# Choral Music vs Opera Music



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Is there a difference? I tend to enjoy Choral/Mass music, but not much Opera.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

Well yes of course there's a difference. An opera is a theater piece i.e the singers also act, there is a stage director, there are costumes, stage designs, etc. Opera is also narrative, choral works mostly aren't. And another difference is the importance of the soloists. Of course, choral works have prominent soloists (sometimes), but there isn't any, let's say, individualization. The soloist is part of the whole, while in opera that is also the case, their importance is much more accentuated because usually they drive the story, they are the protagonists, both in the narrative and in the music. 
I enjoy both, though, due to opera's longer running times, I listen to a lot more choral works. Completely different genres anyway, imo


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Is there a difference? I tend to enjoy Choral/Mass music, but not much Opera.


There are many operas with choruses. You might enjoy some of them.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I think what it comes down to for me is that I'm a bit more particular about who is singing in Opera vs Choral.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Sacred choral music is one of my favorite genres - the blend of majesty and devotion appeals to me greatly.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I think what it comes down to for me is that I'm a bit more particular about who is singing in Opera vs Choral.


You've got in in one.....:angel:


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

I think you have a good point, (that there are connections between them).
For example, the "et incarnatus est" from Mozart's spatzenmesse K.220 



 sounds a bit like a less mature version
of the "deh, conversate, oh dei" from his La clemenza di tito in feel


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Is there a difference? I tend to enjoy Choral/Mass music, but not much Opera.


By the way, didn't you not that long ago ask for some specific opera / s ?


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## arapinho1 (Oct 11, 2020)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Is there a difference? I tend to enjoy Choral/Mass music, but not much Opera.


Same here. I love Verdi's Requiem but not his operas for example. To be honest, I don't like opera at all


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Opera tells a story, choral music is typically about religion or a religious belief based on a set text.

Opera has orchestral music -- overture, entr'acte, ballet, more -- interspersed with solo, duet and more vocal combinations, recitative that may or may not be sung, a chorus, and all manner of other stuff, Choral music may have solo, duet, trio or quartet within the structure of a choir.

To me the difference between opera and choral music is the difference between a novel and a short story or series. There is simply a lot more to opera than choral music.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Choral music is more formal or serious in tone than Opera. Singers in Opera tend to display more personality, and it's also in the singing. I tend to like individual arias rather than listen to the entire Opera, except for Mozart's and a few of Wagner's.

Choral music makes more of an emotional impact to me. Fave choral composer may be Haydn.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I tend to approach opera first from the script aspect, likely an unusual approach, and some of my favorite operas are so because of the play that is at their core. Strauss's _Elektra_, Verdi's _Macbeth_, Vaughan Williams's _Riders to the Sea_, Previn's _Streetcar Named Desire_. Still, I can appreciate opera, especially that in languages I don't know or with stories I am unfamiliar with, with a more intensive concentration on their musical elements. Puccini seems the exception; I simply love his opera music even without words.

Intriguingly, there is a common element between opera and choral music. Both tend to be, in the large majority of cases, settings of music to words. The converse, settings of words to music for both opera and choral music, seems a rarity. Off hand I can't think of any opera which had words put to precomposed music. Nor any of the major choral music.

I wonder about Oratorio as a form. Here the words are often created specifically for the work. The script isn't necessarily some pre-existing play.

And Wagner must be one of the great exceptions. Here is a man who wrote the scripts and the music for so many great operas. One must think the words and music were often conceived together, which gives a real cohesion to Wagner's work. I recall in junior high school a teacher once asking the class what they wanted to be when they grew up. I responded by saying "a Wagnerian". She asked me what that was, and I explained it was an artist who writes both the words and the music for operas, as well as designs the sets, the costumes, and the opera house itself. Teacher thought the answer was quaint. I was quite serious, and I've gotten the opportunity to experience some portion of that dream over the years. Which may help explain why I particularly like opera, oratorio, and choral music -- art which is multi-dimensional.


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## milk (Apr 25, 2018)

I can’t stand the sound of operatic singing. I do like Choral music from various contexts. I’m not sure, but I’m guessing some HIP practice of Renaissance and early Baroque will sound much different than Italian opera. I’m lately enjoying early choral music. I don’t know much about why I’m liking what I like but I’m trying to learn. I do like Bach’s cantatas and masses as well but only very specific versions. I even like some lieder but only baritone and certain kinds of singers. I really cannot stand the way most opera sounds to me so I’m trying to figure out what’s different about what I do like.


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