Where do I start with Opera?

You might like to try some recent operas too, e.g.

Philip Glass Akhnaten -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZETL2_UHcM

or John Adams's Nixon in China -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tv3hrZmcEk

or 

Doctor Atomic -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYiokai3FW4

Good luck in your explorations

Gerry

Richypike, I agree strongly that any ‘academic’ interest in a particular work or genre and the further study/delving that may result, is always more productive after you’ve decided that you like (inadequate term, I know) the work itself, rather than as some preparatory exercise. Indeed, the latter approach might be guaranteed to put you off for life. You could read all the literature the world has to offer on wine, but it would be no guide to what you might like, and no substitute for actually drinking the stuff.
I think you raise a good point regarding the difficulty some people have with opera, namely that re it’s probably the musical form which has the most hurdles to get over in the form of conventions or norms, particularly so the earlier the opera. ‘Dry’ recitative, da capo arias, formal choruses, trios, spectacular showpiece arias etc are all conventions which composers adapted and evolved over the years. This is, of course, a huge generalisation, but getting over these conventions – or simply ignoring them – is something that I suppose most opera lovers come to terms with eventually in some degree or another. I’ve been listening to and attending opera for many years, but I’d still find sitting through a Monteverdi opera a bit of a slog, even though I adore much of his other music.
Forgive me if these recommendations have been posted by others, but I’d be tempted to look at later operas which are more ‘through-composed’ such as Verdi’s Don Carlos or Otello (quite possibly my ‘favourite’ Italian opera) and which do not have such clear conventional demarcation between recitative/aria, but accommodate them within a more homogenised structure, if you’ll forgive a rather pretentious term. Act 2 of Otello is one of the tautest, most concentrated musical/theatrical experiences from beginning to end, but still contains at least three arias and one duet which have independently gained fame and popularity as single pieces, but which are seamlessly integrated into the whole. The same, I think, goes for the Strauss which has already been mentioned and, of course, there’s Wagner – but I suppose the real message is ‘suck it and see’.
I know that you said you had mixed feelings about Grimes, but I’d still give Britten a crack – try Billy Budd and see if you can listen to it without thinking in terms of recitative/aria. I really don’t for one second want to appear didactic or patronising, but you’ve obviously got a great love of the human voice as your previous posts show.

JKH

"Suck it and See", eventually, is the way to approach Opera. Something like a "blind date" or "dating in the darkness". If it comes, it will come, if it doesn't, it will overtake us and so on. The comparison of music and wine was brilliant, JKH. I believe Die Jauberflote "tastes" as a vintage Cabernet-Sauvignon.

Some mature classical musicians told me that music is science with pleasure for them and pleasure with scientific means for the listener. That means the artist, who is going to deal with music, has to have enough knowledge (like a scientist) of a certain specific level and spectrum in order to perform, while the listener should be aware of the framework and the basic features of this knowledge, so that he/she may be able to comprehend and follow what is being performed and, eventually, what the specific work is all about. In this way, you may appreciate equally "Le Nozze", Don Giovanni" and "Die Zauberflote". Otherwise, you may see someone to claim "Le Nozze" is a masterwork and "Die Zauberflote" a bore (and so on).

To reiterate what I have said before, the more you know, the better you comprehend and the better you choose. I remember the first time I listened to "Siegfried", I almost vomit ( I felt so dizzy with the plot and the elusively noisy music). After I studied a lot about Wagner as a composer (and a man), after I learned about the leit-motives, the wagnerian orchestration, the vocal role in the whole work and many more, I became a lifetime Wagnerian defender, while Wagner's music gives me the ultimate pleasure in the field of what is generally called Opera (Wagner refused to call his works as such).

After all, both JKH and Tagalie seem to happen to know enough (in one or the other way) to indulge in this form of Classical Music. Richypike seem to ignore almost everything. So, don't give him any advise judging from the level you have been already.

Parla