How to pick an opera to watch for the first time (ft. the ULTIMATE opera beginner's list)
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- čas přidán 6. 07. 2024
- THE ULTIMATE BEGINNER’S OPERA LIST
1.LENGHT Puccini operas on the shortish side (2h) that will 100% show up in any Theater: Tosca and La Boheme
SHORT OPERAS under 1H
Trouble in Tahiti / Bernstein (45’)
The telephone / Menotti (25’)
Bluebeard’s Castle / Bartok (1h)
Dido and Eneas / Purcell (55’)
L’heure espagnole / Ravel / (55’)
Il Trittico / Puccini / (50’ each)
Der Kaiser von Atlantis / Ullman (50’)
Bastien und Bastienne / Mozart (50’)
L’enfant et les sortilèges / Ravel (50’)
La Voix Humaine / Poulenc (50')
under 2H
Pagliacci / Leoncavallo (1 h 15’)
The turn of the screw / Britten (1h 45’)
Curlew River / Britten (1h 15’)
Iolanta / Tchaikovsky / (1h 40’)
Orfeo et Euridice / Gluck (1h 30’)
Cavalleria Rusticana / Mascagni / (1h20’)
Acis and Galatea / Haendel (1h30’)
Hansel und Gretel / Humperdinck (1h55’)
Salome/ Strauss (1h40’)
Elektra / Strauss (1h50’)
In the penal colony / Glass (1h20’)
Kata Kabanova / Janacek (1h40’)
Les pecheurs de perles / Bizet (1h50’)
The cunning Little Vixen / Janacek (1h45’)
The nose / Shostakovich (1h50’)
Wozzeck / Berg (1h40’)
2.LANGUAGE: operas and composers in languages that are not Italian, French or German
ENGLISH: Anything by Britten (“Turn of the screw”, “Albert Herring”, “The rape of Lucretia”, Peter Grimes) / “The rake’s progress” ( Stravinsky) / “Porgy and Bess” ( Gershwin) /“Nixon in China” (Adams) / “Written on skin” (George Benjamin) / “Angels in America” (Péter Eötvös) / “Dido and Eneas” ( Purcell) / “Anna Nicole” (Turnage) / Anything by Maxwell Davies / Anything by Bernstein ( “Candide”, “Trouble in Tahiti”) / “Fire shut up my bones” Terence Blanchard / "Little Women" by Mark Adamo / "Vanessa" by Barber
SPANISH: “Beatrix Cenci” ( Ginastera) / “La vida breve” ( Manuel de Falla) / “Goyescas” ( Granados)/ “Bomarzo” ( Ginastera) “Maria de Buenos Aires” ( Piazzolla)/ “La ciudad ausente” ( Gandini) / "Circe" (Ruperto Chapi) / "Las Golondrinas" (Usandizaga) / "Marina" ( Arrieta) / "La dolores" (Breton) / "Adios a la Bohemia" (Sorozabal)
CZECH: “The bartender Bride” ( Smetana)/ “Brundibar” ( Krasa )/ “The cunning little Vixen”, “Jenufa”, “Katia Kabanova” ( Janacek)/ “Rusalka “(Dvorak)
RUSSIAN: anything by Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Glinka, Shostakovich.
PORTUGUESE: some of Antonio Carlos Gomes operas (make sure you check before watching cause some of them are in Italian )
POLISH: Szymanowski's "King Roger"
OTHER: Glass's "Satyagraha" (Sanskrit), "Akhnaten" (mostly syllabic)
3.MUSICAL LANGUAGE
BAROQUE STYLE ( i.e if you like Vivaldi’s 4 seasons): composers like Händel, Purcell, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Charpentier, Rameau, Lully
ROMANTIC STYLE (i.e. you like melodic, romantic music): between 1830 and 1900, give or take. Mostly Italian repertoire ( Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Puccini), some French ( Bizet, Massenet, Gounod) also Tchaikovsky and Dvorak.
DARKER/ ATONAL ( i.e. you like scary movies soundtrack): from 1920 onwards. Salome and Elektra by Strauss, anything by Berg, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Britten, Poulenc, Zimmerman, Lygetti, Eötvös, Reimann, Berio, Glass, most living composers.
JAZZ and CABARET: anything by Kurt Weil, Bernstein, Gershwin, Weinberger's "Fruhlingssturme"
4.PLOT
COMEDY: most of Rossini’s operas, Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro, “Don Giovanni” and “Cosi fan Tutte”, “A midsummer’s night dream” and “Albert Herring” by Britten, “L’elisir d’amore” and “Don Pasquale” by Donizetti, “Gianni Schichi” by Puccini, “Falstaff” by Verdi, “Ariadne auf Naxos” and “Rosenkavalier” by Strauss.
ROMANTIC: follow the romantic musical style composers and you’ll be on the money ( but mostly I’d say Puccini, Verdi, Bizet and Massenet)
DARK/SOCIAL COMMENTARY: follow the darker/atonal composers…The closer you get to our times the more likely you are to find current topics, like in “Anna Nicole” by Turnage, “Dr Atomic” and “Nixon in China” by Adams, “Angels in America” by Eötvös, “Fire shut up my bones” by Terence Blanchard
I want to expand the list as much as possible, so pitch in your suggestions and ill add them to the list! Mostly looking for shortish operas and operas in non-typical languages! Please make it something you personally saw or have seen programmed (wikipedia searches tend to give opera titles that you will never actually see performed so not very usefull).
If you look for a light opera for beginners I would suggest an Offenbach operetta, always funny!
The greatest opera ever written is probably Tristan und Isolde. That piece is absolutely ethereal.
I totally agree.
I was in the Opera yesterday. It was Carmen, one of my favorites. I think it is one of the best operas for beginners. It has a lot of catchy songs many people have already heard without knowing it. It might be a bit longer in lenght but it‘s easy to digest. There is a reason it is one of the most famous ones after all ;)
Carmen was the first opera I ever saw, so definitely agree with you 💃🏻
I watched my first opera a year ago for an assignement in school, it was Verdis Don Carlos (from a DVD from the libary with Rolando Villazon (I think from London Opera or so)) and it was really great, so I watched it again (Not all 4h in once) also with my sister (who normally hates classical music). So even I don't Like much romantic films, I like la Traviata, Don Carlos and so much, so Just try. And I can recommend looking at the libary for some DVDs (you also often can already See from the cover if you like the style of performing(Like old/more new and stuff)
Don Carlo is one of my absolute favorites, and I know exactly which version you mean because I loved it so much I bought the DVD! I struggle to recommend it for first time viewers because it is quite long ( even for me sometimes) but if anyone comes across that ROH version is worth the try because the acting by the entire cast is so good! So glad you came across it and now love it too :)
When I started to listen to pop, back in the 1960's (age 10 >) I mostly enjoyed instrumental music. When a relation to be, introduced me to classical it was by pointing out that the beat was just as strong (Sibelius - Karelia Suite). I got into classical music. Somehow I started enjoying opera, and because I know no other languages, I heard the voices as instruments. Now it's just love and living with those who don't realise that The Beatles are the classical music of our age
I do love Russian 19th century operas a lot, especially those of Rimsky Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin and Glinka. To me they seem to be pretty unique in many aspects (that might be totally subjective of course): Very colourful orchestration, catchy and recognizable motifs (often inspired by folk songs it seems) and often a lot of choir and ballet scenes. And those operas were the first ones I fell in love with (I never saw any of those operas live though as they are rarely performed outside of Russia). On the other hand, I still struggle to really enjoy many italian 19th/early 20th century operas with the notable exception of Turandot (more interesting harmonies, more choir scenes) and Tosca.
I started listening "tracks" and than recitals. later I felt some kind of urge to understand the concept that created this music. At the beginning it was not that important to understand the language. It was/is just beautiful. It was a very charming journey motivated from inside. But it took time. It was a mater months.
Love your videos! And thank you so much for the list 💕
thanks a lot, glad you enjoy them :)
Thank you for your time to this and your experience share. This is great content
Thanks for watching ;)
Thank you for your comments as they are very helpful. Opera is such a great art form. I think it has it all, great singing, interesting story lines, magnificent customs depicting the era for which the opera was written.. Also love the acting involved, and the unique stage settings, etc.
My initial opera experience was with Mozart. Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute and it went very smooth. My only advice: never start with Wagner! lol
My first was Trovatore when I was 12, and it's a very good starter opera. I'd probably recommend Tosca, Carmen or Don Giovanni to anyone. Or Eugene Onegin but I'd make them watch the Leaf Magic Production.
My absolute favourite is Simon Boccanegra. It feels like it was very personal to Verdi, and the music is just heaven (I love baritones and basses so most of my top 5 are deep voice heavy operas).
Omg, THANK YOU!
I was looking for new operas to check out recently and this video will be my guide to listening to them, language by language.
A hint! Here in Latin America, where I live (Brazil) we have a great opera composer called 'Antônio Carlos Gomes', who wrote operas in Portuguese! I recommend his works for everyone! =)
Thanks so much, I’ll add it to the list right now :)
Thank you for this video Anna! I'm new to your channel (I first saw you on 'Together with Classical' - I know, I'm a bit late) and although I love opera, I'm always looking for suggestions on tackling the repertoire for novices - breaking it down like you did is something I never thought of! I'm pretty young, so don't have a full handle on the canon, but just a few thoughts, by the categories:
1) Your short opera list is amazing (I can't believe I forgot the Ullmann when I made my list in my head)! The only one which I would add (which is in a manageable style) is Poulenc's "La Voix Humaine" - I don't generally rate Poulenc, but I think his operas are far and away his best works.
2) If anyone is looking for an opera in Polish, one of the first operas I ever saw live was Szymanowski's "King Roger" - some people may find the plot a little slow, but it is an interesting and undoubtedly fine work, especially musically. Also, my favourite Janacek opera would probably be "The Makropoulos Affair", which is very interestingly constructed with as unique a plot as one may find. Philip Glass has done some interesting things with language in opera; "Satyagraha" is in Sanskrit, while "Akhnaten" (apart from one number) is essentially syllabic - look, no language!
With regards to English, Britten's "Billy Budd" is a masterpiece; one of the most spine-chilling choral numbers ever ("This is our moment") and a masterclass in how to write for male voices. I think the greatest opera to come out of the U.S.A. is Barber's "Vanessa", though I'm so glad that you mentioned "Nixon in China"! The only competitor with those two in my opinion in recent years is Corigliano's "The Ghosts of Versailles"; it seems to have polarised people, but I really rate it as a masterpiece.
Finally I have to give a shout-out now to my old composition teacher, Nicholas Vines; he wrote a chamber opera (which is also less than two hours long) called "Loose, Wet, Perforated": challenging but manageable music with a bitingly satirical libretto (in the live recording on CZcams, one can hear the sounds of stifled laughter).
3) For the Romantic Italians, the one name I would add is Zandonai. "Francesca da Rimini" is the best Italian opera ever, in my opinion, and if it's staged nearby, it cannot be missed (why no-one is willing to advocate for it I do not understand). Another composer you could add to the Jazz/Cabaret category is Weinberger; "Fruhlingssturme" became my favourite operetta immediately after I saw it.
4) I think that here you may be able to add a whole other category: Myths and Fairy Tales (or something similar). the ABC Classic website had a post on a similar subject to this video, and mentioned just how much sway in popular culture superhero movies hold. Anyone who likes this genre may like Wagner ("Lohengrin" and the "Ring" cycle especially), Richard Strauss ("Die Frau Ohne Schatten" jumps to mind) or maybe even Zemlinsky ("Der Zwerg" is based on a short story by Oscar Wilde).
I have long thought that if I had to suggest one opera to newcomers, it would be Strauss' "Salome"; the surtitles take care of the language, and it completely quashes the stilted, artificial stereotype of opera which Ed Gardner (not the conductor) stated: "Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings". Most importantly though, I think it's the best opera ever from the perspective of construction. I've long held the view that there is no point in people seeing their first opera and it being a bad one - because there are, undoubtedly, countless bad operas - because that could shape their views from then on. Perhaps the best way to change the standard operatic repertoire for the better starts with people who have never seen an opera before?
Anyway, I've rambled on enough now; thanks so much Anna once again!
thank you for all the suggestions you made, I will definitely add them, and it certainly does not sound like you "don't have a full handle on the canon", but quite the opposite actually! :)
@@howimettheopera Haha you are too kind, Anna! I am much younger than you though, and don't know the most popular operas well at all - besides, I can only dream of becoming a conductor :) I'm so glad I stumbled across your channel, and I look forward to catching up on your videos!
Great video! For me, I avoided opera for such a long time because I didn't like what you mention in the video: the 'operatic voice '. But what I've come to realize more recently is that it's not the operatic voice itself, but more narrowly, a surprisingly common type of vibrato in opera which (for me) makes it difficult to locate the intended pitch - or where it just seems to always be going a bit sharp (especially noticable when I'm listening to Verdi and the orchestra is playing along with the same melody as the vocalist...and the two don't match).. I think for some people this might not matter as much, because they prioritize the passionate delivery, acting, and power of the vocals, but I can't bear it (maybe if it's a minor character, but if it's a lead, then it's like torture for me). It took listening to some truly pitch-perfect sopranos/tenors/baritones to realize that it made all the difference in the world in the enjoyment of it. So, now when I want to listen to an opera on CZcams, I'll just fast forward to some of the principles' arias to see if I enjoy the voices and go from there. Tough thing for opera is: there's so much more that can go wrong. There can be a wonderful soprano but wobbly tenor or visa versa. The chorus can also be on or off. But when everything is top-notch, great lead singing, acting, chorus, direction, orchestra, conducting- then it's magical!
Thanks for your comment: I would suggest try listening to more baroque operas (like Gluck or Monteverdi); in general this repertoire has much "smaller" voices (because the orchestra was also smaller and so the potency required wasn't as much) and many times is sang with very little vibrato
''Yerma,'' by Villa-Lobos (Brazilian Portuguese)
What do you folks think of Janacek's "Cunning Little Vixen"? I have the book illustrated by Sendak and I wonder if I'll like the opera. I didn't really like the story in the book so the music will have to be good...
Thanks for another great video :) I wanted to ask as well, how likely is it to like an opera based on one or 2 arias from it? For example I have listened so many times to 3 arias from Borodin's Prince Igor and I love them, does this mean that I will most likely enjoy the whole opera or does music change a lot during the one oeuvre?
On the contrary, I would say if you like arias you will definitely enjoy the opera! Also it will give the arias you already love a lot of context in a story and probably make them more impactful with the context of what’s happening and what the characters are going through! I just had a quick look and there is an official version available on the EuroArts CZcams channel, sadly without subtitles but it may be worth a try!
What a great question!! I agree with every word in Anna's reply!!:)
I came to opera as an adult from a working class family and have some thoughts here. It does depend a lot on the kind of person but when I'm introducing somebody to opera, I go for a Bel Canto comedy. Usually Le Fille du Regiment or the Barber of Seville.
They're light, ornamental and impressive. But they can be difficult to find live compared to Romantic operas. Lots of streams though.
On the other hand, I took one friend to a few and showed him some on streams and he didn't really 'get it' until we watched Handel's Agrippina. He really connected with the excess of baroque opera and I had assumed somebody unfamiliar with it wouldn't. But that excess is absolutely my favourite part of opera.
The other one I sometimes go with is, as you mentioned, Rigoletto (and my first proper opera). The division between recitative and aria is thin, which is an easy listen, and the series of duets it is based around are pleasing to listen to and that quartet near the end is great.
Gianni Schicchi is also light and short. But it is usually paired with other pieces so isn't so short on the whole.
Thanks for the comment, it’s always great to hear personal experiences regarding “first operas”.
This is SO personal!! I also love bel canto comedies (and even more than watching them I just LOVE singing them ha ha:)) - but the production has to be TOP!!:)
However, Carmen was the first opera I saw at the age of 16. I think It's a good opera to start with because the music is so very well known. Also the set and costumes usually are dazzling in Carmen:)
An English language opera I've liked is Little Women by Mark Adamo, probably because I also liked the book by Louisa May Alcott. It's somewhere on CZcams.
Thanks a lot for commenting, I didn't know this opera and its going straight to my watch list! (and I'm adding it to the ultimate list rn too)
I also love the novel, the movie, and I LOVE this opera!!! The music is heartbreaking- so moving!!!
My biggest problem is the super cliché LENGTH. I watched Figarro in 7 takes, don Giovanni in 4 and have made it through only 30 mins into Zauberflöte in the only take. But still i do it in installments. The thing is that i don't get much watch time as i get to listen. I can listen to the whole Matthäus-Passion in one go but can't watch Carmen at once.
Then comes the issue of language. Watching in different language is not a "problem", but i very easily lose track of story if i don't understand the words. That's why i really need subtitles and guess what, MANY RECORDINGS DON'T OFFER THEM.
But yeah, i listen to music for music's sake and if i see that ___ opera has great music inspite of being 6 hours long and being in Russian, I'll still find a way to finish it, no worries even if it takes a month.
no Tannhauser? Julius Ceasar?
I'm currently working on composing my first opera. I was not asked to compose this opera. I just want to try composing an opera. If you give me your email, can I send you the libretto for it?
Manuel de Falla