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33K views 175 replies 83 participants last post by  Almaviva 
#1 ·
I love Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. This is an important work from a historical standpoint. Mozart's Figaro eventually sparked off the French Revolution.
I love opera...love the costumes, the music, the story lines, but I hate verdi, wagner and all romantic opera output. I can't stand the chromatism, esp. the recitative sections. And I really don't like the wagnerian type of orchestral sound. It's vulgar.
Mozart's Marriage of Figaro is jovial, and so is the music, gallant and hearty. My fav character is Cherubino...and I find it interesting how the opera company always get lyrical sopranos to sing his part. It's really a wise strategy, caz no voice can offer u the tenderness needed for the role of this youthful brat(Cherubino), unless u were to use a castrato like the olden days. The Castratos sounded really unique. I was told that they had the most beautiful tonal palette. Their voice sound much like a young girl, but much richer and without the tonal 'masking'. Their voice is pure and literally crystal clear. :)
 
#8 ·
I am what my singing teacher calls(she graduated from Manhattan School of Voice in New York...almost as good as Juilliard)..she calls me a, "Very Light Light Super High Coloratura Soprano :blink: ...eh...and I am a girl :rolleyes: . LOL. I know I can go up to a high "a" above regular...or something...and my teacher believes I can go higher...MUCH higher than that...but she says she doesn't want me to strain my voice too much. :unsure: *grumbles*. LOL. What type of voice are you?
 
#12 ·
Opera

I love opera! It was my first true introduction to music beyond baroque. You see, for my first three years of liking classical music... I only liked one kind of classical mysic; Baroque harpsichord music. Nothing else. I wouldn't even try anything else.
Then one day someone convinced me to listen to the end part of Bellini's Norma... I was hooked! I loved it. I then for about six konths listened to all the opera I could. I listened to everything from early baroque to Romantic. I was a complete opera fanatic for a year. I didn't get into symphonic and chamber music until later ( the music of Havergal Brian made me fall in love with orchestral music too ).
My favorite operas are ( in no particular order );

Mefistofele ( Boito )
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucretia Borgia
Maria Stuarda ( all Donizetti )
Anything ellse by Donizetti if sung well :)
Norma ( Bellini )
Ruslan and Ludmilla ( Glinka )
Anything by Meyerbeer ( I adore his music, but it's so hard to find! )
Elektra ( My favorite Strauss opera; I sing the opening monologue by myself in the shower :D )
King Roger ( I forgot who wrote it :confused: )
Ariadne auf Naxos ( Another Strauss, love Zerbinetta's aria; can't sing it though! )
La Vestale ( Cherubini, but there is no good reccording out now )
Many baroque operas, which are good if practically interchangable
Many other operas too, but I can't remember them right now

Operas I don't like;

Any Wagner
Any Mozart
Nearly all Britsh opera
Nearly all American opera ( Einstein can stay on the beach; I don't want him in the opera house! )
Many others that I can't remember and I probably don't want to.

Someone here said Mozart's Figaro started the french revolution; no more so than Beethoven's Eroica crowned Napoleon. Mozart was with the establishment. I think you are confusing what the opera is based on with the opera itself. Or Verdi, who really did help a start revolution.
godzilla
 
#13 ·
My last favourite opera is Il Barbier di Siviglia by Rossini. A funny opera, really to enjoy. I began to listen to more Wagner. I get a closer entrance than the times before...

And there was broadcasted a World Premiere Perfomance of an Opera by Mendelssohn (The uncle from Boston or the two newphes), written in the age of 13-15. As a pure Mendelssohnian I love it!!! It is a charming opera buffa in 3 acts, influenced by Weber and Mozart, but typical spreading and genious melodious and motif-working Felix!
 
#34 · (Edited)
That was also Hitler's favorite opera, I bet you didn't know. At least that's what I read in the book, "Hitler's Vienna". It doesn't mean anything, really...

My aunt was talking to me about my grandfather once and I happened to mention he was born the same year as Hitler, and I think I might have upset her a little bit.

I guess some people don't like trivia...

My favorite opera, if I had to choose one, is a Wagner opera, actually - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. I have yet to ever see a live performance of it, but my local opera company won't do anything that lasts more than 3 hours, so I'd have to make a special trip somewhere.

I'm also most fond of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Mozart's Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, All Women are Like That, and The Magic Flute, Berg's Wozzeck, Weill's The Threepenny Opera, and Shostakovich's The Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk District.
 
#24 ·
Many opera's are highly impressive, but for the longest time, I had difficulty understanding the logic behind singing all the dialog even the mondane things, but then it occured to me that that's the point of a good libretist, to dispense of those things, and make all the dialog somewhat sentimental. One of my favorites is 'The Magic Flute' (with spoken dialog)
 
#25 ·
Alright, time for the opera major to stretch, lol.

My favorite opera would have to be Der Rosenkavalier. Strauss is always at the top of my lists, hehe.
The list would probably continue:

2. Carmen
3. Pagliacci or Gianni Schicci (depending on whether I want a comedy or tragedy)
4. Lucia de Lammermoor
5. Manon
6. Tosca
7. La Traviata
8. Marriage of Figaro
9. Valis (by Tod Machover, modern opera)
10. Lulu or Wozzek
 
#27 ·
My favorite opera would have to be Der Rosenkavalier. Strauss is always at the top of my lists, hehe.
The list would probably continue:

2. Carmen
3. Pagliacci or Gianni Schicci (depending on whether I want a comedy or tragedy)
4. Lucia de Lammermoor
5. Manon
6. Tosca
7. La Traviata
8. Marriage of Figaro
9. Valis (by Tod Machover, modern opera)
10. Lulu or Wozzek
This person should be enjoined to turn in his screen name:p So taking my turn, I say:
1-8: Any Wagner repertory opera except Lohengrin or Flying Dutchman
Favorite Italian Opera: Any Verdi "galley opera."
Favorite French Opera: Easy. Carmen
Favorite non-German/non-Romance language Opera: Smetana's The Bartered Bride.
Most underrated Opera: Ambroise Thomas' Mignon.
 
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#28 ·
My top 5

1: Don Giovanni (Mozart)
2: Hercules (Handel)* it is considered as an oratorio. But its structure is more an english opera.
3: Alcina (Handel)
4: Magic Flute (Mozart)
5: Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Handel)
 
#29 ·
Don Giovanni above those works of Handel? Are you serious? I once made the effort to see DG live in London, I spent most of the final act looking at my watch. There is a lot of bland music in Mozart's operas.

You could mention a few more great Handel operas like Ariodante, Deidamia, Orlando, Tamerlano, Agrippina etc etc.

Other than these I look to Beethoven's Fidelio, unsurpassed in itself.
 
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