List of opera librettists
This is an incomplete list of authors who have written libretti for operas. Only librettists with their own articles in Wikipedia are listed. The name of the composer of each opera is also given.
List of operas by librettist's last name
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
- with Édouard Plouvier (1821–1876)
- for Jacques Offenbach: Un postillon en gage
- with J Rostaing
- for Ernest Guiraud: Sylvie
- with Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges
- with A Silvestre and L Bonnemère
- for Henry Charles Litolff: Les templiers
Franco Alfano (1875–1954)
- for his own music: Sakùntala
Louis Anseaume (1721–1784)
- 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:
- with Chester Kallman (1921–1975)
B
Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973)
Béla Balázs (1884–1949)
Luigi Balocchi (1766–1832)
- for Gioachino Rossini: Il viaggio a Reims, Le siège de Corinthe (with Alexandre Soumet), Moïse et Pharaon (with Étienne de Jouy)
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:
Pierre Beaumarchais (1732–1799)
- used by Antonio Salieri: Tarare
Sem Benelli (1877–1949)
Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
- for his own music: Les Troyens, Béatrice et Bénédict
Giovanni Bertati (1735–1815)
Thomas Betterton (1635–1710)
- for Henry Purcell: Dioclesian, The Fairy-Queen (probably)
Robin Blaser (born 1925)
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: Simon Boccanegra (revised version), Otello, Falstaff
- for Amilcare Ponchielli: La Gioconda (writing 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)
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
Massimo Cacciari (born 1944)
- for Luigi Nono: Prometeo
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:
- with de Croisset – see Francis de Croisset
Italo Calvino (1923–1985)
- for Luciano Berio: La vera storia, Un re in ascolto
Ranieri de' Calzabigi (1714–1795)
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, Il reggente
- for Giovanni Pacini: Saffo
- for Mason Bates: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs
- for Iain Bell: Stonewall
- for William Bolcom: Lucrezia, Dinner At Eight
- for Julian Grant: The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare
- for Laura Kaminsky: As One, Some Light Emerges, Today It Rains
- for Paul Moravec: The Shining
- for John Musto: Volpone, Later the Same Evening, Bastianello, The Inspector
- for Rene Orth: Empty the House
- for Roberto Scarcella Perino: A Sweet Silence in Cremona
- for Paola Prestini: Edward Tulane
- for Kevin Puts: Silent Night, The Manchurian Candidate, Elizabeth Cree
- for Stewart Wallace: Supermax
Michel Carré (1821–1872)
- alone:
- for Charles Gounod: Mireille
- for Jacques Offenbach: La rose de Saint-Flour
- with Eugène Cormon:
- 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)
Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808–1872)
- for Arthur Sullivan: The Sapphire Necklace
- for William Vincent Wallace: The Amber Witch
Guelfo Civinini (1873–1954)
- for Giacomo Puccini: La fanciulla del West (with Carlo Zangarini)
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)
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
- with Hector-Jonathan Crémieux
- with Lockroy
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
- 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
Michael Cristofer (born 1945)
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, A Feast in Time of Plague, Mademoiselle Fifi, The Saracen (with Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov)
D
Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863–1938)
Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749–1838)
- for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte
- 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
Frederick Delius (1862–1934)
- for his own music: Fennimore and Gerda, Irmelin, A Village Romeo and Juliet
Philippe Néricault Destouches (1680–1754)
Eduard Devrient (1801–1877)
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:
- with Édouard Blau and Louis Gallet:
- for Jules Massenet: Le Cid
- with Jules Brésil
- with Philippe François Pinel Dumanoir and Jules Chantepie:
- for Jules Massenet: Don César de Bazan
Victor Erofeyev (born 1947)
Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871–1943)
F
Mohammed Fairouz (born 1985)
- for himself: Sumeida's Song
Duncan Fallowell (born 1948)
- for Irmin Schmidt composer Gormenghast (opera)
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)
Giovacchino Forzano (1884–1970)
Frederick the Great (1712–1786)
Christopher Fry (1907–2005)
G
Kate Gale (born 1965)
- for Don Davis: Río de Sangre
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
Ira Gershwin (1896–1983)
- with DuBose Heyward:
Antonio Ghislanzoni (1824–1893)
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 Baldassare Galuppi: Il filosofo di campagna
- used by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari: Il campiello, Le donne curiose, I quatro rusteghi, Gli amanti sposi, La vedova scaltra
Edmond Gondinet (1828–1888)
- alone
- 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)
Sydney Grundy (1848–1914)
- for Arthur Sullivan: Haddon Hall
- for Edward Solomon: Pocahontas, The Vicar of Bray
Nicolas-François Guillard (1752–1814)
H
Daron Hagen (born 1961)
- for his own music: Just for the Night, from New York Stories
Thomas Hales (c.1740–1780)
Ludovic Halévy (1834–1908)
- for Jacques Offenbach: Ba-ta-clan
- also see Meilhac and Crémieux
Christopher Hampton (born 1946)
David Harsent (born 1942)
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)
DuBose Heyward (1885–1940)
- with Ira Gershwin:
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)
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)
David Henry Hwang (born 1957)
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: Moïse et Pharaon (with Luigi Balocchi), Guillaume Tell (with Hippolyte Bis)
- for Gaspare Spontini: Milton (with Armand-Michel Dieulafoy), La vestale, Fernand Cortez (with Joseph-Alphonse Esménard)
K
Georg Kaiser (1878–1945)
Chester Kallman see Auden
Johann Friedrich Kind (1768–1843)
Kenneth Koch (1925–2002)
Eliška Krásnohorská (1847–1926)
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)
Kasi Lemmons (born 1961)
- for Terence Blanchard: Fire Shut Up In My Bones
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)
M
Amin Maalouf (born 1949)
- for Kaija Saariaho: L'amour de loin
Daniel MacIvor (born 1962)
- for Rufus Wainwright: Hadrian
Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949)
- used by Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
- used by Paul Dukas: Ariane et Barbe-bleue
Andrea Maffei (1798–1885)
- for Verdi: I masnadieri
Albéric Magnard (1865–1914)
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
Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélesville (1787–1865)
- for Ferdinand Hérold: Zampa
- with Pierre Carmouche
- with Eugène Scribe
- for Jacques Offenbach: La chatte métamorphosée en femme
Guido Menasci (1867–1925)
- with Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti:
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
Madeleine Milhaud (1902–2008)
- for Darius Milhaud: Médée, Bolivar, La mère coupable
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)
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
- with Paul Ferrier
- for Lecocq: La vie mondaine
Charles Nuitter (1828–1899)
- for Jacques Offenbach: Les bavards, Les fées du Rhin
O
Meredith Oakes (born 1946)
- for Thomas Adès: The Tempest
Marc Okrand (born 1948)
- for Eef van Breen: ʼuʼ
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 first version), Macbeth (1847 first version), Macbeth (1865 second version), Rigoletto (1851), Simon Boccanegra (1857 first version), Stiffelio (1850), La traviata (1851)
Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934)
Myfanwy Piper (1911–1997)
James Robinson Planché (1796–1880)
William Plomer (1903–1973)
David Pountney (born 1947)
Alexander Preis
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)
Michael Symmons Roberts (born 1963)
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
- with Jean-François Bayard:
- with François-Antoine de Planard:
- for Fromental Halévy: L'éclair
- with Eugène Scribe:
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 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 Gounod: La nonne sanglante
- with Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson
- for Rossini: Le comte Ory
- with Charles Duveyrier
- for Donizetti: Le duc d'Albe
- for Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes
- with Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges
- 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)
Renato Simoni (1875–1952)
- for Puccini: Turandot (with Giuseppe Adami)
- for Francesco Cilea: Il ritorno dell'amore
Montagu Slater (1902–1956)
Temistocle Solera (1815–1878)
- for Verdi: Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio, Nabucco, I Lombardi alla prima crociata, Giovanna d'Arco, Attila
Antonio Somma (1809–1864)
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
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)
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
V
Albert Vanloo (1846–1920)
- for Edmond Audran
- with William Busnach: L'oeuf rouge
- 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
- 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
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)
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
Z
Carlo Zangarini (1873–1943)
- for Giacomo Puccini: La fanciulla del West (with Guelfo Civinini)
Franco Zeffirelli (1923–2019)
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
Émile Zola (1840–1902)
- for Alfred Bruneau: Messidor, L'ouragan
Stefan Zweig (1881–1942)
General sources
- The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
- The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
- Kenyon, Nicholas; Walsh, Stephen (1993). Holden, Amanda (ed.). The Viking Opera Guide. London: Viking. ISBN 0-670-81292-7.
