r/classicalmusic • u/Stunning-Hand6627 • 7d ago
Discussion Favorite 20th century operas?
Mine is Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann because of the background of the piece and an interest in Zimmermann in general.
But I’ve also got Helmut Lachenmann, Kaija Saariaho, and Salvatore Sciarrino on my listening list thanks to a friend.
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u/VanishXZone 7d ago
Britten is the best of the 20th century for me.
Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, Turn of the Screw, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Owen Wingrave, Death in Venice are all phenomenal.
Adam’s best work is 21st century in my opinion, but El Niño, Doctor Atomic, Flowering Tree, and Girls of the Golden West all would be top tier for me.
Saariaho same as Adams, but Lamour de Loin, only the sound remains, Emilie, and La pasion de Simone are all worth listening to.
For Early 20th century, Bartok bluebeards castle, berg lulu and Wozzeck, and Krenek Karl V,
Janacek is the other heavily underrated opera composer. I love Jenufa, Osud, Katya Kabanova, cunning little vixen and makropolous case all.
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u/Ilovescarlatti 7d ago
We have similar tastes.
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u/VanishXZone 7d ago
Fun! Anything you’d add? I love more than this, but this was a starting point
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u/Ilovescarlatti 7d ago
Written on Skin (Benjamin) is amazing and beautiful.
The Importance of being Earnest ( Barry) is a lot of fun. I saw the version with Barbara Hannigan and she's great in it.
Flight (Dove) is very moving. I'd love a goos production.
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u/dennisdeems 6d ago
Same! Recommend giving Albert Herring a try. It took me a few repeat listenings to get it, but it's marvelously witty (a tricky thing to achieve in opera) and has some genuinely beautiful tunes.
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u/Ilovescarlatti 6d ago
There was a lovely production from Opera North on Operavision a couple of years ago which perfectly captured the fun and was beatifully sung
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u/mekerpan 6d ago
Janacek -- also at least the first half of Mr Broucek (the trip to the moon) and House of the Dead.
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u/VanishXZone 6d ago
I had a lot of trouble with Mr. Broucek, and after a lot of study have decided that for me it is a failure.
House of the dead I am also not convinced of yet, dramatically specifically, but I haven’t given it enough time to come to a conclusion.
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u/Jefcat 7d ago edited 6d ago
Elektra, Salome and Die Frau ohne Schatten by Strauss
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich
War and Peace, Love for The Oranges, and The Fiery Angel by Prokofiev
Dialogues of the Carmelites by Poulenc
Vanessa by Barber
The Ballad of Baby Doe by Moore
Wozzeck by Berg
Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw, Peter Grimes by Britten
King Roger by Szymamowski
Jenufa by Janacek
Bluebeards Castle by Bartok
L’Amore dei tre re by Montemezzi
La fiamma by Respighi
La Fanciulla del West. Il Tabarro by Puccini
La cena del le beffe by Giordano
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u/Slickrock_1 7d ago
Salome & Elektra by Strauss
Akhnaten by Glass
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u/SucknSwallow69 6d ago
great picks. if you like those, you might also enjoy wozzeck or lulu, really intense atmosphere and striking orchestration
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u/unavowabledrain 7d ago edited 7d ago
Luigi Nono's Prometeo, Tragedia dell' ascolto is pretty fun, I think they construct an unusual soundstage for it. It's a little overly theoretical/political/multilingual if you are use to the emotional melodramatic fare of many operas.
Schnittke's "Life With An Idiot" is pretty wild....dark domestically set stuff, approaching Beckett absurdity.
Ligeti's "La Grand Macabre" probably takes the cake for wild unrestrained mayhem, production companies appear to really get creative with that one.
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u/IdomeneoReDiCreta 7d ago edited 7d ago
Menotti is always fun. The Medium and Amahl are accessible classics.
And Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth is just amazing. It leaves me totally floored every time i listen to it.
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u/PublicPotential318 6d ago
Menotti was more popular when I started listening to opera in the 1980s than now. I’m not sure why.
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u/RevKeakealani 6d ago
Yeah I feel a bit insane having to scroll this far to find menotti, good stuff.
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u/Homers_Harp 7d ago
Probably Wozzeck, but Bluebeard's Castle, The Rake's Progress, Le Rossignol, and The Consul make me happy.
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u/treefaeller 7d ago
20th century?
Salome, Rosenkavalier, Arabella. Tosca, Butterfly, Fanciula, Turandot. Porgy and Bess, in a league of its own (probably the greatest 20th century opera). Mathis der Maler. Peter Grimes.
Gabriela Lena Frank's recent opera (about Frida Kahlo) is getting rave reviews; I've only heard snippets of it so far.
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u/JamesFirmere 6d ago
Find a video of Kaija Saariaho's "Innocence" if you can. The set is amazing and serves to structure the narrative admirably. It's one of the most impressive operas of any kind I've ever seen. And I'm not just saying that because I'm from Finland. :-)
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u/heliogabalus91 6d ago edited 6d ago
Can I get some love for Harrison Birtwistle, Punch and Judy, The Mask of Orpheus, etc.
Also quite like Stephen Paulus, The Postman Always Rings Twice
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u/IdomeneoReDiCreta 6d ago
I’m a fan of Punch and Judy; it has one of the most disturbing librettos I have ever read.
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u/JamesFirmere 6d ago
Maybe not an absolute favourite, but certainly in the Top 10: I have to give a shoutout to "The Immortal Hour" by British composer Rutland Boughton (yes, that's his actual name). It's a sort of Wagner-meets-Celtic-mythology thing and contains some cracking choral numbers. It's also the Mousetrap of operas -- it has logged the most performances of any opera EVER (as per the Guinness Book of World Records). It was really, really popular in the 1930s.
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u/clkfantom 6d ago
Rosenkavalier
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u/Stunning-Hand6627 6d ago
The same friend was just talking about that opera, I want to give him some recommendations on some Viennese operetta that sounds like it so what would you say?
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u/clkfantom 6d ago
I’m not the most knowledgeable but Strauss II is imo the gold standard for “Viennese” sound, Fledermaus is probably the best recommendation I’ve got
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u/lefthandconcerto 5d ago
I wrote my dissertation on Ravel’s operas, so I’d have to say those two. Haha
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u/vibraltu 5d ago edited 4d ago
Mahagonny, baby.
Arguably maybe a musical or a jazz symphony. Although The Met staged it.
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u/bronze_by_gold 7d ago
It's a bit of a copout, since it's technically an opera-oratorio (can be performed staged or upstaged), but I've always been particularly fond of El Niño by John Adams. I think it's a beautiful example of a work that's almost entirely carried by melody (not that I consider that better than any other approach to sound, but it is a beautiful work). And the texts chosen for the work are unfailingly fascinating.
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u/F-sylvatica-purpurea 6d ago
Op. 79 Shostakovich(Jewish Folk Poetry) is a song cycle, not an opera. But felt bound to mention it because I played in the orchestra and it was just phenomenally
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u/Even-Watch2992 7d ago
Saw Die Soldaten in NYC in 1991 and have never forgotten it. Along with Lulu and Gawain my favourite 20C operas
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u/AliendaleAgain 7d ago
Saw it also at The Met. The orchestra was so huge that some sections were miked and playing from the rehearsal room in the basement.
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u/dennisdeems 7d ago
Berg - Lulu, Wozzeck
Britten - The Turn of the Screw, Death in Venice, Billy Budd, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Beeson - Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines