In order to make life easier for both my readers and myself, I am creating a Chronological Index of Reviews to be updated as I add posts! The posts are still available on the main page, of course, but this should make finding earlier posts much easier. Also the most recent post will be highlighted in BOLD here to make it easier to find.
When I changed the layout of the blog these two pages disappeared so I added links to them here:
My Top Ten Favourite Opera Scenes
HOW TO USE THIS SITE:
About the star ratings: the methodology I use is derived from Sir Denis Forman’s 1995 publication The Good Opera Guide known in North America as A Night at the Opera and the ratings equal the following:
* Worth looking out for.
** This is very good.
*** Stunning
Although a few operas never get a three-star item, all but maybe a handful will get one or two two-star items at a minimum. Incidentally there are infrequent no-star items which usually are either events where I do include a timer indication but which I really don’t feel deserve a star. Even one-star items are at least okay/of some interest, it is really when I don’t give a star at all that you should be worried!
THE OPERAS:
17th Century:
1607: Monteverdi: L’Orfeo
18th Century:
1720: Handel: Esther
1725: Handel, Rodelinda, regina dei Longobardi
1746: Handel: Judas Maccabeus
1762: Monsigny: Le roi et le fermier
1766: Philidor: Tom Jones
1771: Gretry: Zemire et Azor
1774: Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice
1776: Gluck: Alceste
1786/68: Mozart: The Impresario/Bastien und Bastienne
1791: Gretry: Guillaume Tell
1792: Cimarosa: Il matrimonio segreto
19th Century:
1805: Beethoven: Leonore
1806: Mehul: Uthal
1810: Rossini: La Cambiale di Matrimonio
1813: Cherubini: Les Abencerages
1814: Rossini: Sigismondo
1815: Rossini: Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra
1816:
1817:
1818:
1819:
1820:
1821: Rossini: Matilde di Shabran
1822:
Schubert: Alfonso und Estrella
1823:
1824: Meyerbeer: Il Crociato in Egitto
1825: Boieldieu: La Dame Blanche
1826:
1827:
1828:
Donizetti: Alina, regina di Golconda
1829:
Donizetti: Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth
1830:
Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi
Donizetti: Il Diluvio Universale
Donizetti: Imelda de’ Lambertazzi
1831:
1832:
Donizetti: Sancia di Castiglia
Donizetti: Ugo, conte di Parigi
Mercadante: I Normanni a Parigi (Highlights Review)
Pacini: Il convitato di pietra
1833:
1834:
1835:
Donizetti: Edgardo di Ravenswood
Donizetti: Rosmonda d’Inghilterra
1836:
Adam: Le postillon de Lonjumeau
Donizetti: L’assedio di Calais
Donizetti: Il campanello di notte
Glinka: A Life for the Tsar/Ivan Susanin
Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (1962 La Scala performance in four acts)
Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (2016 complete five acts)
1837:
1838:
Mercadante: Le due illustri rivali
1839:
Donizetti: Lucie de Lammermoor
Verdi: Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio
1840:
Donizetti: La fille du regiment
1841:
1842:
1843:
Donizetti: Dom Sebastien, roi du Portugal
Pacini: Maria, regina d’Inghilterra
Verdi: I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata
1844:
von Flotow: Alessandro Stradella
1845:
1846:
Berlioz: La damnation de Faust
1847:
1848:
Verdi: La Battaglia di Legnano
1849:
Foroni: Cristina, regina di Svezia
1850:
1851:
1852: Adam: Si j’étais roi
1854:
1855:
1857:
1858:
1859:
1860: Poniatowski: Pierre de Medicis
1861:
Wagner: Tannhäuser et le tournoi des chanteurs a la Wartburg
1862:
1863:
1864:
1865:
1866:
Smetana: Branibori v Cechach/The Brandenburgers in Bohemia
Smetana: Prodana Nevesta/The Bartered Bride
1867:
Bizet: La jolie fille de Perth
1868:
Wagner: I maestri cantori di Norimberga
1869:
1870:
1872:
Saint-Saens: La princesse jaune
1873:
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Maid of Pskov
1874:
Hallstrom: Den Bergtagna/The Bride of the Mountain King
Smetana: Dve Vdovy/The Two Widows
Smetana: Viola (Score Fragment)
1875:
Bizet: A Letter to Carmen (not a review)
Goldmark: Die Königin von Saba
1876:
1877:
Hallstrom: Vikingarna/The Vikings
1878:
Tchaikovsky: The Maid of Orleans
1879:
1880:
Erkel: Nevtelen hosok/Unnamed Heroes
1881:
Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sniegurochka/The Snow Maiden
1882:
Smetana: Tchertova Stjena/The Devils Wall
1883:
Dvorak: Dimitrij (Original Version with annotations for the Revised Version)
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina (Rimsky-Korsakov version)
1884:
Puccini: Le Villi and Le Willis
Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa (1957 Italian)
Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa (1996 Kirov)
1885:
1886:
1887:
Tchaikovsky: The Enchantress/Charodieka
1888: Lalo: Le roi d’Ys
1889:
1890:
Borodin: Prince Igor/Knaz Igor
Tchaikovsky: The Queen of Spades
1891:
1892:
Franchetti: Cristoforo Colombo
1893:
1894:
1895:
Guiraud/Saint-Saens/Dukas: Fredegonde
Lalo and Coquard: La jacquerie
1896:
1897:
1898:
Rimsky-Korsakov: Mozart and Salieri
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga
1899:
Dvorak: Cert a Kaca/The Devil and Kate
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tsar’s Bride
1900:
Fibich: Helga & Dargun from the two opera cycle Pad Arkuna/The Fall of Arkuna
20th Century:
1901:
1902:
Massenet: Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame
Rimsky-Korsakov: Kashchey the Deathless
1903:
1904:
Leoncavallo: Der Roland von Berlin
1905:
1906:
Rachmaninoff: The Miserly Knight & Francesca da Rimini
1907:
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezch and the Maiden Fevroniya
1909:
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel
1910:
Puccini: La fanciulla del West
1911:
1912:
1913:
Montemezzi: L’amore dei tre re
Schreker: Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin
1914:
Stravinsky: Le rossignol/The Nightingale
1917: Mascagni: Lodoletta
1918: Schreker: Die Gezeichneten
1919:
Paliashvili: Abesalom da Eteri & Abesalom da Eteri (2)
Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten
1920: Schreker: Der Schatzgräber
1921:
1922:
1923: Roussel: Padmâvatî
1924:
Madetoja: The Ostrobothnians/Pohjalaisia
1926:
1927: Wolf-Ferrari: Sly
1928:
Strauss: Die Agyptische Helena
1931: Magnard: Guercoeur
1932: Schreker: Der Schmied von Gent
1933: Strauss: Arabella
1935:
1937: Zillig: Das Opfer
1938: Strauss: Daphne
1945: Britten: Peter Grimes
1951: Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors
1953: Britten: Gloriana
1955: Lysenko: Taras Bulba
1957: Giuranna: Meyerling
1960: Suchon: Svatopluk
1975: Georgi Maiboroda: Yaroslav Mudriy/Yaroslav the Wise (1975)
1984: Glass: Akhnaten
1993: Reynolds: Sands of Time
2000: Albeniz: Merlin
21st Century:
2006: Lalo: Fiesque
2009: Cagnoni: Re Lear
2014: Deutscher: Cinderella
Phil's Opera World 