Not one of the composer's best known, this opera seria is treasured by Mozartians as containing some of his greatest operatic music, hinting at glories yet to come. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Munich, Germany, 1781 Maria Callas made J'ai Perdu Mon Eurydice a stand-alone hit. A mix of old and new styles, poised at the birth of Romanticism, this is regarded as one of the key operas of the 18th century. Written in Italian, this intense drama was later revised as the French Orphée. 5 Orfeo ed Euridice (Orpheus and Eurydice)Ĭhristoph Willibald Gluck Vienna, Austria, 1762

ENO's 1992 production by Nicholas Hytner helped put Handel's operas back on the map. A plot of jealousy, infidelity and treachery results in a cocktail of bravura music. Opens with one of Handel's best known arias, Ombra Mai Fu, sung by Serse, King of Persia, in honour of a plane tree and its shade. Other good Handel: Rinaldo, Radamisto, Tamerlano, Rodelinda, Ariodante, Alcina. Caesar, written for castrato, is often sung by a countertenor. 3 Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar)Īn epic of love and war often considered Handel's finest work, Giulio Cesare has a richly intricate plot and the bonus of a brilliantly characterised and outrageously seductive Cleopatra (see Glyndebourne's Opus Arte DVD with the dancing Danielle de Niese as Cleo). In addition to sailors and witches, Purcell gave us one of the most sublime laments in opera: Dido's When I Am Laid in Earth.

2 Dido and AeneasĪ lone English operatic success until the 20th century, Dido recounts the tale of the tragic Queen of Carthage and her love for Aeneas, inconveniently en route to found a new Troy. A popular operatic subject (Gluck, Jaques Offenbach, Philip Glass), L'Orfeo is emotional, melancholy and transcendent. The sorrowful Orpheus, through his music, tries to save her from the Underworld. Monteverdi was the 'founding father' of operatic form. With a mythological musician as hero, L'Orfeo ranks as the first great opera.

Puccini opera songs