Kalmus Opera Library

LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN (THE TALES OF HOFFMANN) was written betweem 1876 and 1880 and is the final work composed by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), who died four months before the premiere, a fear that O...

LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN (THE TALES OF HOFFMANN) was written betweem 1876 and 1880 and is the final work composed by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), who died four months before the premiere, a fear that O...

The creation of the opera Il Trovatore by Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was complicated by a variety of circumstances. The original play by Garcia Gutierrez needed simplifying, and the traditional notion...

The creation of the opera Il Trovatore by Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was complicated by a variety of circumstances. The original play by Garcia Gutierrez needed simplifying, and the traditional notion...

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...

WERTHER, an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet (1842-1912), found its inspiration in a novel by Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther, which in turn based its story on the actual suicide of a young m...

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...

NABUCCO, a retelling of the biblical story of Jewish exile under the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, was Giuseppe Verdi's (1813-1901) first major operatic success, and was written reluctantly, followi...

NABUCCO, a retelling of the biblical story of Jewish exile under the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, was Giuseppe Verdi's (1813-1901) first major operatic success, and was written reluctantly, followi...

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...

Premiering on May 22, 1813, at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was a success, with subsequent performances in Vi...

The first performance of I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers), a five-act opera by Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901), took place at the Paris Opera on June 13, 1855, under the direction of Narcisse Gira...

The first performance of I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers), a five-act opera by Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901), took place at the Paris Opera on June 13, 1855, under the direction of Narcisse Gira...

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...

While librettist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) had worked previously in 1871-72 to write Thespis, a work for the Christmas season, the 1875 one-act comic opera Tria...

While librettist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) had worked previously in 1871-72 to write Thespis, a work for the Christmas season, the 1875 one-act comic opera Tria...

Gianni Schicchi is a one-act comic opera by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). The final and most popular opera in a trio known as Il trittico (The Triptych), each one dealing with the concealment of a deat...

Gianni Schicchi is a one-act comic opera by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). The final and most popular opera in a trio known as Il trittico (The Triptych), each one dealing with the concealment of a deat...

DER GRAF VON LUXEMBURG (The Count of Luxemburg) is a three-act operetta that tells the story of an impoverished aristocrat and a glamorous opera singer who enter into a fake marriage without ever seei...

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 (...

VESTAS FEUER (THE VESTAL FLAME) for vocal quartet and orchestra is the only surviving fragment from a planned opera by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), set to a libretto by the dramatist and impresar...

Le Cid by Jules Massenet (1842-1912) is an opera in four acts with ten tableaux. It tells the the story of the historical Spanish knight Rodrigue, who led Spain's army to victory of the Moors, earning...

Le Cid by Jules Massenet (1842-1912) is an opera in four acts with ten tableaux. It tells the the story of the historical Spanish knight Rodrigue, who led Spain's army to victory of the Moors, earning...

Le Cid by Jules Massenet (1842-1912) is an opera in four acts with ten tableaux. It tells the the story of the historical Spanish knight Rodrigue, who led Spain's army to victory of the Moors, earning...