All About Opera (Guest post by BowTiedOctopod)

An introduction to one of the world's most elaborate art forms

Octopod here, very glad to be collab’ing with Apollo. He is crushing the content game on all things aesthetics, art and graphic design. The world needs to appreciate art and beauty more and supporting Apollo as a paid subscriber is a great start. 

Big thanks to Apollo for letting me talk about one of my favorite art forms: Opera. 

Don’t go yet… you may find that Opera holds a ton of surprises and enjoyment for your life, it’s just few people have been taught or properly introduced to the art form. This post can only serve as an introduction to help you start your journey. There is simply too much history, performances and opinions I have… that would be a book not a Substack 😂

Opera comes up frequently in pop culture. 

• The famous Pagliacci aria that plays during The Untouchables with Robert DeNiro. 

• When Andy Dufresne locks out the guards in The Shawshank Redemption and plays over the PA system for the inmates. 

• The aria Nessun Dorma was sung by Pavarotti at the Italian World Cup (the aria has since become like the Italian National Anthem in popularity). 

What if I told you that Opera is the art form that “character music” was derived from?

Yes, the Darth Vader theme, Indiana Jones… all of the popular movies that have assigned iconic music to specific characters, which adds depth to the viewing experience, was first done by a genius Opera composer. 

And one of the most beloved literature series was written, and directly inspired, by a man who grew up listening to opera. 

Find out who these composers are by reading through to the conclusion. 

So how the heck did I get into Opera in the first place? 

I grew up in a musical house but Opera was not part of the mix. I had a fantastic art and music appreciation teacher which heavily influenced my love for certain art and classical music, but again, Opera was not part of that. 

Finding opera was very much by chance and I still count it as one of the happiest accidents that has led to one of my favorite leisure activities. 

I was working 100+ hour weeks in my restaurant. I had zero balance in my life. A raging perfectionist combined with workaholic tendencies was adding up to success and accolades but I was pretty miserable internally. Stressed, edgy, anxious… you name it. 

Finally some people close to me approached me and basically said if I didn’t find a way to relax, unplug and recharge that I’d be asking for an early grave by stroking out or worse. Literally “find a hobby and have some chill time”. 

I had recently been watching a tv crime show and the lead character was a huge opera fan. Snippets of opera would play periodically and the character would reference events in the opera. This seemed interesting to me since I never understood opera but loved the snippets I was hearing. So I decided to try and learn something about opera and see if I enjoyed it. 

Having a naturally curious nature has helped me a lot. When I get interested in things I usually end up going down deep rabbit holes and really wanting to understand/appreciate what I’m trying to learn or study. (This also helped me become a world class cook). 

Once I entered the Opera world I became fascinated and enthralled with what I was hearing and seeing.

What makes Opera different?

Most people from the outside don’t see (or hear) that opera is one of the most immersive and expressive art forms known to man. Maybe the most. With Opera you are watching a story unfold, with characters who sing to melody with the back drop of an orchestra which provides the foundational music. 

You can see how this is different than going to a museum, listening to a symphony or watching a ballet. 

Opera has the ability to tap into our most primal emotions. Fear, Love, Anger, Tragedy are all on full display. Amplifying the human condition but on steroids… if you know what’s going on. It’s all in understanding the story and experiencing the music with it. 

The best composers write operas that draw in their audiences to form emotional attachments with the story and its’ characters. These works are timeless and why audiences still enjoy them hundreds of years later. 

Anatomy of an Opera

The Libretto 

This is the story that is written, which the composer then puts to music. A good libretto is like writing the perfect play but in a way that can be amplified by music. Each word and sentence matter a lot to the final outcome.  It was a very specific job back in the day to write librettos. 

Most opera librettos were not written by the composer. Verdi, Mozart, Puccini etc all used writers they worked with closely for their operas. One exception is Wagner who was a perfectionist and took on the task of writing the libretto and musical scores for his operas. 

You will find librettos written in primarily French, Italian and German. This coincides with the composers country of origin. Verdi- Italian, Wagner- German, and so on. 

When you download or purchase librettos half of each page will have the original language, then the English translation will appear next to it. (Most opera houses now project the translation atop the stage where the cast is performing).

The Score

Expressing a story with music brings emotion and depth in a powerful way. This is where the masters flexed their muscles. 

Just as plays are performed as Acts, operas also have acts and scenes. The composer will oftentimes write preludes, which are short musical introductions to set the mood of the scene you are about to  experience. 

In addition, the musical score is what sets up the singers success as they showcase solos during the performance referred to as Aria’s.

Composers often developed and imprinted their unique style into the operas. Hearing a Mozart opera is much different than a Verdi, which is much different than a Wagner. Wagner is the composer that really added to the number of musicians necessary for his operas resulting in  rich, deep and intense performances. 

This carries over into which singers can sing which composers (examples below). TLDR certain voice types do better with certain composers. 

In addition to the composers, the conductor of an opera will also take liberties with speed, intensity and overall tone of the particular performance. You can listen to the same opera but performed by 2 different conductors which sound very different. Some conductors are known for slowing down performances, others for bringing intensity, etc. 

The Cast

Tenor, Soprano, Baritone, Alto… if you’ve ever been in choir or music theory you’ll know these all refer to specific vocal ranges for the male and female members of the performance. 

In general, Tenor will be the male lead and Soprano will be the female lead. You will find that as you get into opera you will be attracted to some performers over others based on their vocals. 

Famous Tenors like Pavorotti, Lauritz Melchior, Jess Thomas all immensely talented but for different roles. 

Examples: Pavorotti has memorable performances in Verdi operas (like Rigoletto). For Wagner? No way. Jess Thomas (as Parsifal) and Lauritz Melchoir (as Siegfried) absolutely crush Wagner operas, but I wouldn’t want to hear them in Madame Butterfly. 

Famous Sopranos like Joan Sutherland, Leotyne Price, Renata Scotto, Maria Callas and Astrid Varnay all have beautiful voices but best for specific roles. 

Examples: Joan Sutherland shines in most Verdi. Astrid Varnay was one of the few sopranos that could handle the demands of Wagner. Renata Scotto takes the house down in Turandot and if Maria Callas isn’t the lead in Tosca it just isn’t the same. She owned that role.

The Production

Briefly, the production matters a lot. There are certain producers who take a lot “license” to update the story settings. They interpret and place the settings sometimes in bizarre and weird places that seem like the producer is just trying too hard. Using brutalism or shock stunts which, for me, ends of taking away from the original work. 

I’m not a fan of those productions. If you’re seeing an opera for the first time try and find a traditional or minimalistic production. 

I recall one performance of Madame Butterfly I attended that was very stripped down and minimal. But the aesthetic was very clean, and there was enough material/staging texture that it didn’t seem sparse at all. It was a great performance that was updated/modern but did not detract from the story at all. Those are productions I enjoy. 

For me, taking time out and starting a new opera was like escaping into another world. So what’s the best way to dip your toe in the opera world?

Starting in Opera

Your starting selections are important. Operas can range in time from 90mins to 5 hours. If you start with a 5hr Wagner performance, you’re likely going to miss a ton of detail and nuance, feel lost, like running a mental marathon instead of enjoying a piece of priceless art. 

Starting with Verdi & Puccini is highly recommended. Rigoletto, Aida, Madame Butterfly, Turandot, La Traviata, La Boheme would make a solid starting list. 

From there you can check out Mozart, Donizetti and others. Wagner is love or hate. You either fall under his spell of genius or you can’t stand it. 

I went into Wagner with an open mind after I had about 40 hours of opera listening experience under my belt. I fell hard for Wagner. To this day, I hold Wagner as the master of opera. Wagner is notoriously difficult for singers and there was a “Golden Age” of Wagner opera singers that was between the 1940’s and 1960’s producing some of the best vocals ever. I went down the historical recording rabbithole and added a bunch to my library. As you can see, there are serious rabbit holes you can go down in opera. 

Verdi and Puccini are also stunning composers… but Wagner is the ultimate for me. Not for everyone, but for me absolutely. Ironically, I was excited to get into Mozart opera but just never did much for me. While Don Giovanni is a wonderful opera, as is Marriage of Figaro, I don’t go back to those often; although I would go see a live performance gladly. 

My first opera was Rigoletto (Verdi) so that always holds a special place in my heart. This is a good place to start. I recommend listening to operas while reading along with libretto before seeing a live performance. Let your imagination work and focus on the music and libretto. I did this with probably 20 operas before I ever went to see my first live performance. 

Read the libretto synopsis before you begin. This will help give you a starting point for the story and characters of the opera. 

Then get some headphones (I got a nice set of Grado’s to listen with that I still love), or a good stereo/speaker setup… and let the opera suck you into a different world.  

Here’s 5 Legendary Opera recordings I suggest. (These should be available on Spotify, which also has a ton of older historic recordings if you want to continue down that route). 

1. Rigoletto (Verdi): Bonynge; Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes (London)

2. Tosca (Puccini): DeSabata; Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi (EMI)

3. Il Barbiere di Siviglia/aka The Barber of Seville (Rossini): Chailly; Horne, Nucci, Ramey (Sony)

4. Madama Butterfly (Puccini): Leinsdorf; L. Price (RCA)

5. Don Giovanni (Mozart): Maazel; Raimondi, Te Kanawa (CBS) 

*You’ll see opera recordings listed first by title, then the composer in (), followed by the conductor; then cast, ending with the recording label in (). 

Conclusion

For those of you who made it to the conclusion 😉… the opera composer who first introduced character theme music was Richard Wagner. Called leit motifs these became a Wagner “signature” that added a powerful depth and experience as the character specific music is used not only when the character is on the stage, but also as a foreboding component at times when the character isn’t present but is alluded to. 

And the literature series inspired and written by a man who grew up listening to opera? 

None other than The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. As a boy, Lewis was an avid fan of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” which I contend is still, to this day, one of the greatest musical achievements of all time. 

So this should be a good start to propel you into the world of opera… there’s still lots more we could talk about. If there’s interest I’m happy to answer questions or do another spot here on Apollo’s substack.

*The best resource I’ve found for restored classical and opera music is the Pristine Classical project. These sound engineers take historic recordings and remaster them to “pristine” quality. Some of my favorite recordings in my collection were remastered by Pristine. 

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Big thanks to Octopod for this massive write-up! It’s a great introduction for anyone new to Opera. Let us know if you’d like to see more. —Apollo