Lejla
A Czech-language opera by Karel Bendl.
Operas
3280 shows
Clear filtersLeo, the Royal Cadet
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.
Leonce und Lena
An opera by Paul Dessau based on Georg Büchner’s play of the same name.
Leonora, ossia L’amore coniugale
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.
Les Abencérages, ou L’étendard de Grenade
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.
Les Cent Vierges
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.
Les Danaïdes
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.
Les Deux Jaloux
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.
Les Dragons de Villars
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.
Les Enfants terribles
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.
Les Epoux mécontents
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.
Les Francs-juges
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.
Les Guelfes
A five-act French grand opéra by Benjamin Godard to a libretto by Louis Gallet.
Les Horaces
A French tragédie lyrique by Antonio Salieri, with a text by Nicolas-François Guillard after Corneille’s play Horace.
Les Huguenots
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.
Les Indes galantes
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.
Les Paladins
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.
Les Quatre journées
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.
Les Troyens
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.
Les amazones, ou La fondation de Thèbes
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.
Les amours de Ragonde
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.
Les arts florissants
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.
Les aventures du roi Pausole
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.
Les barbares
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.
Les bavards
Penniless poet Roland hides from his creditors and wins entry to Sarmiento’s home by promising to silence the wealthy man’s talkative wife, Béatrix. His endless chatter overwhelms her, while he courts her niece Inès; a ruse with love letters makes Sarmiento jealous, pays Roland’s debts and wins approval for the marriage.
Les bayadères
In 1682 at Benares, Rajah Démaly loves Laméa, a bayadere forbidden to marry. Mahratta general Olkar captures the city and imprisons Démaly. Laméa tricks Olkar and the bayaderes disarm the occupiers during a celebration, enabling a rescue army to defeat them. Démaly is supposedly dying from a poisoned arrow, and Laméa’s vow is released when Hyderam says Vishnu once married a bayadere; the couple marry.
Les beaux jours de l'Amour
A projected multi-act opéra-ballet planned around Anacreon; manuscript evidence links it to the one-act works Nélée et Myrthis, La naissance d’Osiris and Anacréon.
Les bergers
In Arcadia, Myriame and Daphné fall in love despite their parents’ plans to dedicate them to the gods. When Myriame mistakenly believes hunters have killed Daphné, he attempts suicide, but Eros saves him and sends the lovers through different eras. At a Louis XV mansion, they return as Colin and Annette amid flirtation and intrigue. In the final pastoral, they become La Rouge and Nicot, while Eros stirs jealousy at a wedding feast before the antique visitors ascend to the heavens.
Les brigands
Brigand chief Falsacappa and his daughter Fiorella plan to rob the wedding delegation of the Duke of Mantua and Princess of Granada. Through disguises, they impersonate the delegates, but the dowry has already been squandered by the Duke’s treasurer. When the real parties arrive, Fiorella reminds the Duke that she once saved him; he grants the brigands amnesty, and they promise to reform.
Les cadeaux de Noël
During the first winter of World War I, four orphaned children shelter in their burned farmhouse. When Clara says Père Noël will not come, their elderly neighbour Père Jean disguises himself as Père Noël and brings gifts and messages from their dead parents, asking the children to love one another. Pierre receives a rifle. When a German soldier orders him to kneel, Pierre shoots him. Père Jean rescues the pursued children by boat and hides them in a riverside cave.
Les caprices de Marianne
Coelio asks his friend Octave to help him win Marianne, who is married to magistrate Claudio. Marianne offers Octave an assignation, but he yields the chance to Coelio. Claudio has the supposed lover ambushed, and Coelio is killed, believing Octave betrayed him. Octave renounces pleasure, while Marianne is heartbroken.
Les contes d'Hoffmann
In a Nuremberg tavern, the poet Hoffmann tells of three loves. In Paris, he falls for Olympia, an automaton, and discovers the deception when she is destroyed. In Munich, he reunites with Antonia, whose singing under the influence of Dr. Miracle leads to her death. In Venice, Hoffmann loves Giulietta, who steals his reflection at the request of Dapertutto. Returning to the tavern, Hoffmann declares that the three women represent facets of the singer Stella. Nicklausse reveals herself as the Muse and claims Hoffmann for poetry; Stella leaves with Lindorf.
Les deux avares
In Smyrna, the speculator Martin and banker Gripon search a pyramid for treasure. When Martin says there is none, Gripon suspects him of cheating and locks him inside. Jérôme and Henriette fall in love but must escape both men; after further misfortunes, Gripon learns he has been cheated and despairs of finding honesty.
Les deux aveugles
Two fake blind beggars compete for the best spot on a Paris bridge through music, card-playing and exaggerated stories. Their tricks reveal that they can see well enough to retrieve dropped coins, exposing their pretended blindness in a comic contest.
Les deux aveugles de Tolède
The opera's characters include two blind musicians, Nuguez and Don Brusco; Mendoce, who poses as Pedro and as their pupil; Flora, Nuguez's niece; and Jacinthe, the musicians' housekeeper.
Les deux journées
Water carrier Mikeli helps Count Armand and his wife Constance escape Paris, which is surrounded by Cardinal Mazarin’s soldiers. Mikeli disguises Constance as his daughter and hides Armand in his cart. They reach Gonesse, where Mikeli reports that the queen has pardoned the parliamentarians, allowing the couple to reunite safely.
Les diamants de la couronne
Portuguese princess Catarina becomes involved with bandits after she is forced to sell the crown diamonds. A more detailed plot is not provided.
Les femmes vengées, ou Les feintes infidélités
A one-act French opéra-comique by Philidor, with a libretto by Michel-Jean Sedaine after Jean de La Fontaine’s tale Les rémois. The source notes that its plot is similar to Mozart’s Così fan tutte but gives no further plot details.
Les fêtes de Paphos
The first act recounts Venus and Adonis: Mars plots against his rival, Adonis is killed in a hunt and turned into an anemone, but Jupiter restores him. In the second act, Jupiter’s celebration helps Bacchus succumb to the nymph Erigone’s love. In the third, jealous Venus punishes Psyche; after a Fury causes a shipwreck and Psyche drowns, Cupid rescues her from the underworld and declares his love. Venus restores Psyche’s beauty and blesses the couple.
Les fêtes de Polymnie
The prologue celebrates the French victory at Fontenoy. The first entrée depicts Hercules marrying Hebe; the second tells how Seleucus gives up Stratonice when he learns that his son Antiochus loves her. In the third, Argélie’s love redeems Zimès from the evil fairy Alcina.
Les fêtes de Ramire
Alphonse, king of Castile, has imprisoned Fatime, princess of Granada, after killing her father. Her confidante Isbé persuades her that Alphonse’s son Ramire may be less cruel. Warriors and fortune-tellers bring hope, and Ramire finally appears and pledges himself to Fatime, who accepts his love.
Les fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour
After Cupid and Hymen reconcile in the prologue, Osiris wins the Amazon queen Orthésie through peaceful gifts of dance and art. Canopus saves Memphis from sacrifice, reveals himself to her, and grants mercy to the people. In the final entrée, Aruéris establishes an arts festival where Orie wins the singing contest and becomes his bride.
Les fêtes d’Hébé
In the prologue, Hébé escapes the unwanted attention of Momus and joins celebrations of the arts. The three entrées tell of Sappho and Alcaeus reunited through an allegorical play, Tyrtaeus winning Iphise through victory in battle, and shepherdess Eglé choosing Mercury as her husband.
Les fêtes vénitiennes
A flexible opéra-ballet set in Venice, built from independently plotted entrées that changed over time. In one entrée, Léandre’s love triangle with Isabelle and Léonore leads to a revenge plot. In another, Orpheus enters Hades for Euridice but loses her forever when he looks back.
Les mamelles de Tirésias
Thérèse rebels against her submissive life, becomes the male Tirésias, and leaves to wage a campaign against childbirth. Her husband vows to find a way to have children without women, then gives birth to 40,049 children in one day. Amid the resulting famine in Zanzibar, Tirésias returns in disguise as a fortune-teller; the couple reunite and the cast urges the audience to heed the lessons of war and have children.
Les mariages samnites
A three-act French drame lyrique by André Grétry with text by Barnabé Farmian Durosoy. Its story is not described in the available account.
Les martyrs
In Roman-ruled Armenia, Polyeucte secretly converts to Christianity while his wife Pauline still mourns Sévère, the Roman officer she once loved and believed dead. Pauline discovers Christians worshipping in the catacombs and begs Polyeucte to renounce his faith. Sévère returns alive and learns that Pauline is married. After Polyeucte is arrested for his faith, he publicly destroys pagan relics. Pauline pleads with her father Félix and Sévère to save him, but Polyeucte refuses to recant. A vision leads Pauline to convert. At the amphitheatre, she joins her husband and the other Christians as they await execution.
Les mousquetaires de la reine
A comic opera by Fromental Halévy. The entry does not describe its plot.
Les noces d'Olivette
In Perpignan, Olivette loves Valentine, nephew of the sea captain De Merimac to whom she is engaged. When De Merimac is away at sea, Valentine disguises himself as his uncle and secretly marries Olivette, but on the captain's return their marriage is challenged. Disguises and a shipboard escape cause further confusion until Olivette and Valentine prove their case, their marriage is upheld, and the Countess acknowledges the Duke's advances.
Les noces de Jeannette
A one-act French opéra comique by Victor Massé; its story is not documented in the available account.
Les plaisirs de Versailles
At Versailles, Music and Conversation disagree: Music wants to sing, while Conversation prefers to drink chocolate. Comus attempts to reconcile them with chocolate, wine, and sweets. They eventually agree to help King Louis relax after his wars.
Les pêcheurs de perles
Pearl fishers Zurga and Nadir renew their vow of friendship, unaware that Leïla, the priestess who arrives to pray for their safety, is the woman they once loved. When Nadir and Leïla reunite, Zurga’s jealousy condemns them, but he recognizes Leïla as the child who once saved his life and frees the pair during a fire. Later productions altered the ending, sometimes having Zurga killed.
Les rendez-vous bourgeois
Dugravier leaves his country home to arrange marriages for Reine and Louise. While he is away, each young woman plans to meet her lover, and Julie favors Jasmin over Bertrand. When Dugravier returns unexpectedly, the three young men hide, then pretend to be the wealthy suitors’ sons and win approval for all three marriages.
Les sibarites
During the coronation of Sybaris’s new queen, Hersilide, the neighbouring city of Croton invades. Hersilide welcomes the attackers with flowers, and their general Astole falls in love with her. He agrees to let Sybaris keep its laws and acknowledges Cupid’s power; the two peoples celebrate together.
Les surprises de l’Amour
The original prologue celebrates peace after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. In La lyre enchantée, Urania falls under a spell of love but Linus remains devoted to Parthenope; in Adonis, Cupid helps Venus win Adonis while Diana discovers her own love for Endymion. A 1757 revision removed the prologue, revised these entrées, and added Anacréon, in which a poet chooses love alongside Bacchus rather than excluding it.
Les trois souhaits, ou Les vicissitudes de la vie
The opera interweaves a film crew making a story about three wishes with the film itself. In the film, a fairy grants Juste and his wife Indolenda wishes for wealth, youth and love. Their new riches sink a boat, and after Indolenda becomes young she chooses her cousin Adolf over Juste. The fairy’s final wish makes the formerly wealthy Eblouie Barbichette fall in love with Juste, but her jealousy turns violent and he dies. The film succeeds, while the actors playing Indolenda and Adolf begin an affair in real life; the epilogue leaves Artur alone, proud of the film but fearing others mock him.
Les troqueurs
Lubin and Lucas, dissatisfied with their fiancées Margot and Fanchon, decide to exchange partners. The women agree but make the men regret the change; they are accepted back only after apologizing and agreeing to each woman’s terms.
Les voitures versées
A two-act opéra-comique by François-Adrien Boieldieu based on Emmanuel Dupaty’s comedy Le séducteur en voyage. A revised version premiered at the Opéra-Comique in 1920. No plot description or original premiere date is available in the reviewed text.
Les vêpres siciliennes
In 1282 Palermo, Sicilian patriot Procida returns from exile and plans an uprising against French rule. Hélène, whose brother was executed by the French, joins him and Henri in plotting resistance. Henri learns that Montfort, the French governor, is his father; at a ball he saves Montfort from assassination, angering the Sicilians. Montfort pardons the rebels and consents to Henri and Hélène’s marriage. Procida intends to use the wedding as the signal for a massacre, and when the bells ring, the Sicilians attack the French.
Les Éclairs
A fantasized biography of Nikola Tesla, represented as Gregor, who arrives in America in 1884. He clashes with Edison and receives help from the entrepreneur Parker, philanthropists Ethel and Norman, and journalist Betty. Gregor increasingly obsesses over impractical projects and imagined contact with extraterrestrials.
Les Élémens
Destiny orders the elements to replace chaos and promises Venus that they will favour the young Louis XV. Four independent entrées follow: Ixion’s love for Juno ends in punishment; Neptune blesses the marriage of Leucosie and Arion; Cupid saves Emilie and Valère’s wedding; and Vertumne wins Pomone after disguising himself as a woman.
Les âges
An opéra-ballet in a prologue and three acts, organized around youth, maturity, and old age and their differing forms of love.
Lessons in Love and Violence
King Edward’s devotion to Gaveston draws Mortimer’s opposition as the realm suffers. Isabel joins Mortimer’s campaign; after Gaveston’s death, the King is imprisoned and forced to abdicate, while his son takes the throne, rejects Isabel, and orders Mortimer’s death.
Letters, Riddles and Writs
A television opera about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, incorporating letters and other texts attributed to him. A described scene depicts Joseph Haydn accusing Mozart of plagiarism in court, with Michael Nyman appearing as a court pianist asked to play the disputed passage.
Leucippo
Leucippo falls in love with Dafne, a priestess who has taken a vow of chastity. The three-act pastoral opera explores the conflict between love and duty.
Leyer und Schwert
During the Napoleonic occupation of Germany, Theodor Körner joins Major von Lützow’s Freikorps, leaving his betrothed Toni to fight for German liberation. After battle near Leipzig, Körner is wounded and hidden by farmer Häusser; Johanna nurses him and helps him escape to Leipzig. He later rejoins Lützow, Friesen and Elise. When the enemy approaches, Körner senses his impending death and returns to battle. The Freikorps wins, but Körner is killed, and Lützow orders his men back into battle in vengeance.
Leyli and Majnun
Leyli and Geys fall in love, but her father refuses their marriage and promises her to Ibn Salam. Geys leaves for the desert and becomes known as Majnun; despite attempts to change her father’s mind, Leyli marries Ibn Salam. She dies in her husband’s arms while longing for Majnun, who later dies at her grave.
Leányvásár
The daughter of a Romanian landowner is engaged to a young nobleman but is attracted to a Romani violinist, who is her intended’s half-brother. Complications unfold at her engagement party, and she dreams of her future.
Li puntigli delle donne
A farsetta for six voices by Gaspare Spontini, set among a wealthy farmer’s daughter, the count she intends to marry, his brother, and the count’s household. No fuller plot is available in the reviewed text.
Li zite ‘ngalera
Carlo leaves Belluccia, his former love, for Ciomma. Disguised as a man, Belluccia pursues him and attracts several local women, including Ciomma. When Belluccia’s father Federico threatens Carlo, Belluccia intervenes, and she and Carlo reconcile and marry. The newlyweds sail home on Federico’s galley.
Libuše
The Czech princess Libuše rules on a dispute between brothers over their father's estate, but the elder rejects her judgment because she is a woman. She calls Přemysl to become her husband and prince; after the brothers reconcile and Chrudoš apologizes, Libuše prophesies the future glory and trials of the Czech nation.
Licht
Stockhausen’s seven-part opera cycle follows the intertwined figures Michael, Eve, and Lucifer across seven operas named for the days of the week. Its music combines vocal, instrumental, electronic, and theatrical elements in a work lasting about 29 hours.
Liden Kirsten
A Danish opera by J. P. E. Hartmann to a libretto by Hans Christian Andersen, inspired by the medieval ballad Hr. Sverkel. The opera began as a one-act work and was revised into two acts for the 1858–59 season, after which it received a warmer response. The reviewed text describes its situation as romantic and poetic but says it has no real plot.
Liebe und Eifersucht
E. T. A. Hoffmann’s three-act German Singspiel adapts a play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca through August Wilhelm Schlegel’s translation. Its plot turns on romantic confusions caused by disguises and misunderstandings of signs of love.
Life Is a Dream
A three-act English-language opera based on Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s play, featuring Prince Segismundo, King Basilio, and Rosaura.
Life with an Idiot
As punishment for not working hard enough, authorities force “I” to live with an idiot. He chooses Vova from a lunatic asylum; Vova can speak only one word, “Ech.” At first Vova behaves well, then becomes disruptive. I and his wife move to another room, but she falls in love with Vova and becomes pregnant by him. Vova and I turn against the wife; Vova kills her, and I becomes an idiot.
Lili Elbe
A two-act English-language opera based on the life of Lili Elbe and her book Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex. The entry does not describe the opera’s plot.
Lilith
After Adam’s funeral, Eve returns to the ruined Garden of Eden and confronts Lilith, who mated with Adam before Eve was created. Eve reveals who Lilith is, and the two women ultimately come to an understanding of their roles and fates.
Lincoln in the Bardo
An English-language opera in two acts adapting George Saunders’s novel. The work depicts Abraham Lincoln’s grief for his dead son, Willie, through a ghostly world.
Linda di Chamounix
Linda loves Carlo, a young artist who is secretly the Viscount of Sirval, while the Marchese threatens her and her family. When Carlo’s mother arranges another marriage, Linda is disowned by her father and loses her reason. Carlo and the shepherd Pierotto find her back in Chamounix, where their familiar song restores her memory and the villagers celebrate their reunion.
Lindy
An opera based on the death of Azaria Chamberlain, the infant daughter of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, at Uluru in 1980.
Linus
Queen Cléonice and Linus, son of Apollo, love each other. Rejected suitor Gélanor and his sister Théano abduct Linus and imprison the queen. Linus escapes and reunites with Cléonice. After a tempest and shipwreck, Thetis saves the lovers, and Apollo unites them in marriage.
Lischen et Fritzchen
Fritzchen, dismissed after confusing a beer with a jewel, meets Lischen, a broom-seller returning to Alsace. They fall in love while traveling home and fear they are siblings, until a letter reveals that Lischen is Fritzchen’s cousin; they can marry and continue their journey together.
Lisis et Délie
Shepherd Lisis laments his unrequited love for Délie, who considers love fleeting and offers him only friendship. Lisis pretends to love another shepherdess, Alcyone, provoking Délie’s jealousy. He arranges a festival in Alcyone’s honor, and Délie finally admits her love for him.
Lisuart und Dariolette, oder Die Frage und die Antwort
Queen Ginevra of England sends the knight Lisuart to find her missing daughter Dariolette. During his quest, Lisuart must answer the riddle: “What gives women the most pleasure?”
Little Floramye
On a carnival night in Split, Floramye sneaks from home to meet Mirko and wins the Carnival Queen contest, but her mother catches her dancing and misreads Mr. Bepo’s approach. During the First World War, Floramye has become a nurse under the name Suzette; she and Mirko, now Lieutenant Petar Petrović, recognize one another and reconcile. After the war they return to Split, where Bepo’s exaggerated stories about his adventures are exposed, and the reunited couple celebrate a happy ending.
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood sets out through the forest with cakes for her sick grandmother, despite her mother’s warning not to talk to strangers. The wolf misdirects her, reaches the cottage first, swallows the grandmother, and then swallows the girl. Hunters and woodcutters find the sleeping wolf, free both victims, and sew him up again. The wolf repents and is allowed to remain in the forest if he keeps his promise to behave.
Little Women
An operatic adaptation of Alcott’s story of the March family growing up in New England after the American Civil War; the source page does not give the opera’s plot details.
Liu Hulan
An opera about Liu Hulan, a 14-year-old Communist Party member who was elevated as a revolutionary martyr after her death.
Livia
Livia controls Augustus and gradually removes those who escape her influence. The young Claudius is rejected by most of his family, though Germanicus and Postumus love him. Livia manipulates Augustus into naming her son Tiberius heir.
Livietta e Tracollo
Originally an intermezzo for Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria, this comic opera centers on Livietta, a young peasant girl, and Tracollo, a prowler.
Livlægens Besøg
Bo Holten’s Danish-language opera adapts Per Olov Enquist’s novel Livläkarens besök. A 2009 recording features the Royal Danish Opera and Royal Danish Orchestra.
Lizzie Borden
A three-act opera and epilogue retelling the murders of Lizzie Borden’s stepmother and father in Fall River, Massachusetts. The opera makes substantial dramatic changes for the stage.
Lo frate ’nnamorato
Ascanio, brother of Nina and Nena, was stolen by brigands in childhood and presumed lost; Marcaniello found and adopted him. Don Carlo, guardian of Nina and Nena, plans to marry Marcaniello’s daughter Luggrezia. Marcaniello hopes to marry Nina himself and arrange for his son Don Pietro to marry Nena. Nina and Nena both fall in love with Ascanio without knowing their kinship. During a duel with Carlo, Ascanio is recognized as Carlo’s lost nephew by a birthmark. Ascanio and Luggrezia are then free to marry.
Lo schiavo
In 1567, Ilàra and Ibère are enslaved on Count Rodrigo’s farm. Americo loves Ilàra and saves Ibère from punishment, but Rodrigo sends him away and then marries Ilàra, selling her and Ibère. At Niterói, the abolitionist Countess of Boissy frees her slaves, including Ilàra and Ibère. Ibère joins the anti-Portuguese force; when Americo is captured, Ibère frees him. Americo and Ilàra try to escape, but Ibère kills himself in their place out of respect for their love.
Lo speziale
Apothecary Sempronio hopes to marry his ward Grilletta for her money, while his apprentice Mengone and wealthy Volpino also court her. The two young men outwit Sempronio with disguised notaries and a false Turkish delegation, exposing Volpino’s tricks. Mengone intervenes to protect Sempronio, who finally agrees to let him marry Grilletta.
Lo spirito di contradizione
Don Cesarino plots to marry Lisetta, Cecchina and Countess Flaminia for their dowries and then disappear. Other men who are interested in the women thwart his scheme.
Lo sposo deluso
Mozart’s unfinished comic opera concerns Bocconio Papparelli, a rich but foolish man engaged to Eugenia, and the rivalry of three women for one lover. Eugenia loves Don Asdrubale, who is also loved by Bettina and Metilde. Only about 20 minutes of the first act survive.
Lo straniero
A two-act opera with an original story featuring Old Testament characters, part of Pizzetti’s trilogy on redemption and the virtue of love.
Lodoletta
Dutch orphan Lodoletta leaves her artist lover Flammen when he suggests they live together. Later, she follows him to Paris, but seeing his New Year’s Eve party, she collapses outside in the snow and dies, deliriously asking his forgiveness.
Lodoïska
Count Floreski searches for Lodoïska, who was hidden by her father after he opposed their marriage. He learns she is imprisoned in Baron Dourlinski’s castle and allies with Titzikan, a Tartar leader whose people have suffered under the baron. Dourlinski threatens to kill Floreski unless Lodoïska marries him, but Titzikan’s forces storm the castle, defeat the baron and rescue the lovers.
Lohengrin
In Brabant, Elsa is accused of murdering her brother. A mysterious knight arrives by swan-drawn boat, defeats her accuser and agrees to marry her on the condition that she never ask his name or origin. Ortrud and Telramund undermine Elsa’s trust, and she eventually asks the forbidden questions. The knight reveals himself as Lohengrin, a Knight of the Grail, and must leave; he restores Elsa’s brother Gottfried from swan form, and Elsa dies as he departs.
Lohengrin
From Elsa’s perspective, the story follows a Vestal Virgin accused of fornication. Lohengrin marries her but refuses to consummate the marriage despite her attempts to seduce him. A pillow turns into a swan, and Lohengrin returns to the moon on its back. At the end, Elsa is revealed to be a patient in a psychiatric ward.
Lolita
The opera opens with Humbert Humbert facing a court after his relationship with Lolita. He marries her mother to gain access to the girl, then travels with Lolita after her mother dies. Lolita later escapes his control and becomes involved with filmmaker Quilty; Humbert kills Quilty and is sentenced to death.
Longing for Husband Cloud
A Chinese-language western-style opera based on a story of the Bai people.
Lord Byron
In Westminster Abbey, Byron’s friends, wife, and sister ask the Dean to permit a statue and the poet’s burial there. The arrival of the statue prompts memories of Byron’s courtship, his incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta Leigh, and his exile. Fearing what his memoirs might reveal, they burn the manuscript without reading it. When the Dean learns what they have done, he denies Byron burial in the Abbey. The shades of the poets in Poets’ Corner welcome Byron at the end.
Loreley
Walter seduces Loreley but leaves her to marry Anna. Loreley swears fidelity to the Rhine god and transforms into the legendary siren. At Walter and Anna’s wedding she appears and lures Walter away; Anna dies, and later Walter drowns while Loreley is restrained by her oath to Alberich.
Los amores de la Inés
One-act Spanish zarzuela in two scenes.
Lost Highway
Olga Neuwirth’s opera adapts David Lynch’s 1997 film into music theatre for singers, actors and live electronics. Its roles include Fred, Pete, Alice/Renee, Mr Eddy/Dick Laurent and the Mystery Man.
Lotario
In tenth-century Italy, Adelaide resists Berengario’s attempt to force her to marry his son after he seized the throne and killed her husband. German King Lotario comes to her aid, but both are captured and threatened. Idelberto ultimately refuses to betray Adelaide; after Lotario’s victory, Adelaide pardons her captors, gives Idelberto the Italian crown, and marries Lotario.
Lottchen am Hofe
Peasant girl Lottchen flirts with Count Astolph to teach her fiancé Jürgen a lesson. She then joins with Countess Emilie to teach both men a lesson.
Louis Riel
A bilingual opera about Métis leader Louis Riel, portraying the post-Confederation political upheavals of the Red River Rebellion and the North-West Rebellion, alongside the personal tragedy of Riel’s life and execution in 1885.
Louise
Louise, a seamstress, loves her neighbor Julien, an artist, but her parents oppose their marriage. When Julien asks her to run away with him, Louise hesitates because she loves her parents too. She eventually leaves home and moves with Julien to a cottage overlooking Paris, where she is celebrated by their bohemian friends. Her mother arrives with news that her father is ill. Moved by her parents’ distress, Julien lets Louise return home. Her father recovers and welcomes her, but Louise longs to be with Julien again. When her father angrily orders her to leave, she runs back to Julien.
Love Counts
Patsy Bear, a boxer who cannot read or recognize numbers reliably, meets Avril Ainger, a mathematics lecturer. She helps him learn basic arithmetic, though Patsy is more interested in sex. Avril discusses her abusive first marriage and asks Patsy to leave boxing; after she cuts up his gear, he becomes ill and falls into a coma. His doctor says conversation may restore his memory. In the final scene, Avril pushes him in a wheelchair along the street where they met, and they repeat their counting routine.
Love and Malice
In the early 16th century near Split, Ljubica loves Obren, though her father Velimir has promised her to Vukosav. Vukosav plots to seize Ljubica and kill Velimir. After Velimir forces Ljubica to reject Obren by letter, Vukosav's men capture them. Ljudevit leads peasants to their rescue and shoots Vukosav as he tries to stab Ljubica. The characters kneel in prayer.
Love and Other Demons
Maria lives neglected by her father and prefers the company of servants and slaves. After a dog bites her, she is taken to a convent for exorcism, where Father Delaura falls in love with her. Once their feelings are discovered, she is removed from the convent, and the bishop conducts the exorcism. Maria dies during the process.
Love in the Age of Therapy
Paul Grabowsky’s opera with a libretto by Joanna Murray-Smith premiered for OzOpera at the Melbourne Festival in October 2002.
Love's Labour's Lost
An English-language opera based on Shakespeare’s play, with scenes centered on the couples and a plot stretched over four seasons.
Luceafărul
The Evening Star falls in love with a mortal princess and asks God to send him to earth, despite the other angels’ objections. The princess ultimately marries another mortal, leaving the Evening Star condemned to immortality.
Luci mie traditrici
At the home of Count and Countess Malaspina in the late sixteenth century, the couple declare eternal love. The Countess then has an affair with a visiting Guest. That evening the Count forgives her; later he discovers the Guest’s corpse in her bed and stabs the Countess, who collapses beside the dead man.
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