Opera: Did you mean...?

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer most famous for his piano and orchestral music. Works like Clair de Lune have become piano standards while La Mer, with its unusual use of instruments and impressionistic use of waves of sounds...

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian violin virtuoso and composer of baroque music (c. 1600-1750). Best known for his violin concertos, notably The Four Seasons, Vivaldi made a significant contribution to the evolution of instrumental...

Alexandra David-Néel (l. 1868-1969) was a world traveler, writer, and Buddhist spiritualist who wrote over 30 books on her journeys which took her 18,641.136 miles (30,000 km) around the world on foot or by various conveyances. Her works...

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer of classical music best known for his innovative piano pieces and orchestral works like Bolero and Daphnis et Chloé. Sometimes called an 'impressionist' composer, much was made of a practically...

Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was an innovative Hungarian pianist and composer most famous for his classical works for piano and orchestra, string quartets, and songs, many of which present traditional Hungarian and other European folk themes...

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was a Russian pianist and composer best known for his piano concertos and symphonies. He overcame an early ravaging by critics and several years of depression to create works which are today amongst the most...

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a German composer of Classical and Romantic music; he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians to have ever lived. Most famous for his nine symphonies, piano concertos, piano sonatas, and string...

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was an Austrian composer of Classical music who is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in history. Haydn spent most of his career around Vienna, where he pioneered the symphony and string quartet format...

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was an American impressionist painter who lived most of her life in France. She focussed on capturing women at their daily tasks in oils, pastels, and prints, and produced many innovative representations of mothers...

An illustration of the costumes used in the first production of the opera William Tell. The serious opera, composed by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), premiered at the Opéra in Paris on 3 August 1829. Drawn by Eugène Du Faget.