# Less known operatic gems...



## tgtr0660 (Jan 29, 2010)

Do you know any operas that aren't in the same level of popularity of, say, Verdi's Otello or Mozart's last great ones but that you have found to love and even categorize as minor (or major) masterpieces? This could include very unknown operas or those that fall just slightly off the regular radar.... 

My current example: Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. French Grand Opera at its grandest. The story is a little weak, the libretto in general tends to drag on points of lesser interest, but the music at moments is quite great, and I'm not referring to bombastic choruses but also to beautiful arias and episodes of lyricism. I'm not sure if others share this feeling. For me it is a flawed masterpiece (a trip to the editting room would've fixed it a lot). Other examples?


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Manuel de Falla - La vida breve.

An hour of real Spanish Opera. A long time ago I was in the Shop at the ENO's Coliseum and there as a box of 78's on the counter. One had Victoria de los Angeles singing Vivan los que rien. I already liked her so I bought it took it home and played it and fell in love immediately.You know that thing when you just stare at the record with your mouth open? It took me a few years to find the complete Opera. But I did!

I found this on Youtube The beginning is missed off ( Rats!) but you'll get the gist of it. there are a few other versions on youtube.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

My personal favourite lesser known gems:

Britten - Billy Budd and Albert Herring
Rimsky Korsakov -The Tsar's Bride
Tchaikovsky- Pique Dame, Mazeppa and Iolanta
Mozart - Il Re Pastore and Die Entfuhrung aus Dem Serail
Vivaldi - Montezuma and Ercole sul Termodonte
Handel - Ariodante, Semele and Tamerlano
Monteverdi - Il Ritorno D'Ulisse in Patria
Massenet - Le Cid
Cherubini - Medea
Charpentier - Louise
Prokofiev - War and Peace
Janacek - Cunning little Vixen
Gounod- Mireille
Arne - Ataxerxes
Szymanowsky - Krol Roger
Torroba - Luisa Fernanda (OK, it's a zarzuela, but I love it to bits)
Weber- Oberon


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

Alexander von Zemlinsky:

Eine florentinische Tragodie - from 1916 (after the Oscar Wilde story).
Der Zwerg - from 1921 (Wilde again - from his story 'The Birthday of the Infanta').
Der Koenig Kandaules - his last opera from 1935 (after Andre Gide). Orchestration remained incomplete as he had to make arrangements to emigrate from Austria.

All three are high on both quality and melodrama but it seems that of his contemporaries only Richard Strauss could get away with writing operas cut from a similar cloth and be (mainly) successful.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I don't know if _La Clemenza di Tito _would be considered among Mozart's "great" operas, but I love it!


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

The first to spring to mind is Pelleas et Melisande; but from Monteverdi's Orfeo to Vaughn Williams' Sir John in Love their numbers are Legion.


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

MAuer said:


> I don't know if _La Clemenza di Tito _would be considered among Mozart's "great" operas, but I love it!


Ditto on that!


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Aarre Merikanto's JUHA
LA NOCHE TRISTE by Jean Prodromides
George Enescu's OEDIPE
Paavo Heininen's THE DAMASK DRUM
Karl-Birger Blomdahl's ANIARA
Karol Szymanowski's KING ROGER
Luigi Dallapiccola's ULISSE
Richard Rodney Bennett's THE MINES OF SULPHUR
Erik Bergman's THE SINGING TREE
Wolfgang Rihm's DIE EROBERUNG VON MEXICO


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## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

Wagner - Der Ring Des Nibelungen


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## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

Ligeti - Grand Macabre (ha ha ha composerofavantgarde doesn't get to be the guy to write this!)


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

AmericanGesamtkunstwerk said:


> Ligeti - Grand Macabre (ha ha ha composerofavantgarde doesn't get to be the guy to write this!)


Yup, and I pinched Albert Herring, which is not fair as it was CoAG who got me enthusiastic about it.


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

I really enjoyed Schubert's Fierrabras. I never see much attention being paid to it but I thought it was as good as just about anything else I've seen.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

I plan to listen to/watch Salome this morning. Richard Strauss. Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Malfitano, Terfel, Silja and Riegel. Oh, and Robert Gambill. Conducted by Christoph van Dohnanyi.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Moira said:


> I plan to listen to/watch Salome this morning. Richard Strauss. Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Malfitano, Terfel, Silja and Riegel. Oh, and Robert Gambill. Conducted by Christoph van Dohnanyi.


Terfel is fantastic in this.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Mascagni is often regarded as a "one opera" composer because nothing he wrote after Cavalleria ever achieved the same wide success.
However I consider Iris and L'Amico Fritz great operas, worthy to be grouped with Cavalleria.
Sure L'Amico Fritz is just "all melody and nice feelings" (but I like melody) and I love the delirant mood of Iris:

Freni - Un dì (ero piccina)







LordBlackudder said:


> FF VI Opera


I prefer the SPC700 version 

A thread about Opera music in videogames could be interesting.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

AmericanGesamtkunstwerk said:


> Wagner - Der Ring Des Nibelungen


You think this is a less known opera gem???


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Moira said:


> I plan to listen to/watch Salome this morning. Richard Strauss. Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Malfitano, Terfel, Silja and Riegel. Oh, and Robert Gambill. Conducted by Christoph van Dohnanyi.


I have the other DVD With Malfitano Leonie Rysanek Simon Estes. . Malfitano is mad as a hatter in it Wonderfull stuff.
Funny enough ive been listening to the old Decca Solti lp's today with Nillson----- Breathtaking!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I'm going to see The Lighthouse in October at ROH. It's a chamber opera by Peter Maxwell Davies & is based on the true story of the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from their lighthouse off Scotland in 1900. I got a copy of the only available recording & it's absolutely fabulous. There's a brief history & synopsis on here.


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

sospiro said:


> I'm going to see The Lighthouse in October at ROH. It's a chamber opera by Peter Maxwell Davies & is based on the true story of the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from their lighthouse off Scotland in 1900. I got a copy of the only available recording & it's absolutely fabulous. There's a brief history & synopsis on here.


You, sir, are a star - this is one opera I've always wanted to get on CD but can't since the Collins label went ****-up. You'd better make sure you tell us about it (please).


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

elgars ghost said:


> You, *sir*, are a star - this is one opera I've always wanted to get on CD but can't since the Collins label went ****-up. You'd better make sure you tell us about it (please).


*madam


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

mamascarlatti said:


> *madam


Oops! Thank you, mama. My apologies, sospiro.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

elgars ghost said:


> You, sir, are a star - this is one opera I've always wanted to get on CD but can't since the Collins label went ****-up. You'd better make sure you tell us about it (please).


I'll do a review when I've seen it.


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

You are correct Annie, I also have the recording and the atmosphere of the music and performance is gripping. I am surprised that Naxos or perhaps Brilliant have not picked up the rights. Collins issued many marvelous recordings and their demise was tragic.


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## Kari (May 13, 2012)

I would like to add Karl Goldmark's Die Königin von Saba. The choruses may be as boring as their counterparts in St Matthew Passion, but otherwise it is very exciting. Another would be Respighi's La Fiamma. Full of passion.


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

I can't believe you're all forgetting about Johann Sebastian Bach's little-known opera about the life of Leonardo da Vinci: _Baroque Bach Mountain_. It is seriously one of my absolute favorites.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Kari said:


> I would like to add Karl Goldmark's Die Königin von Saba. The choruses may be as boring as their counterparts in St Matthew Passion, but otherwise it is very exciting. Another would be Respighi's La Fiamma. Full of passion.


The tenor aria, "Magische Töne," was very popular in the early 20th century. Leo Slezak and Caruso were among those to record it. (Unfortunately, there are no good modern samples available on YouTube.) I have the 1980s LP recording on Hungariton with Jerusalem, Klara Takacs, Veronica Kinces, and Sandor Solyom-Nagy.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Dodecaplex said:


> I can't believe you're all forgetting about Johann Sebastian Bach's little-known opera about the life of Leonardo da Vinci: _Baroque Bach Mountain_. It is seriously one of my absolute favorites.


Ah, those damned liberals: I do fully blame the Reformation for that one.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Dodecaplex said:


> I can't believe you're all forgetting about Johann Sebastian Bach's little-known opera about the life of Leonardo da Vinci: _Baroque Bach Mountain_. It is seriously one of my absolute favorites.


do not adjust your computer - this is yet another Dratted Damned Dupe.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

From the earlier 20th century:

I think few have heard or seen a production of the one-act "Le Rossignol" of Stravinsky... a delightful and moving piece which I think is not done because it falls between the cracks. Most only know of the composer's extracted suite for concert performance 'Le Chant du Rossignol.'

It was begun pre-Firebird, set aside and picked up post Le Sacre. The chronology of the popular Firebird, the amazing and powerful Petrushka and Le Sacre du printemps I believe turned interest away from this opera, a fairy tale about a Chinese Emperor with its score a rather replete "dictionary of Chinoiserie." The score is far more than an exercise in character pieces -- it is a very fine score. The libretto is from Hans Christian Anderson story, and it more than works well as music, theater -- it 'works' on stage, and there have been some alluring and sumptuous productions of it.

Written in Russian. Since I abhor about any sung translation of anything, I urge a recording sung in Russian as the only way to go.
1.) Playlist, if it works...




The individual links if the playlist does not work:





















Bluebeard's castle is not obscure, but I wonder how many have heard / seen it, this piece perhaps Bartok's most 'luscious' score.
There is a multiple link staged production up on youtube; Georg Solti conducting, sung in Hungarian (As It Should Be  I highly recommend a listen if you are not familiar with this great piece.


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## Kari (May 13, 2012)

Well, Bluebeard's Castle is not that obscure. I saw it as a concert performance in Helsinki (Finland) many years ago with Sylvia Sass. She may not have been anyone's choice for the world's greatest singer, but at least it was in her mother tongue.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

^^^^


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