller's Bayreuth staging is sparse and abstracted, based on luminous cubes like a series of Rothko paintings. There is a reserve and coolness to this production that is somehow in keeping with Wagner's philosophizing lovers. But providing the passionate, beating heart of it all is Waltraud Meier's fiery Isolde. Her liebestod is a transcendent moment, the final image sealing the drama with the still iconography of an early Renaissance painting.










Robert Carsen's empty stage keeps the focus on the characters and Tchaikovsky's heartbreaking music. Fleming may not be fully convincing as a young girl or have the most idiomatic Russian, but sings beautifully and throws herself with abandon into the role of Tatiana, while Hvorostovsky, as expected, makes for a dashing, romantic Onegin. The final parting scene between the two never-quite-lovers is breathtaking in its intensity.

Now stop me before I change my mind again. Can't believe I've left myself without a Parsifal, a Don Carlo, a Nozze di Figaro. Someone, please, get me off this island!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I'm jumping the gun just a tiny little bit because I don't know if I'll be awake past midnight.
So, 3 hours ahead, I'll get to the next question, best male singer.

I sincerely think that no male singer alive is any competition when one thinks of the great ones of the past.

Jonas and Bryn and Dmitri and Ramón and Plácido and Rolando and Simon and Rene etc etc are all fine singers... and yet... and yet...

I'll go with Jussi Björling for my top choice, with Giuseppe di Stefano and Nicolai Gedda in close pursuit.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 10: Favourite male singer


What the hell. Just pick any good one.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Day 10: My favorite male singer at the moment is probably Andreas Scholl. I just like his voice better than most other men, except _maybe_ Gerald Finley. I suppose among non-falsettists my choice would be Finley then...overall, it's Andreas.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Three desert Island DVDS/cds :

Like Amfortas I'm choosing the Met Eugene Onegin, and for the same reasons.










Second choice, not a surprise to anyone. I'm still in love with Connolly's Cesare.










I remember the excitement when this first came out and the fun of discovering it. Raimondi's DOn Profondo still makes me laugh. I bought it in a CD shop in the Galleria in Milan when I was living there.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Favourite male singer is an almost impossible question for me because there are so many I like and for different reasons. Voice, stage presence/acting, itty bits of personal contact.

Simon, Dima, John, Joseph, Lukas, Jonas, José.









OK none of these, I'll go for Sherrill Milnes.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Favourite male singer.

My choice is Riccardo Stracciari:


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*Day 9: Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs:*

I have had to use videos to show my choices, because I haven't worked out how to add pictures yet... Every time I add a picture and preview my post it just displays a broken image icon 

If anyone could help me with that it would be much appreciated 

*1.* Anna Netrebko's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met (Although, I have to say it, I would prefer to have Natalie's.)






*2.* La Traviata at the Royal Opera House with Renee Fleming






*3.* Carmen at the Royal Opera House with Jonas Kaufmann






*Day 10: Favourite male singer*

At the moment... Juan Diego Florez


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Favourite male singer

Franco Corelli. There are some that often interpret arias more to my liking than him but for the sake of voice itself, overall vocal manner it must be Corelli for me - closed in Italian music which I don't put above other opera traditions, never recorded any Wagner opera (or many other favourites of mine) but I suppose that my grieving over this fact proves even more than he is my favourite. Not his recordings, not the operas he recorded are my favourites but the incredible and unique qualities he represents make HIM my man, my favourite male singer.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Day 10: Favourite male singer - Dmitri Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky (Дмитрий Александрович Хворостовский, born 16 October 1962), because of his voice which has an inward nasality that immediately makes it stand out & because of his being born to be *the* Eugene Onegin.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Day 10: Favourite male singer. Who else but my long-time favourite, Ruggero Raimondi:






who beat off the strong competition - Jonas, Plácidone, Dima, Simon, José, Joseph, Mariusz etc etc.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Dammit double post.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Liss said:


> I have had to use videos to show my choices, because I haven't worked out how to add pictures yet... Every time I add a picture and preview my post it just displays a broken image icon
> 
> If anyone could help me with that it would be much appreciated


The link that you paste must contain the letters .jpg at the end otherwise it will give you a broken image icon.
You need to copy the link by right clicking on the picture you want to include and, depending on the browser, going for properties then copying the URL in Internet Explorer, or going for "copy picture location" on Firefox. Then you come to Talk Classical and click on the little picture icon (the one between the planet and the little film). When the dialogue box comes up, delete what is there (http) and paste the link you have previously copied, then hit OK. Sometimes in Internet Explorer people fail to copy the complete link because you have to scroll down a little when you're copying it (if the link is too long it won't show entirely until you scroll down), that's why sometimes people copy only a fragment of the picture location and end up with a broken icon.


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> The link that you paste must contain the letters .jpg at the end otherwise it will give you a broken image icon.
> You need to copy the link by right clicking on the picture you want to include and, depending on the browser, going for properties then copying the URL in Internet Explorer, or going for "copy picture location" on Firefox. Then you come to Talk Classical and click on the little picture icon (the one between the planet and the little film). When the dialogue box comes up, delete what is there (http) and paste the link you have previously copied, then hit OK. Sometimes in Internet Explorer people fail to copy the complete link because you have to scroll down a little when you're copying it (if the link is too long it won't show entirely until you scroll down), that's why sometimes people copy only a fragment of the picture location and end up with a broken icon.


Thank you! I will try that next time


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 10: Favourite male singer*

This one's tough. I agree with Alma in that any number of the older singers might be the best choice: Di Stefano, Corelli, Jussi Björling, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Lauritz Melchior, and the incomparable Fritz Wunderlich, etc... But the question for you "favorite" not the "best". So are there any singers whose participation is enough to sell me on a recording? I can think of a few: Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Andreas Scholl, Thomas Quasthoff. Fine as all three of these singers are I mostly know them for their efforts outside the operatic realm: lieder, romances, Bach cantatas, etc...

Right now there is probably just one male singer whose efforts I have followed religiously: Philippe Jaroussky. Jaroussky is one of the leading countertenors today. I would only place Scholl and Micheal Chance on the same plateau. I find myself following not only for his magnificent voice, but as result of the choices he makes with regard to repertoire. As a countertenor, the Baroque is is natural home turf, but he has explored composers well beyond Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi. He has an entire disc devoted to Antonio Caldara and another of the near forgotten works of J.C. Bach. Other discs explore Hasse, Nicola Popora, Giovanni Capelli, Leonardo Leo, and Monteverdi. As a lover of vocal music and opera delving ever deeper into the Baroque these discs are thrilling. But Jaroussky can be as masterful in the most unexpected genre as his disc, Opium, a collection of 19th century French songs (Debussy, Faure, Chausson, Hahn, etc...) proved more than adequately.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> [But Jaroussky can be as masterful in the most unexpected genre as his disc, Opium, a collection of 19th century French songs (Debussy, Faure, Chausson, Hahn, etc...) proved more than adequately.


Yes that Opium album is completely out of left field, but works admirably. I love it.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> What the hell. Just pick any good one.


Methinks there might be some subliminal messaging in this post...

Holy Domingo, Batman!!!


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Day 11...Favorite French language opera. This one is actually giving me a bit of trouble, since most of my favorite operas are in French. Oedipe, L'amour de loin, Saint Francois, Pelleas et Melisande, Nuit des Hommes, Beatrice et Benedict...they're all wonderful.

Hell, if a gun was placed to my head and I given five seconds I'd probably say Oedipe, so I'll just go with that. My "default" choice, as it were...

Edit: Shoot, I was going to NOT post this until midnight, but by habit I pressed the post button before I realized it. Oh well.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)
Day 5. "Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Day 6. Don Giovanni from Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Day 7. Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
Day 8. "Un di felice, eterea" from La Traviata (Verdi)
Day 9. Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) - Bohm 1966 (CD), Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) - ROH 2006 (DVD), Giulio Cesare (Handel) - Glyndebourne 2005 (DVD) 
*Day 10. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Day 11. Carmen (Bizet)*

Day 10 Honorable Mentions: Fritz Wunderlich, Placido Domingo, Thomas Allen
Day 11 Honorable Mentions: Pelleas et Melisande (Debussy), La Damnation de Faust (Berlioz), Les Indes Galantes (Rameau). Haven't heard Troyens yet.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 11: Favourite French language opera

Love both _Faust_ and _Don Quichotte_. I've been watching the brilliant Raimondi DVD so at the moment it's _Faust_.


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

Day 9 Keilberth's Ring Cycle, Giulini's recording of Don Giovanni, Kubelik's recording of Parsifal.
Day 10 out of the current crop probably Jonas Kaufmann. From the past Hans Hotter.
Day 11 Les Contes d'Hoffman


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Many, I love french opera from Lully to Petitgirard....

But we must choose one for today, so my take is _Dialogues des carmélites_ by Francis Poulenc.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Of course this is not easy. Whose silly idea was this wretched challenge anyway?

But I have to choose, so I'll go for naughty Manon:


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Day 11: Favourite French language opera
I'm torn between Berlioz's _Les Troyens_ and Debussy's _Pelléas et Mélisande_ (both conducted by Charles Dutoit). Berlioz, because I'm in rapture by everything he wrote; Debussy, because of the intrinsic Frenchness that his opera is emitting. :tiphat: I go this time for Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*Day 11 - Favourite French language opera:*

Carmen

The first Opera I ever heard


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

These are the French operas or operas in French that I know, random order (there are important gaps, some belong already to my unwatched pile, others I'm still to get):

Béatrice et Bénédict 
Oedipe
La Vie Parisienne
La Belle Hélène
Orphée aux Enfers 
Carmen 
Les Pêcheurs de Perles 
La Jolie Fille de Perth
Les Troyens 
Pelléas et Mélisande 
Castor et Pollux 
Werther 
Thaïs 
Manon 
Samson et Dalila 
Iphignénie en Tauride
L'Heure Espagnole 
Les Dialogues des Carmélites 
L'Étoile Roméo et Juliette 
Le Comte Ory
Les Contes d'Hoffmann 
Faust 
La Juive
Les Huguenots 
Mignon
La Damnation de Faust 
Dinorah
Mireille
L' Enfant et les sortilèges 
Ariane et Barbe-Bleue 
Le Prophète
L'Africaine
Les Indes Galantes 
Les Paladins
Platée 
Louise 
La Voix Humaine
Guillaume Tell 
La Favorite
Les Vêpres Siciliennes
La Fille du Régiment 
Orphée et Euridice 
Armide (Lully)
Benvenuto Cellini 
Le Roi de Lahore 
Médée (Charpentier) 
Persée 
Lakmé 
Atys 
Cadmus et Hermione
L'Amour de Loin
Une education manquée
Zoroastre
Le Roi d'Ys
Cléopâtre

These are the ones I like a lot:

Béatrice et Bénédict 
Oedipe
Manon
La Vie Parisienne 
La Belle Hélène 
Orphée aux Enfers 
Carmen 
Les Pêcheurs de Perles 
Les Troyens 
Pelléas et Mélisande
Thaïs 
L'Heure Espagnole 
L'Étoile 
Le Comte Ory
Les Contes d'Hoffmann 
Mignon
La Damnation de Faust 
Dinorah
L' Enfant et les sortilèges 
Les Indes Galantes 
La Fille du Régiment 
Orphée et Euridice 
Armide (Lully)
Benvenuto Cellini 
Lakmé 
Atys 
L'Amour de Loin
Zoroastre


Narrowing down some more:

Manon
Oedipe
Orphée aux Enfers 
Carmen 
Les Pêcheurs de Perles 
Les Troyens 
Pelléas et Mélisande
Thaïs 
L'Heure Espagnole 
L'Étoile 
Les Contes d'Hoffmann 
Mignon
La Damnation de Faust 
Dinorah
L' Enfant et les sortilèges 
Les Indes Galantes 
La Fille du Régiment 
Orphée et Euridice 
Armide (Lully)
Benvenuto Cellini 
Lakmé 
L'Amour de Loin


Now it's getting difficult and painful. Let's keep cutting off to get from the very good to the excellent:

Manon
Carmen 
Les Pêcheurs de Perles 
Les Troyens 
Pelléas et Mélisande
Thaïs 
Les Contes d'Hoffmann 
Mignon
La Damnation de Faust 
L' Enfant et les sortilèges 
Les Indes Galantes 
Orphée et Euridice 
Benvenuto Cellini 
Lakmé 
L'Amour de Loin

Now from the excellent to the extraordinary

Carmen 
Les Pêcheurs de Perles 
Les Troyens 
Pelléas et Mélisande
Les Contes d'Hoffmann 
La Damnation de Faust 
Les Indes Galantes 

Almost impossible to cut, now. But I'll be brave

Les Troyens
Les Contes d'Hoffmann 
La Damnation de Faust 

Down to two

Les Troyens
La Damnation de Faust 

And the winner is...

Les Troyens


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

OK, quick recap:

Day 6: Favourite opera character and why
David in _Meistersinger_. Just because of his plain adorableness. I think maybe he is the one opera character I can relate the most to.

Day 7: Favourite English language opera
My experience with English opera is rather limited, but I think I'll have to answer _Doctor Atomic/I] by John Adams

Day 8: Best declaration of love
Papageno and Papagena's duet from *Die Zauberflöte*

Day 9: Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs
Karajan's Falstaff with Schwarzkopf, Gobbi and Moffo









René Jacobs' recent recording of Die Zauberflöte









Leinsdorf's Turandot with Nilsson, Björling and Tebaldi









Day 10: Favourite male singer
Tie between Andreas Scholl and Jonas Kaufmann (at least of the singers that are alive and working today)

Day 11: Favourite French language opera
I'm not that familiar with French opera either, but I think my choice would be Carmen._


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Day 10: Favourite male singer

Placido Domingo. Maybe he can't compare to the greats of the past, but he's been *the* tenor of my (opera listening) lifetime, had an extraordinarily long, varied, and honorable career, and was a big part of the movement to bring opera to movies and television (and, ultimately, DVD). 

Day 11: Favorite French language opera

This would easily be Don Carlos if we went with the French version. But I think of this work as an Italian opera (or at least, by an Italian composer), so we'll leave it out of contention. Narrowing down from there:

Carmen, Les Troyens, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Manon, Pelléas et Mélisande, Samson et Dalila, Oedipe.

From there it's probably between those first four. And for right now, I'll go with . . .

Les Troyens


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

French opera is one area where I am quite lacking in experience. If we had been talking of French _mélodies_, that would be something else altogether. I have a couple of French Baroque operas (a realm I only recently began to explore in greater depth). I have perhaps a handful of later French operas... and have heard perhaps a second handful beyond these. Of my limited choices one opera stands out clearly:

*Day 11: Favorite French language opera*: Bizet's _Carmen_

ps. Alma... why all the struggle? Surely we all knew what your choice would be. You have repeatedly compared Berlioz' _Les Troyens_ to Wagner's Ring. I haven't listened to the work in years because I wasn't impressed upon my first listen... and because I've never been overly fond of Berlioz... but on your recommendation, I'll surely give the work another chance.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> ps. Alma... why all the struggle? Surely we all knew what your choice would be. You have repeatedly compared Berlioz' _Les Troyens_ to Wagner's Ring. I haven't listened to the work in years because I wasn't impressed upon my first listen... and because I've never been overly fond of Berlioz... but on your recommendation, I'll surely give the work another chance.


I think the end result was not in doubt... but it was still a fun exercise, to see what others would get close to it. La Damnation de Faust as my second favorite French opera wasn't in doubt either... but I was a bit surprised that I kept Les Contes d'Hoffmann running for so long, and was really wondering whether I should keep it over Carmen, Les Pecheurs de Perles, and Pelleas et Melisande... then in an impulse, I decided that I like it even better, for its originality and vigor. I was also wondering whether one can comfortably say that Les Pecheurs de Perles is better than Carmen... and decided to cut them off together without giving a preference to either one. Cutting off L'Etoile and L'Enfant et les Sortileges at an early phase was another difficult decison... and so on and so forth.

So, even though I was pretty sure from the beginning that Berlioz would place his two top works first and second, the rest of the list was still something I felt compelled to work on.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Wow! I didn't even know that Oberon was in English! I must get to know it! Any recommendations? I'd guess that Sir Gardiner's version on period instruments is the way to go - it's also expensive.


The version I have is the Gardiner, with der Jonas as Huon and Hillevi Martinpelto as Reiza (and both singing very idiomatic English). For many years, it was customary in Germany to perform this opera in a German translation -- in fact, a recent production in Toulouse was also sung in German. But this opera was actually commissioned by the Theatre Royal at Covent Garden, and the libretto used by Weber was in English.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 11: Favourite French language opera*

I'll go with "_Carmen_," even though I also really like "_Manon_," "_Faust_," and "_Romeo et Juliette_."


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

MAuer said:


> The version I have is the Gardiner, with der Jonas as Huon and Hillevi Martinpelto as Reiza (and both singing very idiomatic English). For many years, it was customary in Germany to perform this opera in a German translation -- in fact, a recent production in Toulouse was also sung in German. But this opera was actually commissioned by the Theatre Royal at Covent Garden, and the libretto used by Weber was in English.


I can't resist to comment that we have also a splendid version of Oberon.... in Italian.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Day 10: Favourite male singer - Pavarotti
Day 11: Favourite French language opera - Carmen or Romeo and Juliet (cant decide), oh yeah and Samson and Delilah


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 11: Favourite French language opera


I cannot decide. Perhaps Verdi's _Don Carlos_ the original five act French version. Bizet's _Carmen_. A few of Gluck's.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> I cannot decide. Perhaps Verdi's _Don Carlos_ the original five act French version. Bizet's _Carmen_. A few of Gluck's.


Not a Rameau fan, HC?


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Not a Rameau fan, HC?


Of course! Slipped my mind for some reason. I have quite a few, including Lully's. I prefer Rameau's. Les Arts Florrisants / Christie pretty much, with the ever popular _Les Indes galantes_. Les Talens Lyriques / Rousset has done a nice _Castor et Pollux_ and _Zoroastre_.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with

Simon Keenlyside. My opera knowledge isn't great but through my travels & interest in the environment the conversation wouldn't stall after I'd asked him & he'd asked me about our favourite operas.

Interview

Text of radio broadcast


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

For day 12, my "realistic" response is in two parts: 1) I'm underage, darn it! and 2) Do opera singers _have_ beers?

That's beside the point. Assuming that I'm of age and that opera singers do in fact have beers, I'd say probably Christine Schafer, mostly because she's not a "diva" by any stretch of the imagination. She seems real and down-to-earth in her approach to everything and only does what she wants, and so I admire her for it. I don't know exactly in that constitutes "having a beer with her," but hey, it's something.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

World Violist said:


> For day 12, my "realistic" response is in two parts: 1) I'm underage, darn it! and 2) *Do opera singers have beers?
> *


Course they do.

Here's Jennifer Rivera (mezzo) celebrating her first recording:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Patrizia Ciofi


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Joyce DiDonato. She's not stuck-up, and I think she'd be a laugh. 

Debbie Voigt also always comes over as fun when they do the "smiling ladies" backstage interviews at the Met.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with










First I checked, and yes, Kurt Moll (like any other German) likes a beer.










In september we visit the Czech Republic again and I'll drink to his health & to the health of all TC members :cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Female: Joyce DiDonato or Jenny Rivera. They both seem like fun people to be around.

Male: Ronan Collett. He's not that well known, but I went to a recital with him when I was in Paris last autumn, and he seems to be a really nice guy.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Day 12 - that Russian girl, what's her name, again? She seems to be lots of fun. Looks good too.


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*Day 12 - Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with:*

Renee Fleming, or Joyce DiDonato, they are both extremely intelligent and seem like absolutely lovely people.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 12 - Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with:

Placido Domingo - he is most famous so I would add some heavier alcohol to his beer, make him drunk and record a video of him where he would (encouraged by me and his state) claim that I'm the heir of Bellini, Puccini and Wagner in one person and that he recommend all singers and musicians to play my music, then I would put it on YouTube and have no more problems in my life.

At second place, Wiesław Ochman as he seems nice and interesting person (not only singer but also painter) and surely has a lot stories to tell after working with people like Karajan


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

I have some catching up to do...

Day 5: Best mad scene - hard to ignore Lucia- if you listen to her Mad Scene as if you were hearing it for the first time- it's extraordinary

Day 6: Favourite opera character and why - Posa (Don Carlo) he is such an idealist and so loyal- that his virtues are also his flaws... and he is has the best music in the opera

Day 7: Favourite English language opera - again, it's hard to ignore Peter Grimes- the interludes are gorgeous and the opera is just so atmospheric

Day 8: Best declaration of love - I adore the Anna/Fenton love duett with the violin solo in Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor

Day 9: Three desert island DVDs and/or CDs - 
a) Nicolai: Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor by Otto Nicolai, Robert Heger EMI
b) Mozart: Die Zauberfloete , Karl Böhm DG- for F Wunderlich's Tamino
c) Mozart: Nozze, Solti , Decca for Te Kanawa's Countess
d) Verdi: Forza, Marinuzzi Cetra (or Naxos) for the best all around Verdi sound
e) Wagner: any Walkuere with Hotter as Wotan

ok, I know that was 5 and not 3, but I just couldn't narrow the selection down

Day 10: Favourite male singer - Franco Corelli, by far

Day 11: Favourite French language opera - Roméo et Juliette or Les contes d'Hoffmann

Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with - I don't drink but I'd love to sit and talk with either Franco Corelli or Maria Callas


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Day 12 - that Russian girl, what's her name, again? She seems to be lots of fun. Looks good too.


No, you're mistaken. Angela Gheorgiu is from *Romania.*


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with:

Bryn Terfel. When he withdrew from the Royal Opera's 2007 Das Rheingold, to be replaced by John Tomlinson, people backstage were heard to murmur, "At least they've got rid of that bloody Welshman."

I've *gotta* have a beer with *that* guy!


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

A red wine with Bartolli or Damrau


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with - I don't drink but I'd love to sit and talk with either Franco Corelli or Maria Callas

I don't know... drinking with the dead sounds a bit warped. I also can't picture Maria Callas as the beer drinking sort of woman.

I some ways this question is pretty much the same as "Who's your favorite singer?" I can live with that. I'll go along with Alma. A couple beers with Anna could be quite fun... and you never know what she might get up to after a couple beers... or so one can always hope.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

amfortas said:


> No, you're mistaken. Angela Gheorgiu is from *Romania.*


No, I got it right. The one you're talking about doesn't drink beer. She drinks True Blood.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> I'll go along with Alma. A couple beers with Anna could be quite fun... and *you never know what she might get up to after a couple beers... or so one can always hope*.


My thoughts exactly!


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with*

In spite of my German background, I'm not a beer fan -- but, hey, if guzzling suds is the price of spending some time with the charming Herr Kaufmann, pass me the Warsteiner!


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 12: Opera singer you would most like to have a beer with


I don't drink beer. But perhaps the opera singer I would like to have lunch with is someone who understands period performance practice as a singer, a conductor and as a musicologist, which would make a broad ranging discussion. Rene Jacbos comes to mind, as he is also a great Handelian.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Best death scene...

Given opera's nature, there are many candidates.

One of the most obvious is Isolde's Liebestod. Let's settle for this one, in this beautiful rendition from Gertrude Grob-Prandl.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Best death scene:

Rodrigo in Don Carlos.


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*Day 13 - Best death scene:*


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

*Day 13: Best death scene*

I would say the Liebestod from Tristan. It's such a powerful scene with some of the most beautiful and stirring music Wagner ever wrote.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 13: Best death scene: Boris Godunov*





















Mad scene & Death scene in one


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 13
either Posa in Don Carlo or Isolde


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Isolde is a strong contender, and so is Prince Andrei in War and Peace with the heart beat thing, but I'll go with Melisande.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 13: Best death scene

Lucia di Lammermoor - Tu che a Dio spiegasti


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Surprised no one's gone with this one yet: Dido's Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

amfortas said:


> ............


Comme ca?


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

amfortas said:


> Surprised no one's gone with this one yet: Dido's Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.


What happened to your flatline?


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

sospiro said:


> What happened to your flatline?


I did my own spectacular death scene--that's why there were no vital signs. Pretty cool, huh?

But then I was miraculously brought back to life!

It was amazing . . . there was this dark tunnel . . . then a bright light . . . then all my dear departed friends and relatives were there . . . and these fallen heroes . . . and my father . . . and the ruler of the gods . . . and these hot young maidens . . . it was all so beautiful!

But then I found out I couldn't take my twin sister along, so I said thanks but no thanks. I'd rather stick around here on earth.

Now all I have to do his fight this guy who doesn't even know I stole his sword from out of his house. How hard can *that* be?


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Favorite death scene? I'll go with Dido and Aeneas on this one.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 13: Best death scene*

Here's another vote for Posa's demise in "_Don Carlo_."


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 13: Best death scene
> Day 14: First opera you fell in love with


*Day 13*: The alternative conclusion to Puccini's _La Rondine_. I'm not sure if it is my favourite death scene (musically, probably not) but it has a disturbing quality about it after the romance was over and she took her own life by walking into the ocean. It just bothered me to see a lady do that.






*Day 14*: _Le Nozze di Figaro_


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 13: Best death scene:*

Damn! Another tough one. Seriously, what opera doesn't end in a great death scene?:lol:

My first thoughts were of the most obvious (some already named): Wagner's _Liebestod_, the finale from _La Boheme_:






or the finale from _La Traviata_:











And then there's the Mad Scene/Death Scene from Strauss _Elektra_
And what of _Don Giovanni's_ finale as he faces death as arrogant as ever?

I especially like this one with Sam Ramey and Kurt Moll:






Ultimately, I'll have to go with the death scene from Madame Butterfly... specifically the version by Maria Callas. This is one of the few opera performances that literally makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. Callas wrenches more emotion out of an opera based on a B-Pulp fiction novel than one would think possible. Stunning!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Day 14: La Traviata, with Maria Callas, after heating her sing Sempre Libera on the radio and realising that opera was awesome. I still adore this opera, thirty years on.

Taking a break from my own challenge, he he, as I'm heading off here for a week's winter sun and snorkelling. Not sure how easy it will be to get internet access.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 14: La Traviata, with Maria Callas, after heating her sing Sempre Libera on the radio and realising that opera was awesome. I still adore this opera, thirty years on.
> 
> Taking a break from my own challenge, he he, as I'm heading off here for a week's winter sun and snorkelling. Not sure how easy it will be to get internet access.


Fantastic!! Hope you have a brilliant time.

You've just missed these guys






*Day 14: First opera you fell in love with*

_Lucia di Lammermoor_

After listening to compilations it was the first full opera I progressed to. It was easy to learn & I was bowled over.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

_Norma_.






I'm still in love, after so many years.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 14: First opera you fell in love with*

Perhaps cliché: Tosca, Renata Scotto & James Levine.


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## Liss (May 13, 2011)

*Day 14 - First opera you fell in love with:*

Carmen (AGAIN!)
I didn't think this would be my answer to quite so many questions 

I was about 16 when I first heard it. My mother suggested I listened to it so I searched Spotify for a decent recording and found one in English (which was a lot less daunting...) and listened to it from start to finish in one evening - that was the first full opera I ever heard. I was then completely obsessed, and after I watched Maria Ewing's Earl's Court DVD I was in love (that may not be some people's favorite, but it was my first opera DVD experience which makes it slightly, sentimental?  Two years later, although being exposed to many other versions, it is still one of my favorites.)

I would recommend Carmen to any opera newcomer, old or young, and would also recommend listening to it in English first. After I had listened to the English version and got to know that, I could then understand what was going on in the original french version straight away when listening to it for the first time.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 14: First opera you fell in love with*

Mozart's "_Die Zauberflöte_." I was a pre-schooler when I first heard excerpts from the Fricsay recording with Stader, Haefliger, Streich, and Fischer-Dieskau. After going through a rock 'n' roll phase in the mid/late '60s, I decided out of the blue one rainy Sunday that I wanted to listen to that old recording again. Meanwhile, it had been joined by another recording of excerpts, this one from the Böhm version with Wunderlich. I fell in love with Wunderlich's voice, and that was the beginning of my serious interest in opera. My first purchase of an opera recording was the full-length Böhm "_Die Zauberflöte_."


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Carmen.
Today it's not one of my favorites. I mean, it's very good, but I got to like better many others, including Bizet's other big hit, _Les Pêcheurs de Perles_.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> Taking a break from my own challenge, he he, as I'm heading off here for a week's winter sun and snorkelling.


Take me with you?


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

sospiro said:


> You've just missed these guys


If they found another guy, this Three New Zealand Tenors thing could really take off!


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

OK, actually getting on topic now . . .

*Day 14: First opera you fell in love with*

Once again, my case is a little . . . odd.

I remember, as teenager, poking among the LPs at our local library. I didn't think I would like opera, but this Wagner guy sounded pretty cool.

Tannhauser intrigued me (the overture definitely got may attention).

Parsifal mystified me at first.

But it was The Ring that got me hooked. It was such a phenomenal experience that first time, listening to the Solti Ring through headphones, in rapt attention as I followed along with a piano-vocal score, reveling in all that glorious music as I waited eagerly to find out what would happen next.

Interestingly, it was Siegfried that grabbed me the most, and for quite a while that was my favorite opera. Only later, after seeing the Chereau cycle, did Walkure take its place--and that in part, I think, because I've never seen a Siegfried (production or leading man) that lived up to my imagination.

I'm still hoping, though . . .


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

amfortas said:


> OK, actually getting on topic now . . .
> 
> *Day 14: First opera you fell in love with*
> 
> ...


You might enjoy Elgarian's post about The Ring


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

sospiro said:


> You might enjoy Elgarian's post about The Ring


Thanks, Annie, for mentioning the post to me, and for going to the trouble to find and link it. It is indeed a lovely passage, and resonates with my own experience. I hadn't read it before, but now I'm thinking I should check out the Opera Journeys thread for similar anecdotes.

What did I ever *do* before talkclassical?


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

First opera I fell in love with: Curlew River. But all of you knew that.

Edit: I just missed a perfectly good opportunity to look up the most obscenely fluffy, content-lacking, non-musical opera in Italian that has ever been written and post it. *Sigh...* There's always next time...


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Aaaaand day 15...favorite recital CD...

I technically don't have one, but I'll say this one:










Since it's technically a solo recital CD of an opera singer, I'll bend the technicalities for my sake.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 15: Favourite compilation/recital CD

This is so difficult (hopefully Natalie is too busy snorkelling, to notice I've chosen two...)


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Well, this one is easy. There is only one that is so complete and harbors so many nice singers, conductors, and orchestras (unlike most compilations) that it simply crushes the competition:


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Day 14:

It was quite exactly two years ago. I had jut come to Munich with my family, and I had just seen that they were showing opera at the square outside the Bayerischer Staatsoper. What it was, I wasn't too sure about, but it was Wagner, and that's always exiting. So, at 5 pm, I dragged my father over there to find a spot, and we sat down waiting for the opera to start. Turns out, it was Lohengrin with Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros. And even though I didn't know anything about the opera and all the subtitles were in German (which I don't know), it was one of the most amazing nights of my life.

Day 15:










Just the last duet is enough for this CD to be my favourite recital/aria/compilation CD.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)




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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 15: Favourite compilation/recital CD










This CD filled a little part of the gap and provided world-class interpretations of few beautiful arias from operas that never were released as a whole - soprano aria from Moniuszko's Paria by Teresa Żylis-Gara is priceless (the opera has been recorded once but it's like it would never be recorded as the recording is terrible). I have linked it in my posts (as well as other tracks from this CD) more than once.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Aksel said:


> Day 14:
> 
> It was quite exactly two years ago. I had jut come to Munich with my family, and I had just seen that they were showing opera at the square outside the Bayerischer Staatsoper. What it was, I wasn't too sure about, but it was Wagner, and that's always exiting. So, at 5 pm, I dragged my father over there to find a spot, and we sat down waiting for the opera to start. Turns out, it was Lohengrin with Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros. And even though I didn't know anything about the opera and all the subtitles were in German (which I don't know), it was one of the most amazing nights of my life.
> 
> Just the last duet is enough for this CD to be my favourite recital/aria/compilation CD.


:clap:

Fabulous story Aksel!!


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 15: Favourite compilation/recital CD*










This CD with the _Les Boréades_ Suite & _Dardanus_ Suite is perhaps the best introduction to Rameau that one can get. The Orchestra of the 18th Century under Frans Brüggen (Philips 1992) grab your body and soul in such a jazzy syncopated rhythm, that after listening to this Rameau's complete operas will rise for sure to the top of your menu.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 15: Favorite compilation/recital CD*

You mean I have to pick only one of Jonas Kaufmann's three recital CDs??


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

MAuer said:


> *Day 15: Favorite compilation/recital CD*
> 
> You mean I have to pick only one of Jonas Kaufmann's three recital CDs??


:lol:

When the cat's away .....


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

It's time I gave the big man his due. Yes, I would much rather *see* Domingo, but I do enjoy listening to Pavarotti.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

It's past midnight.
Next question: favorite female singer.
I guess one YouTube video, one DVD (The Gambler) and another one in the mail (Rusalka) is not enough to say that Kristine Opolais is my new favorite female singer, in spite of what I've been saying. It's just a little crush. It will pass. One needs to stick with the lasting feelings and be loyal to steady, not passing love.
My true love is of course still that Russian girl.
Anna Netrebko La Bellissima. The one and only. The best.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

@ Almaviva I'm a bit surprised you didn't take this excellent opportunity to post a La Bellissima boob shot.
*
Waltraud Meier*: The Meryl Streep of opera.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 16: Favourite female singer

Natalie Dessay. I've her live twice now in _La fille du régiment_ & _Pelléas et Mélisande_ and she impressed me enormously & I loved her in Hamlet.

Photos are from Pel & Mel at the Barbican.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

My favorite female singer: Christine Schäfer.

There are some other female singers I like (Monica Groop, Christiane Oelze, Magdalena Kozena), but I keep going back to Schäfer. Pure gold as far as I'm concerned.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Honestly this one is tough for me, because it depends on how the question is interpreted -- best singer _cum _singer, or is it asking who my favorite female opera *performer* is? In the latter case, it's Natalie Dessay without question ... but truth be told, her voice is far from my favorite. It's her theatricality, technique, and incredible musical sensibility that I admire. Favorite voice (among active performers) would be Diana Damrau or Joyce DiDonato. And I'm as taken with Kristine Opolais as Almaviva -- her performance of Sempre Libre linked in that other thread is now my gold standard for that aria.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)




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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 16: Favourite female singer*


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Again this is just at the moment and with the limits of my knowledge of Opera

Day 13: Best death scene - *La Boheme*

Day 14: First opera you fell in love with - propbably *La Traviata*

Day 15: Favourite compilation/recital CD - just at the moment its *Handel Arias by Danielle de Niese*









Day 16: Favourite female singer - *Cecilia Bartoli*


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Day 16: Favourite female singer - *Callas*


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 14- I remember rushing home from school (I must have been 7 or 8) to listen to Suitner's German language recording of Nozze di Figaro

Day 15- Testament Label recording of Antonietta Stella singing Verdi/Puccini... she was no Callas or Tebaldi- but I just love the honesty of her delivery. Today, she would be a superstar...

http://www.testament.co.uk/shop/product.aspx?id=454

Day 16- Antonietta Stella (again), with a strong nod to Maria Callas.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

rgz said:


> Honestly this one is tough for me, because it depends on how the question is interpreted -- best singer _cum _singer, or is it asking who my favorite female opera *performer* is? In the latter case, it's Natalie Dessay without question ... but truth be told, her voice is far from my favorite. It's her theatricality, technique, and incredible musical sensibility that I admire. Favorite voice (among active performers) would be Diana Damrau or Joyce DiDonato. And I'm as taken with Kristine Opolais as Almaviva -- her performance of Sempre Libre linked in that other thread is now my gold standard for that aria.


What he said. All of it. (Except that I haven't checked out Opolais yet.)


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

amfortas said:


> What he said. All of it. *(Except that I haven't checked out Opolais yet*.)


Don't. Side effects include developing an impossible adolescent fantasy.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 16: Favourite female singer 

O, I can't give you her name and photo, she's not public person yet 

Then I would say Callas, but that's too obvious. 

So then I would say: Janowitz. Yes, one of very few sopranos that I can recognize by only one note. Her voice is smoothly rough, yyy, if you know what I mean. Do you, Jerry? You should if you have heard her. And you had to hear her if you're real opera lover. Some sopranos, even before aging, do not fit roles of young, beautiful, poetic female characters. She does. Elsa, Sieglinde, Agathe and many others. She's great in oratorios, too.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 16: Favorite female singer*

I would have said Camilla Nylund -- but I also really, really like Anja Harteros. Cal it a tie.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

*Day 16: Favourite female singer
*
Kirsten Flagstad, hands down.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Aksel said:


> *Day 16: Favourite female singer
> *
> Kirsten Flagstad,* hands down*.


OK, but can she sing as well with her hands up?


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Aksel said:


> *Day 16: Favourite female singer
> *
> Kirsten Flagstad, hands down.





Almaviva said:


> OK, but can she sing as well with her hands up?


Yep.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 14 - First opera you fell in love with:* This has to be La Traviata, once again. This was the first opera I seriously watched from beginning to end (the Zeffirelli film with Stratas and Domingo) and I was immediately enthralled. I began taking opera recordings out of the library and even joined a record club in which I received one new opera each month.

*Day 15: Favourite compilation/recital CD:*

Again... there are so many. I agree that the Bejun Mehta disc is fabulous.










But I also absolutely love this one by that Russian girl:










And certainly this marvelous disc, that first introduced me to Magdalena Kozena... one of my absolute favorite singers:










And then there is this disc... of such incredible singing... such stupendous range and fluidity that one can only say, "La Stupenda!"










But my absolute favorite singer (and I'll stick with the living) has to be Renée Fleming. I fully understand how George Solti... a man who had worked with some of the greatest operatic singers of the century could be driven to exclaim, "I am having a love affair with Renée Fleming's voice.

I love Fleming's recent disc of Strauss _Four Last Songs_ and selections from his operas:










But ultimately I believe I'll have to go with this wonderful disc










That is... at least until I can see fit to purchasing this set:

http://www.amazon.com/Maria-Callas-Complete-Recordings-Deluxe/dp/B000V7RS48/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1310430068&sr=1-2


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> But I also absolutely love this one by that Russian girl:


Great choice, StLukes. Do you have the collectors edition with the poster, post cards, and the DVD?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 16: Favourite female singer*

This is a difficult one... and so I'm going to cheat a little and name two... on living and one unfortunately no longer with us. I'm also going to offer up a bit of the reasoning behind my choices. Obviously, vocal ability is of the utmost importance in the making of a great opera singer... but I'm going to suggest it is not the only criteria. Joan Sutherland, for example, may have been unrivaled in vocal ability... range... the ability to effortless hit those high notes that strain the voices of the most talented singers. But she had her flaws. She was certainly not a master of diction or pronunciation. Neither was she (let's be honest here) a "looker". As someone suggested earlier, it would be comic to see Dame Joan and Pavarotti in rolling about the bed in this scene:






To me, the female opera singer that epitomized the very term "diva" has to have been this woman:










Maria Callas may not have had the most "beautiful" voice nor the range of other singers, but she had the look of a classic Hollywood star and shattered the image of the operatic female lead as the fat lady in horns. She had the ability to act as well as sing... and with this she was able to uncover and reveal more emotion... even in roles that had often been seen as lightweight... than one would think possible. There are numerous performances by Callas that still make my hair stand on end.

In selecting my favorite female singer among the living (and the still performing) I am employing a similar criteria... a notion that there is more to opera than singing. Opera involves the visuals... and opera involves drama and the ability to act. Thus I cannot think of any other possibility than Anna Netrebko for my favorite (living) singer.










Once again, she has all the makings of a true "diva"... or a star: She is stunningly beautiful... so that we never find our self in doubt as to how the male leads in a given opera could be in love with her as most of the men in the audience are crazily in love with her as well. As a true diva she can seduce a whole audience of men:






But she can also act:






And then there is her voice... is she the greatest currently singing? Perhaps not... and yet I still find her voice more than adequate... rather rich, sultry, dark, beautiful and seductive.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Great choice, StLukes. Do you have the collectors edition with the poster, post cards, and the DVD?

Oh certainly, I do.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Great choice, StLukes. Do you have the collectors edition with the poster, post cards, and the DVD?
> 
> Oh certainly, I do.


Me too. I'm happy to know that there is another big Anna fan here. I of course agree with everything you said about her above; and for similar reasons, I love Callas as well.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Best villain in opera*

This one is easy for me:


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 17: if you listen (granted, courtesy of the bard) to the lyrics of Iago's aria (Verdi, Otello) - it doesn't really get more villanous than that. He's just *bad* , and knows it.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 17: Best villain in an opera*










Thomas Hampson as Don Giovanni puts forward the nobleman who pursues his selfish pleasures with such a rapturous force, that one almost forgets he is *the* villain. Well, isn't that truly wicked :devil:&:devil: nefarious ??!! Of course baddies like Scarpia and Iago are villains, but to my taste a tiny winy bit too one-dimensional, too straight.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Iago for me too. The Credo aria is just spectacular. Boito is a genius and of course so is Verdi.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 17: Best villain in an opera

Riccardo from I Puritani, as he is rather honourable villain good to sympathise with - when I watched Met production with Netrebko, Eric Cutler made Arturo look so gay and repulsive that I was totally for Riccardo (just try to like Cutler's foppish character more than the guy waving his sword and singing the _Suoni la Tromba_... duet) hoping that he will avenge himself and come out as winner which fulfilled to some extent, he doesn't die in the end and is saved from remorses.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Day 17: Best villain in an opera

I agree that Iago (from opera Otello) is a supremely crafty and manipulative evil one, so smooth in his deceptions

But special mention for the most loathsome despicable villian: *Barnaba from La Gioconda*
At opera conclusion Gioconda stabs herself rather than face the horrors of sexual submission to Barnaba, he makes her last living moment extremely painful whispering that he has drown her blind mother in the canal.......the evil monster enjoys hurting others


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

*Best villain in an opera*:

Perhaps a predictable answer on my part... _Hagen_. (Götterdämmerung)

Michael Corleone doesn't have anything on Hagen. (Until the very end) anything that Hagen wants to happen... does happen. If he wants you dead, you're dead. He subordinates himself to no one- not even his father Alberich. (I spoke at length about this elsewhere... the details of the discussion would make a robust thread of its own.)

Hagen is highly intelligent, transcendently manipulative, commands respect in the manner of a natural leader, and also has some great music to sing (_always_ an important consideration in the discussion of anything concerning Opera.)


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Day 17: best villain in opera - well I dont know if I would call her the 'best villain' maybe just the most evil - *Katerina from Shostakovich's 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'* when she and her 'fling' brutally kill her husband - in the end she gets what she deserves (before her act of murder, I must say that she didn't deserve to be whipped by her husband, even if she did cheat on him - im just making it clear that I dont condone such behaviour, lol at myself)






if I think of a villian who is just plain good at it I would go with Iago from Otello.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

*Day 17: Best opera villain*

Lady Macbeth from Verdi's Macbeth. A villain who has an aria as delicious as _Or tutti sorgete_ gets to be number one by default.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 17: Best villain in an opera*

I've always liked the Conte di Luna from "_Il Trovatore"_ -- especially when sung by Sherrill Milnes. From the beginning of this opera until the end, everything this guy does blows up in his face in one way or another. He thinks he's finally killed off his rival and will now be able to claim Leonora . . . when who shows up to foil his plans and run off with the lady but the supposedly defunct rival? After he's finally managed to capture said rival and believes that Leonora is finally going to hop in bed with him (di Luna), she takes poison before he can take advantage of her offer. At the end, when he finally believes he's going to even the score with both Manrico and Azucena, and avenge his long-lost brother, Azucena informs him that he's just sent said long-lost brother to the executioner. As villains go, di Luna is singularly inept. And he has that gorgeous aria to sing, "Il balen del suo sorriso." A critic once opined that Verdi himself must have felt at least some sympathy for di Luna to have written such beautiful music for him.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

My favorite villains are the internal ones; the physical villains are often shallow. In Wagner's Ring cycle, for instance, there are no physical "villains," but there is greed, which is far more profound and indicative of the human condition than any villain in the literal sense can possibly be.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

For a villain who exerts the maximum amount of evil in the minimal time spent on the stage, my vote goes to The Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

The Queen of the Night from Die Zauberflote. Clever, deceptive, murderous--quite a terrifying figure, both speaking and singing, at least as performed by Diana Damrau:


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 17: Best villain in an opera

Not an original choice but I go for Scarpia. No compunction about arranging Cavaradossi's 'fake' death to get Tosca.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 18
Hungary's national opera: Ferenc Erkel's Bánk Bán


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I will go in this day for a beautiful opera, in czech, _Káťa Kabanová_, by Leoš Janáček.

This is a wonderful production signed by Robert Carsen, with a great Karita Mattila as Káťa, from Teatro Real, Madrid, available in DVD format:


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 18: Favourite "other" language opera*



















Janacek was discovered by Max Brod, the friend of Franz Kafka, who saved his writings from the stove. Max Brod translated _Její pastorkyňa_ into German and that's how Janacek became known (through _Jenůfa_, the title given by Max Brod) in the world of opera. So we owe a lot to this openminded friend of Kafka!


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 18: Favourite "other" language opera

Now, let me think...

Król Roger by Szymanowski, for me - greatest opera of XXth century.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I'm between Jenufa and Bluebeard's Castle. I guess I'll say the latter.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

_Bluebeard's Castle_ is a worthy choice, a fair number of Janáček operas are worthy choices. Also (in case no one else mentions it) I'll put in a word for Falla's _La Vida Breve_- but if forced to pin down just one, I select Smetana's *The Bartered Bride*, "because the music matters!"


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 17: Best opera villain:* Another vote for _Otello_'s Iago. What can you say; Iago is one of Shakespeare's greatest villains... and one of the greatest in the whole of literature. Verdi knew a good character when he saw it.

*Day 18: Favourite "other" language opera:* My first thought was of this:










A rich, lush, sensuous, and magical opera by the recently deceased Daniel Catan set on the Amazon River. The work was the first opera in Spanish produced by a major American opera house.

Ultimately, though, I had to go with this masterful and dramatic opera by Osvaldo Golijov:










Musing upon the murder of the poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, this polystylistic opera presents a collage of musical elements drawn from Latin-American and Spanish musical traditions including flamenco and Arab/Andalusian chant. The climax with series of gun shots ringing out is at once stunning... and chilling. The music critic Robert Levine wrote of _Ainadamar_:

"This unique, 80-minute opera must be heard. The title means "Fountain of Tears" in Arabic and refers to the place in Granada where Federico Garcia Lorca was executed by Fascist soldiers in 1936. The work opens in a theater in Uruguay in 1969. As the actress Margarita Xirgu, who collaborated with Lorca in the 1920s and '30s, is about to go on stage, she recalls memories of him and his death and the survivor's guilt she feels. Musical images take us back as well. The sounds of hoofbeats, a fountain, and gun shots punctuate the otherwise beautiful, tonal, highly Spanish-influenced score, filled with flamenco and rumba rhythms. The vocal lines are all highly singable as well as dramatic. The work is mostly scored for women's voices: Margartita, sung by Dawn Upshaw; Lorca himself, sung by Kelley O'Connor; Nuria, Margarita's student, sung by Jessica Rivera. There is also an ensemble of women's voices that do most of the work. Margarita dies just before going onstage. The trio for her, Nuria, and Lorca is about as beautiful as anything you'll ever hear. "What a sad day it was in Granada / The stones began to cry" is a refrain that recurs throughout the opera, and the whole piece is sheer poetry. This is stunning." --Robert Levine


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I think I'll go for Rautavaara's early opera _Kaivos_ for "other-language" opera (Finnish). It's in Rautavaara's early style, pungent, jagged, yet still curiously meaningful, rather reminiscent of Berg. And the plot is interesting too.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Since no one's grabbed it yet, I'll go with Dvorak's Rusalka. A bit romantic, I know, but I eat it up. Particularly at moments like this:


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 18: Favourite "other" language opera

I'm not sure what 'other' language means. Obscure? Opera rarely written in that particular language? Hungarian a major language but I only know of one Hungarian opera & that's Bluebeard so I'll go for that.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

sospiro said:


> Day 18: Favourite "other" language opera
> 
> I'm not sure what 'other' language means.


Since Day 1 covered English, Day 11- French, Day 23 will cover German, and Day 28 will cover Russian, I figured that the reference was to languages other than these four.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Since Day 1 covered English, Day 11- French, Day 23 will cover German, and Day 28 will cover Russian, I figured that the reference was to languages other than these four.


Or Day 2 - Italian!


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 18: Favorite "other" language opera*

Smetana's "_Bartered Bride_" -- and NOT sung in German translation!


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

I've only heard it in its English libretto, but I would imagine that Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale would be pretty amazing in its original Danish, too.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

MAuer said:


> *Day 18: Favorite "other" language opera*
> 
> Smetana's "_Bartered Bride_" -- and NOT sung in German translation!


Actually the very first libretto was written in German, then translated (& enlarged) into Czech and later on again translated into German


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Ultimately, though, I had to go with this masterful and dramatic opera by Osvaldo Golijov:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Stop it, dammit! You're ruining my finances! I have ordered this one too!:scold:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Aria that you think is sexy*










Not an easy one... Let's settle for a classic:


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 19- the Count's Act III aria from Nozze di Figaro. There is a lot of pent up sexuality in there, as well as sub/dom/social-class allegory. 

on a separate, but related note: Anything that Franco Corelli sings becomes sexy


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 19: Aria that you think is sexy


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 19: Aria that you think is sexy*

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018O4T6I/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk24

Prokofiev: Semyon Kotko, Act 3, Scene 1
Just listen to the orchestral intro with those deep 'penetrating' bass sounds, the woman's twitter-singing like a lone birdie and the man's long overhauling tries to comfort her. Never heard anything so lovely...


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Darn it, I don't know sexy arias that I like...I'll just throw in the bird guy's song from Zauberflote. I figure that if all the sexy arias that I like annoy me, and the bird guy's song annoys me, then...then it must be sexy, right?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

_Meine Lippen, sie kussen so heiss_ from Giuditta. Runner-up would be from The Golden Cockerel when the Queen of Shemakha describes to King Didon how good she looks when she is naked.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> _Meine Lippen, sie kussen so heiss_ from Giuditta.


Gee, why does this not surprise me?






Don't worry I suffer from the same ailment, different person.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Wow . . . no one's mentioned this one yet? Talk about your easy pickings!

This one's for Alma . . .


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I'll go along with WV - the bird guy's song.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 19: Aria you think is sexy*

"_Recondita armonia_" -- especially when sung by a certain Bavarian tenor!


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

MAuer said:


> *Day 19: Aria you think is sexy*
> 
> "_Recondita armonia_" -- especially when sung by a certain Bavarian tenor!


Oh yes! I *love* Markus Brutscher!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Hi guys - surfaced from the sea long enough to find an internet cafe here.

Favourite compilation CD: Jonas Kaufmann's German CD - he is just so perfect singing in his native language.

Favourite female singer: I can never get tired of listening to Emma Kirkby

Best Villain: a week ago I'd have answered Iago, although Scarpia is my favourite villain. Now I can equivocally say "Rambo", the psychopathic bullying terrorist from Death Of Klinghoffer, incidentally an utterly brilliant opera/film fusion.

Favourite "other language opera" - Philip Glass' Akhnaten. If I'm disqualified from this because some of it's in English then Jenufa.

Aria that you think is sexy - without a doubt "Pur ti Miro" at the end of L'incoronazione di Poppea". These guys are just waiting to fall into bed with each other.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Hi guys - surfaced from the sea long enough to find an internet cafe here.


Miss you but hope that you're enjoying the break -


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 19: Aria you think is sexy:*

If I were cheat and break outside of the realm of legitimate "opera"... I would choose this duet:






(Go to III: Aria (Duet) Wann kommst du, mein Heil? click on 8:07)

Yes, this aria is symbolically a love duet between the church (the bride) and Christ (the bridegroom) but just as Bernini's expression of spiritual longing is unquestionably erotic:










so is Bach's duet first and foremost a passionate expression of love and longing between the Bride and the Bridegroom.

Barring that choice, I'd also go with _Meine Lippen, sie kussen so heiss from Giuditta_... especially this version:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

FragendeFrau said:


> Gee, why does this not surprise me?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Sure, there's Anna, but my pick, believe it or not, has to do with the lyrics of the aria:

My lips they kiss so hot.
Why ever should it be
That men at once make love to me?
When they are near me,
There they stand.
Their eyes look deep in mine.
They always kiss my hand.
Why ever should it be
They speak of magic charms in me
That no man can resist?
For every time they look at me these charms 
persist.

But when the soft lights glint and glance
As midnight hours go by
They hear me sing, they see me dance
It's then that I know why

On my lips every kiss is like wine
In my arms love is more than divine,
Its engraved in the stars high above me
Men must kiss me, men must love me.
When my feet haunting rhythms inspire,
In my eyes gleam the flames of desire,
When I dance, then I know Fate's design.
On my lips every kiss is like wine.

But when the soft lights glint and glance
As midnight hours go by
They hear me sing, they see me dance
It's then that I know why


I have a dancer's blood
That rules me like a throbbing flood.
My mother was the dancing star
Without a rival at the Golden Alcazar!
How great she must have been!
In dreams I have so often seen
The raptures when she danced;
She held each heart enthralled and every eye 
entranced.
Her spirit wakes in me again,
My fortune wills it so.
At night I dance as she did then,
And this is all I know.

On my lips every kiss is like wine
In my arms love is more than divine,
Its engraved in the stars high above me
Men must kiss me, men must love me.

When my feet haunting rhythms inspire,
In my eyes gleam the flames of desire,
When I dance, then I know Fate's design.
On my lips every kiss is like wine.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

amfortas said:


> Wow . . . no one's mentioned this one yet? Talk about your easy pickings!
> 
> This one's for Alma . . .


The singer is sexier than the aria.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


>


Wow! Thanks for posting this version (I love it when she bows at the end and we, er... cough, cough... get to really appreciate her "assets." Is there a DVD version of this? Do they release DVDs of the Proms? I have a similar interpretation by Anna at the Baden-Baden concert on blu-ray, but this one I didn't know.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Sexy arias and no Carmen???

Even hotter than the Habanera, I'll put in my favourite:

Pres des ramparts de Seville
Chez mon ami Lilas Pastia
J'irai danser la Seguedille
Et boire du Manzanilla.

Agnes Baltsa has the pipes for it, but not the required hotness...


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Day 20*: Salvatore Sciarrino


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 20: Tchaikovsky


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

_Hier gibt es kein Auferstehen..._ 

In other words, if we can have a beer with an already dead composer, then I change my choice to Messiaen.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Verdi, although he liked Lambrusco wine more than beer.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Day 20: Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with
Monteverdi, _zum wohl _ of all the operas that would follow...


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Bellini because he woudln't show up without Chopin and Chopin wouldn't show up without Liszt and Liszt wouldn't show up without Wagner and Berlioz because he would use the occassion to make them like each other and so on, and so on and eventually I would end up with more great composers that I could mention drinking with me.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

As a matter of fact, I'll change my Verdi to Rossini.
I admire Verdi as a person - his moral strength to survive the death of his wife and two children, his strong convictions, his charitable work on behalf of less fortunate musicians, etc. But Rossini was more fun - a _bon vivant _who liked good food and good company.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Rossini. He must have been tons of fun.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

amfortas said:


> Oh yes! I *love* Markus Brutscher!


Wise guy!


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Offenbach. I bet that guy knew how to party.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 20: Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with*

I think Ludwig van B. would probably have preferred wine or perhaps coffee. Whatever the beverage may be . . . things would probably end with him telling me I'm an *** (even though or perhaps because I adore his opera) and then throwing his libation at me. Of course, this all assumes that he can hear me.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Me? Enescu. I've read so many stories about how great a man he was in life, generous, warm, open, humorous and all that stuff. He'd be great to talk to.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> As a matter of fact, I'll change my Verdi to Rossini.
> I admire Verdi as a person - his moral strength to survive the death of his wife and two children, his strong convictions, his charitable work on behalf of less fortunate musicians, etc. But Rossini was more fun - a _bon vivant _who liked good food and good company.


All that good food & company made him stop composing :scold:


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

*Day 20: Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with*

Party with Wolfie (Mozart)


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with:

Well in this case it would be a glass of prosecco in Puccini's garden at Torre del Lago, followed by a boat tour of the lake:


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Double post - so I'll take the opportunity to say definitely not Handel. I'd be in there with a glass of tepid water and he'd be nipping to the kitchen every five minutes to keep his strength up with his secret stash of food and booze.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm going with quiet, unassuming Siegfried Wagner (composer of Der Kobold and some sixteen other operas). I'd really like to hear all about his dad, but don't know if I could stand to be around the man himself.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 20: Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with


I'll have dinner with Handel, an epicurean when it came to food and wine. He had a massive appetite and was rather obsese by the time he passed away at a ripe old age of 74 (for those days especially).


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

I'd love to hang out with either Mozart and Wagner, but they would try to hit me up for a loan that would most likely (Mozart) or never (Wagner) be repaid.

So, if his autobiography is any indication of his conversational ablility, I'd like a night in pre-Haussmann Paris with Hector Berlioz, ca. 1840.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 20: Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with*

I think I'd need to go with Mozart. I don't want someone morbid or morose... nor do I think I'd necessarily get along with Wagner... but Mozart would surely be up for a bit of partying... a witty companion... and a musical genius to boot.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 20: Opera composer you would most like to have a beer with

Verdi

For his views on religion & politics and to ask him how he managed to compose one the lightest jolliest operas Un giorno di Regno during the darkest period of his.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Day 21: Most heart-rending aria*

There are so many candidates....

To walk a little bit off the trodden path, I'll choose _Ich ging zu ihm, (I went to him)_, from the opera "Das Wunder der Heliane (The miracle of Heliane)" by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, in 1927.

After the big hit of _Die Tote Stadt_, the new Korngold's opera was eagerly awaited. The premiere was in Hamburg and Vienna, but, after a short series of performances, it just dissapeared around 1930, and it has been heard quite a few times since then.

Heliane is based on a poem from an obscure romanian writer, Hans Kaltneker, under the title of "Die Heilige (The Saint)". Korngold loved this poem and requested Hans Müller to wrote a libretto.

The plot is as follows: In a distant kingdom, a Tyrant has enslavered the people, but a Stranger appears, bringing back passion and joy. He is arrested, convicted and sentenced to die the next day, in the morning.

The beautiful and pure wife of the Tyrant, Heliane, go to visit the Stranger, and he fells in love with her. Heliane shows her naked body to him, but they are surprised and the Tyrant want Heliane to be tried for adultery.

Heliane relates in Court what happened (here is where she sings 'Ich ging zu im'). The Stranger refuses to testify against Heliane. Then the Tyrant offers a knife to Heliane, and asks her to take her own life. The Stranger steals the knife and stabs himself instead.

The Tyrant then challenges Heliane to resurrect the Stranger, if she is still pure. Heliane collapses, and confess she loves the Stranger. She is sentenced to death, but the Tyrant offers to pardon her, if she promises to love him. Heliane refuses him, and the Tyrant stabs her. She run to the corpse of the Stranger, than magically rises from death.

Then the Stranger exiles the Tyrant and bless the people. Heliane and the Stranger go together to Heaven, in love with each other.

The roots of the opera's failure are several: the powerful enemies of Korngold's father, Julius, in the musical circles of Vienna; the premiere of a totally different kind of opera, _Jonny spielt auf_ by Ernst Krenek, that was the greatest box office success of all times in Germany and Austria (two different brands of cigarettes were launched, the popular and cheap "Jonny", and the elegant and expensive "Heliane"); and the opera itself, complex and dark, while the public was expecting another Marietta's lied.

Korngold himself was pretty strong about Heliane, and claimed to his death it was his best work. Difficult to say, I'd prefer _Die Tote Stadt_, but Heliane is worthy of a bigger exposure, beyond a doubt.

The text of the aria, and an english translation, is on some of the youtubes that I will link below.

It's a pretty sophisticated piece, based on material from the Procession scene in _Die Tote Stadt_. It starts with a long arioso in D major, and then a modulation to F sharp major on the words 'Doch schön war der Knabe'. The melody, delicate and beautiful, is winding from the beginning of the aria, until it explodes in the high note at the end.

There are several excellent recordings of the aria. My favourite is Renée Fleming's live at the Proms (also in her CD, 'The Age of the Diva'):






but also the version from Lotte Lehmann (that sung the opera in Vienna) is outstanding:






Or the one from Anna Tomowa-Sintow, extracted from the full recording of the opera, in a highly recommended CD:















And even this hidden gem from german soprano Dagmar Schellenberger, released originally in East Germany:


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 21: Most heart-rending aria*

Without doubt:






When I am laid in earth, Dido and Aeneas, Purcell, Jessye Norman


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

*Day 21: Most heart-rendering aria*

Dove sei from Händel's Rodelinda. One of mye favourite Händel arias.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

TxllxT's pick above is a very good choice, and could have been my choice, but I'll go with Isolde's Liebestod. Other notable candidates would be Addio del Passato in La Traviata, and Anne's farewell to Tom at the end of The Rake's Progress.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 21: Most heart-rending aria*

"Senza Mama" from _Suor Angelica _-- a real tear-jerker.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

*Day 21: Most heart-rending aria*
Perhaps the category I feel most strongly about. There are several candidates, but my top three would be:

*Ach, Ich Fühl's*






_Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden, 
Ewig hin der Liebe Glück! 
Nimmer kommt ihr Wonnestunde 
Meinem Herzen mehr zurück! 
Sieh', Tamino, diese Tränen, 
Fließen, Trauter, dir allein! 
Fühlst du nicht der Liebe Sehnen, 
So wird Ruh' im Tode sein!

Ah, I feel it, it has disappeared
Forever gone love's happiness!
Nevermore will come the hour of bliss
Back to my heart!

See, Tamino, these tears,
Flowing, beloved, for you alone!
If you don't feel the longing of love
Then there will be peace in death!_

*Ah, non credea mirarti*





(This version continues into Ah Non Giunge which obviously changes the feel ... so I highly recommend stopping playback at the end of Ah non credea. )






(superior quality to the one above, and with subtitles, but lacking the tenor accompaniment unfortunately)

The definite winner, however, is 
*Per te lasciai la luce*





_Original text:

Per te lasciai la luce,
ed or che mi conduce
amor per rivederti,
tu vuoi partir da me.

Deh, ferma i passi incerti,
o pur se vuoi fuggir,
dimmi perché?

Translation:

For you I left the daylight,
and now that love leads me
to see you again, you want to leave me.

Oh, stop your uncertain steps,
Or if you want to go, tell me why. Why?
For you I left the daylight..._

For personal reasons, all three easily bring me to tears but the last one just wrecks me. I'm a mess right now


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

rgz said:


> For personal reasons, all three easily bring me to tears but the last one just wrecks me. I'm a mess right now


Hey, it's because you picked a very bad interpreter for the last one!:devil:

Kidding.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

MAuer said:


> *Day 21: Most heart-rending aria*
> 
> "Senza Mama" from _Suor Angelica _-- a real tear-jerker.


Beat me to the punch! _Suor Angelica_ is my guilty pleasure opera: I know I *shouldn't* let it get to me, but I just can't help myself.

Renata Scotto was well past her vocal prime in this Met performance, but nobody brought more still, rapt focus to the role (sorry the clip itself isn't in better shape).


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

My guilty pleasure for day 21:

"E Lucevan le Stelle"


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed

None.

I mean, of course there are operas and composers I don't like. But I never "try to like" anything. I'm more than willing to listen to about everything, and then it will suit me or not, but on its own terms. I'm under no obligation to like any particular piece or any given musician.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed*

Beethoven

How much enthusiasm our choir director tried to infuse into us with singing the prisoners' choir in Fidelio, I find it pathetic fake. Not only this, all of Beethoven (except some chamber works which I respect (not 'like')) comes to me as both pathetic and fake. The emotions Beethoven tries to evoke with those prisoners coming from the dark into the light, while letting the male choir sing much too high notes (giving us a sour voice on the spot): brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

*Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed*

I can't seem to get Strauss (Richard, that is) or Bellini. I love Strauss' orchestral music, but I can't seem to understand his operas.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed*

Alban Berg. Even Wunderlich singing his music (Andres in _Wozzeck_) couldn't sell me.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed

Penderecki. I wanted to check his operas and then it turned out that they are in German. So at first I was like DUDE WTF and then more like DUDE, FORGET IT.

Also, I've failed to like many opera composers not because they didn't write great stuff but because it's impossible to get recordings of it.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Day 22 - I'm not a big fan of Gounod's. I only like half of Puccini's operas (and loathe Suor Angelica). But I'll have to go with Haydn. I was expecting wonders given his excellent non-operatic compositions, but thought that his operatic output is really disappointing.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Day 22 - I'm not a big fan of Gounod's. I only like half of Puccini's operas (and loathe Suor Angelica). But I'll have to go with Haydn. I was expecting wonders given his excellent non-operatic compositions, but thought that his operatic output is really disappointing.


Alma I though for sure you would say Meyerbeer...............

As for me I will make a foolhardy broad generalzation and say "almost" all modern opera composed after WWII


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

DarkAngel said:


> Alma I though for sure you would say Meyerbeer...............
> 
> As for me I will make a foolhardy broad generalzation and say "almost" all modern opera composed after WWII


I thought of Meyerbeer but my opinion of him has improved after I liked Dinorah very much. L'Africaine is not bad either. I find Les Huguenots profoundly boring and formulaic, and I'm not fond of Le Prophète either, but if a composer writes such a pleasant opera as Dinorah, I can no longer quote him as a total failure. I think my beef with him is in direct proportion to my love of his rival Berlioz.

About modern opera, I can't believe it! There are some truly excellent ones! As we speak, I'm watching Rasputin by Rautavaara, and it's mightily good stuff!


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

*Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed*

*Wagner.* This is probably like wearing in church for some, but I've sat through various Wagner operas in the last year: Lohengrin - in concert (Long and Grim, rather), Tannhauser (Pilgrims Chorus made it worth it) and Parsifal (in English) but I just can't help it. I find him pompous and indulging and dreadfully boring. Maybe my "pallate" isn't sophisticated enough, but I really, really would like to avoid sitting through another Wagner opera if I can help it.

*Britten.* I've seen "Rape of Lucretia" and "Peter Grimes" - also in the last year - and it doesn't do it for me at all. In fact, I'd rather sit through Wagner than Britten, which should tell you something.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Operafocus said:


> *Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed*
> 
> *Wagner.* This is probably like wearing in church for some, but I've sat through various Wagner operas in the last year: Lohengrin - in concert (Long and Grim, rather), Tannhauser (Pilgrims Chorus made it worth it) and Parsifal (in English) but I just can't help it. I find him pompous and indulging and dreadfully boring. Maybe my "pallate" isn't sophisticated enough, but I really, really would like to avoid sitting through another Wagner opera if I can help it.


Well, Wagner is rather boring by default. Nothing happens for an hour, then maybe someone dies. But at least the music's glorious. But if you should change your mind, might I suggest Meistersinger? The fastest 5 hours I've ever spent.

And welcome to the forums! Good to have another Norwegian on board!
And was the Tannhäuser you saw the Herheim one at the opera in Oslo? Because in that case, I'm totally jealous right now,


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

Aksel said:


> Well, Wagner is rather boring by default. Nothing happens for an hour, then maybe someone dies. But at least the music's glorious. But if you should change your mind, might I suggest Meistersinger? The fastest 5 hours I've ever spent.
> 
> And welcome to the forums! Good to have another Norwegian on board!
> And was the Tannhäuser you saw the Herheim one at the opera in Oslo? Because in that case, I'm totally jealous right now,


Haha, I love that. "Wagner is rather boring by default." So it is! Another problem I find with Wagner is that you arrive (as I have) for a preview at 10am and with breaks and everything else, you're out of there by 3.30pm! It's-just-too-long! Maybe I don't have enough of an attention span  I've been recommended to catch various operas in "Der Ring des Nibelungen" as well as "Meistersinger" - but I'm still thinking about it. lol.

Thank you, btw! I've been looking for a forum to just talk opera without bothering friends who give me that _"oh God, here we go again..."_ look 

I've heard of that Tannhauser you're mentioning, but this particular production was the one at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It had some good performers, like Christian Gerhaher as Wolfram (veeeeeeery smooooooth!!) and Eva Marie Westbroek. Then there was Johan Botha as Tannhauser, who didn't really do much for me at all, unfortunately.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 21: Most heart-rending aria:*

There were some undeniably moving selections made her. I especially like the Purcell and the great aria from Korngold's _Das Wunder der Heliane_ which I agree, is a beautiful and sadly underrated opera. My choice, however, must go with Mozart's _Contessa, perdono_ from the finale of _Le Nozze di Figaro_ which I have loved since first hearing it in the film, _Amadeus_, years ago. After running about attempting to seduce seduce Susanna... including declaring his love for her to his wife (costumed as Susanna)... and then hypocritically refusing to forgive Figaro and the others their transgressions, the Count suddenly faces the realization that all his indiscretions are known to his wife, the Countess/Contessa. Ashamed and remorseful he falls to his knees and begs forgiveness which his wife, unlike him, readily grants him in the most beautiful melody. As Salieri, in Amadeus suggests, it is as if the voice of God granting absolution to all mankind:

At minute 3:00:






*Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed:*

I'm tempted to go with Alma, and say Haydn... as his operas certainly don't live up to the standard you expect considering his other compositional efforts. I imagined something perhaps but a small step removed from Mozart... but is actuality Gluck is a far greater operatic composer. Then again... the operas I have heard by Haydn aren't really bad. Indeed, they all have some rather good moments. But *Meyerbeer*, however, I could surely live without... especially when he gets voted into the top opera polls here while Shostakovitch's audacious and iconoclastic opera The Nose repeatedly gets snubbed (pun intended).


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

So Wagner's long. What's your hurry?

* * *

*Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed*

Unlike schigolch, I *do* try to like, or at least get a better understanding of, certain operas that are generally regarded as masterpieces. I don't like to think I'm missing out on something wonderful.

So my list consists, not necessarily of operas I don't *like*, but rather of operas where there is the greatest discrepancy between the world's high praise and my own lukewarm reaction.

1. Don Giovanni. For many people, this is *the* opera. Not me. Though I love Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflote, I've never been similarly captured by the Don's self-serving, womanizing exploits or the carping complaints of his pursuers.

2. Aida. Many proclaim this as Verdi's greatest. But even though it comes between my two favorite Verdi operas, Don Carlo and Otello (not to mention the magnificent Requiem), Aida has generally left me cold. Somehow I find Verdi's musical idiom more believable in those other works set closer to home geographically and historically; his attempt at ancient Egypt seems too much like empty spectacle.

3. Fidelio. I know that plenty of other people have struggled with Beethoven's opera (including Beethoven himself). But they at least acknowledge the greatness in amongst the failings. I find myself much more aware of the latter; the opera's uneasy mix of comic and serious elements leaves me scratching my head.

Having gotten these confessions out of the way (I feel so much better now!), I am more than willing to undergo chastisement by those who can help me better appreciate the greatness of these works.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Operafocus said:


> Another problem I find with Wagner is that you arrive (as I have) for a preview at 10am and with breaks and everything else, you're out of there by 3.30pm! It's-just-too-long!


Man, how many hours do you sleep, per night? How many hours you waste in so-called "job" to earn for living? How many hours of your life have you already wasted for things which are not beautiful at all but you just got to deal with them? Taking all of it into consideration, three-four hours from time to time is too much time for you to devote it for listening some of the most divine music ever composed? Hmmm... venison.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

amfortas said:


> 2. Aida. Many proclaim this as Verdi's greatest. But even though it comes between my two favorite Verdi operas, Don Carlo and Otello (not to mention the magnificent Requiem), Aida has generally left me cold. Somehow I find Verdi's musical idiom more believable in those other works set closer to home geographically and historically; his attempt at ancient Egypt seems too much like empty spectacle.


Totally agree. Although I consider Falstaff to be Verdi's greatest opera.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> My choice, however, must go with Mozart's _Contessa, perdono_ from the finale of _Le Nozze di Figaro_ which I have loved since first hearing it in the film, _Amadeus_, years ago. After running about attempting to seduce seduce Susanna... including declaring his love for her to his wife (costumed as Susanna)... and then hypocritically refusing to forgive Figaro and the others their transgressions, the Count suddenly faces the realization that all his indiscretions are known to his wife, the Countess/Contessa. Ashamed and remorseful he falls to his knees and begs forgiveness which his wife, unlike him, readily grants him in the most beautiful melody. As Salieri, in Amadeus suggests, it is as if the voice of God granting absolution to all mankind.


It is truly a moving moment and beautiful melody and I find myself looking forward to it every time.

But then there is always a horrible cynical part of me that thinks - how long will this last before he is up to his old tricks.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> It is truly a moving moment and beautiful melody and I find myself looking forward to it every time.
> 
> But then there is always a horrible cynical part of me that thinks - how long will this last before he is up to his old tricks.


Or SHE, for that matter ...


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Aksel said:


> Or SHE, for that matter ...


Of course, you are right, she is the one who publicly has a child out of wedlock. But who knows how many little counts are wondering around the estate - he gets to walk away from the fruits of his actions,


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed


This is an interesting one. I can't come up with any. I take "fail" as meaning leaving me totally cold after the whole performance as far as the music was concerned, not the stage production. Not any from my collection. Many mediocre ones; sure, but still generally entertaining in some ways if not warranting many revisits. But I have been buying and attending operas carefully, and not randomly, if that makes sense.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

21: Most heart-rending aria I've heard. I'll go with the end of L'amour de loin, though I expect some parts of Saint Francois d'Assise will shortly overtake it.

22: Opera composer I've tried to like and failed. Several, but for this purpose I'll pick Verdi. I've never understood the entire aesthetic of which Verdi is kinda the poster-child, so I'll stack the blame on him.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I can usually find something to like in most operas, and even managed to become a Wagner fanatic after 25 years of claiming I couldn't stand him.

But I don't like Strauss half as well as he probably deserves, and like amfortas am not entirely enthusiastic about Aida (or Rigoletto, Turandot and Butterfly, for that matter).

The operas I have liked least so far have been Wozzek (I like Lulu though) and Galuppi's L'Olimpiade.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

Aramis said:


> Man, how many hours do you sleep, per night? How many hours you waste in so-called "job" to earn for living? How many hours of your life have you already wasted for things which are not beautiful at all but you just got to deal with them? Taking all of it into consideration, three-four hours from time to time is too much time for you to devote it for listening some of the most divine music ever composed? Hmmm... venison.


I knew saying Wagner was boring would have this affect. It's OK, we don't have to agree  I guess you should consider yourself blessed that you're able to enjoy this divine music. It's just not for me.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> I can usually find something to like in most operas, and even managed to become a Wagner fanatic after 25 years of claiming I couldn't stand him.
> 
> But I don't like Strauss half as well as he probably deserves, and like amfortas am not entirely enthusiastic about Aida (or Rigoletto, Turandot and Butterfly, for that matter).
> 
> The operas I have liked least so far have been Wozzek (I like Lulu though) and Galuppi's L'Olimpiade.


_Wozzek_ and other operas like it, for example Britten's _Owen Wingrave_ (premiered on BBC TV 1971) which I just watched on Saturday, are effective dramatic works using the twelve-tone technique (you can also hear many similar techniques used in old movie film scores coming from say Alfred Hitchcock classics). Effective to me only in the sense that the dramatic impact of the scenes worked well and fitting it altogether to convey the drama. However, I think these works are relatively limiting when it comes to conveying the emotional content of the characters compared with tonal colours. The "arias" don't often encompass the breadth of emotions from tonal/"normal" operas, and when they try, the impact often gets much less emphasis because the twelve-tone technique cannot sustain long stretches of it without sounding out of place.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

amfortas said:


> 2. Aida. Many proclaim this as Verdi's greatest. But even though it comes between my two favorite Verdi operas, Don Carlo and Otello (not to mention the magnificent Requiem), Aida has generally left me cold. Somehow I find Verdi's musical idiom more believable in those other works set closer to home geographically and historically; his attempt at ancient Egypt seems too much like empty spectacle.


I agree. I've seen Aida twice (actually because it's usually proclaimed that this is such a great opera I clearly just missed the point), but it didn't help.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Operafocus said:


> I knew saying Wagner was boring would have this affect. It's OK, we don't have to agree  I guess you should consider yourself blessed that you're able to enjoy this divine music. It's just not for me.


Apart from Wagner you also have the interpretation of the conductor. I do eat the cake (shaped like a ring) when served by Herbert, but when Georg tries to do the same the degustation somehow gets so heavy on the stomach....


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Operafocus said:


> I knew saying Wagner was boring would have this affect. It's OK, we don't have to agree  I guess you should consider yourself blessed that you're able to enjoy this divine music. It's just not for me.


Welcome to the forum, Operafocus. We pride ourselves in being friendly and tolerant here. It's quite OK that you don't like Wagner. For the record, I don't find his operas boring at all, much the opposite, and the music is some of the most sublime ever composed - but different strokes for different folks. This said, I'd encourage you to give him at least another chance, because you haven't seen yet those that I consider to be his best operas, in my humble opinion better than the ones you've tried: The Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde, and the Mastersingers. I consider all three very intense and eventful, not boring at all, and oh boy, they're so beautiful! In any case, liking Wagner or not, do stick around and make your opinions known, we have people here who like and dislike all sorts of things, and we try to debate these preferences in a respectful way.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> My guilty pleasure for day 21:
> 
> "E Lucevan le Stelle"


I don't know enough operas to even begin to take this challenge but now and then there is a question I can answer! This is also definitely my most heart-rending aria of the ones I know so far. Just the instrumental bit at the beginning sets me off. And once I saw the English translation of the last line--"And never have I loved life more!" *sniff*

Here's my predictable favorite:


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

For the life of me I am absolutely dumbstruck at the enormous difference of opinion between many members of this forum and myself on the merit of the operas of George Frederick Handel. 

Formulaic, boring, static, an endless sequence of secco recitatives and da capo arias... with orchestration consisting of strings and harpsichord, alternating with sections featuring harpsichord and strings. 

The Canadian Opera Company is doing Semele next year, and because I subscribe, I guess I'll have to go. At least when they did Rodelinda a few years ago, I went there with an open mind. Anybody from the Detroit or Chicago area want to make a trade of tickets?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

waldvogel said:


> For the life of me I am absolutely dumbstruck at the enormous difference of opinion between many members of this forum and myself on the merit of the operas of George Frederick Handel.
> 
> Formulaic, boring, static, an endless sequence of secco recitatives and da capo arias... with orchestration consisting of strings and harpsichord, alternating with sections featuring harpsichord and strings.
> 
> The Canadian Opera Company is doing Semele next year, and because I subscribe, I guess I'll have to go. At least when they did Rodelinda a few years ago, I went there with an open mind. Anybody from the Detroit or Chicago area want to make a trade of tickets?


I guess it's not just the members of this forum, given the strong revival that Handel's operas have received in the hands of some really top-notch conductors with considerable public acclaim. I consider Handel one of the five best opera composers of all times, and for me his operas are extremely beautiful, not boring, and not static. Formulaic, maybe - it was the formula of his time, including the strings and the harpsichord, but he made pretty good use of them.

I guess it's all a question of an acquired taste. At first I didn't even like baroque music in general. Now I love a good _da capo_ aria. It may be a question of interpretation as well. The repetitions in a _da capo_ aria are supposed to be performed with more and more nuances. I can understand that when an opera by Handel is not performed right, it can seem boring. But done by the right conductor, the right band, and the right cast, his operas can be a sublime and fulfilling experience.

If you haven't tried these three performances yet, I strongly recommend them - they may very well change your mind - in the hands of a specialist like William Christie, these operas thrive and reach their true potential:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Favorite opera in german*

There are many, of course.

I think, however, _Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City)_, by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, needs some more exposure in TC, so that's my vote for today.

This is one of the most famous pieces from the opera, Pierrot's lied:

Mein Sehnen, mein Whänen - Carlo Drago Hrzic - 1928


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

*Day 23: Favourite German language opera*

Oh, there are so many to choose from.

I think it will have to be a tie between Wagner's Meistersinger, which I fell completely in love with after I saw the Glyndebourne performance (Topi Lehtipuu is my favourite David ever), and Zauberflöte, which I have adored ever since I got the René Jacobs CD.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 23: Favourite German language opera*










I have a lot of Rings, but find Karajan's outstanding in his driving the orchestra to raving mad ecstasy. All those hammer-clammer-sessions are being used to get this almost 'fascist' awe into the _Gesamtkunstwerk_. I'm always deeply , that music & opera can locomote into one's soul so strongly!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Day 23: well, it's predictable, but it's got to be Die Walküre .


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 23: well, it's predictable, but it's got to be Die Walküre .


This, especially since it was one of the operas that got me into opera in the first place!


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

TxllxT said:


> Apart from Wagner you also have the interpretation of the conductor. I do eat the cake (shaped like a ring) when served by Herbert, but when Georg tries to do the same the degustation somehow gets so heavy on the stomach....


Yeah, you're right about that. I saw "Rigoletto" in Oslo recently with Antonello Allemandi and the first act was so slow that it was a bit painful to watch the performers trying to keep the tempo he wanted, rather than what it says in the score. It picked up after act one, but my God. I've also seen "Don Carlo" done with an amateur conductor in London who just produced the slowest ever version of "Dio, che nell'alma infondere amor" imaginable. The poor tenor and baritone had real trouble keeping up because it was quite literally about half the tempo it should be.

But speaking of Wagner, I saw "Tannhauser" with Semyon Bychkov (who's v.v. good), "Lohengrin" with Andris Nelsons (talked of as "the new Simon Rattle") and "Parsifal" with Mark Wigglesworth. I did enjoy Nelsons' energy and enthusiasm, I must admit, but the tenor doing "Lohengrin" was so uninspiring that "In Fernem Land" wasn't even worth the wait. Who did make it better was the amazing baritone Eike Wilm Schulte.

Don't get me wrong, there are always parts of these operas that I find enjoyable. Like I said, the Pilgrims Chorus in "Tannhauser" was just stunning! Hearing John Tomlinson doing Gurnemanz in "Parsifal" was amazing in itself - but I guess I'm too much of a sucker for a good aria, and Wagner doesn't really produce those in the same way that, for instance, Verdi and Puccini did.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Why do I feel this'll be a Wagner-fest...

*sigh*...

Tristan und Isolde für me...


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Welcome to the forum, Operafocus. We pride ourselves in being friendly and tolerant here. It's quite OK that you don't like Wagner. For the record, I don't find his operas boring at all, much the opposite, and the music is some of the most sublime ever composed - but different strokes for different folks. This said, I'd encourage you to give him at least another chance, because you haven't seen yet those that I consider to be his best operas, in my humble opinion better than the ones you've tried: The Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde, and the Mastersingers. I consider all three very intense and eventful, not boring at all, and oh boy, they're so beautiful! In any case, liking Wagner or not, do stick around and make your opinions known, we have people here who like and dislike all sorts of things, and we try to debate these preferences in a respectful way.


Thanks for the welcome  I do find the forum friendly and tolerant - I don't mind a discussion about opera at all. Discussing taste in opera is like discussing taste in food. It's so individual that you can't win an argument whatever you do, but you certainly can have a healthy discussion about it and agree to disagree at the end of it  I'm all for that :tiphat:

What I would consider is Die Walkure, especially as I've actually included that particular opera in a book I recently wrote (not that I'm doing self-publishing or anything, cause I'm not :lol: ) But as I was writing about an act in this opera, I've seen umpteenth versions of this particular act to get a good idea. I've seen some really good stuff, so I take back the "never Wagner again" and will say that if they to Die Walkure, then I would go see it.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

*Day 23 - Favorite German language opera*

Of what I've seen... which isn't as much as most here I guess... I think I'll have to say *Die Zauberflöte*


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Between 3 of the 4 Ring operas (minus Sigfried), Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nurnber, and two from R. Strauss (Der Rosenkavalier, Die Frau ohne Schatten) with Fidelio and Euryanthe in close pursuit (notice the notable absence of Die Zauberflöte with which I'm not crazily in love although I recognize its quality), the choice is tough - although less tough than the similar question for Italian. I'm very tempted to say Die Frau ohne Schatten, and any of the three from the Ring would do but taken as an isolated opera, I guess I'll say Tristan und Isolde.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 21: Most heart-rending aria : Sola, perduta, abbandonata (_Manon Lescaut_) - it's not my favorite opera- but the lyrics are heart-wrenching- she actually say (sings) "I don't want to die!"

Day 22: Opera or composer you have tried to like and failed - Baroque Opera, in general

Day 23: Favourite German language opera- There are so many- mostly Wagner- but an honorable mention goes to Nicolai's _Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor_


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

*Day 23 - Favorite German language opera*

Since this is "favorite" and not best or most profound Greman opera I will go with the charming and comic:
*Mozart - Die Entfuhring aus dem Serail*

Fun fun fun.............


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> I have a lot of Rings, but find *Karajan's outstanding in his driving the orchestra to raving mad ecstasy*. All those hammer-clammer-sessions are being used to get this almost 'fascist' awe into the _Gesamtkunstwerk_. I'm always deeply , that music & opera can locomote into one's soul so strongly!


Have you ever seen the Karajan 1978 studio DVD version.............Karajan involved in the visual production, they should re-package the Karajan CD Ring and toss this in as a bonus disc


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 23 - Favorite German language opera*-

Ach!! I'm seriously torn between this:










this:










and this:










If push came to shove... I'd probably go with... _Tristan und Isolde._

One more for the Wagner-fest.:lol:


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

He, that's why I don't patricipate in some days. In many of those question you just have to come out with some obvious stuff - favourite German opera? I would have to either name work which I praised many times and which we all know/expect to be mentioned or lie. And my post would either be uninteresting or untrue. And we should write only interesting and true things.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

*Day 23 - Favorite German language opera*

In life, there's everything else, and then there's opera.

In opera, there's everything else, and then there's Wagner.

In Wagner, there's everything else, and then there's Die Walkure.

Isn't life simple?


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I've said it before- among Wagner operas, I place on a nearly equal footing _Tristan und Isolde_, _Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg_, _Die Walküre_, _Götterdämmerung_, and _Parsifal_. Guess that the _primus inter pares_ among that group is _Tristan und Isolde_.

Let me add to the mentions of _Die Zauberflöte_, and make one of my own for _Der Rosenkavalier_ as being my favorite German-language operas not written by someone named Wagner.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Let me add to the mentions of _Die Zauberflöte_, and make one of my own for _Der Rosenkavalier_ as being my favorite German-language operas not written by someone named Wagner.


I second that emotion!


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 23 - Favorite German language opera*

_Fidelio_, in all its variations!


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. Let's give it a go, then...

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)
Day 5. "Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Day 6. Don Giovanni from Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Day 7. Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
Day 8. "Un di felice, eterea" from La Traviata (Verdi)
Day 9. Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) - Bohm 1966 (CD), Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) - ROH 2006 (DVD), Giulio Cesare (Handel) - Glyndebourne 2005 (DVD)
Day 10. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Day 11. Carmen (Bizet)
*Day 12. Ferruccio Furlanetto*, Hm: Anna Netrebko
*Day 13: Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)*, Hm: Brunnhilde's Immolation from Gotterdammerung (Wagner)
*Day 14: Die Zauberflote (Mozart)*, Hm: Carmen (Bizet)
*Day 15: Handel: Furore by Joyce DiDonato* - The compilation that revealed to me the greatness of Handel, Hm: none
*Day 16: Maria Callas*, Hm: Renee Fleming & Beverly Sills
*Day 17: Jack the Ripper from Lulu (Berg)*, Hm: Dr. Bartolo from Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) - in the comic sense
*Day 18: Bluebeard's Castle (Bartok)*, Hm: Jenufa (Janacek)
*Day 19: "Je vais danser en votre honneur ... Lalala" from Carmen (Bizet)*, Hm: "V'adoro, pupille" from Giulio Cesare (Handel)
*Day 20: Giuseppe Verdi*, Hm: Gioachino Rossini
*Day 21: Song to the Moon from Rusalka (Dvorak)*, Hm: When I am Laid in Earth from Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
*Day 22: Giacomo Puccini*, Hm: Charles Gounod
*Day 23: Die Walkure (Wagner)*, Hm: Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) & Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss)


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 23: Favourite German language opera


Mozart, _Die Zauberflöte_.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

My favourite German-language opera? It's whichever of Tristan, Die Meistersinger, Die Walkure, Gotterdammerung, or Parsifal that matches my mood of the day. Right now, it's Die Meistersinger. Wahn, wahn, uberall wahn...

My favourite that hasn't been mentioned yet? Lohengrin.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Favorite overture/prelude. I don't think I need to say it (*coughTristancough*).


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Favorite overture: tie, between Carmen for its sheer audacious energy and Nozze for it's delightful inventiveness, a little masterpiece that is the musical equivalent of Wolfgang flat out saying "Pull up a chair, we're gonna have a good time"


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Hard to choose between the preludes to Rheingold and Lohengrin.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Favorite overture/prelude*

The prelude to the second Act of Norma, a beautiful and noble music:


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day: 24 Favorite overture/prelude






Essence of Italian style, this unique brand of fiery passion that makes you imagine Bellini as wild Sicilian dandy that breaks the door and runs into the room with stretched chemise and pair of fumy flintlock pistols in hands. 4:00-4:14.

Btw, it HAS to be this recording.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 24: Favourite overture/prelude*






Khovanshchina has a 'Moldau'-like opening: a small brook that slowly fills up into a wide river with broad views. Magic!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Tannhäuser, Fidelio, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Guillaume Tell, Le Nozze di Figaro, Carmen, and La Traviata have exceptional overtures. Cavaleria Rusticana and Thaïs have exceptional intermezzi. Tough choice. I guess I'll say Tannhäuser.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 24: Favourite overture/prelude

Pretty much any Wagner... particularly Lohengrin & Meistersinger.

for upbeat... Donna Diana and Fledermaus are hard to beat... and I also love the Lustige Weiber (Nicolai) overture.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 24: Favourite overture/prelude *

There are so many great overtures that it's hard to choose a favorite. I love all of Mozart's, Beethoven's _Fidelio_ and _Leonore_ III, Rossini's _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_, Bizet's _Carmen_, the wonderfully delicate overture to _La Traviata _. . . Lord, it's hard to pick just one! But I guess I'll go with the overture to _Le Nozze di Figaro_.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Tannhäuser, Fidelio, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Guillaume Tell, Le Nozze di Figaro, Carmen, and La Traviata have exceptional overtures. Cavaleria Rusticana and Thaïs have exceptional intermezzi. Tough choice. I guess I'll say Tannhäuser.


Dresden or Paris?


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

*Day 24: Favourite overture/prelude *

This is tough. Just looking at Wagner, I love the overtures/preludes to _Der Fliegende Hollander_, _Tannhauser_, _Lohengrin_, _Tristan_, _Meistersinger_, _Parsifal_ . . . and an eccentric choice, perhaps, but I also really like the *second act* prelude of _Die Walkure_.

Also among my favorites are Monteverdi's _Orfeo_; Purcell's _Dido and Aeneas_; Mozart's _Le Nozze di Figaro_, _Cosi fan tutte_, and _Die Zauberflote_; Beethoven's _Fidelio_ (and Leonore #3); Rossini's _La Gazza Ladra_ and _Guillaume Tell_; Verdi's _La Traviata_ and _La Forza del Destino_; Humperdinck's _Hansel und Gretel_.

So much great music. But at the moment, I'm going with Strauss's beautiful sextet to open _Capriccio_.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Meistersinger!


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

*Day 24: Favourite overture/prelude -* Carmen Overture

Exciting masterful melody that wonderfully evokes visions of the torredor and bustling town square......ole!

A special mention for Bellini's Norma overture with those lovely italianate horn sections


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Meistersinger! Or Cenerentola. Or Barbiere. Or possibly Fledermaus. Or Tannhäuser, for that matter.

GAAH! So many to choose from!


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

rgz said:


> Favorite overture: tie, between Carmen for its sheer audacious energy and Nozze for it's delightful inventiveness, a little masterpiece that is the musical equivalent of *Wolfgang flat out saying "Pull up a chair, we're gonna have a good time*"


David McVicar's Le Nozze production on DVD does a masterful job of using this bustling overture to introduce us to Figaro's servants and see domestic activities at Figaro's home, why can't other producers realize there are story telling opportunites during overture for the creative mind.....not just a generic shot of the orchestra pit and conductor for 5 minutes


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

DarkAngel said:


> David McVicar's Le Nozze production on DVD does a masterful job of using this bustling overture to introduce us to Figaro's servants and see domestic activities at Figaro's home, why can't other producers realize there are story telling opportunites during overture for the creative mind.....not just a generic shot of the orchestra pit and conductor for 5 minutes


Oh, you're going to open up a can of worms with that one! I've heard a number of people here and elsewhere insist that the sure sign of a bad Regietheater production is some kind of staged action during the overture . . .


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

amfortas said:


> Oh, you're going to open up a can of worms with that one! I've heard a number of people here and elsewhere insist that the sure sign of a bad Regietheater production is some kind of staged action during the overture . . .


If there are people here that think that way they should be more open minded.........you can walk and chew gum at the same time 

Of course if you do not have a good idea of what to show during overture better to do nothing, McVicar has very good idea..........


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

DarkAngel said:


> If there are people here that think that way they should be more open minded.........you can walk and chew gum at the same time
> 
> Of course if you do not have a good idea of what to show during overture better to do nothing, McVicar has very good idea..........


I don't have any hard-and-fast rules on this point myself. On the one hand, opera has always been a great synthesis of the arts (unrivaled in that respect until motion pictures), so why not extend such intermingling to the overture? But then again, it's certainly possible to argue in favor of disentangling the gesamtkuntswerk at times and letting the individual arts have their unalloyed moments. As you say, so much depends on the artistry of the director.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

DarkAngel said:


> If there are people here that think that way they should be more open minded.........you can walk and chew gum at the same time
> 
> Of course if you do not have a good idea of what to show during overture better to do nothing, McVicar has very good idea..........


It's not a question of open mindedness only. These staged actions during the overture (often done from the public, in the corridors, etc) *can* be highly successful and add to the enjoyment, but can also be a total fiasco. I've seen some tastefully staged scenes (such as, for instance, just a pair of dancers), some wildly entertaining ones (like Dario Fo's staging of Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Netherlands Opera), but I've also seen my share of stupid **** that made me want to shoot the stage director.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

DarkAngel said:


> David McVicar's Le Nozze production on DVD does a masterful job of using this bustling overture to introduce us to Figaro's servants and see domestic activities at Figaro's home, why can't other producers realize there are story telling opportunites during overture for the creative mind.....not just a generic shot of the orchestra pit and conductor for 5 minutes


I also love his staging of the overture to Giulio Cesare where you have the Egyptian servants languidly sweeping the palace, interrupted by the rather swaggering arrival of Cesare's soldiers and the man himslef.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

amfortas said:


> Dresden or Paris?


 Neither. Wagner didn't change the 1845 overture to Tannhäuser for the Paris version in 1861. He changed the Venusberg ballet and shortened the prelude to act III but he left the overture intact. The change you may be thinking of was actually done later, in 1872, and it was used in Vienna in 1875, when he kind of linked the overture to the Venusberg ballet, and made a continuum of the two. It's the latter version from Vienna that I'd call most interesting.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

In my heart it's Meistersinger all the way.


But for something completely different, how's about the overture to Bernstein's Candide?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 24: Favourite overture/prelude*-

There are any number of already mentioned wonderful overtures/preludes. I have called attention to Rossini's _William Tell Overture_ in another thread... and of course there's _Carmen's_ and _Le Nozze's_...

But in the end I'll have to go with:


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> *I also love his staging of the overture to Giulio Cesare* where you have the Egyptian servants languidly sweeping the palace, interrupted by the rather swaggering arrival of Cesare's soldiers and the man himslef.


Yes that is another feather in McVicar's cap, again showing domestic activities of servants before main players arrive.....bravo!

Just watched again a few days ago and although the DVD is very high quality I need to get the blu ray set............fabrics, beading, textile patterns, colors, costumes, pillows etc are so beautiful and the fine details show up fully on blu ray


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart*

I will go with _Saint François d'Assise_.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart*

Prokofiev, all his operas (and ballets and ....), from which Semyon Kotko is my dearest.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Day 25: I'm a sucker for a romantic story, so I love La Fanciulla del West.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart

a) Nozze di Figaro- it was the first opera I ever heard, still as a kid...and the rest is history...

b) Antônio Carlos Gomes- some of his melodies are extraordinary


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart

a) opera - La Nozze di Figaro. This opera has subtitle: The Day of Madness and indeed, it costed me a lot of days (and nights) of madness. Madness?! This... is... Leonidas, get off the keyboard. Thank you. So, what was I writing about? Anyway, La Nozze di Figaro is, so far, only one opera that I may associate with some particular personal experiences and so it makes it "dear to my heart". 

b) composer - Stanisław Moniuszko, among numerous obscure composers I put above big names he is the only opera man, that is: someone who reached me purely with his operatic music. Great obscure opera composers are much more rare than, for example, great obscure composers of piano music. For obvious reasons I feel connected with his works and I think that if I ever will get anywhere in my musicial career I'll be devoted promoter of it.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Opera: Les Troyens. It's only surpassed by the Ring cycle, but then it's unfair competition because the Ring is four operas, so I'll go with the former.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi. I just love the man, for his strength of character.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Composer: Verdi
Opera: Simon Boccanegra

Picked up this book during my recent trip


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

sospiro said:


> Composer: Verdi
> Opera: Simon Boccanegra


Honestly, when I saw Domingo in this last year in Covent Garden, it's probably the only time I've been in an opera house where there was a collective sigh as soon as someone opened their mouths and sang. Just glorious. I've seen it twice and it's highly emotional and wonderful, I do admit.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

*Default Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart *
Composer: I think I have to say Puccini - although I'm torn between him and Verdi. 
Opera: Torn between Tosca and Rigoletto.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Operafocus said:


> Honestly, when I saw Domingo in this last year in Covent Garden, it's probably the only time I've been in an opera house where there was a collective sigh as soon as someone opened their mouths and sang. Just glorious. I've seen it twice and it's highly emotional and wonderful, I do admit.


 You saw it twice??! :scold: I only managed to get a ticket for one performance!!

What nights were you there? I was there on the 13th July & my "Bravo ... Bravo" after Adorno's aria _'Tu qui? Amelia!'_ is recorded for posterity on the DVD.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

sospiro said:


> You saw it twice??! :scold: I only managed to get a ticket for one performance!!
> 
> What nights were you there? I was there on the 13th July & my "Bravo ... Bravo" after Adorno's aria _'Tu qui? Amelia!'_ is recorded for posterity on the DVD.


Oh, I didn't see *that* particular performance twice, but in Covent Garden I was there for the dress rehearsal. We were told "Mr Domingo might not sing out, as this is only a dress" - but let's just say he didn't hold anything back. Afterwards he was due to go to a gala performance with two of the others, and me and a couple of friends waited out by the stage door just for the novelty of it - watching a horde of women about his age getting all excited, chattering about how they became fans when they were young. Some things never change, whatever your age, I guess. Rather sweet, actually. :lol:

Then I saw the "live" broadcast from the Met - which didn't leave me as excited. Probably cause it was just on a big screen, not live in front of me.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Opera close to my heart? It has to be Britten's Curlew River. It's the first opera I ever heard that really captured me, really drew me inside its story with the music and structure, and its instrumentation is to die for.

Close runner-up is Enescu's Oedipe, but I don't think I could put that ahead of Curlew River in good conscience.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart*

I know I'm probably sounding like a broken record (assuming anyone these days actually remembers what broken records sounded like :lol: ). But I love Ludwig and his one-and-only.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

MAuer said:


> *Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart*
> 
> I know I'm probably sounding like a broken record (assuming *anyone these days actually remembers what broken records sounded like* :lol: ). But I love Ludwig and his one-and-only.


I do - that feeling of despair when one of your favourite LPs developed the tell-tale crackle. Still had a lovely warm sound though.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

*Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart*

Oper(ett)a: *Orphee aux Enfers*. My second ever opera disc, and the one that really introduced me to Natalie Dessay. Zero depth, just a nonstop madcap ride of pure fun and laughter that came at a point in my life where I needed just that. It will always be very dear to me.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> I do - that feeling of despair when one of your favourite LPs developed the tell-tale crackle. Still had a lovely warm sound though.


Or would get stuck in a groove and you had to weight down the arm with a penny :lol:


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

*Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart*

Hmmm . . . hard to answer this one. My favorite operas are favorites precisely because they *are* dear to my heart, so I'm not sure my answer here would be much different from those I've given already . . .

Die Walkure, of course, because it's my favorite. Siegfried, because it used to be, and was the first to hold that position. Der Rosenkavalier, Eugene Onegin, and Otello because they move me in profound though differing ways. And Suor Angelica, just because it's the little opera I love even if I probably shouldn't.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Several of my favourite composers wrote no operas (Bach, Brahms).
Several of my favourite operas were written by composers who are defined by that one opera (Carmen, Boris Godunov) and don't have a lot more to offer.

So, putting them together, what's my top combination? Since all the good Wagner spots have been taken, I'll go with Verdi and Don Carlos (the French version with the prologue in the forest of Fontainebleu).


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

waldvogel said:


> Several of my favourite composers wrote no operas (Bach, Brahms).
> *Several of my favourite operas were written by composers who are defined by that one opera *(Carmen, Boris Godunov) and don't have a lot more to offer.
> 
> So, putting them together, what's my top combination? Since all the good Wagner spots have been taken, I'll go with Verdi and Don Carlos (the French version with the prologue in the forest of Fontainebleu).


One of the nice things of TC is, that one's 'defined' horizon becomes wider: Bizet did write more than one opera, as did Mussorgsky. For me Khovanshchina is on par with Boris Godunov.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> One of the nice things of TC is, that one's 'defined' horizon becomes wider: Bizet did write more than one opera, as did Mussorgsky. For me Khovanshchina is on par with Boris Godunov.


 I second that, and actually kind of like Khovanshchina more than Boris Godunov, and also kind of like Les Pêcheurs de Perles more than Carmen.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

*Day 26: Aria that you sing in the shower *
Largo al Factotum is my go to song. Just so much fun to sing. Also Ah Mes Amis / Pour Mon Ame, albeit an octave lower.

Hm, that's a fun idea for a thread right there. Each of us singing an aria and uploading it so we can all laugh at each other  If I work up the nerve I'll do Pour Mon Ame this weekend ... maybe


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Best shower aria: Non più andrai farfallone amoroso.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> Best shower aria: Non più andrai farfallone amoroso.


that and "Voi chi sapete".

Edit: I forgot, the catalogue song from Don Giovanni. "...ma in Spagna, son gia mille e tre "


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

My repertoire for the shower:

- La donna è mobile
- Don Giovanni, a cenar teco
- Liebestod
- Nicht sehre dich Sorge um mich (I've listened to Act III of Die Walkure far more times than is healthy)

To pick one, probably Giovanni the most. My shower gives a nice reverberation that makes my voice sound much more _profundo_.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

*Day 26: Shower-aria*

Strongly depends on the ear-worm I've got that day. Anything from "Recondita Armonia" to "Vesti la Giubba", "Non piu andrai" and "Votre Toast". I never said it sounded pretty. :lol:


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

D'amor al dolce impero from Armida by Rossini. Slaughtering the coloratura and going in to falsetto willy-nilly, of course, but it's great fun!


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 26: Aria that you sing in the shower*






I've got a better version humming in my head than the one above, but I most enjoy the women's yell of  followed by the ending of the bass. Furtheron the women's choir start singing: "pity, pity, pity (without end)" with again a bass coming in. Probably it's because of the hot water, that I incline more to such unhappiness-songs than to the merry _'La donna e mobile' _stuff. (Also I don't like showering that much...)


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 26: Aria that you sing in the shower 

probably whatever I heard most recently... so today, it would be Matilde's entrance aria ( Guillaume Tell)


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I indulge in tenor envy and sing Siegmund's "Winterstürme." In the shower, it sounds (and I look) just like this:


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Leb' wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind!
Du meines Herzens heiligster Stolz!
Leb' wohl! Leb' wohl! Leb' wohl! 

By the time that I'm singing Loge's leitmotiv, it's time to get out of the shower.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

TxllxT said:


> One of the nice things of TC is, that one's 'defined' horizon becomes wider: Bizet did write more than one opera, as did Mussorgsky. For me Khovanshchina is on par with Boris Godunov.


I love Khovanschina as well. My point was that Mussorgsky and Bizet weren't very prolific composers, and because of that they don't make my list of favourites. Take away Boris Godunov from Mussorgsky and what do you have left? Khovanschina, Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain, Songs and Dances of Death... and some songs and incomplete works. My favourite composers aren't as ridiculously prolific as Telemann or Vivaldi, but Duparc and Dukas can't make my list either, despite the fact that I love all of their minimal output.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

waldvogel said:


> Leb' wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind!
> Du meines Herzens heiligster Stolz!
> Leb' wohl! Leb' wohl! Leb' wohl!


Sings along: _Leb' wohl! Leb' wohl! Leb' wohl!_

(Who says it can't be a duet? Especially when there's alcohol involved!)


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Hojotoho!!

Yes, if I could be an opera singer for a day, I would not be Sieglinde (well, maybe if JK were Siegmund). No, I would be a Valkyrie! (not Brünnhilde either). I just think singing a Valkyrie sounds like so much FUN!! Plus, who knows what crazy stage directions they will come up with! (If I'm going to be a singer for a day, I want to be young and frisky too!)


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> that and "Voi chi sapete".
> 
> Edit: I forgot, the catalogue song from Don Giovanni. "...ma in Spagna, son gia mille e tre "


 And one in New Zealand.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> And one in New Zealand.


Only if it's Simon... or Rodney...or Ruggero...or Gerald...or Christopher...or..

Oh, all right, one in New Zealand


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart*

*Die Zauberflöte* This lovely folk-tale/fable-like opera has long been a favorite. The German was simple enough for me to rapidly grasp what was going on more than I could with Italian, French, or Russian operas... of the more complex operas of Wagner. Only _Le Nozze di Figaro_ might rival this opera in terms of memorable tunes... melodies that you walk aDay 26: Aria that you sing in the showerway from any performance humming for days. This was also the first opera I took my wife to. With little experience of classical music, and none of opera, she went... but with definite reservations... and the usual prejudices. The production was the charming Maurice Sendak presentation which brought just the perfect touch of children's fair-tales, magic, and humor to the work. My wife left the theater in tears, absolutely enthralled and wanting to know when we might go again.

*Day 26: Aria that you sing in the shower*- I'm amazed at some of the arias members here sing in the shower. Wagner Liebestod??!! Arias from Mussorgsky???!! I'd be lucky to manage the "Pa pa pa" song from _Die Zauberflöte_... although lately... after repeated hearings (and viewings) of _La Traviata_ I find myself repeatedly singing, _Misterioso, Misterioso altero_ from the duet _Un dì, felice, eterea_. Mind you, I doubt my singing would successfully seduce Violetta.:lol:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> *Day 25: Opera or composer that is very dear to your heart*
> 
> *Die Zauberflöte* This lovely folk-tale/fable-like opera has long been a favorite. The German was simple enough for me to rapidly grasp what was going on more than I could with Italian, French, or Russian operas... of the more complex operas of Wagner. Only _Le Nozze di Figaro_ might rival this opera in terms of memorable tunes... melodies that you walk aDay 26: Aria that you sing in the showerway from any performance humming for days. This was also the first opera I took my wife to. With little experience of classical music, and none of opera, she went... but with definite reservations... and the usual prejudices. The production was the charming Maurice Sendak presentation which brought just the perfect touch of children's fair-tales, magic, and humor to the work. My wife left the theater in tears, absolutely enthralled and wanting to know when we might go again.
> 
> *Day 26: Aria that you sing in the shower*- I'm amazed at some of the arias members here sing in the shower. Wagner Liebestod??!! Arias from Mussorgsky???!! I'd be lucky to manage the "Pa pa pa" song from _Die Zauberflöte_... although lately... after repeated hearings (and viewings) of _La Traviata_ I find myself repeatedly singing, _Misterioso, Misterioso altero_ from the duet _Un dì, felice, eterea_. Mind you, I doubt my singing would successfully seduce Violetta.:lol:


Violetta being Anna Netrebko, I'm sure my singing would seduce her.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Day 27: Favourite voice type

Soprano


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

*Day 27: Favourite voice type*
Soprano. Specifically, coloratura soprano. More specifically, lyric coloratura soprano. 
Second favorite would be lyric soprano.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

*Day 27: Favourite voice type*
I'm torn between lyric Verdi baritone, dramatic spinto tenor and lyric tenor. It all depends, but those are my three favs, definitely.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Lyric soprano


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 27: Favourite voice type


The mezzo-soprano (the closest too, we have today to the real castrato, who was not a falsettist).


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 27: Favourite voice type

Psycho hysterical tenor


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Favourite voice type: bass baritone


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Day 27: Favourite voice type
Alto like Kirsten Flagstad or bass like Kurt Moll


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Either a proper balls-to-the-wall contralto with some really crazy low notes, or countertenors.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> Day 27: Favourite voice type
> *Alto like Kirsten Flagstad *or bass like Kurt Moll


Kirsten Flagstad was a soprano. She did at one occasion very late in her carreer sing the contralto part in a Bach cantata, but she was definitely a soprano. All the roles she sang were soprano roles.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

*Day 27: Favourite voice type*
The soprano assoluta..........the "unlimited" soprano capable of 3 octave vocal range


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Violetta being Anna Netrebko, I'm sure my singing would seduce her.


What would you do if it didn't?!?


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Another tough one--more than anything, I love the multiplicity and interplay of the different voice types.

But to avoid copping out: while I do love a good Wagnerian heldentenor, of late I've definitely acquired Strauss's obsession with beautiful lyric sopranos.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Aksel said:


> Kirsten Flagstad was a soprano. She did at one occasion very late in her carreer sing the contralto part in a Bach cantata, but she was definitely a soprano. All the roles she sang were soprano roles.


I have her in Gluck's Alceste, a very late recording: man, that voice is deep!!! So my voicetype is a soprano who turned into contralto.

(By the way: we are shocked with what happened in Oslo today)


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> (By the way: we are shocked with what happened in Oslo today)


I know. It's shocking. I just hope that our members that live in Oslo (Operafocus and possibly Karenpat) are safe.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 27: Favorite voice type*

Tenor, of course. And lyric spinto tenors in particular.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> I have her in Gluck's Alceste, a very late recording: man, that voice is deep!!! So my voicetype is a soprano who turned into contralto.


Alceste is still a soprano role. But her voice was very deep, I agree. Especially towards the end of her carreer.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Bix said:


> What would you do if it didn't?!?


 I'm thinking of a couple of alternatives:
1) Unleash all my other charming qualities
2) Kill myself


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Aria that I sing in the shower: I don't really sing arias in the shower (more often Bruckner, really), but if I do ever sing an aria it's usually "Erbarme dich" again...

Favorite voice type: Countertenor is quickly becoming mine. I like alto quite a lot too, which is close, so it's not too surprising. I'll just say countertenor then.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Russian language ope--Boris Godunov.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Favorite Russian language opera:
Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk District, by Shostakovich.
Worthy runners-up for me are Boris Godunov, Khovanshchina, Eugene Onegin, The Golden Cockerel, Prince Igor, War and Peace, Pique Dame, The Nose.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Favourite Russian lanauge opera Eugene Onegin by a whisker over Pique dame. 

Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk District runner up


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Day 1. Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Day 2. Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Day 3. The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev)
Day 4. Die Gezeichneten (Schreker)
Day 5. "Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto" from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Day 6. Don Giovanni from Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Day 7. Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
Day 8. "Un di felice, eterea" from La Traviata (Verdi)
Day 9. Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) - Bohm 1966 (CD), Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) - ROH 2006 (DVD), Giulio Cesare (Handel) - Glyndebourne 2005 (DVD)
Day 10. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Day 11. Carmen (Bizet)
Day 12. Ferruccio Furlanetto
Day 13: Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)
Day 14: Die Zauberflote (Mozart)
Day 15: Handel: Furore by Joyce DiDonato
Day 16: Maria Callas
Day 17: Jack the Ripper from Lulu (Berg)
Day 18: Bluebeard's Castle (Bartok)
Day 19: "Je vais danser en votre honneur ... Lalala" from Carmen (Bizet)
Day 20: Giuseppe Verdi
Day 21: Song to the Moon from Rusalka (Dvorak)
Day 22: Giacomo Puccini
Day 23: Die Walkure (Wagner)
Day 24: Prelude from Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)
*Day 25: Sergei Prokofiev
Day 26: "La vendetta", "Don Giovanni, a cenar teco", "A un dottor della mia sorte", and "Un di felice" - a strange selection I know.
Day 27: Lyric Soprano, though I also like a good bass-baritone, and altos and mezzos capable of both lower, darker sound and high ranges
Day 28: Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)! My latest discovery. *


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 28: Favourite Russian language opera


Tchaikovsky, _Eugene Ornegin_


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Onegin, Godunov, War and Peace...

All of them are great. Just to select one a little bit less popular, but of great quality, I'll say _Dead Souls_, by Rodion Shchedrin.

The full opera is available on youtube:


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 28: Favourite Russian language opera*

As favourite opera Prokoviev's Semyon Kotko would be my musical choice, but the libretto isn't that bringing forward Russian language as for example Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame do. So I settle with Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame. (Gergiev, Grigorian, Borodina interpretation, *not* the other one!)


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 28: Favourite Russian language opera *

_Eugene Onegin_


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 27: Favorite voice type*- I would be torn between soprano and mezzo. I love the deep, dark, sensual sound of the mezzo-soprano voice and certainly count Cecilia Bartoli, Teresa Berganza, Joyce DiDonato, Elīna Garanča, Vesselina Kasarova, Janet Baker, Magdalena Kožená, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Frederica von Stade, and Christa Ludwig among my favorite singers. On the other hand... with the soprano you get Natalie Dessay, Lucia Pop, Maria Callas, Anna Netrebko, Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Teresa Stratas, Kiri Te Kanawa, and any number of other singers also among my favorites. Seriously... I don't think I have any specific preference when it comes to singers... outside of the fact that I prefer female to male singers:devil:... especially to choir boys (regardless of what the original composer may have had to work with). Of course singers like Michael Chance, Andreas Scholl, and Philippe Jaroussky have even caused me to rethink this prejudice.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 28: Favourite Russian language opera*- In spite of my recent efforts to champion Shostakovitch's The Nose as well as the operas of Rimsky-Korsakov... I must go with Tchaikovsky's masterpiece...

*Eugene Onegin*


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Nat, are you planning to publish stats at the end of the 30-day challenge, with a list of the most common answers?


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Favorite voice type: I guess I would have to say baritone, or bass-baritone, because up until the epiphany I experienced watching the Met's Walküre I had no interest in any other voice type.

Hence my current favorite voice, the "baritonal", dark, masculine, whatever-you-choose-to-call-it-sounding tenor JK. It worries me that hearing other tenors now only makes me remember why baritones were my favorite voice type...


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

*Day 28: Favourite Russian language opera*

I'm going to be just *wildly* original and say . . .

Eugene Onegin!


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

And to add to the originality, my favourite Russian opera is Boris Godunov.

To be specific, the version that ends with the anarchic scenes in the forest.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Opera that I enjoy for the plot as much as the music.

OK, let's see. The Ring of course has a very interesting plot, but I can't say "as much as the music" because the music is at a higher level. Similarly, there are great operas with quality libretti such as the Da Ponte operas, those based on major works by Shakespeare such as Otello, Macbeth, etc., or the various adaptations of Goethe's Faust, or several Russian operas based on major novels such as War and Peace, Eugene Onegin, etc.

Most modernist and contemporary operas function well as stage plays and have solid theatrical material as plots, like Pélleas et Mélisande. At times the composer himself wrote a very literary libretto such as Dialogues des Carmélites. Some operas are quite literal in adapting quality plays like A Streetcar Named Desire.

But I guess all things considered, I'll say Peter Grimes.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music

I love the hilarious plots like "Don Pasquale"; the dramatic "Macbeth"; the incomprehensible "Il trovatore" but no other plot touches my heart like "Simon Boccanegra"

Good excuse for posting a very beautiful version of Fiesco's aria by the amazing Grigory Soloviov.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I find Britten's source material creates some wonderful plots: Owen Windgrave, Billy Budd, and particularly the Turn of the Screw which had me on the edge of my seat when I first saw it.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

For today, I will select an opera by Richard Danielpour, _Margaret Garner_. The opera itself is nice, but the libretto is outstanding. It was written by Toni Morrison herself, and the material was used before on her Pulitzer Price winner, _Beloved_.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

*Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music*

Rigoletto and Tosca.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music

There are some. Obviously, The Ring as I love all kinds of mythologies and Wagner managed to grasp the charm of the saga in his work. Same with Les Troyens by Berlioz. What a great idea he had to combine two acient works from two great ancient poets into one. I find this opera to be extremely evocative, too bad that it's very unlikely that we will ever see a DVD production that meets this potential - only imagination can bear it. Then Die Meistersinger, Wagner's original story, particularly attractive for people who are creators of music themselves, I suppose. Perhaps Onegin too, but not because of the Eugene-Tatiana story but because the background of the plot is related to the climates of XIXth century literature with all those balls, rural scenes, duels and stuff.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music*

Don Giovanni


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music *

_Madama Butterfly_. Yes, I know it's full of sentimentality. But the music is beautiful, and the ending at least suggests that Pinkerton is going to pay for the rest of his life for his callous treatment of a woman who was far too good for him.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Opera that I enjoy for the plot as much as for the music? I'll probably just say Boris again. The plot is just as intellectually and emotionally satisfying as is the music for me.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

MAuer said:


> *Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music *
> 
> _Madama Butterfly_. Yes, I know it's full of sentimentality. But the music is beautiful, and the ending at least suggests that Pinkerton is going to pay for the rest of his life for his callous treatment of a woman who was far too good for him.


You may want to check out the recent novel "Butterfly's Child" which pushes the story forward, accomplishing exactly what you want - Pinkerton's fate is not pleasant for him.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

World Violist said:


> Opera that I enjoy for the plot as much as for the music? I'll probably just say Boris again. The plot is just as intellectually and emotionally satisfying as is the music for me.


As much as I like Boris Godunov, the sequence of scenes (among other things) has been changing so much in Rimsky's hands, that I get quite


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

*Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music*

I'd say this is true for just about all of my favorite operas. The ones I love most appeal to me as a powerful fusion of musical and dramatic elements (no wonder I love Wagner and the whole _gesamtkunstwerk_ thing so much). 

That said, I'll be totally unsurprising once again. I find the Ring cycle endlessly fascinating, even apart from the music. Wagner's synthesis of disparate mythical and epic source materials into a compelling, (relatively) cohesive narrative doesn't always receive the credit it deserves. The libretto is a striking accomplishment, even if he had never penned a note to go with it.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

TxllxT said:


> As much as I like Boris Godunov, the sequence of scenes (among other things) has been changing so much in Rimsky's hands, that I get quite


I have the original one (whatever that means; it's the one Abbado uses), and it all seems pretty clear structurally. I haven't heard the Rimsky version.

Alright...day 30. I don't have a real live opera experience, so I'll cheat and put in a live MET broadcast I heard a few years ago by James Levine. It was a stunning event for me, so vivid and immediate that I still recall the impact some of the scenes made on me, particularly the giants' first appearance which felt like a two-by-four to the solar plexus...that viola section was/is really somethin' else.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

For me, predictably, it was the first time I saw Anna Netrebko live on stage. With my sustained teenage crush on her (I know, I'm a grown man, it's pathetic but what can I do? She has this kind of power over me!), I was like "OMG, we are in the same room, breathing the same air!!! She's not just an image on a screen, I see her live in the flesh [nice looking flesh, by the way] here and now!!!" It was at the Met, Don Pasquale, October 2010.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

*Day 30: Best live opera experience*
Predictably, it was seeing Natalie Dessay in Lucia on 16 Mar 2011 (and getting to briefly meet her afterwards). First time at the Met, first time seeing my opera idol ... it was magical.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

By the way, we got to day 30, I propose a toast to Natalie for putting together this enjoyable exercise.:cheers:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Going back to April, 2006. I knew very little about _Die Tote Stadt_ apart from Marietta's and Pierrot's songs, having heard the whole opera only once, and when I watched the live performance, it was a powerful revelation.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

*Day 30: Best live opera experience*

I'm torn between 3:
- Rigoletto with Quinn Kelsey
- Tosca with Maria Guleghina
- Simon Boccanegra with Placido Domingo

They were all amazing in their own ways. I've never seen emotion on stage like I did when Quinn Kelsey did Rigoletto. Such heart- and real-felt pain. Maria Guleghina made *me* cry, which doesn't happen when I listne to sopranos. The collective sigh from the audience when Domingo walked out and did his pieces, was something else. So I can't decide.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

*Day 30: Best live opera experience*

I've got no 'best' live opera experience in my memory. When living in Prague I went to countless live operas. They staged nice ensemble Carmens & Rigolettos + occasionally quite well performed Boris Godunovs, apart from Rusalka and Janacek operas. When the running titles above the stage were introduced (and those repeated *boing-boing-boing* warnings against mobile phones) I felt a kind of estrangement coming in: please, no technical gadgets! Why not bring back the stage-set of Mozart's times, to which the visitors would be allowed to enter only when wearing a wig like Ma Simpson? I still remember the cinemas underneath Prague's Wenceslavsquare with all the old pre-communist glamour of glorious Art Déco days. Later on they introduced in Prague the newest 'Galaxy'-centres too with about 15 small theatres, all having the newest 5-1 Dolby surround. I was appalled by the bad sound quality staged by the speakers. The best _live_ experience I was able to witness was in the summer of 1990, when the Rolling Stones came for the first time to a post-communist country. Imagine 30.000 buses crammed full with young people from all over Czechoslovakia being parked all over Prague to bring more than a million enthusiasts to the huge stadium on top of Petrin hill. And the whole city being all night long showered in a continuous bass boom.....

:cheers::cheers::cheers: to Natalie


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

My two best live operas were in London

Rigoletto set in the 50s Little italy - probably my first Regie-type production, but it worked. 

Samson et Dalila with Domingo and Baltsa - finally got to hear and see him live.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Day 27: Favourite voice type - that's a toughy; if pressed for an answer i'd have to say Spinto Tenor 
Day 28: Favourite Russian language opera- Yevgény Onégin
Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music - Nozze di Figaro
Day 30: Best live opera experience -there have been so many... again, pressed for a choice... either: Walkuere- Levine; Eaglen, Voigt, Schwarz, Domingo, Morris, Halfvarson- Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; April 2000- what a nite at the opera that was!

OR equally engaging

Lohengrin (DO Berlin- Michael Schønwandt ) 2008 
Angela Denoke ,Susanne Resmark , Johan Botha (Tenor); Markus Brück , Tomislav Lucic , Eike Wilm Schulte (Baritone); Jan-Hendrik Rootering

it was (gasp!) better than anything I've seen at Bayreuth


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> By the way, we got to day 30, I propose a toast to Natalie for putting together this enjoyable exercise.:cheers:


agreed!


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music*- There are few operas in which the libretto stands on its own as a work of literature. The exceptions include Wagner's operas, Richard Strauss', Benjamin Britten's, and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (Pushkin). If I am to choose one, I think I would agree with Mamma Scarlatti (at least today) and suggest that Britten's _Turn of the Screw_ had me completely enthralled on the story-line alone.

*Day 30: Best live opera experience -* Initially I thought of going with the wonderful production of The Magic Flute with stage sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak... the first opera that my wife attended. But seriously, I think I must go with my first live opera experience. As college students we were offered free tickets to the symphony and the opera as a means of building a future audience. The first live opera I saw was a production of Aida. I have no idea of who the singers were or even whether they were very good or not... but I remember being enthralled with the entire experience and the theatricality of it all. The theater was one of those stunning late 19th century venues. The audience were dressed as theatrically as the actors. There were pre-concert drinks being passed around before we took our seats. The theater itself was magically lit and as the audience filtered in, the smells of coffee, perfume, and alcohol filled the air. I had little idea what to expect... but I was absolutely enchanted by the experience. The climax, for me, was the scene in which the gifts and spoils of war are brought before the pharaoh to the accompaniment of the triumphal march. The music grew louder and more intense as the gifts grew increasingly impressive. When two live tigers were brought out upon the stage I thought the scene had reached it's its peak... but then the lights were suddenly doubled in intensity creating an effect of tunnel vision as the stage appeared to rush toward me visually and at that moment two live elephants were ridden out before the massed gasps of the audience to the climax of the music. At that moment I was converted forever into a opera fanatic.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Day 30: Best live opera experience

Well, out of those two Figaros I attended I think the one with orchestra was better than the one with piano


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Best live opera experiences... I'll try to cut the list far too short.

Tristan und Isolde in Munich, 2005. Christian Franz, Waldtraut Meier, Zubin Mehta conducting.

Parsifal, Vienna State Opera, Easter Sunday 2007. Burkhard Fritz, Falk Struckmann, Peter Rose, Donald Runnicles conducting.

Les Troyens, NY Met 2003. Ben Heppner, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. James Levine conducting.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

BalloinMaschera said:


> OR equally engaging
> 
> Lohengrin (DO Berlin- Michael Schønwandt ) 2008
> Angela Denoke ,Susanne Resmark , Johan Botha (Tenor); Markus Brück , Tomislav Lucic , Eike Wilm Schulte (Baritone); Jan-Hendrik Rootering
> ...


I saw that production, too, in November 2008, and it was outstanding. It's one of the performances that I sadly had to cut out of *my* list.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

BalloinMaschera said:


> it was (gasp!) better than anything I've seen at Bayreuth


You've been to Bayreuth? Lucky you! I'd love to go one day - but it's so expensive and it takes so long to score a ticket...


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

*Day 30: Best live opera experience*

For a long time, this would have been the New Orleans Opera performance of _Fidelio_ I attended in March, 1981, with Teresa Kubiak and Siegfried Jerusalem in the two leads. By this time, _Fidelio_ had replaced _Die Zauberflöte _as my favorite opera (though the latter is still among my favorites), and in late 1979, I'd discovered Jerusalem's voice and gone head over heels. I was so thrilled to come upon the information about the New Orleans performance in the Sept., 1980, issue of "_Opera News_" that I ordered a ticket and made airline reservations immediately . . . counted the days for six months until I made it to the Big Easy and the Theatre for the Performing Arts. To hear my favorite tenor singing live in my favorite opera was an unforgettable experience.

But then there's that 2010 Met performance of _Tosca_ with Racette, the glorious Jonas, and marvelous Bryn Terfel. Such incredible singing by three artists who were also completely involved with their characters. Doesn't get any better!


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> By the way, we got to day 30, I propose a toast to Natalie for putting together this enjoyable exercise.:cheers:


Absolutely!


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

*Day 30: Best live opera experience -*

June 16, 1981. The Metropolitan Opera's free concert performance of _Tosca_ in Central Park.

By the time I arrived, a huge crowd had already spread out on blankets to fill the Sheep Meadow, and it looked like there would be no place to sit. But I happened upon a casual acquaintance by chance, and he was nice enough to invite me to join his group, not far from the stage. From there I had a great vantage point to watch as James Levine fired up the Met Orchestra, and Placido Domingo, Renata Scotto, and Sherrill Milnes gave an impassioned, thrilling concert performance. It was an electric evening under the stars, a memory that stays with me thirty years later.

That's what opera can do.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> By the way, we got to day 30, I propose a toast to Natalie for putting together this enjoyable exercise.:cheers:


Agreed, thanks Natalie.










*Best live opera experience*

I'd wanted to see live opera for years but didn't have anyone to go with. Then I thought if I waited for someone to go with I might never go, so I went on my own. I was surprised to see lots of people on their own so it's not even a factor now.

I've got a lot of catching up to do so I'm cramming in any many as the constraints of finances & the dreaded Annual Leave Allocation will allow.

_Simon Boccanegra_ is my favourite opera and actually seeing it with Domingo in the role was truly magical & the memory will stay with me always.

But for sheer emotional kick to the gut it was Dmitri Hvorostovsky's Rigoletto. His anguished desperate portrayal of the jester was almost unbearable to watch. I think the costume was also a factor. The preening swaggering Dima couldn't rely on his looks & his performance was better for it.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

sospiro said:


> But for sheer emotional kick to the gut it was Dmitri Hvorostovsky's Rigoletto. His anguished desperate portrayal of the jester was almost unbearable to watch. I think the costume was also a factor. The preening swaggering Dima couldn't rely on his looks & his performance was better for it.


Hey! Those of us who do nothing *but* rely on our looks are deeply offended!


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Many thanks to Natalie, this was really fun and interesting and I'm sad that it's over. Maybe we could cobble together some questions for another month's worth?

- Most underrated opera
- Most overrated opera
- best love duet
- best patter aria
Can anyone else think of some?


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Day 30: Best live opera experience


Many, many. But a personally special one was an Opera Australia production of Handel's _Giulio Cesare in Egitto_, with Australian soprano Yvonne Kenny as Cleopatra and Australian countertenor Graham Pushee as Cesare, here in Sydney. I will never forget the bath scene.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

*Day 29: Opera that you enjoy for the plot as much as the music
*
In all of the Wagner operas I've seen/heard, I've enjoyed the plot immensely, especially that of Meistersinger. Another opera is Falstaff by Verdi, easily my favourite Verdi opera.

*Day 30: Best live opera experience*

This one, no question:


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Aksel, you were there! I envy you!! although I have the DVD, so...

and THANKS to Natalie! Although I didn't know enough to participate, it was fun reading everyone's answers.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Many, many. But a personally special one was an Opera Australia production of Handel's _Giulio Cesare in Egitto_, with Australian soprano Yvonne Kenny as Cleopatra and Australian countertenor Graham Pushee as Cesare, here in Sydney. I will never forget the bath scene.


I did not like this bath scene. The water is milky. We need clear, transparent water for this scene!


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Aksel said:


> Technically, I wasn't, actually, but ah well. I was at the premiere, but there was not a chance in anywhere to get tickets to see the actual production inside. We (myself, my brother and our parents) had arrived in Munich the day before, and I saw that the opening performance of Münchner Opernfestwoche (or something like that) was taking place that day. We had walked past the Staatsoper earlier that day and heard that the performance would be projected outside. So I managed to drag my father with me to the pebbly outsides of the Bavarian state opera, and we sat there (on our sandals) the whole six or so hours (with two _very_ liberal 45 minute intermissions, I should add). I was rather proud of my dad afterwards, because he doesn't really listen to opera and just a week or so earlier, we had seen Aida at the Wiener Staatsoper, and so you would think he'd had enough for one holiday.


I consider that THERE! I would have loved to be in the platz for that exciting moment--which I enjoy watching on YouTube sometimes even though I have the DVD, because I love the atmosphere, and because the person who posted it said something like "and 14,000 hold their breath" as In Fernem Land starts... really gives you an idea of the excitement. Plus you had the supertitles. That was the only problem I had with the livestreaming of Fidelio this year--no subtitles. If the Met can put subtitles in their Live in HD broadcasts...(how do they do that, anyway?) seems like the BSO could. Well, it was a first-time thing this year so.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

FragendeFrau said:


> I consider that THERE! I would have loved to be in the platz for that exciting moment--which I enjoy watching on YouTube sometimes even though I have the DVD, because I love the atmosphere, and because the person who posted it said something like "and 14,000 hold their breath" as In Fernem Land starts... really gives you an idea of the excitement. Plus you had the supertitles. That was the only problem I had with the livestreaming of Fidelio this year--no subtitles. If the Met can put subtitles in their Live in HD broadcasts...(how do they do that, anyway?) seems like the BSO could. Well, it was a first-time thing this year so.


Yes, it bothered me that there were no sub/supertitles in the Fidelio. Not knowing the opera, and not haing the patience to scroll through the libretto as I was watching, I had to turn it off. Things just became too weird.

And another thing, while we're on the subject of the supertitles in the BSO projections: I don't understand why they didn't include supertitles/subtitles in English for the Lohengrin. I doubt I was the only non-German speaker in the audience (at least I hope not), and it would have been nice to not have to rely on my father's somewhat rusty school German to understand what was going on.


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