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Curated category

Italian-language operas

  • OtelloOtello, Giuseppe Verdi's opera in four acts, was sixteen years in the making before it finally reached the stage at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on the 5th…
  • La traviataLa traviata, whose title translates as "The Fallen Woman", opened at La Fenice opera house in Venice on the 6th of March 1853. The audience jeered.
  • La bohèmeLa bohème, the opera Giacomo Puccini composed between 1893 and 1895, opens with a candle going out in a cold Parisian garret, a lost key, and two strangers…
  • Macbeth (Verdi)Verdi's Macbeth was born from a single practical decision: a baritone was available. In September 1846, Giuseppe Verdi received a commission from Florence's…
  • Anna BolenaAnna Bolena premiered on the 26th of December 1830, at the Teatro Carcano in Milan. Its reception has come down to us in two words: an "overwhelming…
  • La finta giardinieraWolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote La finta giardiniera in Munich during January 1775. He was only eighteen years old when he composed the score for this…
  • The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of Figaro premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on the 1st of May 1786, and on that first night the audience demanded five numbers be performed…
  • IdomeneoIdomeneo, re di Creta received its first performance on the 29th of January 1781 at the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich. The city press reviewed that evening…
  • Don GiovanniDon Giovanni opened at the National Theatre of Bohemia in Prague on the 29th of October 1787, and within days the city's newspapers were declaring that…
  • Falstaff (opera)Falstaff, the last opera Giuseppe Verdi ever wrote, began with a letter. In early July 1889, Verdi received a draft libretto from his collaborator Arrigo…
  • Così fan tutteCosì fan tutte made its debut on the 26th of January 1790, at the Burgtheater in Vienna, and it arrived carrying a wager.
  • Lucio SillaLucio Silla, K. 135, arrived on the stage of Milan's Teatro Regio Ducale on the 26th of December 1772, performed by a company of singers and conducted by its…
  • Lo sposo delusoWolfgang Amadeus Mozart began work on an opera titled Lo sposo deluso in 1783. The project started with a libretto written by Giuseppe Petrosellini for…
  • Ascanio in AlbaAscanio in Alba, K. 111, arrived in Milan not as a concert or a chamber recital, but as a political gesture wrapped in silk.
  • Mitridate, re di PontoMitridate, re di Ponto reached the stage of the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan on the 26th of December 1770, with its composer just fourteen years old.