Zurich Opera, opinions?

[rm]

So, on a lark I went to see about opera tickets for Patty and I in Zurich Saturday night. Sold out and sold out hard. That said, there are a very few tickets for the Friday performance of Die Zauberflöte. The seats available are astounding and priced accordingly.

I am a little, tiny, novice baby in my opera education, and enjoy it for the broad experience of it -- yes the music and the singers, but I care deeply about staging and costume, audience behavior, opera house decor, the whole bloody fabulous thing because I was sort of ruined for How Opera Really Is by Luhrmann's production of La Boheme being the vehicle by which I discovered I actually really dig opera. My ruination for How Opera Really Is has also been compounded by an obsession with Baroque semi-opera, so I'm not just a novice, I'm a weird, picky novice.

So, in light of that should I drop almost 200 francs to go to the opera by myself on Friday night before Patty gets in?

Conversely, I could drop 98 francs to see La Fanciulla del West a week from tomorrow in somewhat less stellar seats (of which there is one left, so I need to make this decision like now).

I know Die Zauberflöte a little. I don't know La Fanciulla del West at all (but since it's Puccini, it will be easily accessible, so it's not really a worry).

Thoughts?

Particularly from opera buffs who've been to the Zurich Opera and can appreciate my novice state and interest beyond just sound?

Merci!

ETA: If I do this, I desperately need to know the level of formality for my attire, as I assume it to be different here than in the US.

Comments

Re: Zurich Opera

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Wear either. Or dress down. If you pick that one seat in the fourth row, dress up. Everybody around you is there to be seen. If you're on the fourth balcony in the cheap seats, dress down. Everybody around you is there for the opera. In general, fancy on the main floor and first balcony. Above that in the nosebleed sections, there's less worry about what you wear.

In general, German speaking areas put on better German opera. They're pickier about it, and almost all the composers are local or almost local. You screw up the accent and the notes at your own risk. French, Italian, Russian, etc, you've got a bit more leeway.

Zurich ustta be a bit of a burgerlich stadt where the money stayed with the gnomes...

Re: Zurich Opera

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

You have said everything I would have said about the opera in Zurich. (I was there about five years ago.) Spot on, all of it.

You might even enjoy the modern staging a bit, since you came to opera through Luhrmann.