How do you feel about opera?

Question

These days, it seems like no one likes opera. I do, because it can be really beautiful. What do you think?

Answer 1

I love opera.
I love to listen at home or in the car.
I love to try to sing along (in private only since my voice is terrible!)
I love to attend operas.
I love the musicality.
I love the pageantry.
I love the orchestration.
I love the voice gymnastics of a single voice.
I love the power and magnificence of a large chorus.
Many performances have given me goosebumps and brought me to tears. I'm a sucker for a good opera.

Answer 2

Opera is one of those things that you'd think just plain can't be done: memorize three to five hours of music AND lyrics IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE PLUS stage directions and then perform it in front of an audience that is almost certain to have seen and heard the same opera several times before (so they know every little nuance and furthermore are prone to compare you unfavorably to not only past performances but recordings, too). But the fact is, opera happens. And it can be a very enjoyable experience.

IMHO there are two types of opera from an audience perspective. The first is the popular, tuneful Verdi/Mozart/Puccini offerings. These are easy entertainments to enjoy, full of create melodies, some comedy or some real drama, not longer than the average lifetime. These are like sitcoms, "CSI" or a good movie comedy and its a shame (a) there are relatively few of them and (b) a perceived need to be a classical music expert puts some people off.

The second are the Wagner operas (and their ilk, including some of the modern atonal operas; I'd throw Berlioz in this category, too). These are like watching people on stage standing around and reading a really dry text book for about five hours at a crack. These operas are great -- if you're reading the score or considering the immense effort involved in composing or performing them. The reality, though, is that they are deadly dull like a PBS multi-part documentary on the life of slugs would be. Opera neophytes should NEVER -- repeat, NEVER -- be allowed to attend a Wagner opera.

Ok, so I exaggerate about the Wagner.

Opera is a wonderful art form. Unfortunately that doesn't make it a popular one. It is an artform that is pretty much closed to new works -- whether because no one is truly capable of creating the popular works of yesterday or because no one wants to -- which means we are stuck with the relative handful of popular works that already exist. Opera requires a few things to enjoy: an openness to classical music; a suspension of disbelief -- most plots are pretty hard to swallow; a knowledge of history doesn't hurt; and a sense of the grand: operas aren't minatures, they're the enormous outdoor civic sculptures of the music and stage world.

Answer 3

I love opera and hope you do too, as I'm an opera singer. ;-)

I think opera is just another kind of music, like pop, or R&B or jazz. Some of it is good; some of it is bad. A lot of people think you have to be specially educated or something to understand it. But it's just music. It's about feeling, and that's something everyone understands.

Most people I know are thrown off at first because they are used to the faster "speed" of musical theater or MTV. I tell them that appreciating opera is like appreciating a painting. It's more about the beauty of the thing, the quality of the singing and the amazing music. The story and the action are more secondary. But when these are good too, well that's magic.

Answer 4

While opera is often overpowered in the media by the latest musical opening on Broadway, it is very much alive in the US.

Witness the revival and rejuvination of opera companies around the country. In most venues, performances are sold out and it's surprising how much of the audience is young.

A few weeks ago, the Met opened their new season with Mozart's Magic Flute, arranged for children. It brought in full attendences of kids and received critical praise.

Recently, a new American opera (Little Women by Mark Adamo) opened with great success (see the link).

Answer 5

When I cannot understand the person singing, opera can get frusturating, but after I watched the movie Philidelphia, I really learned to appreciate opera and all of the beauty and meaning in it.

Answer 6

If it is Mozart or Verdi, pretty damned good. There are other people I like a lot, but why complicate things?

One of the best days of my life culminated in seeing Daniel Barenboim direct Le Nozze di Figaro. This was over 20 years ago, and I have had many experiences since, but none can really compare. I cry just thinking about it.

Answer 7

I'm not an expert but I heard Tosca once by Puccini ( I think ) and I heard the character of Floria sing, my skin had goosebumps and her voice just blew me away. I don't listen to opera very often but I do appreciate good music when I hear it.

Answer 8

Opera is beautiful. Seriously. I love chorus type things...you know, like the Vienna Boys Choir? Stuff like that...truly a beautiful thing to hear.

~Kyuuki

Answer 9

i am slowly opening up to opera. my wife plays opera in the background sometimes while she smashes pies in my face

Answer 10

Listen to Alfredo Kraus.Who doesn't love opera, will love it.Who does, will adore it.