Enjoying Opera - Five easy tips for beginners

For some reason, opera has the reputation as being snotty and highbrow, for rich, old Upper East Side grande dames and stuffy old white men.

I’m here to tell you that opera is as accessible and enjoyable as great classical symphonies and Broadway musicals. Get over your fears about not understanding the language! Here are my tips (developed from trying to convince my DH to go and enjoy opera) on how to really enjoy opera as a beginner.

#1 – Choose your first opera carefully; select an opera with a story that is easy to follow and music that you recognize. (For example: almost everyone knows the Toreador song from Carmen – trust me, you know more arias and opera themes than you know.) This way, you won’t have to focus on understanding in detail what is going on, you can sit back and enjoy the music.

#2 – Familiarize yourself with the story as much as possible beforehand. Opera is not like a movie or TV show with a straightforward plot, character development, and quick and witty dialogue. You wouldn’t listen to Beethoven’s symphonies expecting non-repetitious, well-paced story advancement from beginning to conclusion; don’t expect it either from an opera, which is simply another form of musical expression. If you know the story, you’ll know basically what the characters are singing about and feel the emotion of the music, rather looking for expression of emotion from their words.

#3 – Don’t be intimidated if you don’t know the language. Even people who speak the language that the opera is being performed in don’t always understand what’s being said (think of listening to music on the radio – do you necessarily understand or catch every word; does understanding the lyrics even matter if the music is good?). Which leads to tip #4…

#4 – When possible, ignore the subtitles. This is, I think, one of the best tips I can offer. At the Met, I could turn my subtitles off and concentrate on the music and performance, and enjoyed the experience that much more. Concentrating on understanding what is being said will only frustrate you and distract from what’s important – the music.

#5 – Don’t worry about not loving opera. Just like rap and country music aren’t for everyone, opera is also not for everyone. The important thing to remember here is not to immediately think that you won’t like opera because you don’t understand the language, think it’s too highbrow, etc. Try listening to a few famous songs from a few famous operas, and if you enjoy the music think about going to see it performed live. Just remember to keep your expectations realistic about what an opera performance is and what it isn’t. It isn’t a play, it isn’t a movie, it isn’t about character development or erudite dialogue or advancing plotlines. It’s a performance of music and singing in support of a basic story.

If I could add a tip #6 – don’t ignore opera because you think that you can’t afford tickets Going to the opera isn’t that expensive – especially compared with Broadway musicals these days. I just want to encourage you all to go out and enjoy an opera!