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🎭 OPERA & BALLET


This section brings together Work Guides and Work Analyses devoted to the great creations of musical theatre. From the earliest operatic experiments of the Renaissance and Baroque periods to the grand lyric dramas, comic operas, and ballet masterpieces of later centuries, these works bring together music, drama, movement, and visual storytelling into a single artistic experience.

Work Guides introduce readers to major stage works, exploring their historical background, dramatic foundations, principal characters, symbolism, and the musical ideas that define their identity before moving on to more detailed study.

Work Analyses focus on musical structure, dramatic design, the relationship between music and stage action, characterization, and expressive language. Rather than examining the score in isolation, they explore how music shapes theatrical narrative and transforms dramatic action into a unified artistic experience.

The index below is organized by composer and serves as a gateway to the complete collection of opera and ballet explored throughout MusiLLection.

B
  • Bach Johann Sebastian (1685 - 1750)
  • Berlioz Hector (1803 - 1869)
  • Beethoven Ludwig van (1770 - 1827)
           - Fidelio Overture, Op. 72b
  • Bizet Georges (1838 - 1875)
  • Brahms Johannes (1833 - 1897)
  • Bruckner Αnton (1824 - 1896)

C  
  • Chopin Frédéric François (1810-1849)

D
  • Debussy Claude-Achille (1862 – 1918)
  • Dvořák Antonín Leopold (1841 – 1904)  



F

  • Franck César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert (1822 – 1890) 



G
  • Gershwin George (1898 - 1937)
           - Porgy and Bess
  • Grieg Edvard Hagerup (1843 - 1907) 

H
  • Handel George Frideric (1685 – 1759)
  • Haydn Franz Joseph (1732 – 1809)  


L
  • Liszt Franz or Ferenc  (1811 - 1886)



Μ

  • Mendelssohn Jacob Ludwig Felix Bartholdy (1809 - 1847)
  • Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio  (1567 - 1643)
           - L'Orfeo
  • Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus (1756 - 1791)

                                 

P

  • Paganini Niccolò (1782 – 1840)


R

  • Ravel Joseph-Maurice (1875 - 1937)
  • Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich (1844 - 1908)
          - The Flight of the Bumblebee (from the opera: The Tale of Tsar Saltan) 
  • Rossini Gioacchino Antonio (1792 - 1868) 
          - L’italiana in Algeri
          - Semiramide


S                    
  • Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille (1835 – 1921)
  • Scarlatti Guiseppe Domenico (1685 - 1757)
  • Schubert Franz Peter, (1797 – 1828)
  • Schumann Robert (1810 - 1856)
  • Smetana Bedřich (1824 - 1884)
          - The Bartered Bride
          - Libuše Overture
  • Strauss II Johann (1825 – 1899)


Τ
  • Telemann Georg Philipp (1681 - 1767)
  • Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich  (1840 - 1893)



V

  • Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco (1813 - 1901) 
            - Don Carlos
            - La Traviata
            - Il Trovatore
            - Rigoletto
            - Aida
  • Vivaldi Antonio (1678 - 1743) 



W

  • Wagner Wilhelm Richard, (1813 - 1883)
            - Tristan und Isolde
  • Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von (1786 - 1826) 
            - Euryanthe: Overture
            - Oberon Overture (1826)


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How the Content Is Organized

Each entry leads either to a Work Guide, introducing the historical, dramatic, and musical world of a major stage work, or to a Work Analysis, examining its musical structure, dramatic design, characterization, the relationship between music and stage action, and expressive architecture.

Most articles also include a Listening Guide, Recommended Recordings, embedded performances, suggestions for further reading, and references to related works, offering multiple paths for continued exploration.

The Archive Continues to Grow

This section is continuously expanded with new Work Guides and Work Analyses spanning different periods, genres, and traditions of musical theatre. As the MusiLLection archive grows, it continues to serve as a curated gateway to the rich artistic world of opera, ballet, and stage music.


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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture, op. 49 (Analysis)

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Johann Strauss II: Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka, Op. 214 in A major (Analysis)

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