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Hi, I created my own Wagner Opera major at Conservatory, so I'll do my best to help:

I have to say that live performance is the best way to experience the Ring, but otherwise the Solti recording is one of the best (Levine, Barenboim, and Janowski/Staatskapelle are up there too). The music is made up of leitmotivs, or musical phrases associated with characters, ideas, feelings etc. The leitmotivs constantly change based on context, and there are around 100 of them (pending on who's counting). To make sense of the opera, you need to have just a basic understanding of them. This is a good list of the more important ones: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcPgcaow01FUWAH-b-z6Ix7W3_7QBBjLN Don't bother memorizing them, just familiarize and listening to the operas will do the rest :)

Additionally, a basic plot understanding is useful, and the Wikipedia articles for each individual opera are sufficient:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Rheingold#Synopsis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Walk%C3%BCre#Synopsis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_(opera)#Synopsis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tterd%C3%A4mmerung#Synopsis

I also find that listening along to a text and translation is most effective, which you can find here:

http://www.murashev.com/opera/Richard_Wagner

There is one book I would strongly recommend to any Wagner newbie: Bryan Magee's "Aspects of Wagner." In my opinion, it is by far the best short book on Wagner. While not about the Ring itself, it covers exactly how all of Wagner's operas function (I think they are really quite different from all other opera), his concept of art, his influence, and his controversies. It should give the proper frame of mind to dig into the operas. If you really want something focused just on the Ring, however, I'd recommend M. Owen Lee's introduction. It's a slim volume with a summary, a motif index, and some commentary on the big ideas. Or, there's a nice Ring companion book put together by Barry Millington with a full text translation that also has scholarly essays on conception and context, as well as index of important leitmotivs:

https://www.amazon.com/Aspects-Wagner-Bryan-Magee/dp/0192840126

https://www.amazon.com/Wagners-Ring-Turning-Sky-Round/dp/0879101865

https://www.amazon.com/Wagners-Ring-Nibelung-Barry-Millington-ebook/dp/B00D3F94RE

Apologies for the length, I hope this was at least a little useful, and let me know if you'd like to know any more :)

Soon to be masters grad (soprano) here.

A high quality recording device can be very useful. The non-musically inclined electrical engineer boyfriend bought me a Tascam DR-05 with a small stand and case for my birthday last year. (It also came with a fun lesson from him on how sound recording works -- talk about nerd-out connection!) It is wonderfully portable and I use it all the time to record lessons, coachings, and practice sessions. Also on the tech front, the best investment I EVER made as a singer was a great set of noise canceling headphones. (I have Bose QC-15s that I bought in 2010.) They are a godsend when I am traveling for auditions and have become an integral part of shutting out the rest of the world for my pre-performance/audition routine. In terms of listening to her own voice, good headphones or speakers are pretty much a requirement since most speakers/headphones can't handle the high upper partials of the high notes in the female operatic range.

What I always, always, always want for every occasion that merits presents are books and/or scores to build my personal library. There is a good chance that she has a list of things that she would like to own and you might consider asking if you're not invested in surprising her.

Nice opera scores are always a great option. Consider looking for a hard-bound score (like Ricordi or Bärenreiter) for one of the major mezzo role operas like Carmen, Werther, or Barber of Seville. (They are not particularly cheap.) You might consider asking her singer friends what roles she might be expected to sing during her career to guide your selections.

A great song cycle for mezzo could also be a nice gift. Jake Hegie's [The Deepest Desire] (http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/the-deepest-desire-piano-vocal-score-sheet-music/19646133) is still under copyright so she wouldn't just be able to print it from a free online resource like imslp.

Reference books could also be a great idea since she's about to lose access to a lot of materials that she has probably used on a regular basis through her university. A libretto collection and the New Kobbes Opera Book are two that immediately come to mind.

Ewa Podles has made some really amazing recordings, she has a very big vocal range ( Bb2-Eb6) but you can probably sing a lot of stuff she recorded without the ornaments.

Her Russian arias CD is great, and contains a few gems, you can listen to it for free on spotify. The Schedrin aria (track 5) is particularly rare and interesting .

Other than that I would recommend the role of LA HAINE in Gluck's Armide, and Merula's lullaby " Hor ch'e tempo di dormire"...


(PS: I love contralto voices, post your stuff on youtube if you can...Would be interested in hearing it once you feel ready :) Thanks)

No problem! My freshman year of college we were required to take one class in the arts, so I took a class in the history of opera. Unfortunately we were never assigned any specific books on the history because my professor was a genius who assigned excerpts from various books in his collection. We did use the Black Dog Opera Library translation of Madama Butterfly, though. It features background on the individual opera, some history, and then a side by side Italian to English translation of the libretto. And it also comes with a full performance on CD.

Most operas you buy on CD come with a libretto - either in booklet form or a digital copy save on the disc - that includes information about the recording and history, as well.

The Lady Macbeth anecdote I offered was, for Verdi, mostly about voice. He didn't want a traditionally lovely voice to sing the part of a truly evil and manipulative woman. It may not be Verdi's best opera - and it should really be called Lady Macbeth - but it has some spectacular music, especially for the soprano.

Anyways good luck on your ventures. Me and everyone else here are always available for help and guidance. It really is a journey where your knowledge and opinions will grow and evolve. I started going to the opera at the Met with my grandmother when I was 12 and am fortunate enough to still have easy access to the house today - I'll even go by myself if I can't find anyone who wants to come! If you have a Netflix DVD account they have a surprisingly large collection of operas to rent. The Met also offers a video streaming service of a few dozen operas (some in HD and all with subtitles). And there's even a free 7 day trial.

Edit: If you're interested in Callas and the full drama of opera, I suggest you start with this recording of Tosca, considered by some to be the greatest opera recording ever made. It's sold in a few different people, but as long as you get the 1953 recording with Callas, de Stefano, and Gobbi conducted by de Sabata you'll be fine.

Since you are just beginning taking vocal lessons, one of the best places to start is the Twenty-Four Italian Songs & Arias book. There is a "medium low" book, but even as a soprano the music in the medium high book isn't very, well, high. I live under the "schooling" of don't sing big rep/arias until you can work good technique into them, though that's always up for a debate. The 24 Italian songs may come off as "simple," but some of them are actually really beautiful and good for first time singers. Good luck and have fun! :)

Get some perspectives from people other than musicians. For example, my best friend is a stagehand for the SF opera and I love hearing her perspective on shows, everything from the technical ramifications of stage design to funny behind the scenes stories.

If you're trying to make opera sound cool, you'll want some segments that address beginners to opera. Like explaining the difference between the different vocal ranges with some audio clips of what happens when someone sings outside their best range. Or guides to improving your experience at your first opera.

The level of instruction in Derycke Cooke's Intro to the Ring Cycle is just right, and the wry, humorous tone of A Night at the Opera makes even the stuffiest opera interesting.

Don't forget to answer questions from your listeners too!

Hey, I'm super new to opera too! I got into it after listening to this lecture series by the Great Courses on Audible: How to Listen to and Understand Opera. They're the most entertaining lectures I've ever heard on anything, and the reason I got interested in opera. It goes over a brief history of opera, all the terminology, gives excerpts of famous operas, and talks about the differences between operas of different time periods and countries. The lecturer Robert Greenberg also has a lecture series on the operas of Verdi, the operas of Wagner, and the operas of Mozart which are also fantastic.

After I listened to How to Listen to and Understand Opera, I bought tickets to every production put on by my local opera theater for the remainder of the year, and over the summer I got a subscription to The Met on Demand. I'm also reading A History of Opera by Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker. But I wouldn't recommend the book until/unless you've seen quite a few operas. The references to operas I haven't seen are going over my head, but the references to the operas I have seen are so insightful that I know I'm missing out by not knowing some things!

I'd highly recommend the Great Courses lectures, and also just getting out and seeing stuff whenever you can! If seeing something live isn't possible, then you can rent something from or subscribe to the Met Opera on Demand. I liked their production of Carmen from 2010, Verdi's La Traviata, and Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes.

Congrats on your new opera addiction- I mean affinity! Opera is a whirlwind of fun!

A book I highly recommend for beginners is Ticket To The Opera. Mr. Goulding is himself not an expert and he makes that clear up front. But far from disqualifying him, his enthusiasm shines through on every page and that is what makes this 720-page book, despite it's depth and length, lively and informative reading. Another really neat thing about this book is that he's a former journalist who fell in love with opera late in life, so it's almost like your situation (perhaps) and definitely mine, since I also discovered opera late in life. Maybe a better way to say that is that I finally found time to sit through 3-hour Wagnerian works and enjoy them! Another neat thing is that while Goulding does give great summaries of the "greatest hits" you might expect, his extensive dive into the less heard but still outstanding operas, including many 20th century works, make his book far from simplistic.

Robert Greenberg's How to Listen to and Understand Opera is a good place to start. If you aren't already a subscriber, you can sign up for a free trial with Audible and listen to the audio book for free.

You could also watch the lectures for free via a free trial of Great Courses Plus.

It's not remotely what you're looking for, but a fun introduction to Opera for noobs like me is Forman's A Night at the Opera. It's quite funny and highly educational.

EDIT: The other opera book I have is The Book of 101 Opera Librettos, which I scored for a whopping dollar at a library book sale. I'm really just bragging with that one. :D

1: Sign up to Audible - First book is free so you can / could cancel subscription after that

2: Download Professor Robert Grenberg's [How to Listen to and Understand Opera] (http://www.amazon.com/How-Listen-Understand-Opera/dp/B00DTO6IDC)

3: Enjoy over 24 hours worth of engaging instruction giving a fully comprehensive non-technical nuts and bolts introduction, history and thorough grounding in opera including biographies on key composers, vocal techniques, and all the various types of opera.

Hope this helps - it absolutely worked for me.

The Solti recording of Le Nozze di Figaro with Te Kanawa, Sam Ramey, Lucia Popp, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Allen and Kurt Moll and the London Philharmonic

The live Solti recording of Cosi fan Tutte with Renée Fleming (in the one early performances that launched her career), Anne Sophie Von Otter, Olaf Bår, Michele Pertusi, Frank Lopardo and Adelina Scarabelli with the Chamber orchestra of Europe

The Madame Butterfly with Mirella Freni, Pavarotti, Christa Ludwig with Karajan conducting Vienna Philharmonic

The legendary Solti Ring Cycle with Nilsson, Ludwig, Flagstad, Windgassen, a young Joan Sutherland and practically every other great Wagnerian of the era with Vienna

The Otello DVD from the MET with Levine conducting Domingo, Fleming, and James Morris

The Rusalka with Fleming, Zajick, Franz Hawlata, and Ben Heppner with Mackerras conducting the Czech Philharmonic

The Porgy and Bess with Rattle conducting London Philharmonic and Williard White, Cynthia Haymon, Harolyn Blackwell et all singing

There are a few live recordings and bootlegs I love also. There's a Romeo and Juliet from 68 with Gedda and Freni at the MET that I LOVE. There's an Ernani from the early 60s with Cornell Macneil, Leontyne Price, Bergonzi and Schippers conducting that is amazing. There is a live Frau ohne Schatten with Karajan conducting Christa Ludwig, Jess Thomas, Leonie Rysanek, Lucia Popp, Walter Berry and Wunderlich

I'm sure there are a few others I'm forgetting, but with youtube it's so easy to watch individual performances of particular parts of particular operas---which is maybe making the art form in the theatre have a hard time competing. Now a days I prefer to hear singers in the hall before I get into their video and audio recordings.

Make no mistake, Hansel and Gretel is a GREAT opera. This production was pretty great, as I recall.


https://www.amazon.com/Humperdinck-Hansel-Gretel-Metropolitan-Opera/dp/B001D6OKV0

Also, fun fact, that's Richard Boldrey in the video, the man who gave us the terrific Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias

(and my former coach from grad school).

I have no idea which translation is most accurate, but I have always preferred Andrew Porter's translation, as it is designed to be sung, fitting the music like a glove. That alone makes it the most pleasurable to follow along to while listening or watching.

http://www.amazon.com/Ring-Nibelung-Richard-Wagner/dp/0393008673/ref=sr_1_1

I'll start with this:

http://www.amazon.com/Rossini-Barber-Seville-Roberta-Leinsdorf/dp/B000003G4F

Roberta Peters. Absolutely an incomparable Rosina (if you allow the "soprano Rosina" variant. The role was actually written for a mezzo, but I'm reasonably confident Rossini wouldn't blink an eye at transposing for the needs of a given singer.)

> http://www.amazon.com/A-History-Opera-Carolyn-Abbate/dp/0393057216

Much as I like this book, I suspect it might not meet OP's requirement for:

> a book that covers as much of the 20th century as possible

As /u/vornska has said, there are other books which cover the period in much greater detail.

This book is probably the single most helpful reference you can find.

I'd highly recommend Andrew Porter's translation. I read it before I saw my first Ring (Seattle, 1986) and I still have my dogeared old copy and re-read it every time I am lucky enough to a a cycle. I've read other translations, but I always come back to this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Ring-Nibelung-Richard-Wagner/dp/0393008673

This is used as a textbook at the music school on upper west side of NYC where I work