Influential Opera Composers of the 1800′s

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Popular and Important Opera Composers 1800–1899

Vincenzo Bellini: On account of such works as Norma and I puritani, Bellini is now recognized as one of the leading composers of the bel canto style of opera.
Hector Berlioz: Berlioz’s attempts to carve out an operatic career for himself were thwarted by an unimaginative musical establishment.
Mikhail Glinka: founded the Russian operatic tradition with his historical drama A Life for the Tsar and his fairy tale piece Ruslan and Lyudmila.
Ambroise Thomas: French composer noted for the operas Mignon and Hamlet.
Richard Wagner: Wagner abolished the traditional distinction between recitative and aria and pioneered a new through-composed style of opera that avoids traditional cadences.
Giuseppe Verdi: Among his most famous works are Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La traviata, Don Carlos, Aida, and Otello.
Charles Gounod: wrote lyrical operas on literary themes, including Roméo et Juliette and Mireille.
Jacques Offenbach: was the founder of French operetta and a prolific composer of pieces which achieved tremendous success with Parisian audiences for their catchy melodies and satirical bite.
Bedřich Smetana: established Czech national opera with such historical epics as Dalibor.
Aleksandr Borodin: A “weekend composer” who spent 17 years working on a single opera, Prince Igor.
Léo Delibes: French composer, whose Lakmé is notable for its Flower duet and as a vehicle for coloratura sopranos.
Georges Bizet: Bizet’s masterwork Carmen is a staple of the repertoire of opera houses the world over.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Tchaikovsky’s international fame as an opera composer mainly rests on two works, Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades.
Emmanuel Chabrier: He is now most celebrated for lighter pieces, such as L’étoile and Le roi malgré lui, which were greatly admired by Ravel and Poulenc.
Antonín Dvořák: He was the leading Czech opera composer between Smetana and Janáček.
Jules Massenet: Arguably the most representative French opera composer of his era.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian composer who wrote colorful operas on legendary and historical subjects.
Ruggero Leoncavallo: Italian composer associated with verismo.
Giacomo Puccini: The only true successor to Giuseppe Verdi in Italian opera.
Gustave Charpentier: French composer famous for a single opera, Louise.
Claude Debussy: Like Beethoven, Debussy finished only one opera, but his setting of Maeterlinck’s Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande is a key work in 20th century music drama.
Pietro Mascagni: Italian composer, famous above all for Cavalleria rusticana.
Richard Strauss: One of few opera composers in the early years of the 20th century to accept and conquer the challenge laid down by the scale and radical nature of Wagner’s innovative works.
Hans Pfitzner: Pfitzner is best known for the opera Palestrina which explores the debate between tradition and innovation in music.
Arnold Schoenberg: A leading Modernist composer and the deviser of the twelve-tone system.
Franz Schreker: An Austrian composer associated with Expressionism, Schreker once rivalled Richard Strauss in popularity but, as a Jew, he fell foul of the Nazis.
Igor Stravinsky: After Rimsky-Korsakov-inspired The Nightingale and the near-operas Renard and The Soldier’s Tale, Stravinsky bucked 20th century trends by composing a “number” opera.
Alban Berg: Berg’s masterworks Wozzeck and Lulu have stayed in the repertory and assumed increased popularity after his death.
Béla Bartók: He Wrote only one opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, a key piece in 20th century music theatre.
Sergei Prokofiev: A major modern composer in the Russian tradition, Prokofiev produced operas on a wide variety of subjects, from the comic fairy-tale, to the dark and occult
Paul Hindemith: A German composer whose key opera Mathis der Maler has been seen as an allegory of Hindemith’s situation during the Third Reich.
George Gershwin: He owes his place in the standard operatic repertoire to Porgy and Bess.

Resource by B.Matthews

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