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Distinguishing between classical music composers

Sarpedon said:
If one is just learning how to appreciate classical music, Opera might be too far to push. Unless he/she has a love of musical theater.
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Yes, all vocal music, which is why e.g. none of Bachs big works were on my beginners list, but Opera especially.
 
Sarpedon said:
If one is just learning how to appreciate classical music, Opera might be too far to push. Unless he/she has a love of musical theater.
Click to expand...

Might be worth mentioning for people who are genuinely beginners, but I'm not quite a beginner, myself.

I do know quite a bit about music and have been reading up on classical for the past year. Have also listened to a fair bit of Opera this year.

These days I prefer getting the expert intro to most things.. I want to know the nitty gritty details, and in the case of classical music I want to know the best out there.

But for readers, beginner stuff would be worth mentioning.
 
rousseau said:
Sarpedon said:
If one is just learning how to appreciate classical music, Opera might be too far to push. Unless he/she has a love of musical theater.
Click to expand...

Might be worth mentioning for people who are genuinely beginners, but I'm not quite a beginner, myself.

I do know quite a bit about music and have been reading up on classical for the past year. Have also listened to a fair bit of Opera this year.

These days I prefer getting the expert intro to most things.. I want to know the nitty gritty details, and in the case of classical music I want to know the best out there.

But for readers, beginner stuff would be worth mentioning.
Click to expand...

Ok, try this. A noisy recording, but a good singer. At 2:25 it becomes what opera is all about.
 
Horatio Parker said:
rousseau said:
Might be worth mentioning for people who are genuinely beginners, but I'm not quite a beginner, myself.

I do know quite a bit about music and have been reading up on classical for the past year. Have also listened to a fair bit of Opera this year.

These days I prefer getting the expert intro to most things.. I want to know the nitty gritty details, and in the case of classical music I want to know the best out there.

But for readers, beginner stuff would be worth mentioning.
Click to expand...

Ok, try this. A noisy recording, but a good singer. At 2:25 it becomes what opera is all about.
Click to expand...


That's gorgeous.

It's funny, somehow in the past year opera has almost resonated more with me than anything else. I'm three beers deep right now so the words aren't coming to me, but opera often feels more human than purely instrumental pieces.
 
4321lynx said:
iolo said:
It's a bit like learning a language, I think. I can make nothing of Indian music, the classical sort anyway, but that's because I never listen to any, and I'm baffled by modern pop because it's so bloody loud it gives me earache. I was brought up on Welsh folksong (oh, and hymns. I suppose), then moved on to trad jazz, and it was only in my late teens I got on to classical. The great trick is to marry someone who loves it, and listen when people play it. As far as I can see it is hugely more interesting than any other music on earth, and I can quite easily distinguish the major composers now. I haven't got the attention-span for symphonies, and left to myself I'd always choose songs, because I've got the words to hang onto. That's why I love Schubert. Bloody genius!
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I love Schubert's chamber music and symphonies, can't stand his songs, much prefer the handful of Mahler's songs.
btw Myfanwy and Cwm Rhondda are in my Top Ten list, perhaps partly because of my time in northern Pembs, when it was still Pembs.
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I like Mahler songs too. I think I've heard Myfanwy and Cwm Rhondda too often to have an opinion. My favourites are Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn, and that lullaby that begins 'Huna blentyn'.
 
I am a fan of opera, but I can say that for all those minutes of great music, you often have to sit through a long amount of time of recitative, which I found, when I was first getting into opera as being fairly tedious and nearly turned me off to opera totally. If you want to get into opera, first of all, don't do these youtube clips of the best of moments, because you will be setting yourself up for later disappointment. I would recommend that you get an entire opera on DVD or streamed or whatever. The visual component is very important and can help you through the more tedious parts (as can the subtitles) Good beginner operas: Don Giovanni by Mozart, Rigoletto or Don Carlo by Verdi. I consider these operas to be great for all, and especially beginners, because of a high relative density of actual singing vs recitative, as well as possessing coherent and interesting plots and characters (not always guaranteed in opera). The Magic Flute is very good musically, but is less accessible because of its shear oddness. But if you like trippy movies, you may like this.

Here's one of my favorite opera moments. I consider the rest of the opera it was in as fairly tedious and forgetable:

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u0M4CMq7uI[/YOUTUBE]

The big danger of Opera and also classical music is finding yourself sitting down for a two hour performance of something you don't like. There's plenty of stuff that isn't for everyone. If a beginner walks into Der Fliegende Hollander or Tales of Hoffmann, they may decide they just don't like Opera without really having the best intro to it. My advice: learn to distinguish classical composers, find one you like, AND then, try out one of their operas.

I actually got my intro to opera via Philip Glass. I loved his soundtracks, then listened to some of his other compositions, and then tried out Akhenaten. This is not a typical way people get introduced to opera.
 
I think going to one is a better idea. Some things don't convey well to video. We saw a concert version of Monteverdi's Orfeo at Carnegie hall a couple of years ago. I'd always been curious about it because it's the oldest piece in the active repertiore(from 1607). Before going, I checked out some YouTube clips and was disappointed, and went expecting more disappointment. But the live event was awesome. There was even a sackbut choir...

I'd like to see a Glass opera. We saw Muhly's Two Boys, but were unimpressed. Good composer, arranger, but not really a vocal writer. Boris Godunov is on my list, too.

As for streaming....

https://www.youtube.com/results?q=complete opera videos&sm=1
 
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One of my favorites, the climax of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, which was written for a girls school performance. This version, with orginal instruments and baroque singing, is danced by I believe Mark Morris.

And the choral writing is pristine.

 
Dohnányi - Variations on a nursery rhyme.
Gorecki - Symphony #3
Benjamin Britten - Young people's guide to the orchestra
Elgar - Enigma variations
Louis Moreau Gottshalk
Mahler
Saint Saens
Debussy
 
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