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This list provides a guide to the most important opera composers, as determined by their presence on a majority of compiled lists of significant opera composers. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto (See the "Lists Consulted" section for full details. ) The composers run from Jacopo Peri, who wrote the first ever opera in late 16th century Italy, to John Adams, one of the leading figures in the contemporary operatic world. Jacopo Peri ( August 20 1561 &ndash August 12 1633) was an Italian Composer and singer of the transitional period between John Coolidge Adams (born February 15 1947 is an American Composer with strong roots in minimalism. The brief accompanying notes offer an explanation as to why each composer has been considered major. Also included is a section about major women opera composers, compiled from the same lists. For an introduction to operatic history, see Opera. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto The organisation of the list is by birthdate.

Contents

1550-1699

Jacopo Peri, who composed the first ever opera, Dafne.
Jacopo Peri, who composed the first ever opera, Dafne.

Stay, Prince and hear

A scene from Purcell's operatic masterpiece, Dido and Aeneas. Dido and Æneas is an Opera by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell, from a libretto by Nahum Tate. The witches' messenger, in the form of Mercury himself, attempts to convince Aeneas to leave Carthage. Note the use of Italian-style recitative, a rarity in English opera at that time. [12]
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

1700-1799

Gluck, detail of a portrait by Joseph Duplessis, dated 1775 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)
Gluck, detail of a portrait by Joseph Duplessis, dated 1775 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

1800-1849

Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome).
Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome). Giovanni Boldini ( December 31, 1842 &ndash July 11, 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter belonging to the

1850-1899

Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini

1900-present

Dmitri Shostakovich, 1942
Dmitri Shostakovich, 1942

Major female opera composers

John Singer Sargent: Ethel Smyth, 1901
John Singer Sargent: Ethel Smyth, 1901

Opera, with its high cost of production and high status, has historically been very difficult for women to break into,[78] and no woman composer met the criteria for inclusion above. John Singer Sargent (January 12 1856 &ndash April 14 1925 was the most successful portrait painter of his era During his career he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than However, some experts in our sample disagreed,[79] and named one or both of the women below as comparable to those already listed:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Viking Opera Guidep. Wikipedia talkFeatured lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list provides a guide to the The following is an annotated list of Operas listed along with their composers that are based on the myth of Orpheus. 768
  2. ^ Orrey p. 18
  3. ^ Professor Tim Carter in Viking Opera Guide (p. 678) writes: "Monteverdi's recitative owes much to Peri. Jacopo Peri ( August 20 1561 &ndash August 12 1633) was an Italian Composer and singer of the transitional period between . . However "Orfeo" has much broader roots. There are many references to the tradition of the Florentine intermedi: the spectacular stage effects, the mythological subject matter, the allegorical figures, the number and scoring of the instruments and the extended choruses". See also Carter, writing about the intermedi in The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (p. 4): "rich display and erudite symbolism made the intermedi an ideal projection of princely magnificence".
  4. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 189
  5. ^ Orrey p. 35
  6. ^ Orrey p. 55
  7. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 942
  8. ^ Orrey p. 40
  9. ^ Orrey p. 40
  10. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 343
  11. ^ Orrey p. 59
  12. ^ Orrey p. 59
  13. ^ Oxford Companion to Music, p. 783
  14. ^ Orrey p. 85
  15. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 216-218
  16. ^ Orrey p. 101
  17. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 210
  18. ^ Orrey p. 139
  19. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 1002
  20. ^ Viking Opera Guide pp. 37-38
  21. ^ Orrey p. 140
  22. ^ Oxford Illustrated History of Opera p. 146-150
  23. ^ Britannica p. 631 C. 2
  24. ^ Britannica p. 631 C. 2
  25. ^ Orrey p. 134
  26. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 412
  27. ^ Orrey p. 129-133
  28. ^ Orrey p. 153
  29. ^ Orrey p. 154
  30. ^ Orrey p. 180
  31. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 1098.
  32. ^ Orrey p. 168-169
  33. ^ Orrey p. 137-147
  34. ^ Orrey p. 154
  35. ^ Britannica p. 633 C. 1
  36. ^ Orrey p. 177
  37. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 134
  38. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 929. Viking says Saint-Saëns wrote 13 operas, including his part in an unfinished work by Guiraud and two opéra comiques. Ernest Guiraud ( June 26, 1837 &ndash May 6, 1892) was a French Composer and music teacher born in New Orleans Louisiana
  39. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 253.
  40. ^ Orrey p. 156-157
  41. ^ Britannica p. 637 C. 2
  42. ^ Orrey p. 182
  43. ^ David Brown (author of the four-volume Tchaikovsky: A Biographical and Critical Study, Gollancz, 1978-91) in Viking Opera Guide, pp. 1083-1095
  44. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 197
  45. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 302
  46. ^ Orrey p. 156
  47. ^ Graham Dixon in Viking Opera Guide, p. 622
  48. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 864
  49. ^ Britannica p. 638 C. 2
  50. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 563
  51. ^ Orrey p. 225
  52. ^ Viking Opera Guide pp. 202-204
  53. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 617
  54. ^ Orrey p. 213
  55. ^ Britannica p. 637 C. 2
  56. ^ Orrey p. 216
  57. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 772
  58. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 952
  59. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 848
  60. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 958
  61. ^ Orrey p. 220
  62. ^ ALBAN BERG. Composers online. W. W. Norton & Company. Retrieved on 2006-09-10. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 506 - The Bishops of Visigothic Gaul meet in the Council of Agde.
  63. ^ Orrey p. 225
  64. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 55
  65. ^ Britannica p. 637 C. 1
  66. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 467
  67. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 348
  68. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 1207
  69. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 1102
  70. ^ Orrey p. 232
  71. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 51
  72. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 648
  73. ^ Orrey p. 234
  74. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 461
  75. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 243
  76. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 360
  77. ^ Viking Opera Guide p. 17
  78. ^ See, e. g. Katherine Kolb's review of Women Writing Opera: Creativity and Controversy in the Age of the French Revolution.
  79. ^ See #Lists consulted

References

Lists consulted

This list was compiled by consulting ten lists of great opera composers, created by recognized authorities in the field of opera, and selecting all of the composers who appeared on at least six of these (i. e. all composers on a majority of the lists). Judith Weir appears on four of the ten lists consulted, more than any other female composer in the sample. Judith Weir CBE, (born 11 May 1954 in Cambridge England of Scottish parents is a British composer currently resident The lists used were:

  1. Graeme Kay's Guide to Opera, produced for the BBC.
  2. The "Opera" Encyclopaedia Britannica article.
  3. The "Opera" Columbia University Press Encyclopedia article.
  4. Composers mentioned in Nicholas Kenyon's introduction to the Viking Opera Guide (1993 edition) ISBN 0-670-81292-7. Sir Nicholas Roger Kenyon CBE (born February 23, 1951 in Cheshire) is an English music administrator editor and writer on music
  5. "The Standard Repertoire of Grand Opera 1607-1969", a list included in Norman Davies's Europe: a History (OUP, 1996; paperback edition Pimlico, 1997) ISBN 0-7126-6633-8. Ivor Norman Richard Davies Fellow of the British Academy (born 8 June 1939 to Richard and Elizabeth Davies
  6. Composers mentioned in the chronology by Mary Ann Smart in The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (OUP, 1994) ISBN 0-19-816282-0.
  7. "A Bird's Eye View of the World's Chief Opera Composers" in The Oxford Companion to Music by Percy Scholes (10th edition revised by John Owen Ward, 1970). Percy Alfred Scholes (1877&ndash1958 was an English musician journalist and prolific writer whose best-known achievement was his compilation of the first edition of ISBN 0-19-311306-6.
  8. Composers with recordings included in The Penguin Guide to Opera on Compact Discs ed. Greenfield, March and Layton (1993 edition) ISBN 0-14-046957-5.
  9. The New Kobbe's Opera Book, ed. Lord Harewood (1997 edition) ISBN 0-399-14332-7. George Henry Hubert Lascelles 7th Earl of Harewood KBE (born 7 February 1923) styled The Hon
  10. Table of Contents of The Rough Guide to Opera. by Matthew Boyden. (2002 edition) ISBN 1-85828-749-9.

Note:

Other References

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