Alright guys, I am beginning to like Opera. I need some help. I want to learn more about it, but in an organized manner. So, if there are any opera lovers out there, please recomend 5 male singers (other than Bocelli, any of the three tenors), and 5 opera albums. They don't have to be your favorite singers or operas; I just want to start with the basics.

Thanks!

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"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question."
-Thomas Jefferson in his first inauguration address

What Bocelli and the three tenors do isn't really opera (not that their thing is inferior or anything). If you want the real thing, Verdi's Aïda, Bizet's Carmen or Mozarts Cosi fan Tutte are popular and accessible choices. If you like those, and depending on what you like about them, there's plenty others.

So the anarchist goes for bourgeois high art?

Your silk stockings are showing...

my fav is Strauss' Salome....the final act rips your heart out...

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"The captain has turned off the `No Dubbing' sign. You are free to speak any language you choose."

The People's Revolutionary Committee has reappropriated the usurped forms of art that were hijacked by the decadent bourgeois. Just like Shakespeare, opera was in origin an entertainment of the masses.
There is not a single art form that is exclusive to the elite.

There is nothing elite about the roots of opera. It was general entertainment, rather like pop music today. I never understand why folks end up being ridiculed for a taste.

Thanks for the help. I have come to prefer this sort of music over current popular music because it is better. You'll excuse me, but I do no like rap music with bad beats, bad lyrics, ignorant artists. I do not like current rock music that is close to the same.

Further, if the upper class is doing something, it is a safebet that it is a good thing to do. Who would you rather emulate, a middle class person living paycheck to paycheck, or a rich person?

__________________
"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question."
-Thomas Jefferson in his first inauguration address