History through opera

(Ancient Greece based on The Mythical Chronology of Greece)

Mythological times

Legendary times

Antiquity

The period of the Biblical Great Flood

  • Donizetti: Il Diluvio universale (1830) [Asia Minor]

The age of the Pharaohs

  • Verdi: Aida (1871) [Egypt]

17th century BCE

  • Méhul: Joseph (1807) [Egypt]

1677 BCE

  • Lully: Isis (1677) [Greece]

1640 BCE

  • Rameau: Naïs (1749) [Greece]

16th century BCE

15th century BCE

1472 BCE

1440 BCE

1438 BCE

1437 BCE

1420 BCE

14th century BCE

1386 BCE

1344 BCE

1333 BCE

After 1314 BCE

13th century BCE

1253 BCE

1252 BCE

1245 BCE

1236 BCE

  • Charpentier: Médée (1693) [Greece]
  • Cherubini: Médée (1797) [Greece]

1235 BCE

1230 BCE

1220 BCE

1207 BCE

1203 BCE

12th century BCE

1193 BCE

1183 BCE

After the Trojan War

  • Strauss: Die Ägyptische Helena (1928) [Egypt]

1175–74 BCE

1173 BCE

1150 BCE

11th to 12th centuries BCE

After 10th century BCE

  • Méhul: Uthal (1806) [Scotland]

9th century BCE

Circa 850 BCE

Circa 806 BCE

  • Rossini: Semiramide (1823) [Babylon]

8th century BCE?

  • Cagnoni: Re Lear (c. 1885–1895) [Britain]

7th century BCE

612 BCE

  • Pacini: Saffo (1840) [Greece]

6th century BCE

  • Keiser: Croesus (1711; revised 1730) [Greece]
  • Serov: Judith (1863) [Israel]

586 BCE

  • Verdi: Nabucco (1842) [Jerusalem and Babylon]

539 BCE

522 BCE

5th century BCE

470 BCE

  • Handel: Serse (1738) [Persia]

465 BCE

4th century BCE

Circa 350 BCE

  • Saint-Saëns: Phryné (1893) [Greece]

308 BCE

  • Spontini: Olympie (1819) [Greece]

3rd century BCE

Between 305 and 281 BCE

269 BCE

2nd century BCE

1st century BCE

73–63 BCE

63 BCE

circa 50 BCE

  • Bellini: Norma (1831) [Gaul]

48–47 BCE

  • Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724) [Egypt]

46 BCE

40–30 BCE


1st century CE

9 CE

30 CE

circa 30 CE

  • Strauss: Salome (1905) [Israel]

Circa 35 CE

  • Donizetti: L’Esule di Roma (1828) [Rome]

Circa 54 CE

60 CE

Between 69 and 79 CE (during the reign of Vespasian)

  • Pacini: L’ebrea (1844) [Antioch]

79 CE


2nd century CE

Between 117 and 138 CE

  • Méhul: Adrien (1799) [Syria]

Circa 120 CE (about 50 years after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem)

  • Pacini: Ester d’Engaddi (1848) [Israel]

3rd century CE

222

257

  • Donizetti: Les Martyrs (1840) / Poliuto (1848) [Armenia]


4th century CE

326

  • Donizetti: Fausta (1832) [Rome]

5th century CE

453

  • Gluck: Ezio (1750) [Rome]

454

  • Verdi: Attila (1846) [Italy]

[5th to 6th centuries CE]


6th century CE

580


7th century CE

  • D’Indy: Fervaal (1897) [France]

628


Legendary times (after 632)


8th century CE

722

  • Mercadante: Pelagio (1857) [Spain]

Reign of Charlemagne (r. 768–814)

c. 800

  • Meyerbeer: Wirt und Gast (1813) [Baghdad]

8th – 9th centuries CE


The Middle Ages

  • Lully: Amadis (1684)
  • Grétry: Raoul Barbe-bleue (1789) [France]
  • Boieldieu: Le calife de Bagdad (1800) [Baghdad]
  • Rossini: Torvaldo e Dorliska (1815) [Northern Europe]
  • Rossini: Matilde di Shabran (1821) [Spain]
  • Meyerbeer: Romilda e Costanza (1817) [France]
  • Donizetti: Enrico di Borgogna (1818) [France]
  • Meyerbeer: Emma di Resburgo (1819) [Scotland]
  • Donizetti: La Zingara (1822) [Spain]
  • Donizetti: Alahor in Granata (1826) [Spain]
  • Donizetti: Elvida (1826) [Spain]
  • Donizetti: Gabriella di Vergy (composed 1826) [France]
  • Bellini: Zaira (1829) [Jerusalem] [during the Crusades]
  • Donizetti: Francesca di Foix (1831) [France]
  • Donizetti: Sancia di Castiglia (1832) [Spain]
  • Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842) [Russia]
  • Gounod : Le tribut de Zamora (1881) [Spain]
  • Wagner: Parsifal (1882) [Spain]
  • Puccini: Le Villi (1884) [Germany]
  • Strauss: Feuersnot (1901) [Germany]
  • Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) [Allemonde]
  • Massenet: Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (1902) [France]
  • Lazzari: La lépreuse (1912) [France]
  • Magnard: Guercœur (1931)

9th century

  • Donizetti: Alfredo il Grande (1823) [England]
  • Pacini: Irene, o L’assedio di Messina (1833) [Italy]

End of the 9th century

  • Pacini: Malvina di Scozia (1851) [Scotland]

10th century

[Between 925 and 933]


11th century

  • Sacchini: Chimène (1783) [Spain]
  • Pacini: Il mulatiere di Toledo (1861) [Spain]

1005

1012

11th century [Circa 1040]

Second half of the 11th century

  • Pacini: Berta di Varnol (1867) [Germany]

1095-99

  • Verdi: Jérusalem (1847) [France, Palestine]

First Crusade (1096–99)

  • Lully: Armide (1686) [Palestine]
  • Salieri: Armida (1771) [Palestine]
  • Gluck: Armide (1777) [Palestine]
  • Rossini: Armida (1817) [Palestine]
  • Sacchini: Renaud (1783) [Palestine]

1099

  • Handel: Rinaldo (1711) [Palestine]
  • Verdi: I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1843) [Italy, Antioch, the country near Jerusalem]

12th century

1110

Mid-12th century

Second half of the 12th century

  • Donizetti: Rosmonda d’Inghilterra (1834) [England]

1176

  • Verdi: La battaglia di Legnano (1849) [Italy]

1187

  • Pacini: Il contestabile di Chester ovvero I fidanzati (1829)

1190

  • Pacini: Il talismano [Palestine]

Circa 1192–93

1194

  • Sullivan: Ivanhoe (1891) [England]

c. 1200

  • Rossini: Le comte Ory (1828) [France]
  • Bellini: La straniera (1829) [France] [Osborne says beginning of the 14th century]
  • Verdi: Aroldo (1857) [England and Scotland]

13th century

  • Grétry: Guillaume Tell (1791) [Switzerland]
  • Rossini: Guillaume Tell (1829) [Switzerland]
  • Bellini: Bianca e Fernando (1826) [Italy]
  • Bellini: Il pirata (1827) [Italy]
  • Bellini: I Capuleti e I Montecchi (1830) [Italy]
  • Holst: The Wandering Scholar (1934) [France]

Beginning of the 13th century

1215

  • Pacini: Bondelmonte (1845) [Italy]

1228

Around the middle of the 13th century

  • Strauss: Guntram (1894) [Germany]

1250

  • Meyerbeer: Il crociato in Egitto (1824) [Egypt]
  • Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable (1831) [Italy]
  • Mercadante: Elena da Feltre (1839) [Italy]

1260

  • Donizetti: Pia de’ Tolomei (1837) [Italy]

1282

  • Verdi: Les Vêpres siciliennes (1855) [Italy]

1299

  • Puccini: Gianni Schicchi (1918) [Italy]

14th century

1302

  • Puccini: Edgar (1889) [Belgium]

1303

1339 and 1363

1340

  • Donizetti: La Favorite (1840) [Spain]
  • Pacini: Margherita Pusterla (1856) [Italy]

1347

1355

Mid-14th century

  • Wagner: Rienzi (1842) [Italy]

Between 1399 and 1413 (reign of Henry IV)

  • Verdi: Falstaff (1893) [England]

1400


14th to 15th centuries

  • Faccio: Amleto (1865) [Denmark]

Renaissance Italy (15th & 16th centuries)


15th century

  • Pacini: La fidanzata corsa (1842) [Corsica]
  • Pacini: La regina di Cipro (1846) [Italy and Cyprus]

Early 15th century

1418

  • Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda (1833) [Italy]

1425

  • Donizetti: Parisina (1833) [Italy]
  • Pacini: La punizione (1854) [Belgium]

1428

  • Donizetti: Gemma di Vergy (1834) [France]

1429

  • Pacini: Giovanna d’Arco (1830) [France]

c. 1429

  • Verdi: Giovanna d’Arco (1845) [France]

1441

1457

  • Verdi: I due Foscari (1844) [Italy]

1459

  • Rossini: Le Siège de Corinthe (1826) [Greece]

Late 15th century [1460s–1480s, in the reign of Muley-Hassem]

1470

Late 15th century

1471

  • Meyerbeer: Margherita d’Anjou (1820) [England]

1471–1478

1472

1480

  • Donizetti: Zoraida di Granata (1822) [Spain]

1482

c. 1490

  • Meyerbeer: L’esule di Granata (1822) [Spain]

1492

1495

  • Pacini: Stella di Napoli (1845) [Italy]

1497–98


16th century

  • Vinci: Gismondo, re di Polonia (1727) [Poland]
  • Rossini: Sigismondo (1814) [Poland]
  • Rossini: La donna del lago (1819) [Scotland]
  • Spohr: Jessonda (1823) [India]
  • Donizetti: Il paria (1829) [India]
  • Donizetti: Imelda de’ Lambertazzi (1830) [Italy]
  • Donizetti: Il Furioso all’isola di San Domingo (1833) [West Indies]
  • Donizetti: Torquato Tasso (1833) [Italy]
  • Wagner: Das Liebesverbot (1836) [Italy]
  • Auber: Haydée (1847) [Italy]
  • Verdi: Rigoletto (1851) [Italy]
  • Gounod: Faust (1859) [Germany]
  • Pacini: Don Diego di Mendoza (1867) [Spain]
  • Busoni: Doktor Faust (1925) [Germany]
  • Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict (1862) [Italy]
  • Ginastera: Bomarzo (1967) [Italy]

Early 16th century

  • Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia (1833) [Italy]

1506

1519

  • Verdi: Ernani (1844) [Spain]

[1519-1520]

1530

  • Meyerbeer: Le Prophète (1849) [Netherlands, Germany]
  • Pacini: Niccolò dei Lapi (1873) [Italy]

1536

  • Donizetti: Anna Bolena (1830) [England]

1537

  • Pacini: Lorenzino de’ Medici (1845) [Italy]

1539

  • Saint-Saëns: Ascanio (1890) [France]

Between 1547 and 1559 (reign of Henry II of France)

  • Pacini: La gelosia corretta (1826) [France]

Mid-16th century

1553

  • Pacini: Maria, regina d’Inghilterra (1843) [England]

1555

1560

1568

  • Pacini: Il duca d’Alba (1842) [Belgium]
  • Verdi: Don Carlos (1867) [France and Spain]
  • Paladilhe: Patrie! (1886) [Belgium]

1570

1572

1573

  • Donizetti: Le Duc d’Albe (1882) [Belgium]

1578

  • Donizetti: Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal (1843) [Portugal, Morocco]

Late 16th century

1587

  • Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (1835) [England]

1598

  • Donizetti: Roberto Devereux (1837) [England]

1600


17th century

  • Mozart: Don Giovanni (1787) [Spain]
  • Rossini: Bianca e Falliero (1819) [Italy]
  • Donizetti: La Lettera anonima (1822) [France]
  • Donizetti: Chiara e Serafina (1822) [Spain]
  • Donizetti: Otto mesi in due ore (1827) [Russia]
  • Donizetti: Il Giovedì grasso (1828-29) [France]
  • Halévy: La tempesta (1850) [Prospero’s island]
  • Dargomyzhsky: Kamenny Gost (1872) [Spain]
  • Hindemith: Cardillac (1926; revised 1952) [France]

Beginning of the 17th century

Early 17th century

  • Verdi: Luisa Miller (1849) [Austria]

1612–1613

Around 1630

1634ƒ

1640s

1647

1648

Circa 1648

1651

  • Pacini: Allan Cameron (1848) [Scotland]

1654

Late 17th century

  • Donizetti: Il Falegname di Livonia (1819) [Livonia]
  • Donizetti: Il Borgomastro di Saardam (1827) [Netherlands]
  • Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) [Scotland]

[1680s]

1680

The end of the 17th century

  • Pacini: Il saltimbanco (1858) [France]
  • Puccini: Suor Angelica (1918) [Italy]

18th century

Beginning of the 18th century

  • Verdi: I masnadieri (1847) [Germany]
  • Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa (1884) [Ukraine]

1698 conflated with 1712 and 1725

  • Meyerbeer: L’étoile du nord (1854) [Finland and Russia]

1720

1730

1733

  • [Pergolesi: La serva padrona (1733)] [Italy]
  • Verdi: Un giorno di regno (1840) [France]

1735

1745

Around 1750

Mid-18th century

  • Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (1911) [Austria]

Second half of the 18th century

  • Puccini: Manon Lescaut (1893) [France, America]

1752

1753

1756 and 1766

Towards the end of the Seven Years War (1756-63)

  • Meyerbeer: Ein Feldlager in Schlesien (1844) [Poland and Germany]

1760

  • Donizetti: Linda di Chamounix (1842) [France]

1767

1768

1769

1772

1773

1775

1777

1778

Around 1780

  • Strauss: Die schweigsame Frau (1935) [England]

1783

1784

1786

1787

  • [Salieri: Tarare (1787)] [Middle East]

1790

1792

1797

Close of the 18th century

Late 18th – early 19th century

1800

  • Catalani: La Wally (1892) [Austria]
  • Puccini: Tosca (1900) [Italy]

19th century

  • Pacini: L’ambizione delusa (1814) [Italy]
  • Pacini: Gli sponsali de’ silfi (1815) [Italy]
  • Donizetti: La Fille du régiment (1840) [Switzerland]
  • Meyerbeer: Le Pardon de Ploërmel (1859) [France]
  • Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana (1890) [Italy]
  • Giordano: Siberia (1903) [Russia]
  • Janáček: Jenůfa (1904) [Moravia]

Beginning of the 19th century

  • Verdi: Il corsaro (1848) [An Aegean island, Turkey]
  • Verdi: Stiffelio (1850) [Germany]

1801

1806

1806 and 1813

1810

1811

1817

  • [Pacini: Dalla beffa il disinganno, ossia La poetessa (1817) [Italy]]
  • [Pacini: Piglia il mondo come viene (1817) [Italy]]
  • [Rossini: La gazza ladra (1817)] [France]

1820

  • Bizet: Carmen (1875) [Spain]

1820s

1823

  • [Donizetti: Il Fortunato inganno (1823) [Italy]]

1824

  • [Donizetti: L’Ajo nell’imbarazzo (1824) [Italy]]

1825

  • Rossini: Il Viaggio a Reims (1825) [France]

1829

1830s

1830

circa 1830

  • Puccini: La Bohème (1896) [France]

1831

  • [Auber: Le Philtre (1831) [France]]
  • [Bellini: La Sonnambula (1831) [Switzerland]]
  • [Donizetti: La Romanziera e l’uomo nero (1831) [France]]

1833

1836

  • [Donizetti: Il Campanello di notte (1836) [Italy]]

1840

1843

  • [Donizetti: Don Pasquale (1843) [Italy]]

1846

  • Delibes: Kassya (1893) [Eastern Europe]

1849-50

  • Puccini: La fanciulla del West (1910) [USA]

Around 1850

  • Verdi: La traviata (1853) [France]

Mid-19th century

1850s

  • Puccini: La rondine (1917) [France]

1853

  • [Offenbach: Pepito (1853)] [Spain]

1855

1856

1860

  • Strauss: Arabella (1933) [Vienna]

    1860s

    1866

    1872

    1874

    1876

    1881

    Late 19th century

    20th century

    Early 1900s

    1904

    • Puccini: Madama Butterfly (1904) [Japan]

    1911

    1914

    • [Bachelet: Scemo (1914) [France]]

    1922

    1924

    1926

    1927


    N/A


    Unsure