What is your favorite opera and why?

Question

Please don't just list names. Give your opinion on that composer/work and its influence/inspiration/insight and how it makes you feel. :)

Answer 1

I have to say that I love anything by Puccini, but I must agree with ballerina_kim. I love Massenet's "Thais!"

I had never heard of it until about a year and a half ago, when the local opera company included it in their season. I was in the chorus, and became intimately familiar with the story and the music. Massenet was a genius in how he expressed the feelings of the story through his music. The story is amazing, though someone dies (but if they didn't, it wouldn't be a good opera! haha!). I highly suggest this opera to anyone; it's good for dancers because, as is the trend in French Operas, it calls for a ballet, and lots of dancing. For singers/musicians, it's Massenet, so you're guaranteed to hear some good music! I would also say it's good for opera newbies, because the story incorporates things most of us can relate to in our lives today: partying, drinking, sex, religion, love, relationships, money, etc....

Check it out. The only available recording has Renee Fleming as Thais, and she is stunning (it's before her jazz roots started to come through!).

Answer 2

Okay, so far I haven't seen an opera I didn't like. So, I'll list them, and why:
1) Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
Music Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I love Mozart: it has an order to it that I prefer to Romantic era music. This was good because it was funny, it moved well, and the music was always entertaining. The characters were great, and you liked pretty much all of them at one point or another: even the villans.

2) Don Giovanni

Again, Mozart is great. This opera was a bit more thick, though, and less mystical than The Magic Flute. Mozart can also make fun of himself, which is nice. I also saw the Commendatore Scene (or part of it) on the movie Amadeus (my favorite movie - the one which made me want to write my own music). Later, I saw the latter part of the last act of the opera on a Public Broadcast Station, and loved it. Even though Don Giovanni is shovanistic womanizing pig, he gets it in the end, and things turn out all right. I loved it!

3)Die Entfuhrung aus dem Sarai (Spell? The Abduction from the Seraglio)

My brother bought this for me on DVD, and I loved it!! Also by Mozart, it filled with his style of humour and flows as well as both Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. Another great one - fun to watch.

4) Iphiginie en Tauride (Spell?)

This is a Gluck opera from the Baroque era. I saw this as a stage performance, and it was magnificent! Beautiful music and good ending, this is based on a Greek tradgedy and is really beautiful. (I only saw it once, so I can't remeber the plot too well - sorry)

5) Gilbert and Sullivan's: The Mikado

I performed in an orchestra for this, and loved it! We were actually out in a courtyard, and so it was all too tempting to look over and try and watch what was going on. A wondeful satire, filled with great British humor. Has the famous Aria of "Three Little Maids from School are We", and many other great improvised things, such as the Lord High Executioner's personalized aria, and the Mikado's "to make the punishment fit the crime" aria.

6) Gilbert and Sullivan's:The Pirates of Penzance

My brother was both a pirate and a police officer in a performance of this, and I have seen it elsewhere as well, and it is also a great comedy to watch, full of puns, and obsurd 'honor' being taken to the extreme in a ridiculous manner parodying older opera where two people meet once and fall in love, but have to fight for honor, etc. etc. Great fun! Has the ever famous Aria "I am the very Model of a Modern Major General".

7) La Bohem

I only saw it once, but it was beautiful, and I was sure sad at the end, but I finshed watching thinking: 'that was great!' and being very fulfilled.

Most operas from the Boroque to the Classical era should be good, if you are trying to find which one to watch, or to buy or listen to. Opera is great though.

Answer 3

Cosi Fan Tutte is my favorite story. The song the sisters sing together about how things have been turned around and never being the same again struck a chord with me.
My favorite aria is from The Magic Flute - Queen of the Night. I have no idea about his influence/inspiration/insight. I know it's lovely.

Answer 4

Nothing is as touching for me as Der Rosenkavalier.

The stylish decadence combined with the gorgeous music transports me to an absolutely unique place.

I love opera, and have a strong knowledge of the medium. Depending upon my mood I might enjoy anything from War and Peace or Pique Dame to Orfeo, or even King Roger. But, Der Rosenkavalier has a different effect. It just couldn't be better. It is like eating Belgian chocolate. It is apart from everything else.

I would be happy to hear from you if you want to talk opera.

Answer 5

My absolute favorite opera so far is "The Barber of Seville." I saw the production in Omaha, NE some years back while I was working on my undergraduate degree. I loved it. I enjoyed how the performers sang and acted in this comedy. As a matter of fact, I show parts of the opera to my 6th grade music students.

Answer 6

Well I love almost every opera I see, so right now it's Thais. I LOVE "mediations" and the aria "Dis-moi Que Le Suis Belle"

The scenery is so lush and I love the dance scene too. It's in French and I actually understand it.

Answer 7

I Pagliacci. Short. Dramatic. Touching. Terrific characters; what a stroke of genius to align the standard neopolitan characters to the traits of the actors portraying them. The music is fully integrated to the drama: it rises to match the story beat for beat. There is a lot of beautiful music in I Pagliacci.

Answer 8

Just because no one has included this...Wozzeck, by Alban Berg. Understanding the complex compositional processes and structure of the opera enriches the aural intake of it. And who can't love that cheery sunny expressionist plot?

Answer 9

Carmen by Bizet is my favorite opera. I love how I can drag my friends to see it and they actually like it, because the storyline is interesting and there are several songs that standout and are equally famous.

Answer 10

Don Giovanni by Mozart. A work of genius.