**** ------ Chi è chi nella storia di Italia nel melodramma italiano: dall'A alla Z

Speranza

--- A ----


ADORNO, Gabiele. Fifth doge of Genova. 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
Jonathan Dove: Man on the Moon

ALESSANDRO. Severo. Emperor of Rome. George Frideric Handel: Alessandro Severo

ALESSIO. Saint, of Rome. Stefano Landi: Sant'Alessio (1631; the first opera written on an historical subject.

D'ESTE. Alfonso I. Duke of Ferrara, husband of Lucrezia Borgia. Gaetano Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia

D'ESTE. Alfonso II. Duke of Ferrara Gaetano Donizetti: Torquato Tasso

ALIGHIERI, Dante. Rachmaninov, "Francesca da Rimini".

Amalasuntha, Queen of the Ostrogoths. André Messager: Isoline (as La Reine Amalasonthe)

ANNA. Of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Rome and Bavaria. Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg

ARMINIO Germanic chieftain. George Frideric Handel: Arminio


ASTORGA Emanuele d'Astorga. Italian composer. Johann Joseph Abert: Astorga

ATTILA the Hun. Giuseppe Verdi: Attila

AUGUSTO. Cesare Augusto. Roman Emperor. Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (as Octavius Caesar)

AURELIANO. Emperor of Rome. Gioachino Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira



---

B

---



BOCCACCIO, Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer, poet. Franz von Suppé: Boccaccio


BOCCANEGRA. Simone, first Doge of Genoa. Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

BONAPARTE, Carolina. -- Queen Consort of Naples and Sicily, sister of Napoleon. Pauline Bonaparte, Princess of France, sister of Napoleon. Ivan Caryll, "The Duchess of Dantzic".

BORGIA, Saint Francis -- 4th Duke of Gandía, Spanish Superior-General of the Jesuits
Ernst Krenek: Karl V

BORGIA. Lucrezia. -- Daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Gaetano Donizetti, "Lucrezia Borgia".

BORROMEO. Saint Charles. Italian cardinal. Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina


BROGNI, Gian Francesco.  Italian cardinal Fromental Halévy: La Juive

BRUTO. Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar. Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars


--- C ----


CAGLIOSTRO, Alessandro. Alessandro Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo), Italian adventurer and imposter. Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien. Mikael Tariverdiev: Graf Cagliostro

CARUSO, Enrico.  Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor. Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos (spoofed as "Enrico Carouser")


CASANOVA, Giacomo. Italian adventurer and libertine. Dominick Argento: Casanova's Homecoming. Albert Lortzing: Casanova

CASCA, Servilius, co-assassin of Julius Caesar

CASSIO, Gaius Longinus, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar. Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars

CAVALCANTI. Guido. Florentine poet. Ezra Pound and George Antheil: Cavalcanti

CELLINI, Benvenuto Italian sculptor, goldsmith, artisan Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini

CENCI, Beatrice. 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

CHAUCER, Geoffrey Chaucer, English author, poet, philosopher, courtier and diplomat
Reginald De Koven: The Canterbury Pilgrims

CIMBER. Tillius Cimber, co-assassin of Julius Caesar Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars (as Metellus Cimber)

CINNA. Helvius Cinna, Roman poet. Lorenzo Ferrero: Le piccole storie – ai margini delle guerre
Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars

CINNA. Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Roman consul. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Lucio Silla

CLAUDIO.  Emperor Claudius of Rome. George Frideric Handel: Agrippina

CLEMENTE VII. Papa. Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini. Ernst Krenek: Karl V

CLEOPATRA. 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

CLELIA. early Roman figure, possibly legendary. Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

COCLES. Horatius Cocles, Roman military officer. Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

COLLATINO Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Roman consul, husband of Lucretia. Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia

COLONNA. Stefano Colonna (1265–1348), Roman political figure. Richard Wagner: Rienzi

COLOMBO.  Christopher, 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

COSTANTINO I. Emperor Constantine I "The Great" of Rome. Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

CORIOLANO. Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, legendary Roman leader. Francesco Cavalli: Coriolano

CORNARO, Giorgio Cornaro, Italian nobleman, father of Catherine Cornaro. Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro (as Andrea Cornaro)

CRASSO. Marcus Licinius Crassus, Roman general and politician. Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno.

CRISPO. Flavius Julius Crispus, Caesar of the Roman Empire. Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta


---- D ----

ALIGHIERI. Dante Alighieri, Italian poet Tan Dun: Marco Polo. Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini

DIOCLEZIANO.  Emperor Diocletian of Rome. Henry Purcell: Dioclesian


DOLABELLA. Publius Cornelius Dolabella, Roman general. Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra



---- E ----

ELIOGABALO  Emperor Elagabalus of Rome (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus). Francesco Cavalli: Eliogabalo. Pietro Simone Agostini: Eliogabalo


FARNESE.  Elisabeth Farnese, Queen Consort to Philip V of Spain. John Barnett: Farinelli

ENZIO. Enzio of Sardinia, king of Sardinia. Johann Joseph Abert: König Enzio and Enzio von Hohenstaufen (2nd version)



---- F -----

FALIERO, Marino. Doge of Venice. Gaetano Donizetti: Marino Faliero

FARINELLI. Farinelli, Italian castrato singer. Daniel Auber: La part du diable (or Carlo Broschi) (as Carlo Broschi). John Barnett: Farinelli

FAUSTA. Fausta Flavia Maxima, Empress of Rome, second wife of Constantine the Great
Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta

FOSCARI. Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice. Giuseppe Verdi: I due Foscari

Fouché, Joseph. Duke of Otranto. Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne

MALATESTA, Paolo. 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

FRANCESCO.  Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans. Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise


BARBAROSSA. Frederick I "Barbarossa", Holy Roman Emperor. Giuseppe Verdi: La battaglia di Legnano


---- G -----

Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist. Philip Glass: Galileo Galilei

Galla Placidia, Roman regent, daughter of Emperor Theodosius I. Jaume Pahissa i Jo: Gal·la Placídia (1913)


GARIBALDI. Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian freedom fighter. Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down.

GESUALDO. Carlo. Italian composer and murderer. Alfred Schnittke: Gesualdo


GIOCONDO. Lisa del Giocondo, Italian woman, subject of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa
Max von Schillings: Mona Lisa (as Mona Fiordalisa)

GIULIANO, Salvatore. Salvatore Giuliano, Sicilian peasant. Lorenzo Ferrero: Salvatore Giuliano

GOFFREDO. Godfrey of Bouillon, Frankish knight, leader of the First Crusade. George Frideric Handel: Rinaldo (as Goffredo)


GORETTI.  St Maria Goretti, 20th century Catholic martyr
Marcel Delannoy: Maria Goretti, radiophonic opera

GRAMSCI. Antonio Gramsci, Italian political theorist. Luigi Nono: Al gran sole carico d'amore

GUICCIOLI. Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli, Italian mistress of Lord Byron. Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron



---- H -----

ADRIANO, 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


Annibal, Carthaginian ruler. Johann Adolf Hasse, Domènec Terradellas, Giovanni Battista Lampugnani and Pietro Domenico Paradie: Annibale in Capua

GISCO. Hasdrubal Gisco, Carthaginian general
Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano

Queen Hypsicratea of Pontus, consort of Mithradates VI. Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno (as Issicratea). Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore

---- I -----




---- J -----

GIOVANNA I. of Naples, Queen of Naples. Juan Manén: Giovanna di Napoli

GIULIA Caesaris, daughter of Julius Caesar, 4th wife of Pompey the Great
Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno

GIULIANO, Salvatore. Lorenzo Ferrero, "Salvatore Giuliano". Set in Sicily, the story is based on the life of the legendary historical figure Salvatore Giuliano (1922-1950), a Sicilian peasant who fought the Italian authorities in the name of a separatist movement.

Place: Western Sicily, Montelepre and surrounding mountains

Time: The second half of the 1940s

In an empty village at dawn a shot is heard and there is a glimpse of a man running. When the village awakes a representative of EVIS, the Volunteer Army for the Independence of Sicily, arrives to address the inhabitants and to introduce Salvatore Giuliano to them. In his speech, the man incites the villagers to endorse EVIS' fight for independence. After pledging his support to the cause, Giuliano remains alone with his lieutenant, Gaspare Pisciotta. They are discussing how to liberate Giuliano's mother from prison when, unexpectedly, she returns to him escorted by a Mafioso. Giuliano realizes that he has contracted a debt with the Mafia.
In his mountain stronghold, Giuliano relates his life story to Maria, a Swedish journalist who came to interview him. He recalls that he became a bandit by chance, due to poverty and the injustice of the Italian state. He confesses that he hopes for a pardon and emigration to America. The interview is interrupted by the Mafioso who returned to claim his dues. He asks Giuliano to attack the communists' Labour Day parade at Portella della Ginestra in exchange for Mafia protection and help with his request for amnesty. Giuliano agrees.
After the massacre, Colonel Ugo Luca, the head of the newly formed special police force for the suppression of banditry, is joined in the village square by a deputy who brings the minister's order to liquidate Giuliano because by now he knows too much. In the meantime, at his sister's wedding reception Giuliano carries out an irreparable act and executes five Mafiosi, who came to inform him that a reward for his capture has been set by the authorities in Rome. Appalled by this crime, the Mafioso meets Colonel Luca at Portella, and while the police are carrying away the corpses, they agree to unite their forces against Giuliano. Pisciotta is summoned to the Colonel, who succeeds in convincing him to betray Giuliano, in exchange for his own life. In a desperate final attempt, Pisciotta tries to persuade Giuliano to escape but he refuses to leave. In the empty village, as in the beginning, the shadows of two men appear on the background: one shoots and the other falls. The village lights go out and the voice of a woman is heard calling: "Giuliano!"


GIULIO CESARE. 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

---- K ------




--- 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


---- M -----


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

----  N ----


NERONE. 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


---- O ----


OTTAVIA. 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

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PAGANINI. Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer. Sir Harrison Birtwistle: The Second Mrs Kong


PALESTRINA. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer. Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina
Johann Sachs: Palestrina


PERGOLESI. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer. Emilio Arrieta: Pergolesi
Paolo Serrao: Pergolesi


PETRONIO. Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Roman courtier, writer. Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

PEZZA. Michele Pezza, Neapolitan guerilla leader, known as "Fra Diavolo". Daniel Auber: Fra Diavolo. Loosely based on the life of the Itrani bandit, active in southern Italy in the period 1800-1806, who went under the name of Fra Diavolo ("Brother Devil"). Zerline, daughter of the innkeeper of Terracina, is in love with an impoverished soldier, Lorenzo, but her father wants her to marry the rich old Francesco. Lorenzo is in pursuit of the notorious bandit Fra Diavolo. Diavolo himself arrives at the inn disguised as a marquis and robs two English travellers, Lord and Lady Cockburn. Lorenzo manages to retrieve part of the stolen goods and is rewarded with enough money to marry Zerline. Diavolo is determined to rob the travellers again and enlists the help of his two comical henchmen, Giacomo and Beppo. During the night the three of them sneak into Zerline's room and steal her dowry. Lorenzo appears and mistakes the 'marquis' for a rival in love. The next day Zerline is forced to marry Francesco as she now no longer has her dowry. Diavolo instructs his henchmen to warn him when Lorenzo and his troop of soldiers have left the town so he can safely rob again, but the two are recognised in the crowd by Zerline and Diavolo is tricked into appearing and arrested when the signal is given as arranged. Zerline is free to marry Lorenzo again.

PISCIOTTA, 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

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SANZIO. Raphael, Italian painter. Anton Arensky: Raphael

RIENZI.  Cola di Rienzo, Roman tribune. Richard Wagner: Rienzi


ROGERIO. King Roger II of Sicily. Karol Szymanowski: King Roger

ROSA.  Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet Antônio Carlos Gomes: Salvator Rosa


RUSTICHELLO Rustichello da Pisa, Italian writer Tan Dun: Marco Polo


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SALIERI. Antonio Salieri, Italian-Austrian composer. P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele): A Little Nightmare Music. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Mozart and Salieri


SAVONAROLA, Girolamo. Florentine heretic and book-burner. Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Savonarola (1884)

SCIPIONE. 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

SCIPIONE. 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


SENECA. 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


SESTO. Sextus Pompey, Roman general, son of Pompey the Great. Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno. George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (in Egitto) (as Sesto)


STRADELLA. Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer
Friedrich von Flotow: Alessandro Stradella. Louis Niedermeyer: Stradella
at least 2 other operas

STREPPONI. Giuseppina Strepponi, operatic soprano. Lorenzo Ferrero: Risorgimento!


SULLA. Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman general and dictator. George Frideric Handel: Silla
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Lucio Silla


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TARQUINIO. Lucius Tarquinius, one of 3 kings of Rome. Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Battista Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola

TARQUINIO. Sextus Tarquinius, son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, King of Rome. Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia

TASSO. Torquato Tasso, Italian poet. Gaetano Donizetti: Torquato Tasso

TENDA. Beatrice di Tenda, Italian noblewoman. Vincenzo Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda

TITO. Emperor 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

Torquato, Tito Manlio, Roman dictator. Antonio Vivaldi: Tito Manlio


U

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

V

Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor. George Frideric Handel: Ezio

VARO. Publius Quinctilius. Roman general. George Frideric Handel: Arminio

VERDI, Giuseppe.  Italian composer and senator. Lorenzo Ferrero: Risorgimento!

VERO, Lucio. See Vologases IV of Parthia

VINDEX. Gaius Iulius, Roman general. Anton Rubinstein: Neron

VISCONTI. Filippo Maria --, ruler of Milan, husband of Beatrice di Tenda. Vincenzo Bellini: "Beatrice di Tenda".

Vologases IV of Parthia, king. Girolamo Abos: Lucio Vero, ossia, Il Vologeso

Y

Yaghi-Siyan, Governor of Antioch, Giuseppe Verdi, "I Lombardi alla prima crociata" -- as Acciano.

Z

Zenobia. In Rossini, "Aureliano in Palmira".