# Why did my adventure into exploring opera fizzle?



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I got off to such a good start.

A few years back I decided to try getting into opera. Not wanting to do things by half measures, I dived into some DVDs of the entire *Der Ring des Nibelungen*(Pierre Boulez / Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, 1980, et al) and loved it! Although I secretly wished for a more traditional staging that doesn't gradually fade into more modern times.

Then knowing how much I love Beethoven I tried *Fidelio* (James Levine /Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, 2000). It was passably entertaining but maybe because of the familiar Beethoven gestures throughout.

My next foray was all the way back to the beginning with Montedverdi's *L'Orfeo*(Jordi Savall / Le Concert des Nations, 2002) and found it thrilling and beautiful.

But then everything turned sour. I next went with *Tristan und Isolde* (Barenboim / Bayreuth Festival, 1983) and could not keep alert enough to tell what was going on. In fact I was bored out of my skull. I eventually had to abandon the attempt. I then tried *Die Zauberflöte* (Colin Davis / Covent Garden, 2003) thinking a return to fantasy might do the trick, but it was even worse.

What did I do wrong? I'm wondering if I should try another composer who is more known for operas only, like Verdi or Puccini, or just give it up and seek another version of The Ring cycle and enjoy my chamber and orchestral pieces without all the drama.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Those sound like ambitious operas to use as a starting point for appreciating operas. Start simple, and work up to the Ring, Fidelio etc. Try La Boheme, Cavalleria rusticana, maybe Carmen, and go up from there.

Don't give up the idea of expanding your horizons!


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Perhaps try film adaptations of "more accessible" operas:


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

You hit some you didn't like. Don't let that stop you.

Maybe try some highlights discs and see if you hit on something.
Tristan is really tough for a newbie. Maybe try Lohengrin instead.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Try 'Written on Skin' by George Benjamin.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Weston said:


> My next foray was all the way back to the beginning with Montedverdi's *L'Orfeo*(Jordi Savall / Le Concert des Nations, 2002) and found it thrilling and beautiful.


why stop at *L'Orfeo* if you've liked it? Check out his other ones, as well as more Baroque opera. Also, how can you stop at *Die Zauberflote*? There's so much more to Mozart! Besides, there are *funnier productions* of the *Flute* than that one.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I believe you should stick with the operas you've liked most so far and explore other works that are similar to those (Deggial said it best in the post above mine). Above all, don't force yourself to like something; it's a mistake to think in terms of "should" and "shouldn't." If you don't _force_ yourself to like an opera, then it's much more likely that you will eventually come to enjoy it. That's been my own experience, at least. Begin with what you like and go from there.


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Itullian said:


> Maybe try some highlights discs and see if you hit on something.


I think this is a good idea. I enjoy videos of concerts wherein opera singers perform arias, duets, etc. Here's 2 that I like:



















Often, however, I may love an aria or duet, but not like the rest of the opera.

The reason that I recommended the film adaptations in my previous post is that they have beautiful music, great stories, and they employ Hollywood-style film making, which helps with the story telling.

The other good news is that most of these videos are available from Netflix - or at least they used to be.

P.S. In case you can't tell, I like Anna Netrebko. And, Elina Garanca.


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## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

I go back and forth between heavy and light operas. My play list would be like this: Walkure, Die Zauberflote, Turandot, Giulio Cesare, Meistersinger, etc. I think you should get more operas so you can revisit less enjoyed ones later


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

That's not the kind of highlights I meant.
I meant highlight cds of operas.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I probably should have specified, I was thinking of the act of watching operas on DVD. The idea of listening to an opera is so foreign it never even occurred to me. 

On the other hand maybe that would be a way to go. Libretto in hand, it would be like the difference between reading a book and watching a film. The book is always better. Maybe it was the productions that failed to fire my imagination.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

That's how I started. CD and libretto and my imagination.

I liked the music. Didn't care about the video.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Weston said:


> I probably should have specified, I was thinking of the act of watching operas on DVD. The idea of listening to an opera is so foreign it never even occurred to me.
> 
> On the other hand maybe that would be a way to go. Libretto in hand, it would be like the difference between reading a book and watching a film. The book is always better. Maybe it was the productions that failed to fire my imagination.


Opera's essence is MUSIC. If an Opera isn't compelling without visuals, it is an artistic failure.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Morimur said:


> Opera's essence is MUSIC. If an Opera isn't compelling without visuals, it is an artistic failure.


Spot on!

The music is the most important for me. The costumes, production, movement on stage, appearance of the singers etc etc might add pleasure to an existing experience, but I listen to the music first and foremost.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

While we are serviced by quite a few excellent Tristan CDs, on DVD we are not so lucky. That 1983 Tristan is very dry. I don't know why it is so highly regarded. Was also my first DVD exposure and also found it boring. 

Try 1995 Barenboim/Bayreuth DVD (the only one I've found worthy of multiple viewings), or 1966 Bohm on CD (a quick, hot rendition).


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Go for the basics, like these two cliche "this is what anyone can begin with readily' operas, _La Traviatia_ and _ Die Zauberflöte_ (I know you 'tried' that last one already.)

_La Traviatia_ is available in a basic CD - video at least, with a terrific cast (Teresa Stratas, Placido Domingo), the is done by Franco Zefferelli.

The filmed version I have in mind for _Die Zauberflöte_ is an odder duck by the sung language -- Swedish, but that is fitting enough like to German (not to offend either nationality, please) and the film presentation is done as if the performance we watch is in a time past, with sets and costumes in accord with that. It is filmed as if it were in a smaller provincial opera house, you get a feeling of the house and the stage: Ingmar Bergman directed that one, and I recall it had subtitles in English. It is funny, serious, charmingly done, and I'm hoping it could charm the pants off of you if you watch it.

Without any video, for the price of one CD and a libretto included, Ravel's _L'enfant et les sortileges_ is a short one-act 'number' opera, going in and down very readily. The music a delight, comic, deeply charming, and quite movingly beautiful. The story is a simple but literally fantastic one, a child has a temper tantrum and....

Colette wrote the libretto; when asked if she would write an opera libretto she said yes, but she was emphatic that she was only interested if the composer was Ravel. The opera, imo, is one of Ravel's four breathtaking masterpieces. Buy the CD (Loren Maazel, on DGG.) Read the libretto first, put it on, listen while following the libretto, and I could virtually guarantee you a fantastic and rewarding time.

Then there is that radical thing (I know your geographic confines and what the following means) of actually finding the schedule of some opera company whose productions are generally known as very good, choosing a show, purchasing a seat, and _traveling_ to the place -- because there is nothing like live, and double that if it is opera, the theatrical experience, the orchestra tuning up in the pit, the house lights dimming, the conductor walking out to begin the overture, and curtain up! That pulls just about anyone in, and in a way that no DVD could possibly do. The live experience is, truly, all. The only real projected problem with actually doing that is you might get severe cravings for more....

Besides, I believe in making the effort, the expense, and making an appointment to hear / see something worthwhile


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Morimur said:


> Opera's essence is MUSIC. If an Opera isn't compelling without visuals, it is an artistic failure.


no, no, no, it's musical THEATRE. The music and the acting go together. Let me give you an example: I've never been compelled to simply listen to _*La Boheme*_. Watching it has always been a rather pleasant experience (the first two acts, anyway).


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

deggial said:


> no, no, no, it's musical THEATRE. The music and the acting go together. Let me give you an example: I've never been compelled to simply listen to _*La Boheme*_. Watching it has always been a rather pleasant experience (the first two acts, anyway).


La Boheme would be better if Mimi died in the first act. She could trip and fall down the stairs because she has no light. Also, lets get rid of Rodolfo while we're at it. He's boring and the only one appreciating his art is the fireplace. Focus on Musetta who's life seems 10x more interesting than any of the boys.

As for the OP's query. Just surf the arias and watch an opera with the most likeable ones.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> La Boheme would be better if Mimi died in the first act. She could trip and fall down the stairs because she has no light.


haha, I thought about that, too! How did she make it up there in the first place?



Couac Addict said:


> Focus on Musetta who's life seems 10x more interesting than any of the boys.


yes, what a waste. It's an opera about the bohemian life and you've got a character like Musetta but you're focusing on Mimi and Rodolfo...!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I would definitely check out Puccini (Tosca!) and Strauss (Salome!).


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Couac Addict said:


> La Boheme would be better if Mimi died in the first act. She could trip and fall down the stairs because she has no light. Also, lets get rid of Rodolfo while we're at it. He's boring and the only one appreciating his art is the fireplace. Focus on Musetta who's life seems 10x more interesting than any of the boys.
> 
> As for the OP's query. Just surf the arias and watch an opera with the most likeable ones.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Opera is IMO about catharsis and the trail for getting it is tricky and full of pitfalls. There are lots & lots of opera recordings, but the interpretations that bring catharsis are few. If you listen just to anything that is labeled 'opera', you're bound to fall into a smudged letdown or something worse. That's because only the best of the best interpretations offer this purification of emotions, this true rebirth of musical taste. So my advice is not to listen to say, Puccini, but only to the best interpretation of Puccini's operas. The rest delete, burn or recycle as a 3D card.


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## alan davis (Oct 16, 2013)

Want to find out if opera is for you?... Get off your **** and go and see a production. Opera wasn't written to be listenned to in the lounge or watched on TV. Buy your self a ticket and head off for a night out. And for goodness sake don't listen to all this prattle about buying this or that recording.... JUST GO!!


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Personally I didn't get into opera until I discovered historic recordings. It's a possible solution for anyone who happens to hear the three tenors for example, and thinks 'I quite like this music but not the style of singing'- not that the OP necessarily fits that description, but I'm just sharing what worked for me. Here are a few I enjoy:





















It doesn't hurt to listen to records which are a bit different from the singing you might hear today, whether you enjoy modern singers or not. I always find there's plenty to learn from early recordings.


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## expat (Mar 17, 2013)

If you liked the Ring get the Solti CD set. Close your eyes and listen. That will get you back in the saddle.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

To start with, I wouldn't go for stagey productions of four hour operas. That is bound to fail.

Get Joseph Losey's movie version of Don Giovanni, or Zefferelli's La Traviata, or the filmed version of Bizet's Carmen. These are all shot like movies and will grab you into the story and characters better than static stage versions. In fact, I bet if you get a copy of Bergman's Magic Flute, you will find that it was the staging you didn't like before, not the opera.

Start with filmic operas that play like movies and then work outward from there.


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

bigshot said:


> Zefferelli's La Traviata


This film adaptation of La Traviata is wonderful. Not state-of-the-art video and audio quality, but good enough to not interfere with enjoying the performance, IMO. (I hope that someday this will be transcribed to Blu-ray.) In addition to the beautiful music and story, the Bolshoi dancers are amazing in the matador scene.


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## Divasin (Aug 8, 2014)

Weston said:


> I got off to such a good start.
> 
> A few years back I decided to try getting into opera. Not wanting to do things by half measures, I dived into some DVDs of the entire *Der Ring des Nibelungen*(Pierre Boulez / Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, 1980, et al) and loved it! Although I secretly wished for a more traditional staging that doesn't gradually fade into more modern times.
> 
> ...


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