Kalmus Opera Library

Marking the onset of his middle period, LUISA MILLER gave Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) a great deal of trouble with the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. When the management rejected his initial proposal for...

Charles Gounod (1818-1893) completed the five-act opera Roméo et Juliette (Romeo and Juliet) in 1867. With a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michael Carré, the opera tells the tragic story of Shakespear...

Charles Gounod (1818-1893) completed the five-act opera Roméo et Juliette (Romeo and Juliet) in 1867. With a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michael Carré, the opera tells the tragic story of Shakespear...

Charles Gounod (1818-1893) completed the five-act opera ROMÉO ET JULIETTE (ROMEO AND JULIET) in 1867. With a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michael Carré, the opera tells the tragic story of Shakespear...

Charles Gounod (1818-1893) completed the five-act opera ROMÉO ET JULIETTE (ROMEO AND JULIET) in 1867. With a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michael Carré, the opera tells the tragic story of Shakespear...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's (1756-1791) singspiel Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620, was written in 1791 and premiered on September 30th of that same year at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden,...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's (1756-1791) singspiel Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620, was written in 1791 and premiered on September 30th of that same year at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden,...

La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), K. 621 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) in 1791 after he had almost finished Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Commissioned to celebrate...

La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), K. 621 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) in 1791 after he had almost finished Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Commissioned to celebrate...

Based on the 1832 play "Le roi s'amuse" by Victor Hugo, Guiseppe Verdi's (1812-1901) Rigoletto was the composer's sixteenth entry into the genre and is widely considered one of the first operatic mast...

Based on the 1832 play "Le roi s'amuse" by Victor Hugo, Guiseppe Verdi's (1812-1901) Rigoletto was the composer's sixteenth entry into the genre and is widely considered one of the first operatic mast...

La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) is based on La Dame aux camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas fils. The opera was originally titled Violetta, after the main character. Libre...

Finished in 1848 and premiered in 1950 in Weimar, Germany, Richard Wagner's (1813-1883) LOHENGRIN tells a story of a tragic medieval German romance in the Knight of the Swan tradition. Elsa, a princes...

Finished in 1848 and premiered in 1950 in Weimar, Germany, Richard Wagner's (1813-1883) LOHENGRIN tells a story of a tragic medieval German romance in the Knight of the Swan tradition. Elsa, a princes...

Finished in 1848 and premiered in 1950 in Weimar, Germany, Richard Wagner's (1813-1883) LOHENGRIN tells a story of a tragic medieval German romance in the Knight of the Swan tradition. Elsa, a princes...

Based on Norse heroic legends, the sprawling operatic drama DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN took Richard Wagner (1813-1883) over twenty-five years to complete. Through a vast web of leitmotifs, melodic fragme...

Based on Norse heroic legends, the sprawling operatic drama DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN took Richard Wagner (1813-1883) over twenty-five years to complete. Through a vast web of leitmotifs, melodic fragme...

Norma is a two-act lyric tragedy by Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835). A leading example of the bel canto genre, the opera premiered at La Scala in Milan on December 26th, 1831. The story tells of a love t...

Norma is a two-act lyric tragedy by Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835). A leading example of the bel canto genre, the opera premiered at La Scala in Milan on December 26th, 1831. The story tells of a love t...

MADAMA BUTTERFLY, one of the most popular operas of Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), is the story of the conflicting expectations of Lieutenant Pinkerton, an American naval officer, and Madame Butterfly (...

MADAMA BUTTERFLY, one of the most popular operas of Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), is the story of the conflicting expectations of Lieutenant Pinkerton, an American naval officer, and Madame Butterfly (...

IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETO (THE SECRET MARRIAGE) by Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) is his only work still to be regularly performed today and arguably among the greatest 18th century opera buffa. The dramma...

IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETO (THE SECRET MARRIAGE) by Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) is his only work still to be regularly performed today and arguably among the greatest 18th century opera buffa. The dramma...

Italian composer Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) wrote L'amico Fritz in 1891 only one year after his masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana began the Versimo movement. A charming light opera in three acts, L'am...

Composed by Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) in 1830, the two-act opera I Capuletti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Mantagues) stands as one of only two successful opera adaptations of Shakespeare's R...