I think I mentioned above that Lloyd Webber stole Puccini's melody from the "Humming Chorus" in Madama Butterfly for his "Bring Him Home." Also, "The Music of the Night" is awfully close to "Come to Me, Bend to Me" in the musical Brigadoon.

As far as English operas, it's so hard to understand the words anyway, it may as well be a foreign language! Several examples: The Mikado (or anything by Gilbert and Sullivan). When these operas first debued (Sp.) transcribers would sit in the audience and furiously try to get every word, then hop a boat to America to be the first to present the new opera. Another example, Porgy and Bess (yes, it's an opera). Another example, Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, this one is trying to replace or be considered like The Nutcracker as a holiday treat for little ones. I think Kim remarked above about hearing the three opera tenors singing pop music and it just didn't fly. I agree. The phrasing and pronunciation seem affected when you hear them sing pop songs. An exception might be Pavarotti singing Italian folk songs. But remember Denyce Graves singing "America the Beautiful" at the National Cathedral Memorial Service, not at all "affected" and stunningly beautiful.

Carmen is in French. Actually it was from the French Opera Comique. The critics panned it, and Georges Bizet died three months later not knowing how successful it would become.

Die Fledermaus is in German. This one is traditionally performed in Vienna on New Year's Eve, and any singer in town that night walks on in the jail scene for a cameo role. When I saw it in Louisville, Colonel Sanders of KY Fried Chicken fame walked through the jail with a box of fried chicken.

The worst operas (for me) were in English. One was a Shakespearean Midsummer Night's Dream and the other was a Benjamin Britten (forgot the name.) Sussanah was filled with American folk tunes (or tunes that sounded old) and had a jolting, surprise ending!

Rick, there is a popular instrumental version of the music from Carmen, "The Carmen Suite" where you can hear just the music. That remains one of my favorite operas because even the incidental background music is memorable. It almost uses the leitmotif technique that Wagner uses in his operas.