Opera Everyone Can Enjoy

[Vol Texan]

My mother-in-law was a professional opera singer at the Colon Opera House in Buenos Aires, Argentina, (one of the world's top opera houses, I've been told) before immigrating to the US. Needless to say, I've been to a few since being married, and I've never grown the affection for them that my wife has, having grown up in that environment.

Prior to being married...this was the only opera performance I'd ever seen:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=2ydt6BIilL8[/youtube]

[gthaustex]

Love that cartoon. They just don't make them like that anymore.....

Back to non-animated music, Andrea Bocelli does have an awesome voice....

[The Annoyed Man]

In my senior year of high school ('69/'70), my friend Chip and I got out of school kind of early because of our schedules. We'd go over to his house, smoke a couple spliffs of Panama Red, get a box of vanilla wafers and a quart of milk, and spend hours and hours laughing at those cartoons.

That was another life.

[Dragonfighter]

I didn't need any help laughing at WB cartoons, esp Chuck Jones directed. My wife cracks up when I get together with my best buds since 8th grade. We get past the catchups pretty quick and drop into raucous recollections of animated artistry.

As to the opera thing, my favorite aria is Ave' Maria. Last yeR I was working a line for a panel at a geekfest. I was chatting with a lady in line and found out she was a trained operatic soprano. I asked her tl prove it.

There is something neurological about a pure voice belting out Ave' Maria because when she finished my goosebumps had goosebumps and there wasn't a dry eye in the line.

[chasfm11]

I didn't need any help laughing at WB cartoons, esp Chuck Jones directed. My wife cracks up when I get together with my best buds since 8th grade. We get past the catchups pretty quick and drop into raucous recollections of animated artistry.

As to the opera thing, my favorite aria is Ave' Maria. Last yeR I was working a line for a panel at a geekfest. I was chatting with a lady in line and found out she was a trained operatic soprano. I asked her tl prove it.

There is something neurological about a pure voice belting out Ave' Maria because when she finished my goosebumps had goosebumps and there wasn't a dry eye in the line.

To tie together some of the points on the thread, there is this (though it isn't officially an operatic excerpt because it came from a group of seven songs set to Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake".)

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=pwp1CH5R-w4[/youtube]


There are other Ave Maria (Hail Mary) versions by other composers (though this was wasn't from Caccini but Vladimir Vavilov)

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=SqBJFDbE2ZI[/youtube]

Another of the famous opera works that has been used in cartoons is this one from La Traviata
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=hvMM2CJZ5VY[/youtube]

For me, the only way to make it through a whole opera is to have studied it in advance. It is sort of like reading a book before seeing the movie. It helps a lot if you understand the basic story behind La Boheme before you try to sit through it. Otherwise, it is a little like watching a foreign film without subtitles. I worked in Italy and learned a reasonable amount of Italian while I was there. It didn't help me with "A Time To Say Goodbye" because the words are meant to be poetic and not the common daily Italian that I was used to. I had to print out and study the Italian lyrics before I could translate them for myself.

It would have been fun to sit through the silent movies and see how much operatic music was used by the accompanists for those.

Edited to fix youtube links

[Abraham]

Quite a lot of Opera is loud and frankly, annoying, but thank goodness not all.

My two favorites are for me something akin to transcendent: The Flower Duet sung by Anna Netrebko and Elina Baranca (who by the way are stunningly beautiful) and Nessun Dorma sung by Pavarotti can be enjoyed by those who aren't Opera fans.

However, give both of the above a minute or so before they start their appeal...you won't be sorry.

[chasfm11]

Quite a lot of Opera is loud and frankly, annoying, but thank goodness not all.

My two favorites are for me something akin to transcendent: The Flower Duet sung by Anna Netrebko and Elina Baranca (who by the way are stunningly beautiful) and Nessun Dorma sung by Pavarotti can be enjoyed by those who aren't Opera fans.

However, give both of the above a minute or so before they start their appeal...you won't be sorry.

I like some of the bombastic parts but, as you point out, there are some much much subtle ones, too.

Tchaikovsky was not as well known for his his operatic music as he was for his ballet and symphony works but this is one of the more subdued ones from Queen of Spades
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=VoAw623e5sc[/youtube]

[Abraham]

chasfm11,

Thanks, I'm guessing you appreciate Chopin too?

[BigGuy]

Nobody beat Bocelli. But I could watch this lady sing all day.
[youtube]https://youtube.com/watch?v=Rl9jz-U9drk[/youtube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl9jz-U9drk
She's got a great set of lungs.

[BigGuy]

Not Opera, but still good, also by Katherine Jenkins.
[youtube]https://youtube.com/watch?v=BKg1vMeaY5M ... 9DE5B00DA6[/youtube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKg1vMe ... 9DE5B00DA6

[chasfm11]

chasfm11,

Thanks, I'm guessing you appreciate Chopin too?

No so much. I love Baroque,Romantic, & Impressionist music. The modern stuff (Ives, Ruggles.) leaves me cold. I enjoy some piano (Ravel, Debussy) and, of course, all of the great piano concertos. But Chopin is just OK for me. Where I can listen to Beethoven piano music repeatedly, some of Chopin's works are once-is-enough.

Die Meistersinger is one of my favorite operas. It was an "in your face" to one of Wagner's principal critics who said that Wagner couldn't write counterpoint.

My undergrad degree is in music. One of the things that we had to do to graduate was to learn over 300 music selections that the faculty picked out well enough to be able to recognize 20 second snippets of the major themes from them for a listening test. While I had 4 years to prepare, that kind of a test wasn't easy and it forced me to learn about all different types of music pretty much outside of a classroom. The good news is that more than 40 years later, I can still recognize a lot of music. The bad news is that the names are not always on memory recall, if you know what I mean.

[ssnstump]

I sang with Opera Omaha until 2003 (13 years). I have been on stage with Sylvia McNair and Renee Fleming.
Anything by those two is spectacular. There were many other sopranos in my experience, but those were my favorites.
I can't narrow it down to a couple of arias, but Vissi d'arte from Tosca is beautiful. I was a bass so I listened mostly to the other end of the spectrum.
Still listen to opera when I can, but no longer sing...not very many opera houses in north Texas...

[Abraham]

ssnstump,

Very impressive.

Ever sing while Case Scaglione conducted?

Case is a friend of mine.

[chasfm11]

ssnstump,

Impressive indeed. Of course, it is the Italian tenors, not the basses, that get all of the glory. The sopranos seem to stand out in any language.

Vissi d'arte, Vissi d'amore ( I lived for art, I lived for love) is a wonderful piece
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5_5h0fY8r2w[/youtube] Fleming had a tremendous voice.

Another of my favorites with Callas When I walk/Quando me'n vo
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ySJHoEBNA3E[/youtube]

This has been a fun thread. Since I started studying Spanish, I've deliberately trying to stay away from Italian. My simple brain cannot stand more than one thing at a time. I'm surprised how much I can remember if I give myself a moment to think about it. I much prefer the native Italian singers like Bocelli because they handle it better.

[ssnstump]

Never sang for him. Some of my conductors were John DeMain from Houston Grand Opera, Hal France, Ransom Wilson, Lionel Friend....
John and Hal were my favorites. Hal was also the artistic director for Omaha for many years. He and Sylvia McNair were married in Omaha.
She, like Renee are both multiple Grammy winners. I have fond memories of Sylvia serving me her lasagne after a rehearsal.
These ladies are Divas in every grand sense and NOT prima donnas.

I've done operas in german, italian and french. Always wanted to try russian.
I studied french for 5 years...then never used it until we did Carmen.

I also auditioned for Baltimore Opera before moving down here, but they went bankrupt before that season started. Bummer.
I have also done some musical theater. Gilbert & Sullivan and others from Omaha to Germany and back again.