# The most famous operas in history

The operas staged most often in theatres around the world and on every list, from Mozart to Puccini.

- 79 votes · 21 items
- Jan 13, 2024 · Alba Cano
- https://even.best/en/l/3039/the-most-famous-operas-in-history

## Top 21

1. **La traviata** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Giuseppe Verdi, 1853. Violetta, the courtesan in love; among the most performed in the world.
2. **Carmen** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Georges Bizet, 1875. Seville, a cigarette girl and the "Habanera".
3. **Tosca** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Puccini, 1900. Love, politics and betrayal in Rome.
4. **Madama Butterfly** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Puccini, 1904. A young Japanese woman waiting for an officer who never returns.
5. **Nabucco** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — Verdi, 1842. The chorus of the Hebrew slaves, "Va, pensiero".
6. **The Barber of Seville** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Gioachino Rossini, 1816. Figaro's "Largo al factotum".
7. **Rigoletto** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Verdi, 1851. The hunchbacked jester and "La donna è mobile".
8. **The Ring of the Nibelung** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Wagner, first staged complete in 1876. Four operas and about fifteen hours.
9. **The Magic Flute** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1791. The Queen of the Night and her impossible aria.
10. **Otello** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Verdi, 1887. Shakespeare turned into opera in his maturity.
11. **Turandot** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Puccini, 1926. The ice princess and "Nessun dorma".
12. **Aida** (1 · ▲3 ▼2) — Verdi, 1871. Egypt, an Ethiopian slave and the triumphal march.
13. **La bohème** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Giacomo Puccini, 1896. Poor artists in 19th-century Paris.
14. **The Marriage of Figaro** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Mozart, 1786. A comedy of intrigue with a libretto by Da Ponte.
15. **Don Giovanni** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Mozart, 1787. The seducer who ends up in hell.
16. **L'Orfeo** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Claudio Monteverdi, 1607. One of the first operas ever.
17. **Lucia di Lammermoor** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Donizetti, 1835. The famous mad scene.
18. **Norma** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Vincenzo Bellini, 1831. The druid priestess and "Casta diva".
19. **Cavalleria rusticana** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Pietro Mascagni, 1890. Jealousy in a Sicilian village; the famous intermezzo.
20. **L'elisir d'amore** (-1 · ▲2 ▼3) — Gaetano Donizetti, 1832. The comedy with "Una furtiva lagrima".
21. **Tristan und Isolde** (-1 · ▲1 ▼2) — Richard Wagner, 1865. The chord that changed music.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.