Opera

Forms, Vocal Terms, and Dramatic Concepts

Major Operatic Forms

• Opera seria — Italian “serious opera”; the dominant form from the late 17th through mid-18th century; characterized by heroic or mythological subjects, da capo arias, and virtuosic singing; Handel and early Mozart are central composers.
• Opera buffa — Italian comic opera; emerged early 18th century as a lighter counterweight to opera seria; typically features lower-class or comic characters and ensemble finales; exemplified by Pergolesi’s La serva padrona (1733) and Mozart’s late Italian comedies.
• Bel canto — Italian “beautiful singing”; style and repertoire emphasizing smooth legato, florid ornamentation, and vocal agility over dramatic weight; the dominant aesthetic of early 19th-century Italian opera (Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini).
• Grand opera — 19th-century French form at the Paris Opéra; large-scale works in four or five acts with historical subjects, elaborate spectacle, ballet interludes, and large choruses; Meyerbeer (Les Huguenots, Robert le diable) is the canonical practitioner; Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and early Verdi also qualify.
• Verismo — Italian “realism”; late 19th/early 20th-century style depicting raw lower-class life with intense, passionate vocal writing; Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci are the twin paradigm works (“Cav/Pag”).
• Singspiel — German form mixing spoken dialogue with sung numbers; precursor to German Romantic opera; Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Die Zauberflöte are the canonical examples.
• Operetta — light, comic, often satirical form with spoken dialogue and dance; Offenbach dominates the French tradition; Johann Strauss II (Die Fledermaus) the Viennese; developed into the Broadway musical.
• Music drama — Wagner’s preferred term for his mature works, emphasizing continuous dramatic-musical flow over discrete numbers; distinguished from conventional opera by the through-composed texture and the Gesamtkunstwerk ideal.
• Gesamtkunstwerk — Wagner’s concept of the “total artwork,” unifying music, poetry, drama, and visual spectacle into a single indissoluble whole; articulated in his 1849 essays.
• Number opera — opera organized around discrete, self-contained musical units (arias, duets, choruses, ensembles) separated by recitative; contrasted with Wagnerian through-composition.

Vocal and Musical Terms

• Aria — a self-contained solo song within an opera, allowing lyrical expression and vocal display; the primary vehicle for a character’s emotional reflection.
• Recitative — sung or half-spoken declamatory passages that advance the plot; secco recitative (“dry”) is accompanied only by harpsichord and cello continuo; accompagnato (or stromentato) recitative is fully orchestrated, used for heightened dramatic moments.
• Da capo aria — Baroque/early Classical aria in ABA form; the singer returns to and ornaments the opening section; the vehicle for castrato virtuosity in opera seria.
• Coloratura — highly ornamented, agile vocal writing requiring rapid runs, trills, leaps, and cadenzas; associated with soprano roles such as the Queen of the Night and Lucia di Lammermoor; a coloratura soprano is one specializing in such passages.
• Overture — orchestral introduction to an opera; a French overture (Lully) has a slow dotted-rhythm opening followed by a fast fugal section; an Italian sinfonia is fast-slow-fast; a pot-pourri overture (19th century) strings together the opera’s tunes.
• Leitmotif — a recurring musical theme associated with a character, object, emotion, or idea; developed to its most systematic and famous form by Wagner in Der Ring des Nibelungen.
• Libretto — the text of an opera; the librettist writes it. Famous librettists include Pietro Metastasio (Baroque opera seria), Lorenzo Da Ponte (Mozart’s Italian comedies), Arrigo Boito (late Verdi), and Hugo von Hofmannsthal (Richard Strauss).
• Prima donna — literally “first lady”; the leading soprano of an opera company or the principal female role; colloquially used for temperamental star performers.
• Castrato — a male singer castrated before puberty to preserve the high soprano or alto voice range; dominated leading roles in Baroque opera seria; the most celebrated was Farinelli (Carlo Broschi). The castrato voice type became obsolete after the early 19th century.
• Cabaletta — the fast, brilliant concluding section of a two-part Rossinian or Verdian aria (the slower opening section being the cavatina).
• Spinto — a voice type (soprano or tenor) with enough weight and brightness to push through large orchestration; suited to Verdi and Puccini’s heavier roles.
• Heldentenor — a powerful, weighty tenor voice suited to Wagner’s heroic male roles (Siegfried, Tristan, Tannhäuser).
• Basso profondo — the deepest bass voice type; used for authoritative or sinister roles such as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni or King Philip II in Don Carlos.

Baroque Opera (c. 1600–1750)

• Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) — pioneer of opera as a dramatic form; his works transformed the early favola in musica into expressive music drama.
  • L’Orfeo — 1607, Mantua; one of the earliest operas still performed; retells the Orpheus myth; famous for its “Possente spirto” aria and rich orchestration.
  • L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) — 1643, Venice; depicts Nero’s elevation of his mistress Poppea over his wife Ottavia; remarkable for moral ambiguity; closing duet “Pur ti miro” is iconic.
• Henry Purcell (1659–1695) — greatest English Baroque composer.
  • Dido and Aeneas — c. 1688–1689; short through-composed opera; Dido’s lament “When I am laid in earth” (built on a descending ground bass) is one of the most famous arias in the repertoire.
• George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) — dominated Italian opera seria in London; composed over 40 operas.
  • Rinaldo — 1711, London; first Italian opera Handel wrote for the English stage; features the aria “Lascia ch’io pianga.”
  • Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt) — 1724, London; considered his finest opera; features the mezzo/alto role of Caesar (originally a castrato) and soprano Cleopatra.
  • Rodelinda — 1725, London; Lombard queen faces tyrant; frequently revived in the modern Handel renaissance.
  • Xerxes (Serse) — 1738, London; famous for opening aria “Ombra mai fu,” an ironic hymn to a shady tree known today as “Handel’s Largo.”
• Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687) — founded the French tragédie en musique at the court of Louis XIV; established the French overture form.
• Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764) — dominated French Baroque opera after Lully; works include Hippolyte et Aricie (1733) and Castor et Pollux (1737); his harmonic innovations provoked the Querelle des Bouffons.
• Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) — reformer who stripped opera of virtuosic excess to restore drama; articulated principles in the preface to Alceste (1769).
  • Orfeo ed Euridice — 1762, Vienna (revised 1774, Paris); the contralto/mezzo role of Orfeo sings “Che farò senza Euridice” at Euridice’s death; prototype of Gluck’s reform style.
  • Alceste — 1767 (Vienna version); a queen offers to die in place of her husband; preface states the reform ideals of simplicity and dramatic truth.
  • Iphigénie en Tauride — 1779, Paris; considered his masterpiece of the reform operas.

Classical Era (c. 1750–1820)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Mozart’s operas span Italian serious and comic forms as well as German Singspiel; all with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte for the three Italian comedies.

• Idomeneo, re di Creta — 1781, Munich; opera seria; Cretan king vows to sacrifice his son; his most ambitious early opera.
• Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) — 1782, Vienna; Singspiel; Belmonte rescues Konstanze from a Turkish pasha’s harem; noted for “Turkish” percussion effects; Emperor Joseph II reportedly said it had “too many notes.”
• Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) — 1786, Vienna; libretto by Da Ponte after Beaumarchais; Count Almaviva’s valet Figaro outmaneuvers his philandering master; features “Non più andrai,” “Voi che sapete,” and the Countess’s “Dove sono.”
• Don Giovanni — 1787, Prague; dramma giocoso; the libertine Don Giovanni seduces, kills the Commendatore, and is dragged to hell; features “Là ci darem la mano,” “Madamina il catalogo,” and the Stone Guest finale.
• Così fan tutte (Women Are Like That) — 1790, Vienna; two officers test their fiancées’ fidelity in disguise; features the ensembles “Soave sia il vento” and “Come scoglio.”
• Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) — 1791, Vienna; Singspiel with Masonic symbolism; prince Tamino pursues princess Pamina through trials set by Sarastro; the Queen of the Night’s vengeance aria (“Der Hölle Rache”) demands high F above the staff.

19th-Century Italian Opera

Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)

• Tancredi — 1813, Venice; first major serious success; aria “Di tanti palpiti” became ubiquitous in early 19th-century Italy.
• L’italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) — 1813, Venice; buffa classic; heroine Isabella outsmarts the Bey.
• Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) — 1816, Rome; buffa masterpiece after Beaumarchais; Figaro’s “Largo al factotum” opens Act I; notoriously a fiasco on its opening night before becoming a triumph.
• La Cenerentola (Cinderella) — 1817, Rome; mezzo-soprano Cinderella role; replaces magic with moral virtue; rondo finale “Non più mesta” is a coloratura showpiece.
• Guillaume Tell (William Tell) — 1829, Paris; grand opera; Rossini’s final opera (he retired from opera thereafter at age 37); overture’s final section (“March of the Swiss Soldiers”) is among the most recognized in concert repertoire.

Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848)

• Anna Bolena — 1830, Milan; first major international success; depicts Anne Boleyn’s downfall.
• L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) — 1832, Milan; buffa; peasant Nemorino loves Adina; tenor aria “Una furtiva lagrima” is among the most beloved in the repertoire.
• Lucia di Lammermoor — 1835, Naples; after Sir Walter Scott; Lucia is forced into a political marriage and goes mad; the mad scene (including the glass harmonica in the original orchestration) is the definitive showcase of 19th-century soprano coloratura.
• Don Pasquale — 1843, Paris; buffa masterpiece; aging bachelor tricked into a fake marriage; Norina and Ernesto’s duet “Tornami a dir” is a classic.
• Roberto Devereux — 1837, Naples; Essex faces execution under Elizabeth I; part of his “Tudor queen” trilogy with Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda.

Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835)

• La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) — 1831, Milan; soprano Amina walks in her sleep and is falsely accused of infidelity; aria “Ah, non credea mirarti.”
• Norma — 1831, Milan; Druid priestess Norma loves a Roman enemy; opening scena and aria “Casta diva” (a cavatina of sustained melodic beauty) is considered the supreme test of bel canto soprano singing.
• I Puritani (The Puritans) — 1835, Paris; set during the English Civil War; Bellini’s last opera; tenor role written for Giovanni Battista Rubini.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

Verdi dominates Italian Romantic opera from the 1840s through the end of the century; known for dramatically intense melodic writing and nationalist resonance.

• Nabucco — 1842, Milan; his breakthrough work; Hebrew slaves’ chorus “Va, pensiero” became an anthem of Italian nationalism (Risorgimento); Abigaille is the lead soprano role.
• Macbeth — 1847, Florence; first Shakespeare opera; later substantially revised (1865, Paris).
• Rigoletto — 1851, Venice; hunchback court jester Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda is seduced and killed by the Duke of Mantua; Duke’s aria “La donna è mobile,” Rigoletto’s “Cortigiani, vil razza,” and the quartet “Bella figlia dell’amore” are anchors of the tenor/baritone repertoire.
• Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) — 1853, Rome; convoluted plot involving a gypsy woman Azucena, a troubadour Manrico, and a stolen baby; Leonora’s “Tacea la notte,” the Anvil Chorus, and Manrico’s “Di quella pira” are famous numbers.
• La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) — 1853, Venice; after Dumas fils (La Dame aux camélias); courtesan Violetta sacrifices her love for Alfredo at his father Germont’s insistence and dies of tuberculosis; “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” (the Brindisi) and “Addio del passato” are central arias.
• Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) — 1859, Rome; fictionalized assassination of King Gustavo III of Sweden; tenor Gustavo loves his friend’s wife Amelia.
• La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) — 1862, St. Petersburg; sprawling melodrama of honor, revenge, and fate; famous overture.
• Don Carlos — 1867, Paris (French; Italian revision Don Carlo); the Infante Don Carlos loves his father Philip II’s queen Elisabeth; considered his most ambitious work; bass aria “Ella giammai m’amò” and duet “Au fond du temple saint” (in the French version) are highlights.
• Aida — 1871, Cairo (world premiere) and Milan (European premiere); Ethiopian princess Aida is enslaved in Egypt; “Celeste Aida” (tenor), “O patria mia” (soprano), and the Triumphal March define the grand-opera tradition.
• Otello — 1887, Milan; after Shakespeare; libretto by Arrigo Boito; Iago’s scheming destroys Otello’s trust in Desdemona; Otello’s “Esultate!” and “Niun mi tema,” Desdemona’s “Willow Song” and “Ave Maria.”
• Falstaff — 1893, Milan; comic opera after Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor; libretto by Boito; Verdi’s last opera, composed at age 79; ends with the fugue “Tutto nel mondo è burla.”

Wagner and German Opera

Richard Wagner (1813–1883)

Wagner transformed opera into music drama; his mature works use the leitmotif system, unending melody, and chromatic harmony to create an unprecedented dramatic-musical unity.

• Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) — 1843, Dresden; a cursed captain can only be redeemed by a faithful woman’s love; Senta’s Ballad is the dramatic center.
• Tannhäuser — 1845, Dresden; minstrel knight torn between sacred love (Elisabeth) and the sensual goddess Venus; later substantially revised for Paris (1861). Overture and “Pilgrim’s Chorus” are concert staples.
• Lohengrin — 1850, Weimar; knight of the Holy Grail defends Elsa but requires she never ask his name; “Elsa’s Dream,” the Bridal Chorus (“Here Comes the Bride”), and Lohengrin’s “In fernem Land” are famous passages.
• Tristan und Isolde — 1865, Munich; the opera of yearning and death; the Tristan chord (opening of the Prelude) is one of the most analyzed harmonies in Western music; the long love duet of Act II and Isolde’s Liebestod (“Love-Death”) closing the opera are its summits.
• Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg — 1868, Munich; his only mature comic opera; cobbler-poet Hans Sachs mentors young Walther in a guild song contest; the Prize Song and the Act III monologue “Wahn! Wahn!” are central; the work is also a meditation on artistic tradition and German identity.
• Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) — a four-opera cycle premiered in full at Bayreuth in 1876; based on Norse and Germanic mythology; the Nibelung dwarf Alberich forges a ring from the Rhine gold, triggering a cosmic struggle.
  • Das Rheingold — 1869, Munich (preliminary evening); the gods acquire the ring and the curse begins; the “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla” closes the opera.
  • Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) — 1870, Munich; twins Siegmund and Sieglinde; Brünnhilde defies Wotan and is punished by being put to sleep; “The Ride of the Valkyries” opens Act III; Wotan’s “Farewell” and the Magic Fire Music close it.
  • Siegfried — 1876, Bayreuth; the hero forges the sword Nothung, kills the dragon Fafner, and awakens Brünnhilde; the Forest Murmurs and Siegfried’s forging songs are notable.
  • Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) — 1876, Bayreuth; Siegfried is betrayed and slain; Brünnhilde immolates herself on his funeral pyre, dissolving Valhalla; Siegfried’s Funeral March is one of the most powerful passages in the cycle.
• Parsifal — 1882, Bayreuth; a sacred stage festival play (Bühnenweihfestspiel); “pure fool” Parsifal redeems the ailing Grail king Amfortas; Wagner’s final opera; Bayreuth held it exclusively until 1913.

Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)

• Der Freischütz — 1821, Berlin; German Romantic opera par excellence; hunter Max makes a pact with the demon Samiel for magic bullets; the Wolf’s Glen scene is a landmark of Romantic horror.

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)

• Salome — 1905, Dresden; one-act shocker after Wilde’s play; Salome dances the Dance of the Seven Veils for her stepfather Herod in exchange for John the Baptist’s head; the “final scene” (Salome addressing the severed head) caused scandal across Europe.
• Elektra — 1909, Dresden; one-act Greek tragedy with dissonant, expressionistic score; libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Elektra and Chrysothemis await Orestes’s return to avenge their father.
• Der Rosenkavalier — 1911, Dresden; libretto by Hofmannsthal; the Marschallin yields her young lover Octavian to Sophie; the waltz-suffused score, the Act I monologue, and the closing Trio are beloved; the title role (Octavian) is a trouser role for mezzo-soprano.
• Ariadne auf Naxos — 1912/1916, Stuttgart/Vienna; a meta-theatrical work in which a serious opera and a commedia troupe must perform simultaneously; the soprano title role and the Composer (mezzo trouser role) are central.

French and Russian Opera

French

• Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) — Les Troyens (The Trojans, composed 1856–1858, not performed in full until 1890); epic work in five acts after Virgil; rarely staged complete.
• Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864) — king of French grand opera; Robert le diable (1831) and Les Huguenots (1836) dominated the Paris Opéra for decades.
• Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
  • Faust — 1859, Paris; after Goethe Part I; Faust sells his soul for youth; the Jewel Song (“Je veux vivre dans ce rêve”), the Soldiers’ Chorus, and the closing prison trio are the main set pieces.
  • Roméo et Juliette — 1867, Paris; after Shakespeare; Juliette’s waltz aria “Je veux vivre” is a coloratura showcase.
• Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880)
  • Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) — 1858, Paris; operetta satirizing both classical myth and Second Empire society; the infernal Can-Can (Galop infernal) is its most famous number.
  • Les contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) — 1881, Paris (posthumous premiere); the poet Hoffmann recounts loves for an automaton, a courtesan, and a consumptive singer; “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” (Barcarolle) is the most recognized number; the opera’s editions and completions remain contested.
• Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
  • Manon — 1884, Paris; after Prévost; Manon abandons the Chevalier des Grieux for wealth, then repents; “Adieu, notre petite table” and “En fermant les yeux” (the Dream aria) are highlights.
  • Werther — 1892, Vienna (world premiere); after Goethe; young Werther loves the already-promised Charlotte and shoots himself; “Pourquoi me réveiller” is the famous tenor aria.
• Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
  • Carmen — 1875, Paris; after Mérimée; cigarette factory worker Carmen seduces soldier Don José; he kills her when she leaves him for the bullfighter Escamillo; the Habanera (“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”) and the Seguidilla are Carmen’s defining arias; Bizet died three months after the premiere, not knowing it would become one of the most performed operas ever written.
• Leo Delibes (1836–1891) — Lakmé (1883, Paris); Indian Brahmin’s daughter Lakmé sings the Bell Song (“Où va la jeune hindoue?”); frequently cited as an answerline for its soprano coloratura.
• Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
  • Pelléas et Mélisande — 1902, Paris; after Maeterlinck’s Symbolist play; Mélisande’s mysterious past is never explained; half-brother Pelléas and husband Golaud; the score’s impressionistic, muted recitative style is unique in the repertoire.

Russian

• Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)
  • Boris Godunov — 1874, St. Petersburg (revised from 1869 premiere); Russia’s greatest historical opera; Boris, haunted by guilt for the murdered Tsarevich Dmitry, is challenged by the Pretender Dmitry; the Coronation Scene and Boris’s “I have attained the highest power” monologue anchor the bass-baritone title role; Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral revision was long standard.
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
  • Yevgeny Onegin (Eugene Onegin) — 1879, Moscow; after Pushkin; Tatyana’s “Letter Scene” in Act I is one of the most extended soprano scenas in the repertoire; Onegin rejects Tatyana, then regrets it too late.
  • Pikovaya Dama (The Queen of Spades) — 1890, St. Petersburg; after Pushkin; Herman gambles his soul for the Countess’s card secret; a dark, obsessive work.
• Alexander Borodin (1833–1887)
  • Knyaz Igor (Prince Igor) — premiered posthumously 1890, St. Petersburg (completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov); famous for the Polovtsian Dances (Act II), a staple of the orchestral concert repertoire.
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
  • Zolotoy petushok (The Golden Cockerel) — 1909, Moscow (posthumous premiere); satirical fairy tale targeting royal incompetence; the Queen of Shemakha’s “Hymn to the Sun” is the soprano showcase.
  • Sadko — 1898, Moscow; sea-merchant opera with the “Song of the Indian Guest.”

Verismo, Czech, and Early 20th-Century Opera

Italian Verismo

• Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945)
  • Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) — 1890, Rome; one act; Sicilian peasant Turiddu’s affair leads to his death in a duel; the Intermezzo is a concert staple; almost always paired with Pagliacci (“Cav/Pag”).
• Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857–1919)
  • Pagliacci (Clowns) — 1892, Milan; one act; jealous clown Canio kills his unfaithful wife during a commedia dell’arte performance; Vesti la giubba (“Put on the costume,” Canio’s aria as he weeps and prepares to perform) is one of the most famous tenor arias ever written.
• Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) — the dominant figure in Italian opera after Verdi; known for long lyric melodic arches, sophisticated orchestration, and affecting soprano heroines.
  • Manon Lescaut — 1893, Turin; after Prévost; his first major international success.
  • La Bohème — 1896, Turin; after Murger; bohemian artists in Paris; Mimi is dying of tuberculosis; “Che gelida manina,” “Mi chiamano Mimì,” “Musetta’s Waltz” (Quando m’en vo), and the Act III quartet are central.
  • Tosca — 1900, Rome; political thriller set in Rome in 1800; Tosca kills the police chief Scarpia to save her painter lover Cavaradossi; “Vissi d’arte” (Tosca), “E lucevan le stelle” (Cavaradossi), and “Recondita armonia” are the major arias.
  • Madama Butterfly — 1904, Milan (disastrous premiere); revised 1904, Brescia; Japanese geisha Cio-Cio-San waits faithfully for American naval officer Pinkerton, who has married an American woman; “Un bel dì vedremo” (“One fine day”) is the opera’s defining soprano aria.
  • La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) — 1910, Metropolitan Opera, New York; first world premiere at the Met; set in a California Gold Rush mining camp.
  • Il trittico (The Triptych) — 1918, Metropolitan Opera, New York; three one-act operas: Il tabarro (verismo thriller), Suor Angelica (convent tragedy), Gianni Schicchi (buffa comedy); from the triptych, “O mio babbino caro” (Lauretta’s plea in Gianni Schicchi) is the most famous excerpt.
  • Turandot — 1926, Milan (posthumous, completed by Alfano); Chinese princess Turandot executes all suitors who fail her three riddles; Prince Calaf solves them; his Act III aria “Nessun dorma” (“None shall sleep”) became globally famous through Pavarotti’s 1990 World Cup performance.
• Umberto Giordano (1867–1948) — Andrea Chénier (1896, Milan); French Revolutionary-era opera; tenor title role; “Un dì all’azzurro spazio” is the famous aria.
• Francesco Cilea (1866–1950) — Adriana Lecouvreur (1902, Milan); soprano role of the actress; “Io son l’umile ancella” and “Poveri fiori” are the key arias.

Czech and Central European

• Leoš Janáček (1854–1928)
  • Její pastorkyňa (Jenůfa) — 1904, Brno; a young Moravian woman’s illegitimate child is killed by her stepmother the Kostelnička; his breakthrough work; known in Czech as Jenůfa in German-speaking countries.
  • Příhody lišky Bystroušky (The Cunning Little Vixen) — 1924, Brno; a forester captures a wild vixen; the opera cycles through life, death, and regeneration; the final scene is one of opera’s most moving endings.
  • Věc Makropulos (The Makropulos Affair) — 1926, Brno; a 337-year-old woman seeks a life-extension formula and ultimately chooses death.
  • Z mrtvého domu (From the House of the Dead) — 1930, Brno (posthumous); after Dostoevsky; Siberian prison camp; almost no plot, only testimonies.
• Béla Bartók (1881–1945) — A kékszakállú herceg vára (Duke Bluebeard’s Castle) — 1918, Budapest; one act, two characters; Judith opens seven doors in Bluebeard’s castle; a psychological drama built on a single arc of growing dread.

20th-Century Opera

German and Austrian Expressionism

• Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) — Moses und Aron — composed 1930–1932, never completed; first staged 1954, Hamburg; Moses (speaking role, Sprechstimme) and Aaron (tenor) debate how God can be communicated to the people; the twelve-tone serialist opera par excellence.
• Alban Berg (1885–1935)
  • Wozzeck — 1925, Berlin; after Büchner’s play; soldier Wozzeck is exploited and humiliated; he murders his common-law wife Marie and drowns; the score uses closed classical forms (suite, sonata, rondo) within a through-composed atonal language; one of the 20th century’s most powerful operas.
  • Lulu — 1937, Zurich (two acts, incomplete; completed by Friedrich Cerha, performed 1979, Paris); after Wedekind; amoral “earth spirit” Lulu rises and falls through a series of men; twelve-tone score.
• Kurt Weill (1900–1950)
  • Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) — 1928, Berlin; after Gay’s Beggar’s Opera; libretto by Brecht; Macheath “Mack the Knife” (“Die Moritat von Mackie Messer”); a satirical hybrid of opera and cabaret.

English and American

• Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) — the dominant figure in 20th-century English opera.
  • Peter Grimes — 1945, London (Sadler’s Wells); the opera that re-established English opera; lonely, misunderstood fisherman Grimes is hounded by his community; the Sea Interludes are orchestral showpieces; “Now the Great Bear and Pleiades” is his famous aria.
  • The Rape of Lucretia — 1946, Glyndebourne; chamber opera; the chaste Lucretia is violated by Tarquinius.
  • Albert Herring — 1947, Glyndebourne; comic opera; a sheltered young man is made King of the May.
  • Billy Budd — 1951, London; after Melville; all-male cast; master-at-arms Claggart falsely accuses the innocent sailor Billy Budd; Billy strikes and accidentally kills Claggart; Billy hangs.
  • The Turn of the Screw — 1954, Venice; chamber opera after Henry James; a governess believes two children are possessed by the ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel; the twelve-note theme generates the score’s harmonic language.
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream — 1960, Aldeburgh; after Shakespeare; countertenor Oberon and mezzo Titania; the mechanicals provide comic relief.
  • Death in Venice — 1973, Snape Maltings; after Mann; the composer’s last opera; aging writer Aschenbach becomes obsessed with the boy Tadzio; the writer/Apollo-Dionysus duality is embodied in a single baritone and the silent role of Tadzio.
• George Gershwin (1898–1937)
  • Porgy and Bess — 1935, Boston/New York; “folk opera” set in Catfish Row, Charleston; disabled beggar Porgy loves Bess; “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So” are the central numbers; the opera’s racial politics and genre classification have been continuously debated.
• Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
  • Candide — 1956, Boston/New York; operetta after Voltaire; “Glitter and Be Gay” (soprano showpiece) and the finale “Make Our Garden Grow”; the work has undergone multiple revisions and is sometimes classified as a musical.
• Samuel Barber (1910–1981) — Vanessa — 1958, Metropolitan Opera; won the Pulitzer Prize; libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti.

Minimalism and Contemporary Opera

• Philip Glass (born 1937)
  • Einstein on the Beach — 1976, Avignon (world premiere); five-hour opera with no conventional narrative; with director Robert Wilson; uses spoken texts and solfège syllables; a landmark of the minimalist/theatrical avant-garde.
  • Satyagraha — 1980, Rotterdam; depicts Gandhi’s years in South Africa; Sanskrit libretto drawn from the Bhagavad Gita; the middle part of Glass’s “Portrait Trilogy.”
  • Akhnaten — 1984, Stuttgart; the Egyptian pharaoh who imposed monotheism; completes the Portrait Trilogy (the others being Einstein and Satyagraha).
• John Adams (born 1947)
  • Nixon in China — 1987, Houston; after Nixon’s 1972 China visit; libretto by Alice Goodman; Pat Nixon’s aria “This is prophetic!” and Madame Mao’s coloratura showpiece “I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung” (Act II, Scene 1) are anchors.
  • The Death of Klinghoffer — 1991, Brussels; the Achille Lauro hijacking; controversial for its perceived moral equivalence.
  • Doctor Atomic — 2005, San Francisco; J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Trinity test; baritone Oppenheimer sings Donne’s “Batter My Heart.”
• Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)
  • The Rake’s Progress — 1951, Venice; libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman after Hogarth; Tom Rakewell sells his soul; a neoclassical work in a number-opera format drawing on Mozart and Handel; Baba the Turk and Nick Shadow are memorable supporting roles.

Famous Arias and Musical Numbers as Answerlines

• “Nessun dorma” — Puccini, Turandot; Prince Calaf’s tenor aria in Act III; “None shall sleep”; ends with the high B on “Vincerò!” (“I will win”).
• “Largo al factotum” — Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia; Figaro’s rapid, patter-like baritone entrance aria listing his own indispensability; famous for the repeated “Figaro! Figaro!” passage.
• “Queen of the Night aria” (the second: “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen”) — Mozart, Die Zauberflöte; Act II; coloratura soprano; reaches the high F6; the Queen commands her daughter Pamina to murder Sarastro.
• “Habanera” (“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”) — Bizet, Carmen; Carmen’s mezzo-soprano self-introduction in Act I; the melody is derived from a song by Sebastián Iradier.
• “Vesti la giubba” — Leoncavallo, Pagliacci; Canio’s weeping tenor aria; “Put on the costume and the face-paint”; ends with the famous “Ridi, Pagliaccio” (“Laugh, clown”).
• “Ride of the Valkyries” — Wagner, Die Walküre, Act III, Scene 1; orchestral/choral prelude as the warrior maidens gallop across the sky; one of the most recognized passages in the concert repertoire.
• “O mio babbino caro” — Puccini, Gianni Schicchi; Lauretta’s soprano aria pleading with her father; among Puccini’s most widely recognized melodies.
• “Un bel dì vedremo” — Puccini, Madama Butterfly; Cio-Cio-San imagines Pinkerton’s return; the opera’s emotional peak.
• “Casta diva” — Bellini, Norma; the Druid priestess’s moonlit prayer in Act I; the supreme test of bel canto soprano technique and breath control.
• “Che gelida manina” — Puccini, La Bohème; Rodolfo’s tenor aria introducing himself to Mimi (“What a cold little hand!”).
• “Summertime” — Gershwin, Porgy and Bess; Clara’s lullaby in Act I; perhaps the most covered aria from any American opera.
• “Vissi d’arte” — Puccini, Tosca; Tosca’s soprano aria questioning why God afflicts her; sung in the villain Scarpia’s presence.
• Cavaradossi — the tenor lead in Puccini’s Tosca (1900); a Roman painter and republican activist, lover of the opera singer Tosca; his two major arias are “Recondita armonia” (Act I, comparing his painting’s model to Tosca) and “E lucevan le stelle” (Act III, written as he awaits execution, one of the most celebrated tenor laments in the repertoire).
• “La donna è mobile” — Verdi, Rigoletto; the Duke of Mantua’s cynical tenor aria about women’s fickleness; deliberately kept secret until opening night to prevent it becoming street-level earworm before the premiere.
• Liebestod (“Mild und leise”) — Wagner, Tristan und Isolde; Isolde’s closing soprano aria over Tristan’s corpse; the harmonic resolution of the opera’s long chromatic yearning.
• “Dido’s Lament” (“When I am laid in earth”) — Purcell, Dido and Aeneas; ground-bass aria; Dido prepares to die after Aeneas departs.
• “Ombra mai fu” (“Handel’s Largo”) — Handel, Serse; a praising aria for a tree’s shade; often performed as an instrumental piece.
• “Der Hölle Rache” — see Queen of the Night aria above.
• “Va, pensiero” (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) — Verdi, Nabucco; the Hebrew slaves long for their homeland; absorbed into Italian Risorgimento sentiment.

Great Opera Houses and Festivals

• La Scala (Teatro alla Scala) — Milan; opened 1778; Italy’s premier opera house and one of the world’s most prestigious; the opening night of each season (December 7, feast of St. Ambrose) is a major cultural and social event; closely associated with Verdi, Puccini, and Arturo Toscanini.
• Metropolitan Opera (the Met) — New York City (Lincoln Center since 1966; original Met on Broadway opened 1883); the largest opera house in North America; world premieres include Puccini’s La fanciulla del West (1910) and Barber’s Vanessa (1958); associated with singers from Caruso to Pavarotti to Renée Fleming.
• Royal Opera House, Covent Garden — London; current building opened 1858; home of the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet; closely associated with Britten premieres and international star tenors and sopranos.
• Bayreuth Festspielhaus — Bayreuth, Bavaria; designed by Wagner himself; opened 1876 with the first complete Ring cycle; dedicated exclusively to Wagner’s works; the pit is covered, giving the orchestra a unique “veiled” sound; tickets notoriously require years-long waiting lists; overseen by the Wagner family for generations.
• Vienna Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) — opened 1869; one of the world’s leading opera companies; Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler each served as music director; burned in World War II and rebuilt; the New Year’s Eve Gala is broadcast internationally.
• Paris Opéra — the institution operates from two houses: the Palais Garnier (opened 1875; architect Charles Garnier; famous for its ornate grand staircase and the chandelier inspiring Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera) and the Opéra Bastille (opened 1989). The Académie Royale de Musique, the institution’s predecessor, was established in 1669 under Lully.
• Bolshoi Theatre — Moscow; opened in its current form 1856; home to the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet; closely associated with Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov premieres; the building and its gilded auditorium are among Russia’s most recognized cultural symbols.
• Glyndebourne Festival Opera — East Sussex, England; founded 1934 by John Christie and his wife, soprano Audrey Mildmay; set on the Christie estate; famous for intimate staging and long traditions in Mozart and Britten; the interval picnic on the lawn is a celebrated social ritual.
• Salzburg Festival — Salzburg, Austria; founded 1920; primarily a summer festival combining opera, orchestral concerts, and drama; the Felsenreitschule (rock-face open-air stage) and the Grosses Festspielhaus are its main venues; Herbert von Karajan shaped its postwar identity; closely associated with Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Verdi.
• Sydney Opera House — Sydney, Australia; designed by Jørn Utzon; opened 1973; the building’s distinctive shell vaulted roofs make it one of the most recognized structures in the world; houses the Sydney Opera (Opera Australia) among other companies; designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.
• Arena di Verona — Verona, Italy; a 1st-century Roman amphitheatre; summer opera festival since 1913; famous for large-scale outdoor productions of Aida and other grand-opera spectaculars with thousands in attendance.

Key Figures: Conductors, Singers, and Impresarios

• Arturo Toscanini (1867–1957) — conducted the world premieres of La Bohème (1896) and Turandot (1926, stopping the premiere at the point where Puccini’s manuscript ended); long associated with La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera; a defining figure of the 20th-century conducting tradition.
• Enrico Caruso (1873–1921) — Italian tenor; defined the heroic tenor voice for the 20th century; closely associated with the early Metropolitan Opera and with the recording industry’s earliest years.
• Maria Callas (1923–1977) — Greek-American soprano; redefined the dramatic coloratura repertoire (Norma, Violetta, Lucia); celebrated as much for her interpretive intensity and acting as for her voice; her rivalry with Renata Tebaldi and her relationship with Aristotle Onassis made her an international celebrity.
• Feodor Chaliapin (1873–1938) — Russian bass; legendary interpreter of Boris Godunov; the first singer-actor in the modern sense of the term.
• Birgit Nilsson (1918–2005) — Swedish soprano; defining Isolde and Brünnhilde of the postwar era; renowned for her power in Wagner and Richard Strauss.
• Luciano Pavarotti (1935–2007) — Italian tenor; the most commercially recognized opera singer of the late 20th century; his 1990 “Nessun dorma” at the Football World Cup brought opera to mass global audiences.
• Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749–1838) — Italian librettist; wrote the texts for Mozart’s three Italian comedies (Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte); later emigrated to New York and helped establish opera in America.
• Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782) — the dominant librettist of Baroque opera seria; his texts were set by dozens of composers, often multiple times; established the conventions of the form.
• Arrigo Boito (1842–1918) — composer (Mefistofele, 1868) and librettist; his libretti for Verdi’s Otello and Falstaff are considered the finest operatic adaptations of Shakespeare.
• Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1929) — Austrian poet and librettist; wrote the libretti for all of Richard Strauss’s major operas (Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Arabella).