This list provides a guide to opera composers, as determined by their presence on a majority of compiled lists of significant opera composers. (See the "Lists Consulted" section for full details.) The composers run from Jacopo Peri, who wrote the first ever opera in late 16th century Italy, to John Adams, one of the leading figures in the contemporary operatic world. The brief accompanying notes offer an explanation as to why each composer has been considered major. Also included is a section about major women opera composers, compiled from the same lists. For an introduction to operatic history, see opera. The organisation of the list is by birthdate.
Major opera composers 1550–1699 Jacopo Peri (1561–1633) Florentine who composed both the first opera ever, Dafne (1598), and the first surviving opera, Euridice (1600).Viking Opera Guide p. 768 Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) Generally regarded as the first major opera composer.Orrey p. 18 In Orfeo (1607) he blended Peri's experiments in opera with the lavish spectacle of the intermedi.Professor Tim Carter in Viking Opera Guide (p. 678) writes: "Monteverdi's recitative owes much to Peri ... However Orfeo has much broader roots. There are many references to the tradition of the Florentine intermedi: the spectacular stage effects, the mythological subject matter, the allegorical figures, the number and scoring of the instruments and the extended choruses". See also Carter, writing about the intermedi in The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (p. 4): "rich display and erudite symbolism made the intermedi an ideal projection of princely magnificence". Later, in Venice in the 1640s, he helped make opera a commercially viable form with Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea, one of the earliest operas in the present-day operatic repertoire. Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676) Amongst the most important of Monteverdi's successors, Cavalli was a major force in spreading opera throughout Italy and also helped introduce it to France. His Giasone was " the most popular opera of the 17th century".Viking Opera Guide p. 189 Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687) In close collaboration with the librettist Philippe Quinault, Lully founded the tradition of tragédie en musique,Orrey p. 35 combining singing, dance and visual spectacle, which would remain the most prestigious French operatic genre for almost a hundred years. Cadmus et Hermione (1673) is often regarded as the first example of French opera. Henry Purcell (1659–1695) First English operatic composer of significance. His masterwork is Dido and Aeneas.Orrey p. 55 Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) Key figure in the development of opera seria, Scarlatti claimed to have composed over 100 operas, of which La Griselda is a notable example.Viking Opera Guide p. 942 Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667–1752) Arranger of the first English ballad opera, the biting political satire, The Beggar's Opera.Viking Opera Guide p. 343 Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764) Most important French opera composer of the 18th century. Following in the genre established by Lully,Orrey p. 40 he endowed his works with a great richness of invention. Rameau's musical daring provoked great controversy in his day, but he was an important influence on Gluck. George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) Handel's opera serie set the standard in his day.Orrey p. 59 Handel composed a series of over 40 operas.
1700–1799
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) Though Pergolesi also composed opera serias, his most influential work was the short opera buffa, La serva padrona.Oxford Companion to Music, p. 783 Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) Was a key figure in the transformation of Baroque into Classical opera, paving the way for Mozart, though his influence stretched much further into the 19th century, with both Berlioz and Wagner acknowledging their debt to him. In his reform operas from Orfeo ed Euridice onwards, he sought to throw off the formal conventions of opera seria and write music of "beautiful simplicity" (his own words).Orrey p. 85 Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Haydn wrote nineteen operas including several comic operas and singspiels.Manual of Music: Its History, Biography and Literature Page 96 Wilber M. Derthick · 1888 Giovanni Paisiello (1740–1816) Italian composer who wrote the first opera to include Beaumarchais' character Figaro as a main character, as well as writing a substantial number of other operas, some of them in St. Petersburg. André Grétry (1741–1813) Liège (present-day Belgium) composer crucial to the development of French opéra comique, whose simplicity of musical style and sophisticated dramaturgy were immensely popular, as well as linking pre-revolutionary rococo comedy to the later romantic style. Domenico Cimarosa (1749–1801) Italian composer most famous for the opera buffa, Il matrimonio segreto, which forms a bridge between the comedies of Mozart and Rossini.Viking Opera Guide pp. 216–218 Antonio Salieri (1750–1825) Italian composer who was a major contributor to and shaper of Viennese musical life from 1770 to 1820, he also composed successful operas in Italy and Paris, and won admiration from German operagoers as a composer who, in the words of one contemporary critic, ‘could bind all the power of German music to the sweet Italian style’.Jane Schatkin Hettrick, John A. Rice. "Salieri, Antonio" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His opera Europa riconosciuta was composed for the inauguration of La Scala. Among his other most successful operas were Les Danaïdes, Axur, re d'Ormus (the Italian version of French Tarare) and Falstaff. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Mozart's series of comic collaborations (The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte) with Lorenzo Da Ponte are among the most popular operas in the repertoire today,Orrey p. 101 along with his Singspiel The Magic Flute. Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842) Follower of Gluck, Cherubini's most famous opera is Médée. The title role has proved a challenge to sopranos (including Maria Callas) since its premiere in 1797.Viking Opera Guide p. 210 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) Wrote only one opera, Fidelio, a tale of freedom from political oppression, which has become one of the major German-language operas.Orrey p. 139 Gaspare Spontini (1774–1851) Though Italian, Spontini is best known for his work in France during the Napoleonic era. His masterpiece La vestale influenced Bellini and Berlioz.Viking Opera Guide p. 1002 Daniel Auber (1782–1871) French composer celebrated for high-spirited opéra comiques such as Fra Diavolo and Le domino noir. His grand opera La muette de Portici attained unexpected political influence when a performance in Brussels in 1830 sparked off a revolution which led to the creation of Belgium.Viking Opera Guide pp. 37–38 Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826) Founded German Romantic operaOrrey p. 140 in order to challenge the dominance of Italian bel canto. Master of orchestral colour and atmosphere, Weber was never well served by his librettists, and only one of his works, Der Freischütz, is performed with any frequency. Though he died young, his influence on later German composers, especially Wagner, was immense. Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864) The archetypal composer of French grand opera, Meyerbeer's huge extravaganzas such as Les Huguenots and Le prophète were immensely popular in their day.Oxford Illustrated History of Opera pp. 146–150 Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) Links bel canto with grand opera. His immortal Barber of Seville was the only one of his operas that was continuously performed into the 20th century,Britannica p. 631 C.2 but his serious operas, such as Semiramide and Ermione, are recognised as masterpieces now that singers with appropriate technique are again available to perform them. Guillaume Tell, his swan-song, has a vast sweep only equalled in the 19th century by the later works of Verdi, Mussorgsky and Wagner. Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861) German composer who was the most important exponent of German Romantic opera in the generation between Weber and Wagner.A. Dean Palmer. "Marschner, Heinrich August" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His most successful operas were Hans Heiling, Der Vampyr and Der Templer und die Jüdin. Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) Along with Rossini and Bellini, Donizetti is generally acknowledged as one of the masters of the bel canto style. His masterwork is generally cited as being Lucia di Lammermoor.Orrey p. 134 Fromental Halévy (1799–1862) Along with Meyerbeer, the best known composer of French grand opera, Halévy's key work is La Juive, a story of religious intolerance set in 15th century Switzerland.Viking Opera Guide p. 412
1800–1849
Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835) On account of such works as Norma and I puritani, Bellini is recognised as one of the leading composers of the bel canto style of opera.Orrey pp. 129–133 Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) Berlioz's attempts to carve out an operatic career for himself were thwarted by an unimaginative musical establishment.Orrey p. 153 Nevertheless, he managed to produce Benvenuto Cellini, Béatrice et Bénédict and his masterpiece, the epic Les Troyens,.Orrey p. 154 Berlioz's dramatic legend, La damnation de Faust, has also been staged as an opera in recent years. Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857) Founded the Russian operatic tradition with his historical drama A Life for the Tsar and his fairy tale piece Ruslan and Lyudmila.Orrey p. 180 Michael William Balfe (1808–1870) Irish composer, his opera The Bohemian Girl is notable for its Arline's aria Gipsy Girl's Dream. Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896) French composer noted for the operas Mignon and Hamlet.Viking Opera Guide p. 1098. George Alexander Macfarren (1813–1887) English composer noted for the operas Robin Hood and Helvellyn. Richard Wagner (1813–1883) Wagner revolutionised opera. In a series of "music dramas" such as Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, and most of all his epic tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen, Wagner abolished the traditional distinction between recitative and aria and pioneered a new through-composed style of opera.Orrey pp. 168–169 Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) Had a long composing career, during which his compositional style kept evolving. Among his most famous works are Nabucco, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La traviata, Don Carlos, Aida, and Otello.Orrey pp. 137–147 Charles Gounod (1818–1893) Wrote lyrical operas on literary themes, including Roméo et Juliette and Mireille. His Faust still holds the stage today, in spite of criticisms of its "Victorianism".
Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) Founder of French operetta and a prolific composer of pieces which achieved tremendous success with Parisian audiences for their catchy melodies and satirical bite such as La Vie parisienne and Orpheus in the Underworld.Britannica p. 633 C.1 At the time of his death, Offenbach was working on a more serious opera, The Tales of Hoffmann. Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884) Established Czech national opera with such historical epics as Dalibor.Orrey p. 177 His folk comedy The Bartered Bride has entered the international repertory. Alexander Borodin (1833–1887) A "weekend composer" who spent 17 years working on a single opera, Prince Igor, which now forms a key part of the Russian repertory.Viking Opera Guide p. 134 Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921). French composer of around a dozen operas of which one, the Biblical Samson et Delila, is still performed.Viking Opera Guide p. 929. Viking says Saint-Saëns wrote 13 operas, including his part in an unfinished work by Guiraud and two opéra comiques. Léo Delibes (1836–1891) French composer, whose Lakmé is notable for its Flower Duet and as a vehicle for coloratura sopranos.Viking Opera Guide p. 253.