Il dottor Antonio
The opera adapts Giovanni Ruffini’s 1855 nationalist novel Doctor Antonio.
Operas
3280 shows
Clear filtersIl falegname di Livonia
Carlo, a carpenter in Livonia, loves Annetta. The visiting Tsar Peter and his wife Catherine discover that Carlo is Catherine’s long-lost brother. Once Carlo learns their identities, he introduces Annetta, whose father was a rebel, but Peter pardons her. Peter exposes the pretentious magistrate, and the imperial couple depart with Carlo and Annetta for St Petersburg.
Il figlio delle selve
Ignaz Holzbauer’s three-act opera was commissioned by Elector Carl Theodor for the opening of the Schlosstheater Schwetzingen in June 1753.
Il filosofo di campagna
Tritemio wants his daughter Eugenia to marry the wealthy farmer Nardo, though she loves Rinaldo. To keep Nardo away, housemaid Lesbina impersonates Eugenia, and Nardo falls in love with her. When he learns who she is, he accepts her; Lesbina arranges a double wedding for herself and Nardo and for Eugenia and Rinaldo, while Tritemio marries Nardo’s niece Lena.
Il finto astrologo
A two-act intermezzo for four characters, derived with modifications from Goldoni’s Il mondo della luna. Its first-act finale depicts Buonafede’s imaginary journey to the Moon.
Il fortunato inganno
The opera company director Lattanzio’s niece Eugenia loves cavalry lieutenant Edoardo, but his uncle refuses to let him marry an actress. Lattanzio’s wife Aurelia pretends to be a countess and deceives the colonel into approving the match. He discovers the trick but ultimately consents.
Il furioso all’isola di San Domingo
After Eleonora’s infidelity drives Cardenio to madness and exile on a Caribbean island, she is shipwrecked there and tries to reconcile with him. When Cardenio again mistakes her intentions and attempts suicide, his brother rescues him; seeing Eleonora ready to die rather than harm him, he forgives her and they reunite.
Il giovedì grasso
Nina and Teodoro love each other, but Nina is promised to Ernesto. Sigismondo and Camilla plot to frighten Ernesto away; he learns of their scheme and turns it against them. He finally agrees to Nina and Teodoro’s marriage, and Sigismondo renounces jealousy.
Il giuramento
Bianca is forced to marry Count Manfredo despite secretly loving a knight. Elaisa arrives in search of her benefactor’s daughter, accompanied by Viscardo. Brunoro reveals that Viscardo is Bianca’s beloved. Manfredo suspects Bianca and locks her in the family tomb, intending to poison her, but Elaisa substitutes a strong narcotic. Believing Bianca dead, Viscardo stabs Elaisa just as Bianca wakes.
Il gran Tamerlano
After capturing Bajazette and his daughter Asteria, Tamerlano falls in love with her and offers Andronico a kingdom if he can secure Bajazette’s consent to their marriage. Asteria feigns affection to save her father, then attempts to poison Tamerlano. Irene saves him, and Tamerlano allows Asteria and Andronico to marry; Bajazette takes the poison himself.
Il grillo del focolare
Riccardo Zandonai’s three-act opera adapts Charles Dickens’s The Cricket on the Hearth. Its characters include carrier John Peerybingle and his wife Dot, toymakers Caleb Plummer and Tackleton, and the Plummer family.
Il maestro di cappella
A one-act monodrama in which a pompous music director rehearses an orchestra, frequently imitating the instruments.
Il matrimonio segreto
Paolino and Carolina are secretly married in the household of her father Geronimo. Paolino tries to arrange a match between Count Robinson and Carolina’s sister Elisetta, but Robinson is drawn to Carolina instead. After a series of misunderstandings, Paolino and Carolina reveal their marriage; the family forgives them, while Robinson and Elisetta agree to marry.
Il mondo della luna
The three-act dramma giocoso features would-be astrologer Ecclitico, credulous Buonafede, his daughters Flaminia and Clarice, maid Lisetta, Ernesto, and Ernesto’s servant Cecco.
Il mondo della luna
Opera by Pedro António Avondano using Carlo Goldoni’s libretto, originally written for Baldassare Galuppi’s 1750 setting. The source does not provide a plot synopsis.
Il mondo della luna
The astrologer Ecclitico tricks the wealthy Buonafede into believing he has traveled to the Moon. There Buonafede is manipulated into consenting to marriages between his daughters and their chosen partners; once the deception is exposed, he relents and the couples celebrate.
Il novello Giasone
A revised Roman version of Cavalli’s Giasone, with musical additions and changes by Alessandro Stradella and a revised libretto by Giovanni Filippo Apolloni. A distinct plot summary is not provided.
Il padiglione delle meraviglie
A two-part comic opera whose protagonist is Tiberio.
Il paria
In Benares, Idamore, a warrior leader who is secretly a Pariah, loves Neala, daughter of Brahmin high priest Akebare. Idamore plans to marry Neala and flee, but his father Zarete arrives and demands equality for Pariahs. When Idamore reveals his origins, Akebare sentences both men to death; Neala joins them, while Akebare rejoices at the prospect of taking the empire.
Il pastor fido
In Arcadia, Amarilli is expected to marry the hunter Silvio to appease Diana, though she loves Mirtillo. Eurilla tricks the lovers into a compromising situation so Amarilli will be condemned, but Diana’s priest reveals that Mirtillo is of divine parentage. The threatened sacrifice is canceled, and Mirtillo and Amarilli, as well as Silvio and Dorinda, are joined in marriage.
Il pesceballo
A one-act comic opera pasticcio for a small cast, assembled from famous melodies by Bellini, Donizetti, Mozart, and Rossini, with new recitatives and choruses. It was written for amateur performers and presented as a benefit work.
Il piccolo Marat
During the French Reign of Terror, Prince Jean-Charles, disguised as the Little Marat, discovers that his mother, the Princess of Fleury, is imprisoned. He enlists Mariella and a carpenter to forge safe-conducts and arrange a boat for their escape. The Little Marat is shot while restraining the corrupt Orc, but the carpenter kills the Orc, and the Little Marat and Mariella escape to free his mother.
Il pirata
Shipwrecked pirate Gualtiero arrives near the castle of Ernesto, who married Gualtiero’s former beloved Imogene under threat to her father. Imogene shelters the strangers but hides her recognition of Gualtiero. The former lovers meet and declare that they still love each other, while Ernesto discovers them and challenges Gualtiero. Ernesto dies in their fight, and Gualtiero gives himself up to the knights; Imogene descends into madness as he is sentenced to death.
Il pomo d'oro
The gods ask Trojan prince Paris to judge which of Venus, Juno, and Pallas is fairest and should receive the Golden Apple of Discord. Paris chooses Venus. The rejected goddesses seek revenge until Jupiter ends the conflict and awards the apple to Empress Margaret Theresa.
Il prigionier superbo
Metalce overthrows Sostrate and seeks to marry Ericlea while promising Sostrate’s daughter Rosmene to Viridate. Jealous rivalries lead to death sentences and battle, but Sostrate regains his throne, Ericlea accepts a repentant Metalce, and Viridate learns Rosmene acted under duress.
Il prigioniero
A prisoner regains hope when his jailer suggests that revolt in Flanders may bring freedom. He escapes through the prison and emerges into a garden, where the Grand Inquisitor reveals that the apparent escape was another deception; the prisoner wonders whether true freedom awaits him at the stake.
Il proscritto
Otto Nicolai’s opera was first performed in Italian as Il proscritto, with a German reworking titled Die Heimkehr des Verbannten premiered in 1844.
Il proscritto
In 17th-century Scotland under Cromwell, Malvina’s Royalist husband Giorgio was believed dead after a shipwreck. Her mother and half-brother encourage her to marry the Cromwellian Arturo, and the opera opens on their planned wedding day.
Il rapimento di Cefalo
Early Italian opera about the classical myth of Cephalus and Aurora. Most of the score is lost.
Il ratto della sposa
Gaudenzio is a spendthrift. His sister Aurora is in love with Gentilino, while Donna Ortensia has designs on her employee and her maid Dorina is attracted to Gaudenzio.
Il re
Rosalina is engaged to Colombello, but after seeing the King in his regal splendor she falls in love with him and breaks off the engagement. When she meets the King privately and sees him without his crown or clothes, her infatuation ends and she returns to Colombello.
Il re Teodoro in Venezia
Giovanni Paisiello’s comic opera with a libretto by Giovanni Battista Casti premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1784.
Il re pastore
The opera features Alessandro, king of Macedonia; Aminta, a shepherd and rightful heir to Sidon; Elisa, a noble nymph; Tamiri, a fugitive princess; and Agenore, a Sidonian nobleman.
Il re pastore
Alessandro seeks the rightful heir to Sidon and discovers that the shepherd Aminta is its king. Aminta and Elisa love one another, while Alessandro proposes political marriages that would separate them and Tamiri from Agenore; after hearing the couples plead, he relents, allows both couples to marry, and crowns Aminta.
Il ricco d’un giorno
A three-act Italian dramma giocoso by Antonio Salieri, with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte after an earlier work by Giovanni Bertati.
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
After the Trojan War, Ulisse returns to Ithaca, where Penelope remains beset by suitors. With Minerva’s help he disguises himself, reunites with his son Telemaco, defeats the suitors, and at last convinces Penelope of his identity.
Il ritorno di Don Calandrino
Don Calandrino, son of the podestà of Monte Secco, pretends to know everything but cannot reason well. Livietta, a wealthy peasant girl, tries to behave like a lady; Monsieur Le Blonde boasts of places he does not know; and Irene is simple and humble. After various turns, Don Calandrino pairs with Livietta, while Le Blonde pairs with Irene.
Il segreto di Susanna
Count Gil suspects his wife Susanna is having an affair when he smells tobacco in their home. Susanna admits a secret but withholds it, and Gil searches the house. After he returns repeatedly, he catches her smoking with their servant Sante; they reconcile and smoke together.
Il signor Bruschino
Sofia and Florville are in love, but her guardian Gaudenzio has arranged her marriage to Bruschino junior, whom she has never met. When the young man is detained at an inn over an unpaid bill, Florville takes his place. Bruschino senior arrives, but after a series of complications he accepts Florville as his son and Sofia’s husband.
Il signor Fagotto
Bertolucci plans to marry his daughter Clorinda to the antiquities dealer Caramello, although she loves her music tutor Fabricio. Bertolucci’s servant Bacòlo disguises himself as the admired composer Signor Fagotto, praises Fabricio’s music and wins Bertolucci’s approval; the deception is exposed, but both Clorinda and Bacòlo find partners.
Il sogno di Scipione
In a dream, Fortuna and Constanza offer to guide Scipio through life, but he must choose between worldly power and steadfast virtue. In the Temple of Heaven, he meets ancestral heroes and learns that he must return to Earth for a mission. He chooses Constanza, withstands Fortuna’s storm, and awakens; Licenza praises the choice and the work’s dedicatee, Archbishop Colloredo.
Il tabarro
As stevedores unload Michele’s barge on the Seine, his wife Giorgetta grows close to Luigi, a stevedore. Michele refuses her request to bring wine to the workers and becomes increasingly estranged from her. Luigi asks to be dismissed but later admits that he and Giorgetta plan to meet after dark and escape together. Michele remembers their dead child and the days when he could shelter his wife beneath his cloak. Suspecting her infidelity, he lights his pipe; Luigi mistakes the glow for Giorgetta’s signal and returns to the barge. Michele confronts him, forces him to confess the affair, strangles him, and hides his body under his cloak. When Giorgetta returns, Michele reveals Luigi’s body.
Il templario
In Scott’s Ivanhoe story, Vilfredo loves Ravena, while Rebecca falls in love with the wounded Vilfredo she nursed. The Templar Briano abducts Rebecca and she is condemned to die unless a champion defends her. Vilfredo defeats Briano, who is killed by a bolt from heaven; Rebecca confesses her love to Vilfredo, then dies when he tells her they cannot be together.
Il trionfo d'amore
For a celebration of King João V’s name-day, this pastoral serenata tells of Nerina’s planned marriage to Adraste. The gods frustrate the arrangement because Nerina loves Arsindo more.
Il trionfo dell’onore
Riccardo Albenori, a dissolute young man, flees to Pisa with his soldier friend after trouble in Lucca, where he seduced Leonora and then pursued Doralice. Leonora and Doralice both follow him. Leonora’s brother Erminio arrives and vows revenge. Riccardo plans to elope with Doralice, but Erminio challenges him to a duel. Wounded, Riccardo repents his former life and accepts Leonora’s hand in marriage.
Il trionfo di Clelia
The opera concerns the siege of Rome by Etruscan king Porsenna, who seeks to restore the monarchy, and Roman hostage Clelia, whose intended husband is republican ambassador Orazio.
Il trionfo di Clelia
During a siege of Rome, hostage Clelia rejects Tarquinio’s advances and uncovers his treacherous attack. After escaping across the Tiber, she exposes his guilt to King Porsenna, who makes peace with Rome and frees her.
Il trittico
A cycle of three one-act operas by Giacomo Puccini: Il tabarro, set on a barge on the Seine; Suor Angelica, set at a convent near Siena; and Gianni Schicchi, set in Florence. The works are linked by their treatment of the concealment of a death and contrast in tone, from dark drama to religious redemption and farce.
Il trovatore
Leonora loves the troubadour Manrico, while Count di Luna also seeks her. Manrico’s mother Azucena recounts that she abducted the Count’s infant brother to avenge her own mother’s execution but mistakenly burned her own child. The Count’s forces capture Azucena; Manrico is arrested while trying to save her. Leonora bargains with the Count for Manrico’s release but takes poison, and dies beside Manrico in prison. The Count then orders Manrico’s execution; Azucena reveals that Manrico was the Count’s brother and that she has been avenged.
Il turco in Italia
The poet Prosdocimo looks for a subject for a comic drama and hears Zaida’s story: she fled a Turkish harem after being falsely accused of infidelity but still loves Prince Selim. Selim arrives in Naples, where the married Fiorilla falls for him, while her admirer Narciso pursues her. Selim offers to buy Fiorilla from her husband, Geronio, who refuses. At a masked ball, Fiorilla mistakes Narciso for Selim, while Selim mistakes Zaida for Fiorilla. Selim leaves with Zaida, and Fiorilla returns home to find that Geronio has staged a divorce. He eventually forgives her, and the two couples reunite.
Il viaggio a Reims
A party of European travellers gathers at a spa hotel while journeying to Charles X’s coronation in Reims. A shortage of horses prevents them from continuing, but they learn the king will return to Paris and celebrations will take place there. The travellers resolve their rivalries and enjoy a banquet and musical festivities at the hotel.
Imelda de’ Lambertazzi
Imelda Lambertazzi loves Bonifacio Geremei, whose families are feuding. When Bonifacio proposes peace through marriage, Imelda’s father and brother oppose it. Her brother stabs Bonifacio with a poisoned dagger; Imelda sucks the poison from his wound and dies beside him.
Imeneo
After pirates abduct Athenian maidens, Imeneo rescues the captives and asks to marry Rosmene. She loves Tirinto but feels obliged to accept Imeneo out of gratitude. Pretending to receive a judgment from the underworld, she chooses Imeneo, and the chorus endorses reason and honor over passion.
In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa
Wolfgang Fortner’s two-act German chamber opera adapts Federico García Lorca’s play Amor de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín. Fortner characterized it as four images of an erotic valentine in the manner of a chamber play.
In the Penal Colony
A Visitor arrives at a remote penal colony to witness an execution by a machine that inscribes a prisoner’s crimes into his flesh before killing him. The Officer, devoted to the device and its dead inventor, hopes the Visitor will endorse its supposed redemptive purpose. The Visitor opposes the procedure but refuses to intervene. The Officer releases the prisoner and takes his own place in the machine. It malfunctions, kills him quickly, and destroys itself; the Visitor leaves the island.
In the Well
On Midsummer Eve, Lidunka hopes to see her beloved Vojtech reflected in the village well, following a custom said to reveal a girl’s future husband. Her mother favors the wealthy older Janek, and Lidunka consults Veruna, the village sorceress. Both suitors climb a tree to ensure their reflections appear, but Janek falls into the well just before Lidunka arrives. The confusion is eventually resolved, and Lidunka marries Vojtech.
Inferno
Dante journeys through episodes drawn from the Inferno, meeting assassins, thieves, sex workers, merchants, politicians, adulterers, friars, and nuns amid storms, abysses, and other extreme landscapes. The journey culminates in an encounter with Lucifer.
Inkle and Yarico
Shipwrecked English trader Inkle survives with the help of Yarico, an Indigenous woman, and they fall in love. On returning to his society, he plans to sell her into slavery to recover his losses and marry Narcissa for social advancement. Narcissa marries another man, and Inkle remains with Yarico.
Innocence
At a wedding in Helsinki, Tereza, a waitress and mother of a school-shooting victim, learns that groom Tuomas is the shooter’s brother. The action alternates between the wedding and the school ten years earlier, where students’ memories reveal that they bullied the shooter. Tuomas eventually discloses that he and Iris helped plan the attack but withdrew at the last moment; the shooter acted alone. Tuomas leaves Stela, while the ghost of Tereza’s daughter Markéta comforts her and asks her to move forward.
Intermezzo
Christine, left alone while her husband Robert is away conducting, befriends a young baron. A letter about an assignation leads her to believe Robert has been unfaithful, so she demands a divorce. Their friend Stroh explains that the letter concerned him, not Robert. Once the baron confirms this, Christine dismisses him, and she and Robert reconcile.
Into the Little Hill
The Crowd demands the extermination of the rats, and the Minister bargains with a mysterious Stranger to charm them away. After the Minister is re-elected, he refuses to pay, claiming the rats left freely. The Stranger departs, and the townspeople discover their children are missing; they are said to be inside the Little Hill.
Into the Storm
Khrennikov's Russian-language opera adapts Nikolai Virta's 1935 novel Loneliness. The opera received Stalin's approval and drew criticism from Dmitri Shostakovich.
Intolleranza 1960
A migrant leaves a mining village to return home, but police arrest him during a peace demonstration and torture him with other prisoners. He escapes with an Algerian prisoner. In the second part, he joins a woman in opposing war and disaster; they reach a flooded river near his homeland and drown together.
Io
Jupiter plans to woo the nymph Io disguised as shepherd Hylas, while Apollo courts her as Philemon. Io prefers Hylas but pities Philemon; when Jupiter disperses a storm, she realizes he is a god, and they declare their love. In the next scene La Folie announces that Apollo has abandoned Parnassus and she has stolen his lyre; the opera then breaks off.
Iolanta
Princess Iolanta has been blind since birth, but her father King René has kept this from her. Physician Ibn-Hakia says she can be cured only if she learns she is blind and wants to see. Count Vaudémont enters her garden and falls in love with her; when she cannot distinguish a red rose from a white one, he explains light and color. René threatens Vaudémont to motivate Iolanta, who agrees to treatment. It succeeds, and she rejoices in seeing the world. René releases her from her betrothal to Robert and gives her to Vaudémont.
Iolanthe
The fairy Iolanthe was banished for marrying a mortal and secretly raised their son Strephon, an Arcadian shepherd. Strephon loves Phyllis, a ward of the Lord Chancellor, who forbids their marriage while he and other peers seek to marry her. When Iolanthe’s embrace of Strephon is mistaken for a lover’s, Phyllis rejects him. Strephon gains political power through the fairies; later, Iolanthe reveals that the Lord Chancellor is her husband and Strephon’s father. The Fairy Queen is about to punish Iolanthe for breaking fairy law again, but the peers and fairies avert the sentences by changing the law so fairies must marry mortals.
Ipermestra
The page identifies the opera seria and its characters Danao, Ipermestra, Linceo, Elpinice, Plestene, and Adrasto, but provides no plot synopsis.
Ipermestra
Johann Adolph Hasse’s setting of Metastasio’s libretto draws on the myth underlying Aeschylus’ Suppliants. The available text does not describe the plot.
Iphigenia
Esperanza Spalding retells the Iphigenia myth through five manifestations of the heroine, each with a separate story. In Euripides’ account, Iphigenia’s father Agamemnon sacrifices her to secure favorable winds for the Greek fleet bound for Troy; Spalding’s version reimagines the myth.
Iphigenia en Tracia
A zarzuela by José de Nebra.
Iphigenia in Aulis
A German opera by Carl Heinrich Graun and Leopold Villati on the Iphigenia in Aulis subject. The entry provides no plot synopsis.
Iphigénie en Aulide
Agamemnon learns that he must sacrifice his daughter Iphigénie to secure winds for the Greek fleet sailing to Troy. He summons her to Aulis under the pretext of a marriage to Achilles, then tries to stop her arrival. Iphigénie and her mother Clytemnestre come despite his efforts. When the Greeks press for the sacrifice, Iphigénie accepts her fate, but Achilles intervenes and Calchas announces that Diana has relented and permits the marriage.
Iphigénie en Tauride
A French tragédie en musique based on Euripides’ Iphigeneia in Tauris.
Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigenia, a priestess of Diana in Tauris, learns that two shipwrecked Greeks are to be sacrificed. They are her brother Orestes and his friend Pylades, who have come to retrieve Diana’s statue. Iphigenia recognizes Orestes only as she is about to sacrifice him. King Thoas arrives intending to kill the siblings, but Pylades returns with Greeks who kill Thoas. Diana appears, pardons Orestes for killing his mother, and orders the statue returned to Greece.
Iphigénie en Tauride
A four-act French tragédie lyrique based on Claude Guimond de La Touche’s play and ultimately Euripides’ Iphigeneia in Tauris. In Piccinni’s version, King Thoas is in love with Iphigénie and is less barbaric than in Gluck’s opera.
Ippolito ed Aricia
A five-act Italian reform opera based on a libretto for Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, itself derived from Racine’s Phèdre.
Iris
Iris, the innocent daughter of the blind Il Cieco, lives happily with her father. Osaka, seeking adventure, arranges to have her kidnapped and taken to Kyoto’s geisha house in Yoshiwara. Osaka tries to seduce Iris but gives up and tells Kyoto to get rid of her. Kyoto displays her to the crowd; Il Cieco arrives, believes she abandoned him, and curses her. Iris becomes mad and throws herself into a sewer. The next morning she revives, hears the voices of Osaka, Kyoto, and her father, then dies as she feels the rising sun.
Irma
An experimental opera assembled from 93 phrases drawn from W. H. Mallock’s novel A Human Document and reworked by Tom Phillips. The phrases became sound suggestions, libretto, and staging directions; the work uses elements including dance episodes and a drinking chorus.
Irmelin
Princess Irmelin rejects the suitors chosen by her father while awaiting the dream lover foretold by a voice. Nils, a prince enslaved as a swineherd by robber chief Rolf, searches for her. He reaches the castle, meets Irmelin, and the two declare their love before disappearing together into the forest.
Iron Road
In 1880s Guangdong, Lai Gwan’s dying mother sends her to Canada to find her father. Disguised as a man, Lai Gwan travels to Canada and meets her father Manli without recognizing him. She is assigned dangerous railway work, and engineer James Nichol discovers her identity and protects her. After a worker dies, Lai Gwan leads a peaceful protest; Manli orders her hanged, but Nichol intervenes and reveals Manli as her father. In act two, Manli learns of his wife’s death and takes dynamite into a mountain. Lai Gwan and Nichol follow and are trapped by an explosion; Nichol dies after they profess love, while Manli survives. Years later, as the railway is completed, Manli and Lai Gwan perform funeral rites for the dead and are blessed to live together in peace.
Irrelohe
A curse on the castle of Irrelohe drives each lord to assault a woman and die insane. Peter learns he was born of the assault on his mother and fears he has inherited the madness; as Eva falls in love with the current lord, Heinrich, Peter tries to assault her at their wedding but is killed by Heinrich, who then looks toward a future with Eva.
Isabeau
King Raimondo seeks a husband for Isabeau, who refuses to choose. He forces her to ride naked through the city, where the people avert their eyes and demand that anyone who looks be blinded. The falconer Folco accidentally sees her and is imprisoned. Isabeau falls in love with him, but a mob kills Folco; Isabeau dies by suicide beside him.
Isabella d'Aspeno
Set in 14th-century Westphalia, the opera follows Isabella and a group of characters involved in forbidden love and political rivalry. As in Verdi's later Un ballo in maschera, a ruler is killed by his rival at a masked ball, and a mysterious gypsy fortune teller directs the heroine to gather herbs for a potion.
Isbé
Adamas, a chief Druid, conceives a passion for Isbé.
Isis
Io is promised in marriage to Hierax, but Jupiter pursues her and she yields despite her guilt. Juno imprisons and tortures Io; Jupiter promises to remain faithful to Juno if she spares her. Juno transforms Io into the goddess Isis.
Ismène et Isménias, ou La fête de Jupiter
A three-act tragédie lyrique that includes an abridged staging of Noverre’s ballet Médée et Jason in act two, featuring Medea, Creusa and Jason.
Isoline
Oberon curses Princess Isoline to become a man on her wedding night. She is kept in a castle but dreams of Prince Isolin, and the two fall in love. Oberon and Titania alternately manipulate them: Isoline believes she is ugly and rejects Isolin until she sees her reflection in his dagger. After a battle, Queen Amalasonthe consents to their marriage. Titania’s magic transforms the bride into a boy and the groom into a girl at their first kiss, allowing the pair to sail to Cythera. Oberon and Titania reconcile.
Issé
Apollo, disguised as shepherd Philémon, pursues the nymph Issé, while Pan takes an interest in Doris.
István király
A historical drama set during King Stephen I’s reign, concerning the death of his son Imre and the struggle between Christianity and paganism.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Desperate George Bailey encounters Clarence, an angel. Jake Heggie’s opera adapts the 1946 film, with a libretto by Gene Scheer.
Ivan IV
In the Caucasus, Ivan in disguise meets Marie, daughter of Circassian prince Temrouk. Russian soldiers seize her, and her brother Igor is chosen by lot to avenge the family. In Moscow, Ivan chooses Marie as his bride, but she refuses and takes protection from his sister Olga. Igor, Temrouk, and boyar Yorloff conspire against the tsar. Marie falls in love with Ivan but is horrified when Igor comes to kill him. A fire and attack disrupt the palace; Yorloff later claims regency, but Ivan exposes his plot and condemns him, while Marie and Igor are praised.
Ivan the Fool
Ivan empties his wagon to feed birds and shelter freezing tree stumps, and his family scolds him for neglecting his work. A magical horse provides him with suitable clothes to attend the Tsar’s feast, where Ivan is found with the princess’s kerchief and welcomed as the Tsar’s son-in-law. His brothers reconcile with him.
Ivanhoe
During the conflict between Saxons and Normans, Ivanhoe returns in disguise and wins a tournament, while Prince John’s allies abduct Rowena and Rebecca. King Richard and his supporters attack the captors’ stronghold; Rebecca is condemned for witchcraft, but Ivanhoe champions her and Sir Brian dies before he can strike. Rebecca is freed, and Ivanhoe reunites with Rowena.
Ivanhoé
This three-act French pastiche opera is based on Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe and draws on music from several operas by Gioachino Rossini.
JFK
Set during John F. Kennedy’s final night in Fort Worth before his assassination, the opera layers the events with Jackie Kennedy’s disorienting dream involving Clara Harris, Henry Rathbone, and the mythological Fates.
Jaakko Ilkka
Landowner Jaakko Ilkka becomes the leader of a peasant uprising against Klaus Fleming during the Cudgel War. The rebellion ends in Ilkka’s defeat after his own troops turn against him.
Jackie O
At a 1968 happening in Andy Warhol’s studio, Jackie meets Aristotle Onassis, prompting Maria Callas to realize he will leave her. Jackie and Onassis escape to see a film. A year after their marriage, Jackie grows melancholy on Onassis’s yacht and island. Callas seeks a reunion with Onassis, then reconciles with Jackie. They smash a paparazzo’s camera, after which Jackie communicates with her dead husband John F. Kennedy, forgives his infidelities, and decides to return to America.
Jacobowsky und der Oberst
A four-act German opera by Giselher Klebe based on Franz Werfel’s 1944 play of the same title, set in France in 1940.
Jag går i kloster
Heiress Julie must marry or enter a convent. Her childhood friend Sansdoute disguises himself as a monk and persuades her to marry him, while her other suitors accept the outcome.
Jaguarita l'Indienne
Jaguarita, queen of a native tribe, is held prisoner by the Dutch. She drugs her guard Maurice and kidnaps him as part of her escape; after falling in love with him, she gets her tribesmen drunk and manages to turn aside their attack on the Dutch settlement.
Jakob Lenz
A one-act chamber opera about poet Jakob Lenz, based on Georg Büchner’s novella, which itself draws on an incident in Lenz’s life.
Jane Annie
At a girls’ school near Oxford, the supposedly virtuous Jane Annie disrupts Bab’s attempt to elope and wins a conduct prize. She then uses hypnotism to arrange romantic pairings and to get the headmistress, proctor, and students to approve an end-of-term celebration and the couples’ escape.
Jane Eyre
A two-act opera based on Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. The entry gives no further account of the operatic plot.
Jane Eyre
A three-act opera by John Joubert, to a libretto by Kenneth Birkin based on Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. The opera was composed from 1987 to 1997; the revised version received its world premiere in Birmingham in 2016. No plot description is available in the reviewed text.
Jane Eyre
An opera by Louis Karchin with a libretto by Diane Osen based on Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. The listed roles include Jane Eyre, Mr Rochester, Blanche Ingram, and St John Rivers; no plot synopsis is available in the reviewed text.
Janek
In the eighteenth-century Tatra Mountains, robber leader Janek arrives wounded at Bronka’s cottage and falls for her, though she is engaged to Stach. Jealous of the growing romance, Janek’s own betrothed Marynka urges Stach to violence.
Jardín de Oriente
Set in a North African sultan’s palace and gardens, the opera recounts the love story between one of the sultan’s wives and the man who defeats him in battle.
Jason, ou La toison d’or
A tragédie lyrique based on the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece in Apollonius of Rhodes’s Argonautica.
Jean de Nivelle
Jean, a duke hiding as a shepherd to escape a forced marriage, attracts Arlette’s love and Simone’s suspicion. At court, he kills Saladin while defending Arlette, but is accused of rebellion. After fighting on Charolais’s side, Jean loses his courage before battle; the king pardons him, and he leaves with Arlette.
Jean de Paris
The Princess of Navarre travels to marry the Dauphin, who arrives at her inn disguised as Jean de Paris. She recognizes her bridegroom and plays along with his assumed identity; after a shared meal and songs, he reveals himself as the Dauphin.
Jeanie Deans
Based loosely on Walter Scott’s The Heart of Midlothian, the opera follows Jeanie Deans and her sister Effie. It ends with Effie’s release from Edinburgh’s Tolbooth prison.
Jefferson & Poe
Set at Monticello on a March evening in the early nineteenth century, the opera portrays two love stories: one between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, and another between Edgar Allan Poe and Jefferson and Hemings’s daughter.
Jenůfa
Jenůfa is secretly pregnant by Števa, who is to inherit the mill. Her stepbrother Laca, who loves her, slashes her cheek after she defends Števa. After the child is born, Števa refuses to acknowledge him and becomes engaged to another woman. Jenůfa’s stepmother, the Kostelnička, tells her that the baby died and drowns him. When the child’s body is found, the Kostelnička confesses. Jenůfa forgives her, and Laca promises to remain with Jenůfa.
Jephtas Gelübde
An opera based on the biblical story of Jephthah in the Book of Judges.
Jephté
Jephté vows to sacrifice the first person he sees on returning from battle if he wins. That person is his daughter Iphise, who loves Ammon, a captive leader of the Ephraimites. Jephté tells her of his vow, and she accepts her fate despite Ammon’s offer to rescue her. As the Israelites prepare the sacrifice, Ammon and his men attempt to intervene but are struck by a bolt from Heaven. The priest declares that God is pleased with Iphise and spares her life.
Jeppe: The Cruel Comedy
Writer Jeppe Verflucht, once rejected by media mogul Harry Schoenberg, is placed on Schoenberg’s reality show and made to believe he is in heaven in the 1920s. The show also entangles him with Schoenberg’s unhappy wife Beatrice, while Jeppe’s wife Dolly is having an affair with Erik, one of the camera operators. The story ends with Jeppe and Beatrice together and Schoenberg publishing Jeppe’s novel.
Jessika
A Czech-language opera based on Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and named for the character Jessica.
Jessonda
Jessonda, a rajah’s widow, is ordered to die on his funeral pyre. Nadori, the young Brahmin sent to deliver the order, loves her sister Amazili and vows to save Jessonda. Portuguese general Tristan d’Acunha discovers that she was his former love; after a breach of the truce gives him an opening, he rescues her before the chief Brahmin can carry out the sacrifice.
Joanna
In Madras, Amélie lives with her husband under the name Joanna, while he works as a carpenter under the name Charles. Charles grows jealous of the young officer Édouard and challenges him to a duel. The governor intervenes and discovers that Charles and Édouard are both his sons. Édouard is only lightly wounded, and the brothers embrace.
Jocelyn
A four-act opera set in Grenoble and the surrounding mountains during Corpus Christi at the close of the eighteenth century, based on a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine.
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