The story of opera

Chronological List of Composers of Opera
(with names of their chief works),
Great Singers, Conductors, etc.

• 1535 (?). Vincenzo Galilei (Florence). Early writer of music drama on the lines of Greek tragedy.
• 1550 (?). Cavalieri. Composer of the first oratorio, also of four music dramas. One of the earliest composers to seek to illustrate the meaning of the words by the music.
• 15— (?). Giovanni Bardi. The instigator of the idea of modern opera: at Bardi’s house the circle of dilletanti and musicians assembled and endeavoured to resuscitate Greek drama by the provision of suitable music.
• 15— (?). Jacopo Peri. Composer of first real opera in the modern sense of the term; Dafne (1597) and Euridice (1600) are the titles of his works, in the monodic style. These opened up new ground, and set a model which other composers quickly followed.
• 1558. Guilio Caccini (Rome). Opera composer of the monodic school; shares with Peri the merit of founding modern opera.
• 1567. Claudio Monteverde (Cremona), 1567-1643. Writer of many, operas intermezzi, etc.; he was a great innovator in harmony, and also did much to extend the use of the various instruments of the orchestra. The earliest composer to associate certain groups of instruments with certain of the stage characters.
• 1575. Thomas Campion (London). English composer of masques and ballets.
• 1580. John Coperario (London). An Englishman who travelled in Italy, and wrote music for English plays.
• 1582. William Lawes (Dinton). English composer of court masques and airs.
• 1585. Heinrich Schütz (Köstritz), 1585-1672. First German operatic composer, who also excelled in church music.
• 1588 or 1590. Nicholas Laniere (Italy). A foreign musician who settled in England and wrote music for masques; one of his compositions was a masque by Ben Johnson, “in stylo recitativo.”
• 1596. Henry Lawes (Dinton). English composer who shared with Matthew Lock and Cook the composition of one of the earliest English operas, The Siege of Rhodes.
• 1597. Benedetto Ferrari (Venice). Helped to found the Venetian School of Opera.
• 1600. Pietro F. Cavalli (Crema). A follower of Monteverde, who wrote at least twenty-seven operas, mostly for Venice, but some were performed in Paris; a composer of dramatic power.
• 1600. Production of Peri’s Orfeo, the first publicly performed opera.
• 1600 (?). Francesco Manelli (Venice). Shares with Ferrari the credit of the foundation of opera in his native city.
• 1604. Giacomo Carissimi (Marino). Great composer of oratorio, who also wrote occasionally for the stage.
• 1620. Marcantonio Cesti (Florence?). Follower of Cavalli and Carissimi; wrote about twelve operas.
• 1625. Giovanni Legrenzi (Bergamo). Composer of seventeen operas, mostly produced in Venice.
• 1627. The first German opera (Dafne) produced.
• 1628. Robert Cambert (Paris). First French composer of opera; at first thoroughly successful,this musician was ousted from his position by Lully, and died in England in 1677.
• 1632 (?). Matthew Lock (Exeter). Composer of incidental music to plays (The Tempest, Macbeth, etc.), one of which (Psyche) was published under the title of “The English Opera.”
• 1633. Jean Batiste Lully (Florence). Migrated to France at an early age; obtained great power at the court of Louis XIV., and monopolized French opera for many years. He wrote at least thirty ballets and twenty operas. Lully died in 1687.
• 1635. G. V. Draghi. Italian composer who settled in England and wrote incidental music and act tunes.
• 1637. Bernardo Pasquini (Tuscany). Wrote a few operas for Rome; a fine polyphonic composer.
• 1640. Giovanni Buononcini (Modena). Father of a more famous son; wrote five operas, which remain in MS.
• 1645. Alessandro Stradella (Venice?), 1645-81. Although more famous for his church music, wrote eleven operas.
• 1645. Francesco Rossi (Bari). Wrote four operas for Venice.
• 1646. Johann Thiele (Naumburg). Composer of opera and also of Singspiel. His Singspiel, Adam and Eve, produced in 1678, was the first of such works to be publicly performed in Germany, and is interesting as being the forerunner of many a subsequent work of the same class which has obtained world-wide popularity.
• 1646. Akebar, Roi de Mogol, the first French opera (words and music by the Abbé Mailly), performed at Carpentras.
• 1649. Pascal Colasse (Rheims). Wrote many operas, after the model of Lully.
• 1650. Marais. Composer of French opera; died 1718.
• 1658. Henry Purcell (London), 1658-95. English composer of great dramatic power and of marked originality. Wrote music for many masques, plays, and for the first real English opera, Dido and Æneas; had it not been for the powerful personality of Handel, which dwarfed all other matters musical during the time he lived in London, Purcell might have founded a real school of English opera. Chief works: Dido and Æneas (1677), The Indian Queen (1690), Dryden’s Tempest (1690), Dioclesian (1690), King Arthur (1691), Bonduca (1695).
• 1659. Alessandro Scarlatti (Trapani), 1659-1725. Composer of one hundred and fifteen operas; is important as the first to largely employ set forms in his works. His use of the Da capo Aria, although at first attended with success, became so popular as to be the means of its own undoing. He also uses the orchestral ritornello, occasionally employed by Monteverde, and is the first composer to make full use of the orchestra for the accompaniment of recitative. While histrionically interesting, little of his music would be accepted to-day.
• 1659. Francesco A. Pistocchi (Palermo). A memberof the Bolognese school of composers.
• 1660. André Campra (Aix, Provence). Popular writer of French opera, who attempted to combine the features of the Italian and French schools; he produced about thirty works of high rank.
• 1661. J. A. Perti (Bologna). Another member of the Bolognese school; produced operas in his native town and at Venice.
• 1667. Antonio Lotti (Venice). Produced an opera before he was sixteen years of age, and wrote many others in after life.
• 1667. Dr. Pepusch (Berlin). Famous German composer who settled in London, and collected the songs and pieces which made up The Beggar’s Opera, the first of a long line of such ballad operas.
• 1670 (?). Johann Conradi. Early writer of German opera; produced works at Hamburg.
• 1672. Giovanni Batiste Buononcini (Modena), 1672-1750 (?). Writer of twenty-two operas; mainly famous as having been the selected composer pitted against Handel, with disastrous results to both parties financially.
• 1672. André Destouches (Paris). Wrote a famous opera, Issé; and many other works for the stage.
• 1674. Reinhard Keiser (Weissenfels), 1674-1739. First important composer of German opera, composing sometimes as many as eight in one year; one hundred and sixteen works stand to his name, many with the recitatives in German and the arias in Italian.
• 1675. Marc Antonio Buononcini (Modena). Wrote an opera, Camilla, which was played sixty-four times in England during four years; brother of Handel’s rival.
• 1677. Production of Purcell’s Dido and Æneas, the first real English opera.
• 1678 (?). Antonio Caldara (Venice). Wrote sixty-six operas, besides a large number of oratorios and other works.
• 1680 (?). Senesino. Famous male soprano, who appeared in many of the operas Handel wrote for London; he retired from the stage in 1735 with a fortune of £15,000.
• 1681. Johann Mattheson (Hamburg). Opera singer and composer and a friend of Handel, in some of whose operas he appeared.
• 1683. Jean Phillippe Rameau (Dijon), 1683-1764. One of the early fathers of French opera, and second only in importance to Lully; produced many operas, and influenced Gluck, who heard some of his works in Paris.
• 1684. Francesco Durante (Naples). Wrote occasionally for the stage, but mostly for the church.
• 1685. George Frederick Handel (Hallé), 1685-1759. Wrote operas for Italy, Germany, and England. In great contrast to the music of his oratorios, his opera music sounds antiquated and dull; its only performance to-day is the occasional singing of an air from one of the operas.
• 1686. Niccola Porpora (Naples), 1686-1767. Wrote many operas, mainly consisting of florid arias and vocal gymnastics; a wonderful singing-master, who turned out some excellent pupils.
• 1698. P. A. D. B. Metastasio (Rome). One of the greatest of librettists; he furnished subjects for operatic treatment for a vast number of composers, including Gluck and Mozart.
• 1699. Johann A. Hasse (Bergedorf), 1699-1783. Fertile opera composer, who produced over one hundred works with success. Hasse possessed great gifts of melody, and was fortunate in having a remarkably fine singer in his wife, who acted as exponent of many of the leading parts.
• 1700. Faustina Hasse (Venice). Sang also for Handel, and was very popular in London; her salary for 1726 was £2,000; a great rivalry existed between Hasse and Cuzzoni.
• 1700. Francesca Cuzzoni (Modena). Also sang for Handel; this is the lady whom he threatened to throw out of the window unless she sang what he wished. She died in poverty in 1770.
• 1700. Nicolo Logroscino (Naples). Wrote comicoperas, and is credited with the invention of the concerted finale; his operas are all in the Neapolitan dialect.
• 1701. K. H. Graun (Wahrenbrüch). Wrote twenty-seven operas, which contain melodies and good arias. He is better known by his church cantatas, especially Der Tod Jesu.
• 1703. G. M. Caffarelli (Naples). Famous singer, said to have been kept by Porpora for five years to one page of exercises and then dismissed as the greatest singer in Europe. He had great success in male soprano parts.
• 1705. Giovanni Carestini (Ancona). Famous male contralto, who sang for Handel in London.
• 1705. C. B. Farinelli (Naples). Another pupil of Porpora, who sang for the party opposed to Handel; one of the most renowned singers the world has ever produced.
• 1709. Egidio Duni (Matera). Seems to have founded opera comique in France, writing many such works for the Parisian stage.
• 1710. Thomas Arne (London), 1710-78. One of the most famous of early English opera writers; besides many masques (including Milton’s Comus) he wrote the opera Artaxerxes, which enjoyed many years of popularity. Arne is best known to-day by the incidental music which he wrote to Shakespeare’s Tempest, the song, “Where the Bee sucks,” being world known.
• 1710. G. V. Pergolesi (Jesi), 1710-36. A composer of great promise, whose early death may be much lamented. Although best known by his church music, he had many merits as a writer of opera. His best work in this direction is a short operetta, La Serva Padrona.
• 1712. J. J. Rousseau (Paris), 1712-78, the famous litterateur, wrote operas, the most famous of which, Le Devin du Village, may claim to have been the first opera comique; its success was enormous, but the orchestration and some of the details are not Rousseau’s.
• 1714. Nicolo Jommelli (Aversa), 1714-74. One of the best composers of the Neapolitan school, who combined skilful design with melodious and expressive themes. Mozart thought much of his music and extolled his operas; his sacred music alone has come down to our day.
• 1714. Cristopher Willibald Gluck (Weidenwang), 1714-87. The first of the great reformers of opera. Besides a very large number of works written on old models, his newer-fashioned and enduring masterpieces include Orfeo (1762), Alceste (1767), Iphigénie en Aulide (1774), Amide (1777), Iphigénie en Tauride (1778).
• 1725. Gaetano Guadagni (Lodi). A great male contralto who sang for Handel and created a furore in London.
• 1726. F. A. D. Philidor (Dreux). Famous chess player and operatic composer; was a prolific writer. He was the first to introduce the unaccompanied quartet upon the stage. His happiest essay was upon the English subject Tom Jones.
• 1728. J. A. Hiller (Görlitz). Established the Singspiel, composing fourteen of these works, which met with pronounced success.
• 1728. Nicolo Piccini (Bari). A good composer, now mostly remembered as the opponent of Gluck; while the fact militated against the success of his operas upon their production, it has kept his memory green and has gained attention for his music, which, although on the prevalent model of its time, has much merit.
• 1729. Guiseppe Sarti (Faenza). Produced many operas of great excellence, which are forgotten to-day. His triumphs were won in such contrasted centres as Milan and St. Petersburg.
• 1729. P. A. Monsigny (St. Omer). Composed many forgotten operas; while possessing melodic gifts he had little training, and his scoring and constructive powers were weak. His best works are Le Déserteur (1769), and Félix ou l’enfant trouvé (1777).
• 1732. Joseph Haydn (Rohrau), 1732-1809, themaster who excelled in so many branches of the art, made no serious claim to be a composer of opera. A few works were written by him for the stage while he was attached to Count Esterhazy, but they can in no way compare with his labours in other fields, nor had they any bearing upon the growth and development of opera as an art form.
• 1733. F. J. Gossec (Hainault). A Belgian composer of some repute in his day; his operas were mostly written for Paris.
• 1734. A. M. G. Sacchini (Pozzuoli), 1734-86. A composer of dramatic gifts much influenced by Gluck, whose compositions quite overshadow those of his follower. Sacchini wrote over forty operas.
• 1739. K. D. von Dittersdorf (Vienna). Composed very many operas, both serious and light. He is best known by the Singspiel, Doctor und Apotheke (1786).
• 1741. A. E. M. Grétry (Liége). A fertile composer, very gifted for the writing of opera comique, wrote fifty operas for Paris. He had a knack of cleverly illustrating the stage situation, and although his harmonies were so thin that it was said that one could “draw a coach and four between the bass and the first fiddle,” he yet seems to have been more apt in his musical conceptions than many a more cultured musician.
• 1741. Giovanni Paisiello (Tarento). May be reckoned amongst the most prolific of Italian composers of his period. He was one of the first to introduce the concerted finale into serious opera, this form having hitherto been almost entirely confined to light opera. His Barber of Seville became so famous as almost to wreck the production of an opera under the same title by Rossini.
• 1743. Lucretia Agujari (Ferrara). Was a singer of extraordinary ability and compass.
• 1745. Ludwig Fischer (Mainz). Also a singer of great compass, having a round bass voice of two and a half octaves.

• He was a friend of Mozart’s, and sang in the production of Entführung aus dem Serail.
• 1748. William Shield (Durham). Composer to Covent Garden Theatre; wrote operas both serious and comic. He appears to have possessed great melodic gifts, and his many works are notable for their vigour and their tunefulness. He died in 1829.
• 1749. The Abbé Vogler (Würzburg), 1749-1814. Was a man of many parts; he wrote upon theatrical matters, and composed music for the organ, for instruments, for the church, and for the stage. His operatic music is perhaps of the least importance, although his stage productions number some sixteen pieces.
• 1749. Domenico Cimarosa (Aversa). Was in his day a most popular composer of opera, sixty-six fine works standing to his credit. He made his mark more especially in his comic operas, of which Il matrimonio segreto (1792) is the best known.
• 1749. Gertrude Elizabeth Mara (Cassel). A fine singer, made little impression upon Mozart, but still appears to have been a great artist. She had a beautiful voice and great facility; she was one of Handel’s best singers in England.
• 1750. Antonio Salieri (Legnano). Wrote thirty-seven operas and a Singspiel. His works were modelled upon those of Gluck, and present no special features of interest.
• 1752. J. F. Reichardt (Königsberg). Wrote some moderately successful operas, and some important specimens of Singspiel, mostly for Berlin.
• 1752. N. A. Zingarelli (Naples). Was a prolific operatic composer, who penned some thirty operas, besides much sacred music. His style was recommended by Napoleon to Cherubini, much to the disgust of the last-named composer.
• 1754. Peter Winter (Mannheim), 1754-1825. Wrote a very large number of tuneful and melodious operas. His works have not survived to the present day, being structurally weak, but they were very successful during the composer’s life and for a few years afterwards.
• 1756. Vincenzo Righini (Bologna). Was operatic singer, composer, and conductor. His twenty operas were many of them produced at Berlin, where he was for some years conductor of the Italian Opera.
• 1756. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Salzburg), 1756-91. The long list of Mozart’s operas (many of them written in youth) includes Idomeneo (1781), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), Le Nozze di Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), Cosi fan tutte (1790), La Clemenza di Tito (1791), Die Zauberflöte (1791).
• 1760. Maria Luigi C. Z. S. Cherubini (Florence), 1760-1842. An accomplished musician in all departments; wrote fine operas, containing a wealth of sterling music. His chief operas are La Finta Principessa (1785), Giulio Sabino (1786), Démophon (1788), Lodoiska (1791), Médée (1797), Les deux Journées (1800), Anacreon (1803), Faniska (1806), Les Abencerages (1813), Ali Baba (1833).
• 1760. Aloysia Weber (Mannheim). A vocalist for whom Mozart conceived a great affection, eventually, however, marrying her sister. The part of “Constance,” in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, was written for her.
• 1761. Katherina Cavalieri (Währing). Was asinger for whom both Mozart and Salieri wrote special parts in their operas. Mozart said of her that “she was a singer of whom Germany might well be proud.”
• 1763. Stephen Storace (London). Produced some early operas in Vienna, where he formed a friendship with Mozart. On his return to London he produced The Haunted Tower (1789), The Pirates (1792), and many other works, which attained very great success. He is almost the earliest example of an English composer introducing the concerted finale.
• 1763. Etienne Henri Méhul (Givet). Had a wonderful talent for opera, of which he produced a great quantity of examples, in addition to writing ballets and operettas. His best known works are Uthal and Joseph. Méhul died in 1822.
• 1763. J. F. Lesueur (Abbeville). Wrote a certain number of operas for Paris, of which the best is Les Bardes. The march of time has left Lesueur behind, in company with many another composer of considerable but not commanding merits.
• 1766. F. X. Süssmayer (Steyer). Is chiefly known to fame as being a sort of “hack” to Mozart, writing recitatives and filling in details for the great and busy composer, whose factotum he was for some years.
• 1766. G. Crescentini (Urbania). Was a famous sopranist, one of the >last of his class; he won favour from many, including the Emperor Napoleon, who showered benefits upon him. He not only sang magnificently, but composed arias to suit his own voice and special style.
• 1766. Joseph Weigl (Eisenstadt). Wrote onefamous work, Schweizer Familie, and manyothers of less import, numbering thirty-one in all, besides ballets.
• 1767. Henri Berton (Paris). Wrote many operas. He is interesting, moreover, as an early instance of a composer penning his own libretti. His music was often written in conjunction with others, such as Cherubini, Méhul, and Spontini.
• 1768. Elizabeth Billington (London). Was a prima donna of exceptional compass. During a long and varied career she appeared on the boards of many an operatic stage in Europe; her successes were, however, largely won in England.
• 1770. Ludwig von Beethoven (Bonn), 1770-1827. Beethoven’s single opera, Fidelio, was produced at Vienna in 1806.
• 1771. Ferdinand Paer (Parma). Was an Italian composer of many operas, both serious and comic; his Eleanor seems to have inspired Beethoven’s Fidelio.
• 1773. C. S. Catel (l’Aigle). Wrote many operatic works for the Paris Opera. His music was looked upon by the French public as “academic” because he held a professorship at the Conservatoire; hence it stood condemned before trial and had little chance. Catel was associated with Cherubini in the composition of one opera.
• 1774. G. L. P. Spontini (Majolate), 1774-1851. One of the most interesting personalities in the history of opera. Although he wrote Italian opera for Naples, his great successes were achieved in the field of French grand opera, of which he remains one of the shining ornaments. His chief operas are La Vestale (1807), Ferdinand Cortez (1809), Olympia (1821), Alcidor (1825); none are now performed.
• 1774. C. E. F. Weyse (Altona). Was a composer of Danish opera, whose works, however, have not penetrated beyond the country for which they were written. He seems to have been one of the earliest to introduce the Scandinavian Volkslied to the stage.
• 1775. F. A. Boieldieu (Rouen). Is world known by his opera, La Dame Blanche, produced in Paris in 1825, one of many works, but the only one at all known to fame. He spent eight years in Russia writing operas and ballets for that country, but his greatest achievements belong to his second Parisian period.
• 1775. Nicolo Isouard (Malta). Is another composer of works for the Parisian houses, no less than thirty-four operas standing to his redit. Isouard and Boieldieu were in keen rivalry, to their great advantage, since both put forth their best work.
• 1780. Angelica Catalani. Was the possessor of a voice of wonderful flexibility, with a speciality for chromatic scales. For the periodt at which she flourished, she probably made more money than any other artist. Her greatest success seems to have been as “Susanne” in Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro.
• 1782. D. F. E. Auber (Caen). Was one of the greatest masters of opera comique; his melodious style and piquant orchestration are models of their kind, and have secured a lasting vogue for his works, the best known of which are Masaniello (1828), Fra Diavolo (1830), Le Chevale de Bronze (1835), Le Domino Noir (1837), Les Diamants de la Couronne (1842).
• 1782. Conradin Kreutzer (Mösskirch). Wrote a number of successful operas, his powers as a composer of attractive arias being considerable. His fairy opera, Der Verschwender, may still occasionally be heard in Germany.
• 1784. Louis Spohr (Brunswick), 1784-1859. Is a composer mostly known in England by his sacred music and his violin compositions. His claims as a writer of operas must not, however, be overlooked, his Faust being in the van with regard to Romanticism in opera. His Jessonda also met with considerable favour, and its overture often gains a hearing in our concert rooms.
• 1784. Francesco Morlacchi (Perugia). Was chorus-master of the Italian Opera at Dresden, for which town he wrote a large number of works, successful in their day, but now never heard. He mostly excelled in the composition of light, sparkling, and superficial music.
• 1786. Carl Maria von Weber (Eutin), 1786-1826. Besides many early works, which call for no special mention, Weber’s operatic productions include Der Freischütz, Euryanthe (1823), and Oberon (1826).
• 1786. Henry Rowley Bishop (London). Was a most prolific writer of operas for the London theatres, eighty-two of such works standing to his name; many of these, however, do not merit the term “opera” as we understand it to-day. Bishop was most effective in his choruses and his writing for the voice generally.
• 1787. M. E. Carafa (Naples). Wrote thirty-five operas, which met with great success in Italy; he is now a forgotten composer.
• 1790. Alberico Curioni (Naples?). Was a famous tenor singer who met with great success in London, notably in the opera Medea.
• 1790. Nicola Vaccaj (Tolentino). Wrote many Italian operas, particularly for Venice. One at least of his works was also presented in London, where he lived for a short time.
• 1791. Giacomo Meyerbeer (Berlin), 1791-1864. Is a very notable figure in the annals of opera, and his best works still survive in the repertoires of the leading houses. These are Robert le Diable (1831), Les Huguenots (1836), Le Prophète (1849), L’Étoile du Nord (1854), Dinorah (1859), and L’Africaine (1864).
• 1791. L. J. F. Hérold (Paris). Is best known by his Zampa and Le Pré aux Clercs, both of which are frequently before the public.
• 1791. P. J. Lindpaintner (Coblenz). Wrote twenty-eight operas, mostly forgotten now. The best seems to be Der Vampyr.
• 1792. G. A. Rossini (Pesaro), 1792-1868. Is world known, if only for his William Tell music. From his enormous list of operatic works, the following may be selected for mention: Tancredi (1813), L’Italiani in Algeri (1813), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1816),La Cenerentola (1817), La Gazza Ladra (1817), Semiramide (1823), Mosé in Egitto (1818), Guillaume Tell (1829).
• 1794. Luigi Lablache (Naples). Was a magnificent bass singer who delighted Europe. He excelled in both serious and comic parts, and was a well-equipped artist.
• 1795. G. B. Rubini (Romano). Was equally celebrated as a tenor of the first rank. His greatest successes were attained in Rossini’s and Bellini’s operas.
• 1796. Giovanni Pacini (Catania). Wrote a large number of operas, of which the best is Saffo (Naples, 1840). His works total eighty specimens of opera alone, but most are written upon the pattern of Rossini.
• 1796. Heinrich Marschner (Zittau). Was a powerful composer of romantic opera. Hans Heiling is especially fine, while mention must also be made of Templer und Jüdin and of Der Vampyr. His operas are conceived in a kindred spirit to that of Weber’s.
• 1797. Franz Schubert (Vienna), 1797-1828. Schubert’s importance as a writer of opera is small as compared with his achievement in other fields—such as song and symphony. The chief in degree are Fierrabras and Alfonso und Estella.
• 1797. Saverio Mercadante (Altamura). Wrote a number of operas on the Italian model, of which Il Guiramento (Milan, 1837) is the finest.
• 1797. Lucy Elizabeth Vestris (London). Made a great impression as a singer upon the opera habitués of her day. She was the original “Fatima” in the production of Oberon.
• 1797. Gaetano Donizetti (Bergamo). Wrote a very large number of operas, which present such opportunities to vocalists as to be frequently produced to-day. The chief ones in the modern repertoire are Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), Lucretia Borgia (1833), L’Elisir d’Amore, La Fille du Régiment (1840), Linda di Chamounix (1842), La Favorita (1840), Don Pasquale.
• 1798. Giudetta Pasta (Como). Was an Italian singer of great charm and ability; in Rossini’s operas she appears to have been almost unequalled.
• 1798. K. G. Reissiger (Belzig). A prolific composer, produced many operas of an “academic” class, which have not survived their day.
• 1799. J. F. F. E. Halévy (Paris). Wrote a vast number of French operas, the best known of which is La Juive.
• 1800. Antonio Tamburini (Faenza). Was a baritone singer and a member of the famous “Puritani” quartet, which delighted both London and Paris for so many years. He excelled in his interpretation of the baritone parts of operas of the Rossini school.
• 1801. Vincenzo Bellini (Catania). This famous opera composer is still known by the frequent performance of his best works—La Somnambula (1831), Norma (1831), I Puritani (1835). More might have come from this composer, had he not died at the early age of thirty-four.
• 1802. John Barnett (Bedford). Was an English composer of a number of operas and of music for stage pieces. He has the credit of the first real English opera since Arne’s Artexerxes in his Mountain Sylph, produced in 1835. This is his best known work, but he wrote other operas, such as Fair Rosamund (1837) and Farinelli (1839).
• 1802. Louis Niedermeyer (Nyon). Had the misfortune to produce several operas which were mostly failures. He had, however, original ideas as to orchestration, and is worthy of remembrance for his gifts of melody.
• 1803. Adolphe Charles Adam (Paris). Wrote grand opera, ballet music, and opera comique, being only remembered for the last-named, for which he had real talent. His best work is Le Postillon de Longjumeau (1836).
• 1803. G. A. Lortzing (Berlin). Wrote many operas still popular in Germany; one indeed, Peter the Shipwright, has met with considerable success in this country. He wrote upon a model which Sullivan so excellently employed in his light operas.
• 1803. Hector Berlioz (Grenoble), 1803-69. An eccentric genius among musicians. Wrote operas such as Les Troyens and Benvenuto Cellini, which contain fine music, but which have never pleased the public, and which remain practically unperformed.
• 1804. Julius Benedict (Stuttgart). Although a German, is always looked upon as an English composer, his life having been spent in this country. He is best known by his often-performed Lily of Killarney, which dates from 1862. Benedict died in 1885.
• 1804. Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient (Hamburg). Must always remain a person of interest to musicians, in that she created the part of Leonora in Beethoven’s Fidelio upon its revival in 1822, when that work really gained a fair hearing. She was also an early exponent of Wagnerian parts (Senta, Venus, etc.).
• 1804. Michael I. Glinka (Novospaskoi). Is the earliest of Russian opera composers to be known outside his own country, and he is important, not only for his compositions of Life for the Czar and Russlan, but also in that he founded a school of Russian opera which has brought forth much fruit.
• 1805. Luigi Ricci (Naples). Wrote a large number of operas, very famous in their day, but now forgotten.
• 1805. Manuel Garcia (Madrid). The wonderful centenarian: claims notice as the trainer of those fine operatic artists, Jenny Lind and Catherine Hayes.
• 1806. Henrietta Sontag (Coblenz). Was a charming and gifted soprano of European reputation, who delighted all hearers, and seems to have combined a charming personality with great artistic attainments.
• 1807. J. A. Tichatschek (Weckelsdorf). Was a Bohemian tenor who made for himself a great reputation in all the grand operas of the greater masters. He was also the original “Rienzi” and “Tannhäuser.”
• 1808. A. L. Clapisson (Naples). Was a graceful composer of many operas which pleased in their day, but which have had no continuance of popular favour.
• 1808. Michael William Balfe (Dublin), 1808-1888. Is the best known of English opera writers of his period, and his Bohemian Girl (1843) is familiar to all. Other of his successes are The Siege of Rochelle (1835), The Maid of Artois (1836), Blanche de Nevers (1863), Il Talismano (1874).
• 1808. Michael A. A. Costa (Naples). Was best known as a conductor, more especially of the Italian opera in England. He wrote a few forgotten specimens, but is mainly of importance as a wielder of the bâton. Costa died in 1884.
• 1808. P. L. P. Dietsch (Dijon). Was also a conductor. His chief claim to fame seems to have been that he purchased the libretto of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, and clothed it with absolutely forgotten music.
• 1808. Albert Gnsar (Antwerp). Wrote a number of comic operas for Paris. They seem to have been works of elegance and grace, without special distinction.
• 1808. Marie Felicita Malibran (Paris). Performed in opera at the age of five. She seems to have had no rivals as a singer, and excelled in all parts which she undertook. She created an indelible impression upon all that were fortunate enough to hear her.
• 1809. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Hamburg), 1809-1847. The claims of Mendelssohn as a writer of opera are not serious, and are confined to a few early and incomplete works. The best, musically, is the fragment of Lorelei.
• 1809. F. Ricci (Naples). Like his brother Luigi, wrote operas which have not survived their generation.
• 1809. J. H. Hatton (Liverpool). Is better known as a writer of songs than of operas. He wrote, however, a good deal of incidental music for the stage, as well as one real opera.
• 1810. Robert Schumann (Zwickau), 1810-56. Schumann’s one contribution to the field of opera is his Genoveva, which is seldom heard, in spite of many unquestionable beauties.
• 1810. Otto Nicolai (Königsberg). Was a capable composer and conductor. He is chiefly known to fame by his masterpiece, The Merry Wives of Windsor, which was produced in Berlin in 1849.
• 1810. Félicien C. David (Cadenet). A French composer of operas; is not to be confused with Ferdinand David the violinist, and friend of Mendelssohn. Félicien wrote grand operas for Paris, and his greatest success seems to have been Lalla Rookh (1862).
• 1811. P. J. A. Varney (Paris). Is one of the minor lights of French Opera, his works, which are of small importance, being in the light style.
• 1811. C. Ambroise Thomas (Metz), 1811-96. Was one of the greatest representatives of modern French opera, who possessed real talent for writing for the stage. He learnt much from both Gounod and Hérold, and is best known by his operas Mignon (1866) and Hamlet (1868).
• 1812. F. von Flotow (Bentendorf). Is the composer of Martha, an ever-popular light opera; the music of this, as of his many other works, is by no means exalted, but pleases by its melodious and tuneful attractiveness.
• 1812. Giulia Grisi (Milan). Was one of the most famous operatic artists of last century, and the soprano of the “Puritani” quartet (Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and Lablache). Like so many artists of that period, her great achievements were in the works of Rossini.
• 1812. Cavaliere Mario (Cagliari). Was an even greater tenor, who eventually married Grisi. Like his wife he was the idol of the English and French capitals for many seasons.
• 1812. Fanny Persiani (Rome). Was yet another singer of Rossinian opera. She was a fine actress as well as a vocalist, and commanded universal admiration.
• 1813. Enrico Petrella (Palermo). Produced an Italian opera practically every year for many years. This composer has been dead for nearly thirty years, and his operas seem to have shared the same fate.
• 1813. Richard Wagner (Leipsic), 1813-83. The names and dates of Wagner’s chief operas are:—Rienzi (Dresden) 1842; The Flying Dutchman (Dresden) 1843; Tannhäuser (Dresden) 1845; Lohengrin (Weimar) 1850; The Ring:—(1) Rheingold (Munich) 1859; (2) Die Walküre (Munich) 1870; (3) Siegfried (Bayreuth) 1876; (4) Gotterdämmerung, (Bayreuth) 1876; Tristan und Isolde (Munich) 1865; Die Meistersinger (Munich) 1868; Parsifal (Bayreuth), 1882.
• 1813. Giuseppe Verdi (Roncole) 1813-1901. Verdi’s operas are very numerous: these may perhaps be specially mentioned:— I Lombardi, 1843; Ernani, 1844; Rigoletto, 1851; Il Trovatore, 1853; La Traviata, 1853; Un Ballo in Maschera, 1857; Aïda, 1871; Otello, 1887; Falstaff, 1893.
• 1813. A. S. Dargomizhsky (Toula). Is of considerable importance in the development of national Russian opera; of his works we may mention The Roussalka (1856) and The Stone Guest, only performed three years after his death, in 1872.
• 1813. G. A. Macfarren (London). So well known as a theorist; essayed many operas, of which Robin Hood was the most successful. Other of his works are The Devil’s Opera and Helvellyn.
• 1813. E. J. Loder (Bath). Was an English writer of operas, the best of which is the Night Dancers (1846).
• 1814. Emma Albertazzi (London). An English prima donna who married an Italian. She sang in all the chief houses of opera, but was a poor and indifferent actress.
• 1814. W. V. Wallace (Waterford). Is known to all by his tuneful, if ordinary, Maritana. He wrote better works, and his Lurline may be mentioned.
• 1815. G. Hippolyte Roger (Saint-Denis). Was a great French tenor, for whom Ambroise Thomas, Auber, Clapesson and others wrote operas. He unfortunately lost an arm, and had to give up the stage.
• 1817. Carlo Pedrotti (Verona). Wrote Italian operas, of which mention may be made of Tutti in Maschera and Il Favorito.
• 1817. Aimé Maillart (Montpellier). Won the Grand Prix de Rome, and wrote operas which had some measure of success.
• 1817. Francesco Lamperti (Savona). A great teacher of singing, whose pupils include Albani, Mariani, and Shakespeare.
• 1818. C. F. Gounod (Paris), 1818-93. Besides the evergreen Faust (1859), Gounod’s other successes include The Mock Doctor, Philémon and Baucis, Mireille, and Romeo and Juliet, all of which are often heard.
• 1818. J. Sims Reeves (Woolwich). In his palmy days was often heard in opera, the tenor parts of many melodious operas in favour at the time exactly suiting his methods and style.
• 1818. A. N. Serov (Petersburg). Serov was a Russian composer who admired and followed Wagner; his works have their place in the annals of opera in his country.
• 1819. Jacques Offenbach (Cologne). A prolific composer of some seventy specimens of opera bouffe and operetta; in light works such as these he achieved almost unexampled success, and enjoyed immense popularity.
• 1820. Jenny Lind (Stockholm). This name is fresh in the memory of all, although its gifted possessor went the way of all flesh some thirty years ago. As a singer she commanded universal admiration, while as a woman she was looked up to and respected by all. Her triumphs in operatic soprano parts were such as to be seldom equalled.
• 1820. Franz von Suppé (Spalato). Was the German equivalent of Offenbach—a prolific writer of comic opera.
• 1821. C. A. F. Echert (Potsdam). Wrote an opera at the age of ten, and others at a later date. He won more fame, however, as a conductor, holding important posts in this capacity at Paris, Vienna, and Berlin.
• 1821. M. F. P. Viardot-Garcia (Paris). A young sister of Malibran, attained considerable celebrity as a singer and actress; she appeared not only in works of the Rossini school, but in the operas of Meyerbeer, Gluck, and others.
• 1821. Italo Gardoni (Parma). Was a tenor singer of repute, who to a considerable extent took the place of Mario; he sang frequently in London.
• 1822. Apolloni. Was an Italian composer who wrote operas upon the early Verdi model, achieving one great success in L’Ebreo.
• 1822. Luigi Arditi (Crescentino). Although he composed a few operas, is more widely remembered as a conductor, he having wielded the bâton during many operatic seasons both in England and abroad.
• 1822. César Franck (Liége). His merits seem only now beginning to be recognized as a composer; wrote a small number of operas, of which the music appears to have been heard only in the concert room.
• 1822. F. M. V. Massé (Lorient). Wrote some operas in the style of Auber with very great success. A number of later works, some of which have been produced at Covent Garden, have been less favourably received.
• 1823. Edouard Lalo (Lille). The writer of some excellent violin music; includes among his writings one work, Le Roi d’ Ys, which is often to be heard.
• 1823. L. E. E. Reyer (Marseilles). Is yet another French composer of opera, chiefly known by his Sigurd, produced in 1884.
• 1823. Marietta Alboni (Cesena). Was a world-renowned contralto, who created a furore in London. She was set up as a sort of rival attraction to Jenny Lind, who was performing at another theatre, and was powerful enough to hold her own.
• 1824. Peter Cornelius (Mainz). Wrote a number of operas, of which The Barber of Bagdad seems to have been a kind of forerunner of Die Meistersinger, and is enormously in favour in Germany.
• 1824. Friedrich Smetana (Leitomischl). Is the father of Bohemian opera, and his work, The Bartered Bride, paved the way for a series of national operas which are dear indeed to the hearts of the Bohemians. He is important, also, as the model upon which Dvŏràk framed much of his work.
• 1825. F. R. Hervé (Houdain). Wrote a very large number of French operettas of a very light trend, which are hardly likely to go down to posterity.
• 1826. Mathilde Marchesi (Frankfort). An eminent soprano vocalist, whose influence has been widely felt in the operatic world, not only by her performances, but also by her teaching. Her Ecole de Chant and vocal exercises are world known.
• 1826. Ivar Hallström (Stockholm). A Swedish composer of operas; has produced works of a distinctly national impress.
• 1827. Marie Carvalho (Marseilles). A French vocalist; was at one time in the first rank of artists of the grand opera and the opera comique. She specially excelled in her interpretations of the soprano characters of the Gounod operas.
• 1828. Antonio Cagnoni (Godiasco). Wrote a number of Italian operas of moderate quality; his attentions were mostly confined to opera buffa.
• 1828. Ferdinand Poise (Nîmes). Wrote a number of charming light works, somewhat in the style of his master Adam. Paris was the scene of his labours.
• 1829. Anton Rubinstein (Wechwotynecz). Bears a name well known in many musical fields: in opera he was hardly great, his music being non-dramatic in character. He wrote The Demon and a few “sacred operas.”
• 1829. Ciro Pinsuti (Siena). Is indeed popular as a writer of songs; it is not so well known that he includes amongst his larger works operas that have been produced at La Scala, Milan, and elsewhere.
• 1830. Karl Goldmark (Keszthely). The most famous opera by this composer is The Queen of Sheba, produced at Vienna in 1875; subsequent and less successful productions include Merlin (1886) and The Cricket on the Hearth (1896).
• 1830. Edouard Lassen (Copenhagen). Another writer of melodious songs; produced three successful operas. He also succeeded Liszt as conductor at Weimar.
• 1830. Edmund Kretschmer (Ostritz). Had at one period a reputation as a composer of opera, which recent years have failed to maintain.
• 1831. T. C. J. Tietjens (Hamburg). One of the >most brilliant and successful prime donne of the nineteenth century; she excelled alike in light opera and grand opera, in secular music and in sacred. Her early death in 1877 was lamented by all who had heard her beautiful and artistic interpretations of the masterpieces of opera and of oratorio.
• 1832. A. C. Lecocq (Paris). A prolific composer of light French pieces in the manner of Offenbach. Not to be reckoned with as serious music, his compositions are notable for their sprightliness, vivacity, and verve.
• 1834. Pierre L. L. Benoit (Harlebeke). Is a Flemish composer and an apostle of a Flemish school of composition which he endeavours to form. Among his many works are operas and dramatic pieces.
• 1834. A. P. V. Borodine (S. Petersburg). Is well known as a chemist and an opera writer. His music, national in character, is best study froman operatic point of view in Prince Igor. Borodine’s music is also well known in the concert hall. He died in 1887.
• 1834. A. Ponchielli (Paderno). Although he diedas long ago as 1886, must be classed as a composer of the young Italian school. His chef d’œuvre, La Gioconda, often obtains a hearing.
• 1834. Charles Santley (Liverpool). Famous alike on the stage and in the concert hall; while his attentions have been latterly confined to oratorio. His was a familiar figure on the Covent Garden stage some forty years ago.
• 1835. Filippo Marchetti (Bologna). A member of the Italian school of composers. Wrote many operas, Ruy Blas achieving great success.
• 1835. César A. Cui (Vilna). Has built up a reputation for himself amongst Russian composers for his works of every description, and he has an important place amongst those who have developed opera in Russia. William Ratcliff and Le Flibustier deserve special mention.
• 1835. C. C. Saint-Saëns (Paris). One of the most versatile and gifted of modern French composers; has enriched the world by a few operas and by the sacred drama Samson et Dalila, which is often heard in English concert rooms. More recent efforts include Henry VIII. and Phryne.
• 1836. Emil Hartmann (Copenhagen). Is one of the few operatic composers of Denmark. His music is not heard in England.
• 1837. Ernest Guiraud (New Orleans). A contemporary and co-worker of Délibes; wrote Piccolino and other pieces.
• 1837. F. C. T. Dubois (Rosney). The famous French organist; has also achieved certain success with his operas and ballets.
• 1837. Joseph Huber (Sigmaringen). A disciple of the German school. Wrote two operas, popular in their day.
• 1838. Georges Bizet (Paris). Is never likely tobe forgotten so long as Carmen attains to a tithe of its present popularity. This bright and sparkling work is deservedly in the front rank of favourite operas. Bizet wrote several unimportant operas before Carmen, but his early death prevented his giving to the world any successor to that famous opera.
• 1838. Zelia Trebelli (Paris). A prima donna of high rank. She made her début at Madrid, and was successful in Germany and in London, where her appearances in Italian opera were very frequent.
• 1838. Frederic Clay (Paris). The composer of the popular “I’ll sing thee songs of Araby.” Wrote several light operas for Covent Garden and other English houses.
• 1839. C. P. L. Délibes (St. Germain du Val). Wrote bright and sparkling music, and was most successful in the ballet. Everyone is familiarw ith his Sylvia, and among his operas are Lakmé and Le Roi l’a dit.
• 1839. Carlos Gomez (Compinos). Was a Brazilian composer, whose opera Il Guarany was performed at Covent Garden.
• 1839. V. de Goncieres (Paris). Has produced several grand operas, none of which have met with continued success.
• 1839. Edward Napravnik (Königgratz). Was for a time the conductor of opera in Petersburg, and also wrote many national operas and songs.
• 1839. Joseph Rheinberger (Vaduz). Famous as a writer of organ music, and of achievements in almost all branches of composition; ventured also into the operatic field with his work Die Sieben Raben.
• 1840. Hermann Goetz (Königsberg). Was a short-lived composer, whose opera, The Taming of the Shrew, showed the possession of extraordinary gifts.
• 1840. P. Tchaïkovsky (Votinsk). This giftedand versatile composer is known in England only by his Eugene Oniegin, so far as opera is concerned.
• 1841. Antonin Dvŏrák (Kralup). The Bohemian composer’s operas are hardly as successful as his chamber music and his symphonies.
• 1841. Victor Nessler (Baldenheim). Wrote popular operas for Germany. Their music is not of high rank, but such works as Der Trumpeter von Säkkingen enjoy great popularity.
• 1841. Franco Faccio (Verona). Is an obscurecomposer of Italian opera, whose compositions display no particular originality.
• 1841. Pauline Lucca (Vienna). A soprano vocalistwho appeared in operas of Meyerbeer and others. Alike in Germany, Russia, and England, she seems to have aroused the keenest interest and excitement. Her voice was one of extended compass and of a sympathetic quality.
• 1841. Emmanuel Chabrier (Ambert). Wrote some operas, the best of which was Le Roi malgré lui.
• 1842. Carl Millōcker (Vienna). Composer of Singspiel.
• 1842. Heinrich Hofmann (Berlin). Wrote music dramas and operas, and sought to compose light works on the grand opera plan, omitting all dialogue.
• 1842. Jules F. E. Massenet (Montand). Is one of the most famous living composers of French opera, many of whose works may be heard in this country. Hérodiade, Manon, Le Cid, Esclamonde, Werther, and other works testify to his ability and industry, and he is a factor to be reckoned with in the development of opera in France.
• 1842. Arrigo Boito (Padua). Is the composer of Mefistofele and of the unheard Nero.
• 1842. Edmund Audran (Lyons). Was a famous composer of comic opera, producing many light works in Paris and in London.
• 1842. A. S. Sullivan (London). Composed the opera Ivanhoe. He was also practically the originator of a charming form of comedy opera. He died in 1900.
• 1843. Christine Nilsson (Wexio). A Swedish soprano, and yet another of that brilliant band of gifted singers who delighted the habitués of the opera a few decades back.
• 1843. Adelina Patti (Madrid). First appeared in England in opera in 1861. Her successes were all made in Italian opera, with music of the florid type. Her appearances before the public are still frequent.
• 1843. Hans Richter (Raab). Is one of the greatest of conductors, and the greatest living authority upon Wagner, whose pupil and friend he was. Dr. Richter conducts the German performances at Covent Garden, and was responsible for the first production of the Ring at Bayreuth in 1876.
• 1844. F. Cellier (London). Wrote light operas after the style of Sullivan, whose manner he successfully caught.
• 1844. Rimsky-Korsakoff (Tichwin). In the van of modern Russian musicians. In opera he created some successes, notably in The May Night. His last opera (the 15th) is entitled The Golden Cock.
• 1844. Emile Paladilhe (Montpellier). A member of the younger French school; chiefly known by his Patrie.
• 1846. H. C. A. G. Serpette (Nantes). Has also written French operas, but of a lighter style, pertaining to the Buffo character.
• 1846. Ignaz Brüll (Prossnitz). Has written a very large number of operas, the best known of which, The Golden Cross, has been produced in England by the Carl Rosa Company. His operas are of the German school.
• 1847. Augusta Holmes (Paris). Is one of the few women writers of opera.
• 1847. Alexander Mackenzie (Edinburgh). Has produced operas with the Carl Rosa Company, and has also unheard works in his desk awaiting a favourable opportunity for production.
• 1847. Amalie Materna (St. Georgen). A famous soprano of German opera, and a great Wagnerian singer, her impersonations of Brünnhilde being specially fine.
• 1847. Joseph Maas (Dartford). Was a good tenor vocalist, and an indifferent actor. Although often heard upon the stage, he was more appreciated in concert work.
• 1848. Luigi Mancinelli (Orvieto). Is the popular conductor of Italian opera at Covent Garden. As a composer he is also known, both of opera and of oratorio.
• 1849. B. L. P. Godard (Paris). Wrote much musicin many styles. His operas did not attain to the popularity of his chamber music or pianoforte pieces.
• 1850. Albani (Chambly). Whose real name is Marie Lajeunesse, is familiar to all concert goers of the present day. Her operatic successes during the two last decades of the nineteenth century were many, and she sang well such parts as “Isolde” and “Elsa.”
• 1850. Zdenko Fibich (Bohemian). Has written operas of the type popularized in his country by Smetana.
• 1850. Robert Planquette (Paris). Composed the evergreen Cloches de Corneville, so dear to the heart of the Frenchman. His operettas are bright and sparkling.
• 1850. Anton Siedl (Pesth). A Wagnerian conductor of power. He has conducted on the Continent, in England, and in America.
• 1851. A. Goring Thomas (Ratton). This composer of so many favourite songs, wrote the operas Esmeralda and Nadeshda, from which excerpts are frequently heard.
• 1851. Vincent d’Indy (Paris). Is a prominent modern French composer; his Fervaal is a fine dramatic work.
• 1851. Tamagno (Turin). A celebrated operatic tenor, whose fees of £400 per night in America are said to have created a record for male vocalists. Tamagno died in 1905.
• 1851. Jan Blockx (Belgian composer). Is the director of the Flemish School of Music in Antwerp; he has written several operas, of which mention may be made of Princesse d’Auberge.
• 1852. Frederick Cowen (Jamaica). The well-known song-writer and conductor has made several essays on opera with more or less success.
• 1852. C. V. Stanford (Dublin). Is one of the strongest hopes of the English school of opera composition; his various efforts, although hardly crowned with unqualified success, are almost all noteworthy and distinctly great in achievement.
• 1852. Frederick Corder (London). Composed Nordisa for the Carl Rosa Company.
• 1852. Jean de Reszke (Warsaw). One of the greatest of operatic tenors, whose interpretations of the Wagner rôles has seldom been equalled.
• 1852. Barton McGuckin (Dublin). Tenor vocalist of repute.
• 1854. Engelbert Hamperdinck (Siegburg). The composer of the popular Hansel and Gretel.
• 1855. E. de Reszke (Warsaw). Brother of the famous tenor, and an almost equally great baritone; excels in such parts as “Sachs” (Meistersinger), etc.
• 1857. Alfred Bruneau (Paris). An extremely modern French composer, whose striking works create much discussion.
• 1858. Giacomo Puccini (Lucca). Is an Italian composer whose works are now enjoying very great popularity, quite a number of them being constantly before the public.
• 1858. R. Leoncavallo (Naples). Is another member of the Italian school, and the composer of Pagliacci.
• 1859. T. J. Paderewski (Podolia). The world-renowned pianist; has also composed a fairly successful opera.
• 1860. Gustave Charpentier (French school). Has written Louise, a familiar and popular work across the Channel.
• 1864. Richard Strauss (Munich). The modern writer of symphonic poems; has produced operas. He is a conductor of the Royal Berlin Opera House.
• 1864. Pietro Mascagni (Leghorn). Is the composer of the tuneful Cavalleria Rusticana and other works.

Among other contemporary composers and singers of opera may be mentioned:—