This list provides a guide to the most prominent operas, as determined by their presence on a majority ofselected compiled lists, which date from between 1984 and 2000. The operas included cover all important genres, and include all operas regularly performed today, from seventeenth-century works to late twentieth-century operas. The brief accompanying notes offer an explanation as to why each opera has been considered important. The organisation of the list is by year of first performance, or, if this was long after thecomposer's death, approximate date of composition.
1640Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (Monteverdi). Monteverdi's first opera for Venice, based on Homer'sOdyssey, displays the composer's mastery of portrayal of genuine individuals as opposed to stereotypes.[3]
1642L'incoronazione di Poppea (Monteverdi). Monteverdi's last opera, composed for a Venetian audience, is often performed today. Its Venetian context helps to explain the complete absence of the moralizing tone often associated with opera of this time.[4]
1644Ormindo (Francesco Cavalli). One of the first of Cavalli's operas to be revived in the 20th century,Ormindo is considered one of his more attractive works.[5]
1649Giasone (Cavalli). InGiasone Cavalli, for the first time, separatedaria andrecitative.[6]Giasone was the most popular opera of the 17th century.[7]
1651La Calisto (Cavalli). Ninth of the eleven operas that Cavalli wrote with Faustini is noted for its satire of the deities of classical mythology.[8]
1683Dido and Aeneas (Henry Purcell). Often considered to be the first genuine English-language operatic masterwork. Not first performed in 1689 at a girls' school, as is commonly believed, but at Charles II's court in 1683.[9]
1692The Fairy-Queen (Purcell). Asemi-opera rather than a genuine opera, this is often thought to be Purcell's finest dramatic work.[10]
1710Agrippina (George Frideric Handel). Handel's last opera that he composed in Italy was a great success,[11] and established his reputation as a composer of Italian opera.[12]
1711Rinaldo (Handel). Handel's first opera for the London stage was also the first all-Italian opera performed on the London stage.[13]
1724Giulio Cesare (Handel). Noted for the richness of its orchestration.[14]
1735Ariodante (Handel). Both this opera andAlcina enjoy high critical reputations today.[23]
1735Alcina (Handel). Both this work andAriodante were part of Handel's first opera season atCovent Garden.[24]
1735Les Indes galantes (Rameau). In this work Rameau added emotional depth and power to the traditionally lighter form ofopéra-ballet.[25]
1737Castor et Pollux (Rameau). Initially only a moderate success, when it was revived in 1754Castor et Pollux was regarded as Rameau's finest achievement.[26]
1738Serse (Handel). Deviation from the usual model ofopera seria,Serse contains many comic elements rare in Handel's other works.[27]
1740Alfred (Thomas Arne). An English opera of all times, famous for the patriotic song "Rule Britannia".
1744Semele (Handel). Originally performed as anoratorio, Semele's dramatic qualities have often led to the work being performed on the opera stage in modern times.[28]
1745Platée (Rameau). Rameau's most famous comic opera. Originally a court entertainment, a 1754 revival proved extremely popular with French audiences.[25]
1760La buona figliuola (Niccolò Piccinni). Piccinni's work was initially immensely popular throughout Europe. By 1790 over 70 productions of the opera had been produced and it had been performed in all the major European cities.[29]
1786Der Schauspieldirektor (Mozart). AnotherSingspiel with much spoken dialogue taken from plays of that time, the plot ofDer Schauspieldirektor features two sopranos vying to becomeprima donna in a newly assembled company. Premiered together withAntonio Salieri'sPrima la musica e poi le parole[32]
1786Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart). The first of the famous series of Mozart operas set to libretti byLorenzo Da Ponte is now Mozart's most popular opera.[32]
1787Don Giovanni (Mozart). Second of the operas that Mozart set to Da Ponte's libretti, Don Giovanni has provided a puzzle for writers and philosophers ever since its composition.[32]
1790Così fan tutte (Mozart). Third and last of the operas that Mozart set to libretti by Da Ponte,Così fan tutte was scarcely performed throughout the 19th century, as the plot was considered to be immoral.[40]
1791La clemenza di Tito (Mozart). Mozart's last opera before his early death was extremely popular until 1830, after which the work's popularity and critical reputation began to decline; they did not return to their former levels until after the Second World War.[32]
1791Die Zauberflöte (Mozart). Has been described as "the apotheosis of theSingspiel",Die Zauberflöte was denigrated during the 19th century as confused and lacking in definition.[38]
1792Il matrimonio segreto (Domenico Cimarosa). Usually regarded as Cimarosa's best opera,[41]Leopold II enjoyed the three-hour-long premiere so much that, after dinner, he compelled the singers to repeat the opera later during that same day.[42]
1813L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini). This opera is described by Richard Osborne, writing inGrove Music Online, as "Rossini's firstbuffo masterpiece in the fully fledged two-act form".[46]
1813Tancredi (Rossini). Thismelodramma eroico was described by poetGiuseppe Carpani thus: "It iscantilena and always cantilena: beautiful cantilena, new cantilena, magic cantilena, rare cantilena".[46]
1814Il turco in Italia (Rossini). This opera stands out among Rossini's output for its frequent ensembles and absence of aria.[46]
1816Otello (Rossini). The composerGiacomo Meyerbeer described the third act ofOtello thus: "The third act ofOtello established its reputation so firmly that a thousand errors could not shake it".[46]
1828Le comte Ory (Rossini). Rossini's opera has enjoyed a high critical reputation throughout the years: 19th-century criticHenry Chorley said that "there is not a bad melody, there is not an ugly bar inLe comte Ory", and Richard Osborne, writing inGrove Music Online, calls details that the work is one of the "wittiest, most stylish and most urbane of all comic operas".[46]
1829La straniera (Bellini).La straniera is rare amongbel canto operas in that it offers remarkably few opportunities for vocal ostentation.[53]
1829Guillaume Tell (Rossini). Rossini's last opera before his retirement is a tale of liberty set in theSwiss Alps. It helped to establish the genre of FrenchGrand Opera.[55]
1831Norma (Bellini). Bellini's best-known opera, paradigm of Romantic operas. The final act of this work is often noted for the originality of its orchestration.[60]
1832L'elisir d'amore (Donizetti). This work was the most often performed opera in Italy between 1838 and 1848.[56]
1833Beatrice di Tenda (Bellini). Bellini's tragedy is notable for its extensive use of the chorus.[62]
1833Hans Heiling (Marschner). Another important Gothic horror opera from Marschner.[63]
1833Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti). One of Donizetti's most popular scores.[64]
1834Maria Stuarda (Donizetti). This work was dismissed as a failure in the 19th century, but since its revival in 1958 it has made frequent appearances on stage.[65]
1835La Juive (Fromental Halévy). This grand opera rivalled the works of Meyerbeer in popularity. The tenor aria "Rachel quand du seigneur" is particularly famous.[68]
1835Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti). Donizetti's most famous tragic opera, notable for Lucia's mad scene.[69]
1836A Life for the Tsar (Mikhail Glinka). Glinka established the tradition of Russian opera with this historical work and the laterRuslan and Lyudmila.[70]
1836Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer). Perhaps the most famous of all French grand operas, widely regarded as Meyerbeer's masterpiece.[71]
1837Roberto Devereux (Donizetti). Donizetti wrote this work as a distraction from the grief he felt at the death of his wife.[72]
1840Bátori Mária(Erkel). Erkel's first opera was also the first true opera written in Hungarian and is based on the story of Ines de Castro inCamões'Os Lusiadas, the Portuguese national epic.[76]
1840Un giorno di regno (Verdi). Verdi's only comedy apart from his last opera,Falstaff.[74]
1842Der Wildschütz (Albert Lortzing). Lortzing's "comic masterpiece", intended to show a German work could rival Italianopera buffa and Frenchopéra comique.[77]
1842Nabucco (Verdi). Verdi described this opera as the genuine beginning of his artistic career.[78]
1844Hunyadi László (Erkel). Erkel's second opera is generally considered his best, but is second in popularity to his later operaBánk Bán which is considered the Hungarian "National Opera".[76]
1844Ernani (Verdi). One of the most dramatically effective of Verdi's early works.[85]
1846Attila (Verdi). Verdi was troubled by ill health during the writing of this piece, which was only a moderate success at the premiere.[87]
1846La damnation de Faust (Berlioz). Frustrated at his lack of opera commissions, Berlioz composed this "dramatic legend" for concert performance. In recent years, it has been successfully staged as an opera, though the criticDavid Cairns describes it as "cinematic".[88]
1847Macbeth (Verdi). Verdi's first venture into Shakespeare.[87]
1858Les Troyens (Berlioz). Berlioz's greatest opera and the culmination of the French Classical tradition.[88]
1859Faust (Charles Gounod). Of all the musical settings of theFaust legend, Gounod's has been the most popular with audiences, especially in the Victorian era.[102]
1859Un ballo in maschera (Verdi). This opera ran into trouble with the censors because it originally dealt with the assassination of a monarch.[103]
1861Bánk bán (Erkel). Erkel's third opera is considered the Hungarian "National opera".[104]
1862Béatrice et Bénédict (Berlioz). The last opera Berlioz wrote is the final fruit of his lifelong admiration for Shakespeare.[105]
1862La forza del destino (Verdi). This tragedy was commissioned by the Imperial Theatre, Saint Petersburg, and Verdi may have been influenced by the Russian tradition in the writing of his work.[106]
1863Les pêcheurs de perles (Georges Bizet). Though a relative failure at its premiere, this is Bizet's second most performed opera today and is particularly famous for its tenor/baritone duet.[107]
1864La belle Hélène (Offenbach). Another operetta by Offenbach which pokes fun at Greek mythology.[108]
1864Mireille (Gounod). Gounod's work is based on the epic poem byFrédéric Mistral and makes use of Provençal folk tunes.[109]
1864Helvellyn (George Alexander Macfarren). Macfarren's last opera, a notable attempt to establish a serious, high-quality English-language operatic tradition in the mid-19th century.
1865Tristan und Isolde (Wagner). This romantic tragedy is Wagner's most radical work and one of the most revolutionary pieces in music history. The "Tristan chord" began the breakdown of traditionaltonality.[111]
1867Roméo et Juliette (Gounod). Gounod's version of Shakespeare's tragedy is his second most famous work.[116]
1868Dalibor (Smetana). One of the most successful of Smetana's operas exploring themes from Czech history.[117]
1868Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner). Wagner's only comedy among his mature operas concerns the clash between artistic tradition and innovation.[118]
1868Hamlet (Thomas). Thomas's opera takes many liberties with its Shakespearean source.[119]
1868La Périchole (Offenbach). Set in Peru, this operetta mixes comedy and sentimentality.[120]
1868Mefistofele (Arrigo Boito). Though most famous as a librettist for Verdi, Boito was also a composer and he spent many years working on this musical version of the Faust myth.[121]
1869Das Rheingold (Wagner). The "preliminary evening" to Wagner's epicRing cycle tells how the ring was forged and the curse laid upon it.[122]
1870Die Walküre (Wagner). The second part of theRing tells the story of the mortals Siegmund and Sieglinde and of how thevalkyrie Brünnhilde disobeys her father Wotan, king of the gods.[123]
1871Aida (Verdi). Features one of the greatest tenor arias of all time,Celeste Aida.
1874Boris Godunov (Modest Mussorgsky). Mussorgsky's great historical drama shows Russia's descent into anarchy in the early 17th century.[124]
1874The Two Widows (Smetana). Another comedy by Smetana, the only one of his operas with a non-Czech subject.[126]
1875Carmen (Bizet). Probably the most famous of all French operas. Critics at the premiere were shocked by Bizet's blend of romanticism and realism.[127]
1876Siegfried (Wagner). The third part of theRing sees the hero Siegfried slay the dragon Fafner, win the ring and free Brunhilde from her enchantment.[128]
1876Götterdämmerung (Wagner). In the final part of theRing, the curse takes effect leading to the deaths of Siegfried and Brünnhilde and the destruction of the gods themselves.[129]
1876La Gioconda (Amilcare Ponchielli). Apart from Verdi'sAida, this is the only Italian grand opera to have stayed in international repertory.[59]
1877L'étoile (Emmanuel Chabrier). This comic piece has been described as "a cross betweenCarmen and Gilbert and Sullivan, with plenty of Offenbach thrown in".[130]
1881Hérodiade (Jules Massenet). An opera telling the Biblical story ofSalome, Massenet's work was eclipsed by Richard Strauss's treatment of the same subject.[133]
1881Les contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach). Offenbach's attempt at writing a more serious work remained unfinished at his death. Nevertheless, this is his most widely performed opera today.[120]
1881Simon Boccanegra (Verdi). Verdi heavily revised this opera over twenty years after it was first performed.[78]
1882Parsifal (Wagner). Wagner's last opera is a "festival play" about the legend of theHoly Grail.[134]
1887Le roi malgré lui (Chabrier). Ravel claimed he would rather have written this comic opera than Wagner'sRing cycle, though the plot is notoriously confused.[141]
1887Otello (Verdi). The first of Verdi's late-period masterpieces was set to a libretto byArrigo Boito.[78]
1890Cavalleria rusticana (Pietro Mascagni). A perennial favourite with audiences around the world, this one-acter is usually performed alongside Leoncavallo'sPagliacci.[143]
1890Prince Igor (Alexander Borodin). Borodin spent 17 years working on this opera off and on, yet never managed to finish it. Most famous for its "Polovtsian dances".[144]
1890The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky). In a letter to his brother and librettist the composer said that "the opera is a masterpiece".[145]
1891L'amico Fritz (Mascagni). This work has been thought of as a late example ofopera semiseria.[146]
1892Iolanta (Tchaikovsky). Tchaikovsky's last lyrical opera set to a libretto by his brother Modest.[147]
1893Manon Lescaut (Giacomo Puccini). The success of this work established Puccini's reputation as a composer of contemporary music of the first rank.[59]
1894Thaïs (Massenet). The opera that contains the famousMéditation interlude.[150]
1896La bohème (Puccini). Debussy is alleged to have said that no one had detailed Paris at that time better than had Puccini inLa Boheme.[59]
1897Königskinder (Humperdinck). Originally a melodrama that blended song and spoken dialogue, the composer adapted the work into an opera proper in 1907.
1898Fedora (Giordano). Giordano's second most popular opera.[59]
1898Sadko (Rimsky-Korsakov). The Viking Trader's song from this opera has become extremely popular in Russia.[145]
1899Cendrillon (Massenet). An immediate success at the time of the premiere, the opera enjoyed 50 performances in 1899 alone.[150]
1900Louise (Gustave Charpentier). An attempt to provide a French equivalent for Italianverismo,Louise is set in a working-class district of Paris.[153]
1900Tosca (Puccini).Tosca is the most Wagnerian of Puccini's operas, with its frequent use ofleitmotif.[59]
1901Rusalka (Dvořák). Dvořák's most successful opera with international audiences, based on a folk tale about a water sprite.[154]
1902Adriana Lecouvreur (Francesco Cilea). Unique among Cilea's operas in that it has remained in the international repertory up to the present time.[59]
1905Salome (Richard Strauss). A scandalous success at its premiere, Strauss's "decadent" opera set toOscar Wilde's play is still immensely popular with today's audiences.[159]
1906Maskarade (Nielsen). Nielsen's high-spirited comedy looks back to the world ofThe Marriage of Figaro and has become a classic in the composer's native Denmark.[160]
1907Destiny (Janáček). An important transitional work in Janáček's career as the composer began to look beyond the traditional themes of Czech opera.[164]
1909Elektra (Strauss). This dark tragedy took Strauss's music to the borders ofatonality. It was the composer's first setting of a libretto by his long-term collaboratorHugo von Hofmannsthal.[165]
1909The Golden Cockerel (Rimsky-Korsakov). Often considered Rimsky's greatest work, this satire on military incompetence got the composer into trouble with the censors after Russia's defeat in theRusso-Japanese War.[167]
1911Treemonisha (Scott Joplin). It is sometimes referred to as a "ragtime opera", though Joplin did not refer to it as such and it encompasses a wide range of musical styles.[171]
1912Ariadne auf Naxos (Strauss). A mixture of comedy and tragedy with an opera within an opera.[172]
1914The Nightingale (Igor Stravinsky). Stravinsky's style changed radically during the composition of this short opera, moving away from the influence of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov towards the spiky modernism of theRite of Spring.[176]
1918Gianni Schicchi (Puccini). One act in structure, Puccini's work is based on an extract from Dante'sInferno.[59]
1918Il tabarro (Puccini). The first of the operas that make upIl trittico – along withGianni Schicchi andSuor Angelica
1918Suor Angelica (Puccini). Described by the composer as his favourite among the three operas that compriseIl trittico.[59]
1919Die Frau ohne Schatten (Strauss). The third full collaboration between Strauss and the librettist Hofmannsthal gestated for six years before completion, and another two years passed before the first performance.[182]
1921Káťa Kabanová (Janáček). The first of the great operas of Janáček's late maturity, based on anOstrovsky play about religious fanaticism and forbidden love in provincial Russia.[184]
1924Intermezzo (Richard Strauss). A light operetta-style work based on an incident from the composer's own marriage.[182]
1924The Cunning Little Vixen (Janáček). One of the composer's most popular works, the story is based on a cartoon strip about animals in the Czech countryside.[189]
1925Doktor Faust (Ferruccio Busoni). Busoni intended this opera to be the climax of his career, but it was left unfinished at his death.[190]
1925Wozzeck (Alban Berg). One of the key operas of the 20th century. Based on a strikingly unheroic plot, Berg's work blendsatonal techniques with more traditional ones.[192]
1930Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Weill). The composition of this opera was problematic, due to tension between the composer and his librettist, Bertolt Brecht.[199]
1934Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Shostakovich). An attack on the music and subject matter of the opera in the Soviet Union's government journalPravda meant that this work was Shostakovich's last opera.[202]
1935Ero s onoga svijeta (usually translated as Ero the Joker) byJakov Gotovac. Although he composed many operas, none of the others achieved the enormous success of Ero, in Croatia and abroad. This comic opera based on a Croatian folk tale and brilliant libretto written byMilan Begović was praised by many, among whomRichard Strauss andWilhelm Furtwängler. Inspired by the folklore ofDalmatian hinterland, to the point where the boundary between the folklore and "classical music" ceases to exist, it is considered to be the best and most performed Croatian opera of all time.
1935Porgy and Bess (George Gershwin). Initially a financial failure, a 1941 production that replaced the work's recitatives with spoken dialogue was a success.[204]
1937Lulu (Berg). Berg's second opera was unfinished at his death, but a completion byFriedrich Cerha was successfully performed in 1979.[205]
1937Riders to the Sea (Vaughan Williams). Often rated as Vaughan Williams's finest opera, this short, fatalistic tragedy is set on the Aran Isles in the west of Ireland.[206]
1938Daphne (Strauss). A mythological opera with lyrical, pastoral music.[207]
1938Julietta (Bohuslav Martinů). This dreamlike work set in a town where people have lost their memory is "Martinu's operatic masterpiece".[208]
1938Mathis der Maler (Hindemith). Hindemith's most highly regarded opera is a parable about an artist surviving in a time of crisis, reflecting the composer's own experience under the Nazis.[209]
1954The Fiery Angel (Prokofiev). Prokofiev never saw what is often regarded as his mostavant-garde composition performed on the operatic stage.[145]
1954The Turn of the Screw (Britten). A chamber opera based on the ghost story byHenry James. It is remarkable for its tightly laid out key scheme and active orchestral role.[217]
1960A Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten). Set to a libretto adapted from the Shakespeare play by himself and his partnerPeter Pears, Britten's work is rare in operatic history in that it features acountertenor in the male lead role.[217]
1962King Priam (Tippett). Tippett's second opera, set to another of his own "recondite" libretti,[232] was inspired by Homer'sIliad.[226]
1964Curlew River (Britten). A modern liturgical "church opera" intended for performance in an ecclesiastical setting.[217]
1965Der junge Lord (Henze). The last composition produced during Henze's dwelling in Italy is considered to be the most Italianate of his dramatic works.[231]
1965Die Soldaten (Bernd Alois Zimmermann). The first version of the opera was rejected by Cologne Opera as impossible for them to stage: Zimmermann was required to reduce the orchestral forces required and to cut some of the technical demands previously required.[231]
1966Antony and Cleopatra (Barber). The first version of the opera was set to a libretto consisting entirely of the words of Shakespeare and deemed a failure.[229] Later it was revised byGian Carlo Menotti and became a success.
1966The Bassarids (Henze). Henze's opera is set to a libretto by Auden and Kallman, who required that the composer listen toGötterdämmerung before starting to compose the music.[231]
1967The Bear (Walton). The libretto for Walton's extravaganza was based on Chekov.[231]
1970The Knot Garden (Tippett). Tippett created his own modern scenario for the libretto of this work, his third opera.[226]
1971Owen Wingrave (Britten). Britten's anti-war opera was written especially forBBC television.[234]
1972Taverner (Peter Maxwell Davies). Davies was one of the most significant figures to emerge in British music the 1960s. This opera is based on a legend about the 16th-century composerJohn Taverner.[235]
1973Death in Venice (Britten). Britten's last opera was first performed three years before his death.[232]
1976Einstein on the Beach (Philip Glass). Philip Glass' first opera conceived together with director Robert Wilson introduced minimalist composition and avantgarde performance to the world of opera and remains one of the best known operas of the twentieth century.[236]
1984Akhnaten (Philip Glass). Unlike his first operaEinstein on the Beach, the writing and style are more conventional and lyrical and much of the music ofAkhnaten is some of the most dissonant that Glass has composed.[240]
1986The Mask of Orpheus (Birtwistle). Birtwistle's most ambitious opera examines the myth ofOrpheus from several different angles.[241]
This list was compiled by consulting nine lists of great operas, created by recognized authorities in the field of opera, and selecting all of the operas which appeared on at least five of these (i.e. all operas on a majority of the lists). The lists used were:
"The Standard Repertoire of Grand Opera 1607–1969", a list included inNorman Davies'sEurope: a History (Oxford University Press, 1996; paperback edition Pimlico, 1997).ISBN0-7126-6633-8.
Operas appearing in the chronology byMary Ann Smart inThe Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (Oxford University Press, 1994).ISBN0-19-816282-0.
Table of Contents ofThe Rough Guide to Opera. by Matthew Boyden. (2002 edition).ISBN1-85828-749-9.
Operas with entries inThe Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera ed. Paul Gruber (Thames and Hudson, 1993).ISBN0-393-03444-5 and/orMetropolitan Opera Stories of the Great Operas ed. John W Freeman (Norton, 1984).ISBN0-393-01888-1
List of operas and their composers inWho's Who in British Opera ed. Nicky Adam (Scolar Press, 1993).ISBN0-85967-894-6
^abcdefghijklmnBudden, Julian; Forbes, Elizabeth; Maguire, Simon (1998). "La sonnambula". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.).The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Vol. 4.
Stein, Louise K. (1999),La púrpura de la Rosa (Introduction to the critical edition of the score and libretto), Ediciones Iberautor Promociones culturales S.R.L. / Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales, 1999,ISBN84-8048-292-3 (reprinted with permission of the publisher on Mundoclasico.com). Accessed 5 September 2008.
The Viking Opera Guide. New York:Viking Press. 1993.ISBN0-670-81292-7. Contributions are by noted specialists in their fields
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