Kalmus Orchestra Library

Premiering on May 22, 1813 at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, L'italiana in Algeri by Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) was a success, with subsequent performances in Vicenza, Milan, and Naples. It w...

LA TRAVIATA (THE FALLEN WOMAN), an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), is based on La Dame aux camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The opera was originall...

LA TRAVIATA (THE FALLEN WOMAN), an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), is based on La Dame aux camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The opera was originall...

In 1890, Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) wrote an assortment of songs for a play written by Adelheid Wette, his sister, as a gift to her children. Spurred by his friend Richard Strauss, he took some...

In 1890, Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) wrote an assortment of songs for a play written by Adelheid Wette, his sister, as a gift to her children. Spurred by his friend Richard Strauss, he took some...

Composed by Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) in 1830, the two-act opera I CAPULETTI E I MONTECCHI (THE CAPULETS AND THE MONTAGUES) stands as one of only two successful opera adaptations of Shakespeare's R...

Composed by Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) in 1830, the two-act opera I CAPULETTI E I MONTECCHI (THE CAPULETS AND THE MONTAGUES) stands as one of only two successful opera adaptations of Shakespeare's R...

The fourth and final opera of Richard Wagner's (1813-1883) DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN (THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG, or THE RING CYCLE for short), the three-act drama GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG (TWILIGHT OF THE GODS) p...

The fourth and final opera of Richard Wagner's (1813-1883) DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN (THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG, or THE RING CYCLE for short), the three-act drama GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG (TWILIGHT OF THE GODS) p...

Zaïs by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was first performed on February 29, 1748 at the Opéra in Paris. It is a pastorale héroïque, a form of the opéra-ballet genre of French Baroque opera that draws...

Carl Nielsen's (1865-1931) three-act opera buffa MASKARADE (MASQUERADE) was written between 1904 and 1906, though Nielsen had first begun to consider an opera based on Ludvig Holberg's play of the sam...

Carl Nielsen's (1865-1931) three-act opera buffa MASKARADE (MASQUERADE) was written between 1904 and 1906, though Nielsen had first begun to consider an opera based on Ludvig Holberg's play of the sam...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote the two-act opera DON GIOVANNI, K. 527, in 1787 following a commission from Prague impresario Pasquale Bondini. With the success of THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Mo...

Ariane et Barbe-bleue: Act III, Introduction forms part of Paul Dukas' (1865-1935) only completed opera, composed between 1899 and 1906, and premiered on May 10, 1907, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. D...

At the close of the Allegro of the Overture, a climax of pleasurable activity, appears a stony figure of heroic mold - the Commendatore. Here, according to the opera-score, the trombones speak for the...

The ballet Romeo and Juliet was originally written by Sergei Sergejewitsch Prokofjew (1891-1953) in 1935. However, running afoul of the Soviet censors who disliked the happier ending (departing from S...

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 (...

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...

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) originally wrote the 2-act opera La Vida Breve (Life is Short or The Brief Life) between 1904 and 1905 for a composition competition which offered a large monetary prize an...

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) originally wrote the 2-act opera La Vida Breve (Life is Short or The Brief Life) between 1904 and 1905 for a composition competition which offered a large monetary prize an...

The two-act operetta Leichte Kavallerie (Light Cavalry) was written by Franz von Suppè (1819-1895) in 1866 and is set in a 19th-century Austrian village where love intrigues and other relationships in...

The two-act operetta Leichte Kavallerie (Light Cavalry) was written by Franz von Suppè (1819-1895) in 1866 and is set in a 19th-century Austrian village where love intrigues and other relationships in...

The operetta Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) was written in 1905 by Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár (1870-1948), with a libretto by Viktor Léon and Leo Stein. The story tells of a rich widow...