List of opera librettists

A

Giuseppe Adami (1878–1946)

for Giacomo Puccini: La rondine, Il tabarro, Turandot (with Renato Simoni)

for Riccardo Zandonai: La via della finestra

for Franco Vittadini: Anima allegra, Nazareth

Jules Adenis (1823–1900)

with Henri Caïn

for Umberto Giordano: Marcella

with Charles Grandvallet

for Jules Massenet: La grand'tante

with E. Plouvier

for Jacques Offenbach: Un postillon en gage

with J Rostaing

for Ernest Guiraud: Sylvie

with Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges

for Georges Bizet: La jolie fille de Perth

with A Silvestre and L Bonnemère

for Henry Charles Litolff: Les templiers

Franco Alfano (1875–1954)

for his own music: Sakùntala

Louis Anseaume (?–1784)

alone

for Egidio Duni: L'école de la jeunesse, La fée Urgèle, Le peintre amoureux de son modèle

for Christoph Willibald Gluck: L'île de Merlin, ou Le monde renversé, L'ivrogne corrigé

for André Grétry: Le tableau parlant

with Thomas Hales

for André Grétry: Le jugement de Midas

with Pierre-Augustin Lefèvre de Marcouville:

for Christoph Willibald Gluck: La fausse esclave

for Jean Louis Laruette: La fausse aventurière

for Pierre van Maldere: Le Médecin de l'amour

George Antheil (1900–1959)

for his own music: Transatlantic

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918)

used by Francis Poulenc: Les mamelles de Tirésias

W. H. Auden (1907–1973)

alone:

for Benjamin Britten: Paul Bunyan

with Chester Kallman (1921–1975)

for Hans Werner Henze: The Bassarids, Elegy for Young Lovers

for Nicolas Nabokov: Love's Labour's Lost

for Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress

B

Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973)

for Hans Werner Henze: Der junge Lord, Der Prinz von Homburg

Béla Balázs (1884–1949)

for Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

Henri Auguste Barbier (1805–1882)

for Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini (with Léon Wailly)

Jules Barbier (1825–1901)

alone:

for Jacques Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann

for Camille Saint-Saëns: Le timbre d'argent

with Michel Carré:

for Charles Gounod: La colombe, Faust, Le médecin malgré lui, Philémon et Baucis, Polyeucte, La reine de Saba, Roméo et Juliette

for Giacomo Meyerbeer: Le pardon de Ploermel

for Ambroise Thomas: Mignon, Hamlet, Françoise de Rimini

Pierre Beaumarchais (1732–1799)

used by Antonio Salieri: Tarare

Sem Benelli (1877–1949)

for Umberto Giordano: La cena delle beffe

for Italo Montemezzi: L'amore dei tre re, L'incantesimo

Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)

for his own music: Les Troyens, Béatrice et Bénédict

Giovanni Bertati (1735–1815)

for Domenico Cimarosa: Il matrimonio segreto

for Giuseppe Gazzaniga: Don Giovanni Tenorio

Thomas Betterton (1635–1710)

for Henry Purcell: Dioclesian, The Fairy-Queen (probably)

Robin Blaser (born 1925)

for Harrison Birtwistle: The Last Supper

Édouard Blau (1836–1906)

alone:

for Édouard Lalo: Le roi d'Ys

with Georges Hartmann and Paul Milliet

for Jules Massenet: Werther

with Adolphe d'Ennery and Louis Gallet:

for Jules Massenet:Le Cid

Arrigo Boito (1842–1918)

for Giuseppe Verdi: Otello, Falstaff

for Amilcare Ponchielli: "La Gioconda" wrting under the pseudonym/anagram Tobia Gorrio

for his own music: Mefistofele, Nerone

for Franco Faccio: Amleto

Jean-Nicolas Bouilly (1763–1842)

for Luigi Cherubini: Les deux journées

for André Grétry: Pierre le Grand

for Étienne Méhul: Le jeune Henri, Une folie, Héléna, Valentine de Milan,

Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)

for Paul Dessau: Die Verurteilung des Lukullus

for Kurt Weill:

alone: Der Jasager, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny,

with Elisabeth Hauptmann: Happy End, The Threepenny Opera

Georg Büchner (1813–1837)

used by Alban Berg: Wozzeck

Francis Burnand (1836–1917)

for Arthur Sullivan: The Chieftain, The Contrabandista, Cox and Box

for Edward Solomon: Domestic Economy, Pickwick, The Tiger

Giovanni Francesco Busenello (1598–1659)

for Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

for Francesco Cavalli: Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne, La Didone, La prosperita di Giulio Cesare dittatore , Statira principessa de Persia

Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)

for his own music: Arlecchino, Die Brautwahl, Doktor Faust, Turandot

C

Louis de Cahusac (1706–1759)

for Jean-Philippe Rameau: Anacréon (first Rameau opera by that name), Les Boréades, Les fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour, Naïs, La naissance d'Osiris, Zaïs, Zoroastre

Henri Caïn (1859–1937)

alone:

for Jules Massenet: Cendrillon, La Navarraise, Don Quichotte, Roma, Sapho

for Franco Alfano: Cyrano di Bergerac

with de Croisset — see Francis de Croisset

Italo Calvino (1923–1985)

for Luciano Berio: La vera storia

Ranieri de' Calzabigi (1714–1795)

for Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste, Orfeo ed Euridice, Paride ed Elena

Salvadore Cammarano (1801–1852)

for Gaetano Donizetti: L'assedio di Calais, Belisario, Lucia di Lammermoor, Maria de Rudenz, Maria di Rohan, Pia de' Tolomei, Poliuto, Roberto Devereux

for Giuseppe Verdi: Alzira, La battaglia di Legnano, Luisa Miller, Il trovatore (with Leone Emanuele Bardare)

for Giuseppe Persiani: Ines de Castro

for Saverio Mercadante: Elena da Feltre, La vestale, Orazi e Curiazi, Virginia

for Giovanni Pacini: Saffo

Michel Carré (1821–1872)

alone:

for Charles Gounod: Mireille

for Jacques Offenbach: La rose de Saint-Flour

with Eugène Cormon:

for Georges Bizet: Les pêcheurs de perles

with Barbier — see Jules Barbier

Nick Cave (born 1957)

for Nicholas Lens: Shell Shock

Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)

for his own music: Le roi Arthus

Helmina von Chézy (1783–1856)

for Carl Maria von Weber: Euryanthe

Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808–1872)

for Arthur Sullivan: The Sapphire Necklace

for William Vincent Wallace: The Amber Witch

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)

for Arthur Honegger: Antigone

for Darius Milhaud: Le pauvre matelot

for Francis Poulenc: La voix humaine

for Igor Stravinsky: Oedipus rex

John M. Coetzee (born 1940)

for Nicholas Lens: Slow Man

Colette (1873–1954)

for Maurice Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges

Marco Coltellini (1719–1777)

for Christoph Willibald Gluck: Telemaco

for Hasse: Piramo e Tisbe

for Joseph Haydn: L'infedeltà delusa

for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: La finta semplice

for Antonio Salieri: Armida

for Tommaso Traetta: Ifigenia in Aulide, Antigona

Jeremy Commons (born 1933)

with Ivan Bootham: The Death of Venus

William Congreve (1670–1729)

used by John Eccles: Semele

used by George Frideric Handel: Semele

used by John Eccles, Daniel Purcell, Gottfried Finger and John Weldon: The Judgement of Paris

Eugène Cormon (1810–1903)

with Michel Carré

for Georges Bizet: Les pêcheurs de perles

with Hector-Jonathan Crémieux

for Jacques Offenbach: Robinson Crusoé

with Lockroy

for Aimé Maillart: Les dragons de Villars

Thomas Corneille (1625–1709)

for Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Médée

for Jean-Baptiste Lully: Bellérophon (with Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle)

Hector-Jonathan Crémieux (1828–1892)

with E About

for Jacques Offenbach: Le financier et le savetier

with Ernest Blum

for Jacques Offenbach: Bagatelle, La jolie parfumeuse

with Eugène Cormon

for Jacques Offenbach: Robinson Crusoé

with Philippe Gille

for Jacques Offenbach: Les bergers

with Ludovic Halévy

for Léo Delibes: Les eaux d’Ems

for Jacques Offenbach: La chanson de Fortunio, Jacqueline, Orphée aux enfers, Le pont des soupirs, Le roman comique

with Ludovic Halévy, M de Saint-Rémy and Ernest Lépine

for Jacques Offenbach: M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . .

with Adolphe Jaime

for Hervé: Le petit Faust

for Jacques Offenbach: Une demoiselle en loterie

with Adolphe Jaime and Etienne Tréfeu

for Jacques Offenbach: Geneviève de Brabant

with Albert de Saint-Albin

for Jacques Offenbach: La foire Saint-Laurent

Francis de Croisset (1877–1937)

alone:

for Reynaldo Hahn: Ciboulette

with Henri Caïn

for Jules Massenet: Chérubin

Eric Crozier (1914–1994)

for Benjamin Britten: Albert Herring, Billy Budd (with E. M. Forster), The Little Sweep

César Cui (1835–1918)

for his own music: The Captain's Daughter, Feast in Time of Plague, Mademoiselle Fifi, The Saracen (with Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov)

D

Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863–1938)

for Pietro Mascagni: Parisina

for Alberto Franchetti: La figlia di Iorio

Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749–1838)

for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro

for Vicente Martín y Soler: L'arbore di Diana, Il burbero di buon cuore, Una cosa rara

for Antonio Salieri: Axur, re d'Ormus

William Davenant (1606–1668)

for Henry Lawes, Matthew Locke and others: The Siege of Rhodes

Giovanni de Gamerra (1743–1803)

for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Lucio Silla (revised by Metastasio); Italian adaptation of The Magic Flute

for Giuseppe Sarti: Medonte, re di Epiro

for Josef Mysliveček: Il Medonte

for Antonio Salieri: Palmira, regina di Persia

Constance DeJong (born 1950)

for Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Casimir Delavigne

Germain Delavigne

Frederick Delius (1862–1934)

for his own music: Fennimore and Gerda, Irmelin, A Village Romeo and Juliet

Philippe Néricault Destouches (1680–1754)

for Jean-Joseph Mouret: Les amours de Ragonde

Eduard Devrient (1801–1877)

for Heinrich Marschner: Hans Heiling

Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848)

for his own music: Betly, Il campanello di notte, Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali, Don Pasquale (with Giovanni Ruffini)

John Dryden (1631–1700)

for Henry Purcell: The Indian Queen (with Robert Howard), King Arthur

for Louis Grabu: Albion and Albanius

E

Gottfried von Einem (1918–1996)

for his own music: Dantons Tod (with Boris Blacher)

Adolphe d'Ennery (1811–1899)

alone:

for Charles Gounod: Le tribut de Zamora

with Édouard Blau and Louis Gallet:

for Jules Massenet: Le Cid

with Jules Brésil

for Adolphe Adam: Si j'étais roi

with Philippe François Pinel Dumanoir and Jules Chantepie:

for Jules Massenet: Don César de Bazan

Victor Erofeyev (born 1947)

for Alfred Schnittke: Life with an Idiot

Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871–1943)

for Eugen d'Albert: Die toten Augen

F

Mohammed Fairouz (born 1985)

for himself: Sumeida's Song

Lorenzo Ferrero (born 1951)

for himself: Marilyn, Night, La nascita di Orfeo, La Conquista

Jacopo Ferretti (1784–1852)

for Gaetano Donizetti: L'ajo nell'imbarazzo, Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo, Olivo e Pasquale, Torquato Tasso, Zoraide di Grenata

for Saverio Mercadante: Gli amici di Siracusa, Scipione in Cartagine

for Giovanni Pacini: Cesare in Egitto

for Luigi Ricci: L'orfanella di Ginevra

for Lauro Rossi: La figlia di Figaro

for Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola, Matilde di Shabran

for Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli: Baldovino

Ferdinando Fontana (1850–1919)

for Giacomo Puccini: Le Villi, Edgar

E. M. Forster (1879–1970)

for Benjamin Britten: Billy Budd (with Eric Crozier)

Frederick the Great (1712–1786)

for Carl Heinrich Graun: Montezuma

Christopher Fry (1907–2005)

for Krzysztof Penderecki: Paradise Lost

G

Louis Gallet (1835–1898)

for Georges Bizet: Djamileh

for Alfred Bruneau: L'attaque du moulin

for Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars, Maître Pierre

for Jules Massenet: Thaïs, Le Cid, Le roi de Lahore

for Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio, La princesse jaune, Déjanire

John Gay (1685–1732)

for music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch: The Beggar's Opera

Richard Genée (1823–1895)

with Camillo Walzel

for Carl Millöcker: Der Bettelstudent

for Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien, Der lustige Krieg, Eine Nacht in Venedig

Antonio Ghislanzoni (1824–1893)

for Giuseppe Verdi: Aida, La forza del destino

for Amilcare Ponchielli: I Lituani

Giuseppe Giacosa (1847–1906) and Luigi Illica (1857–1919)

for Giacomo Puccini: La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut (with others, including Leoncavallo), Tosca

W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911)

for Arthur Sullivan: The Gondoliers, The Grand Duke, H.M.S. Pinafore, Iolanthe, The Mikado, Patience, The Pirates of Penzance, Princess Ida, Ruddigore, The Sorcerer, Thespis, Trial by Jury, Utopia, Limited, The Yeomen of the Guard

for Thomas German Reed: Eyes and No Eyes, No Cards, Our Island Home, A Sensation Novel

for Frederic Clay: Ages Ago, Happy Arcadia, Princess Toto, The Gentleman in Black

for Alfred Cellier: The Mountebanks, Topsyturveydom

for George Grossmith: Haste to the Wedding

for Frank Osmond Carr: His Excellency

for Edward German: Fallen Fairies

for Alberto Randegger: Creatures of Impulse

Philippe Gille (1831–1901)

with Edmond Gondinet:

for Léo Delibes: Lakmé

with Henri Meilhac:

for Jules Massenet: Manon

Alvise Giusti (1709–1766)

for Antonio Vivaldi: Motezuma

Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852)

used by Modest Mussorgsky: Zhenitba (Marriage)

Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793)

used by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: La finta semplice

used by Niccolò Piccinni: La buona figliuola

used by Joseph Haydn: Il mondo della luna, Lo speziale, Le pescatrici

used by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari: Il campiello, Le donne curiose, I quatro rusteghi

Edmond Gondinet (1828–1888)

alone

for Léo Delibes: Le roi l'a dit

with Ernest Blum and Albert de Saint-Albin

for Hervé: Mam’zelle Gavroche

with Georges Duval:

for Robert Planquette: Les Voltigeurs de la 32ème

with Philippe Gille:

for Léo Delibes: Jean de Nivelle , Lakmé

Alice Goodman (born 1958)

for John Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer, Nixon in China

Vincenzo Grimani (1652/1655–1710)

for George Frideric Handel: Agrippina

Sydney Grundy (1848–1914)

for Arthur Sullivan: Haddon Hall

for Edward Solomon: Pocahontas, The Vicar of Bray

Nicolas-François Guillard (1752–1814)

for Christoph Willibald Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride

for Antonio Salieri: Les Horaces

for Antonio Sacchini: Chimène, Œdipe à Colone, Arvire et Évélina

H

Daron Hagen (born 1961)

for his own music: Just for the Night, from New York Stories

Thomas Hales (c.1740–1780)

for André Grétry: L'amant jaloux, Le jugement de Midas

Ludovic Halévy (1834–1908)

for Jacques Offenbach: Ba-ta-clan

also see Meilhac and Crémieux

Christopher Hampton (born 1946)

for Philip Glass: Appomattox, Waiting for the Barbarians

David Harsent (born 1942)

for Harrison Birtwistle: Gawain

Georges Hartmann (1843–1900)

for Jules Massenet: Hérodiade, Werther

for André Messager: Madame Chrysanthème

for Reynaldo Hahn: L'île du rêve

Nicola Francesco Haym (1678–1729)

for Giovanni Bononcini: Calfurnia and Astianatte

for George Frideric Handel: Admeto, Amadigi di Gaula, Flavio, Giulio Cesare, Ottone, Radamisto, Rodelinda, Siroe, Tamerlano Teseo

Philip Hensher (born 1965)

for Thomas Adès: Powder Her Face

Ernest Hilbert (born 1970)

for Stella Sung: The Red Silk Thread, an Epic Tale of Marco Polo, The Book Collector

for Daniel Felsenfeld: Summer and All it Brings, The Last of Manhattan

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)

for his own music: Die Harmonie der Welt, Mathis der Maler

Russell Hoban (born 1925)

for Harrison Birtwistle: The Second Mrs Kong

Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1925)

for Richard Strauss: Die ägyptische Helena, Arabella, Ariadne auf Naxos, Elektra, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Der Rosenkavalier

François-Benoît Hoffman (1760–1828)

for Luigi Cherubini: Médée

for Nicolas Isouard: Les rendez-vous bourgeois

for Rodolphe Kreutzer: La mort d'Abel

for Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne: Nephté, Phèdre

for Étienne Méhul: Adrien, Ariodant, Euphrosine, Le jeune sage et le vieux fou, Stratonice

Basil Hood (1864–1917)

for Arthur Sullivan: The Emerald Isle (finished by Edward German after Sullivan's death), The Rose of Persia

for Arthur Bruhns (later reset by Franco Leoni): Ib and Little Christina

for Cecil Cook: The Willow Pattern

for Edward German: Merrie England, A Princess of Kensington

Victor Hugo (1802–1885)

for Louise Bertin: Esmeralda

David Henry Hwang (born 1957)

for Philip Glass: The Voyage, 1000 Airplanes on the Roof

for Osvaldo Golijov: Ainadamar

for Howard Shore: The Fly

I

Luigi Illica (1857–1919)

for Alfredo Catalani: La Wally

for Umberto Giordano: Andrea Chénier, Siberia

for Pietro Mascagni: Iris, Isabeau, Le maschere

see also Giuseppe Giacosa

Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1894–1980)

for Karol Szymanowski: King Roger (with the composer)

J

Leoš Janáček (1854–1928)

for his own music: The Cunning Little Vixen, From the House of the Dead, Jenůfa, The Makropulos Affair, Destiny

Scott Joplin (1868–1917)

for his own music: Treemonisha

Étienne de Jouy (1764–1846)

for Luigi Cherubini: Les Abencérages

for Étienne Méhul: Les amazones

for Gioachino Rossini: Guillaume Tell (with Hippolyte-Louis Florent Bis)

for Gaspare Spontini: Milton (with Armand-Michel Dieulafoy), La vestale, Fernand Cortez

K

Georg Kaiser (1878–1945)

for Kurt Weill: Der Protagonist, Der Silbersee, Der Zar lässt sich photographieren

Chester Kallman see Auden

Johann Friedrich Kind (1768–1843)

for Carl Maria von Weber: Der Freischütz

for Conradin Kreutzer: Das Nachtlager in Granada

Kenneth Koch (1925–2002)

for Ned Rorem: Bertha

Eliška Krásnohorská (1847–1926)

for Bedřich Smetana: The Devil's Wall, The Kiss, The Secret, Viola

Clemens Krauss (1893–1954)

for Richard Strauss: Capriccio

L

Antoine Houdar de la Motte (1672–1731)

for André Campra: L'Europe galante

for André Cardinal Destouches: Issé

for Marin Marais: Alcyone

Ferdinand Lemaire (1832–1879)

for Camille Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila

Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857–1919)

for his own music: Chatterton, I Medici, La bohème, Pagliacci, Zazà

for Giacomo Puccini: Manon Lescaut (with others, including Giacosa and Illica)

Doris Lessing (1919–2013)

for Philip Glass: The Making of the Representative for Planet 8

M

Amin Maalouf (born 1949)

for Kaija Saariaho: L'amour de loin

Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949)

used by Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande

used by Paul Dukas: Ariane et Barbe-bleue

Albéric Magnard (1865-1914)

for his own music: Bérénice, Guercœur

Jean-François Marmontel (1723–1799)

for Jean-Philippe Rameau: Acante et Céphise, La guirlande, Les sibarites

for André Grétry: Le Huron, Lucile, Zémire et Azor

for Niccolò Piccinni: Atys, Didon, Pénélope, Roland

Henri Meilhac (1831–1897)

with Philippe Gille

for Jules Massenet: Manon

with Ludovic Halévy

for Georges Bizet: Carmen

for Jacques Offenbach: Barbe-bleue, La belle Hélène, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, La Périchole, La Vie parisienne

Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélesville (1787–1865)

for Ferdinand Hérold: Zampa

with Pierre Carmouche

for Jacques Offenbach: La permission de dix heures

with Eugène Scribe

for Jacques Offenbach: La chatte métamorphosée en femme

Guido Menasci (1867–1925)

with Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti:

for Umberto Giordano: Regina Diaz

for Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana, I Rantzau, Zanetto

Catulle Mendès (1841–1909)

for Emmanuel Chabrier: Gwendoline

for Claude Debussy: Rodrigue et Chimène

with Ephraïm Mikaël:

for Emmanuel Chabrier: Briséïs

for Jules Massenet: Ariane, Bacchus

for André Messager: Isoline

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007)

for his own music: Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Boy Who Grew Too Fast, The Consul, The Island God, The Last Savage,The Medium, The Old Maid and the Thief, The Saint of Bleecker Street, The Telephone, or L'Amour à trois

for Samuel Barber: A Hand of Bridge, Vanessa

Joseph Méry (1798–1866)

for Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos (with Camille du Locle)

Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)

for his own music: Saint François d'Assise

Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782)

used by J. C. Bach, Riccardo Broschi, Johann Adolph Hasse, Josef Mysliveček, and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, among others: Adriano in Siria

used by Christoph Willibald Gluck, Hasse, Mysliveček, and Tommaso Traetta, among others: Antigono

used by J. C. Bach, Gluck, Hasse, Mysliveček, and Leonardo Vinci, among others: Artaserse

used by Hasse, Vinci, J. C. Bach, and Antonio Vivaldi, among others: Catone in Utica

used by Gluck, Hasse, and Mysliveček, among others: Demetrio

used by Gluck, Hasse, Niccolò Jommelli, Mysliveček, Traetta, and Vinci, among others: Demofoonte

used by Hasse, Nicola Porpora, and Vinci, among others: Didone abbandonata

used by Gluck and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others: Il re pastore

used by Gluck, Hasse, Jommelli, and Mysliveček, among others: Il trionfo di Clelia

used by Gluck, Hasse, and Porpora, among others: Issipile

used by Gluck, George Frideric Handel, Mysliveček, and Porpora, among others: Ezio

used by Handel, Hasse, Porpora, and Vinci, among others: Alessandro nelle Indie, also known as Poro, re dell'Indie

used by Gluck, Hasse, and Mysliveček, among others: Ipermestra

used by Mozart and Mysliveček, among others: La clemenza di Tito

used by Hasse, Mysliveček, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Traetta, and Vivaldi, among others: L'Olimpiade

used by Hasse, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Mysliveček, Porpora, Antonio Salieri, and Vinci, among others: Semiramide riconosciuta

used by Handel, Hasse, Porpora, Vinci, and Vivaldi, among others: Siroe rè di Persia

Nicolò Minato (ca. 1630–1698)

used by Francesco Cavalli: Orimonte

used by Francesco Cavalli, Alessandro Scarlatti and Giacomo Antonio Perti: Pompeo Magno

used by Francesco Cavalli, Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Xerse

used by Antonio Draghi: Leonida in Tegea, La tirannide abbatuta dalla virtù

used by Antonio Draghi and Marc' Antonio Ziani: Chilonida

used by Antonio Draghi and Georg Reutter/Antonio Caldara: La patienza di Socrate con due mogli

used by Antonio Sartorio, Antonio Draghi and Tomaso Albinoni: La prosperità di Elio Sejano

Paul Muldoon (born 1951)

for Daron Hagen: Shining Brow, Vera of Las Vegas, Bandanna, The Antient Concert

Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)

for his own music: Boris Godunov, The Fair at Sorochyntsi, Khovanshchina, Salammbô

N

Émile de Najac (1828–1899)

with Paul Burani

for Emmanuel Chabrier: Le roi malgré lui

with Paul Ferrier

for Lecocq: La vie mondaine

Charles Nuitter (1828–99)

for Jacques Offenbach: Les bavards, Les fées du Rhin

O

Meredith Oakes (born 1946)

for Thomas Adès: The Tempest

Martin Opitz (1597–1639)

for Heinrich Schütz: Dafne (lost)

P

Francesco Maria Piave (1810–1876)

for Luigi Ricci and Federico Ricci: Crispino e la comare

for Verdi: Aroldo (1857), Il corsaro (1848), I due Foscari (1844), Ernani (1844), La forza del destino (1862), Macbeth (1865 revised version), Rigoletto (1851), Simon Boccanegra (1857 first version), Stiffelio (1850), La traviata (1851)

Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934)

for Arthur Sullivan: The Beauty Stone

Myfanwy Piper (1911–1997)

for Benjamin Britten: Death in Venice, Owen Wingrave, The Turn of the Screw

James Robinson Planché (1796–1880)

for Weber: Oberon

William Plomer (1903–1973)

for Benjamin Britten: The Burning Fiery Furnace, Curlew River, Gloriana, The Prodigal Son.

David Pountney (born 1947)

for Peter Maxwell Davies: The Doctor of Myddfai, Mr Emmet Takes a Walk

Alexander Preis

for Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk district, The Nose

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)

for his own music:

alone: The Fiery Angel, The Gambler, The Love for Three Oranges, Maddalena

with Mira Mendelson:Betrothal in a Monastery, The Story of a Real Man, War and Peace

with Valentin Katayev: Semyon Kotko

Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837)

used by Alexander Dargomyzhsky: The Stone Guest

Q

Philippe Quinault (1635–1688)

for Jean-Baptiste Lully: Acis et Galatée, Amadis, Armide, Atys, Cadmus et Hermione, Isis, Persée, Phaëton, Proserpine, Roland, Thésée

used by Gluck: Armide

used by Piccinni: Roland

R

Jean Richepin (1849–1926)

for César Cui: Le flibustier

for Jules Massenet: Le mage

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)

for his own music: Christmas Eve, Kashchey the Deathless, The Maid of Pskov, May Night, The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga, Sadko, Servilia, The Snow Maiden

Ottavio Rinuccini (1562–1621)

for Caccini: Euridice

for Gagliano: Dafne

for Monteverdi: L'Arianna

for Peri: Dafne, Euridice

Michael Symmons Roberts (born 1963)

for James MacMillan: The Sacrifice

Felice Romani (1788–1865)

for Bellini: Adelson e Salvini, Beatrice di Tenda, Bianca e Fernando, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Il pirata, I puritani, La sonnambula, La straniera, Zaira

for Donizetti: Alina, regina di Golconda, Anna Bolena, L'elisir d'amore, Gianni di Parigi, Lucrezia Borgia, Parisina, Rosmonda d'Inghilterra, Ugo, conte di Parigi

for Giacomo Meyerbeer: L'esule di Granata, Margherita d'Anjou

for Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira, Bianca e Falliero, Il turco in Italia

for Verdi: Un giorno di regno

Giulio Rospigliosi (later Pope Clement IX) (1600–1669)

for Stefano Landi: Il Sant'Alessio

for Marco Marazzoli and Virgilio Mazzocchi: Chi soffre, speri

for Luigi Rossi: Il palazzo incantato

for Michelangelo Rossi: Erminia sul Giordano

with Giacomo Rospigliosi

for Antonio Maria Abbatini and Marco Marazzoli: Dal male il bene

Gaetano Rossi (1774–1855)

for Rossini: La cambiale di matrimonio, Tancredi, Semiramide

for Simon Mayr: L'amor coniugale

for Saverio Mercadante: Il giuramento

for Meyerbeer: Il crociato in Egitto

for Pacini: Carlo di Borgogna

for Donizetti: Maria Padilla (with Gaetano Donizetti), Linda di Chamounix

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)

for his own music: Le devin du village

Pierre-Charles Roy (1683–1764)

for André Cardinal Destouches: Callirhoé

for André Cardinal Destouches and Michel Richard Delalande: Les élémens

Alphonse Royer (1803–1875)

with Gustave Vaëz

for Donizetti: La favorite, L'ange de Nisida

for Rossini and Niedermeyer: Robert Bruce

for Verdi: Jérusalem

S

Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges (1799–1875)

alone

for Franz Lachner: Caterina Cornaro

for Fromental Halévy: La reine de Chypre

with Jules Adenis

for Bizet: La jolie fille de Perth

with Jean-François Bayard:

for Donizetti: La fille du régiment

with François-Antoine de Planard:

for Fromental Halévy: L'éclair

with Eugène Scribe:

for Auber: Les diamants de la couronne

Emanuel Schikaneder (1751–1812)

for Mozart: The Magic Flute (1791)

for Franz Xaver Süssmayr: Der Spiegel von Arkadien (1794)

for Peter Winter: The Magic Flute's Second Part (1798)

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)

for his own music: Die glückliche Hand, Moses und Aron

Eugène Scribe (1791–1861)

alone

for Auber: Le cheval de bronze, Le domino noir, L'enfant prodigue, Fra Diavolo, Gustave III, Haydée, Manon Lescaut, La muette de Portici, La part du diable

for Adrien Boieldieu: La dame blanche

for Donizetti: Dom Sébastien

for Halévy: Guido et Ginevra, La Juive

for Meyerbeer: L'Africaine, Les Huguenots, Le prophète, Robert le diable, L'étoile du nord

with Germain Delavigne

for Charles Gounod: La nonne sanglante

with Charles Gaspard Delestre-Poirson

for Rossini: Le comte Ory

with Charles Duveyrier

for Gaetano Donizetti: Le duc d'Albe

for Giuseppe Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes

with Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges

for Auber: Les diamants de la couronne

Sandra Seaton

for William Bolcom’s From The Diary of Sally Hemings

Michel-Jean Sedaine (1719–1797)

for Christoph Willibald Gluck: Le diable à quatre

for André Grétry: Aucassin et Nicolette, Guillaume Tell, Richard Coeur-de-lion

for Monsigny: Le déserteur

Peter Sellars (born 1957)

for John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Elkanah Settle (1648–1724)

for The World in the Moon (1697) and The Virgin Prophetess, or The Fate of Troy (1701)

Thomas Shadwell (c. 1642–1692)

for Matthew Locke: Psyche

William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

used by Benjamin Britten, heavily cut by Britten and Peter Pears: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)

for Thomas Linley the younger and Thomas Linley the elder: The Duenna

Renato Simoni (1875–1952)

for Puccini: Turandot (with Giuseppe Adami)

for Francesco Cilèa: Il ritorno dell'amore

Montagu Slater (1902–1956)

for Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes

Antonio Somma (1809–1864)

for Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)

for Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts, The Mother of Us All

B. C. Stephenson (1838–1906)

for Arthur Sullivan: The Zoo

for Frederic Clay: The Bold Recruit, Out of Sight, The Pirates Isle

for Alfred Cellier: Charity Begins at Home, Doris, Dorothy, The Masque of Pandora

Cesare Sterbini (1784–1831)

for Gioachino Rossini: The Barber of Seville, Torvaldo e Dorliska

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)

for his own music: Guntram, Intermezzo, Salome (adapted from Oscar Wilde)

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)

for his own music: Renard, Le rossignol

Alessandro Striggio (1573–1630)

for Monteverdi: L'Orfeo

John Millington Synge (1871–1909)

used by Ralph Vaughan Williams: Riders to the Sea

T

Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti (1863–1934)

for Adriano Biagi: La sposa di Nino

for Umberto Giordano: Regina Diaz

for Pietro Mascagni: Amica, Cavalleria rusticana, Nerone, Pinotta, I Rantzau, Silvano, Zanetto

Nahum Tate (1652–1715)

for Purcell: Dido and Aeneas

Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1916)

for Eduard Nápravník: Dubrovsky

for Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini

for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Iolanta, The Queen of Spades

Emmanuel Théaulon (1787–1841)

with de Rancé

for Luigi Cherubini: Blanche de Provence

for Ferdinando Paer: Blanche de Provence

for Franz Liszt: Don Sanche

Michael Tippett (1905–1998)

for his own music: The Ice Break, King Priam, The Knot Garden, The Midsummer Marriage, New Year

Andrea Leone Tottola (?–1831)

for Bellini: Adelson e Salvini

for Donizetti: Alfredo il grande, Il castello di Kenilworth, Gabriella di Vergy, Imelda de' Lambertazzi, La zingara

for Giovanni Pacini: Alessandro nelle Indie

for Rossini: La donna del lago, Ermione, Mosè in Egitto, Zelmira

Étienne Tréfeu (1821–1903)

with Adolphe Jaime and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux

for Offenbach: Geneviève de Brabant

V

Albert Vanloo (1846–1920)

for Edmond Audran

with William Busnach: L'oeuf rouge

for Emmanuel Chabrier

with Eugène Letterier: L'étoile, Une éducation manquée

for Alexandre Charles Lecocq

with William Busnach: Ali-Baba

with Georges Duval: La belle au bois dormant

with Eugène Letterier: La Camargo, Giroflé-Girofla, La jolie persane, Le jour et la nuit, La marjolaine, La petite mariée

for André Messager

with Georges Duval: Les dragons de l'impératrice, Les p'tites Michu, Véronique

for Offenbach

with Eugène Letterier: Mam'zelle Moucheron

with Leterrier and A Mortier: Le voyage dans la lune

Giambattista Varesco (1735–1805)

for Mozart: Idomeneo, L'oca del Cairo

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)

for his own music: The Pilgrim's Progress, Sir John in Love

Royce Vavrek

for Du Yun: Angel's Bone

for Ricky Ian Gordon: 27

for David T. Little: JFK, Dog Days, Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera

for Missy Mazzoli: Breaking the Waves

with the composer: Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt

for Gregory Spears: O Columbia

Paul Verlaine

for Emmanuel Chabrier: Fisch-Ton-Kan

Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges (1799–1875) — see above under S

Voltaire (1694–1778)

for Rameau: La princesse de Navarre, Le temple de la gloire, Les fêtes de Ramire, Samson (lost)

W

Richard Wagner (1813–1883)

for his own music: Die Feen, The Flying Dutchman, Götterdämmerung, Die Hochzeit, Das Liebesverbot, Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Parsifal, Das Rheingold, Rienzi, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Siegfried, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Die Walküre

Camillo Walzel (1829–1895) pseudonym F Zell

with Richard Genée

for Carl Millöcker: Der Bettelstudent

for Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien, Der lustige Krieg, Eine Nacht in Venedig

Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)

for Paul Hindemith: The Long Christmas Dinner

Albert Willemetz (1887–1964)

for Arthur Honegger: Les aventures du roi Pausole

for Henri Christiné: Phi-Phi

for André Messager: Coups de roulis

for Maurice Yvain: Ta bouche, Là-Haut, Yes !

Ernst von Wolzogen (1855–1934)

for Richard Strauss: Feuersnot

Y

Arthur Yorinks (born 1953)

for Philip Glass: The Fall of the House of Usher, The Juniper Tree

Z

Franco Zeffirelli (born 1923)

for Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871–1942)

for his own music: Der König Kandaules

Apostolo Zeno (1668–1750)

used by Handel: Faramondo

used by Hasse: Antioco

used by Hasse and Holzbauer: Lucio Papirio

used by Holzbauer: Il Don Chisciotte, Sesostri, re d'Egitto, Vologeso

used by Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi: Griselda

Julius Zeyer (1841–1901)

for Leoš Janáček: Šárka

Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918–1970)

for his own music: Die Soldaten

Peter Zinovieff

for Harrison Birtwistle: The Mask of Orpheus

Émile Zola (1840–1902)

for Alfred Bruneau: Messidor, L'ouragan

Stefan Zweig (1881–1942)

for Richard Strauss: Die schweigsame Frau