Libretto List (original) (raw)

Last updated: Jan. 29, 2000

Composer List of Libretti and Other Vocal Texts Available

(Public Domain Only Unless Permission Granted by Copyright Owner)

Includes some items under group, e.g. Latin texts, as well as songs in cycles or as a complete opus

Note: Please do not send me reference questions; I simply do not have the time to search on the web or in printed sources for all the texts, synopses, etc., that I have been asked about over the years. (I do appreciate notices with new and corrected information, however!) Instead, please check the appropriate bibliographic webpage here for some information, look at resources and reference books in your local library, and check online library catalogs. And for printed libretti themselves, don't overlook booklets that come with recordings, old and new, even though they vary greatly in quality. As for opera trivia questions (e.g. "What opera has X as a plot element"?), please ask on the newsgroup rec.music.opera, join the listserv Opera-L (start with its archives page), or use the feedback form at OperaGlass. Thanks!

(In addition, please do not ask about when a libretto that is "in process" will be posted. That is up to the contributorwho is voluntarily inputting it. I update the libretto site when new libretti or URLs are sent to me, or when I'm notified of changes. Likewise, if a text is not stored at this site, you must contact the person who holds it if there are any problems.)

Go to:

• Bibliography of Other Libretto Sources

• Main Libretto Page

• Fifi's Homepage

Please send new items, URL's, and textual corrections to Lyle Neff, lneff@indiana.edu Note: All items cited here that are located on Emily Ezust's Lieder Page are linked from here to that main page rather than to the specific link. It would be more efficient to check her page regularly for newly added song composers and songs rather than to check here.

In original language unless otherwise specified.

• Franco Alfano
• Sakuntala
• Pasquale Anfossi
• Nascita del Redentore
• Anton Arensky
• Raphael
  • Transliterated
  • Cyrillic (KOI-8)
• D.F.E. Auber
• Fra Diavolo(R. Frone's Significant French Operas)
• J.S. Bach
• The Cantatas (in process)
• Christmas Oratorio
• St. John Passion
• St. Matthew Passion
• The Vocal Works, BWV 1-249 (Nos. 15, 53, 141, 142, 160, 189, 217-224, 231, 239-241, 246-247 omitted as spurious)
  • Links listed in numerical order
  • Links listed in alphabetical order by text incipit (initial articles included)
• Balfe
• The Bohemian Girl (At Mark D. Lew's site)
• Adriano Banchieri
• Vestiva i colli (madrigal; with other versions)
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• An die ferne Geliebte
• Choral Fantasy (at J. Michael Allsen's website, with parallel English)
• Symphony No. 9, 4th movement
  • German
  • Russian
    • Transliterated
    • KOI-8
• Vincenzo Bellini
• Norma
• I Puritani
• Sonnambula(At OperaGlass)
• Berlioz
• La damnation de Faust
• Lélio
• Les nuits d'ete
• Leonard Bernstein
• Chichester Psalms
• Georges Bizet
• Carmen
  • French(At OperaGlass)
  • Excerpts (Habañera and Seguidilla) (at J. Michael Allsen's website, with parallel English)
• Djamileh(R. Frone's Significant French Operas)
• Les pecheurs de perles
• John Blow
• Venus & Adonis
• Boito
• Mefistofele

Prologue| Act I| Act II| Act III| Act IV| Epilogue

• Aleksandr Borodin
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Johannes Brahms
• Alto Rhapsody
• Ein deutsches Requiem
• Ein deutsches Requiem(German & English, at Joanne Bogart's site)
• Vier ernste Gesaenge(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Romanzen aus L. Tiecks Magelone(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Schicksalslied
• Songs - Misc.
• Zigeunerlieder
• André Campra
• L'Europe galante (R. Frone's Significant French Operas)
• Catalani
• La Wally
• Emilio de Cavalieri
• Lamentatio(Latin)
• Marc Antoine Charpentier
• Acteon
• Ernest Chausson
• Trois lieder (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Serres Chaudes(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• César Cui
• Feast in Time of Plague
• Le Flibustier

Preliminaries| Act I |Act II |Act III

• Mateo Falcone
  • Transliterated Russian
  • KOI-8 Cyrillic
• Songs
  • Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
  • Songs
• Claude Debussy
• Ariettes Oubliees(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Chansons de Bilitis(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Trois Chansons de France (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• L'enfant prodigue(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Fetes Galantes (I, II) (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Cinq Poemes de Baudelaire(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Proses Lyriques(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Debussy & Ravel
• Trois Poemes de Stephane Mallarme (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• de Falla
• El Amor Brujo(four songs from the ballet)
• Siete Canciones Populares Espanolas (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Delibes
• Lakmé(At Robert Frone's site)
• Gaetano Donizetti
• Adelia(At OperaGlass)
• Don Pasquale (At OperaGlass)
• L'elisir d'amore (At OperaGlass)
• La Favorita
• Linda di Chamounix (At OperaGlass)
• Lucia di Lammermoor (At OperaGlass)
• Lucrezia Borgia

Main page| Prologo| Atto I| Atto II

• Maria Stuarda
• Poliuto
• Henri Duparc
• L'invitation au Voyage(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Duruflé
• Requiem(at J. Michael Allsen's website, with parallel English)
• Gabriel Faure
• La bonne chanson(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• L'Horizon chimerique(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Le jardin clos(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Cinq melodies ``De Venise'' (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Robert Franz
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Gay and Pepusch
• The Beggar's Opera
  • HTML version(Univ. of Oregon)
• Giordano
• Andrea Chenier
• C.W. Gluck
• Armida
  • Italian text (on La Scala Web)
• Orfeo
  • French
  • Italian
• Carlos Gomes
• Quem Sabe? (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Gounod
• Romeo et Juliette
  • Here
  • R. Frone's Significant French Operas
• Gretry
• Zémire et Azor (R. Frone's Significant French Operas)
• Grieg
• Haugtussa (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Seks Sange op. 48(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• G. F. Haendel
• Acis and Galatea
• Admeto
• Alexander Balus
• Alexander's Feast
• L'Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato
• Athalia
• Belshazzar's Feast
• The Choice of Hercules
• Deborah
• Esther
• Esther (2nd version)
• Giulio Cesare
• Hercules
• Israel in Egypt
  • In paragraphs, with biblical references
  • In short lines
• Jephtha
• Joseph
• Joshua
• Judas Maccabaeus
• Messiah
  • Standard Text
    • In paragraphs, with biblical references
    • In short lines
  • "Alternative" Text(viewer discretion advised)
• Occasional Oratorio
• Ode for St. Cecilia's Day
• Rinaldo
• Samson
• Saul
• Semele
• Solomon
• Susanna
• Theodora
• Triumph of Time and Truth
• Franz Joseph Haydn
• Die Jahreszeiten
• Scena di Berenice
• Die Schoepfung
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Te Deum (at J. Michael Allsen's website, with parallel English)
• Hoiby
• The Tempest(At Schirmer Homepage)
• Heinrich Isaac Innsbruck, Ich muss dich lassen
• Paul Kruger

• Willows by the Western Gate

• Latin Texts
• Ave Maria
• Gaudeamus
• Locus Iste
• Magnificat
• The Mass
• Os Justi
• Requiem
• Stabat Mater
• Te Deum
• Ruggiero Leoncavallo
• I Pagliacci (At Mark D. Lew's site)
• Franz Liszt
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Carl Loewe
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Gustav Mahler
• Kindertotenlieder
• Das Lied von der Erde
• Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
• Rueckert-Lieder
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Symphony No. 2, 4th-5th movements
• Symphony No.4, 4th mvt. (at J. Michael Allsen's website, with parallel English)
• Marschner
• Der Templer und die Jüdin (At http://www.jmucci.com)
• Der Vampyr(in English only)
• Pietro Mascagni
• A Giacomo Leopardi(At Eric Bruchez's site)
• Amica (At Eric Bruchez's site)
• L'Amico Fritz(excerpts, at Erik Bruchez's site)
• Cavalleria Rusticana (At OperaGlass)
• Guglielmo Ratcliff(At David Langenberg's site)
• Iris (At Eric Bruchez's site)
• Isabeau(excerpts, at Erik Bruchez's site)
• Lodoletta(At Eric Bruchez's site)
• La Maschere(excerpts, at Erik Bruchez's site)
• Nerone(excerpts, at Erik Bruchez's site)
• Parisina(At Eric Bruchez's site)
• I Rantzau(excerpts, at Erik Bruchez's site)
• Zanetto
  • At OperaGlass
  • At Eric Bruchez's site
• Victor Massé
• Les Noces de Jeannette (R. Frone's Significant French Operas)
• Massenet
• Espada (ballet libretto; at Robert Frone's site)
• La Grand' Tante (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Grisélidis (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Hérodiade (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Le Mage (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Manon (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• La Navarraise (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Panurge (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Le Portrait de Manon (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Le Roi de Lahore (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Roma (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Sapho (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Thaïs (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Thérèse (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Werther (libretto,performance history; at Robert Frone's site)
• Étienne Nicolas Méhul
• Stratonice(R. Frone's Significant French Operas)
• Fanny Mendelssohn
• Sechs Lieder op. 1(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Lieder op. 7 (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Lieder op. 9 (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Lieder op. 10(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Elias
• Paulus
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Saverio Mercadante
• La Testa di Bronzo (At OperaGlass)
• Meyerbeer
• Gott und die Natur
• Minoru Miki

• The Tale of Genji (at Opera Japonica)

• Montemezzi
• Giovanni Gallurese (At Mark D. Lew's site)
• Claudio Monteverdi
• Un ballo delle ingrate
• Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda
• Coronazione di Poppea (.txt file)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Ave Verum Corpus
• Bastien und Bastienne * German(without dialogue) * German(with dialogue; at I.U.) * Spanish
• La Clemenza di Tito

Characters and Synopsis | Libretto

• Concert Arias
• Cosi fan tutte
• Don Giovanni
  • At Don Juan site
  • In Portuguese (at www.terravista.pt)
• Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail
• La Finta Giardinera
• Idomeneo
• Lucio Silla
• Marriage of Figaro
• L'oca del Cairo
• Requiem
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Lo sposo deluso
• Der Schauspieldirektor(without dialogue)
• Zaide
• Die Zauberfloete
  • At E. Ezust's Lieder Page
  • Here (same text, with a few added MIDI links)
  • The Magic Flute Project(Not the libretto alone, but the entire score in PDF files, with MIDI and Karaoke files as well)
• Modest Musorgsky
• Boris Godunov
  • Russian transliteration (Rimsky-Korsakov version)
  • KOI-8 Cyrillic(Rimsky-Korsakov version; E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Sunless (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• The Nursery (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Songs and Dances of Death (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Lyle Neff
• Starbottle for the Plaintiff
• Offenbach

• Les contes d'Hoffmann(at Karen Mercedes' site)

• George Oldziey
• Honoria in Ciberspazio
• Palestrina
• Vestiva i colli (madrigal; with other versions)
• Giovanni Pergolesi
• La Serva Padrona
• Stabat Mater
• Ponchielli
• La Gioconda (on La Scala Web)
• Poulenc
• Stabat Mater (at J. Michael Allsen's website, with parallel English)
• Prokofiev
• The Gambler (Cyrillic 1251)
  • Characters| Act I| Act II| Act III| Act IV
• Giacomo Puccini
• La Boheme (At OperaGlass)
• Gianni Schicchi (At OperaGlass)
• Madama Butterfly (At Mark D. Lew's site)
• Suor Angelica
• Il Tabarro (At Mark D. Lew's site)
• Tosca(At OperaGlass)
• Le Villi (At OperaGlass)
• Henry Purcell
• Dido and Aeneas
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Jean-Philippe Rameau
• Les indes galantes
• Pygmalion
• Maurice Ravel
• Epigrammes de Clement Marot (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Histoires Naturelles(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Cinq Melodies Populaires Grecques (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Sheherazade (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Vincenzo Righini
• Alcide al Bivio
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
• May Night
  • Transliterated
  • Cyrillic (KOI-8)
• Mozart & Salieri
  • Transliterated
  • Cyrillic (KOI-8)
• The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga
  • Russian
    • Transliterated
    • Cyrillic (KOI-8)
  • English
• Pan Wojewoda(English)
• Servilia(English)
• Snowmaiden(in process by Lyle Neff)
• Gioacchino Rossini
• The Barber of Seville
• La Cenerentola
• Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra
• Otello

Act I | Act II | Act III

• Il turco in Italia (at D.A. Beauregard's website)

• William Tell

  • French
  • Italian

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Le Devin du village (R. Frone's Significant French Operas)

• Russian Libretti

• Saint-Saëns

• Phryné(R. Frone's Significant French Operas)

• La Princesse jaune (R. Frone's Significant French Operas)

• Samson et Dalila

  • Here
  • R. Frone's Significant French Operas
  • Excerpts ("Amour! Viens aider ma faiblesse!" & "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix") (at J. Michael Allsen's website, with parallel English)

• Franz Schubert

• Der vierjaehrige Posten

  • German(.txt file)
  • English(.txt file)

• Die schoene Muellerin

• Schwanengesang

• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)

• Die Winterreise

• Die Zwillingsbrueder

  • German(.txt file)
  • English(.txt file)

• Heinrich Schuetz

• Musikalische Exequien

• St. Luke Passion

• Christmas Story (Weihnachtshistoria)

• Clara Schumann

• Lieder (complete)(David K. Smith's site, with English)

• Sechs Lieder, op. 13 (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)

• Sechs Lieder, Op. 13(David K. Smith's site, with English)

• Sechs Lieder, op. 23 (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)

• Sechs Lieder aus "Jucunde" von Hermann Rollett Op. 23 (David K. Smith's site, with English)

• Gedichte aus Rueckert's Liebesfruehling, Op. 12 (David K. Smith's site, with English)

• 12 Lieder (WoO)(David K. Smith's site, with English)

• Robert Schumann

• Frauen-Liebe und -Leben(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)

• Sechs Gedichte aus dem Liederbuch eines Malers (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)

• Zwoelf Lieder op. 39 (German) (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)

• Zwoelf Lieder op. 39

• Zwoelf Lieder, op. 35

• Zwoelf Lieder op. 35 (German) (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)

• Liederkreis op. 24(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)

• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)

• Carlo Soliva

• La Testa di Bronzo (At OperaGlass)

• Spontini

• Agnese di Hohenstaufen

• J. Strauss II

• Die Fledermaus(without spoken dialogue)

• Richard Strauss

• Schlichte Weisen(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)

• Elektra (in process by Rick Bogart)

• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)

• Arthur Sullivan

• Gilbert & Sullivan Works(at GaS Archive)

• Utopia, Limited (vocal score, at GaS Archive)

• Thomas Tallis

• Spem in alium

• P. Tchaikovsky

• Cherevichki (Windows 1251 Cyrillic)

(originally composed as "Vakula the Smith"; also known in the west as "The [Golden] Slippers" and "Oksana's Caprices")
Preliminaries| Act I| Act II|Act III|Act IV

• Eugene Onegin (KOI-8 Cyrillic)

Preliminaries| Act I| Act II| Act III

• Iolanta
• Gene Tybern (librettist)
• Antony and Cleopatra (excerpts)
• Iago (excerpts)
• Giuseppe Verdi

• Collection of Verdi libretti at Fondazione Verdi Festival

• Aida
• Attila

Prologo| Act I| Act II| Act III

• Un Ballo in Maschera

Characters| Act I| Act II| Act III

• La Battaglia di Legnano (at Daniel Beauregard's site)
• Il Corsaro

Act I| Act II| Act III

• Il due Foscari

Act I| Act II| Act III

• Ernani(At OperaGlass)
• Falstaff(At OperaGlass)
• La Forza del Destino

Characters, etc. | Act I | Act II | Act III | Act IV

• Un Giorno di Regno

Act I| Act II

• Inno delle Nazioni (Hymn of the Nations)
• Luisa Miller

Characters| Act I| Act II| Act III

• Macbeth
• I Masnadieri
• Nabucco (on La Scala Web)

Synopsis| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

• Oberto (without stage directions)

Act I| Act II

• Otello

Characters| Act I| Act II| Act III| Act IV

• Rigoletto(At OperaGlass)
• Stiffelio

Characters| Act I| Act II| Act III

• La Traviata
• Il Trovatore (At OperaGlass)
• Antonio Vivaldi
• Teuzzone

Character list, synopsis | Act I | Act II | Act III

• Vogler
• Trichordium
• Richard Wagner
• Die Feen (At OperaGlass)
• Der fliegende Hollaender

Act I| Act II| Act III

• Liebesverbot(at Opera Glass)
• Lohengrin(at Gutenberg)
• Die Meistersinger

Act I|Act II| Act III

• Parsifal
• Rienzi(at Dirk Meyer's site)
• Der Ring der Nibelungen (See also PDF files, at Mark D. Lew's site)
  • Das Rheingold
    • Here
    • At Dirk Meyer's site
  • Die Walkuere
    • Here
    • At Dirk Meyer's site
  • Siegfried
    • Here
    • At Dirk Meyer's site
  • Goetterdaemmerung
    • Here
    • At Dirk Meyer's site
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Tannhaeuser
  • Dresden Version (?) Act I | Act II | Act III
  • Paris version
    • At "Richard Wagner on the Web"
    • Act I only; at C.R. Ramos' website
• Tristan und Isolde(at Joseph Rosenzweig's web site)
• Wesendonk-Lieder
• Carl Maria von Weber
• Der Freischuetz (At OperaGlass)
• Webern
• Opus 17 (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Opus 18 (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Hugo Wolf
• Eichendorff-Lieder(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Sechs Gedichte von Scheffel, Moerike, Goethe and Kerner (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Goethe-Lieder(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• 7 Heine-Lieder(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Italienisches Liederbuch
• 4 Lenau-Lieder(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Drei Lieder nach Gedichten von Michelangelo (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• 9 Reinick-Lieder(E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder page)
• Spanisches Liederbuch: Spiritual Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Spanisches Liederbuch: Secular Songs (E. Ezust's Lieder Page)
• Christopher Yavelow
• Countdown
• Riccardo Zandonai
• Francesca da Rimini

Act I|Act II| Act III| Act IV

Page maintained by Lyle K. Neff