Untitled Document

The Humanities Lists

Page compiled by Peter Atlas for Concord-Carlisle Regional High School Academic Bowl Team

Operas
Comp.	Opera	Plot	Death Toll	What to Say Over Dessert
Mozart	The Marriage of Figaro	The Marriage of Figaro recounts the further comic adventures of Figaro, introduced 30 years later in Rossini's prequel, The Barber of Seville . Figaro's master, Count Almaviva, is now married to his love Rosina but has tired of her and pursues the affections of her comely maid Susanna, who is engaged to Figaro. The count hatches a plot to convince Figaro that Susanna is deceiving him and that he should instead marry the noblewoman Marcellina, but Figaro in turn schemes to reunite the count and countess. After many artifices and disguises have backfired, Figaro discovers that Marcellina is his long-lost mother. Figaro and Susanna regain their trust in each other and the count must stoop to begging Rosina's pardon.	None!	"Too many notes!"
The Magic Flute	First performed only two months before Mozart's death, The Magic Flute is the story of true lovers who must survive magical ordeals before they can be together. Prince Tamino stumbles into the land of the Queen of Night, where he is attacked by a giant serpent. He is rescued by three ladies, who show him a picture of the beautiful Pamina, and Tamino instantly falls in love. Protected by a golden flute, he sets off with the bird-catcher Papageno to rescue Pamina from the clutches of the sorcerer Sarastro. But the sorcerer is actually a wise priest, who tells Pamina that though she and Tamino are destined for each other, they must first prove their love. When the gods instruct Tamino to take a vow of silence, Pamina fears that all is lost and contemplates suicide, but she is comforted by kind spirits and finds new strength to aid Tamino through the trials of fire and water. Triumphing over all adversity, the lovers unite, as the forces of light banish the darkness, and the magic flute carries the final melody.	None as such, but the baddies' evil power is destroyed.	"Great special effects!!!"
Don Giovanni	One of the most praised operas, Don Giovanni combines high drama with comedy to illustrate the escapades and eventual fiery end of the mythical womanizer. As the story opens, Don Giovanni steals away from Donna Anna's house, but she pursues him. The commotion alarms her father, the Commendatore, who duels with and is killed by Don Giovanni. He sets off again with his servant, Leporello, and meets the grieving Donna Elvira, who loves him although he has betrayed her. Making a quick exit, he next encounters a lively bunch of peasants, among them the pretty Zerlina and her clumsy fiancé, Masetto. Wily Don Giovanni spirits Zerlina away, but her enraged scream alerts the suspicious Masetto, and the Don is unmasked as a seducer and murderer. He escapes, only to be confronted later by a statue of the murdered Commendatore, who extends an icy grip to drag an unrepentant Don Giovanni to the depths of hell.	The Commendatore, Don Giovanni	"Okay. It was that good."
Cosi fan Tutti	Ferrando and Guglielmo have a bet with old cynic Don Alfonso that their fiancèes, sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, are faithful. Alfonso makes them pretend to leave Naples and return disguised as Albanians (of course). Despina, the sister's maid, works to help Alfonso prove his point about women's fickleness, and everyone falls in love with the wrong person, until all is put right and there's moralising about forgiveness.	None!	"Those disguises wouldn't fool a child of three."
Verdi	Il Trovatore (the Troubador)	The complicated melodrama of Il Trovatore revolves around the gypsy Azucena, whose mother was burned at the stake for bewitching the elder count di Luna's baby son. To revenge her mother's death, Azucena hysterically kidnaps the count's baby, then mistakenly casts her own infant son into the flames. Horror-struck, she escapes with the count's stolen baby and raises him as her own son, Manrico. As the opera opens, the younger count, Manrico's unknowing brother, jealously awaits the arrival of the mysterious troubadour who has captured the heart of the Duchess Leonora. The troubadour Manrico appears, and the two men fight a duel, unaware that they are brothers. When Leonora hears a rumor that Manrico has been slain by the count's forces, she vows to become a nun, but her lover, still very much alive, hastens to her side. The count's forces besiege the couple's hideaway, and old Azucena, wandering into the enemy camp, is sentenced to death. Trying to save his mother, Manrico is also captured and thrown into prison. Leonora desperately promises to marry the count if he will free Manrico, but when he agrees, she poisons herself, dying in her lover's arms. A furious count forces Azucena to watch her supposed son Manrico's execution, but the malicious gypsy has the last word, screaming that the count has killed his own brother.	Four: Azucenia's mother burned at the stake, and Azuncia's infant son, thrown into the flames. Leonora takes poison, Manrico is executed.	"They need to tune those anvils..."
La Traviata (the Profligate One)	Rich boy Alfredo falls for consumptive prostitute Violetta. His daddy isn't happy and persuades her to abandon him because her scandalous past threatens his son's future . She goes back to her old life, but falls mortally ill, so Dad relents and allows a touching deathbed reunion.	One: Violetta, from consumption, but she does spend most of the opera dying.	"If she's got such a bad cough, how can she sing for so long?"
Rigoletto	Rigoletto is the bitter, hunchbacked court jester whose treasured daughter, Gilda, has caught the eye of the womanizing Duke of Mantua. Approaching Gilda, the duke declares his love, and the girl discovers a passion for him. Court nobles, seeking revenge for the jester's many insults, dupe Rigoletto into helping them kidnap Gilda, who is delivered to the Duke and seduced by him. Determined to show his daughter the Duke's true nature, Rigoletto takes her to the house of the assassin Sparafucile, whose sister Maddalena offers the duke her gypsy favors. Rigoletto has hired Sparafucile to kill the duke, but Maddalena convinces her assassin brother to murder a random victim instead. Knowing she will be murdered, Gilda appears in disguise, is stabbed, stuffed in a sack and delivered to Rigoletto in place of the duke's body. At the last minute, the horrified hunchback opens the sack and discovers his daughter, who whispers her last words of love for the duke and dies	Only one, surprisingly: Gilda, stabbed as a Duke-substitute, Act 4.	"Sex, violence, murder and great tunes. "
Otello	Same as the Shakespeare play	Pretty much everyone.	"What happened to the 'h'?"
Aida	Aida, captive daughter of Ethiopian king, falls for a warrior Radames, the new leader of the Egyptian Army, but has a powerful rival in Princess Amneris. Radames brings back Aida's father as captive, and he forces his daughter to trick her lover into betraying military secrets. Amneris denounces Radames, who is sentenced to be buried alive in a pyramid, but Aida sneaks in and joins him; they die happy, while Amneris weeps outside.	Aida and Radames, buried alive. A lot of soldiers in off-stage battle scenes	"Elephants on stage? What'll they think of next?!"
Puccini	Tosca	Tosca opens in a church, where the artist Cavaradossi paints a Mary Magdalen portrait while dreaming of his lover, Tosca, a famously passionate singer. Suddenly the escaped political prisoner Angelotti staggers in, on the run from the savage police chief Scarpia. When Tosca arrives and overhears the two men talking, she is devoured with suspicion that Cavaradossi has another lover, but the painter soothes her and hides Angelotti. The angry Scarpia bursts in, hot on the escapee's heels and burning with lust for Tosca. Sizing up the situation, he schemes to make the jealous singer betray her lover's secret. Cavaradossi is arrested and brutally tortured, blackmailing Tosca into revealing Angelotti's whereabouts. Scarpia demands Tosca's favors as payment for her lover's life, but the agonized Tosca meets his embrace with a fatal knife thrust. Joyfully, she goes to free Cavaradossi, but Scarpia's final cruel artifice leads her instead to witness her lover's execution. As the police pursue her, Tosca throws herself from a parapet to her death.	Four: Angelotti hangs himself, Scarpia, stabbed by Tosca, Cavaradossi, shot by firing squad in double-bluff execution Tosca thinks is faked, Tosca, jumps from the battlements of the Castel San Angelo.	"Well I do like it "
Turandot	Puccini's last opera was left unfinished at his death, and what he had intended to be a final, transcendent love duet was completed by a younger colleague, Franco Alfano. In Peking's Imperial Palace, the fatally beautiful Princess Turandot receives unlucky suitors from far and wide, who must answer three riddles to win her hand—or die. Calaf, son of the exiled King Timur of Tartary, is struck with Turandot's beauty, and ignoring protests from his father and Liù, the servant girl who loves him, he matches wits with the princess. Although he guesses the three riddles, Calaf offers his life to Turandot if she can discover his secret name. Searching the city in vain, the princess finally tortures faithful Liù, driving her to suicide. Faced with Liù's sacrifice and Calaf's stern devotion, Turandot crumbles, and weeping in Calaf's arms, she declares that his secret name is Love.	Various suitors, Liu, by suicde, and, of course, Puccini himself.	"Why didn't she try Rumplestiltskin?"
La Boheme	Puccini's most expressive opera draws from a collection of true-life sketches describing life among the original bohemians, the poor artists of Paris's Latin Quarter. Hungry but cheerful, the poet Rodolfo shares a garret with the painter Marcello and two others. One moonlit Christmas Eve, the frail seamstress Mimi comes to Rodolfo's door for help, and the two fall passionately in love, while Marcello carries on a turbulent affair with flirtatious Musetta. But Rodolfo is impossibly jealous of Mimi, and the two regretfully part, until Musetta reveals that Mimi is dying of consumption. Rodolfo flies to Mimi's side, and the lovers are united, only to be separated forever by Mimi's death.	One: Mimi, and only after a BIG aria.	"It's almost as good as"Rent"
Madama Butterfly	One of the world's most popular operas, Madama Butterfly passionately explores the consequences of obsessive devotion. Pinkerton, a U.S. Navy officer in Japan, contracts what he considers a temporary marriage to heisha Cio-Cio-San, called Butterfly, who renounces religion and family in her adoration for him. When Pinkerton leaves for America, Butterfly blissfully ignores warnings of his unfaithfulness and awaits his return and brings up his child, even turning down a marriage proposal from Yamadori, a rich Japanese businessman. With all avenues of escape closed to her, she is shattered when Pinkerton returns with an American wife. Butterfly ends her unbearable misery with her father's sword, thus preserving her honor and the Pinkertons take the boy back to the US.	Just the one - Butterfly herself, by harakiri	"So do they have subtitles during the Humming Chorus, then?"
Lehar	The Merry Widow	Joyful music, dance and light romance have made The Merry Widow a universal favorite since the operetta's first performance. In gay Paris, a birthday party for the ruler of the imaginary land of Marsovia is in full swing. Wealthy Hanna is surrounded by suitors, to the despair of Marsovian diplomat Baron Popoff, who fears she will bankrupt their country if she marries a foreigner. He cleverly convinces Prince Danilo, the minister of finance, to woo Hanna , though the prince has been rejected once. While Hanna lavishes special attention on the prince, he feigns indifference until she announces her engagement to a Frenchman. In agony, he at last reveals his true love to Hanna and discovers with joy that her engagement is a fiction and that she shares his passionate feelings.	None!
Offenbach		Tales of Hoffmann portrays a mysterious world where human and supernatural forces meet. In a tavern, the poet Hoffmann tells of his three ill-fated romances. In the first tale, he pursues the doll Olympia until she dances him into a mechanical frenzy, and he wearily realizes that she is not human. Next, he falls passionately in love with the sickly but gifted Antonia, who is compelled by her mother's portrait to sing away her last ounce of strength. Finally, Hoffmann is drawn against his will to Giulietta, who steals his reflection for the sorcerer Dapertuto. Blind with passion, Hoffmann murders Giulietta's lover Schlemil, only to see her entice yet another man. As the last tale ends, Hoffmann, lost in a bitter haze of drink and memory, fails to notice Stella, the woman who truly loves him, as she tosses him a flower.	Two: Antonia, who sings herself to death, and Schlemil at the hand of Hoffmann, out of jealousy	"Wasn't that from Gilligan's Island?"
Bizet	Carmen	Gypsy cigarette girl Carmen taunts corporal Don José with her flamboyant charms, and even the gentle peasant girl Micaela, who loves Don José, cannot break Carmen's spell, and the corporal gives up everything to follow the gypsy into the mountains. She quickly tires of Don José and runs off with the handsome matador Escamillo, fatalistically embracing the warning of death she has seen in the cards. As Escamillo triumphs in the bullring, Carmen is confronted by Don José in a nearby alley, and this time, her defiance cannot save her.	Two: José's mother and Carmen.	"Phew, what a scorcher!"
Rossini	The Barber of Seville	Irrepressible Figaro, town barber and jack-of-all-trades, learns that dashing Count Almaviva loves the young, rich and beautiful Rosina, the ward and intended wife of strict Dr. Bartolo. Rosina is equally smitten with the count, whom she has never met, and tosses him a love note from her balcony. Figaro gleefully masterminds an elopement, employing a series of disguises and ruses that bring the lovers together in the nick of time. (The same characters, in fact, as from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro , though a different instalment of the soap opera.)	None. That's Sweeney Todd	"Disguises that wouldn't fool a child of three."
Wagner	Tristan and Isolde	Tristan and Isolde is considered one of the most emotionally gripping operas ever written, and is, perhaps, Richard Wagner's greatest work. During the medieval period, the story of Tristan and Isolde became one of the most popular romances of its time and continues to entice our imagination today. The story is about Tristan, whose name meant sadness, and was given to him after his mother's death in childbirth. Because he was the nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, it was Tristan's duty to provide an escort for King Mark's betrothed, the beautiful and fiery Isolde, on her way to join King Mark and become his bride. On the long journey, Tristan and Isolde realize their passion for each other and attempt suicide by drinking what they believe to be a death potion; however, Isolde's maid, not willing to help Isolde die substitutes a love potion, causing them to fall even more deeply in love. What follows is the sad tale of their love, separation and death. Their love is too powerful to deny, and they betray their King. Unable to cope with his betrayal of his uncle, Tristan allows himself to be mortally wounded and Isolde, broken-hearted, wills her own death soon thereafter. King Mark has compassion on the dead lovers and buries them side by side. It is said that a vine grew from Tristan's grave and a rose from Isolde's. To this day, the vine and rose are entwined, never to be separated again.	Tristan's mom in childbirth, Tristan in battle, and Isolde, from a broken heart.	"It was better than the movie..."
	The Flying Dutchman	Accursed seaman, doomed to roam for ever unless he finds true love, has his chance to go ashore and find her. Senta, a bizarre girl obsessed with his legend, takes an immediate fancy to him, spurns her huntsman-suitor Erik, but the Dutchman imagines that she really loves Erik and sails away. She proves her love by flinging herself into the sea after him, letting him rest at last.	Senta and the Dutchman - but we see them rise to heaven . The ghostly crew of the Dutchaman's ship (who are dead already)	"That Seta - she's barking mad, isn't she?"
Beethoven	Fidelio	Florestan, a Spanish noble, had learned of atrocities committed by Pizarro, the evil governor of the state prison. As a result, Pizarro has had Florestan thrown into the darkest dungeon of the prison where, for two years, he has been slowly starving to death. Now his faithful wife, Leonore, suspecting where he might be, has disguised herself as a young man, Fidelio, and has obtained a position as assistant to the jailer, Rocco. Rocco does not know the identity of the prisoner nor why he is there. Rocco's daughter, Marzelline, has fallen in love with Fidelio and spurns the advances of the prison porter, Jaquino.	None!	"It was his only one."
Johann Strauss	Die Fledermaus (the Bat)	The light-hearted story of Die Fledermaus tells of the revenge taken by a certain Dr. Falke on this Gabriel von Eisenstein for playing a practical joke on him. All are invited to Prince Orlofsky's costume ball, where everyone is mistaken for everyone else, and von Eisenstein is finally arrested for having used abusive language to a policeman. Act Three takes place in the prison, and here misunderstandings are cleared up. Rosalinda's possession of von Eisenstein's watch is compensated for by the presence in prison of Rosalinda's lover, Alfred, arrested while masquerading as her husband. As von Eisenstein philosophically declares, it's best to blame it all on the champagne.	None!	"That Adele was a hottie!"
Information taken from: http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/music/operaplots.htm

Operas

Comp.

Opera

Plot

Death Toll

What to Say Over Dessert

Mozart

The Marriage of Figaro

The Marriage of Figaro recounts the further comic adventures of Figaro, introduced 30 years later in Rossini's prequel, The Barber of Seville . Figaro's master, Count Almaviva, is now married to his love Rosina but has tired of her and pursues the affections of her comely maid Susanna, who is engaged to Figaro. The count hatches a plot to convince Figaro that Susanna is deceiving him and that he should instead marry the noblewoman Marcellina, but Figaro in turn schemes to reunite the count and countess. After many artifices and disguises have backfired, Figaro discovers that Marcellina is his long-lost mother. Figaro and Susanna regain their trust in each other and the count must stoop to begging Rosina's pardon.

None!

"Too many notes!"

The Magic Flute

First performed only two months before Mozart's death, The Magic Flute is the story of true lovers who must survive magical ordeals before they can be together. Prince Tamino stumbles into the land of the Queen of Night, where he is attacked by a giant serpent. He is rescued by three ladies, who show him a picture of the beautiful Pamina, and Tamino instantly falls in love. Protected by a golden flute, he sets off with the bird-catcher Papageno to rescue Pamina from the clutches of the sorcerer Sarastro. But the sorcerer is actually a wise priest, who tells Pamina that though she and Tamino are destined for each other, they must first prove their love. When the gods instruct Tamino to take a vow of silence, Pamina fears that all is lost and contemplates suicide, but she is comforted by kind spirits and finds new strength to aid Tamino through the trials of fire and water. Triumphing over all adversity, the lovers unite, as the forces of light banish the darkness, and the magic flute carries the final melody.

None as such, but the baddies' evil power is destroyed.

"Great special effects!!!"

Don Giovanni

One of the most praised operas, Don Giovanni combines high drama with comedy to illustrate the escapades and eventual fiery end of the mythical womanizer. As the story opens, Don Giovanni steals away from Donna Anna's house, but she pursues him. The commotion alarms her father, the Commendatore, who duels with and is killed by Don Giovanni. He sets off again with his servant, Leporello, and meets the grieving Donna Elvira, who loves him although he has betrayed her. Making a quick exit, he next encounters a lively bunch of peasants, among them the pretty Zerlina and her clumsy fiancé, Masetto. Wily Don Giovanni spirits Zerlina away, but her enraged scream alerts the suspicious Masetto, and the Don is unmasked as a seducer and murderer. He escapes, only to be confronted later by a statue of the murdered Commendatore, who extends an icy grip to drag an unrepentant Don Giovanni to the depths of hell.

The Commendatore, Don Giovanni

"Okay. It was that good."

Cosi fan Tutti

Ferrando and Guglielmo have a bet with old cynic Don Alfonso that their fiancèes, sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, are faithful. Alfonso makes them pretend to leave Naples and return disguised as Albanians (of course). Despina, the sister's maid, works to help Alfonso prove his point about women's fickleness, and everyone falls in love with the wrong person, until all is put right and there's moralising about forgiveness.

None!

"Those disguises wouldn't fool a child of three."

Verdi

Il Trovatore (the Troubador)

The complicated melodrama of Il Trovatore revolves around the gypsy Azucena, whose mother was burned at the stake for bewitching the elder count di Luna's baby son. To revenge her mother's death, Azucena hysterically kidnaps the count's baby, then mistakenly casts her own infant son into the flames. Horror-struck, she escapes with the count's stolen baby and raises him as her own son, Manrico. As the opera opens, the younger count, Manrico's unknowing brother, jealously awaits the arrival of the mysterious troubadour who has captured the heart of the Duchess Leonora. The troubadour Manrico appears, and the two men fight a duel, unaware that they are brothers. When Leonora hears a rumor that Manrico has been slain by the count's forces, she vows to become a nun, but her lover, still very much alive, hastens to her side. The count's forces besiege the couple's hideaway, and old Azucena, wandering into the enemy camp, is sentenced to death. Trying to save his mother, Manrico is also captured and thrown into prison. Leonora desperately promises to marry the count if he will free Manrico, but when he agrees, she poisons herself, dying in her lover's arms. A furious count forces Azucena to watch her supposed son Manrico's execution, but the malicious gypsy has the last word, screaming that the count has killed his own brother.

Four: Azucenia's mother burned at the stake, and Azuncia's infant son, thrown into the flames. Leonora takes poison, Manrico is executed.

"They need to tune those anvils..."

La Traviata (the Profligate One)

Rich boy Alfredo falls for consumptive prostitute Violetta. His daddy isn't happy and persuades her to abandon him because her scandalous past threatens his son's future . She goes back to her old life, but falls mortally ill, so Dad relents and allows a touching deathbed reunion.

One: Violetta, from consumption, but she does spend most of the opera dying.

"If she's got such a bad cough, how can she sing for so long?"

Rigoletto

Rigoletto is the bitter, hunchbacked court jester whose treasured daughter, Gilda, has caught the eye of the womanizing Duke of Mantua. Approaching Gilda, the duke declares his love, and the girl discovers a passion for him. Court nobles, seeking revenge for the jester's many insults, dupe Rigoletto into helping them kidnap Gilda, who is delivered to the Duke and seduced by him. Determined to show his daughter the Duke's true nature, Rigoletto takes her to the house of the assassin Sparafucile, whose sister Maddalena offers the duke her gypsy favors. Rigoletto has hired Sparafucile to kill the duke, but Maddalena convinces her assassin brother to murder a random victim instead. Knowing she will be murdered, Gilda appears in disguise, is stabbed, stuffed in a sack and delivered to Rigoletto in place of the duke's body. At the last minute, the horrified hunchback opens the sack and discovers his daughter, who whispers her last words of love for the duke and dies

Only one, surprisingly: Gilda, stabbed as a Duke-substitute, Act 4.

"Sex, violence, murder and great tunes. "

Otello

Same as the Shakespeare play

Pretty much everyone.

"What happened to the 'h'?"

Aida

Aida, captive daughter of Ethiopian king, falls for a warrior Radames, the new leader of the Egyptian Army, but has a powerful rival in Princess Amneris. Radames brings back Aida's father as captive, and he forces his daughter to trick her lover into betraying military secrets. Amneris denounces Radames, who is sentenced to be buried alive in a pyramid, but Aida sneaks in and joins him; they die happy, while Amneris weeps outside.

Aida and Radames, buried alive. A lot of soldiers in off-stage battle scenes

"Elephants on stage? What'll they think of next?!"

Puccini

Tosca

Tosca opens in a church, where the artist Cavaradossi paints a Mary Magdalen portrait while dreaming of his lover, Tosca, a famously passionate singer. Suddenly the escaped political prisoner Angelotti staggers in, on the run from the savage police chief Scarpia. When Tosca arrives and overhears the two men talking, she is devoured with suspicion that Cavaradossi has another lover, but the painter soothes her and hides Angelotti. The angry Scarpia bursts in, hot on the escapee's heels and burning with lust for Tosca. Sizing up the situation, he schemes to make the jealous singer betray her lover's secret. Cavaradossi is arrested and brutally tortured, blackmailing Tosca into revealing Angelotti's whereabouts. Scarpia demands Tosca's favors as payment for her lover's life, but the agonized Tosca meets his embrace with a fatal knife thrust. Joyfully, she goes to free Cavaradossi, but Scarpia's final cruel artifice leads her instead to witness her lover's execution. As the police pursue her, Tosca throws herself from a parapet to her death.

Four: Angelotti hangs himself, Scarpia, stabbed by Tosca, Cavaradossi, shot by firing squad in double-bluff execution Tosca thinks is faked, Tosca, jumps from the battlements of the Castel San Angelo.

"Well I do like it "

Turandot

Puccini's last opera was left unfinished at his death, and what he had intended to be a final, transcendent love duet was completed by a younger colleague, Franco Alfano. In Peking's Imperial Palace, the fatally beautiful Princess Turandot receives unlucky suitors from far and wide, who must answer three riddles to win her hand—or die. Calaf, son of the exiled King Timur of Tartary, is struck with Turandot's beauty, and ignoring protests from his father and Liù, the servant girl who loves him, he matches wits with the princess. Although he guesses the three riddles, Calaf offers his life to Turandot if she can discover his secret name. Searching the city in vain, the princess finally tortures faithful Liù, driving her to suicide. Faced with Liù's sacrifice and Calaf's stern devotion, Turandot crumbles, and weeping in Calaf's arms, she declares that his secret name is Love.

Various suitors, Liu, by suicde, and, of course, Puccini himself.

"Why didn't she try Rumplestiltskin?"

La Boheme

Puccini's most expressive opera draws from a collection of true-life sketches describing life among the original bohemians, the poor artists of Paris's Latin Quarter. Hungry but cheerful, the poet Rodolfo shares a garret with the painter Marcello and two others. One moonlit Christmas Eve, the frail seamstress Mimi comes to Rodolfo's door for help, and the two fall passionately in love, while Marcello carries on a turbulent affair with flirtatious Musetta. But Rodolfo is impossibly jealous of Mimi, and the two regretfully part, until Musetta reveals that Mimi is dying of consumption. Rodolfo flies to Mimi's side, and the lovers are united, only to be separated forever by Mimi's death.

One: Mimi, and only after a BIG aria.

"It's almost as good as"Rent"

Madama Butterfly

One of the world's most popular operas, Madama Butterfly passionately explores the consequences of obsessive devotion. Pinkerton, a U.S. Navy officer in Japan, contracts what he considers a temporary marriage to heisha Cio-Cio-San, called Butterfly, who renounces religion and family in her adoration for him. When Pinkerton leaves for America, Butterfly blissfully ignores warnings of his unfaithfulness and awaits his return and brings up his child, even turning down a marriage proposal from Yamadori, a rich Japanese businessman. With all avenues of escape closed to her, she is shattered when Pinkerton returns with an American wife. Butterfly ends her unbearable misery with her father's sword, thus preserving her honor and the Pinkertons take the boy back to the US.

Just the one - Butterfly herself, by harakiri

"So do they have subtitles during the Humming Chorus, then?"

Lehar

The Merry Widow

Joyful music, dance and light romance have made The Merry Widow a universal favorite since the operetta's first performance. In gay Paris, a birthday party for the ruler of the imaginary land of Marsovia is in full swing. Wealthy Hanna is surrounded by suitors, to the despair of Marsovian diplomat Baron Popoff, who fears she will bankrupt their country if she marries a foreigner. He cleverly convinces Prince Danilo, the minister of finance, to woo Hanna , though the prince has been rejected once. While Hanna lavishes special attention on the prince, he feigns indifference until she announces her engagement to a Frenchman. In agony, he at last reveals his true love to Hanna and discovers with joy that her engagement is a fiction and that she shares his passionate feelings.

None!

Offenbach

Tales of Hoffmann portrays a mysterious world where human and supernatural forces meet. In a tavern, the poet Hoffmann tells of his three ill-fated romances. In the first tale, he pursues the doll Olympia until she dances him into a mechanical frenzy, and he wearily realizes that she is not human. Next, he falls passionately in love with the sickly but gifted Antonia, who is compelled by her mother's portrait to sing away her last ounce of strength. Finally, Hoffmann is drawn against his will to Giulietta, who steals his reflection for the sorcerer Dapertuto. Blind with passion, Hoffmann murders Giulietta's lover Schlemil, only to see her entice yet another man. As the last tale ends, Hoffmann, lost in a bitter haze of drink and memory, fails to notice Stella, the woman who truly loves him, as she tosses him a flower.

Two: Antonia, who sings herself to death, and Schlemil at the hand of Hoffmann, out of jealousy

"Wasn't that from Gilligan's Island?"

Bizet

Carmen

Gypsy cigarette girl Carmen taunts corporal Don José with her flamboyant charms, and even the gentle peasant girl Micaela, who loves Don José, cannot break Carmen's spell, and the corporal gives up everything to follow the gypsy into the mountains. She quickly tires of Don José and runs off with the handsome matador Escamillo, fatalistically embracing the warning of death she has seen in the cards. As Escamillo triumphs in the bullring, Carmen is confronted by Don José in a nearby alley, and this time, her defiance cannot save her.

Two: José's mother and Carmen.

"Phew, what a scorcher!"

Rossini

The Barber of Seville

Irrepressible Figaro, town barber and jack-of-all-trades, learns that dashing Count Almaviva loves the young, rich and beautiful Rosina, the ward and intended wife of strict Dr. Bartolo. Rosina is equally smitten with the count, whom she has never met, and tosses him a love note from her balcony. Figaro gleefully masterminds an elopement, employing a series of disguises and ruses that bring the lovers together in the nick of time. (The same characters, in fact, as from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro , though a different instalment of the soap opera.)

None. That's Sweeney Todd

"Disguises that wouldn't fool a child of three."

Wagner

Tristan and Isolde

Tristan and Isolde is considered one of the most emotionally gripping operas
ever written, and is, perhaps, Richard Wagner's greatest work. During the medieval period, the story of Tristan and Isolde became one of the most popular romances of its time and continues to entice our imagination today. The story is about Tristan, whose name meant sadness, and was given to him after his mother's death in childbirth. Because he was the nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, it was Tristan's duty to provide an escort for King Mark's betrothed, the beautiful and fiery Isolde, on her way to join King Mark and become his bride. On the long journey, Tristan and Isolde realize their passion for each other and attempt suicide by drinking what they believe to be a death potion; however, Isolde's maid, not willing to help Isolde die substitutes a love potion, causing them to fall even more deeply in love. What follows is the sad tale of their love, separation and death. Their love is too powerful to deny, and they betray their King. Unable to cope with his betrayal of his uncle, Tristan allows himself to be mortally wounded and Isolde, broken-hearted, wills her own death soon thereafter. King Mark has compassion on the dead lovers and buries them side by side. It is said that a vine grew from Tristan's grave and a rose from Isolde's. To this day, the vine and rose are entwined, never to be separated again.

Tristan's mom in childbirth, Tristan in battle, and Isolde, from a broken heart.

"It was better than the movie..."

The Flying Dutchman

Accursed seaman, doomed to roam for ever unless he finds true love, has his chance to go ashore and find her. Senta, a bizarre girl obsessed with his legend, takes an immediate fancy to him, spurns her huntsman-suitor Erik, but the Dutchman imagines that she really loves Erik and sails away. She proves her love by flinging herself into the sea after him, letting him rest at last.

Senta and the Dutchman - but we see them rise to heaven . The ghostly crew of the Dutchaman's ship (who are dead already)

"That Seta - she's barking mad, isn't she?"

Beethoven

Fidelio

Florestan, a Spanish noble, had learned of atrocities committed by Pizarro, the evil governor of the state prison. As a result, Pizarro has had Florestan thrown into the darkest dungeon of the prison where, for two years, he has been slowly starving to death. Now his faithful wife, Leonore, suspecting where he might be, has disguised herself as a young man, Fidelio, and has obtained a position as assistant to the jailer, Rocco. Rocco does not know the identity of the prisoner nor why he is there. Rocco's daughter, Marzelline, has fallen in love with Fidelio and spurns the advances of the prison porter, Jaquino.

None!

"It was his only one."

Johann Strauss

Die Fledermaus (the Bat)

The light-hearted story of Die Fledermaus tells of the revenge taken by a certain Dr. Falke on this Gabriel von Eisenstein for playing a practical joke on him. All are invited to Prince Orlofsky's costume ball, where everyone is mistaken for everyone else, and von Eisenstein is finally arrested for having used abusive language to a policeman. Act Three takes place in the prison, and here misunderstandings are cleared up. Rosalinda's possession of von Eisenstein's watch is compensated for by the presence in prison of Rosalinda's lover, Alfred, arrested while masquerading as her husband. As von Eisenstein philosophically declares, it's best to blame it all on the champagne.

None!

"That Adele was a hottie!"

Information taken from: http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/music/operaplots.htm

Composers
Composer	Dates	Country	Pieces	Notes
Renaissance (c. 1400-1600): Polyphony for 3, 4, and 5 voices. Much sacred music (mass and devotional motet). Also love songs (the chanson), evocative settings of pastoral poetry (the madrigal), and music for dance, political ceremony and theater. Instrumental music mostly for consorts of matched instruments (recorders, viols, etc.) and/or the lute.
William Byrd	1543-1623	England	Sacred music, madrigals
Baroque (1600-1750): Means “ornamental”. Modern orchestra begins to develop. Adoption of tonality (major and minor keys, and progression by functional harmony.) Solo repertoires for harpsichord and pipe organ. Basso Continuo (where the bass instrument line is enhanced by a keyboard player who improvises from a figured bass part.) Opera pioneered by Monteverdi. Development of sonata, trio sonata, concerto, solo concerto. Protestant church music develops. The chorale, sacred cantata, passion, oratorio.
Johann Pachelbel	1653-1706	German	Pachelbel's Cannon
Henry Purcell	1659-1695	England	Dido and Aeneas (opera)
The Fairy Queen
Queen Anne's Funeral Music
Claudio Monteverdi	1567-1643	Italian	Book of madricals
Orpheo (one of the first operas)
Coronation of Poppea (opera)
Antonio Vivaldi	1675-1741	Italian	The Four Seasons (part of the work called The Contest Between Harmony and Invention)	Taught orphan girls in Venice
Johann Sebastian Bach	1675-1741	German	Brandenburg Concertos	Born at Eisenach, worked in Weimar, Leipzig, had 20 Children
St. Mathew's Passion
Musical Offering
The Well-Tempered Klavier
Art of the Fugue
St. John's Passion
George Frederick Handel	1685-1759	German/ English	Water Music	Composed the Messiah in 18 days. Left Hanover for the British Court to escape George, who then became King of England.
Messiah (oratorio)
Saul (oratorio)
Israel in Egypt (oratorio)
Samson (opera)
Music for the Royal Fireworks
Classical: (1750s-1780s) Centered in and around Vienna. Beet-hoven, beginning with the "Eroica" Symphony of1803, expanded the forms he inherited; his contemporary Schubert did likewise, especially with solo song. Further development of sonatas, symphonies and string quartet,. Piano, now popular throughout Europe. The Mozart-and-Haydn orchestra uses pairs of woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet [a newcomer], bassoon), pairs of trumpets and/or horns, timpani, and strings, perhaps 36-40 altogether. Mozart opera was a radical advance, combining comic and serious elements and increasing the importance of ensemble work and the opera overture.
Franz Josef Haydn	1732-1809	Austrian	107 symphonies	Symphony 45 = Farewell (ends with 2 violins) Symphony 22 = The Philosopher Symphony 63 = La Roxanne Symphony 94 = Surprise 12 London Symphonies (one of which is the Clock Symphony) Toy Symphony (falsely attributed. Actually by Leopold Mozart.)
The Creation (oratorio)
The Seasons (oratorio)
Emperor Quartet
Quint Quartet
Joke Quartet
Sunrise Quartet
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	1756-1791	Austrian	41 Symphonies	The last 3 composed in 6 weeks in the summer of 1788. Symphony 31 = Paris Symphony 35 = Haffner Symphony 38 = Prague Symphony 41 = Jupiter (O My God, O My God, this is Mozart!" 6 "Haydn" String Quartets Piano Concerto 26 = Coronation
Marriage of Figaro (opera)
Don Giovanni (opera)
Cosi fan Tutte (opera)
Magic Flute (opera)
Abduction from the Seraglio (opera)
Requiem
Ludwig von Beethoven	1770-1827	German	9 Symphonies	Symphony 3 = Eroica Symphony 6 = Pastoral Symphony 9 = Choral
Fidelio (opera)
Leonora (overture)	(3 versions)
Piano Concerto 5 = Emperor
Missa Solemnis
Moonlight Sonata
Pathetique Sonata
Appasionata Sonata
Waldstein Sonata
Early Romantic: (1780s - 1850s) Founders of the Romantic movement in music were children of the political and solocial revolution (after the French Revolution of 1789), all of whom knew and more-or- less admired each other: Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt. They were well educated, prone to aspire to heroism (after the Napoleonic and Beethovenian models), and ardently free-thinking and independent. Romanticism treated the Classical forms with new strategies and new sounds in order to express the century's new concerns. From Beethoven's examples (in the "Eroica," 5th, 6th, and 9th symphonies and the overtures) there developed the story-telling or programmatic symphony, symphonic cyclicism (use of unifying themes from movement to movement), "extra" movements, the symphonic use of a chorus, and the concert overture. The philharmonic society and symphony orchestra emerged. After Schubert's example flourished the solo song (Lied) and song cycle (Liederkreis). Virtuoso pianist/composers investigated the expressive possibilities of the piano, from the miniature and character piece to the full-blown concerto.
Rossini	1792-1868	Italian	Barber of Seville (opera)	Prequel to Figaro, though written after. Bonmarche is playwright for both.
William Tell (opera)	Schiller writes Play
Cinderella (opera)	Born on leap day
Stabat Mater
Franz Schubert	1797-1828	Austrian	700 Lieder
Piano Sonatas
Symphony 8 = Unfinished	(This is his symphony--the one that Schubert didn't finish!)
The Beautiful Milleress (song cycle)
Winter Journey (song cycle)
Hector Berlioz	1803-1869	France	Symphony Fantastique
Damnation of Faust (opera)
Beatrice and Benedict (opera)
Roman Carnival (overture)
Les Troyans (opera)
Felix Mendelssohn	1809-1847	German	Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream
Symphony 4 = Italian
Elijah (oratorio)
Songs Without Words	Short piano pieces. Toto escape music
Scherzo for Piano
Late Romantic: The second generation of Romanticism begins in the 1850s. It is a period dominated by advances in opera (Wagner, Verdi), the remergence of Vienna as a musical capital (Johann Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, then Schoenberg and his associates), committed nationalism elsewhere in Europe (Smetana, Dvorak, Grieg, Elgar), and the emergence of a major new school of Russian nationalists (Mussorsgky and Rimsky-Korsakov; note also the ballets of Tchaikovsky, a loner). Liszt, who began to investigate notions of thematic transformation in the tone poem, remained a potent figure--not least of all in his role as Wagner's father-in-law. The other first-generation Romantics were dead (or, in Berlioz's case, dying). Wagner developed a concept of music drama as total-art-work (Gesamtkunstwerk), the ultimate mingling of poetry, music, art, and stagecraft; to this end he oversaw construction of a festival-theatre (Festspielhaus) in the city of Bayreuth. This opened in 1876 with the first performance of the ring cycle. Wagner's use of advanced chromaticism challeneged the limits of tonality; his contrapuntal use of the Leitmotiv (a musical motive associated with a character or sentiment) was widely imitated. Verdi, meanwhile, made of the conventions of Italian opera a genre of different but equal dramatic power. The work of Mozart, Wagner, and Verdi remains the core of the operatic repertoire. Orchestral music at the end of the century was dominated by the symphonic poems of Richard Strauss and the symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Mahler. In Paris as the new century dawned, Debussy and Ravel proposed modernisms that began to counter Wagnerism.
Franz Liszt	1811-1886	Hungary	Piano concertos	Memorized his music (along with Clara Schuman, Robert's wife.) Became a monk.
Faust symphony
Hungarian Rhapsodies	#2 = Ce-Bq-Cq-Bbq.
Giuseppe Verdi	1813-1901	Italian	Macbeth (opera)
Rigoletto (opera)
La Traviata (opera)
Aida (opera)
Richard Wagner	1813-1883	German	Lohengrin (opera)	Here comes the bride. "When does the next swan leave?"
The Flying Dutchman (opera)	Got crazy King Ludwig to build an opera house for him in Bayreuth, which now has the Wagner Festival
Tannhauser (opera)
Tristan and Isolde (Opera)
Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (opera)
Parsifal (opera)	Pagan Christian conflation. Search for the grail
The Ring of the Niebelungen	Das Rheingold, Sigfried, Die Walkure, Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods)
Developed to an art the Leitmotif - themes become identified with characters or ideas.
Jacques Offenback	1819-1880	France	Orpheus in the Underworld (opera)
Gaiete Parisienne (opera)	Contains the Can-can
Tales of Hoffmann	Contains the Barcarole (boat song)
Anton Bruckner	1824-1896	Austria	Symphony Number 0	Worshipped Wagner (as did Wagner himself.)
Johann Strauss II	1825-1899	Austria	Blue Danube Waltz
Tales of the Vienna Woods (Waltz)
Die Fledermaus (operetta)	The Bat
Johannes Brahams	1833-1897	German	Symphony 1	Symphony 1 = "Beethoven's 10th" The sanwich at Plato's is worthy of any scholar/ It's onions, tomato, and only for half a dollar.
Hangarian Dances
Academic Festival Overture
German Requiem
Georges Bizet	1838-1875	France	Carmen (opera)
Modest Moussorgsky	1839-1881	Russia	Boris Godunov (opera)	(The Five: The Kochka, or the Handful = Russion Nationalists): Moussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsikoff, Borodin, Cui, Balakirev)
Pictures at an Exhibition
Night on Bald Mountain
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky	1840-1893	Russia	Romeo and Juliette Overture
Eugen Onegin (opera)
1812 Overture	Napoleon. France vs Russia
The Nutcracker Suite
Symphony 6 = Pathetique
Swan Lake (ballet)
Queen of Spades (opera)
Anton Dvorak	1841-1904	Czech	Symphony 9 = New World
Edward Grieg	1843-1907	Norway	Pier Gynt Suite
Engelbert Humperdink	1854-1921	Germany	Hansel and Gretel
Edward Elgar	1857-1934	England	Pomp and Circumstance
Giacomo Puccini	1854-1924	Italy	Tosca (opera)
La Boheme (opera)
Madame Butterfly (opera)
Gustav Mahler	1860-1911	Germany	Das Lied von der Erde
Kindertoten Leider	(Songs of dead children)
Songs of a Wayfarer
9 Symphonies
Claude Debussy	1862-1918	France	Le Printemps (orchestral suite)	(Spring)
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn
La Mer
Claire de Lune
Richard Strauss	1864-1949	Germany	Don Juan (symphonic poem)
Also Spake Zarathustra
Symphonia Domestica
Salome (opera)
Elektra (opera)
Der Rosenkavalier (opera)
The Four Last Songs
Jean Sibelius	1865-1957	Finland	Finalandia
Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov	1844-1908	Russia	Capriccio Espagnol
Sheherezade (symphonic suite)
The Golden Cockeral
Camille Saint-Saens	1835-1921	France	Samson and Delila (opera)
Carnival of the Animals
Danse Macabre
Bela Bartok	1882-1945	Hungary	Concerto for Orchestra
3 piano concertos
Wooden Prince (opera)
Miraculous Mandarin (ballet)
Igor Stravinsky	1882-1971	Russia	The Firebird (ballet)
Petrouchka (ballet)
The Rites of Spring (ballet)
The Soldier's Tale (suite)
Gustav Holst	1874-1934	England	The Planets
Maurice Ravel	1875-1937	France	Bolero
Daphnus et Chloe (symphonic work)
La Valse (symphonic work)
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand	for a pianist who lost his right hand in World War I
Mother Goose Suite
George Gershwin	1898-1937	USA	Porgy and Bess (opera)
Rhapsody in Blue
Concerto in F
An American in Paris
Of Thee I Sing (musical)
Aaron Copeland	1900-1990	USA	Fanfare to the Common Man
			Billy the Kid (Ballet)
			Rodeo (Ballet)
			Piano Variations

Composers

Composer

Dates

Country

Pieces

Notes

Renaissance
(c. 1400-1600): Polyphony for 3, 4, and 5 voices. Much sacred music (mass and devotional motet). Also love songs (the chanson), evocative settings of pastoral poetry (the madrigal), and music for dance, political ceremony and theater. Instrumental music mostly for consorts of matched instruments (recorders, viols, etc.) and/or the lute.

William Byrd

1543-1623

England

Sacred music, madrigals

Baroque
(1600-1750): Means “ornamental”. Modern orchestra begins to develop. Adoption of tonality (major and minor keys, and progression by functional harmony.) Solo repertoires for harpsichord and pipe organ. Basso Continuo (where the bass instrument line is enhanced by a keyboard player who improvises from a figured bass part.) Opera pioneered by Monteverdi. Development of sonata, trio sonata, concerto, solo concerto. Protestant church music develops. The chorale, sacred cantata, passion, oratorio.

Johann Pachelbel

1653-1706

German

Pachelbel's Cannon

Henry Purcell

1659-1695

England

Dido and Aeneas (opera)

The Fairy Queen

Queen Anne's Funeral Music

Claudio Monteverdi

1567-1643

Italian

Book of madricals

Orpheo (one of the first operas)

Coronation of Poppea (opera)

Antonio Vivaldi

1675-1741

Italian

The Four Seasons (part of the work called The Contest Between Harmony and Invention)

Taught orphan girls in Venice

Johann Sebastian Bach

1675-1741

German

Brandenburg Concertos

Born at Eisenach, worked in Weimar, Leipzig, had 20 Children

St. Mathew's Passion

Musical Offering

The Well-Tempered Klavier

Art of the Fugue

St. John's Passion

George Frederick Handel

1685-1759

German/ English

Water Music

Composed the Messiah in 18 days. Left Hanover for the British Court to escape George, who then became King of England.

Messiah (oratorio)

Saul (oratorio)

Israel in Egypt (oratorio)

Samson (opera)

Music for the Royal Fireworks

Classical:
(1750s-1780s) Centered in and around Vienna. Beet-hoven, beginning with the "Eroica" Symphony of1803, expanded the forms he inherited; his contemporary Schubert did likewise, especially with solo song. Further development of sonatas, symphonies and string quartet,. Piano, now popular throughout Europe. The Mozart-and-Haydn orchestra uses pairs of woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet [a newcomer], bassoon), pairs of trumpets and/or horns, timpani, and strings, perhaps 36-40 altogether. Mozart opera was a radical advance, combining comic and serious elements and increasing the importance of ensemble work and the opera overture.

Franz Josef Haydn

1732-1809

Austrian

107 symphonies

Symphony 45 = Farewell (ends with 2 violins)
Symphony 22 = The Philosopher
Symphony 63 = La Roxanne
Symphony 94 = Surprise
12 London Symphonies (one of which is the Clock Symphony)
Toy Symphony (falsely attributed. Actually by Leopold Mozart.)

The Creation (oratorio)

The Seasons (oratorio)

Emperor Quartet

Quint Quartet

Joke Quartet

Sunrise Quartet

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1756-1791

Austrian

41 Symphonies

The last 3 composed in 6 weeks in the summer of 1788.
Symphony 31 = Paris
Symphony 35 = Haffner
Symphony 38 = Prague
Symphony 41 = Jupiter (O My God, O My God, this is Mozart!"
6 "Haydn" String Quartets
Piano Concerto 26 = Coronation

Marriage of Figaro (opera)

Don Giovanni (opera)

Cosi fan Tutte (opera)

Magic Flute (opera)

Abduction from the Seraglio (opera)

Requiem

Ludwig von Beethoven

1770-1827

German

9 Symphonies

Symphony 3 = Eroica
Symphony 6 = Pastoral
Symphony 9 = Choral

Fidelio (opera)

Leonora (overture)

(3 versions)

Piano Concerto 5 = Emperor

Missa Solemnis

Moonlight Sonata

Pathetique Sonata

Appasionata Sonata

Waldstein Sonata

Early Romantic:
(1780s - 1850s) Founders of the Romantic movement in music were children of the political and solocial revolution (after the French Revolution of 1789), all of whom knew and more-or- less admired each other: Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt. They were well educated, prone to aspire to heroism (after the Napoleonic and Beethovenian models), and ardently free-thinking and independent. Romanticism treated the Classical forms with new strategies and new sounds in order to express the century's new concerns. From Beethoven's examples (in the "Eroica," 5th, 6th, and 9th symphonies and the overtures) there developed the story-telling or programmatic symphony, symphonic cyclicism (use of unifying themes from movement to movement), "extra" movements, the symphonic use of a chorus, and the concert overture. The philharmonic society and symphony orchestra emerged. After Schubert's example flourished the solo song (Lied) and song cycle (Liederkreis). Virtuoso pianist/composers investigated the expressive possibilities of the piano, from the miniature and character piece to the full-blown concerto.

Rossini

1792-1868

Italian

Barber of Seville (opera)

Prequel to Figaro, though written after. Bonmarche is playwright for both.

William Tell (opera)

Schiller writes Play

Cinderella (opera)

Born on leap day

Stabat Mater

Franz Schubert

1797-1828

Austrian

700 Lieder

Piano Sonatas

Symphony 8 = Unfinished

(This is his symphony--the one that Schubert didn't finish!)

The Beautiful Milleress (song cycle)

Winter Journey (song cycle)

Hector Berlioz

1803-1869

France

Symphony Fantastique

Damnation of Faust (opera)

Beatrice and Benedict (opera)

Roman Carnival (overture)

Les Troyans (opera)

Felix Mendelssohn

1809-1847

German

Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream

Symphony 4 = Italian

Elijah (oratorio)

Songs Without Words

Short piano pieces. Toto escape music

Scherzo for Piano

Late Romantic:
The second generation of Romanticism begins in the 1850s. It is a period dominated by advances in opera (Wagner, Verdi), the remergence of Vienna as a musical capital (Johann Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, then Schoenberg and his associates), committed nationalism elsewhere in Europe (Smetana, Dvorak, Grieg, Elgar), and the emergence of a major new school of Russian nationalists (Mussorsgky and Rimsky-Korsakov; note also the ballets of Tchaikovsky, a loner). Liszt, who began to investigate notions of thematic transformation in the tone poem, remained a potent figure--not least of all in his role as Wagner's father-in-law. The other first-generation Romantics were dead (or, in Berlioz's case, dying). Wagner developed a concept of music drama as total-art-work (Gesamtkunstwerk), the ultimate mingling of poetry, music, art, and stagecraft; to this end he oversaw construction of a festival-theatre (Festspielhaus) in the city of Bayreuth. This opened in 1876 with the first performance of the ring cycle. Wagner's use of advanced chromaticism challeneged the limits of tonality; his contrapuntal use of the Leitmotiv (a musical motive associated with a character or sentiment) was widely imitated. Verdi, meanwhile, made of the conventions of Italian opera a genre of different but equal dramatic power. The work of Mozart, Wagner, and Verdi remains the core of the operatic repertoire. Orchestral music at the end of the century was dominated by the symphonic poems of Richard Strauss and the symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Mahler. In Paris as the new century dawned, Debussy and Ravel proposed modernisms that began to counter Wagnerism.

Franz Liszt

1811-1886

Hungary

Piano concertos

Memorized his music (along with Clara Schuman, Robert's wife.) Became a monk.

Faust symphony

Hungarian Rhapsodies

#2 = Ce-Bq-Cq-Bbq.

Giuseppe Verdi

1813-1901

Italian

Macbeth (opera)

Rigoletto (opera)

La Traviata (opera)

Aida (opera)

Richard Wagner

1813-1883

German

Lohengrin (opera)

Here comes the bride. "When does the next swan leave?"

The Flying Dutchman (opera)

Got crazy King Ludwig to build an opera house for him in Bayreuth, which now has the Wagner Festival

Tannhauser (opera)

Tristan and Isolde (Opera)

Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (opera)

Parsifal (opera)

Pagan Christian conflation. Search for the grail

The Ring of the Niebelungen

Das Rheingold, Sigfried, Die Walkure, Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods)

Developed to an art the Leitmotif - themes become identified with characters or ideas.

Jacques Offenback

1819-1880

France

Orpheus in the Underworld (opera)

Gaiete Parisienne (opera)

Contains the Can-can

Tales of Hoffmann

Contains the Barcarole (boat song)

Anton Bruckner

1824-1896

Austria

Symphony Number 0

Worshipped Wagner (as did Wagner himself.)

Johann Strauss II

1825-1899

Austria

Blue Danube Waltz

Tales of the Vienna Woods (Waltz)

Die Fledermaus (operetta)

The Bat

Johannes Brahams

1833-1897

German

Symphony 1

Symphony 1 = "Beethoven's 10th" The sanwich at Plato's is worthy of any scholar/ It's onions, tomato, and only for half a dollar.

Hangarian Dances

Academic Festival Overture

German Requiem

Georges Bizet

1838-1875

France

Carmen (opera)

Modest Moussorgsky

1839-1881

Russia

Boris Godunov (opera)

(The Five: The Kochka, or the Handful = Russion Nationalists): Moussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsikoff, Borodin, Cui, Balakirev)

Pictures at an Exhibition

Night on Bald Mountain

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

1840-1893

Russia

Romeo and Juliette Overture

Eugen Onegin (opera)

1812 Overture

Napoleon. France vs Russia

The Nutcracker Suite

Symphony 6 = Pathetique

Swan Lake (ballet)

Queen of Spades (opera)

Anton Dvorak

1841-1904

Czech

Symphony 9 = New World

Edward Grieg

1843-1907

Norway

Pier Gynt Suite

Engelbert Humperdink

1854-1921

Germany

Hansel and Gretel

Edward Elgar

1857-1934

England

Pomp and Circumstance

Giacomo Puccini

1854-1924

Italy

Tosca (opera)

La Boheme (opera)

Madame Butterfly (opera)

Gustav Mahler

1860-1911

Germany

Das Lied von der Erde

Kindertoten Leider

(Songs of dead children)

Songs of a Wayfarer

9 Symphonies

Claude Debussy

1862-1918

France

Le Printemps (orchestral suite)

(Spring)

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn

La Mer

Claire de Lune

Richard Strauss

1864-1949

Germany

Don Juan (symphonic poem)

Also Spake Zarathustra

Symphonia Domestica

Salome (opera)

Elektra (opera)

Der Rosenkavalier (opera)

The Four Last Songs

Jean Sibelius

1865-1957

Finland

Finalandia

Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov

1844-1908

Russia

Capriccio Espagnol

Sheherezade (symphonic suite)

The Golden Cockeral

Camille Saint-Saens

1835-1921

France

Samson and Delila (opera)

Carnival of the Animals

Danse Macabre

Bela Bartok

1882-1945

Hungary

Concerto for Orchestra

3 piano concertos

Wooden Prince (opera)

Miraculous Mandarin (ballet)

Igor Stravinsky

1882-1971

Russia

The Firebird (ballet)

Petrouchka (ballet)

The Rites of Spring (ballet)

The Soldier's Tale (suite)

Gustav Holst

1874-1934

England

The Planets

Maurice Ravel

1875-1937

France

Bolero

Daphnus et Chloe (symphonic work)

La Valse (symphonic work)

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

for a pianist who lost his right hand in World War I

Mother Goose Suite

George Gershwin

1898-1937

USA

Porgy and Bess (opera)

Rhapsody in Blue

Concerto in F

An American in Paris

Of Thee I Sing (musical)

Aaron Copeland

1900-1990

USA

Fanfare to the Common Man

Billy the Kid (Ballet)

Rodeo (Ballet)

Piano Variations

Artworks
Name	Dates	Nationality	Piece	Notes
Giotto di Bondone	1267-1337	Florence	Life of the Virgin and Child (fresco cycle)	Florentine painter and architectural designer. Giotto is generally regarded as the father of 'modern' art. He painted his figures to look like real people. This naturalistic approach to painting heralded the Italian Renaissance.
Ognissanti Madonna
Life of St Francis (fresco cycle)
Lives of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist (frescoes)
Jan van Eyck	1390-1441	Flanders	Arolfini and His Wife	Flemish painter. Van Eyck was the finest Flemish painter of the 15th century, he perfected the newly developed technique of oil painting. His acutely observed paintings are filled with the details of everyday life.
Ghent Altarpiece
Madonna with Chancellor Rolin
Man in a Red Turban
Portrait of a Young Man (Tymotheas)
Sandro Botticelli	1445-1510	Florence	Primavera (Spring)	Florentine painter. Botticelli painted mythological and religious subjects in a distinctive style, using clear lines and glowing colours to create a personal vision of beauty. Botticelli was closely associated with the Medicis, and was around when Savonarola led the bonfire of the vanities in the 1490s.
Birth of Venus
Mystic Nativity
Adoration of the Magi
Venus and Mars
Mdonna of the Magnificat
Minerva and the Centaur
'Divine Comedy' drawings and woodcuts
Leonardo da Vinci	1452-1519	Florence	Mona Lisa	Florentine painter and sculptor. Leonardo is considered to be the complete Renaissance man and one of the greatest artists of the period. He was also a scientist, and inventor, a musician and a writer. Perfects (invents?) the technique of chiarascura, where objects in the background are hazy.
Last Supper (fresco)
Virgin of the Rocks (2 versions)
Virgin and Child with St Anne and the Infant St John (drawing)
Adoration of the Magi
notebook drawings
Albrecht Dürer	1471-1528	German	Life of the Virgin	German painter, engraver and woodcutter. Dürer's works display an outstanding mastery of different drawing techniques. He was the greatest artist of the German Renaissance. Known for exacting and perfect detail
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (woodcuts)
Adam and Eve
Virgin with the Siskin
Four Apostles
Young Hare
Great Clump of Turf
Erasmus (engraving)
Michelangelo Michelangelo Buonarroti	1475-1564	Florence	David (sculpture)	Florentine sculptor, painter and architect. Michelangelo's magnificent sculptures and paintings are regarded as timeless masterpieces of Renaissance art. His knowledge of human anatomy (from breaking into Florentine Morgues to dissect the corpses) revolutionizes Italian painting.
Pieta (sculpture)
Holy Family (Doni tondo)
Moses (sculpture)
Slaves (sculptures)
Scenes from the Old Testament (Sistine Chapel paintings)
Rafael Raffaello Sanzio	1483-1520	Florence	Sistine Madonna	Florentine painter. Raphael completes the trio of great Florentine artists of the High Renaissance, the other two being Leonardo and Michelangelo.
School of Athens (fresco)
Miraculous Draught of Fishes (tapestry)
Baldassare Castiglione
Leo X and Two Cardinals
Titian Tiziano Vecelli	1487-1576	Venice	Ariosto (Man with a Blue Sleeve)	Venetian painter. Titian was a superb portrait painter and is regarded as the greatest of the Venetian High Renaissance artists.
Young Man with a Glove
Bacchus and Ariadne
Venus of Urbino
Sacred and Profane Love
Three Ages of Man
Presentation of the Virgin
Hans Holbein the Younger	1497-1543	German	Henry VIII	German painter and engraver. Holbein became court painter to Henry VIII and painted many realistic and unsentimental portraits of famous people of the time. It was Holbein’s portrait of Anne of Cleves which led Henry VIII to marry her only to find the portrait had been vastly flattering.
Ambassadors
Erasmus
Dance of Death (book plates)
Bonifacius Amerbach
Jane Seymour
Sir Thomas Moore
Artist's Wife and Children
Pieter Bruegel the Elder	1525-1569	Flanders	Peasant Dance	Flemish painter. Bruegel is known as 'Peasant Bruegel' for his landscapes and 'genre' paintings which show the everyday activities of ordinary people.
Country Wedding
Children's Games
Hunters in the Snow
The Harvesters
Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
Parable of the Blind
The Tower of Babel
El Greco Domenikos Theotocopoulos	1541-1614	Spain	Burial of Count Orgaz	Spanish painter (Cretan by birth). The paintings of El Greco ('the Greek') are characterised by elongated forms and vivid metallic-looking colours. They are filled with intense spiritual feeling
Christ is Stripped of His Garments
Assumption
Cardinal Guevara
St Luke' Purification of the Temple
View of Toledo
Sir Peter Paul Rubens	1577-1640	Flanders	Raising of the Cross	Flemish painter and tapestry designer. Knighted by Charles I in 1629, Rubens was a prolific painter with a full studio of assistants who worked on his paintings. He was also an important diplomat.
ceiling of the Banqueting Hall, Whitehall
Self-portrait with Isabella Brant (His Wife) Under a Honeysuckle Bower
Helene Fourment with Two of Her children
The Artist's Sons
The Straw Hat
Castle of Steen
Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazques	1599-1660	Spain	Las Meninas (Maids of Honour)	Spanish painter. Velazquez was court painter to Philip IV of Spain. Among his masterpieces are group portraits and everyday subjects.
Venus and Cupid (Rokeby Venus)
Prince Baltazar Carlos on His Pony
Old Woman Cooking Eggs
Surrender of Breda
Pope Innocent X
Water Seller of Seville
Rembrandt van Rijn	1606-1669	Netherlands	The Night Watch	Dutch painter. Rembrandt is considered to be one of the greatest artists of all time. His paintings often convey a sense of deep spirituality and human emotion. Revolutionary achievement of sharp focus by contrasting use of light and dark
Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp
Belshazzar’s Feast
The Writing on the Wall
Saskia as Flora
Jewish ride
Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph
dozens of self-portraits
Jan Vermeer	1632-1675	Netherlands	View of Delft	Vermeer is noted for his gentle interior scenes portraying domestic situations. They are painted with a masterly understanding of the play of light.
Lady Seated at the Virginals
Painter in His Studio
Woman in Blue Reading a Letter
Lacemaker
Thomas Gainsborough	1727-1788	England	Cornard Wood	English painter. Gainsborough regarded himself as a landscape painter and set his portraits of people against landscape backgrounds. He painted around 500 portraits of famous people of the time.
Blue Boy
Mr and Mrs Andrews
Morning Walk
Harvest Wagon
The Painter's Daughters
Mrs Sarah Siddons
Mary, Countess Howe
Goya Francisco de Goya y Lucientes	1746-1828	Spain	Family of Charles IV	Spanish painter and etcher. Goya was court painter to the Spanish royal family. He si known for his portraits and later, for his graphic images of war.
Executions of 3rd May 1808
Duchess of Alba
The Parasol
Naked Maja
Clothed Maja
Colossus
Los Caprichos (series of etchings)
Disasterse of War (series of etchings)
Gilbert Stuart	1755-1828	USA	Finished portraits of Washington	American portrature painter.
Unfinished portrait of Washington
Joseph Mallord William Turner	1775-1851	England	Millbank, Moonlight	English painter: Turner is recognised as the forerunner of an atmospheric approach to painting in which colour and light are of prime importance.
Fighting Temeraire
Evening Star
Burning of the House of Parliament
Rain, Steam and Speed - the Great Western Railway
Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps
Eugène Delacroix	1798-1863	France	The Massacre at Chios	The greatest French Romantic painter, whose use of colour was influential in the development of both Impressionist and Postimpressionist painters. His inspiration came chiefly from historical or contemporary events or literature, and a visit to Morocco in 1832 provided him with further exotic subjects.
The Death of Sardanapal
Liberty Leading the People
Ovid Among the Scythians
The Sea of Galilee
Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople
Arab Horseman Attacked by a Lion
Arabian Horses Fighting in a Stable
Edouard Manet	1832-1883	France	Dejeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass)	French painter. Manet's work was a source of inspiration for the Impressionist painters, particularly his use of light and shadow. He believed the painting itself was more important than any message it carried.
Bar at the Folies-Bergere
Music in the Tuileries
The Balcony
Olympia
The Fifer
Lola de Valence
Portrait of Emile Zola
Edgar Degas	1834-1917	France	Absinthe	French painter and sculptor. Degas is considered an Impressionist, but his subject matter features Parisian life such as the ballet, theatre, cafes and horse-racing. His interest in photography and Japanese prints influenced the composition of his paintings.
Little Dancer Aged 14 (sculpture)
Dance Foyer at the Opera
At the Milliner's
Dance Class
Star
Jockeys in Front of the Grandstands
Laundresses
Paul Cezanne	1839-1906	France	Mont Sainte-Victoire	French painter. Cezanne is generally regarded as the 'father of modern art' and his structured approach to painting from nature has influence many 120th-century artists.
Card Players
Bathing Women
Man Smoking a Pipe
Blue Vase
Modern Olympia
many self-portraits and still lifes
Claude Monet	1840-1926	France	Impression: Sunrise	French painter. Monet is considered the greatest of the Impressionist group of painters, who enjoyed using colour to convey the effect of light and chose scenes from everyday life as their subjects.
Waterlilies (series)
Rouen Cathedral (series)
La Grenouillere
Old St Lazare Station
Poppies
Thames (series)
Women in the Garden
Pierre Auguste Renoir	1841-1919	France	Bathers	French painter. One of the early Impressionists, Renoir delighted in depicting people in relaxed mood using a bright 'rainbow palette' of glowing colours.
Dancing at Le Moulin de la Galette
Luncheon of the Boating Party' Umbrellas
The Opera Box
Her First Outing
Madame Charpentier and Her Children
Paul Gauguin	1848-1903	France	Les Miserables	French painter. Gauguin went to live in Tahiti, where he painted local scenes in vibrant colours and bold, simple lines that convey the intense heat of this Polynesian island.
Nevermore
Ta Matete (The Market)
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
The Call
White Horse
Yellow Christ
Riders on the Beach
Vision after the Sermon
Vincent van Gogh	1853-1890	Netherlands	Sunflowers (series)	Dutch Painter. One of the most individual of the post-Impressionist painters, Van Gogh used colour forcefully to express his mental and emotional state, which was not always sound. After cutting off his own ear to impress his love interest, he spent his waning years in an assylum in St. Remy in France
Vincent's Bedroo
Vincent's Chair with His Pipe
Starry Night: Church at Auvers
Starry Night: St. Remy
Irises
Wheatfield with Cypresses
Night Cafe
Dr Gachet
The Potato Eaters
many self-portraits
John Singer Sargent	1856-1925	USA	Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears	American portrature painter and landscape artist. Arguably an impressionist (though not if you asked Degas...)
In a Hayloft
Bobol
In a Medicci Villa
Georges Seurat	1859-1891	France	Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte	French Pointillist painter. His most famous work is the subject of the Steven Sondheim musical, Sunday in the Park with George.
Bathers At Asnieres
Banks of the Seine
The Eiffel Tower, 1889
Henri Matisse	1869-1954	France	Dance (series)	French painter, designer and sculptor. One of the Fauve painters of the early 20th century, Matisse developed a simple calligraphic style and used brilliant colour in bold, abstract forms. French Fauvisme, a style of painting that flourished in France from 1898 to 1908; it used pure, brilliant color, applied straight from the paint tubes in an aggressive, direct manner to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas. The Fauves painted directly from nature as the Impressionists had before them, but their works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects they painted. First formally exhibited in Paris in 1905, Fauvist paintings shocked visitors to the annual Salon d'Automne; one of these visitors was the critic Louis Vauxcelles, who, because of the violence of their works, dubbed the painters "Les Fauves" (Wild Beasts).
Chapel of the Rosary
Vence (design and decoration)
Blue Nude (series)
Dinner Table
Portrait of Madame Matisse
Red Studio
Conversation
Bathers by a River
many still lifes and self-portraits
Pablo Ruiz y Picasso	1881-1973	Spain	Guernica;	Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist. The most renowned painter of the 20th century, Picasso was a prolific and imaginative artist. His work explored numerous themes and was internationally influential in developing major artistic movements.
Les Domoiselles d'Avignon
The Acrobat's Family with a Monkey
Child Holding a Dove
Women Running on the Beach
Weeping Women
The Old Guitarist
Night Fishing at Antibes
Jackson Pollock	1912-1956	USA	Number 8	American modern painter. Known as Jack the Dripper. Abstract expressionism.
Roy Lichtenstein	1923-1997	USA	Grrrrrrrrrrr!!	American Pop artist and sculptor. Cartoon like paintings, many captioned.
Andy Warhol	1928-1987	USA	Campbell's Soup Multicoloured 32 Soup Cans	American painter, printmaker and film-maker. Andy Warhol was a prominent exponent of 1960's Pop Art, using everyday objects and icons to create illustrative images in striking colour combinations. He used a silk-screen process to duplicate the same image many times. In July of 1968 he was shot in his chest by a woman named Valerie Solanis, who had founded a group named SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) and was its sole member.
Marilyn
TripleElvis
Flowers
Red Race Riot
Green Coca-Cola Bottles

Artworks

Name

Dates

Nationality

Piece

Notes

Giotto di Bondone

1267-1337

Florence

Life of the Virgin and Child (fresco cycle)

Florentine painter and architectural designer. Giotto is generally regarded as the father of 'modern' art. He painted his figures to look like real people. This naturalistic approach to painting heralded the Italian Renaissance.

Ognissanti Madonna

Life of St Francis (fresco cycle)

Lives of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist (frescoes)

Jan van Eyck

1390-1441

Flanders

Arolfini and His Wife

Flemish painter. Van Eyck was the finest Flemish painter of the 15th century, he perfected the newly developed technique of oil painting. His acutely observed paintings are filled with the details of everyday life.

Ghent Altarpiece

Madonna with Chancellor Rolin

Man in a Red Turban

Portrait of a Young Man (Tymotheas)

Sandro Botticelli

1445-1510

Florence

Primavera (Spring)

Florentine painter. Botticelli painted mythological and religious subjects in a distinctive style, using clear lines and glowing colours to create a personal vision of beauty.

Botticelli was closely associated with the Medicis, and was around when Savonarola led the bonfire of the vanities in the 1490s.

Birth of Venus

Mystic Nativity

Adoration of the Magi

Venus and Mars

Mdonna of the Magnificat

Minerva and the Centaur

'Divine Comedy' drawings and woodcuts

Leonardo da Vinci

1452-1519

Florence

Mona Lisa

Florentine painter and sculptor. Leonardo is considered to be the complete Renaissance man and one of the greatest artists of the period. He was also a scientist, and inventor, a musician and a writer.
Perfects (invents?) the technique of chiarascura, where objects in the background are hazy.

Last Supper (fresco)

Virgin of the Rocks (2 versions)

Virgin and Child with St Anne and the Infant St John (drawing)

Adoration of the Magi

notebook drawings

Albrecht Dürer

1471-1528

German

Life of the Virgin

German painter, engraver and woodcutter. Dürer's works display an outstanding mastery of different drawing techniques. He was the greatest artist of the German Renaissance. Known for exacting and perfect detail

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (woodcuts)

Adam and Eve

Virgin with the Siskin

Four Apostles

Young Hare

Great Clump of Turf

Erasmus (engraving)

Michelangelo

Michelangelo Buonarroti

1475-1564

Florence

David (sculpture)

Florentine sculptor, painter and architect. Michelangelo's magnificent sculptures and paintings are regarded as timeless masterpieces of Renaissance art.

His knowledge of human anatomy (from breaking into Florentine Morgues to dissect the corpses) revolutionizes Italian painting.

Pieta (sculpture)

Holy Family (Doni tondo)

Moses (sculpture)

Slaves (sculptures)

Scenes from the Old Testament (Sistine Chapel paintings)

Rafael

Raffaello Sanzio

1483-1520

Florence

Sistine Madonna

Florentine painter. Raphael completes the trio of great Florentine artists of the High Renaissance, the other two being Leonardo and Michelangelo.

School of Athens (fresco)

Miraculous Draught of Fishes (tapestry)

Baldassare Castiglione

Leo X and Two Cardinals

Titian

Tiziano Vecelli

1487-1576

Venice

Ariosto (Man with a Blue Sleeve)

Venetian painter. Titian was a superb portrait painter and is regarded as the greatest of the Venetian High Renaissance artists.

Young Man with a Glove

Bacchus and Ariadne

Venus of Urbino

Sacred and Profane Love

Three Ages of Man

Presentation of the Virgin

Hans Holbein the Younger

1497-1543

German

Henry VIII

German painter and engraver. Holbein became court painter to Henry VIII and painted many realistic and unsentimental portraits of famous people of the time.

It was Holbein’s portrait of Anne of Cleves which led Henry VIII to marry her only to find the portrait had been vastly flattering.

Ambassadors

Erasmus

Dance of Death (book plates)

Bonifacius Amerbach

Jane Seymour

Sir Thomas Moore

Artist's Wife and Children

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

1525-1569

Flanders

Peasant Dance

Flemish painter. Bruegel is known as 'Peasant Bruegel' for his landscapes and 'genre' paintings which show the everyday activities of ordinary people.

Country Wedding

Children's Games

Hunters in the Snow

The Harvesters

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)

Parable of the Blind

The Tower of Babel

El Greco

Domenikos Theotocopoulos

1541-1614

Spain

Burial of Count Orgaz

Spanish painter (Cretan by birth). The paintings of El Greco ('the Greek') are characterised by elongated forms and vivid metallic-looking colours. They are filled with intense spiritual feeling

Christ is Stripped of His Garments

Assumption

Cardinal Guevara

St Luke' Purification of the Temple

View of Toledo

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

1577-1640

Flanders

Raising of the Cross

Flemish painter and tapestry designer. Knighted by Charles I in 1629, Rubens was a prolific painter with a full studio of assistants who worked on his paintings. He was also an important diplomat.

ceiling of the Banqueting Hall,
Whitehall

Self-portrait with Isabella Brant (His Wife) Under a Honeysuckle Bower

Helene Fourment with Two of Her children

The Artist's Sons

The Straw Hat

Castle of Steen

Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazques

1599-1660

Spain

Las Meninas (Maids of Honour)

Spanish painter. Velazquez was court painter to Philip IV of Spain. Among his masterpieces are group portraits and everyday subjects.

Venus and Cupid (Rokeby Venus)

Prince Baltazar Carlos on His Pony

Old Woman Cooking Eggs

Surrender of Breda

Pope Innocent X

Water Seller of Seville

Rembrandt van Rijn

1606-1669

Netherlands

The Night Watch

Dutch painter. Rembrandt is considered to be one of the greatest artists of all time. His paintings often convey a sense of deep spirituality and human emotion. Revolutionary achievement of sharp focus by contrasting use of light and dark

Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp

Belshazzar’s Feast

The Writing on the Wall

Saskia as Flora

Jewish ride

Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph

dozens of self-portraits

Jan Vermeer

1632-1675

Netherlands

View of Delft

Vermeer is noted for his gentle interior scenes portraying domestic situations. They are painted with a masterly understanding of the play of light.

Lady Seated at the Virginals

Painter in His Studio

Woman in Blue Reading a Letter

Lacemaker

Thomas Gainsborough

1727-1788

England

Cornard Wood

English painter. Gainsborough regarded himself as a landscape painter and set his portraits of people against landscape backgrounds. He painted around 500 portraits of famous people of the time.

Blue Boy

Mr and Mrs Andrews

Morning Walk

Harvest Wagon

The Painter's Daughters

Mrs Sarah Siddons

Mary, Countess Howe

Goya

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes

1746-1828

Spain

Family of Charles IV

Spanish painter and etcher. Goya was court painter to the Spanish royal family. He si known for his portraits and later, for his graphic images of war.

Executions of 3rd May 1808

Duchess of Alba

The Parasol

Naked Maja

Clothed Maja

Colossus

Los Caprichos (series of etchings)

Disasterse of War (series of etchings)

Gilbert Stuart

1755-1828

USA

Finished portraits of Washington

American portrature painter.

Unfinished portrait of Washington

Joseph Mallord William Turner

1775-1851

England

Millbank, Moonlight

English painter: Turner is recognised as the forerunner of an atmospheric approach to painting in which colour and light are of prime importance.

Fighting Temeraire

Evening Star

Burning of the House of Parliament

Rain, Steam and Speed - the Great Western Railway

Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps

Eugène Delacroix

1798-1863

France

The Massacre at Chios

The greatest French Romantic painter, whose use of colour was influential in the development of both Impressionist and Postimpressionist painters. His inspiration came chiefly from historical or contemporary events or literature, and a visit to Morocco in 1832 provided him with further exotic subjects.

The Death of Sardanapal

Liberty Leading the People

Ovid Among the Scythians

The Sea of Galilee

Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople

Arab Horseman Attacked by a Lion

Arabian Horses Fighting in a Stable

Edouard Manet

1832-1883

France

Dejeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass)

French painter. Manet's work was a source of inspiration for the Impressionist painters, particularly his use of light and shadow. He believed the painting itself was more important than any message it carried.

Bar at the Folies-Bergere

Music in the Tuileries

The Balcony

Olympia

The Fifer

Lola de Valence

Portrait of Emile Zola

Edgar Degas

1834-1917

France

Absinthe

French painter and sculptor. Degas is considered an Impressionist, but his subject matter features Parisian life such as the ballet, theatre, cafes and horse-racing. His interest in photography and Japanese prints influenced the composition of his paintings.

Little Dancer Aged 14 (sculpture)

Dance Foyer at the Opera

At the Milliner's

Dance Class

Star

Jockeys in Front of the Grandstands

Laundresses

Paul Cezanne

1839-1906

France

Mont Sainte-Victoire

French painter. Cezanne is generally regarded as the 'father of modern art' and his structured approach to painting from nature has influence many 120th-century artists.

Card Players

Bathing Women

Man Smoking a Pipe

Blue Vase

Modern Olympia

many self-portraits and still lifes

Claude Monet

1840-1926

France

Impression: Sunrise

French painter. Monet is considered the greatest of the Impressionist group of painters, who enjoyed using colour to convey the effect of light and chose scenes from everyday life as their subjects.

Waterlilies (series)

Rouen Cathedral (series)

La Grenouillere

Old St Lazare Station

Poppies

Thames (series)

Women in the Garden

Pierre Auguste Renoir

1841-1919

France

Bathers

French painter. One of the early Impressionists, Renoir delighted in depicting people in relaxed mood using a bright 'rainbow palette' of glowing colours.

Dancing at Le Moulin de la Galette

Luncheon of the Boating Party' Umbrellas

The Opera Box

Her First Outing

Madame Charpentier and Her Children

Paul Gauguin

1848-1903

France

Les Miserables

French painter. Gauguin went to live in Tahiti, where he painted local scenes in vibrant colours and bold, simple lines that convey the intense heat of this Polynesian island.

Nevermore

Ta Matete (The Market)

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

The Call

White Horse

Yellow Christ

Riders on the Beach

Vision after the Sermon

Vincent van Gogh

1853-1890

Netherlands

Sunflowers (series)

Dutch Painter. One of the most individual of the post-Impressionist painters, Van Gogh used colour forcefully to express his mental and emotional state, which was not always sound. After cutting off his own ear to impress his love interest, he spent his waning years in an assylum in St. Remy in France

Vincent's Bedroo

Vincent's Chair with His Pipe

Starry Night: Church at Auvers

Starry Night: St. Remy

Irises

Wheatfield with Cypresses

Night Cafe

Dr Gachet

The Potato Eaters

many self-portraits

John Singer Sargent

1856-1925

USA

Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears

American portrature painter and landscape artist. Arguably an impressionist (though not if you asked Degas...)

In a Hayloft

Bobol

In a Medicci Villa

Georges Seurat

1859-1891

France

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte

French Pointillist painter. His most famous work is the subject of the Steven Sondheim musical, Sunday in the Park with George.

Bathers At Asnieres

Banks of the Seine

The Eiffel Tower, 1889

Henri Matisse

1869-1954

France

Dance (series)

French painter, designer and sculptor. One of the Fauve painters of the early 20th century, Matisse developed a simple calligraphic style and used brilliant colour in bold, abstract forms.

French Fauvisme, a style of painting that flourished in France from 1898 to 1908; it used pure, brilliant color, applied straight from the paint tubes in an aggressive, direct manner to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas. The Fauves painted directly from nature as the Impressionists had before them, but their works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects they painted. First formally exhibited in Paris in 1905, Fauvist paintings shocked visitors to the annual Salon d'Automne; one of these visitors was the critic Louis Vauxcelles, who, because of the violence of their works, dubbed the painters "Les Fauves" (Wild Beasts).

Chapel of the Rosary

Vence (design and decoration)

Blue Nude (series)

Dinner Table

Portrait of Madame Matisse

Red Studio

Conversation

Bathers by a River

many still lifes and self-portraits

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso

1881-1973

Spain

Guernica;

Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist. The most renowned painter of the 20th century, Picasso was a prolific and imaginative artist. His work explored numerous themes and was internationally influential in developing major artistic movements.

Les Domoiselles d'Avignon

The Acrobat's Family with a Monkey

Child Holding a Dove

Women Running on the Beach

Weeping Women

The Old Guitarist

Night Fishing at Antibes

Jackson Pollock

1912-1956

USA

Number 8

American modern painter. Known as Jack the Dripper. Abstract expressionism.

Roy Lichtenstein

1923-1997

USA

Grrrrrrrrrrr!!

American Pop artist and sculptor. Cartoon like paintings, many captioned.

Andy Warhol

1928-1987

USA

Campbell's Soup Multicoloured 32 Soup Cans

American painter, printmaker and film-maker. Andy Warhol was a prominent exponent of 1960's Pop Art, using everyday objects and icons to create illustrative images in striking colour combinations. He used a silk-screen process to duplicate the same image many times.

In July of 1968 he was shot in his chest by a woman named Valerie Solanis, who had founded a group named SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) and was its sole member.

Marilyn

TripleElvis

Flowers

Red Race Riot

Green Coca-Cola Bottles

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