How about a little opera?

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I've never liked opera. I neither 'got it' or enjoyed listening to it. It just seemed to be like some fat bloke shouting in a foreign language.

Paul Potts however has got me listening to some. I honestly can't stop listening to 'Time to say goodbye' and 'Nessun dorma'. They cheer me up and make me feel relaxed. Listening to him has got me listening to Andrea Bocelli as well. Way out!!

If you're not familiar with the guy, he won Britain's Got Talent last year I think it was, when he was a mobile phone salesman. He's a humble and quiet fella. He got up on stage, all shy like, and said 'I'm going to sing opera' to which Simon Cowell and the others rolled eyes and sat back ready to laugh, then he blew them away. Was quite cool actually. Seems like a nice fella.

Disclaimer: This does not mean Barmy Army is gay.

 

I would like to see a proper opera in a proper opera hall sometime. The bits and pieces I have heard seems to indicate that it would be an awesome experience to experience a real live opera.

 

I've never listened to an entire opera, live. I would like to go someday, but I wouldn't go to any opera. As silly as it might sound, there are some pieces whose story has no appeal to me, and even the music couldn't make up for it. ( Odd, I know.)

I have seen several entire opera broadcasts on TV, since one of the stations had a "classics at noon" period, and my feelings about them varied from case to case.

I like the bits and pieces though, (like stuff from Karmen, Nessun dorma, Con te partiro...)

The Paul Potts scene was indeed memorable, , Barmy.

Also, some time ago, I saw something called The Mob, on BBC, on satellite. It was a project of a modernized opera piece taking place at a railway station, where the opera was performed in the middle of the crowd of ordinary people, going to work etc...
It was composed of famous songs from various operas (the music), only the lyrics were adapted, and the singers sang in English.
It ended with Nessun dorma...
I was quite pleasantly surprised by it, and watched the whole thing.
I couldn't stop...

All in all, opera is fine by me, and same goes for classical music in general.

 

i enjoy nessum dorma by the 3 tenors. esp. pavarotti(sp?)'s part.

 

I love Un bel di Vedremo from Madama Butterfly as well as the more famous La Traviata, The Barber of Seville or En Aranjuaz con tu Amor.

Sarah Brightman and Charlotte Church are pretty good opera singers as well.

 

others may completely disagree, but if you're after an acessible entry point to opera, you can't go too far wrong in my opinon with Mozarts Mariage of Figaro - there are some catchy tunes, a humourous plot, and the english language translation is performed fairly regularly if you dont get on so well with the italian

 

I tried for years to listen to opera or watch it on video and could never get into it. At most listening to a recording I'd think "the music here is pretty good" and then tune out again. Then I finally decided to go and actually SEE one, live, and it was a completely different experience. I've been to a few live ones since and every one blew me away. Trying to listen to the same opera on CD failed miserably.

Paul Potts's performance was absolutely incredible. I couldn't believe this shy guy could sing with so much feeling. I've showed the video of him singing to many people, most of which hate opera and rolled their eyes at first, and they were all invariably blown away.

Oh yeah, and people who think men who like opera are gay have serious insecurity issues themselves

 

I'm not an opera fan, either, but I love the Paul Potts videos on YouTube as well, especially the first one. The judges' reactions throughout are great, and the reaction of the woman judge at the end of his audition (just before Simon starts to speak) is absolutely fantastic.

I also like this classic opera

 

Splunge: Great opera choice.

I love Elmer doing "I'll kill the wabbit" Wagner scene, too.
(What's Opera, Doc?)

 

I've got a lot of Hayley Westenra on my iPod, but not sure I could sit through a whole opera itself. So probably not an opera purist, who thinks that all this modern stuff is just 'popera'.

 

Ugh...opera. No thanks.

When they hit those resonant frequencies, my ears just want to bleed. I seriously can't stand any opera.

Are you sure about that? You sound like Stewie Griffin in the episode where he's "practicing" for the Olympics.

 

I love the instrumental music for many operas. The singing style, though, does absolutely nothing for me. I appreciate and respect the enormous amount of training it takes to get a human voice to hit those notes and sing difficult passages, but nevertheless, the art form simply does not give me any aesthetic pleasure at all.

As for opera being gay, I don't think so. I DO think a lot of opera pieces and their fans are pretentious as all get out, though.

Incidentally, I feel the same way about ballet. Sure it takes skill, effort and dedication. I freely admit I could never perform on that level athletically. Nonetheless, I do not enjoy watching it one little bit. Maybe if the chicks did it naked I might be more inclined to watch, but as it stands . . .

 

Pick a window, you're leavin'!