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94 Cards in this Set
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L'Orfeo - Claudio Monteverdi Mantua, Italy, c1607 |
With a mythological musician as hero, L'Orfeo ranks as the first great opera. Monteverdi was the "founding father" of operatic form. Euridice dies from a snake bite. The sorrowful Orpheus, through his music, tries to save her from the Underworld. A popular operatic subject (Gluck, Jaques Offenbach, Philip Glass), L'Orfeo is emotional, melancholy and transcendent. |
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Dido and Aeneas - Henry Purcell London, UK, 1689 |
A lone English operatic success until the 20th century, Dido recounts the tale of the tragic Queen of Carthage and her love for Aeneas, inconveniently en route to found a new Troy. In addition to sailors and witches, Purcell gave us one of the most sublime laments in opera: Dido's When I Am Laid in Earth. |
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Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar) - George Frideric Handel London, UK, 1724 |
An epic of love and war often considered Handel's finest work, Giulio Cesare has a richly intricate plot and the bonus of a brilliantly characterised and outrageously seductive Cleopatra (see Glyndebourne's Opus Arte DVD with the dancing Danielle de Niese as Cleo). Caesar, written for castrato, is often sung by a countertenor. Other good Handel: Rinaldo, Radamisto, Tamerlano, Rodelinda, Ariodante, Alcina. |
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Rinaldo - George Frideric Handel London, UK, 1711 |
The story of love, war and redemption, set at the time of the First Crusade, is loosely based on Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata ("Jerusalem Delivered"), and its staging involved many original and vivid effects. It was a great success with the public, despite negative reactions from literary critics hostile to the contemporary trend towards Italian entertainment in English theatres. |
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Serse (Xerxes) - George Frideric Handel, London, UK, 1738 |
Opens with one of Handel's best known arias, Ombra Mai Fu, sung by Serse, King of Persia, in honour of a plane tree and its shade. A plot of jealousy, infidelity and treachery results in a cocktail of bravura music. ENO's 1992 production by Nicholas Hytner helped put Handel's operas back on the map. |
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Orfeo ed Euridice (Orpheus and Eurydice) - Christoph Willibald Gluck Vienna, Austria, 1762 |
Written in Italian, this intense drama was later revised as the French Orphée. A mix of old and new styles, poised at the birth of Romanticism, this is regarded as one of the key operas of the 18th century. Maria Callas made J'ai Perdu Mon Eurydice a stand-alone hit. |
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Idomeneo - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Munich, Germany, 1781 |
Not one of the composer's best known, this opera seria is treasured by Mozartians as containing some of his greatest operatic music, hinting at glories yet to come. Despite its imperfections as drama and a too neat happy ending, Mozart's retelling of the story of the King of Crete forced to sacrifice his son has slowly earned its status as a masterpiece. |
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Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) - Mozart Vienna, Austria, 1786 |
Together with Don Giovanni and Cosi fan Tutte, which make up Mozart's trio of masterpieces with libretti by Da Ponte, Figaro is for many the perfect opera: a balance of wit, humanity and astounding, glorious music. Others find it too long, and the garden scene dreary. The Queen called it "the one about the [lost] pin". |
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Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) - Mozart Vienna, Austria, 1791 |
The monstrous Queen of the Night, the birdcatcher Papageno, lovers, philosophy, Freemasonry – The Magic Flute has it all. The music is ravishing, some of it probably familiar. Its prominent use of dialogue makes it a challenge to stage. Despite appearances, it's not as easy for children as it may look; wait a while. Mozart died only weeks after completing it. |
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Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) - Gioachino Rossini Rome, Italy, 1816 |
Pure, inane, fizzing delight, ferociously difficult to sing: The Barber of Seville, written in a fortnight by a composer who had penned 35 operas by the age of 37 then abruptly retired, tops the list of all operatic comedies. It includes the famous Figaro-here, Figaro-there Largo Al Factotum. Check out the Royal Opera House DVD with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. |
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Guillaume Tell (William Tell) - Gioachino Rossini Paris, France, 1829 |
The William Tell overture is one of the most famous pieces of classical music. Yet Rossini's enormous, final opera, involving the fight for Swiss freedom, remains a rarity – despite thrilling arias and exciting choruses. A BBC Proms performance and a new EMI CD conducted by Antonio Pappano may restore interest. |
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Norma - Vincenzo Bellini Milan, Italy, 1831 |
Boasting the famous Casta Diva aria, Norma is the ultimate bel canto tragedy about a druid priestess who, secretly, has two children and an erring lover, with catastrophic results. Bellini's extravagant, melodic operas – Il Pirata, La Sonnambula – provide a musical stepping stone from Rossini to Verdi. |
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L'Elisir d'Amore (The Elixir of Love) - Gaetano Donizetti Milan, Italy, 1832 |
Frequently performed and a cheerfully reassuring first step into opera, this is the comic tale of the fraudulent quack Dulcamara who dupes the poor, lovesick Nemorino with his "elixir"; melodic, witty, heart-warming and touchingly silly. The exuberant and prolific Donizetti's sharp humour is at play in the shrewish character of the love object, Adina. |
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Lucia di Lammermoor - Gaetano Donizetti Naples, Italy, 1835 |
No one provides a better coloratura "mad scene" – a 19th-century Romantic opera habit – than Donizetti in Lucia, based on Walter Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor. Scott's novels were all the rage in Europe, with 16 turned into operas by, among others, Bellini, Rossini and Bizet. |
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Rigoletto - Giuseppe Verdi Venice, Italy, 1851 |
Verdi, one of opera's greats, had a long career. For many his Egyptian Aida is an ideal first opera. For dramatic intensity, Rigoletto – compact, tuneful, melodramatic – is even better. The hunchback prompts pity when he tries to protect his daughter. It's never been the same since ENO's 1982 "Mafioso" staging had the Duke singing La Donna e Mobile at a jukebox in a diner. |
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La Traviata - Giuseppe Verdi Venice, Italy, 1853 |
Perhaps Verdi's most performed work, La Traviata contains all the elements of operatic addiction: a beautiful, consumptive, fallen-woman heroine, grand Parisian party scenes, the travails of love, a troubled father and a deathbed scene, all set to Verdi's faultless score. Hard to beat. |
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Don Carlos/ Don Carlo - Giuseppe Verdi Paris, France, 1867 |
Known in both its French and Italian versions, this enormous five-act work based on Schiller shows Verdi at the height of his powers. Politics, kingship, heresy, adultery and love combine with incomparable pomp and solemnity, with a score to match. The bass role of King Philip II of Spain is one of opera's loneliest. |
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Falstaff - Giuseppe Verdi Milan, Italy, 1893 |
Like Otello (written in a final, brilliant outpouring in 1887), Falstaff – after Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor – is a Verdian favourite among buffs, though some find its quixotic, quick-fire charms less beguiling. Knowledge of the final fugue, celebrating the folly of the human condition (Tutto nel Mondo) is essential to any opera lover's armament. |
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Pagliacci - Ruggero Leoncavallo Milan, Italy, 1892 |
Considered the stronger half of the popular "Cav and Pag" double bill, Pagliacci (the clowns) is Leoncavallo's one surviving hit, usually paired with Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. Pag cleverly uses a commedia dell'arte troupe to enact averismo tragedy. Top tenors love to sing the broken-hearted clown's Vesti la Giubba (Put On the Motley). |
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La Bohème - Giacomo Puccini Turin, Italy, 1896 |
If Puccini himself cried after composing the final scene of Bohème, one of the most adored of all operas, how can the rest of us resist? Mimi, the Bohemian seamstress of the title, her poet lover Rodolfo and their destitute Parisian friends capture the pains and pleasures of young love in an attic. |
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Tosca - Giacomo Puccini Rome, Italy, 1900 |
Dubbed a "shabby little shocker", Tosca opens with three crashing orchestral chords and never lets up until the opera-singer heroine, having stabbed the villain Scarpia and watched her artist-lover Cavaradossi die, leaps to her own death. Her Vissi d'arte and Cavaradossi's E Lucevan le Stelle epitomise opera's power to stir passion. Famous Toscas: Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Angela Gheorgiu. |
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Madama Butterfly - Giacomo Puccini Milan, Italy, 1904 |
Puccini first saw David Belasco's hit play Madame Butterfly in London in 1900. The teenage Butterfly (Cio-Cio-San) falls in love with an American naval lieutenant in Nagasaki. He abandons her, then returns with a wife. Catastrophe ensues. After a first-night disaster, it became one of the best-loved operas. One Fine Day, the Stars and Stripes music and the Humming Chorus are highlights. |
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Turandot - Giacomo Puccini Milan, Rome, 1926 |
Football fans know Nessun Dorma thanks to Pavarotti and the 1990 World Cup. Puccini's final opera is about the man-hating Chinese queen Turandot, and Calaf, the man who finally melts her icy heart. When Puccini died leaving the opera incomplete, it was finished by a composer friend, Alfano. Others have also tried, but Alfano's is the version commonly used. |
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Fidelio - Ludwig van Beethoven Vienna, Austria, 1805 |
Written to a backdrop of revolution, Beethoven's only opera is a hymn to freedom and marital love. Leonora dresses as a man, Fidelio, to rescue her husband Florestan from imprisonment. The spoken dialogue and huge orchestra present performance challenges but the rewards – the Mir ist So Wunderbar ensemble, the Prisoners' choruses, Florestan's cry of "Gott!" – are unrivalled. |
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Der Freischütz - Carl Maria von Weber Berlin, Germany, 1821 |
The title of this opera translates as The Marksman and it is set in a Bohemian forest during the 30 years war. It concerns the shooting trials of young hunters to win their lovers. The hero Max transgresses by using "free" magic bullets. Good and evil struggle in a vivid, tuneful display of high German Romanticism. Not often staged. Catch it when it is. |
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Lohengrin - Richard Wagner Weimar, Germany, 1850 |
Wagner's last "early" work (after Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser) before his mature masterpieces. This is perhaps the last great Romantic opera, rich with symbolism, myth, taboo: the innocent Elsa of Brabant is accused of murdering her brother. A knight in shining armour arrives in a swan-drawn boat. He will help her so long as she doesn't ask his name. She does. You can guess what it is. |
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Tristan und Isolde - Richard Wagner Munich, Germany, 1865 |
The ultimate, transcendent, no-holds-barred "love in death" experience, ending with Isolde's Liebestod. As usual, Wagner wrote his own libretto. Isolde is betrothed to King Mark. After a mix-up, she and Tristan drink a love potion and fall cataclysmically in love. This is "extreme opera", full of ecstatic thrills in very slow motion, but worth every note. Be prepared. |
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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Richard Wagner Munich, Germany, 1868 |
Written over two decades, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg is Wagner's only "comic" opera, full of generous humanity, especially in the great figure of the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs. The plot revolves around a song contest, and celebrates all art, especially German. Meistersinger may have been Hitler's favourite but don't be deterred. The music is uplifting, the choruses magnificent. |
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Der Ring des Nibelungen - Richard Wagner Bayreuth, Germany, 1876 |
The Ring Cycle, a pinnacle of the genre, consists of four operas: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdammerung – which last about 15 hours in total and took Wagner 28 years to write. The story of gold, gods, giants, dragons, once you sort it all out, is really an epic exploration of man's desire, greed and folly. By any reckoning The Ring is among the mightiest single monuments of art created by one person. |
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Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) - Franz Lehár Vienna, Austria, 1905 |
Together with Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, Lehár's Die Lustige Witwe sums up the joys of Viennese operetta: infectiously, waltzingly melodic, with dinners chez Maxim, dancing girls and a glimpse of Balkan Europe in the last days of old aristocracy. The eponymous widow, Hanna Glawari, is not only merry but fabulously rich. Too much fun for some tastes. |
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Salome - Richard Strauss Dresden, Germany, 1905 |
Still considered shocking by some, and certainly startling, Salome, after Wilde's play, leads the way to modern opera: its radical harmonies, its vocal challenges and its violent biblical story revisited in the age of Freud. Salome desires John the Baptist. After dancing naked for Herod, she only gets his head but that's enough. |
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Der Rosenkavalier - Richard Strauss Dresden, Germany, 1911 |
The title – The Knight of the Rose – gives no hint as to why this enormous, voluptuous, waltz-laden operatic concoction has become a favourite of connoisseurs. In this bitter-sweet comedy an older woman (the Marschallin) sees she must send her young lover into the arms of another. The final trio sends opera-buffs into an ultimate swoon. |
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Les Troyens - Hector Berlioz Paris, France 1863 & 1890 |
Opera hardly comes more grand than Berlioz's five-act retelling of Virgil's Aeneid: 22 roles, a huge orchestra, large chorus, ballet, battles, bloodshed and high emotion. Immensely expensive to stage, The Trojans is sometimes split across two evenings. Witness the fall of Troy and the tragic love of Didon and Enée in full operatic Technicolor. Never pass up a chance to see it. |
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Carmen - Georges Bizet Paris, France, 1875 |
Is there an opera more popular, sexy, scandalous or with better tunes? The Gypsy dancer at the cigarette factory who breaks hearts and meets her doom outside the bullring offers an ideal start to opera. It's long, but the action is thrilling, the music infectious. Don José's Flower Song, the Toreador Song and Carmen's Habanera are the best known of the many spectacular set pieces. |
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Manon - Jules Massenet Paris, France, 1884 |
The prolific and melodic Massenet is best known today for Manon, a linchpin of French 19th-century opera (from Abbé Prévost's novel Manon Lescaut, also set by Puccini). The heroine can't choose between love and money, until too late. Confusingly called an opéra comique because it has spoken dialogue, its subject is tragic. |
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Thaïs - Jules Massenet Paris, France, 1894 |
Thaïs takes place in Egypt during Byzantine rule, where a Cenobite monk, Athanaël, attempts to convert Thaïs, an Alexandrian courtesan and devotee of Venus, to Christianity, but discovers too late that his obsession with her is rooted in lust; while the courtesan's true purity of heart is revealed, so is the religious man's baser nature. The work is often described as bearing a sort of religious eroticism, and has had many controversial productions. Its famous Méditation, the entr'acte for violin and orchestra played between the scenes of Act II, is an oft-performed concert music piece; it has been arranged for many different instruments. |
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Pelléas et Mélisande - Claude Debussy Paris, France, 1902 |
This sensuous, Symbolist tragedy in 12 tableaux marks a radical departure: instead of arias and set pieces, the text is declaimed, inspired by Wagner, over an ever-moving orchestration. The story of the frail Mélisande and her adulterous love for her brother-in-law is a mix of reality and interior mystery. An acquired taste – but well worth acquiring. |
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The Bartered Bride - Bedrich Smetana Prague, Czech Repulbic, 1866 |
Smetana took several attempts to get his gentle, catchily tuneful comedy right. Folk-inspired dances, a drinking song and a story of young lovers thwarted by an official betrothal make this an engaging Czech tale of village life. That said, for today's tastes the stammering simpleton Vasek, butt of village humour, may be seen as too mean a characterisation for comfort. |
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Boris Godunov - Modest Mussorgsky St Petersburg, Russia, 1874 |
Experts still argue over which version of Mussorgsky's historical epic is definitive. The reluctant Boris, filled with foreboding and guilt for a murder, is appointed tsar. The people grow hungry and rebellious. Pretenders vie for the throne. Boris becomes deranged, the soul of Russia – expressed through anguished choruses – troubled. This is one of the Russian operatic greats. |
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Eugene Onegin - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Moscow, Russia, 1879 |
Among the most intimate and heart-rending of operas, this setting of Pushkin's verse tale has a spectacular birthday ball, a duel and, early on, the Letter Scene, in which the impetuous young Tatyana pours out her heart to the cold Onegin. Tchaikovsky's understanding of the human heart is all-encompassing, his music full of warmth and pathos. |
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The Queen of Spades - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky St Petersburg, Russia, 1890 |
After Pushkin's story, complete with two suicides and a ghost, the former gambler of the title, an old woman now close to death, holds the secret of winning at cards. Her granddaughter Lisa falls in love with a young officer, Hermann, who is desperate to learn that secret. A hot-blooded thriller set to impassioned music. |
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Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk - Dmitri Shostakovich Moscow, Russia, 1934 |
Attacked in a Pravda article as being "chaos instead of music", Lady Macbeth was forgotten until the 1960s, but its vital importance to modern opera is now recognised. While her husband is away, the bored, frustrated Katerina Izmailova murders her father-in-law and takes a lover. A tragic soap opera unfolds. Only a remote connection with Shakespeare. |
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War and Peace - Sergei Prokofiev Moscow, Russia, 1944 |
Oppressed by the Soviet authorities as so often in his career, Prokofiev had to add heroic choruses and marches to satisfy his political overlords, and never lived to hear a complete performance of his opera in five acts, based on Tolstoy's epic novel. Despite the attractions of The Fiery Angel, and the comic Love for Three Oranges, this is his most successful opera. |
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The Rake's Progress - Igor Stravinsky Venice, Italy, 1951 |
To a libretto by WH Auden and Chester Kallman, Stravinsky's opera is inspired by William Hogarth's engravings. Tom Rakewell falls under the spell of Nick Shadow, and opts for a sybaritic life of easy riches. But Nick is the devil. Tom ends up penniless and mad in Bedlam. Watch the DVD of Glyndebourne's 1975 staging with sets by David Hockney. |
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Jenůfa - Leoš Janáček Brno, Czech Republic, 1904 |
Together with Katja Kabanova, The Cunning Little Vixen and The Makropoulos Case, Jenůfa has been restored to the mainstream repertoire. Janáček's singular musical style and piercing understanding of his female heroines, who face shocking dilemmas, has struck a chord today. In Jenůfa, a child is born in secret; a stepmother (Kostelnička) fearing scandal, drowns the baby. Guilt rips through a Czech village community. |
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Bluebeard's Castle - Béla Bartók Budapest, Hungary, 1918 |
Chilling and enigmatic, Bluebeard is a psycho-drama for two voices about a lonely man who brings home his new bride, Judith, but will not reveal his past. She demands that he unlock the doors of his castle. Blood, money, a lake of tears and other wives lurk behind them. The score is ravishing, the impact disturbing. |
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Wozzeck - Alban Berg Berlin, Germany, 1925 |
The subject matter – based on Georg Büchner's play Woyzeck about a victimised soldier – is brutal, dark and modernist in mood. Yet Berg's score glitters with a warmth and lyricism, which has established it as a masterpiece of the early avant garde. In 2001, Birmingham Opera Company mounted a community version in a warehouse, renaming it Votzek; it was a sellout, its story instantly comprehensible. |
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Porgy and Bess - George Gershwin New York, US, 1935 |
Hailed as a true American opera, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, the plot is about the crippled Porgy and his Bess in the poor American deep south. Every folk-jazz inspired number is a hit: A Woman is a Sometime Thing, Leavin' for the Promised Land, Bess, You is My Woman Now and, best known of all, Summertime. Confused issues of racism linger. |
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Peter Grimes - Benjamin Britten London, UK, 1945 |
Ranked by many as one of the best operas of the 20th century, Britten's tale of the violent social-outcast fisherman, taken from George Crabbe's poem The Borough, is heart-rending and majestic. The orchestral Sea Interludes are frequently heard separately as concert pieces. The title role was created for Britten's partner, tenor Peter Pears. |
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The Turn of the Screw - Benjamin Britten Venice, Italy, 1954 |
It's hard to choose a second representative Britten opera, from the equally enjoyable Billy Budd, Midsummer Night's Dream, Albert Herring or Death in Venice. But his setting of Henry James's ghost tale, The Turn of the Screw, about a governess, the two children in her care and two dead servants, makes this chamber opera one of the most dramatically appealing. It also makes you think twice about seeing and believing.(Don't miss Glyndebourne Festival's live-streaming of The Turn of the Screw ontheguardian.com/glyndebourne, Sunday 21 August from 6pm) |
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King Priam - Michael Tippett Coventry, UK 1962 |
Tippett's operas to his own libretti – including Midsummer Marriage and The Knot Garden – haven't yet found their way back into fashion but there's some exquisite music; their time will come. His retelling of the tragedy of Priam, King of Troy, is intense, violent, poignant and highly original. |
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Le Grand Macabre - György Ligeti Stockholm, Sweden, 1978 |
Opening with a blast of four car horns, Ligeti's farce is mercurial, fast moving and eclectic. The Grand Macabre announces that at midnight the world will end. When the time arrives, no one is quite sure whether Armageddon has occurred or not so they party on, accepting there's no escape from death. |
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Werther - Thaïs - Jules Massenet Paris, France, 1887 |
Werther is an opera (drame lyrique) in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on the Germanepistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which was based both on fact and on Goethe's own early life. Earlier examples of operas using the story were made by Kreutzer (1792) and Pucitta (1802).[1] |
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Orlando - George Frideric Handel London, UK, 1733 |
Orlando (Roland), a great soldier in Charlemagne's army, falls desperately in love with the pagan princess Angelica, who is in turn in love with another man, Medoro. Orlando cannot accept this and he is driven to madness, prevented from causing absolute carnage only by the magician Zoroastro (who eventually restores his sanity). |
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Alcina - George Frideric Handel London, UK, 1728 |
The background of the opera comes from the poem Orlando Furioso. The heroic knight Ruggiero is destined to a short but glorious life, and a benevolent magician is always whisking him away from the arms of his fiancée, Bradamante. Bradamante is not the type to put up with the constant disappearance of her lover, and she spends vast portions of the poem in full armor chasing after him. Just before the opera begins she has rescued him from an enchanted castle, only to have her flying horse (a hippogriff) take a fancy to Ruggiero and fly off with him. Ruggiero and the hippogriff land on an island in the middle of the ocean. As the hippogriff begins to eat the leaves of a myrtle bush, Ruggiero is startled to hear the bush begin to speak. The bush reveals that it was once a living soul named Sir Astolfo, and the island belongs to the sister sorceresses Alcina and Morgana. The beautiful Alcina seduces every knight that lands on her isle, but soon tires of her lovers and changes them into stones, animals, plants, or anything that strikes her fancy. Despite Astolfo's warning, Ruggiero strides off to meet this sorceress – and falls under her spell. |
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Castor et Pollux - Jean-Philippe Rameau, France , 1737 |
Castor and Pollux are famous heroes. Despite being twin brothers, one of them (Pollux) is immortal and the other (Castor) is mortal. They are both in love with the princess Telaira (Télaïre), but she loves only Castor. The twins have fought a war against an enemy king, Lynceus (Lyncée) which has resulted in disaster: Castor has been slain. The opera opens with his funeral rites. Telaira expresses her grief to her friend Phoebe (Phébé) in Tristes apprêts, one of Rameau's most famous arias. Pollux and his band of Spartan warriors interrupt the mourning bringing the dead body of Lynceus who has been killed in revenge. Pollux confesses his love for Telaira. She avoids giving a reply, instead asking him to go and plead with his father Jupiter, king of the gods, to restore Castor to life. |
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Aida - Giuseppe Verdi Cairo, Egypt, 1871 |
The Egyptians have captured and enslaved Aida, a Nubian princess. An Egyptian military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris is in love with Radamès, although he does not return her feelings. |
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Alceste - Christoph Willibald Gluck Vienna, Austria, 1767 |
A herald announces to the people of Thessaly that King Admeto is gravely ill and that there is little hope. Evandro calls upon all to pray to the oracle at the temple of Apollo. Alceste joins them and asks Apollo for pity. The oracle says Admeto can be rescued if another voluntarily sacrifices his life. This causes great consternation. Alone, Alceste agonizes whether to give her life for that of her husband. |
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Die Entführung aus dem Serail - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Munich, Germany, 1782 |
Place: the country house of the Pasha (German "Bassa"), in Turkey |
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Così fan tutte - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Munich, Germany, 1790 |
The title, Così fan tutte, literally means "Thus do all [women]" but is usually translated into English as "Women are like that". In a cafe, Ferrando and Guglielmo (two officers) express certainty that their fiancées (Dorabella and Fiordiligi, respectively) will be eternally faithful. Don Alfonso expresses skepticism and claims that there is no such thing as a faithful woman. He lays a wager with the two officers, claiming he can prove in a day's time that those two, like all women, are fickle. The wager is accepted: the two officers will pretend to have been called off to war; soon thereafter they will return in disguise and each attempt to seduce the other's lover. The scene shifts to the two women, who are praising their men (duet: Ah guarda sorella—"Ah look sister"). Alfonso arrives to announce the bad news: the officers have been called off to war. Ferrando and Guglielmo arrive, brokenhearted, and bid farewell (quintet: Sento, o Dio, che questo piede è restio—"I feel, oh God, that my foot is reluctant"). As the boat with the men sails off to sea, Alfonso and the sisters wish them safe travel (trio: Soave sia il vento—"May the wind be gentle"). Alfonso, left alone, gloatingly predicts that the women (like all women) will prove unfaithful (arioso: Oh, poverini, per femmina giocare cento zecchini?—"Oh, poor little ones, to wager 100 sequins on a woman").Scene 2: A room in the sisters' homeDespina, the maid, arrives and asks what is wrong. Dorabella bemoans the torment of having been left alone (aria: Smanie implacabili—"Torments implacable"). Despina mocks the sisters, advising them to take new lovers while their betrotheds are away (aria: In uomini, in soldati, sperare fedeltà?—"In men, in soldiers, you hope for faithfulness?"). After they leave, Alfonso arrives. He fears Despina will recognize the men through their disguises, so he bribes her into helping him to win the bet. The two men then arrive, dressed as mustachioed Albanians (sextet: Alla bella Despinetta—"Meet the pretty Despinetta"). The sisters enter and are alarmed by the presence of strange men in their home. The "Albanians" tell the sisters that they were led by love to them (the sisters). However, the sisters refuse to give in. Fiordiligi asks the "Albanians" to leave and pledges to remain faithful (aria: Come scoglio—"Like a rock"). The "Albanians" continue the attempt to win over the sisters' hearts, Guglielmo going so far as to point out all of his manly attributes (aria: Non siate ritrosi—"Don't be shy"), but to no avail. Ferrando, left alone and sensing victory, praises his love (aria: Un'aura amorosa—"A loving breath"). |
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Médée - Luigi Cherubini, Paris, 1797 |
Place: Corinth Time: Antiquity Dircé is preparing for her wedding to Jason. Years ago, Jason had stolen the golden fleece with the help of Médée, who had betrayed her family and established a relationship with Jason, the result of which was two children. Although Jason has since abandoned Médée, she reappears and demands that he return to her. Jason refuses and Médée curses him, swearing vengeance. In despair, Médée is encouraged by her slave, Néris, to leave the city. Créon then appears and orders that Médée leave. She asks for one more day with her children and, after the king agrees, she appears to be calmer and gives Néris two wedding presents to take to her rival. |
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Otello - Gioachino Rossini Rome, Italy, 1822 |
Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Berio di Salsi, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. However, the opera deviates heavily from Shakespeare's original, not only in that it takes place in Venice and not on Cyprus, but also in that the whole dramatic conflict develops in a different manner. The role of Iago is reduced to some degree, and it is much less diabolical than in the original or in Verdi's Otello of 1887. In further contrast, the role of Rodrigo, of subsidiary importance in Shakespeare and Verdi, is very prominent in Rossini's version and is assigned some of the most difficult and brilliant music. The roles of Otello, Iago, and Rodrigo are all composed for the tenor voice. |
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Otello - Giuseppe Verdi Venice, Italy, 1887 |
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at theTeatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Place: A coastal city on the island of Cyprus. On a stormy evening, the people of Cyprus anxiously await the arrival of the new governor, Otello, from a naval battle with the Turks (Chorus, Montano, Cassio, Iago, Roderigo: Una vela! / "A sail!"). For a moment it seems as if Otello's ship will founder, to the delight of Otello's treacherous ensign, Iago, but Otello arrives safely and announces that the Turkish fleet has been destroyed, and the Cypriots cheer (Otello, chorus:Esultate! L'orgoglio musulmano sepolto è in mar / "Rejoice! The Mussulman's pride is buried in the sea").Iago offers to help the young Venetian gentleman Roderigo in his seduction of Otello's wife, Desdemona – Iago envies Otello his success and longs to destroy the Moor (Iago, Roderigo: Roderigo, ebben che pensi?/ "Well, Roderigo, what are you thinking?"). Among his grievances, Iago is outraged that Otello has appointed Cassio to be the captain of the navy, a position that Iago hoped to have. The people of Cyprus celebrate the safe return of Otello and his men by lighting a bonfire and drinking (Chorus: Fuoco di gioia!/ "Fire of joy").Iago proposes a toast to Otello and his wife, while Cassio praises Desdemona (Iago, Cassio, Chorus, Roderigo: Roderigo, beviam! / "Roderigo, let's drink!"). Iago offers Cassio more wine, but Cassio says he has had enough. Iago pressures him and offers a toast to Otello and Desdemona. Cassio gives in. Iago sings a drinking song and continues to pour Cassio wine (Iago, Cassio, Roderigo, chorus: Inaffia l'ugola! / "Wet your throat").Montano enters and calls for Cassio to begin his watch; he is surprised to find Cassio drunk and barely able to stand upright. Iago lies to Montano, telling him that this is how Cassio spends every evening. Roderigo laughs at Cassio's drunkenness and Cassio attacks him. Montano tells Cassio to calm down, but Cassio draws his sword and threatens to crack open Montano's head. (Montano, Cassio, Iago, Roderigo, chorus:Capitano, v'attende la fazione ai baluardi / "Captain, the guard awaits you on the ramparts".) Cassio and Montano begin to duel, and Iago sends Roderigo to call the alarm. Montano is wounded and the fight is stopped only by the appearance of Otello.Otello orders Montano and Cassio to lower their swords. He then asks "honest Iago" to explain how the duel began, but Iago says he doesn't know. Otello then turns to Cassio, who is embarrassed and cannot excuse his actions. When Otello discovers that Montano is wounded, he becomes enraged. Desdemona enters, and, upon seeing that his bride's rest has been disturbed, Otello declares that Cassio is no longer Captain. (Otello, Iago, Cassio, Montano: Abbasso le spade / "Down with your swords".) He tells Iago to patrol the town to restore quiet, calls for help for Montano and orders everyone to return to their houses.The Cypriots leave Otello alone with Desdemona. Together Otello and Desdemona recall why they fell in love. Otello, in an ecstasy of joy, invites death, fearing that he will never know such happiness again. Desdemona prays that their love will remain unchanged. They kiss, overcome with love for each other. (Otello, Desdemona: Già nella notte densa s'estingue ogni clamor /"Now in the dark night all noise is silenced".) |
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I Capuleti e i Montecchi - Vincenzo Bellini Milan, Italy, 1830 |
The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo and based on the play of the same name by Luigi Scevola written in 1818, thus an Italian source rather than taken directly from William Shakespeare. |
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La sonnambula - Vincenzo Bellini Paris, France, 1827 |
La sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime written by Eugène Scribe and choreographed by Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur. The ballet had premiered in Paris in September 1827 at the height of a fashion for stage works incorporating somnambulism. |
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Lucrezia Borgia - Gaetano Donizetti Milan, Italy, 1833 |
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramatic opera in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play Lucrezia Borgia by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan. |
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Nabucco - Giuseppe Verdi Venice, Italy, 1841 |
Nabucco (Italian pronunciation: [naˈbukko]; short for Nabucodonosor [naˌbukoˈdɔːnozor]~[naˌbukodonoˈzɔr], English Nebuchadnezzar) is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on biblical stories from the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Daniel and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue, although Antonio Cortese's ballet adaptation of the play (with its necessary simplifications), given at La Scala in 1836, was a more important source for Solera than the play itself.[1] Under its original name of Nabucodonosor, the opera was first performed at La Scala in Milan on 9 March 1842. |
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Der fliegende Holländer - Richard Wagner Weimar, Germany, 1843 |
Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write the opera following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839. In his 1843 Autobiographic Sketch, Wagner acknowledged he had taken the story from Heinrich Heine's retelling of the legend in his 1833 satirical novel The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski (Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski).[1] The central theme is redemption through love. |
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Il trovatore - Giuseppe Verdi Venice, Italy, 1853 |
Il trovatore (pronounced [il trovaˈtoːre]; Italian for "The Troubadour") is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El trovador (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was Gutiérrez's most successful play, one which Verdi scholar Julian Budden describes as "a high flown, sprawling melodrama flamboyantly defiant of the Aristotelian unities, packed with all manner of fantastic and bizarre incident."[1] |
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Orphée aux Enfers - Jacques Offenbach, 1858 |
Orphée aux enfers, whose title translates from the French as Orpheus in the Underworld, is an opéra bouffe (a form of operetta), or opéra féerie in its revised version. Its score was composed by Jacques Offenbach to a French text written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux. |
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La damnation de Faust - Hector Berlioz Paris, France 1846 |
The French composer was inspired by a translation of Goethe's dramatic poem Faust and produced a musical work that, like the masterpiece on which it is based, defies easy categorization. Conceived at various times as a free-form oratorio and as an opera (Berlioz ultimately called it a "légende dramatique") its travelogue form and cosmic perspective have made it an extreme challenge to stage as an opera. Berlioz himself was eager to see the work staged, but once he did, he conceded that the production techniques of his time were not up to the task of bringing the work to dramatic life. Most of the work's fame has come through concert performances. |
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Faust - Charles Gounod, Paris, 1959 |
Faust is a grand opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1. It debuted at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris on 19 March 1859, with influential sets designed by Charles-Antoine Cambon and Joseph Thierry (Act I and Act III, scene 1), Jean Émile Daran (Act II),Édouard Desplechin (Act III, scene 2; Act V), and Philippe Chaperon (Act IV). |
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La forza del destino - Giuseppe Verdi, Saint-Peterburg, 1862 |
La forza del destino (Italian pronunciation: [la ˈfɔrtsa del deˈstiːno]; The Power of Fate,[1] often translated The Force of Destiny) is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piavebased on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino (1835), by Ángel de Saavedra, 3rd Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed in the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 10 November 1862 O.S. (N.S. 22 November). |
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Les pêcheurs de perles - Georges Bizet Paris, France, 1863 |
Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at theThéâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in its initial run. Set in ancient times on the island of Ceylon, the opera tells the story of how two men's vow of eternal friendship is threatened by their love for the same woman, whose own dilemma is the conflict between secular love and her sacred oath as a priestess. The friendship duet "Au fond du temple saint", generally known as "The Pearl Fishers Duet", is one of the best-known numbers in Western opera. |
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La belle Hélène - Offenbach, Paris, 1864 |
La belle Hélène (French pronunciation: [la bɛl elɛn], The Beautiful Helen), is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The operetta parodies the story of Helen's elopement with Paris, which set off the Trojan War. |
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The Bartered Bride - Bedřich Smetana, Praha, 1866 |
The Bartered Bride (Czech: Prodaná nevěsta, The Sold Bride) is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the Provisional Theatre, Prague, on 30 May 1866 in a two-act format with spoken dialogue. |
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Roméo et Juliette - Gounod, Paris, 1867 |
Roméo et Juliette (Romeo and Juliet) is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique (Théâtre-Lyrique Impérial du Châtelet), Paris on 27 April 1867. This opera is notable for the series of four duets for the main characters and the waltz song "Je veux vivre" for the soprano.[1] |
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Samson et Dalila - Camille Saint-Saëns, Weimar, 1867 |
Samson and Delilah (French: Samson et Dalila), Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at theGrossherzogliches (Grand Ducal) Theater (now the Staatskapelle Weimar) on 2 December 1877 in a German translation.The opera is based on the Biblical tale of Samson and Delilah found in Chapter 16 of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. It is the only opera by Saint-Saëns that is regularly performed. The second act love scene in Delilah's tent is one of the set pieces that define French opera. Two of Delilah's arias are particularly well known: "Printemps qui commence" (“Spring begins”) and "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" ("My heart opens itself to your voice", also known as "Softly awakes my heart"), the latter of which is one of the most popular recital pieces in the mezzo-soprano/contralto repertoire. |
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Les contes d'Hoffmann - Jacques Offenbach, 1881 |
The Tales of Hoffmann (French: Les contes d'Hoffmann) is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Hoffmann is the protagonist in the opera. |
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Lakmé - Léo Delibes, Paris, 1881 |
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille.The score, written in 1881-2, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opéra-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart in Paris, with stage decorations designed by Auguste-Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon (Act I),Eugène Louis Carpezat and (Joseph-)Antoine Lavastre (Act II), and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (Act III). Set in British India in the mid-19th century, Lakmé is based on Théodore Pavie's story "Les babouches du Brahamane" and novel Le Mariage de Loti by Pierre Loti.[1] |
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Cavalleria rusticana - Pietro Mascagni, Rome, 1790 |
Cavalleria rusticana (pronounced [kavalleˈriːa rustiˈkaːna]; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play and short story written by Giovanni Verga. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pagdouble-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo.[1] |
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La Wally - Alfredo Catalani , Milan, 1892 |
La Wally is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892.The libretto is based on a hugely successful Heimatroman by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), Die Geier-Wally (de), Eine Geschichte aus den Tyroler Alpen (The Vulture Wally: A Story from the Tyrolean Alps). Wally, short for Walburga, is a girl with some heroic attributes. The story is based on an episode in the life of Tyrolean painter Anna Stainer-Knittel (de) whom von Hillern met. She gets her "Geier" (vulture) epithet from once stealing a vulture's hatchling from her nest. Von Hillern's piece was originally serialized in Deutsche Rundschau, and was reproduced in English as "A German Peasant Romance",[1] in the Cornhill Magazine in July 1875. |
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Manon Lescaut - Giacomo Puccini Turin, Italy, 1893 |
Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini, composed between 1890 and 1893. The story is based on the 1731 novel L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost and should not be confused with Manon, an 1884 opera by Jules Massenet based on the same novel. |
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Fedora - Umberto Giordano, Milan, 1898 |
Fedora is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the play Fédora by Victorien Sardou. Along with Andrea Chénier and Siberia, it is one of the most notable works of Giordano.It was first performed at the Teatro Lirico in Milan on 17 November 1898 conducted by the composer with Gemma Bellincioni creating the role of Fedora, and Enrico Caruso as her lover, Loris Ipanov. |
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Cendrillon - Jules Massenet, Paris, 1899 |
Cendrillon (Cinderella) is an opera—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn based on Perrault's 1698 version of the Cinderella fairy tale.It was given its premiere performance on 24 May 1899 in Paris.The New Grove Dictionary of Opera notes that Massenet's sense of humour and wit is more evident in this work, and the use of recurrent motifs is more discreet, while the love music "reminds us how well Massenet knew his Wagner".[1] Albert Carré (director of the Opéra-Comique and producer of the first staging) persuaded the composer to drop a prologue introducing the characters, but a brief epilogue survives.[2] Another writer comments that Massenet’s perfectly proportioned score moves from a scene worthy of Jean-Baptiste Lully's Armide (in Cendrillon’s monologue), through Rossinian vocalises and archaic orchestrations to ballet movements on a par with Tchaikovsky.[3] |
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Rusalka - Antonín Dvořák, 1901 |
Rusalka, is an opera ('lyric fairy tale') by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil[1] (1868–1950) based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erbenand Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses.[1] A Rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river. The most popular excerpt from Rusalka is the "Song to the Moon" ("Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém") from act 1 which is often performed in concert and recorded separately. It has also been arranged for violin and used on film sound tracks. |
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Gianni Schicchi - Giacomo Puccini Turin, NY, 1918 |
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned inDante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico (The Triptych)—three one-act operas with contrasting themes, originally written to be presented together. Although it continues to be performed with one or both of the other trittico operas, Gianni Schicchi is now more frequently staged either alone or with short operas by other composers. The aria "O mio babbino caro" is one of Puccini's best known, and one of the most popular arias in opera. |
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Erwartung - Arnold Schoenberg, Praha, 1924 |
Erwartung (Expectation), Op. 17, is a one-act monodrama in four scenes by Arnold Schoenberg to a libretto by Marie Pappenheim (de). Composed in 1909, it was not premiered until 6 June 1924 in Prague conducted byAlexander Zemlinsky with Marie Gutheil-Schoder as the soprano. The opera takes the unusual form of a monologue for solo soprano accompanied by a large orchestra. In performance, it lasts for about half an hour. It is sometimes paired with Béla Bartók's opera Bluebeard's Castle (1911), as the two works were roughly contemporary and share similar psychological themes. Schoenberg's succinct description of Erwartung was as follows:In Erwartung the aim is to represent in slow motion everything that occurs during a single second of maximum spiritual excitement, stretching it out to half an hour.[1] |
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Cardillac - Paul Hindemith , Dresden, 1926 |
Cardillac is an opera by Paul Hindemith in three acts and four scenes. Ferdinand Lion wrote the libretto based on the short story Das Fräulein von Scuderi by E.T.A. Hoffmann. |
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The Nose - Dmitri Shostakovich, 1928 |
The Nose (Russian: Нос, 'Nos'[a 1]), is Shostakovich's first opera, a satirical work completed in 1928 based on Nikolai Gogol's story of the same name (1836). |
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From the House of the Dead - Leoš Janáček Brno, Czech Republic, 1930 |
From the House of the Dead (Z mrtvého domu in Czech) is an opera by Leoš Janáček, in three acts. The libretto was translated and adapted by the composer from the novel by Dostoyevsky. It was the composer's last opera, premiered on 12 April 1930 in Brno, two years after his death. |
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Riders to the Sea - Ralph Vaughan Williams, London, 1837 |
Riders to the Sea is a short one-act opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on the play of the same name by John Millington Synge. The composer completed the score in 1927,[1] but it was not premiered until 1 December 1937, at the Royal College of Music, London. The opera remained largely the province of students and amateurs until it entered the repertoire of Sadler's Wells in 1953.[2] |
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Daphne - Richard Strauss, Dresden, 1838 |
Daphne, Op. 82, is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss, subtitled "Bucolic Tragedy in One Act". The German libretto was by Joseph Gregor. The opera is based loosely on the mythological figure Daphne from Ovid'sMetamorphoses and includes elements taken from The Bacchae by Euripides. The opera premiered at the Semperoper in Dresden on 15 October 1938, originally intended as a double bill with Strauss' Friedenstag, but as the scale of Daphne grew, that idea was abandoned.[1] The conductor of the first performance was Karl Böhm, to whom the opera was dedicated. |
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War and Peace - Sergei Prokofiev, Moscow, 1943 |
War and Peace is an opera in two parts (an Epigraph and 13 scenes), sometimes arranged as five acts, by Sergei Prokofiev to a Russian libretto by the composer and Mira Mendelson, based on the novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Although Tolstoy's work is classified as a novel, the 1812 invasion of Russia by the French was based on real-life events, and some real-life people appear as characters in both the novel and the opera, e.g. Prince Mikhail Kutuzov and Napoleon Bonaparte. |
