# Most beautiful arias 5 min. or less



## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

OK, I'm in the mood for hearing the most beautiful arias our Talk Classical forum members can come up with. Here's my first candidate:


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Un Bel Di from Madame Butterfly?
Lots of my favourite arias can't really be considered _beautiful_.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

How about "Sea Air" from _A Streetcar Named Desire_ or "Steal Me Sweet Thief" [aka What a Curse for a Woman is a Timid Man] from _The Old Maid and the Thief_


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

I have a fondness for Gluck's "Gli Sguardi Trattieni" from "Orfeo ed Euridice". Simple and beautiful.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

I was going to select a concert aria, but none of the videos were less than 5 minutes Unless...you don't have to include the recitative in the number of minutes, do you?


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

trazom said:


> I was going to select a concert aria, but none of the videos were less than 5 minutes Unless...you don't have to include the recitative in the number of minutes, do you?


That's fine...........I shouldn't have limited to 5 minutes. Fire away...........


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Here's another:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Rimsky-Korsakov Song Of India

My favorite recording is on a cheesy Greatest Hits compilation.
I didn't like any of performances on YouTube.


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Alfacharger said:


> I have a fondness for Gluck's "Gli Sguardi Trattieni" from "Orfeo ed Euridice". Simple and beautiful.


Thanks for that, I enjoyed it.

I'm not familiar with any Gluck operas...........I will have to check them out!


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

poconoron said:


> That's fine...........I shouldn't have limited to 5 minutes. Fire away...........


Okay, not exactly 5 minutes, but probably one of the greatest things the Master of the human voice ever composed(yes!), with piano obbligato that he would've performed accompanying the singer he wrote it for. Performed by Teresa Berganza:






Good choice with the Lucia Popp video, I have that video as well as her performing "Batti Batti o bel masetto" from the opera.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Vocal perfection with purely and simplicity


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## Ludric (Oct 29, 2014)

One of my favourite arias is J.S. Bach's "Schlummert ein" from Cantata BWV 82. Here is an adaption for solo voice and continuo, which includes the recitative before the aria:


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

"Tristes apprêts" from Rameau's _Castor et Pollux_.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Here's the guy I was looking for.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Don't wish to be a party pooper but most of the great opera arias are sung in five minutes or less.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

hpowders said:


> Don't wish to be a party pooper but most of the great opera arias are sung in five minutes or less.


Especially in the days when one side of a record lasted for less than five minutes!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Figleaf said:


> Especially in the days when one side of a record lasted for less than five minutes!


Yes. I have some restorations where one can clearly hear the awkward splices where one side ends and the next side begins.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Martern aller arten 

But it's more than 5 minutes.

Does it count the same?


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## Loge (Oct 30, 2014)

When I heard this aria in a concert setting, I was surprised how beautiful sounded. Very different from Italian music but still beautiful.


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## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

"The Dream" from Massenet's Manon, heart-breakingly sung by Piotr Beczała (with Anna Netrebko):
For those unfamiliar with the opera, Manon has just betrayed her lover Des Grieux to pursue a life of luxury, but he, unaware of this, naively describes his idealistic vision of their life together while Manon and the audience are all too well aware this will never happen = brutal.






A ridiculously fine rendering of the old warhorse "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca by Jonas Kaufmann:






And one more... Elína Garanča singing "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" from Samson et Dalila.






I guess I'm a romantic at heart...


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## StephenTC (Apr 24, 2014)

Verdi - Ave Maria from Othello, Cristina Gallardo-Domas


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

For me, this scores one of my highlights:






Gruberova as Queen of the Night so well worth it.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

_"Ó dovol abych zlíbat směla tvých nohou prach / I beg thee, only thy dusty feet My lips I would lay"_

from Dvorak's _Saint Ludmila_ oratorio is rather strikingly beautiful.


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

A bit longer than 5 minutes... but its so beautiful I don't care.


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2014)

I'm quite keen on this Bach aria (Cantata BWV 132) :


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I love "che gelida manina" from La Boheme. Wish that situation happened to me!


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