looking for good opera or classical do you know any?

Question

I havent the slightest clue when it comes to opera or classical music.
I dont know what the titles are of the music all I know is that it sounds good and i like it.
so...i was wondering if anyone knew any good opera or classical music that is good listening.
titles and composers would be great.
thanks

Answer 1

Boy, are you in for a good time!
To start with the mainstream operas:
The Marriage of Figaro ( Le Nozze di Figaro), by Mozart
The Magic Flute ( Die Zauberfloete), also by Mozart
The Shooting contest ( Der Freischutz), Carl Maria von Weber
The Working Girl ( La Traviata), Giuseppe Verdi
The Troubador ( Il Trovatore), Verdi
Aida, Verdi
The Bohemian Girl ( La Boheme), Giacomo Puccini
Tosca, Puccini
Turandot, Puccini
Lohengrin, Richard Wagner ( warning- 4 hours long)
Tannhauser, Wagner ( he was known for his epic running times, it's also close to 4 hours)
Parsifal, Wagner ( closer to 5 hours)
Peter Grimes, Benjamin Britten ( hey, in English!)
The Medium, Gian-Carlo Menotti ( also in English)
Amahl and the Night Visitors, Menotti ( this one's for Xmas)
Pelleas et Melisande, Claude Debussy
The Knight of the Rose ( Der Rosenkavalier), Richard Strauss
( also long)
go wild!
For symphonic music, the choices are even greater:
for beautiful, logical music that helps your brain along, anything by Johann Sebastian Bach. The Brandenburg Concertos (1-6)
are good starting stuff.
Any of the 41 symphonies of Mozart, although no. 40-the Jupiter- seems to consistently hit the top of the charts.
Beethoven's 9 symphonies. He was the rhythm man of his age, always experimenting with the beat.
For solid, hard-core, doesn't- get- any- more-serious-than-this kind of music, string quartets by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Brahms.
For over-the-top, gets-all-your-emotions working, the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, and the tone poems of Richard Strauss.
For look-what-they've-done-to-my-brain music of the early 20th cent. try Anton Webern or Arnold Schoenberg.
For pompous, stirring Soviet bombast ( it's still good listening), the 15 ( or is it 16) symphonies of Shostakovitch.
Mood music, Russian style, Modest Mussorgsky or Aleksander Skriabin. Ballet music, Peter Tchaikovsky.
there's more than this! It'll take you a lifetime to listen to it all. Go Wild!
I sincerely hope you enjoy this music. It's been my life and work for nearly 30 years, and I'm not through with it yet, either.

Answer 2

I wouldn't mention as many operas as one person did before. I just recommend to you the ones that now, i think will hook u up into opera:

Verdi: Rigoletto
Mozart: Don Giovanni
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor

Then, try this ones:

Verdi: La Traviata
Puccini: Tosca
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

It's a good way to start. The thing is start with operas with great plots, beautiful music, and breathtaking. SOme operas are slow, not really interesting, so you would fall sleep and you will lose some good things from those. The thing is to be awake, follow every single word, and focus on the music and story. Either you are in the theater, or at home listening a CD.

Answer 3

Johannes Brahms Hungarian Dances, especially to 4, 5, 6,

Mozart 40th Symphony

Beethoven 5th Symphony

Verdi, Aida Opera

Answer 4

Check out Borodin's "Prince Igor", Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini", Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and "Nutcracker Suite", and Greig's "Peer Gynt" suites.