Stay away from Wagner. The Met in HD’s presentation of Lohengrin started at 9:00 A.M. and ended around 2:00 P.M. 5 hours. Two intermissions took about 20 minutes each.

 

It depends on the opera , and the person of course. Many of Wagner's operas are much too long for me, but Verdi's full length Don Carlo is almost as long, and I don't mind that at all.

When it comes to actually seeing opera live in the theatre, I decry this habit of playng one or more acts without a break. Don't they know that men over a certain age will probably need the loo (sorry, bathroom) after about an hour? Even La Boheme can seem too long when they just have an interval between Acts II and III.

 

Surgery can help with that. (Seriously, prostate surgery saved my life.)

As for La Boheme, that was the first opera I ever saw. It was at the Met, and I recall being bemused by the fact that the 20 minute second act was surrounded by two 25 minute intermissions.

 

Paging Mr. Wagner . . .

😆

Seriously, as a musical theatre and operetta participant for decades, on both sides of the apron, this is an ongoing discussion.

First, as the Musical Director of a small Gilbert & Sullivan group, out Director has often "restored" music that had been cut after the original Opening Night back in the 1880s, while as the MD, I'll often make small cuts to the Overture on the same show. That same director has occasionally cut a song, but that would be because a performer is not up to standard to perform the song well.

Years ago I worked with another director that would often cut a verse from a multi-verse song.

In Musical Theatre we often make cuts; sometimes it's the overly long dance break in a song, or sometimes an actual song. But sometimes we'll make the show longer - for instance, in Grease and Cabaret it's common to add a song or two from the film version that weren't in the original stage version.

 

I do not take it well, if opera is too long. At least in live performances. I guess, too long for me is over 3 hours. The optimum is cca 2 hours.

Someone elsewhere on internet wondered about my mindset. Why don't I want more of the good thing ?

There are at least two factors. 1. physical discomfort. 2. Maybe I enjoy the live performance comparatively less, while they are happening ? I love the things opera does in my head 1 - 2 days after. But if I am really worn and tired from the performance, I also process less. How about you ?

I agree with the 3 hour max - but it would depend a lot on the event and, of course, the composer.

If the composer were one I was interested in, and I knew the opera were to last over 3 hours, I would expect there to be an intermission, or two, making the performance something of an all night event.

I might look forward to and enjoy the experience, especially if I knew there would be friends also attending and a place to sit and have a drink during the break and talk about what we were hearing/seeing.

 

I might look forward to and enjoy the experience, especially if I knew there would be friends also attending and a place to sit and have a drink during the break and talk about what we were hearing/seeing.

Yes, dinner before, desert and coffee between acts.

 

Depends on the composer. For Wagner, 6 hours. For Philip Glass, 6 minutes.

 

How long is too long? Wagner. 🥴

 

Admittedly, I have only seen two Wagner operas on stage. Parsifal was so long ago that I don't remember if I got tired. Siegfried was ca. 2000, so it's also been over 20 years and I recall that the performance started at 6 pm or even earlier and there were two intermissions, so overall it must have been about 5 hours including them but I was positively surprised how bearable it was.

 

I tend to like operas that fit completely on one disk. If longer, they'd better be worth it. Some operas though are too long on one disk. I think once an opera goes over the 2.5 hour mark it's a tough sell nowadays. I like Meistersinger, but it's so long. I break it up over days. Funny thing is, I can watch the Lord of the Rings movies back to back in one day without a problem. It's over 12 hours. I couldn't do that with the Wagner Ring. Four days for that.

 

Funny thing is, I can watch the Lord of the Rings movies back to back in one day without a problem. It's over 12 hours. I couldn't do that with the Wagner Ring.

I also have a problem with the movies. There used to be a standard length of cca 1 hour 30 minutes, but nowadays, it is more often 2 hours. Lord of the Rings is even longer, obviously. Not for me in one session. I watched one of those on New Years eve - never again !

 

I'd probably fall asleep during the first movie but I am not surprised by that. Opera, esp. Wagner is a far more intense experience, so it's better to split it over several days.

 

It also places huge demands on the singers and the orchestra, such that they couldn't do it over four days either if we're talking live. Sometimes, as you probably know, the entire brass section is replaced half way thorugh a Wagner opera. And live is a vastly better way to see opera if possible.

 

I'm giving Wagner a pass - if his operas could have been shorter then they would have been. Give me four hours of Wagner over four hours of Handel any time.

 

Depends on the composer. For Wagner, 6 minutes. For Philip Glass, 6hours.

 

Even with the great Philip Glass I struggle over 3 hours but Einstein on The Beach was meant to be viewed as you come and go at your leisure. So that helps much. You are not expected to be glued to your chair.

 

I guess, too long for me is over 3 hours. The optimum is cca 2 hours.

I prefer less than 2 hours.
I just don't have much of an attention span and the older I get, the shorter it gets.
Heck, I only watch movies at home and can rarely make it through one without pausing it at it's mid point and finishing it at a later date.

 

2 Hours...ok.
2 hours 30 minutes...Misdemeanor
3 hours...Felony!

 

The opera usually lasts two hours. But of course there are also operas written for a longer time, 3-4 hours.

 

5 minutes for any opera.

 

I have an opera which fits your needs. It has been brought to my attention by @ColdGenius. It is a tragedy, based on Russian children's song about a hare who steals carrots and is shot .

 

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I have sat through Siegfried, Parsifal, and Gotterdammerung with good singers and productions and enjoyed them but Tristan I always left after the second act. These were all 10 or more years ago. Now that I am older 3 hours is about max.

 

...Tristan I always left after the second act.

I took a smart option of the concert performance of the second act only. That way, everybody left after the second act

 

The length of an opera is an issue only for my aging body. I can't sit still for hours, but since I don't go to the theater at all any more operas can last as long as the music interests me. Sitting, standing, moving around - mere length isn't the question. I can be completely absorbed by Parsifal (about 4 1/4 hours) at home with only short intermissions to rest the mind, but I have trouble sticking with Le Nozze di Figaro (about 3 hours) past Act 2, with the consequence that I know the music of the first half of the opera better than that of the second half! (When I was in my twenties I saw Figaro in the theater and was thus able to enjoy the whole thing.)

 

Nozze can be deadly in the theater; with recordings, I can skip the tedious secco recitatives and go on to the music. Recitatives help explain the story, but if you’ve hear them once, basta!

 

If you think that Wagner's operas are long, try Pfitzner's Palestrina. It's been described as "Parsifal without the jokes".

 

It was interminable for me. I bought the recording and listened to it once but I never reached the end of the opera. It's been over 10 years and never attempted it again.

 

There's no limit. I plan on writing an infinitely-long opera based on Marienbad, My Love. 😁

But seriously, I think any opera that needs more than one intermission is pushing it. If it's going to hold my attention, I agree that the ideal performance should be under 3 hours.

 

An hour and a half is my limit.
Well honestly, an hour.

 

Which operas qualify ?

 

another

 

Stravinsky's Renard is also from Russian folklore. Weighs in at a whopping 15 minutes, though. It's also questionable as to whether it's a bona fide opera as Igor did have a propensity for blurring the lines when it came to categorising some of his work for the theatre.

If one wants a short one (under 15 minutes) in English then there is Barber's Hand of Bridge.

 

An opera is a story that unfolds over time. Time and how the audience feels about its unfolding is an essential element of the opera experience. So, what is too long for an opera? Presumably an opera that is too long has to some extent failed in its mission. It is a composer's (and his or her collaborators) task to create a work which doesn't overstay its welcome.

Wagner operas are long and widely loved. It's not easy to get tickets for them. However, there are also many who feel that Wagner's music has wonderful moments with lots of padding in between. To me that is a misunderstanding as that space is surely part of what Wagner does. It is not padding and cannot be excised to give a more satisfying experience. Enjoying Wagner involves getting into a different mind-space and that so many can do this with Wagner shows how miraculous his achievement was. When we think about opera we think about a theatre with relatively uncomfortable seats, sitting upright for as long as it takes, so there is much discomfort to overcome to reach that mind-space.

The operas of Wagner - and of Verdi and Mozart (whose operas tended to be much shorter) - are masterpieces of story telling in a rather strange amalgam art form that merges music and theatre. Baroque opera composers worked with a less highly developed amalgam. They often relied on a fairly weak narrative and musically they usually lacked those thrilling moments when several of the characters are singing at the same time. I love many of them but am not sure they are easy for a modern audience to sit through when they exceed two and a half hours.

 

The operas of Wagner - and of Verdi and Mozart (whose operas tended to be much shorter) - are masterpieces of story telling in a rather strange amalgam art form that merges music and theatre. Baroque opera composers worked with a less highly developed amalgam. They often relied on a fairly weak narrative and musically they usually lacked those thrilling moments when several of the characters are singing at the same time. I love many of them but am not sure they are easy for a modern audience to sit through when they exceed two and a half hours.

Ah, you see . . . Time is relative. You might have no trouble binge-listening all of Beethoven's nine Symphonies, but might feel that Fidelio goes on far too long.

But there's another interesting thing about opera, operetta, and musical theatre: The music was written to accompany an actual live production.

I've seen different productions of musicals WITH THE SAME MUSIC. For instance, I've seen great productions of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, where the time just flies by, and another production of the same show that seemed interminable. Why? Because some of the productions have great direction, performances, production values, while another was poorly acted, poorly sung, poorly staged, with poor sound balance, and lousy dancing.

Some operas are minimally staged, where the singers engage in "Park and Bark", while others are engaging, with interesting blocking or dancing, grand entrances, phenomenal costumes . . .

 

I'm a great lover to watch movies and operas in a quietness of my home, not without cold buffet and drink. But I also can't do without live opera performances. (Watching movies at home instead of cinema doesn't bother me). And length of a performance usually is not a problem, except early awakening next morning. In Petersburg metro closes at 0:30, so a certain part of the audience begins fleeing to the end of last act or jumps immediately as a curtain starts to fall. (I'm a snob).
Some of my favorite operas are long, and it's normal. After Les Troyens I always want to cry "More!" Wagner always emerges when long works are discussed. My relatives usually deprive me of their company when he's mentioned. At the same time Mrs. ColdGenius enthusiastically endured Die Frau ohne Schatten, The Tale of Kitezh and five-act Don Carlo.
Nevertheless I felt uneasy once when we watched War and peace. Gergiev was late, as always, if I remember correctly, the was only one intermission, soon I began to suspect that Prokofiev and his wife had pushed all four volumes in a libretto and, knowing a plot, that it would finish next day after lunch. It didn't prevent me, though, from going to the opera in further.