Where do I start with Opera?

I found it odd that no one has mentioned any English language operas as a starting place for an opera newbie.  To get one's feet wet, why not start with Moore's 'Ballad of Baby Doe' or Floyd's 'Susannah' or Barber's 'Vanessa' or Weill's 'Street Scene' or something from Menotti like 'Amahl' or 'The Old Maid'?  Or for that matter, something from the Chandos Opera in English series.  Some are excellent.

Why not just go to the opera? I suppose if you come to a recorded music magazine site then people will recommend recordings. I'd say, go regularly, be aware what is mainstream and what not (and therefore not likely to be all that perfect - you might have to make allowances e.g. for Die Tote Stadt, for example), and pick them off one at a time. Get into the sound worlds on Spotify (adverts and a bit discontinuous, but free, right?) on radio, or from CDs. The hard thing is to find productions that have real life in them. Most don't, but you'll find that out and that, I'm afraid, is opera. Oh and it's expensive.

Incidentally I can't understand from your post if you went to Aldeburgh to see your Peter Grimes production. If you went to Aldeburgh and saw a staged version of Peter Grimes and didn't enjoy it then... maybe opera's just not for you...

P.S. I forgot to mention you need to learn languages, mainly Italian.

Are you really saying you need to learn Italian to enjoy Cosi Fan Tutte, Russian to listen to Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and German to understand Der Freischütz? How long will that take you? 10 years - at least?

The fact is that, although a working knowledge of the language in which an opera is written can enhance your enjoyment and/or understanding, it’s not necessary in the least. One of my favourites is Grieg’s Olav Trygvason – and my knowledge of Norwegian is absolutely zero.

Food for thought here. I said that opera must be seen mainly because most of it was born into a world were recorded music didn´t exist and was a fantasy if even that. So that its visual presentaion was the only way it was accessed and thus of extreme importance to the composer and librettist. Having said that a lot of DVDs have been a big disappointment because they differed greatly from how I imagined the opera in my head. I think it´s good to have your preconceptions challenged and different presentations can be very enlightening, but maybe nothing can ever compare to the theatre of your imagination. Also the vast majority of the operas I know I have never seen in any way, shape, or form, and although I would very much like to see them; I don´t feel my enjoyment or understanding of the work is lacking in any way due to this.

If it's recitative you struggle with (i.e. narrative) one way to approach your resistance might be to tackle an opera based on a classic text. Otello is an obvious choice. Assuming you know the text (I know this will draw responses of 'I can enjoy opera without reading books/learning languages/practicing and studying music/getting out of my armchair' - ignore) it gives you a way to work out how an opera is shaped and set it more in line with drama, a form you may know better.

Another good thing to ask for advice on is giving up smoking. People who have given up are always extremely interesting on this topic, I find.

If it's recitative you struggle with (i.e. narrative) one way to approach your resistance might be to tackle an opera based on a classic text. Otello is an obvious choice. Assuming you know the text (I know this will draw responses of 'I can enjoy opera without reading books/learning languages/practicing and studying music/getting out of my armchair' - ignore) it gives you a way to work out how an opera is shaped and set it more in line with drama, a form you may know better.

Another good thing to ask for advice on is giving up smoking. People who have given up are always extremely interesting on this topic, I find.

It was my post bemoaning the absence of an outstanding Boheme dvd, and I have the Baz Luhrmann. I agree re. the emotional truth. Acting, concept, staging, direction are all excellent. For once, everyone looks right for their part. There's nothing wrong with the singing either, but it just doesn't have that extra edge I want in this work. David Hobson's acting can't be faulted. He totally lives Rodolfo. But the voice sounds rather small, at least on my copy and my sound system.

The Met/Pavarotti/Scotto has the opposite problem - sounds great, doesn't look so good.

To that extent I empathize with those who'd sooner listen to cds than watch dvds. For this opera, and loving the Karajan/Pav/Freni cd, I'm always going to have a problem matching the vision in my head. But I still say that what you hear is only part of the opera experience. As those at La Fenice for the premiere of La Traviata would testify. Fanny Salvini-Donatelli was as unacceptable a consumptive to that audience as Netrebko is to many in her Boheme. For me that's one of the fascinations of opera. Getting it all right is so difficult that you're always compromising, and when it does all come together it's breathtaking.

By the way James, can we fix this 65 character title business? It drives me nuts when I'm trying to respond to a post.