The Hunger Art
A one-act opera combining Franz Kafka’s A Hunger Artist with a revisionist take on Adam and Eve.
Operas
3280 shows
Clear filtersThe Ice Break
Russian dissident Lev arrives in the West after twenty years in prison and reunites with his wife Nadia and their son Yuri, who feels distant from him. Conflict between black and white crowds erupts into a riot, killing Olympion and Gayle and leaving Yuri gravely injured. After Yuri recovers in hospital, he stands and embraces his father.
The Idiot
Weinberg's Russian-language opera adapts Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot. The work is described as a four-act opera in ten scenes and received its world premiere in Mannheim in 2013.
The Immortal Hour
The shadowy Dalua brings mortal king Eochaidh and faery princess Etain together, though Etain has lost her immortal memories. A year later, Etain’s immortal lover Midir arrives disguised as a harpist and awakens her origins with his song. She leaves with Midir, and Dalua touches the heartbroken Eochaidh, who collapses dead.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Jack Worthing and Algernon invent identities to escape social obligations and pursue Gwendolen and Cecily, who both believe they are engaged to Ernest. Their deceptions unravel, but Jack is discovered to be the baby once left in a handbag at Victoria Station. He learns that his real name is Ernest, making him an acceptable suitor to Gwendolen’s family.
The Indian Queen
During conflict between the Inca and Aztecs, Montezuma and Acacis become rivals for Orazia while Zempoalla seeks power and love. The intrigue ends with Zempoalla’s death and the revelation of Montezuma’s royal identity; a masque celebrates his marriage to Orazia.
The Io Passion
A man outside a house and a woman inside watch and wait; he posts a letter as she swats a fly. Their scene repeats in increasingly complex variations, revealing their meeting at Lerna and the myth of Zeus’s seduction of Io, whom he changed into a heifer to hide from Hera. Hera’s gadfly drove Io across the world. In the present, the woman refuses the man and clings to domestic routine, while the ancient gods and the man continue to intrude, stripping away her settled life.
The Island God
Fisherman Ilo and his wife Telea land on a deserted island, where a god orders Ilo to rebuild a ruined temple. Telea and another fisherman escape together; the god kills Ilo, then dies when no worshipper remains.
The Jacobin
Bohuš returns to his Bohemian hometown in disguise with his wife Julie. His father, Count Vilém, disowns him, believing rumors that he is a Jacobin, and names his nephew Adolf as heir. Adolf and the Burgrave arrange Bohuš’s arrest, while they also try to force Terinka to marry the Burgrave instead of Jiří. Julie tells the Count that Bohuš was condemned by the Jacobins for supporting the Girondins. The Count pardons Bohuš and Jiří, denounces Adolf’s scheming, and reconciles with his son.
The Jewel Box
Four commedia dell’arte characters open the opera with a quartet. When they find there is no more music, the Dottore summons the Composer, who works out how the opera should proceed with help from a singer of tragic music and his father. The Composer sings the epilogue.
The Juggler of Our Lady
A one-act opera based on R. O. Blechman’s book The Juggler of Our Lady: A Medieval Legend.
The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
During the California Gold Rush, Smiley boasts that his frog, Dan’l Webster, can beat any frog in Calaveras County and wagers $40. The Stranger pretends to find a competitor, but secretly feeds buckshot to his frog. Dan’l cannot jump, so the Stranger wins. When Smiley discovers the trick, the townspeople catch the Stranger, take back the money and drive him from town.
The Juniper Passion
A chamber opera set during the 1944 Battle of Monte Cassino. Its roles include a Benedictine monk, a New Zealand soldier, a German officer and members of their families; the plot is not detailed in the available record.
The Juniper Tree
A wicked stepmother murders her stepson and serves him to his unsuspecting father. After his sister buries his bones beneath a juniper tree, the boy returns as a singing bird, takes vengeance on the stepmother, and is restored to life with his family.
The King's Henchman
King Eadgar sends his henchman Aethelwold to assess Aelfrida, but Aethelwold falls in love with her, lies to the king, and marries her himself. When Eadgar visits, Aelfrida reveals her beauty rather than disguising it; Aethelwold dies by suicide, and the king orders his burial with honor.
The Kiss
Lukáš, a young widower, hopes to marry Vendulka, but she refuses to kiss him before their wedding because she fears disturbing the ghost of his late wife. Angered, Lukáš leaves and dances with other village girls, prompting Vendulka to flee. In a forest, smugglers and Vendulka’s aunt Martinka help reunite the unhappy couple. Lukáš apologizes to Vendulka and her father, and they finally kiss.
The Knot Garden
Mangus, a psychoanalyst, introduces a group of characters whose relationships and desires shift through a dreamlike maze. Thea and Faber are confronted with the behavior of their ward Flora and the arrival of Thea’s sister Denise, recently tortured. Mel and Dov’s affair begins to end. In the final act, Mangus stages The Tempest with the group; Mel and Denise leave together, Dov follows, Flora departs alone, and Thea and Faber reconcile.
The Last Savage
Anthropology student Kitty travels to India seeking the world’s last savage. Her parents hire Abdul to pose as one; Kitty takes him to America, grows attached to him, and eventually chooses to live with him in a jungle cave.
The Last Supper
A character called Ghost, representing the audience, invites Christ and his disciples to supper. The opera juxtaposes old and new, Jewish and Christian perspectives to question the Last Supper story’s meaning in a modern context, ending in the Garden of Olives.
The Last Temptations
On his deathbed during a winter storm, preacher Paavo Ruotsalainen relives his life in hallucinations. He remembers marrying Riitta, the harsh backwoods life and their baby’s death, his son Juhana’s murder, and Riitta’s death. He also relives being humiliated by church authorities and his exclusion from a university ceremony. Riitta and the blacksmith who first inspired his faith call him toward the island and Heaven’s gate. In his final moments, Paavo recognizes his family around him, settles his affairs and joins his family in singing his favorite hymn, believing he has overcome.
The Lawsuit
A one-act comic opera based on Nikolai Gogol’s fragmentary scene The Lawsuit. The listed characters are Pavel Petrovich Burdyukov, Khristophor Petrovich Burdyukov, and Alexander Ivanovich Proletov.
The Left-Hander
Tsar Nicholas I challenges Russian workmen to improve on a steel flea made by English craftsmen for his brother Alexander I. The Left-Hander attaches tiny horseshoes to the flea and is sent to England, where he declines offers to remain and marry an Englishwoman. On his return voyage a storm and a drunken English sailor imperil the ship. The Left-Hander reaches Saint Petersburg drunk, is arrested, and sends the Tsar a warning that cleaning muskets with brick dust will leave the Russian army unprepared for war. He dies; the flea sings a lullaby, and the opera ends with a burial rite.
The Legend
Count Stackareff, secretly the bandit Black Lorenzo, awaits a ransom in his hunting lodge while his daughter Carmelita fears losing her lover Stephen if he discovers the truth. Stephen arrives on a mission to capture the bandit, and Stackareff escapes. Carmelita stabs Stephen when he breaks their promise to pursue her father; soldiers then shoot Carmelita after discovering the murder.
The Legend of Shota Rustaveli
A Georgian-language opera about the 12th-century poet Shota Rustaveli.
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya
Fevroniya, who lives in the forest, meets Prince Vsevolod and becomes betrothed to him. During the wedding festivities at Little Kitezh, Tatar invaders capture her and threaten Great Kitezh. She prays for the city to become invisible, and a golden fog hides it from the attackers. After Vsevolod dies in battle, Fevroniya frees the remorseful Grishka, who later runs away in terror. Fevroniya dreams of a transformed forest and welcomes death; she and Vsevolod then appear in the invisible city, where their wedding is celebrated.
The Letter
In interwar Malaya, Leslie Crosbie shoots her neighbor Geoff Hammond and claims he tried to rape her. Her lawyer Howard Joyce learns of a letter linking Leslie and Hammond and buys it from Hammond’s mistress. Leslie admits she killed Hammond after he tried to end their affair, yet is acquitted. When her husband Robert discovers the truth, she stabs herself.
The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko
The opera follows Alexander Litvinenko from his FSB service and experiences in Chechnya to his public denunciation of corruption and escape to Britain. He and Anna Politkovskaya exchange information; after she is murdered, former colleague Andrei Lugovoy poisons Litvinenko with polonium. The opera returns to Litvinenko’s hospital deathbed, where his wife sings a lament.
The Lighthouse
Three lighthouse keepers recount the mysterious disappearance of the men they relieved, then reveal their own mounting tensions and visions during a fogbound night. Their stories of violence, desire and religious fervor culminate in a confrontation with a vision before the relief ship arrives and they agree on an account.
The Lily Maid
Boughton’s three-act music drama treats the story of Elaine of Astolat within the Arthurian cycle.
The Lily of Killarney
Hardress Cregan is secretly married to Eily, but his family’s estate is mortgaged to Corrigan, who insists that Hardress marry heiress Ann Shute. Hardress asks Eily to surrender their marriage certificate. Danny, persuaded by Corrigan’s schemes, rows Eily to a cave and demands the certificate or her life. Myles mistakes Danny for an otter and shoots him, then rescues Eily. On the morning of Hardress’s wedding, Danny confesses the plot and Myles brings Eily back alive. Hardress acknowledges her as his wife, and Corrigan’s scheme is thwarted.
The Listeners
Teacher Claire Devon begins hearing a persistent hum that her family cannot hear. A student, Kyle, shares the experience, and they join a group led by Howard Bard, whose members debate the hum’s source. As Howard exerts power over Claire, a member attacks a cell tower and police raid the group’s house, killing several people, including Kyle. Other members drive Howard out, and Claire takes over the group.
The Little Prince
A two-act children’s opera based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s book The Little Prince.
The Little Sweep
At Iken Hall in 1810, sweep-boy Sammy becomes trapped in a chimney, and the children rescue and hide him from sweep-master Black Bob and his son Clem. Rowan, the nursery-maid, helps the children feed and wash Sammy. They learn his family sold him into apprenticeship because they had no food, and plan to smuggle him away in a trunk. The children get him onto a coach bound for safety and freedom.
The Lodger
Emma Bunting and her husband take in a gentlemanly lodger whose financial help eases their poverty. His religious mania and increasingly sinister behavior make Emma wonder whether to alert the authorities; the lodger is eventually revealed as Jack the Ripper.
The Long Christmas Dinner
Across successive Christmas dinners over 90 years, the Bayard family ages, births and deaths alter the household. Roderick and Lucia’s children grow up, marry, and have children; one son dies in the Korean War, another leaves the family firm, and generations die in the old house. At the end, the dying Ermengarde discovers a letter and photographs showing that Lucia II and Roderick II have built a new Bayard house and named their children Roderick III and Lucia III.
The Love for Three Oranges
The Prince is ill with melancholy, and doctors prescribe laughter. After a fall makes him laugh, the witch Fata Morgana curses him to seek three oranges. The Prince and the jester Truffaldino find them; two princesses die of thirst, but the third, Ninette, is saved. Fata Morgana transforms Ninette and substitutes her servant, but the magician Tchelio restores Ninette, allowing her to marry the Prince.
The Love of d'Artagnan
Weinberg's Russian-language comic opera is based on Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers. It was the third of the composer's first three operas.
The Love of the Nightingale
Procne and Philomele are sisters; after Procne marries Tereus, he becomes obsessed with Philomele. He lies that Procne is dead, murders the captain who loves Philomele, then rapes her and cuts out her tongue. Philomele tells Procne what happened through dolls, and the sisters take revenge by killing Itys. The story ends with Philomele, Procne and Tereus transformed into a nightingale, swallow and hoopoe.
The Lunch Box
A mother is devoted to her only son, a fundamentally good farmer. His rage following his father’s untimely death has tragic consequences.
The Madman’s Garden
In the Faroe Islands, young Marselius and Stella Kristina meet in the garden of Jordanson, a mysterious man believed to be mad. As they try to determine whether he is real, insane or supernatural, the two grow closer and come to understand themselves. Their alter egos appear as singing figures in a chamber opera combining actors, singers and dancers.
The Madonna and the Soldier
Weinberg's second opera, with a Russian-language libretto by Alexander Medvedev, was composed in 1970. It has opus number 105.
The Magic Fountain
Spanish nobleman Solano seeks the Fountain of Eternal Youth after his ship is wrecked on the Florida coast. With help from an Indigenous princess whose family was killed by Spanish invaders, he travels through the forest and finds the fountain. Though she knows its waters may bring death, she falls in love with Solano and drinks with him.
The Maid of Artois
Isoline is in love with Jules, but a wealthy Marquis takes her away. The lovers appear destined to die in the desert until an unexpected rescue arrives.
The Maid of Cashmere
Brama, a god in mortal form, frees an innocent man and becomes a fugitive in Cashmere, where he meets Zelica. She rejects the Grand Vizier and repeatedly shows her affection for Brama, who tests her loyalty by appearing interested in other bayadères. When Zelica faces execution, Brama reveals his divine identity and carries her to the heavens.
The Maid of Orleans
During the Hundred Years’ War, Joan hears a calling to lead the French and leaves her village. After the French victory at Orleans, she is placed in command by King Charles. Joan defeats Lionel in battle but spares him; the two fall in love, conflicting with her vow of virginity. Her father Thibaut accuses her of serving the devil when she cannot publicly prove her innocence. The people turn against her, and she is captured and condemned to burn at the stake. Joan dies as angels grant her forgiveness.
The Maid of Pskov
During Ivan the Terrible’s campaign against Pskov, Princess Olga loves the rebel Mikhail Tucha but is pledged to Nikita Matuta. Ivan discovers Olga is his daughter and changes his stance toward the city; after she is abducted and Tucha attacks the Tsar’s camp, Olga is fatally shot, and Ivan reveals her parentage.
The Maiden in the Tower
At the seashore, the Bailiff tries to win the Maiden with pleas and riches. When she rejects him, he abducts her and imprisons her in his castle tower. She prays for protection and remains faithful, though villagers wrongly believe she has sold herself for wealth. Her Lover searches for her, finds her captive, and promises to free her. The Bailiff threatens him, but the Chatelaine intervenes, condemns the Bailiff’s abuse of power and orders the Maiden’s release. The Bailiff is arrested, and the Maiden and Lover reunite.
The Maiden of the North
Väinämöinen, an old wizard, and Ilmarinen, a blacksmith, compete as suitors for the Maiden of Pohjola, daughter of Louhi, Queen of the Northland.
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8
The peaceful inhabitants of Planet 8 are told by a Canopean agent to prepare for an approaching ice age. As the population faces certain death together, its people and culture are transformed into a single representative of the planet.
The Makropulos Affair
Opera singer Emilia Marty reveals her interest in a century-old inheritance case and directs the Gregor family’s lawyer to a missing will. In pursuing a document that holds the formula for eternal life, she exposes that she is Elina Makropulos, born in 1575 and kept alive for more than three centuries by her alchemist father’s potion. As the potion wears off, she refuses another dose, and Kristina burns the formula.
The Man Who Laughs
In 1690, showman Ursus adopts orphaned Gwynplaine, whose face is disfigured, and blind infant Dea. Fifteen years later, their London performance becomes a success, but lawman Barkilphedro reveals Gwynplaine’s aristocratic past. Gwynplaine is seduced by Duchess Josiane and rejects his new identity as a lord; Dea dies, and Gwynplaine takes his own life.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
A neurologist investigates the condition of Dr. P., a singer with visual agnosia.
The Man Without a Country
After joining Aaron Burr’s conspiracy, Lieutenant Philip Nolan is convicted of treason and sentenced to spend his life aboard Navy ships, never hearing the United States mentioned. During exile he becomes a patriot; at Mary Rutledge’s urging he serves in battle against Barbary pirates, kills the enemy commander, and dies.
The Man and Men
A one-act opera focused on masculine sexual identity and human loss, scored for soprano, saxophone, piano, percussion, cello and double bass.
The Mandarin’s Son
At an inn in China, the innkeeper discovers that his daughter Iedi is interested in his servant Muri and orders Muri to leave. A Mandarin arrives looking for his long-lost son; Muri is revealed to be the son he seeks.
The Marriage
The matchmaker Fyokla recommends the shy bachelor Podkolyosin to Agafya, a merchant's daughter, and his friend Kokhkyarov helps persuade both of them to marry. Agafya accepts, but while she prepares for the wedding Podkolyosin escapes through the window.
The Marriage of Figaro
On the day Figaro and Susanna are to marry, Count Almaviva pursues Susanna while her father schemes to stop the match. Susanna, Figaro, and the Countess plot to expose the Count. A lawsuit over Figaro’s debt reveals Marcellina and Bartolo are his parents, and the two older lovers marry. At night, the Count mistakes his wife in Susanna’s clothes for Susanna, while Figaro recognizes his disguised bride; when the true identities are revealed, the Count asks the Countess for forgiveness, and she grants it.
The Martyrdom of St Magnus
The opera follows Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, who became a Christian saint and martyr. Its nine scenes proceed from the Battle of Menai Strait and Magnus’s temptations through a peace parley, his journey to Egilsay, Hakon’s murder plot, the sacrifice, and a miracle.
The Mask of Orpheus
The opera explores contradictory versions of the Orpheus myth through simultaneous events and repeated events that are predicted, remembered, or replayed. Orpheus and Eurydice fall in love and marry, but she dies and he journeys to the Underworld. He returns believing she follows him, then dies in several retellings of the myth. The work ends as the Orpheus myth decays.
The Medium
Monica, daughter of the medium Madame Flora, and Toby, a mute servant boy, help stage fake seances for paying guests. Monica impersonates the dead behind a screen while Flora pretends to communicate with them. After one seance, Flora feels a phantom hand at her throat and becomes convinced that Toby knows something about it. When the guests return, Flora exposes the tricks but they refuse to believe that the seances were false. She sends Toby away. Later, he sneaks back into the house to retrieve his tambourine. Hearing a noise, Flora takes a revolver and fires at the puppet theater where Toby is hiding. He is killed, and Monica runs for help. Flora asks whether Monica was the one who made the noise.
The Merchant Kalashnikov
Oprichnik Kiribeyevich takes merchant Kalashnikov’s wife Alyona. Kalashnikov challenges him to a fistfight and kills him; despite Alyona’s pleas, Tsar Ivan IV condemns the merchant to death.
The Merchant of Venice
Antonio lends Bassanio money secured by a pound of his flesh. Lorenzo elopes with Shylock’s daughter Jessica. At trial, Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as lawyers and prevent Shylock from taking the pound of flesh, requiring him to give up the loan and convert to Christianity. The lovers unite, and Antonio learns his ventures have prospered.
The Merrie Men of Sherwood Forest, or Forest Days in the Olden Time
A three-act pastoral operetta about Robin Hood and his companions in Sherwood Forest. The source identifies its format and characters but does not provide a plot synopsis.
The Merry Widow
In Paris, officials from bankrupt Pontevedro try to arrange a marriage between wealthy widow Hanna Glawari and Count Danilo, her former lover, so her fortune will stay in their country. Danilo refuses to court Hanna for her money, while Baron Zeta struggles to hide the affair between his wife Valencienne and French attaché Camille. After a pavilion mix-up makes it seem that Camille will marry Hanna, she reveals she was protecting Valencienne’s reputation. Danilo finally declares his love; they marry, and Hanna’s fortune remains with her husband and Pontevedro.
The Midsummer Marriage
Jenifer and Mark, and the ordinary couple Bella and Jack, undergo contrasting paths toward marriage in a woodland temple. Jenifer and Mark separate to explore spiritual and earthly experience, while Jack and Bella affirm their love. Jenifer’s father King Fisher tries to uncover her whereabouts, but the revelation of the transformed couple causes his heart to fail. A ritual concludes with Mark and Jenifer reappearing in wedding clothes at dawn.
The Mikado
In Titipu, Nanki-Poo, the Mikado’s son disguised as a wandering minstrel, loves Yum-Yum, who is engaged to Ko-Ko, the town’s Lord High Executioner. A decree requires an execution, and Ko-Ko arranges for Nanki-Poo to marry Yum-Yum for a month before being executed. When the Mikado arrives, Ko-Ko fabricates an account of the execution; he later appeases Katisha by marrying her, allowing Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum to reunite.
The Miller Who Was a Wizard, a Cheat and a Matchmaker
In a Russian village, the miller Fadei uses his reputation as a wizard to help Filimon win Anyuta, whose parents disagree about what kind of husband she should have. Fadei separately tells each parent that the future groom will meet their expectations; the quarrel resolves when Filimon proves to be both a landowner and an active farmer.
The Mines of Sulphur
Rosalind returns to the manor where Braxton abused her and joins deserter Boconnion and tramp Tovey in murdering him. They steal his wealth, but a troupe of actors arrives and performs a play that mirrors the crime. When an actress discovers Braxton’s body, Boconnion imprisons the troupe and plans to burn the manor; the plague-stricken actress then vanishes with the other actors, leaving Rosalind and her accomplices marked for death.
The Minotaur
Ariadne meets Theseus among the young people sent to Crete as sacrifices to the Minotaur. She consults the Snake Priestess and gives Theseus a ball of twine to trace his way through the labyrinth. The Minotaur gains speech in dreams but kills the Innocents. Theseus confronts and kills him; as he dies, the Minotaur laments being neither fully human nor fully beast.
The Miserly Knight
The young knight Albert, burdened by debt, asks a moneylender for a loan. The moneylender proposes that Albert poison his father, the wealthy Baron, and Albert rejects the suggestion. The Baron gloats over his accumulated gold but fears his son will squander it. At the Duke’s court, the Baron accuses Albert of wanting to steal from him; Albert appears and calls his father a liar. The Baron challenges him to a duel, then collapses and dies, asking for the keys to his treasure chests.
The Monks of Malabar
In Malabar, French merchant Boolboom marries Anita, his former fiancée, after she finds him in India. He later fakes his death to escape her temper, but the Nabob rescues her and courts her. Boolboom returns in disguise, sparks a revolt against the law that threatens Anita, and ultimately escapes to France with her.
The Most Important Man
In racially segregated colonial Africa, scientist Toime Ukamba overcomes prejudice and discovers a valuable formula. White scientists contest its use and credit; Ukamba flees with Cora, but the couple is thwarted, and Ukamba dies after destroying his research, leaving Dr. Arnek alone with the knowledge.
The Mother of Us All
Susan B. Anthony debates politicians and advocates women’s suffrage while the surrounding characters pursue romances and a wedding. After she speaks at a political meeting, the politicians add “male” to the Constitution, provoking a triumphal return home. Years later, the company gathers to unveil her statue, and Susan appears as a ghost to reflect on her life.
The Mountain Sylph
In the Scottish Highlands, sylph Aeolia falls in love with Donald, a shepherd engaged to Jessie. Christie, who also wants Jessie, seeks help from the wizard Hela. Aeolia spirits Donald away during his wedding. Hela gives Donald a scarf that transports Aeolia to the underworld of Ashtaroth. The sylphs’ queen, Etheria, gives Donald a magic rose, enabling him to enter the underworld and rescue Aeolia. Etheria marries them, with Aeolia giving up immortality; Jessie and Christie also marry.
The Mountaineers
In an Alpine frontier village, Clarice, daughter of customs official Pierre, is courted by wealthy Conrad and mountaineer Fritz. She tells them that a local tradition requires a suitor to bring her edelweiss from the highest peak. A blizzard traps guests at Pierre’s chalet. Fritz, disguised as an organ grinder, encounters Clarice and learns she prefers the mountaineer. He rescues Conrad from the snow, and Clarice forgives Fritz. Weeks later, Clarice and Fritz are to marry, but Sergeant Frederico announces that Fritz has been called to war. Conrad offers to take his place, and Clarice gives him a gun as he marches away. Meanwhile Pierre wins the wealthy Miss Spinifex by presenting her with a paper edelweiss and claiming he retrieved it himself.
The Mountebanks
A mysterious potion makes drinkers become what they have pretended to be. When a troupe of players, a band of brigands, and villagers all drink spiked wine while acting out disguises and deceptions, they are transformed accordingly. Ultrice eventually gives up the antidote, the potion’s effects end, and the characters return to themselves.
The Navigator
An opera that evokes the Mahabharata and Tristan and Isolde while exploring the risks of a journey toward unity or transformation.
The Nightingale
A Nightingale’s song moves the Emperor of China, who offers it a golden slipper. When a mechanical bird arrives, the real Nightingale leaves and the Emperor banishes it. As the Emperor lies dying, the Nightingale returns and sings until Death restores his regalia and departs; the bird promises to sing for him each night.
The Nightingale and the Rose
A student asks for a red rose to win the girl he loves. The Nightingale sacrifices her life to create one, but the girl rejects it, and the student throws it away and returns to his books.
The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga
In 1555, Vera confesses to her sister Nadezhda that her newborn daughter Olga was conceived during an encounter with Ivan the Terrible, not her husband. When Vera’s husband returns and questions the baby’s origins, Nadezhda protects her sister by claiming to be the mother.
The Nose
Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov wakes to find that his nose has disappeared. A barber discovers it in a loaf of bread and tries to dispose of it, while Kovalyov encounters the nose dressed as an official of higher rank. It refuses to acknowledge him. Police eventually capture the nose and return it, but Kovalyov cannot put it back on his face. He suspects Madame Podtochina, whose daughter he declined to marry, but she denies any role. The city becomes consumed by rumors about the missing nose. Kovalyov later wakes with it reattached and returns to his usual routine.
The Old Maid and the Thief
Miss Todd and her maid Laetitia shelter Bob, a wanderer who has arrived at their home. After hearing of an escaped convict, Miss Todd suspects Bob but Laetitia persuades her to keep him. Miss Todd leaves money for Bob to steal and then begins stealing from neighbors herself. Laetitia falls in love with Bob, who plans to leave. They rob a liquor store to keep him there, but when the police begin searching for the thief, Bob insists that he is innocent. Laetitia persuades him to escape with her; they take Miss Todd’s valuables and car, leaving Miss Todd alone.
The Olympians
In 1836, a troupe of strolling players arrives in a town in southern France. The troupe are Greek gods who regain their divine powers every hundred years at midsummer. The young poet Hector falls in love with Madeleine, whose father Lavatte plans to marry her to an older nobleman. The gods perform for Lavatte’s guests, enchant the gathering and resist arrest; Jupiter knocks Lavatte down with a thunderbolt. By morning, Hector and Madeleine reconcile, and Lavatte agrees to provide the money that enables her to marry for love. The gods resume their travels.
The Oprichnik
A four-act Russian opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky about the oprichniks, set at Ivan the Terrible’s court during the oprichnina.
The Ostrobothnians
In mid-nineteenth-century Ostrobothnia, farmer Antti awaits trial for defending his fiancée Maija’s honor, while her brother Jussi challenges the oppressive sheriff. After Antti escapes prison, the sheriff arrests and tortures Jussi; Jussi kills him but is mortally wounded, dying with a vision of liberation for the Ostrobothnians.
The Outpost
A French soldier deserts his post, crosses into Germany, and settles into family life as a farmer. When war brings the French army across the border four years later, he is arrested for desertion but ultimately receives an honourable discharge and returns to his farm.
The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring
A poorly paid clerk sacrifices his small comforts to buy a new overcoat. The garment briefly changes how others treat him, but its theft pushes him toward humiliation, desperation, and a ghostly aftermath.
The Padlock
An old miser keeps his fiancée behind a locked door because he fears she will be unfaithful. The opera centers on Mungo, the household servant, whose comic scenes include songs and spoken dialogue. The source describes the original Mungo as a racist caricature, performed in blackface; Ira Aldridge later transformed the role into a serious portrayal and added an abolitionist address to the audience.
The Parlour
A one-act comic opera based on Guy de Maupassant’s story En famille. After the Caravan family presumes that the 90-year-old mother has died, events unfold in a Victorian seaside resort.
The Passenger
Aboard a postwar ocean liner, Lisa recognizes a passenger who recalls Marta, a prisoner she once guarded at Auschwitz, and reveals her hidden past to her husband Walter. The action shifts between the ship and the camp, where Lisa tries to control Marta and her fiancé Tadeusz. Tadeusz refuses to play the Kommandant’s requested waltz and instead performs Bach’s Chaconne before being taken to his death; the final encounter between Lisa and Marta remains ambiguous.
The Passion of Jonathan Wade
During Reconstruction in South Carolina, Union officer Jonathan Wade tries to balance competing Northern and Southern demands and falls in love with Celia Townsend. Political intrigue and threats from both sides culminate in a confrontation at the Townsends’ home, where Jonathan is shot and killed; Celia condemns both factions for his death.
The Passion of Vincent van Gogh
A three-act opera in eighteen scenes assembled from Vincent van Gogh’s letters, Paul Gauguin’s journal, and official documents relating to Van Gogh.
The Peony Pavilion
A two-part 1998 stage work: the first part presents the traditional Kunqu staging of the Ming play, while the second is a newly composed opera by Tan Dun that tells an ancient Shanghai opera love story.
The Perfect American
In scenes spanning Walt Disney’s last months and earlier events, a delirious, dying Walt revisits his boyhood in Marceline, his studio, family, and ambitions to conquer death. Wilhelm Dantine confronts him over his firing and union activity. Walt interacts with an owl figure, an animatronic Abraham Lincoln, and Andy Warhol; he eventually dies, and Dantine learns he will be cremated rather than cryonised.
The Perfect Fool
A one-act comic opera by Gustav Holst, composed between 1918 and 1922. The work includes an introductory ballet depicting spirits of earth, water, and fire; the Fool is a spoken role with one word.
The Photographer
Philip Glass's three-part mixed-media work examines the life and 1874 trial of photographer Eadweard Muybridge. The first part is a play with incidental music about Muybridge's killing of Harry Larkyns and the trial; the second pairs a violin solo with a slideshow of Muybridge's photographs; the final part brings the characters back for a dance. The source material includes trial transcripts and Muybridge's letters.
The Pilgrim’s Progress
In Bedford Gaol, John Bunyan reads from his book as Pilgrim appears in a vision. Pilgrim sets out for the Celestial City, loses his burden at the Cross, and is welcomed at the House Beautiful. He receives armor, defeats Apollyon in the Valley of Humiliation, resists the temptations of Vanity Fair, and escapes imprisonment with the Key of Promise. After declining to travel with the comfort-seeking By-Ends, Pilgrim visits the Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains. A Celestial Messenger directs him across the River of Death to the Celestial City. The epilogue returns to Bunyan in prison.
The Pipe of Desire
On the eve of his wedding to Naoia, peasant Iolan meets elves who show him the Old One’s magical pipe. Its music gives Iolan visions of a prosperous life with his beloved, but another vision reveals Naoia’s illness and suffering. She dies in his arms; Iolan rejects his new riches, forgives the Old One, and then dies as the elves reflect on those who die young.
The Pirates
Stephen Storace’s three-act English opera, with a libretto by James Cobb, was partly adapted from Storace’s earlier opera Gli equivoci.
The Pirates of Penzance
Frederic celebrates the end of his apprenticeship to a band of kind-hearted pirates and falls in love with Mabel, daughter of Major-General Stanley. He learns that, because he was born on 29 February, his indenture binds him to the pirates until his twenty-first birthday, which is decades away. Frederic returns to the pirates, who capture Stanley and his daughters, but the Sergeant of Police makes them surrender in Queen Victoria’s name. Ruth reveals that the pirates are noblemen who have gone wrong, and the families reconcile.
The Poisoned Kiss
A three-act English opera based on Richard Garnett’s “The Poison Maid” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” The source lists the principal characters as Angelica, Tormentilla, Gallanthus, Dipsacus, Empress Persicaria, and Amaryllus.
The Portrait
The penniless artist Chartkov finds a magical painting that offers him wealth and fame. He chooses its assistance over making his own way through his talent, but comes to regret his decision.
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Drifter Frank takes a job at a rural diner run by Cora and her much older husband, Nick. Frank and Cora begin an affair and plot to kill Nick so they can start a life together without losing the diner. Their first murder attempt fails, but they eventually succeed.
The Power of the Fiend
Dasha’s husband Pyotr leaves her for the innkeeper’s daughter Grunya. When Grunya learns Pyotr is already married, she rejects him, and Yeryomka convinces him that a witch can resolve his problems. Yeryomka lures Dasha to a ravine, where Pyotr kills her. Her family arrives and Pyotr is condemned by his father.
The Princess of the Stars
The Sun God’s daughter, the Princess of the Stars, falls to earth and is hidden beneath a lake by Three Horned Enemy. Wolf and the Dawn Birds search for her, but sunrise frightens the enemy away before their battle. The Sun God sends Wolf to continue the search and commands the birds to freeze the lake until the Princess is found.
The Prisoner of the Caucasus
In a Caucasian mountain village, Fatima falls in love with a Russian prisoner brought to her as a wedding gift. Her father has chosen Abubeker as her bridegroom. The prisoner is condemned to death, but Fatima frees him and urges him to escape. He tells her that he loves another woman in his homeland and runs away. As the villagers prepare revenge, Fatima stabs herself.
The Prodigal Son
A younger son leaves home with his inheritance, loses his fortune in the city, and returns to seek forgiveness. His father welcomes him with celebration, while the loyal elder brother resents the reception; the father urges him to reconcile with his brother.
The Public
Theatre director Enrique is confronted by his former lover Gonzalo, who urges him to abandon his safe artistic choices and acknowledge their love. As characters cross a folding screen, the opera moves through a memory of their relationship and a radical staging of Romeo and Juliet, where a boy cast as Juliet sparks a revolution over freedom and convention. Gonzalo becomes the victim of the audience’s fury. Back in his office, Enrique accepts his love for Gonzalo as a magician appears and Gonzalo’s mother arrives to claim her son’s body.
The Queen of Brilliants
Betta, a fisher girl who is secretly a countess, is sent to a nunnery after being misled about Florian. After the nuns refuse her, she joins a circus troupe called the Brilliants and becomes its celebrated singer. She tests Florian, who proves faithful, and the story ends happily.
The Queen of Spades
Herman becomes obsessed with learning the Countess’s secret sequence of three cards, which is said to guarantee a gambling win. He frightens her to death, and her ghost reveals the cards. At the gambling table Herman wins on the first two cards but loses on the third, drawing the queen of spades; Lisa drowns herself, and Herman takes his own life.
The Railway Children
The opera adapts Edith Nesbit’s children’s book but relocates the story to the 1980s, giving it a Cold War background. The entry describes it as a spy mystery but supplies no further plot details.
The Rake’s Progress
Tom Rakewell rejects steady work and leaves Anne Trulove for London with Nick Shadow, who tells him that he has inherited a fortune. Tom enters a brothel, then follows Shadow’s advice to marry Baba the Turk. Bored with his marriage, he wishes for a way to turn stones into bread; Shadow produces a sham machine and encourages Tom to market it. The scheme fails, and Tom is ruined. In a graveyard, Shadow demands Tom’s soul, but Tom wins their card game with Anne’s help. Shadow condemns him to madness. In Bedlam, Tom believes he is Adonis. Anne visits and sings to him, then leaves; Tom dies.
The Rape of Lucretia
The Male and Female Choruses frame the story of a Rome ruled by Tarquinius Superbus. After other soldiers discover their wives’ infidelity, Junius goads the king’s son Tarquinius into testing Lucretia’s chastity. Tarquinius rides to her home and rapes her while she sleeps. The next morning, Lucretia sends for her husband Collatinus and tells him of the assault. She stabs herself and dies. Junius plans to use the crime to foment rebellion, while the choruses end the work with a prayer.
The Red Line
In 1907 in Kainuu, poor crofter Topi and his wife Riika struggle to feed their family. They learn about an election and hope it will improve their lives. Topi dreams of failing to obtain help, then goes to the village to exchange birds for grain. An agitator explains social democracy, and the villagers vote. Topi works at a logging camp while Riika waits anxiously. Their children die from malnutrition. News arrives that ordinary people have won the election, but the promise of better food and health comes too late. A bear awakens and kills Topi; Riika finds him dead with a red line of blood on his throat.
The Rising of the Moon
At a monastery turned into a British army mess in famine-era Ireland, Cornet Beaumont accepts a challenge to smoke, drink, and seduce three women before reveille. Two officers’ wives become his first conquests, while Cathleen substitutes herself for the third. The resulting revelations embarrass the regiment; Beaumont resigns and the soldiers leave, to the locals’ delight.
The Rival Poets, or the Love Charm
A two-act salon opera for six soloists, set in an imaginary Anglo-Swiss republic.
The Rose Elf
One-act chamber opera based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Elf of the Rose. The cast includes the Elf, a Girl/Luna, a Beloved/Horus, and the Brother; no plot summary is supplied.
The Rose of Castille
Queen Elvira disguises herself as a peasant to learn about her proposed marriage and meets Manuel, a muleteer in disguise. Conspirators led by Don Pedro try to seize her throne, but Elvira outmaneuvers them. She learns Manuel is the King of Castille, while Don Pedro begs for mercy and the court celebrates.
The Rose of Persia
In Persia, the hospitable merchant Hassan entertains the disguised Sultana and her slaves, then becomes entangled in mistaken identities after taking a narcotic. The Sultan orders executions and marriages, but a chain of misunderstandings ends when Hassan tells a story with a happy ending, securing pardon for himself and the others and allowing Yussuf to marry Heart’s Desire.
The Rose of Stamboul
Achmed Bey hopes to reform Turkish society but does not want to embarrass his politician father, so he publishes his ideas in French under the pseudonym André Léry. His book becomes popular among Turkish women. When his marriage to Kondja Gül is arranged, she confesses on their wedding night that she cannot love him because she has fallen for André Léry, not knowing the author is Achmed.
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