Canonical and historically important works:
17th century
PERI: Euridice (1600) — first surviving opera.
MONTEVERDI: La favola d’Orfeo (1607). Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (1639–40). L’incoronazione di Poppea (1643).
CACCINI: La liberazione di Ruggerio dall’isola d’Alcina (1625) — first opera by a woman.
CAVALLI: Il Giasone (1649).
CESTI: Il pomo d’oro (1668).
LULLY: Armide (1686) — the best work of the first “French” composer.
PURCELL: Dido and Æneas (c. 1683–1688) — English opera.
18th century
MARAIS: Alcione (1706) — first storm scene in opera.
HANDEL: Rinaldo (1711) — first Italian opera written for England. Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724). Alcina (1735). Serse (1738).
SCARLATTI: Griselda (1721).
VIVALDI: Farnace (1727). Orlando furioso (1727).
VINCI: Catone in Utica (1728). Artaserse (1730) — masterpieces of Metastasian opera seria.
PORPORA: Germanico in Germania (1732).
PERGOLESI: La serva padrona (1733) — intermezzo, ancestress of both opera buffa and opéra comique.
RAMEAU: Hippolyte et Aricie (1733).
DAUVERGNE: Les troqueurs (1753) — proto-opéra comique.
MONSIGNY: Le roi et le fermier (1762). Le déserteur (1769) — opéras-comiques.
GLUCK: Orfeo ed Euridice (1762). Alceste (1767) [important but dull]. Iphigenie en Aulide (1774). Armide (1777). Iphigénie en Tauride (1779) — reform opera.
HASSE: Siroe re di Persia (1763) — Hasse was one of the most acclaimed opera seria composers.
TRAETTA: Antigona (1772) — reform opera.
MOZART: Idomeneo (1781). Die Entführung aus dem Serail / The Abduction from the Seraglio (1782). Le nozze di Figaro / The Marriage of Figaro (1786). Don Giovanni (1787). Così fan tutte (1790). Die Zauberflöte / The Magic Flute (1791). La Clemenza di Tito (1791).
GRÉTRY: Richard Cœur-de-lion (1784).
SALIERI: Les Danaïdes (1784) — Salieri was Gluck’s chosen successor. Tarare (1787).
CHERUBINI: Lodoïska (1791) — first Romantic opera. Médée (1797). Les deux journées (1800).
CIMAROSA: Il matrimonio segreto (1792) — opera buffa.
19th century
German
BEETHOVEN: Fidelio (1805).
WEBER: Der Freischütz (1821). Euryanthe (1823) — foundations of German romantic opera.
MARSCHNER: Der Vampyr (1828).
SPONTINI: Agnes von Hohenstaufen (1829) — proto-Wagnerian opera.
LORTZING: Zar und Zimmermann (1837) — comedy.
WAGNER: Der fliegende Holländer / The Flying Dutchman (1843). Tannhäuser (1845). Lohengrin (1850). Der Ring des Nibelungen: Das Rheingold (1869); Die Walküre (1870); Siegfried (1876); Götterdämmerung (1876). Tristan und Isolde (1865). Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868). Parsifal (1882).
FLOTOW: Martha (1847).
NICOLAI: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (1849).
J. STRAUSS II: Die Fledermaus (1874).
GOLDMARK: Die Königin von Saba (1875).
HUMPERDINCK: Hänsel und Gretel (1893).
French
SPONTINI: La vestale (1807) — proto-French grand opéra.
BOIELDIEU: La dame blanche (1825) — enormously popular opéra comique.
AUBER: La muette de Portici (1828) — first grand opéra. Fra Diavolo (1830) — opéra comique. Gustave III (1833) — his best grand opéra. Le domino noir (1837) — very popular opéra comique.
ROSSINI: Guillaume Tell (1829).
MEYERBEER: Robert le Diable (1831) — epochal grand opéra. Les Huguenots (1836) — even more so. Le Prophète (1849). Vasco de Gama / L’Africaine (1866).
HALÉVY: La Juive (1835).
BERLIOZ: Benvenuto Cellini (1838). La damnation de Faust (1846). Les Troyens (1856–58).
DONIZETTI: La favorite (1840).
OFFENBACH: Orphée aux enfers (1858). La belle Hélène (1864). Les contes d’Hoffmann (1881).
GOUNOD: Faust (1859). Roméo et Juliette (1867).
THOMAS: Mignon (1866). Hamlet (1868).
BIZET: Carmen (1875).
SAINT-SAËNS: Samson et Dalila (1877). Also: Henry VIII (1883). Ascanio (1890).
MASSENET: Manon (1884). Werther (1892). Thaïs (1894) — his three most popular works. His best works include: Esclarmonde (1889). Cendrillon (1899). Grisélidis (1901). Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (1902). Chérubin (1905). Ariane (1906). Don Quichotte (1910). Roma (1912).
DELIBES: Lakmé (1883).
Italian
ROSSINI: Tancredi (1813). L’italiana in Algeri (1813). Il barbiere di Siviglia / The Barber of Seville (1816). Otello (1816). La Cenerentola (1817). Mosè in Egitto (1818). La donna del lago (1819). Maometto II (1820). Semiramide (1823).
BELLINI: Il pirata (1827) — first Italian Romantic opera. La sonnambula (1831). Norma (1831). I puritani (1835).
DONIZETTI: Anna Bolena (1830). L’elisir d’amore (1832). Lucrezia Borgia (1833). Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). Maria Stuarda (1835). Roberto Devereux (1837). Don Pasquale (1843).
MERCADANTE: Il giuramento (1837) — reform opera, considered precursor to Verdi. Orazi e Curiazi (1846).
PACINI: Saffo (1840).
VERDI: Nabucco (1842). Ernani (1844). Macbeth (1847). Rigoletto (1851). Il Trovatore (1853). La Traviata (1853). Un ballo in maschera (1859). La forza del destino (1862). Don Carlos (1867). Aida (1871). Otello (1887). Falstaff (1893).
PETRELLA: Jone (1858).
BOITO: Mefistofele (1868).
GOMES: Il Guarany (1870).
PONCHIELLI: La Gioconda (1876).
MASCAGNI: Cavalleria rusticana (1890) — verismo. Iris (1898).
CATALANI: La Wally (1892).
FRANCHETTI: Cristoforo Colombo (1892). Germania (1902).
LEONCAVALLO: Pagliacci (1892).
GIORDANO: Mala vita (1892). Andrea Chénier (1896).
Russia
GLINKA: A Life for the Tsar / Ivan Susanin (1836). Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842).
MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov (1874). Khovanshchina (1886).
TCHAIKOVSKY: Eugene Onegin (1879) — I hate it, but it’s a warhorse. The Queen of Spades (1890).
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Snegurochka / The Snow Maiden (1882). Sadko (1898). The Invisible City of Kitezh (1907).
BORODIN: Prince Igor (1890).
Czechia
SMETANA: The Bartered Bride (1866).
DVOŘÁK: Rusalka (1901).
Other Eastern European operas
Hungary: ERKEL: Bánk Bán (1861).
Poland: MONIUSZKO: Straszny dwór (1865).
Slovenia: PARMA: Urh, grof Celjski (1895).
Georgia: PALIASHVILI: Abesalom da Eteri (1919).
England
WALLACE: Maritana (1845).
SULLIVAN: Ivanhoe (1891).
20th century
PUCCINI: La Bohème (1896). Tosca (1900). Madama Butterfly (1904). Turandot (1926).
CILEA: Adriana Lecouvreur (1902).
DEBUSSY: Pelléas et Mélisande (1902).
JANÁČEK: Jenůfa (1904). Kát’a Kabanová (1921). The Cunning Little Vixen (1924). The Makropulos Affair (1926). From the House of the Dead (1930).
STRAUSS: Salome (1905). Elektra (1909). Der Rosenkavalier (1911).
JOPLIN: Treemonisha (1911) — African-American opera.
RAVEL: L’heure espagnole (1911). L’enfant et les sortilèges (1925).
WOLF-FERRARI: I gioielli della Madonna (1911).
MONTEMEZZI: L’amore dei tre re (1913).
ZANDONAI: Francesca da Rimini (1914).
BARTÓK: Duke Bluebeard’s Castle (1918).
KORNGOLD: Die tote Stadt (1920).
PROKOFIEV: L’amour des trois oranges (1921). War and Peace (1945).
BERG: Wozzeck (1925). Lulu (1937).
KRENEK: Jonny spielt auf (1927) — jazz-influenced.
STRAVINSKY: Œdipus Rex (1927). The Rake’s Progress (1951).
WEILL: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930).
SHOSTAKOVICH: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1934).
GERSHWIN: Porgy and Bess (1935).
ENESCU: Œdipe (1936).
HINDEMITH: Mathis der Mahler (1938).
DALLAPICCOLA: Vola di notte (1940). Il prigioniero (1950).
BRITTEN: Peter Grimes (1945). Billy Budd (1951). The Turn of the Screw (1954). A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1969).
MENOTTI: The Medium (1946). The Consul (1950). Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951) — first opera composed for television.
HENZE: Boulevard Solitude (1952). Der junge Lord (1965). The Bassarids (1966).
WALTON: Troilus and Cressida (1954).
TIPPETT: The Midsummer Marriage (1955). King Priam (1962).
POULENC: Dialogues des Carmélites (1957).
SCHOENBERG: Moses und Aron (1957).
MARTINŮ: The Greek Passion (1961).
ZIMMERMANN: Die Soldaten (1965).
BARBER: Antony and Cleopatra (1966).
GINASTERA: Bomarzo (1967).
BIRTWISTLE: Punch and Judy (1968). The Mask of Orpheus (1986).
LIGETI: Le Grand Macabre (1977).
STOCKHAUSEN: Licht cycle (1981 – 2012).
GLASS: Satyagraha (1980). Akhnaten (1984).
ADAMS: Nixon in China (1987).
TURNAGE: Greek (1988).
THEODORAKIS: Medea (1991). Elektra (1995). Antigone (1999).
21st century
HEGGIE: Dead Man Walking (2000).
SAARIAHO: L’amour de loin (2000).
ADÈS: The Tempest (2004).
ADAMS: Doctor Atomic (2005).
BENJAMIN: Written on Skin (2012).
DEAN: Hamlet (2017).
The Opera Scribe 