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Clear filtersIn 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.
A one-act French opéra comique by Victor Massé; its story is not documented in the available account.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An opéra-ballet in a prologue and three acts, organized around youth, maturity, and old age and their differing forms of love.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A three-act English-language opera based on Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s play, featuring Prince Segismundo, King Basilio, and Rosaura.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
An opera based on the death of Azaria Chamberlain, the infant daughter of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, at Uluru in 1980.
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.
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.
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.
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?”
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 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.
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.
An opera about Liu Hulan, a 14-year-old Communist Party member who was elevated as a revolutionary martyr after her death.
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.
Originally an intermezzo for Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria, this comic opera centers on Livietta, a young peasant girl, and Tracollo, a prowler.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A two-act opera with an original story featuring Old Testament characters, part of Pizzetti’s trilogy on redemption and the virtue of love.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Chinese-language western-style opera based on a story of the Bai people.
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.
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.
One-act Spanish zarzuela in two scenes.
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.
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.
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.
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, 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.
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.
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.
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.
Paul Grabowsky’s opera with a libretto by Joanna Murray-Smith premiered for OzOpera at the Melbourne Festival in October 2002.
An English-language opera based on Shakespeare’s play, with scenes centered on the couples and a plot stretched over four seasons.
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.
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.
In seventeenth century Scotland, Lucia Ashton and Edgardo Ravenswood secretly pledge to marry despite their families’ feud. Lucia’s brother Enrico forges a letter to make her believe Edgardo has been unfaithful, and pressures her to marry Arturo. Edgardo arrives after she signs the contract and curses her. Lucia later kills Arturo in a state of madness and dies; when Edgardo learns of her death, he stabs himself.
On her wedding day, Lucile learns from the peasant Blaise that she was secretly exchanged as an infant after his wife nursed Timante’s child. Her poorer birth seems to threaten her marriage to Dorval, but Timante persuades Dorval’s father to let the wedding proceed. The opera ends in celebration.
Roman dictator Lucio Silla seeks to marry Giunia, whose father, Gaius Marius, was his enemy. Giunia loves the exiled senator Cecilio, whom Silla has falsely reported dead. Silla threatens Giunia and imprisons Cecilio, but his sister Celia and Giunia’s friend Cinna work to protect the couple. At a public assembly, Silla surprises Rome by freeing Cecilio and allowing him to marry Giunia. He also pardons Cinna, arranges Cinna’s marriage to Celia, and relinquishes his dictatorship to restore liberty to Rome.
On Christmas Eve, fifteen-year-old Peter escapes a church tower and meets Lisa, but pursues wealth and power to win her rather than returning her love. He becomes king, leads a reform movement and then rejects it, before despairing in a stormy seascape and calling for Death. Guided by the Good Fairy and gnome Loki, he recognizes that love is the only thing he values; Lisa returns, they reconcile, and his father’s spell is broken.
In Rome in 509 BC, Sextus Tarquinius, Brutus and Collatinus discuss their wives’ fidelity. Tarquinius becomes infatuated with Collatinus’s wife Lucrezia, enters her home and rapes her. The following day she asks Collatinus to avenge her and takes her life. Brutus leads a rebellion that overthrows the monarchy.
Gennaro, an orphan unaware that Lucrezia Borgia is his mother, becomes entangled in her husband Alfonso’s suspicion and revenge. After Lucrezia saves him from one poisoning, she later poisons his companions; Gennaro chooses to die with them, and Lucrezia dies mourning her son.
Corsican farmer Ludovic manages a farm owned by Francesca, who is preparing to marry her cousin Gregorio. Ludovic shoots Francesca, and though he is sentenced to death she recovers and realizes she loves him.
In a Tyrolean village, Luisa loves a young man she knows as Carlo, who is actually Rodolfo, son of Count Walter. Wurm, who wants Luisa for himself, tells her father Miller the truth and later coerces Luisa into writing a false letter to save her father from execution. Rodolfo believes the letter and agrees to marry Federica. After Miller is freed, Rodolfo gives Luisa poisoned water; as they die, she tells him the letter was forced. Rodolfo kills Wurm and dies.
Queen Periferihme sends Prince Lulu to rescue her daughter Sidi from the wizard Dilfeng, giving him a magic flute. Dilfeng prepares to marry Sidi; Lulu uses the flute to put the villains to sleep and reclaim a rose tied to Sidi’s true love and her power over nature, before Dilfeng conjures a storm.
Lulu’s first husband dies after finding her with the Painter, who later kills himself when he learns how she was exploited and married off. She marries Dr. Schön, whom she kills when he tries to force her to commit suicide. After escaping prison with help from Geschwitz, Lulu and Alwa flee to Paris, where a stock-market crash leaves them destitute in London. Lulu’s clients kill her, Alwa, and Geschwitz.
An opera by José María Cano, presented in concert version at the Palau de la Música de València in 1998.
Lurline, a Rhine nymph, falls in love with Count Rudolph. After he loses his engagement to Ghiva, Lurline gives him a magic ring and brings him to her underwater palace. Rudolph misses his former life and returns to the surface with Rhine treasure, promising to come back. Ghiva steals and throws away his ring, and Rudolph forgets Lurline. When his friends plot to murder him for his wealth, Lurline returns the ring and calls on the Rhine spirits. The flood drowns the conspirators, while Rudolph is spared and returns with Lurline to her palace.
King Astolf is carried by Zephyr to the Isle of Bliss, where he marries Queen Felicia and remains for three centuries. Nyx returns him to Hyperborea, where he finds the land decadent and vows to return to Bliss. As Time takes him in death, his horse Pegasus flies on to the isle.
An English-language two-act opera based on Aristophanes’ Lysistrata.
A tragédie en musique based on the Greek legend of Hero and Leander.
A two-act opéra-comique by Pierre Gaveaux to a libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. Bouilly’s work later served as a model for Paër’s Leonora and Mayr’s L’amor coniugale; a German translation also inspired Beethoven’s Leonore and Fidelio. No plot description is available in the reviewed text.
In Lisbon, Vasco da Gama seeks support for an expedition and is imprisoned. Sélika, queen of a newly encountered land, saves him, but Vasco later joins Don Pédro’s voyage. Nélusko steers the ship into a storm and leads an attack on the Europeans, sparing Vasco. Sélika saves Vasco from execution and calls him her husband, but when he hears Inès’s voice, Sélika releases the lovers to return to Europe and takes her own life beneath a poisonous tree; Nélusko follows her.
Luigi, a servant in Giangrazio’s household, is actually the missing son Alidoro and uses the name Ascanio to remain near Faustina, whom he loves. Giangrazio plans to marry his son Don Marciello to Faustina, though Don Marciello loves innkeeper Zeza, who loves miller Meo. Misunderstandings and jealous rivalries end when a birthmark reveals Ascanio’s identity. He marries Faustina, Zeza and Meo reconcile, and Giangrazio suggests that Don Marciello marry Elisa.
The troubadour Jaufré longs for a distant, ideal love, and the Pilgrim tells him that Clémence, Countess of Tripoli, exists and has heard his songs. Clémence begins to imagine this devoted stranger, but hesitates to meet him. Jaufré travels to Tripoli and arrives gravely ill; he and Clémence declare their love before he dies. She enters a convent, praying ambiguously to God or to her lost lover.
Exiled soldier Leone seeks Countess Sylvia, who is the mistress of King Fernand of Naples. The king arranges Leone’s marriage to Sylvia while keeping her as his mistress; Leone leaves to become a monk. Sylvia follows in disguise, but dies as they attempt to flee together.
Selino, actually the kidnapped Lucimoro, abandons his pregnant wife Argia and later falls in love with Dorisbe, unaware she is his sister. Argia searches for him in disguise, while her brother Feraspe also arrives. The identities are revealed, Argia and Selino reconcile, their son reunites Selino with his birth father, and Dorisbe marries Feraspe.
After helping Theseus escape Crete, Ariadne accompanies him to Naxos, where he abandons her. She waits for his return and sings a lament before Bacchus arrives. Venus and Cupid arrange the union of Ariadne and Bacchus, who promises her immortality and a crown of stars.
The impoverished Egisto loves the young widow Alvida, who refuses him unless he destroys what he values most: his inherited tower and favorite falcon. He does so, and Alvida marries him. In the tower’s ruins they discover buried treasure and a stone that cures Alvida’s gravely ill son. In a subplot, Lucinda disguises herself as a man to pursue Egisto; after he rejects her, she nearly kills herself, but is revealed as his long-lost sister.
Alfred Bruneau’s French opera, with a libretto by Émile Zola, has an autobiographical basis in its author’s life.
An Italian commedia per musica by Bernardo Pasquini.
An Italian opera seria in three acts by Josef Mysliveček, set to Metastasio’s libretto Ipermestra.
Megacle enters the Olympic Games under the name of his friend Licida, who hopes to win Aristea’s hand. Megacle and Aristea already love each other, but he has promised to compete for Licida. Argene, Licida’s former betrothed, arrives in disguise. Megacle wins, reveals the truth, and leaves; Licida is rejected and banished. Megacle survives a reported drowning, while Licida considers killing the king. Argene offers herself to save him and reveals a chain that identifies Licida as the king’s abandoned son. Licida is reinstated and accepts Argene, while Megacle and Aristea reunite.
Three-act opera seria by Baldassare Galuppi to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio.
Megacle enters the Olympic Games in disguise as Licida, whose beloved Aristea is to marry the victor, though Megacle and Aristea love each other. After Megacle wins and reveals the truth, Licida is banished and later considers killing King Clistene. Argene offers herself in Licida’s place; a chain reveals Licida is the king’s long-lost son, and the couples are reunited.
This three-part opera opens as Orpheus disrupts an impresario’s commedia dell’arte performance, locks the masked players away, and introduces new figures of human life. The middle part, Sette canzoni, consists of seven unrelated mini-operas: a girl abandons her blind companion; a friar hurries a praying woman from church; a mother fails to recognize her son returned from war; a drunkard is mistaken for a lover; a serenader goes unheard beside a death; a bellringer sings while warning of a fire; and a clown meets a masked woman after a funeral procession. In the final part, courtiers watch a violent puppet drama about Nero and Agrippina. Orpheus sings, puts the audience to sleep except for the queen, and escapes with her.
Princes Amida and Ormindo both love Erisbe, the unhappy wife of the elderly King Hariadeno. Amida is reminded that he abandoned Princess Sicle, who he believes died after his betrayal. A séance reveals Sicle is alive, and Amida realizes he still loves her. Erisbe and Ormindo plan to elope, but the King orders his captain Osmano to poison them. At the urging of Erisbe’s confidante Mirinda, Osmano substitutes a sleeping potion. The King later learns that Ormindo is his son and forgives the lovers, ceding the kingdom to him.
Alfred Bruneau’s opera has a libretto by Émile Zola. A production was given in Moscow in Russian translation in 1905.
A farsa by Johann Simon Mayr for the Teatro di San Samuele.
Merchant Don Lopez opposes the remarriage of his widowed daughter Léonore, who loves the jealous Don Alonze. A veiled Isabelle is mistaken for Léonore’s secret lover, while Florival also arrives seeking a woman he rescued and mistakenly believes the housekeeper is her. When Alonze recognizes his sister, the lovers’ misunderstandings clear; an inheritance permits Alonze to marry Léonore, and Florival marries Isabelle.
Formerly poor rural siblings Lupino and Cintia suddenly become rich. Their maid Delfina teaches them to behave aristocratically.
Blind King Archibaldo suspects that his daughter-in-law Fiora is unfaithful to his son Manfredo. Fiora is having an affair with Avito, a former prince. Archibaldo kills Fiora, then poisons her lips so her lover will die. Avito kisses her and reveals the affair to Manfredo before dying. Grief-stricken, Manfredo also kisses Fiora and dies; Archibaldo hears his son’s final voice.
In an Alpine village, Despina loves the shepherd Despino, while her cousin Guidalba also desires him and longs for city life. Guidalba schemes to separate them, but Despino and Despina ultimately reunite and plan to marry in the countryside.
A two-act opera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari based on Molière’s comedy L’Amour médecin. The work has an Italian libretto by Enrico Golisciani and premiered in a German version by Richard Batka.
An operatic setting of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with roles including Orfeo, Euridice, Plutone, Creonte, and a chorus.
A one-act opéra comique later revised for performance in 1775.
An opéra comique by Fromental Halévy with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, set in a shipyard in Antibes.
A four-act French drame lyrique based on Émile Zola’s short story, with the setting changed from the Franco-Prussian War to the French Revolution.
The characters include elderly miser Orgasmo, who loves Laurina; his son Stefanello, also in love with Laurina; and Rosalinda, who is engaged to Macrobio but loves Felicino.
During the siege of Granada, Issachar, magician to King Boabdil, betrays him in hopes of gaining freedom for his people under Spanish rule. His daughter Leila loves the Moorish general Adèl-Muza. The Inquisition sentences Issachar to the stake, but he escapes by burning the Spanish camp. Leila is taken to Ferdinand and Isabella, who try to convert her. At her baptism Issachar appears and stabs her; Adèl-Muza reveals himself, and both men are sentenced to the stake.
After his mother scolds him, a child throws a tantrum, destroys objects in his room, and harms nearby animals. The furniture, decorations, homework figures, and animals come to life and tell him how he has hurt them. The room becomes a garden, where the creatures initially reject him. The child calls for his mother, and the animals attack one another in the ensuing confusion. When he bandages a squirrel’s wound, they change their minds, help him return home, and sing in his praise. The child greets his mother.
Ermanno loves Ernestina, who is attracted to the wealthy but foolish Buralicchio. Ermanno’s scheme leads to Ernestina being arrested on suspicion of deserting from the army and being a man in disguise. He rescues her, and the story ends happily.
A three-act dramma per musica by Alessandro Scarlatti. Its aria “Già il sole dal Gange” is sung by Saldino, a page admiring the sunrise in Algeria.
In this satirical intermezzo, singer Dorina awaits an impresario and complains about the ornamented audition music of the day. Nibbio is more intent on seduction than artistic judgment and tries to persuade her to sing. During a second meeting, Dorina lists extravagant contract demands; Nibbio accepts them, but still fails to achieve his goal.
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