Favourite Opera

>>1884323
Carmen

So far, La Traviata.

>>1884323
Verdi does some good ones if were talking about grand opera.

The Yeomen of the Guard is probably the best English opera (it isnt a grand opera, but it isnt an operetta or musical comedy either)

>>1884586
I'm adding to my post to keep the thread alive and discuss why I like Yeomen so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIQDPJIUvhY

I'll start with some of my favorite songs, this one is probably my most favorite. The character singing is Colonel Fairfax, who isn't really the "main" character so to speak, since there aren't any, but he's one of the most important ones. He's sentenced to death for supposed witchcraft because of inheritance politics and the associated intrigue, and when some of his friends who work in the Tower of London (where he is being kept) he consoles them about his impending death (or so they think) by saying that he doesn't really mind it too much. The song itself is probably one of the most beautiful instances of the English language set to music, it flows even better than Italian here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jHNqnDfN8o

This song is the superstitious and plain old Dame Carruthers singing the praises and history of the Tower of London with the Yeomen Warders. It reveals something of a bloodthirsty side to her character and it helps establish a bit of the oppressive atmosphere of the tower itself, giving it context in the way that it looms over everyone like a cloud of death. It's basically a character of its own. Also it's a contralto number and there aren't enough of those.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obUD-7YyYo0

This quartet requires a bit of context. Jack Point (the Jester) is in love with his partner Elsie who is in love with Colonel Fairfax who escaped execution disguised as Leonard Meryll, the brother of the the other woman (Phoebe Meryll) who is in love with Fairfax and knows that it's him because she helped bust him out of prison. Jack wanted Leonard to help him woo Elsie so that they could be married, but Fairfax had different plans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmIh7JtzaYM

The opera is made in its final scene, where the happy ending is brought on its head when one thinks of everyone losing out

>>1884418
This or the Rape of Lucretia

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>>1885692
Really the opera was something of a reversal of most operettas and comic operas at the time, which would start light, become tragic, and then everything is sorted out in a wedding where everybody is married.

Yeomen starts grim, becomes light hearted but also confused, and at the ending nobody ends up with the partner they want (sometimes even becoming betrothed to people they loathe in the case of Phoebe) except for Elsie and Fairfax.

There is some debate over whether Jack Point is supposed to die at the end of Yeomen. The libretto only instructs him to "fall insensible" but many performers who worked with W.S. Gilbert (notably Henry A. Lytton) said that when asking, Gilbert had intended for Point to die, but the original actor (George Grossmith) was too much of an established comedian for it to work in a way that the audience took it seriously. Many of the actors playing Point on tour took the liberty to have him die, which made it so that the London audiences saw what may have been a completely different opera from what the others saw.

>>1884323
The Magic Flute, Pirates of Penzance, Nixon in China, Einstein on the Beach and HMS Pinafore are all my favorites.

Bump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjfrxG0Y6NU

>>1885692
>>1885714
We got a scholar over here!

I really like Rigoletto. I love how the duke just shat all over Rigoletto both intentionally and unintentionally.

>>1886257
just how do you shit on someone both intentionally and unintentionally?

>>1886276
The Duke of Mantua stole the guys daughter intentionally and then also caused her death intentionally. He really trolled that hunchback guy.

>>1886307
The second intentionally should be unintentionally.

>>1884323
Figaro, Wozzeck, From the House of the Dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeQKHqUO2_k

>>1884323
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ma4OelX45I

>>1884323
Don Giovanni.

I listen to literally nothing but Mozart.

Der Ring des Nibelungen.

>>1884323
Turandot>>1887747
They're was recently an encore of a met performance of Don Giovanni in theaters, it was really good

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>>1884323
Carmen because the lead character is a slut and does a striptease.

Tannhauser

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Einstein on the Beach

I don't believe that people who haven't seen a live performance actually like the opera. When taken in all at once though it's an absolutely life-changing experience that's gone beyond any art I've ever seen or heard.

Too bad they only do a live production once every ~20 years.

>>1889808
A distant second favorite.

>>1891697
Well, I guess I should say that Siegfried is a distant second favorite, since the ring cycle is 4 operas.

Turandot.

>>1891697
The surrealism of Einstein on the Beach is hard for many to get in to.

Tristan

>>1884418
I AM THE WIFE OF MAO TSE-TUNG

Doctor Atomic isn't my favorite opera as a wohle, but this is one of my favorite pieces ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlUHKHLk_VU

>>1892869
I'm guessing it's about the inventor of the atomic bomb regretting what he has made?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qTaeF9x8wk

I love the energy of this whole work

>>1893449
The opera does deal with his struggle to come to terms with his role in the creation of the bomb and what the bomb will/could be used for, yeah.

Cliche, but, Madama Butterfly.

It helps that the first production I saw had a great cast. Even the little girl playing the son was fantastic--she was only 4 but she actually interacted with the other actors and didn't just do the "stand perfectly straight and stare ahead until an adult moves you around" that is common with kids playing the son.

Also got to see Noah Stewart, which was fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQyTrAeXtzY

>>1893561
That's pretty awesome conceptually, then.

>>1887747
Patrician taste detected.