The human voice is God’s most beautiful instrument, and the blending of voices and musical instruments within the context of a dramatic visual presentation is the zenith of human artistic achievement. This is the glory of opera. Below is a list of the ten greatest operas ever composed, in order of greatness, from ten down to number one, in the estimation of the present author. Spirited disagreement is expected and welcomed.
10. Antonio Vivaldi: L’Olimpiade
Vivaldi is well-known today because of The Four Seasons and a handful of other concertos. But the composer considered himself primarily a writer of opera. Indeed, Vivaldi spent much of his career as a traveling impresario, staging often-hastily-assembled operas across Europe (and traveling with two young sister-singers who starred in his productions and who became the subject of lascivious rumors about the middle-aged priest/composer). Liberally indulging in the common practice of self-borrowing, Vivaldi sometimes cobbled together “new” works, taking arias and tunes from previous operas and instrumental works. The libretti of Vivaldi’s operas are complex and usually ridiculous—though this can be said of most opera libretti—but it is the brilliance of the music that carries the day. Though it has dramatic lapses, a case can be made that L’Olimpiade, a love story that takes place during the ancient Olympic games, is the Red Priest’s greatest composition in this genre.
Here is the brilliant aria, “Siam navi all’onde algenti”:
9. P.I. Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Few composers rival Tchaikvosky when it comes to plumbing the depths of the human heart. Based on Alexander Pushkin’s play, Eugene Onegin tells the tragic tale of the beautiful young woman, Tatiana, who falls in love with the eponymous friend of her sister’s fiancé. Onegin is a cautious man, however, and is unable to return Tatiana’s love. In the course of his interaction with Tatiana and her sister, Onegin ends up in a dispute with his friend Lensky, eventually killing him in a duel. After many years away from Tatiana, Onegin realizes that he indeed loves her. But it is too late: Tatiana has married a prince to whom she is determined to remain faithful, despite her still-active feelings for Onegin. The opera ends with Onegin in despair over this rejection.
Here is the scene in which Tatiana pours out her love for Onegin in a letter.
8. W.A. Mozart: Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio)
Often overshadowed by its sister singspiel, The Magic Flute, “this rescue opera” is just as delightful and as profound, full of high spirits and deep feeling. Indeed, it has the advantage of avoiding the longeurs of that better-known work. A predecessor of the other great Mozart operas included here, The Abduction already shows the composer’s mastery of operatic writing and his ability to depict the comedic and tragic elements of life in a seamless musical mosaic. The story is simple: Two Spaniards set out to rescue their lovers from the clutches of Turkish Muslims. The happy ending is typical of Mozart and packs a surprise, as the seemingly villainous Turkish Pasha grants his captives their freedom.
Here is the delightful duet, “Vivat Bacchus,” during which Pedrillo talks a Moorish guard into getting drunk, so that the Europeans can escape his clutches.
7. Giuseppe Verdi: La Traviata (The Fallen Woman)
Perhaps the most performed opera today, this tragic and sexually-charged tale of the young courtesan Violetta’s love for the nobleman Alfredo scandalized mid-nineteenth Victorian audiences in Europe and America, even more so than had Mozart’s Don Giovanni the previous century. The opera makes use of the typical operatic plot conventions of misunderstandings between lovers and a foreshortened end to romantic happiness, in this case because of the fatal tuberculosis contracted by Violetta.
Here is the famous “Brindisi,” a drinking song in which Alfredo sings of the glories of love, only to be rebuffed by the initially cynical Violetta:
6. Gioacchino Rossini: The Barber of Seville
If there was a “successor” to Mozart, it was probably Rossini, though his high-spirited operas do not plumb Mozart’s sublime depths. Barber is a sort of prequel to Mozart’s Figaro, detailing the adventures of the same wily servant whose wedding is at the heart of the earlier opera. The characters and their hijinks will be familiar to those who love Figaro.
The opera’s most famous aria is “Largo al factotum,” in which the hero Figaro sings of his skills as a barber, matchmaker, and counselor to the people of Seville:
5. Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
The son of an atheistic father and a Roman Catholic mother, Berlioz’ oeuvre often reflects this dual religious heritage. In Cellini, however, the humanistic side of the composer rules. This is the tale of the eponymous Renaissance artist who fashioned the great statue of Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa. Cellini is clearly a guise for Berlioz himself: an artist who overcomes all obstacles, including those posed by the Church, to find his true love, prove his superiority to his peers, and demonstrate that man is indeed the measure of all things. Premiered in 1838, the opera was a failure, and for more than 100 years after the composer’s death it lay unperformed, until revived and recorded by the British conductor, Sir Colin Davis in 1972. Berlioz, however, considered the piece one of his supreme achievements: “I swear I shall never again achieve this verve and Cellinian impetuosity nor such variety of ideas.”
Here is the beautiful trio, “O mon bonheur, vous que j’aime” in which the lovers Cellini and Teresa express their mutual love and plan their escape together, with interruptions from the conniving Fieramosca, a rival for Teresa’s hand.
4. Georges Bizet: Carmen
It is amazing that musical snobs still turn up their noses at this great opera. Based on Prosper Mérimée’s novella, the plot centers on the eponymous character’s seduction and corruption of Don Jose, a Spanish officer who abandons his family, his duty, his virtue, his reason, and at last his soul in favor of his all-consuming desire to possess the beautiful gypsy. The music for Carmen is the most seductive in the repertoire; we cannot blame Don Jose for being seduced by her, and we watch and listen in anguish as he hurtles inevitably towards his doom.
Watch Carmen seduce Don Jose:
3. Hector Berlioz: Les Troyens
Based on Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid, Hector Berlioz composed his four-hour Les Troyens in the style of French Grand Opera. Written between 1856 and 1858, the opera was not staged in its entirety during Berlioz’s lifetime, partly due to the expense of staging a work with so many leading roles and with a libretto that called for spectacular sets and special effects. Too, Berlioz—always a controversial figure in the musical world—was not known as an opera composer (indeed, his name was left off some advertisements for his previous effort in the genre, Benvenuto Cellini). In 1863, the second half of the opera, with some parts cut, was premiered under the title Les Troyens à Carthage and met with some success. But it was not until 1890, twenty-one years after the composer’s death, that the full opera was produced on stage, and it was not until 1969 that a recording of the complete piece was made (under the direction of Sir Colin Davis). And only in the early twenty-first century, when a DVD production conducted by John Eliot Gardiner was released, did critics and opera houses began to recognize Les Troyens as one of the greatest operas of them all. “One wonders why this work is so underrated,” one critic writes. “When the opera reaches its last half an hour, starting with Aeneas’s departure for Rome, Dido’s rage, curses, misery, sudden accesses of calm, fresh outbursts, calm acceptance of utter loss and, the final doomed realization of Rome’s triumph—one finds oneself on a level that shuns most other opera’s attempts at classical transcendence.”
Here is the Dido’s lament for the downfall of Carthage, “Farewell, proud city”:
2. W.A. Mozart: Don Giovanni
At a time when opera was either buffa or seria, Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte created what they called a dramma giocoso (“jocular drama”), and Mozart’s masterpiece wonderfully blends the serious, even the frightening, with the humorous. The story centers on the eponymous aristocrat whose obsession in life is bedding as many women as possible by whatever means necessary, whether persuasion or force. As always, Mozart is fascinated by human relationships, and though much has been made of the tension between the Don and his servant Leporello, Mozart sees class not as determinative of human interaction but as a lens through which the nature of man can be better understood. The opera has sparked debate since its premier. The Romantics, who did not like old-fashioned moralizing, often cut the opera’s final sextet, in which the surviving characters make sense of the Don’s downfall: “Thus it is to evildoers.” And though Mozart was surely committed to having the lascivious Don get his comeuppance at the end of the opera, there is little doubt that the composer could not help but admire the prowess of Giovanni, who runs circles around the opera’s other characters and who is only defeated by an act of supernatural revenge.
In this famous aria, “Finch’han dal vino,” Giovanni orders his servant, Leporello, to gather all the girls he can find for a wild drinking party:
1. W.A. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (Figaro’s Wedding)
Perhaps Mozart’s most beloved opera, the story—by Da Ponte after Beaumarchais’ play—centers on Count Almaviva’s attempt to sleep with his servant Figaro’s betrothed, Susanna. Though the aristocratic Droit du seigneur and the Count himself are mocked, as in Don Giovanni, Mozart is concerned less with class and more with the battle of the sexes, which he clearly sees as more revealing of the human soul and more important in the forging of human alliances. Susanna and the neglected Countess, for example, team up to play a prank on the Count, foiling his attempt to have a clandestine rendezvous with his wife’s maidservant. The “Aria of the Wind” sung by the two women as they conspire is one of the most enchanting creations ever penned by a composer (and was memorably used to illustrate the power of beautiful music in the film, The Shawshank Redemption.) Though clearly in the buffa genre, the story’s resolution brings one of Mozart’s most sublime moments, as the repentant Count begs forgiveness of the Countess, and order is restored.
Here Figaro taunts the young, sex-starved page Cherubino and pretends to send him on his way to the army:
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Any thoughts from Dr Klugewicz are cause for joy. But he proves that personal tastes in opera are, well, personal. Four Mozarts before anything else? No Wagner whatsoever? And were it not for No. 9, as the old joke goes, it would be enough to turn Verdi green! Yet grateful we remain for a tasteful selection, insightful criticism and his dependably choice links. I’m listening; but I’m the grumpy guy in the corner wearing the horned helmet and clutching Shirley the Valkyrie in her tin brassiere!
I’d be sitting next to you, not because I like Wagner but just because you sound like a fun guy.
My problem with the list is that my favorite opera isn’t on it: Madame Butterfly.
But I’m not an opera buff (yet) and will check our library’s catalog for the ones that are.
(I watched Barber of Seville last night, with Maria Ewing as Rosina. Delightful!)
Steve Masty has fired the first shot! I stand by my choices, sir, including that of placing four operas by Mozart first on the list. Considered by many to be the greatest composer who ever lived, his operas are also often held to be his supreme achievement. Keep in mind that this is not a list of the most popular operas of all time. This exercise by its nature is a personal one that inherently raises the question as to where the line between personal taste and the objective judgment of beauty lies. In regard to Wagner, I am no Wagner-hater and indeed admire some of his orchestral music. However, I cannot place any of his operas on a par with the ten I have chosen, despite their popularity and influence. I am glad that you found something to enjoy here nonetheless. Perhaps a listen to the rollicking “Abduction” will serve as a balm for your grumpiness?
No Wagner? Then this list is irrelevant.
my thoughts exactly, any list without Wagner is just no list.
The only list Wagner should be on is the opera equivalent of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
I’d rate Figaro a little higher than Don Giovanni.
I approve of giving the top four to Mozart. But I object to leaving out Così fan tutte. Così is certainly greater than Entführung, and arguably greater than Figaro. Così fan tutte is the most subtle of Mozart’s operas; a musician’s opera.
This would be my top ten:
1. Don Giovanni
2. Così fan tutte
3. Die Zauberflöte
4. Le Nozze di Figaro
5. Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen (actually four operas, but it is so united musically that I shall count it as one)
6. Wagner, Parsifal
7. Beethoven, Fidelio (the world’s most underrated opera)
8. Richard Strauss, Rosenkavelier (the ultimate Viennese opera)
9 Richard Strauss, Die Frau ohne Schatten
10. Vivaldi, Farnace
Alas there was no room for Monteverdi, or for the inexplicably underrated operas of Hayden…
I’m with you, love The Ring and Parsifal, no objections to the rest tho.
We’re one of a kind, and no one would ever dare say that Don Giovanni is not the greatest opera ever. Kierkegaard was a fan, or was it just his character in Either/Or? Anyway, he does a terrific analysis of it in that book; the section called The Immediate Stages of the Erotic I believe.
I don’t think Don Giovanni is superior to some Wagner operas such as Tannhäuser or Götterdämmerung. I don’t think Mozart was better than Wagner, although Wagner was not greater than Mozart either. Their greatnesses, each in his own way, were essentially equal, or at least incommensurate. There’s no question that Don Giovanni is one of the greatest operas ever. There may be none greater. But it is not unequalled. St. Matthew’s Passion, an oratorio, is equally great in my opinion. Such rankings are extremely difficult. Was Bach better than Monteverdi? Monteverdi better than Purcell? Not in my mind. I am /not/ saying that there can be no rankings. Monteverdi was, imo, better and more innovative than lesser composers such as Halévy. Gluck was great, but surpassed by Wagner in terms of innovation. Verdi was better than Offenbach. I consider Tchaikovsky to have been better than Dvořák, although I am only familiar with Rusalka. But Can Verdi be considered greater than Tchaikovsky? Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame are both sublime. I love them! But Verdi’s Don Carlos, Rigoletto, and Aida are wonderful too. Based on what I’ve heard of these composers, I think Tchaikovsky comes close to Verdi.
That is one sizzling Carmen performance! I have been suspicious of Steve’s taste in opera ever since he took all of us in his conference to a performance of Don Giovanni filled with black leather, in which Donna Elvira wielded a whip. Be that as it may, I would suggest that Puccini’s “La Boheme” certainly deserves a mention in the top ten as one of the best loved operas of all time.
No Wagner? No Handel? No “Fidelio”? Also a strong case can be made that Verdi’s “Requiem” is his finest opera.
Fidelio really really has to be in the top 5, if the criteria for selection are anything to do with how these works portray the human condition, and engage the human spirit. The chorus when the prisoners come out of their cells is sublime.
I agree with you about “Fidelio”! And where’s “Eugene Onegin”?
Nice list. I won’t complain about Mozart getting the top four, but I’d join sancrucensis and substitute Cosi for Entführung. I’ll avoid the issue of Wagner on the grounds that he wrote ‘music dramas’ and not operas, so he’s really a genre to himself. I do like grand Verdi and would have Aida and Don Carlo on my list, in place of your two by Berlioz (which I admit I don’t really know).
Having developed an appreciation for opera while living in Vienna I was pleased to find a posting on this topic. I heartily agree with the top listing for many reasons, one relating to the full title (“The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni”). Relativism and secularism have taken their toll on the arts: a recent Swedish staging of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” recast the story as a whodunnit, wholly devoid of religious tones, and a Viennese production of “Rusalka” (an underrated opera in my view, worthy of top-10 consideration) rendered sin as . . . the failure to recycle. “Don Giovanni” ends with eternal damnation and the sense that justice was served. There is no moral ambiguity in either the libretto or the sublime music that Mozart composed for it, and for that reason the genius of this opera may well outlast political correctness.
I consider my self an opera lover, yet I apparently have a lot of listening to do.
One point about Kierkegaard and Don Giovanni: I believe that Kierkegaard’s endorsement of Don Giovanni was a part of his book Either/Or. In particular it was part of the “Either” (first half) of the book, written in the voice of “The Seducer,” the person who lived the purely aesthetic life. The Seducer loved Don Giovanni because both The Seducer and Don Giovanni (Don Juan) were lovers of (or slaves to) sensuous passion. Kierkegaard did not believe everything he made The Seducer say, and portrayed him in a negative light at many times. So I would not say that Kierkegaard thought that Don Giovanni was the best ever, but rather that The Seducer did, as a practitioner of the purely aesthetic (as opposed to ethical or religious) life. Kierkegaard valued not only the aesthetic, but also (and arguably more) the ethical.
Both the seducer and the judge are pseudonymous authors, Kierkegaard is constructing a dialectic, a socratic dialogue where each speaker gets a whole book [actually this is the whole plan for ALL of his pseudonymous authors. Both the aesthetic and the ethical are transcended by the religious. [cf Stages in Life’s Way, Fear and Trembling]
Is there any difference here between “greatest” and “which I like the most”?
La Boheme belongs on a list of top ten greats, beyond question. In its economy, dramatic power and ravishing melodies, it is close to perfect. I have pretty much the same feeling for Butterfly. The Abduction, though I love it, does not make it. It’s not even as good as Cosi Fan Tutte. (By the way, Belmonte and Pedrillo in the Abduction are Spanish, not English. The only Brit in the work is Blonde.) Thanks for the recommendation of the Vivaldi rarity.
Re Brian Gill’s comments about Don Giovanni, am I the only person who thinks that Mozart is ambiguous about his hero? He’s the one with verve, sex appeal, and courage, and he has the great music. All the good guys and gals are wash-outs by comparison.
To Mr. Grimm: Yes, you are of course correct re the nationalities of the main characters. My piece should read: “Two Spaniards set out to rescue . . . .” I addressed the question of personal taste in determining what is greatest/truest/most beautiful above in my reply to Mr. Masty above. To Mr. Tuckfield: Thank you for your illuminating comments re Kierkegaard.
No Puccini on the list? Very sad indeed! I agree with another poster that La Boheme and Madame Butterfly are magnificent and would be on my list. However, I’m excited to see so much Mozart on the list! Thanks for the recommendations— I’ll have to acquaint myself with these Berlioz operas!
No Wagner, no Monteverdi? I am surprised. L’Orfeo ranks in the top five, indeed the top three imo. And surely *some* Wagner opera ranks in the top ten. I also agree with the commenter who says that Verdi’s Don Carlo may be better than Traviata. I haven’t heard the Vivaldi listed, or the first Berlioz. But I think Wagner and Monteverdi were better composers than Vivaldi and Berlioz. My top ten:
1. Gotterdamerung (Wagner)
2. L’Orfeo (Monteverdi)
3. Don Giovanni
4. Tannhauser (Wagner)
5. Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
6. The Fairy Queen (Purcell)
7. Die Meistersingers von Nurberg (Wagner)
8. Iphigenie en Tauride (Gluck)
9. Figaro
10. King Arthur (Purcell)
It is painful to make such a list. So, so many operas are great. And my tastes change over time and as I listen to different operas. I am ranking these based on good performances of them. An excellent performance of Iphigenie may be better than a poor performance of Don Giovanni. When comparing composers as such, and not particular operas, I think some opera composers were equally great. I would include in these Wagner and Mozart, and possibly Monteverdi and Purcell. As you can see, I am a fan of the Baroque (Monteverdi, Purcell). If oratorios were included there would, with certainty, be some Bach in the list. Technically the Purcells listed are semi-operas. And as such they are even greater. But they’re usually performed or at least recorded just in the musical portions.
So you are a big fan of baroque operas AND orations, yet leave Handel’s masterworks completely. I think this is outrageous! Handel went a step further than Purcell in English Choral Music and he was the undeniably supreme genius of the oratorio genre. Technically, Bach’s passions are not oratorios per se, and they are however much more inaccessible to the public, more introspective and heavy, than Handel’s ones.
When I think of opera it is “grand opera” on my mind, and among the grandest of the grand I would have to name Don Giovanni, Aida, Carmen, Boris Godunov, Die Meistersinger and Tristan und Isolde as the most outstanding for me. But lists are subjective, are they not?
Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal & Goetterdammerung should be in the list. Even though considered a different type of opera for Wagner himself, they are essentially operas, and represent the perfection of the genre. About Fidelio is such a beautifull music piece, but a shame over the plot and libretto so it is not worthy of a top ten.
Thanks for this. Glad to have found this site. I might have added a bit more Verdi & Puccini, though. Cheers!
My favourite opera is La Traviata. Therefore I was surprised to find it absent from any of the Top 10 lists featured above or even any of the educated comments. This suggests that I know nothing about opera at all.
Now I see La Traviata at no. 7. That’s a relief!
Don Giovanni has the most delightful music I’ve ever heard… My #2 would be Aida… Cenerentola #3… Still working on the rest!
All lists of this nature are interesting. This one including 2 operas composed by Berlioz is the most unique I’ve ever seen. I can’t personally imagine a list without Eugene Onegin, Lucia, or Norma. But taste is taste and if I’m honest I Puritani is as high on my list as anything. Traviata is as good as it gets although I prefer Rigoletto and even Trovatore from that period of Verdi’s. I’m not sure how to include Entfuehrung but leave out Walkuere?
Well, somebody likes Mozart! Thank you for compiling this – I really enjoyed your video clips – but a top ten list cannot be without Boito’s Mephistopheles (WAY superior to Berlioz’s Faust), Cavalleria Rusticana, and Eugene Onegin. And there is a sad lack of Puccini and bel canto in your list! Plus Traviata is so overdone – albeit beautiful – that I’m personally sick of it…
For me:
1) Wozzeck
2) Dido and Aeneas
3) Ring Cycle
4) Lulu
5) Carmen
Mozart, only four out of ten you say?
I’m being a smart-arse. But me thinks you err 6 & 1; flip them and you’ve got it about perfect.
Sincerely, what would our wonderful world of music be had the fellow lived another five years? He was venturing into the Romantic style in his last symphonies.
And the same for Bizet. What exuberance set free!
I have a question that I cannot find the answer to:
There was another composer, slightly younger? than Mozart, who’s music was claimed, I read, to be very good and often his performances were advertised as being Mozart’s music. Mozart seemed not to mind. I believe they were acquainted. However, we do not hear much of this composer. Does this ring a bell with anyone? One of his names began with a ‘C’, I think.
Namaste and care,
mhikl
La Boheme must be there.
I cannot believe there is no mention anywhere of either “Pelleas et Melisande” or “Falstaff”
I am a diehard “Mozartianer”. But this ranking without Wagner is slanted.
Choosing only 10 doesn’t leave you a lot of options. I’m surprised that no one has mentioned Rigoletto. I grew up thinking that was considered one of the greatest operas ever.
Rigoletto is a great opera. It’s the opera I cut my teeth on when I first started listening to opera in the early ’90s. But I “overlistened” to it and now have a hard time listening to it, except in performance.
Gotterdemmerung, Boris, Moses und Aron and La Boheme would be on my list.
Then also possibly a Janacek opera. Along with a Mozart or two, Verdi, Carmen, possibly a Handel or Dido and Aeneas.
I agree about Purcell. Dido & Aeneas is excellent. But for a top ten list I would use one of Purcell’s semi-operas, either King Arthur (the British Worthy), or the Fairy Queen (a blend of opera, dance, and drama). Both are excellent. They are longer and, imo, better, at least in some respects, than Dido & Aeneas. Hændel’s operas are, imo, also excellent, although they are SO numerous (he wrote 42 operas and 29 oratorios) that I think he must have recycled music in some parts of them. Almost all of his English-language works are oratorios, not operas, although some have become part of the opera repertoire. Of his operas, I have listened to Aggripina, Giulio Cesare, Alessandro Severo, Siroe Re di Persia, Alcina, and Rinaldo. Of Händel’s oratorios I have listened to Hercules, Saul, Messiah, Israel in Egypt, and The Triumph of Time & Truth. I have also listened to his masque Acis & Galatea, and Parnasso in Festa, a festa teatrale, a form also called a “serenata”, a type of Italian opera intended as entertainment to celebrate a festive royal or state occasion. I think Giulio Cesare would most belong on the top-ten list. (If one were to include an oratorio, the overpowering figure of Bach comes into play and demands a place on any informed listener’s top ten list.) So, I think Baroque opera deserves a place. But I’m not sure Vivaldi cuts it against the likes of Monteverdi, Händel, and Purcell. And let’s not forget the French Baroque (Rameau, Lully). This list is heavily weighted to the Romantic period, with six of ten operas being from that period, if you include The Barber of Seville in the Romantic period.
I agree with others. You can’t leave out Puccini, especially la Boheme. Divine music and sublime story
On a related but slightly different theme, what are your favourite BAROQUE operas or oratorios? Interestingly, some of the best Baroque works are based on the story of Orpheus and Euridice, a story little known today. In my favourites I would include Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo; Stefano Landi’s La morte d’Orfeo; Jacopo Peri’s Euridice (often said to be the first Baroque opera or even the first opera); Giulio Caccini’s L’Euridice; and Jean-Antoine Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers. On other themes, I would include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; Purcell’s King Arthur; Händel’s Alcina; Lully’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (after the comédie by Molière); Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater; and Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie.
Agree. My teenage wife and I were seriously into Rock n’ Roll and classical in the early 1960’s when we saw Montiverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea” on PBS, including countertenors. Exceedingly strange, but intriguing. The next morning I went to the library and checked out the only familiar sounding name in the opera cassettes, “Rigoletto”. My first listening on my Sony Walkman cassette player was until the quartet, “Bella fillia de l’amore” which I replayed over and over. We were hooked and started listening to the Saturday Met broadcasts.
We’ve been season ticket holders here in San Diego for the past 40 or so years. Should a Monteverdi opera have been on the list? I think not, but it ranked number 1 for us, at least until we heard Rioletto.
Verdi and Wagner should be up there. I went to see Don Carlos just last night at the Vienna Opera house. Stunning.
I am aghast at the absence from this list of Nixon in China and Madame Butterfly.
We saw a wonderful La Traviata last night at the San Diego Opera. The soprano, Corinne Winters was spot on: physically beautiful, seductive, graceful and note perfect, matched by Stephen Powell in the role of Alfredo’s father, Germont.
Right this moment after a magical evening the greatest opera for me is La Traviata, at least among the Verdi operas. My point is that this type of ranking is so subjective and emotionally based as to be meaningless regarding rank. It is not meaningless however in stimulating the opera lover to hear and/or see operas that may not be that familiar, or experienced that recently. BTW, I agree with the comment about Madam Butterfly, a perfect drama set to perfect music, but that describes so many operas in the top 50 or so.
Opera is often quite bawdy, at least coming from Mozart.
Before I give my top 10, I will argue that greatest is really a hard term to define. Perhaps there is Most Influential, Most Favorite, Best Bel Canto…so, I am going to say, top 10 opera that must be seen. So, if you want to get to know opera, start at number one and work your way up.
10. Wagner, The Ring Cycle. Genius. But requires intense commitment, preparation, and a world class production, which is why it is last on my list.
9. Boris Godunov, Mussorgsky. There is, for sure, a problem with its length and its lack of female voices. BUT nothing in musical life can possibly compete with the opening prologues (and cacophony of bells), the stunning death scene, and the potent scene of a simpleton, singing for the sorrows of Russia while snow falls.
8. Mozart, Don Giovanni, simply because two Mozarts belong on the list, and that perfect finale. Or, Cosi fan tutte. Or magic flute. Heck, see all of them.
7. Cavalleria Rusticana – Pietro Mascagni. Glorious music, and paired with Pagliacci, while a lesser opera, knocks it into the top 10.
6. Rossini, Barber of Seville, more for the first act than the second. Tons of fun.
5. Wagner, Tristan and Isolde: I hesitate on this one, since so many will find it dull (at least the first act). The love duet in act 2 and the liebestod in act 3 are among the great emotional hurricanes in music, so it belongs on this list.
4. Puccini, Tosca. Just great. Vile villain. Memorable songs. Action packed.
3. Bizet, Carmen. Probably overlooked since this is his only great opera, but what a perfect work it is. Absurd, yes; sexist, yes, but musically divine.
2. Verdi, La Traviata. Agreeing again with the above comments. Perhaps Don Carlo is his greatest accomplishment, or Falstaff most complex, but nothing can beat the simplicity and power of this one. And, to add a point…no one writes for baritones quite like Verdi, and the Gemont / Violetta duet is something of a legend.
1. Agreeing with this list. Mozart, Marriage of Figaro. Greatest piece of music produced for voice and orchestra of all time. Just see Act 2 finale and Act 4 finale. Nothing like it before or since
I appreciate that Puccini does not feature on this list. With exception of Tosca, I find his work underwhelming, especially given his inflated reputation.
I am glad that you agree with my implicit assessment of Puccini! 🙂 Thank you!
Shocking that in the nearly 5 years since this was posted, no one has mentioned Verdi’s Otello.
Most serious critics would argue that it’s Verdi’s greatest opera. Some would maintain that it’s the pinnacle of Italian opera.
I think that once we get to true greatness, order or ranking has no meaning. When I’m reading War and Peace it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever read and nothing can compare to it. Then I read Dante, or The Plague, or Phaedrus and have the same feeling. That’s the mark of a great work, that it takes us into itself, and makes us see the entire world through its eyes, recognizable but ennobled, even in a dark and depressing work. In any case, I won’t dispute about specifics of ranking, but merely make a couple comments. (To be clear, I’m not saying all works are equal, or that there are no bad works; just that among the greats, how can one choose?)
First, I second your choice of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini. I love that work, and greatly prefer it to the more prestigious Les Troyens, although the duet “Nuit paisible et serene” from Berlioz’s Beatrice et Benedict is my favorite piece by Berlioz. “Cellini” has some funny moments and some strongly dramatic ones, as well as two great arias for tenor. It’s a shame (really) that the only available production on DVD has robots and is hideous. I really wish the met would perform it and broadcast it… once they find a tenor who can sing it.
Second, I can’t agree at all with your “implicit judgment of Puccini.” Puccini’s best works are among his least performed, but his famous works are still all excellent. Act I of La boheme is perfect, and a wonderful composition; I don’t really need the rest, although there are some great moments, such as the orchestra snowing parallel fifths in Act III, or Musetta interrupting the bohemians playful sword fight in Act IV with a dying Mimi. Tosca is a full of brilliant harmony and orchestration, as a very great (and my favorite – at least, when I’m listening to him) composer from the 20th century will tell you. Manuel Rosenthal, Maurice Ravel’s student, wrote the following in his memoir:
“Ravel’s musical gods were Schumann and Weber, but when I told him that I disliked Puccini he became angry. He rushed to the piano and played me almost the whole of ‘Tosca’ by memory, showing me examples of Puccini’s original use of harmony. He considered Puccini an advanced composer.” (New York Times, “Remembering the French Tradition” Nov 24, 1985).
Next to that endorsement, snide remarks from people like Kerman mean nothing to me (although my own ear is my final judge).
Madama Butterfly is a very great and affecting opera, and the love duet at the end of Act I is a masterpiece. Butterfly’s last aria is very powerful. I love Puccini’s early work, but his true greatness arrives in La fanciulla del west, which should certainly be considered among the very greatest operas on anyone’s list. Have you ever played the vocal score to this opera on the piano? I do, regularly, and even with my mediocre playing I’m stunned. I frequently have to stop and just take a moment to absorb the incredible harmonies and progressions, the small melodies I find that I had never noticed despite listening a thousand times (and the piano reduction leaves plenty of things out, mind you). The orchestration is a masterpiece, as Anton Webern declared: “Webern wrote to Schoenberg after hearing La fanciulla del West: ‘A score that sounds original in every way. Splendid. Every measure astonishing'” (Recondite Harmony, by Deborah Burton, ch. 1 pg. 21). He went on to say that he wanted to study the score together with Schoenberg. Spike Hugues, in his book on Puccini (which is pretty good, although he doesn’t do dramatic analysis as well as he does musical analysis), gives examples of the unusual voicings Puccini used in orchestrating the opera to give chords strange and original sounds. Here’s what Puccini said he was trying to accomplish with La Fanciulla: “… in the adaptation of such violent source material I brought the inspiration of a vibrant and refined idealism, toward the end of encircling those catastrophic human events in a dreamlike atmosphere. In Belasco’s drama, for example…little emphasis was placed on the redeeming quality of the protagonist: it was I who had the librettists develop this to a greater extent, and thus this desire for purification, this pained cry for peace gained through love and hard work, became more clear and truthful.” (Opera Today, “The Colors of Fanciulla” 2008) Puccini certainly succeeded. The finale, from “E anche tu lo vorrei Joe” to the end is a true consummation of the work, and a transcendent piece of music-drama. I feel redeemed and whole when I hear those soaring inversions of E major on the “redenzione.”
Il Trittico is another masterpiece by Puccini. The first opera of the three, Il tabarro, begins with a brief, gorgeous prelude that is my favorite tone painting of water in all classical music (and there’s some incredible competition there). Puccini uses the vocal lines to give us characterization and thematic clues: in her little piece describing how she wants to retire to a little cottage in the country, Frugola, wife of one of the poor barge workers, sings on virtually one note. Her vocal line is entirely flat. Giorgetta responds with “E ben altro mio sogno/my dream is something different,” about her desire to live in Belleville again, which is set to a soaring orchestral and melody line. Puccini uses monotone vocal expressions throughout the opera to characterize their hopelessness and flat affect, and only occasionally do they burst forth in Puccinian melody. When they do, it is always nostalgia, since they can no longer hope. Anyway, it’s a brilliant opera, musically and dramatically, and certainly among the Great Operas.
Turandot, Puccini’s last masterpiece, is, of course, unfinished, but it is still very great. For me, honestly, the Ping, Pang, Pong trio steals the show. Their music, is witty, brilliant, difficult (going from unison to crazy counterpoint and back again, constantly changing time signatures etc.) and their extended scene at the beginning of act II is a great piece of orchestration.
Anyway, I could write a book (and sort of plan to) on why Puccini was a genius of a musical-dramatist. He’s considered obvious and sloppy by many musicologists who have written about him, but that judgment just doesn’t hold up on real analysis. In his book on Puccini, a clearly well educated musician like Osborne just makes appallingly inane and false observations about the dramatic construction of Puccini’s works. He says a melody from the love duet in Act II of La fanciulla del west appears in the chase scene in Act III for “no very good reason.” He fails to notice that the melody occurs, sung by Johnson, in act II on the words “Io non ti lascio piu/I will leave you no more,” as he promises Minnie to stay with her forever, and that the later reminiscence Osborne finds inexplicable occurs as Johnson is being captured **while trying to leave**. This is typical of not only Osborne but other musicologists who seem to have no literary chops, or somehow go crazy when considering Puccini and fail to see the brilliant craftsmanship even when it is slapping them in the face (or ought to be). Anyway, Puccini was a great genius, and I will argue at length (as you can see) with anyone who says (or just implies) otherwise.
Third, and finally, some great operas you didn’t include:
Guillaume Tell by Gioachino Rossini
Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner (much of it is painful to listen to, but it’s a masterpiece)
Otello by Giuseppe Verdi (I agree with Alexander IX, it is my favorite Verdi opera)
Norma by Vincenzo Bellini (even Wagner loved it, and he hated everything he didn’t do; in fact, he wrote another aria for Norma, so he kind of tried to make it his own)
My personal favorite Mozart opera is The Magic Flute. I actually don’t like Don Giovanni much, but I love music from The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte.
My Grandfather is a southern rock musician, you would think he would relax to that, but he didn’t. He listened to Pagliacci. Now when I hear Vesti La Giubba I smile thinking of him, and yet when I read your picks I see no mention Ruggero Leoncavallo in any of this, yet Pagliacci is still preformed all over the world.
VERY interesting and educational comments. Thoroughly enjoyed hem all. To agree, or disagree, is pointless. I have been listening to opera for more than seventy years and have drawn the following from all the sound and fury ………………….Opera is in the ear of the listener. Top ten lists of Orchestra/Conductor/Opera is never right or wrong. It’s what is enjoyed. My favorite opera……and I love ’em all, is Rigoletto. The last scene still gives me the chills. A story of the human condition, good and evil. Orchestra? Berlin Phil. Consistency through the years. Conductor? A toughie. Toscanini, Furtwangler, von K and yes, Fritz Reiner. There you go. Enjoyed this site vey much. Thank you all.
I think that these personal estimates of the “greatest opera” or “the greatest composer” have both their reasonable and unreasonable side The reasonable side is that there are indeed comparisons which nearly everyone agrees with – for example, that Mozart’s mature operas are better than Gounod’s, and there are some pretty compelling reasons to give for these sorts of judgments. The unreasonable side is that among operas that are generally agreed to be in the top layer, further distinguishing really is largely a matter of what one personally likes or appreciates. Wagner does certain things that no one else can do as well. But those things may or may not appeal to a person. The same is true of Mozart; and people in the twentieth century tends to appreciate what he did wonderfully more often. (Personally, I rank Don GIovanni and Tristan and Isolde as indistinguishably great and not rankable vs. each other, and with them I personally place Boris Gudonov, which seems to be less generally popular). I think the fact that some virtually universal ranking is reasonable (which I would accept) leads people to think that complete universal ranking is possible (which I think is absolute nonsense). Rankings of the “very greatest operas” simply turn out to be “rankings of my very favorite operas”). I think this same argument applies to composers. I personally agree with the currently common notion that Bach, Mozart and Beethoven are three composers who stand above the rest, but each of them did some absolutely worth doing better than anyone else, and I find it ridiculous to try to distinguish among them according to some “objective” criterion.
Here are my 15 Favorites; but I have not the courage to assign them an order:
>Troyens
>Platee
>Coronation of Poppea
>Castor & Pollux
>Die Meistersinger von Nuremburg
>Carmen
>Samson & Dalila
>Traviata
>Khovanschina
>Baby Doe
>Rusalka
>Lakme
>Turn of the Screw
>Rake’s Progress
>Cosi fan Tutte
I also feel guilty about not including any Massanet,Handel, and other great composers
I think it’s silly to try to make a list of the greatest operas. It’s like saying cherries are better than blueberries. It simply means you like one work over another because you find it more pleasing to your particular ear or taste. That being said I did enjoy listening to your excerpts and value the experience anytime someone has a passion for opera. I also believe operatic tastes can be based on how you approach it. I trained for the opera since I was 15 years old and have a singer’s ear for it which colors my taste in a certain direction. I have sung the mezzo parts of Verdi operas and have loved Don Carlos and Aida the most. But I still have a taste for Peter Grimes which I would not have any great desire to sing.
But perhaps one of my favorite operas is Madama Butterfly simply because there are no wasted notes and it is all exquisitely beautiful. Fidelio is one of the most thrilling and a testament to married love. It is also almost impossible to sing. The Ballad of Baby Doe is most amazing American opera and perhaps I am a bit prejudiced because I studied with Walter Cassell who created the role of Horace Tabor. But none can match his clear diction and honest phrasing coupled with that warm timbre.
But everytime I think of an opera I like it is at the expense of another memory that I have forgotten and my favorites become new.