What are some good operas?
I am usually the progressive rock and metal sort of guy (although I have always liked operatic vocals like those of Tarja Turunen), but a few weeks back I started listening to classical music on the radio for something different. For the first time in my life, I found myself enjoying the operas they played. What can you recommend for me?
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Well, you have to start with the basics. There’s Puccini’s La Boheme (some call it the greatest opera ever written; it is the most frequently performed and it is beautiful).
Bizet’s Carmen is an opera that appeals to a wide audience and is very well known. The toreador song and all that…
La Traviata by Verdi is also good. Keep in mind that La Boheme is from 1896 and La Traviata is older. Do you have a preference for how old the opera you want to see should be?
For an even older one that’s also excellent and in a different style (known as “bel canto” or “pretty signing”) there’s Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. It’s a comedy and has excellent melodies and singing.
Basically, anything by Puccini is automatically good: Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Turandot, etc. and you should also look at Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Mozart, Rossini, and Rimsky-Korsakov (in my opinion).
Firstly, I’m a Tarja fan too :)
The very first Opera that got me hooked was Carmen and to this day it is still my favourite.I agree with @DominicX that Puccini’s work is very good and mostly easy to get into. La Boheme and Madame Butterfly are wonderful although I am still waiting to see Tosca.
Mozart’s Figaro is also very entertaining.
Die Fledermaus is accessible as well.
Once you get your feet wet, throw in an atonal opera, such as Wozzeck.
Thanks guys, I’ve got enough to keep me going for a while already! Keep the suggestions coming though.
@Leanne1986 Tarja is my favourite vocalist, along with Eric Clayton (Saviour Machine). Listening to Angels Fall First right now!
Nobody has mentioned Mozart’s Die Zauberflote (aka The Magic Flute) yet?
Here’s a fun song from that opera, just for your listening pleasure.
I have always liked Pagliacci; Its the perfect opera; short,sweet, and tragic…
Make sure to include Aida on that list!!! Everyone already said the ones I would recommend!
I am not much of an opera fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed Wagner’s operatic cycle “Der Ring des Nibelungen” or simply “the ring”
its actually 4 separate operas that are somewhat independent of each other, but were intended to be seen in series.
You might actually have seen references to it already. The stereotypical opera singer dressed as a Valkyrie and singing high notes is actually derived from the second play in the cycle “Die Walküre” which also has that song “the ride of the Valkyries” made so famous in the helicopter scene of apocalypse now.
I would highly recommend the ring cycle
I also have heard good things about Pilcina, Love’s Fowl
which is an opera about chicken little that is preformed in Italian by finger puppets. it apparently has a pretty established cult following.
check it out here
Sarah Brightman
Puccini
Andrea bocelli
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