to not 'get' Opera?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

I like all sorts of music, but I really can not learn to appreciate the genre that I perceive as caterwauling.

Is this a life skill to be able to appreciate all things cultural?

Or am I just too young, and it's something I'll learn to enjoy as I drift slowly to my twiglet years?

Is there a starter for numpties?

I find the voices of highly trained opera singers forced and grating. Sopranos, with their extra shrillness, are the worst offenders to my ear. There are many arias that I enjoy,for their emotional quality, but the harshness of the voices puts me off ever forking out the megabucks required to go to an opera performance.

It's not that I don't like the trained human voice. I enjoy choral music, some of which includes solos, but the voices seem to have a different quality.

Also recitative is one of the most stupid inventions ever. What is the point of it?

I like individual pieces of Opera music but I'm afraid I can't be doing with a whole one!

We saw Carmen locally and it was ok, I knew many of the pieces of music, but when we saw La Traviata while on holiday in Venice I have to say I was bored to tears . We'd bought a cd in advance so we roughly knew what was going on but it left me cold I'm afraid.

looooove opera, my dream would be to see the whole "the ring" but very often opera houses only do one of the 4 per year...just as well as I don't think I could sit for 20 hours on horrible opera house seats...

my opera recommendations:
wagner - flying dutchman (not as long as the others)
puccini- la boheme
mozart - magic flute and entführung aus dem serail
offenbach - orpheus (easy to listen to and very funny)
puccini - gianni schicci

When they reach some of the high notes I do just have to put my fingers in my ears. Age 41 BTW

if you don't like shrill voices, go for handel operas.
but I like loud, if the voices are well trained they shouldn't be shrill, just loud.

mid thirties here

I just love this sooo much, so have to add
Bartok - bluebeards castle

I was a bit half-hearted about opera until I went to see one live. Now I like it.

There's shrill, and there's Leontyne Price butterbur!

The point is that there's bound to be a rendition of this beautiful aria that won't grate on your ears - compare Ms Price's incredible voice with those of Kiri Te Kanawa, Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballe etc to find your favourite.

There are some pretty "shrill" male singers out there too. It's to do with the individual voice.

Again FWIW, most people who say Wagner is 'shrill' etc have never heard any except Ride of the Valkyries, which is btw meant to be shrill etc as a critique of the Valkyries. Try the Liebestod from Tristan if you think Wagner is shrill; I especially suggest you try it with Margaret Price if you like Mozart normally. Of COURSE not Leontyne Price, ack.

Or try the orchestral prelude to Lohengrin, which is intense and hushed. Think I've unaccountably failed to mention Meistersinger, which even Wagner-haters usually like.

Dunno why I'm trying to make more Wagnerians; it's difficult enough to get tickets now If a company announces a Puccini, a Mozart, and a nevereardofit, with an opera by Wagner, Wagner will sell out by lunchtime.

I love opera.Really,seriously love it-do I sound like a complete arse if I say its part of who I am?. Got into it when was very young(8ish?) but didnt go to see my first proper opera til I was 23!.
I love puccini(yes overblown romantic tosh but who cares!),verdi,bizet,donnazetti but my favourite of all is La Traviata.Have already made my dh promise that if I die before him then the prelude to it must be played at my funeral.

I got into it after watching Zefferelli's film of La Traviata. If you don't like it I wouldn't worry though. I don't like reggae or rap but don't feel that is something I need to remedy.
I love the combination of acting, singing and a great orchestra. Wish the stories weren't quite so far fetched and the heroines so pathetic and love lorn though.
Could do with a modern opera where you don't die when your bloke leaves you or dies but find another one and enjoy your job and have some hobbies...

YANBU, I can totally understand where you're coming from, my Mother is obsessed with Opera and choral music and has grade 8 singing voice. i spent my childhood in church with my hands over my ears and my face burning with embarrassment because of her screechy screamy voice. I'm afraid that's never left me although i LOVE music, you could say i was a music fanatic re some bands and singers in other genres.

I've seen Carmen which was ok I suppose and Madam Butterfly which was boring. I love the aria in Shawshank and "Toreador" in Carmen but that's about it.

Last music event I went to was primal Scream singing Screamadelica live, give me that over all that caterwauling anyday

This Carmen is a tad more than ok!

Try this flamenco fight scene from Carmen - recreates the knife fight in the tobacco factory in Seville -

From an Antonion Gades film, if you have 5 mins to be whipped away to Sevlle.

Carmen emerges as the beauty in orange.

I love opera. I am 31. I was brought up with it though, being lucky enough to see everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Wagner between the ages of 8 and 14. I cried my eyes out at La Boheme when I was 10, and did it again at the age of 30.

I am an absolute Wagner fanatic and have tickets to see the concert performances of Die Walkure and Rheingold in Manchester this year. I have also been to the Royal Opera House, Royal Albert Hall and as a 30th birthday present from my entire extended family, Tristan and Isolde at Glyndebourne. I'm on the waiting list for Bayreuth.

I am lucky enough to be able to afford this, but apart from Glyndebourne tickets can be got relatively cheaply. My friend saw the entire Ring Cycle (standing ) for under £70 at the RoH. That's a bargain.

Chaos - if you want a starter, Tosca by Puccini has murder, rape, torture, the works. And brilliant music. There's not a dull moment. My DH describes opera as wailing and he loved it.

the ring, standing, oh my god. I admire your friends stamina :)

my dh (who didn't grow up with music at all) likens opera to shakespeare: you need to go prepared, read the script, or it will be difficult to follow.

I myself find theater a bit dull, it is missing the singing and orchestra.

Started with Britten's Turn of the Screw aged about 5. Loved it apparently (I don't remember) and never looked back.

Watching opera live usually makes me cry or gives me goosebumps. Would recommend any of the big Verdi or Puccini operas for those trying it for size (Rigoletto, La Traviata, Otello) or Gilbert and Sullivan for something more light-hearted (esp Mikado). And unrealistic to expect to like everything, just as you wouldn't expect to like all pop music.

A bit annoyed when it's called elitist, as it tends to imply that you like it for a reason other than pure enjoyment; and you can get cheap tickets at ENO or RoH cheaper than quite a few football matches.

Classic Opera is beautiful (although I'm not a big Wagner fan - sorry MissMarjorbanks...) and it was love at first sound and sight for me.
Verdi is by far my favourite - did you know that his operas were written for the great italian public and were never meant to be for the "posh" or upper classes?
I'm 39 (sigh...)

I also got into opera via Puccini - used to listen to it in the car and found I kept turning up my favourite bits. Then queued at 6am in the rain for day tickets to see La Boheme at the Royal Opera House and never looked back.

My absolute favourite is Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Really moving story - about young love on the one hand, and getting older on the other - and two just mind-blowing moments: the duet in Act 2 and the trio at the end. As so many others have said, they make me shiver and hairs stand up on the back of my neck. And weep .

I have seen lots of opera as a child/teenager - everything from modern opera in English to more "accessible" opera like Carmen. As a child was only taken to more accessible ones that had lavish sets and lots going on in stage.

I don't like opera. I did kind of enjoy some I saw as a teenager/child. But only at the level of enjoyment of walking through my local park i.e. it was okay, but not worth paying money for.

I like some bits of music in opera, but thats it really.

I do get irritated by people - like some on here - who seem to assume that if you don't like opera you just haven't seen the right operas/heard the right singers. I have seen and heard lots of opera.

And unlike the theatre and art galleries that I was taken to as a child and still love going to; opera really doesn't do anything for me.
So no YANBU.

CJ Greggm, am with you on Der Rosenkavalier; possibly my fave too. The bit about stopping all the clocks in the middle of the night. Goosebump city...

i love opera its the power in the voices just amazing to watch. id suggest you go and see one in person and then you might fall in love with the atmosphere etc first.

in 25 for whoever asked about age

My taste is mostly 'Opera Highlights'. Got very swept away by Madame Butterfyl when I was a teenager. My super bright brother in law is doing a doctorate on some very obscure matematical opera thing and he dismisses Puccini as a load of tacky sentimental crap but I think he has no imagination! I had never been to an opera but he took me to see The Force of Destiny by Verdi and I must say I was enraptured by the whole thing - over three hours. He counted things like numbers of performers (he is like Rain Man) and I was really swept away by it. Have no intellectual grasp of it but the emotion did it for me. But then, I like country music too so what do I know!