The Greatest Operas of All Time, Ranked

The Greatest Operas of All Time, Ranked
Originally by Buster McDermott

Updated October 2, 201979k votes10.8k voters441.8k views
LIST RULES Famous operas
List of the best operas of all time - a comprehensive greatest opera list that includes work that includes
works from all over the world by Italian, French, German, Austrian, Russian, Czech, and American
composers, and many more. This list features a variety of operatic genres and styles, including opera
seria, opera buffa, opera comique, as well as bel canto and Singspiel styles of singing. Be sure to vote for
the famous operas you believe are the greatest of all time, and vote down any you don't like. You can also
re-rank this list in any order you want.
What makes a great opera so great? A compelling storyline is certainly important, but it's the music that
keeps us enraptured. Some of the best opera songs of all time are included in these operas listed here,
including "Habanera" from 'Carmen,' "Nessun dorma" from Giacomo Puccini's 'Turandot' and "Celeste
Aida" from Guiseppe Verdi's 'Aida.'
The operas listed here are classics. Many have been enjoyed by opera lovers for centuries, in fact. Some
are tragedies, and they'll bring tears to even the driest of eyes (Puccini's 'La boheme' comes to mind, as
does his 'Madame Butterfly' and Verdi's 'La traviata'). Wipe those tears away, and start voting for the best
operas, right here and right now.
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Rigoletto
1 Mar 11 1851
1,688 729
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave
Language: Italian Language
Genres (Opera): Opera in three acts
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria
Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with ...more
La bohème
2 Feb 01 1896
1,837 696
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa
Genres (Opera): Opera in four acts
La bohème is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and
Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world premiere ...more
Turandot
3 Apr 25 1926
1,583 596
Librettist: Renato Simoni, Giuseppe Adami
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, completed by Franco Alfano, set to a libretto in Italian
by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was ...more
Otello
4 Feb 05 1887
1,012 448
Librettist: Arrigo Boito
Genres (Opera): Lyric drama
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on
Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro ...more
Il trovatore
5 Jan 19 1853
1,081 342
Librettist: Salvatore Cammarano, Leone Emanuele Bardare
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore
Cammarano, based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was Gutiérrez's ...more
Don Giovanni
6 Oct 29 1787
2,217 759
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Librettist: Lorenzo Da Ponte
Genres (Opera): Dramma giocoso
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Italian libretto by Lorenzo
Da Ponte. It is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and seducer. It was ...more
The Marriage of Figaro

7 May 01 1786
1,837 880

Genres (Opera): Opera buffa
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata (Trans: The Marriage of Figaro or the Day of Madness), K. 492, is
an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian ...more
Pagliacci
8 May 21 1892
919 412
Composer: Ruggero Leoncavallo
Librettist: Ruggero Leoncavallo
Genres (Opera): Opera in two acts
Pagliacci is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It is
the only Leoncavallo opera that is still widely staged. Pagliacci premiered at the ...more
Carmen
9 Mar 03 1875
1,894 941
Composer: Georges Bizet
Librettist: Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy
Language: French Language
Genres (Opera): Opéra comique
Carmen is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri
Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera ...more
La traviata
10 Mar 06 1853
1,679 836
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It
is based on La dame aux Camélias, a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, ...more
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Don Carlos
11 Mar 11 1867
529 235
Librettist: Camille du Locle, Joseph Méry
Genres (Opera): Grand Opera
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph
Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by ...more
Madame Butterfly
12 Feb 17 1904
1,329 645
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and
Giuseppe Giacosa. The libretto of the opera is based in part on the short story "Madame ...more
Lucia di Lammermoor
13 Sep 26 1839
850 399
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Librettist: Salvatore Cammarano
Genres (Opera): Tragic opera
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote
the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of ...more
Die Walküre
14 Dec 26 1862
714 328
Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner
Language: German Language
Die Walküre, WWV 86B, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner with a German libretto by the
composer. It is the second of the four operas that form Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. The ...more
Norma
15 Dec 26 1831
658 303
Composer: Vincenzo Bellini
Librettist: Felice Romani
Genres (Opera): Lyric tragedy
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma,
ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. It was first produced at La Scala in Milan on ...more
Der Rosenkavalier
16 Jan 26 1911
485 219
Composer: Richard Strauss
Librettist: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Genres (Opera): Comic opera in three acts
Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto
by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de ...more
Tosca
17 Jan 14 1900
1,439 717
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on ...more
Tristan und Isolde

18 Jun 10 1865
969 479
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the
composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between ...more
La forza del destino

19 Nov 10 1862
323 136
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave
based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino, by Ángel de Saavedra, 3rd Duke ...more
Macbeth
20 Mar 14 1847
332 125
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and
additions by Andrea Maffei, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. Written for ...more

Un ballo in maschera
21 Feb 17 1859
294 123
Librettist: Antonio Somma
Un ballo in maschera is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. However,
Somma's libretto was itself based on the five act libretto which playwright Eugène Scribe had ...more
Aida
22 Dec 24 1871
1,178 600
Librettist: Antonio Ghislanzoni
Aida, sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio
Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario often attributed to French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, ...more
Der Ring des Nibelungen

23 Aug 13 1876
1,150 574
Der Ring des Nibelungen, WWV 86, is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner.
The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied. The ...more
Simon Boccanegra
24 Mar 12 1857
287 120
Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by
Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez, whose ...more
L'elisir d'amore
25 May 12 1832
770 384
Genres (Opera): Melodramma giocoso
L'elisir d'amore is a comic opera in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote
the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's Le philtre. The ...more
Così fan tutte

26 Jan 26 1790
826 398

Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti, K. 588, is an Italian-language opera buffa in two acts by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed on 26 January 1790, at the Wiener Burgtheater in ...more
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

27 Nov 01 1862
434 211
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is a music drama in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It
is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a ...more
Gianni Schicchi
28 Dec 14 1918
261 116
Librettist: Giovacchino Forzano
Genres (Opera): Opera in one act
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano,
composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine ...more
Falstaff
29 Feb 09 1893
404 197
Genres (Opera): Lyric comedy
Falstaff is an opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was adapted by Arrigo
Boito from Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV, parts 1 and ...more
Ariadne auf Naxos

30 Oct 25 1912
117 47
Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60, is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von
Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consummately beautiful music, the opera's theme
is ...more
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31
Greatest Opera Singers of All Time
Dec 25 1878
616 320
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Parzival by Wolfram von
Eschenbach, a 13th-century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy ...more
Rusalka
32 Mar 31 1901
269 120
Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Librettist: Jaroslav Kvapil
Language: Czech Language
Rusalka, Op. 114, is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil
based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the ...more
Salome
33 Dec 09 1905
396 194
Librettist: Richard Strauss
Genres (Opera): Literaturoper
Salome, Op. 54, is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on
Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss ...more
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Lohengrin
34 Aug 28 1850
467 234
Genres (Opera): Romantische Oper
Lohengrin is a Romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in
1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the ...more
Cavalleria rusticana
35 May 17 1890
459 225
Composer: Pietro Mascagni
Librettist: Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Guido Menasci
Genres (Opera): Melodramma
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-
Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play and short story written by Giovanni Verga. ...more
The Barber of Seville

36 Feb 20 1816
1,163 648
Composer: Gioacchino Rossini
Librettist: Cesare Sterbini
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with an
Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French ...more
Les contes d'Hoffmann

37 Feb 10 1881
442 223
Composer: Jacques Offenbach
Librettist: Jules Barbier
Genres (Opera): Opera in five acts
The Tales of Hoffmann is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by
Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Hoffmann is the protagonist in ...more
Der fliegende Holländer

38 Jan 02 1843
384 190
Der fliegende Holländer, WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner.
Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write the ...more
Nabucco
39 Mar 09 1842
491 246
Librettist: Temistocle Solera
Nabucco is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto
by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on biblical stories from the Book of Jeremiah ...more
I puritani
40 Jan 25 1835
240 115
Librettist: Carlo Pepoli
Genres (Opera): Opera seria
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini, although it was originally written with two acts and
changed to three acts on the advice of Giacchino Rossini with whom the young composer ...more
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Adriana Lecouvreur
41 Nov 06 1902
143 62
Composer: Francesco Cilea
Librettist: Arturo Colautti
Adriana Lecouvreur is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based
on the 1849 play Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. It was first ...more
Fidelio
42 Nov 20 1805
496 269
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

Librettist: Joseph Sonnleithner
Genres (Opera): Opera in two acts, Rescue opera
Fidelio, Op. 72, is a German opera with spoken dialogue by Ludwig van Beethoven, his only opera. The
German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas ...more
La Gioconda
43 Apr 08 1876
146 63
Composer: Amilcare Ponchielli
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on
Angelo, Tyrant of Padua, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835.. First ...more
Anna Bolena
44 Dec 26 1830
186 89
Anna Bolena is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian
libretto after Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro ...more
Faust
45 Mar 19 1859
442 231
Composer: Charles Gounod
Librettist: Jules Barbier, Michel Carré
Faust is a grand opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré
from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von ...more
Manon Lescaut
46 Feb 01 1893
280 131
Librettist: Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Marco Praga
Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire
du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost and should not be confused ...more
Luisa Miller
47 Dec 08 1849
180 83
Librettist: Salvatore Cammarano
Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano,
based on the play Kabale und Liebe by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller. Verdi's ...more
Boris Godunov
48 Feb 08 1874
376 201
Composer: Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

Librettist: Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
Language: Russian Language
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky. The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in
Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece.
Its ...more
49
La fille du régiment
Feb 11 1840
230 113
Librettist: Jean-François Bayard, Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges
La fille du régiment is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-
Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 ...more
Ernani
50 Mar 09 1844
202 97
Ernani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria
Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo. Verdi was commissioned by the Teatro La ...more
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Female Opera Singers of All Time
Eugene Onegin
51 Mar 29 1879
569 337
Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Librettist: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts, composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto, organised
by the composer and Konstantin Shilovsky, very closely follows certain passages in ...more
The Magic Flute

52 Oct 01 1791
1,728 1,067

Librettist: Emanuel Schikaneder
Genres (Opera): Singspiel
The Magic Flute, K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by
Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both ...more
Les Troyens
53
230 121
Les Troyens is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself
from Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. Les ...more
Elektra
54 Jan 25 1909
338 185
Genres (Opera): Literaturoper, Opera in one act
Elektra, Op. 58, is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von
Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many ...more
Orfeo
55
Feb 24 1607
271 143
Composer: Claudio Monteverdi
Librettist: Alessandro Striggio the Younger
L'Orfeo, sometimes called La favola d'Orfeo, is a late Renaissance/early Baroque favola in musica, or opera,
by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek ...more
Lulu
56
106 46
Lulu is an opera by the composer Alban Berg. The libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank
Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora. Berg died before completing the third and
final ...more
Maria Stuarda
57 Dec 30 1835
157 77
Librettist: Giuseppe Bardari
Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera, in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based
on Andrea Maffei's translation of Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart. The opera ...more
The Mikado
58
137 60
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by
W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March ...more
Don Pasquale
59 Jan 03 1843
225 113
Librettist: Gaetano Donizetti, Giovanni Ruffini
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti with an Italian libretto
completed largely by Giovanni Ruffini as well as the composer. It was based on a libretto ...more
Peer Gynt
60 Feb 24 1876
91 40
Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (Bergen 1843 - Bergen 1907)

Librettist: Henrik Ibsen (Skien 1828 – Oslo 1906)
Genres (Opera): Incidental musik
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Prince Igor
61 Nov 04 1890
182 96
Composer: Alexander Borodin
Librettist: Alexander Borodin
Prince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The
composer adapted the libretto from the Ancient Russian epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts ...more
I Lombardi alla prima crociata

62 Feb 11 1843
115 53
Librettist: Temistocle Solera
I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto
by Temistocle Solera, based on an epic poem by Tommaso Grossi, which was "very much a ...more
The Merry Widow

63 Dec 30 1905
178 97
Composer: Franz Lehár
Librettist: Leo Stein, Viktor Léon
Genres (Opera): Operetta
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon
and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to ...more
Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice
64 Oct 05 1762
227 135
Composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck

Librettist: Ranieri de' Calzabigi
Genres (Opera): Azione teatrale
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a
libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning ...more
Rinaldo
65 Feb 24 1711
75 33
Composer: George Frideric Handel

Librettist: Giacomo Rossi
Rinaldo is an opera by George Frideric Handel composed in 1711. It is the first Italian language opera written
specifically for the London stage. The libretto was prepared by Giacomo Rossi from a ...more
Samson and Delilah
66 Dec 02 1877
261 161
Composer: Camille Saint-Saëns
Librettist: Ferdinand Lemaire
Samson and Delilah, Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a
French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the Grossherzogliches ...more
L'incoronazione di Poppea
67
159 88
L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco
Busenello, first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1643 ...more
Mefistofele
68 Mar 05 1868
136 69
Composer: Arrigo Boito
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian
composer-librettist Arrigo Boito. The opera was given its premiere on 5 March 1868 at La ...more
Andrea Chenier
69 Mar 28 1896
142 77
Composer: Umberto Giordano
Librettist: Luigi Illica
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto
by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier, who was ...more
Wozzeck
70 Dec 14 1925
207 125
Composer: Alban Berg
Librettist: Alban Berg
Genres (Opera): Literaturoper, Opera in three acts
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922
and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck, which was left incomplete ...more
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Manon
71 Jan 19 1884
203 128
Composer: Jules Massenet
Librettist: Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe
Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by ...more
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District

72 Jan 22 1934
166 92
Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Librettist: Alexander Preis
Genres (Opera): Opera in four acts, Literaturoper
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is an opera in four acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op.29. The libretto
was written by Alexander Preys and the composer, and is based on the novel Lady Macbeth ...more
Les pêcheurs de perles

73 Sep 30 1863
224 135
Composer: Georges Bizet
Librettist: Eugène Cormon, Michel Carré
Les pêcheurs de perles is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by
Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre ...more
Die Entführung aus dem Serail

74 Jul 16 1782
387 211

Librettist: Gottlieb Stephanie
Genres (Opera): Singspiel
Die Entführung aus dem Serail 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 ...more
Lakmé
75 Apr 14 1883
204 121
Composer: Léo Delibes
Librettist: Philippe Gille, Edmond Gondinet
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille.
The score, written in 1881–1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opéra Comique ...more
Dido and Aeneas
76 Jan 01 1689
264 180
Composer: Henry Purcell
Librettist: Nahum Tate
Language: English Language
Dido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry
Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's ...more
La Cenerentola
77 Jan 25 1817
309 220
Librettist: Jacopo Ferretti
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.
The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cendrillon by Charles ...more
HMS Pinafore
78 May 25 1878
121 59
Composer: Sir Arthur Sullivan

Librettist: Sir William Schwenck Gilbert
Genres (Opera): Savoy opera
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan
and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 ...more
Guillaume Tell
79 Aug 03 1829
256 171
Librettist: Hippolyte Bis, Victor Joseph Etienne de Jouy
Genres (Opera): Comic opera in two acts
William Tell is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a French libretto by Étienne de Jouy and
Hippolyte Bis based on Friedrich Schiller's play William Tell, which drew on the William Tell ...more
Die Frau ohne Schatten

80 Oct 10 1919
119 62
Die Frau ohne Schatten, Op. 65, is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time
collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 ...more
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky rising to #4 onThe

Best Classical Composers
Dialogues of the Carmelites

81 Jan 26 1957
150 95
Composer: Francis Poulenc
Librettist: Francis Poulenc
Dialogues des carmélites is a 1956 French-language opera in twelve scenes and several orchestral
interludes, grouped into three acts, by Francis Poulenc. It is the composer's second opera; he wrote ...more
Roméo et Juliette
82 Apr 27 1867
151 96
Composer: Charles Gounod
Librettist: Jules Barbier, Michel Carré
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel
Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first ...more
Suor Angelica
83 Dec 14 1918
151 90
Librettist: Giovacchino Forzano
Suor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino
Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico. It received its ...more
La favorite
84 Dec 02 1840
82 49
Librettist: Alphonse Royer
La favorite is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse
Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud. It ...more
Die Fledermaus
85 Apr 05 1874
162 110
Composer: Johann Strauss II
Librettist: Richard Genée, Karl Haffner
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and
Richard Genée.
Jenůfa
86 Jan 21 1904
159 106
Composer: Leoš Janáček
Librettist: Leoš Janáček
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její
pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 ...more
Thais
87
119 80
by Jules Massenet
Peter Grimes
88 Jun 07 1945
244 174
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Librettist: Montagu Slater
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the narrative
poem, "Peter Grimes", in George Crabbe's book The Borough. The "borough" of the opera is a ...more
The Queen of Spades

89 Dec 19 1890
161 115

Librettist: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the
composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander ...more
L'italiana in Algeri
90 May 22 1813
148 107
Librettist: Angelo Anelli
L'italiana in Algeri is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by
Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. It premiered at the Teatro ...more
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Female Opera Singers of All Time
Idomeneo
91 Jan 29 1781
255 170

Librettist: Giambattista Varesco
Genres (Opera): Opera seria, Opera in three acts, Dramma per musica
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera seria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, ...more
La sonnambula
92 Mar 06 1831
181 141
Genres (Opera): Opera semi-seria
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set
to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime ...more
Giulio Cesare
93 Feb 20 1724
199 137

Librettist: Nicola Francesco Haym
Giulio Cesare in Egitto, commonly known simply as Giulio Cesare, is an opera seria in three acts composed
for the Royal Academy of Music by George Frideric Handel in 1724. The libretto was written by ...more
The Cunning Little Vixen
94 Nov 06 1924
81 50
The Cunning Little Vixen is an opera by Leoš Janáček, with a libretto adapted by the composer from a
serialized novella by Rudolf Těsnohlídek and Stanislav Lolek, which was first published in the ...more
Werther
95 Feb 16 1892
164 135
Composer: Jules Massenet
Librettist: Georges Hartmann, Paul Milliet, Édouard Blau
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and
Georges Hartmann. It is loosely based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young ...more
Porgy and Bess
96 Sep 30 1935
321 300
Composer: George Gershwin
Librettist: DuBose Heyward, Ira Gershwin
Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera composed in 1934 by George Gershwin, with a libretto written
by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin from Heyward's novel Porgy and later play of the same ...more
Billy Budd
97 Dec 01 1951
137 93
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Librettist: E. M. Forster, Eric Crozier
Genres (Opera): Opera in four acts, Literaturoper
Billy Budd is an opera by Benjamin Britten.
Pelléas et Mélisande
98 Apr 30 1902
174 128
Composer: Claude Debussy
Librettist: Claude Debussy
Genres (Opera): Literaturoper, Lyric drama
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted
from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande. It premiered at the ...more
Der Freischütz
99 Jun 18 1821
147 102
Composer: Carl Maria von Weber

Librettist: Johann Friedrich Kind
Der Freischütz, Op. 77, J. 277, is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von
Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus ...more
The Bartered Bride
100
111 71
The Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by
Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the ...more
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Greatest Sopranos of All Time
Andrea Chenier
101
78 52
Bluebeard's Castle
102 May 24 1918
155 106
Composer: Béla Bartók
Librettist: Bela Balazs
Language: Hungarian language
Bluebeard's Castle is a one-act opera by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. The libretto was written by Béla
Balázs, a poet and friend of the composer, and is written in Hungarian, based on the French ...more
L'Africaine
103 Apr 28 1865
70 41
Composer: Giacomo Meyerbeer
Librettist: Eugène Scribe
L'Africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was
written by Eugène Scribe. The opera is about fictitious events in the life of the real ...more
Hänsel und Gretel
104 Dec 23 1893
174 168
Composer: Engelbert Humperdinck
Librettist: Adelheid Wette
Genres (Opera): Children's opera, Fairy tale opera
Hansel and Gretel is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as
a Märchenoper. The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the ...more
Die tote Stadt

105 Dec 04 1920
73 62
Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Librettist: Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Julius Korngold
Die tote Stadt is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective
pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold; it is based on the 1892 ...more
Semiramide
106 Feb 03 1823
115 96
Librettist: Gaetano Rossi
Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on
Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Babylon. The ...more
Serse
107 Apr 15 1738
89 69

Librettist: Giovanni Battista Bononcini
Serse is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed in London on 15 April
1738. The Italian libretto was adapted by an unknown hand from that by Silvio Stampiglia ...more
La clemenza di Tito
108 Sep 06 1791
162 120

Genres (Opera): Opera seria
La clemenza di Tito, K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an
Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Metastasio. It was started after the bulk of The Magic ...more
Le comte Ory
109 Aug 20 1828
60 64
Le comte Ory is an opéra written by Gioachino Rossini in 1828. Some of the music originates from his opera
Il viaggio a Reims written three years earlier for the coronation of Charles X. The French ...more
110 Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Mar 09 1930
38 39
Composer: Kurt Weill
Librettist: Bertolt Brecht
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German
libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed on 9 March 1930 at the Neues Theater in ...more

I Capuleti e i Montecchi
111 Mar 11 1830
71 62
I Capuleti e i Montecchi is an Italian opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. The libretto by Felice Romani was
a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called ...more
The Merry Wives of Windsor
112 Mar 09 1849
53 40
Composer: Otto Nicolai
Librettist: Hermann Salomon Mosenthal
Genres (Opera): Comic opera in three acts, Spieloper
The Merry Wives of Windsor is an opera in three acts by Otto Nicolai to a German libretto by Salomon
Hermann Mosenthal based on the play The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare. The
opera ...more
Katya Kabanova
113 Nov 23 1921
25 26
Káťa Kabanová is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Vincenc Červinka,
based on The Storm, a play by Alexander Ostrovsky. The opera was also largely inspired by ...more
Les Indes galantes
114 Aug 23 1735
40 39
Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau
Librettist: Jean-Louis Fuzelier
Genres (Opera): Opéra-ballet
Les Indes galantes is a ballet héroïque consisting of a prologue and four entrées by Jean-Philippe Rameau
with libretto by Louis Fuzelier. The première, including only the prologue and the first two ...more
Iphigénie en Tauride
115 May 18 1779
55 58

Librettist: Nicolas-François Guillard
Iphigénie en Tauride is a 1779 opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the
French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard. With Iphigénie, ...more
Nixon in China
116 Oct 22 1987
71 74
Composer: John Coolidge Adams

Librettist: Alice Goodman
Nixon in China is an opera in three acts by John Adams, with a libretto by Alice Goodman. Adams' first
opera, it was inspired by U.S. President Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972. The work ...more
La Wally
117 Jan 20 1892
66 60
Composer: Alfredo Catalani
Librettist: Luigi Illica
La Wally is an opera in four acts by Alfredo Catalani, composed on a libretto by Luigi Illica, and first
performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892. The libretto is based on a hugely successful ...more
Les Huguenots
118 Feb 29 1836
62 66
Composer: Giacomo Meyerbeer
Librettist: Eugène Scribe, Émile Deschamps
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular
examples of the style of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile
Deschamps, ...more
Alceste
119 Dec 26 1767
50 44

Librettist: Ranieri de' Calzabigi
Alceste, Wq. 37, is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck from 1767. The libretto was written by Ranieri de'
Calzabigi and based on the play Alcestis by Euripides. The premiere took place on 26 ...more
120 The Threepenny Opera
Aug 31 1928
69 85
Composer: Kurt Weill
Librettist: Bertolt Brecht,Elisabeth Hauptmann
The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a
translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's ...more
Jussi Björling falling to #135 onThe

Greatest Opera Singers of All Time
Il turco in Italia
121 Aug 14 1814
65 82
Il turco in Italia is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The Italian-language libretto was written by
Felice Romani. It was a re-working of a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà set as an opera by ...more
Riders to the Sea

122 Dec 01 1937
44 33
Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Librettist: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Riders to the Sea is a short one-act opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on the play of the same name
by the Irish author John Millington Synge. The composer completed the score in 1927, but it ...more
Iphigénie en Aulide
123 Apr 19 1774
51 59

Genres (Opera): Tragic opera
Iphigénie en Aulide is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris
stage. The libretto was written by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and was ...more
La Juive
124 Feb 23 1835
39 44
Composer: Fromental Halévy
La Juive is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it
was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on 23 February 1835.
Iolanta
125 Dec 18 1892
59 81

Librettist: Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Iolanta, Op. 69, is a lyric opera in one act by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, his last. The libretto was written by the
composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, and is based on the Danish play Kong Renés Datter by Henrik
Hertz, a romanticised account of the life of Yolande de Bar. In the original Danish play, the spelling of the
princess's name was "Iolanthe", later adopted for the otherwise unrelated Gilbert and Sullivan operetta of that
name. The play was translated by Fyodor Miller and adapted by Vladimir Zotov. The opera received its
premiere on 18 December 1892 in Saint Petersburg

The Greatest Operas of All Time, Ranked

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Originally by Buster McDermott

LIST RULES Famous operas

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Marriage of Figaro

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Anna Netrebko falling to #28 onThe Greatest

Tristan und Isolde

La forza del destino

Anna Netrebko falling to #28 onThe Greatest

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Così fan tutte

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Ariadne auf Naxos

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The Barber of Seville

Les contes d'Hoffmann

Der fliegende Holländer

Nicolai Gedda falling to #34 onThe Greatest

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

Composer: Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

Leontyne Price falling to #4 onThe Greatest

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Magic Flute

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (Bergen 1843 - Bergen 1907)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky rising to #4 onThe

I Lombardi alla prima crociata

The Merry Widow

Composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Nicolai Gedda falling to #34 onThe Greatest

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District

Les pêcheurs de perles

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Composer: Sir Arthur Sullivan

Die Frau ohne Schatten

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky rising to #4 onThe

Dialogues of the Carmelites

The Queen of Spades

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Leontyne Price falling to #4 onThe Greatest

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Billy Budd is an opera by Benjamin Britten.

Composer: Carl Maria von Weber

Elisabeth Swarzkopf rising to #8 onThe

Die tote Stadt

Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Anna Netrebko falling to #28 onThe Greatest

Composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck

Composer: John Coolidge Adams

Composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck

Jussi Björling falling to #135 onThe