3280 shows
Clear filtersAfter Medoro survives a shipwreck, he reunites with Angelica, who hides their love from the jealous Orlando. The enchantress Alcina uses magic to make Ruggiero forget Bradamante, but Bradamante breaks the spell. When Orlando discovers Angelica and Medoro’s marriage, he becomes furious and destroys Alcina’s power. He regains his reason and forgives the couple.
Set in a quasi-fairy-tale world, Agostino Steffani’s opera focuses on the emotions, relationships, and development of its characters. It adapts Ariosto’s romantic epic Orlando furioso.
Orlando pursues Angelica, who loves Medoro, and rages at their relationship. The sorceress Alcina repeatedly protects the lovers and restrains Orlando, while Rodomonte also pursues Angelica. Medoro is wounded and Orlando duels with Rodomonte. Alcina uses the waters of Lethe to cure Orlando’s madness, erasing his love for Angelica and hatred of Medoro. Angelica and Medoro reunite, Eurilla and Orlando’s squire Pasquale marry, and Orlando sets out for new deeds.
Philosophy and Love debate their power over humanity. Queen Orontea vows to avoid love, but falls for painter Alidoro when he arrives seeking refuge; the courtesan Silandra also loves him. Giacinta, disguised as a boy, arrives after being sent to kill Alidoro. Orontea grows jealous when he paints Silandra, while Creonte disapproves of her love for a commoner. Later Alidoro is accused of stealing a royal medallion. Aristea explains that it belonged to his family: Alidoro is actually Floridano, the kidnapped son of Phoenicia’s king, and he is free to marry Orontea.
A prologue and five-act tragédie en musique; almost all of the score is lost.
Queen Orasia of Thrace loves Orpheus, but he loves Eurydice. Orasia plots against Eurydice, who dies from a snakebite in Orpheus’s arms. Orpheus descends to the underworld and persuades Pluto to release her, but looks back too soon and loses her. Orasia expects him to love her now, but he rejects her. She urges Bacchus’s followers to kill Orpheus, then sees a vision of Orpheus and Eurydice reunited and kills herself in despair.
Krenek’s opera condenses Oskar Kokoschka’s expressionist, psychological treatment of the Orpheus myth. The source identifies the principal roles but gives no further plot synopsis.
A satirical retelling of the Orpheus story as commentary on Louis XIV’s rule. In the prologue, Venus condemns pomp and war during the Nine Years’ War and laments her son; Games and Pleasures, Cupid and the Graces appear.
Orphée, a rustic violin teacher, and his wife Eurydice dislike one another. Eurydice loves their neighbour Aristée, who is actually Pluton, god of the Underworld; Orphée and Pluton plot her death, and Pluton takes her below. Public Opinion forces Orphée to attempt a rescue. On Olympus, the gods revolt against Jupiter, who then descends to the Underworld and falls for Eurydice. At a celebration in Hades, Jupiter tries to smuggle her out. Orphée is told not to look back, but Jupiter’s thunderbolt makes him turn; Eurydice disappears, and the gods assign her to Bacchus. The 1874 revision expands the work to four acts and adds ballet, characters, and musical numbers without changing the main narrative.
This three-act opera retells the Orpheus myth through two parallel audience experiences. One follows Orphée in live performance and virtual reality; the other follows Eurydice through live performance and headphones. Each character reaches a conclusion about their broken relationship.
As Orson Welles lies between life and death, three avatars of him move through memories of his artistic career, personal losses and political concerns. The staged opera combines live performance with projected films and electro-acoustic music; Hagen later incorporated the stage production into a distinct film realization.
In a post-apocalyptic future, a boy is the last surviving human. Flashbacks tell how he was subjected to genetic-engineering experiments.
Walt Whitman introduces Wilde’s story. In London in 1895, hotel managers refuse Wilde rooms under pressure from the Marquess of Queensberry’s detectives. Ada Leverson and Frank Harris urge him to escape to France, but Wilde decides to stay for the trial. He is convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years’ hard labour. In Reading Gaol, he endures the prison regime, receives kindness from fellow prisoners and warder Martin, and witnesses the execution of another prisoner. Harris’s advocacy improves his conditions; Leverson visits and tells him he will soon be free. Wilde and Bosie part, and Whitman presents him to the Immortals.
In an imagined third-century Scotland, the Scandinavian ruler Duntalmo invades Caledonia, oppresses its people and plans to marry his son Mornal to Rosmala. She is already betrothed to the bard and warrior Ossian. Caledonians defeat the invaders, allowing Ossian to marry Rosmala.
In Venice at the end of the 15th century, Otello returns victorious from battle and secretly marries Desdemona, daughter of his enemy Elmiro. She was already promised to Rodrigo, son of the Doge. Iago, who also loves Desdemona and resents Otello, pretends to support Rodrigo and manipulates Otello into believing Desdemona has been unfaithful. Otello stabs Desdemona to death, then kills himself after discovering Iago’s deception and her innocence.
After Otello returns victorious to Cyprus, Iago schemes against him and engineers Cassio’s dismissal. Iago plants Desdemona’s strawberry-embroidered handkerchief and twists a conversation to convince Otello that she has been unfaithful. Otello kills Desdemona, then learns that Iago stole the handkerchief and fabricated the evidence. Realizing his error, Otello stabs himself and dies beside her.
Elisabetta sets out from Siberia for Moscow to seek a pardon for her wrongly exiled parents. On the journey she befriends a Tartar group, survives a flood, and exposes the injustice to the Tsar, who pardons and reunites her family.
Roman emperor Ottone loves Cleonilla, who flirts with Ostilio and Caio. Ostilio is actually Tullia, a woman in love with Caio, and she considers killing Cleonilla out of jealousy. When Caio mistakes their meeting for a romance, Ottone orders him to kill Ostilio; Tullia’s identity is revealed, and Cleonilla reconciles with Ottone. The opera ends with Tullia and Caio’s marriage.
Gismonda and her son Adelberto plot to take Italy from Ottone, who is on his way to marry Theofane. Adelberto impersonates Ottone to win Theofane, but is defeated and imprisoned. He escapes with Matilda’s help and abducts Theofane. After renewed conflict, she and Ottone reunite; Emireno is revealed as Theofane’s brother, and Ottone forgives Gismonda and Adelberto. Matilda and Adelberto are also united.
The opera moves from backstage preparations at Ford’s Theatre to a performance of Tom Taylor’s comedy before Lincoln, then to the assassination and its aftermath. Actors embody both the play’s characters and the historical events: Booth shoots Lincoln, the company tries to continue, Laura Keene cradles the dying president, and the actors face arrest and loss.
Malcolm Williamson’s first full-scale opera adapts Graham Greene’s 1958 novel Our Man in Havana. Sidney Gilliat wrote the libretto for this three-act English-language work.
Ned Rorem and J. D. McClatchy’s three-act opera adapts Thornton Wilder’s play and follows a community through birth, maturity, and death.
A pacifist young man rejects his family’s military tradition and is challenged to spend a night in a haunted room. He dies there, leaving his family to confront the cruelty that drove him to prove his courage.
After an attack on the twentieth convoy carrying prisoners to Auschwitz, the prisoners are emboldened to attempt escape. Eleven-year-old Simon Gronowski is pushed from the train carriage and escapes.
The opera deals with runner Paavo Nurmi’s life and ambition to win the marathon at the planned 1940 Helsinki Olympics, cancelled because of World War II. Its four main characters are Nurmi, his spouse Sylvi, future president Urho Kekkonen, and the Dark Lady.
Alaouddin, sultan of the Khilji dynasty, besieges Chittor and asks its ruler, Ratan-Sen, for peace. After seeing the city, he demands Ratan-Sen’s wife Padmâvatî, famed for her beauty. The Khilji army attacks, and the wounded Ratan-Sen tells Padmâvatî that surrendering herself is the only way to save the people. Ratan-Sen is stoned to death, and Padmâvatî joins him on his funeral pyre.
Set in Lucca, the operetta follows violinist Niccolò Paganini’s love affair with Princess Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister, who loves the arts and theatre. The work was written as a vehicle for tenor Richard Tauber, who later starred in the successful Berlin production.
A commedia dell’arte troupe arrives in a Calabrian village. Canio, who plays Pagliaccio, warns the villagers that he will not tolerate anyone courting his wife Nedda. Nedda’s lover Silvio asks her to elope, but Canio catches them and cannot identify the man. During the performance, Nedda repeats the words she had said to Silvio. Canio abandons the play and demands her lover’s name. When she refuses, he stabs her; Silvio rushes to the stage and is also killed. Canio—or Tonio, in the original manuscript—announces that the comedy is finished.
In a palace, courtiers worry that the King has not left his chamber for three days. He later appears but speaks only through Queen Constance. Valmonte rises in the court and invites Constance to flee with him; Kitty plans their escape during a feast. The King overhears, disguises himself as a beggar at the feast, and is ordered arrested by Ossip, who does not recognize him. Constance and Kitty escape; Valmonte emerges bearing the autocrat’s insignia.
Palestrina is pressured to compose a new mass that could preserve polyphonic music in church services. After a vision inspires him to write it, political conflict at the Council of Trent threatens the effort; his son delivers the completed mass, and the Pope restores Palestrina to favor.
In ancient Persia, three kings arrive on different mounts and compete to kill a monster and win the hand of Princess Palmira.
In 16th- and 17th-century Poland, the Voyevode abducts Maria, an orphan promised to Czapliński, and forces her to marry him. His jealous former lover Jadwiga plots to poison Maria, but shifting affections and a mistaken poisoned toast kill the Voyevode instead; Maria frees Czapliński.
A projected five-act tragédie en musique combining the stories of Adam and Eve with the myths of Prometheus and Pandora.
A setting of Voltaire’s five-act tragedy combining Adam and Eve with the Prometheus and Pandora myths.
Set in heaven, hell, and on earth at the dawn of creation, this sacred representation draws on John Milton’s epic poem and includes roles for Adam, Eve, Satan, Death, Sin, angels, and the Messias.
Three-act opera based on Delavigne’s play Le paria. The listed characters include Idamor, a warrior-caste leader, and Dżares, the pariah who is Idamor’s father; no plot summary is provided.
Paris seeks Helen’s love after choosing Aphrodite in the Judgment of Paris. Helen rejects him at first, but eventually yields after the disguised Cupid, Erasto, intervenes. Pallas Athene warns the couple of sorrow to come as they prepare to sail for Troy.
Duke Azzo suspects his wife Parisina is unfaithful, and she urges her lover Ugo to flee. When Parisina confesses her love, Azzo prepares to execute Ugo, but Ernesto reveals that Ugo is Azzo’s son by his first marriage. Azzo later shows Parisina Ugo’s corpse, and she dies in grief.
In the three-act version, Ugo d’Este and his stepmother Parisina become lovers. When Marquis Nicolò d’Este discovers them, he condemns both to be beheaded.
On Mount Parnassus, Apollo and the Muses gather to celebrate the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, joined by Orpheus. Clio recalls Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne, who escaped him by becoming a laurel tree. The Muses praise Orpheus, who mourns losing Eurydice for a second time after looking back while leading her from the underworld. Apollo and the Muses console him and celebrate the royal couple, whose marriage they say will bless the earth. Tritons sound their conches to begin the wedding festivities; the gods, Muses, nymphs and shepherds celebrate the newlyweds and prophesy a line of heroes.
Parsifal, a youth ignorant of his past, enters the realm of the Grail knights after killing a swan. He witnesses the suffering of their king Amfortas, whose wound came from the stolen Holy Spear. In Klingsor’s enchanted garden, Kundry’s kiss awakens Parsifal’s understanding of Amfortas’s pain; he resists her seduction, retrieves the Spear and returns years later. Parsifal heals Amfortas, becomes the Grail king and redeems Kundry.
A Spanish-language three-act opera adapted by Manuel de Zumaya from Silvio Stampiglia’s libretto about Partenope, queen of Naples. The score is lost.
Queen Partenope receives several suitors, including Arsace and the shy Armindo. Arsace's former fiancée, Princess Rosmira, arrives disguised as Prince Eurimene and tests his fidelity. Partenope rejects the invading Prince Emilio, and Armindo saves her in battle. Rosmira's identity is revealed in a duel, after which she marries Arsace. Partenope chooses Armindo, and Emilio returns to Cumae.
The opera draws on the legend of the siren Parthenope. After failing to lure Odysseus, she drowns herself; her body washes ashore in southern Italy, where Greek colonists found a city in her honor that eventually becomes Naples. The entry does not detail the opera’s staging of the myth.
The opera draws on a 1980s incident in which migrants were abandoned in a broken-down train car; all but one suffocated. The survivor becomes the narrator. The work also reflects on the families and communities left behind by migration.
American businessman Stevenson tries to buy Frenchman Robert’s oil-rich Colorado land cheaply, disguising his wife Ketty as an old woman. Ketty meets Robert while disguised as Stevenson’s niece, and they fall in love; after Stevenson’s new fondness for champagne softens him, the lovers persuade him to divorce Ketty and reveal the land’s value.
At Castle Bunthorne, maidens adore the aesthetic poet Bunthorne, though he loves the dairy maid Patience, who has never been in love. Their former suitors, officers of the Dragoons, return and are rejected. Patience resolves to love Bunthorne selflessly, but when the poet Archibald Grosvenor arrives, the maidens transfer their devotion to him. Grosvenor agrees to become commonplace to escape their attention; the maidens then return to their former fiancés, Patience agrees to marry Grosvenor, and Lady Jane pairs with the Duke of Dunstable, leaving Bunthorne alone.
Patience, an educated and prosperous woman, and Sarah, a farmer’s daughter, fall in love and dream of pioneering together. Their families try to separate them, and Sarah disguises herself as a boy while traveling with Parson Peel, who falls in love with her before learning her identity. The women reunite and leave to build a life together.
Set in 16th-century Brussels, the opera dramatizes a revolt of Flemish nobles. It adapts Victorien Sardou’s play of the same title.
Pauline is a four-act opera with music by Frederic H. Cowen and a libretto by Henry Hersee, adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1838 play The Lady of Lyons.
Set in Vancouver in March 1913, this two-act chamber opera concerns the final days of Canadian writer and performer Pauline Johnson.
An English- and Yorta Yorta-language opera based on the 1939 Cummeragunja walk-off, in which the composer’s grandparents were involved. Its timeline moves between Dreamtime, the Murray and Yarra riverbanks, Shepparton, and the site of the 2008 national apology.
A four-act grand opera adapted from Calderón’s The Mayor of Zalamea. The entry does not describe the plot.
Werner Egk’s German-language operatic adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt.
Set in Gijón and Asturias in the eighth century, the opera centers on Asturian king Pelagio and his daughter Bianca, who was raised by Giralda after her father was believed dead. Bianca loves Abdel-Aor, Moorish governor of Gijón, and Pelagio curses her. Abdel-Aor ultimately kills Bianca after believing she is betraying him to help her father.
Prince Golaud finds Mélisande lost in a forest, marries her, and brings her to his grandfather’s castle. Mélisande grows close to Golaud’s younger half-brother Pelléas, provoking Golaud’s jealousy. Golaud forces his son Yniold to spy on them and later catches the pair confessing their love. He kills Pelléas with his sword. Mélisande gives birth to a daughter but dies soon after, while Golaud begs her to explain what happened.
After Achilles defeats the Amazon queen Penthesilea, he pretends she defeated him so that Amazon law will allow their relationship. When she discovers the truth, her love turns to hatred. Achilles offers another duel unarmed, hoping she will win, but Penthesilea kills him in her fury.
Widowed Pepita, now wealthy, loves Don Luis, a young theological student and son of the respected Don Pedro. Pepita’s maid Antoñona tells Don Pedro about their love; he puts aside his own feelings for Pepita and tries to help them. Don Luis resolves to resist love and leave, but Antoñona makes him promise to see Pepita once more. He challenges Count Genazahar to a duel after the Count insults her. When the wounded Count is defeated, Pepita fears Luis’s religious calling will separate them and locks herself in her room. Luis breaks in, and they embrace.
Perelà is a man made of smoke who forms over thirty-three years in the fireplace tended by three women. When he finds the hearth abandoned, he names himself from their names, puts on boots to anchor himself, and travels to a nearby city. At court, people admire his lightness and ask him to devise a new legal code; Marchesa Olivia falls in love with him. After Alloro sets himself on fire hoping to emulate Perelà, Alloro’s daughter accuses Perelà of murder. He is imprisoned, but removes his boots and escapes through the cell chimney, floating into the sky.
Narrator R follows lounge singer Raoul, pianist Buddy, and Isolde as they plan a bank robbery intended as a philosophical gesture. The seven episodes circle the plan, a missing bank deposit, and an eloping couple who carry money to Indiana for a wedding, while the work interweaves Midwestern scenes, evangelical imagery, and nonlinear reflections on identity.
Persée loves Andromède, who is betrothed to her uncle Phinée. He sets out to defeat Medusa, using gifts from the gods to kill her without looking directly at her. When Juno and Neptune threaten Andromède with a sea monster, Persée saves her. At their wedding, Mérope warns Persée of Phinée’s plot but is killed; Persée turns Phinée to stone, and Venus restores peace.
A three-act tragédie lyrique reworking Quinault’s libretto for Lully, with mythological characters including Perseus, Andromeda, Medusa, Cepheus and Cassiopeia.
Jacques Ibert’s two-act French-language opera takes Perseus and Andromeda as its subject. The available text does not provide the plot.
In a Suffolk coastal village around 1830, fisherman Peter Grimes is questioned after his apprentice dies at sea. The inquest rules the death accidental, but the townspeople remain suspicious. Grimes takes another apprentice, John, and hopes to marry schoolmistress Ellen Orford if he can gain the Borough’s respect. When Ellen finds a bruise on John, Grimes strikes her and takes the boy away. John dies after falling from a cliff as they hurry to their boat. The villagers later search for Grimes; Captain Balstrode tells him to sail out and sink his boat. The next morning, the town resumes its routine and dismisses a coastguard report of a sinking boat.
Peter Ibbetson and Mary, childhood friends, recognize one another again as adults and share a gift for “dreaming true,” meeting in dreams across place and time. Peter accidentally kills the Colonel after learning he is his father, and is sentenced to prison; Mary secures a commutation, allowing them to meet in dreams until her death and Peter’s.
An early German opera by Carl Maria von Weber, based on a novel by Carl Gottlob Cramer. Its libretto has not survived, and the plot is not documented here.
One-act German Singspiel adapted from Annette et Lubin. The underlying story concerns two orphaned cousins who fall in love and seek permission to marry; this entry does not describe how the opera handles that story.
Phaedra falls in love with her stepson Hippolytus, but after he rejects her she joins Aphrodite in seeking revenge and falsely accuses him to Theseus. Hippolytus dies, and Artemis resurrects him at Nemi under the name Virbius, where he struggles with a fragmented sense of identity before becoming King of the Woods.
Ambitious Phaëton abandons his lover Theona in pursuit of Libya, daughter of the Egyptian king. When Epaphus challenges his claim to be the Sun’s son, Phaëton persuades his father to let him drive the sun chariot. He loses control of the horses and threatens the earth with fire, so Jupiter strikes down the chariot and Phaëton falls to his death.
Sculptor Phidias selects Aspasie as a model for Virtue, while his wife becomes involved with Prince Ardimédon. After mistaken pairings, gambling losses, and shifting sculpture models, the characters reconcile and complete a group celebrating domestic happiness.
In Phrygia, Philemon and Baucis prepare their son Aret and Narcissa’s wedding while Mercury watches the village’s increasingly depraved behavior. The gods send a storm that kills the young couple. Later, Jupiter and Mercury arrive disguised as wanderers, and the old couple welcome them; moved by their hospitality and grief, the gods revive Aret and Narcissa and turn the hut into a temple.
A tragédie en musique based on the story of Philomela as told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Jupiter visits the poor but contented couple Philémon and Baucis during a storm he has caused. Pleased by their kindness and angered by the impious people nearby, he spares them and destroys the others. He grants the couple youth again, then pursues Baucis, who remains faithful despite being tempted by his attention. Philémon curses the gift and leaves. Baucis begs Jupiter to punish her instead, and asks to grow old again with her husband. Philémon joins her plea, and Jupiter blesses their marriage and promises not to disturb their happiness.
This Meitei-language ballad opera draws on Meitei mythology and folklore. It presents divine narratives of goddesses associated with fish, land, metal, water, wealth, and rice, sent to earth to help human civilization. Rice goddess Phouoibi meets Akongjamba in the ancient kingdom of Moirang, and they fall in love.
A three-act opera based on Phaedra’s obsessive love for her stepson Hippolytus in Greek mythology.
Ghino desires Pia, the wife of his cousin Nello, and uses a discovered message to accuse her of infidelity. He finds her helping her brother Rodrigo escape, and Nello imprisons her; Ghino later learns the truth and confesses, but Nello’s order to poison Pia has already been carried out. As she dies, Pia forgives Nello and reconciles him with Rodrigo.
Mrs Bardell loves Pickwick, while Baker competes for her affection. Pickwick’s suggestion that he employ a manservant is mistaken for a marriage proposal, leading to a sequence of misunderstandings and a confrontation with Baker.
Tsar Peter disguises himself as a carpenter to work in a Russian shipyard, where he falls in love with and marries the peasant Catherine, later Empress Catherine I. The opera presents the royal couple as ideal rulers concerned with ordinary people, reflecting hopes during the French Revolution that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would follow their example.
Button merchant Cyrille Durand has taken in Jacquot and helped Pierrette, unaware that Jacquot arranged for Pierrette to come to Paris so they could marry. They dress as Savoyards to win Durand’s consent, but he plans to marry Pierrette himself. A false report of a drowning sends Durand rushing out; after he returns soaked, Madame Patacha persuades him to approve the young couple’s marriage and marry her himself.
The sculptor Pigmalion falls in love with the statue he has made and asks Venus to bring it to life, spurning his girlfriend Céphise. The statue animates, sings, and dances; Cupid praises Pigmalion’s artistry and finds another lover for Céphise. The work ends with celebrations of love.
The sculptor Pygmalion falls in love with his statue Galatea. Venus and Cupid bring the statue to life; Galatea returns his love and they celebrate their wedding.
The chambermaid Vespetta wheedles her way into marrying her employer, the elderly Pimpinone. After the marriage, she reveals a sharp temper and completely dominates him.
Philippe Boesmans’s French-language opera adapts Carlo Collodi’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. The available text does not provide further plot details.
Baldo, a worker, and Pinotta, a hand-spinner in Andrea’s workshop, fall in love and marry.
Impoverished composer Emil loves Hedwig, daughter of a wealthy widow. Hedwig is also pursued by her guardian Fabian Muker, who wants her fortune. With help from Judith, a fortune-teller and Emil’s foster mother, Emil and Hedwig marry, and Fabian is revealed to be Emil’s uncle.
A prologue and five-act tragédie en musique based on the story of Pyramus and Thisbe in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Based on the Pyramus and Thisbe story, this opera presents their love as a sentimental tragedy. After Tisbe’s father forbids their relationship, both lovers kill themselves. The father, blaming himself for their deaths, also takes his own life.
A prologue and five-act tragédie en musique named for Pirithous, king in Greek mythology.
On her wedding day to Zamore, Alzire has an ominous dream before Spanish ships arrive. Pizarro’s forces defeat the Peruvians and destroy their temple. Pizarro, who loves Alzire, offers her father Atabaliba restoration as king in exchange for her hand and threatens captive Zamore. Atabaliba and Zamore plot revolt. In the final confrontation, Alzire protects Pizarro and threatens suicide; Pizarro grants her to Zamore, and the opera ends in reconciliation and celebration.
In a surreal sequence of scenes, Don Juan seeks to seduce women while longing for Death, personified as La Morte. He kills the Commendatore and loses Donna Anna, then embraces La Morte, who finally passes his test but curses him to eternal life. Don Juan shoots himself, transforms into a young man, and returns to the opening scene to repeat his cycle.
To cure Juno’s jealousy, the gods arrange for Jupiter to pretend to love Platée, an ugly marsh nymph who believes everyone is attracted to her. Jupiter disguises himself as animals before appearing as a god, and a mock wedding is arranged. Juno discovers the ruse and realizes her jealousy was misplaced; the gods return to heaven and the humiliated Platée dives back into her pond.
In ancient Greece, Xinthias loves Myrrha, but her father intends her to marry the wealthy older Xénon. Following an oracle’s advice, Xinthias shelters Plutus, god of wealth, who makes him rich by diverting a gold-bearing river through his house and village. The new wealth corrupts the villagers and leads Xinthias’s father to forbid his son’s marriage. Plutus ultimately restores the lovers and their neighbors to poverty and happiness.
A Chinese-language chamber opera on the subject of poet Li Bai, with fragmentary allusions to his poetry.
Polifemo desires Galatea, who loves the mortal Aci. He kills Aci, but the gods restore him as a river deity. Meanwhile, Calipso helps Ulisse escape Polifemo’s control; Ulisse blinds the sleeping cyclops. Polifemo wanders in rage while Aci, Galatea, and Ulisse celebrate.
In Roman-ruled Melitene around 259 CE, magistrate Poliuto joins the Christians and is baptized. His wife Paolina, who had been told her former lover Severo died in battle, learns that Severo has returned. Poliuto suspects an affair but turns from revenge when his fellow Christian Nearco is arrested. At the Temple of Jupiter, Poliuto reveals his faith and smashes the pagan altar. Facing execution, he and Paolina reconcile; she converts and asks to die with him. They go with the condemned Christians to the arena.
After the Trojan War, Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, wants to marry the Trojan princess Polyxena. Juno and Polyxena’s mother, Hecuba, oppose the match, and Hecuba urges Pyrrhus’s rival Telephus to kill him. Telephus refuses, so Hecuba has him killed instead. She is eventually reconciled to Pyrrhus and consents to the marriage.
Polly Peachum travels to the West Indies in search of Macheath, now a pirate living with Jenny Diver. Mrs Trapes kidnaps Polly to sell her to planter Mr Ducat; Polly disguises herself as a young man. After pirates are defeated and identities exposed, Macheath is executed and Polly marries Cawwawkee, son of the Indian king.
Based on the legend of Polydorus, youngest son of Priam, who is murdered by Polymestor, King of Thrace, for his treasure. The original ending shows Polymnestor committing suicide onstage; after this shocked audiences, a chorus about Deidamie and Polydore’s love was inserted.
A five-act opera by Carl Heinrich Graun and Johann Samuel Müller, with characters including Polydorus, Andromache and Polymestor. The entry does not describe the plot.
In Melitene, Armenia, Pauline is married to Polyeucte but once loved Roman general Sévère. When Sévère returns, Pauline confides in him that Polyeucte is in danger because Christians are to be executed. Polyeucte becomes a Christian despite the threat of persecution. Governor Félix orders vengeance, and Sévère cannot persuade Polyeucte to deny his faith. Polyeucte remains imprisoned and appears with Pauline in the arena as the lion’s den is opened.
Polyphème is embittered because Galatée, whom he loves, now loves Acis. He tries to renew his bond with her but lets her go when she rejects him. As the lovers grow closer, Polyphème obsessively questions the boy Lycas about their intimacy. When he sees them sleeping together, he chooses not to crush them with a boulder, blinds himself, and walks toward the sea, with Lycas helping him touch Galatée one last time.
A prologue and five-act tragédie lyrique concerning the mythological figures Polyxena and Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus).
Rabastens disapproves of his nephew Gustave’s romance with Pomme d’api and cuts off his allowance. When Catherine arrives as a new maid, Gustave recognizes his former beloved, who tests his devotion by letting Rabastens court her. Gustave prepares to leave, Catherine embraces him, and Rabastens relents and blesses their marriage.
Vertumne loves Pomone while her nurse Beroé loves Vertumne. Vertumne attempts to win Pomone through disguises as a dragon, Pluto and Bacchus, succeeding only when he appears as Beroé, whom Pomone cannot refuse a kiss.
This three-act Italian dramma per musica features Pompey the Great and other historical figures, including Sextus Pompey, Mithridates, Julius Caesar, and Crassus.
The opera loosely dramatizes the life of Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba, including her marriage to Célestin, confinement at the de Pontalba château, survival of her father-in-law’s shooting attack, legal separation and return to New Orleans. The work also includes fictional characters and changes historical details.
A distinct setting or adaptation of Pietro Metastasio’s Demetrio libretto by Giovanni Battista Mele. Two-act adaptation premiered on 31 January 1736 at Teatro de la Cruz, Madrid; libretto adapted by D. Vincente de Camacho. No version-specific plot is supplied.
In Charleston, disabled street beggar Porgy tries to protect Bess from Crown, her violent lover, and Sportin’ Life, a drug dealer. After Crown kills Robbins and flees, Bess takes shelter with Porgy. She later encounters Crown on Kittiwah Island, then returns to Porgy; during a hurricane, Crown reappears and Porgy kills him. When Porgy is released from jail, he learns Bess has left for New York with Sportin’ Life and sets out to find her.
A Croatian grand opera by Vatroslav Lisinski to a text by Dimitrija Demeter.
After Alexander conquers India, King Poro disguises himself to avoid capture, while his wife Cleofide seeks mercy and his sister Erissena attracts Alexander and his general. Jealousy, disguises, attempted suicide, and shifting alliances lead to Cleofide’s planned self-immolation; Poro returns, and Alexander forgives the couple and makes peace.
Passengers waiting in a train station reveal what they do but keep the contents of their luggage secret. A puppet master who seems to live in the station tries to manipulate them. The passengers leave one by one, except Mr. Owen, who acts out a story about sailing away and breaks the puppet master’s hold. The puppet master retains control of the Foreign Singer in the final moments.
In a hotel in 1990, staff mock the Duchess and later evict her for unpaid bills. Earlier scenes revisit her marriage, affairs, and sensational 1950s divorce proceedings. In the final scene she attempts to seduce the hotel manager but fails; after she leaves, the electrician and maid emerge from under the bed and destroy the room.
Iša Krejčí’s Czech opéra bouffe adapts Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. The work was written between 1939 and 1943 and received wartime radio performances.
An opera buffa with simultaneous ballet by Boris Blacher, based on the real-life Captain of Köpenick story and Carl Zuckmayer’s play. Heinz von Cramer wrote the libretto. No plot description is available in the reviewed text.
On Bastille Day 1970, opera soprano Régine Saint Laurent prepares to return to the stage after six years away, following a vocal failure during a performance of an opera composed for her. Her butler Philippe encourages the comeback and an interview. Journalist and aspiring singer André Le Tourner arrives; the maid Marie distrusts him. Régine notices André resembles the tenor who sang opposite her in her earlier opera. As Régine and André become infatuated and sing selections from that score together, she relives the premiere and her later breakdown, reaching a decision about her return.
A composer has completed music for a new opera, but its poet cannot finish the words. Their work is disrupted by a prima donna and a comic singer competing for the opening aria; the composer and poet resolve the quarrel by combining seria and buffa styles.
Prince Igor sets out from Putivl to fight the Polovtsians despite a solar eclipse that Yaroslavna sees as a bad omen. His army is defeated, and Igor and his son Vladimir are captured. In Khan Konchak’s camp, Vladimir falls in love with Konchakovna; Igor refuses an offer of freedom in exchange for a promise not to fight again. Igor escapes with help from Ovlur, while Vladimir stays behind and marries Konchakovna. Igor returns to Putivl and reunites with Yaroslavna.
Prince Hilarion travels to Castle Adamant with friends Cyril and Florian to claim Princess Ida, to whom he was betrothed in infancy. Ida has founded a women’s university and rejects men. The three men disguise themselves as female students, but Cyril’s drunken song exposes them. After Hilarion rescues Ida from a stream, she still refuses him. King Hildebrand arrives and threatens war unless Ida marries Hilarion. Ida’s students are too frightened to fight, so she agrees to a contest between Hilarion and his friends and her three brothers. The princes win, and Ida accepts Hilarion, acknowledging that she loves him.
Lemminkäinen travels to Cyprus and carries Princess Chryseis back to Finland. A blind shepherd later kills him, and his mother restores him to life through prayer.
Lemminkäinen abducts Princess Chryseis from Cyprus, and she becomes Kyllikki in his northern home. Their strained marriage ends when she leaves for Medon’s ship and Lemminkäinen goes to battle; after he is murdered, his mother descends to Tuonela and frees him through her song.
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