Who likes listening to old stories sung in foreign languages? Yes, I’m talking about opera. If you’re most people, the answer is probably, “Not me.”
For the first three centuries of its existence, operas were big business, grandiose spectacles that drew huge crowds. Large opera houses were the premodern equivalent of film studios, and musical cities like Venice and Vienna were the Hollywoods of their centuries.
Because a career in this musical field was prestigious and lucrative, many composers were ambitious to succeed there. Like Beethoven, they largely failed. A handful of figures, though, made such an impact that their works are still performed today. Here, in chronological order, are nine of the most influential opera composers.
Monteverdi
Monteverdi, circa 1630, by Bernardo Strozzi. Public Domain
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) has been overshadowed by those who came after him, but his importance in the history of music is profound. Considered the first composer of the Baroque era, he extended the use of bass instruments, combining the bass line with chord progression in a technique known as “basso continuo.” This method is evident in “L’Orfeo” (1607), the earliest surviving opera.
Monteverdi’s masterpiece takes its subject from the Greek myth of Orpheus, a musician who travels to the underworld to bring his wife back to life. Monteverdi associated particular instruments with particular characters emotions and scenes, like adding a regal (an early low-sounding organ) to the “infernal orchestra,” when Orpheus enters Hell. Monteverdi’s revolutionary approach to musical drama influenced all who came after him.
Handel
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) is most famous today for oratorios on religious themes. But in his day, his operas were the toast of London.
He composed 42 of them, and they are very long. Many, like “Julius Caesar” (“Giulio Cesare”), run over three hours. Despite their length and high level of artistic craftsmanship, though, he typically wrote them in astonishingly short periods of time. “Tamerlane” (“Tamerlano”), about the Turkish conqueror of that name, one of his longest operas, was written in only three weeks.
Handel is known for his style of “da capo arias.” This is when a melody is introduced, embellished, and then repeated. The melismas (single syllables sung across multiple notes) make for a jaw-dropping performance.
Gluck
“Gluck Playing His Clavichord,” 1775, by Joseph Duplessis. Public Domain
Like Monteverdi, Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714–1787) is not a household name. He is likely to be known only by opera afficionados. His relative obscurity, though, does not wipe away his important innovations.
Also like Monteverdi, Gluck chose Orpheus as the subject of his greatest masterpiece. In his “Orfeo and Euridice,” (“Orfeo ed Euridice”), he went for a more simplified style, rebelling against Handel’s elaborate embellishments. He reduced performances to their most essential elements, focusing on the dramatic emotions. His minimalistic reforms had a great influence on his younger contemporary Mozart.
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) vies with Beethoven as the most popular composer of all time. In the field of opera, though, there is no comparison: Music historians almost universally consider him the greatest figure in the genre, hands down. While most opera composers have one or two masterpieces, Mozart boasts seven. Like Shakespeare, and unlike anyone else on this list, he was equally a master of tragedy and comedy.
According to Operabase.com, Mozart wrote three of the top 10 most-performed operas since the website began compiling statistics in 1996. These are “Don Giovanni,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” and “The Magic Flute.” The latter title holds the number two spot with 21,295 performances (just behind Verdi’s “La Traviata”). Many, however, consider “Figaro” to be the “most perfect opera ever written.”
And when ranked by the number of productions rather than performances, Mozart is far and away number one, with more than 34,000.
Rossini
A portrait of the composer Gioachino Antonio Rossini (1792–1868), circa 1830. Found in the Collection of Museo Teatrale alla Scala. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) wrote 39 operas. His biggest hit, “The Barber of Seville,” is the ninth most-performed opera of modern times. It was a commercial and critical success in Rossini’s lifetime, earning even the praise of the notoriously irascible Beethoven.
Rossini recorded the German composer’s opinion after traveling to his home, “a sort of attic terribly disordered and dirty,” where the rain was “pouring down in streams” through the roof. There, he found a man sitting in “indefinable sadness.” Beethoven addressed Rossini in a soft voice: “Ah, Rossini, you, the composer of the ‘Barbiere di Seviglia’? … It will be played so long as Italian opera will exist.” He then admonished Rossini to never write anything but opera buffa (comic opera), as “you would be doing violence to your destiny.”
Rossini became so wealthy from his opera buffas that he retired before the age of 40, living for another four decades.
Wagner
Richard Wagner (1813–1883) became famous for his musical dramas that retold German myths. In works like his four-part “Ring Cycle,” he eliminated the distinction between recitative and aria, creating continuous music. His use of the leitmotif, or associating musical phrases with specific characters and plot points, has become standard fare in films today.
Despite his controversial political views, Wagner remains the fifth-most performed opera composer, with more than 27,000 performances of his works recorded.
Bizet
Georges Bizet photographed by Etienne Carjat (1875). Public Domain
Georges Bizet (1838–1875) led a tragically short life. He is most famous for one work, but, through it, he achieved immortality. “Carmen” (1875) is the third-most performed opera in modern times, behind Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” Bizet’s depiction of working-class life marked a more realistic style that departed from operatic tradition.
Verdi
If anyone can contend with Mozart’s dominance in opera, it is Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901). Like Mozart, many of his works are still performed today. The most popular of these, “La Traviata,” has been played more often than any other opera in modern times. With 21,389 performances, it edges in just ahead of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” “Rigoletto” also makes the top 10 list, coming in at number 10.
In terms of performances, Verdi and Mozart are neck and neck, not only in terms of individual works, but overall. Where Mozart’s operas have been produced almost 92,000 times (in roughly the past 30 years), Verdi’s have been produced more than 90,000 times. And the number three spot? Giacomo Puccini, sitting at a (relatively) humble 70,000 performances.
Puccini
Puccini (1858–1924) might be the last great opera composer. Though many operas have been written since his death, the genre has lost its popular appeal. One reason for this is that modern opera composers, beholden to experimental techniques, geared towards a niche audience of educated elites, no longer write memorable melodies. (Try humming something from John Adams’ “Nixon in China,” and you’ll see what I mean.)
Puccini’s operas could not be further from this trend. To put a spin on a Forest Gump motto, they are like boxes of chocolates and you know (more or less) what you’re going to get. They are chock- full of arias with exquisite, beautiful melodies that linger in the ear long after the performance is over. Despite their richness, the listener never feels sated.
Ranked in terms of number of works, Puccini is tied with Mozart in popularity. Of the top 10 most played titles, he has three: “La Bohème,” “Tosca,” and “Madame Butterfly” (“Madama Butterfly.”)
Sondra Radvanovsky sings arias from Puccini's operas, in "Sondra Radvanovsky: The Puccini Heroines." Robert Kusel
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Andrew Benson Brown
Author
Andrew Benson Brown is a Missouri-based poet, journalist, and writing coach. He is an editor at Bard Owl Publishing and Communications and the author of “Legends of Liberty,” an epic poem about the American Revolution. For more information, visit Apollogist.wordpress.com.
