If so, which ones? My girlfriend has been talking about going to the opera more often (we’ve seen Carment together) and I wonder what shows to look for. We both loved Carmen, so what would people who liked Carmen like (that’s likely to be showing once in a while in a big city)?
I’m not a big fan of Opera at all, but I can’t help but love Mozart’s big three:
**Marriage of Figaro
Don Giovanni
The Magic Flute
**
They are transcendent.
I like Opera, though my experience is somewhat limted.
So far I’ve seen:
Carmen
Wager’s Ring Cycle, which consistes of:
Die Rheingold
Die Valkeyie
Siegfried
Gotterdamrung
and
Wagner’s Parcieval.
Unforunatly, I don’t know if I can help because Wager’s Operas are very different then Bizet’s(IE Carmen).
Carmen has plenty of memorable songs and is a bit more down to earth, while Wagner takes the very Epic route, and doesn’t really have memorable music(except for Ride of the Valkeiyes). Wagner didn’t even believe in making distinct songs for the most part, because he felt doing so interrupted the flow. Instead, at least in the Ring Cycle, he tends to have one overall musical theme per opera, and then in the subsequnt ones, he reuses the previous ones but blends them with a new theme as well.
So I guess I can’t really help. Sorry.
But I do like Opera.
I never grow tired of “Aida.” I have seen five different productions of it, and have two CD versions. Great stuff, even for folks who don’t normally like opera very much.
Transcendent, indeed. I’m also a fan of Verdi’s Il Trovatore (home of the Anvil Chorus) and the “prequel” to The Marriage of Figaro*, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.
*Barber of Seville was written first, though – is there a single word for that?
A Wagnerite here. He wanted to blend art, music and poetry into a “reisenwerk” which I probably spelled wrong.
Had he written Aida, upon being found out by Daddy, instead of giving up the Protagonist would have whipped out his magic sword and carved up Daddy. (Siegmund does kill the damsel’s realtives in effecting her rescue, and is somewhat miffed that she doesn’t appreciate it). Everybody Who Counts would be dead by bloodshed at the last act, rather than being walled up alive.
Well, yes. Wagner would surely have dealt with things a bit more vigorously. But there still would have been a fine “Triumphal March,” right? 
Amonasro’s Funeral March.
Radames Nile Journey.
Aida rides her camel onto a burning pyre…
Doesn’t seem quite the same. 
No. And lordknows I have tried.
My first opera was in Vienna…then in Berlin I lived three blocks from the Opera House and was shamed once when I met two guys who had travelled from South Africa specifically to go to the opera in Berlin. So I tried three more times.
I really don’t know why I just can’t warm up to it. Love Broadway musicals, loved the opera costumes, staging, orchestra…but just couldn’t get into the whole opera experience and to be honest, I regret that. Still feel like I am missing something. Still - from fans (and there are a lot I met in Germany and living in NYC) I think those who do like it really find it the best of all worlds - music, dance, story and set design. Too bad it all just leaves me cold.
YES, it is my favorite type of music, might I suggest “the #1 Opera Album” it has 30 of the most famous songs (from operas such as: rigoletto, la boheme, le nozze di figaro, faust, carmen, turandot, tosca…) and all for about 15 dollars. also the library should have quite the selection of opera CD’s to check out and copy onto your computer.
My favorite type of opera would have to be anything that is not too slow and is not ride of the valkyries
Well, you might like Turandot or Madame Butterfly if you liked Carmen. Puccini wrote lots of very memorable songs, much like Bizet did. Also, you would probably enjoy the Mozart operas mentioned before, or something from Rossini or Bellini. Verdi might also work, but Wagner is definitely an aquired taste. I never did aquire it myself even though I love to blast the Ride of the Valkyries really loudly on my car stereo when racing down the Autobahn at 200 km/h!
Also, if you like lighter entertainment than opera (something more like musicals) you would probably enjoy operetten like “Die Fledermaus” or “Der Zigeunerbaron” a lot. Lots of great and memorable tunes in those.
Wagner rocks. But if he’s the Led Zeppelin of opera, then Verdi is the Black Sabbath. Otello is by far my favorite opera. Iago’s aria early in Act II is a dark, thick, chocolate way of repeating “I’m da evil dude, I’m da evil dude!” And the Ave Maria is one of the best arias ever written, period, bar none, end of discussion, no doubt about it, shut up you’re wrong, period.
My favorite is Rigoletto, but, really, once you get into opera, any one of the classics is well worth seeing.
While some people might not consider Gilbert and Sullivan to be “opera”, I wouldn’t pass up the chance to see a well-done production of The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, or HMS Pinafore.
If you like Carmen, you’ll like anything from Puccini. He’s got a similar style – excellent, catchy tunes, melodrama, dead heroines, all that jazz. His most popular work includes the sublime La Boheme, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, and Turandot (although that was finished posthumously by another composer – you can kinda tell 'cuz everyone’s alive at the end). I’ve seen all of them except Turandot and they’re all excellent. Puccini’s Manon Lescault, The Girl of the Golden West, and La Rondine also get produced with some frequency, and because they’re less popular it’ll be easiler to get tickets.
In a similar vein is Verdi. He’s also works in the same mode as Puccini and in which Bizet did Carmen. He wrote more than Puccini and IMO was less consistent, but most of his work that gets produced today is excellent. That includes Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Aida, Don Carlos, and Un Ballo in Maschera (The Masked Ball). I really liked that last one – it’s about intrigue at the court of King Riccardo of the United States.
Anything from those two you’re likely to enjoy. Stay away from Wagner as an initial matter. Once you’re more familiar with the form you can give it a shot. Also, most every opera you can think of has several CD versions available. That’s a good way to get an idea of what composers you like.
–Cliffy
I have tried to get into it. But the only composer who has had any lasting effect on my is Wagner. I never tire of it and I love how completely integrated his works are. And, to be honest, the geek in me loves the Ring Cycle.
I second Gilbert & Sullivan.
In the Mikado, the son of the Emperor has disguised himself as the third chair trombone in a traveling orchestra. He falls in love with the ward of the Lord High Executioner.
Son: “But what if I were no musician?”
Ward: “Oh, I knew it immediately I heard you play!”
My wife and i went to Carmen last year and loved it so we got season tickets this year. So far we have seen
Lohengren
Rigoletto
Manon Lescaut
If you are not a fan of opera anything by Wagner can be a bit hard to deal with, very long, very dramatic. I loved it but i can see that it’s not for everyone.
Rigoletto and Manon Lescaut were great and i would reccomend them to people just starting out.
Verdi fan here - but not to the exclusion of others.
For me, it helps to know the general story line but not think about it too much. The plots are all so convoluted and implausible (IMHO) that following them too closely detracts from the experience. Daytime TV soap operas are worthy of the name if only because their plots are also generally ridiculous.
Um …
Mozart wrote Le Nozze di Figaro (K. 492) in 1786.
Rossini wrote Le Barbier de Seville in 1816.