Hi, all. I’ve decided to get myself a bit of class - not too much, mind you, but a bit. As part of the Mr. Excellent Classification Program, I’ve decided to get into opera. Anyone have any good recommendations?
I did that too, a couple years ago. It didn’t stick, but I do like the bits of opera I got to know. I’d recommend Mozart – either The Magic Flute or The Marriage of Figaro have lots of good tunes. If you speak a little German or Italian, it greatly helps – always nice to at least sort of know what everyone’s talking about. Alternatively, there’s always Porgy and Bess – English language, jazzy, really good.
I recommend these threads:
My first opera was Carmen. It’s got a good plot, lively music, and a catchy aria.
The Magic Flute also. Silly plot. LUSCIOUS music. The Queen of the Night’s aria makes my soul tingle.
My first opera was Wagner’s Das Rheingold, and the second through fourth were the rest of the ring series. Instantly made me into a ringhead. I recommend starting like this if you enjoy jumping in at the deep end.
Carmen is a good bet because you will recognize the melodies, especially you Gilligan fans. 
All good suggestions.
Tosca is very accessible, I think. Or the two shortish operas, usually performed together on the same bill: Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana.
Just go.
Washington National Opera is doing Madama Butterfly in early November. You might like it, you might not. Same as, well, pretty much anything. You can get what look like pretty reasonable seats for $70-ish (Do not sit in the rear orchestra - you’ll want to see the supra-titles). There may also be discounts if you’re eligible. See their website for details.
Virginia Opera is doing Carmen this weekend in Richmond. Their site is too annoying to find out what tickets cost, but you could call them in the morning and find out.
Give it a chance - see what happens. Overthink it after your first impression.
HMS Pinafore.
…as performed by Sideshow Bob
Another vote for The Marriage of Figaro.
Rigoletto has plenty of good tunes and a better than average plot.
I’d recommend “La Boheme.” It was my first opera, and it remains one of my favorites. It’s very accessible to the first-timer.
Stick with the great composers: Puccini, Verdi, Mozart, Rossini, etc. Opera companies like to promote later operas by lesser composers, but they can really, really suck.
“La Boheme” and “La Traviata” are probably the two most accessible. I am a complete Verdi fangirl, so I’d recommend “La Traviata.”
Phht. Traviata.
Go for Otello. NASA has measured it, using the instruments with the tightest tolerances, to be the best opera ever. 13.749% better than La Traviata.
I’d like to tell you the best parts, but there are none. It shines throughout. So I won’t even mention Iago’s Act II aria or Desdemona’s Ave Maria.
However, if you want something light and fun, nothing beats G&S’s Trial by Jury is a blast.
Phht. Traviata.
Go for Otello. NASA has measured it, using the instruments with the tightest tolerances, to be the best opera ever. 13.749% better than La Traviata.
I’d like to tell you the best parts, but there are none. It shines throughout. So I won’t even mention Iago’s Act II aria or Desdemona’s Ave Maria.
However, if you want something light and fun, nothing beats G&S’s Trial by Jury.
I love it when board malfunctions force me to double post. I will, however, take this opportunity to recommend Otello.
I’ll repeat the recommendation: start with Mozart and Puccini. Actually, start with Puccini and Magic Flute–some of the recitatives in the other big Mozart operas can be a little offputting (read: boring) to the uninitiated. All respect to Mr. Rosewater, I would avoid Wagner for now. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wagner (seen the Ring twice at the Met), but it takes some slow immersion therapy to get into.
Oh, and Otello.
The Barber of Seville – an opera that’s actually light and funny, so a good place to start.
Personally, I don’t really care for light and funny opera (Except G&S). I like the dark and thick stuff. Probably comes from my days of loving Led Zep and Blacj Sabbath and Pink Floyd. At 17 I started with small amounts of Wagner (Die Walkier) and had no problem absorbing it.
The realm of opera is almost as varied as rock ‘n’ roll.
On the lighter side you have comic operas from Mozart, Offenbach, Strauss, and Gilbert & Sullivan. The music is delicate and pretty, the plots are pure cotton candy, and there’s more emphasis on fun than edification. As Tom Lehrer put it (specifically referring to G&S)"…full of words and music and signifying NOTHING."
Italian opera is generally a bit heavier in tone, and it’s hard to go wrong with Verdi or Puccini. Plots are typical and formulaic, appealing to the Italian passion for…well, passion: in a nutshell, tenor studmuffin dumps frumpy alto girlfriend and steals hot soprano chick from the nice guy baritone, only to find that she’s been stabbed by the villanous bass due to some contrived misunderstanding. The music alternates between magnificent choruses, soaring love songs, wild parties, and the tragic hero shaking his fist at the heartless fates. The audience laughs, cries, and goes home happy.
Wagner is pretty much the heavy metal of opera – long and loud. It’s so long and loud, in fact, that a soloist who intends to perform in Wagnerian opera and actually be heard over the orchestra (without destroying his or her voice) has to take years of special vocal training (I am not making this up). Everything is jacked up to 11 on a scale of 1 to 5. The characters are not mere humans but gods and heros and archtypes. The tragedy is *that much more tragic. The comedy is…well, forget it, because there isn’t any. A Wagnerian score is a rollercoaster ride through the most extreme emotions of the human heart – profound darkness, unbearable tension, sweeping grandure – as over-the-top as one can possibly get. And that’s just Act I.
I likes me some opera.