[amg editor hat]
Thanks! (although there are important exceptions to that rule…like the original Opera Comique version of Carmen, etc…)
[/amg editor hat]
If we’re talking truly pared down and essential, here’s my list, from early stuff to contemporary:
(this is off the top of my head, so I’ll probably find something missing as soon as I post…)
-Claudio Monteverdi: either Orfeo (preferably conducted by Emmanuel Haïm, or John Eliot Gardiner) or *L’incoronazione di Poppea * (there’s an awesome live version starring David Daniels that is hard to find…but it’s my favorite)
-Georg Frideric Handel: *Giulio Cesare * (Julius Caesar) no particular recommendation
-W. A. Mozart: Gotta have both *Don Giovanni * and Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosí fan tutte is equally great, but less “perfect” in it’s way, so it’s optional. Personally, I think no one does *Giovanni * and Figaro better than John Eliot Gardiner on a purely musical level, but the singing is not to everyone’s taste, and he tunes down a half step on period instruments. If you want a grander and more conventional sound, try Georg Solti.
(if you want to branch out with Mozart a bit, try one of his serious operas - I'd start with *Idomeneo*. They're a very different experience.)
-Gioachino Rossini: *The Barber of Seville * and any one of his serious operas, like Semiramide. If you dig the Barber, also try The Italian Girl in Algiers, etc.
-Donizetti: *The Elixir of Love * and Lucia di Lammermoor. My favoriete Elixir is Roberto Alagna’s on Erato (very early in his career - very fresh). Don’t have one for Lucia.
-Vincenzo Bellini: either Norma or La Sonnambula. Go with Maria Callas, whatever you do. You won’t regret it as long as you don’t stumble into a live performance recorded from the 10th row on someone’s tape recorder.
-Georges Bizet: Carmen. Domingo is a good starting point when looking for a recording.
-Jules Massenet: Werther and Manon. Seriously beautiful stuff.
-Giuseppe Verdi: The big man. Gotta have lots. Rigoletto, Aida, La Traviata, Otello, and Falstaff would be my picks for the essentials. I won’t waste a page of space trying to recommend my favorites…
-Richard Wagner: I’m going to go bare-bones here and just recommend hearing Tristan and Isolde. It encapsulates everything that was innovative about Wagner and contains the famous “Liebestod”. Some might think the Ring Cycle is necessary, but I think it’s overkill. Parsifal and Die Meistersinger, as well as the *Flying Dutchman * are all indelibly great, but we’re making a small list here…
-Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci Whatever recording you buy is likely to come bundled with **Pietro Mascagni’s ** Cavelleria Rusticana, so if you get both you’ll be well covered for the turn-of-the-century verismo style.
-Giacomo Puccini: Gotta have La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. Anything else of his is exponentially less popular. If you haven’t heard these operas - you will like them. No one doesn’t. (ok, there has to be someone out there…)
-George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess. Go with Simon Rattle. And yes, Porgy is an opera, not a musical. People argue about it, and there was a broadway version, but it deserves to be here.
-Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
-Peter Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
-Claude Debussy: Pelleas et Melisande
-Maurice Ravel: L’enfant et les sortilèges
-Sergey Prokofiev: The Love of Three Oranges
-Kurt Weill: *The Threepenny Opera * and Street Scene.
-Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes. I’d also recommend The Turn of the Screw, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Billy Budd, and Albert Herring, but Grimes was the breakthrough work.
-Gian Carlo Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors is the only one that gets played often, though it is arguably not as good as some others.
-Samuel Barber: Vanessa
-Carlisle Floyd: Susanna
-John Adams: Nixon in China
-Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach. It’s long…
brain dying…must stop now…(but there is lots of new stuff I’d like to recommend. Maybe later…)
Look no further than the Italians: