From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of operas specifically composed and produced for television performance. It does not include productions of the established opera repertoire subsequently broadcast on television.
Year of premiere
Composed
Composer
Opera title
Librettist and/or source(s)
Television station
1938
Spike Hughes
Cinderella [ 1]
Spike Hughes
BBC Television
1947
Spike Hughes
St Patrick's Day
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
BBC Television
1951
Gian Carlo Menotti
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Gian Carlo Menotti
NBC
1952
Malcolm Arnold
The Dancing Master
Joe Mendoza, based on the play by William Wycherley
BBC (rejected)[ 2]
1953
Bohuslav Martinů
The Marriage
Bohuslav Martinů
NBC
1953
Bohuslav Martinů
What Men Live By
Bohuslav Martinů
NBC
1954
Bernard Herrmann
A Christmas Carol
Maxwell Anderson after Charles Dickens
CBS
1955
Lukas Foss
Griffelkin
Alastair Reid
NBC
1955
Walter Kaufmann
Christmas Slippers
Betty Marsh
Winnipeg[ 3]
1956
Norman Dello Joio
The Trial at Rouen
Norman Dello Joio
NBC
1956
Leonard Kastle
The Swing
Leonard Kastle
NBC
1956
Arthur Benjamin
Mañana
Caryl Brahms
BBC Television [ 4]
1956
Malcolm Arnold
The Open Window
Sidney Gilliat
BBC Television [ 5]
1957
Joan Trimble
Blind Raftery [ 6]
Cedric Cliffe , based on the novel by Donn-Byrne
BBC Television
1957
Stanley Hollingsworth
La Grande Bretèche
Stanley Hollingsworth
NBC
1959
Richard Arnell
The Petrified Princess
Richard Arnell
BBC Television
1959
Guy Halahan
The Spur of the Moment [ 7]
Joe Mendoza, after Frank Baker , Miss Hargreaves
BBC Television
1959
Gian Carlo Menotti
Maria Golovin
Gian Carlo Menotti
NBC
1959
Lee Hoiby
Beatrice
Marci Nardi
WAVE
1959
Ezra Laderman
Sarah
Clair Rascom
CBS
1959
Heinrich Sutermeister
Seraphine (Die stümme Apothekerin)
Heinrich Sutermeister, after François Rabelais 's Gargantua and Pantagruel
Schweizer Fernsehen
1959
Henk Badings
Salto mortale
Henk Badings and Belcampo (Herman Pieter Schönfeld Wichers)
Nederlandse Omroep Stichting
1959
Paul Angerer
Passkontrolle
ORF
1960
Arthur Bliss
Tobias and the Angel
Christopher Hassall
BBC Television [ 8]
1961
Leonard Kastle
Deseret
Anne Howard Bailey
NBC
1961
Jean Prodromidès
Les Perses (The Persians )
Jean Prat [fr ] , after Aeschylus
RTF
1962
Igor Stravinsky
The Flood
Robert Craft
CBS
1962
Phyllis Tate
Dark Pilgrimage
Phyllis Tate
BBC Television
1962
Edwin Coleman
A Christmas Carol [ 9]
Margaret Burns Harris, after Charles Dickens
BBC Television
1962
Riccardo Malipiero
Battono alla porta
Dino Buzzati
RAI
1963
Ben McPeek
The Bargain
Ben McPeek
CBC Television
1963
Gian Carlo Menotti
Labyrinth
Gian Carlo Menotti
NBC
1963
Carlisle Floyd
The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair
Carlisle Floyd
NCE
1963
Ton de Leeuw
Alceste
Euripides
Nederlandse Omroep Stichting
1964
Heinrich Sutermeister
Das Gespenst von Canterville [de ]
Heinrich Sutermeister, after Oscar Wilde 's "The Canterville Ghost "
Mainz, ZDF
1965
David Amram
The Final Ingredient [ 10]
Arnold Weinstein
ABC
1965
Mark Bucci
The Hero
Mark Bucci
National Educational Television
1965
Carl Davis
The Arrangement [ 11]
Leo Lehman [de ]
BBC Television
1965
Gian Carlo Menotti
Martin's Lie
Gian Carlo Menotti
CBS
1966
R. Murray Schafer
Loving
R. Murray Schafer
CBC Television
1967
Ezra Laderman
The Trials of Galileo
Joe Darion
CBS Television
1967
Ingvar Lidholm
Holländaren (The Dutchman )
after August Strindberg
Sveriges Television
1967
Christopher Whelen
Some Place of Darkness [ 12]
John Hopkins
BBC Television
1968
Roman Vlad
La fantarca [de ; it ]
Giuseppe Berto 's La fantarca [it ] (1965)
RAI
1968
Norman Kay
The Rose Affair [ 13]
After the novel by Alun Owen
BBC Television
1969
Thomas Eastwood
The Rebel [ 14]
Ronald Duncan
BBC Television
1969
Heinrich Sutermeister
La croisade des enfants (The Children's Crusade )
Heinrich Sutermeister, after Marcel Schwob
TvR
1970
Jack Beeson
My Heart's in the Highlands
Jack Beeson
PBS
1971
Heinrich Sutermeister
Das Flaschenteufel
Kurt Weibel, after Robert Louis Stevenson 's The Bottle Imp
Mainz , ZDF
1971
1969–70
Benjamin Britten
Owen Wingrave
Myfanwy Piper , after Henry James
BBC Two
1971
Ezra Laderman
And David Wept
Joe Darion , after the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba
CBS Television [ 15] [ 16]
1973
John Eaton
Myshkin [ 17]
Patrick Creagh after Dostoevsky's The Idiot
PBS
1976
Alun Hoddinott
Murder, The Magician [ 18]
John Morgan
HTV
1976
Godfrey Ridout
The Lost Child
John Reid
CBC Television
1976
Raymond Pannell
Aberfan [ 19]
Beverly Pannell
CBC Television
1977
Carl Davis
Orpheus in the Underworld [ 20]
John Wells
BBC Television
1978
Norman Kay
A Christmas Carol [ 21]
John Morgan, after Charles Dickens
HTV
1979
Alun Hoddinott
The Rajah's Diamond [ 22]
Myfanwy Piper , from R. L. Stevenson 's New Arabian Nights
BBC Television
1982
Peter Sculthorpe
Quiros [ 23]
Brian Bell
ABC Television
1984
Robert Ashley
Perfect Lives
Robert Ashley
Channel Four
1990
Salvador Brotons
Reverend Everyman
Gary Corseri, from Hofmannsthal 's Jedermann
WFSU-TV [ 24]
1991
Michael Nyman
Letters, Riddles and Writs
Jeremy Newson and Pat Gavin
BBC Television
1993
Stewart Copeland
Horse Opera [ 25]
Jonathan Moore
Channel Four
1993
Anthony Moore
Camera [ 26]
Peter Blegvad
Channel Four
1994
1991–92
Gerald Barry
The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit
Meredith Oakes
Channel Four
1994
1992
Orlando Gough
The Empress [ 26]
David Gale, from Wedekind
Channel Four
1995
1993
Michael Torke
King of Hearts [ 27]
Christopher Rawlence
Channel Four
1995
Mike Westbrook Kate Westbrook
Good Friday, 1663 [ 28]
Helen Simpson
Channel Four
2005
Judith Weir
Armida
Judith Weir
Channel Four
2006
Jonathan Dove
Man on the Moon
Nicholas Wright
Channel Four
2006
Alexina Louie
Burnt Toast: 8 Mini Comic Operas About Love
Dan Redican
CBC Television
2015
Elena Kats-Chernin
The Divorce
Joanna Murray-Smith
ABC TV (Australia)
^ Wyver, John. "A tale of six Cinders, part 2: Cinderella (BBC, 1938, 1948, 1950)" , Screen Plays , 12 January 2012
^ Alberge, Dalya. "Malcolm Arnold's The Dancing Master finally comes in from the cold" , The Guardian , 11 October 2012
^ Margaret Ross Griffel (2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary , p. 91
^ 1 February 1956 , Radio Times , issue 1681, 29 January 1956
^ 14 December 1956 Radio Times , issue 1726, 9 December 1956
^ Blind Raftery , Radio Times , issue 1749, 21 May 1957, pp. 6 , 17
^ Radio Times , 14 June, 1959, p. 13
^ 19 May 1960 , Radio Times , 15 May 1960
^ BBC Arts
^ The New York Times , 12 April, 1965
^ Radio Times , Issue 2168, 29 May, 1965
^ Christopher Whelen . "Thoughts on Television Opera", in Composer 24 (1967), p. 17
^ Spence, Keith (1968). "Television". The Musical Times . 109 (1505): 656. doi :10.2307/952713 . JSTOR 952713 .
^ 4 April 1969 , Radio Times , issue 2368, 29 March 1969, p. 71
^ And David Wept at IMDb
^ "Ezra Laderman" , Milken Archive of Jewish Music
^ Wise Music
^ British Film Institute
^ Dzeguze, K. 'Situation tragedy', in Maclean's , 31 October, 1977
^ 5 June 1977 , Radio Times , issue 2795, 4 June 1977, p. 29
^ "Norman Kay obituary" . The Guardian . 30 May 2001. Retrieved 22 February 2010 .
^ Radio Times Issue 2924, 24th November 1979
^ Quiros : opera , Australian Music Centre
^ Griffel, M. R. , Operas in English: A Dictionary (2012), p. 413
^ The Independent , 6 October, 1993
^ a b The Independent , 14 February, 1994
^ Michaeltorke.com
^ Mike Westbrook website