Frisky Young Tenors

I was curious as to what the excitement was all about......I went to youtube and there's a 9:54 minute video of Juan Diego Florez singing "Ah, mes amis". It felt like 30 minutes.

I prefer Lou Christie's high notes in "Lightening Strikes". But then again I'm a rock n roll, do wop, jazz, blues, and country western fan. (And I like classical music.)

Opera is not my "cup of tea". Although I've listened to the Three Tenors and there's a couple of arias that are melodic enough.

But opera is like ballet....I don't get it. But then again I don't get American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.

But I have a question for LaDonna.....what kind of scented candles should I get to enjoy music with? And what kind of music do you recommend with those candles?

Dear Mr. ExPat:

Candles and music, should be like the moment....so many possibilites!

What pleasure this guy is. One listen to Una Furtive Lagrima and you'll surely shed a few of your own.

This site, these discussions, and you folks, are certainly expanding my limited horizons.

Thanks, be well, and enjoys the weekend.

btw, . . . good answer La Donna.

To: LaDonna

Great advise! You are a true romantic.........me, too!

To paraphrase Omar khayyam:

A scented candle, some music,

the Owner's Manual

an intelligent woman,

It's surely Paradise, now!

Ooooh! So soon after ExPat and I saw so eye-to-eye on the topic of miltary generals, we find ourselves on opposite ends of this baby. I LOVE opera and am delighted to know that yet another tenor is getting kudos for nailing the same role (and the same aria) that first brought a young singer named Luciano Pavarotti to international attention.

I feel about opera singers rather the way we both felt about generals. Even the better ones today don't seem to have the potential for the outsized presence of yesterday's legends. Hopefully, this Florez fellow (with whom I am not familiar) will carry the torch into the next generation. And I'm still holding out hope for Salvatore Licitra.

For those who don't feel opera is their "cup of tea", I respect that this is why they make ice cream in different flavors. But if, at any time, you want to give it a try, let me suggest that you remember it's about the music first and last. Just sit back and let beautiful melodies and harmonies wash over you. There's no need to worry about how you don't understand it because you don't speak Italian (unless you DO, of course!). And a grand aria should affect you in much the same way a cool jazz set does.

To: DreadPirateRoberts,

You have my word.......I will give it a try!

ExPat

I have had a bit of a glimpse of the world of opera behind the curtain, if you are interested. My husband and I both had a bit of a classical music background but neither of us had really been exposed to opera until our son married a metzo. After graduate school, they lived in LA where she sang with the LA Opera, getting small parts and covering larger parts. When they told her that she wouldn't get cast directly into any larger parts until she had had "European experience" (whatever that really would mean as far as enhancing her voice), they left LA and went to NYC so she could study with her voice teacher for a year before going to Germany. While in NYC, she landed a spot in a small Italian Opera festival and off they went. After a month there, she realized that she really had been "discovered" and could have a solo career; maybe not on the "A list", but definitely, she could make a living. So she then sat back and really thought. Was this a life style she wanted to get her and the whole family into? After several overseas conversations, she decided that, even though this was what she had been striving for since early childhood, it was not the lifestyle she wanted. She didn't deal well with the primadonnas and weird, "artsy" types that seemed to be everywhere. So she gave it all up and is today a very happy, fulfilled, full-time mother who says one smile and hug from her daughter is worth all the applause from singing.

Since then, I have run into several other highly awarded and popular opera singers that gave it up because of the life style it entailed. None have regretted it for a moment. The music is definitely awesome, but the tole it takes on the singers is formidable. When our d-in-l was in Italy, the musical director had just come from directing "Aida" a La Scalla. He told her that the next time he was asked to direct it, he would tell them that he would only do it if she sang Amneris. The world will just have to survive without that pleasure.

to: DreadPirateRoberts,

Your post made me think of one of my all time favorite scenes from the movie "Shawshank Redemption" when Andy Dufrane ( played by Tim Robbins), locked himself up in a room with the prison's public address system and a record player, and for a few moments was able to free the minds and lift the spirits of all his fellow inmates by playing a beautiful track from an Italian opera, who's words nobody understood.

I don't know opera, but I know what I like....

Be well

I'm sitting here (after being at a wonderful art fair all afternoon) blushing, wanting ice cream, candles, and some good music. What a great day! Hope the same for you 'all.

As Mr. Peterman so often says -- There are some great posts here!

Yes, South-Side John (are you from Chicago?), I love that scene in "Shawshank" and it is a great example of how I feel about the music. That duet was from THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO by Mozart, one of my favorites.

For those who are trying opera out for the first time (dabbling, if you will), remember that, just like rock and roll, not all operas are created equal. I've never been a big fan of AIDA other than its two most famous pieces. And I still don't really get the big deal about Richard Wagner's music. On the other hand, there are many die-hard fans who disagree with me and tend to knock Puccini whom I almost universally adore.

But a person's impression of opera in general is often seriously affected (for good or for ill) by the first two or three operas he/she hears. I highly recommend the following as great choices for first and second-timers:

TOSCA by Giacomo Puccini
FAUST by Charles Gounod
CAVALLARIA RUSTICANA by Pietro Mascagni
LA BOHEME by Giacomo Puccini
RIGOLETTO by Giuseppe Verdi

A lot of times, no matter how good the music is, it's the singers who present it that really make a difference. The first time I ever saw RIGOLETTO live, the tenor was terrible and the aria, "La Donna e Mobile", which usually brings down the house, received grudging applause at best. If you're looking for good CDs, make a note of these names:

Maria Callas (soprano)
Rosiland Elias (mezzo)
Franco Corelli (tenor)
Sherrill Milnes (baritone)
Cesare Siepi (bass)

There are many other great voices out there, of course, but these are five with whom you really can't go wrong. I'm assuming, if you have even a rudimentary interest in opera, you already know the most famous voices like Pavarotti, Domingo, Joan Sutherland, etc.

to: DreadPirateRoberts,
Originally from South-Side Chicago. My family moved to the burbs when the stockyards closed and Armour Co. transferred my father.

Thank you for the recommendations, I'll give them a spin.

to: South-Side John

I love Chicago. If, for some reason, I were no longer allowed to live in New York, my next two choices (in the U.S. at least) would be Chicago and San Francisco. And I'm a Cub fan which, I hope, says flattering things about my sense of loyalty and patience.

My vocal coach when I was a kid had sung with the Chicago Lyric Opera back when it was still called the Chicago Civic.

Today, the theatre scene in Chicago is unparallelled in the U.S. That might seem strange for a New Yorker to say but Broadway has become so much of a tourist industry (nothing wrong with that necessarily but it's a different animal from what it was once meant to be). Off and Off-Off Broadway are terrific but none of my performing artist friends can make a living in those markets. But Chicago still has, for want of a better term, a populist theatrical community. In Chicago, a janitor or a train conductor is more likely to go out for an evening of live theatre on Saturday night than his New York bethren. Former Chicagoans I have known says we owe this primarily to the improv comedy tradition.