So, you've not listened to me, your opera singer friend, talk about opera non-stop. You finally caved and looked one or more of the operas she suggested as your first opera, and you've decided that you like it and wanted to see more!
Here is the second tier of beginner operas I would suggest for beginners with a little more experience and interest!
The best and the greatest example of the craft, TBH!
Tosca has a relatively simple plot, powerful and dynamic characters, and stunningly gorgeous music. The score is seamless. The choral work is stunning. The costumes, the sets, the settings are all incredible. The arias are stunning; some of the most career-defining arias are found in this opera. It all takes place over the course of 24 hours and tells a really beautiful story about love and life and death. Oh, and, without spoiling it, can say that there are some spectacular pay offs. The run time is long-ish because of the 3 acts with the intermissions, but the acts themselves are relatively short and digestible. Some of the plot has to do with the Napoleonic wars, but you don't have to know that much about it, other than the bad guy hates Napoleon.
The Medium is a one hour, two act long opera. It's not performed as often as it should be, but Menotti was a genius. There is not enough respect for his work. There are multiple filmed version of it (I think there are at least 5 listed on IMDB). The music is complex and gorgeous. The characters are few and very memorable. It's scary, and there are a lot of spooky theatre magic tricks employed throughout. "Monica's Waltz" is stunning. It's short enough and engaging enough to where a newbie would have no issues.
I knew at least one of these lists had to have a Mozart opera on it. The problem with Mozart opera is that they tend to be very problematic. And you know, when something is like 300-400 years old, that's what happens, and that's fine! You accept that as something that's going to happen. But for new folks or folks who are just starting being interested in opera, I don't think the first experiences they should have should be the SA in Don Giovanni or weird Orientalism in Die Entführung aus dem Serail or Così Fan Tutti. Since Marriage of Figaro is not only considered "one of the greatest operas ever written," and a laugh out loud comedy, I think it might be a better place to start. It's kind of long at 4 acts (and I think sometimes they only do a single intermission, so prepare to deal with that), the plot is convoluted and wacky (think Die Fledermaus on steroids), and there are so many characters dressing up as each other, that it might be a little harder to figure out what's going on. The multiple (yes, multiple) subplots with Cherubino are honestly the best part. I know I have a personal affinity for "L'ho perduta... me meschina!"--but, honestly, Mozart had no business giving a funny side character two minutes of the most beautiful music in the whole piece.
Okay, another Mozart classic. This is another one that is what people think of when they think of 'opera.' It gets performed pretty regularly, so your chances of seeing it are very, very high. The Magic Flute is strange and magical (and opens with a giant serpent/ dragon, if that's a selling point!). There are a lot of really amazing productions, and some also pretty terrible and awful ones. The best one in the last 20 years is the Mario production. (The Mario production is actually one of the easier ones to follow, because so many of the names sound alike, and this way you can just follow the Nintendo characters.) because so I really, really detest overly weird productions of this opera, because the opera is weird enough as it is. The holiday version that plays at the Met every year is better than some of the other productions that have gone through in recent years. I think the production from Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade was the right blend of weird but tolerable-weird.
Treemonisha (Scott Joplin--yes, THAT Scott Joplin)
I've said this before, but there is not enough respect for American operas, least of all BIPOC composers. This piece has never been performed at The Met (they literally JUST debuted a work by a Black composer like...recently). I cannot stress this enough: this music is GORGEOUS. STUNNING. TEAR INDUCING. It just SUCKS that pieces that would be more relatable and accessible to modern audiences get performed less. You will find more diverse and more American works at smaller houses or places like SF Opera and LA Opera than you will at the Royal Opera House or the Met. This piece almost never gets performed, which I think is a shame, because it is so stunningly beautiful and has such a delicate complexity to its score---it legitimately puts composers like Puccini and Strauss to shame.
Hope you like this list! I am going to think about the next tier of 5 for a deeper dive!
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