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[chuanoplast]

That's right folks. What with all the recent hoogeldy-groogle about this newfangled "Rocking and Rolling", and me being a steadfast old curmudgeon in the ways of yore, it is time for some opera.

Here. Have this. Who needs rock-roll when opera will also provide you with animal print furniture and clothing, on moving platforms nonetheless?

Everybody likes partying. Including monks. This is why this section of Carmina Burana (not actually opera, but it's choral) is so awesome. Do rock and rollers sing about roasted swans? I don't know. But monks do!

Last, here is something delightful.

In other words, opera is awesome and 5 A.M. is a perfectly reasonable time to be listening to it. Do you guys like opera? If so, what operas and/or choral works do you enjoy? If not, I understand. Even though opera is rad, it is also very very frightening and sometimes disturbing.

[theinevitable]

I know nothing about Opera. All I know is that this thread gave me the idea to listen to some Palestrina, which is always a great thing. This guy, what with his polyphony and all... quite a character, you know? I cannot say anything beyond that they are very pretty and soothing, though.

[wombat]

I don't understand what's so great about Palestrina. He always seemed like computer-generated Renaissance polyphony to me. I could practically fall asleep singing the alto parts of Palestrina.

I am not an opera fan, but that post is a very good sales message for it. Perhaps I should reconsider.

[theinevitable]

I mean... he seems like polyphony "by-the-numbers" because he basically wrote the numbers, is my understanding. I do not pretend to know anything about this, though. I mean, if his stuff sounded really weird and idiosyncratic, wouldn't that be because the things he did had died out in music since then? The wikipedia article does comment that he made very strict rules for himself and stuck to them in a way few composers do.

I want to say that unshared Uniquely Derived Traits would make him a Bad Ancestor in our reconstruction of evolution. This means that this break is starting not a moment too soon for me.

[chuanoplast]

I am not an opera fan, but that post is a very good sales message for it. Perhaps I should reconsider.

Yes! Please do! There are a variety of operas, and if you don't like watching them, you can always listen to separate arias. Or just find random opera snippets on Youtube and see what you like.

And Inev, if you like Palestrina, you should listen to Bach's choral works. Wombat may not fall asleep singing those alto parts.

[wombat]

The wikipedia article does comment that he made very strict rules for himself and stuck to them in a way few composers do.

Interesting observation, because that does sound like a perfect recipe for Boring.

I'm sure it's possible that some music is more rewarding to listen to than it is to perform, especially if you're on the inner parts. Later choral music than Bach never seemed worth singing to me, but that hardly means it isn't worth listening to.  Palestrina is just odd because he seemed to me to be the only Renaissance composer who falls into that category. Way ahead of his time, I guess.

I had a Traumatic Youth as far as opera. My uncle who lived downstairs was a fan of the most bombastic and tacky sort of Italian opera recordings and thought this made him quite culturally superior.  So I started out with a very bad impression of the genre.

[Arachno-capitalist]

Personally, my favorite part of Opera is the penis gestures and integrated bittorrent client, but Im still a firefox man.

[linnea]

Heh, that was amusing, A-CAP.

Great clips, chuano! I love them. One of the things I want to do is take a music appreciation class that specifically addresses opera. I love the music and the drama, and someday I will have season tickets to the opera. It is something that I have always admired but never gotten to see live.

[chuanoplast]

Wombat, you should try listening to some Mozart operas. Although there are some crazy flashy bits, on the whole they are more structured and just nice to listen to. I recommend The Magic Flute as a starting point.

[littlefallsmets]

I'm just gonna fully admit here that I have no knowledge of the classics in any form or genre and just... move along here. I had to go to a few operas for college classes and instantly forgot them.

Pretty much the only opera or classical music I've ever heard outside of film scores was snippets on Shekele (sp?) Mix on NPR.

I am sadly pretty much your average pseudo-intellectual with an intellectual pond as broad and long as it is shallow. I'll move along now.

[wombat]

Pretty much the only opera or classical music I've ever heard outside of film scores was snippets on Shekele (sp?) Mix on NPR.

Schickele.  I just butt in with this correction because he is one of my few brushes with greatness. He lived across the street from a high school friend and I have a funny thing he wrote and signed for me.

[KeithHernandez]

I'm just gonna fully admit here that I have no knowledge of the classics in any form or genre and just... move along here. I had to go to a few operas for college classes and instantly forgot them.

Pretty much the only opera or classical music I've ever heard outside of film scores was snippets on Shekele (sp?) Mix on NPR.

I am sadly pretty much your average pseudo-intellectual with an intellectual pond as broad and long as it is shallow. I'll move along now.

Instead I went to like 3 John Cage performance piano concerts and listen to the classic station if I am driving and don't have ipod or whatever.

[theinevitable]

John Cage. What a guy.

[littlefallsmets]

Well, he's no LUKE Cage, but we can't all be heroes for hire.

(...or can we?)

[AlohaDawg]

Schickele.  I just butt in with this correction because he is one of my few brushes with greatness. He lived across the street from a high school friend and I have a funny thing he wrote and signed for me.

Please scan and show us the funny thing from Professor Peter Schickele. That would be 10 kinds of awesome.


Also for favorites: I've loved Carmina Burana for sometime, but I'll always be attached to the 1812 Overture as performed in it's full glory: Full on Russian-style choir (I think they double the number of Basses), Orchestra, Carillon, and Churchbells. If you ever get the chance to hear it with everything, well, Holy Crap it can make you feel small.

Also, I really like Vangelis' Chariots of Fire and Heaven and Hell.

You know what I could never figure out? Why people can enjoy Atonal music. It's just noise to me. If I knew 'how' to appreciate it, maybe I could at least listen to it without wanting to pluck my eyes out and stuff them into my ears.