Opera Quotes - Page 4

• In opera, there is always too much singing.

  Claude Debussy

  Funny, Music, Piano

  "Debussy". Book by Paul Holmes, 1989.

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• Opera is like a husband with a foreign title: expensive to support, hard to understand, and therefore a supreme social challenge.

  Cleveland Amory

  Funny, Husband, Support

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• The audience is requested not to refrain from talking during the overture. Otherwise they will know all the tunes before the opera begins.

  Ralph Vaughan Williams

  Talking, Tunes, Refrain

  Note in the score to "The Poisoned Kiss" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1936.

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• The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Funny, Humorous, Ideas

  "Of Books". "Characters", Book by Jean De La Bruyère, www.ourcivilisation.com. 1688.

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• I performed in Sydney some years ago for the Sydney Festival and I am just so pleased to be returning to the wonderful Sydney Opera House and also performing in Melbourne for the first time.

  Lesley Garrett

  Years, House, Festivals

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• ''Women of the Gallagher Academy, who comes here?" she asked. Just then, every girl at every table (even the newbies) stood and said in unison, "We are the sisters of Gillian." "Why do you come?" my mother asked. "To learn her skills. Honor her sword. And keep her secrets." "To what end do you work?" "To the cause of justice and light." "How long will you strive?" "For all the days of our lives," we finished and I felt a little like a character in one of my grandma's soap operas.

  Ally Carter

  Girl, Mother, Grandma

  "Gallagher Girls: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You". Book by Ally Carter, April 1, 2006.

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• An exotic and irrational entertainment.

  Samuel Johnson

  Funny, Humorous, Exotic

  Lives of the English Poets "Hughes" (1779 - 1781)

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• Im just a normal person. Its not like I come home and think about opera. My thoughts are about completely other things. Shoes! Dresses! Expensive ones: with a pretty silhouette, beautiful fabrics.

  Anna Netrebko

  Beautiful, Home, Thinking

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• One of the problems that we face through the media attention that these artists receive is that there has been an awful lot of talk about opera and classical music being elite and being for an elitist group.

  Lesley Garrett

  Artist, Media, Groups

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• Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time.

  Bobby McFerrin

  Father, Home, African American

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• Like any other composer of opera, I choose a subject not for polemical reasons, but because it contains vivid characters in highly charged dramatic situations.

  Carlisle Floyd

  Character, Dramatic Situations, Vivid

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• Much later in life, though, Gracie made a major contribution to the opera world. She stayed out of it.

  George Burns

  Funny, Humorous, Later In Life

  George Burns (1988). “Gracie/Caeser Spec Ed”, Putnam Publishing Group

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• The opera always loses money. That's as it should be. Opera has no business making money.

  Rudolf Bing

  Making Money, Should, Loses

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• When something like that happens, people want to try to find some dirt and make it more of a soap opera. But I think we both walked away with the door still open, if we want to do something together again. So yeah, I would call it a friendly break-up.

  Scott Stapp

  Break Up, Thinking, Doors

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• Soap opera seems to be a dirty word, but actually they are the most popular shows we have. People want to know what happens next, people hate the villains and love the lovers. It's good, fun TV. But I wouldn't call 'Downton' a soap opera as such.

  Dan Stevens

  Fun, Hate, Dirty

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Soap opera seems to be a dirty word, but actually they are the most popular shows we have.

  Dan Stevens

  Dirty, Soap, Shows

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• Old Americana vintage gangster stuff has a fantastical feel; it feels less dirty in a way. It feels like the opera of crime.

  Shia LaBeouf

  Dirty, Naughty, Vintage

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• I enjoy all forms of music - pop, classical and opera.

  Stephen Hawking

  Form, Pops, Enjoy

  Q&A, content.time.com. November 15, 2010.

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• Love in France is a comedy; in England a tragedy; in Italy an opera seria; and in Germany a melodrama.

  Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

  Love, Tragedy, Germany

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• When you are confronted with an opera, you have to keep an eye on everything: the musicians, the chorus, the ballet, the singers, the staging.

  Placido Domingo

  Eye, Ballet, Musician

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• I tell you, it is easier to build a grand opera or a city center than to build a personal house.

  Alvar Aalto

  Cities, House, Easier

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• My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing at all to do with a volatile human condition or struggle or whatever. It enriches me as a human being.

  Wole Soyinka

  Struggle, Reading, Black History

  FaceBook post by Wole Soyinka from Apr 09, 2015

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• The taxpayers cannot be relied upon to support performing arts such as opera. As a taxpayer, I am forced to admit that I would rather undergo a vasectomy via Weed Whacker than attend an opera.

  Dave Barry

  Music, Weed, Art

  Dave Barry (2010). “Dave Barry Talks Back”, p.147, Crown Archetype

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• I wish the opera was every night. It is, of all entertainments, the sweetest and most delightful. Some of the songs seemed to melt my very soul.

  Fanny Burney

  Song, Night, Soul

  Fanny Burney, Evelina (fict.name.) (1820). “Evelina; or The history of a young lady's introduction to the world [by F. Burney].”, p.45

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• The only thing worse than opera is someone who hums along with opera.

  Josh Lanyon

  Josh Lanyon (2002). “A Dangerous Thing”, Millivres Books

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