Do you have a favorite Opera, is so what is it?
I adore opera, with an especial love for Tannhäuser, Der Ring des Nibelungen and Tristan und Isolde. He may have been a deeply unpleasant antisemite, but as the old saying goes: "I hate Wagner - but I hate him on my knees."
No. I Love it! Opera is one of the great pleasures in life. I feel a little sorry for those who can’t feel it. What do they do instead?
I go to everything at The Royal Opera House here in London. Even started on a bit of Ballet for light Relief.
I’ve seen over 200 Opera performances but still consider myself a novice.
Saw Macbeth and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk recently which were both amazing. Ava Maria Westbroek was stupendous.
I once received a personal message from Aleksandra Kurzak which left me giddy for days as I had been stalking her.
My all time favourite is Cecilia Bartoli
Favourite Operas have to be La Traviata, Don Giovanni and Gianni Schicchi
I could talk forever about Opera so I will stop for now!!!!
Any lovely ladies around London who would like a night at the Opera just let me know
Grew up with opera booming through the house, classical music, too and the Beatles, Phil Ochs. We had it all. Loved it of course. Lot less drama to opera than my family dynamics...seriously.
I have favorite songs rather than favorite operas and it depends on mood. I can go months, years without opera. Do love Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, Fun! Carmen. When the three tenors came out with their first joint performance, I did love that.
o mio babbino caro
flower duet, lakme...just beautiful. La Traviata, Verde.
Pavoratti's solo Nessun dorma and sung with Freddy Mercury, too
Don't care for Andrew Lloyd Weber.
What is your favorite Hippy Knight and hope you'll post a video of it.
I’ve only ever seen ‘Carmen’, madam butterfly, and a few operetta my friends friend wrote. I loved ‘Carmen’ it’s my favorite “real” opera but if you’re counting rock opera in them I love ‘Jesus Christ superstar’ it’s my all time favorite. But of corse I love bethovens last night and tommy are both really good as well. But some people don’t think that rock opera is real opera.
@HippyKnight well, there's Freddie Mercury on stage with pavoratti and others. I don't know his training. Music is music, isn't it? You can walk into any genre and find something that speaks to you...mood, tone, melody. nice post, HippyKnight. I thought we might have a tenor in our midst..
We studied opera in Music History in school.That meant studying the libretto, listening to the music, understanding the history of the story and then seeing the opera at the opera house. It is hard not to love themwhen you have worked through all the layers all semester. I loved Electra by Richard Strauss. It is a one act opera ( thank goodness) , very intense and dramatic. It was an experience for me but nothing I could relate to deep in my heart ( like the blues and rock n roll)
@LetzGetReal Yes, I think it was 9th grade. It was a German Gynnasium ( nothing to do with sports, more like a prep shool)
I love it. I sing it, too. The only shows I can think of right now, though, are G&S operettas, two of which I've been in. (The chorus in these shows have more fun than the mains do!)
G&S are great. How cool that you have this talent!
I liked the movie A Night At The Opera...does that count
No but the best play I ever saw was. A funny thing happened to me on the way to the opera.
My favorite opera is "Billy Budd" by Benjamin Britten (based upon Melville's novella of the same name), although I've never had the chance to see it live. Best performance I've seen live was the Cleveland Orchestra's production of "Cunning Little Vixen" by Leos Janacek, which blended live performers for the human roles with projected animation (with live singers, of course) for the animal roles! This weekend I'm going to see "Tristan und Isolde" Saturday night and then "Madama Butterfly" in a Sunday matinee.
I spent weekends with an uncle of German descent who always had the Saturday matinee on.
I never realized until later that it rubbed off on me. One time in NYC in the hotel not far from the Met (the China Headquarters now) I walked over to find it totally sold out. Continyed listening on radio and caught some on PBS. You can how tickled I was to have Met in HD which I can (and do) take in often. Now I listen on Calm Radio and you might say I love opera.
Lakme
Mostly because my VSS-O and a friend absolutely nail the Flower Duet.
Rigoletto
Barber and Figaro
Most of them in fact. Hard to pick a favorite
Some-Loved Phantom of the Opera, Pirates of Penseance, Carmen,HMS Pinnafore.
I can get into Musicals or Plays especially ones that are done locally or Even High Schools. I find the Youth put their hearts into what they do and even when I go to the local Theatre Groups I am never disappointed. My favorites are "Oliver" "Cabaret" "Fiddler on the Roof" 'Man of La Manchia"
Opera is fairly boring with few exceptions. Carmen was pretty good.
Carmen is probably my favorite
Opera isn't boring! I think it's like Quantum Mechanics or General Relativity. It seems boring at first glance but dig a little deeper and it is life changing!
It’s not boring to everyone, just me. I also don’t like 99% of musicals.