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.
A
Abdisho IV Maron, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church- Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina (as Abdisu)
ADORNO, Gabiele, fifth Doge of Genoa. In Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
EZIO, Flavio. Roman general Giuseppe Gazzaniga: Ezio. George Frideric Handel: Ezio. Gaetano Latilla: Ezio. Giuseppe Verdi: Attila
AGRIPPA, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Roman statesman and general. Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
EHENOBARBO. Gnaeus Domitius. Roman consul (32 BC). Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (as Enobarbus)
Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut
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
Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome
Tsar Alexander I of Russia
- Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace (silent role)
Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, consort of Tsar Nicholas II
- Deborah Drattell: Nicholas and Alexandra
Saint Alexius of Rome
- Stefano Landi: Sant'Alessio (1631; the first opera written on an historical subject)
Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara
King Alfonso XI of Castile
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
Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, aka Almanzor, de facto ruler of al-Andalus
- Giacomo Meyerbeer: L'esule di Granata (as Almanzor)
- Lorenzo Ferrero: La conquista
- Roger Sessions: Montezuma
- André Messager: Isoline (as La Reine Amalasonthe)
- Luigi Cherubini: Anacréon
- Jean-Philippe Rameau: Anacréon (1754 version)
- Jean-Philippe Rameau: Anacréon (1757 version)
Tommaso Aniello: see under Masaniello
Anna of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Rome and Bavaria
Queen Anne of Great Britain
- Friedrich von Flotow: Martha (silent role)
Saint Anthony the Great
Susan B. Anthony, American women’s rights activist
Antiochus I Soter, King of the Seleucid Empire
Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, British socialite and sexual celebrity
Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, Finnish-Swedish diplomat, possible lover of Gustav III of Sweden
Arminius, Germanic chieftain
Artabanus of Persia, political figure
King Artaxerxes I of Persia
- Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes
- Antonio Sacchini: Artaserse
- Girolamo Abos: 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
Ulrica Arfvidsson, Swedish fortune-teller
Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer
- Johann Joseph Abert: Astorga
- Iain Hamilton: The Royal Hunt of the Sun
Atys, son of King Croesus of Lydia
Caesar Augustus, Roman Emperor
- Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (as Octavius Caesar)
Pharaoh Ay of Egypt
[edit] B
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian prince and generalBrigitte 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)
Daisy Bates, Irish-Australian indigenous welfare worker and anthropologist
Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I "The Thunderbolt"
- George Frideric Handel: Tamerlano (as Bajazet)
- Antonio Vivaldi: Bajazet
Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
Belisarius, Byzantine general
Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general
Belshazzar, Prince of Babylon
- Gioachino Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia (as Baldassare, King of Assyria)
Levin August, Count von Bennigsen, German general
Queen Berenice III of Egypt
Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Marshall of France
Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States
- Curtis K. Hughes: Say It Ain't So, Joe
Harman Blennerhassett, Irish-American lawyer
Blondel de Nesle, French troubador
Boabdil, last Nasrid ruler of Granada
- see Muhammad XII of Granada below
Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer, poet
Simone Boccanegra, first Doge of Genoa
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, brother of Anne Boleyn
- Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena (as Rochefort)
- Darius Milhaud: Bolivar
Pauline Bonaparte, Princess of France, sister of Napoleon
Lizzie Borden, American celebrity and possible axe-murderer
- Thomas Albert: Lizbeth
- Jack Beeson: Lizzie Borden
- Juan María Solare: Veinticinco de agosto, 1983 (2 roles, Old Borges, baritone; and Young Borges, tenor)
Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI
Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal
Đurađ Branković, Serbian despot
Prince Braslav of Pannonian Croatia
Gian Francesco Brogni, Italian cardinal
John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton, British memoirist and politician
John Brown, Sergeant of the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry Volunteer Militia
- Walter Schumann: John Brown's Body
- Jean Absil: Pierre Breughel l'Ancien
- Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina (as Anton Brus von Müglitz)
William Jennings Bryan, American Secretary of State, presidential candidate
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English poet, statesman
Gautama Buddha
- Max Vogrich: Buddha
- Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: The Doomsday Prophets (as Johan Bure)
- Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (as Lord Guglielmo Cecil)
Anne Isabella Byron, Baroness Byron, wife of 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 kingAlessandro Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo), Italian adventurer and imposter
Maria Callas, American-Greek opera singer
Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet
Lorenzo Campeggio, Cardinal Protector of England
Canek, Aztec High Priest
Wolfgang Capito, German religious reformer
Carlos, Prince of Asturias, son of Philip II of Spain
Julian Carlton, American murderer of Mamah Cheney, mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright
Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor
- Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Enrico Carouser")
- Dominick Argento: Casanova's Homecoming
- Albert Lortzing: Casanova
Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar
Fidel Castro, Cuban leader
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 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 (Parr), sixth and last wife of Henry VIII
- Anthony Collins: Catherine Parr
Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt, French general
- Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace (silent role)
- Ezra Pound and George Antheil: Cavalcanti
Benvenuto Cellini, Italian sculptor, goldsmith, artisan
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
- Rafael Aceves y Lozano: El manco de Lepanto
- Jacinto Guerrero: El huésped del sevillano, zarzuela (Cervantes appears as "el huésped")
Charles Chaplin, British actor
- Salvador Bacarisse: Charlot
King Charles II of England
King Charles II of Spain
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
- Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg (as Karl, King of Bohemia)
King Charles VI of France
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)
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy
Charles Martel, Duke and Prince of the Franks
Charmian, servant to Cleopatra
Thomas Chatterton, English poet and forger
- Ruggero Leoncavallo: Chatterton
- Matthias Pintscher: Thomas Chatterton
- Gerard Victory: Chatterton
Edwin Cheney, American electrical engineer
Mamah Cheney, wife of Edwin Cheney, murdered mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright
André Chénier, French journalist
Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French composer
- Giacomo Orefice: Chopin
Christina, Queen of Sweden
Saint Christopher, revered but legendary saint
- Vincent d'Indy: La légende de Saint-Christophe
- Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars (as Metellus Cimber)
- Lorenzo Ferrero: Le piccole storie – ai margini delle guerre
- Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars
Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, French royal favourite of Louis XIII
Emperor Claudius of Rome
Cleitus the Black, Macedonian soldier
- George Frideric Handel: Alessandro, as Clito
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
Hillary Rodham Clinton, American First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State
- Curtis K. Hughes: Say it Ain't So, Joe
Cloelia, early Roman figure, possibly legendary
- Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola
Walter Cocking, dean at the University of Georgia, the focus of the "Cocking affair"
- Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege
- Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola
Stefano Colonna (1265–1348), Roman political figure
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
Emperor Constantine I "The Great" of Rome
Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish scientist
- Claude Vivier: Kopernikus
- Lorenzo Ferrero: Charlotte Corday
Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, legendary Roman leader
- Francesco Cavalli: Coriolano
- Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro
- Fromental Halévy: La reine de Chypre
- Franz Lachner: Caterina Cornaro
- Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro (as Andrea Cornaro)
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
- Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner (not identified as such)
- Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII
Flavius Julius Crispus, Caesar of the Roman Empire
Croesus, King of Lydia
Oliver Cromwell, English Puritan leader
- Salvatore Agnelli: Cromwell
Sir Henry Cuffe, English politician
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
- 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)
Dante Alighieri, Italian poet
Georges Danton, French revolutionary figure
- John Eaton: Danton and Robespierre
- Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod
- Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (as Giacomo)
Sir William Davenant, English poet and playwright
Louis-Nicolas Davout, Marshall of France
Gotse Delchev, Macedonian revolutionary figure
Marion Delorme, French courtesan
Camille Desmoulins, French revolutionary journalist, politician
Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Spanish conquistador
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)
- 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
Emperor Diocletian of Rome
Tsar Dmitri Ioannovich of Russia, the so-called "False Dmitriy I"
Dmitry Donskoy, Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Vladimir
Dobrynya Nikitich, legendary Kievan bogatyr
Publius Cornelius Dolabella, Roman general
Saint Dominic, Domingo de Guzman, founder of the Dominicans
James Douglas, Lord of Douglas, Scots soldier, known as the "Black Douglas"
- Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)
Sir Francis Drake, English adventurer, pirate, politician
John Dryden, English poet
King Duncan I of Scotland
[edit] E
Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Éboli, Spanish aristocratNelson Eddy, American tenor, actor
- Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Nelson Deadly")
- Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)
Albert Einstein, German-American scientist
- Paul Dessau: Einstein
- Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach
- Francesco Cavalli: Eliogabalo
- Pietro Simone Agostini: Eliogabalo
Eleanor of Guzman, mistress of King Alfonso XI of Castile and mother of Henry II
- Gaetano Donizetti: La favorite (as Leonor de Guzmán)
- Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg (as Asberta)
Elisabeth of Valois, daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici, wife of Philip II of Spain
Elisiv of Kiev
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
Ninon de l'Enclos, French courtesan
Enzio of Sardinia, king of Sardinia
- Johann Joseph Abert: König Enzio and Enzio von Hohenstaufen (2nd version)
King Eric V of Denmark
- Peter Arnold Heise: Drot og marsk (King and Marshall)
- Federico Moreno Torroba: El poeta
Frances, Countess of Essex, English noblewoman
Eufrosinia, daughter of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Prince of Halych
- Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor (as Yaroslavna)
[edit] F
Marino Faliero, Doge of VeniceFarinelli, Italian castrato singer
- Daniel Auber: La part du diable (or Carlo Broschi) (as Carlo Broschi)
- John Barnett: Farinelli
Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist
Marie Favart, French opera singer, actress
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
King Ferdinand I of León and Castile
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
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
Roger de Flor, German-born soldier serving Aragon kings
- Ruperto Chapí: Roger de Flor
Joseph Fouché, Duke of Otranto
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
King Francis I of France
- Ernst Krenek: Karl V (as Franz I)
- Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio
Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
Fredegund, Merovingian Queen Consort
- César Franck: Ghiselle
- Reinhard Keiser: Fredegunda (1715)
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 William I, Elector of Brandenburg
Jean Froissart, French chronicler
Georg von Frundsberg, South German knight
Tsar Fyodor II of Russia, son of Boris Godunov
[edit] G
Galileo Galilei, Italian scientistVasily Vasilyevich Galitzine, Russian statesman
Galla Placidia, Roman regent, daughter of Emperor Theodosius I
- Jaume Pahissa i Jo: Gal·la Placídia (1913)
Count Peter Gamba, associate of Lord Byron
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian freedom advocate
Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish poet and soldier
- Ruperto Chapí: La muerte de Garcilaso
Margaret "Peggy" Garner, American slave who killed her own daughter rather than allow the child to be returned to slavery
Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect
- Joan Guinjoan: Gaudí
- Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
- Michael Smetanin: Gauguin: A Synthetic Life (2000; libretto by Alison Croggon)
- Christopher Yavelow: The Passion of Vincent van Gogh
Priscilla German Reed, English singer and actress
Thomas German Reed, English composer and theatre manager
Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer and murderer
Allen Ginsberg, American poet
- Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn
- Max von Schillings: Mona Lisa (as Mona Fiordalisa)
Godfrey of Bouillon, Frankish knight, leader of the First Crusade
- George Frideric Handel: Rinaldo (as Goffredo)
Xenia Borisovna Godunova, daughter of Boris Godunov
Sir Eugene Goossens, English conductor and composer
- Drew Crawford: Eugene & Roie
- Roger Scruton: Violet
- Marcel Delannoy: Maria Goretti, radiophonic opera
- Gian Carlo Menotti: Goya
- Michael Nyman: Facing Goya (he appears as a silent apparition)
Antonio Gramsci, Italian political theorist
Urbain Grandier, French priest
Julia Dent Grant, American First Lady
Ulysses S. Grant, American President
Thomas Gray, English poet
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
Matthias Grünewald, German renaissance painter
Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli, Italian mistress of Lord Byron
Guinevere, wife of King Arthur of Britain
- Ernest Chausson: Le roi Arthus (as Guenièvre)
Günther von Schwarzburg, German king
Saint Guntram, King of Burgundy
King Gustav I of Sweden
- Giuseppe Apolloni: Gustavo Wasa
Nell Gwyn, English actress, mistress of King Charles II
[edit] H
Hadrian, Roman emperor- José de Nebra: Más gloria es triunfar de sí, o, Adriano en Siria
- Girolamo Abos: Adriano in Siria
Sir William Hamilton, British diplomat, husband of Emma, Lady Hamilton
Hannibal, Carthaginian ruler
- Johann Adolf Hasse, Domènec Terradellas, Giovanni Battista Lampugnani and Pietro Domenico Paradie: Annibale in Capua
Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, British sea captain, commander of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar
Harold Godwinson (Harold II), Anglo-Saxon King of England
Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid Caliph
Hasdrubal Gisco, Carthaginian general
Wiebbe Hayes, Dutch soldier
Heloïse, French nun associated with Peter Abelard
- Peter Tahourdin: Héloise and Abelard
- Charles Wilson: Héloise and Abelard
Henri, Prince of Condé, French noble
Henrietta Maria of France, queen consort of Charles I of England
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)
- Amadeu Vives i Roig: La villana
King Henry IV of France
King Henry V of England
- Gustav Holst: At the Boar's Head (as Prince Hal)
- Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner (not identified as such)
- Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena (as Enrico)
- Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII
Henry the Lion, German prince (Henry III of Saxony, Henry XII of Bavaria)
- Agostino Steffani: Enrico il Leone
Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia
E. T. A. Hoffmann, German author
Fanny Holland, English singer and actress
Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904), Dutch alcoholic prostitute, sometime lover of Vincent van Gogh
Pharaoh Horemheb of Egypt
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
- Peter Schat: Houdini
Stig Andersen Hvide, Danish marshall, later an outlaw
- Peter Arnold Heise: Drot og marsk (King and Marshall) (as Marshall Stig)
- Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno (as Issicratea)
- Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore
[edit] I
Muhammad al-Idrisi, Andalusian cartographer, traveller- Karol Szymanowski: King Roger (as Edrisi)
- Curtis K. Hughes: Say it Ain't So, Joe
Igor Svyatoslavich, Prince of Putivl, Novgorod-Seversk and Chernigov
Jaakko Ilkka, Finnish peasant leader
Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden
John Ireland, Dean of Westminster
Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen Consort of Charles VI of France
Isabel Moctezuma (Teutile), daughter of Moctezuma II
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
- Gaetano Donizetti: L'assedio di Calais (she is Edward III's wife in the opera; in real life, she was his mother)
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
[edit] J
Jack the Ripper, unidentified murderer of English prostitutesKing James II of Cyprus "James the Bastard of Lusignan"
- Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro (as Lusignano)
- Fromental Halévy: La reine de Chypre (as Lusignan)
- Gioachino Rossini: La donna del lago (in disguise as Uberto)
- Henri Büsser: Jane Grey
- Nicola Vaccai: Giovanna Gray
Thomas Jefferson, American President
Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia
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
- John Adams: Nixon in China (as Chiang Ch'ing)
- Bright Sheng: Madame Mao
- 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
- Juan Manén: Giovanna di Napoli
- Ernst Krenek: Karl V (as Juana)
- Enric Palomar: Juana
John, Prince of Asturias, Spanish prince, son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile
King John of England
- Sir Arthur Sullivan: Ivanhoe (as Prince John)
- Isaac Nathan: Don John of Austria
- Ruperto Chapí: Don Juan de Austria, zarzuela in 3 acts
- Giacomo Meyerbeer: Le prophète (as Jean de Leyde)
Ben Jonson, English poet
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
- Georg Jarno: Die Försterchristl (or possibly a fictitious "Franz Joseph II of Austria")
Julia Caesaris, daughter of Julius Caesar, 4th wife of Pompey the Great
Julius Caesar, Consul and Dictator of Rome
- Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
- Carl Heinrich Graun: Cesare e Cleopatra
- George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto)
- Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars
- Antonio Sartorio: Giulio Cesare in Egitto
[edit] K
Frida Kahlo, Mexican painterChristoph Kaufmann (or Kauffman), associate of Jakob Lenz
Grace Kelly: see Princess Grace of Monaco
John F. Kennedy, American President
Johannes Kepler, German astronomer, mathematician
Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky, "Taratui" (chatter box), Russian boyar
Edgar Ray Killen, KKK leader, murderer
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Henry Kissinger, American Secretary of State
Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer
Leon Klinghoffer, American ship passenger murdered by terrorists
Vasily Kochubey, Cossack hetman, associate of Ivan Mazepa
Konchak, Polovtsian khan
Konchakovna, his daughter
Kublai Khan, Grand Khan of the Mongol Empire
Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian Field-Marshall
[edit] L
Ladislaus I of Poland: see Władysław I the Elbow-highLadislaus the Posthumous, Duke of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia
- Ferenc Erkel: Hunyadi László (as László V)
Anne Françoise Elisabeth Lange, French actress, known as "Mademoiselle Lange"
Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress
(Eleanor) Agnes Lee, daughter of Robert E. Lee
Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee
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
- His wife, née Cathérine Hubscher, later Duchess of Danzig
- Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic (as Catherine Üpscher)
- Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne
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
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, German writer
Pope St Leo I "The Great"
- Giuseppe Verdi: Attila (as Leone)
Leonidas of Epirus
(i) Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Roman triumvir
(ii) Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, heir to Emperor Caligula of Rome
Leszek I the White, High Duke of Poland 1194-1227
- Józef Elsner: Leszek Biały
Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii
- Paul Abraham: Die Blume von Hawaii, operetta
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
- 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”.
- Nicolae Bretan: Golem (as Rabbi Lőw)
- Eugen d'Albert: Der Golem
King Louis VI of France
King Louis XII of France
King Louis XIII of France
King Louis XIV of France
- Léo Delibes: Le roi l'a dit (unseen role; he is referred to by the other characters)
- Michel Richard Delalande and André Cardinal Destouches: Les élémens (represented by a chorus)
- Leo Fall: Madame Pompadour
Lucan, Roman poet
Lucretia, Roman noblewoman raped by Sextus Tarquinius (legendary)
Martin Luther, initiator of the Protestant Reformation
[edit] M
Douglas MacArthur, American general- Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn
- Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Just Jeannette")
William McDougall, Canadian politician
Ralph McGill, American anti-segregationist journalist
- Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege
Colin McPhee, Canadian composer and musicologist
- Evan Ziporyn: A House in Bali
- Ernest Bloch: Macbeth
- Iain Hamilton: The Tragedy of Macbeth
- Salvatore Sciarrino: Macbeth
- Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth
Gaius Maecenas, political adviser to Octavian (Caesar Augustus)
Saint Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney
Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer
Marion Mahony, American architect and artist, wife of Walter Burley Griffin
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)
- Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (as Malatestino dall'Occhio)
- Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini
- Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (as Paolo il Bello)
- Lorenzo Ferrero: La conquista
- Roger Sessions: Montezuma
- John Adams: Nixon in China (as Mao Tse-tung)
Jean-Paul Marat, Jacobin leader
- Lorenzo Ferrero: Charlotte Corday
- Joachim Raff: Benedetto Marcello
Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort to Henry VI of England
Marguérite de Valois, consort of Henry IV of France/Henry III of Navarre
Maria Carolina of Austria
Sister Maria Celeste, Italian nun, illegitimate daughter of Galileo Galilei
Maria Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier, Infanta of Spain
Marie Antoinette, Queen Consort of Louis XVI of France
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, wife of Napoleon I
Marie Louise Gonzaga, French Queen consort to 2 Polish kings
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria
Guadalupe Marín, Mexican model and novelist, second wife of Diego Rivera
- Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Frida (as Lupe)
- 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
Martyrs of Compiègne, a group of French Carmelite nuns
Saint Mary of Egypt, patron saint of penitents
- Ottorino Respighi: Maria egiziaca
- John Tavener: Mary of Egypt
- Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
- Thea Musgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots
- Louis Niedermeyer: Marie Stuart
- Antônio Carlos Gomes: Maria Tudor
- Giovanni Pacini: Maria, regina d'Inghilterra
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
Mata Hari, Dutch spy
Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor
King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
- Ferenc Erkel: Hunyadi László (as Mátyás Hunyadi)
Maurice de Saxe
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius, aka Maximian, Roman ruler
Maximinian, co-Emperor of Rome
Ivan Mazepa, Cossack hetman, military leader
Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence
Giuliano de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent
Lorenzo de' Medici, "Lorenzo the Magnificent", Italian statesman
Lorenzino de' Medici, Italian writer and assassin
- Giovanni Pacini: Lorenzino de' Medici
- Gioachino Rossini: Maometto II
- Gioachino Rossini: Le siège de Corinthe (as Mahomet II)
Valeria Messalina, Roman Empress
Caecilia Metella Dalmatica, fourth wife of Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Cornelia Metella, Pompey's second wife
- George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto) (as Cornelia)
John Milton, English poet
Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto, Scottish diplomat, Governor-General of India
King Mithridates VI of Pontus
- Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
- Domènec Terradellas: Mitridate
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto
- Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore
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
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)
Thomas Moore, Irish poet, songwriter
Mordred, legendary Arthurian character
Thomas Morton, American colonist of New England
Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, Elizabethan figure
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
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
- Antonio Vivaldi: Scanderbeg (as Amurat II)
- Josep Soler i Sardà: Murillo
Eadweard Muybridge, English pioneer 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
- Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon
- Petar Stojanović: Napoleon II: Herzog von Reichstadt
- Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic (as Comte de Narbonne)
- Douglas Moore: Carry Nation
Nefertiti, wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt
Adam Albert von Neipperg, Austrian general
Frances Nelson, Lady Nelson, wife of Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British admiral, naval hero
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
- Deborah Drattell: Nicholas and Alexandra
- Maria Teresa Agnesi: Nitocri
Richard Nixon, American President
Rikard Nordraak, Norwegian composer
- Edvard Grieg, arr. Robert Wright and George Forrest: Song of Norway
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English nobleman
Rosaleen Norton, so-called "Witch of Kings Cross", Sydney occultist
- Drew Crawford: Eugene & Roie
[edit] O
J. F. Oberlin, Alsatian pastor, philanthropistEmpress Claudia Octavia of Rome, consort of Nero
Octavia the Younger, fourth wife of Mark Antony
King Olaf I Tryggvason of Norway
- Ragnar Søderlind: Olav Tryggvason
Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American First Lady, wife of John F. Kennedy, then of Aristotle Onassis
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist
Sallustia Orbiana, wife of Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome
Pylyp Orlyk, associate of Ivan Mazepa
Pier Francesco Orsini, Italian condottiero
Emperor Marcus Salvius Otho of Rome
[edit] P
María de Padilla, mistress and secret wife of Peter of CastileNiccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer
- Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina
- Johann Sachs: Palestrina
- Curtis K. Hughes: Say It Ain't So, Joe
Johan Papegoja, Governor of New Sweden
Ely S. Parker, American Seneca native, Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist
- Nigel Osborne: The Electrification of the Soviet Union (narrator)
Samuel Pepys, English diarist
- Albert Coates: Samuel Pepys
Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Castilian nobleman, known as Guzmán el Bueno
- Baltasar Saldoni: Guzmán el Bueno
- Tomás Bretón: Guzmán el Bueno
- Emilio Arrieta: Pergolesi
- Paolo Serrao: Pergolesi
Saint Peter, Christian apostle
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
- Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Padilla (as Don Pedro, Prince of Castile)
- Hilarión Eslava: Pietro il Crudele
- 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
Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Roman courtier, writer
Michele Pezza, Neapolitan guerilla leader, known as "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
King Philip II of Spain
- Isaac Nathan: Don John of Austria (disguised as Count de Santa Fiore)
- Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos
Gaspare Pisciotta, Sicilian peasant
Gaius Calpurnius Piso, Roman senator
Pope Pius IV
Edgar Allan Poe, American writer
Poliziano (Angelo Ambrogini), Italian renaissance poet, scholar
Marco Polo, Italian adventurer
Saint Polyeuctus
Lorenz Truchsess von Pommersfelden
Madame de Pompadour, French courtier, mistress of Louis XV
- Leo Fall: Madame Pompadour
- Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Madame Popmpous")
Empress Poppaea Augusta Sabina, consort of Roman Emperors Nero and Otho
Lars Porsena, King of Etruria
- Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola
Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, death penalty abolitionist
Přemysl, the Ploughman, first ruler of Bohemmia
- Tommaso Albinoni: Primislao, primo re di Boemia
John Proctor, a tavern keeper in 17th century Massachusetts who was hanged for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials
Chevalier de Prokesch-Osten
Marcel Proust, French novelist
Pharaoh Ptolemy IX Lathyros of Egypt
Pharaoh Ptolemy XI Alexander II of Egypt
Publius Valerius Publicola, Roman consul
Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian pretender to the throne
[edit] Q
Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of unified ChinaVasco de Quiroga, member of the second Audiencia in Mexico and first bishop of Michoacán
[edit] R
Nikolay Raevsky, Russian generalElizabeth Raleigh, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh
- Edward German: Merrie England (as Bessie Throckmorton)
Raphael, Italian painter
- Anton Arensky: Raphael
- Einojuhani Rautavaara: Rasputin
John Aaron Rawlins, American general, Secretary of War
Stenka Razin, cossack leader
- Nikolay Afanas'yev: Stenka Razin
- Lorenzo Ferrero: Marilyn
Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, English noblewoman
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 III of England
- Flavio Testi: Riccardo III
- José Melchor Gomis: Le diable à Seville
Cola di Rienzo, Roman tribune
Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet
Arthur Rimbaud, French poet
- Lorenzo Ferrero: Rimbaud, ou le fils du soleil
King Robert I of Scotland, "Robert the Bruce"
- Gioachino Rossini: Robert Bruce (pastiche)
Maximilien Robespierre, French revolutionary figure
- John Eaton: Danton and Robespierre
- Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod
- Henry Charles Litolff: Robespierre
- 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
Roderic, Visigothic King of Hispania
King Roger II of Sicily
Rogneda of Polotsk, consort of Vladimir I of Kiev
Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet
- Antônio Carlos Gomes: Salvator Rosa
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II, Count Palatine of the Rhine
Paavo Ruotsalainen, Finnish farmer and lay preacher
Lillian Russell, American actress and singer
Rustichello da Pisa, Italian writer
[edit] S
Hans Sachs, German meistersinger- Albert Lortzing: Hans Sachs
- Richard Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
- Michael Nyman: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (as Dr. S.)
Ōtomo no Sakanoe no Iratsume, Japanese poet
Antonio Salieri, Italian-Austrian composer
- P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele): A Little Nightmare Music
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Mozart and Salieri
Sappho, ancient Greek poet
Sardanapalus, king of Assyria
- Giulio Alary: Sardanapale
- Franz Liszt: Sardanapale
- Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Savonarola (1884)
- Curtis K. Hughes: Say it Ain't So, Joe
Hans and Sophie Scholl, sibling co-founders of non-violent resistance movement The White Rose
Kurt Schwitters, German painter
Scipio Aemilianus, aka Scipio Africanus the Younger, Roman general, nephew and adopted son of Scipio Africanus the Elder
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
Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria, founder of the Seleucid Empire
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
- Andrea Adolfati: Sesostri, re d'Egitto
- Domènec Terradellas: Sesostri, re d'Egitto
William Shakespeare, English playwright
- Ambroise Thomas: Le songe d'une nuit d'été
- Tan Dun: Marco Polo
Andrey Shchelkalov, Russian administrator, official
Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English soldier
- Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (as Talbot)
- Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (as Giorgio Talbot)
George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, Albanian national hero
- François Francoeur: Scanderbeg
- Antonio Vivaldi: Scanderbeg
Mark Smeaton, English courtier
Socrates, Greek philosopher
- Georg Philipp Telemann: Der geduldige Sokrates
Sophonisba, Carthaginian noblewoman, daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco
- Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano
- Maria Teresa Agnesi: La Sofonisba
Edmund Spenser, English poet
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
- Giuseppe Verdi: Un giorno di regno (being impersonated by the fictional character the Cavaliere di Belfiore)
Gertrude Stein, American writer
King Stephen I of Hungary (St. Stephen)
Thaddeus Stevens, American politician
Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury
Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer
- Friedrich von Flotow: Alessandro Stradella
- Louis Niedermeyer: Stradella
- at least 2 other operas
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
Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Croatian general
- Ivan Zajc: Nikola Šubić Zrinjski
- Ernst Krenek: Karl V (as Sultan Soliman)
Louis Sullivan, American architect
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English aristocrat, poet
Ivan Susanin, Russian folk hero and martyr
King Svatopluk I of Great Moravia
King Svatopluk II of Great Moravia
Syphax, king of the Libyan tribe of Masaesyli
- Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano (as Siface)
[edit] T
Horace Tabor, American businessman, politicianAlexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian Catholic prelate
Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer
Eugene Talmadge, Governor of Georgia
- Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege
Tancred, Prince of Galilee, Norman Crusade leader
Tannhäuser, Medieval German poet
Lucius Tarquinius, one of 3 kings of Rome
- Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola
Torquato Tasso, Italian poet
John Taverner, 16th century English composer
Dame Elizabeth Taylor, British-US actress
William Tell, Swiss national hero (disputed historical authenticity)
- André Grétry: Guillaume Tell
- Ramon Carnicer: Guglielmo Tell
- Gioachino Rossini: Guillaume Tell
Beatrice di Tenda, Italian noblewoman
Saint Teresa of Ávila, Spanish mystic and theologian
Nikola Tesla, Croatian scientist
Themistocles, Athenian general and politician
- Johann Christian Bach: Temistocle
- Josep Duran: Temistocle
Virgil Thomson, American composer and critic
François Auguste de Thou, French magistrate
Thusnelda, wife of Arminius
Tigranes the Great, Emperor of Armenia
- Tommaso Albinoni: Tigrane, re d'Armenia
- Iain Hamilton: Tamberlaine
- George Frideric Handel: Tamerlano
- Antonio Sacchini: Tamerlano
- Antonio Vivaldi: Bajazet
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
Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist
Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae
- Alessandro Scarlatti: Tigrane (as Tomiri)
François Leclerc du Tremblay, "Père Joseph", the original eminence grise
Olegas Truchanas, Lithuanian-Australian wilderness photographer
Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet
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
Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer, brother of Vincent van Gogh
- Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
- James Wilson: Letters to Theo
- Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
- James Wilson: Letters to Theo
- Christopher Yavelow: The Passion of Vincent van Gogh
Tsar Vasily IV (Shuisky) of Russia
Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer
Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter
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)
- Rudolf Friml: The Vagabond King
- Ezra Pound and George Antheil: Le Testament
- Matilde Salvador i Segarra: Vinatea
- Anton Rubinstein: Neron
Vladimir I, Grand Prince of Kiev
Vladimir III Igorevich, Prince of Putivl and Halych
Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince Galitsky, son of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Prince of Halych
Vologases IV of Parthia, king
- Girolamo Abos: Lucio Vero, ossia, Il Vologeso
[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")
- August Ritter von Adelburg: Wallenstein
- Paul Hindemith: Die Harmonie der Welt
Princess Wanda, legendary Polish queen
- Antonín Dvořák: Vanda
- Max Vogrich: Vanda
Daniel Webster, American statesman
- Douglas Moore: The Devil and Daniel Webster
- Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All
William the Conqueror (King William I of England)
- Frederic Hymen Cowen: Harold or the Norman Conquest (as William, Duke of Normandy)
Robert R. Wilson, American physicist
Władysław I the Elbow-high (aka Ladislaus I), King of Poland 1320-33
- Józef Elsner: Król Łokietek
Thomas Wolsey, English cardinal
- Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner (not identified as such)
Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect
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
- Johann Christian Bach: Temistocle
- Giovanni Battista Bononcini: Xerse
- Francesco Cavalli: Xerse
- George Frideric Handel: Serse
- Hugo Weisgall: Esther
[edit] Y
Yaghi-Siyan, Governor of Antioch- Giuseppe Verdi: I Lombardi alla prima crociata (as Acciano)
Yaroslav I the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev
Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov, Russian general
Yuri II, Grand Prince of Vladimir
[edit] Z
Emiliano Zapata, Mexican leaderZeno, Byzantine emperor
- Tommaso Albinoni: Zenone, imperator d'Oriente
- Tommaso Albinoni: Zenobia, regina de Palmireni
- Gioachino Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira
- John Adams: Nixon in China (as Chou En-lai)
Venerable Zosimas of Palestine
- Ottorino Respighi: Maria egiziaca (as Abbot Zosimus)
[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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