Thread: 5 Minutes to Make You Love Opera

Inspired by the thread "Five minutes to make you love classical music."

So, which five minutes of opera would you play to convince someone to fall in love with opera. I would recommend you at least get an opera in performance, and not just in concert, as the imagery is a big part of the whole experience. That said, I will go with this one for my 5-minute shot:

Originally Posted by Fritz Kobus

Inspired by the thread "Five minutes to make you love classical music."

So, which five minutes of opera would you play to convince someone to fall in love with opera. I would recommend you at least get an opera in performance, and not just in concert, as the imagery is a big part of the whole experience. That said, I will go with this one for my 5-minute shot:

Of course you'd choose Sonnambula!

Only five minutes? That rules out the Blessing of the Swords; the Forest of Kromy scene; "Châtiment effroyable"; the Auction Scene from the Dame blanche; or Rossini's Gran pezzo concertato a 14 voci.

Nearly 5 minutes:
"Qu'à servir mon courroux tout l'enfer se prépare" + Trio des parques (Rameau: Hippolyte & Aricie)
"Tristes apprêts" (Rameau: Castor & Pollux)
"J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" (Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice)
"Villes entourées" (Berlioz: Damnation de Faust)
Trio des Marmitons (Offenbach: Brigands)
"J'ai versé le poison" (Massenet: Cléopâtre)

Otherwise, mixing:
"Que tout gémisse" (Rameau: Castor & Pollux) - 3'30
"Dieux, qui me poursuivez" (Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride) - 3'30
"Au faîte des grandeurs" (Gluck: Iphigénie en Aulide) - 2'09
"Ten zegar stary" (Moniuszko: Straszny dwór) - 3'00-ish
Venice septet (Ernest Guiraud, in Offenbach's Contes d'Hoffmann) - 3'33

I'll say:



Libiamo Brindisi from Traviata Joan Sutherland and Pavarotti

Originally Posted by NickFuller

Only five minutes? That rules out the Blessing of the Swords; the Forest of Kromy scene; "Châtiment effroyable"; the Auction Scene from the Dame blanche; or Rossini's Gran pezzo concertato a 14 voci.

Ok, I guess 5 minutes is too limiting, let's go with a reasonable sized clip. And of course it is impossible to pick one clip for this when there are hundreds if not thousands of wonderful bits in opera. So we have to keep feeding our friend 5 minute bits until they are hooked.

Placido Domingi in Rigoletto Verdi - La donna e mobile

If I were only permitted to have a newbie "listen only" and not "see" a performance, there is no question but that I would choose the Poker Scene from "La Fanciulla del West".
I watch faces when they listen to them playing those cards back and forth and the intense music that says it all behind them. Interestingly, hardly any actual singing takes place -- only the sound of cards and the background music but it grabs them every single time.
Other grabbers would be the Prelude to "Mefistofele" and the Vorspiel from "Parsifal".

CARMEN - LEONTYNE PRICE - Près des remparts de Séville (Seguedille)

Sadly it would be a busted flush in my case - the first things most of my friends would ask is if there is any shagging in it.

Originally Posted by elgars ghost

Sadly it would be a busted flush in my case - the first things most of my friends would ask is if there is any shagging in it.

There may be in some of the Regietheater productions, but I think you might better find a different set of friends. They are probably conditioned by movies and TV to gravitate towards stuff like shagging.