I’m a big Wagner fan, so s big YES to the Ring cycle. My favorite scene is from “Die Walkure,” when Wotan puts Brunnhilde into an enchanted sleep in the Magic Fire Circle, and Brunnhilde asks Wotan that none but a hero should be the one to awake her.
I also love “Tristan und Isolde” and “Tannhauser” (most of the tunes used in “What’s Opera, Doc” come from this opera, with a bit of “Der Fliegende Hollander” and the Ring mixed in.)
Other operas I love include
Aida
Tosca
Einstein on the Beach
Nixon in China
Die Zauberflute
I don’t really like listening to Opera, I need to see it.
I loved “Turandot,” “Xerxes,” “Don Giovanni,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” and “The Magic Flute,” that I’ve seen - I saw “Die Fledermaus” once, and it was pretty good, except Alfred walked on stage and all I could think is “wow, is he gay,” it hurt his romantic credibility.
I’ve always loved Verdi’s “La Traviata” best. Besides having some achingly beautiful arias, it has the benefit of having all the best areas in the first third of the opera. If you start falling asleep halfway through, be assured you’ve already heard the finest of the fine music.
And chalk up another “Nozze di Figaro” fan here. Can there be any finer arias around than Cherubino’s two sons?
Au contraire.
The lietmotif for Siegfried is first heard when Brunhilde bids Sieglinde to flee to the East from Wotan’s wrath,and then exclaims the childs name should be,“Siegfried,Joyous in victory!”
On the whole, though, I’m kind of ashamed that I don’t know opera as well as I should (although I’m quite well-schooled in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, natch…)
I am far too poor to be an opera fan, so I’ve never had the chance to actually see one, but my favorites, unconventional as they may be, are “Porgy and Bess” by Gershwin and “Pelleas et Melisande” by Debussy. I’ve never really liked Wagner, I think Mozart gets a little carried away on repeating the same sentences sometimes, but I think Bizet could definitely make the tunes.
Dido and Aeneas is my favourite opera (and it is even in English). It is fairly light sounding (no Brumhildas) and a nice baroque opera overall. For those that don’t like opera generally, baroque opera is the way to go as it tends to be a lot more accessible.
Alas, I’ve never had a chance to go see an opera, but I’m rather fond of the music from Wagner’s Ring and Orf’s Carmina Burana. Yeah, I like it kind of heavy :).
[qquote]Au contraire.
The lietmotif for Siegfried is first heard when Brunhilde bids Sieglinde to flee to the East from Wotan’s wrath,and then exclaims the childs name should be,“Siegfried,Joyous in victory!”
[/quote]
So true, which I discovered when I was listening the other night.
I hope you bought a good supply of Visine. It hit me about 45 minutes into the film; these people do not blink!!! Maybe about a dozen blinks through the whole film. But yeah, it’s a great opera.
Small note - Check the intermission section with the Queen of the Night standing backstage smoking a cigarette under the “No Smoking” sign - talk about staying in character.
