Roman History in Italian Melodrama

Speranza

Speranza

 

Alexander the Great who appears as a character in over seventy operas, including two by George Frideric Handel

This is a list of historical figures who have been characters in opera or operetta.
Historical accuracy in such works has often been subject to the imperatives of dramatic presentation. Consequently, in many cases:

• historical characters appear alongside fictional characters
• historical characters who never met, or whose lives did not even overlap, appear on stage together
• historical events depicted are transported to earlier or later times or to different places
• historical people are seen participating in entirely fictional events, or vice-versa
• the actions of historical people are attributed to other persons

For the purposes of this list, Biblical characters are generally taken to be fictional, unless there is clear evidence of their historicity.
Operas appear in bold when the historical figure is also the title role.

[edit] List of historical figures

[edit] A

Abdisho IV Maron, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church

• Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina (as Abdisu)

Peter Abelard, French priest, scholar, theologian

• Peter Tahourdin: Héloise and Abelard
• Charles Wilson: Héloise and Abelard

John Quincy Adams, American President

• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

Gabriele Adorno, fifth Doge of Genoa

• Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

*******************************************************************

Flavius Aetius, Roman general

Giuseppe Gazzaniga: Ezio

George Frideric Handel: Ezio

Gaetano Latilla: Ezio

Giuseppe Verdi: Attila

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German alchemist, writer

• Sergei Prokofiev: The Fiery Angel (as Agrippa of Nettesheim)

****************************************

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Roman statesman and general

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Roman consul (32 BC)

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (as Enobarbus)

Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt

• Philip Glass: Akhnaten

3rd Duke of Alba, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands

• Gaetano Donizetti, completed by Matteo Salvi: Le duc d'Albe
• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Albert of Mainz, Elector and Archbishop of Mainz

• Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler (as Albrecht von Brandenburg)

Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut

• Jonathan Dove: Man on the Moon

***************************

Alexander the Great, King of Macedon

• George Frideric Handel: Alessandro
• George Frideric Handel: Poro
• José de Nebra: No todo indicio es verdad y Alexandro en Asia
• Giovanni Pacini: Alessandro nelle Indie
• Girolamo Abos: Alessandro nelle Indie

(He appears in about 70 other operas set to the same text by Metastasio as used by Pacini, including one by Leonardo Vinci.)
Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome

• George Frideric Handel: Alessandro Severo

Tsar Alexander I of Russia

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace (silent role)

Brigadier General Edward Porter Alexander, American military commander

• Philip Glass: Appomattox

Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, consort of Tsar Nicholas II

• Deborah Drattell: Nicholas and Alexandra

Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia, son of Peter the Great

• Franz Lehár: Der Zarewitsch

Saint Alexius of Rome

• Stefano Landi: Sant'Alessio (1631; the first opera written on an historical subject)

Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, husband of Lucrezia Borgia

• Gaetano Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia

Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara

• Gaetano Donizetti: Torquato Tasso

King Alfonso XI of Castile

• Gaetano Donizetti: La favorite

King Alfred the Great, legendary Anglo-Saxon king

• Thomas Arne: Alfred
• Gaetano Donizetti: Alfredo il grande
• Antonín Dvořák: Alfred
• Friedrich von Flotow: Alfred der Große

Dante Alighieri: see under Dante
Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, aka Almanzor, de facto ruler of al-Andalus

• Giacomo Meyerbeer: L'esule di Granata (as Almanzor)

Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador

• Lorenzo Ferrero: La conquista
• Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Amalasuntha, Queen of the Ostrogoths

• André Messager: Isoline (as La Reine Amalasonthe)

Anacreon, Greek lyric poet

• Luigi Cherubini: Anacréon
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Anacréon (1754 version)
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Anacréon (1757 version)

Jacob Johan Anckarström, Swedish military officer, assassin of Gustav III

• Daniel Auber: Gustave III
• Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Tommaso Aniello: see under Masaniello
Anna of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Rome and Bavaria

• Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg

Queen Anne of Great Britain

• Friedrich von Flotow: Martha (silent role)

Queen Anne (Boleyn), second consort of Henry VIII of England

• Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII

Saint Anthony the Great

• Bernice Johnson Reagon: The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Susan B. Anthony, American women’s rights activist

• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

Antiochus I Soter, King of the Seleucid Empire

• Étienne Méhul: Stratonice
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les fêtes de Polymnie

Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, British socialite and sexual celebrity

• Thomas Adès: Powder Her Face

Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, Finnish-Swedish diplomat, possible lover of Gustav III of Sweden

• Daniel Auber: Gustave III

Arminius, Germanic chieftain

• George Frideric Handel: Arminio

Artabanus of Persia, political figure

• Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes

King Artaxerxes I of Persia

• Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes
• Antonio Sacchini: Artaserse
• Girolamo Abos: Artaserse

(He appears in over 40 other operas set to the same text from Metastasio's libretto Artaserse)
King Arthur, legendary king of Britain

• Henry Purcell: King Arthur
• Ernest Chausson: Le roi Arthus
• Isaac Albéniz: Merlin
• Amadeu Vives i Roig: Artús
• Grażyna Bacewicz: The Adventure of King Arthur
• Max Vogrich: King Arthur

Chester A. Arthur, American President

• Douglas Moore: The Ballad of Baby Doe

Ulrica Arfvidsson, Swedish fortune-teller

• Daniel Auber: Gustave III
• Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer

• Johann Joseph Abert: Astorga

Atahualpa, Inca sovereign emperor

• Iain Hamilton: The Royal Hunt of the Sun

Attila the Hun

• Giuseppe Verdi: Attila

Atys, son of King Croesus of Lydia

• Reinhard Keiser: Croesus

Caesar Augustus, Roman Emperor

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (as Octavius Caesar)

Aurelian, Emperor of Rome

• Gioachino Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira

Pharaoh Ay of Egypt

• Philip Glass: Akhnaten

[edit] B

Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian prince and general

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Brigitte Bardot, French actress

• Igor Wakhévitch: Être Dieu: opéra-poème, audiovisuel et cathare en six parties (a creation of Salvador Dalí; the performer plays Bardot impersonating an artichoke)

Pyotr Fyodorovich Basmanov, Russian boyar

• Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij

Daisy Bates, Irish-Australian indigenous welfare worker and anthropologist

• Margaret Sutherland: The Young Kabbarli

Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I "The Thunderbolt"

• George Frideric Handel: Tamerlano (as Bajazet)
• Antonio Vivaldi: Bajazet

Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright

• John Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles

Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury

• Ildebrando Pizzetti: Assassinio nella cattedrale

Belisarius, Byzantine general

• Gaetano Donizetti: Belisario

Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Belshazzar, Prince of Babylon

• Gioachino Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia (as Baldassare, King of Assyria)

Olga Benário Prestes, German-Brazilian communist militant

• Jorge Antunes: Olga

Levin August, Count von Bennigsen, German general

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Queen Berenice III of Egypt

• George Frideric Handel: Berenice

Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Marshall of France

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States

• Curtis K. Hughes: Say It Ain't So, Joe

Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany

• Luigi Nono: Al gran sole carico d'amore

Harman Blennerhassett, Irish-American lawyer

• Walter Damrosch: The Man Without a Country

Blondel de Nesle, French troubador

• André Grétry: Richard Coeur-de-lion

Boabdil, last Nasrid ruler of Granada

• see Muhammad XII of Granada below

Francisco de Bobadilla, Spanish colonial administrator

• Alberto Franchetti: Cristoforo Colombo

Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer, poet

• Franz von Suppé: Boccaccio

Simone Boccanegra, first Doge of Genoa

• Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, brother of Anne Boleyn

• Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena (as Rochefort)

Simón Bolívar, South American revolutionary

• Darius Milhaud: Bolivar

Caroline Bonaparte, Queen Consort of Naples and Sicily, sister of Napoleon
Pauline Bonaparte, Princess of France, sister of Napoleon

• Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic

Lizzie Borden, American celebrity and possible axe-murderer

• Thomas Albert: Lizbeth
• Jack Beeson: Lizzie Borden

Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer

• Juan María Solare: Veinticinco de agosto, 1983 (2 roles, Old Borges, baritone; and Young Borges, tenor)

Saint Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía, Spanish Superior-General of the Jesuits

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI

• Gaetano Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia

Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal

• Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina

Đurađ Branković, Serbian despot

• Ferenc Erkel: György Brankovics

Prince Braslav of Pannonian Croatia

• Eugen Suchoň: Svätopluk

Gian Francesco Brogni, Italian cardinal

• Fromental Halévy: La Juive

John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton, British memoirist and politician

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

John Brown, Sergeant of the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry Volunteer Militia

• Walter Schumann: John Brown's Body

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Flemish painter

• Jean Absil: Pierre Breughel l'Ancien

Antonín Brus z Mohelnice, Archbishop of Prague

• Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina (as Anton Brus von Müglitz)

Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar

• Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars

William Jennings Bryan, American Secretary of State, presidential candidate

• Douglas Moore: The Ballad of Baby Doe

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English poet, statesman

• Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne

Gautama Buddha

• Max Vogrich: Buddha

Johannes Bureus, Swedish scholar

• Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: The Doomsday Prophets (as Johan Bure)

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman, adviser to Elizabeth I

• Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (as Lord Guglielmo Cecil)

Aaron Burr, third Vice President of the United States

• Walter Damrosch: The Man Without a Country

Anne Isabella Byron, Baroness Byron, wife of Lord Byron

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Lord Byron, English poet

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
• Agustí Charles: LByron: un estiu sense estiu (LB: a summer without summer)

[edit] C

Cacamatzin, Aztec king

• Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Alessandro Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo), Italian adventurer and imposter

• Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien
• Mikael Tariverdiev: Graf Cagliostro

Maria Callas, American-Greek opera singer

• Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet

• Gaetano Donizetti: Dom Sébastien

Lorenzo Campeggio, Cardinal Protector of England

• Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII

Canek, Aztec High Priest

• Henry Kimball Hadley: Azora, the Daughter of Montezuma

Wolfgang Capito, German religious reformer

• Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler

Carlos, Prince of Asturias, son of Philip II of Spain

• Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

Julian Carlton, American murderer of Mamah Cheney, mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright

• Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor

• Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Enrico Carouser")

Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and libertine

• Dominick Argento: Casanova's Homecoming
• Albert Lortzing: Casanova

Servilius Casca, co-assassin of Julius Caesar
Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar

• Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars

Fidel Castro, Cuban leader

• Luigi Nono: Al gran sole carico d'amore

Inês de Castro, lover and lawful wife of King Peter I of Portugal

• Vicent Lleó i Balbastre: Inés de Castro
• James MacMillan: Ines de Castro
• Thomas Pasatieri: Ines de Castro
• Giuseppe Persiani: Ines de Castro
• Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli: Ines de Castro

Empress Catherine I of Russia

• Gaetano Donizetti: Pietro il grande
• André Grétry: Pierre le Grand

Empress Catherine II "The Great" of Russia

• César Cui: The Captain's Daughter
• Igor Wakhévitch: Être Dieu: opéra-poème, audiovisuel et cathare en six parties (a creation of Salvador Dalí; Catherine does a striptease with Marilyn Monroe)

Queen Catherine (of Aragon), first wife of Henry VIII of England

• Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII

Queen Catherine (Parr), sixth and last wife of Henry VIII

• Anthony Collins: Catherine Parr

Pierre Cauchon, French bishop

• Norman Dello Joio: The Triumph of St. Joan

Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt, French general

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace (silent role)

Guido Cavalcanti, Florentine poet

• Ezra Pound and George Antheil: Cavalcanti

Arthur Cecil, English actor, theatre manager

• Thomas German Reed (with W. S. Gilbert): Our Island Home

Benvenuto Cellini, Italian sculptor, goldsmith, artisan

• Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio

Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman, protagonist of a famous murder trial

• Havergal Brian: The Cenci (1951–52)
• Alberto Ginastera: Beatrix Cenci
• Berthold Goldschmidt: Beatrice Cenci
• Alessandro Londei e Brunella Caronti: Beatrice Cenci (2006)
• James Rolfe: Beatrice Chancy

Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish writer

• Rafael Aceves y Lozano: El manco de Lepanto
• Jacinto Guerrero: El huésped del sevillano, zarzuela (Cervantes appears as "el huésped")

Lindy Chamberlain and Michael Chamberlain, Australian parents wrongly convicted of the murder of their daughter Azaria

• Moya Henderson: Lindy

Charles Chaplin, British actor

• Salvador Bacarisse: Charlot

Charlemagne, King of the Franks

• Franz Schubert: Fierrabras
• Carl Maria von Weber: Oberon

King Charles II of England

• Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne

King Charles II of Spain

• Jules Massenet: Don César de Bazan
• William Vincent Wallace: Maritana

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

• Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg (as Karl, King of Bohemia)

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio
• Giuseppe Verdi: Ernani

King Charles VI of France

• Fromental Halévy: Charles VI

King Charles VII of France

• César Cui: The Saracen
• Norman Dello Joio: The Triumph of St. Joan
• Fromental Halévy: Charles VI
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Maid of Orleans
• Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (as Carlo VII)

King Charles XI of Sweden

• Fredrik Pacius: Kung Karls jakt

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy

• Giovanni Pacini: Carlo di Borgogna

Charles Martel, Duke and Prince of the Franks

• Jacques Offenbach: Geneviève de Brabant

Charmian, servant to Cleopatra

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
• Jules Massenet: Cléopâtre

Thomas Chatterton, English poet and forger

• Ruggero Leoncavallo: Chatterton
• Matthias Pintscher: Thomas Chatterton
• Gerard Victory: Chatterton

Geoffrey Chaucer, English author, poet, philosopher, courtier and diplomat

• Reginald De Koven: The Canterbury Pilgrims

Edwin Cheney, American electrical engineer
Mamah Cheney, wife of Edwin Cheney, murdered mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright

• Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

André Chénier, French journalist

• Umberto Giordano: Andrea Chénier

Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French composer

• Giacomo Orefice: Chopin

Chou En-lai: see under Zhou Enlai
Christina, Queen of Sweden

• Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: The Doomsday Prophets
• Jacopo Foroni: Cristina, regina di Svezia

Saint Christopher, revered but legendary saint

• Vincent d'Indy: La légende de Saint-Christophe

Tillius Cimber, co-assassin of Julius Caesar

• Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars (as Metellus Cimber)

Helvius Cinna, Roman poet

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Le piccole storie – ai margini delle guerre
• Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars

Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Roman consul

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Lucio Silla

Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, French royal favourite of Louis XIII

• Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Emperor Claudius of Rome

• George Frideric Handel: Agrippina

Cleitus the Black, Macedonian soldier

• George Frideric Handel: Alessandro, as Clito

Pope Clement VII

• Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Cleopatra VII, Pharaoh of Egypt

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
• Domenico Cimarosa: La Cleopatra
• Carl Heinrich Graun: Cesare e Cleopatra
• Louis Gruenberg: Antony and Cleopatra
• Henry Kimball Hadley: Cleopatra's Night
• George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto)
• Felip Pedrell: Cléopâtre
• Jules Massenet: Cléopâtre

Henry Clifford, 10th Baron de Clifford, English military commander

• Isaac Albéniz: Henry Clifford

Hillary Rodham Clinton, American First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State

• Curtis K. Hughes: Say it Ain't So, Joe

Olivier de Clisson, Breton soldier

• Fromental Halévy: Charles VI

Cloelia, early Roman figure, possibly legendary

• Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Howell Cobb, American political figure

• Philip Glass: Appomattox

Walter Cocking, dean at the University of Georgia, the focus of the "Cocking affair"

• Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege

Horatius Cocles, Roman military officer

• Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Roman consul, husband of Lucretia

• Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia

Stefano Colonna (1265–1348), Roman political figure

• Richard Wagner: Rienzi

Christopher Columbus, Genoese explorer of the New World

• Ramón Carnicer: Cristoforo Colombo
• Alberto Franchetti: Cristoforo Colombo
• Darius Milhaud: Christophe Colomb
• Manuel de Falla: Atlàntida
• Lleonard Balada: Cristóbal Colón
• Lleonard Balada: Death of Columbus
• Philip Glass: The Voyage

Anthony Comstock, American morals campaigner

• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

Emperor Constantine I "The Great" of Rome

• Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish scientist

• Claude Vivier: Kopernikus

Charlotte Corday, French Girondin revolutionary

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Charlotte Corday

Saint Corentin of Quimper, Breton patron saint of seafood

• Édouard Lalo: Le roi d'Ys

Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, legendary Roman leader

• Francesco Cavalli: Coriolano

Catherine Cornaro, consort of James II of Cyprus

• Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro
• Fromental Halévy: La reine de Chypre
• Franz Lachner: Caterina Cornaro

Giorgio Cornaro, Italian nobleman, father of Catherine Cornaro

• Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro (as Andrea Cornaro)

Jeronimus Cornelisz, Dutch apothecary and merchant

• Richard Mills: Batavia

Hernán Cortés, Spanish conquistador

• Antonio Vivaldi: Motezuma (as Fernando)
• Carl Heinrich Graun: Montezuma
• Gaspare Spontini: Fernand Cortez
• Ruperto Chapí: Las naves de Cortés
• Lorenzo Ferrero: La conquista
• Henry Kimball Hadley: Azora, the Daughter of Montezuma
• Aniceto Ortega: Guatimotzin
• Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury

• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner (not identified as such)
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII

Marcus Licinius Crassus, Roman general and politician

• Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno

Flavius Julius Crispus, Caesar of the Roman Empire

• Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

Croesus, King of Lydia

• Reinhard Keiser: Croesus

Oliver Cromwell, English Puritan leader

• Salvatore Agnelli: Cromwell

Cuauhtémoc, Aztec king

• Aniceto Ortega: Guatimotzin
• Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Sir Henry Cuffe, English politician

• Benjamin Britten: Gloriana

Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist and duellist

• Franco Alfano: Cyrano de Bergerac
• Walter Damrosch: Cyrano
• David DiChiera, orch. Mark Flint: Cyrano
• Eino Tamberg: Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrus the Great, King of Persia

• Francesco Cavalli: Ciro
• Maria Teresa Agnesi: Ciro in Armenia
• Reinhard Keiser: Croesus
• Gioachino Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia

[edit] D

Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter

• Igor Wakhévitch: Être Dieu: opéra-poème, audiovisuel et cathare en six parties (Dalí's creation; his character is in turn playing God)
• Xavier Benguerel: Jo, Dalí (I, Dalí)

Dalibor of Kozojed, Czech knight

• Bedřich Smetana: Dalibor

Dante Alighieri, Italian poet

• Tan Dun: Marco Polo
• Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini

Georges Danton, French revolutionary figure

• John Eaton: Danton and Robespierre
• Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod

Jacques d'Arc, French farmer, father of Joan of Arc

• Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (as Giacomo)

King Darius III of Persia

• Francesco Cavalli: Statira principessa di Persia

Sir William Davenant, English poet and playwright

• Gaspare Spontini: Milton

Louis-Nicolas Davout, Marshall of France

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Gotse Delchev, Macedonian revolutionary figure

• Kiril Makedonski: Goce

Marion Delorme, French courtesan

• Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Camille Desmoulins, French revolutionary journalist, politician

• Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod

Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Spanish conquistador

• Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Jimena Díaz, wife of El Cid, ruler of Valencia

• Claude Debussy: Rodrigue et Chimène
• Giuseppe Farinelli: Il Cid della Spagna (as Climene)
• Jules Massenet: Le Cid (as Chimene)

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, "El Cid"

• Johann Caspar Aiblinger: Rodrigo und Ximene
• Peter Cornelius: Der Cid
• Claude Debussy: Rodrigue et Chimène
• Giuseppe Farinelli: Il Cid della Spagna
• Jules Massenet: Le Cid
• Antonio Sacchini: Il Cid

Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian Communist leader

• Luigi Nono: Al gran sole carico d'amore

Emperor Diocletian of Rome

• Henry Purcell: Dioclesian

Tsar Dmitri Ioannovich of Russia, the so-called "False Dmitriy I"

• Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij
• Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Dmitry Donskoy, Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Vladimir

• Anton Rubinstein: Dmitry Donskoy

Dobrynya Nikitich, legendary Kievan bogatyr

• Alexander Serov: Rogneda

Publius Cornelius Dolabella, Roman general

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

Saint Dominic, Domingo de Guzman, founder of the Dominicans

• Antonio Braga: San Domenico di Guzman

James Douglas, Lord of Douglas, Scots soldier, known as the "Black Douglas"

• Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)

György Dózsa, Hungarian leader of peasant revolt

• Ferenc Erkel: György Dózsa

Sir Francis Drake, English adventurer, pirate, politician

• Matthew Locke: The History of Sir Francis Drake

John Dryden, English poet

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

King Duncan I of Scotland

• Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth
• Ernest Bloch: Macbeth

[edit] E

Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Éboli, Spanish aristocrat

• Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

Nelson Eddy, American tenor, actor

• Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Nelson Deadly")

King Edward II of England

• Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)

King Edward III of England

• Gaetano Donizetti: L'assedio di Calais

Albert Einstein, German-American scientist

• Paul Dessau: Einstein
• Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach

Emperor Elagabalus of Rome (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus)

• Francesco Cavalli: Eliogabalo
• Pietro Simone Agostini: Eliogabalo

Eleanor of Austria, Queen Consort of Portugal and France

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Eleanor of Guzman, mistress of King Alfonso XI of Castile and mother of Henry II

• Gaetano Donizetti: La favorite (as Leonor de Guzmán)

Elisabeth, Queen of Bohemia

• Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg (as Asberta)

Elisabeth Farnese, Queen Consort to Philip V of Spain

• John Barnett: Farinelli

Elisabeth of Valois, daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici, wife of Philip II of Spain

• Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

Elisiv of Kiev

• Heorhiy Maiboroda: Yaroslav Mudriy

Queen Elizabeth I of Castile see: Queen Isabella I of Castile
Queen Elizabeth I of England

• Thomas Arne: Eliza (she does not appear as a character as such, but the opera is named for her)
• Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
• Gaetano Donizetti: Il castello di Kenilworth
• Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
• Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
• Edward German: Merrie England
• Gioachino Rossini: Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra

Fanny Elssler, Austrian ballerina

• Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Ninon de l'Enclos, French courtesan

• Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Enzio of Sardinia, king of Sardinia

• Johann Joseph Abert: König Enzio and Enzio von Hohenstaufen (2nd version)

Erasistratus, Greek anatomist, physician

• Étienne Méhul: Stratonice

King Eric V of Denmark

• Peter Arnold Heise: Drot og marsk (King and Marshall)

José de Espronceda, Spanish poet

• Federico Moreno Torroba: El poeta

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Elizabethan courtier and royal favourite

• Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
• Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
• Edward German: Merrie England

Frances, Countess of Essex, English noblewoman

• Benjamin Britten: Gloriana

Eufrosinia, daughter of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Prince of Halych

• Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor (as Yaroslavna)

[edit] F

Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice

• Gaetano Donizetti: Marino Faliero

Farinelli, Italian castrato singer

• Daniel Auber: La part du diable (or Carlo Broschi) (as Carlo Broschi)
• John Barnett: Farinelli

Fausta Flavia Maxima, Empress of Rome, second wife of Constantine the Great

• Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist

• Jacques Offenbach: Madame Favart

Marie Favart, French opera singer, actress

• Jacques Offenbach: Madame Favart

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

King Ferdinand I of León and Castile

• Claude Debussy: Rodrigue et Chimène
• Jules Massenet: Le Cid

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

• Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt

KIng Ferdinand II of Aragon (and Ferdinand V of Castile)

• Giuseppe Apolloni: L'ebreo
• Darius Milhaud: Christophe Colomb
• Lleonard Balada: Cristóbal Colón
• Lleonard Balada: Death of Columbus

King Ferdinand VI of Spain

• Daniel Auber: La part du diable (or Carlo Broschi)

Roger de Flor, German-born soldier serving Aragon kings

• Ruperto Chapí: Roger de Flor

Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice

• Giuseppe Verdi: I due Foscari

Joseph Fouché, Duke of Otranto

• Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne

Francesca da Rimini, contemporary and literary subject of Dante

• Emil Ábrányi: Paola és Francesca
• Emanuele Borgatta: Francesca da Rimini
• Paolo Carlini: Francesca da Rimini
• Fournier-Gorre: Francesca da Rimini
• Pietro Generali: Francesca da Rimini
• Hermann Goetz: Francesca da Rimini
• Franco Leoni: Francesca da Rimini
• Gioacchino Maglioni: Francesca da Rimini
• Luigi Mancinelli: Paolo e Francesca
• Saverio Mercadante: Francesca da Rimini
• Francesco Morlacchi: Francesca da Rimini
• Eugene Nordal: Francesca da Rimini
• Salvatore Papparlado: Francesca da Rimini
• Gaetano Quilici: Francesca da Rimini
• Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini (as Francesca Malatesta)
• Giuseppe Staffa: Francesca da Rimini
• Feliciano Strepponi: Francesca da Rimini
• Antonio Tamburini: Francesca da Rimini
• Ambroise Thomas: Francesca da Rimini
• Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini
• Alfredo Aracil: Francesca o El infierno de los enamorados

Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans

• Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise

King Francis I of France

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V (as Franz I)
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio

Anne Frank, Dutch diarist

• Grigory Frid: The Diary of Anne Frank

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria

• Ralph Benatzky, Robert Stolz and Bruno Granichstaedten: The White Horse Inn

Fredegund, Merovingian Queen Consort

• César Franck: Ghiselle
• Reinhard Keiser: Fredegunda (1715)

Frederick I "Barbarossa", Holy Roman Emperor

• Giuseppe Verdi: La battaglia di Legnano

King Frederick II "The Great" of Prussia

• Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down
• Giacomo Meyerbeer: Ein Feldlager in Schlesien (he does not appear on stage, but is heard playing the flute in the background)

Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg

• Hans Werner Henze: Der Prinz von Homburg

Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg

• Hans Werner Henze: Der Prinz von Homburg

Jean Froissart, French chronicler

• Aulis Sallinen: The King Goes Forth to France

Georg von Frundsberg, South German knight

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Tsar Fyodor II of Russia, son of Boris Godunov

• Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

[edit] G

Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist

• Philip Glass: Galileo Galilei

Vasily Vasilyevich Galitzine, Russian statesman

• Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina

Galla Placidia, Roman regent, daughter of Emperor Theodosius I

• Jaume Pahissa i Jo: Gal·la Placídia (1913)

Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer

• Giacomo Meyerbeer: L'Africaine

Count Peter Gamba, associate of Lord Byron

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian freedom advocate

• Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish poet and soldier

• Ruperto Chapí: La muerte de Garcilaso

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian freedom fighter

• Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down

Margaret "Peggy" Garner, American slave who killed her own daughter rather than allow the child to be returned to slavery

• Richard Danielpour: Margaret Garner

Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect

• Joan Guinjoan: Gaudí

Paul Gauguin, French painter

• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
• Michael Smetanin: Gauguin: A Synthetic Life (2000; libretto by Alison Croggon)
• Christopher Yavelow: The Passion of Vincent van Gogh

King George III of the United Kingdom

• Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King

Priscilla German Reed, English singer and actress
Thomas German Reed, English composer and theatre manager

• Thomas German Reed (with W. S. Gilbert): Our Island Home

Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer and murderer

• Alfred Schnittke: Gesualdo

Allen Ginsberg, American poet

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn

Lisa del Giocondo, Italian woman, subject of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa

• Max von Schillings: Mona Lisa (as Mona Fiordalisa)

Salvatore Giuliano, Sicilian peasant

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Salvatore Giuliano

Godfrey of Bouillon, Frankish knight, leader of the First Crusade

• George Frideric Handel: Rinaldo (as Goffredo)

Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia

• Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Xenia Borisovna Godunova, daughter of Boris Godunov

• Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij
• Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Sir Eugene Goossens, English conductor and composer

• Drew Crawford: Eugene & Roie

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, English harpsichordist

• Roger Scruton: Violet

St Maria Goretti, 20th century Catholic martyr

• Marcel Delannoy: Maria Goretti, radiophonic opera

Francisco Goya, Spanish painter

• Gian Carlo Menotti: Goya
• Michael Nyman: Facing Goya (he appears as a silent apparition)

Princess Grace of Monaco, American-born actress (as Grace Kelly)

• Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Antonio Gramsci, Italian political theorist

• Luigi Nono: Al gran sole carico d'amore

Urbain Grandier, French priest

• Krzysztof Penderecki: The Devils of Loudun

Julia Dent Grant, American First Lady

• Philip Glass: Appomattox

Ulysses S. Grant, American President

• Philip Glass: Appomattox
• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

Thomas Gray, English poet

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer
Nina Grieg, Norwegian singer, cousin and wife of Edvard Grieg

• Edvard Grieg, arr. Robert Wright and George Forrest: Song of Norway

Gen Leslie Groves, American military officer

• John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Matthias Grünewald, German renaissance painter

• Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler

Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli, Italian mistress of Lord Byron

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Guinevere, wife of King Arthur of Britain

• Ernest Chausson: Le roi Arthus (as Guenièvre)

Francis, Duke of Guise, French nobleman

• André Messager: Le bourgeois de Calais

Günther von Schwarzburg, German king

• Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg

Saint Guntram, King of Burgundy

• César Franck: Ghiselle

King Gustav I of Sweden

• Giuseppe Apolloni: Gustavo Wasa

King Gustav III of Sweden

• Daniel Auber: Gustave III
• Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Nell Gwyn, English actress, mistress of King Charles II

• Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne

[edit] H

Hadrian, Roman emperor

• José de Nebra: Más gloria es triunfar de sí, o, Adriano en Siria
• Girolamo Abos: Adriano in Siria

Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio, Lord Nelson
Sir William Hamilton, British diplomat, husband of Emma, Lady Hamilton

• Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

Hannibal, Carthaginian ruler

• Johann Adolf Hasse, Domènec Terradellas, Giovanni Battista Lampugnani and Pietro Domenico Paradie: Annibale in Capua

King Harald III of Norway

• Heorhiy Maiboroda: Yaroslav Mudriy
• Judith Weir: King Harald's Saga

Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, British sea captain, commander of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar

• Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

Harold Godwinson (Harold II), Anglo-Saxon King of England

• Frederic Hymen Cowen: Harold or the Norman Conquest
• Judith Weir: King Harald's Saga

Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid Caliph

• Carl Maria von Weber: Oberon

Hasdrubal Gisco, Carthaginian general

• Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano

Wiebbe Hayes, Dutch soldier

• Richard Mills: Batavia

Heloïse, French nun associated with Peter Abelard

• Peter Tahourdin: Héloise and Abelard
• Charles Wilson: Héloise and Abelard

Sally Hemings, American mixed-race slave owned by Thomas Jefferson

• Damon Ferrante: Jefferson & Poe: A Lyric Opera

Henri, Prince of Condé, French noble

• Krzysztof Penderecki: The Devils of Loudun

Henrietta Maria of France, queen consort of Charles I of England

• Vincenzo Bellini: I puritani

King Henry II of England

• Gaetano Donizetti: Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (as Enrico II)
• Otto Nicolai: Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (given at the first performance as Enrico II)

King Henry III of Castile

• Amadeu Vives i Roig: La villana

King Henry III of France also as Henri de Valois, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania

• Emmanuel Chabrier: Le roi malgré lui

King Henry IV of France

• Fromental Halévy: Le Roi et le batelier

King Henry V of England

• Gustav Holst: At the Boar's Head (as Prince Hal)

King Henry VIII of England

• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner (not identified as such)
• Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena (as Enrico)
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII

Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony, King of the Germans

• Richard Wagner: Lohengrin

Henry the Lion, German prince (Henry III of Saxony, Henry XII of Bavaria)

• Agostino Steffani: Enrico il Leone

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French revolutionary politician

• Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod

Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia

• Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser

E. T. A. Hoffmann, German author

• Jacques Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann

Fanny Holland, English singer and actress

• Thomas German Reed (with W. S. Gilbert): Our Island Home

Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904), Dutch alcoholic prostitute, sometime lover of Vincent van Gogh

• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent

Pharaoh Horemheb of Egypt

• Philip Glass: Akhnaten

Count Claes Fredrik Horn, co-conspirator with Anckarström in the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden

• Daniel Auber: Gustave III (as Dehorn)
• Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American escapologist

• Peter Schat: Houdini

László Hunyadi, Hungarian statesman

• Ferenc Erkel: Hunyadi László

Stig Andersen Hvide, Danish marshall, later an outlaw

• Peter Arnold Heise: Drot og marsk (King and Marshall) (as Marshall Stig)

Queen Hypsicratea of Pontus, consort of Mithradates VI

• Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno (as Issicratea)
• Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore

[edit] I

Muhammad al-Idrisi, Andalusian cartographer, traveller

• Karol Szymanowski: King Roger (as Edrisi)

Gwen Ifill, American television journalist

• Curtis K. Hughes: Say it Ain't So, Joe

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish knight, founder of the Society of Jesus

• Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts

Igor Svyatoslavich, Prince of Putivl, Novgorod-Seversk and Chernigov

• Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor

Jaakko Ilkka, Finnish peasant leader

• Jorma Panula: Jaakko Ilkka

Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden

• Heorhiy Maiboroda: Yaroslav Mudriy

John Ireland, Dean of Westminster

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen Consort of Charles VI of France

• Fromental Halévy: Charles VI

Isabel Moctezuma (Teutile), daughter of Moctezuma II

• Antonio Vivaldi: Motezuma

Queen Isabella I of Castile

• Vicente Martín y Soler: Una cosa rara
• Emilio Arrieta: La conquista de Granada
• Giuseppe Apolloni: L'ebreo
• Alberto Franchetti: Cristoforo Colombo
• Darius Milhaud: Christophe Colomb
• Manuel de Falla: Atlàntida
• Leonardo Balada: Cristóbal Colón
• Lleonard Balada: Death of Columbus
• Philip Glass: The Voyage

Isabella of France, Queen Consort of Edward II of England and mother of Edward III

• Gaetano Donizetti: L'assedio di Calais (she is Edward III's wife in the opera; in real life, she was his mother)

Isabella of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress, Queen Consort of Aragon and Castile

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, "Ivan the Terrible"

• Georges Bizet: Ivan IV
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga (unseen role; he is the father of Vera's child)
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: The Maid of Pskov

Izumi Shikibu, Japanese poetess

• Salvatore Sciarrino: Da gelo a gelo

[edit] J

Jack the Ripper, unidentified murderer of English prostitutes

• Alban Berg: Lulu

King James II of Cyprus "James the Bastard of Lusignan"

• Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro (as Lusignano)
• Fromental Halévy: La reine de Chypre (as Lusignan)

King James V of Scotland

• Gioachino Rossini: La donna del lago (in disguise as Uberto)

Lady Jane Grey, disputed Queen of England

• Henri Büsser: Jane Grey
• Nicola Vaccai: Giovanna Gray

Queen Jane (Seymour), third consort of Henry VIII of England

• Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena

Thomas Jefferson, American President

• Damon Ferrante: Jefferson & Poe: A Lyric Opera

Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia

• Karl Michael Ziehrer: König Jérôme oder Immer Lustick

Jesus of Nazareth and his apostles

• Anton Cajetan Adlgasser: Christus am Ölberg
• Harrison Birtwistle: The Last Supper
• Constantine Koukias: Days and Nights with Christ (played by a non-singing dancer)
• Anton Rubinstein: Christus, sacred opera
• Josep Soler i Sardà: Jesús de Natzaret, opera

Jiang Qing Chinese figure, 4th wife of Mao Zedong

• John Adams: Nixon in China (as Chiang Ch'ing)
• Bright Sheng: Madame Mao

St Joan of Arc, French saint

• Norman Dello Joio: The Triumph of St. Joan
• Giselher Klebe: Das Mädchen aus Domrémy
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Maid of Orleans
• Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
• For details of more operatic and other musical depictions of Joan of Arc, see Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc#Operas, oratorios, and vocal works

Joan I of Naples, Queen of Naples

• Juan Manén: Giovanna di Napoli

Joanna of Castile, Queen of Castile and Aragon

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V (as Juana)
• Enric Palomar: Juana

Patriarch Job of Moscow, Russian Orthodox prelate

• Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij

John, Prince of Asturias, Spanish prince, son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile

• Vicente Martín y Soler: Una cosa rara

King John of England

• Sir Arthur Sullivan: Ivanhoe (as Prince John)

Don John of Austria, Bavarian soldier in Spanish service, son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

• Isaac Nathan: Don John of Austria
• Ruperto Chapí: Don Juan de Austria, zarzuela in 3 acts

John of Leiden, Dutch Anabaptist leader

• Giacomo Meyerbeer: Le prophète (as Jean de Leyde)

Andrew Johnson, American President

• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

Ben Jonson, English poet

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

• Georg Jarno: Die Försterchristl (or possibly a fictitious "Franz Joseph II of Austria")

Joséphine de Beauharnais, Consort of Napoleon I

• Emmerich Kálmán: Kaiserin Josephine

********************************************************

Julia Caesaris,
daughter of Julius Caesar, 4th wife of Pompey the Great

Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno

******************************************************

Julius Caesar, Consul and Dictator of Rome

• Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
• Carl Heinrich Graun: Cesare e Cleopatra
• George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto) (LONDRA)
• Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars
• Antonio Sartorio: Giulio Cesare in Egitto (VENEZIA)

****************************************

[edit] K

Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter

• Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Frida

Christoph Kaufmann (or Kauffman), associate of Jakob Lenz

• Wolfgang Rihm: Jakob Lenz

Grace Kelly: see Princess Grace of Monaco
John F. Kennedy, American President

• Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Johannes Kepler, German astronomer, mathematician

• Philip Glass: Kepler
• Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt

Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky, "Taratui" (chatter box), Russian boyar

• Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina

Edgar Ray Killen, KKK leader, murderer

• Philip Glass: Appomattox

Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Henry Kissinger, American Secretary of State

• John Adams: Nixon in China

Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer

• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Aleksis Kivi

Leon Klinghoffer, American ship passenger murdered by terrorists

• John Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer

Vasily Kochubey, Cossack hetman, associate of Ivan Mazepa

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa

Konchak, Polovtsian khan
Konchakovna, his daughter

• Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor

Kublai Khan, Grand Khan of the Mongol Empire

• Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian Field-Marshall

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

[edit] L

Ladislaus I of Poland: see Władysław I the Elbow-high
Ladislaus the Posthumous, Duke of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia

• Ferenc Erkel: Hunyadi László (as László V)

Lady Caroline Lamb, lover of Lord Byron

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Anne Françoise Elisabeth Lange, French actress, known as "Mademoiselle Lange"

• Charles Lecocq: La fille de Madame Angot

Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress

• Francesco Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur

(Eleanor) Agnes Lee, daughter of Robert E. Lee
Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee

• Philip Glass: Appomattox

General Robert E. Lee

• Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down
• Philip Glass: Appomattox

François Joseph Lefebvre, Marshal of France, Duke of Danzig

• Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic
• Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne

His wife, née Cathérine Hubscher, later Duchess of Danzig

• Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic (as Catherine Üpscher)
• Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne

Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer

• Victor Davies: Transit of Venus

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English courtier, favourite of Elizabeth I

• Gaetano Donizetti: Il castello di Kenilworth
• Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (as Roberto)
• Gioachino Rossini: Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra

Augusta Leigh, half-sister and incestuous over of Lord Byron

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, German writer

• Wolfgang Rihm: Jakob Lenz

Pope St Leo I "The Great"

• Giuseppe Verdi: Attila (as Leone)

Brother Leo, friend and confidant of Francis of Assisi

• Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise

Leonidas of Epirus

• George Frideric Handel: Alessandro

(i) Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Roman triumvir

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

(ii) Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, heir to Emperor Caligula of Rome

• Reinhard Keiser: Octavia

Leszek I the White, High Duke of Poland 1194-1227

• Józef Elsner: Leszek Biały

Li Bai or Li Po, Chinese poet

• Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii

• Paul Abraham: Die Blume von Hawaii, operetta

Abraham Lincoln, American President
Mary Todd Lincoln, American First Lady

• Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down
• Philip Glass: Appomattox

Charles Lindbergh, American pioneer aviator

• Paul Hindemith and Kurt Weill: Der Lindberghflug (Lindbergh's Flight). This was later changed by removal of Hindemith's contribution, renaming it to Der Ozeanflug (The Flight across the Ocean), and removal of Lindbergh's name. The opening line was changed from “My name is Charles Lindbergh” to “My name is of no account”.

Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Bohemian Talmudic scholar

• Nicolae Bretan: Golem (as Rabbi Lőw)
• Eugen d'Albert: Der Golem

King Louis V of France

• Gaetano Donizetti: Ugo, conte di Parigi

King Louis VI of France

• Carl Maria von Weber: Euryanthe

King Louis XII of France

• André Messager: La Basoche

King Louis XIII of France

• Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

King Louis XIV of France

• Léo Delibes: Le roi l'a dit (unseen role; he is referred to by the other characters)

King Louis XV of France

• Michel Richard Delalande and André Cardinal Destouches: Les élémens (represented by a chorus)
• Leo Fall: Madame Pompadour

King Louis XVI of France

• John Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles

Lucan, Roman poet

• Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Lucretia, Roman noblewoman raped by Sextus Tarquinius (legendary)

• Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia
• Ottorino Respighi: Lucrezia

Martin Luther, initiator of the Protestant Reformation

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

[edit] M

Douglas MacArthur, American general

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn

Jeanette MacDonald, American soprano, actress

• Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Just Jeannette")

Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada
William McDougall, Canadian politician

• Harry Somers: Louis Riel

Ralph McGill, American anti-segregationist journalist

• Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege

Wilmer McLean, American Civil War figure

• Philip Glass: Appomattox

Colin McPhee, Canadian composer and musicologist

• Evan Ziporyn: A House in Bali

King Macbeth of Scotland

• Ernest Bloch: Macbeth
• Iain Hamilton: The Tragedy of Macbeth
• Salvatore Sciarrino: Macbeth
• Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, Roman general, natural father of Scipio Aemilianus

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126

Gaius Maecenas, political adviser to Octavian (Caesar Augustus)

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra

Saint Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney

• Peter Maxwell Davies: The Martyrdom of St Magnus

Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer

• Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Marion Mahony, American architect and artist, wife of Walter Burley Griffin

• Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

Giovanni Malatesta, husband and murderer of Francesca da Rimini

• Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini (as Lanciotto Malatesta)
• Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (as Giovanni lo Sciancato)

Malatestino Malatesta, Lord of Rimini

• Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (as Malatestino dall'Occhio)

Paolo Malatesta, brother-in-law and lover of Francesca da Rimini

• Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini
• Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (as Paolo il Bello)

La Malinche, Aztec mistress of Hernán Cortés

• Lorenzo Ferrero: La conquista
• Roger Sessions: Montezuma

Mao Zedong, Chinese leader

• John Adams: Nixon in China (as Mao Tse-tung)

Madame Mao: see Jiang Qing
Jean-Paul Marat, Jacobin leader

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Charlotte Corday

Benedetto Marcello, Italian composer

• Joachim Raff: Benedetto Marcello

Alexey Maresyev, Russian fighter pilot

• Sergei Prokofiev: The Story of a Real Man

Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort to Henry VI of England

• Giacomo Meyerbeer: Margherita d'Anjou

Marguérite de Valois, consort of Henry IV of France/Henry III of Navarre

• Ferdinand Hérold: Le pré aux clercs
• Giacomo Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots

Maria Carolina of Austria

• Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne

Sister Maria Celeste, Italian nun, illegitimate daughter of Galileo Galilei

• Philip Glass: Galileo Galilei

Maria Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier, Infanta of Spain

• Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien

Marie Antoinette, Queen Consort of Louis XVI of France

• John Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles

Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, wife of Napoleon I

• Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Marie Louise Gonzaga, French Queen consort to 2 Polish kings

• Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria

• Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien

Guadalupe Marín, Mexican model and novelist, second wife of Diego Rivera

• Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Frida (as Lupe)

Mark Antony, Roman politician and general

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
• Domenico Cimarosa: La Cleopatra
• Louis Gruenberg: Antony and Cleopatra
• Henry Kimball Hadley: Cleopatra's Night
• Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars
• Jules Massenet: Cléopâtre

Auguste de Marmont

• Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Martyrs of Compiègne, a group of French Carmelite nuns

• Francis Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites

Saint Mary of Egypt, patron saint of penitents

• Ottorino Respighi: Maria egiziaca
• John Tavener: Mary of Egypt

Mary, Queen of Scots

• Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
• Thea Musgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots
• Louis Niedermeyer: Marie Stuart

Queen Mary I of England "Bloody Mary"

• Antônio Carlos Gomes: Maria Tudor
• Giovanni Pacini: Maria, regina d'Inghilterra

Mary Tudor, Queen of France, sister of Henry VIII, husband of Louis XII

• André Messager: La Basoche

Masaniello (Tommaso Aniello), Neapolitan fisherman, revolutionary leader

• Daniel Auber: La muette de Portici (aka Masaniello)
• Reinhard Keiser: Masagniello
• Reinhard Keiser: Die neapolitanische Fischer-Empörung oder Masaniello furioso

Masinissa, first King of Numidia

• Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano

Mata Hari, Dutch spy

• Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down

Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

• Antonín Dvořák: King and Charcoal Burner

King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary

• Ferenc Erkel: Hunyadi László (as Mátyás Hunyadi)

Maurice, Elector of Saxony

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V

Maurice de Saxe

• Francesco Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur
• Jacques Offenbach: Madame Favart

Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius, aka Maximian, Roman ruler

• Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

Maximinian, co-Emperor of Rome

• Henry Purcell: Dioclesian

Ivan Mazepa, Cossack hetman, military leader

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa

Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence

• Fromental Halévy: Guido et Ginevra

Giuliano de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent
Lorenzo de' Medici, "Lorenzo the Magnificent", Italian statesman

• Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Medici

Lorenzino de' Medici, Italian writer and assassin

• Giovanni Pacini: Lorenzino de' Medici

Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II

• Gioachino Rossini: Maometto II
• Gioachino Rossini: Le siège de Corinthe (as Mahomet II)

Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov, Russian statesman

• André Grétry: Pierre le Grand

Valeria Messalina, Roman Empress

• Isidore de Lara: Messaline

Caecilia Metella Dalmatica, fourth wife of Lucius Cornelius Sulla

• George Frideric Handel: Silla

Cornelia Metella, Pompey's second wife

• George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto) (as Cornelia)

Klemens Wenzel, Prince von Metternich

• Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

John Milton, English poet

• Gaspare Spontini: Milton
• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto, Scottish diplomat, Governor-General of India

• Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

King Mithridates VI of Pontus

• Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
• Domènec Terradellas: Mitridate
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto
• Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore

Marina Mniszech, Polish noble and Russian political adventurer

• Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij
• Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Moctezuma II, Aztec ruler

• Lorenzo Ferrero: La conquista
• Carl Heinrich Graun: Montezuma
• Henry Kimball Hadley: Azora, the Daughter of Montezuma
• Josef Mysliveček: Motezuma
• Antonio Sacchini: Montezuma
• Roger Sessions: Montezuma
• Antonio Vivaldi: Motezuma
• Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli: Montesuma

King Mojmír II of Great Moravia

• Eugen Suchoň: Svätopluk

Marilyn Monroe, American actress

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn
• Igor Wakhévitch: Être Dieu: opéra-poème, audiovisuel et cathare en six parties (a creation of Salvador Dalí; Monroe is doing a striptease with Catherine the Great of Russia)

Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola, Anglo-Italian condottiero

• Giuseppe Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes

Thomas Moore, Irish poet, songwriter

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Mordred, legendary Arthurian character

• Isaac Albéniz: Merlin
• Ernest Chausson: Le roi Arthus

Thomas Morton, American colonist of New England

• Howard Hanson: Merry Mount

Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, Elizabethan figure

• Benjamin Britten: Gloriana

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer

• P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele): A Little Nightmare Music
• Reynaldo Hahn: Mozart (musical comedy)
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Mozart and Salieri

Gaius Mucius Scaevola, Roman figure

• Francesco Cavalli: Mutio Scevola
• George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Muhammad XII of Granada, aka Boabdil, last Nasrid ruler of Granada

• Baltasar Saldoni: Boabdil, ultimo rey de Granada
• Giuseppe Apolloni: L'ebreo
• Emilio Arrieta: La conquista di Granata
• Moritz Moszkowski: Boabdil der letzte Maurenkönig

Ottoman Sultan Murad II

• Antonio Vivaldi: Scanderbeg (as Amurat II)

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish Baroque painter

• Josep Soler i Sardà: Murillo

John Murray II, British publisher

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Eadweard Muybridge, English pioneer photographer

• Philip Glass: The Photographer

[edit] N

Emperor Napoleon I of France (Napoleon Bonaparte)

• Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic
• Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne
• Emmerich Kálmán: Kaiserin Josephine
• Eugen d'Albert: Der Stier von Olivera
• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Emperor Napoleon II of France

• Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon
• Petar Stojanović: Napoleon II: Herzog von Reichstadt

Louis, comte de Narbonne-Lara

• Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic (as Comte de Narbonne)

Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate and vandal

• Douglas Moore: Carry Nation

Nebuchadnezzar II, ruler of Babylon

• Benjamin Britten: The Burning Fiery Furnace
• Giuseppe Verdi: Nabucco

Nefertiti, wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt

• Philip Glass: Akhnaten

Adam Albert von Neipperg, Austrian general

• Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne

Frances Nelson, Lady Nelson, wife of Lord Nelson

• Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British admiral, naval hero

• Lennox Berkeley: Nelson

Emperor Nero of Rome

• Arrigo Boito: Nerone
• George Frideric Handel: Agrippina
• Reinhard Keiser: Octavia
• Pietro Mascagni: Nerone (as Claudio Cesare Nerone)
• Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
• Anton Rubinstein: Néron
• Juan Manén: Acté and Neró i Acté

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

• Deborah Drattell: Nicholas and Alexandra

Nitocris, Queen of Egypt, maybe legendary

• Maria Teresa Agnesi: Nitocri

Pat Nixon, American First Lady

• John Adams: Nixon in China

Richard Nixon, American President

• John Adams: Nixon in China

Rikard Nordraak, Norwegian composer

• Edvard Grieg, arr. Robert Wright and George Forrest: Song of Norway

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English politician, uncle to two of Henry VIII’s wives

• Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English nobleman

• Gioachino Rossini: Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra

Rosaleen Norton, so-called "Witch of Kings Cross", Sydney occultist

• Drew Crawford: Eugene & Roie

Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English admiral and statesman

• Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux

[edit] O

J. F. Oberlin, Alsatian pastor, philanthropist

• Wolfgang Rihm: Jakob Lenz

Empress Claudia Octavia of Rome, consort of Nero

• Reinhard Keiser: Octavia
• Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Octavia the Younger, fourth wife of Mark Antony

• Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
• Jules Massenet: Cléopâtre

King Olaf I Tryggvason of Norway

• Ragnar Søderlind: Olav Tryggvason

King Olaf II of Norway (St. Olaf)

• Judith Weir: King Harald's Saga

Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate

• Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American First Lady, wife of John F. Kennedy, then of Aristotle Onassis

• Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist

• John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Sallustia Orbiana, wife of Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome

• George Frideric Handel: Alessandro Severo

Pylyp Orlyk, associate of Ivan Mazepa

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa

Pier Francesco Orsini, Italian condottiero

• Alberto Ginastera: Bomarzo

Emperor Marcus Salvius Otho of Rome

• Antonio Vivaldi: Ottone in villa

[edit] P

María de Padilla, mistress and secret wife of Peter of Castile

• Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Padilla

Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer

• Sir Harrison Birtwistle: The Second Mrs Kong

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer

• Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina
• Johann Sachs: Palestrina

Sarah Palin, American politician, Governor of Alaska, vice-presidential candidate

• Curtis K. Hughes: Say It Ain't So, Joe

Papantzin, Aztec princess, sister of Moctezuma II

• Henry Kimball Hadley: Azora, the Daughter of Montezuma

Johan Papegoja, Governor of New Sweden

• Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: The Doomsday Prophets

Ely S. Parker, American Seneca native, Commissioner of Indian Affairs

• Philip Glass: Appomattox

Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist

• Nigel Osborne: The Electrification of the Soviet Union (narrator)

Francisco Pelsaert, Dutch merchant, naval commander

• Richard Mills: Batavia

Samuel Pepys, English diarist

• Albert Coates: Samuel Pepys

Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland

• Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena

Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Castilian nobleman, known as Guzmán el Bueno

• Baltasar Saldoni: Guzmán el Bueno
• Tomás Bretón: Guzmán el Bueno

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer

• Emilio Arrieta: Pergolesi
• Paolo Serrao: Pergolesi

Pericles, Athenian statesman

• Henri Christiné: Phi-Phi

Saint Peter, Christian apostle

• Harrison Birtwistle: The Last Supper
• Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos

King Peter III of Aragon, "Peter the Great"

• Hector Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict (Don Pedro)
• Charles Villiers Stanford: Much ado about nothing
• Felip Pedrell: Els Pirineus

King Peter of Castile, "Peter the Cruel"

• Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Padilla (as Don Pedro, Prince of Castile)
• Hilarión Eslava: Pietro il Crudele

Tsar Peter I "The Great" of Russia

• Gaetano Donizetti: Pietro il grande
• Gaetano Donizetti: Il borgomastro di Saardam
• André Grétry: Pierre le Grand
• Louis Antoine Jullien: Pietro il grande (1852)
• Albert Lortzing: Zar und Zimmermann
• Giacomo Meyerbeer: L'étoile du nord

Peter the Hermit, priest and leader of the First Crusade

• Charles Gounod: La nonne sanglante

Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Roman courtier, writer

• Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Michele Pezza, Neapolitan guerilla leader, known as "Fra Diavolo"

• Daniel Auber: Fra Diavolo

King Pharnaces II of Pontus

• Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno (as Farnace)
• Francesco Corselli: Farnace
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto
• Josef Mysliveček: Farnace
• Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore
• Leonardo Vinci: Farnace
• Antonio Vivaldi: Farnace

Phidias, Greek sculptor

• Henri Christiné: Phi-Phi

King Philip II of Spain

• Isaac Nathan: Don John of Austria (disguised as Count de Santa Fiore)
• Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

King Philip V of Spain

• John Barnett: Farinelli

Gaspare Pisciotta, Sicilian peasant

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Salvatore Giuliano

Gaius Calpurnius Piso, Roman senator

• Reinhard Keiser: Octavia

Pope Pius IV

• Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina

Edgar Allan Poe, American writer

• Damon Ferrante: Jefferson & Poe: A Lyric Opera

Poliziano (Angelo Ambrogini), Italian renaissance poet, scholar

• Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Medici

Marco Polo, Italian adventurer

• Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Saint Polyeuctus

• Gaetano Donizetti: Poliuto
• Charles Gounod: Polyeucte

Lorenz Truchsess von Pommersfelden

• Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler

Madame de Pompadour, French courtier, mistress of Louis XV

• Leo Fall: Madame Pompadour
• Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Madame Popmpous")

Pompey the Great, Roman military and political leader

• Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno

Empress Poppaea Augusta Sabina, consort of Roman Emperors Nero and Otho

• George Frideric Handel: Agrippina
• Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Lars Porsena, King of Etruria

• Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Porus, King of Paurava

• George Frideric Handel: Poro

Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, death penalty abolitionist

• Jake Heggie: Dead Man Walking

Přemysl, the Ploughman, first ruler of Bohemmia

• Tommaso Albinoni: Primislao, primo re di Boemia

John of Procida, Italian medieval physician and diplomat

• Giuseppe Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes

John Proctor, a tavern keeper in 17th century Massachusetts who was hanged for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials

• Robert Ward: The Crucible

Chevalier de Prokesch-Osten

• Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon

Marcel Proust, French novelist

• Alfred Schnittke: Life with an Idiot

Pharaoh Ptolemy IX Lathyros of Egypt

• George Frideric Handel: Tolomeo

Pharaoh Ptolemy XI Alexander II of Egypt

• George Frideric Handel: Tolomeo

Publius Valerius Publicola, Roman consul

• George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian pretender to the throne

• César Cui: The Captain's Daughter

[edit] Q

Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of unified China

• Tan Dun: The First Emperor

Vasco de Quiroga, member of the second Audiencia in Mexico and first bishop of Michoacán

• Miguel Bernal Jiménez: Tata Vasco

[edit] R

Nikolay Raevsky, Russian general

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Elizabeth Raleigh, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh

• Edward German: Merrie England (as Bessie Throckmorton)

Sir Walter Raleigh, English explorer and courtier

• Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
• Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
• Edward German: Merrie England

Raphael, Italian painter

• Anton Arensky: Raphael

Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic, confidant of Tsarina Alexandra

• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Rasputin

King Rastislav of Great Moravia

• Eugen Suchoň: Svätopluk

John Aaron Rawlins, American general, Secretary of War

• Philip Glass: Appomattox

Stenka Razin, cossack leader

• Nikolay Afanas'yev: Stenka Razin

Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn

Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing, co-conspirator with Anckarström in the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden

• Daniel Auber: Gustave III
• Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, English noblewoman

• Benjamin Britten: Gloriana

King Richard I "Coeur de Lion" of England

• André Grétry: Richard Coeur-de-lion
• George Frideric Handel: Riccardo Primo
• Heinrich Marschner: Der Templer und die Jüdin (as the Black Knight)
• Sir Arthur Sullivan: Ivanhoe

King Richard II of England

• Reginald De Koven: The Canterbury Pilgrims

King Richard III of England

• Flavio Testi: Riccardo III

Rafael del Riego, Spanish general

• José Melchor Gomis: Le diable à Seville

Louis Riel, executed Canadian rebel

• Harry Somers: Louis Riel

Cola di Rienzo, Roman tribune

• Richard Wagner: Rienzi

Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet

• Nikolai Korndorf: MR (Marina and Rainer)

Arthur Rimbaud, French poet

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Rimbaud, ou le fils du soleil

Diego Rivera, Mexican painter

• Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Frida

King Robert I of Scotland, "Robert the Bruce"

• Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)

Robert I, Duke of Normandy

• Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le diable

Maximilien Robespierre, French revolutionary figure

• John Eaton: Danton and Robespierre
• Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod
• Henry Charles Litolff: Robespierre

Robin Hood (legendary)

• W. H. Birch: The Merrie Men of Sherwood Forest
• Heinrich Marschner: Der Templer und die Jüdin (as Lokslei)
• Sir Arthur Sullivan: Ivanhoe (as Locksley)
• Michael Tippett: Robin Hood

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English writer, libertine

• Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne

Roderic, Visigothic King of Hispania

• Alberto Ginastera: Don Rodrigo

King Roger II of Sicily

• Karol Szymanowski: King Roger

Rogneda of Polotsk, consort of Vladimir I of Kiev

• Alexander Serov: Rogneda

Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet

• Antônio Carlos Gomes: Salvator Rosa

Roxana, wife of Alexander the Great

• George Frideric Handel: Alessandro

Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor

• Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt

Rudolf II, Count Palatine of the Rhine

• Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg

Paavo Ruotsalainen, Finnish farmer and lay preacher

• Joonas Kokkonen: The Last Temptations

Lillian Russell, American actress and singer

• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

Rustichello da Pisa, Italian writer

• Tan Dun: Marco Polo

[edit] S

Hans Sachs, German meistersinger

• Albert Lortzing: Hans Sachs
• Richard Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Oliver Sacks, British neurologist, writer

• Michael Nyman: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (as Dr. S.)

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French revolutionary figure

• Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod

Ōtomo no Sakanoe no Iratsume, Japanese poet

• Nikolai Korndorf: MR (Marina and Rainer)

Antonio Salieri, Italian-Austrian composer

• P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele): A Little Nightmare Music
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Mozart and Salieri

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, Elizabethan minister

• Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
• Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux

Sappho, ancient Greek poet

• Giovanni Pacini: Saffò
• Charles Gounod: Sapho

Sardanapalus, king of Assyria

• Giulio Alary: Sardanapale
• Franz Liszt: Sardanapale

Girolamo Savonarola, Florentine heretic and book-burner

• Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Savonarola (1884)

Diane Sawyer, American television journalist

• Curtis K. Hughes: Say it Ain't So, Joe

Sylvester von Schaumberg

• Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler

Hans and Sophie Scholl, sibling co-founders of non-violent resistance movement The White Rose

• Udo Zimmermann: Weiße Rose

Kurt Schwitters, German painter

• Michael Nyman: Man and Boy: Dada

Scipio Aemilianus, aka Scipio Africanus the Younger, Roman general, nephew and adopted son of Scipio Africanus the Elder

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126

Scipio Africanus, aka Scipio Africanus the Elder, Roman general

• Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano
• Gioacchino Albertini: Scipione Africano
• George Frideric Handel: Scipione
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126
• Antonio Sacchini: Scipione in Cartagena

King Sebastian of Portugal

• Gaetano Donizetti: Dom Sébastien

Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria, founder of the Seleucid Empire

• Étienne Méhul: Stratonice
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les fêtes de Polymnie

Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher, dramatist

• Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down
• Reinhard Keiser: Octavia
• Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Sesostris, legendary king of Egypt

• Andrea Adolfati: Sesostri, re d'Egitto
• Domènec Terradellas: Sesostri, re d'Egitto

Sextus Pompey, Roman general, son of Pompey the Great

• Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
• George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto) (as Sesto)

William Shakespeare, English playwright

• Ambroise Thomas: Le songe d'une nuit d'été
• Tan Dun: Marco Polo

Fyodor Shaklovity, Russian diplomat

• Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina

Andrey Shchelkalov, Russian administrator, official

• Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English soldier

• Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (as Talbot)

George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, English statesman

• Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (as Giorgio Talbot)

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

• Fromental Halévy: La Juive

George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, Albanian national hero

• François Francoeur: Scanderbeg
• Antonio Vivaldi: Scanderbeg

Bengt Skytte, Swedish official

• Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: The Doomsday Prophets

Mark Smeaton, English courtier

• Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena

Socrates, Greek philosopher

• Georg Philipp Telemann: Der geduldige Sokrates

Solon, Greek philosopher

• Reinhard Keiser: Croesus

Sophonisba, Carthaginian noblewoman, daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco

• Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano
• Maria Teresa Agnesi: La Sofonisba

Agnès Sorel, mistress of King Charles VII of France

• César Cui: The Saracen
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Maid of Orleans

Edmund Spenser, English poet

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Arthur Stace, Australian citizen who over 35 years chalked the word "Eternity" over 500,000 times on the footpaths of Sydney

• Jonathan Mills: The Eternity Man

Stanisław I Leszczyński, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

• Giuseppe Verdi: Un giorno di regno (being impersonated by the fictional character the Cavaliere di Belfiore)

Stateira, consort of Darius III of Persia

• Francesco Cavalli: Statira principessa di Persia

Gertrude Stein, American writer

• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

King Stephen I of Hungary (St. Stephen)

• Ferenc Erkel: István király

Thaddeus Stevens, American politician

• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury

• Frederic Hymen Cowen: Harold or the Norman Conquest

Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer

• Friedrich von Flotow: Alessandro Stradella
• Louis Niedermeyer: Stradella
• at least 2 other operas

Stratonice, wife of Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria

• Étienne Méhul: Stratonice
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les fêtes de Polymnie

Johann Strauss I, Viennese waltz composer (father)
Johann Strauss II, Viennese waltz composer (son)

• Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II, arr. Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Julius Bittner: Valses de Vienne

Giuseppina Strepponi, operatic soprano

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Risorgimento!

Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Croatian general

• Ivan Zajc: Nikola Šubić Zrinjski

Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent

• Ernst Krenek: Karl V (as Sultan Soliman)

Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman general and dictator

• George Frideric Handel: Silla
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Lucio Silla

Louis Sullivan, American architect

• Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English aristocrat, poet

• Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII

Ivan Susanin, Russian folk hero and martyr

• Mikhail Glinka: A Life for the Tsar

King Svatopluk I of Great Moravia

• Eugen Suchoň: Svätopluk

King Svatopluk II of Great Moravia

• Eugen Suchoň: Svätopluk

Syphax, king of the Libyan tribe of Masaesyli

• Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano (as Siface)

Erzsébet Szilágyi, Hungarian noblewoman, wife of János Hunyadi

• Ferenc Erkel: Hunyadi László

[edit] T

Horace Tabor, American businessman, politician

• Douglas Moore: The Ballad of Baby Doe

Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian Catholic prelate

• Harry Somers: Louis Riel

Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer

• Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Eugene Talmadge, Governor of Georgia

• Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege

Tamerlane: see under Timur
Tancred, Prince of Galilee, Norman Crusade leader

• André Campra: Tancrède

Tannhäuser, Medieval German poet

• Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser

Lucius Tarquinius, one of 3 kings of Rome

• Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

Sextus Tarquinius, son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, King of Rome

• Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia

Torquato Tasso, Italian poet

• Gaetano Donizetti: Torquato Tasso

John Taverner, 16th century English composer

• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner

Dame Elizabeth Taylor, British-US actress

• Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

William Tell, Swiss national hero (disputed historical authenticity)

• André Grétry: Guillaume Tell
• Ramon Carnicer: Guglielmo Tell
• Gioachino Rossini: Guillaume Tell

Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist

• John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Beatrice di Tenda, Italian noblewoman

• Vincenzo Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda

Saint Teresa of Ávila, Spanish mystic and theologian

• Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts

Nikola Tesla, Croatian scientist

• Constantine Koukias: Tesla - Lightning in His Hand

Themistocles, Athenian general and politician

• Johann Christian Bach: Temistocle
• Josep Duran: Temistocle

James Thomson, Scottish poet

• Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron

Virgil Thomson, American composer and critic

• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

François Auguste de Thou, French magistrate

• Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Thusnelda, wife of Arminius

• George Frideric Handel: Arminio

Tigranes the Great, Emperor of Armenia

• Tommaso Albinoni: Tigrane, re d'Armenia

Timur, aka Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid dynasty

• Iain Hamilton: Tamberlaine
• George Frideric Handel: Tamerlano
• Antonio Sacchini: Tamerlano
• Antonio Vivaldi: Bajazet

King Tiridates I of Armenia

• Reinhard Keiser: Octavia

Emperor Titus of Rome

• Antonio Caldara: La clemenza di Tito
• Christoph Willibald Gluck: La clemenza di Tito
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: La clemenza di Tito
• Josef Mysliveček: La clemenza di Tito
• and settings of La clemenza di Tito by about 40 other composers

Tiye, mother of Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt

• Philip Glass: Akhnaten

Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist

• Philip Glass: Satyagraha

Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae

• Alessandro Scarlatti: Tigrane (as Tomiri)

Titus Manlius Torquatus, Roman dictator

• Antonio Vivaldi: Tito Manlio

François Leclerc du Tremblay, "Père Joseph", the original eminence grise

• Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars

Olegas Truchanas, Lithuanian-Australian wilderness photographer

• Constantine Koukias: Olegas

Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet

• Nikolai Korndorf: MR (Marina and Rainer)

Wat Tyler, English leader of peasant revolution

• Alan Bush: Wat Tyler

[edit] U

Pope Urban VIII

• Philip Glass: Galileo Galilei (appears as both Cardinal Maffeo Barberini and Pope Urban VIII)

[edit] V

Valdemar IV of Denmark, King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375

• Andreas Hallén: Valdemarskatten

Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor

• George Frideric Handel: Ezio

Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer, brother of Vincent van Gogh

• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
• James Wilson: Letters to Theo

Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter

• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
• James Wilson: Letters to Theo
• Christopher Yavelow: The Passion of Vincent van Gogh

Publius Quinctilius Varus, Roman general

• George Frideric Handel: Arminio

Tsar Vasily IV (Shuisky) of Russia

• Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij
• Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer

• Lorenzo Ferrero: Risorgimento!

Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter

• Sir Harrison Birtwistle: The Second Mrs Kong

Lucius Verus, see Vologases IV of Parthia
Micaela Villegas, "La Perricholi", Peruvian actress and singer

• Jacques Offenbach: La Périchole (she is not identified by name, and the remaining characters are all fictional)

François Villon, French poet and vagabond

• Rudolf Friml: The Vagabond King
• Ezra Pound and George Antheil: Le Testament

Francesc de Vinatea, Valencian nobleman, opposed to Alfonso IV of Aragon

• Matilde Salvador i Segarra: Vinatea

Gaius Iulius Vindex, Roman general

• Anton Rubinstein: Neron

Filippo Maria Visconti, ruler of Milan, husband of Beatrice di Tenda

• Vincenzo Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda

Vladimir I, Grand Prince of Kiev

• Alexander Serov: Rogneda

Vladimir III Igorevich, Prince of Putivl and Halych
Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince Galitsky, son of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Prince of Halych

• Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor

Vologases IV of Parthia, king

• Girolamo Abos: Lucio Vero, ossia, Il Vologeso

Voltaire, French writer

• Leonard Bernstein: Candide

[edit] W

Konrad von Wallenrode, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights

• Amilcare Ponchielli: I Lituani (the character Walter is impersonating Wallenrode, referred to in the opera as "Corrado Wallenrod")

Albrecht von Wallenstein, Bohemian military commander

• August Ritter von Adelburg: Wallenstein
• Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt

Walther von der Vogelweide, Medieval German poet

• Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser

Princess Wanda, legendary Polish queen

• Antonín Dvořák: Vanda
• Max Vogrich: Vanda

Andy Warhol, American artist

• Michael Daugherty: Jackie O

Daniel Webster, American statesman

• Douglas Moore: The Devil and Daniel Webster
• Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

• Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down

William the Conqueror (King William I of England)

• Frederic Hymen Cowen: Harold or the Norman Conquest (as William, Duke of Normandy)

William the Silent (William I, Prince of Orange)

• Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down

Robert R. Wilson, American physicist

• John Adams: Doctor Atomic

Władysław I the Elbow-high (aka Ladislaus I), King of Poland 1320-33

• Józef Elsner: Król Łokietek

Wolfram von Eschenbach, Medieval German poet

• Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser

Thomas Wolsey, English cardinal

• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner (not identified as such)

Catherine "Kitty" (Tobin) Wright (1871–1959), American socialite, social worker, first wife of Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect

• Daron Hagen: Shining Brow

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka "Joe the Plumber", American plumber, television celebrity

• Curtis K. Hughes: Say It Ain't So, Joe

[edit] X

Malcolm X, African-American human rights activist

• Anthony Davis: X – The Life and Times of Malcolm X

King Xerxes I "The Great" of Persia

• Johann Christian Bach: Temistocle
• Giovanni Battista Bononcini: Xerse
• Francesco Cavalli: Xerse
• George Frideric Handel: Serse
• Hugo Weisgall: Esther

Xiphares, son of Mithridates VI of Pontus

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto

[edit] Y

Yaghi-Siyan, Governor of Antioch

• Giuseppe Verdi: I Lombardi alla prima crociata (as Acciano)

Ōtomo no Yakamochi, Japanese poet, diplomat

• Nikolai Korndorf: MR (Marina and Rainer)

Yaroslav I the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev

• Heorhiy Maiboroda: Yaroslav Mudriy

Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov, Russian general

• Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace

Yuri II, Grand Prince of Vladimir

• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya

[edit] Z

Emiliano Zapata, Mexican leader

• Leonardo Balada: Zapata

Zeno, Byzantine emperor

• Tommaso Albinoni: Zenone, imperator d'Oriente

Zenobia, Queen of the Palmyrene Empire

• Tommaso Albinoni: Zenobia, regina de Palmireni
• Gioachino Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira

Zhou Enlai, Chinese political leader

• John Adams: Nixon in China (as Chou En-lai)

Zoroaster

• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Zoroastre

Venerable Zosimas of Palestine

• Ottorino Respighi: Maria egiziaca (as Abbot Zosimus)

Nikola Šubić Zrinski: see under Šubić Zrinski

[edit] Further reading

• Jellinek, George, History Through the Opera Glass: From the rise of Caesar to the fall of Napoleon, Pro/Am Music Resources, 1994. ISBN 0-912483-90-3
• Morgan, Christopher, Don Carlos and Company: The true stories behind eight well-loved operas, Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-19-288009-8
• Heller, Wendy, "Tacitus Incognito: Opera as History in L'incoronazione di Poppea", Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Spring, 1999), pp. 39–96

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