Opera Lover's Thread

Post Reply New Topic

Post (or listen) to the best opera has to offer. People who like opera, please share links to videos of your favourite opera performances. I'll kick things off.

First opera CD I ever owned was a Madama Butterfly CD that was actually left in a rental car that I had when I was on my first trip to USA. I drove a blue Ford Mustang ! !! from Sacremento to Santa Rosa and then to San Fransisco then back to Sacremento. Left in the glove box was a double CD of Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti (in the lead roles) along with Christa Ludwig and Robert Kerns. It is what practically sealed my fate as an opera lover. Here is a video from youtube with Mirella Freni singing Un bel di, vedremo from (of course) Puccini - Madam Butterfly. While not strictly speaking the greatest butterfly ever, the one thing that was given to me by this performance was the way emotion and music and beauty could almost be the same thing.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=CHFDaWFj3fY[/youtube]

Secondly, the way many people were introduced to Nessun Dorma was by that guy from Britain's got talent or some such. Here is the way it was MEANT to sound!! ! soo much better....

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Eg-59NoES2o[/youtube]

YouTube of course, isn't the best place for musical clarity... but I would love to see other people's love of opera. It is of course a beautiful medium... so share away all you opera lovers. What is your favourite aria/artist. And if you can't find it on YouTube/google video/meta cafe or any number of others, post your second favourite video and TELL us about your favourite...

I have heard there are very few videos of this, so I'm not going to look. But Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is not only brilliant, but it caused riots when it first opened in Paris. Granted, this was just before the first world war started, and tensions were great in Europe anyway (to put it lightly). But for me, to know that music has such power over human emotion...that just makes it so much better. It begins with "savage" sounding drums, and a virgin sacrifice. I love Stravinsky

By the way, thank you for starting this post immediately after I watched Life is Beautiful for the twelfth time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_0wPYFp9A[/youtube]

Largo al factotum ("Make way for the factotum") is an aria from The Barber of Seville by Gioacchino Rossini.

Here is John Rawnsley, a Briton.

The inspiration for posting this one is seeing the Barber Of Seville by Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd yesterday on the cartoon shows we have here.

No one seems to be posting back Ahhh well, I'll continue to entertain myself then

Angela Gheorghiu - Sempre Libera - La Traviata - Verdi
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9CzZjIK6iA[/youtube]

And of course her husband Roberto Alagna who famously walked off stage in the middle of a performance to be replaced by an understudy in jeans and a shirt.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b111DMgtl3Q[/youtube]

Here he is in a much better performance with "Che gelida manina" (La Boheme) - 1995... well, he isn't booed offstage in this one at any rate.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNSyvPN7EPQ[/youtube]

I have not seen "life is beautiful" but I think I'll pick it up in the post-christmas sales If I can find it. From the clips I have seen on youtube it looks pretty good.

If you can deal with the harsh bits of holocaust in it. Roberto Benigni treats the entire thing with such whimsicality, though. I don't see how anyone can find it unbearable
Life is Beautiful is actually one of the only films I get emotional about, it's that good.

(I'm not much of an opera buff, but I enjoy this thread)

Okies, doesn't seem to be any contributors yet... ah well, I'll keep going

Now is a piece from Rachmaninoff. While it is not strictly Opera as such, it is a piece that used nothing but the human voice. This piece is very dear to me because it was what, in concrete terms, lead to my love of classical music in general. And I believe laid the foundations that would eventually culminate in my love of opera. I, of course, am talking about vocalise.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU8RwT8ODHA[/youtube]

There is such sadness in this piece, but such hope. To me it speaks of an intense longing. As if her heart has accepted that the man she wished she could find is never to be hers... but that she will continue on that she may be worthy of him if ever that day did arrive, even if she has to wait an eternity or find it a moment from death...

Well, someone mentioned Stravinsky. I offer The Rake's Progress with probably my favorite singer -- Dawn Upshaw. She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I love her voice and her choices of repertiore. She's a regular at the Met.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo2LtFXlgA8[/youtube]

Also, here is a memorable performance for me by Kathleen Battle. I saw her sing this role at the Met. I was a little disappointed when she was banned from the place for being an insufferable diva. She's quite delicious in this scene. And I like Strauss.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDeO5P-nhB0[/youtube]

I'm not a big fan of opera. I love classical music, but 19th century opera often grates on me. (Too much screaming and preposterous drama.) I really need to be in the mood. For this reason, I've always loved an opera that opera people hate -- Debussy's Pelleas. It's an anti-opera, but the music is exquisite. It washes over you like la mer, no?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEUjQVueBAo[/youtube]

Yeah man, I love Oprah!! ! Especially when Dr. Oz is...oh wait a sec. (walks silently back)