Repertoire (opera)

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The term repertoire in the opera business describes in a narrower sense the entirety of musically rehearsed works that can be played and performed by a music theater ensemble.

A music theater draws on a compilation of opera works to which an outstanding artistic value or an essential, norm-setting and time-lasting position is ascribed. This general list describes the concept of the opera repertoire in a broader sense. This can refer to a region, a country or a language area. As early as the 18th century, successful works were represented on stages all over the world. The existence of an international opera repertoire can be proven by the global distribution of certain operatic works. The online database Operabase has been listing relevant statistics for decades.

In addition, a distinction is made between a core repertoire and a subordinate secondary repertoire (or extended repertoire). In the case of the most frequently performed operas, one also speaks of ABC operas (“Aida” is followed by “Bohème” and “Carmen”). In a number of disputes - for example within the Berlin Opera Foundation - there is disagreement as to whether they belong to the core or secondary repertoire. These include the Verdi operas A Masked Ball , The Power of Fate and Nabucco . Nevertheless, a certain amount of arbitrariness is reflected in the dispute in the assignment.

Whether a new opera is included in the repertoire is often decided only after years or decades. The decisive factor is not only the artistic quality, but also the regularity of the performances. Whether there will be re-performances depends not least on the demand and interest of the opera audience. In a contemporary opera, according to Udo Bermbach , it is important that it "stands in sharp contrast to the current operatic repertoire and thus arouses curiosity about the aesthetically different" - the prerequisite for this area of ​​tension is the "existence of the traditional, as it were, museum opera repertoire."

Of course, the classical opera repertoire is by no means frozen in place as a museum. In the foreword to the 40th edition of Reclam's opera guide , editor Rolf Fath discusses the changes in the repertoire and points to “waves of excavations and renaissances”. Some works that were considered set have been removed, others are enjoying a comeback. Handel and Rameau are now just as present to those interested in opera as the operas by Zemlinsky , Schreker or Korngold . On the one hand, the current repertoire is reflected in the latest editions of established opera guides . On the other hand, the opera guides actively participate in the discourse of the artistic position of certain works through their selection. In the case of Reclam's opera guide, Fath points out that "the complex of baroque opera should be made somewhat broader than before, so-called belcanto operas and operas from the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century should be presented more clearly".

The renaissance of works that had meanwhile disappeared from the repertoire is due in part to the commitment of individual art historians or artists. At the beginning of the 20th century , for example, Oscar Hagen permanently rediscovered Handel's operas for the international repertoire. And Maria Callas played a major role in the rediscovery of bel canto opera.

List of the fifty most performed operas worldwide (2019/2020 season)

(Sorting: composer / work / number of performances / number of productions)

  1. Verdi / La traviata / 720/160
  2. Bizet / Carmen / 640/154
  3. Puccini / La bohème / 550/128
  4. Verdi / Rigoletto / 500/126
  5. Mozart / Don Giovanni / 496/108
  6. Rossini / The Barber of Seville / 486/112
  7. Puccini / Madama Butterfly / 482/114
  8. Mozart / The Magic Flute / 476/91
  9. Puccini / Tosca / 448/142
  10. Mozart / Le nozze di Figaro / 430/92
  11. Verdi / Aida / 347/97
  12. Puccini / Turandot / 301/73
  13. Verdi / Nabucco / 282/69
  14. Donizetti / L'elisir d'amore / 280/82
  15. Tschaikowsky, P. / Eugene Onegin / 269/78
  16. Humperdinck / Hansel and Gretel / 257/50
  17. Leoncavallo / Pagliacci / 254/79
  18. Beethoven / Fidelio / 206/44
  19. Dvořák, A. / Rusalka / 197/31
  20. Offenbach / Les contes d'Hoffmann / 192/38
  21. Rossini / La Cenerentola / 186/43
  22. Mozart / Così fan tutte / 186/42
  23. Mascagni / Cavalleria rusticana / 186 55
  24. Verdi / Il trovatore / 171/49
  25. Donizetti / Lucia di Lammermoor / 168/44
  26. Gounod / Faust / 167/38
  27. Verdi / Un ballo in maschera / 164/44
  28. Donizetti / Don Pasquale / 151/37
  29. Verdi / Don Carlo / 140/30
  30. Strauss, R. / Salome / 135 31
  31. Tchaikovsky, P. / Pikovaya Dama / 123/38
  32. Wagner, Richard / The Flying Dutchman / 118/27
  33. Gluck / Orfeo ed Euridice / 117/26
  34. Verdi / Macbeth / 115/35
  35. Verdi / Falstaff / 115/24
  36. Puccini / Gianni Schicchi / 106/34
  37. Wagner, Richard / Tristan and Isolde / 105/27
  38. Wagner, Richard / Die Walküre / 99/33
  39. Strauss, R. / Der Rosenkavalier / 98/16
  40. Verdi / Otello / 95/27
  41. Mozart / The Abduction from the Seraglio / 94/21
  42. Wagner, Richard / Lohengrin / 90/20
  43. Smetana / Prodaná nevěsta / 86/15
  44. Weill / The Threepenny Opera / 86/7
  45. Gounod / Roméo et Juliette / 83/24
  46. Wagner, Richard / Das Rheingold / 83/24
  47. Weber / Der Freischütz / 82/17
  48. Strauss, R. / Ariadne on Naxos / 76/18
  49. Trade / Alcina / 76/14
  50. Piazzolla / María de Buenos Aires / 72/10

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian Glanz / Anita Mayer-Hirzberger (eds.): Music and remembering. Festschrift for Cornelia Szabó-Knotik . Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag, Vienna 2014.
  2. ↑ Sabine Henze-Döhring / Sieghart Döring: Has there always been an opera repertoire? In: Opera. The 101 most important questions . CH Beck, Munich 2017, p. 138 .
  3. ↑ Operabase: Statistics by work, composer and country. Retrieved February 3, 2020 .
  4. ^ Frieder Reininghaus: Golden gibberish. October 13, 2013, accessed February 3, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost: The core repertoire: The quota bringer of the three Berlin opera houses. June 8, 2009, accessed February 3, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Georg Etscheit: Modern operas rarely make it into the repertoire. January 31, 2016, accessed February 3, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Udo Bermbach: About some aspects of the connection between politics, society and opera in the 20th century . In: Udo Bermbach (Hrsg.): Opera in the 20th century: Development tendencies and composers . Springer Verlag, Berlin December 2016.
  8. ^ Rolf Fath: Foreword to Reclam's opera guide . Ed .: Rolf Fath. Reclam, Leipzig June 2017.
  9. ↑ Sabine Henze-Döhring / Sieghart Döring: How do opera renaissance explain themselves? In: Opera. The 101 most important questions . CH Beck, Munich 2017.
  10. ↑ Statistics. In: Operabase. Retrieved February 4, 2020 .