Opera

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Ernani		Topic	Giuseppe Verdi	Francesco Maria Piave	Ernani is an opera dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo. First production: La Fenice Theatre, Venice, March 9, 1844. Ernani is a rarely-heard work. Most recently it was performed by Opera Boston in May 2008. The New York Metropolitan Opera House performed it in March-April 2008, returning to the "The Met" - as it is commonly known - for the first time since 1985. Mountains of Aragon The...
Ernani		Opera	Giuseppe Verdi	Francesco Maria Piave
La traviata		Topic	Giuseppe Verdi	Francesco Maria Piave	La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It takes as its basis the novel La dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, published in 1848. It was first performed at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, on March 6, 1853. The title "La traviata" means literally The Woman Who Strayed, or perhaps more figuratively, The Fallen One. Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at...
		Opera
		Opera Production
Rigoletto		Topic	Giuseppe Verdi	Francesco Maria Piave	Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851. It is considered by many to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. As a staple of the standard operatic repertoire, it appears as number nine on Opera America's list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America. Verdi was...
Rigoletto		Opera	Giuseppe Verdi	Francesco Maria Piave
Tristan und Isolde		Topic	Richard Wagner	Richard Wagner	Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered on 10 June, 1865 under the baton of Hans von Bülow in Munich. The opera was profoundly influential amongst Western classical composers and provided inspiration to composers such as Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Alban Berg and...
		Opera
		Composition
Cavalleria rusticana		Topic			Cavalleria rusticana (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 Sicilian short story written by Giovanni Verga. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pag double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Cavalleria rusticana is also the title of the 1907 opera by...
Cavalleria rusticana		Opera
Pagliacci		Topic	Ruggero Leoncavallo	Ruggero Leoncavallo	Pagliacci (Players, or Clowns) is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe. (Its name is sometimes incorrectly rendered as I Pagliacci with a definite article.) Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on May 21, 1892, conducted by Arturo Toscanini with Adelina Stehle as Nedda, Fiorello Giraud as Canio, Victor Maurel as Tonio, and Mario Ancona as Silvio. ...
Pagliacci		Opera	Ruggero Leoncavallo	Ruggero Leoncavallo
Die Entführung aus dem Serail		Topic	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart		Die Entführung aus dem Serail (K. 384; in English The Abduction from the Seraglio; also known as Il Seraglio) is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie. The plot concerns the attempt of the hero Belmonte, assisted by his servant Pedrillo, to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the seraglio of the Pasha Selim. The company that first sponsored the opera was the Nationalsingspiel (...
Die Entführung aus dem Serail		Opera	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Rienzi		Topic	Richard Wagner		Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49) (Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name. (The title is commonly shortened to Rienzi.) Written between July 1838 and November 1840, it was first performed at the Hofoper, Dresden on October 20, 1842. Rienzi is Wagner's third completed opera, and is mostly written in a Grand Opera style. The first performance in Dresden was...
Rienzi		Opera	Richard Wagner
Lohengrin		Topic	Richard Wagner		Lohengrin is a romantic opera (or music drama) in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner. The first production was in Weimar, Germany on 28 August 1850 under the direction of Franz Liszt, a close friend and early supporter of Wagner. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself inspired by the epic of Garin le Loherain. It is part of the...
Lohengrin		Opera	Richard Wagner
Parsifal		Topic	Richard Wagner		Parsifal is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the medieval (13th century) epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival (Percival) and his quest for the Holy Grail. During the first Act, Parsifal, an apparently witless fool, sees the suffering of the wounded Amfortas, King of an order of knights who guard the Grail. In the second Act Parsifal wanders into the domain of Klingsor, a magician who is trying to corrupt...
Parsifal		Opera	Richard Wagner
Tannhäuser		Topic	Richard Wagner		Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two Germanic legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg. The story centres on the struggle between sacred and profane love, and redemption through love (a theme running through almost all Wagner's mature work). Heinrich Heine had provided Wagner with the inspiration for Der fliegende...
Tannhäuser		Opera	Richard Wagner
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg		Topic	Richard Wagner		Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is one of the most popular operas in the repertory, and one of the longest still commonly performed today, usually taking around five hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich, on June 21, 1868. The conductor at the premiere was Hans von Bülow. The story takes place in Nuremberg during the middle of the 16th century. At...
		Opera
		Opera Production
Der Ring des Nibelungen		Topic	Richard Wagner	Richard Wagner	Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic music drama by the German composer Richard Wagner. The opera are based loosely on characters from the Norse saga and the Nibelungenlied. The works are often referred to as "The Ring Cycle", "Wagner's Ring", or simply "The Ring". Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four operas that constitute the Ring cycle are, in the order of the imagined events they...
		Opera
		Composition
The Magic Flute		Topic	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Emanuel Schikaneder	The Magic Flute (German Die Zauberflöte, K. 620) is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The opera was premiered in Vienna on September 30, 1791, at the suburban Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart conducted the orchestra, Schikaneder himself played Papageno, while the role of the Queen of the Night was sung by Mozart's...
The Magic Flute		Opera	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Emanuel Schikaneder
Otello		Topic	Giuseppe Verdi	Arrigo Boito	:For the Rossini opera, see Otello (Rossini).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 first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887. Most music critics consider Otello to be Verdi's greatest and most mature tragic opera. In it, he tried to do away with the traditional recitative-aria structure of opera, much as Richard Wagner had done, except that in some cases, the distinction...
Otello		Opera	Giuseppe Verdi	Arrigo Boito
Otello		Topic	Gioacchino Rossini		Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioacchino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Berio di Salsi, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. First performance: Teatro del Fondo, Naples, 4 December, 1816. The opera deviates quite 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. A recent Opera Rara CD of the opera even includes an alternative happy ending, a...
Otello		Opera	Gioacchino Rossini
William Tell		Topic	Gioacchino Rossini		Guillaume Tell (William Tell) is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis, based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra on August 3, 1829. Based on the legend of William Tell, this opera was Rossini's last, even though the composer lived for nearly forty more years. The opera's length, roughly four hours of music, and casting requirements, such as the high range required for the tenor...
William Tell		Opera	Gioacchino Rossini
The Barber of Seville		Topic	Gioacchino Rossini		The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution (Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione) is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto (based on Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville) by Cesare Sterbini. The overture, first written for Aureliano in Palmira, is a famous example of Rossini’s characteristic Italian style. The première (under the title Almaviva, or the Useless Precaution) took place on February 20, 1816, at the Teatro Argentina, Rome. An...
The Barber of Seville		Opera	Gioacchino Rossini
Paradise Lost		Topic	Krzysztof Penderecki	Christopher Fry	Paradise Lost is an opera in two acts , with music by Krzysztof Penderecki and an English libretto by Christopher Fry. The opera is based on the epic poem of the same name by Milton. Penderecki himself characterized the work as a Sacra Rappresentazione (sacred representation) rather than an opera. He wrote the opera on commission for the 1976 US Bicentennial celebrations. The first performance was given on 29 November 1978, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The same production was given at La...
		Opera
		Adaptation
Dido and Aeneas		Topic	Henry Purcell	Nahum Tate	Dido and Æneas is an opera by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell, from a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at a girls' school in the spring of 1689 and hence is given catalogue number Z. 626. It comprises three acts and lasts about an hour. It is based on a story from the fourth book of Virgil's Aeneid, of the legendary Queen of Carthage Dido and the Trojan refugee Æneas. When Æneas and his crew are shipwrecked in Carthage, he and the queen fall in love. However,...
		Opera
		Adaptation
Madama Butterfly		Topic	Giacomo Puccini	Luigi Illica	Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly) is an opera in three acts (originally two acts) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera was based in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther Long—which was turned into a play by David Belasco—and also on the novel Madame Chrysanthème (1887) by Pierre Loti. The two-act version of the opera premiered on February 17, 1904, at La Scala in Milan. It was very poorly received despite the...
		Opera		Giuseppe Giacosa
		Adaptation		Giuseppe Giacosa
Les Troyens		Topic	Hector Berlioz	Hector Berlioz	Les Troyens (in English: The Trojans) is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid. Written between 1856 and 1858, Les Troyens was Berlioz's largest and most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career, but he never saw the opera performed in its entirety during his lifetime. Under the title Les Troyens à Carthage, the last three acts were premièred, with many cuts, at the Théâtre Lyrique in...
		Opera
		Adapted Work
The Little Prince		Topic	Rachel Portman	Nicholas Wright	The Little Prince, subtitled A Magical Opera, is an opera in two acts by Rachel Portman to an English libretto by Nicholas Wright, based on the 1943 book of the same name by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. First performance: Houston, 2003. The Little Prince was commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera and premiered in May 2003 with Nate Irvin as The Little Prince and Teddy Tahu Rhodes as the Pilot. It was then performed by the Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Boston Lyric Opera...
The Little Prince		Opera	Rachel Portman	Nicholas Wright
Four Saints in Three Acts		Topic	Virgil Thomson		Four Saints in Three Acts is an opera by American composer Virgil Thomson with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. Written in 1927-8, it contains about twenty saints, and is in at least four acts. The subject was agreed on at Thomson's suggestion and the libretto as delivered can be read in Stein's collected works. The opera focuses on two sixteenth century Spanish saints—the former mercenary Ignatius of Loyola and the mystic Teresa of Avila—as well as their colleagues, real and imagined: St. Plan,...
Four Saints in Three Acts		Opera	Virgil Thomson
The Mother of Us All		Topic	Virgil Thomson		The Mother of Us All (1947) is an opera by Virgil Thomson to a libretto by Gertrude Stein. It chronicles the life of Susan B. Anthony, one of the major figures in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States. In fanciful style, it brings together characters, fictional and non-fictional, from different periods of American history. Susan B. Anthony, sopranoAnne, contraltoGertrude S., sopranoVirgil T., baritoneDaniel Webster, bassAndrew Johnson, tenorThaddeus Stevens, tenorJo the Loiterer,...
The Mother of Us All		Opera	Virgil Thomson
Siegfried		Topic	Richard Wagner	Richard Wagner	Siegfried is the third of the four opera that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring. Mime, Alberich's brother, is forging a blade in his cave within the forest. The Nibelung dwarf is plotting to obtain the Ring for himself, having raised Siegfried to kill Fafner for him. He needs a sword for Siegfried to use, but the youth has...
		Opera
		Composition
Die Walküre		Topic	Richard Wagner	Richard Wagner	Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) is the second of the four opera that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at Munich's National Theatre on 26 June 1870. It is the source of the famous piece Ride of the Valkyries.Wagner took his tale from the Norse mythology told in the Volsunga saga. This act hinges on hidden identities that are known to the audience. (Wagner uses this situation in operas that are not part of the Ring: in the operas...
		Opera
		Composition
Das Rheingold		Topic	Richard Wagner	Richard Wagner	For the famous train, see Rheingold Express. For the beer, see Rheingold Beer. For the Grave Digger album, see Rheingold. For the research institute, see Rheingold institute. Das Rheingold ("The Rhine Gold") is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the National Theatre in Munich on 22 September 1869, with August Kindermann in the role of Wotan, Heinrich Vogl as Loge, and Wilhelm Fischer as...
		Opera
		Composition
Götterdämmerung		Topic	Richard Wagner	Richard Wagner	("Twilight of the Gods" – see Notes) is the last of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of the Ring. The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse phrase Ragnarök, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war of the gods which brings about the end of the world. However, as with the rest of the Ring,...
		Opera
		Composition
Octavia		Topic			The Roman Unrest, or The Noble-Minded Octavia (German: Die römische unruhe, oder Die edelmütige Octavia), commonly called Octavia. Three part tragic opera by Reinhard Keiser, libretto by Barthold. Response to Handel's now-lost Nero, using the same period, material and plot but with Barthold substantially improving the libretto. It unites the insidious machinations of the mad emperor Nero, including the assassination plots against his stepsister and wife Octavia, the Pisonian conspiracy and its...
Octavia		Opera