Curated playlist
Operas
- OtelloVerdi swore he would never write another opera after Aida. His publisher spent years coaxing him into Otello.
- La traviataVerdi's opera La traviata was jeered at its 1853 Venice premiere. It later became one of the most performed operas.
- La bohèmePuccini's opera La bohème once had a missing act, cut before it reached the stage. Researchers found it in 1957.
- Macbeth (Verdi)Verdi's opera Macbeth exists because a baritone was available. Felice Varesi was under contract in 1846.
- Der Ring des NibelungenIn Der Ring des Nibelungen, a dwarf forges a ring from stolen Rhine gold. Gods and giants then fight over it.
- Tristan und IsoldeWagner's opera Tristan und Isolde was once thought unperformable. More than seventy Vienna rehearsals failed.
- Anna BolenaDonizetti's teacher started calling him Maestro after Anna Bolena premiered. The 1830 Milan opera made him a star.
- The Magic FluteMozart conducted The Magic Flute's premiere, then died two months later.
- CarmenBizet's opera Carmen was a flop at its 1875 Paris premiere. The audience grew colder with each act.
- La finta giardinieraIn Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera, a stabbing victim hides as a gardener. Her attacker turns up at the estate.
- The Marriage of FigaroOn opening night in 1786, the Vienna audience demanded five numbers from The Marriage of Figaro be played again.
- IdomeneoMozart's opera Idomeneo premiered in 1781 to a review that never mentioned him. Only the set designer won praise.
- JérusalemVerdi's love duet in Jérusalem has lines in two different handwritings.
- Don GiovanniMozart filed Don Giovanni as a comic opera, though it opens with a murder. Demons drag its hero to hell.
- Falstaff (opera)Verdi wrote his last opera, Falstaff, in secret. He feared his age would keep him from finishing it.
- Così fan tutteTwo soldiers bet a cynical philosopher that their fiancées would stay faithful in Così fan tutte.
- Lucio SillaIn the opera Lucio Silla, a Roman dictator ends by giving up power. Mozart wrote it at sixteen.
- Lo sposo delusoMozart cast his Figaro singers for an opera he never finished. Lo sposo deluso survives only as a 20-minute fragment.
- Der SchauspieldirektorMozart's Der Schauspieldirektor began as a contest entry for an emperor. It faced a Salieri opera in 1786.
- Die Entführung aus dem SerailMozart was paid a flat fee of 100 Imperial ducats for his hit opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
- Ascanio in AlbaMozart was fifteen when Empress Maria Theresa commissioned his opera Ascanio in Alba.
- Mitridate, re di PontoMozart was fourteen when his opera Mitridate opened in Milan. It then went unstaged until the 20th century.