Top 5 Dramatic Operas | Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Bizet

[@operaanna]

Thanks for watching everyone! As you can probably guess, narrowing it down to five operas was EXTREMELY DIFFICULT, and there were tons more that I could have included, so many that I've listed them in the description. Hope you guys enjoyed the video - stayed tuned for Top 5 Opere buffe! :D

[@KrwawyFeliks]

I dont think I can name a scene in opera that is as "perfect" as Rigoletto breakdown in act 2. Honestly the whole of act 2 from his appearance is the best part of the whole opera.

[@edwardlittle5686]

My first opera was Lohengrin. I was 12 years old and I hated every second of it. My tie was choking me, my shoes didn't fit, and I had to endure 5 hours of the worst screeching nonsense any 12 year old ever was forced to. My God, no 12 year old boy wants to be in a suit and tie listening to a 5 hour opera. Even my parents later said they didn't like it. But with time comes growth, and now I adore opera (if it's good). I've tried (without success) to show my own kids how beautiful it can be. I think this is a pretty good list. I haven't seen many live operas (I live in rural Alabama); I've seen La Boheme, La Traviata (my favorite), and Tosca. I think Tosca and Pagliacci deserve at least honorable mention on this list. I would place them both above Don Giovanni. I'll check out your comic list next because I'm sure Marriage of Figaro is there.

[@SarahFearnley958]

My first opera was Turandot. I immediately fell in love with Puccini. I read up on the plot before I went, but I had no idea what they were singing. I still wept when Liù died.

[@robinhahnsopran]

Can we talk about your HILARIOUS editing in this vid???? I know how much time and work goes into all that editing and I LIVE ✨

[@operaanna]

You're so sweet! It was a fun one to edit 🤪

[@francoborgia8351]

Rigoletto was my first opera too 🙂 I agree with you, there are a lot of operas I like, but your choice is a good one for beginners

[@rodgerraubach2753]

Of the operas on this list, my second live opera was La Boheme, and the third was Carmen. I have yet to attend a live performance of any of the other 3. My bucket list contains all of the other three you mentioned. My first ever live opera was Madama Butterfly. My only concert performance and not an on-stage opera dramatique, was Fliegende Hollander by Wagner (one of my High School classmates sang the role of Steersman). But another opera you could have included on this list was Lucia de Lammermoor orl Il Trovatore (both of which I have seen as live performances).

[@dariobosi1635]

I'd have considered also Tosca, Un ballo in maschera and Lucia di Lammermoor ...... Either Aida or Nabucco ....... Basically there are too much options to pick just five! However I can't agree more on Rigoletto as 1st! I saw it at Arena di Verona ...... a spectacular opera in a gorgeous location with Leo Nucci playing Rigoletto! You mentioned the aria La Donna è mobile but I love all those sung by Rigoletto too! A great video Anna I can't wait that of the opera buffa!!!

[@rodgerraubach2753]

I was fortunate to hear Robert Merrill and Richard Tucker perform in Lucia, and the sextet brought down the house with people cheering and stamping their feet. The applause went on for nearly 5 minutes. This was in San Antonio, Texas, 1962 and conducted by Victor Allessandro.

[@meljackson1985]

My first was The Golden Cockerel. Carman is my favorite.

[@AvatarYoda]

The Don Giovanni you used is from the Met's 2011 production (it was shown twice during the free opera streams of 2020-2021). Mariusz Kwiecien plays Don Giovanni, Stefan Kocan is the Commendatore, and Luca Pisaroni sings Leporello.

[@ludovico6890]

Here's one that is on my personal list: Faust by Gounod. It has a pact with the Devil, murder, baby killing, stalking, voyeurism, an orgy and a few other taboos and quite a bit of musical hits, including l'Air des Bijoux.

[@operaanna]

I struggled to decide if I should include this one!!! AHHH It's vERY dramatic, I agree.

[@ganson560]

Another good one, Aunty Anna!

[@operaanna]

omg staahhp :DDD

[@ludovico6890]

Carmen was my very first operatic love. I saw Rigoletto back in 1997 at the Opera de Montréal. It was a very lacklustre sadly and my girlfriend at the time didn't like opera one bit and I had to drag her there. But on the way back, she was humming La donna e mobile.

[@operaanna]

hahahah they can screw up the production all they want, but the music is still great. I get so touched every time at Rigoletto's 'aria' with chorus - la ra la ra. It's just such a pivotal moment in the opera and so poignantly written

[@ludovico6890]

@@operaanna Rigoletto is one I must definitely revisit. My suggestion for future videos: how about operas for special holidays or time of year, like Easter Valentine's Day, summer, autumn, Halloween, New Year, etc.

[@mydlo3]

Great video Anna, greetings from Bartek!

[@operaanna]

Thanks Bartek!!! 🤩🙏

[@smemr]

Pagliacci is also a very dramatic opera with recognizable melodies and, of course, a few deaths.

[@operaanna]

Yes!! I thought of this one and then thought it would of course usually be paired with Cavalleria Rusticana and it's not programmed soooo much, which would make it hard to find. One of my faves though!!!

[@ninas992]

great list but what about Aida???

[@operaanna]

Great opera! And my first full scale at the MET but i just don't consider it a good starting opera

[@ludovico6890]

When I was young, I used to prefer opera seria. Now I think I prefer comedies, although I will always argue that comedy is a more fluid genre that can mix proper drama, even tragedy, with comedy. Don Giovanni, my personal favourite, is an example. It has genuinely funny moments, yet it's not only tragic, it ends like a horror movie!

[@operaanna]

Exactly!! I desperately want to watch it again now.

[@ludovico6890]

@@operaanna I got a record of Don Giovanni for my birthday gift when I turned 10. That was back in 1987, I'm that old. I actually had asked for it. I was not a popular kid at school.

[@thomasborgsmidt9801]

As to singers in la traviata it is Juan Diego Flóres singing Rudolfo and Violetta is Diana Damrau. But Brindici I can top that: With Carreras, Baltsa, Ricciarelli + Raimondi. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYuTc3itqZmhi68 As to favourites in no particular order: Beethoven: Fidelio. Abscheulicher! Wo eilst Du hin??? In deinem wilden Grimme. Anja Kampe: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHilqZWvrc2srqc&start_radio=1 It has a special significance personally, as my aunt was in the resistance during the war. Her later husband was tortured in the Gestapo HQ and driven out to be executed - that is untill he remembered a previous engagement and left the car. But my aunt could give any feminist tendencies a run for their money: She called in an airstrike of the Royal Air Force that liberated the prisoners. She took no shit from anyone, and as a defence lawyer had the specialty of getting her client convicted - if she thought he was guilty and a scumbag. Took some finesse to do it without getting sued for malpractice. But I recall having seen a television transmission - at an early age - where jeg only remember Leonore going into the dungeon. I was very young. Carl Nielsen: Maskerade: I gamle dage. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZOUaJaQZqdobKM Story is that the son has fallen in love with a girl at a party. The farthers of the young couple are aghast as they have made other arrangements. So here is the lament of the old git. The problem is solved to the astonishment of the farthers: The youngsters have absolutely decided for each other without asking permission, so the embarassment of the farthers was all for nothing. Cosi fan tutte with Cecilia Bartoli as Fiordiligli - takes some ovaries to step on the stage knowing full well that the absurdly big jumps are made by Mozart to make La Pontes mistress look redicilous. Wagner Lohengrin: Hier mit Lauritz Melchior: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKHGfqaDncikis0 This is the response of a man that will not put up with the little womans disloyalty. Verdi: Nabucco. Va pensiero with Riccardo Muti speaks out kzbin.info/www/bejne/roPMZZKkmpWJj68

[@1rsalc]

John Green? 🤔 It should be Joseph Green, since Giuseppe = Joseph. 😀

[@operaanna]

Joe Green i said right? Otherwise, slip of the tongue, yes it should be Joseph!

[@milycome]

While all these choices are really good - even excellent. There are three additional operas that I love ❤️❤️❤️ and probably need to be here. Problem : how to put three additional operas in the top 5. Simply not possible without making it the Top 8. Oh well, maybe leave things as they are. Oh, by the way, the 3 additional operas I would choose for the Top 5, really making it the Top 8 are : Madame Butterfly, Tosca, and Tristan and Isolde (maybe the greatest dramatic opera ever). Just one persons opinion for what it's worth !

[@operaanna]

Omg, i had Tosca in first and i took it out,cause i didn't think there was enough well known music in it! It is my absolute favorite opera, though, which made it really hard to do so! I thought really hard about Tristan und Isolde as well...i just didn't include any Wagner because they're so long. It would definitely be a good one for former Bugs Bunny fans! 🤩

[@milycome]

@@operaanna Anna, sooo true. Simply so hard to do. Like trying to choose my favorite aria of all time. Soo hard to do. However, if I had to choose only aria : maybe "visse d'arte". Who is Floria Tosca speaking to : maybe on a deeper level it's a plea to God or expression to the forces in the universe to hear and express her agonizing predicament. A close second aria, "Un bel di vedremo" - one fine day from Madame Butterfly.

[@operaanna]

@@milycome omg we defs have the same original inspiration. Vissi d'arte is my jaaam. I'm so bummed I'm not a Puccini soprano sometimes

[@rodgerraubach2753]

I took my daughter to her first ever opera this past Summer in Vienna, at the Vienna State Opera: Tristan und Isolde. We had loge box seats. The singing of Liebestod was magnificent, and caused an elderly gentleman sharing our box to openly weep.

[@floatinflyinandfishing]

the aria marten aller arten

[@joaofontoura]

Carmina Burana? Kurt Weill: The Threepenny Opera?

[@operaanna]

Hi Joao! Carmina Burana is classified as a cantata, not an opera, since there is no 'setting' as it were. It's not traditionally staged, and the Threepenny Opera, while having opera in the title, is less what I would call a classical opera and more of its own genre, as much of Kurt Weill's music tends to be! I've unfortunately never had the fortune of seeing it live either :(

[@loperet100]

Rigoletto is my preferred. No Wagner here?

[@operaanna]

Not for beginners! At least not in my mind... If it were Top 5 Operas in general, though, Wagner would almost certainly make the cut

[@loperet100]

@@operaanna I think the same, but I had this debate and a lot of people disagreed with me. Maybe it depends on the person

[@operaanna]

@@loperet100 That's so weird, i literally had the exact same experience when I asked on my Insta story. Some people came back with Wagner and I was like...really?? I should've included an alternate on the list...

[@sskykkill896]

I think Tosca has to be in there. Starts with love and passion but at the end all the characters are dead.

[@operaanna]

haha i LOVE this reasoning. Tosca was a VERY close 2nd to La Traviata. I really couldn't decide...

[@jnieuwerf]

love the Vid, BUT... no Tosca? really ? I mean really? and a cote du chemin, I remember you (and your mom) crying your eyes out at Romeo and Julia when we saw it.... so... like you said, tough to pick only 5. (And yes, this is every opera: curtain opens-chorus-sings-aria-aria-aria-chorus-bass(the father)-sings-chorus-aria-aira-they-die-during-singing-aria-the end)

[@operaanna]

Hahaha on my list of My favorite operas then Tosca would be #1 for sure, but it's not super recognizable! Pretty sure there are no bugs bunny episodes with Vissi d'arte 🤪

[@operaanna]

Fyi, i thought about Romeo and Juliette too, obviously because the story is so well-known ...it's impossible, top 10 wouldve been so much easier HAHAHA

[@royj.mattice]

Brava Anna! Nice video, and, of course, nice edits. Correction to your dad. Giuseppe is Italian for Joseph. So Giuseppe Verdi is Joe Green. Victor Borge made this joke before accompaning a soprano singing an aria from Rigletto (which he called Rigor Mortis). kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYWXgGB4a9eIhas

[@operaanna]

O wow, that's my bad though. I misspoke.

[@jbuescu]

I don't believe this. Top 5 operas and no Wagner! No Ride of the Valquiries? No Tristan chord? No Liebestod? No immolation of Brunnhilde? Verdi 2 - Wagner 0? Shame on you!

[@operaanna]

Crazily enough, i don't recommend Wagner to NEW opera goers. Too long, not enough happening on stage. (Those poor soul's attention spans need some warming up first!) In my general top 5, he would probs make it.

[@jbuescu]

@@operaanna you're right, Wagner is definitely NOT for beginners, I overlooked that "detail". BTW let me tell you, I absolutely LOVE your channel. Being a Wagner lover, I look forward to your take on him. Best wishes and keep up the great work!

[@operaanna]

@@jbuescu thank you, that's so sweet! I also LOVE Wagner, he's coming for sure, it's such a lot to take on if i want to give enough context 😂

[@AvatarYoda]

@@operaanna The Ring Cycle were the second-fifth operas I watched, and I was enthralled from the first scene of Rheingold. Sure, there were a few slow spots, and I didn't like Walkure much the first time through (that definitely changed on the second viewing, and Act I is now my favorite opera act), but I was very engaged with the characters, story, and themes from the start. So it worked for me, so much so that I haven't found an opera experience as enjoyable as the Ring.