Anyone like opera?

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Sarabande said:
That is how I almost always react whenever I hear her sing it. It’s funny. My husband and I were listening to it on Sunday because we were getting a kick out of how our daughter was reacting to all the music we were pulling up on Youtube… symphonies, chamber groups, art songs, opera, alternative music to children’s songs, etc. When we pulled up Price and she started to sing, I just lost it and my husband’s eyes were wet and red. We looked at each other, I said to him, "I can’t help it, " and then we just started laughing.
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Oh good! Now it is nice to know there are other extremely sentimental people out there, who can have some “crocodile tears” form when listening to certain singer’s perform. What a touching story.
Perhaps you live in Ireland? Visited Ireland long ago, and from the plane, as we flew over prior to landing, the landscape looked like green velvet.
 
Some of the many opera’s, viewed live, that are my fave’s are:

DONIZETTI>>>> Lucia di Lammermoor

RIMSKY KORSAKOV>>>> The Snow Maiden

PFITZNER>>>> Palestrina

VERDI >>>> La Traviata

PUCCINI>>>> Turandot

MOZART>>>> Die Zuber Flute (The Magic Flute)

ROSSINI>>>> Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)

WAGNER>>>> Tristan and Isolde

PUCCINI>>>> La Rondine (The Swallow)

HUMPERDINK>>>> Hansel und Gretel

WAGNER>>>> Die Wakure

DONIZETTI>>>> L’elisir d’amore

Wagner>>>> Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold)

WAGNER>>>> Die Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the God’s) <<oh=oh good music scores

WAGNER>>>>Der Fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman)

WAGNER>>>>Parsifal

I did not view this operatic selection entitled Sicilian Vespers (Vespri Siciliani) by Verdi, but it is beautiful.
Ok, now that some of us are all “jazzed-up” about the Opera scene, I am going to go put on another record on the turn-table. H-mmm, maybe my deceased Father’s copy of La Traviata.
 
Opera fan here too! I just happen to love Puccini!

Unlike Sarabande, I sat a bit lower in performance. I’ve spent quite a few seasons in the Orchestra pit. I’ve “heard” more operas than I’ve actually seen!

Joe B
 
JButky said:
Opera fan here too! I just happen to love Puccini!

Unlike Sarabande, I sat a bit lower in performance. I’ve spent quite a few seasons in the Orchestra pit. I’ve “heard” more operas than I’ve actually seen!

Joe B
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Hi Joe! What a special job you have.
Opera would not be as glorius to attend, or listen to, without the contributions of the musician’s!
Oh yes, Puccini. Which opera of Puccini is one of your fave’s?
 
Desertmesa said:
Oh yes, Puccini. Which opera of Puccini is one of your fave’s?
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La Boheme just happens to be on of my all time favorites. I never played that one, but I did get to play Madame Butterfly.

That was years ago, but still it seems like yesterday. Funny story. I remember being late to our Catholic couples marriage prep class. “Carmen” ran a little long that day. It was quite a memory walking in late wearing my tux and my then fiance wearing a gorgeous red dress! :eek:

Joe B

(maybe I should have said “my gorgeous fiancee wearing a spectacular red dress” Yah, that’s better)😃
 
JButky said:
Opera fan here too! I just happen to love Puccini!

Unlike Sarabande, I sat a bit lower in performance. I’ve spent quite a few seasons in the Orchestra pit. I’ve “heard” more operas than I’ve actually seen!

Joe B
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😃 So true. The instrumentalists often don’t get to see an opera, do they? What instrument do you play?

At the last production I was in, it was outdoors, so the “pit” wasn’t really a pit. Every once in a while I’d look look down and then I’d see some of the instrumentalists who didn’t have much to play during a certain scene looking up onto the stage.

It’s interesting when you think about how the musicians (singers and instrumentalists) experience opera differently from the audience.
 
Sarabande said:
😃 So true. The instrumentalists often don’t get to see an opera, do they? What instrument do you play?

It’s interesting when you think about how the musicians (singers and instrumentalists) experience opera differently from the audience.
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So true, same with theater. I’ve done so many shows and often multiples thereof, and have yet to actually see any of the ones I’ve played in. (just snippets IF The vantage point is decent). But I have such fond memories of Pit work, especially theater.

For Opera, I played Flute (piccolo), my main instrument. For theater I was a doubler and played many a Reed 1 book. I also did some accompaniment work (pianist) for a local operatic soprano.

The Pit experience is quite different, especially in opera. You have to be so on top of your game. I would often read the libretto to get up to speed on the plot or I wouldn’t know what was going on! 🤷 Musically speaking, you get the full power of the sound of Opera. There is no place like the pit to experience that. It’s a full aural onslaught of indescribable proportions!

One of the most tremendous voices I ever heard was a guest soloist who appeared with one of the symphony orchestras I was playing with. I have to this day NEVER heard anyone sing with such power. I don’t remember exactly what James McCracken sang for this concert, but his final note could have caused the building to crumble. I happened to shift to the percussion section as a celeste part was needed. (keep in mind that I am some 10-15 yards BEHIND this man). With his arms outstretched, He pumped out a seemingly unattainable note with such glorious power that my friend in the Perc section and I just looked at each other in stunned amazement with our jaws on the floor. We absolutely could not believe what we just heard. And like I said, we were not even in front of that. It is a moment I will never, ever forget. Simply amazing.

Orchestra members enjoy the benefit of feeling the raw power of operatic music. Imagine those dramatic operatic moments and try to get a sense of what its like to be at, and the cause of, an epicenter of a mountain of sound. I had often wanted to take students with me to just sit there and experience that. I wish I could really describe it in words.

Joe B
 
Desertmesa said:
How uplifting to read your post regarding opera! Did your family introduce you, at a young age, to opera?🙂
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Haha no. I consider my family to be somewhat ‘culturally dead’ ):
But it all started with Le Fantôme de l’Opera and ever since that I became interested to find out more… After that was Don Giovanni, and so it goes… 🙂

I was in choir and was and will always be impressed by their vocal prowess.

Either way I’m still looking out (so far I’ve only seen Italian, French, english operas) and to find out more I suppose. 👍
 
Hello JButky!
That story of your fiance and the red dress was too funny.
Enjoyed your descriptions you wrote about some of the opera view-points can be seen from where you are in the pit. That was a great perspective for opera fans to try to picture.
So, one of your instrument’s you learned was the piccolo? My daughter was home-schooled, and one of her private classes was to taking flute lessons. We bought her a Gulbransen (sp?), and it was fun to see her gradually accomplish playing it fairly well. Watching her at her class, convinced me that the flute’s, all in all, are quite difficult to master.
La Boheme and Madame Butterfly are beautiful opera’s.
Listened to the voice of Jonas Kaufmame (don’t know if I spelled that right), singing some of Vesti La Giubba…Wow! What a voice! Thank’s for the link on here.
Your fiance is lucky, she can be seranaded by piccolo music!
 
AlainVanille said:
Haha no. I consider my family to be somewhat ‘culturally dead’ ):
But it all started with Le Fantôme de l’Opera and ever since that I became interested to find out more… After that was Don Giovanni, and so it goes… 🙂

I was in choir and was and will always be impressed by their vocal prowess.

Either way I’m still looking out (so far I’ve only seen Italian, French, english operas) and to find out more I suppose. 👍
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Hi Alain. Well, I can relate to what you stated in my own way. I never, ever heard opera in music, or song until I was in my early twenties. That first experience was a live event, and I was hooked. God Bless.:o
 
Desertmesa said:
Oh good! Now it is nice to know there are other extremely sentimental people out there, who can have some “crocodile tears” form when listening to certain singer’s perform. What a touching story.
Perhaps you live in Ireland? Visited Ireland long ago, and from the plane, as we flew over prior to landing, the landscape looked like green velvet.
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🙂 No, I don’t live in Ireland. It’s one place I hope to visit one day, though. One of my favorite places in the world actually looks a lot of Ireland from what I’m told by friends who come to visit and have also been to Ireland. It’s my family’s property in the mountains where I lived half my childhood as a “nature girl” and where I still go whenever I have the opportunity. Coincidentally, the area was settled by Irish immigrants who farmed the land and raised their families there. Up until recently it was covered by those charming rock walls you see in Ireland and England, but tough financial times forced many of them to sell off the walls.
 
JButky said:
The Pit experience is quite different, especially in opera. You have to be so on top of your game. I would often read the libretto to get up to speed on the plot or I wouldn’t know what was going on! 🤷 Musically speaking, you get the full power of the sound of Opera. There is no place like the pit to experience that. It’s a full aural onslaught of indescribable proportions!

One of the most tremendous voices I ever heard was a guest soloist who appeared with one of the symphony orchestras I was playing with. I have to this day NEVER heard anyone sing with such power. I don’t remember exactly what James McCracken sang for this concert, but his final note could have caused the building to crumble. I happened to shift to the percussion section as a celeste part was needed. (keep in mind that I am some 10-15 yards BEHIND this man). With his arms outstretched, He pumped out a seemingly unattainable note with such glorious power that my friend in the Perc section and I just looked at each other in stunned amazement with our jaws on the floor. We absolutely could not believe what we just heard. And like I said, we were not even in front of that. It is a moment I will never, ever forget. Simply amazing.

Orchestra members enjoy the benefit of feeling the raw power of operatic music. Imagine those dramatic operatic moments and try to get a sense of what its like to be at, and the cause of, an epicenter of a mountain of sound. I had often wanted to take students with me to just sit there and experience that. I wish I could really describe it in words.

Joe B
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What incredible experiences and so true on so many levels. I know what you mean about being right there allowing the voices and instruments to overwhelm you. During the sitzprobe for a production of “Die Zauberflote” I was in, it was one of the first times we heard the orchestra. We were in the rehearsal room, this beautiful 19th century room with incredible acoustics. As soon as they started playing the overture, all of that sound right in front of us blew us away. The woman who played the Queen of the Night leaned over to me and said, “This is one of the best kept secrets of musicians.” And she was right. There is nothing like it.

One of the most magical and spiritual moments for me was just a month ago over in Europe where we took our production to a little town to perform for the townspeople there. There was no theater or stage to perform, so the local Catholic church allowed the use of the church and we did a concert version of the production. All the soloists were situated right in front of the orchestra and behind the orchestra was the chorus. I remember sitting there, thanking God for the gift of allowing me to be amongst such aural beauty and to be in His church on top of that. The performance that night was transformed, elevated to this higher plane. It was the most beautiful night we had. Everyone… the instrumentalists and singers were the best they had been. The entire church was filled with this joyful, ebullient energy… a spiritual energy if you want to call it that. And I remember just thanking God the entire time. Each time I stood up to sing, I remember just letting go and then something else overtake me, then the orchestra right behind me beginning to play. Then when I was sitting and listening to my colleagues sing their roles, having their voices right there enveloping me. On top of that, the chorus was incredible and practically brought me to tears. I really felt like the entire night was a prayer and that God was answering back through the music. What was interesting was that my other colleagues I spoke to afterwards felt the same and many were not of the same faith and beliefs. It was almost magical.
 
Sarabande, sounds like a truly wonderful moment in that setting. The space is so important and playing in a magnificent space with great acoustics is just “heavenly”

Here’s a snippet of a Sacred Choral work featuring a quartet from the MET. I played flute on this and act as the “fifth voice” in this movement

Handel’s Te Deum

It’s on my facebook page. I changed the settings to public so hopefully you can listen. This is just an Archive recording of a live performance. This was a special treat for me to get to play this one. Ozawa Hall. Tanglewood some 10 years ago. What a great space to play in. Two full choirs one adult, one childrens, and the Battel Chamber Orchestra. I’d have to go look up who the soloists were, I have the program buried somewhere…

Joe B
 
JButky said:
Sarabande, sounds like a truly wonderful moment in that setting. The space is so important and playing in a magnificent space with great acoustics is just “heavenly”

Here’s a snippet of a Sacred Choral work featuring a quartet from the MET. I played flute on this and act as the “fifth voice” in this movement

Handel’s Te Deum

It’s on my facebook page. I changed the settings to public so hopefully you can listen. This is just an Archive recording of a live performance. This was a special treat for me to get to play this one. Ozawa Hall. Tanglewood some 10 years ago. What a great space to play in. Two full choirs one adult, one childrens, and the Battel Chamber Orchestra. I’d have to go look up who the soloists were, I have the program buried somewhere…

Joe B
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Joe B - I’m listening to it right now. Beautiful!. Handel is one of my favorites. And what an incredible experience for you to sing at Tanglewood!!!

Edit… I mean to PLAY (your instrument) at Tanglwood.
 
JButky said:
Sarabande, sounds like a truly wonderful moment in that setting. The space is so important and playing in a magnificent space with great acoustics is just “heavenly”

Here’s a snippet of a Sacred Choral work featuring a quartet from the MET. I played flute on this and act as the “fifth voice” in this movement

Handel’s Te Deum

It’s on my facebook page. I changed the settings to public so hopefully you can listen. This is just an Archive recording of a live performance. This was a special treat for me to get to play this one. Ozawa Hall. Tanglewood some 10 years ago. What a great space to play in. Two full choirs one adult, one childrens, and the Battel Chamber Orchestra. I’d have to go look up who the soloists were, I have the program buried somewhere…

Joe B
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Opera fan here too. 🙂

Ozawa Hall? As in Seiji? That’s nice that they have named a hall after him. I didn’t know. I went to see him conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewoods back in the eighties. He is just fabulous. 👍

I have many opera singer friends but not me…I sing like I have a frog stuck in my throat. 😃 I just mumble the songs at Mass very softly so I do not disturb anyone. :o

I love the opera!

Abba
 
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