Important Operas of 1833–1875

• Buffer
• Tweet

The Most Popular and Important Operas of 1833–1875

1833 Beatrice di Tenda: Bellini’s tragedy is notable for its extensive use of the chorus.
1833 Hans Heiling: Another important Gothic horror opera from Marschner.
1833 Lucrezia Borgia: One of Donizetti’s most popular scores.
1835 Das Liebesverbot: An early work by Wagner loosely based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.
1835 I puritani: Bellini’s drama, set during the English Civil War.
1835 La Juive: This grand opera rivalled the works of Meyerbeer in popularity.
1835 Lucia di Lammermoor: Donizetti’s most famous serious opera.
1836 A Life for the Tsara: Glinka established the tradition of Russian opera.
1836 Les Huguenots: Perhaps the most famous of all French grand operas.
1837 Roberto Devereux: Donizetti wrote this work as a distraction from the grief he felt at the death of his wife.
1838 Benvenuto Cellini: Berlioz’s first opera is a virtuoso score which is still highly difficult to perform.
1839 Oberto: Verdi’s first opera.
1840 La favorite: A grand opera in the French tradition.
1840 La fille du régiment: Donizetti’s venture into French opéra comique.
1840 Un giorno di regno: Verdi’s only comedy apart from his last opera, Falstaff.
1842 Der Wildschütz: Lortzing’s “comic masterpiece”.
1842 Nabucco: Verdi described this opera as the genuine beginning of his artistic career.
1842 Rienzi: Wagner’s contribution to the grand opera tradition.
1842 Ruslan and Lyudmila: The episodic version of a Pushkin fairy tale.
1843 The Flying Dutchman: Wagner regarded this German Romantic opera as the true beginning of his career.
1843 Don Pasquale: Donizetti’s “comic masterpiece”.
1843 I Lombardi alla prima crociata: Verdi’s follow-up to Nabucco was the first of his operas to be performed in America.
1843 The Bohemian Girl: One of the few notable 19th century English operas.
1844 Ernani: One of the most dramatically effective operas.
1845 Tannhäuser: Wagner’s “most medieval work” depicts the conflict between pagan love and Christian virtue.
1846 Attila: Verdi was troubled by ill health during the writing of this piece.
1846 The Damnation of Faust: Frustrated at his lack of opera commissions, Berlioz composed this “dramatic legend” for concert performance.
1847 Macbeth: Verdi’s first venture into Shakespeare.
1847 Martha: Flotow unashamedly aimed at satisfying popular taste in this comic and sentimental work.
1849 The Merry Wives of Windsor: Nicolai’s only German opera.
1849 Le prophète: A grand opera about the life of the religious fanatic, John of Leiden.
1849 Luisa Miller: This setting of Schiller’s “bourgeois tragedy” has been underrated.
1850 Genoveva: Schumann’s only excursion into opera was a relative failure, though the work has had its admirers from Liszt to Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
1850 Lohengrin: The last of Wagner’s “middle period” works.
1850 Stiffelio: Verdi’s tale of adultery among members of an American Protestant sect fell foul of the censors.
1851 Rigoletto: The first of three middle period Verdi operas which have become staples of the repertoire.
1853 Il trovatore: This Romantic melodrama is one of Verdi’s most tuneful scores.
1853 La traviata: The role of Violetta, the “fallen woman” of the title, is one of the most famous vehicles for the soprano voice.
1855 Les vêpres siciliennes: Verdi’s opera displays the strong influence of Meyerbeer.
1858 Der Barbier von Bagdad : An oriental comedy drawing on the tradition of German Romantic opera.
1858 Orphée aux enfers: The world’s first operetta, this cynical and satirical piece is still immensely popular today.
1858 Les Troyens: Berlioz’s greatest opera and the culmination of the French Classical tradition.
1859 Faust: Of all the musical settings of the Faust legend especially in the Victorian era.
1859 Un ballo in maschera: By the time he came to write Un ballo in maschera, Verdi was rich enough not to have to work for a living.
1862 Béatrice et Bénédict: The last opera Berlioz wrote is the fruit of his lifelong admiration for Shakespeare.
1862 La forza del destino: This tragedy was commissioned by the Imperial Theatre, Saint Petersburg.
1863 Les pêcheurs de perles: Though a relative failure at its premiere, this is Bizet’s second most performed opera today.
1864 La belle Hélène: Operetta by Offenbach which pokes fun at Greek mythology.
1864 Mireille: Gounod’s work is based on the epic poem by Frédéric Mistral.
1865 L’Africaine: Meyerbeer’s last grand opera received a posthumous premiere.
1865 Tristan und Isolde: This romantic tragedy is Wagner’s most radical work and one of the most revolutionary pieces in music history.
1866 Mignon: Thomas’s most successful opera along with Hamlet.
1866 The Bartered Bride: Smetana’s folk comedy is the most widely performed of all his operas.
1867 Don Carlos: Verdi’s take on French grand opera.
1867 La jolie fille de Perth: Bizet turned to a novel by Sir Walter Scott.
1867 Roméo et Juliette: Gounod’s version of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
1868 Dalibor: One of the most successful of Smetana’s operas exploring themes from Czech history.
1868 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Wagner’s only comedy among his mature operas.
1868 Hamlet: Thomas’s opera takes many liberties with its Shakespearean source.
1868 La Périchole: Set in Peru, this operetta mixes comedy and sentimentality.
1868 Mefistofele: Though most famous as a librettist for Verdi.
1869 Das Rheingold: The “preliminary evening” to Wagner’s epic Ring cycle tells how the ring was forged and the curse laid upon it.
1871 Aida: Features one of the greatest tenor arias of all time, Celeste Aida.
1874 Boris Godunov: Mussorgsky’s great historical drama shows Russia’s descent into anarchy in the early 17th century.
1874 Die Fledermaus: Probably the most popular of all operettas.
1874 The Two Widows: Another comedy by Smetana, the only one of his operas with a non-Czech subject.
1875 Carmen: Probably the most famous of all French operas.

Resource by Will

I am the editor for TheFreeResource.com, and owner of LinchpinSEO, a small business content creation company. The Free Resource has a select community of talented writers, teachers, and business people (and we are always looking for more) that bring you the most trusted resources on the web and credible articles about many topics.

Related Research For Teachers, Students, and Kids