selenak: (Malcolm and Vanessa)
selenak ([personal profile] selenak) wrote in [personal profile] cahn 2018-08-25 05:46 am (UTC)

I love the Ring, but despise Siegfried (seriously, one of the most loathsome opera heroes ever, and that's saying something), so we're not going to disagree there. :)

You might also enjoy The Flying Dutchman, which has no bffs but does have a main male character who is a baritone. The sole tenor is a minor character, Erik the shepherd, who is in love with our heroine and miffed she goes for the baritone instead. Mind you, tenor Erik would have been the safer choice in this scenario, seeing as the Dutchman is a Byronic hero with a curse on him, so.... Anyway, Wagner likes his baritones a lot. In Meistersinger, tenor Walther von Stolzing gets to do the obligatory love duet and big aria, but the main male character is baritone Hans Sachs, shoemaker and master poet, who teaches young Walther how to do it in this scene, which is a rare recording of Wieland Wagner's 1963 production. (Sachs is another baritone who gets along with his tenor fine, but his main relationships in the opera are with soprano Eva, Walther's crush, and with his apprentice David.

Incidentally, generally speaking I like Verdi better than Wagner, not least for external reasons (obvious historical heritage etc.), but I'm glad the musical world got them both, and arguably Aida would never have been written if Verdi hadn't felt challenged by Tristan and Isolde, specifically this part. They were born in the same year, which is great because it meant a great many productions back when they had their 200th anniversary. Good times for opera lovers. :)

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