# Standard and Popular Operas - 1880s version



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

In Oliver Ditson Co.'s libretto of Goldmark's _Königin von Saba_, I came across a list of the operas that would have been familiar to an American opera-going public in the late 19th century.

No publication date is given, but I suspect the libretto was published in the mid-1880s; Goldmark's opera was the most popular opera in New York of the 1885-86 season. Earliest it can have been published is 1878 (_HMS Pinafore_).

The list includes both "Editions of the Standard and Popular Operas - Complete, with the Music, Words, and Piano Accompaniment" and "Librettos of the Standard and Popular Operas".

Some operas are still firmly in the repertoire; some "popular" operas "known the world over" are now almost totally forgotten; and other then-popular works by composers known today are now rare (e.g. _Maria di Rohan _ and _Linda di Chamounix_ for Donizetti).

The notable absences for the time are any Massenet operas and anything Russian. (_Boris_ didn't hit the West until 1908 in Paris.)

Our ancestors seem to have liked "pretty", "pleasing" and "sweet" music more than we do.

The late 19th century standards:

Auber
•	Crown Diamonds = Les diamants de la couronne
•	Fra Diavolo
•	Masaniello = La muette de Portici

Audran
•	Gillette = Gillette de Narbonne. (Light Modern Opera. French school.)
•	Love's Vow = Serment d'amour. (Light Modern Opera.)
•	Mascotte. (One of the greatest successes of Modern Comic Opera.)
•	Olivette = Les noces d'Olivette. (Comic Light Opera.)

Balfe
•	Bohemian Girl. (Known the world over.)
•	Rose of Castile

Beethoven
•	Fidelio

Bellini
•	Capuletti e Montecchi [a.k.a. Romeo and Juliet]
•	Norma
•	Pirata
•	Puritani
•	Sonnambula

Bernicat & Messenger
•	Fantine. (Popular Modern Light Opera. Music and plot the same as "Victor the Blue Stocking.")

Bizet
•	Carmen. (Grand Opera. Spanish in character.)

Boieldieu
•	Dame blanche

Boito
•	Mefistofele. (Grand Opera.)

Cagnoni
•	Don Bucefalo

Cellier
•	The Spectre Knight. (A popular Modern Light Opera.)

Delibes
•	Lakmé. (Delibes' most pretentious work.)

Donizetti
•	Anna Bolena
•	Don Pasquale
•	Elisire d'amore
•	Favorita
•	Fille du regiment
•	Linda di Chamounix
•	Lucia di Lammermoor
•	Lucrezia Borgia. (Grand Opera. Old standard favorite.)
•	Maria di Rohan
•	Martiri (Polluto)

Elehberg
•	Doctor of Alcantara. (Immensely popular.)
•	Two Cadis. (Comic Opera.)

Flotow
•	Martha. (One of the standard Operas.)
•	Ombra
•	Stradella. (One of the prettiest of the standard Operas.)

Goldmark
•	The Queen of Sheba = Königin von Saba

Gounod
•	Faust. (Gounod's most popular work.)
•	Mirella = Mireille
•	Romeo and Juliet = Roméo & Juliette

Grisart
•	Infanta's Dolls = Les poupées de l'infante. (Light Opera.)

Halévy
•	Juive

Hérold
•	Field of Honor. (Pré aux clercs.) (Hérold. French Comic Opera.)
•	Zampa

Hervé
•	Fleur de thé

Lavallee
•	T.I.Q. (The Indian Question). (Comic Opera.)
•	The Widow. (Comic Opera.)

Lecocq
•	Fille du Madame Angot
•	Giroflé-Girofla
•	Heart and Hand = Le cœur et la main. (Light Modern Opera, in French Style.)
•	Little Duke = Le petit duc. (Light Modern Comic Opera.)
•	Manola. (Light Modern Opera.)

Mercadante
•	Giuramento

Meyerbeer
•	Africaine.
•	Dinorah (Pardon de Ploërmel). (Grand Opera. German in character.)
•	Etoile du nord
•	Huguenots
•	Prophète
•	Robert le Diable

Mozart
•	Don Giovanni
•	Flauto magico [=Zauberflöte]
•	Marriage of Figaro. (One of the old favorites.)

Offenbach
•	Barbe bleue
•	Belle Hélène
•	Geneviève de Brabant
•	Grand duchesse
•	Madame Favart. (One of the author's most famous operas bouffe.)
•	Orpheus
•	Périchole

Pacini
•	Saffo

Petrella
•	Carnival of Venice
•	Ione

Planquette
•	Belles of Corneville (Chimes of Normandy) = Les cloches de Corneville. (Bright and sparkling music in the French style.)

Ponchielli
•	Giaconda

Pratt
•	Zenobia. (Grand Opera.)

Ricci
•	Crispino e la Comare

Rossini
•	Barbiere di Siviglia
•	Cenerentola
•	Gazza ladra
•	Othello
•	Semiramide
•	William Tell

Schubert
•	Conspirators = Die Verschworenen. (Schubert's pleasing music.)

Solomon
•	Billee Taylor. (Comic Opera, after the manner of Pinafore.)

Sullivan
•	Cox and Box. (Comic Operetta for three male voices.)
•	Pinafore. (Known the world over.)
•	The Sorcerer. (Popular Comic Operetta.)

Von Suppe.
•	Boccaccio. (Popular Comic Opera.)
•	Fatinitza. (Popular Modern Light Opera.)
•	Lovely Galatea = Die schöne Galathee. (Light Modern Opera.)

Thomas
•	Mignon. (One of the sweetest of the Grand Operas.)

Varney
•	The Musketeers = Les mousquetaires au couvent. (Light Modern Comic Opera.)

Verdi
•	Aida (Grand Opera. Verdi's greatest work.)
•	Don Carlos
•	Ernani
•	Lombardi
•	Luisa Miller
•	Masked Ball = Un ballo in maschera
•	Rigoletto
•	Sicilian Vespers
•	Trovatore. (The old favorite.)
•	Traviata

Wagner
•	Flying Dutchman
•	Götterdämmerung
•	Lohengrin
•	Meistersinger
•	Siegfried
•	Tannhäuser
•	Walküre

Wallace
•	Lurline
•	Maritana. (Standard Opera. Very popular.)

Weber
•	Der Freyschutz
•	Preciosa. (Old standard favorite.)


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

Thank you for the list. I missed many operas on the list.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bruckner Anton said:


> Thank you for the list. I missed many operas on the list.


Which ones do you miss?


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Sad to think of the forgotten treasures in the opera world. Would love to see and hear many of thes.

For those of us always on the hunt for a rarity to see, a lot of those do still crop up, particularly for Donizetti. I saw a Rome production of Linda di Chamounix last year.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

It's fascinating list, thanks for posting.



SimonTemplar said:


> Elehberg
> •	Doctor of Alcantara. (Immensely popular.)
> •	Two Cadis. (Comic Opera.)


I googled for this, and found that the composer's name is actually Julius Eichberg. He worked in the USA, which may have affected his popularity there.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Worth saying that since then many new operas have come to existence so some have to be pushed out from the repertoire to make place note this was before both Puccini and Richard Strauss and also some operas that were obscure have come back there is no Händel or Gluck on the list.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Sloe said:


> Worth saying that since then many new operas have come to existence so some have to be pushed out from the repertoire to make place note this was before both Puccini and Richard Strauss and also some operas that were obscure have come back there is no Händel or Gluck on the list.


But it also suggests there may be a lot of good operas outside those we know today.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Art Rock said:


> It's fascinating list, thanks for posting.
> 
> I googled for this, and found that the composer's name is actually Julius Eichberg. He worked in the USA, which may have affected his popularity there.


Interesting; thanks forvthis!


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

SimonTemplar said:


> But it also suggests there may be a lot of good operas outside those we know today.


If course and some may come back and some that are popular now may fade from the repertoire. Maybe even new operas can be in the standard repertoire.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I have heard of about 50 operas on that list, but am familiar with only about 20.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> I have heard of about 50 operas on that list, but am familiar with only about 20.


And expending like toady with the Bohemian girl .


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Great opera list by Simon Templer. He was a saint to post it.  I was somewhat aggrieved that he didn't include some of the marvelous comic operas of Gilbert & Sullivan. What they wrote weren't exactly Broadway musicals - surely far closer to classical than that - and I'm convinced these highly witty and entertaining COs will continue to delight. In fact, I'm listening to The Makado as I drive my imaginary Volvo P1800-series in for a tuneup.  In any event, thanks again to Mr. Templar... and apologies for the rather predictable humor.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Pugg said:


> And expending like toady with the Bohemian girl .


And that one found in a book originally published in 1913, so close to Simon's late 19C listing.

I once knew an Arlene and now I find this opera (Bohemian Girl) with an Arlene in it. Never heard the name otherwise. (EDIT, nope, take that back, there is an Arlene in Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" song.)


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Larkenfield said:


> Great opera list by Simon Templer. He was a saint to post it.  I was somewhat aggrieved that he didn't include some of the marvelous comic operas of Gilbert & Sullivan. What they wrote weren't exactly Broadway musicals - surely far closer to classical than that - and I'm convinced these highly witty and entertaining COs will continue to delight. In fact, I'm listening to The Makado as I drive my imaginary Volvo P1800-series in for a tuneup.  In any event, thanks again to Mr. Templar... and apologies for the rather predictable humor.


Thanks to the Saint? 

No need to raise a quizzical eyebrow! I'm a G&S fan (am I alone in liking _The Grand Duke_ and _Princess Ida_ more than _Pinafore_?), so would have liked to include more. The catalogue only listed _The Sorcerer_ and _Pinafore_, both of which are on the list.


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