# 5 Minutes to Make You Love Opera



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Inspired by the thread "Five minutes to make you love classical music."

So, which five minutes of opera would you play to convince someone to fall in love with opera. I would recommend you at least get an opera in performance, and not just in concert, as the imagery is a big part of the whole experience. That said, I will go with this one for my 5-minute shot:


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Fritz Kobus said:


> Inspired by the thread "Five minutes to make you love classical music."
> 
> So, which five minutes of opera would you play to convince someone to fall in love with opera. I would recommend you at least get an opera in performance, and not just in concert, as the imagery is a big part of the whole experience. That said, I will go with this one for my 5-minute shot:


Of course you'd choose _Sonnambula_! 

Only five minutes? That rules out the Blessing of the Swords; the Forest of Kromy scene; "Châtiment effroyable"; the Auction Scene from the _Dame blanche_; or Rossini's Gran pezzo concertato a 14 voci.

Nearly 5 minutes:
"Qu'à servir mon courroux tout l'enfer se prépare" + Trio des parques (Rameau: _Hippolyte & Aricie_)
"Tristes apprêts" (Rameau: _Castor & Pollux_)
"J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" (Gluck: _Orphée et Eurydice_)
"Villes entourées" (Berlioz: _Damnation de Faust_)
Trio des Marmitons (Offenbach: _Brigands_)
"J'ai versé le poison" (Massenet: _Cléopâtre_)

Otherwise, mixing:
"Que tout gémisse" (Rameau: _Castor & Pollux_) - 3'30
"Dieux, qui me poursuivez" (Gluck: _Iphigénie en Tauride_) - 3'30
"Au faîte des grandeurs" (Gluck: _Iphigénie en Aulide_) - 2'09
"Ten zegar stary" (Moniuszko: _Straszny dwór_) - 3'00-ish
Venice septet (Ernest Guiraud, in Offenbach's _Contes d'Hoffmann_) - 3'33


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I'd say the Pearl Fishers duet


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I'll say:





Libiamo Brindisi from Traviata Joan Sutherland and Pavarotti


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

NickFuller said:


> Only five minutes? That rules out the Blessing of the Swords; the Forest of Kromy scene; "Châtiment effroyable"; the Auction Scene from the _Dame blanche_; or Rossini's Gran pezzo concertato a 14 voci.


Ok, I guess 5 minutes is too limiting, let's go with a reasonable sized clip. And of course it is impossible to pick one clip for this when there are hundreds if not thousands of wonderful bits in opera. So we have to keep feeding our friend 5 minute bits until they are hooked.


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2018)

I'll repeat the post made in the original CM thread -






and add an extra to prevent accusations that I'm coasting on previous successes achieved in "Non Classical Music" (My thread "Turn It Up! - Herman's Hermits" was particularly noteworthy... I should probably ask to have it moved to the far more prestigious and much higher profile "Opera" section rather than let it continue to languish in obscurity in "Non Classical Music) -


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Placido Domingi in Rigoletto Verdi - La donna e mobile


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2018)




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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

If I were only permitted to have a newbie "listen only" and not "see" a performance, there is no question but that I would choose the Poker Scene from "La Fanciulla del West". 
I watch faces when they listen to them playing those cards back and forth and the intense music that says it all behind them. Interestingly, hardly any actual singing takes place -- only the sound of cards and the background music but it grabs them every single time.
Other grabbers would be the Prelude to "Mefistofele" and the Vorspiel from "Parsifal".


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

CARMEN - LEONTYNE PRICE - Près des remparts de Séville (Seguedille)


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Sadly it would be a busted flush in my case - the first things most of my friends would ask is if there is any shagging in it.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

elgars ghost said:


> Sadly it would be a busted flush in my case - the first things most of my friends would ask is if there is any shagging in it.


There may be in some of the Regietheater productions, but I think you might better find a different set of friends. They are probably conditioned by movies and TV to gravitate towards stuff like shagging.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I'd go with an Italian tenor aria as that is what most people find easy on the ears. Cavaradossi's E lucevan le stelle sung by Corelli. However, the intensity of Callas gets a lot of people hooked. I would choose a five minute segment from the filmed Tosca up to Vissi d'arte and then the aria. Then again some people I know got into opera via the comedies of Donizetti and Rossini and the heavier rep always turned them off. So ultimately it would depend on the person and their preferences.

N.


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2018)

The Conte said:


> I'd go with an Italian tenor aria as that is what most people find easy on the ears. Cavaradossi's E lucevan le stelle sung by Corelli. However, the intensity of Callas gets a lot of people hooked. I would choose a five minute segment from the filmed Tosca up to Vissi d'arte and then the aria. Then again some people I know got into opera via the comedies of Donizetti and Rossini and the heavier rep always turned them off. So ultimately it would depend on the person and their preferences.
> 
> N.


Both superb choices...


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## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

Callas "Suicidio!" from the '52 _Gioconda_ recording.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

elgars ghost said:


> Sadly it would be a busted flush in my case - the first things most of my friends would ask is if there is any shagging in it.


Well, as a compromise you could choose the dance of 7 veils from Strauss' Salome. Great music as well.


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## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

Oh, the ACT III Sestetto in _Le nozze di Figaro_. I would rank that as the single greatest compositional element of any opera.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Massenet: Werther - Pourquoi me réveiller (Jonas Kaufmann)


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2018)

Inspired by gellio above - I'm going to second the addition of Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro": Duettino - "Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto" ("On the breeze...What a gentle little Zephyr") for three very specific reasons...

1.) It's a lovely and transcendent work of incomparable beauty that is accessible to a neophyte.

2.) Seriously, who can resist a tune, especially a really "catchy" tune about zephyrs?

3.) It apparently has the wondrous ability to subdue and mesmerize the extremely violent hard-core inmates of a maximum security prison.

"Subdue and mesmerize" rather than "excite and inflame" is the way to go when confronted with extremely violent hard-core inmates of a maximum security prison but full disclosure - this is pure speculation on my part as my expertise on the subject is limited to having watched the film "The Shawshank Redemption" like 20 years ago which I'm fairly certain may be fictional and not an actual Ken Burns-like documentary.


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## Annied (Apr 27, 2017)

I can only find an audio recording of the singers for whom I was searching. By the time I've listened to the first 5 minutes I'm all over goosebumps.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

How about 7:35 from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde... and turn up the volume...


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Così fan tutte: 'Soave sia il vento' - Mozart


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Sydney Nova Scotia said:


> I'll repeat the post made in the original CM thread -
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It saddens me to admit, that if you want to get someone into Opera in under 5 minutes, especially these days, this kind of stuff above is the only way. Show them something glamorous, pretty and "easy"/light ie. Netrebko, Garifullina etc. No one would learn to appreciate Flagstad in under 5mins nor do they want to.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly - Mirella Freni


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

DavidA said:


> I'd say the Pearl Fishers duet


I have to admit, opera hasn't clicked with me, but that one by those tenors is always on my playlist.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Manxfeeder said:


> I have to admit, opera hasn't clicked with me, but that one by those tenors is always on my playlist.


On my playlist too. Fantastic! Only Merrill was a baritone


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Doce Sono from Figaro with Roschmann


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Mon Coeur S'ouvre a ta Voix - Tatiana Troyanos


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## lextune (Nov 25, 2016)

The first five minutes of this will do:


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Verdi - Attila, 'Santo di patria... Allor che I forti corrono'


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## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

lextune said:


> The first five minutes of this will do:


Unqualified "YES"

There are so many examples from which to choose, but from the other end of the operatic spectrum to Wagner, I have had success convincing several others to try opera with this:


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## Winslow (Jun 11, 2018)

Close your eyes and listen to Maria Callas sing La forza del destino, Act II: Madre, pietosa Vergine.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

While I can't argue with the quality of all the items listed, I do think that many of them are best left until a newcomer has had some operatic exposure. If I wanted to catch someone's interest, it would need to be something that has an immediate emotional hook to it. So, having said that, I offer this which, admittedly, is more than 5 minutes.

Start with this at the 5.10" mark which leads directly into the second video...


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

For me this:


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Carlo Bergonzi: Verdi -- Ernani, 'Mercè, diletti amici'


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Wasn't this one known at the time (mid 90's) for getting people into opera? Callas recordings certainly got a big boost of the back of it. This epitomises the main appeal of opera for me - a voice reaches deep inside you. Isn't that usually the thing that does it?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Joan Sutherland - Salut à la France


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

I recently showed a friend "Dio che nell'alma" with Kaufmann and Hampson and their reaction was "there is absolutely no heterosexual explanation for any of what I just watched, and I love it". So I talked a bit about the plot and also other operas that are gay af, long story short they're getting that Salzburg Don Carlo and also the Munich Forza. I'm also advertising Billy Budd


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## Troy (Apr 23, 2015)

The act 2 quintet from Carmen "nous avons un tete un affaire". In a well staged version I think is a great draw for possible beginner opera lovers. It's so full of wit and verve. Most performances clock in at just under 5 minutes, I like the version on youtube with Maria Ewing as Carmen.

The quintet starts about 30 seconds in and ends 5 minutes later.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Bizet-Carmen-Toreador (El Torero Escamillo)


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## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

People seem to love La Sonnamblahblah on here. I see this work mentioned seemingly more than others.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

This one. It's a great tune, easy to understand and relate to and comes from an opera suitable for a novice as well as us regulars.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Nicolas Rivenq as Don Alfonso, Miah Persson as Fiordiligi and Anke Vondung as Dorabella sing the trio 'Soave sia il vento' in the 2006 Glyndebourne Festival Production of Mozart's Così fan tutte. The DVD and Blu-ray of this production are available from the Glyndebourne S


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Jonas Kaufmann - E lucevan le stelle


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Katia Ricciarelli, Sherrill Milnes, Giuseppe Giacomini-Il Trovatore-Trio Act I,"Tace la notte"


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Luciano Pavarotti - Ah mes amis - Live at the Met 1972


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Sonya Yoncheva "La Traviata" Addio del Passato


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Luciano Pavarotti: Puccini - La Bohème, 'Che gelida manina'


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Tatiana Troyanos - Eboli - O don fatale (Don Carlo)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Luciano Pavarotti - Vesti La Giubba - I Pagliacc


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Fiorenza Cossotto sings "Nel giardin del bello" from Giuseppe Verdi's "Don Carlo"

Tebaldo - Judith Forst


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Massenet: Werther - Pourquoi me réveiller (Jonas Kaufmann)


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)




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## Macbeth (Sep 6, 2017)

Tuoksu said:


> It saddens me to admit, that if you want to get someone into Opera in under 5 minutes, especially these days, this kind of stuff above is the only way. Show them something glamorous, pretty and "easy"/light ie. Netrebko, Garifullina etc. No one would learn to appreciate Flagstad in under 5mins nor do they want to.


Although I know why you say this is "easy", that's nevertheless some goddamned good music! Lakmé in its entirety is gorgeous and can be the most bourgeois opera ever, it's easy to see what sort of audience it was aimed to, and why it sold so well, but after more than a hundred years, it is its musical quality what remains.

Let's not forget that when composed, all of these works were popular entertainment. On the other hand, any approach as a newbie to any kind of knowledge, specially something as dense as classical music, has something of childish and naïve at the beginning, so even if it's difficult not to be disappointed at people's choices, it's only logical that attention is first drawn to so called "easy" pieces, or works that have been so succesful that you got sick of them long ago.

From my personal experience, the main two "gates" to opera are Puccini and Mozart. And the arias that never fail to make friends ask what it is they're listening to are, the second aria of the Queen of the Night, Madama Butterfly's "un bel di vedremo", "nessun dorma" (this one ALWAYS followed by this short conversation: "Wow, what's this??" "Turandot" "WAT?" "Turandot, that's the title of the opera, and the aria, which is what you call a song in opera is called nessun dorma, because those are the first words of..." at this point I'm perceiving poker faces, so I stop "...never mind" they say )
Then also some pieces that people assume to be opera because there are voices and stuff, say Carmina Burana (eyes rolling), Schubert's Ave Maria (which for some reason they always want to listen performed by Callas (?)... and then Queen of the Night )... and so on.

But, to be fair, I'd say that Mozart and Puccini are very good first steps into opera, because Mozart combines Mozart's sublime genius to the absolute beauty of line that you can find also in italian bel canto, but not being romantic, lacks some of the dramatic flavour that we, as aficionados, love so much, while makes beginners question what are they listening to, and let's say "scares" them off.
And Puccini, while being very dramatic, is also very modern, and so close to a "cinematographic" sensitivity, hence close to nowaday's tastes. As much as I love Strauss' operas, I don't think those make for an easy start, as it doesn't cast away the "screaming fat people" cliché.

Oh! And there's always Carmen, of course.

From there, if they are still interested, you can introduce them to Verdi, and if they don't run away, then they'll be prepared to appreciate anything.


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