What are /r/opera's favorite Products & Services?

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Robert Greenberg's How to Listen to and Understand Opera is a good place to start. If you aren't already a subscriber, you can sign up for a free trial with Audible and listen to the audio book for free.

You could also watch the lectures for free via a free trial of Great Courses Plus.

Did you just say the "m" word? You best be careful using that kind of language around these parts.

This is from the opera Giulio Cesare. If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch it free here (not the same production, but the same staging). It's wonderful.

I'd also recommend Newman's The Wagner Operas. It was written in the late 40's, so it may be a bit dated, but still a thorough examination of each of the operas. It includes small musical excerpts so knowing how to read music is a plus.

https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Operas-Ernest-Newman/dp/0691027161

You really should get into the whole of opera for the full appreciation, after all, its a sum of all of its arts as the LAO says. Some of my most favorite Arias for female voice are: O Mio Babino Caro, from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini. The Queen of the Night aria, from the Magic Flute by Mozart. Casta Diva from Norma by Bellini. Those are just my favorites. but this link will do a better job than me: http://www.allmusic.com/album/100-best-soprano-arias-mw0002215636. Also I think you may like counter tenor arias too! They are some of my favorites in all of opera. Rodelinda, Julius Cesar, Rinaldo are all operas from Handel that you can Youtube and find great counter tenor singing and great soprano singing. But please don't just listen to soprano and counter tenor arias. Opera encompasses the whole range and emotional expression of the human voice. From way down low in the bass register, to the medium and high male voices at baritone and tenor, to the low and mesmerizing contralto, and the ever versatile and enchanting mezzo soprano, all the way to your favorite voice type, soprano. Just go out there and explore opera, use YouTube or any other tool out there to help.

It's not a history, but Ethan Mordden's Opera Anecdotes is entirely delightful and would make a great supplement to your historical study, because it shows the world of opera as it really was — the composers, the impresarios, the performers, as they're rarely depicted in serious studies of the art. It's a fun read, but it's educational at the same time. Can't recommend it highly enough.

I really enjoy A Night at the Opera by Denis Forman, available for Amazon Kindle.

I’ve read through his summaries many times - he’s funny and clever and loves opera.

A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to the Plots, the Singers, The Composers

It's translated in Enrico Fubini's Music and Culture in Eighteenth-Century Europe. It looks like you should be able to see the whole thing on google books here provided you live somewhere it isn't blocked.

My least favorite to play was Valens in Handel's Theodora. (Not an opera, but it has been staged, most notably by Peter Sellars.) He has no class, no charm, and doesn't even get nice music. Just a despotic ruler who makes everyone's life miserable because he can.

here

I will say there are some big name singers where I don't love the way they sound and think there are smaller names who sing better. But the singing world isn't a complete meritocracy, nor do I think am I the only opinion worth considering. If someone else loves that mezzo and will pay big money to hear them, who am I to say they are wrong?

First result on Google for "in solitaria stanza imslp"

http://imslp.org/wiki/Songs_for_Voice_and_Piano_(Verdi,_Giuseppe)

If that hadn't worked... interlibrary loan.

http://www.worldcat.org/title/sei-romanze-1838-art-songs-for-low-voice-and-piano/oclc/44882018

Ricordi published books with the different variations that are consistent with the old tradition. It is very useful! The source is Luigi Ricci which you can read bout below.

About him: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Ricci_(vocal_coach)

Link to book for male voices: https://www.amazon.com/Ricordi-Variazioni-Cadenze-Technique-Composed/dp/B003AGP952

I'm going to suggest A Mad Love: An Introduction to Opera by Vivien Schweitzer.

I haven't actually read it but I've chatted many times with the author at the Met and other concert venues around New York. She is so cool and delightful. Very funny, very friendly, very enthusiastic - all around awesome person.

If you read the reviews, you can see if it would be right for you.

Here it is on Amazon

Amazon US site for US compatible viewing. The one on the UK site above is Region 2 only.

Also a wonderful Gaylord Ravenal, in this excellent Showboat.

(with Frederica von Stade as Magnolia, Teresa Stratas as Julie, Bruce Hubbard as Joe, Karla Burns as Queenie, etc.)

I think the perfect double bill would be Ms. Norman giving her Judith in Bluebeard's Castle, but I don't think she was ever filmed in the role. Excellent recording, though.

Jessye Norman stan here. I'm not sure if it's available to stream in full anywhere, but it's on DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-Oedipus-Rex-Philip-Langridge/dp/B00092ZAOK.

For theater buffs, a point of interest: this production was directed by Julie Taymor, which gives some helpful context for the overall design.

Side bar: Taymor said in an interview once that she planned to direct Ms. Norman to walk down some stairs onstage during one aria, and people told her, "Oh, no, Jessye Norman won't do that." Point being she was some uber-diva (speaking in the pejorative sense). Long story short, Taymor asked—and Ms. Norman willingly obliged, apparently without incident.

Dutchman = http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Flying-Dutchman-Christopher-Ventris/dp/B00OA9NNJ2/ref=sr_1_8?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1434216425&sr=1-8&keywords=flying+dutchman. That immediately surplanted my Bohm recommendation. It is just a concert version but its wonderful all the way around. For the Ring its a meshmash of the Levine and mostly Thielemann (huge fan of his). Meistersinger = http://www.amazon.com/Die-Meistersinger-N%C3%BCrnberg-Richard-Wagner/dp/B000001G64/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1434216714&sr=1-3&keywords=die+meistersinger+von+n%C3%BCrnberg Simply one of the best Wagner recordings of all time. Havent heard a better Sachs ever. Sorry I dont have many DVDs/Blu Rays in my colllection so those are all audio recordings.

PS Check out Thielemanns Parsifal and Kleiber's Tristan. Along with Jochums Meistersinger theeeee best Wagner recordings I know of.

I have this one on my bookshelf. ENO Der Rosenkavalier Opera Guide

Hey OP. You're doing great. Read this, it will help: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/309485-nobody-tells-this-to-people-who-are-beginners-i-wish

Also read this

http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/10-rules-for-students-and-teachers.html

KEEP GOING!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.metopera Met Opera on demand has every day one opera for free. If you subscribe you have access to the whole catalog but one opera a day is an excellent start. Just install and go to the free preview and there you go.

This was the compilation that let me know opera was a big world:

https://www.amazon.com/Opera-page-booklet-Naxos-2006-08-01/dp/B019GR999A/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=NKRKHLY7KV6H&keywords=naxos+a-z&qid=1654556905&sprefix=naxos+a-z%2Caps%2C149&sr=8-1

Two discs with selections from lots of operas, but it also comes with a small, very thick booklet describing hundreds of different operas.

It is probably a performance on the 1853 version of the opera. He sang is back in 2004 in Venice and it was recorded for video.

You can purchase the DVD on Amazon

Hvorostovsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_5Ddilin8C4

Opera fan since I was about 12 or 13 and 2-3 years ago I decided I was “going to finally get into Wagner” — so I totally get where you are coming from! I got into Wagner via podcasts and books. Just picking an opera was a little too daunting — podcasts really helped pace it out and help me learn HOW to listen. With Italian / French operas I’d buy the libretto, listen and read along etc. but to this day that doesn’t work for me that well with Wagner (and I listen to his stuff A LOT!) The met opera guild podcast that REALLY turned it around for me was this series on the ring (that one is about das rheingold but there is a podcast for each opera in the cycle). Peter Allen narrates and it’s so good! Lots of historical context, lots there to help you learn what to listen to. I find peter Allen’s voice so soothing too. I also really enjoyed reading “Wagner without Fear” by William Berger. He doesn’t shy away from telling the whole story, and provides great context and summaries about each opera too.

My hands-down-favorite-I’d-even-see-it-live is Die Meistersinger (I tend to prefer comedies over dramas in general and this has so many great tunes!) — there’s some nice pieces in there more similar to what I think of as opera opera — a beautiful quartet, some really fun chorus stuff sprinkled throughout that might be a good segue into it. I’ll send you some links to the moments I am thinking about if you’d like! I think it gets cast as super unapproachable because it’s so long but I feel like if I had listened to this years ago I would have been hooked. I second the rec for the Pilgrims chorus from Tannhauser too. So powerful and so beautiful.

What is your dream cast for Rigoletto? - currently it would be: Ludovic Tézier, Nadine Sierra, Javier Camarena.

What's your favourite production of Rigoletto? What's your worst? My favourite was an open-air version with Tézier, it can be found on vk.com: https://vk.com/video156436801_456240193 Worst was definitely the one with Domingo. WHY.

Which character is more despicable? The Duke or Rigoletto? The Duke. I'd like to yeet him into an active volcano.

What do you think happened to Rigoletto's wife? Probably convenienty died in childbirth, as missing moms tend to.

Thoughts on the censorship of Rigoletto? Pretty dumb, as all censorship, but since the French king in question isn't particularly memorable, it's not as annoying as Americanized Ballo.

Have you ever read Le Roi s’amuse? No, I'm not sure it's even available in my language.

Who (if anyone) is to blame for the downfall of Gilda? Frankly, every man in the opera.

Was Gilda raped? Yes. She may not view it that way but the Duke certainly took advantage of her naivety.

How would a modern Rigoletto look in the #metoo era? The Duke would probably be some movie producer or other Hollywood bigwig. Rigoletto is moderately a successful stand-up comedian who works for him. The rest is largely the same. Sparafucile is a rather cheap assassin who needs to work on advertising himself better.

What are you thoughts on Maddalena? There is really not much to her - she tends to look like the poor man's Carmen, she's not entirely terrible but okay with murdering a random stranger. Not the bristest lightbulb around since she falls for the Duke when she knows better.

If Verdi were to write a sequel, what would it be like? I don't think there is much room for a sequel, unless ghostly Gilda decides to haunt the Duke's ungrateful ass. Rigoletto probably dies of grief soon after he loses his daughter. Sparafucile moves to Firenze and joins the Assassins who all agree he has much to learn.

Yes, it’s possible to buy it, on Amazon for example. You should be able to find it on other sites by searching something like “La Traviata Zeffirelli” - it might be cheaper elsewhere.

This CD, long out of print unfortunately, consists of excerpts and highlights of Antal Dorati's complete recordings of the Haydn operas. There's some great arias and ensembles. It's available from other sources as well.

I don't think his is unpopular opinion. She wouldn't disagree with you

She withdrew from Norma for that reason.

You might enjoy these two books by Helena Matheopoulos.

I love the Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, Wynton Marsalis Carnegie Hall recording. Link. Battle was in especially good voice.

It sounds like it's more the production itself:

"In the opera, a poster of his film The Grotto of Venus depicts Jesus Christ crucified between the spread legs of a woman."

For those of you on a Mac, using there is a software FreeRapid which will monitor your clipboard for media links (including Youtube videos) and download them for you.

Don't know which is the best but this is a personal favorite with Edita Gruberova as Donna Anna.
Don Giovanni [Import] https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0001Z65R6/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_55FSNH8ZE597Y4JCPZ87

If you love opera then you cannot live without Ethan Mordden's Opera Anecdotes, which has among many other things tales of singers being awful to other people. Olive Fremstad — a mezzo mostly forgotten today, but a big deal at the turn of the twentieth century, celebrated for Wagner and for portraying Carmen — was a real humdinger.

I don't know what'll work for you, but I'll share a couple of things that helped me get to know opera better. As you are classically trained (I am not) you may find the suggestions inappropriate. Also, I am in the UK which may or may not work for you!

Firstly, I signed up for a course run by the Royal Opera House and Kings College, via FutureLearn. It appears that the course is not running currently, but you could put yourself on the contact list.

Secondly, I bought this book, which I found very helpful. Even though it could be a dry subject, A History of Opera was not at all difficult to read.

I have since bought many books and watched a few programmes on TV (look for Antony Pappano, for an excellent presenter). Good luck in your seach.

Completely agree. From what I hear in his recordings, he seems to stop his high notes a bit short?

I'm sure he will improve with age though. He's still in his twenties, and he's already released a studio album (also on Spotify), which I find quite remarkable. I hope we can expect good things to come for his career!

Please allow me to recommend the 1987 la scala production conducted by Muti and starring Sir Thomas Allen. Claudio Desderi is a magnificent Leporello, and this version’s Trio of the Masks is truly sublime. I hope the link works—I’ve never posted one! 😃

Don Giovanni-Sir Thomas Allen

I really like the ROH staged versions...

Mozart: Don Giovanni https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001U5V03U/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_rkL.Fb46453T1

That one is my favorite. I love the set design and costumes by Maria Bjornson... they’re simple but effective.

The most recent one is really cool as well, with the set design of the crazy rotating house with projection mapping and stuff? I think Es Devlin did the set design. The costumes are beautiful.

Mozart: Don Giovanni [Blu-ray] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M428D06/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_0mL.Fb36PKF1J

I obviously gravitate to opera more so for the theatre of it than specifically for the music or specific singers though.

As a (not exactly relevant) side note: if you have read a few Shakespeare plays in full (I read all of them), you would know that Shakespeare is all of vulgarity and insults, especially in comedies. If you watch a performance without studying the text, it is likely you missed many of them, even if the play is performed in the original English text. During one performance I was laughing very hard while the rest of the audience was dead silent. There are books about them, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Shakespeares-Sexual-Their-Significance/dp/0312126778

If I understand correctly, watching plays was a leisure for the "general public" in 17th century, like watching operas in 18/19 the century and a lot of the 20th century, not something that is often regarded as "elite" or "high-class" today. Which are like... stand-up comedies? It is natural to expect some vulgarity there, because, well, the audience like it.

Handel is the master of oratorios, and this collection by Sandrine Piau SHOULD GIVE YOU PLENTY OF MATERIAL TO CONSIDER.

Libretto and liner notes from a CD of the 2016 LA Opera production with Patricia Racette as Marie Antoinette and Christopher Maltman as Beaumarchais.

I found the libretto from a google search for "figaro fanfic versailles".

I'm enjoying it. It's interesting. The production is beautiful.

Unfortunately, this is only Das Rheingold, but in terms of singing (in particular Stewart’s Wotan and Schreier’s Loge) and especially conducting, nothing else comes close: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Das-Rheingold-Berliner-Philharmoniker-Karajan/dp/B000YD7S12

Those who insist on making cuts or changes have reasons for wanting or needing to do so, while others steadfastly insist that no changes can be justified and have a policy of faithfulness to the score. Producers will permit what producers will permit.

I understand there was a period in history when Wagner operas were regularly cut, sometimes to just to make the evening end earlier and sometimes for artistic reasons. To make matters worse it was Wotan's monologue in Act 2 of Walkure that was most often cut, content so central to the drama as a whole.

Unless you know the complete score well, the average listener who is not a musician won't even know the work has been cut. I would prefer to be informed when a work has been modified, but audiences are usually not informed of changes that are made.

It matters little if we agree or disagree with the practice as we cannot control the minds of the producers and artists involved.

I am not normally bothered except in extreme cases, such as reducing the 15 hours of Wagner's Ring Cycle to only 7 hours, which was done not too many years ago, ironically referred to as The Colon Ring. LOL

https://www.amazon.com/Colon-Ring-Nibelungen-Hours/dp/B00CBATFRG/ref=pd_lpo_74_t_2/137-8839187-2345236

I would certainly prefer faithfulness to the score, but I know it will not always be delivered.

What are your feelings about the abundance of pared back arrangements currently proliferating due to the distancing forced by the pandemic. There is a plethora of arrangements and reductions currently being performed every day.

I'm really sorry, I can only find this, but without the English subtitles. The only way to get subtitles would be to buy the DVD. Apologies I couldn't be of more help.

I’m interested - have you seen the Levine Rigoletto? https://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Rigoletto-Domingo-Cotrubas-Metropolitan/dp/B0001BPPO4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=rigoletto+levine&qid=1605305389&sr=8-1 I much prefer it to the Ponnelle version - the singing and the conducting, with the exception of Pavarotti. And it’s actually live and not just mimed.

I don’t know, but personally I would also recommend (for an audio-only performance) one of Caballé’s live performances, also with Carreras and the underrated baritone Vicente Sardinero.

Seconding Bostridge and the book, Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession - it's a great read and gives a lot of insight, somewhat indirectly, about how he approaches the work and his own performance of it. Something about his voice is just magic to me, it really invites you into the music, encourages you to sink into it.
Bostridge just released a new recording of Die Schöne Müllerin that is also quite good.

Second both recommendations. While I'm not a fan of Kabaivanska or Domingo, the latter is in much freer voice than he was later in his career. Milnes is magnificent. Even so, I think the Corelli/Caniglia/Guelfi Tosca film is even better: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Puccini-Fabritiis-Corelli-Caniglia-Guelfi/dp/B0002M5T1Q

But if the OP wanted a DVD I would recommend one of the Tebaldi performances, or the 1978 broadcast with Pavarotti, Verrett and MacNeil.

That is indeed a great performance, with Kurt Adler conducting, but I believe it's from two years earlier, in 1962: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Puccini-Tosca-Corelli-MacNeil-Flagello/dp/B000F4J8FY

I'm not sure if this helps, but Amazon has quite a few DVDs. All of them are around $30. Here's a good one: https://www.amazon.com/Strauss-Rosenkavalier-Brigitte-Fassbaender-Jungwirth/dp/B0009I8PHI/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1EZMMP5EHTPK&dchild=1&keywords=der+rosenkavalier+dvd&qid=1604179792&sprefix=der+rosen%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-3

In my college Opera Lit class we had to read (among other things) The Tenth Muse: A Historical Study of the Opera Libretto. What I recall being most interesting was discussion of good libretti with mediocre music. Emile Zola, for example, wrote the libretto to Messidor by Bruneau. Sounds fantastic, but is now forgotten.

It's out of print, but a good university library should have it.

https://www.amazon.com/Bellezza-Vocale-Beautiful-Opera-Duets/dp/B00000IWR5

this might just have what you need XD female/female duets!

Excellent. So glad you liked the opera itself. I worry sometimes that choosing the wrong production to watch can distract a new listener from a work's greatness! I really enjoyed Stemme in the more recent Met production. My favourite Tristan will always be Jon Vickers, as I believe no one else has ever come close to him in the final act. It was through his recording with Karajan for EMI that I first learned the work.

https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Tristan-Herbert-von-Karajan/dp/B017OHASEY/ref=sr_1_1

If you can, maybe consider buying the DVD/BR from Amazon but if you're like me (broke and in a country where they don't ship or show the opera) this is for you.

Information on the Performance Opera: Einstein on the Beach
Composer: Glass Philip
Libretto: Robert Wilson from various sources Venue & Opera Company: Theatre du Chatelet, Paris
Recorded: January 7, 2014 Type: Staged Opera Live Singers: Helga Davis, Kate Moran, Antoine Silverman Conductor: Michael Riesmann
Orchestra: Philip Glass Ensemble
Stage Director: Robert Wilson
Stage Designer: Robert Wilson
Lightning Designer: Robert Wilson

Information about the Recording Published by: Opus Arte
TV Director: Don Kent

There are videos of Satyagraha and Einstein on Amazon. And clips of Akhnaten from the Jacobs School on YouTube.

​

Satyagraha is form the Achim Freyer production in Stuttgart. I saw this production and wanted the DVD,but decided not to buy when the reviews were so uniformly negative about the quality. Apparently is was filmed from cameras in the booth at the back of the house using regular performance lighting, resulting in dim, grainy footage. It is also out of print and the asking price is ridiculous.

Search amazon for "satyagraha philip glass"

​

Einstein is from a Paris performance in 2014 of the Robert Wilson production.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KO7G96C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

My love for opera was rekindled back in the 90s by a CD - Essential Opera. Its a wonderful introduction to a series of beautiful arias, get yourself a second-hand copy and I hope you get as much pleasure from it as I did and still do.

I think it might be this one--I remember it from the album, though I never got the CD/MP3.

Sadly I don't know the value of the poster, but this production is available in DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Turandot-Forbidden-Frittoli-Fiorentino/dp/B00000IBVC

It's not a very nice DVD but the singers are quite good! Barbara Frittoli makes an amazing Liú, Giovanna Casolla makes a powerful Turandot and Sergej Larin gives an outstanding performance as Calaf. Also the production was really majestic.

Handel's intricacy of composition a v. good match for MC right here! A friend gave me a cd of Rinaldo with Bartoli/Daniels/Finley. Turns out to be one of my favorite cds ever.

The finest Cavalleria Rusticana ever recorded:

https://www.amazon.com/Cavalleria-Rusticana-Comp-Oper-Pietro-Mascagni/dp/B000001GCL/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1516545563&sr=1-1&keywords=sinopoli+mascagni

Thanks. I'm going tomorrow! If your interested in the story, the book on which it's based is really good to. And a film, The Limehouse Golem, also based on that book was just released last week.

Have not seen it live. I'm not sure I would recommend it for a newcomer, since Dutchman is rather dark and ponderous. Unless you like dark and ponderous! But I guess the prevailing wisdom is to encourage newcomers to see productions that will grab them with great stories and interesting characters; the theory being that these qualities will help carry them through the often punishing lengths of most operas. Someone here suggested Lohengrin as a good intro to Wagner and I agree. A visually compelling Dutchman is on youtube which has generally good reviews and Donald McIntyre in the starring role. Good luck!

You mean his CD?

this is what I use. They're $25 and they're made with wood so classical / opera music sounds much "brighter". This is a good budget alternative if you like having two sets of headphones or are a little uneasy dropping $125 on something that may or may not be to your liking.

https://www.amazon.com/Symphonized-NRG-Noise-isolating-Headphones-Brown/dp/B00T56D9WQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492092526&sr=8-1&keywords=wood+earbuds

Don't forget about the excellent Richard Boldrey book which categorizes everything by language, among many other categorizations. Anyone else know of any electronic versions or databases of this book?

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Operatic-Roles-Richard-Boldrey/dp/1877761648

Something a little more unusual - a copy of Observations of the Florid Song. A book written during the Baroque era about vocal technique and ornamentation written originally for the castrati (and the author was himself a castrato), with tons of information on baroque trills, appogiatura, and other ornaments common to baroque singing.

I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for the corrections! I'll definitely keep those in mind. The recording I have is this one, and I'm actually not entirely sure if any others exist...!

Huh, that's a good point. Yeah now that I think about it some of the ones I'm thinking of were obviously geared toward higher production value to the "video" audience in preference to the "live" audience members. So they'd have cameras swooping around and the microphone right in front of the singer, which would be a distraction for the live audience, and shows that they had a priority to make the recorded video look and sound good.

I've heard that it's very difficult to record someone singing at full operatic volume. Something about the voice just pushing the limits of the parameters of microphones. I don't know if it's true but it makes sense.

Of course, you can have a mic far away to get the "house" sound but then you will also be picking up the coughing and shuffling of the audience members, and it won't sound intimate enough to anybody accustomed to modern recording.

I would be really interested to know how they engineer "studio" opera recordings. I guess Georg Solti has recorded a ton, and the recording I've listened to a lot sounds really quite good; he must have had a formula down. It sounds like maybe the singers are mic'd fairly closely and individually, and that they are singing a little bit conservatively but still at a full "concert" kind of volume. Even so, there are a few high notes that end up distorted on the recording. Also, there are "stage directions" where they apparently had the singers walk away from their mics to create some movement.

https://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Rigoletto-Giuseppe/dp/B000003EPN

1: Sign up to Audible - First book is free so you can / could cancel subscription after that

2: Download Professor Robert Grenberg's How to Listen to and Understand Opera

3: Enjoy over 24 hours worth of engaging instruction giving a fully comprehensive non-technical nuts and bolts introduction, history and thorough grounding in opera including biographies on key composers, vocal techniques, and all the various types of opera.

Hope this helps - it absolutely worked for me.

For me, the classic Bohème is the one with Sir Thomas Beecham, Jussi Bjoerling, and Victoria de los Angeles. I also love the Domingo/Caballé.

Carmen is a little tougher. I'm probably in the minority here, but there was a movie version from the 80s with Domingo and Julia Migenes Johnson that was great.

Is this your website? I'm sorry, my earlier comment would have been much gentler had I realized that.

There were other castrati working on the choir at the same time as Moreschi and they were likely recorded, but it is impossible to say for sure as there were also trebles (boy singers) working on the choir at that time too. I actually did a podcast on this semi-recently, if you care to listen, the last piece I cover is a choral piece where it's very likely the alto part you pretty clearly hear is another castrato.

The Moreschi recordings and their context (and all the other castrati of that period, including the ones likely to have also been recorded but not as soloists) are covered in depth in Clapton's Moreschi book. Martha Feldman has also done some in-depth detective work on the recordings, some good work on this (and the castrato voice in general) in her latest book.

(Psst, on reddit to reply to someone's comment so the person will see it in their inbox you need to click the little grey reply button under the comment, not the big reply box at the top)

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Eva Lind from this recording: http://www.amazon.com/Bellini-Sonnambula-Matteuzzi-Donzelli-Gabriele/dp/B00000JIQ3/ref=sr_1_23?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1440792834&sr=1-23&keywords=sonnambula

I'm not sure if you're looking to get quite this deep, but you might find perusing a book like this to get a feel for the historical side of the lingo.

Probably these on that budget: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Inspire-T12-Multimedia-Technology/dp/B0028N6YH0/ref=sr_1_13?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1438632593&sr=1-13&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A6025508011%2Cp_6%3AATVPDKIKX0DER

A bit over budget: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-GigaWorks-Multimedia-BasXPort-Technology/dp/B001RNOHDU/ref=sr_1_20?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1438632676&sr=1-20&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A6025508011%2Cp_6%3AATVPDKIK...

It's one of those recordings from the Met

Non-mobile: Marshall Monitor

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

I'll start with this:

http://www.amazon.com/Rossini-Barber-Seville-Roberta-Leinsdorf/dp/B000003G4F

Roberta Peters. Absolutely an incomparable Rosina (if you allow the "soprano Rosina" variant. The role was actually written for a mezzo, but I'm reasonably confident Rossini wouldn't blink an eye at transposing for the needs of a given singer.)