Treat classical singing as music rather than song and it can work if the singer is skilled - Callas, for instance.
I can remember my mother telling me of, when she was young, climbing up a fire escape onto the roof of a cinema with a group of friends and listening to the aria from Madam Butterfly drifting up from below - magic. She hated opera all her life, but she always remembered 'One Fine Day' as the piece of beautiful music that it is - I still agree with her; though I do love Carmen, song, music and plot.
I have to say I hate folk songs sung in operatic style - like throwing away the toffee and keeping the wrapping paper.
Shakespeare, like the big ballads, takes work to appreciate, but it's a journey worth making.
Jim Carroll