Period Year Opera Composer Notes
A pastoral drama featuring a Dafne new style of sung dialogue, 1597 Jacopo Peri more expressive than speech but less melodious than song
The first opera to survive 1600 Euridice Jacopo Peri in tact The earliest opera still 1607 Orfeo Claudio Monteverdi performed today
Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria Claudio Monteverdi 1639 (The Return of Ulysses)
L’incoronazione di Poppea 1643 (The Coronation of Poppea) Claudio Monteverdi
1647 Ofeo Luigi Rossi
1649 Giasone Francesco Cavalli
1651 La Calisto Francesco Cavalli
1674 Alceste Jean-Baptiste Lully
1676 Atys Jean-Baptiste Lully
Venus and Adonis John Blow Considered the first English 1683 opera
1686 Armide Jean-Baptiste Lully
1689 Dido and Aeneas Henry Purcell Baroque
1590-1750 1700 L’Eraclea Alessandro Scarlatti
1710 Agrippina George Frederick Handel
1711 Rinaldo George Frederick Handel
1721 Griselda Alesandro Scarlatti
1724 Giulio Cesere George Frederick Handel
1728 The Beggar’s Opera John Gay
1731 Acis and Galatea George Frederick Handel
La serva padrona 1733 (The Servant Turned Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Mistress)
1737 Castor and Pollux Jean-Philippe Rameau
1744 Semele George Frederick Handel
1745 Platee Jean-Philippe Rameau
La buona figliuola 1760 (The Good-natured Girl) Niccolò Piccinni
1762 Orfeo ed Euridice Christoph Willibald Gluck
1768 Bastien und Bastienne Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart’s first opera
Il mondo della luna 1777 (The World on the Moon) Joseph Haydn
1779 Iphigénie en Tauride Christoph Willibald Gluck
1781 Idomeneo Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart’s first mature opera Classical 1750-1820 Die Entführung aus The first of Mozart’s comic 1782 dem Serail (The Abduction Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart masterpieces from the Seraglio) Period Year Opera Composer Notes
Il barbiere di Siviglia Not to be confused with 1782 (The Barber of Seville) Giovanni Paisiello Rossini’s more well-known opera of the same name
Le nozze di Figaro 1786 (The Marriage of Figaro) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1787 Don Giovanni Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Così fan tutte 1790 (Women are Like That) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Die Zauberflöte 1791 (The Magic Flute) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1797 Médée Luigi Cherubini
1805 Fidelio Ludwig van Beethoven The composer’s only opera 1750-1820 1812 La scala di seta Gioachino Rossini (The Silken Ladder) Classical (cont) Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) Gioachino Rossini 1816 Otello Gioachino Rossini
Der Freischütz The first great German 1821 (The Marksman) Carl Maria von Weber Romantic opera
1823 Semiramide Gioachino Rossini
1826 Oberon Carl Maria von Weber
1829 Guillaume Tell Gioachino Rossini
1830 Anna Bolena Gaetano Donizetti
1831 Norma Vincenzo Bellini
L’elisir d’amore 1832 (The Elixir of Love) Gaetano Donizetti
1835 Lucia di Lammermoor Gaetano Donizetti
A Life for the Tsar Mikhail Glinka The first great Russian opera 1836 Les Huguenots Giacomo Meyerbeer One of the most famous French grand operas
1842 Nabucco Giuseppe Verdi
Der fliegende Holländer 1843 (The Flying Dutchman) Richard Wagner Romantic 1800-1914 1851 Rigoletto Giuseppe Verdi
Il trovatore (The Troubadour) Giuseppe Verdi 1853 La traviata (The Fallen Woman) Giuseppe Verdi
1858 Les Troyens Hector Berlioz
Faust Charles Gounod 1859 Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) Giuseppe Verdi
La forza del destino 1862 (The Power of Fate) Giuseppe Verdi Period Year Opera Composer Notes
1865 Tristan und Isolde Richard Wagner
Die Meistersinger von 1868 Nürnberg (The Master Singers Richard Wagner of Nuremberg) The first of Wagner’s four The 1869 Das Rheingold Richard Wagner Ring of the Nibelungen series of operas
1870 Die Walküre Richard Wagner
1871 Aida Giuseppe Verdi
Boris Godunov Modest Mussorgsky
1874 Die Fledermaus (The Bat) Johann Strauss II
1875 Carmen Georges Bizet
Siegfried Richard Wagner 1876 Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) Richard Wagner
1879 Eugene Onegin Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
1882 Parsifal Richard Wagner His last opera
1884 Manon Jules Massenet
1887 Otello Giuseppe Verdi
Cavalleria rusticana Often performed as a double Pietro Mascagni bill with Leoncavallo’s 1800-1914 (Rustic Chivalry) Pagliacci
1890 The composer died in 1887, leaving the opera unfinished;
Romantic (cont) Prince Igor Alexander Borodin it was completed by Rimsky- Korsakov and Glazunov
Iolanta Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pagliacci Often performed as a double 1892 Ruggero Leoncavallo bill with Mascagni’s Cavalleria (Clowns) rusticana Werther Jules Massenet
Falstaff Giuseppe Verdi Verdi’s final opera
1893 Hänsel und Gretel Engelbert Humperdinck
Manon Lescaut Giacomo Puccini
1896 La Bohème Giacomo Puccini (The Bohemians)
1900 Tosca Giacomo Puccini
1901 Rusalka Antonín Dvořák
1902 Pelléas et Mélisande Claude Debussy
Madama Butterfly Giacomo Puccini 1904 Jenůfa (Her Stepdaughter) Leoš Janáček
Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) Franz Lehár 1905 Salome Richard Strauss
1900-2000 1907 A Village Romeo and Juliet Frederick Delius
20th century 1909 Elektra Richard Strauss Period 20th century (cont) 1900-2000 Year
1960 1958 1934 1935 1942 1946 1953 1941 1962 1911 1945 1995 1966 1926 1973 1972 1970 1954 1928 1978 1912 1986 1951 1925 1918 1984 1987 1910 1983 A NightattheChineseOpera A MidsummerNight’sDream (The GirloftheGoldenWest) A StreetcarNamedDesire (The KnightoftheRose) The ThreepennyOpera Saint Françoisd’Assise Antony andCleopatra The Pilgrim’sProgress The TurnoftheScrew The MaskofOrpheus Lady Macbethofthe Troilus andCressida T La fanciulladelWest The Rake’sProgress Le GrandMacabre Ariadne aufNaxos Bluebeard’s Castle he RapeofLucretia Der Rosenkavalier
The KnotGarden Mtsensk District Un reinascolto Death inVenice Porgy andBess War andPeace (A KingListens) Nixon inChina Treemonisha Peter Grimes Opera Paul Bunyan King Priam Akhnaten Capriccio Turandot (Caprice) Taverner Gloriana Wozzeck Vanessa
Bertolt BrechtandKurtWeill Ralph VaughanWilliams Peter MaxwellDavies Composer Dmitry Shostakovich Harrison Birtwistle George Gershwin Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini Olivier Messiaen Sergei Prokofiev Richard Strauss Richard Strauss Richard Strauss Michael Tippett Michael Tippett William Walton Samuel Barber Samuel Barber Igor Stravinsky Luciano Berio György Ligeti André Previn John Adams Béla Bartók Philip Glass Scott Joplin Judith Weir Alban Berg performed threeyearsbefore Britten’s firstforayinto Left unfinishedathisdeath A ragtimeoperanotstaged Britten’s finalopera,itwas His finalopera Notes until 1972 his death in 1924 opera