Opera

    Haydn wrote quite a number of operas for Prince Esterhazy's opera house, including some for his puppet theatre, but they are slight works, and are rarely performed today.  

    Mozart's operas, however, are a most important side of his work, and, together with those of Verdi and Wagner, provide the main repertory of the modern opera house.  He inherited the reforms of Gluck, whose operas he heard in Vienna, and the dramatic effect of his operas was enhanced by his fine sense of characterization, and by his magnificently built up finales to each act.  

    He began to write operas when he was only 11 years old, and 'Bastien and Bastienne', written when he was 12, is still performed today.  His greatest operas are the Italian grand opera 'Idomeneo', containing choruses and ballets; the German singspiel (a light opera with spoken dialogue) 'The Abduction from the Seraglio'; the Italian light operas 'The Marriage of Figaro', 'Don Giovanni' and 'Cosi fan Tutte'; and the German singspiel 'The Magic Flute', which was written at the end of his life for a little theatre in the suburbs of Vienna.  This last opera has a nonsensical and confused story, but is full of lovely music and is a landmark in the history of opera written in the German language.  

    Beethoven wrote only one opera, 'Fidelio', and this, too, was in German.  He always hoped to write some more, but could never find a suitable libretto, for he would only consider great and noble subjects.  The heroine of 'Fidelio' is a noble and faithful wife "Leonora", who sets out to save her wrongfully imprisoned husband, and the opera has many fine moments, though it is not very often performed today.  Beethoven was so self-critical that he wrote four different overtures to this opera in the attempt to find the ideal form.  They are now known as 'Leonora' nos. 1, 2 and 3, and 'Fidelio', which last finally became the one to be attached to the opera.  

    Schubert wrote a number of operas, but in every case the libretti were so poor that they failed to inspire him, and they are rarely performed today.  He also wrote incidental music to three plays, and the overture and entr'actes to 'Rosamunde' are still popular.