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The opera adapts the plot of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, with some characters omitted, including Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mary Bennet.
Operas
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A three-part opera set in New York City before and during the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Its characters include lesbian, gay, transgender and other residents who face harassment and ultimately unite against the police; the action moves from several city locations to the Stonewall Inn and Christopher Street before dawn.
Stradella
In Venice, Stradella tries to protect and flee with Léonor, who is pursued by the Duke of Pesaro. In Rome, Stradella’s singing during Holy Week moves hired assassins to abandon their plan; the Duke later captures and condemns him, but yields to pleas from Léonor and the people.
Stradella
In Venice, the Duke of Pesaro abducts Léonor, but singer Stradella helps her escape. The Duke pursues the lovers to Rome and hires assassins. During Holy Week, Stradella’s sermon moves the killers to abandon their mission, and the Duke forgives the couple.
Stratonice
Prince Antiochus falls ill from love for Stratonice, who is intended to marry his father, King Seleucus. The physician Erasistratus discovers the cause and helps the king understand it; Seleucus gives Stratonice to his son to save his life and happiness.
Street Scene
On a tenement block during a heat wave, Rose Maurrant and her neighbor Sam Kaplan grow close while gossip surrounds Rose’s mother Anna and the milkman. Frank Maurrant discovers Anna’s affair and kills her and the milkman. Rose returns from a funeral to find the aftermath, and although Sam offers to leave with her, she chooses to go alone.
Suite d'Armide, ou Jérusalem délivrée
A five-act French opera continuing the Armide story and drawing on Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, whose subject is the defeat of Saracen forces by Christian armies. The entry does not provide the opera’s plot.
Sukanya
Opera based on the mythological tale of Sukanya from the Mahabharata. The source does not provide the opera’s narrative details.
Sumeida’s Song
A three-scene opera set in a peasant house in a village in Upper Egypt, adapted from Tawfiq al-Hakim’s play Song of Death.
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
This two-act chamber opera by Richard Mills is based on Ray Lawler's play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.
Sun & Sea (Marina)
On an indoor imitation beach, performers lounge, eat, play, and carry out other everyday activities while singing about ordinary life and climate change. Their songs address the sun, tides, ocean pollution, environmental threats, and extreme weather.
Sunrise
Jin Xiang’s Chinese contemporary opera adapts Cao Yu’s 1936 play Sunrise, with a libretto by the playwright’s daughter, Wan Fang.
Sunčanica
A historical opera based on Ivan Gundulić’s epic Osman and its continuation by his son Šišmundo Gundulić, with Sunčanica as its subject.
Suor Angelica
Sister Angelica, who has lived in a convent for seven years, learns that her aunt, the Princess, has come to obtain her signature on a document transferring her inheritance to her sister Anna Viola. Angelica asks about the son she was forced to leave behind. The Princess tells her that he died of fever two years earlier. Angelica signs the document and collapses in grief. She makes and drinks poison, then realizes she has committed a mortal sin and fears she will be separated from her son forever. As she dies, she asks the Virgin Mary for mercy and sees a vision of the Virgin and her son coming to embrace her.
Surcouf
Surcouf joins a privateer to earn enough to marry Yvonne. Four years later he returns wealthy, but a false report that Yvonne has married another man leads him to challenge a British captain, who captures him. Surcouf escapes with help from Arabelle and his crew, defeats the British frigate, and returns to Saint-Malo to marry Yvonne.
Susannah
In New Hope Valley, Tennessee, eighteen-year-old Susannah Polk is shunned by her church community after elders discover her bathing in a creek and accuse her of immorality. Reverend Blitch later seduces her and returns seeking forgiveness, but Susannah refuses. Her brother Sam shoots Blitch, and the townspeople head to Susannah’s cabin to drive her out. She confronts them with a shotgun; they retreat, leaving Susannah isolated from the community.
Svatojanské proudy
A Czech opera featuring Vltavka, a vila of the Vltava, alongside a count, his daughter, a woodsman, a miner and a hunter. The plot is not summarized in the available record.
Svätopluk
In 894 Great Moravia, King Svätopluk, believing himself near death, gives power to his sons Mojmír and young Svätopluk. The younger son plots with Frankish and pagan allies to take the throne, while Mojmír frees Milena from a planned pagan sacrifice and refuses to rebel against his father. Ľutomíra frames Mojmír, and the king imprisons him. After a failed attempt by the younger son to kill the king, Svätopluk’s third son Predslav persuades him to lift his sons’ death sentences. The king forgives them and urges unity, but young Svätopluk attacks Mojmír; Milena shields Mojmír and dies, and the king dies during the struggle. Young Svätopluk flees.
Sweet Land
In this site-specific opera, Native American Hosts initially welcome colonial Arrivals. The newcomers despoil the land in the name of progress and Manifest Destiny.
Swindon: The Opera
An opera about Swindon, told through songs reflecting different decades. Diana Dors narrates a story centered on the Eveley family.
Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna
Three-act opera about Joan of Arc, with a libretto by Braunfels based mainly on German translations of French and Latin trial documents. The entry notes some references to George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan but provides no plot synopsis.
Séance on a Wet Afternoon
A two-act opera based on Mark McShane’s novel and Bryan Forbes’s screenplay for the 1964 film. The source does not summarize the opera’s plot.
Sémiramis
A prologue and five-act tragédie en musique by André Cardinal Destouches, with a libretto by Pierre-Charles Roy.
Sémiramis
In Babylon, Queen Sémiramis sees the ghost of her murdered husband Ninus, who demands revenge for himself and their missing son Ninias. She plans to marry Arzace, unaware he is Ninias. High priest Oroès reveals the truth and that Assur murdered Ninus at Sémiramis’s order. Sémiramis rushes into the tomb to save Arzace from Assur; in the dark, Arzace mistakes her for Assur and mortally wounds his mother. She forgives him before dying.
Sémélé
Semele is promised to Prince Adraste but loves Jupiter, who first courts her in disguise. Juno, jealous of Jupiter’s infidelity, impersonates Semele’s nurse and persuades her to demand that Jupiter reveal his divine form. He resists, knowing the sight will kill her, but ultimately appears in a storm of fire; Semele and Adraste die, and Jupiter restores Semele to life and raises her to heaven.
Sì
A three-act operetta centered on Sì, an actress at the Folies Bergère named for her inability to say no. Its libretto draws on La duchessa del Bal Tabarin and Majestät Mimi.
Sāvitri
Sāvitri learns that Death has come for her husband Satyavān. Death offers her any boon except her husband’s return; she asks for a full life, then points out that such a life is impossible without Satyavān. Death relents, and Satyavān awakens.
Tabasco
In Tangier, Irishman Dennis O’Grady is mistaken for a French chef and faces execution if he cannot satisfy the Pasha’s taste for spicy food. Trader Marco and his sister Lola disguise the unconscious Dennis as a new harem girl while helping Fatima escape; a bottle of hot sauce saves Dennis from the Pasha’s displeasure. Later, a plot to bomb the Pasha is foiled, and the arrival of a ship carrying Tabasco sauce leads to pardons and the lovers’ reunion.
Tailor Wibbel
Set in Düsseldorf during the French occupation of 1813, the opera follows a local tailor who becomes a thorn in the occupiers' side.
Tale for a Deaf Ear
On a snowy afternoon in the suburban home of Tracy and Laura Gates, an argument about Tracy’s drinking turns violent; Tracy dies of a heart attack, and Laura prays for him to return. A Greek chorus tells of the mariner Hypraemius’s four seasonal miracles, granted when a penitent prays for the dead at 3:59. The opera presents three miracles: a Tuscan noblewoman’s infant son returns, a Scottish farm girl gets her family’s cow back, and a German soldier’s dead brother returns. Back at the Gates’ home, Tracy revives with no memory of events, but he and Laura resume their quarrel. He suffers a second heart attack and dies permanently. A doctor treats Laura as the chorus sings that the only death in life is the death of love.
Tamerlano
After defeating the Ottoman sultan Bajazet, Tamerlano seeks to marry Bajazet’s daughter Asteria, who loves the Greek prince Andronico. Asteria and her father resist, and she attempts to poison Tamerlano. Bajazet takes poison and dies; the events lead Tamerlano to pardon Asteria and Andronico and unite with Irene.
Tancredi
In Syracuse, Amenaide is secretly in love with the exiled soldier Tancredi. Her father, Argirio, arranges for her to marry Orbazzano, hoping to end a feud and strengthen the city. A letter Amenaide wrote to Tancredi is mistaken for a treasonous message to the Saracen leader Solamir, and she is imprisoned. Tancredi, still believing she betrayed him, challenges Orbazzano and wins. He later defeats the Saracens; the dying Solamir confirms Amenaide’s innocence, and the lovers reunite. In the Ferrara version, Tancredi is mortally wounded and learns the truth just before dying in Amenaide’s arms.
Tancrède
A French tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts, based on Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata.
Tangier Tattoo
Opera by John Lunn and Steven Plaice, the third work in a Glyndebourne trilogy created to interest young people in opera.
Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser leaves Venus’s grotto after invoking Mary and returns to the Wartburg, where he reunites with Elisabeth and competes in a song contest. He reveals his time with Venus and is exiled on a pilgrimage to Rome. The Pope denies him absolution, so he returns seeking Venus. Wolfram calls out Elisabeth’s name, and her funeral procession arrives. Tannhäuser dies beside her, while returning pilgrims bear the Pope’s staff, now sprouting leaves.
Tantivy Towers
Set in the early 1930s, this three-act light opera plays on contrasts between urban bohemians and rural aristocrats, artists and the hunting set.
Tarare
A five-act tragédie lyrique preceded by a prologue.
Taras Bulba
In 17th-century Ukraine, Taras Bulba leaves his sons Ostap and Andriy in Kyiv for education. Andriy falls in love with Maryltsya, daughter of a Polish governor. When war breaks out, Taras takes his sons to the Cossack stronghold. During the siege of Dubno, Andriy helps Maryltsya and joins the Polish army to marry her. Taras learns of his son’s desertion and kills him; Ostap sings a lament. In the final orchestral scene, Taras and Ostap lead the Cossacks to victory and take Dubno.
Tarquin
In a prologue set in 1925, Marius and Corinna are students. In a near future, Marius has become the dictator Tarquin, while Corinna is connected to a clandestine radio station. A tragedy eventually leads him back to God.
Tarsis et Zélie
A prologue and five-act tragédie en musique.
Tartuffe
Orgon, taken in by the hypocrite Tartuffe, plans to marry his daughter Mariane to him despite her engagement to Valère. Tartuffe attempts to seduce Orgon’s wife Elmire and tricks Orgon into giving him the family property. Elmire exposes Tartuffe, and the family stages a deception of its own: Damis, Valère, and Mariane appear in disguises to announce the King’s order for Tartuffe’s arrest. Orgon admits his mistake and reunites Mariane with Valère.
Tata Vasco
In sixteenth-century Michoacán, Princess Coyuva and Prince Ticátame seek revenge for the death of her father, but Coyuva’s Christianity leads them to Bishop Vasco de Quiroga. He seeks to improve the Purépecha community’s lives; Petámuti’s plot to kill the couple fails, and he asks for baptism as he dies.
Taverner
Taverner is tried for heresy and pardoned by the Cardinal, but Death later prevails in a symbolic battle for his soul. After the Reformation, Taverner becomes an agent of royal religious policy and oversees the trial and execution of the White Abbot.
Tawawa House
Zenobia Powell Perry’s opera is set around the real Tawawa House resort in Wilberforce, Ohio, in 1852. The site was frequented by slaveholders and their enslaved mistresses, and enslaved workers there could earn freedom and education. The house was also part of the Underground Railroad. The opera’s story concerns the lives of escaped slaves; no fuller plot is available in the reviewed text.
Taşbebek
An opera based on a Turkish tale about a dollmaker and a love story involving a heartless character.
Tea: A Mirror of Soul
At a Japanese temple, monk Seikyo recalls his earlier love for Chinese princess Lan. He and Lan search for the true Book of Tea, but her brother challenges Seikyo and a struggle leaves Lan mortally wounded. Seikyo spares the Prince and renounces worldly life, returning to the ritual of empty tea.
Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso
Simon Mayr’s dramma per musica takes its subject from the Odyssey and was composed for the Venice Carnival of 1797. The cast featured castrato Girolamo Crescentini.
Telemaco, ossia L’isola di Circe
Intrigues and complications surround Telemachus, son of Odysseus. The libretto draws on Homer’s Odyssey and François Fénelon’s didactic novel Les Aventures de Télémaque.
Telemaco, ossia L’isola di Circe
Gluck’s two-act Italian dramma per musica is based on the Odyssey and uses a libretto by Marco Coltellini, adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece’s earlier libretto for Scarlatti’s Telemaco.
Temistocle
The Athenian general Temistocle lives in exile at the Persian court of Artaxerxes. He refuses to help the king conquer Athens, and Artaxerxes condemns him to death, but relents after being impressed by Temistocle’s honor. Temistocle loves Palmide, yet worries that accepting the king’s approval to marry her would make him betray his country.
Temistocle
A separate Porpora opera setting of the Temistocle subject, using Metastasio’s libretto rather than Apostolo Zeno’s text used for the 1718 version. The reviewed page provides no separate plot details.
Temistocle
In Persia, Themistocles and his son Neocles arrive incognito in Susa after exile from Athens. His daughter Aspasia, who loves the Athenian ambassador Lysimachus, has also reached the city after a shipwreck. Once their identities and circumstances are revealed, King Xerxes pardons them, unites the lovers, and makes peace with Athens.
Teneke
Young Kaymakam Fikret Irmaklı arrives in Çukurova and is misled by wealthy rice growers about the harm their irrigation will cause. After learning that flooding will trap villagers in malaria, he revokes their permits and tries to stop the water, but the landowners bribe guards and obtain his transfer. The peasants accept money to leave their homes, while Memed alone refuses to yield; Irmaklı departs to continue his struggle elsewhere.
Terpsicore
Erato and her followers summon Apollo, who arrives with the Muses. They call Terpsicore, who demonstrates dance’s power by expressing varied emotions through movement. Solo singers and chorus then praise the virtuous deeds of wise people, celebrated in the opera that follows.
Teseo
Teseo, an unknown son of King Egeo, serves Athens as a hero and loves the princess Agilea. The sorceress Medea also loves him and repeatedly uses magic to separate the couple. Egeo nearly gives Teseo a poisoned drink, but recognizes the sword left with his son in infancy and discovers his identity. Teseo and Agilea are reunited, and Minerva banishes Medea.
Teseo riconosciuto
An opera seria by Gaspare Spontini, with a libretto by Cosimo Giotti. The cast includes Aegeus, Theseus, Asteria, and Medea; no plot description is available.
Tesla – Lightning in His Hand
The opera depicts Nikola Tesla’s life as a series of reversals of fortune.
Tetide
The two-part serenata features the sea goddess Tetide (Thetis), along with Apollo, Marte, Imeneo, Pallade, and Venere.
Teuzzone
After Emperor Troncone’s death, Zidiana plots with governor Cino and general Sivenio to seize power, despite Teuzzone being the rightful heir. Zidiana intends to marry Teuzzone herself, while Zelinda, his fiancée, opposes the scheme.
Thanks to My Eyes
An opera based on Joël Pommerat’s play Grâce à mes yeux, with characters including Aymar, his parents, two young women and a man with long hair.
Thaïs
The ascetic monk Athanaël returns to Alexandria to convert Thaïs, a courtesan and devotee of Venus, whom he remembers from his youth. His wealthy friend Nicias is Thaïs’s lover. Athanaël urges her to abandon her former life; after resisting, she agrees to join him in the desert and enter a convent. At the convent, Athanaël realizes that he has become consumed by desire for her. Learning that Thaïs is dying, he rushes to her bedside and confesses his love, while she dies believing she is entering heaven.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs
As Steve Jobs confronts illness, he reflects on his childhood, early experiments with Steve Wozniak, relationships with Chrisann and Laurene, and the ambition that strained those bonds. Guided in memory by his Zen mentor Kobun, he accepts his mortality in a scene that merges his wedding with a memorial; the opera closes by returning to the childhood workbench that began his story.
The Abduction from the Seraglio
Belmonte arrives at Pasha Selim’s country house to rescue his betrothed Konstanze, who was captured with her maid Blonde. With his servant Pedrillo, he plans to free the women from the Pasha’s compound. Their escape is discovered, and Selim learns that Belmonte is the son of his old enemy. Selim chooses mercy and releases all four, frustrating his servant Osmin.
The Abduction of Figaro
In this comic opera parody, the supposedly dying Figaro is taken hostage in his bed by pirate Captain Kadd. Don Giovanni, Pecadillo and their companions set out to rescue him, travel through a storm and the Pasha Shaboom’s court, and reach a tropical island. There they discover a treasure hidden in Figaro’s bed. Schlepporello breaks character and negotiates for permission to sing before the finale can conclude.
The Adventures of Pinocchio
Geppetto carves Pinocchio from a log and buys him a schoolbook, but Pinocchio is distracted by the puppet theatre, the Cat and Fox, and the Field of Miracles. After repeated misadventures, the Blue Fairy cures him and he tries to be good. He is tricked into going to Funland, transformed, joins a circus, and is sold to a drum-maker. Pinocchio returns to normal, is swallowed by a large fish, and escapes with Geppetto. He works to support his father and finally receives his reward.
The Alcestiad
Three-act opera based on Thornton Wilder’s play of the same name, itself based on Euripides’ Alcestis. Roles include Alkestis, her husband Admettos, their son Epimenes, Tiresias, Herkules, and Apollo; no plot summary is supplied.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
In 1939, Czech Jewish artist Joe Kavalier escapes Nazi-occupied Prague and joins his cousin Sam Clay in Brooklyn, where they create the superhero the Escapist. Joe falls in love with Rosa Saks and tries to save his sister Sarah from Europe; after the ship carrying refugee children is destroyed, he enlists and goes to war. Rosa and Sam build a life together while Joe is away, and after learning through Rosa’s letters that he has a daughter, Joe returns to reunite with them.
The Amber Witch
In 17th-century Pomerania, Mary Schweidler secretly discovers amber and uses its value to help starving villagers. Count Rudiger falls in love with her, as does the local Commandant. After Mary chooses Rudiger, the Commandant and his jealous servant Elsie accuse her of witchcraft. Mary confesses during her trial to spare her father and is condemned to burn. Rudiger escapes imprisonment and rescues her; the King pardons Mary and orders the Commandant to take her place. Elsie dies by poison, and the Commandant is banished.
The Antient Concert
A dramatic recital built around the reputed 1904 singing contest between James Joyce and John McCormack. Four singers move between public performance and private thought as the score and libretto develop variations on five traditional Irish ballads.
The Armourer of Nantes
In 1498, Duchess Anne favors Fabio Fabiani, prompting the Breton nobility and French ambassador to conspire against her. Raoul, an armourer, has raised Marie, an orphan he loves. Fabio kills a man who holds documents proving Marie's noble parentage, but Raoul learns the truth. Fabio falsely accuses Raoul of murder. The Duchess discovers Fabio's crime, and Fabio is executed; Raoul and Marie reunite.
The Ash-Lad – Pål’s Story
Three-scene children’s opera based on Norwegian Ash-Lad fairy tales, retold from the perspective of Pål, the Ash-Lad’s brother and a perennial loser and underdog. The entry provides no further plot details.
The Aspern Papers
At Lake Como, a Lodger who studies composer Jeffrey Aspern rents rooms from former prima donna Juliana Bordereau and her niece Tina, hoping to find Aspern’s papers and a lost Medea opera score. The story shifts between 1885, as the Lodger investigates, and 1835, when the audience sees Aspern’s relationship with the younger soprano Sonia and his death. Juliana dies after the Lodger learns she has kept the papers. Tina offers him the score if he will marry her; he initially refuses, then changes his mind, but Tina says it is too late. She burns the score page by page.
The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent
A wrecked flight crew confronts whether people help one another and whether the fallen can accept their non-existence. Through investigations, a council, examination and final consent, the work questions complicity with power and violence; its original multimedia performance combined music, choral passages, clown scenes and film.
The Ballad of Baby Doe
Baby Doe and Horace Tabor fall in love while Horace is married to Augusta; after he divorces Augusta, the couple marry amid social scandal. Horace’s fortunes decline as Colorado politics shift toward the gold standard, and he dies after a final visit to the opera house he built. Thirty years later, Baby Doe ends the story at the Matchless Mine.
The Ballad of the Canal
A love story set during the Ming dynasty that celebrates the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, combining Chinese folk music with Western opera styles.
The Barber of Seville
Count Almaviva, in disguise as the poor student Lindoro, falls in love with Rosina, who is confined by her guardian Bartolo. With Figaro’s help, Almaviva repeatedly disguises himself to enter Bartolo’s house and reach Rosina. After Bartolo convinces Rosina that Lindoro has betrayed her, she agrees to marry Bartolo; Almaviva reveals his identity, and the pair marry before Bartolo can stop them.
The Baron Kinkvervankotsdorsprakingatchdern
Cecil loves the Dutch soldier Franzel, but her father wants her to marry Captain Hogrestan, while Franzel’s father wants him to marry an heiress. The Baron locks Cecil in a chamber, but she escapes using the family portraits. After Cecil and Franzel marry, both fathers reject the match.
The Bartered Bride
At a village fair, Mařenka and Jeník declare their love, though her parents want her to marry Vašek, the son of a wealthy landowner. The marriage broker Kecal offers Jeník money to give Mařenka up. Jeník appears to agree, but stipulates that she may marry only a son of Mícha. Meanwhile, Mařenka meets Vašek in disguise and persuades him to give up the marriage. When she learns about Jeník’s contract, she believes he has betrayed her and agrees to marry Vašek. Jeník is then revealed as Mícha’s elder son, fulfilling the contract. Mařenka understands his scheme and they marry; Vašek’s antics in a bear costume convince his parents he is not ready for marriage.
The Bassarids
In Thebes, Pentheus tries to suppress the cult of Dionysus, whose followers embrace ecstatic revelry. A stranger—Dionysus in disguise—draws the city into the cult and entrances Pentheus, who goes to the mountain dressed as a woman. Dionysus’s spell reaches Pentheus’s mother Agave and sister Autonoë; Pentheus is torn apart, and Agave unknowingly cradles his head as the city falls.
The Bear
Widow Popova insists she remains faithful to her late husband, while her servant Luka doubts her grief. When creditor Smirnov arrives to collect a debt, their quarrel escalates until they aim pistols at one another; instead, they fall in love, leaving Luka astonished.
The Beauty Stone
Laine, a poor weaver’s ugly and crippled daughter, wishes to be beautiful. The Devil gives her a stone that grants beauty, and Prince Philip falls for her appearance. She renounces the stone, which passes from her father Simon to Saida; while Laine returns to her former form, Philip loses his sight in battle and recognizes her inner beauty. Saida discards the stone, and Philip chooses Laine.
The Beggar’s Opera
Peachum and his wife discover that their daughter Polly has secretly married Macheath, the highwayman who is one of Peachum’s clients. They arrange to have Macheath captured and killed for his money. Macheath is imprisoned, escapes with Lucy Lockit’s help, and is recaptured. Four other women also claim to be his wives. He prepares to hang, but the Beggar changes the ending to satisfy the audience’s demand for a happy conclusion, and Macheath is reprieved and reunited with Polly.
The Beginning of a Novel
Village girl Poluška, engaged to Tonek, flirts with Baron Adolf. When the gamekeeper exposes them, her parents try to arrange a match with the baron’s family, but the plan fails. Poluška returns to Tonek, while Adolf finds happiness with a countess; the characters reflect on the folly of mismatched social unions.
The Bell Tower
A chamber opera about Bannadonna, a bell-caster and architect, his daughter Una, and the workers around them. Krenek develops the mysterious events of Melville’s story into explicit dramatic action.
The Big Lightning
The unfinished opera was conceived around a team of Soviet specialists visiting America. Shostakovich wrote an overture and eight further pieces, lasting about 17 minutes.
The Birth of Arthur
The opening music drama of Boughton’s Arthurian cycle concerns the begetting of Arthur, with a libretto by Reginald Buckley that Boughton heavily revised.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
Petra von Kant’s destructive lesbian affair is recounted in this five-act opera based on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s screenplay. The opera first appeared in concert in Dublin before its staged London premiere.
The Black Spider
The opera interweaves a medieval village legend with a modern story about excavations at King Casimir IV's tomb. In the legend, Christina agrees to marry a Green Man to spare villagers from an oppressive count, then breaks the bargain to marry Carl. A spider emerges from her hand and spreads plague; Christina traps it in her cousin's guitar and buries it in Casimir's tomb. In the modern story, a spider emerges when archaeologists open the tomb, and a deadly virus begins to affect them.
The Boatswain’s Mate
At a country inn, widow Mrs Waters rejects retired boatswain Harry Benn’s proposals. Benn persuades a down-on-his-luck ex-soldier to stage a burglary so he can rescue her, but Mrs Waters discovers the scheme and turns it around; the ruse ends with Benn giving himself up and Mrs Waters warming to the accomplice.
The Bohemian Girl
The fugitive Thaddeus joins a band of gypsies and saves the infant Arline, daughter of Count Arnheim, from a deer. Twelve years later, Arline is arrested after the Gypsy Queen frames her for theft, but Arnheim recognizes her by her scar. Thaddeus wins the Count’s blessing to marry her; the jealous Queen dies in a struggle with Devilshoof.
The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Chinese-American ghostwriter Ruth struggles with her elderly mother LuLing’s apparent dementia, her husband’s uncertain commitment, and her teenage stepdaughters’ behavior. Guided by a ghost of uncertain identity, Ruth travels into the past and experiences parts of LuLing’s tragic youth, gaining insight, forgiveness, and strength. The story moves between San Francisco in 1997 and China and Hong Kong around World War II.
The Bonfire of the Vanities: The Opera
The opera adapts Tom Wolfe’s novel and centers on ambitions and tensions among New York City’s upper classes in the 1980s. The entry does not summarize its dramatic events.
The Boor
A one-act opera based on Anton Chekhov’s comic play The Bear, also known as The Boor. Its libretto uses Vladimir Ussachevsky’s English translation.
The Boy Who Grew Too Fast
A one-act English-language opera for young people by Gian Carlo Menotti, with music and libretto by the composer.
The Brandenburgers in Bohemia
During the Brandenburg occupation of Bohemia, Prague’s mayor Volfram suffers the plundering of the city and the detention of his daughters by the occupying troops. His daughter Ludiše rejects Jan Tausendmark, who joins the occupiers. The serf Jíra is accused of leading a revolt and condemned to death, but Junoš rescues him. Tausendmark fails to secure Ludiše, and the Brandenburgers are driven from Prague as the city is liberated.
The Bride of Dionysus
Donald Tovey’s only opera draws on the legends of Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur.
The Building of the Boat
Sibelius’s planned Finnish-language opera follows the wizard Väinämöinen as he tries to win the moon goddess Kuutar by creating a boat through song and magic. When his incantation lacks three words, he journeys to the underworld of Tuonela to find them. Sibelius abandoned the project before completion, later reusing some of its material in other works.
The Burning Fiery Furnace
Nebuchadnezzar orders Ananias, Misael, and Asarias to worship his golden image. They refuse and are thrown into a fiery furnace. God saves them from death, and the voice of an angel joins the three Israelites in a Benedicite.
The Caliph's Magician
A magician entertains a caliph by conjuring a pleasure-seeking replica named Suh, who neglects his responsibilities and is eventually killed by the evil spirit Sah in serpent form. When the caliph grows angry and tries to destroy the magician’s amphora, the magician summons a storm and escapes.
The Canterbury Pilgrims
The Wife of Bath loves Chaucer, who loves the Prioress. The Wife wins a bet for a brooch that carries Chaucer’s promise of marriage, but King Richard II allows her to marry again only if she chooses a miller; Chaucer and the Prioress are reconciled.
The Canterville Ghost
Alexander Knaifel’s three-act chamber opera adapts Oscar Wilde’s story of a ghost at Canterville.
The Canterville Ghost
Gordon Getty’s one-act opera adapts Oscar Wilde’s 1887 short story The Canterville Ghost.
The Capitoline Venus
A one-act chamber opera based on Mark Twain’s satirical short story The Legend of the Capitoline Venus.
The Captain’s Daughter
Petr Grinev leaves home for military service and falls in love with Masha, daughter of the commandant at Belogorsky Fortress. During a snowstorm, Petr gives his coat to a guide who is later revealed to be Pugachev, leader of an uprising. When Pugachev’s forces take the fortress, he spares Petr but executes the commandant and takes his wife. Pugachev frees Masha from Shvabrin and allows the couple to leave. After Petr is arrested, Masha petitions the Empress, who pardons him and blesses their future together.
The Carriage
A one-act comic opera based on Nikolai Gogol’s story of the same name. Its cast includes a general, landowner Chertokutsky and his young wife, several officers, a soldier, a footman, and a groom.
The Cave
The opera interweaves the story of Abraham as told in religious texts with recorded interviews of Israeli, Palestinian, and American participants reflecting on Abraham and his family. Spoken interview material is shaped into musical phrases, while images of interviewees are shown on video screens.
The Cenci
An eight-scene opera based on Percy Bysshe Shelley’s play The Cenci.
The Central Park Five
The opera follows five teenagers who were convicted in the Central Park jogger case, served years in prison, and were later exonerated. Its cast includes the teenagers and their parents, the actual perpetrator Matias Reyes, a prosecutor, a detective figure called the Masque, and Donald Trump, who had publicly called for the death penalty.
The Chieftain
The Ladrones force English tourist Peter Grigg to become their chief and marry Inez, though he is already married. Later, his wife Dolly arrives, and the band helps him conceal the marriage while the missing original chief, Ferdinand, is discovered and happily resumes his position.
The Child Dreams
A family sheltering refugees during wartime is torn apart when soldiers enter their home. The mother and child flee by ship but are denied a safe landing; the island’s governor allows the child ashore, yet the child refuses to leave the mother and chooses death rather than separation. In the final, dreamlike scene, the dead children await a Messiah who proves to be an ordinary traveling salesman.
The Children of Rosenthal
Scientist Alex Rosenthal, who fled Nazi Germany for the USSR, clones Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Verdi, and Mozart. After government support ends, the clones live in 1993 Moscow. Mozart falls in love with Tanya, and they marry. Kela poisons the group; Mozart survives and is left alone.
The Children’s Bach
Dexter and Athena live in a ramshackle house in inner-suburban Melbourne with their disabled son Billy. Their family life is disrupted by the arrival of Phillip, Elizabeth, and Vicki, a more urbane, musical, and stylish family, bringing collateral damage in its wake.
The Chinese Orphan
A Chinese-language western-style opera based on the story The Orphan of Zhao.
The Classical Style
Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven observe from heaven that classical music seems to be declining in relevance. They descend to Earth to visit Charles Rosen and interrupt a symposium on sonata form, where a doctoral student disrupts a performance of Don Giovanni with extended analysis. The composers meet anthropomorphized musical chords and eventually speak with Rosen, who tells them that relevance changes. They return to heaven, and Robert Schumann then visits Rosen.
The Coachmen at the Relay Station
A one-act Russian comic opera in 15 scenes and ten musical numbers, written for a planned visit by Catherine the Great to Tambov. It draws on Russian folk-song traditions. The entry does not explain the plot.
The Cobler; or A Wife of Ten Thousand
An English-language stage adaptation of Blaise le savetier, with new text and music by Charles Dibdin.
The Consolations of Scholarship
A traveller recounts how General K'an falsely accused the official Chao Tun, who fled with his wife and newborn son. Raised by a hermit, the son goes to the capital twenty years later to study and discovers the truth about his father's death. He deciphers a scroll revealing K'an's plot against the Emperor, warns the Emperor, and recovers his father's property.
The Consul
In an unnamed European totalitarian country, political dissident John Sorel is hunted by the secret police. His wife Magda seeks a visa to flee with their child and his mother, but the consulate’s paperwork and queues delay her. The secret police question Magda, and a wealthy woman receives a visa ahead of her. Magda’s child and mother-in-law die; John is captured when he returns to the consulate. Despondent, Magda turns on the gas in her oven as the secretary tries to reach her by telephone.
The Contrabandista
A band of Spanish brigands must choose a new chief, and a law makes the first passing foreigner their leader and Inez’s husband. They force English tourist Adolphus Grigg into the role and scheme to have him killed, but he helps protect captive Rita until her fiancé Vasquez arrives; the band is pardoned and Rita is freed.
The Corley Conspiracy
A 75-minute, seven-part opera based on Mike Corley’s experiences and theories posted on Usenet. The work portrays a paranoid mind and concerns surveillance; its vocal parts are spoken over continuous music.
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