List of historical opera characters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander the Great who appears as a character in over seventy operas, including two by George Frideric Handel

This is a list of historical figures who have been characters in opera or operetta.

Historical accuracy in such works has often been subject to the imperatives of dramatic presentation. Consequently, in many cases:

  • historical characters appear alongside fictional characters
  • historical characters who never met, or whose lives did not even overlap, appear on stage together
  • historical events depicted are transported to earlier or later times or to different places
  • historical people are seen participating in entirely fictional events, or vice versa
  • the actions of historical people are attributed to other persons

For the purposes of this list, Biblical characters are generally taken to be fictional, unless there is clear evidence of their historicity.

Operas appear in bold when the historical figure is also the title role.

Where a character appears in more than opera, the entries are sorted by composer.

List of historical figures[]

A[]

Abdisho IV Maron, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church

  • Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina (as Abdisu)

Peter Abelard, French priest, scholar, theologian

  • Peter Tahourdin: Héloise and Abelard
  • Charles Wilson: Héloise and Abelard

John Quincy Adams, American President

Adelaide of Aquitaine, queen consort of France by marriage to Hugh Capet

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Ugo, conte di Parigi

Gabriele Adorno, fifth Doge of Genoa

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

Flavius Aetius, Roman general

  • Giuseppe Gazzaniga: Ezio
  • George Frideric Handel: Ezio
  • Gaetano Latilla: Ezio
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Attila

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German alchemist, writer

  • Sergei Prokofiev: The Fiery Angel (as Agrippa of Nettesheim)

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Roman statesman and general

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Roman consul (32 BC)

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (as Enobarbus)

Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt

  • Philip Glass: Akhnaten

3rd Duke of Alba, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands

  • Gaetano Donizetti, completed by Matteo Salvi: Le duc d'Albe
  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Albert of Mainz, Elector and Archbishop of Mainz

  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler (as Albrecht von Brandenburg)

Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut

  • Jonathan Dove: Man on the Moon

Alexander the Great, King of Macedon

  • Girolamo Abos: Alessandro nelle Indie
  • George Frideric Handel: Alessandro
  • George Frideric Handel: Poro
  • José de Nebra: No todo indicio es verdad y Alexandro en Asia
  • Giovanni Pacini: Alessandro nelle Indie

(He appears in about 70 other operas set to the same text by Metastasio as used by Pacini, including one by Leonardo Vinci.)

Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome

  • George Frideric Handel: Alessandro Severo

Tsar Alexander I of Russia

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace (silent role)

Brigadier General Edward Porter Alexander, American military commander

  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, consort of Tsar Nicholas II

  • Deborah Drattell: Nicholas and Alexandra

Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia, son of Peter the Great

Saint Alexius of Rome

  • Stefano Landi: Il Sant'Alessio (1631; the first opera written on an historical subject)

Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, husband of Lucrezia Borgia

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia

Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Torquato Tasso

King Alfonso XI of Castile

  • Gaetano Donizetti: La favorite

King Alfred the Great, legendary Anglo-Saxon king

Dante Alighieri: see Dante

Almanzor (Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir), de facto ruler of al-Andalus

Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador

Amalasuntha, Queen of the Ostrogoths

Anacreon, Greek lyric poet

Jacob Johan Anckarström, Swedish military officer, assassin of Gustav III

  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Tommaso Aniello: see Masaniello

Anne of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Rome and Bavaria

Queen Anne of Great Britain

  • Friedrich von Flotow: Martha (silent role)

Queen Anne (Boleyn), second consort of Henry VIII of England

Queen Anne (Neville), consort of Richard III of England

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

Saint Anthony the Great

Susan B. Anthony, American women's rights activist

Antiochus I Soter, King of the Seleucid Empire

Rodrigo Ponce de León, 4th Duke of Arcos, Spanish grandee, Viceroy of Naples

Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, British socialite and sexual celebrity

Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, Finnish-Swedish diplomat, possible lover of Gustav III of Sweden

  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III

Arminius, Germanic chieftain

  • George Frideric Handel: Arminio

Edwin H. Armstrong, American radio pioneer, inventor of FM radio transmission

  • Evan Hause: The Birth and Theft of Television

Artabanus of Persia, political figure

  • Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes

King Artaxerxes I of Persia

  • Girolamo Abos: Artaserse
  • Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes
  • Antonio Sacchini: Artaserse

(He appears in over 40 other operas set to the same text from Metastasio's libretto Artaserse)

King Arthur, legendary king of Britain

  • Isaac Albéniz: Merlin
  • Grażyna Bacewicz: The Adventure of King Arthur
  • Ernest Chausson: Le roi Arthus
  • Henry Purcell: King Arthur
  • Amadeu Vives i Roig: Artús
  • Max Vogrich: King Arthur

Chester A. Arthur, American President

Ulrica Arfvidsson, Swedish fortune-teller

  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer

  • Johann Joseph Abert: Astorga

Atahualpa, Inca sovereign emperor

  • Iain Hamilton: The Royal Hunt of the Sun

Attila the Hun

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Attila

Atys, son of King Croesus of Lydia

  • Reinhard Keiser: Croesus

Caesar Augustus, Roman Emperor

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (as Octavius Caesar)

Aurelian, Emperor of Rome

  • Gioachino Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira

Pharaoh Ay of Egypt

  • Philip Glass: Akhnaten

B[]

Francis Bacon, Irish painter

Cardinal Maffeo Barberini: see Pope Urban VIII

Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian prince and general

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Brigitte Bardot, French actress

Pyotr Fyodorovich Basmanov, Russian boyar

Daisy Bates, Irish-Australian indigenous welfare worker and anthropologist

Bayezid I "The Thunderbolt", Ottoman Sultan

  • George Frideric Handel: Tamerlano (as Bajazet)
  • Antonio Vivaldi: Bajazet

Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright

  • John Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles

Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury

  • Ildebrando Pizzetti: Assassinio nella cattedrale

Belisarius, Byzantine general

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Belisario

Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Belshazzar, Prince of Babylon

  • Gioachino Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia (as Baldassare, King of Assyria)

Olga Benário Prestes, German-Brazilian communist militant

Levin August, Count von Bennigsen, German general

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Queen Berenice III of Egypt

  • George Frideric Handel: Berenice

Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Marshal of France

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States

Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany

Harman Blennerhassett, Irish-American lawyer

Blondel de Nesle, French troubador

Boabdil: see Muhammad XII of Granada

Francisco de Bobadilla, Spanish colonial administrator

  • Alberto Franchetti: Cristoforo Colombo

Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer, poet

Simone Boccanegra, first Doge of Genoa

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford, brother of Anne Boleyn

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena (as Rochefort)

Simón Bolívar, South American revolutionary

Caroline Bonaparte, Queen Consort of Naples and Sicily, sister of Napoleon
Pauline Bonaparte, Princess of France, sister of Napoleon

  • Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic

Lizzie Borden, American celebrity and possible axe-murderer

  • Thomas Albert: Lizbeth
  • Jack Beeson: Lizzie Borden

Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer

Saint Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía, Spanish Superior-General of the Jesuits

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia

Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal

  • Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina

Đurađ Branković, Serbian despot

Prince Braslav, Duke of Lower Pannonia

Ed Broadbent, Canadian politician

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Gian Francesco Brogni, Italian cardinal

John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton, British memoirist and politician

John Brown, Sergeant of the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry Volunteer Militia

  • Walter Schumann: John Brown's Body

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Flemish painter

  • Jean Absil: Pierre Breughel l'Ancien

Antonín Brus z Mohelnice, Archbishop of Prague

  • Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina (as Anton Brus von Müglitz)

Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar

William Jennings Bryan, American Secretary of State, presidential candidate

Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1st creation)

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (2nd creation), English poet, statesman

  • Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne

Gautama Buddha

  • Max Vogrich: Buddha

Johannes Bureus, Swedish scholar

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman, adviser to Elizabeth I

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (as Lord Guglielmo Cecil)

Aaron Burr, third Vice President of the United States

Anne Isabella Byron, Baroness Byron, wife of Lord Byron

Lord Byron, English poet

C[]

Cacamatzin, Aztec king

  • Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Alessandro Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo), Italian adventurer and imposter

Maria Callas, American-Greek opera singer

  • Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet

Kim Campbell, Prime Minister of Canada

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, British socialite

Lorenzo Campeggio, Cardinal Protector of England

Canek, Aztec High Priest

Wolfgang Capito, German religious reformer

  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler

Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician and physician

  • Mary Finsterer: Biographica (2017)

Carlos, Prince of Asturias, son of Philip II of Spain

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

Julian Carlton, American murderer of Mamah Cheney, mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright

  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor

Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and libertine

Servilius Casca, co-assassin of Julius Caesar
Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar

Fidel Castro, Cuban leader

Inês de Castro, lover and lawful wife of King Peter I of Portugal

  • : Inés de Castro
  • James MacMillan: Ines de Castro
  • Thomas Pasatieri: Ines de Castro
  • Giuseppe Persiani: Ines de Castro
  • Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli: Ines de Castro

Sir William Catesby

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

Empress Catherine I of Russia

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Il falegname di Livonia, o Pietro il grande, czar delle Russie
  • André Grétry: Pierre le Grand

Empress Catherine II "The Great" of Russia

Queen Catherine (of Aragon), first wife of Henry VIII of England

Queen Catherine (Parr), sixth and last wife of Henry VIII

  • Anthony Collins: Catherine Parr

Pierre Cauchon, French bishop

Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt, French general

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace (silent role)

Guido Cavalcanti, Florentine poet

  • Ezra Pound and George Antheil: Cavalcanti

Arthur Cecil, English actor, theatre manager

Cecily Neville, Duchess of York

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

Benvenuto Cellini, Italian sculptor, goldsmith, artisan

Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman, protagonist of a famous murder trial

  • Havergal Brian: The Cenci (1951–52)
  • Alberto Ginastera: Beatrix Cenci
  • Berthold Goldschmidt: Beatrice Cenci
  • Alessandro Londei e Brunella Caronti: Beatrice Cenci (2006)
  • James Rolfe: Beatrice Chancy

Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish writer

  • Rafael Aceves y Lozano: El manco de Lepanto
  • Jacinto Guerrero: El huésped del sevillano, zarzuela (Cervantes appears as "el huésped")

Lindy Chamberlain and Michael Chamberlain, Australian parents wrongly convicted of the murder of their daughter Azaria

Charles Chaplin, British actor

  • Salvador Bacarisse: Charlot

Charlemagne, King of the Franks

  • Vincenzo Manfredini: Carlo Magno
  • Franz Schubert: Fierrabras
  • Carl Maria von Weber: Oberon

King Charles II of England

  • Sir George Alexander Macfarren: King Charles II
  • Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne

King Charles II of Spain

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Ernani
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

King Charles VI of France

King Charles VII of France

King Charles XI of Sweden

  • Fredrik Pacius: Kung Karls jakt

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy

Charles Martel, Duke and Prince of the Franks

Charmian, servant to Cleopatra

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
  • Jules Massenet: Cléopâtre

Thomas Chatterton, English poet and forger

  • Ruggero Leoncavallo: Chatterton
  • Matthias Pintscher: Thomas Chatterton
  • Gerard Victory: Chatterton

Geoffrey Chaucer, English author, poet, philosopher, courtier and diplomat

Danny Chen, American army private who committed suicide in Afghanistan

  • Huang Ruo: An American Soldier

Edwin Cheney, American electrical engineer
Mamah Cheney, wife of Edwin Cheney, murdered mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright

  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

André Chénier, French journalist

Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Lieutenant of the Tower of London

  • Gilbert and Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard

Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French composer

  • Giacomo Orefice: Chopin (very loosely based on his life; all the other characters are fictional)

Chou En-lai: see Zhou Enlai

Jean Chrétien, Canadian Prime Minister

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Christina, Queen of Sweden

Saint Christopher, revered but legendary saint

Tillius Cimber, co-assassin of Julius Caesar

Helvius Cinna, Roman poet

Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Roman consul

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Lucio Silla

Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, French royal favourite of Louis XIII

  • Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

Emperor Claudius of Rome

  • George Frideric Handel: Agrippina

Cleitus the Black, Macedonian soldier

  • George Frideric Handel: Alessandro, (as Clito)

Pope Clement VII

  • Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Cleopatra VII, Pharaoh of Egypt

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
  • Domenico Cimarosa: La Cleopatra
  • Carl Heinrich Graun: Cesare e Cleopatra
  • Louis Gruenberg: Antony and Cleopatra
  • Henry Kimball Hadley: Cleopatra's Night
  • George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto)
  • Jules Massenet: Cléopâtre
  • Felip Pedrell: Cléopâtre

Henry Clifford, 10th Baron de Clifford, English military commander

Bill Clinton, US President

  • :

Hillary Clinton, American First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State

Olivier de Clisson, Breton soldier

Cloelia, early Roman figure, possibly legendary

  • Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Robert Coates, Canadian politician

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Howell Cobb, American political figure

  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

Walter Cocking, dean at the University of Georgia, the focus of the "Cocking affair"

  • Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege

Horatius Cocles, Roman military officer

  • Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Roman consul, husband of Lucretia

  • Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia

Stefano Colonna (1265–1348), Roman political figure

  • Richard Wagner: Rienzi

Christopher Columbus, Genoese explorer of the New World

  • Leonardo Balada:
  • Leonardo Balada:
  • Ramon Carnicer: Cristoforo Colombo
  • Manuel de Falla: Atlántida
  • Alberto Franchetti: Cristoforo Colombo
  • Philip Glass: The Voyage
  • Darius Milhaud: Christophe Colomb

Anthony Comstock, American morals campaigner

Emperor Constantine I "The Great" of Rome

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish scientist

  • Claude Vivier: Kopernikus

Charlotte Corday, French Girondin revolutionary

Saint Corentin of Quimper, Breton patron saint of seafood

Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, legendary Roman leader

  • Francesco Cavalli: Coriolano

Catherine Cornaro, consort of James II of Cyprus

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro
  • Fromental Halévy: La reine de Chypre
  • Franz Lachner: Caterina Cornaro

Giorgio Cornaro, Italian nobleman, father of Catherine Cornaro

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro (as Andrea Cornaro)

Jeronimus Cornelisz, Dutch apothecary and merchant

  • Richard Mills: Batavia

Hernán Cortés, Spanish conquistador

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury

Marcus Licinius Crassus, Roman general and politician

Flavius Julius Crispus, Caesar of the Roman Empire

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

Croesus, King of Lydia

  • Reinhard Keiser: Croesus

Oliver Cromwell, English Puritan leader

  • Salvatore Agnelli: Cromwell

Cuauhtémoc, Aztec king

Sir Henry Cuffe, English politician

Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist and duellist

  • Franco Alfano: Cyrano de Bergerac
  • Walter Damrosch: Cyrano
  • David DiChiera, orch. Mark Flint: Cyrano
  • Eino Tamberg: Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrus the Great, King of Persia

  • Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini: Ciro in Armenia
  • Francesco Cavalli: Ciro
  • Reinhard Keiser: Croesus
  • Gioachino Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia

D[]

Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter

, Czech knight

Dante Alighieri, Italian poet

  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini
  • Ambroise Thomas: Françoise de Rimini
  • Giacomo Puccini: Gianni Schicchi

Georges Danton, French revolutionary figure

  • John Eaton: Danton and Robespierre
  • Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod

Jacques d'Arc, French farmer, father of Joan of Arc

King Darius III of Persia

Sir William Davenant, English poet and playwright

  • Gaspare Spontini: Milton

Louis-Nicolas Davout, Marshal of France

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

John Dee, British alchemist, astrologer, royal adviser

  • Rufus Norris and Damon Albarn: Dr Dee: An English Opera (non-singing role)

Gotse Delchev, Macedonian revolutionary figure

  • Kiril Makedonski: Goce

Marion Delorme, French courtesan

  • Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Camille Desmoulins, French revolutionary journalist, politician

  • Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod

Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Spanish conquistador

  • Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Jimena Díaz, wife of El Cid, ruler of Valencia

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, "El Cid"

Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian Communist leader

Emperor Diocletian of Rome

  • Henry Purcell: Dioclesian

Tsar Dmitri Ioannovich of Russia, the so-called "False Dmitriy I"

Dmitry Donskoy, Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Vladimir

Dobrynya Nikitich, legendary Kievan bogatyr

Publius Cornelius Dolabella, Roman general

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

Saint Dominic, Domingo de Guzman, founder of the Dominicans

Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, English writer, lover of Oscar Wilde

  • : Oscar (non-singing role)

James Douglas, Lord of Douglas, Scots soldier, known as the "Black Douglas"

  • Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)

Frederick Douglass, African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman

György Dózsa, Hungarian leader of peasant revolt

Sir Francis Drake, English adventurer, pirate, politician

John Dryden, English poet

King Duncan I of Scotland

  • Ernest Bloch: Macbeth
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth

E[]

Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Éboli, Spanish aristocrat

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

Nelson Eddy, American tenor, actor

King Edward II of England

  • Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)

King Edward III of England

King Edward IV of England
King Edward V of England (as Prince Edward)

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

King Edward VI of England

  • : The Prince and the Pauper (2013)[2]

Adolf Eichmann, German Nazi SS Head

Albert Einstein, German-American scientist

  • Paul Dessau: Einstein
  • Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach

Emperor Elagabalus of Rome (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus)

  • : Eliogabalo
  • Francesco Cavalli: Eliogabalo

Eleanor of Austria, Queen Consort of Portugal and France

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Eleanor of Guzman, mistress of King Alfonso XI of Castile and mother of Henry II

  • Gaetano Donizetti: La favorite (as Leonor de Guzmán)

Elisabeth, Queen of Bohemia

Elisabeth Farnese, Queen Consort to Philip V of Spain

  • John Barnett: Farinelli

Elisabeth of Valois, daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici, wife of Philip II of Spain

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

Elisiv of Kiev

Queen Elizabeth I of Castile: see Queen Isabella I of Castile

Queen Elizabeth I of England (see also Category:Operas about Elizabeth I)

  • Thomas Arne: Eliza (she does not appear as a character as such, but the opera is named for her)
  • Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Il castello di Kenilworth
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
  • Edward German: Merrie England
  • Gioachino Rossini: Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra

Queen Elizabeth (Woodville), consort of King Edward IV of England

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

Fanny Elssler, Austrian ballerina

  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Ninon de l'Enclos, French courtesan

  • Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Enzio of Sardinia, king of Sardinia

  • Johann Joseph Abert: König Enzio and Enzio von Hohenstaufen (2nd version)

Louise d'Épinay, French diarist, memoirist

  • Reynaldo Hahn: Mozart (musical comedy)

Erasistratus, Greek anatomist, physician

King Eric V of Denmark

José de Espronceda, Spanish poet

  • Federico Moreno Torroba: El poeta

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Elizabethan courtier and royal favourite

  • Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
  • Edward German: Merrie England

Frances, Countess of Essex, English noblewoman

Eufrosinia, daughter of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Prince of Halych

  • Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor (as Yaroslavna)

F[]

Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Marino Faliero

Farinelli, Italian castrato singer

  • Daniel Auber: La part du diable (or Carlo Broschi) (as Carlo Broschi)
  • John Barnett: Farinelli

Philo Farnsworth, American television pioneer

  • Evan Hause: The Birth and Theft of Television

Fausta Flavia Maxima, Empress of Rome, second wife of Constantine the Great

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist

  • Jacques Offenbach: Madame Favart

Marie Favart, French opera singer, actress

  • Jacques Offenbach: Madame Favart

Dianne Feinstein, American politician

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

King Ferdinand I of León and Castile

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

  • Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt

King Ferdinand II of Aragon (and Ferdinand V of Castile)

  • Giuseppe Apolloni: L'ebreo
  • Leonardo Balada:
  • Leonardo Balada:
  • Darius Milhaud: Christophe Colomb

King Ferdinand VI of Spain

  • Daniel Auber: La part du diable (or Carlo Broschi)

Roger de Flor, German-born soldier serving Aragon kings

Errol Flynn, Australian-American film actor

  • Judith Bingham: Flynn

James Forrestal, US Secretary of Defense

  • Evan Hause: Nightingale: The Last Days of James Forrestal

Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice

  • Giuseppe Verdi: I due Foscari

Joseph Fouché, Duke of Otranto

Francesca da Rimini, contemporary and literary subject of Dante

  • Emil Ábrányi: Paola és Francesca
  • : Francesca o El infierno de los enamorados
  • Emanuele Borgatta: Francesca da Rimini
  • Paolo Carlini: Francesca da Rimini
  • Fournier-Gorre: Francesca da Rimini
  • Pietro Generali: Francesca da Rimini
  • Hermann Goetz: Francesca da Rimini
  • Franco Leoni: Francesca da Rimini
  • Gioacchino Maglioni: Francesca da Rimini
  • Luigi Mancinelli: Paolo e Francesca
  • Saverio Mercadante: Francesca da Rimini
  • Francesco Morlacchi: Francesca da Rimini
  • Eugene Nordal: Francesca da Rimini
  • Salvatore Papparlado: Francesca da Rimini
  • Gaetano Quilici: Francesca da Rimini
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini (as Francesca Malatesta)
  • Giuseppe Staffa: Francesca da Rimini
  • Feliciano Strepponi: Francesca da Rimini
  • Antonio Tamburini: Francesca da Rimini
  • Ambroise Thomas: Françoise de Rimini
  • Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini

Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans

King Francis I of France

Anne Frank, Dutch diarist

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria

  • Ralph Benatzky, Robert Stolz and Bruno Granichstaedten: The White Horse Inn

John Allen Fraser, Canadian politician

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Fredegund, Merovingian Queen Consort

Frederick I "Barbarossa", Holy Roman Emperor

  • Giuseppe Verdi: La battaglia di Legnano

King Frederick II "The Great" of Prussia

  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer: Ein Feldlager in Schlesien (he does not appear on stage, but is heard playing the flute in the background)

Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg

  • Hans Werner Henze: Der Prinz von Homburg

Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg

  • Hans Werner Henze: Der Prinz von Homburg

Friedrich Friesen, German gymnast and soldier

Jean Froissart, French chronicler

Fruela I of Asturias, Fruela(or Froila) the Cruel, King of Asturias from 757 until his assassination in 768

  • Franz Schubert: Alfonso und Estrella

Georg von Frundsberg, South German knight

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Tsar Fyodor II of Russia, son of Boris Godunov

  • Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

G[]

Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist

Vasily Vasilyevich Galitzine, Russian statesman

  • Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina

Galla Placidia, Roman regent, daughter of Emperor Theodosius I

  • : Gal·la Placídia (1913)

Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer

Count Peter Gamba, associate of Lord Byron

Mahatma Gandhi, Indian freedom advocate

  • Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish poet and soldier

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian freedom fighter

  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down

Margaret "Peggy" Garner, American slave who killed her own daughter rather than allow the child to be returned to slavery

  • Richard Danielpour: Margaret Garner

Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect

  • Joan Guinjoan: Gaudí

Paul Gauguin, French painter

Artemisia Gentileschi, Florentine painter

  • Laura Schwendinger: Artemisia (2019)

King George III of the United Kingdom

Priscilla German Reed, English singer and actress
Thomas German Reed, English composer and theatre manager

Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer and murderer

  • Marc-André Dalbavie: Gesualdo (2010)
  • Francesco d'Avalos: Maria di Venosa (1992)
  • Scott Glasgow: The Prince of Venosa (1998)
  • Bo Holten: Gesualdo (2003)
  • : Gesualdo (1998)
  • Alfred Schnittke:
  • Salvatore Sciarrino: Luci mie traditrici (1998)

Allen Ginsberg, American poet

  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn

Lisa del Giocondo, Italian woman, subject of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa

  • Max von Schillings: Mona Lisa (as Mona Fiordalisa)

Salvatore Giuliano, Sicilian peasant

Godfrey of Bouillon, Frankish knight, leader of the First Crusade

  • George Frideric Handel: Rinaldo (as Goffredo)

Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia

  • Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Xenia Borisovna Godunova, daughter of Boris Godunov

Sir Eugene Goossens, English conductor and composer

  • Drew Crawford: Eugene & Roie

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, English harpsichordist

  • Roger Scruton: Violet

St Maria Goretti, 20th century Catholic martyr

  • Marcel Delannoy: Maria Goretti, radiophonic opera

Sidney Gottlieb,

  • Evan Hause: Man: Biology of a Fall

Francisco Goya, Spanish painter

  • Gian Carlo Menotti:
  • Michael Nyman: Facing Goya (he appears as a silent apparition)

Princess Grace of Monaco, American-born actress (as Grace Kelly)

  • Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Antonio Gramsci, Italian political theorist

Urbain Grandier, French priest

  • Krzysztof Penderecki: The Devils of Loudun

Julia Dent Grant, American First Lady

  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

Ulysses S. Grant, American President

Thomas Gray, English poet

Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer
Nina Grieg, Norwegian singer, cousin and wife of Edvard Grieg

  • Edvard Grieg, arr. Robert Wright and George Forrest: Song of Norway

Gen Leslie Groves, American military officer

  • John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Matthias Grünewald, German renaissance painter

  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler

Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli, Italian mistress of Lord Byron

Guinevere, wife of King Arthur of Britain

  • Ernest Chausson: Le roi Arthus (as Guenièvre)

Francis, Duke of Guise, French nobleman

Günther von Schwarzburg, German king

Saint Guntram, King of Burgundy

King Gustav I of Sweden

  • Giuseppe Apolloni: Gustavo Wasa

King Gustav III of Sweden

  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Nell Gwyn, English actress, mistress of King Charles II

  • Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne

H[]

Hadrian, Roman emperor

  • Pietro Metastasio: Adriano in Siria
  • José de Nebra: Más gloria es triunfar de sí, o, Adriano en Siria

Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio, Lord Nelson
Sir William Hamilton, British diplomat, husband of Emma, Lady Hamilton

  • Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

Hannibal, Carthaginian ruler

  • Johann Adolph Hasse, Domènec Terradellas, Giovanni Battista Lampugnani and Pietro Domenico Paradies: Annibale in Capua

King Harald Hardrada (Harald III of Norway)

Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, British sea captain, commander of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar

  • Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

Harold Godwinson (Harold II), Anglo-Saxon King of England

Frank Harris, Irish-American journalist, publisher

Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid Caliph

  • Carl Maria von Weber: Oberon

Hasdrubal Gisco, Carthaginian general

William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

Richard Hauptmann, American convicted murderer

  • Cary John Franklin: Loss of Eden [3]

Wiebbe Hayes, Dutch soldier

  • Richard Mills: Batavia

Heloïse, French nun associated with Peter Abelard

  • Peter Tahourdin: Héloise and Abelard
  • Charles Wilson: Héloise and Abelard

Sally Hemings, American mixed-race slave owned by Thomas Jefferson

Henri, Prince of Condé, French noble

  • Krzysztof Penderecki: The Devils of Loudun

Henrietta Maria of France, queen consort of Charles I of England

  • Vincenzo Bellini: I puritani

Henry I, Duke of Guise

  • George Onslow: Le duc de Guise

King Henry II of England

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (as Enrico II)
  • Otto Nicolai: Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (given at the first performance as Enrico II)

King Henry III of Castile

  • Amadeu Vives i Roig: La villana

King Henry III of France also as Henri de Valois, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania

King Henry IV of France

King Henry V of England

King Henry VII of England (as Henry, Duke of Richmond)

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

King Henry VIII of England

Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony, King of the Germans

  • Richard Wagner: Lohengrin

Henry the Lion, German prince (Henry III of Saxony, Henry XII of Bavaria)

  • Agostino Steffani: Henrico Leone

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French revolutionary politician

  • Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod

Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia

E. T. A. Hoffmann, German author

  • Jacques Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann

Fanny Holland, English singer and actress

Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904), Dutch alcoholic prostitute, sometime lover of Vincent van Gogh

Pharaoh Horemheb of Egypt

  • Philip Glass: Akhnaten

Count Claes Fredrik Horn, co-conspirator with Anckarström in the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden

  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III (as Dehorn)
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American escapologist

  • Peter Schat: Houdini

Hugh Capet, King of the Franks from 987 to 996, the founder and first king from the House of Capet

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Ugo, conte di Parigi

Ladislaus Hunyadi, Hungarian statesman

Stig Andersen Hvide, Danish marshal, later an outlaw

  • Peter Arnold Heise: Drot og marsk (King and Marshal) (as Marshal Stig)

Queen Hypsicratea of Pontus, consort of Mithradates VI

  • Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno (as Issicratea)
  • Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore

I[]

Muhammad al-Idrisi, Andalusian cartographer, traveller

  • Karol Szymanowski: King Roger (as Edrisi)

Gwen Ifill, American television journalist

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish knight, founder of the Society of Jesus

  • Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts

Igor Svyatoslavich, Prince of Putivl, Novgorod-Seversk and Chernigov

  • Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor

Jaakko Ilkka, Finnish peasant leader

Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden

John Ireland, Dean of Westminster

Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen Consort of Charles VI of France

Isabel Moctezuma (Teutile), daughter of Moctezuma II

  • Antonio Vivaldi: Motezuma

Queen Isabella I of Castile

  • Emilio Arrieta: La conquista de Granada
  • Giuseppe Apolloni: L'ebreo
  • Leonardo Balada: Cristóbal Colón
  • Leonardo Balada:
  • Manuel de Falla: Atlàntida
  • Alberto Franchetti: Cristoforo Colombo
  • Philip Glass: The Voyage
  • Vicente Martín y Soler: Una cosa rara
  • Darius Milhaud: Christophe Colomb

Isabella of France, Queen Consort of Edward II of England and mother of Edward III

  • Gaetano Donizetti: L'assedio di Calais (she is Edward III's wife in the opera; in real life, she was his mother)

Isabella of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress, Queen Consort of Aragon and Castile

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, "Ivan the Terrible"

  • Georges Bizet: Ivan IV
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga (unseen role; he is the father of Vera's child)
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: The Maid of Pskov

Izumi Shikibu, Japanese poet

J[]

Jack the Ripper, unidentified murderer of English prostitutes

King James II of Cyprus "James the Bastard of Lusignan"

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro (as Lusignano)
  • Fromental Halévy: La reine de Chypre (as Lusignan)

King James V of Scotland

  • Gioachino Rossini: La donna del lago (in disguise as Uberto)

Lady Jane Grey, disputed Queen of England

Queen Jane (Seymour), third consort of Henry VIII of England

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena

Thomas Jefferson, American President

Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia

Jesus of Nazareth and his apostles

Jiang Qing Chinese figure, 4th wife of Mao Zedong

  • John Adams: Nixon in China (as Chiang Ch'ing)
  • Bright Sheng: Madame Mao

St Joan of Arc, French saint (see also Category:Operas about Joan of Arc)

  • Walter Braunfels: Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna
  • Norman Dello Joio: The Triumph of St. Joan
  • Giselher Klebe: Das Mädchen aus Domrémy
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Maid of Orleans
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
  • For details of other musical depictions of Joan of Arc, see Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc#Operas, oratorios, and vocal works

Joan I of Naples, Queen of Naples

Joanna of Castile, Queen of Castile and Aragon

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V (as Juana)
  • Enric Palomar: Juana

, Queen of Castile and Aragon

  • : Juana sin sielo

Patriarch Job of Moscow, Russian Orthodox prelate

John, Prince of Asturias, Spanish prince, son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile

King John of England

  • Sir Arthur Sullivan: Ivanhoe (as Prince John)

Don John of Austria, Bavarian soldier in Spanish service, son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

John of Leiden, Dutch Anabaptist leader

Andrew Johnson, American President

Lyndon B. Johnson, American President

  • Evan Hause: Nightingale: The Last Days of James Forrestal

Ben Jonson, English poet

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joséphine de Beauharnais, Consort of Napoleon I

Julia Caesaris, daughter of Julius Caesar, 4th wife of Pompey the Great

Julius Caesar, Consul and Dictator of Rome

K[]

Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter

  • Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Frida

Christoph Kaufmann (or Kauffman), associate of Jakob Lenz

  • Wolfgang Rihm: Jakob Lenz

Sir Edward Kelley, English occultist

  • Rufus Norris and Damon Albarn: Dr Dee: An English Opera

Grace Kelly: see Princess Grace of Monaco

Ned Kelly, Australian outlaw and folk hero

John F. Kennedy, American President

  • Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Johannes Kepler, German astronomer, mathematician

  • Philip Glass: Kepler
  • Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt

Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky, "Tararui" (chatterbox), Russian boyar

  • Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina

Edgar Ray Killen, KKK leader, murderer

  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

Larry King, American talk-show host

  • Mark-Anthony Turnage: Anna Nicole

Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Henry Kissinger, American Secretary of State

  • John Adams: Nixon in China

Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer

Leon Klinghoffer, American ship passenger murdered by terrorists

  • John Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer

Vasily Kochubey, Cossack hetman, associate of Ivan Mazepa

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa

Konchak, Polovtsian khan
Konchakovna, his daughter

  • Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor

Theodor Körner, German poet and soldier

Maria Korp, Australian murder victim

Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish revolutionary hero

  • Franciszek Salezy Dutkiewicz: Kościuszko nad Sekwaną (Kościuszko at the Seine; libretto by Konstanty Majeranowski)

Anne Kronenberg, American political administrator

Kublai Khan, Grand Khan of the Mongol Empire

  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian field marshal

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

L[]

Ladislaus I of Poland: see Władysław I the Elbow-high

Ladislaus the Posthumous, Duke of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia

Lady Caroline Lamb, lover of Lord Byron

Anne Françoise Elisabeth Lange, French actress, known as "Mademoiselle Lange"

  • Charles Lecocq: La fille de Madame Angot

Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress

  • Francesco Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur

Eleanor Agnes Lee, daughter of Robert E. Lee
Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee

  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

General Robert E. Lee

  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down
  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

François Joseph Lefebvre, Marshal of France, Duke of Danzig

His wife, née Cathérine Hubscher, later Duchess of Danzig
  • Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic (as Catherine Üpscher)
  • Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne

Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English courtier, favourite of Elizabeth I

Augusta Leigh, half-sister and incestuous lover of Lord Byron

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, German writer

  • Wolfgang Rihm: Jakob Lenz

Pope St Leo I "The Great"

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Attila (as Leone)

Brother Leo, friend and confidant of Francis of Assisi

Leonidas of Epirus

  • George Frideric Handel: Alessandro

(i) Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Roman triumvir

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

(ii) Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, heir to Roman emperor Caligula

  • Reinhard Keiser: Octavia

Leszek I the White, High Duke of Poland 1194-1227

Ada Leverson, British novelist

Li Bai or Li Po, Chinese poet

  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii

  • Paul Abraham: Die Blume von Hawaii, operetta

Abraham Lincoln, American President
Mary Todd Lincoln, American First Lady

  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down
  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American writer and aviator

  • Cary John Franklin: Loss of Eden [3]

Charles Lindbergh, American pioneer aviator

  • Cary John Franklin: Loss of Eden [3]
  • Paul Hindemith and Kurt Weill: Der Lindberghflug (Lindbergh's Flight). This was later changed by removal of Hindemith's contribution, renaming it to Der Ozeanflug (The Flight across the Ocean), and removal of Lindbergh's name. The opening line was changed from "My name is Charles Lindbergh" to "My name is of no account".

Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Bohemian Talmudic scholar

King Louis V of France

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Ugo, conte di Parigi

King Louis VI of France

  • Carl Maria von Weber: Euryanthe

King Louis XII of France

King Louis XIII of France

  • Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

King Louis XIV of France

King Louis XV of France

King Louis XVI of France

  • John Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles

Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

Lucan, Roman poet

Lucretia, Roman noblewoman raped by Sextus Tarquinius (legendary)

  • Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia
  • Ottorino Respighi: Lucrezia

Martin Luther, initiator of the Protestant Reformation

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow, Prussian general

M[]

Douglas MacArthur, American general

  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn

Jeanette MacDonald, American soprano, actress

Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada
William McDougall, Canadian politician

  • Harry Somers: Louis Riel

Ralph McGill, American anti-segregationist journalist

  • Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege

Wilmer McLean, American Civil War figure

  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

Colin McPhee, Canadian composer and musicologist

  • Evan Ziporyn: A House in Bali

King Macbeth of Scotland

  • Ernest Bloch: Macbeth
  • Iain Hamilton: The Tragedy of Macbeth
  • Salvatore Sciarrino: Macbeth
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, Roman general, natural father of Scipio Aemilianus

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126

Gaius Maecenas, political adviser to Octavian (Caesar Augustus)

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

Saint Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney

Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer

  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Marion Mahony, American architect and artist, wife of Walter Burley Griffin

  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

Giovanni Malatesta, husband and murderer of Francesca da Rimini

  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini (as Lanciotto Malatesta)
  • Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (as Giovanni lo Sciancato)

Malatestino Malatesta, Lord of Rimini

  • Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (as Malatestino dall'Occhio)

Paolo Malatesta, brother-in-law and lover of Francesca da Rimini

  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini
  • Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (as Paolo il Bello)

La Malinche, Aztec mistress of Hernán Cortés

  • Lorenzo Ferrero: La Conquista
  • Wolfgang Rihm: Die Eroberung von Mexico
  • Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Mao Zedong, Chinese leader

  • John Adams: Nixon in China (as Mao Tse-tung)

Madame Mao: see Jiang Qing

Jean-Paul Marat, Jacobin leader

Benedetto Marcello, Italian composer

  • Joachim Raff: Benedetto Marcello

Alexey Maresyev, Russian fighter pilot

  • Sergei Prokofiev: The Story of a Real Man

Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort to Henry VI of England

Marguérite de Valois, consort of Henry IV of France/Henry III of Navarre

Maria Carolina of Austria

Sister Maria Celeste, Italian nun, illegitimate daughter of Galileo Galilei

Maria Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier, Infanta of Spain

  • Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien

Marie Antoinette, Queen Consort of Louis XVI of France

  • John Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles

Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, wife of Napoleon I

  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Marie Louise Gonzaga, French Queen consort to 2 Polish kings

  • Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria

  • Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien

Guadalupe Marín, Mexican model and novelist, second wife of Diego Rivera

  • Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Frida (as Lupe)

Mark Antony, Roman politician and general

Auguste de Marmont

  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Martyrs of Compiègne, a group of French Carmelite nuns

  • Francis Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites

Saint Mary of Egypt, patron saint of penitents

  • Ottorino Respighi: Maria egiziaca
  • John Tavener: Mary of Egypt

Mary, Queen of Scots

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
  • Thea Musgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots
  • Louis Niedermeyer: Marie Stuart

Queen Mary I of England "Bloody Mary"

Mary Tudor, Queen of France, sister of Henry VIII, husband of Louis XII

Masaniello (Tommaso Aniello), Neapolitan fisherman, revolutionary leader

  • Daniel Auber: La muette de Portici (aka Masaniello)
  • Antônio Carlos Gomes: Salvator Rosa
  • Reinhard Keiser: Masagniello
  • Reinhard Keiser: Die neapolitanische Fischer-Empörung oder Masaniello furioso
  • Jacopo Napoli: Mas' Aniello

Masinissa, first King of Numidia

Mata Hari, Dutch spy

  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down

Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary

Maurice, Elector of Saxony

  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Maurice de Saxe

  • Francesco Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur
  • Jacques Offenbach: Madame Favart

Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius, aka Maximian, Roman ruler

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

Maximinian, co-Emperor of Rome

  • Henry Purcell: Dioclesian

Ivan Mazepa, Cossack hetman, military leader

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa

Col. Robert R. McCormick, American newspaper publisher

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Catherine de' Medici

  • George Onslow: Le duc de Guise

Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence

Giuliano de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent
Lorenzo de' Medici, "Lorenzo the Magnificent", Italian statesman

  • Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Medici

Lorenzino de' Medici, Italian writer and assassin

  • Giovanni Pacini: Lorenzino de' Medici

Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II

Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov, Russian statesman

Bartolomeo Merelli, Italian impresario and librettist

  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Risorgimento!

Valeria Messalina, Roman Empress

Caecilia Metella Dalmatica, fourth wife of Lucius Cornelius Sulla

  • George Frideric Handel: Silla

Cornelia Metella, Pompey's second wife

  • George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto) (as Cornelia)

Klemens Wenzel, Prince von Metternich

  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Harvey Milk, American politician and gay activist

Christina Miller, Scottish chemist

  • Julian Wagstaff: Breathe Freely

John Milton, English poet

  • Gaspare Spontini: Milton
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto, Scottish diplomat, Governor-General of India

  • Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

King Mithridates VI of Pontus

Marina Mniszech, Polish noble and Russian political adventurer

Moctezuma II, Aztec ruler

King Mojmír II of Great Moravia

Marilyn Monroe, American actress

Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola, Anglo-Italian condottiero

Thomas Moore, Irish poet, songwriter

Mordred, legendary Arthurian character

Thomas Morton, American colonist of New England

  • Howard Hanson: Merry Mount

George Moscone, Mayor of San Francisco

Moses, biblical character

Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, Elizabethan figure

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer

  • P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele): A Little Nightmare Music
  • Reynaldo Hahn: Mozart (musical comedy)
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Mozart and Salieri

Gaius Mucius Scaevola, Roman figure

  • Francesco Cavalli: Mutio Scevola
  • George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Muhammad XII of Granada, aka Boabdil, last Nasrid ruler of Granada

  • Giuseppe Apolloni: L'ebreo
  • Emilio Arrieta: La conquista di Granata
  • Moritz Moszkowski: Boabdil der letzte Maurenkönig
  • Baltasar Saldoni: Boabdil, ultimo rey de Granada

Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada
Mila Mulroney, Canadian First Lady

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Ottoman Sultan Murad II

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish Baroque painter

John Murray II, British publisher

Eadweard Muybridge, English pioneer photographer

  • Philip Glass: The Photographer

N[]

Emperor Napoleon I of France (Napoleon Bonaparte)

Emperor Napoleon II of France

Louis, comte de Narbonne-Lara

  • Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic (as Comte de Narbonne)

Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate and vandal

  • Douglas Moore: Carry Nation

Nebuchadnezzar II, ruler of Babylon

  • Benjamin Britten: The Burning Fiery Furnace
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Nabucco

Nefertiti, wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt

  • Philip Glass: Akhnaten

Adam Albert von Neipperg, Austrian general

Frances Nelson, Lady Nelson, wife of Lord Nelson

  • Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British admiral, naval hero

  • Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

Emperor Nero of Rome

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

  • Deborah Drattell: Nicholas and Alexandra

Nitocris, Queen of Egypt, maybe legendary

  • Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini: Nitocri

Pat Nixon, American First Lady

  • John Adams: Nixon in China

Richard Nixon, American President

  • John Adams: Nixon in China

Rikard Nordraak, Norwegian composer

  • Edvard Grieg, arr. Robert Wright and George Forrest: Song of Norway

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English politician, uncle to two of Henry VIII's wives

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English nobleman

Rosaleen Norton, so-called "Witch of Kings Cross", Sydney occultist

  • Drew Crawford: Eugene & Roie

Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English admiral and statesman

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux

O[]

J. F. Oberlin, Alsatian pastor, philanthropist

  • Wolfgang Rihm: Jakob Lenz

Empress Claudia Octavia of Rome, consort of Nero

Octavia the Younger, fourth wife of Mark Antony

  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
  • Jules Massenet: Cléopâtre

King Olaf I Tryggvason of Norway

King Olaf II of Norway (St. Olaf)

Frank Olson, American biochemist

  • Evan Hause: Man: Biology of a Fall

Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate

  • Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American First Lady, wife of John F. Kennedy, then of Aristotle Onassis

  • Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist

  • John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Sallustia Orbiana, wife of Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome

  • George Frideric Handel: Alessandro Severo

Pylyp Orlyk, associate of Ivan Mazepa

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa

Pier Francesco Orsini, Italian condottiero

  • Alberto Ginastera: Bomarzo

Emperor Marcus Salvius Otho of Rome

  • Antonio Vivaldi: Ottone in villa

P-Q[]

María de Padilla, mistress and secret wife of Peter of Castile

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Padilla

Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer

  • Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina
  • Johann Sachs: Palestrina

Sarah Palin, American politician, Governor of Alaska, vice-presidential candidate

Papantzin, Aztec princess, sister of Moctezuma II

Johan Papegoja, Governor of New Sweden

Ely S. Parker, American Seneca native, Commissioner of Indian Affairs

  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist

Francisco Pelsaert, Dutch merchant, naval commander

  • Richard Mills: Batavia

Samuel Pepys, English diarist

  • Albert Coates: Samuel Pepys

Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena

Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Castilian nobleman, known as Guzmán el Bueno

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer

  • Emilio Arrieta: Pergolesi
  • Paolo Serrao: Pergolesi

Pericles, Athenian statesman

Saint Peter, Christian apostle

King Peter III of Aragon, "Peter the Great"

  • Hector Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict (Don Pedro)
  • Felip Pedrell: Els Pirineus
  • Charles Villiers Stanford: Much ado about nothing

King Peter of Castile, "Peter the Cruel"

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Padilla (as Don Pedro, Prince of Castile)
  • Hilarión Eslava: Pietro il Crudele

Tsar Peter I "The Great" of Russia

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Il falegname di Livonia, o Pietro il grande, czar delle Russie
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Il borgomastro di Saardam
  • André Grétry: Pierre le Grand
  • Louis-Antoine Jullien: Pietro il grande (1852)
  • Albert Lortzing: Zar und Zimmermann
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer: L'étoile du nord

Peter the Hermit, priest and leader of the First Crusade

  • Charles Gounod: La nonne sanglante

Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Roman courtier, writer

Michele Pezza, Neapolitan guerilla leader, known as "Fra Diavolo"

  • Daniel Auber: Fra Diavolo

King Pharnaces II of Pontus

  • Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno (as Farnace)
  • Francesco Corselli: Farnace
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto
  • Josef Mysliveček: Farnace
  • Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore
  • Leonardo Vinci: Farnace
  • Antonio Vivaldi: Farnace

Phidias, Greek sculptor

King Philip II of Spain

  • Isaac Nathan: Don John of Austria (disguised as Count de Santa Fiore)
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

King Philip V of Spain

  • John Barnett: Farinelli

Mariana de Pineda, Spanish liberalist heroine.

  • :

Gaspare Pisciotta, Sicilian peasant

Gaius Calpurnius Piso, Roman senator

  • Reinhard Keiser: Octavia

Pope Pius IV

  • Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina

Sylvia Plath

Edgar Allan Poe, American writer

Poliziano (Angelo Ambrogini), Italian renaissance poet, scholar

  • Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Medici

Marco Polo, Italian adventurer

  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Saint Polyeuctus

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Poliuto
  • Charles Gounod: Polyeucte

Lorenz Truchsess von Pommersfelden

  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler

Madame de Pompadour, French courtier, mistress of Louis XV

  • Leo Fall: Madame Pompadour
  • Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Madame Popmpous")

Pompey the Great, Roman military and political leader

Empress Poppaea Augusta Sabina, consort of Roman Emperors Nero and Otho

Lars Porsena, King of Etruria

  • Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Porus, King of Paurava

  • George Frideric Handel: Poro

Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, death penalty abolitionist

  • Jake Heggie: Dead Man Walking

Přemysl, the Ploughman, first ruler of Bohemia

  • Tomaso Albinoni: Primislao, primo re di Boemia

John of Procida, Italian medieval physician and diplomat

John Proctor, a tavern keeper in 17th century Massachusetts who was hanged for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials

  • Robert Ward: The Crucible

Chevalier de Prokesch-Osten

  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Marcel Proust, French novelist

  • Alfred Schnittke: Life with an Idiot

Pharaoh Ptolemy IX Lathyros of Egypt

  • George Frideric Handel: Tolomeo

Pharaoh Ptolemy XI Alexander II of Egypt

  • George Frideric Handel: Tolomeo

Publius Valerius Publicola, Roman consul

  • George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian pretender to the throne

Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of unified China

  • Tan Dun: The First Emperor

Vasco de Quiroga, member of the second Audiencia in Mexico and first bishop of Michoacán

R[]

Nikolay Raevsky, Russian general

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Gilles de Rais, French soldier and serial killer of children

  • Walter Braunfels: Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna

Elizabeth Raleigh, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh

  • Edward German: Merrie England (as Bessie Throckmorton)

Sir Walter Raleigh, English explorer and courtier

  • Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
  • Edward German: Merrie England

Raphael, Italian painter

  • Anton Arensky: Raphael

Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic, confidant of Tsarina Alexandra

  • Einojuhani Rautavaara: Rasputin

Rastislav of Moravia, second ruler of Moravia

Sir Richard Ratcliffe

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

John Aaron Rawlins, American general, Secretary of War

  • Philip Glass: Appomattox

Stenka Razin, cossack leader

  • Nikolay Afanasyev: Stenka Razin

Nancy Reagan, US First Lady

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Ronald Reagan, President of the United States

Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst

  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn

Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing, co-conspirator with Anckarström in the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden

  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, English noblewoman

King Richard I "Coeur de Lion" of England

King Richard II of England

King Richard III of England

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]
  • Flavio Testi: Riccardo III

Prince Richard (Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York)

  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III (2004)[1]

Rafael del Riego, Spanish general

Louis Riel, executed Canadian rebel

  • Harry Somers: Louis Riel

Cola di Rienzo, Roman tribune

  • Richard Wagner: Rienzi

Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet

Arthur Rimbaud, French poet

  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Rimbaud, ou le fils du soleil

Diego Rivera, Mexican painter

  • Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Frida

King Robert I of Scotland, "Robert the Bruce"

  • Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)

Robert I, Duke of Normandy

  • Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le diable

Maximilien Robespierre, French revolutionary figure

  • John Eaton: Danton and Robespierre
  • Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod
  • Henry Litolff: Robespierre

Robin Hood (legendary)

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English writer, libertine

  • Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne

Roderic, Visigothic King of Hispania

  • Alberto Ginastera: Don Rodrigo

King Roger II of Sicily

  • Karol Szymanowski: King Roger

Rogneda of Polotsk, consort of Vladimir I of Kiev

Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet

Gioachino Rossini

  • Bernhard Paumgartner, Rossini in Naples

Roxana, wife of Alexander the Great

  • George Frideric Handel: Alessandro

Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor

  • Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt

Rudolf II, Count Palatine of the Rhine

Paavo Ruotsalainen, Finnish farmer and lay preacher

Lillian Russell, American actress and singer

Rustichello da Pisa, Italian writer

  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo

S[]

Hans Sachs, German meistersinger

Oliver Sacks, British neurologist, writer

  • Michael Nyman: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (as Dr. S.)

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French revolutionary figure

  • Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod

Ōtomo no Sakanoe no Iratsume, Japanese poet

Antonio Salieri, Italian-Austrian composer

  • P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele): A Little Nightmare Music
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Mozart and Salieri

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, Elizabethan minister

  • Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux

Sappho, ancient Greek poet

  • Charles Gounod: Sapho
  • Giovanni Pacini: Saffo

Sardanapalus, king of Assyria

  • Giulio Alary: Sardanapale
  • Franz Liszt: Sardanapale

William Sargant, British psychiatrist

  • Evan Hause: Man: Biology of a Fall

David Sarnoff, American television pioneer

  • Evan Hause: The Birth and Theft of Television

Girolamo Savonarola, Florentine heretic and book-burner

  • Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Savonarola (1884)

Diane Sawyer, American television journalist

Sylvester von Schaumberg

  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler

Hans and Sophie Scholl, sibling co-founders of non-violent resistance movement The White Rose

Kurt Schwitters, German painter

  • Michael Nyman: Man and Boy: Dada

Scipio Aemilianus, aka Scipio Africanus the Younger, Roman general, nephew and adopted son of Scipio Africanus the Elder

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126

Scipio Africanus, aka Scipio Africanus the Elder, Roman general

  • Joachim Albertini: Scipione Africano
  • Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano
  • George Frideric Handel: Scipione
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126
  • Antonio Sacchini: Scipione in Cartagena

King Sebastian of Portugal

Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria, founder of the Seleucid Empire

Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher, dramatist

  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down
  • Reinhard Keiser: Octavia
  • Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Sesostris, legendary king of Egypt

Sextus Pompey, Roman general, son of Pompey the Great

  • Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
  • George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto) (as Sesto)

William Shakespeare, English playwright

  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo
  • Ambroise Thomas: Le songe d'une nuit d'été

Fyodor Shaklovity, Russian diplomat

  • Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina

Andrey Shchelkalov, Russian administrator, official

  • Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet

John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English soldier

George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, English statesman

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (as Giorgio Talbot)

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, Albanian national hero

Bengt Skytte, Swedish official

Mark Smeaton, English courtier

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena

Anna Nicole Smith, American actress and model

  • Mark-Anthony Turnage: Anna Nicole

Scott Smith, American gay activist

Dame Ethel Smyth, English composer

  • Roger Scruton: Violet

Socrates, Greek philosopher

  • Georg Philipp Telemann: Der geduldige Sokrates

Solon, Greek philosopher

  • Reinhard Keiser: Croesus

Sophonisba, Carthaginian noblewoman, daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco

Agnès Sorel, mistress of King Charles VII of France

Sidney Souers, American admiral and intelligence expert

  • Evan Hause: Nightingale: The Last Days of James Forrestal

Edmund Spenser, English poet

Arthur Stace, Australian citizen who over 35 years chalked the word "Eternity" over 500,000 times on the footpaths of Sydney

  • Jonathan Mills: The Eternity Man

Stanisław I Leszczyński, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un giorno di regno (being impersonated by the fictional character the Cavaliere di Belfiore)

Stateira, consort of Darius III of Persia

Gertrude Stein, American writer

King Stephen I of Hungary (St. Stephen)

Thaddeus Stevens, American politician

Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury

Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer

  • Friedrich von Flotow: Alessandro Stradella
  • Louis Niedermeyer: Stradella
  • at least 2 other operas

Stratonice, wife of Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria

Johann Strauss I, Viennese waltz composer (father)
Johann Strauss II, Viennese waltz composer (son)

  • Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II, arr. Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Julius Bittner: Valses de Vienne

Giuseppina Strepponi, operatic soprano

  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Risorgimento!

Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Croatian general

Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent

Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman general and dictator

  • George Frideric Handel: Silla
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Lucio Silla

Louis Sullivan, American architect

  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary leader

  • Huang Ruo: Dr. Sun Yat-sen

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English aristocrat, poet

Ivan Susanin, Russian folk hero and martyr

  • Mikhail Glinka: A Life for the Tsar

King Svatopluk I of Great Moravia

King Svatopluk II of Great Moravia

Syphax, king of the Libyan tribe of Masaesyli

Erzsébet Szilágyi, Hungarian noblewoman, wife of János Hunyadi

T[]

Augusta Tabor, American philanthropist and first wife of Horace Tabor

Horace Tabor, American businessman, politician

Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian Catholic prelate

  • Harry Somers: Louis Riel

Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer

  • Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Eugene Talmadge, Governor of Georgia

  • Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege

Tamerlane: see Timur

Tancred, Prince of Galilee, Norman Crusade leader

Tannhäuser, Medieval German poet

Lucius Tarquinius, one of 3 kings of Rome

  • Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Sextus Tarquinius, son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, King of Rome

  • Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia

Torquato Tasso, Italian poet

  • Gaetano Donizetti: Torquato Tasso

John Taverner, 16th century English composer

Dame Elizabeth Taylor, British-US actress

  • Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

William Tell, Swiss national hero (disputed historical authenticity)

Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist

  • John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Beatrice di Tenda, Italian noblewoman

  • Vincenzo Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda

Saint Teresa of Ávila, Spanish mystic and theologian

  • Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts

Nikola Tesla, Croatian scientist

  • Constantine Koukias: Tesla - Lightning in His Hand

Themistocles, Athenian general and politician

  • Johann Christian Bach: Temistocle
  • : Temistocle

James Thomson, Scottish poet

Virgil Thomson, American composer and critic

François Auguste de Thou, French magistrate

  • Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Thusnelda, wife of Arminius

  • George Frideric Handel: Arminio

Tigranes the Great, Emperor of Armenia

  • Tomaso Albinoni: Tigrane, re d'Armenia

Timur, aka Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid dynasty

  • Iain Hamilton: Tamberlaine
  • George Frideric Handel: Tamerlano
  • Antonio Sacchini: Tamerlano
  • Antonio Vivaldi: Bajazet

King Tiridates I of Armenia

  • Reinhard Keiser: Octavia

Emperor Titus of Rome

  • Antonio Caldara: La clemenza di Tito
  • Christoph Willibald Gluck: La clemenza di Tito
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: La clemenza di Tito
  • Josef Mysliveček: La clemenza di Tito
  • and settings of La clemenza di Tito by about 40 other composers

Tiye, mother of Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt

  • Philip Glass: Akhnaten

Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist

  • Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae

  • Alessandro Scarlatti: Tigrane (as Tomiri)

Titus Manlius Torquatus, Roman dictator

  • Antonio Vivaldi: Tito Manlio

François Leclerc du Tremblay, "Père Joseph", the original eminence grise

  • Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Georges de la Trémoille, French soldier, favourite of Charles VII

  • Walter Braunfels: Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna

Olegas Truchanas, Lithuanian-Australian wilderness photographer

Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Harry S. Truman, American President

  • Evan Hause: Nightingale: The Last Days of James Forrestal

Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet

Harriet Tubman, American abolitionist and former slave

John Turner, Prime Minister of Canada

  • Alexina Louie: Mulroney: The Opera

Wat Tyler, English leader of peasant revolution

  • Alan Bush: Wat Tyler

U-V[]

Pope Urban VIII

  • Philip Glass: Galileo Galilei (appears as both Cardinal Maffeo Barberini and Pope Urban VIII)

Valdemar IV of Denmark, King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375

Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor

  • George Frideric Handel: Ezio

Martin van Buren, American President

  • Anthony Davis, Amistad

Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer, brother of Vincent van Gogh

  • Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
  • James Wilson: Letters to Theo

Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter

Publius Quinctilius Varus, Roman general

  • George Frideric Handel: Arminio

Tsar Vasily IV (Shuisky) of Russia

Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer

Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter

Lucius Verus: see Vologases IV of Parthia

Micaela Villegas, "La Perricholi", Peruvian actress and singer

  • Jacques Offenbach: La Périchole (she is not identified by name, and the remaining characters are all fictional)

François Villon, French poet and vagabond

, Valencian nobleman, opposed to Alfonso IV of Aragon

  • Matilde Salvador i Segarra: Vinatea

Gaius Iulius Vindex, Roman general

  • Anton Rubinstein: Neron

Filippo Maria Visconti, ruler of Milan, husband of Beatrice di Tenda

  • Vincenzo Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda

Vladimir I, Grand Prince of Kiev

Vladimir III Igorevich, Prince of Putivl and Halych
Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince Galitsky, son of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Prince of Halych

  • Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor

Vologases IV of Parthia, king

  • Girolamo Abos: Lucio Vero, ossia, Il Vologeso

Voltaire, French writer

  • Leonard Bernstein: Candide

W[]

Jacob Wallenberg, Swedish banker
Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat who rescued many Jews

Konrad von Wallenrode, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights

  • Amilcare Ponchielli: I Lituani (the character Walter is impersonating Wallenrode, referred to in the opera as "Corrado Wallenrod")

Albrecht von Wallenstein, Bohemian military commander

  • : Wallenstein
  • Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt

Francis Walsingham, English royal adviser, spymaster

  • Rufus Norris and Damon Albarn: Dr Dee: An English Opera

Walther von der Vogelweide, Medieval German poet

Princess Wanda, legendary Polish queen

Andy Warhol, American artist

  • Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Daniel Webster, American statesman

Dan White, American politician, assassin of George Moscone and Harvey Milk

George Hunter White, American CIA operative

  • Evan Hause: Man: Biology of a Fall

Patrick White, Australian novelist

  • Elena Kats-Chernin: Whiteley (2019)[7]

Brett Whiteley, Australian painter
Wendy Whiteley, his muse and sometime wife
Arkie Whiteley, their daughter

  • Elena Kats-Chernin: Whiteley (2019)[7]

Walt Whitman

Oscar Wilde, Irish writer

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down

William the Conqueror (King William I of England)

William the Silent (William I, Prince of Orange)

  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down

Sir Alfred Wills, English judge

Robert R. Wilson, American physicist

  • John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Władysław I the Elbow-high (aka Ladislaus I), King of Poland 1320-33

Wolfram von Eschenbach, Medieval German poet

Thomas Wolsey, English cardinal

  • Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner (not identified as such)

Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect
Catherine "Kitty" (Tobin) Wright (1871–1959), American socialite, social worker, first wife of Frank Lloyd Wright

  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka "Joe the Plumber", American plumber, television celebrity

X-Y[]

Malcolm X, African-American human rights activist

  • Anthony Davis: X – The Life and Times of Malcolm X

King Xerxes I "The Great" of Persia

  • Johann Christian Bach: Temistocle
  • Giovanni Bononcini: Xerse
  • Francesco Cavalli: Xerse
  • George Frideric Handel: Serse
  • Hugo Weisgall: Esther

Xiphares, son of Mithridates VI of Pontus

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto

Yaghi-Siyan, Governor of Antioch

  • Giuseppe Verdi: I Lombardi alla prima crociata (as Acciano)

Ōtomo no Yakamochi, Japanese poet, diplomat

Yaroslav I the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev

Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov, Russian general

  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Yuri II, Grand Prince of Vladimir

  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya

Z[]

Emiliano Zapata, Mexican leader

  • Leonardo Balada:

Zeno, Byzantine emperor

  • Tomaso Albinoni: Zenone, imperator d'Oriente

Zenobia, Queen of the Palmyrene Empire

  • Tomaso Albinoni: Zenobia, regina de Palmireni
  • Gioachino Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira

Zhou Enlai, Chinese political leader

  • John Adams: Nixon in China (as Chou En-lai)

Zoroaster

  • Jean-Philippe Rameau: Zoroastre

Venerable Zosimas of Palestine

  • Ottorino Respighi: Maria egiziaca (as Abbot Zosimus)

Nikola Šubić Zrinski: see Šubić Zrinski

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Giorgio Battistelli: Richard III. Retrieved 11 December 2015
  2. ^ Estonian National Opera: The Prince and the Pauper Archived 2016-03-17 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 December 2015
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Opera America. Retrieved 17 July 2017
  4. ^ "Ned Kelly review – new opera interrogates bushranger's fierce but fragile masculinity", The Guardian Australia, February 2019
  5. ^ Gavin Bryars
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Claire Perkins, "Adapting Plathology", in Invented Lives, Imagined Communities: The Biopic and American National Identity, p. 192. Retrieved 25 January 2017
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b [1]

Further reading[]

  • Jellinek, George, History Through the Opera Glass: From the rise of Caesar to the fall of Napoleon, Pro/Am Music Resources, 1994. ISBN 0-912483-90-3
  • Morgan, Christopher, Don Carlos and Company: The true stories behind eight well-loved operas, Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-19-288009-8
  • Heller, Wendy, "Tacitus Incognito: Opera as History in L'incoronazione di Poppea", Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Spring, 1999), pp. 39–96
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