I agree that seeing opera on DVD can be entertaining, but don’t let anyone tell you it’s a good representation of the live experience. If you don’t enjoy it on DVD, please do still give it a chance in person - I think you’ll be shocked at how different the experience is.
Two reasons:
No matter how good the sound on your setup is, what you’re hearing is still captured by microphones that are much closer to the performers than you would be in an opera house or concert hall. As a result, the voices tend to lose the “bloom of the room” as they say. It’s like looking at a painting too closely - you aren’t at the right focal length to experience it as it’s intended.
And the same is true for the acting. DVDs are filmed so that you can see the singers’ faces very clearly. Because of that the “big stage” acting tends to look extremely overblown and unrealistic.
The end result is that you often end up asking yourself “why is that woman’s mascara so ghastly, and why on earth is she screaming at me?!! I’m right here!!”
Having said that, I hope you enjoy whatever DVD you choose for your first!
I don’t really know much about opera, but my great-uncle is a musicologist; he specializes in the baroque period but can gush about Verdi for as long as you let him.
Given the enormous library of DVD and VHS opera performances he has, I’d say that yes, it’s worth it. One advantage I see over live opera is that it’s got - subtitles! Good editions come with the libreto as well (original and translation).
Comic operas (for example Das Fliedermaus or The Merry Widow) are often translated, but serious ones are not. Die Niebelungen is impressive whatever they’re saying, but it gains a lot when you actually have half an idea what the fuss is about.
You’ve seen lots of operas already. Their plots get recycled frequently.
LaBoheme was the first, and only, opera I’ve seen on a stage. It was fantastic. On DVD there will be english subtitles. Live on stage, there are english subtitles. When I went to the theatre I bought the libretto, (the text, in english) and read each act befor it started so I could watch the stage and only glimpse at the subtitles as needed.
I’ve watched and liked two “movie” operas very much and recommend them. They are La Traviata with Thresa Scala and Placido Domingo, and Il Pagliacci with the same two performers. As noted, when you watch an opera on television, you may see artists you may never see IRL - not only would it cost a fortune, but they may very well not be performing anymore.
Did Maria Callas ever film any operas? Now there’d be a doozy of a performance to see (hear).
For me, the best feature is the subtitles. I don’t speak Italian, French, or German, so I usually have no idea what’s happening without subtitles. Even when the singing is in English, the operatic style makes the words indecipherable. The one opera I’ve seen on the small screen is Carmen. I was riveted, and I understood for the first time what’s so great about Placido Domingo. I had liked listening to Carmen before, but I didn’t know how erotic the story was or how helpless Don Jose was under Carmen’s spell.
People have brought up subtitles as being a benefit of watching an opera on TV as opposed to live, but of all the operas I’ve ever seen performed, comic or serious, there have always been supertitles projected above the stage providing an English translation. Do watch them on DVD, a good opera is a good opera, and for those that don’t get performed often, a DVD is pretty much your only option, but don’t let not speaking the language prevent you from seeing one live.
a super ex gave me a super gift once and it was that on DVD NY met, with Levine, Eva Marton, Leona Mitchell, and Placido Domingo…i think you can get it for pretty cheep…its sounds excellent and the orchestra is ON. Ah! per l’ultima volta, at the end of act one KILLS!