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The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya

Opera · 1907

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 Lily of Killarney

Opera · 1862

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 Long Christmas Dinner

Opera · 1961

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 Maid of Orleans

Opera · 1881

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 Maiden in the Tower

Opera · 1896

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 Marriage of Figaro

Opera · 1786

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 Medium

Opera · 1946

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 Merry Widow

Opera · 1905

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

Opera · 1955

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 Miserly Knight

Opera · 1906

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 Mountain Sylph

Opera · 1834

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

Opera · 1909

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 Nose

Opera · 1930

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

Opera · 1939

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

Opera · 1949

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 Passenger

Opera · 2006

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 Pilgrim’s Progress

Opera · 1951

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 Pirates of Penzance

Opera · 1879

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 Public

Opera · 2015

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 Rake’s Progress

Opera · 1951

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

Opera · 1946

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

Opera · 1978

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 Saracen

Opera · 1899

In early fifteenth-century France, Count Savoisy’s marriage to Bérengère is dissolved by papal decree so he can marry again and provide an heir. Saracen Yaqoub, a former prisoner, is tried for killing Raymond and pardoned by King Charles VII. The king neglects the war to go hunting, until Agnès Sorel confronts him and he calls his court to battle. In Act IV, Bérengère urges Yaqoub to kill Savoisy before he marries Isabelle. After Savoisy is stabbed, Bérengère takes poison and dies, leaving Yaqoub in despair.

The Sinbadventurers

Opera · 2015

Children Lotte, Kalle and Lily sail a raft toward the open sea but are rescued by pirates, who demand their help freeing their captain from the man-eater Caesar Knochenschmalz. Lotte offers Caesar tofu and is declared his bride. On a magical island, sorceress Cindy transforms the travelers into animals until Kalle persuades her to reverse the spell; Caesar then falls in love with Cindy, and the children sail home. Comic and tragic interludes recount Wilhelm II and Bismarck’s plot over Heligoland and the destruction of Rungholt.

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