La Viriate
A distinct musical setting of Pietro Metastasio’s Siface re di Numidia libretto by Michelangelo Valentini. Performed during the 1761 Carnival at Teatro Omodeo, Pavia. The source provides no version-specific plot description.
Operas
3280 shows
Clear filtersLa Wally
Wally loves the hunter Giuseppe Hagenbach, but her father orders her to marry Vincenzo Gellner or leave home. After her father dies, Wally learns that Hagenbach is engaged to the innkeeper Afra. When Hagenbach wins a bet to kiss Wally, she becomes furious and orders Gellner to kill him. Gellner throws Hagenbach into a ravine, but Wally rescues him. Later, in the Alps, Hagenbach returns and confesses his love. As he seeks a safe path down the mountain, his call triggers an avalanche that carries him away. Wally throws herself from the precipice.
La barcarolle, ou L’amour et la musique
A three-act opéra comique by Daniel Auber and Eugène Scribe. The entry does not describe its plot.
La battaglia di Legnano
Arrigo returns to Milan after being presumed dead and finds that Lida, his former love, has married his friend Rolando. Arrigo joins the Knights of Death to fight the German emperor Federico Barbarossa. When Rolando discovers Lida’s note to Arrigo, he locks the pair in a tower to keep Arrigo from battle. Arrigo escapes and fights; after the Lombard League’s victory, he dies after assuring Rolando that Lida was faithful.
La bella dormente nel bosco
The opera is based on Charles Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty and features a princess, prince, king, queen, fairies, and other fairy-tale characters.
La belle Arsène
A French opéra comique, first presented in three acts and later revised into four.
La bohème
In Paris, the poet Rodolfo meets Mimì, a seamstress, and they fall in love. They join his fellow bohemian artists at Café Momus, where Marcello reunites with Musetta. Later, Rodolfo and Mimì separate because he fears her illness will worsen in poverty, but they agree to stay together through the winter. When Mimì returns gravely ill, the friends try to comfort her; she dies in the garret as Rodolfo mourns.
La bohème
In Paris, innkeeper Gaudenzio tries to evict the Bohemians, who cannot pay their bill, until Barbemuche pays for them. After Musette’s lover stops paying her debts, her furniture is seized, and the Bohemians gather in her courtyard, where a quarrel with the neighbors becomes a fight. Musette decides to leave Marcello, while Mimì leaves Rodolfo for Count Paul but later returns. In Rodolfo’s garret, Mimì arrives near death. Musette sells her jewels to buy fuel, but Mimì dies as the Christmas chimes sound.
La bonne d’enfant
Dorothée is tired of nannying and hopes marriage will make her mistress of her own home. While her employers are out, the fireman Mitouflard and chimney sweep Gargaillou both court her, leading to comic complications. She chooses Brin d’Amour, a trumpeter in the Royal Dragoons, and invites both suitors to the wedding.
La buona figliuola
Cecchina, a maid, is loved by the Marquis of Conchiglia, but their match is opposed because of her apparent social status. After jealous rivals and a succession of complications, a German soldier reveals that Cecchina is a baron’s daughter, allowing the couple to marry.
La caduta de’ giganti
The two-act dramma per musica concerns the fall of the giants.
La cambiale di matrimonio
English merchant Tobias Mill arranges a marriage contract between his daughter Fanny and Canadian businessman Slook. Fanny is secretly in love with the poor Edoardo, and she rejects Slook when he arrives. Edoardo joins her in threatening Slook, who retreats. Learning that Fanny is already in love and that Mill is treating the marriage like a business deal, Slook refuses to go through with the contract. Mill challenges him to a duel. Slook discovers Fanny and Edoardo embracing, hears their situation and promises to make Edoardo his heir so they can marry. Before the duel, Slook secretly replaces Mill’s pistol with a peace pipe. With the household pleading for an end to Mill’s financial pretensions, Slook persuades him to consent to the marriage.
La campana sommersa
When the Faun throws Enrico’s church bell into a lake, the bell maker despairs. Elf Rautendelein enters the human world and restores his strength. They fall in love, and Enrico abandons his wife Magda, who kills herself by jumping into the lake. Hearing the bell ring underwater, Enrico rejects Rautendelein. She becomes Ondino’s wife; later, as Enrico is dying, she visits him once more and kisses him.
La canterina
The singer Gasparina and her mother Apollonia take advantage of two suitors: Don Ettore, who courts Gasparina with stolen gifts, and Don Pelagio, her singing teacher and benefactor. The men discover the deception and threaten to evict the women. Gasparina persuades Don Pelagio to forgive them, then feigns a faint to secure more money and jewels. The men recognize her greed but still hand over their riches.
La capricciosa corretta
Over one day in a villa near Naples, the vain Ciprigna makes life miserable for her husband Bonario, his children, and their servants. Fiuta, Bonario's major domo, devises a series of schemes to curb her behavior. Ciprigna flirts with Lelio, who loves Isabella, and later plans to have Isabella abducted. Fiuta disguises himself as an ambassador who promises Ciprigna an imaginary kingdom. After being locked out in a storm, she asks forgiveness and agrees to change; the family reconciles.
La caravane du Caire
On a caravan to Cairo, Saint-Phar wins his freedom by helping the slave trader Husca repel an attack, but Husca keeps Saint-Phar’s wife Zélime enslaved. The Pasha buys her for his harem, and Saint-Phar attempts to rescue her. The Pasha’s guest Florestan discovers that Saint-Phar is his lost son, and the Pasha releases the couple so the family can reunite.
La casa disabitata
Callisto uses an allegedly haunted house for smuggling and keeps the orphan Annetta there, hoping to marry her. The owner, Don Raimondo, offers the house rent-free to a poor tenant, and poet Eutichio arrives with his jealous wife. Disguises and mistaken identities expose Callisto’s schemes. Raimondo and Annetta agree to marry, while Eutichio and his wife reconcile.
La casa imaginaria
Spanish-language opera by Gustavo Díaz-Jerez based on Pilar Mateos’s short story of the same title.
La catena d'Adone
Adone flees from Mars and takes refuge in the realm of the enchantress Falsirena. She falls in love with him and keeps him captive with an invisible magic chain, then disguises herself as Venere to discover whom he loves. The real goddess arrives, frees Adone, and binds Falsirena to a rock with her own chain.
La caverne
Alvar plans to elope with Léonore, but a coach accident delays him. Her fiancé, who is Alvar's friend, offers him a sedan chair. Meanwhile, Gil Blas robs Léonore's uncle Ambrosio. In a robbers' cavern, Gil Blas frees the kidnapped Léonore, and she and her rescuers escape. In the forest, the characters reunite amid gunshots, and the story ends to everyone's satisfaction.
La caverne, ou Le repentir
Gil Blas is captured by robber Rolando’s band and held in their cavern with noblewoman Séraphine. Her husband is captured while searching for her in disguise. Rolando repents and discovers he is Séraphine’s brother. Gil Blas escapes and returns with a rescue party, who free the prisoners.
La cena delle beffe
In Renaissance Florence, Giannetto engineers an elaborate revenge on Neri and Gabriello after they humiliate him and Neri takes his mistress Ginevra. Neri is driven to genuine madness; believing Gabriello is Giannetto, he kills both Gabriello and Ginevra, then realizes the truth.
La chanson de Fortunio
The elderly lawyer Fortunio suspects his young wife Laurette of an affair with his clerk Valentin and plans to dismiss him. When the clerks sing the old song Fortunio once used to seduce his employer’s wife, Fortunio recognizes his own hypocrisy. The song then magically wins new girlfriends for the clerks.
La chatte métamorphosée en femme
Guido’s cat Minette is transformed into a woman by the conjurer Dig-Dig, who claims she contains a beautiful young woman’s soul. Minette behaves like a cat and repeatedly threatens to leave; Dig-Dig and Marianne eventually reveal that Minette is Guido’s cousin and Dig-Dig is his uncle’s intendant, prompting Guido to reconsider marriage.
La chute de la maison Usher
Roderick Usher lives in his crumbling ancestral home with his twin sister Madeline and her doctor. Roderick’s friend arrives. After Madeline is found dead and buried in a vault, the friend reads Roderick a medieval tale as a storm rises. At its climax, Madeline appears bloodied: she was buried alive and drags her brother to his death. The house collapses as the friend escapes. Debussy’s version heightens Roderick’s incestuous feelings and makes the doctor, his rival for Madeline, more sinister.
La cifra
Scottish lord Fideling searches for a lost noblewoman he once loved. Mayor’s daughter Lisotta is betrothed to Sandrino but believes she is the woman he seeks, while shepherdess Eurilla loves Fideling; Eurilla’s noble birth is revealed, and she and Fideling reunite.
La cigale et la fourmi
In eighteenth-century Flanders, prudent Charlotte and impulsive Thérèse are cousins. Thérèse leaves the village for Bruges, becomes a florist and then an opera singer under a duke’s patronage. She discovers that the duke and Frantz have used her as cover for their affair with the duchess. Thérèse publicly exposes the deception and leaves the city. Months later, she returns exhausted and dreams that her family rejects her; they find and comfort her. Frantz’s love proves sincere, and Thérèse accepts his proposal.
La circassienne
Lieutenant Alexis Zouboff once escaped a Russian general’s advances by disguising himself as Prascovia. When he revives the disguise during an amateur play, he is captured with Olga by a Circassian sultan, but the sultan’s other wives help them escape. Back in Moscow, Alexis wins Olga’s hand, while their friend Lanskoi invents letters that convince Orsakoff that Prascovia has died for love of him.
La clemenza di Tito
Antonio Caldara’s original setting of Metastasio’s libretto La clemenza di Tito, featuring the Roman emperor Tito and the characters Sesto, Annio, Vitellia, Servilia, and Publio.
La clemenza di Tito
Set in Rome in 79 AD, Vitellia persuades Sextus, who loves her, to join a plot to assassinate Emperor Titus. The Capitol burns, but Titus survives. Sextus is exposed and condemned by the Senate; Titus tears up the death sentence. Vitellia confesses her role, and Titus pardons the conspirators, including her, and grants a double wedding for Sextus and Vitellia and for Annius and Servilia.
La clemenza di Tito
Vitellia plots revenge against Emperor Tito by persuading Sesto to assassinate him. The conspiracy fails, and the Senate condemns Sesto, but Tito tears up the death warrant and extends clemency to both Sesto and Vitellia after she confesses; marriages unite the two couples.
La clemenza di Tito
Vitellia, daughter of a deposed emperor, seeks revenge against Tito and persuades Sesto, who loves her, to join a plot against him. Sesto takes part in an attack on the Capitol, believing Tito has been killed, but the emperor survives. The Senate condemns Sesto, and Tito initially accepts the verdict. After wrestling with the decision, Tito destroys the execution warrant and chooses mercy. Vitellia confesses that she instigated the plot; Tito pardons her as well as Sesto, and the people praise his generosity.
La contadina in corte
A two-act Italian opera buffa, originally an intermezzo for four roles, composed by Antonio Sacchini to a libretto by Niccolò Tassi.
La corona
Princess Atalanta decides to free Kalydon from the Calydonian boar. She wounds it so Prince Meleagro can kill it, then insists he receive the credit. They ultimately dedicate the honor to Diana.
La costanza trionfante degl’amori e degl’odii
An Italian dramma per musica by Antonio Vivaldi, revived in 1718 under the title Artabano, re de’ Parti.
La cour de Célimène
A widowed Countess enjoys the attention of twelve suitors, while her sister the Baroness disapproves. When the Countess’s engagement to the Commander is revealed, he and a new Chevalier challenge each other to a duel; the Countess keeps each suitor hoping until the Commander and Chevalier instead turn toward the Baroness, then accepts the Commander herself.
La croce d’oro
Henrique Oswald’s first opera is a three-act Italian work whose 237-page manuscript score contains recitatives, arias, duets, quartets, choruses, and intermezzi.
La créole
In 1685, sea-captain Adhémar plans to marry his ward Antoinette to his nephew René, though Antoinette loves the lawyer Frontignac and René longs for Dora, a Creole girl he met in Guadeloupe. When Adhémar returns with Dora, Antoinette and René pretend to be married to conceal their own arrangements. A letter aboard ship leads Adhémar to permit René and Dora to wed.
La dama boba
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s three-act commedia lirica adapts Lope de Vega’s 1613 play La dama boba. The available text does not provide the plot.
La dame blanche
In Scotland, Anna disguises herself as the White Lady to protect the Avenel estate from steward Gaveston. She guides the English officer Georges Brown to buy the estate at auction and later discovers he is the missing Julien Avenel. With the Avenel treasure revealed, Julien and Anna are reunited.
La danza
At sunset shepherd Tirsi bids farewell to Nice, who is leaving to dance. He admits jealousy of her other admirers; after an argument, the lovers swear fidelity.
La descente d'Orphée aux enfers
After Euridice dies from a snakebite on their wedding day, Orphée follows her to the underworld. His music soothes the condemned and persuades Pluton to let him return with Euridice, provided he does not look back at her before they leave the realm of the dead.
La diavolessa
Poor lovers Giannino and Dorina scheme with innkeeper Falco to deceive treasure-seeker Don Poppone. Poppone mistakes them and the visiting Count and Countess for other guests, including Turks, amid a series of misunderstandings. Disguised as devils, Dorina and Giannino terrify and beat Poppone while pretending to search for his treasure. After the truth emerges, Falco explains the deception; Giannino inherits a fortune, Poppone forgives the couple, and agrees to marry Ghiandina.
La divisione del mondo
After the Titans are defeated, the Olympian gods divide the world. Venus drives the central conflict by tempting the other gods into debauchery; Saturn is the exception.
La donna del lago
King James, traveling in disguise as Uberto, falls in love with Elena, who loves Malcolm but is betrothed to rebel leader Rodrigo. During the Scottish uprising Rodrigo is killed, while Elena uses Uberto’s ring to plead for her father and Malcolm; the king pardons them and blesses Elena and Malcolm’s union.
La donna serpente
King Altidòr falls in love with fairy Miranda. Her father curses him that if he curses her, she will turn into a snake.
La falena
The source identifies the principal characters as Albina, King Stellio, Uberto and Falena, and refers to a conflict between a virtuous king and an evil protagonist.
La fanciulla del West
During the California Gold Rush, Minnie runs the Polka saloon and guards the gold the miners have collected. She becomes close to Dick Johnson, whom she had met earlier, and learns that he is the bandit Ramerrez. When Sheriff Jack Rance captures Johnson, Minnie wagers her future against Rance at poker and wins his release. Johnson is captured again, but Minnie persuades the miners to spare him by reminding them of all she has done for them. They forgive him, and Minnie and Johnson leave California to begin a new life.
La farsa amorosa
Riccardo Zandonai’s three-act comic opera adapts Alarcón’s novel El sombrero de tres picos. The libretto moves the action to Lombardy while retaining Spanish names and includes two love-lorn donkeys, Ciccio and Checca.
La fausse esclave
An intrigue is devised to secure a father’s consent to his daughter’s marriage.
La fauvette du temple
In 1840, flower-seller Thérèse’s fiancé Pierre is sent to Algeria for military service. She follows him with her friend Zélie and singing teacher Saint-Angénor; after a series of captures and rescues, Pierre and Thérèse reunite.
La favorite
Fernand leaves a monastery to seek the woman he loves, Léonor, without knowing she is the mistress of Alphonse, King of Castile. After Fernand distinguishes himself in battle, the king agrees to his request to marry Léonor. She tries to tell Fernand about her past, but her messenger is arrested, and Fernand learns the truth only after the wedding. He breaks his sword and leaves her to return to religious life. The king’s wife dies, and Léonor arrives at the monastery exhausted. Fernand finally accepts her, but she collapses and dies in his arms.
La fedeltà premiata
In Cumae, lovers are sacrificed to a lake monster until a faithful lover offers his life. The priest Melibeo manipulates several couples in pursuit of Amaranta and tries to arrange a match between Celia and Lindoro. Celia is in love with Fileno, who believes she is dead. Melibeo frames Celia and the cowardly Count Perrucchetto as lovers and sends them to be sacrificed. Fileno offers his own life to save Celia; the monster becomes Diana, who accepts his selfless act and ends the city’s curse. Diana strikes down Melibeo, and the three couples unite.
La festa d'Imeneo
Nicola Porpora’s serenata, with a libretto by Paolo Rolli, was composed to mark the marriage of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. The available text does not provide its plot.
La fiamma
Silvana, daughter of a woman accused of witchcraft, loves her stepson Donello. After her husband Basilio dies, his mother accuses Silvana of causing his death by sorcery. Unable to swear an oath of innocence, Silvana is condemned as a witch.
La fida ninfa
An opera by Vivaldi to a libretto by Scipione Maffei.
La fiera di Venezia
A three-act Italian opera buffa, or commedia per musica, by Antonio Salieri with a libretto by Giovanni Gastone Boccherini.
La figlia del mago
Prince Tenor returns from an exotic land with Princess Soprano, but his father King Baritone rejects her as a foreigner and daughter of a sorcerer. Her father King Bass tries to take her home and magically turns exotic animals against Baritone’s court. Tenor saves his father but is still denied permission to marry. That night King Bass’s sea monster attacks Baritone, and Tenor drives it away. Baritone wakes, sees Tenor with a sword and falsely accuses him of attempted patricide, condemning the couple to death. King Bass arrives to rescue Soprano, who takes his wand and enchants the two fathers into a frantic dance until they consent to the marriage. Everyone celebrates.
La figlia di Iorio
At a wedding in Lama dei Peligni, villagers accuse Mila of witchcraft and demand her death. Aligi, who loves her, breaks off his arranged marriage and leaves with her for a cave. He travels to Rome to appeal to the Pope. While Aligi is away, the villagers burn Mila alive.
La fille du régiment
During the Napoleonic Wars, Marie, a canteen girl raised by the Twenty-First Regiment after being found as a baby, falls in love with Tyrolean Tonio. The Marquise of Berkenfield takes Marie to her castle and tells her she is the daughter of an aristocratic family. Marie is later revealed to be the Marquise’s own daughter. After the regiment arrives and recounts Marie’s upbringing, the Marquise accepts her love for Tonio and consents to their marriage.
La fille du tambour-major
During the French occupation of northern Italy, convent pupil Stella falls in love with Lieutenant Robert. She discovers that her true father is Monthabor, the French drum-major, and rejects the aristocratic identity imposed on her. After disguises and military reversals thwart a forced marriage to Bambini, Stella and Robert reunite, while Claudine pairs with Griolet.
La finta giardiniera
An opera by Pasquale Anfossi to the libretto commonly attributed to Giuseppe Petrosellini, though another attribution is reported. This is Anfossi’s setting, distinct from Mozart’s later opera to the same libretto. No plot description is available in the reviewed text.
La finta giardiniera
The Marchioness Violante, presumed dead after Belfiore stabbed her, hides as the gardener Sandrina with her servant Roberto. At Don Anchise’s estate she encounters Belfiore, now engaged to Arminda. After Arminda abducts her, Violante and Belfiore lose their senses, then recover and reunite; Arminda returns to Ramiro and Roberto pairs with Serpetta.
La finta parigina
A three-act Italian comic opera about the amorous misadventures of a group that includes the innkeeper Cardillo, his sister Rosalina, local nobles, a French doctor, and Donna Armida, called the “fake Parisienne.”
La finta pazza
On Skyros, Achilles lives disguised as a princess to escape the coming Trojan War. His lover Deidamia, with whom he has a son, feigns madness to keep him on the island when Ulysses and Diomedes arrive seeking allies. Achilles and Deidamia marry and leave together.
La finta pazza Licori
Unfinished comic opera about Licori, who disguises herself first as a man and then as a woman and feigns madness to win her lover Aminta.
La finta savia
A sequel to La finta pazza, this opera uses a Latin story that looks toward the future founding of Rome.
La finta semplice
At Cassandro’s estate near Cremona, Fracasso and Simone love Giacinta and Ninetta, but the brothers Cassandro and Polidoro oppose marriage. Rosina feigns naïveté, makes both brothers fall for her, and helps secure the couples’ marriages. The brothers believe Giacinta and Ninetta have fled with the family money and promise the finder a marriage and the loot. In the end, the young couples are united; Rosina marries Cassandro, leaving Polidoro alone.
La forza del destino
Leonora and Don Alvaro plan to elope, but when her father discovers them, Alvaro’s pistol accidentally kills him. Leonora and Alvaro are separated, and her brother Carlo seeks revenge. Leonora takes refuge as a hermit, while Alvaro joins the Spanish army under an assumed name and becomes friends with Carlo, who is also disguised. Carlo discovers Alvaro’s identity, and the two men repeatedly confront each other. In the revised ending, Carlo mortally wounds Leonora before Alvaro can reunite with her; the Father Superior urges Alvaro to seek forgiveness. In the original version, Alvaro kills Carlo and then throws himself into a ravine.
La fuga in maschera
Comic opera by Gaspare Spontini; the plot is not summarized.
La fée Urgèle, ou Ce qui plaît aux dames
Knight Robert is imprisoned in a seventh-century French court controlled by women and must answer the question of what gives women the most pleasure. He must agree to marry an old woman, who is transformed into the beautiful Marton.
La gazza ladra
Ninetta, a servant, is in love with Giannetto, whose mother Lucia accuses her of stealing a silver spoon. Ninetta is also hiding her father Fernando, a deserter sentenced to death. She sells family silver to help him, and the mayor uses the transaction to strengthen the theft accusation. Ninetta is tried and condemned. Fernando arrives with a royal pardon, while Pippo and Antonio discover that a magpie took the missing silver. Ninetta is released and reunited with Giannetto.
La gazzetta
Don Pomponio travels in search of a husband for his daughter Lisetta and advertises in newspapers. A succession of unsuitable suitors appears, including a Quaker and a hotel waiter. Pomponio eventually abandons his search and allows Lisetta to marry Filippo, her lover and the suitor he has resisted.
La grand’tante
After returning from military service in Africa, Guy de Kerdrel claims an inheritance from a great-uncle he never met. He learns that the widow Alice had burned an unsigned will leaving the estate to her, allowing Guy to inherit. Guy has fallen in love with Alice and gives her the great-uncle’s portrait as a keepsake. A signed version of the will is found hidden in its frame; Alice doubts Guy’s honesty, but he leaves her the property and promises to return.
La grotta di Trofonio
Two sisters love two friends with contrasting temperaments. The magician Trofonio invites the pairs into his cave, where he reverses their personalities, first the men’s and then the women’s; the confusion is eventually resolved happily.
La guirlande
Shepherds Zélide and Myrtil each have a magic garland that remains fresh while they are faithful to each other. When Myrtil falls for Amaryllis, his garland withers. He places it at Cupid’s altar, hoping it will be restored. Zélide switches his garland with her own, so Myrtil believes the god has revived it, while hers appears wilted. He refuses to believe she was unfaithful, and both garlands are restored.
La hija de Rappaccini
In Padua, medical student Giovanni lodges in Isabela’s home and sees Dr. Rappaccini’s daughter Beatriz in her father’s garden. Beatriz’s touch is poisonous, and Giovanni becomes ill after meeting her. Baglioni warns him that Beatriz is dangerous and gives him an antidote. Giovanni returns to the garden, where Rappaccini claims his experiments have cured both young people and warns that the antidote will kill them. Beatriz takes the vial and drinks it despite their protests; she dies.
La jacquerie
In 1358, during the Jacquerie uprisings, Robert loves the aristocratic Blanche. He tries to protect her from the mob, is wounded, and dies in Blanche's arms.
La jolie fille de Perth
Blacksmith Henry Smith loves Catherine Glover, who catches the attention of the Duke of Rothsay. Mab, Queen of the Gypsies, helps the Duke deceive Smith by appearing at his ball disguised as Catherine. Smith believes Catherine betrayed him, but Mab later helps restore Catherine’s sanity, and the couple reconcile.
La jolie parfumeuse
On her wedding night, perfume seller Rose is led to the home of her husband’s wealthy godfather, La Cocardière, who attempts to seduce her. She adopts the identity of a Toulouse dancer and later teases her suspicious husband, Bavolet, while La Cocardière’s mistress Clorinde searches the shop for him; the misunderstandings resolve with the couples paired off.
La journée aux aventures
Méhul's three-act opéra comique was a major success at the Opéra-Comique and helped remedy the theatre's financial problems. It was later revived in a German translation in Berlin.
La leggenda di Sakùntala
King Dushyanta meets Sakùntala at her forest monastery and gives her a ring before leaving. A curse makes him forget her; pregnant Sakùntala arrives at court but has lost the ring, and the King does not recognize her. A fisherman returns the ring, restoring the King’s memory, but Sakùntala has been taken to heaven, leaving their infant son with the King.
La lettera anonima
On the day Countess Rosina and Captain Filinto plan to marry, an anonymous letter claims that he is already married to someone else. The letter is eventually proved false, and the wedding preparations resume.
La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina
The sorceress Melissa, disguised as a man, seeks to free Ruggiero from the spells of the evil sorceress Alcina.
La llama
Usandizaga's Spanish-language opera was left unfinished and completed by his brother Ramón. Its final three-act form was produced posthumously in San Sebastián in 1918.
La magicienne
Mélusine, bound by a pact with the sorcerer Stello, falls in love with René and uses magic to make him believe that his fiancée Blanche has betrayed him. When Stello exposes her deception, René leaves her and seeks Blanche's forgiveness. Mélusine repents and asks Blanche to forgive her. As demons try to drag her to hell, Mélusine proclaims her Christian faith and dies in Blanche's arms.
La maison du docteur
A one-act French opéra comique by Georges Bizet with libretto by Henry Boisseaux. The surviving music is in piano-score form; an orchestration of the score was performed in 2012.
La marquise de Brinvilliers
The Marquise separates Hortense and Arthur, who love one another, and arranges Hortense’s marriage to Vernillac. Her poisoning scheme kills Vernillac, and she later poisons her accomplice Galifard. Before the Marquise can permanently separate the lovers, Galifard exposes her crimes and she is taken to trial.
La mort d’Abel
In the later shortened version, Cain’s family pleads with him to reconcile with Abel. Cain agrees, but the demon Anamalech curses their happiness and destroys Cain’s altar. Anamalech shows Cain a vision of his descendants’ suffering and gives him a club from Hell. Abel urges Cain to return to the family, but Cain kills him during a storm. Cain confesses, descends into guilt and madness, and flees with his family; angels carry Abel to heaven.
La mort d’Adam
A three-act French tragédie lyrique on a biblical theme, combining material from Klopstock, Genesis, and Paradise Lost.
La morte d'Orfeo
After failing to save Eurydice from the underworld, Orpheus renounces wine and the love of women. Bacchus, offended by this, urges his female followers to kill him, and the Maenads tear Orpheus apart. The gods invite him to Olympus, but he wants to reunite with Eurydice in Hades. Mercury shows him that she no longer remembers him after drinking from Lethe, and Orpheus agrees to ascend to Olympus.
La morte di Cesare
Cassio, Bruto and Porzia lead a conspiracy to murder Giulio Cesare in Rome. Cesare’s loving relationship with Calfurnia forms a subplot; the assassination itself is not shown, and the body remains visible during the closing scenes.
La muette de Portici
Fenella, a mute woman seduced by Alfonso, reveals his betrayal to his bride Elvire and her brother Masaniello. Masaniello leads a Neapolitan uprising against Spanish rule, but refuses to kill Alfonso and protects him and Elvire. Poisoned by the rebels, Masaniello dies fighting as Vesuvius erupts; Fenella leaps to her death, and the nobles regain control of Naples.
La naissance de la lyre
The newborn Hermes steals his brother Apollo’s cattle. Led by Silenus, the satyrs track Hermes down and discover that he has made a lyre from one animal’s horns. Apollo is delighted by the instrument, adopts it and forgives his young brother.
La naissance d’Osiris
Egyptian shepherds celebrate a peaceful land and make offerings to Jupiter. After a storm frightens them, the high priest assures them the god is pleased. Jupiter descends and announces the birth of the hero Osiris, promising peace; the priests and shepherds celebrate, and Cupid remains to rule the earth.
La nave
An opera in a prologue and three episodes adapted from Gabriele D’Annunzio’s play of the same title.
La nonne sanglante
Agnès and Rodolphe love one another despite the feud between their families. They plan to elope with Agnès disguised as the ghost of a murdered nun. Rodolphe mistakenly marries the actual ghost, who later reveals that she can be released only when her murderer is killed. At a wedding feast, she identifies Rodolphe’s father Ludorf as her killer. When Moldaw’s retainers plan to abduct Rodolphe, Ludorf impersonates his son and is murdered in his place. The nun accepts his sacrifice and ascends to heaven.
La notte di un nevrastenico
One-act opera by Nino Rota to a libretto by Riccardo Bacchelli.
La part du diable
Singer Carlo Broschi protects his sister Casilda from the Spanish court and helps her lover Raphael by pretending to be the Devil and sharing his winnings. When the king orders Raphael’s death and the deception is exposed, Carlo secures their happiness by revealing the truth.
La pastorella nobile
The shepherdess Eurilla is pursued by Marchese Astolfo, who is engaged to Donna Florida. Eurilla is attracted to Don Calloandro, son of the mayor, Don Polibio.
La perle du Brésil
Zora, a young Brazilian brought to Portugal by Admiral Salvador, becomes a favorite at court. She and Lieutenant Lorenz fall in love, and he follows her disguised aboard the ship taking her back to Brazil. When local people threaten the crew, Zora’s song calms them, and Salvador consents to her marriage with Lorenz.
La permission de dix heures
Soldier Larose Pompon wants to marry Nicole, but her wealthy aunt Madame Jobin forbids it until she remarries. Larose tries to pair Jobin with Sergeant Lanternick, but a series of mistaken identities leads each soldier to court the wrong woman. The confusion ultimately brings Lanternick and Jobin together, clearing the way for Larose and Nicole.
La pietra del paragone
At his country villa, Count Asdrubale is unsure whether three women who claim to love him are sincere, and whether Clarice prefers him or his friend Giocondo. With his majordomo Fabrizio, he pretends to have lost his fortune and disguises himself as the creditor who has acquired his estate. Fulvia and Aspasia leave, while Clarice and Giocondo remain loyal. The guests then turn on one another, and a hunting outing and false duel bring further jealousies to the surface. Clarice disguises herself as her returning twin brother to make Asdrubale fear he has lost her. He sends her a note admitting his jealousy; she reveals her identity, and the lovers reconcile.
La poupée de Nuremberg
Toymaker Cornelius plans to animate a doll as a bride for his son, while mistreating his nephew Miller. Miller and his fiancée Bertha use the doll and a disguise to frighten Cornelius, recover Miller’s inheritance, and escape.
La pravità castigata
In Denzio’s Don Juan drama, Don Giovanni kills the Commendatore, pursues women through disguises and promises of marriage, and is ultimately dragged to hell for his unrepented crimes.
La princesse de Trébizonde
A travelling fairground performer, Zanetta, impersonates a broken waxwork of a princess and attracts Prince Raphaël. After the troupe wins a castle, she reveals the deception; Raphaël’s father eventually accepts their match after learning his own past connects him to Zanetta’s family, and three couples prepare to marry.
La princesse jaune
In Holland, Léna loves her cousin Kornélis, who is obsessed with Japan and a portrait of a Japanese woman named Ming. He drinks an opium potion and hallucinates that he is in Japan. Mistaking Léna for Ming, he declares his love, frightening her. After he wakes, Léna rebukes him for loving an imagined woman; he realizes his love for her and apologizes. They confess their feelings and reconcile.
La púrpura de la rosa
The work begins with a prologue honoring Philip V. In the opera, Venus is rescued from a wild boar by Adonis, who says he has renounced love because of his incestuous birth. Venus pursues him, and Cupid shoots him with a golden arrow, making him desire her. Mars becomes jealous and plans revenge. After Mars arranges for a boar to attack Adonis, the animal mortally wounds him. Venus mourns his death, but Jupiter raises the lovers to Olympus, transforming Adonis into an anemone and Venus into the Evening Star.
La reine Fiammette
Based on Catulle Mendès’s dramatic tale set in Renaissance Italy.
La reine de Chypre
In fifteenth-century Venice, Catarina is forced into marriage with the King of Cyprus, separating her from Gérard. The disguised King saves Gérard, and later spares him after he attempts revenge. As the King dies from Venetian poisoning, Catarina and Gérard resist a Venetian takeover; Catarina takes the crown while Gérard renounces his love.
La reine de Saba
Adoniram, architect of Solomon’s Temple, prepares a great bronze basin. His workers Amrou, Phanor and Méthousaël demand better pay and plot against him. When Balkis, Queen of Sheba, visits Jerusalem, she is impressed by the temple and gives Adoniram a necklace, provoking Solomon’s jealousy. The workers sabotage the casting of the basin, but it is later completed after the mould is mysteriously repaired. Balkis and Adoniram confess their love. The workers reveal their relationship to Solomon, and Balkis drugs Solomon, takes back her engagement ring and arranges to elope with Adoniram. The workers kill Adoniram when he refuses their renewed demands. Balkis finds him dead, places the ring on his finger and mourns him.
La rencontre imprévue
A three-act comic opera about pilgrims to Mecca; the plot is not detailed.
La romanziera e l’uomo nero
A one-act farsa by Gaetano Donizetti that satirizes Romanticism. In its finale, Antonina tells her father she will give up willows, cypresses, urns and ashes for singing, dancing and opera.
La rondine
At a party in Paris, courtesan Magda meets Ruggero, a young man visiting the city. Disguised as a shop girl, she meets him again at Bullier’s and falls in love. They live together on the Riviera, where Ruggero asks his mother for money and permission to marry. Magda learns that his family expects a virtuous bride and tells him about her past. Though Ruggero begs her to stay, she returns to her former protector Rambaldo and leaves him heartbroken.
La rosa bianca e la rosa rossa
Set in England against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses, the opera is based on René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt’s play La rose blanche et la rose rouge.
La rose de Saint-Flour
At Pierrette’s cabaret in Saint-Flour, her suitors Marcachu and Chapailloux bring her a cooking pot and shoes, respectively. A quarrel over the presents leads to a fight and a disastrous shared soup; Pierrette chooses Chapailloux, but Marcachu returns with more gifts, and the three end by making peace and dancing.
La scala di seta
Giulia is secretly married to Dorvil, who visits by climbing a silken ladder to her window. Her guardian Dormont wants her to marry Blansac, so Giulia tries to match Blansac with her cousin Lucilla. A series of overheard conversations makes Dorvil jealous and confuses the household, until Blansac falls for Lucilla and Dormont discovers that both couples are happily matched.
La schiava in Bagdad
Syrian prince Nadir searches Baghdad’s harems for Zora, the woman abducted from him. His former servant, shoemaker Mustafà, learns she has been sold to the Caliph’s seraglio and helps Nadir enter in disguise. Their rescue attempt is discovered and Nadir faces execution, but a medallion reveals that Zora is the Caliph’s long-lost daughter. Nadir is spared and the lovers reunite.
La scuola de’ gelosi
A two-act comic opera of love intrigues, attempted seductions, and jealousy among aristocratic, bourgeois, and working-class characters.
La secchia rapita
In 14th-century Modena, Renoppia receives a bucket taken from Bologna as a trophy from her lover Manfredi. Bologna’s ambassadors demand the bucket and Renoppia and Countess Ghereda as brides; Modena’s council rejects the offer and declares war. Later, Lorenzo and Antibo negotiate, with Bologna demanding either the bucket or Renoppia. During a banquet, the guests fear a bowl of soup is poisoned, then rush out to defend the city when Bologna attacks. The conflict ends in duels: Manfredi wins, while the Count feigns an injury and flees. The opera closes with the characters proclaiming the bucket’s seizure more historically famous than other legendary abductions.
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