1836 Vocal Score of
Halévy’s L’éclair.
As I have said before, the music behind the voices of opera is unbelievably masterful and beautiful. If you ever want to listen to beautiful orchestra music (in order to relax or otherwise), then the recordings below in this post are great! Also, if you still have to get a feel for the music of opera before understanding the voices, this will definitely inspire you! The skill behind these compositions is incredible, and if you studied things like the sheet music of these compositions, music theory (with any library book or website), counterpoint, and composing with a DAW piece of software, you could write things like this, and create beautiful realistic-sounding recordings with nothing more than a computer and a keyboard! The possibilities are endless!
Secondly, let’s talk about this picture on the top of the post. It is handwritten. Can you believe that? Isn’t it beyond gorgeous? In case you are extra curious, here is how one could start to learn to write like this. The following three resources would give you a great introduction:
1. The book, Palmer’s Penmanship Budget
2. The website blog, The Postman’s Knock
3. The website for the International Association of Master Penman, Engrossers, and Teachers of Handwriting
Also, if you ever want to do this, don’t use Higgin’s Eternal Ink. I tried to get it to work for four months and failed miserably. It is awful. If you aren’t going to make some ink from nature yourself (which I hope to do soon), then something like Sumi Ink would work well.
Lastly, I have included two playlists below of opera recordings without words (either with an orchestra alone or the piano). The first playlist consists of only 27 recordings (my favorites), and if you really want to go crazy, the one below it contains over 11 hours of opera music without words. Make sure to check out these recordings on the first playlist: The Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana; Vienna, City of my Dreams; Ride of the Valkyries; and the William Tell Overture (from nine minutes on-wards)! Have fun!
