Opera is something that you can't dig without knowledge what is going on there. Listening to operas and having no idea about the story makes no sense. The problem is not everyone knows italian or any other language in which particular opera was written. So, how do you deal with this problem? I guess most people watch operas on DVD, so they can read translated subilites. But what about opera on CDs?

Most (90% I'd say) operas on cd have the libretto in the original language plus a English translation included with the booklet. Only super cheap sets often don't include the libretto (they usually settle for a synopsis of the story). In fact, most sets have the libretto in English, German, French and Italian.

It varies greatly, If I know quite well the language of the opera, I usually only hear, but if my knowledge of the language is not great, like Polish or Hungarian, I settle with the libretto at hand, and even if the recording doesn't come with a libretto, it is very easy to find it in the net, this doesn't work only in two specific cases: with very rare (and I mean really rare) orvery new operas (whose libretto is covered by copyright).

And even though they're cheap, they're intensely frustrating! A problem about buying them online is that surprisingly often, no mention is made in the description of the item whether a libretto is included. Which is fine if it is; but if it isn't it's groans all round when the package is opened.

Yep - the few times it's happened to me I haven't even bothered to listen.

Well, as a newborn opera fan I must admit that knowing the libretto does indeed enhance the experience. However, I still listen to opera mainly for the music so I just search the disk and choose the arias which are most appealing musically first. If I had a disk with a very obscure opera or some cheap disk without a libretto, I would probably search for a synopsis online.

I made a point of buying all my opera's in physical boxed sets. I did not buy them via iTunes as I wanted the booklet that comes with them and not a PDF.

Besides they look wonderful on my bookshelf!

I do lots of searching around the internet and watch videos that explain a particular opera. You can pick up much by listening to short videos of someone interpreting the work for you. I am no expert, but I love the plots and arias. I was listening to Magdalena Kožená as I drove to work this morning.

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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

I should add to what I said earlier that my new-found love for Handel's operas has to some degree changed my listening habits. They're so easy to enjoy just as music, that quite often I play a whole new opera through without knowing anything but the bare minimum of the plot - or even nothing at all - just for the pleasure of the music. I'm not suggesting that this is a 'complete' experience, nor is it a substitute for sitting down with the libretto, but his music is so easy to like that I find it can be enjoyed very well in this way. I've just made my first foray into Vivaldi's vocal music, and I think the same is going to be possible there, too.

when she is bubbly happy, it is about midway.........when she dies, it's over.....

they usually come witht a libretto and translation, or you could find the libretto and translation online to most major operas.

Really?

Really?

Maybe it's because of the way I started listening to opera, by running out of a favorite composer's other works to listen to. The first one was probably Janáček. If you don't listen to his operas, you run out of Janáček to listen to really quickly. I really liked Janáček's music, though, so there was really only one thing to do, get his operas. I did, and I discovered that opera was just like any other work, it had pitch and harmony and rhythm. So hey presto, another dozen hours of Janáček to listen to! I did the same with Berlioz and Dvořák and Prokofiev and Mussorgsky and many more, until I could get operas by composers I'd never even heard before. (I first heard the music of Kutavičius when I bought his opera Lokys.)

I've seen many operas, so I know their plots more or less. I've seen many operas in English, and have understood about a third of what was sung.

Operas are pieces of music, just like symphonies and serenades and piano trios. Do the esteemed members read the libretti of masses and stabat maters and monodramas and the like? Or do you just listen?

Well on DVD they often have subtitles, CD i just enjoy the music really.

At the performances you can obviously buy the libretto, but here in Amsterdam they also have it translated and projected onto a small screen high above the stage.

reading translations is an utter distraction from the raw beauty of the music and is usually lame anyway (my opinion, of course.) If I understand the words, it would increase my enjoyment but if I have to follow the bouncing ball I would rather pre read the program for a basic understanding of the characters and plot, then kick back and enjoy the choreography settings, intensity of the characters and most importantly, the music. . Chuck

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always shoot from the hip....

I know, I never understood how many people who love classical music, including songs, lieders, Cantatas, Chorales, etc. Just can't get into Opera, it just baffles me. If it's the length, why not just listen to one Act and save the other for later.

I'd be interested to hear from those who do listen to other classical vocal music, but don't like Opera, as to why this is?

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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.

Hi JoeGreen,

I was one of "those people" I started with symphonic music and then moved on to chamber and Lieder. Getting my way into opera required:

1. finding arias with beautiful melody
2. finding natural, beautiful voices
3. warming up to non-musical elements of opera such as plot
4. discovering other bonuses such as the visual aspects and dance elements

I was not a great fan of non-abstract art, I just found it too mundane. However, after watching films like Le rois danse, I caught the spirit and even warmed up to fiction a little bit. Previously the only kind of fiction that I would tolerate were fairytales but now due to my newly found love of opera I also appreciate fiction more as a side effect So maybe people who have not yet become opera fans simply have not found the right voices and the right operas or not yet warmed up to less abstract art.