The best arias!

[janevblagoj]

Hallo,
I am new, and my music education and experience is very modest.
I can somebody with experience advice me for follow questions:
-Which opera arias to value the best?
-Who opera singers is the best(Separately male and female)?
- Which interpretations is value the best for arias: Gilda,Casta diva,Habanera(Carmen),Orfeo ed Euridice ,La Barcarole,Dill song(Offenbach) ,Serenade(Shubert).
-Is it arias I can found in site YouTube?
-Where I can found lyrics and libretto (and theirs translations) from opera?
-How are you opinion for quality(record?) of arias from youTube?

Than You!

[Corno Dolce]

Hello janevblagoj,

Firstly let me welcome you aboard our fine ship - Please do make yourself feel right at home and enjoy discovering a plethora of info that our membership has access to.

Now, onto your queries:

1. Some excellent operas are: Barber of Seville by Rossini, Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti, Turandot by Puccini, Mazeppa by Tchaikovsky and Parsifal by Wagner. There are countless others which are also great. You might be able to find these at a public or University library near you.

2. Best singers: Renee Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Placido Domingo, Jussi Bjorling, Samuel Ramey but over time you might discover others who sing to your soul.

3. Just type into youtube search field some of the names I have listed - you will get some beautiful renditions of arias.

4. Just google e.g. Marriage of Figaro libretto.

5. There are sometimes limitation to sound quality on youtube.


Hope this all helps you in your quest.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce

[Kromme]

Some additions to the best singers
Mezzo:Kathleen Ferrier,Christa Ludwig,Janet Baker,Brigitte Fassbaender,Agnes Baltsa.

Bass-baritone: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau,Thomas Quasthoff(active artist),Hans Hotter.After these three comes,Jose van Dam and as mentioned Samuel Ramey for the main repertoire,Sergei Aleksashkin and Sergei Leiferkus for Russian.

Soprano:Maria Callas,Renata Scotto (to me unsurpassed in Italian repertoire),Mirella Freni(Only one to rival Scotto in that repertoire),Joan Sutherland,Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.Out of active artists Angela Gheorghiu (she might be arrogant and cocky but one must admit she is a wonderful singer.)

Tenor:Placido Domingo,Luciano Pavarotti,Fritz Wunderlich,Ben Heppner(under-rated tenor who has 2 recordings of Mahler's Das Lied and both sublime.),Jose Carreras.

Avoid Andrea Bocelli at all costs!!!
Gheorghiu's husband Roberto Alagna is also quite over-rated in my opinion.
There are 3 of the greatest tenors who lived in a time with poor recording conditions thus their legacy is not so great today:They are Jussi Björling,Enrico Caruso and Benjamino Gigli.

These are the names spring to my mind immidiately when the concept of great singers mentioned (i know you mentioned the concept of best singers but i believe no such thing is available.).If i remember any more names i will type it here.Hope this helps.

[Contratrombone64]

Which is the best?

Now that is totally subjective and therefore meaningless I consider.

And, to proove a point, my "best" aria is Marina's soleful monologue at the beginning of Act 3, in the Opera Dimitrij, by Dvorak.

[rojo]

Hi janevblagoj,

Might I direct your attention to this thread for some discussion about arias-

http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/192...avourite+arias

To add to the list of top opera singers already mentioned; Franco Corelli and Giuseppe Di stefano.

As to finding arias at Youtube, there are many fine examples there; the sound quality varies from one to the next.

[greatcyber]

One should add Kiri Te Kanawa to this list. She is wonderful.

Stephen

[Corno Dolce]

Yes, Dame Kiri is a gem among gems - her work on the French songs arranged by Joseph Canteloube are precious.

[Kromme]

Yes Kiri Te Kanawa and Stefano should be there.Also Monserrat Caballe,Gywneth Jones,Gundula Janowitz are some of the names i forgot to put on that list.

[wljmrbill]

CT64 I concur with you observation. In my experience with music education/performance/teaching.. All of your(classiclover) questions are very depenent on the following which lend to the wide variety of what one considers "Best" - singer, opera, style etc etc.

!. Level of music education
2. Background of the listener
3. Professionial Musician
4. Amatuer Musician
5. economic and ethenic influences

To name a few..so is very hard to define.Many professional singers can be excellent in one form(style) and lousy when trying another I tend to think of this" Best of" like the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".....

[Corno Dolce]

CT64 I concur with you observation. In my experience with music education/performance/teaching.. All of your(classiclover) questions are very depenent on the following which lend to the wide variety of what one considers "Best" - singer, opera, style etc etc.

!. Level of music education
2. Background of the listener
3. Professionial Musician
4. Amatuer Musician
5. economic and ethenic influences

To name a few..so is very hard to define.Many professional singers can be excellent in one form(style) and lousy when trying another I tend to think of this" Best of" like the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".....

Hear, hear - I now hear some words of truth. If one listen's to Jussi Bjorling performing *Non Piangere Liu* from Puccini's *Turandot* and then Caruso doing the same and then hearing Caruso acknowlege Bjorling to be the better singer, knowing that Caruso is no slouch but a most consummate pro, should that not help us in our quest? Or is it all just so very subjective? Can anyone be the ultimate arbiter of what is good or what is bad? Methinks not........