December 4: Verdi vs. Wagner

Viva Verdi!! (this post contains my biased opinion based on facts and other feelings)



GIUSEPPE VERDI 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901

RICHARD WAGNER 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883


Wagner 100 year on May 22, and Verdi is on October 10. May 22 was also the day I first saw opera (operetta) live in theatre, in 1981, but VERDI wins since the best ever concert was the Verdi Gala in Parma on October 10, 2004.

This is true bias in this science, folks!!

RICHARD WAGNER'S OPERATIC WORKS
TITLE	LIBRETTO COMPLETED	MUSIC COMPLETED	FIRST PERFORMED
Die Feen	January 1833	January 1834	29 June 1888 Munich
Das Liebesverbot	October 1834	Spring 1836	29 March 1836 Magdeburg
Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen	August 1838	November 1840	20 October 1842 Dresden
Der fliegende Holländer	May 1841	November 1841	02 January 1843 Dresden
Tannhäuser	April 1843	April 1845	19 October 1845 Dresden
Lohengrin	November 1845	August 1847	28 August 1850 Weimar
Das Rheingold	November 1852	September 1854	22 September 1869 Munich
Die Walküre	July 1852	March 1856	26 June 1870 Munich
Siegfried	June 1851	February 1871	16 August 1876 Bayreuth
Götterdämmerung	November 1848	November 1874	16 August 1876 Bayreuth
Tristan und Isolde	September 1857	August 1859	10 June 1865 Munich
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg	January 1862	October 1867	21 June 1868 Munich
Parsifal	April 1877	January 1882	26 July 1882 Bayreuth

From website Wagner Operas: 13 operas by Richard Wagner (BAD number

Wikipedia article

Verdi's operas, and their date of première are:
Oberto, 17 November 1839
Un giorno di regno, 5 September 1840
Nabucco, 9 March 1842
I Lombardi alla prima crociata, 11 February 1843
Ernani, 9 March 1844
I due Foscari, 3 November 1844
Giovanna d'Arco, 15 February 1845
Alzira, 12 August 1845
Attila, 17 March 1846
Macbeth, 14 March 1847
I masnadieri, 22 July 1847
Jérusalem (a revision and translation of I Lombardi alla prima crociata) 26 November 1847
Il corsaro, 25 October 1848
La battaglia di Legnano, 27 January 1849
Luisa Miller, 8 December 1849
Stiffelio, 16 November 1850
Rigoletto, 11 March 1851
Il trovatore, 19 January 1853
La traviata, 6 March 1853
Les vêpres siciliennes, 13 June 1855
Simon Boccanegra, (Original Version), 12 March 1857
Aroldo (A major revision of Stiffelio), 16 August 1857
Un ballo in maschera, 17 February 1859
La forza del destino, 10 November 1862
Don Carlos, 11 March 1867
Aida, 24 December 1871
Simon Boccanegra, (Revised Version), 24 March 1881
Otello, 5 February 1887
Falstaff, 9 February 1893

GIUSEPPE VERDI wins by having more operas and all are just wonderful operas with amazing music!!

Don't forget: VIVA VERDI!!!!!!!!!!!!

Verdi: 71

08Aida 1984-11-16, 1997-06-26, 2002-06-16, 2003-07-27, 2005-06-23, 2005-06-24, 2005-06-26, 2005-08-28 

01Attila 1998-10-18

03Un Ballo in Maschera 1990-09-13, 2005-04-30, 2009-02-09

05Il Corsaro 2005-02-03, 2005-02-06, 2005-05-14, 2005-05-15, 2011-06-10

05Don Carlo(s) 2002-06-19, 2003-03-12, 2003-03-14, 2006-11-25, 2006-12-18

02La Forza del Destino 2004-11-06, 2011-11-20

01Jérusalem 1998-05-30

01Luisa Miller 2000-03-04 

01Macbeth 2011-12-27

09Nabucco 2002-01-12, 2005-07-01, 2007-06-29, 2007-08-11, 2008-02-22, 2008-07-14, 2008-07-17, 2010-01-30, 2012-05-28

01Oberto 2011-11-19

08Otello 1989-11-28, 2002-07-13, 2004-05-29, 2004-06-05, 2005-07-02, 2005-07-05, 2010-05-30, 2011-11-22

03Rigoletto 2000-05-18, 2005-10-22, 2005-10-23

03Simon Boccanegra 2010-03-27, 2010-03-30, 2012-07-03

12Stiffelio 1997-06-23, 2004-09-26, 2004-10-07, 2004-11-19, 2006-03-24, 2006-03-26, 2007-05-05, 2007-05-08, 2007-05-10, 2009-02-07, 2009-02-10, 2011-04-16

05La Traviata 1984-06-20, 1993-01-15, 2002-12-14, 2003-07-31, 2006-03-22 

02Il Trovatore 1989-05-03, 2002-05-11

01I Vespri Siciliani 2004-06-02

For reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com