-
Period: to
The greatest operas
-
Orpheus and Eurydice composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck
More details look hereThe opera was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna in the presence of Empress Maria Theresa. Orfeo ed Euridice is the first of Gluck's "reform" operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera seria with a "noble simplicity" in both the music and the drama. -
The Abduction from the Seraglio by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
More details look hereThe Abduction from the Seraglio; also known as Il Seraglio) is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie. The plot concerns the attempt of the hero Belmonte, assisted by his servant Pedrillo, to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the seraglio of Pasha Selim. The work premiered on 16 July 1782 at the Vienna Burgtheater, with the composer conducting. -
The Marriage of Figaro composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
More details look hereThe Marriage of Figaro (Italian: Le nozze di Figaro, pronounced [le ˈnɔttse di ˈfiːɡaro]), K. 492, is an opera buffa (comic opera) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786. The opera's libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"), which was first performed in 1784. It tell -
Médée is a French language opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini
More details look hereThe opera was premiered at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris. It met with a lukewarm reception and was not immediately revived. During the nineteenth- and most of the twentieth-century, it was usually performed in Italian translation as Medea, with the spoken dialogue replaced by recitatives not authorised by the composer. More recently, opera companies have returned to Cherubini's original version. -
Norma by Vincenzo Bellini
Norma (Italian: [ˈnɔrma]) is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ou L'infanticide (Norma, or The Infanticide) by Alexandre Soumet. It was first produced at La Scala in Milan . The opera is regarded as a leading example of the bel canto genre and a major soprano aria, Casta diva, in act 1, is one of the most famous of the nineteenth century. Some notable Normas of the post-war period were Maria Callas, Joan Sut -
Nabucco composed by Giuseppe Verdi
More details look hereNabucco is the opera which is considered to have permanently established Verdi's reputation as a composer. He commented that "this is the opera with which my artistic career really begins. And though I had many difficulties to fight against, it is certain that Nabucco was born under a lucky star"
