Am I unusual to find opera excruciatingly difficult to listen to?

www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&feature=youtu.be&v=e8xPukESw18

For anyone else who is a devoted italophile.

Nadateturbe

PamelaJ you reminded me of a sketch Billy Connolly once did about Opera. It was hilarious. I'm sure it's on youtube somewhere.
Some opera I find enjoyable, some not. I went to see Turandot and apart from Nessun Dorma I found it totally boring. The particular example you mention I enjoyed although that might be because I remember being there in Lucca. Wonderful memory.

Have a look at this from Victor Borge.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf8uyUtK3fA

I love opera. When doing my arts foundation with the OU, the period covered was the mid Victorian and I was introduced to opera there. I go with a friend and we often see the WNO at Llandudno. Heaven!

I love music, particularly classical music, of all types but on the whole l am not a great fan of opera, particularly operatic sopranos. I enjoy Mozart's operas, especially The Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's La Traviata and Bizet's Carmen. They all have wonderful, famous tunes. I agree that opera needs to be watched rather than listened to.
I remember when I was doing A level music and Wagner's Ring Cycle came on BBC 2 (remember when it was an educational channel?) My music teacher told us that we were to watch at least ten minutes of it (out of 26 hours!) My parents were even less enthusiastic about the idea of screeching twenty stone sopranos than l was so l was banished to the dining room to watch the black and white portable TV. Ten minutes was more than enough.

To each their own. Personally I haven't found a genre of music that doesn't have some pleasant areas. BTW I love opera, hard rock, folk etc etc

I didn't like opera when I was young but I have converted as I got older. My favourite is Mozart's Don Giovanni, particularly the Champagne Aria. So fast and furious! My DH isn't an opera fan but got drawn into watching Madam Butterfly with me when it was on TV. At the point where Lieutenant Pinkerton breaks poor Butterfly's heart, my DH snarled, "What a bastard!" Well, yes. Absolutely.

I think that what draws me to opera is a sense of wonder at some people's incredible voices. It is the same with ballet - I love the grace and beauty of the whole thing but I am also amazed by some individuals who possess almost unearthly gifts.

hallgreenmiss thank you for sharing. I laughed loudly throughout. Great performance. I must go and share with my husband now.

Lucca - splendid photos - with opera in the background of course! But the photos went by far too fast - my brain could not keep up with them!

I've never seen a full classical opera but I like some of the individual arias.
From what I've seen/heard on TV it's the combination of singing and acting by people who don't suit the part, and can't act, that irritates me.
I love Carmen (Jones) and some Gilbert and Sullivan.
And does West Side Story count as an opera?

Be thankful for your ears to listen to music....some can't. Oh and you could have just turned sound down. You didn't have to listen.

I had never watched opera until one Boxing day I was at home alone, ill. Madame Butterfly was showing on tv and as I had nothing else to do I watched it, and loved it. There were subtitles which helped. I think it's good to try new experiences, although I am still not a huge fan of opera. My DD bought me tickets for Gisele at ROH and I loved that and have been to others since. We actually have tickets for The Nutcracker in Belfast in 2022!

Thank you Lucca for the link. Great photos.
I have not been to much of Italy - just Pisa, Venice, Viareggio, Lucca, Florence and Rome. When I watch F da Mosta, I wish I had spent much more time in Italy. It's a wonderful interesting country and the people are lovely. .

Now then ... opera ... couldn’t sit through a full one but do like some arias. Give me choirs and choral music ... I could listen all day to Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart and the like.

My friend in Italy sent me that link, as she said, on the day Italy reached 45,000 COVID deaths. I thanked her and said we could top that sadly.
Nadaturbe you’ ve been to some really nice places then !
Luckygirl yes I agree photos went a bit fast and actually I can hardly bear to watch as I miss it so much !

I find opera unbearable especially the sopranos. Love modern jazz though.

Love opera, unless it's sung in english, which just doesn't work for me. Dislike musicals tho.

No, you're not unusual PamelaJ1. Maybe it's an acquired taste but it's not one I've ever managed to cope with. Each to their own, of course, but if you don't like it, you don't like it and don't beat yourself up about it.

I love a lot of opera, particularly the Italian composers but, there is some, as has already been said, that is monotonous and, to me, not enjoyable at all.

Hallg, thank you so much for that Victor Borge link. I used to be such a fan. Once saw him live in Edinburgh. Wonderful experience. Nostalgia indeed.

Many years ago we saw a double bill - Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias and Weill's Seven Deadly Sins. The latter was very good but the former was laughable. Sung in English and the line that made us laugh the most was " My wife, my wife, she is growing a beard" The wife also had helium filled balloons stuffed down her front which at some point, after the beard had grown, I think, were let loose and floated up to the ceiling.

The Coliseum's ceiling had several balloons from previous performances hanging there.

Despite my comments above the evening as a whole was interesting. Les Mamelles was written by Apollinaire and was first performed as a play.

Life is just too short to listen to music you do not enjoy. Glammagran, agreed the sopranos are just unbearable to my ears.

No, opera is not my thing ...

I like ' bits ' of some, but prefer musicals. For those who like the more popular tenors, listen to Ramin Karimloo, if you haven't already.

I have enjoyed a few operas and have loathed others. I find some female voices, although not all, very unattractive and, frankly, ear splitting. I think Wagner deserves a special circle in hell all to himself.

PamelaJ1, I watched that programme as well but had to lower the volume when the lady started caterwauling.

My taste in music is eclectic and I enjoy most genres but have never found shrieking women easy on the ear. There are some lovely arias which I enjoy, but like others on here I couldn’t sit through an entire opera.?

Hardly caterwauling! If the women you’ve heard singing opera were “shrieking” they must have been real amateurs.