List of important operas

Since the origins of opera in late 16th century Italy, a central repertoire has developed, shepherded by major opera composers. The earliest major opera composer is generally considered to be Claudio Monteverdi, who wrote the first prominent opera, ''L'Orfeo'', followed by two others. Throughout the later 17th century, his successor Francesco Cavalli and the Englishman Henry Purcell wrote numerous prominent operas. The early 18th century was dominated by the operas of George Frideric Handel, while other important works include Pepusch's ''The Beggar's Opera'', Pergolesi's' ''La serva padrona'', and various works by Jean-Philippe Rameau.

This list provides a guide to the most prominent operas, as determined by their presence on a majority of selected compiled lists, which date from between 1984 and 2000. The operas included cover all important genres, and include all operas regularly performed today, from seventeenth-century works to late twentieth-century operas. The brief accompanying notes offer an explanation as to why each opera has been considered important. The organisation of the list is by year of first performance, or, if this was long after the composer's death, approximate date of composition.

1600–1699

* 1607 ''L'Orfeo'' ( Claudio Monteverdi). Widely regarded as the first operatic masterwork.
* 1640 '' Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' (Monteverdi). Monteverdi's first opera for Venice, based on Homer's ''Odyssey'', displays the composer's mastery of portrayal of genuine individuals as opposed to stereotypes.
* 1642 ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' (Monteverdi). Monteverdi's last opera, composed for a Venetian audience, is often performed today. Its Venetian context helps to explain the complete absence of the moralizing tone often associated with opera of this time.
* 1644 ''Ormindo'' ( Francesco Cavalli). One of the first of Cavalli's operas to be revived in the 20th century, ''Ormindo'' is considered one of his more attractive works.
* 1649 ''Giasone'' (Cavalli). In ''Giasone'' Cavalli, for the first time, separated aria and recitative. ''Giasone'' was the most popular opera of the 17th century.
* 1651 ''La Calisto'' (Cavalli). Ninth of the eleven operas that Cavalli wrote with Faustini is noted for its satire of the deities of classical mythology.
* 1683 ''Dido and Aeneas'' ( Henry Purcell). Often considered to be the first genuine English-language operatic masterwork. Not first performed in 1689 at a girls' school, as is commonly believed, but at Charles II's court in 1683.
* 1692 ''The Fairy-Queen'' (Purcell). A semi-opera rather than a genuine opera, this is often thought to be Purcell's finest dramatic work.

1700–1749

* 1710 '' Agrippina'' (Handel). Handel's last opera that he composed in Italy was a great success, and established his reputation as a composer of Italian opera.
* 1711 '' Rinaldo'' (Handel). Handel's first opera for the London stage was also the first all-Italian opera performed on the London stage.
* 1724 ''Giulio Cesare'' (Handel). Noted for the richness of its orchestration.
* 1724 ''Tamerlano'' (Handel). Described by Anthony Hicks, writing in '' Grove Music Online'', as possessing a "taut dramatic power".
* 1725 '' Rodelinda'' (Handel). ''Rodelinda'' is often praised for the fullness of the melodic writing among Handel's output.
* 1728 ''The Beggar's Opera'' ( Johann Christoph Pepusch). A satire of Italian '' opera seria'' based on a play by John Gay, the ballad opera format of ''The Beggar's Opera'' has proved popular even up to the current time.
* 1731 '' Acis and Galatea'' (Handel). Handel's only work for the theatre that is set to an English libretto.
* 1733 ''Orlando'' (Handel). An opera that is described by Anthony Hicks as "remarkable" and by Orrey as one of Handel's "best works".
* 1733 ''La serva padrona'' ( Giovanni Battista Pergolesi). Became a model for many of the ''opera buffas'' that followed it, including those of Mozart.
* 1733 ''Hippolyte et Aricie'' ( Jean-Philippe Rameau). Rameau's first opera caused great controversy at its premiere.
* 1735 ''Ariodante'' (Handel). Both this opera and ''Alcina'' enjoy high critical reputations today.
* 1735 ''Alcina'' (Handel). Both this work and ''Ariodante'' were part of Handel's first opera season at Covent Garden.
* 1735 ''Les Indes galantes'' (Rameau). In this work Rameau added emotional depth and power to the traditionally lighter form of ''opéra-ballet''.
* 1737 '' Castor et Pollux'' (Rameau). Initially only a moderate success, when it was revived in 1754 ''Castor et Pollux'' was regarded as Rameau's finest achievement.
* 1738 ''Serse'' (Handel). Deviation from the usual model of ''opera seria'', ''Serse'' contains many comic elements rare in Handel's other works.
* 1744 ''Semele'' (Handel). Originally performed as an oratorio, Semele's dramatic qualities have often led to the work being performed on the opera stage in modern times.
* 1745 ''Platée'' (Rameau). Rameau's most famous comic opera. Originally a court entertainment, a 1754 revival proved extremely popular with French audiences.

1750–1799

* 1760 ''La buona figliuola'' (Niccolò Piccinni). Piccinni's work was initially immensely popular throughout Europe. By 1790 over 70 productions of the opera had been produced and it had been performed in all the major European cities.
* 1762 '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' ( Christoph Willibald Gluck). Gluck's most popular opera. The first work in which the composer tried to reform the excesses of Italian '' opera seria''.
* 1762 '' Artaxerxes'' (Thomas Arne). The first '' opera seria'' in English. After Metastasio's 1729 libretto ''Artaserse''.
* 1767 '' Alceste'' (Gluck). Gluck's second "reform" opera, nowadays usually given in its French revision of 1776.
* 1768 ''Bastien und Bastienne'' (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart). Mozart's one-act '' Singspiel'' was set to a parody of Rousseau's ''Le devin du village''.Julian Rushton, writing in ''Grove''
* 1770 ''Mitridate, re di Ponto'' (Mozart). Composed when Mozart was 14, ''Mitridate'' was written for a demanding cast of star singers.
* 1772 ''Lucio Silla'' (Mozart). from Mozart's teenage years, was not revived until 1929 after its initial run of 25 performances.
* 1774 ''Iphigénie en Aulide'' (Gluck). Gluck's first opera for Paris.
* 1775 '' La finta giardiniera'' (Mozart). Generally recognised as Mozart's first ''opera buffa'' of significance.
* 1775 ''Il re pastore'' (Mozart). Mozart's last opera of his adolescence was set to a libretto by Metastasio.
* 1777 '' Il mondo della luna'' ( Joseph Haydn). Last of three that Haydn set to libretti by Carlo Goldoni.
* 1777 '' Armide'' (Gluck). Gluck used a libretto originally set by Lully for this French work, his favourite among his own operas.
* 1779 '' Iphigénie en Tauride'' (Gluck). Gluck's "last and perhaps greatest masterpiece".
* 1781 ''Idomeneo'' (Mozart). Usually thought of as Mozart's first mature opera, ''Idomeneo'' was composed after a lengthy break from the stage.
* 1782 ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' (Mozart). Often thought of as the first of Mozart's comic masterpieces, this work is frequently performed today.
* 1782 ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' (Giovanni Paisiello). Paisiello's most famous comic opera, later eclipsed by Rossini's work of the same name.
* 1786 ''Der Schauspieldirektor'' (Mozart). Another ''Singspiel'' with much spoken dialogue taken from plays of that time, the plot of ''Der Schauspieldirektor'' features two sopranos vying to become ''prima donna'' in a newly assembled company. Premiered together with Antonio Salieri's ''Prima la musica e poi le parole television.
* 1972 '' Taverner'' (Peter Maxwell Davies). Davies was one of the most significant figures to emerge in British music the 1960s. This opera is based on a legend about the 16th-century composer John Taverner.
* 1973 ''Death in Venice'' (Britten). Britten's last opera was first performed three years before his death.
* 1976 ''Einstein on the Beach'' ( Philip Glass). Philip Glass' first opera conceived together with director Robert Wilson introduced minimalist composition and avantgarde performance to the world of opera and remains one of the best known operas of the twentieth century.
* 1978 ''Le Grand Macabre'' (György Ligeti). First performed at Stockholm in 1978, Ligeti heavily revised the opera in 1996.
* 1978 '' Lear'' (Aribert Reimann). An Expressionist opera based on Shakespeare's tragedy. The title role was specifically written for the famous baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
* 1980 '' The Lighthouse'' (Davies). Davies's second chamber opera was set to his own libretto.
* 1983 ''Saint François d'Assise'' ( Olivier Messiaen). 120 orchestral players are required for this opera, as well as a sizable chorus.
* 1984 '' Un re in ascolto'' (Luciano Berio). This opera was set to a libretto assembled by the composer from three different texts by three different authors: Friedrich Einsiedel, W. H. Auden and Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter.
* 1984 '' Akhnaten'' ( Philip Glass). Unlike his first opera ''Einstein on the Beach'', the writing and style are more conventional and lyrical and much of the music of ''Akhnaten'' is some of the most dissonant that Glass has composed.
* 1986 ''The Mask of Orpheus'' (Birtwistle). Birtwistle's most ambitious opera examines the myth of Orpheus from several different angles.
* 1987 ''A Night at the Chinese Opera'' (Judith Weir). This piece is based on a Chinese play of the Yuan dynasty, '' The Orphan of Zhao''.
* 1987 ''Nixon in China'' (John Adams). Musically minimalist in style, this opera recounts Richard Nixon's 1972 meeting with Mao Zedong.
* 1991 ''Gawain'' (Birtwistle). Birtwistle's opera is based on the medieval English poem ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''.
* 1995 ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' ( André Previn). The opera is based on the play by Tennessee Williams.

Significant firsts in opera history

Operas not included in the above list, but which were important milestones in operatic history.
* 1598 ''Dafne'' (Jacopo Peri). The first opera, performed in Florence (music now lost).
* 1600 '' Euridice'' (Peri). The earliest opera whose music survives.
* 1625 ''La liberazione di Ruggiero'' ( Francesca Caccini). First opera by a woman.
* 1627 ''Dafne'' (Heinrich Schütz). First German opera. Music now lost.
* 1660 '' La púrpura de la rosa'' ( Juan Hidalgo). First Spanish opera. Music now lost.
* 1671 '' Pomone'' (Robert Cambert). Often regarded as the first French opera.
* 1683 '' Venus and Adonis'' (John Blow

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