of the Premiere
of Massenet’s Werther
Many if not all of the great composers of classical music and opera studied composing in counterpoint. The same incredible skills in the harmonies and melodies of one or more voices (as studied in counterpoint) are applied to the incredibly romantic and exciting situations that arise in opera. Once you fall in love with the opera voice, and you realize that the music behind these voices is among the most masterful and beautiful ever written, you will start to experience fine art in the form of song.
Open this playlist in spotify, here.
The exact clips I prepared for the recordings I list here are La Forza – 2:32-3:11, Gioconda – 3:00-4:00, Werther – 1:00-2:34, Tosca 0:00-1:55, La Boheme 0:00-1:00, Ombra Mai Fu 0:00-1:35, L’Elisir D’Amore – 0:00-2:12.
This is part of the 7-and-a-half-minute overture to my favorite opera. It is so powerful and epic sounding that I immediately fell in love with it. Most of this opera is written in minor keys (as the overture foreshadows), which gives it the great mysterious and powerful atmosphere.
This overture exhibits how thrilling an opera overture could be. Imagine seeing this live with a powerful roaring orchestra.
Werther and Charlotte walk back from a beautiful night out together. This is the music that plays before they sing and say goodnight to each other. Classical music isn’t just about piano concertos and quartets…some of this music is purely romantic!
This music, in between sung phrases, is so gorgeous that I don’t think a description here can do it justice.
This is the part of La Boheme where Rodolfo first meets Mimi. Listen to the background music that foreshadows to coming events in the opera. It is absolutely magical…and of course the voices of Jussi Björling and Victoria De Los Angeles don’t hurt either.
This is just divine. it shows how beautiful 18th century music (from the masterful hand of Haendel) and a gorgeous opera voice can create a very enjoyable experience.
This is the overture to a great comedy opera, in which you can hear a part of in part 11 (Funny Moments) of this series. It is romantic and enjoyable while having an exciting punch to it.
