# How to watch more operas with subtitles ?



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Watching videos of complete operas with subtitles is very rewarding in the long run, but it requires an "activation energy", which I sometimes do not have.

Seriously, it is the most effective way for me to fall in love with an opera. And for the next times, I don't need to watch anymore, just listen. There are so many of them available for free.

The contests we have here force me to explore at least new arias and new singers. It is the peer pressure, or rather peer support that makes me do that. Do some of you have peer support, even in other forums, that motivates you to actually watch the whole thing ?

The first time I started attenting the lecture series, which were on Bellini at that time, the complete operas were "homeworks". It is silly, he never followed on that, if we watched, but after he stopped saying it is homework, I stopped doing them. What motivates you ?


----------



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

... it might get better later, when we get to the series on Massenet.

The current series is on Victor Hugo, which is a weird mix of notorious (Rigoletto, Ernani) and unknown works where the resources are not so abundant (Maria Regina d'Inghilterra, Notre Dame).


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I do things the other way around. I like to listen to the music a few times to get to know an opera and then see it on DVD/Blu-ray after.

There are operas where I got to know them from watching them (Aida and Traviata come to mind) before listening and I have gone to see operas live where all the music is new to me.

There's no method that works best for me. I just really love opera and whatever the contact I have with it, I usually enjoy it.

N.


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

For me, when I read a libretto while listening to opera I miss the music. The brain is so active reading words, sometimes in two languages to keep track of where you are, that it can't process the music. And the music is the whole point. If an opera is on DVD I will usually watch the first time or two with the captions on, but no more. My preferred method is to read the synopsis; the booklets that come with operas are usually pretty terse and I really like to read the much more detailed ones in books like Kobbe's or Milton Cross. Then I will usually go and read the libretto (if there is one) of an Act or Scene and then put on the music: let the composer tell you in sound what's going on. With some unfamiliar operas and especially in languages I don't know it can still get confusing but as I gain more experience with an opera that goes away. For many of us we got to know the great opears through the Metropolitcan Opera Broadcasts and before each act the announcer gave a brief summary of what the action was; we had to use our imaginations. No libretto. And somehow we got to know the works. And some preparation ahead of time certainly helped. BTW, I despise projected words that so many companies do now. You can't not read them and it takes away from the musical experience. And don't think that knowing the language an opera is sung in helps. I remember walking into a rehearsal of Verdi's Macbeth once and stood with the stage manager. I couldn't recognize the language at all, it sure wasn't Italian. I asked him what language they're doing this in. "English". Nuff said.


----------



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

mbhaub said:


> And don't think that knowing the language an opera is sung in helps. I remember walking into a rehearsal of Verdi's Macbeth once and stood with the stage manager. I couldn't recognize the language at all, it sure wasn't Italian. I asked him what language they're doing this in. "English". Nuff said.


I am different. Sometimes I hear an opera on the radio, don't know the music well, but I can identify the piece based on what they are discussing in Italian . Or I listen to something I knew in my childhood without understanding, and the words suddently hit me in a super clear way.

(But it is not enough to understand the whole plot).


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

BBSVK said:


> (But it is not enough to understand the whole plot).


And let's be honest: most opera plots are really silly anyway. Or utterly incomprehensible....


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I watched the Royal Opera's production of _Macbeth_ on Blu-Ray last week. What I noticed was how few subtitles were used. They might provide one or two subtitles for an aria (more if the text is from the Bard). Just enough to get the point. Worked beautifully for me.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

jegreenwood said:


> I watched the Royal Opera's production of _Macbeth_ on Blu-Ray last week. What I noticed was how few subtitles were used. They might provide one or two subtitles for an aria (more if the text is from the Bard). Just enough to get the point. Worked beautifully for me.


 I prefer subtitles and use them for English speaking tv shows as well.


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I prefer subtitles and use them for English speaking tv shows as well.


I always do for British shows.


----------



## gracewallis (15 d ago)

BBSVK said:


> ive way for me to fall in love with





BBSVK said:


> Watching videos of complete operas with subtitles is very rewarding in the long run, but it requires an "activation energy", which I sometimes do not have.
> 
> Seriously, it is the most effective way for me to fall in love with an opera. And for the next times, I don't need to watch anymore, just listen. There are so many of them available for free.
> 
> ...


Sometimes there are subtitles for operas on YouTube, although they're usually not in English.

There aren't many on DVD in the nearby library.


At $25 per ticket, the Met HD streaming in movie theatres are too pricey.

I won't purchase a DVD of a certain production unless I have watched it and found it to be enjoyable like fakaza music.

I've seen most of the well-known operas, but obscure operas by composers like Zamusic particularly interest me.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BBSVK said:


> Watching videos of complete operas with subtitles is very rewarding in the long run, but it requires an "activation energy", which I sometimes do not have.
> 
> Seriously, it is the most effective way for me to fall in love with an opera. And for the next times, I don't need to watch anymore, just listen. There are so many of them available for free.
> 
> ...


To me you just have a very curious mind and what you are very tuned into in your personal time seems to be opera. We all benefit from the treasures you find out about contest arias but ultimately you do this for yourself. My mind works that way. Many people I know have no curiosity about any sort of hobby and I think their lives are more boring because of it. My mother encouraged us to have interests and both my brother and me have many hobbies.
I am very curious by nature and opera is a perfect hobby for me because there are so many things one can continually learn. Buy choosing to take on these contests I have created a closer community for myself and given me a reason to learn new things. I used to know mainly female voices but I can now put together a pretty good contest for men that people enjoy and I have learned to really enjoy listening to male opera singers. It was a win win for me.


----------



## prlj (10 mo ago)

If it's an opera I don't know, I like to listen to it first with the score in hand. Preferably a score that does not include an English translation. I make up my own story based on the music, the energy, the flow, what characters interact with others, etc. 

Then I go find a synopsis and see how close or far off I was. ("Oh yeah, that tenor and that soprano weren't hooking up, they were mother and son! Oops!")

If I let enough time elapse between listens, I tend to forget what the plot was, and can do it over again. (Who can recall every detail of _Boris Godunov_ after a year's time, for example?)


----------

