A Beginner's Guide to Enjoying Opera

Here is an excerpt to give you a taste of the incredibly beautiful and sensual music in Cosi fan tutte. In this scene, the two sisters, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, after finally being convinced by their cunning maid to forget about their two lovers (who are "far away at war") and to yield to the advances of their "new aspirants" (who are none other done their own lovers in disguise who want to put the two women to a test of fidelity), are discussing the pleasures they will experience with their future new lovers. Fiordiligi is a soprano voice while Dorabello is a mezzo, meaning that the former has a higher voice than the latter. Notice how the two voices merge into an ethereal harmony towards the middle of the duet.

Le nozze di Figaro or The Marriage of Figaro was their first creation, and because it was based on a book by the French poet and writer Beaumarchais dealing with the controversial subject of social revolution in a time when monarchies were still very strong in Europe, it took a great deal of courage and talent to create a masterpiece out of such provocative material. In a nut shell, the opera describes the social interactions between nobility and their servants, bringing for the first time together on stage characters from different classes of society, and giving them equal weight both musically and dramatically. That was a first in operatic history. Also, for the first time the protagonists were not rigid card board characters singing consecutive musical numbers as had been in the past, but they were real people interacting like in real life, and the lively, melodious, and brilliant music acting as the catalyst. As such Le nozze di Figaro represents a big change in operatic style, and Mozart and Da Ponte can be seen as musical pioneers.
Here is an excerpt from Le nozze di Figaro for you to enjoy:

Because of the way the well known story of Don Juan was treated both musically and dramatically, Don Giovanni is the most enigmatic of the big three Italian Mozart operas. While Le nozze di Figaro and Cosi fant tutte can be qualified as opera buffa or comic opera, it is hard to label Don Giovanni as such, though some scholars have tried to do just that, while others have classified it as serious music drama. The truth probably lies somewhere in between tragedy and comedy. In any case, Mozart was not a composer who liked to keep his music in rigid compartments, and the score of Don Giovanni is considered by many as the most ambitious and extensive of all Mozart's operas. Others go even further by calling Don Giovanni the "perfect" opera! Whatever the case, the fact remains that once again the listener is submerged into a world of the most sublime music the character of which varies from the comic to the most serious.

Here is a very unlikely couple, the late Luciano Pavarotti and pop-rock star Sheryl Crow, singing in concert one of the most beautiful duets from Don Giovanni:

In his very short life Mozart created many operas, but five of them stand above all others. In this beginner's guide to opera you were introduced so far to the first three of these which were in Italian. The other two are in German, and they are Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail and Die Zauber Flaute. Their English titles are respectively The Abduction from the Seraglio,and The Magic Flute. The first is very much a comic opera, created before the three big Italian operas, and it was a harbinger of the fabulous things to come. The second one is like Don Giovanni a deeply enigmatic work, all at once serious and funny. Mozart being Mozart, whatever the style or language used, our ears are still graced in both operas with some of the most delightful and moving music ever composed. Here is an excerpt from The Magic Flute:

Even if we have to acknowledge that Mozart played a key role in the evolution of Italian opera by infusing life into the rigid characters seen in previous vocal works, there are many great works that were created in the period preceding Mozart that are worth mentioning in this beginner's guide to opera. We know that the first opera, Daphne, was composed at the end of the 16th century by Jacopo Peri though the score is now lost. Works in the period prior to Mozart were in the opera seria or serious opera style. Their subjects dealt either with nobility, royalty, or mythology, and they were mostly made of a string of musical numbers and recitatives sung by rigid lifeless characters. However, many of these works, specially those composed by Handel and Monteverdi have some incredibly beautiful music and are worth discovering. The most famous ones are Julio Cesare and Sesso by Handel, and Orfeo by Monteverdi. Orfeo is also the oldest opera still to be regularly performed, These operas were often composed for castrati, male singers castrated with their parents' consent when they were young in order to enable the development of a very special voice, the castrato, somewhere between a soprano and a tenor. These castrati were as famous as the rock stars of today. Farinelli was the most famous castrato of them all. Many famous composers, including Handel and Mozart, have composed for him, and one can safely say that he was the Michael Jackson of his period! Nowadays, there are of course no more castrati, and the music that was composed for them is either sung by contra-tenors, tenors and sopranos, or by male child sopranos. Here is an excerpt, Ombra Mai Fu, from Handel's opera Sesso sung in concert by Aled Jones, one of the most famous child sopranos of the 90's.

Vincenzo Bellini 's life (1801-1835) reminds us very much of Mozart's as he was, just like Mozart, a child prodigy who composed his first piano pieces when he was only six, died when he was only 34, and produced a number of operas containing some incredibly melodic and moving music. His most famous works are Norma, I puritani and La somnabula all based on serious dramatic subjects. Here is the the well known celestial aria Casta Diva from Norma sung by the late bel canto specialist Joan Sutherland:

"Casta Diva" from Bellini's Norma

The other great composer of the bel canto period is Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) whose melodic lines remind us a bit of Bellini's music, but whose works are both in opera seria and opera buffa styles. His most popular works are Lucia de Lammemoor, one of the high points of the bel canto tradition, and L'Elisir d'amore, a charming comic opera full of hearth warming music. The following is an excerpt from L'Elisir d'amore, the aria Una furtiva lagrima sung in concert by the late Pavarotti:

"Una furtiva lagrima" from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was no doubt the most colorful of the three bel canto period composers. He had two passions in life, music and food! And amazingly enough, after giving to the world some of the most exquisitely witty and melodious operatic music ever composed, he retired at only 38, in France, to devote himself to gastronomical creations, the famous recipe tournedos Rossini being related to him.
Rossini had composed over 30 operas, both in the opera buffa and opera seria styles. His most famous works are The Barber of Seville, La cenerentola,. and Guillaume Tell.
Here is "Non piu mesta" from La cenerentola performed by the incomparable Cecilia Bartoli:

When Giuseppe Verdi died in Milan, January 27, 1901, at the age of 88, he was the undisputed king of romantic Italian opera. He can surely be considered as one of the greatest composers of theatrical art of the nineteenth century, and though very early in his career, he was still under the influence of his predecessors, thanks to his inexhaustible melodic vein, he was soon able to assert his own personality through a more romantic and dramatic operatic style.
His work can be divided in three distinct periods corresponding to different styles: the first period covers his youth works from Oberto to Louisa Miller, the second period covers his mid-life works from Rigoletto to Aida, and the third period covers his last operas Otello and Falstaff.
Though some would argue that Otello and Falstaff are his masterpieces, it is in his second period that we find the fullest expression of his spontaneous and definitely Italian genius. The operas composed in this period are La traviata, Rigoletto, Il trovatore and Aida, and each of them is worth discovering for the incredibly beautiful melodic riches that simply follow from beginning to end in various forms (arias, duets, quartets, ensembles, etc.). In Verdi's operas music always accompanies closely the action and flows from one number to another with no recitatives (which are spoken dialogues accompanied on harpsichord and found in some of his predecessors' operas).
Though it's hard to choose among these four operas, I have a special weakness for Rigoletto which moves me deeply every time I experience it. So, for this beginner's guide to opera, I chose three different excerpts from Rigoletto presented below for your delight:

1. "Caro nome" from Rigoletto

2. "La donna e mobile" from Rigoletto

3. The quartet "Bella figlia del l'amore" from Rigoletto.

After the romantic period in opera, exemplified so well by Verdi, a new opera style identified as verismo was popularized by composers such as Leoncavallo, Mascagni and Puccini among others. This new style is distinguished by realistic depictions of everyday life, especially the life of the contemporary lower classes. It mostly rejects historical subjects or mythical ones. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) is no doubt the most important composer of this period, and his popularity as an opera composer is only matched by Verdi's. His most popular operas are Manon Lescaut, La boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot , with La boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly being among the most often produced operas in the current repertoire.
The structure of Puccini's works deserves special attention. While his operas still contain arias or "numbers", his scores generally present a very strong sense of continuous flow and musical connectivity, a probable sign of Wagner's influence. Puccini uses "leitmotifs" like Wagner to depict characters and feelings. Nevertheless, Puccini's main appeal to the masses comes from his use of long, sensuous, and stirring melodies expressing the most accessible human emotions. Here are three well known excerpts from his work:

1. "Un bel di" from Madame Butterfly

2. "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca

3. "Che gelida manina" from La boheme.

The two other countries (besides Italy) that have contributed most to the development of opera are France and Germany (though other countries such as Russia, England, etc. have also had some important opera composers and works).
In Germany, two names represent the undisputed kings of German opera (not counting Mozart here since he was Austrian, and Handel who composed most of his operatic works in Italian). They are Wagner and Richard Strauss (not to be confused with Johann Strauss who was the Austrian operetta composer).
Richard Wagner (1813-1888) was a revolutionary composer as his innovations affected greatly the course of opera, not just in Germany, but in all Europe. His works do not distinguish between arias and recitatives and are really a continuous flow of vocal and orchestral music. His scores can be seen as a complex collection of leitmotifs dismissing most musical conventions, with one goal in mind: greater expressiveness. His most popular works include The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Tristan and Isolde and The Ring of the Nibelung>.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) took even further Wagner's legacy as his operas literally overflow with subtleties of orchestration combined with an advanced harmonic style. His music had a profound influence on the development of 20th-century music. His most popular works include Der Rosenkavalier, Elektra, Salome and Ariadne auf Naxos.
The works of Wagner and Strauss are by no means for beginners, and should be approached only after sufficient familiarity has been developed with the popular Italian and French operas mentioned in this beginner's guide to opera. If you insist, however, on discovering these two composers sooner, you should start with The Flying Dutchman by Wagner, and Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss, which are the easiest ones for the beginner to enjoy. Here are a couple of excerpts, one from each:

1. "Sailors' Chorus" from The Flying Dutchman by Wagner

2. The final trio from Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss

As a beginner the most important French opera composers you should get acquainted with are Bizet, Massenet, Saint- Saens, Gounod and Offenbach. Unlike the operas by Wagner and Strauss, their works are very melodious and easily accessible by the beginner. The most prolific of them all is no doubt Jules Massenet (1842-1912) who composed no less than 34 operas. In terms of the magnitude and importance of his work, which is mostly in the romantic style, he can be viewed as the "French Verdi". However, nowadays only a handful of his operas are performed, the most popular of them being Manon and Werther. Massenet is known to be one of the greatest melodists of his era with a special talent for exquisite orchestration. Here is the famous "St. Sulpice Duet" from his Manon:

"The St. Supice Duet" from Manon by Massenet

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) was mostly an operetta composer, but his only major opera The Tales of Hoffmann is no doubt a masterpiece and is today one of the most popular operas in the whole repertoire. It is full of enchantingly beautiful music as illustrated in the following excerpt:

"The Barcarolle" from The Tales of Hoffmann by Offenbach

Both Charles-Francois Gounod (1818-1893) and Camille Saint-Saens(1835-1921) composed music in many forms, but as far as opera is concerned, they are each known mainly for one particular masterpiece. They are Faust by Gounod, and Samson and Delilah by Saint-Seans. Here is an excerpt form each:

."Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix " from Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saens

"Ah! Je ris de me voir si belle" from Faust by Gounod

The most beloved and most popular of all French opera composers is of course Georges Bizet (1838-1875) whose life reminds us of Mozart's and Bellini's, as he was also a child prodigy with an incredible talent for piano playing and died very young just after having composed Carmen which he could not even live to see staged.

Here are two very famous excerpts from Carmen:

"The Toreador Song" from Carmen

"The Habanera" from Carmen by the legendary Maria Callas: