3280 shows
Clear filtersLisinga and her friends Tangia and Sivene entertain Lisinga’s brother Silango, recently returned from Europe. They perform a tragic scene as Andromache, a pastoral duet, and a comic aria about a Parisian dandy. Tangia’s jealousy of Silango and Sivene’s affection informs her satire. They conclude that each style has its shortcomings and finish with a ballet about the Judgment of Paris.
Manuel García’s chamber opera is a comic setting of Metastasio’s libretto Le cinesi, composed for his students. The available text does not provide the plot.
Count Ory disguises himself as a hermit to pursue Countess Adèle, while her page Isolier unwittingly reveals his own plan to win her. Ory later returns disguised as a nun with his men; when the crusaders return, Isolier helps expose the imposture and the men escape.
At an imagined congress in Prussia, European monarchs plan to divide France. Cagliostro and six women secretly manipulate the gathering, while staged ghosts foretell revolution. French patriots seize the palace, the monarchs flee in disguise, and the patriots celebrate the republic and the fall of tyranny.
A provincial opera company struggles through rehearsals of a seria, as its diva refuses to cooperate and its German tenor cannot learn the music. Mamma Agata demands a solo for her daughter and dictates its arrangement; when the tenor quits, the company’s performance collapses, and the troupe flees town rather than repay its investors.
Major Frankenstein hopes to marry Sophie but cannot tolerate the noise at the wedding celebration. He persuades his nephew Alphonse, whom Sophie loves, to marry her instead, fulfilling Sophie’s plan.
In a forest, the once-powerful sorcerer Krakamiche lives in a hut with his daughter Stella as the elves torment him. The Queen of the Elves gives Prince Lelio a flower to approach Stella unseen, but Krakamiche discovers him and attempts a spell that produces a goat instead of a monster. He finally consents to their marriage and agrees to leave the forest.
Colin and Colette, each suspecting the other of infidelity, seek the village soothsayer’s help to renew their love. After a series of deceptions, they reconcile and marry.
In a Dutch village, a devil makes the clock strike thirteen, then turns the bell-ringer’s holy music into a jig and leads villagers toward a canal before stopping them. In a second tableau set in Italy, the villagers are wilder, but bell-ringer’s son Jean is immune to the devil’s magic because of his love for the mayor’s daughter. He climbs the belfry and prays, breaking the spell; the devil vanishes and the villagers return to normal as the clock strikes twelve.
An ill-tempered Marquise refuses shelter to an astrologer, who transforms her into the wife of Jacques, a surly cobbler. Jacques’s kind-natured wife takes the Marquise’s place. After learning her lesson, the Marquise is restored to her former life.
A separate 1756 setting of the same French-language libretto as Gluck’s Le diable à quatre. The available description identifies its composers but provides no distinct plot summary.
At a theatre in Avignon, the French director Casanova claims to love Italian music although he cannot speak Italian and is musically illiterate. After dismissing his French musicians, he auditions supposed Italian singers who are the same performers in disguise. The theatre’s singing director also poses as Italian while courting Casanova’s daughter; the disguises are exposed, and the company agrees to draw on both French and Italian traditions.
In the lethargic town of Quiquendonne, Dr Ox plans to enliven the citizens with a new gas while trying to evade his former fiancée, Princess Prascovia. The experiment intensifies the townspeople’s passions and romantic entanglements; after the gas drives the town toward war, a laboratory explosion restores the old calm, and Ox reunites with Prascovia.
Novice nun Angèle slips out of her convent in a black mask to attend a royal birthday ball, where she meets Horace, who has loved her since their encounter a year earlier. After missing the convent’s curfew, she hides in Count Juliano’s house, where Horace recognizes her but keeps her identity secret. She returns to the convent and is freed from her vows by the Queen, allowing her to marry Horace; her rival Ursule becomes abbess.
In eighteenth-century Venice, two wives investigate what their husbands do at their club.
An Italian comic opera based on Molière’s play Les Femmes Savantes.
A two-act Italian intermezzo by Domenico Cimarosa with five named roles, including Fernando, Laurina, Sempronio Pippistrelli, Don Annibale, and Emilia.
A two-part Italian musical farce intended to be performed between the acts of an opera seria. The four roles are Count Bellezza, Lindora, Ferramonte, and Aurelia.
Governor Folbach must provide an heir to receive a patent of nobility. His nephew Tancred is captured by gypsies, while his niece Falka elopes with Arthur and disguises herself as Tancred to attend the Governor. Mistaken identity sets the gypsies and the Governor's arranged marriage plans against her; eventually Falka is pardoned and made heir, and Tancred marries Edwige, the gypsy chief's sister.
The opera centers on the assassination of the Duke of Guise during the 1588 Council of Blois, with Henri III, Catherine de Médicis, Guise’s officers and the marquise de Sauve among its characters.
In Spanish-ruled Flanders, the Duke of Alba discovers that the rebel leader Marcello is his long-lost son and arrests him. Marcello accepts his father to save Amelia and their fellow rebels, but Amelia remains determined to kill the Duke. At Antwerp, Marcello shields Alba from Amelia’s attack and is killed by her.
A two-act dramma semiserio set in Saxon England during the reign of Edgar the Peaceful, adapted from Louis-Charles Caigniez’s melodrama Edgar ou La chasse aux loups. The plot is not described in the entry.
Soldier Alexis deserts after his fiancée Louise pretends she will marry his cousin instead. He is captured and condemned to execution, while Louise pleads with the king for mercy. She obtains a reprieve but faints before delivering it; the king arrives in person and frees Alexis.
In a grotto near Cyprus, fairy queen Ulina loves Brunello, an earthly man who does not return her love. When soldiers threaten Ulina, Brunello defends her, but she dies before he can save her; he declares his love just in time.
Federigo, a nobleman who has spent most of his fortune trying to win the wealthy widow Elvira, retreats to his farm. When Elvira visits to borrow his falcon to entertain her sick son, Federigo confesses he cooked the bird because he had nothing else to serve. Elvira falls in love with him, and their servants Pedrillo and Marina are also paired.
For a ducal wedding, a prologue celebrates Apollo and predicts prosperity. The three acts recount Jupiter rewarding Baucis and Philemon, Aristaeus atoning for pursuing Eurydice and marrying Cydippe, and a shortened reworking of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.
The cobbler Larfaillou asks financier Belazor for his daughter Aubépine’s hand. Belazor schemes to drive him away, but Aubépine loves the cobbler; a card game reverses their fortunes, leaving Larfaillou rich enough to marry her and Belazor in the cobbler’s clothes.
At the end of the seventeenth century in Saint-Malo, old sailor Legoëz and his granddaughter Janik await the return of Pierre, who left home as a child. When Pierre’s former comrade Jacquemin arrives with some of his belongings, Legoëz mistakes him for Pierre. Jacquemin and Janik fall in love, but the real Pierre soon returns and rejects his friend as a traitor. After Pierre learns the misunderstanding was accidental, he reconciles with Jacquemin, and Legoëz agrees to Janik’s marriage.
A three-act comic opera satirizing the amorous relationships between a marquis and several peasant girls on his estate.
In the Kingdom of Delhi in 1750, Crown Prince Mignapour falls in love with Frenchwoman Irma, while his cousin Bengaline and Grand Vizier Nicobar plot to prevent their marriage. Captain Crakson joins the plot because he also wants Irma. The conspirators arrange for Mignapour’s magic pearl necklace to turn black, supposedly disqualifying him from the throne. Joquelet finds a document revealing that the necklace’s power was invented. Mignapour can become Grand Mogul and marry Irma; Bengaline is forced to marry Crakson.
This two-act comédie mêlée de musique is based on an episode from the life of Henri IV of France. Its overture, known as La chasse du jeune Henri, depicts a hunt from dawn to the killing of a stag; the opera itself has no plot summary in the source.
Cliton, a teenager intent on appearing wise, wants to arrange a marriage between his libertine father Merval and the sensible Rose, while he plans to marry Rose’s prudish aunt Élise. Rose is secretly in love with Cliton, so Merval persuades his son to marry her while he takes Élise; after comic confusion, Élise accepts the arrangement.
Jean, a traveling juggler, joins a monastery after the prior sees his remorse over performing a profane song. Though he feels unable to offer the Virgin a fitting gift, he performs his juggling and dance before her statue. The statue comes to life and blesses him; Jean dies as it ascends, while the monks and angels sing.
Two French peasants visit Paris to do good works for the needy, but they are frustrated and rejected by the people they try to help.
Apollo, cast down from heaven for mocking Jupiter, disguises himself as shepherd Alexis and charms Palémon’s household. He courts both daughters, upsetting their arranged matches with the village musicians Pan and Marsias. A singing contest judged by Midas ends with Apollo exposing the magistrate’s foolish taste, giving him donkey’s ears, and revealing his divine identity before departing for Parnassus with the two women.
Grand opera set in the Harz Mountains and based on a German ballad.
In Naples, the lazy Beppo loves flower-seller Baptista. The poet Mirobolante and wealthy Corvo discover that she is an heiress and court her, but she prefers Beppo. They try to block the marriage by claiming she is underage; her birth certificate shows she has just turned 21.
In fifteenth-century Burgundy, Alice loves a stranger who saved her from drowning, while her guardian has arranged her marriage to Bertrand. The stranger is actually exiled Count Albéric, whose wolf-haunted village fears a werewolf. Alice rejects him when she believes he is the beast, but later declares her love even if he is; the count’s identity is revealed, and Alice and Albéric, and Bertrand and Catherine, become engaged.
Clémentine loves Octave, known as Le Magnifique, while her tutor Aldorandin tries to marry her. Octave has secretly rescued her father Horace and servant Laurence from slavery. Laurence exposes Aldorandin’s role in their capture. Horace reunites with Clémentine and gives his blessing to her marriage to Octave.
Three-act French opera after Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The source says the opera follows the play with some textual transpositions and omits Lancelot Gobbo and Old Gobbo; it gives no further plot detail.
Artist Florestan, rejected by Justine Patouillard’s parents, travels to Kokistan and enters a contest to marry Queen Asella. Justine and her parents arrive, and the law is set aside so Asella can reunite with Yacoub while Florestan marries Justine.
Farmer Guillot secretly loves his orphan cousin Denise but hides his feelings by treating her harshly. When a letter from their uncle promises treasure under a great tree, two widows scheme to marry Guillot, but Denise’s letter reveals that she is the promised treasure. Guillot and Denise agree to marry beneath the lanterns of the curious villagers.
A village farce involving two young couples, a sleeping potion, and mistaken identities. This two-act French opéra comique combines spoken dialogue, Philidor’s music, and vaudeville songs.
A travelling commedia dell’arte troupe introduces the characters it will play. In the story, Florindo and Rosaura, aided by Colombina and Arlecchino, prevent Rosaura’s father Pantalone from arranging her marriage to another man.
At mason Roger’s wedding to Henriette, officer Léon de Mérinville explains he is going to rescue Irma, a young Greek held by Turks. Cloaked figures abduct Roger and his friend Baptiste, a locksmith. At the château, Léon and Irma are captured; Roger and Baptiste are forced to build a prison for Léon. The repentant Turk Rica tries to help the prisoners escape, but Baptiste’s cowardice leads to their recapture, and Roger and Baptiste are made to wall the three up alive. Blindfolded and returned home, the craftsmen are exposed by Henriette’s discovery that they had entered the Turkish ambassador’s château. Roger and Baptiste rush back, find the Turks gone and free the prisoners.
Set near Milan in 1797, the opera follows chapelmaster Barnabé, who hopes to stage his opera Cléopâtre but fears that the invading French army may take it from him.
A one-act farsa opera by Gaspare Spontini, with a libretto by Giuseppe Foppa. The work, once considered lost, was rediscovered in the Duke of Ursel’s collection in 2016. No plot description is available in the reviewed text.
Martine, mistreated by her husband Sganarelle, tells two servants that he is a doctor who must be beaten before he will practice. Forced into the role, Sganarelle is taken to treat Lucinde, who is pretending to be mute to avoid an unwanted marriage; he helps her and her lover Léandre arrange an elopement, and Léandre's new inheritance appeases her father Géronte.
Bored Lord Evendale considers suicide, but his doctor persuades him to take a year away. In England, Evendale disguises himself while working for Dora’s uncle and falls in love with her; he is free to marry Dora when it emerges that Lady Evendale had previously married the doctor.
Juno seeks to prevent the Trojan Aeneas from marrying Lavinia and provokes conflict between Trojans and Latins. After a Trojan hunting party kills a Latin shepherd, King Latino resists calls for war, but Turnus leads the Latins into battle. Aeneas kills Turnus, and Latino offers Lavinia’s hand to Aeneas; Juno abandons her hostility and joins Venus and Hymen in blessing the marriage.
This early opera scenica by Francesco Cavalli treats the mythological wedding of Thetis and Peleus, with scenes involving gods, Tritons, Bacchantes, demons, chorus, and dancers.
Abandoned theatrical project based on the marriage of Peleus and the sea-goddess Thetis. Monteverdi initially described it as a favola marittima; it was later projected as a sequence of intermedi before the commission was cancelled.
The opera presents the marriage of Hercules (Ercole) and Hebe (Ebe), with Giove and Giunone among its characters.
In an 18th-century German town, Sabina loves Claudio but her father has promised her to Trifoglio. She passes off Claudio’s portrait as the king’s, so the villagers treat her lover as royalty. Trifoglio withdraws when he discovers Sabina has no dowry, and Claudio wins her by agreeing to forgo one.
A two-act French opéra comique with music by Egidio Duni and a libretto by Louis Anseaume.
Prince Lindoro searches for the rightful heir to Sorrento, taken as a baby to Taranto after her father’s murder. Fisherwomen Lesbina and Nerina each hope to be the princess and compete for Lindoro, but the heiress is Eurilda; she leaves with him while the other two couples are reunited after comic deceptions.
In this comic burlesque of Faust, an elderly professor trades his reason for youth and wealth to pursue Marguerite, who has left school to teach the can-can in London. Their reunion leads to a duel in which Faust kills her brother Valentin; at Walpurgis Night, Mephisto condemns Faust to remain with the unwilling Marguerite, while Valentin is redeemed.
A French two-act opéra comique set in the Basque country. Its plot is not described in the entry.
The opera links short stories of civilians caught in wars across time. A Japanese businessman receives news of his country's surrender and later reenacts seppuku; the Roman poet Cinna is killed after being mistaken for another Cinna; two Balkan enemies trapped beneath a fallen tree begin to talk; and French hussar Épivent learns that cabaret singer Irma has been violated and infected enemy soldiers with syphilis as an act of revenge.
An Austrian commander abducts Corine, the wife of the boatman Paolo. Distraught, Paolo joins the French, who demand that the commander surrender the fort. During the French assault, the courage of a reluctant officer, aided by Paolo, wins the battle. Corine is freed, and Paolo is made a captain.
Doge Cornarino secretly returns to Venice after fleeing a naval battle, while his cousin Malatromba plots to seize the throne and pursue Catarina. Disguises and mistaken identities lead to arrests and a Council of Ten hearing, but news reveals that Cornarino’s apparent flight was a ruse that helped defeat the enemy. During carnival, the rivals joust; the 1868 version changes the contest’s result, and Cornarino is sent as ambassador to Spain.
The opera is based on an episode in M. Morton's Le Comte de Villamayor. The identified roles include Gasparillo, Teresita, Helena, Christina, Don Raphael, Don Ramiro, and the corregidor.
Des Grieux disapproves of his nephew Jean’s love for Aurore, but Tiberge persuades him to reconsider. A portrait of Manon leads to the discovery that Aurore is Manon’s niece, and Des Grieux consents to the young couple’s marriage.
Newly married postillion Chapelou leaves his innkeeper wife Madeleine when the Marquis de Corcy recruits him for the Paris Opera. Ten years later, Madeleine, now wealthy Madame de Latour, meets Chapelou, who does not recognize her and proposes marriage. She reveals her identity and deception on their wedding night, and they renew their vows.
French officer Gaston falls in love with Hélène, an Englishwoman whose fiancé Littlepool has been arrested as a spy. After both officers face execution amid the conflict, Littlepool releases Hélène to Gaston, who chooses to remain with her rather than escape.
Méhul's one-act opéra comique features Guillaume IX, Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine; Bérenger, his troubadour; and members of the Touraille family. The opera had a short initial run of 13 performances.
Jean de Leyde, a Dutch innkeeper, is drawn into an Anabaptist uprising after Count Oberthal abducts his fiancée Berthe and threatens his mother Fidès. The movement’s leaders proclaim Jean a prophet and king in Münster, where he takes power and later confronts Fidès. He repents and reunites with Berthe and his mother, but when imperial forces and the Anabaptists turn against him, Berthe dies and Jean destroys the palace, killing those inside.
In 1582, Marguerite de Valois plots to help Isabelle, a Béarnaise countess, marry Baron de Mergy and return to Navarre. Their plans are threatened by Comminge, who expects to marry Isabelle. Isabelle and Mergy wed secretly during the festivities for Nicette and Girot. Mergy defeats Comminge in a duel, and the couple escape to Navarre with Cantarelli.
After defeating the Saxons, King Arthur praises Lancelot. Lancelot and Guinevere, Arthur’s wife, meet secretly, but Mordred discovers them and is wounded by Lancelot. The lovers flee to Lancelot’s castle, and Merlin foretells the fall of the Round Table. Arthur pursues them; Lancelot refuses to fight his king, Guinevere takes her own life, and Arthur forgives the mortally wounded Lancelot before departing for the Ideal.
Margared abandons her arranged marriage after Mylio returns, but learns he loves her sister Rozenn. In jealousy she helps Karnac open the sea gates protecting Ys; when the city floods, Margared sacrifices herself, and Saint Corentin calms the waters.
In eleventh-century Lahore, priestess Sita loves King Alim, but Scindia, the king’s minister, also desires her. Scindia arranges an ambush and usurps the throne after Alim is mortally wounded. The god Indra restores Alim’s soul to life as a humble man for as long as Sita lives. Scindia plans to marry Sita, but Alim reaches Indra’s sanctuary and reunites with her. Sita stabs herself to escape Scindia; Alim becomes a spirit again, and the lovers are united in paradise.
A three-act French opéra-comique by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny with a libretto by Michel-Jean Sedaine. No plot description or premiere information is available in the reviewed text.
After promising the king that he will present a son at court, the Marquis disguises the peasant Benoit as his heir. Benoit helps his four sisters escape unwanted marriages and ultimately wins permission to marry Javotte, while the family’s deception is resolved to their advantage.
Henri de Valois, elected king of Poland, longs to return to France. He joins a conspiracy against himself, disguises himself as his friend Nangis, and maneuvers among the conspirators while pursuing Alexina. When Henri escapes toward the frontier, Alexina helps him; Nangis and Minka are reunited, and Henri is brought back and acclaimed as king.
Libertine Gennaro refuses to marry Elvire and pursues wealth instead. Elvire disguises herself as an old woman; when Gennaro’s ventures fail, he marries her for financial protection. A potion restores her youth, and he is accused of murdering his wife. Facing execution, he would rather die than see Elvire become old again, convincing her of his love.
A two-act Italian dramma giocoso expanded by Traetta from an earlier one-act intermezzo. The original cast included Lelio, Giacinta, Palmetta, and Giannino; the expanded version added Don Grillo, Carlina, and Letanzio.
In late 18th-century London, Sir James Turner discovers that gold has been disappearing from his home. Like the money-lender in Balzac's source story, Turner is found to have taken his own property while sleepwalking. Unlike the source character, he survives the discovery.
During the siege of Corinth, Governor Cléomène learns that his daughter Pamira loves Maometto, the Turkish leader, whom she once knew as Almanzor. Pamira is torn between love and loyalty to Greece and finally joins her father and the Greek defenders. After the city falls, Pamira and the women kill themselves rather than submit, and Corinth is shown burning.
Queen Elizabeth and Olivia take refuge at a tavern and encounter a drunken William Shakespeare. Later, Olivia impersonates a mysterious figure that Shakespeare believes to be his muse; Lord Latimer challenges him to a duel, and Shakespeare flees into a river. At court, the Queen arranges for the night’s events to be treated as a dream, inspiring the play Shakespeare will write.
The Count’s eccentric conduct drives a comic opera.
While Isabelle’s lover Léandre is away, Cassandre persuades her to marry him. Léandre returns and she changes her mind, asking Cassandre’s portrait to accept the change; Cassandre is revealed to have been hiding behind the picture.
After Apollo defeats Envy’s attack on the Temple of Glory, the opera presents three rulers tested by its standards. Bélus learns that kings should bring happiness rather than wage war; Bacchus is denied entry because fame won through debauchery is not lasting glory. Trajan returns victorious from Armenia but frees the conquered kings and asks that the Temple of Glory become a Temple of Happiness for all.
The artist Conrad is obsessed with gold and is captivated by his painting of Circe, embodied by the ballerina Fiammetta. Dr. Spiridion gives Conrad a silver bell that grants the gold he desires at the cost of someone’s death. In the end, Conrad realizes that the events have taken place only in his fevered imagination.
Coraline, a former Paris opera singer unhappily married to retired bullfighter Don Belflor, meets her old admirer Tracolin in Barcelona. They exchange letters, and Tracolin enters the house after rescuing Belflor from attackers. Tracolin says he is arranging a meeting between Belflor and the dancer Caritéa, but gives him Coraline’s letter. Coraline mistakes her husband’s confusion for evidence that her own affair is exposed. Tracolin later explains Belflor’s infidelity with Caritéa. Belflor admits it and begs forgiveness; Coraline accepts if she can keep Tracolin as her lover, and Belflor agrees.
On the wedding day of Xaïma and Manoël, Ben-Saïd arrives to demand twenty virgins as tribute after the Moors’ victory at Zamora. Xaïma and her friend Iglésia are selected. Manoël follows Xaïma in disguise, but Ben-Saïd wins her at auction. Hermosa, a madwoman taken captive in the battle, helps Manoël and later recognizes Xaïma as her daughter. When Ben-Saïd refuses to spare Xaïma, Hermosa kills him with Manoël’s dagger. Hadjar pardons Hermosa on the grounds of insanity.
Midshipman Duval has taken the role of clerk to Jocard because he loves Agathe, Jocard’s pupil. Jocard, whose wife has died, has begun to take an interest in Agathe. She and Duval promise to remain faithful, but Duval’s impersonation is soon threatened when Jocard sends him to handle a case for an uncle who does not know the truth. The available synopsis stops before the story’s resolution.
Dorval loves Lucile, but her uncle Géronte forbids their relationship while seeking to buy Dorval's house cheaply. Crispin exploits Géronte's habit of eavesdropping by inventing a story about a buried treasure in Dorval's cellar. Géronte buys the house to claim the treasure, but the chest is empty except for a note praising work and thrift. Dorval agrees to cancel the sale if Géronte permits his marriage to Lucile; news that Dorval's father has made a fortune helps secure the uncle's consent.
A two-act opera set in Shetland, with scenes at Barlow’s home and village, and at a point on the island near a monastery and an anchored ship.
In Andorra, Stéphan tries to escape conscription and faces execution for desertion. Rose-de-Mai steals money to ransom him, claiming it came from Georgette; a twist reveals Rose is Thérèse’s long-lost daughter, leaving her and Stéphan free to marry.
Pierre faces conscription and needs money to marry Reinette. Their guardian, village fiddler Père Mathieu, plays a mysterious violin that frightens Pierre; when the instrument is broken, a letter reveals Mathieu is rightful owner of a castle. Mathieu gives the couple the money they need but chooses to remain a poor fiddler.
A two-part German-language opera based on Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear. The entry does not provide a detailed account of the opera’s plot.
A documentary opera about Rosemary Kennedy, who was left with learning difficulties after birth complications and underwent a lobotomy at age 23 in 1941. Her condition worsened and she spent the remainder of her life institutionalized. The work assembles archival tests, speeches, interviews and books rather than using a conventional libretto.
As the Trojan War approaches, Agamemnon plans a sacrifice, prompting Klytaemnestra to send their son Orest away with his nurse Anastasia. Iphigenia disappears during the attempted sacrifice. Years later, she appears to King Thoas, while Orest and Anastasia reach Athens.
A Dutch-language opera based on Rodolphe Töpffer’s illustrated comic book about butterfly collector Mr. Vieux Bois. A cited review describes the opera’s protagonist, Festus, as a butterfly-obsessed fantasist who flees his sister and encounters bizarre situations.
Vilma, an orphan raised by the village, attracts the attention of married men, provoking the women to complain to the mayor. Vilma loves Hermann, but her guardian Bums refuses consent. Hussar Janos engineers comic secret meetings that expose the villagers’ hypocrisy, then recognizes Vilma as his daughter through a song she learned from her mother. He secures the mayor’s agreement to Vilma and Hermann’s marriage before the regiment departs.
A Chinese-language opera based on Cao Yu’s play Thunderstorm and set in 1930s Shanghai.
A Czech-language opera by Karel Bendl.
Cadet Leo leaves his sweetheart Nellie to fight in the Anglo-Zulu War, where he earns the Victoria Cross. He returns to reunite with her.
An opera by Paul Dessau based on Georg Büchner’s play of the same name.
Leonora disguises herself as a man to enter the prison where her husband Florestano is imprisoned by his enemy Don Pizarro. She fools the jailer Rocco into giving her a job. When Pizarro learns that Governor Don Fernando is approaching, he orders Florestano’s execution. Leonora accompanies Rocco to the underground cell and threatens him with a pistol until Don Fernando arrives and frees Florestano.
In Granada in the late 15th century, Abencerrage warrior Almanzor is to marry Zegri princess Noraïme, despite the feud between their families. Almanzor has also negotiated peace between Muslims and Christians with his friend Gonzalve of Cordoba. Called away to suppress a revolt, Almanzor loses Granada’s sacred standard and is condemned to exile. He returns secretly to Noraïme but is captured and sentenced to death unless a champion defends him. Gonzalve appears with the standard, defeats the Zegris’ champion, and proves that Octaïr and other conspirators hid it. Almanzor and Noraïme marry.
Two French wives, Gabrielle and Eglantine, are accidentally sent with a group of prospective brides to an island of male colonists. Their husbands follow them and disguise themselves to reach them, while the governor threatens the intruders; the arrival of the long-missing first ship ends the conflict and allows the four French visitors to return home.
Danaus orders his daughters to kill their new husbands, the sons of Aegyptus. Hypermnestra alone refuses, helps her husband Lynceus escape, and survives as he destroys the Danaïdes and their father; Danaus is condemned to eternal torment in Hades.
A French one-act opéra comique about the romantic adventures of Lucie, the president’s niece. The surviving description names her lover Damis and the household members but gives no further plot details.
In a French village during the 1704 Cévennes conflict, Rose Friquet and Sylvain secretly aid Protestant refugees while dragoons search the mountains. Rose uses the hermit's bell to protect Georgette from the corporal Belamy, then helps the refugees escape by a hidden path. When Sylvain wrongly suspects Rose of betraying them, she proves their safe passage; Belamy's superior arrives before the corporal can retaliate, and Rose and Sylvain marry.
After their mother’s death, siblings Paul and Elisabeth live in an isolated, shared fantasy world. Elisabeth marries Michael, who dies the next day, leaving her a fortune. Paul’s friend Gérard and Gérard’s friend Agathe, who resembles Paul’s idol Dargelos, join them. Elisabeth manipulates events to prevent Paul and Agathe from forming a life together. Dargelos later sends Paul a poisoned ball; Elisabeth kills herself and Paul, preserving their adolescence in death.
Three-act French adaptation of Stephen Storace’s opera, with a new libretto by Pierre-Ulric Dubuisson. The reviewed entry gives no version-specific plot synopsis.
Hector Berlioz's unfinished three-act opera, with a libretto by Humbert Ferrand, is set in medieval Germany and concerns secret Vehmic trials, stormy passions, and rescue from oppression. The opera was never staged, and most of its music was destroyed.
A five-act French grand opéra by Benjamin Godard to a libretto by Louis Gallet.
A French tragédie lyrique by Antonio Salieri, with a text by Nicolas-François Guillard after Corneille’s play Horace.
During the French Wars of Religion, Catholic noble Valentine and Huguenot Raoul fall in love, but Raoul mistakenly believes she is Count de Nevers’s mistress and rejects her. The Queen attempts to arrange their marriage to reconcile Catholics and Protestants. Valentine marries Nevers, while conflict intensifies between the religious factions. She warns Raoul of a plot against him, and he realizes her love. On the night of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Nevers is killed defending Protestants. Valentine joins Raoul and his servant Marcel in refusing to renounce their faith. They are killed by Catholic soldiers, and Saint-Bris realizes too late that he has murdered his daughter.
Hébé and Cupid redirect the pursuit of love from Europe to distant lands. In four entrées, Émilie and Valère reunite through Osman’s generosity; the Inca princess Phani chooses Carlos over the priest Huascar; Persian lovers resolve their disguises and suspicions; and Zima chooses Native American Adario over two European suitors. The Flowers entrée exists in two versions and was later omitted from Rameau’s 1761 form.
Argie loves the paladin Atis, but her guardian Anselme wants to marry her and holds her captive with her friend Nérine. Atis and the paladins disguise themselves to rescue Argie, while Nérine repeatedly distracts jailor Orcan. Fairy Manto transforms the castle and helps expose Anselme’s infidelity; he admits defeat, and Argie and Atis reunite.
Alfred Bruneau’s four-act opera adapts Émile Zola’s short story Les Quatre journées de Jean Gourdon. Its acts follow Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, with the characters aging across the changing seasons.
As Troy celebrates the apparent end of the Greek siege, Cassandra foresees the city’s destruction, but the Trojans bring the wooden horse inside their walls. The Greeks emerge and sack Troy. Cassandra and the Trojan women choose death rather than capture, while Aeneas escapes with survivors. In Carthage, Queen Dido welcomes the Trojans and falls in love with Aeneas after they help defend the city. The gods summon Aeneas to found a new Troy in Italy, and he sails away. Dido, abandoned, takes her own life on a funeral pyre and foretells Carthage’s destruction and Rome’s rise.
This three-act opera concerns the reconciliation of two warring peoples and centers on the Amazons and the founding of Thebes. Its intended allegory was the peace between France and Austria.
The widowed farmer Ragonde loves the young Colin, who wants to marry her daughter Colette. Lucas also loves Colette, but Ragonde will not allow their marriage unless Colin marries her. Colette, Lucas, and Thibault disguise village boys as goblins and frighten Colin into agreeing to marry Ragonde. The opera ends with a double wedding and a charivari.
In an allegory of Louis XIV’s peaceful reign, the Arts and a group of warriors are drawn into conflict between Peace and Discord. Discord and the Furies briefly prevail, but Peace appeals to Jupiter, whose thunderbolts drive them back to Hades.
King Pausole’s daughter Aline runs away with Mirabelle, prompting the king and his page Giglio to pursue them. After romantic entanglements at a farm and an inn, Giglio leaves with Aline and the king abdicates.
A three-act tragédie lyrique featuring Floria, chief vestal virgin, and Marcomir, leader of the Barbarians; the opera was originally intended for the Roman theatre of Orange.
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