# Pick 5 operas outside of the TC top 100 operas



## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

It's all subjective of course, but judging by the conversations here, some of our favourite operas don't even make the TC top 100... and some don't even make the list at all. Any neglected works you think should be more widely known? I look forward to reading about some gems to discover.

Here's the list
101 Puccini...Manon Lescaut 
102 Monteverdi...Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria 
103 Strauss (Richard)...Die Frau ohne Schatten 
104 Handel...Hercules 
105 Poulenc...Dialogues des Carmelites 
106 Delibes...Lakmé 
107 Britten...Turn of the Screw 
108 Bizet - Les Pêcheurs de Perles 
109 Mussorgsky – Khovanshchina 
110 Britten - Billy Budd 
111 Handel - Rinaldo 
112 Busoni - Doktor Faust 
113 Verdi - Luisa Miller 
114 Schreker - Die Gezeichneten 
115 Prokofiev - The Fiery Angel 
116 Gluck - Alceste 
117 Handel – Theodora 
118 Rameau - Castor et Pollux 
119 Massenet – Thaïs 
120 Rameau - Les Boreades 
121 Purcell - The Fairy Queen 
122 Handel – Serse 
123 Britten - Death in Venice 
124 Donizetti - Maria Stuarda 
125 Borodin - Prince Igor 
126 Verdi - I Vespri Siciliani 
127 Verdi - Nabucco 
128 Meyerbeer - Les Huguenots 
129 Stravinsky - Le Rossignol 
130 Charpentier (Marc-Antoine) - Medée
131 Boito – Mefistofele 
132 Janacek - From the House of the Dead 
133 Rossini - Guillaume Tell 
134 Shostakovich – The Nose 
135 Mozart - Il Re Pastore 
136 Berlioz - Benvenuto Cellini 
137 Bellini - Beatrice di Tenda 
138 Prokofiev - Betrothal in a Monastery 
139 Glinka - Ruslan and Lyudmila
140 Rossini - Le Comte Ory 
141 Korngold - Die Tote Stadt 
142 Puccini - Il Tabarro 
143 Rossini - Il Viaggio a Reims 
144 Janacek - The Makropulos Case 
145 Gluck - Iphigénie en Tauride 
146 Verdi - Attila 
147 Halévy - La Juive 
148 Rimski-Korsakov – Sadko
149 Handel - Acis and Galatea 
150 Rossini - Il Turco in Italia 
151 Thomas - Hamlet 
152 Handel - Tamerlano 
153 Mozart - Mitridate Re di Ponto 
154 Donizetti - La Favorita 
155 Handel - Agrippina 
156 Massenet - Don Quichotte 
157 Janacek - Kat’a Kabanova 
158 Messiaen - Saint François d'Assise 
159 Wagner - Rienzi 
160 Strauss (Richard) - Daphne 
161 Hindemith - Cardillac 
162 Weill - Die Dreigroschenoper 
163 Tchaikovsky - Mazeppa 
164 Zandonai - Francesca da Rimini 
165 Adams - Nixon in China 
166 Glinka - A Life for the Tsar 
167 Lully - Atys 
168 Flotow - Martha 
169 Vivaldi - Ercole su'l Termodonte 
170 Handel – Rodelinda 
171 Lully - Armide 
172 Schubert - Fierrabras 
173 Handel - Admeto 
174 Previn - A Streetcar Named Desire 
175 Donizetti - Anna Bolena 
176 Rossini - Armida 
177 Ravel - L'Heure Espagnole 
178 Handel - Semele 
179 Berlioz - Béatrice et Bénédict 
180 Weill - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
181 Weber - Oberon 
182 Corigliano - The Ghosts of Versailles 
183 Stravinsky - Oedipus Rex 
184 Ponchielli - La Gioconda 
185 Rossini – Semiramide 
186 Rossini – Tancredi 
187 Verdi - I Lombardi alla prima crociata 
188 Britten - The Rape of Lucretia 
189 Britten - Owen Wingrave 
190 Henze - Boulevard Solitude 
191 Gluck – Iphigénie en Aulide 
192 Prokofiev - The Gambler 
193 Paisiello - Nina, o sia la pazza per amore 
194 Meyerbeer - L'Africaine 
195 Pergolesi - La Serva Padrona 
196 Cimarosa - Il Matrimonio Segreto 
197 Rossini - La Pietra del Paragone 
198 Rossini – La Donna del Lago 
199 Schoenberg - Erwartung 
200 Schumann - Genoveva 
201 Purcell – King Arthur 
202 Marschner - Der Vampyr 
203 Rameau - Zoroastre 
204 Charpentier (Gustave) - Louise 
205 Rimsky-Korsakov - The Tsar's Bride 
206 Giordano - Fedora 
207 Donizetti – Rita 
208 Verdi - Il Corsaro 
209 Ligeti - Le Grand Macabre 
210 Verdi's - Stiffelio
211 Cherubini – Médée 
212 Hindemith - Mathis der Maler 
213 Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia 
214 Delius - A Village Romeo and Juliet 
215 Rimsky-Korsakov - The Snow Maiden 
216 Rameau - Les Paladins 
217 Massenet – Le Cid 
218 Mozart - La Finta Giardiniera 
219 Zimmermann - Die Soldaten 
220 Rachmaninov - Aleko 
221 Enesco - Oedipe 
222 Krenek - Johnny Spielt Auf 
223 De Falla - La Vida Breve 
224 Paisello - Il barbiere di Siviglia 
225 Handel - Partenope 
226 Hasse - Cleofide 
227 Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream 
228 Nicolai - Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor 
229 Auber - Fra Diavolo 
230 Massenet – Cendrillon
231 Monteverdi – Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda 
232 Lully - Cadmus et Hermione 
233 Tchaikovsky - Iolanta 
234 Rameau - Les fêtes d'Hébé 
235 Pfitzner - Palestrina 
236 Catalani - La Wally 
237 Rossini - Ermione 
238 Glass - Akhnaten 
239 Pergolesi - Lo Frate 'nnamorato 
240 Rameau - Hyppolite et Aricie 
241 Rimski-Korsakov – The Legend of the invisible City Kitesh 
242 Martin y Soler - Il Burbero di Buon Cuore 
243 Adams - Death of Klinghoffer 
244 Puccini - Le Villi 
245 Poulenc - La Voix Humaine 
246 Mozart - Der Schauspieldirektor 
247 Massenet – Hérodiade 
248 Mussorgsky – Sorochyntsky Fair 
249 Rimski-Korsakov – May Night 
250 Glass – Satygraha 
251 Gomes - Il Guarany 
252 Cavalli - La Calisto 
253 Penderecki - The Devils of Loudun 
254 Adès - The Tempest 
255 Leoncavallo - Zazà 
256 Schreker - Der Ferne Klang 
257 Rameau - Dardanus 
258 De Falla – El retablo de Maese Pedro 
259 Rossini – Mosè in Egitto 
260 Stockhausen - Licht cycle 
261 Meyerbeer - Dinorah 
262 Gounod - Mireille 
263 Mozart - Il Sogno di Scipione 
264 Landi - Il Sant'Alessio 
265 Rossini - Elisabetta Regina d'Inghilterra 
266 Lortzing - Zar und Zimmermann 
267 Glass - Einstein on the Beach 
268 Adès - Powder Her Face 
269 Meyerbeer - Le Prophète 
270 Bellini - Il Pirata 
271 Rameau - Platée 
272 Meyerbeer – Robert Le Diable


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

So the list you posted is the 172 following the TC Top 100? We should pick from that, beyond that, or both? Where is the link to the TC Top 100 so we can see what operas not to pick?

Meanwhile, here is one that likely is not on the top 100 list:  Lodoïska


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> So the list you posted is the 172 following the TC Top 100? We should pick from that, beyond that, or both? Where is the link to the TC Top 100 so we can see what operas not to pick?


Very good question. 
:tiphat:


----------



## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

It's the third sticky post in the opera forum. Sorry I assumed everyone knew where it was.

Yes, outside of the 272 would be good as well, and I have a few suggestions as soon as I get organised. Meantime here's my 5 from the list.

105 Poulenc...Dialogues des Carmelites
_Seems that Poulenc is becoming more popular due to successful recent productions._

109 Mussorgsky - Khovanshchina
_Like Boris, but with more female voices, and lots of tunes._

125 Borodin - Prince Igor 
_Some might say for the Polovtsian Dances alone, but there's some fine music throughout._

131 Boito - Mefistofele
_One of my favourites, and I notice for others here also. How can this not be in the top 100? Some of opera's biggest most full-bodied tunes._

157 Janacek - Kat'a Kabanova
_Always a pleasure to see and listen to. I'm surprised such a regularly performed opera ranks so low._


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Limited only to 5?
131-Mefistofele (actually my #1 favorite opera)
105-Dialogues des Carmelites (in my top 5)
101-Manon Lescaut
147-La Juive
142-Il tabarro
also ran: 110-Billy Budd


----------



## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

*Szymanowski*'s _King Roger_ doesn't even make it into the top 272? Well that's not right, should be heard much more, a beautiful work. I would have mentioned *Poulenc*'s _Dialogues des Carmelites_ next but already it seems to be getting recognition so I will say his _La Voix Humaine_ which is a brilliant little monodrama. Not sure who else maybe *Cavalli*' _Statira, Principessa di Persia_, *Penderecki*'s _The Devils of Loudun_, *Enesco*'s _Oedipe_ or one of *Adams*' _Klinghoffer_, _Nixon_ or _Dr Atomic_


----------



## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

I saw La Donna del Lago at the met with DiDonato and Florez and really enjoyed it. The music was excellent, though it is possible that I liked it because the cast was so spectacular.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Don Fatale said:


> It's the third sticky post in the opera forum. Sorry I assumed everyone knew where it was.


If I had bothered to look I'd have seen it. Here is one from the list that I just received the DVD of and am excited to get to watching (but am finishing another opera DVD first):

196 Cimarosa - Il Matrimonio Segreto

Also I have this one and like it very much (in fact, this is the one I am finishing watching before I watch Matrimonio Segreto):

168 Flotow - Martha

And a few more good ones:
124 Donizetti - Maria Stuarda 
175 Donizetti - Anna Bolena 
186 Rossini - Tancredi


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Attila is on the list? well, there you go =P

in 2nd-5th place
Beatrice di Tenda>Oberon>Semiramide>Maria Stuarda

honorable mention: Rinaldo, Lucrezia Borgia, Nabucco, Ja Juive (well, from the one duet I've heard from it at least)

a few more which _didn't even make this list:_ Maid of Orleans, Maometto Secondo, Esclarmonde


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> Lucrezia Borgia


This one has grabbed my interest because I saw Mariella Devia playing Lucrezia on a You Tube video. Alas I cannot find a commercial release of that opera with Mariella.


----------



## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Florestan said:


> So the list you posted is the 172 following the TC Top 100? We should pick from that, beyond that, or both? Where is the link to the TC Top 100 so we can see what operas not to pick?
> 
> Meanwhile, here is one that likely is not on the top 100 list:  Lodoïska


It's the Top 100 that we're voting for on The 2015 TC most recommended opera CD's and DVD thread...........

One of my 'outside the top 100' is _The Lighthouse_ - a chamber opera in a prologue and one act by Sir Peter Maxwell Davis. Music and libretto by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

Sir Peter wrote this opera based on the true story of the three keepers of the Flannan Isles lighthouse who disappeared in 1990.

Story here

The prologue is the Court of Enquiry, as played by the three officers of the lightship which discovered the men were missing. Act I describes what may have happened to the lighthouse keepers.

The Lighthouse was staged by English Touring Opera in 2012 and I saw it at the Linbury Theatre (part of ROH). Sir Peter attended the performance and by sheer good fortune I was able to briefly speak to him and tell him how much I loved the opera and I got him to sign my programme. This is the first time (only time!) I'd seen an opera where the composer was still living and also the first time I'd met an opera composer. It was a night to remember.

The Royal Opera House Young Artists are performing it in October and I'll be seeing it again.


----------



## Eramirez156 (Mar 25, 2015)

Apropos to this thread is an article in the Winter 2002 issue of _Opera Quarterly_, *Forsaken Phantoms of the Opera*by Edward Affleck, link to the article below

https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/opera_quarterly/v018/18.1affleck.pdf

These 5 would all make my personal top 50 list

_*1.Errico Petrella: Jone, o L'ultimo giorno di Pompei
2.Saverio Mercadante: Il giuramento
3.Filippo Marchetti: Ruy Blas
4.Meyerbeer: Il crociato in Egitto
5.Giovanni Pacini: Saffo*_

I have recordings of four of these operas, *Jone *is the only one to which I have no recording, in the case of *Il giuramento*, I have four recordings, but chances of seeing a performance are less than slim to none.


----------



## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Thanks Eramirez156, an interesting list. I have Saffo on LP but haven't got to know it yet. Surely one of Meyerbeer's works must be worthy of a top 100 place. Wasn't he considered the most successful opera composer for part of the 19th century?


----------



## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

1. Die Frau ohne Schatten 
2. Manon Lescaut 
3. Vec Makropulos 
4. Benvenuto Cellini 
5. L'Heure Espagnole


----------



## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

Benvenuto Cellini
Il tabarro
Louise
Beatrice et Benedict
Die tote Stadt


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Only five?! Here are my five favourites from numbers 101- 272:

128 Meyerbeer - Les Huguenots
133 Rossini - Guillaume Tell 
147 Halévy - La Juive
194 Meyerbeer - L'Africaine
247 Massenet – Hérodiade

Here are the runners up:

108 Bizet - Les Pêcheurs de Perles 
154 Donizetti - La Favorite
262 Gounod – Mireille
106 Delibes...Lakmé

And here are some which have some gorgeous arias, but I haven’t heard the complete operas:

261 Meyerbeer – Dinorah
269 Meyerbeer - Le Prophète
272 Meyerbeer – Robert Le Diable
217 Massenet – Le Cid


----------



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

W Tell, one of the greatest operas ever written.
Mefistofele, one of my favorites


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

In no particular order...

Berlioz - Benvenuto Cellini
Vaughan Williams - Sir John in Love
Holst - At the Boar's Head
Nielsen - Maskarade
Gilbert & Sullivan - Yeomen of the Guard (yes, yes I know, but t is more opera than any of the G&S canon!)


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Another outside the top 272 is Donizetti's Adelia


----------



## perempe (Feb 27, 2014)

Erkel's Bánk bán
Mefistofele
... /thinking/


----------



## Loge (Oct 30, 2014)

201. Purcell - King Arthur, always digged the Cold Song.


----------



## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

Prince Igor - beautiful, grand, Russian romantic music
Maria Stuarda - beautiful, dramatic music. Love the prelude.
Lakme - very pretty tunes, set in Sri Lanka
Le Comte Ory - fun tunes, hilarious - seen the Met's production w/ Damrau, Florez, DiDonato
Rodelinda - like all Handel, great tunes, especially good with a good soprano - saw the Met's w/ Flemming


----------



## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

Haven't seen a full production of William tell or Dialogues de Carmelites, but desperately want to.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

ma7730 said:


> Maria Stuarda - beautiful, dramatic music. Love the prelude.


I really like this one especially the DVD featuring Mariella Devia as Maria Stuarda. Here is the full opera on You Tube.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

ma7730 said:


> Haven't seen a full production of William tell or Dialogues de Carmelites, but desperately want to.


I read somewhere that the full production would be about six hours.


----------



## tenorino (May 12, 2015)

_Maria Stuarda_ AND _Anna Bolena_ outside the top 100? A travesty! And _Manon Lescaut_? Inexcusable!

_Dialogues des carmélites_ is one of my favourite operas, and I'm a big fan of Rossini's _Le comte Ory_ and Mozart's _La finta giardiniera_ for their respective comedic storylines. Operas I'm not so familiar with but which I've heard are very good are Massenet's _Hérodiade_, _L'assedio di Corinto_ by Rossini and Gluck's version of _La clemenza di Tito_.


----------



## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

Florestan said:


> I really like this one especially the DVD featuring Mariella Devia as Maria Stuarda. Here is the full opera on You Tube.


Yes, that is a great production.


----------



## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

Florestan said:


> I read somewhere that the full production would be about six hours.


Really? Wow. Take that Wagner!


----------



## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Florestan said:


> I read somewhere that the full production would be about six hours.


Thinking of the recent production I saw at Welsh National Opera, 4 and a half hours was long enough!


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

ma7730 said:


> Really? Wow. Take that Wagner!


I think that included intermissions. There is a discussion on another site where they are trying to figure out just how long a full production would be.


----------



## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Don Fatale said:


> Yes, outside of the 272 would be good as well, and I have a few suggestions as soon as I get organised.


Pietro Mascagni - Iris
Franco Alfano - La leggenda di Sakuntala
Ottorino Respighi - La fiamma
Giorgio Federico Ghedini - La pulce d'oro
Vito Frazzi - Re Lear



Loge said:


> 201. Purcell - King Arthur, always digged the Cold Song.


It's excellent. I usually don't like the english language in Opera but I do love Purcell.


----------



## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

Florestan said:


> I think that included intermissions. There is a discussion on another site where they are trying to figure out just how long a full production would be.


Do you know what site? And even with intermissions, that's pretty long.


----------



## sabrina (Apr 26, 2011)

I'd include all Mozart and Rossini...but by limiting to 5 I chose:

Delibes- Lakmé
Rossini-Le comte Ory
Rossini - Il Turco in Italia
Mozart - La Finta Giardiniera
Enescu - Oedipe


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

When I read the list I didn't see this. It's a curio but I have tape and have enjoyed listening to it many times. Opera to a different rhythm.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

My five would be
Berlioz:* Benvenuto Cellini *- pure unadulterated joy
Britten: *Billy Budd* - in my view Britten's greatest after Grimes
Britten: *The Turn of the Screw* - marvelously spooky chamber opera
Donizetti:* Anna Bolena* - possibly the best of Donizetti's Tudor operas, though it needs a Callas to fully do it justice.
Verdi: *Stiffelio* - a truly interesting and actually quite modern work. Not perfect by any means, but this is Verdi on the threshold of maturity. *Rigoletto* was his next opera.


----------



## Jorge Hereth (Aug 16, 2015)

From the list above, guess I take:

108 Bizet - Les Pêcheurs de Perles
119 Massenet - Thaïs
202 Marschner - Der Vampyr
223 De Falla - La Vida Breve
251 Gomes - Il Guarany


----------



## Braddan (Aug 23, 2015)

Really hard to limit it to just five as there are quite a number of my favourites in that list and beyond but I would start with (in no particular order):

Delibes - Lakme
Poulenc - Dialogues des Carmelites
Donizetti - Maria Stuarda
Donizetti - Anna Bolena
Donizetti - Lucrezia Borgia

Yes, I know - I like Donizetti.


----------

