Julian West

Occasionally people ask me to suggest a good opera for beginners. This is definitely a situation in which your mileage might vary. Perhaps you already like symphonic works by a certain a certain composer; then that would be a logical place to start. You might also want to start with a language you are comfortable with. (Actually, you could find recordings of any of these operas in English or other major languages. In particular, it wouldn't be considered at all ridiculous to listen to Hansel and Gretel or The Cunning Little Vixen in English; there is an excellent English recording of the latter from Covent Garden.)

But the following is a list of operas which I consider to be "easy to like". I like them all a great deal. In addition, they are in my opinion reasonably accessible, with lots of pretty music, and some tunes you can latch onto. They are also relatively unsilly, mostly being based on significant (and good) works of literature.

Fidelio (1806) by Ludwig van Beethoven. Who doesn't like Beethoven? Here's my favourite historical singer singing Komm' Hoffnung.
Eugene Onegin (1879) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. You surely know some of Tchaikovsky's ballet music. This is just as good. In fact, he threw a dance into each act.
Tales of Hoffmann (1881) by Jacques Offenbach
Werther (1892) by Jules Massenet
Hansel and Gretel (1893) by Englebert Humperdinck. You can watch the first few minutes, but they are a bit sillier than the rest of the opera.
La Boheme (1897) by Giacomo Puccini. Not a wasted moment or a wrong note anywhere.
Ariadne auf Naxos (1916) by Richard Strauss
Gianni Schicchi (1918) by Giacomo Puccini. The soprano aria O mio babbino caro is one the most famous and beautiful arias in all opera.
The Cunning Little Vixen (1924) by Leos Janacek
Albert Herring (1947) by Benjamin Britten