Where do I start with Opera?

It's not an absolute music genre, is it, so you'd have to have extrinsic reasons to write opera. That said, there aren't many of the most famous who never wrote any. Those who didn't also didn't compose in some other genres and never aimed to be all-round composers. I suppose the obvious candidates are Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Bruckner, Sibelius, Webern. I exclude Mahler for reasons which could be debated. It is kind of clear why none of these ever did. Many of the great composers are known only or mainly for opera, and opera is massively influential on 'absolute music' forms (Mozart, obviously, and on the list above e.g. Wagner's influence on Bruckner, maybe Kullervo as a kind of nationalist oratorio, Liszt's apparent indebtedness to Phantom of the Opera, etc).

Who else among the classic, repertoire composers should be on this list?

Sorry that should be have in the last sentence.

Two things I learned today, it seems Lutoslawski planned to write an opera based on Aristophanes´ The Birds, he even had a libretto written, and second that Elliott Carter was almost 70 before he first heard La Boheme, and when he did he didn´t think much of it.  

Elliot Carter was a mere stripling when he first heard La Boheme. At any rate he waited a further 20 years before writing his own opera, "What's Next", which I've heard. I though it quite good, even funny in places, but it doesn't seem to have been a hit. What might he have achieved had he heard La Boheme only 50 years earlier?

Hi tagalie,

My colleague in the technical team has addressed the 65 character question here.

On the opera, I agree with you about Hobson et al, though I think the dramatic experience sweeps away those considerations (wouldn't want it on CD though). If vocal brilliance is especially important to you, I do suggest that old Covent Garden film with Shicoff, Cotrubas and Thomas Allen, which is convincing visually (they don't look like starving youngsters but neither do they look like Pavarotti!) and musically is superb. I love Shicoff's sound...

All the best,

James

Did people see Robert LePage's production of Bluebeard, along with Erwartung (waaay back)? Those seemed to show that a great director - who got the point about the expressionism of these pieces - could properly present them as stage works.

Incidentally I was sorry to learn that László Polgár, who I twice heard in this role, had died recently. His Bluebeard was magnificent.

Edited to add: I saw the LePage back in 1993. I see now that it has been revived since then and may even still be around, so go for it!

If you love Bach, Ravel, Vaughan Williams, I don't think you are a beginner.   Bach's vocal music depends on recitative - if you can deal with Bach's recitatives, Mozart's or Handel's shouldn't be a problem.   True, we have no opera by Bach, but we have some very dramatic music indeed.   Nowadays there's a belief that opera ought to be credible drama, and if it isn't it ought to be made to look like it, which has resulted in some very good productions and some notoriously bad ones.  Unless you can get regularly to a nearby opera house from East Anglia, you will have to depend on radio, DVD, or other recorded sources, so opera in the theatre isn't going to be more than the icing on the cake.

The drama in opera comes largely from the act of singing, and the purpose of any libretto or staging is really to create opportunities for singers, singing, to work on your emotions.   So listen to singers singing, and let your emotions be worked on - it doesn't matter really whether they are actually performing in opera or not, at least, not to begin with.  Try - and its not always easy or possible -to get the words they're singing, but don't expect the translations to tell you everything.   They won't, for example, tell you why a top note is where it is, unless the translator is very, very good, and not often then.   So try to get some notion of the original language, too.   There is absolutely nothing wrong with listening to highlights, or solo operatic recitals.   That is how most beginners learn, anyway.

As for the dreaded recitative, opera began with it.   Arias and ensembles and choruses came very much later.   You could do much worse than begin where opera did, once you know what singing can do.   Monteverdi is a great composer, and three of his operas survive.   Orfeo, or Poppaea, might open your ears to a great deal.   

And don't judge works by first impressions.   Some very good operas began as failures, in any case.   Some recordings or broadcasts can still fall short of what's needed.   Follow your ears and keep an open mind.   And try Le Nozze di Figaro, at least.  Listen very, very carefully to the finale of Act II, where the music is often saying something quite different from what appears to be the stage action, but both are part of what the opera is about.   All good operas get into this sort of territory somewhere, and this is where the real drama makes the music.