La Boheme

[Cockney Sparrow]

My introduction to opera was Das Rheingold....everything else was a bit of a comedown after that.

In my 20's I asked for a recommendation, and acting on it, went to Der Rosenkavalier. Took me a while to get back to Strauss in the opera house, which was a shame (worked my way back via the orchestral tone poems and 4 Last Songs). At the time I didn't relate to the style at all, almost falling asleep "waking up" for the last 20 minutes or so, the final trio and closing scene. As a result I approached Wagner with caution - which was of course very well worth it in the end......

[Ferretfancy]

Yes I think so because it is short and full of good tunes . I know quite a few people introduced to the love of opera by Boheme and quite a few put off by longer and less easy to enjoy works .

The only other opera that immediately springs to mind as a first experience is Carmen.

My first opera experience was of all things, Ariadne auf Naxos! I hadn't a clue about what was going on but I was at Sadlers Wells on a freebie!

[Conchis]

In my 20's I asked for a recommendation, and acting on it, went to Der Rosenkavalier. Took me a while to get back to Strauss in the opera house, which was a shame (worked my way back via the orchestral tone poems and 4 Last Songs). At the time I didn't relate to the style at all, almost falling asleep "waking up" for the last 20 minutes or so, the final trio and closing scene. As a result I approached Wagner with caution - which was of course very well worth it in the end......

I'd agree: Rosenkavalier is not a good introduction to opera, partly because it's a pastiche, partly because of its length and partly because its meringuey flavour is an acquired taste (though most people who stick with opera - unless they're Benjamin Britten - manage to acquire it).

[Don Petter]

There'a also the earlier Karajan with Freni, Ramondi and La Scala Milan. Its a Unitel film, now on DVD. The lip-sync isn't at all convincing in these Unitel productions, but this is Freni at her very best.

I remember that production as one of my early introductions to opera.

We were on a technical college trip in the Easter of 1964, which embraced various rubber and plastics factories in Northern Italy. One of our overnight stops was in Milan, and it seemed a pity not to try and hear something at La Scala. I was already quite well into classical music as a whole, and persuaded another student (who wasn't at all, but had an open mind on what the world might have to offer) to accompany me.

We could only get standing 'seats' right up in the gods, not realising at the time that it was the still new 1963 Zeffirelli production, with Freni and Raimondi, and Karajan conducting.

What was it like, I hear you say? I'm afraid that at this distance in time I can only remember that we enjoyed it, though would have preferred to have been sitting down!
The production was indeed sumptuous; the one thing that does stick in my mind was the presence of a real donkey (not one of the singers) in the crowd scene.

Did it lead me on to a life of opera loving? Not really, I'm afraid. Opera in general does not constitute a very high proportion of my classical listening.

[Barbirollians]

The only other opera that immediately springs to mind as a first experience is Carmen.

My first opera experience was of all things, Ariadne auf Naxos! I hadn't a clue about what was going on but I was at Sadlers Wells on a freebie!

Very true - the first opera I got to know on record - in Abbado's highlights disc with the wonderful Teresa Berganza as Carmen

[BBMmk2]

This was my first Puccini opera that I was introduced to. I have the Decca box set of all of the composer's operas. My favourite has to be this one. I am thinking of buy NT Met's recording?

[makropulos]

I think it's a perfect introductory opera: human story, identifiable characters and - important, this! - not too long!

My introduction to opera was Das Rheingold....everything else was a bit of a comedown after that.

Rheingold was one of my first too (the first night of the ENO production, conducted by Mackerras because Goodall was indisposed). Others I saw while still at school (very early 1970s) were a pretty extraordinary mixture - and I was incredibly lucky to see all these over a period of three or four years:
Barber of Seville, Figaro, Khovanschina, Boris Godunov, Elektra, Turandot, Peter Grimes, Tavener (ROH); War and Peace, Manon, The Devils of Loudun, Oedipus Rex and Bluebeard's Castle on a double bill, Belle Hélène, Fledermaus, Siegfried, Katya Kabanova (ENO); Cunning Little Vixen (Deutsche Oper am Rhein, during a school trip - I skived a visit to the docks at Essen to go to this matinee performance in Düsseldorf, and it was one of the truly great experiences of my teenage years).

Now, all or none of those might be thought "good introductions" to opera - I don't know - but pretty much every single one made a deep impression, and I was completely bitten with the opera bug as a result. I suppose if I had to choose from that list, I'd probably take young musicians to Figaro, Vixen, Fledermaus... but last year Peter Grimes made a pretty strong impact on some of my sixth form students when we say the Opera North production. Bohème I first saw as an undergraduate, along with all sorts of other marvels, including the ENO touring Ring in Manchester.

Happy memories!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It took me a while to appreciate Puccini, but was converted by my university friends who were raving about Tosca.

My first opera was a local amateur group's rendition of HMS Pinafore, with my primary school teacher as Captain Corcoran.
Later, my father took me to see Die Zauberflote performed by the Sadlers Wells touring company in Manchester. School trips to the opera followed, nearly always Sadlers Wells Touring - Carmen and Figaro being the most memorable.

[Flosshilde]

Oedipus Rex and Bluebeard's Castle on a double bill,

I can't be certain at this distance, but I think that these were my first experience of live opera (if you don't count an amateur 'Patience' when I was 10 ). I'm pretty sure I saw it before I moved to London in 1973. I do remember the singers in 'Bluebeard' making their entrance descending a rather long ladder from the flies. I wasn't that keen on the opera (I'd gone for the Stravinsky), but much more impressed on my second experience of it, a production by Scottish Opera a couple of years ago.

Happy memories!

Indeed


I've never taken to 'Boheme' either; rather than being short it always seems rather long, & the middle act (Cafe Momus) I find really rather tedious, with all those soldiers, children & general populace milling about & not adding much to the story. 'Tosca' is a much better introduction - that really is short, with not a wasted moment (except perhaps the choirboys in Act 1), very intense & dramatic, much better music.

[makropulos]

My first opera was a local amateur group's rendition of HMS Pinafore, with my primary school teacher as Captain Corcoran.

I should have mentioned G&S before getting to opera in London. I saw a few - and loved them (I still do, apart from Gondoliers which I found a bit tedious), but one of my favourites was Mikado with my maths teacher as the Mikado :)

[Barbirollians]

What a lovely question. I think Serafin (Decca) is probably the one I play most often, but it's a close thing, not only with the versions you mention, but also with Schippers (EMI), Chailly (Decca), Pappano (EMI), the DVD with Cotrubas/Schicoff/Gardelli at the ROH, and a treasured bootleg DVD gloriously conducted by Carlos Kleiber.

I am pleased to have become acquainted with the EMI Pappano - I think Alagna is in much better voice than with Chailly and it is splendidly conducted . Vaduva is very touching - albeit I am a bit surprised they did not get Pappano to conduct the last revival of the Copley La Boheme with Netrebko and Calleja I imagine that the DVD would have been a best seller .

[Don Basilio]

My father had 78s of the hits from Boheme when I was small and I found them off putting. I've never cared for it. No decent solos for mezzo or bass and all the hits lyrical/declamatory. Thank God for Verdi and Mozart.

(My father also had 78s of G&S and that in due course led to me recording I nozze di Figaro from Radio 3 and being intrigued by it. No sentimental maundering there.)

[french frank]

It's that whole setting in left-bank Paris, based on Henri Murger's Scènes de la vie de bohème (from which the only bit I can quote is: "Le seul devoir du vin est d'être rouge") that I find irresistible. Puccini's heart-on-sleeve captures it very effectively, I think.

[The question of la Bohême v. la bohème is presumably for les pédants ...]

[Barbirollians]

I agree FF it is irresistible in a good performance - not much that is declamatory about it to my ears .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

[The question of la Bohême v. la bohème is presumably for les pédants ...]

Bring it on!