By Bob Strauss
Rate: (5 Ratings)
In this age of “American Idol,” most people know opera—if they know the word at all—as an antiquated staging of musty eighteenth-century melodies, featuring enormous, bosomy divas who strut across the stage and bellow in strange languages before dying flamboyantly in the final act. In the long run, though, you can be sure that opera—which has a nearly 500-year history—will be remembered long after Justin Timberlake has been relegated to dust. Here’s a quick guide to sampling this much-neglected art form at an opera house near you.
Comments
DaositCheetah said
on 7/6/2008 "... a fan of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” will be unable to tolerate an atonal opus like Berg’s “Wozzeck.”"
I'm not sure why you make this assumption but I enjoy the music of both of those operas.
paulo said
on 12/14/2007 This is a very well written article.I am presently in a troubled state, having been asked to join an elitist opera group.My interest is there,but I fear embarrassing the person that recommended me,as well as myself.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 Opera needn't be expensive. You can often see and hear better from the first balcony than from more expensive seats.
Also, there is no reason to fear Wagner! If you enjoyed the "Lord of the Rings" movies, for example, and are open to the sounds of a symphony orchestra, then you will like Wagner's "Ring"! Try "Die Walkure", which includes the famous "Ride of the Valkyries"!
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 Consider reading about the life of a great opera composer. Verdi should be a very good start, Puccini may work as well. Realize how the making of an opera was the result of a complicated process, where everything in the partitas has a meaning and not just text put on a nice melody. Interesting and useful will be also reading about the very beginnings. How the need to imitate human speaking and emotions in the form of simple but effective rhetoric figures, has leaded to a genre such as the madrigal and later opera. Research Monteverdi in this regard.