Most loved, hated etc

[ahinton]

"Handel" = "Early"?????

('slike calling Brahms' String Quartets "early" examples of the genre!)

Sure, but I suspect that "earlier than Adès" might be what was meant...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Nevertheless, early enough that whole swathes of the genre are still being disinterred, ferney.

Oh, goody - I love "swathes"!

(Handel's operas - as with everything else of his that I know - are among my "most loved".)

[Richard Barrett]

"Handel" = "Early"?????

I guess with GFH's examples coming about a quarter of the way through the history of opera so far, that might not be an unfair epithet.

Many of my favourite musical works are operas, but if I were asked whether I would describe myself as someone who generally liked opera I would have to say no.

[ahinton]

Oh, goody - I love "swathes"!

Perhaps - but when they're "disinterred"
They call to mind our Dick the Third.
Is "swathe" therefore an appropriate word
Or is it really just absurd?

I mean - can you actually "disinter" a "swathe"?...

[Richard Tarleton]

Struggled with the categories - what's the difference between love and cherish, for these purposes?, where do I fit in Gluck, Boris G, lots of my favourite Verdi - but I'm with verismissimo on Martha....Handel's Tamerlano the one time I've walked out of the ROH, nobody should have to endure that....My 3 favourite operas are M'singer, R'kavalier and Figaro, but couldn't fit them all in.

Opera I hate: Several Puccini (horrible mysogynistic plots)

Opera I think is overrated: Tosca

Opera I think is underrated: Martha

Opera I Love: Die Meistersinger

Opera I Cherish: Der Rosenkavalier

Guilty Pleasure: The Lily of Killarney

Opera I want to see revived: Martha

Opera that I first saw: Carmen (ROH, around 1968) - though a touring Fledermaus with piano a couple of years before that)

Opera I saw most recently: Parsifal

Greatest Opening: Das Rheingold

Greatest Ending: Tristan und Isolde

Greatest Opera of all time: Die Meistersinger

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I guess with GFH's examples coming about a quarter of the way through the history of opera so far, that might not be an unfair epithet.

Weeeeeelll ... OK, but the parallel with Brahms and the String Quartet genre still "holds", and I would imagine that people would find it odd to give the Brahms S4tets the epithet.

Many of my favourite musical works are operas, but if I were asked whether I would describe myself as someone who generally liked opera I would have to say no.

That sort-of describes my "position", too - except that, as recently about a third of my Live Music experiences have been of Operas, I think I'm getting fonder of the genre than I used to be. (Even at the beginning of this year, for example, I would never have thought that I would have spent such enjoyable evenings devoted to the Music of Rossini or Rimsky-Korsakoff!)

[Richard Barrett]

Whether something is considered an "early" or "late" example of a genre would depend, I guess, on where the centre of gravity along the timeline of that genre is considered to be - for example many might say that maybe the majority of "great works" in the string quartet genre were written before Brahms, but one wouldn't say the same about Handel, before whom there are only a handful of examples that have reached the general repertoire.

That sort-of describes my "position", too

For one thing, paraphrasing what someone once said about radio, the productions are often better if you can't see them. So I don't find myself with a hankering after live opera too often. Also, some of my favourite composers primarily wrote operas, I might prefer that they'd done something else but you can't have everything. Some composers find it the most inspiring area to work in, it seems. (Or is it that it's considered the pinnacle of achievement for the career-oriented composer?) But one big difference between previous times and this one is that before the twentieth century an opera composer was allowed to write a string of flops and near-misses before getting it right, and that seems no longer to be the case.

Anyway it's time for me to get back to listening through Saint François d'Assise which I started yesterday evening. I wonder whether this work would find its way onto many people's lists of favourite operas. The music is fantastic though.

[cloughie]

"Handel" = "Early"?????

('slike calling Brahms' String Quartets "early" examples of the genre!)

OK earlier, its earlier than Wagner, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini and many of the other suspects. ...and At my age and musical interests I'm not going to have the time to get into Handel's operas. And Handel's earlier than Brahms who wasn't into writing operas but did lots of other good things, like two super Piano Concerti!

[vinteuil]

.

... I think my favourite musical experiences are solo keyboard or chamber music - but I relish, yes, swathes of opera - Monteverdi, Handel, Lully, Rameau, Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, Weber, much of Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Strauss...

I find Fidelio and The Flying Dutchman hard to like.

[Hornspieler]

There is too much 'hate' and not enough 'love' in the world.

Reading these posts, I see that there are very few named that I have not played for.

I would name two that I have enjoyed: (a)"The Barber of Seville; for light hearted entertainment, and
(b) "Tosca" for sheer drama.

I once asked a viola player what it was like to play the Ring Cycle:

His reply:

"Well, the operas are very long so we have to start at 5.30pm. Two hours later, you look at your watch and it says Ten minutes to Six!

[Conchis]

.

... I think my favourite musical experiences are solo keyboard or chamber music - but I relish, yes, swathes of opera - Monteverdi, Handel, Lully, Rameau, Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, Weber, much of Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Strauss...

I find Fidelio and The Flying Dutchman hard to like.

Fidelio would have worked better as an oratorio, I've always felt.

[verismissimo]

... Even at the beginning of this year, for example, I would never have thought that I would have spent such enjoyable evenings devoted to the Music of Rossini or Rimsky-Korsakoff!

For me too: Rossini (and Bellini and Donizetti's comedies) in 2016. Rimsky (and Porpora) this year.

What joy it is to discover that music one thought one didn't enjoy is entrancing. Swathes of it.

[cloughie]

What does 'Guilty Pleasure' mean -why should anyone feel guilty or maybe ashamed about liking something?

[Conchis]

What does 'Guilty Pleasure' mean -why should anyone feel guilty or maybe ashamed about liking something?

A lot of Italian opera (particularly verismo) is fairly lowbrow stuff: lots of shabby little shockers. I love most of it and am dimly aware that I should feel guilty for preferring it to the 'elevated' likes of Mozart or (shudder) Handel's impossibly undramatic 'operas'. A bit like admitting you prefer listening to Kiss instead of Pink Floyd (which I do, to be honest)!

[verismissimo]

What does 'Guilty Pleasure' mean -why should anyone feel guilty or maybe ashamed about liking something?

I chose Arabella as my 'guilty pleasure', cloughie, because it's deeply misogynistic and seriously soppy too. But I love it.