OperaLovers - Share the Passion

Forum: Your Say

What first made you an Opera Lover?
michael2301 31 Jan 2008 at 7:27pm (Report this message) It's an interesting question, which I thought might stimulate some conversation.
LorisIpanoff 13 Mar 2008 at 12:44am (Report this message) Age 7 - my mother had a highlights record of Boris Godunov with Boris Christoff singing, with a very dramatic purple cover, when I read the synopsis and found it was all about a murdered child, I was hooked. Then I asked to hear it, and the first track was the Coronation Scene with all the bells - I could'nt believe music could be so powerful. I wore the record out and never looked back.
smitty 27 Jun 2008 at 9:01pm (Report this message) i came to opera thru a music appreciation course in college. she said anyone who liked tchaikovsky would probably enjoy puccini. she let me borrow recordings of boheme and butterfly and i was hooked. the first actual performance i saw was boheme with a traveling company in an outdoor theatre. in 1976 six of the great opera companies of the world came to kennedy center in d.c. and i saw boris, faust, tosca and three others, it was an opera lovers dream come true. i owe opera a debt i cannot repay. thank god for dvds!
dianelukeman 20 Nov 2008 at 6:31pm (Report this message) I think I am being drawn more to opera now. The introduction to the opera lovers web-site is encouraging this. There is an advantage in being able to share thoughts and impressions. We were recently in New York and were recommended to see the Zeffirelli production of La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera. What a wonderful experience - the singing, performances and the set were magnificent. As Violetta rises from her sick bed to go downstairs to Alfredo, the whole stage rises! The matter of sub-titles is neatly solve, too, at the Met: a small screen is set into the top back of each seat so that sub-titles can be easily and quickly read with least disturbance to the experience of the whole creation Each person can only see their own screen. The voices rang in my head for a long time afterwards.
fairygreen 01 Dec 2008 at 6:12pm (Report this message) I got my first taste as a teeneager watching the movie Amadeus. Even though there were only a few snippets of opera in the movie, I thought, "This isn't like the caricatures of opera singers that I have seen. Then a few years later in college, my theater professor took a group of students to see the Magic Flute. It was a great first opera for young adults. The staging was beautiful. The singers were wonderful. When I heard the Queen of the Night's first aria "O zittre nicht," I was hooked!
wagnertuba 26 Dec 2009 at 4:06pm (Report this message) Hello ! I'm new to this website and live in Westchester county, just north of New York City . I listened to the the classic Solti Rheingold when I was only about 13 and became instantly hooked on opera as well as classical music of all kinds . Fortunately , my local library had an extensive collection of classical LPs, and later CDs, including all the standard operas and many others, and I came to know and love them. Then I began to go to live performances at Lincoln center and to watch tlelecasts etc. I became a passionate Wagnerian but love many,many other operas,too.
OttoKristen 20 Feb 2010 at 3:35am (Report this message) My father's voice singing Jenik in Bartered bride and then seeing him performing it in National Opera in Prague.
Walkyrie 15 Jun 2010 at 9:39pm (Report this message) When I was a music student, I always thought opera was the most versatile and creative musical form. Later on (as a business professor or all things) I began to see opera as something more worthwhile listening to than symphonies, for example. I think the toughest thing to get round enjoying is the operatic voice. Once I started to enjoy it there was no turning back. Another strange thing is that one of my previously least inspiring composers, Mozart, became one of the top 5 after having been converted to his operas.

Forum: Your Say

What first made you an Opera Lover?

michael2301 31 Jan 2008 at 7:27pm (Report this message)

It's an interesting question, which I thought might stimulate some conversation.

LorisIpanoff 13 Mar 2008 at 12:44am (Report this message)

Age 7 - my mother had a highlights record of Boris Godunov with Boris Christoff singing, with a very dramatic purple cover, when I read the synopsis and found it was all about a murdered child, I was hooked. Then I asked to hear it, and the first track was the Coronation Scene with all the bells - I could'nt believe music could be so powerful. I wore the record out and never looked back.

smitty 27 Jun 2008 at 9:01pm (Report this message)

i came to opera thru a music appreciation course in college. she said anyone who liked tchaikovsky would probably enjoy puccini. she let me borrow recordings of boheme and butterfly and i was hooked. the first actual performance i saw was boheme with a traveling company in an outdoor theatre. in 1976 six of the great opera companies of the world came to kennedy center in d.c. and i saw boris, faust, tosca and three others, it was an opera lovers dream come true. i owe opera a debt i cannot repay. thank god for dvds!

dianelukeman 20 Nov 2008 at 6:31pm (Report this message)

I think I am being drawn more to opera now. The introduction to the opera lovers web-site is encouraging this. There is an advantage in being able to share thoughts and impressions. We were recently in New York and were recommended to see the Zeffirelli production of La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera. What a wonderful experience - the singing, performances and the set were magnificent. As Violetta rises from her sick bed to go downstairs to Alfredo, the whole stage rises! The matter of sub-titles is neatly solve, too, at the Met: a small screen is set into the top back of each seat so that sub-titles can be easily and quickly read with least disturbance to the experience of the whole creation Each person can only see their own screen. The voices rang in my head for a long time afterwards.

fairygreen 01 Dec 2008 at 6:12pm (Report this message)

I got my first taste as a teeneager watching the movie Amadeus. Even though there were only a few snippets of opera in the movie, I thought, "This isn't like the caricatures of opera singers that I have seen.

Then a few years later in college, my theater professor took a group of students to see the Magic Flute. It was a great first opera for young adults. The staging was beautiful. The singers were wonderful. When I heard the Queen of the Night's first aria "O zittre nicht," I was hooked!

wagnertuba 26 Dec 2009 at 4:06pm (Report this message)

Hello ! I'm new to this website and live in Westchester county, just north of New York City . I listened to the the classic Solti Rheingold when I was only about 13 and became instantly hooked on opera as well as classical music of all kinds .

Fortunately , my local library had an extensive collection of classical LPs, and later CDs, including all the standard operas and many others, and I came to know and love them. Then I began to go to live performances at Lincoln center and to watch tlelecasts etc.

I became a passionate Wagnerian but love many,many other operas,too.

OttoKristen 20 Feb 2010 at 3:35am (Report this message)

My father's voice singing Jenik in Bartered bride and then seeing him performing it in National Opera in Prague.

Walkyrie 15 Jun 2010 at 9:39pm (Report this message)

When I was a music student, I always thought opera was the most versatile and creative musical form.

Later on (as a business professor or all things) I began to see opera as something more worthwhile listening to than symphonies, for example.

I think the toughest thing to get round enjoying is the operatic voice. Once I started to enjoy it there was no turning back.

Another strange thing is that one of my previously least inspiring composers, Mozart, became one of the top 5 after having been converted to his operas.

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