List of television operas

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)
  1. ^ Wyver, John. "A tale of six Cinders, part 2: Cinderella (BBC, 1938, 1948, 1950)", Screen Plays, 12 January 2012
  2. ^ Alberge, Dalya. "Malcolm Arnold's The Dancing Master finally comes in from the cold", The Guardian, 11 October 2012
  3. ^ Margaret Ross Griffel (2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary, p. 91
  4. ^ 1 February 1956, Radio Times, issue 1681, 29 January 1956
  5. ^ 14 December 1956 Radio Times, issue 1726, 9 December 1956
  6. ^ Blind Raftery, Radio Times, issue 1749, 21 May 1957, pp. 6, 17
  7. ^ Radio Times, 14 June, 1959, p. 13
  8. ^ 19 May 1960, Radio Times, 15 May 1960
  9. ^ BBC Arts
  10. ^ The New York Times, 12 April, 1965
  11. ^ Radio Times, Issue 2168, 29 May, 1965
  12. ^ Christopher Whelen. "Thoughts on Television Opera", in Composer 24 (1967), p. 17
  13. ^ Spence, Keith (1968). "Television". The Musical Times. 109 (1505): 656. doi:10.2307/952713. JSTOR 952713.
  14. ^ 4 April 1969, Radio Times, issue 2368, 29 March 1969, p. 71
  15. ^ And David Wept at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
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  16. ^ "Ezra Laderman", Milken Archive of Jewish Music
  17. ^ Wise Music
  18. ^ British Film Institute
  19. ^ Dzeguze, K. 'Situation tragedy', in Maclean's, 31 October, 1977
  20. ^ 5 June 1977, Radio Times, issue 2795, 4 June 1977, p. 29
  21. ^ "Norman Kay obituary". The Guardian. 30 May 2001. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  22. ^ Radio Times Issue 2924, 24th November 1979
  23. ^ Quiros : opera, Australian Music Centre
  24. ^ Griffel, M. R., Operas in English: A Dictionary (2012), p. 413
  25. ^ The Independent, 6 October, 1993
  26. ^ a b The Independent, 14 February, 1994
  27. ^ Michaeltorke.com
  28. ^ Mike Westbrook website