Donation Timeline

The Two Days. Naturalised Frenchman Cherubini turned his hand to history, setting to music what was supposedly a real episode from the recent French Revolution. He and his librettist set the story at in 1647 at the time of the Fronde, which was at least partly caused by the extravagance of Luigi Rossi's six-hour Orfeo, commissioned by Cardinal Mazarin. History begets more history. The wheel turns. Opera eats itself. Opera eats all.

The Angry Man. This opera was the centre of a fairly elaborate joke that the composer played on his friend Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon preferred lighter Italian opera to the serious teutonic dramas Méhul had been churning out, so Méhul pretended that this was an Italian opera translated into french, planting a letter in the newspaper from someone claiming to have seen the work in Italy 15 years earlier. Napoleon and the audience loved it, and Méhul revealed himself as the composer at the curtain call.

The Exiles of Florence. Premiered in Dresden, an interesting early example of opera semiseria, a blended form that took on aspects of the comic opera buffa and the high-falutin opera seria. Also, a 'rescue opera', in which a main character gets rescued from imminent danger or death, something which had become popular since the French Revolution. Beethoven's Fidelio (1805) is the most famous example.

Cherubini seems to have had a bad time with this ballet-opera, which didn't go down well with Parisian audiences on account of its unfashionable ancient Greek story about the love affair between an older man and younger woman. Fans of Asimov can think only of Foundation.

Set from the same source as Beethoven's Fidelio (1805), this opera semiseria, premiered in Dresden, tells the story of the brave Leonora, who dresses as a man in order to rescue her husband, a political prisoner.

The greatest composer's only completed opera had a troubled genesis, being premiered three times in different versions (1805, 1806, 1814). Although regarded by many as lacking the dramatic sophistication of many of the top rank of opera composers, the work has earned respect and devotion for its blazing commitment to the concept of liberty, and the soaring morality of its beautiful, deeply-felt music. Unforgettable moments include the quartet in Act One, and the Prisoner's Chorus on emerging from the darkness of their prison into the light of freedom. An opera that has had a history curiously intertwined with politics.

Youth and Folly. Étienne Méhul was one of the most prolific composers of his age, and when performances of his Une folie were cancelled at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, the Swiss-born Du Puy stepped in and wrote a new opera based on his own translation of Méhul's libretto into Danish. Du Puy was a famous playboy, even having an affair with a married Princess, earning him banishment from Denmark. Youth and folly indeed. Composers, beware!

Spontini managed to get this opera about an ancient Roman vestal virgin on with the help of his patron, the Empress Josephine (Napoleon's wife), and scoring him his biggest success and confirming him as one of the top composers of his generation. Little-known today, Spontini was the composer's composer, admired by Beethoven, Cherubini, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Verdi, and Wagner, who cited this opera as a big inspiration for his Rienzi (1842).

Louise, or Reconciliation. Candeille had an eventful life which encompassed the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, and at times she was forced to work due to adverse finances. She was a prolific artist, working across genres as a singer, actor, pianist, harpist, writer, and composer. In total she premiered seven stage works, including this one, which premiered at the Opéra-Comique.

Napoleon commissioned Spontini to write this opera as a propaganda piece to pave the way for his invasion of Spain. According to Napoleon's scheme, Napoleon is Cortez, the Spanish Conquistador, and the Spanish are represented by the Aztecs...we know, we know...Spontini revised the opera three further times, working on it for a period of 27 years. The 1809 premiere featured 17 real horses on stage. Whilst the meeting between cultures symbolised by Cortez and Montezuma has been an operatic fascination for a long time, we are suspicious of this version, and prefer Wolfgang Rhim's Die Eroberung von Mexico (The Conquest of Mexico), premiered in 1992.

The Marriage Contract. A major composer of opera enters the field! Commissioned when he was 18 years old, this one actor was premiered in Venice to a libretto by Gaetano Rossi, who would become a long-term collaborator of Rossini. The overture or sinfonia is a true beauty. Rossini went on to write 39 operas in total and is widely regarded as one of the greatest opera composers - just goes to show the importance of investing in youthful talent!

This melodrama is sadly lost, but other works by Bawr survive, including D'aimer Besoin Puissant. Bawr fell out of favour during the revolution, and like Amélie-Julie Candellie (Louise, ou La Réconciliation, 1808), was forced to rely on herself for her financial security, before being eventually given a pension.

The Silken Ladder. Rossini premiered an astonishing six operas in 1812, including this one-act farse which concerns, as usual, two pairs of lovers, and various stratagems involving cheekily hiding in bedrooms and spying on private conversations and assignations. Thankfully, everything turns out all right in the end. We were beginning to get worried for a moment there.

Ever productive, Rossini banged out another 4 operas in 1813. Perhaps his unusually prodigious work-rate contributed to his retiring to enjoy the good life whilst still in his 30s. Either way, Tancredi has been chosen for 1813 above the more well-known L'italiana in Algeri because Rossini's opera seria deserve more attention. This courtly tale was an adaption of a Voltaire play, and after the Venice premiere, Rossini had the generic happy ending changed to match the tragic ending of Voltaire's original. The score for this updated ending was only rediscovered in 1974. The history of opera is still being written!

The Mistake. Sophie Gail lived only until the age of 44, but in her short amount of time composed a large number of operas and stage works. La Méprise is an opera comique in one act, and was premiered at the Opéra-Comique. Sophie Gail always published under a pseudonym as was common for women composers, and had her biggest success with Les Deux Jaloux (The Two Jealous People) in 1813.

Elizabeth, Queen of England. Rossini's first opera written for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. This opera concerns intrigues in the palace of Elizabeth I. Naples at the time was the opera capital of Italy, and Rossini went on to write 8 more operas for the San Carlo.

No fundraising opera timeline would be complete without The Barber of Seville, Rossini's ultimate opera buffa. This hilariously funny and energetic masterpiece still doesn't fail to entertain today, although the premiere in Rome was a fiasco. He wrote it in 17 days. All hail Rossini!

Rossini's take on the classic Cinderella fairy-tale. This story has been perennially popular with operatic composers, including recently: in 2016 Cinderella by the 11-year old Alma Deutscher was premiered in Vienna. Rossini's version draws on his usual elan and energy, and again he smashed it out in under 3 weeks.

For this opera, Sophie Gail teamed up with librettist Sophie Gay. Manuel García, grandfather of Pauline Viardot (Cendrillon, 1904) also supplied some music. This was Gail's last opera before her death at age 44.

The Lady of the Lake. Italian romantic opera's obsession with the works of Walter Scott began with this opera. From the moment we hear horn calls in the overture, we are transported to a romanticised Scotland which claims the works of the purported epic poet Ossian as inspiration. The use of off-stage horn calls conjures a 3D soundscape, and some critics consider this opera to contain some of Rossini's finest work.

Set in the highlands of Scotland as so many romantic operas are, this Italian opera with a rollicking "Sinfonia Militaire" shot Meyerbeer to international prominence. He went on to become the 19th century's most performed composer of opera.

The Free-Shooter caused huge international shock-waves in the world of opera when it was premiered. The iconic Wolf's Glen scene, and the general mysterious brooding tone had a profound effect on the development of German romanticism. This opera ultimately paved the way for the development of Wagner's music dramas.

This opera with a tale reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, was unperformed until the year 2023, when Random Opera Company performed the work in Rugby School in the UK. Bottini was a huge player in her day, composing a huge number of works before the age of 22, when she married and sadly gave up composing.

Ten years after Tancredi (1813), Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi returned to Voltaire for inspiration, producing a monumental work that was Rossini's last in Italy before moving to Paris.

The Crusader in Egypt was Meyerbeer's last opera in Italian, and possibly the last opera written to feature a role for a castrato. Although the plot is relatively generic, the dramatic organisation and style of the music represents a bridge to later styles from the Rossinian models of the time. In 1824, 'also ran' status goes to Donizetti for the majestically-titled Emilia di Liverpool.

The Journey to Reims. Rossini's last opera in Italian was commissioned to celebrate the coronation of Charles X in Reims, and premiered in Paris. It requires a large cast of extraordinary ability as it was performed by the top stars of Rossini's day.

Weber was persuaded to travel to London to oversee the premiere of this work at Covent Garden, which was commissioned by the impresario Charles Kemble. Although Weber was dissatisfied with the version performed in London, the music is extremely beautiful. Sadly the trip ruined Weber's health and he died in London at only 40 years of age. As has been repeatedly stated on this timeline, opera is a risky business. Composers beware!

Conventions and Inconveniences of the Stage. Often referred to as Viva la mamma! this wonderfully meta opera concerns the intrigues and characters surrounding an ill-fated production of an opera by the name of Romulus and Ersilia. Recently it was staged in Buxton as Viva la Diva in a translation by the late Kit Hesketh-Harvey, who did so much to encourage Shadwell Opera in our early years. Think Noises Off, opera style.

The Vampire. Continuing romantic opera's obsession with Scotland, Der Vampyr tells an incredibly dark tale of a vampire who is forced by his master to sacrifice three virgin brides in 24 hours in order to claim another year of life. The opera was premiered in Leipzig and can be seen as continuing the tradition begun by Weber's Der Freischütz (1821). In the year before, Louise Bertin premiered Le Loup-garou or The Werewolf.

William Tell. Most people's familiarity with this enormous French 4-act beast of an opera probably extends as far as the absurdly famous absurdly swashbuckling overture - the most famous piece of operatic music ever? But William Tell is so much more than that - for Rossini's last opera at the age of 37, he left everything out there in an enormous hymn to freedom from oppression and political courage. This capped off a remarkable operatic career in which he gave us 39 operas of extraordinary vivacity from the age of 18 to 37. His output went out of favour for a while, but has steadily been coming back into fashion as his ironic and meta-theatrical dramatic sense appeals more and more to contemporary sensibilities. All hail Rossini!

It's fitting that in the year after Rossini's final opera, both Bellini and Donizetti scored major triumphs as the baton was passed to the next generation. Bellini premiered The Capulets and The Montagues in Venice, and Donizeti premiered Anna Bolena in Milan, launching both men into the operatic stratosphere. Thus was the sacred flame of Italian opera kept alight.

1831 was a bumper year, featuring premieres of Norma and La sonnambula by Bellini, and Meyerbeer's Robert Le Diable. Norma wins the year though, largely because the all-time great diva Maria Callas made it so famous.

One of the funniest operas ever, The Elixir of Love tells the story of the charmingly simple Nemorino, who is madly in love with the comparatively sophisticated Adina, who looks down on him. Featuring the show-stopping tenor aria "una furtiva lagrima" (a single secret tear), the work continues to delight audiences with its blend of beauty and comedy.

Premiered at La Scala and based on a Victor Hugo play, Donizetti's melodrama tells the shocking story of the Italian noblewoman and daughter of Pope Alexander IV and sister of Cesare Borgia.

Now an historical curiosity, Barnett's only major success opened at the Lyceum in London's West End. It tells a magical story, set in the Scottish Highlands, like so many other 19th century operas. It was later parioded by Gilbert & Sullivan in Iolanthe. Time for a revival of this little-known opera?

The Uninhabited House. Although 1835 saw the premiere of some big-hitters, notably Lucia di Lammermoor and Maria Stuarda by Donizetti, and Bellini's English Civil War opera I Puritani, honors in this year go to a little-known one-act farse by Princess Amalie of Saxony, which premiered in the Court Theatre of Pillnitz Castle in Saxony. Interesting to note that so many of the operas written by women that appear in this list were created by Aristocrats. This particular Princess was a creative force, writing instrumental music and operas as well as plays. She produced a large number of operas across her career, and her contribution has been under-recongised. Another hugely important premiere in this year was La Juive (The Jewess) by French composer Fromenthal Halévy (La reine de Chypre, 1841).

One of the most fascinating premieres in opera's history. Louise Bertin worked with Victor Hugo himself to adapt his novel Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) into an opera, with the support of Hector Berlioz. The premiere was spoiled by factions who couldn't believe Bertin had written some of the best music, ascribing it instead to Berlioz (which he strongly denied). The work faded into obscurity and Bertin, who was partially paralyzed from birth, didn't write another opera. Many people associated with the premiere seem to have met with bad luck afterwards. A revival of this opera is surely long overdue - for those who dare to risk the curse!

The third of Donizetti's "three queens", this tragic opera is set at the time of Elizabeth I in London. Mixing love and politics, the story is free with the historical facts.

A titan enters the field! Berlioz' first completed work for the stage, the opera was created from the memoirs of the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. Like much of Berlioz' output, the work showed extraordinary ambition and was misunderstood and underrated during the composer's lifetime.

Another, bigger titan enters the field! Verdi's first opera took four years to write and was premiered at La Scala in Milan - no pressure then.

The Daughter of the Regiment. One recurring story throughout the first few hundred years of opera's history seems to be Italian composers eventually making it to Paris and composing operas in French. Donizetti had a howler of a first night at the Opéra-Comique, with none other than Hector Berlioz condemning the piece. It went on to become hugely popular, and is well-loved today, particularly for its famous tenor aria "Ah! mes amis" which has eight top Cs (a very high note for a tenor to sing).

The Queen of Cyprus. This enormous five-act opera was premiered at the Paris Opéra, and was enthusiastically reviewed by composer Richard Wagner, who attended the premiere. Halévy, the son of a prominent Jewish cantor in Paris, had shot to fame with his 1835 opera La Juive. This monumental piece was considered his best since that earlier work.

With this work, which tells the story of the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of the Israelites, Verdi claimed that his artistic career began in earnest. Having lost two infant children and his young wife, Verdi had sworn never to compose an opera again. He was tempted back by the impresario Bartolomeo Merelli, and thank goodness. He went on to write some of the most sublime operas. This opera contains the stirring and emotional chorus "Va pensiero", in which the Israelites in exile long for home. This chorus was spontaneously sung in the streets at Verdi's funeral.

The Flying Dutchman. This was not the first opera written by Richard Wagner, but is considered to be the first of his operas that put into effect some of the techniques that would come to define his seismic contribution to opera history in his later works. A hugely controversial figure, Wagner's legacy holds a tension between his visionary music dramas and his virulent antisemitism. Perhaps the best example of the question about whether we can separate the art from the artist.

Was Victor Hugo the most popular author for opera composer to set in the 19th century? Either way, this adaption was premiered at La Fenice in Venice and was immediately popular. It was also the first opera to be completely recorded, in 1903.

In this mythological and medieval story of the redemptive power of love, we see many of the creative preoccupations that make Wagner's output so compelling.

The Damnation of Faust. Halfway between an opera and a cantata, this work shows Berlioz's continuing willingness to experiment. The story is based on Goethe's Faust, in which an aging scholar sells his soul to the devil in return for youth - a seminal myth for 19th century Europe as it grappled with morality in the wake of the decline of Christianity. As usual for Berlioz, the work received little enthusiasm when it was premiered, but has received growing attention in recent years.

Verdi had a life-long love affair with the works of William Shakespeare, and successfully set two more of the playwright's works, resulting in Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893). Verdi's Macbeth was given in two versions, an Italian original, and a later French revision.

A one-act "tableau grotesque' which riffs on Cervantes' famous novel about the romantic knight, some consider this to be the precursor of French operetta.

Verdi's 15th opera and the beginning of his "middle period". In order to fulfill a contract with the San Carlo opera in Naples, Verdi turned to a more domestic, bourgeois setting, paving the way for some of his biggest triumphs.

Based on a medieval German romance, Wagner's knightly story was the inspiration for the spectacular castle Neuschwanstein, built by Wagner's patron Ludwig II of Bavaria. The first performance in Weimar was conducted by the composer Franz Liszt, friend and champion of the younger composer. Wagner was unable to attend the premiere, having been exiled for revolutionary activity during the 1849 May Uprising in Dresden.

Victor Hugo again provided the inspiration for this visceral and shocking tale of licentiousness, hypocrisy, and selfless love. It was premiered in Venice, and contains the all-time opera classic drinking song, "La donna è mobile" ("woman is fickle"). Considered by some to be Verdi's first masterwork.

King Charles' Hunt. The first opera to be composed in Finland, and premiered in Helsinki, the plot revolves around an event from Finnish history. The score contains music for a "kantele", a traditional Finnish plucked string instrument.

The Fallen Woman. La Traviata tells the story of a courtesan who tries to escape her surroundings, but ultimately gives up her happiness to protect the good name of the bourgeois man she loves, before dying from tuberculosis. The music is astonishingly beautiful, which is allied to an intense social conscience. The work can stake a claim to be the most beloved of all operas, and is certainly one of the most frequently performed. Verdi's dramatic pacing never falters and you'll be weeping by the end. A true masterpiece.

The marvellously-titled The Bloody Nun was a fiasco, leading to the director of the Paris Opera, Nestor Roqueplan, losing his job and being replaced by his rival, François-Louis Crosnier, who promptly cancelled the run, calling it "filth". Here at Shadwell we're very much in favour.

This is an absolutely monumental opera, originally written for the Paris Opéra and immediately translated into Italian and premiered in Italy in the same year.

Based on an incomplete Pushkin dramatic poem, this opera tells the story of a young woman who drowns herself having been jilted by a Prince who made her pregnant. She has her revenge at the end when, as a rusalka, a siren-like drowned maiden, she lures the Prince to a watery death. Compare with Dvořak's Rusalka (1901).

Doctor Miracle. Some might here regret the absence of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra - but they would be wrong, because Bizet's one-act 'opérette' calls for an omelette to be cooked on stage. It is, therefore, utterly undeniable.

Having churned out a variety of one-act comic operas, the indefatigable Jacques Offenbach created Orpheus in the Underworld as his first full-length opera, which includes the famous "galop", now known as the can-can. Offenback swore revenge on the boredom inflicted on him by operatic gods and heroes while he was musical director at the Comédie-Française. So he returned to opera's UR-plot to make his statement, that of the musician Orpheus.

Now somewhat out of fashion on account of its 19th century bourgeois attitudes, Gounod's Faust contains some amazing music and is full of theatrical spectacle. Adapting Goethe's Faust like Berlioz did in 1846, Gounod's opera began life with spoken french dialogues and was gradually amended until an 1869 Grand Opera performance cemented the fully-sung version we know today.

The Bailiff's Wig. Like so many women composers, Thys seems to have found composing incompatible with marriage. In 1860, before she got married, she premiered two operas, including this one. In 1877, she founded the Association des femmes artistes et professeurs, a society dedicated to helping women artists overcome the obstacles they faced and to drawing attention to their work.

The Night of the Castle. Composed during his student years, this was Gomes' first opera, and premiered in Rio de Janeiro. Gomes went on to be successful in Italy between the ascendancies of Verdi and Puccini.

Telling a story of ill-fated love with immense sweep, The Force of Fate was premiered in St Petersburg before travelling worldwide. One of its memorable tunes was famously used by Jean-Claude Petit for the soundtrack to the film Jean de Florette. The also-ran for this year is Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict, based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

The Trojans. A supreme artistic achievement. Berlioz himself adapted Virgil's epic of the fall of Troy and the Trojans stay in Carthage, and created a five-act opera of unimaginable ambition, beauty, and profundity. Acts 1 and 2 concern the fall of Troy, while Acts 3,4, and 5 explore the arrival of the Trojans in Carthage, the love of Dido and Aeneas, and the eventual departure of the Trojans to found Italy, leaving Dido and Carthage in despair. Berlioz never saw Acts 1 & 2 performed. The complete opera was only staged for the first time in 1890, 21 years after the composer's death. The piece's fate during Berlioz's lifetime is one of the biggest operatic miscarriages of justice, if not the biggest. The drama deserves recognition as one of the very best. Come for the epic sweep, fall in love with the character depth and extraordinary musical vocabulary. A towering artistic achievement.

The Beautiful Helen. Taking an entirely different approach to the Trojan story to Les Troyens in the year previously, Offenbach riotously sent up Helen of Troy in this deliciously witty and exuberant operetta.

This fascinating work filters the 12th-century Romance story of the ill-fated love of Tristan and Iseult through the nihilistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Ecstatic love, ecstatic death, ecstatic oblivion, all rendered in quasi-mystical music of hitherto unimaginable splendour. A particularly resonant and perplexing chord sequence sets things off, and hours pass as Wagner's new long-range organisational capabilities express themselves, culminating in a resolution of the ambiguity inherent in the opening chords at the very end of the opera, in what has become known as Isolde's liebestod, or lovedeath. Whether you find the effect utterly extraordinary or a bit slutty is beside the point - it's both, and all the better for it.

In this wonderful Czech opera with spoken dialogues, the love of Mařenka and Jeník is put under threat when her parents want to marry her off to Vašek, the son of the wealthy Mícha to ease their money worries. It all turns out well in the end, and particularly for Vašek who finds himself when he performs with a travelling circus. The last act, which includes the circus performance, is riotous, and sets off the earnest love story beautifully. A true gem.

The longest opera Verdi wrote wins this year because of its enormous size and significant influence. Also-rans include Le dernier sorcier by Pauline Viardot to a libretto by Turgenev, and Roméo et Juliette by Gounod.

The Master-Singers of Nuremberg. The only comedy of Wagner's mature period, and incorporating traditional operatic formal elements disdained by the composer in other contexts, this parable of the artist's relationship to society and the tension between tradition and innovation is a love-letter to opera. It presents its many characters with a Shakespearean commitment to multi-perspectival theatre. Everyone is flawed, everyone is loveable, everyone is human. Art is the thing which makes us whole. Many are troubled by the nationalistic sentiments at the end, and the possibility that one character, Beckmesser, draws on antisemitic stereotypes, particularly as the piece was lauded by the Nazis.

The Rhine Gold. The beginning of Wagner's epoch-defining "Ring Cycle", four operas that tell the whole story of a mythical universe, beginning with the world's creation, and ending in its immolation. George Bernard Shaw famously read the cycle as an extended allegory enshrining a critique of capitalism. Alberich sets off the cycle by stealing the magic Rhinegold, which can be forged into a magic ring which gives one the power to control the world. Wagner was unhappy that the work was premiered in 1869 as he hadn't finished writing the rest of the cycle.

The Valkyrie. The second instalment of Wagner's epic Ring Cycle, this oprea recounts the doomed romantic love of the long-lost twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, and the question about whether the Gods should interfere in the lives of mortals. Brünhilde the Valkyrie disobeys orders and tries to save Siegmund, but is overruled by Wotan, King of the Gods. Siegmund's magic sword is broken, and he dies, Brünhilde is punished, and Sieglinde discovers she is carrying Siegmund's child, which she will name Siegfried. Contains the famous "Ride of the Valkyries", heard at the beginning of Apocalypse Now.

Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt and premiered in Cairo, Verdi's monumental epic remains one of the most popular operas today.

With words taken unedited from the Pushkin source material, and set in speech-rhythms without duets, trios or ensembles, The Stone Guest, which is another retelling of the myth set by Mozart in his Don Giovanni (1787), was hugely influential in the development of a Russian operatic style.

Sadly this short operatic fable, which tells the story of a girl made to believe she is ugly by her overbearing father, seems never to have received a complete performance. Perhaps now is the time?

Mussorgsky's only completed opera buta major contribution nonetheless. Based on a play by Pushkin, it tells the story of the Russian Tsar Boris and his troubles with his rival the False Dmitri. It had a hugely complicated compositional process and now exists in different versions. Many have tried to "correct" Mussorgsky's compositional techniques over the years, but now it's generally accepted that he was a true original and his wishes should be respected. The work displays unbelievable sonic imagination and epic vision.

Bizet's Carmen is, ultimately, the opéra of all operas, and barely needs an introduction. Telling a tale of seduction, obsession and ultimately murder, this opera scandalised its first audiences, and Bizet didn't live to see it reach popularity.

The Ring of the Nibelung. Wagner finally realised a full performance of all four operas in his cycle, having worked on them for 26 years. This means that 1876 saw the premieres of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) as well as the first two operas in the cycle, Das Rheingold (1869) and Die Walküre (1870). This full performance of the cycle opened the new Bayreuth Theatre and Festival, envisioned and built by the composer. When Wagner had first conceived of the idea, he had imagined burning down the theatre at the end. That didn't happen, but Wagner's Ring stands up as one of the great artistic achievements of all time.

Saint-Saëns had originally thought of composing an oratorio (a sacred dramatic work to be performed in Lent) rather than an opera, but the young librettist persuaded him that they should turn it into an opera. It received a premiere in German translation at the behest of composer Franz Liszt. The work has remained consistently in the repertory since the 1890s. Also-ran status goes to Ella Adayevskaya's Zarya, which was completed in this year but never premiered.

Cymru am byth! The first opera written in the beautiful Welsh language, and premiered in Aberystwyth. The opera was taken on an innovative tour across Wales and England, and gradually grew in popularity until it recieved a full-scale performance.

No opera timeline would be whole without this tragic, beautiful, heartfelt opera. The young and idealistic Tatyana declares her love in an ecstatic letter to Eugene Onegin, who coldly rejects her. Years later, they meet again, and Onegin is dazzled by the woman Tatyana has become. Too late, however, for she is married to the Prince Gremin and won't betray her husband. The ultimate operatic parable of missed chances, decisions made, and decisions regretted.

This folk plot has many similarities to both Dargomyzhsky Rusalka (1856) and Dvořak's Rusalka (1901). Although little-known outside Russia, the work is a seminal one in the development of Russian opera.

Offenbach died four months before the premiere of this, his final work. Based on three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Hoffmann is also the lead character, played by a tenor, and we follow his amorous adventures through three different stories. A bass-baritone plays different incarnations of Hoffman's nemesis and foil.

Wagner described Parsifal not as an opera, but as a "sacred festival stage play", and to this day an air of quasi-religious mystique surrounds the work. Whatever it is, from its first notes we encounter a seemingly unending stream of inspiration that seems to speak to our deepest pain and sorrow. Wagner's former friend Nietzsche condemned the politics and theology of the piece in gloriously opinionated terms, but couldn't help admit that the music was divine. Audiences across the world generally agree.

Some people may have come to the year 1883 in search of Lakmé by Delibes. They must sadly be disappointed, because Henry VIII by Saint-Saëns is a far more interesting work, and Lakmé is a piece of trash. From the opening notes of Saint-Saëns' take on Henry VIII's attempts to divorce Catherine of Aragon, we hear the Frenchman channeling the compositional sounds of Tudor England. Surely this piece is a prime candidate for a contemporary revival.

Another retelling of the Abbé Prévost's story which had inspired both Massenet's Manon (1884), and Puccini's Manon Lescaut (1893)

Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular international work, which uses an idealised version of Japan to mount a satire of British society at the time. It remains popular despite growing concerns over its orientalist subject and representations of Japanese culture.

The Dream of a Summer Night. French composer Ambroise Thomas has slightly missed his chances on this timeline, considering his Mignon and his Hamlet were premiered in the same year as Smetana's Bartered Bride (1866 ) and Wagner's Die Meistersinger (1866) respectively. This title of this opéra-comique translates as A Midsummer Night's Dream, but the work is not actually based on the Shakespeare play. Its original premiere was in 1850 but a revision was premiered in 1886.

After completing Aida in 1871, Verdi had decided to retire, but after years and years of pressure by the publisher Giulio Ricordi, the composer was persuaded out of retirement. The librettist Arrigo Boito worked for five years on the text before the non-committal composer wrote a note. Even then the thing looked in doubt at several moments. Finally, the work was premiered at La Scala in Milan to universal acclaim. The old master still had it in him!

This light opera scored a big success when it premiered in London, receiving a favourable review in the New York Times, which cited the work as proof of "the inventive faculty in women".

The fact that this opera was chosen to reopen the Kyiv Opera in 2022 shows its importance in the history of Ukrainian opera. Lysenko set a famous Ukrainian play of the same name from 1819 which was heavily invested in the Ukrainian national rebirth. The original premiere was given in Russian in Odessa.

Based, as many Russian operas are, on a short story by Pushkin, this thrilling opera tells the story of a young officer named Gherman, who becomes obsessed with discovering an occult secret that will make one win at a card game called faro. It works as a ghost story or as an examination of the power of stories and suggestion on a fragile mind. The music drenches with its torrents of emotional depth, and many of the earlier themes of Eugene Onegin (1879) are brought home with maturity, complexity, and force.

Friend FritzI. Mascagni's 1890 opera Cavalleria Rusticana was a huge hit, and ushered in the verismo movement in opera, which focused on the lives of ordinary people and their moment to moment emotions. In 1891 he followed it up with L'amico Fritz, a pastoral comedy that didn't achieve the same level of fame as the earlier work, but has remained in the repertoire.

1892 presents a challenge, containing as it does premieres of important Italian, Russian, and French works, in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, and Massenet's Werther. All three of these pieces are firmly established on the schedules of opera houses across the world. Massenet's opera based on the ludicrously influential Goethe novel The Sorrows of Young Werther takes it.

An insanely difficult choice in 1893 between Verdi's Falstaff, Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel, and Puccini's Manon Lescaut. Honours go to the old master who was now approaching his 80th birthday, capping off one of the great operatic careers with a warm-hearted comedy based on his beloved Shakespeare.

American composer Mary Carr Moore was sadly prohibited by her gender from getting any of her works performed by professional opera companies. Nonetheless, she wrote 10 operas over a long career, which were often premiered by amateur and student companies. The Oracle, her first opera, was premiered when she was 21.

The Black Mountain. Set on the border between Turkey and Montenegro in the 17th century, this opera tells an odd story of oath-brothers and an enchantress who comes between them. Employing orientalist tropes, the opera doesn't seem to have done very well and is rarely performed today.

The quintessential operatic smash hit follows two young couples as they navigate life and death in a bohemian existence in Paris. It's about young love, about illusions and delusions, and about growing up. Be prepared with tissues.

A pastoral story which premiered at the Teatro Lirico in Milan. "Federico's Lament" remains a popular tenor concert aria to this day.

Smyth herself was unhappy with the libretto of this work, but it launched her operatic career with a performance in Weimar.

Massenet's charming rendition of the Cinderella story was an immediate success, and although the opera is not as well-known as other works by Massenet or other versions of the same story, for example Rossini's La Cenerentola (1817), the piece has lost none of its wit, and maintains a solid presence in the calendars of opera companies worldwide.