Thanks for your input Ciel, but I wonder if it's possible to enjoy Opera without factoring in the plot of the text? I mean as someone else pointed out, not many follow the text to a latin mass when set to music and such. Or am I mistaken? When voices are present is knowing the text as important?

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I adore art...when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.

Well, I guess arias and opera suites are indeed enjoyed by many without any information of the plot whatsoever Maybe it is not enjoying opera as a whole but still related. For me the plot just adds another dimension to the body of music contained in the opera. And then it is up to the listeners if they want to follow every word or simply get a general idea of what is going on and just enjoy the music and visual aspects.

Although opera recordings on cd are a handy substitute, opera is a theatrical medium that is supposed to be seen in theaters!

Many opera theaters these days provide surtitles during the performance, so that you can follow the plot even if you don't speak the language involved.

But a well-staged theatrical performance of an opera should convey the story without too much extra information being needed.

Increasing operas are recorded not in audio, but in dvd format, with subtitles that can be turned on/off according to your own preference. The cost of a dvd of an opera is now often the same as the audio cd box set - or even less, due to advances in recording technology and lower packaging costs

Ever heard of the phrase, "It ain't over till the fat lady sings"? =P

For me, I think it might be useful if I attempt to learn the language, especially Italian or German(could come in handy if I travel to Europe)

Until again,
Zach

Reiner Torheit: welcome to Talk Classical, it is interesting to have someone who lives in Moscow. Glad you de-lurked. I guess the next best thing to a dvd is seeing it live. To my mind operas are a bit like films - you can have a film on DVD and the score on CD - or you can have an opera on DVD and the opera suite on CD as well

This is a very interesting point, Joe! And one which your Italian namesake laboured long and hard over!

What I would say is this...

... before there was any NOTE of music, there was a STORY. This story so greatly INTERESTED the composer, that he began to think how it could be told in a theatre, and how his music would add depth, meaning, drama and dimension to that story. The composer took the STORY, and either he made a LIBRETTO of it himself (composers like Tippett, Janacek, Wagner, sometimes Tchaikovsky) or more usually he approached a professional dramatist to make a stage version that could be set to music.

So when we approach any opera, we should remember that the STORY, and the POETIC TEXT were the composer's own inspiration!

Almost always composers who were deeply interested in drama made it their special field of composition (Janacek, Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Menotti, Handel). Some composers were able to write outstanding theatrical music alongside music for the church or concert-hall (Tchaikovsky, Britten, Barber, Poulenc). But other composers lacked this theatrical "instinct", and even when they tried to compose operas, the results were poor (Schubert, Mendelssohn) and these operas have fallen from popularity... because they're poorly-conceived dramatically.

You don't have to have to write opera to be a great composer! (Although Schubert thought so!). But to write really good operas takes a certain theatrical "knack" and ability to conceive not only the music, but how the entire scenic performance will look. The music is the way it is BECAUSE of the story.

Operas were the blockbuster movies of the pre-cinema age. Without electric light or special effects, and with the actors almost invisible from the cheapest seats, it was the music that took pride of place and held it all together. These days music has been relegated to a more subsidiary role now that movie technology has developed - yet somehow composers still want to write operas about the great events and stories of our own times....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tv3h...eature=related

Hi Ciel Rouge, and thanks for the welcome. I live in Moscow, but I am not originally from here

There aren't any rules here about the approach to take. Obviously any composer in the pre-TV age would expect his music to be listened to in the theatre with the full spectacle/plot unfolding along with the music. So if we want to 'get' an experience most like the one the composer 'intended', then a visit to a live opera is the best way to do that.

But there are qualifications to add to that:

1. Many modern operatic productions are so far removed from what the composer intended that the link with the composer's conception of the opera is seriously compromised.

2. We now have TV and DVD performances. But what works in the theatre may not work at all on the small screen, and the number of DVD operas I can actually enjoy is pretty small.

3. Our world of recorded audio means that we have the option of merely listening without seeing - and that alone offers extra choices:
(a) Do we just listen to the music and dispense with the plot? Sometimes I do this and it can be very enjoyable. The emotional effect of the drama, after all, comes through the music.
(b) Do we follow the music with the libretto? On the whole I find this works very well, for me. The characters go about their business in my imagination, and my imagined experience is a very visual one. I 'see' the events unfolding as I'm listening.
(c) Sometimes I do something in between - that is, I know the plot already, or have read a synopsis, and listen without the libretto; so I have a vague notion of where we are in the plot, without being aware most of the time of the details of the correspondence.

It seems to me we have the best of all worlds - there are so many ways of engaging with opera now, that we're free to choose what suits us best at any given moment.

Not to say that Opera or other forms of vocal music can't be enjoyed without the text, but I nevertheless enjoy it much more when I know what they sing. It also helps to appreciate the interpretations of the singers - Maria Callas all of a sudden getting hysterical makes no sense if you don't know what's going on.

Elgarian, I completely agree with you on attending a live performance.
I remember when I first attended my 1st live opera performance(opera is so expensive). It was a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Even though I got junk seats(I couldn't see the subtitles screen), I was still able to follow the story. I absolutely loved watching it live. The only downside was that I couldn't understand all the jokes and humor when the audience laughed(grrr, if I only could understand fluent Italian at the time...) After, I bought the DVD of La Scala Opera house's Don Giovanni(Riccardo Mutti conducting). When I watched it, it was simply not the same experience.

Until again,
Zach

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What can music be, but of passion, love, and life?

jhar26 - I could not have said it better.

I bought Opera in a CD box when I was very young - what was I thinking? That should have been a red flag as American Teens do not buy opera?

Then I started reading the libretto and even watching them on VHS at the time. At least for me the more and more I know the greater appreciation I can have of the Opera.

My feeble attempt I am sure lacks much to be desired. But with limited income then as a teen and even now as an adult it is hard to explore the wonderful world of Opera when every one in your family hates it. A present that is not the case, my wife listens to what I listen to and has no real music preference. My four year old daughter knows no better so I guess it is perfectly normal that I corrupt her before she turns teen.

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No, it's a Bb. It looks wrong and it sounds wrong, but it's right - Vaughan Williams.

Bill Carter, CPA

Yes, good point.

I could really enjoy Maria Calas getting hysterical even without knowing why...... She is fun to watch. I wish there were more videos of her. he he

Music is said to be a universal language so who needs words?? imagination is much better. most of the libretto is silly and childish particularly Mozart

I beg your pardon?