---
title: "30 Amazing Facts About Opera"
url: https://www.kickassfacts.com/30-amazing-opera-facts/
date: 2017-03-22
modified: 2017-03-23
lang: en
author: "jazz"
description: "Here are 30 amazing Opera facts. 1-5 Opera Facts 1. Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker is a trained opera singer who can sing opera in seven different languages. - Source..."
categories:
  - "Fact List"
  - "Miscellaneous"
image: https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/opera-article.jpg
word_count: 1060
---

# 30 Amazing Facts About Opera

Here are 30 amazing Opera facts.

## 1-5 Opera Facts

[![Image credit: en.wikipedia.org](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Justin_Tucker.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Justin_Tucker.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

1. Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker is a trained opera singer who can sing opera in seven different languages. - [Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQB45d45Zpg)

2. The "Can-Can" song was originally composed for an opera as a soundtrack to a man descending into hell. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_in_the_Underworld)

3. During Wagner's lifetime, there was a widespread misconception that Wagner did not like applause at his operas. Frustrated by the lack of applause, Wagner himself cried "Bravo!" at the end of the second act of one of his operas, only to be hissed by other members of the audience. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsifal#Applause_during_Parsifal)

4. One of the reasons opera singers don't need microphones and can be heard over musical accompaniment is because they sing at a different sound frequency to the orchestra. - [Source](http://www.ncvs.org/ncvs/tutorials/voiceprod/tutorial/singer.html)

5. Christopher Lee speaks 9 languages, was in the British army during [WWII](https://www.kickassfacts.com/30-kickass-interesting-facts-about-world-war-2-part-1/), then took part in the Nazis war criminals hunt and sung for operas and metal bands in addition to playing the bad guy in dozens of movies including Lord of the Ring and Star Wars. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee#Music_career)

## 6-10 Opera Facts

[![Mike Rowe](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Mike-Rowe.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Mike-Rowe.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

6. Mike Rowe was an opera singer. "I joined the opera to get my union card and meet girls." - [Source](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/well-that-was-unexpected-mike-rowe-sings-opera-live-on-cnn/)

7. Two conductors have died while conducting the second act of Wagner's opera 'Tristan und Isolde'. They collapsed from heart attacks at exactly the same point in the [music](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-kickass-and-interesting-facts-about-music/) due to its technical demands. - [Source](http://www.talkclassical.com/14532-does-anyone-know-conductor.html)

8. An increasingly common method for [Brain](https://www.kickassfacts.com/30-kickass-amazing-facts-about-brain-part1/) Surgeons to ensure that a semi-conscious patient is ok during surgery is to have them play a musical instrument or sing during the procedure. Various patients sung opera and even have played saxophone, guitar, banjo, violin while under the knife. - [Source](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/19/460380252/brain-surgery-serenade-man-plays-saxophone-during-tumor-removal)

9. Jackie Chan is a classically trained opera singer. - [Source](https://www.thoughtco.com/jackie-chan-profile-2307744)

10. The march 'Here Comes the Bride' is from an opera where the [marriage](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-interesting-facts-about-marriage-and-divorce/) is almost an immediate failure, and the piece is sung just before several [wedding](https://www.kickassfacts.com/41-amazing-wedding-facts/) guests are murdered. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridal_Chorus)

## 11-15 Opera Facts

[![Caruso](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Caruso.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Caruso.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

11. Singer Enrico Caruso's voice was unique & versatile. During an opera, the basso who was to sing, whispered 'I’ve lost my voice'. Caruso replied, 'Move your lips & I’ll sing for you'. With back turned to the audience, Caruso sang for him. The audience cheered, not knowing Caruso sang it. - [Source](http://www.enricocaruso.dk/index-14.html)

12. After a terrible performance at the [White House](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-kickass-and-interesting-facts-about-white-house/) from an Opera singer, President Coolidge was asked: "What do you think of the singer’s execution?" - Coolidge replied: "I am all for it". - [Source](http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Now-thats-insulting-230286221.html)

13. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a mini-opera about [coffee](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-interesting-facts-about-coffee/) addiction. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweigt_stille,_plaudert_nicht,_BWV_211)

14. The term “it ain't over till” the fat lady sings" originally references the conclusion of a lengthy epic four-part opera called Der Ring des Nibelungen; in which, the "fat lady" or Valkyrie Brünnhilde sings for about 20 minutes, signaling the end the nearly 16-hour saga. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_ain)

15. Exceptionally loud singers like opera singers match the shape of their throat to the shape of the human ear canal. Essentially, they make a sound that "fits" our ears perfectly. This is also called "singer's formants". - [Source](http://www.voicelearningcentre.com/art.html)

## 16-20 Opera Facts

[![Richard_Versalle](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Richard_Versalle.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Richard_Versalle.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

16. Richard Versalle, an opera singer, died on stage at the Metropolitan Opera right after singing the line "Too bad you can live only so long." - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Versalle)

17. Michael Maniaci is an opera singer whose larynx never matured for an unknown reason, and as a result, he can reach soprano register without using falsetto like most countertenors. He has been compared to a modern-day castrato. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Maniaci)

18. The former CEO of Sony only took a Sony job because their low-quality tape recorders were screwing over his opera career. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norio_Ohga)

19. A couple of men created the 'Most Unwanted Song' in 1997, incorporating opera singer rapping, bagpipes, cowboy music and a children's choir urging listeners to shop at [Walmart](https://www.kickassfacts.com/walmart-facts/). - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Unwanted_Song)

20. The President of Turkmenistan banned opera, algebra, physics, P.E., the [Internet](https://www.kickassfacts.com/30-kickass-interesting-facts-internet/), the Hippocratic Oath, [libraries](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-interesting-facts-about-libraries/), free press, recorded music, [smoking](https://www.kickassfacts.com/44-interesting-smoking-facts/), beards, chewing [tobacco](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-interesting-facts-about-nicotine-tobacco-and-cigarettes/), ballet, the circus, symphonic orchestras. - [Source](http://www.badassoftheweek.com/niyazov.html)

## 21-25 Opera Facts

[![Image credit: en.wikipedia.org](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Burgess.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Burgess.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

21. The author of A Clockwork Orange composed his first symphony at 18, translated Eliot's the Wasteland into Persian, translated Bizet's Carmen for the English Opera and wrote school textbooks still used today. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Burgess#Music)

22. Weezer made a space rock opera in 1995 but discarded the concept and transformed it into Pinkerton. Only 3 copies of the finished album are known to exist. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_from_the_Black_Hole)

23. In 1991 opera singer Placido Domingo received 80 minutes of applause after his performance of Othello in Vienna. - [Source](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/placido-domingo-tenor-of-our-times/)

24. Richard Wagner's "The Ring of the Nibelung" or "Ring Cycle" is an opera that takes about 15 hours to perform and was written over a period of 26 years. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen)

25. Dr. Drew was torn between medicine and being a professional opera singer. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Pinsky#Personal_life)

## 26-30 Opera Facts

[![Composer_Rossini](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Composer_Rossini.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Composer_Rossini.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

26. Opera composer Gioachino Rossini was forced to write an entire song with just one note (B flat) after he discovered that the woman who needed to perform it was a terrible singer. - [Source](http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.660203-04&catNum=660203&filetype=About+this+Recording&language=English)

27. In the 18th century [Italy](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-kickass-and-interesting-facts-about-italy/), 4000 boys were castrated to preserve their pre-pubescent voice ranges for opera singing. Some boys voluntarily requested this. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrato)

28. A French man fell in love with someone he *thought* was a female Chinese opera singer, and had a decades-long affair that resulted in a child only to discover that the whole time the singer had actually been (a) male and (b) a spy. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Pei_Pu)

29. When tenor singer Pasquale Brignoli wrote his first opera at 15, he was so disgusted at how the finest aria was being sung, he ran onto the stage and sung it himself. - [Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasquale_Brignoli)

30. Habitual singing causes the lungs to release leptin, a protein manufactured by the body’s fat cells that is involved in the regulation of appetite. This may partially explain why opera stars tend to lean toward the heavy end of the scale. - [Source](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/science/01qna.html)