Back home, I went to the opera for 10 years ... and I don't consider myself appreciative of the genre at all. Actually, to this day I find it parts of it really annoying. A friend asked me to keep her company, the student discounts were amazing (they somehow never realized I had graduated :), and I just kept going.
The visual spectacle is key, I really went for the staging, sets and acting. What made it a great experience was when I recognized the music, filtered as it's become through mass culture and advertising. (I can't *tell* you how funny it was to discover that most of the music in Carmen was known to me from an episode of Gilligan's Island ... and Warner Brothers/Bugs Bunny cartoons are another topic entirely.)
It all depends on who's in it and who's directing it of course, but I think you'd rarely go wrong with anything by Verdi or Mozart. La Traviata is a good one, and you won't be able to stop humming "The Drinking Song." You need to be careful with Wagner, it can be great or a real dud. And there's always Gilbert and Sullivan for a good time, depending on whether or not you consider it opera. (I don't care, it's always funny. :)
In Edmonton the opera had a great sub-titling system. You could hear the rhythms of the original language, and read just enough to keep up with the story. I don't know if they have the same system here, but I hope so. Really juicy melodramatic opera sounds dignified when sung in the original, but kinda silly when translated into English.
If you ever need an opera buddy, you know who to call! :)
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branchandroot
A non-opera buff's guide to opera ...
Date: 2005-04-04 14:47 (UTC)The visual spectacle is key, I really went for the staging, sets and acting. What made it a great experience was when I recognized the music, filtered as it's become through mass culture and advertising. (I can't *tell* you how funny it was to discover that most of the music in Carmen was known to me from an episode of Gilligan's Island ... and Warner Brothers/Bugs Bunny cartoons are another topic entirely.)
It all depends on who's in it and who's directing it of course, but I think you'd rarely go wrong with anything by Verdi or Mozart. La Traviata is a good one, and you won't be able to stop humming "The Drinking Song." You need to be careful with Wagner, it can be great or a real dud. And there's always Gilbert and Sullivan for a good time, depending on whether or not you consider it opera. (I don't care, it's always funny. :)
In Edmonton the opera had a great sub-titling system. You could hear the rhythms of the original language, and read just enough to keep up with the story. I don't know if they have the same system here, but I hope so. Really juicy melodramatic opera sounds dignified when sung in the original, but kinda silly when translated into English.
If you ever need an opera buddy, you know who to call! :)