For starters I’d strongly recommend Francesco Rosi’s film of Bizet’s Carmen. And get your hands on Franco Zeffirelli’s films of La traviata and Otello. (I’m vague as to whether I’ve ever seen his film of Pagliacci—but with Domingo and Stratas, how could you lose?) The virtue of these films is that you’ve got the singers acting their roles…
I’ve been on the slow train to opera love for a year now. It really is a challenge to get into. I’ve just bought some books, checked out performances when I could (once in the past year, free opera in the park), read, listened, and watched a few dvds. I’m planning on hitting up the library this fall and really making an effort to learn about a wider variety of operas. Right now all I can really say is La Boheme and Enrico Caruso are the shit.
Personally, I would avoid most everything from the 19th century.
I would recommend (I’ll link to the best edition (CD of course)):
-Mozart-
The Marriage of Figaro
Don Giovanni
The Magic Flute
-Lully-
I’ll leave you with those for now (mozart is always the best place to start), it’s an expensive hobby, be fore-warned. It’s also very subjective and it’s ok not to like it. Personally, I can’t go very long listening to all that god awful 19th century high-romantic opera (Puccini is the worst). But just find what you like and seek out more of it. Happy hunting.
(if you’re looking for opera on film, check out Aria (1987), not great opera, but an interesting collection of short films from directors like Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Bruce Beresford, Robert Altman, and others (Godard submitted this really weird short about bodybuilders set to arias from Lully’s Armide )).
Personally, I found it easier to start with more recent operas and move backwards through time, so you might have some luck with these if the other method doesn’t excite you.
Jenůfa,by Leoš Janáček
Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten
Wozzeck by Alban Berg
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle by Bela Bartok
Nixon in China by John Adams
The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky
Of course other people might find a more dramatic entry point like Wagner or sidle in via something more familiar sounding like Porgy and Bess by Gershwin or The Tender Land by Aaron Copeland.
You might also consider trying something like getting a membership at Naxos, http://www.naxos.com/ , a classical music label’s website, which has yearlong memberships for 20$ if you’re in the US and has scads of music you can listen to online to see it you like it. That way you can sample different eras and composers and see if anything strikes your fancy.
Oh, don’t forget to check out Bergman’s film of The Magic Flute if you haven’t already done so, that might spark your interest!
edit: Powell and Pressburger’s Tales of Hoffman is another beautiful film/opera connection.
ditto on Janáček
Zeffirelli’s film of PAGLIACCI is excellent, with Domingo and Stratas. A terrific film of an uncharacteristically brief opera. Don’t miss it.
Verdi is pretty cool. I don’t know much about opera but I love Requiem. Its so frikin dramatic.
(fastforward to 9:19)
Hey, keep these recommendations coming, and I’ll let you guys know where I’m at. I just finished the first two acts of Figaro, and I’m really enjoying it. I think my next may be Madama Butterfly staged by Zeffirelli, but I don’t know, these recommendations are giving me a lot to chew on. Oh, keep the links coming too. Great stuff.
Get Patrice Chereau’s version of Wargner’s Ring Cycle conducted by Pierre Boulez
Really, you shouldn’t start with The Marriage of Figaro – everything else will pale in comparison; best to work your way up to that one. I’d start with The Magic Flute and Carmen. Don’t forget Beethoven’s only opera (and you won’t, if you’re an Eyes Wide Shut fan).
Yeah, I had Fidelio here last week and I didn’t get to watch it. I’m starting with Figaro because I’m fairly familiar with the music and the story. And man, I might have to work my way up to the Ring Cycle, that is epic!
I’ve never actually watched an opera movie, so I can’t help you there. Everything I’ve seen has been at the Met Opera House, but I really enjoyed “La traviata” and “Pagliacci.”
I second the Giulini version of Don Giovanni and The Rake’s Progress. Also try L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti.
David, is Chereau’s version the complete ring?
>Personally, I would avoid most everything from the 19th century.
RUS, you’re perversity incarnate. There’s a man named Giuseppe Verdi building something really great & grand, around that time. And for all the magnificence of his work before his planned retirement from opera, he demonstrated even greater and prodigious invention with Otello and Falstaff, a reinvention though which – after Wagner – he cast aside the old recitative-aria structure.
@David –
>Get Patrice Chereau’s version of Wargner’s Ring Cycle conducted by Pierre Boulez
I know what you mean – I have those discs and keep them at hand—but, damn, the Ring is difficult going for the “novice”…
@Greg
Wozzeck (and Lulu, as well) are no less rough for someone new to opera. Even after decades of listening to/loving Berg, his scores don’t get much less deep and inscrutable…But I second the Britten, Adams, & Stravinsky (Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, also)
A few years ago, I watched a documentary film about a talent scout/competition for a role in an opera production of Rigoletto in England and it really brought opera alive for me. Qualified contenders received a series of training in voice and were gradually eliminated until there were two finalists for the same role, one being a blind housewife: Operatunity
>Wozzeck (and Lulu, as well) are no less rough for someone new to opera.
I know what you mean, but strangely enough, I think it was the difficulties that really excited me when I first listened to Berg and other composers experimenting with twelve tone forms and atonalism. It changed my expectations of what opera could be and helped get rid of some misconceived notions I had regarding how I was “supposed” to respond to it, that whole high art thing can be so off-putting. Besides, I was already quite fond of some more experimental music in the rock and jazz areas, so it wasn’t as completely off-putting as some find it. I think it really depends on where you are when you come to it, what your reasons are for wanting to listen to it, and what expectations you may have developed regarding classical music. Lord knows I wouldn’t want to listen to Wozzeck everyday, but if you have a mind set that is resistant to the usual short list of great composers, someone like Berg can really provide a jolt of energy.
I just go and see whatever is in town when if it sounds any interesting. My favourite so far is: Aida, Don Giovanni, Carmen, and Magic Flute. I’ve never been a fan of Puccini, but I don’t really know too much about opera at all, so I shouldn’t be the one to discuss opera, after all.
Wagner’s Ring Cycle
I don’t know that much about opera, but I have to chime in here for the The Magic Flute! It’s beautiful. I went to a performance when I was rather young and although at the time I didn’t appreciate it to its full extent, I still walked away with a great impression of the opera. I’m also fond of Carmen and La Traviata, but I haven’t seen any of those performances before.
I live in Ohio, so that’s why I’m asking for recommendations. Columbus only does like three Operas a year. Fortunately though, they are doing Pagliacci this year, so I’m excited to see that. I just finished Figaro, and I loved it. I’m thinking I might go for Fidelio next, maybe.
LES PALADINES (JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU)
BY WILLIAM CHRISTIE AND LES ARTS FLORISSANTS.
as well as the operas of mozart and rameau, i would highly recommend looking into purcell. i was recently in a production of “dioclesian” and just fell utterly and completely in love with the music. for a taste, the overture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuBOtIwWnAw
I particularly love the area Je crois entendre encore from Bizet’s Pearl Fishers. I had a recording of it by Franco Corelli which was a particular favorite… I wish I can find it again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTDHtIYgCXs
This is so adorable. It would have been nice if it was in Italian, but it’s still delightful. The way they animated “La calunnia e un venticello” is fantastic!
My favorite opera is William Tell by Rossini. I have a fantastic recording of it that was played at a concert at Tetro Alla Scala in Milan, Italy. Riccardo Muti is the conductor. I also love Wagner, but I didn’t like him right away. Probably best to start with composers like Verdi, Mozart, Puccini and Rossini. When you do get to Wagner, he has done some wonderful operas such as Parsifal and Tannhauser. I haven’t listened to the Flying Dutchman in a while but I did like it. His Ring operas are good although, I’ve only so far heard highlights of them and not the full operas, except for the Valkyrie which I thought was great. One I really love of his as well is Tristan un Isolde which has a beautiful piece of music called the Liebestod I think. One opera of his I would stay away from though would be the Mastersinger of Nuremberg. I feel that it doesn’t match his other work. Also, as far as great choral pieces of music that sort of relate to opera, I would try listening to Gyorgy Ligeti. I have not heard much of his stuff, but what I have heard I like a lot.
Nixon in China by John Adams
Salome by Strauss
La Boheme, eh? Well the next logical step would obviously be Zimmerman’s “Die Soldaten.”
^
Jokes about.
I recommend Previn’s Street Car Named Desire
Clayton White
I’m kind of taking baby steps to come to an appreciation of Opera. What I need is some recommendations. Where should I start? What is accessible? I have a DVD of Mozrt’s Marriage of Figaro here, and I’m going to start that today. Where should I go from here? Puccini, Verdi, Wagner? I don’t want to overwhelm myself, or turn myself off of it, so I need a little guidance from those of you who know their Opera.