Cocktail Party Fact: Carmen has the distinction of being perhaps the most bastardized opera ever, having been turned into ballets, symphonic variations, and various instrumental showpieces. It has even been jazzed up and turned into Carmen Jones, first on Broadway and then a motion picture starring Dorothy Danridge and Harry Belafonte. [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Menotti was commissioned by NBC-TV to write an opera for the Christmas season long before it was expected to be done. After toying around with ideas until, as some report put it, as close as a month before it was due, Menotti had an original idea that connected with the biblical story [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Verdi and Camille du Locle were approached by the Khedive of Egypt to write an opera to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Originally Verdi rejected the commission despite du Locle’s encouragements, but later agreed to write Rigoletto with another librettist for the event. Nonetheless, du Locle afterward sent [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: No one has a clue where the nickname came from. It certainly wasn’t Beethoven’s idea.
Commitment Factor: About 40 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1809). A big, three-movement concerto with a couple of unique features: there is a grand opening in alteration between solo and orchestra, before the usual lengthy orchestral statement of the [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: The slow movement has, at various times, been compared to the story of Orpheus placating the Furies, David calming the wrath of Saul, and lots of other similar situations.
Commitment Factor: About 35 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1807). Three movements, but with a novelty for a classical concerto: the piano has a brief [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: There’s a really cool transcription, for solo piano, of the first movement of this concerto by the French Romantic composer Alkan. It’s unbelievably difficult, since the soloist plays both the solo and the orchestral parts at the same time. The cadenza (the part near the end of the first movement where the [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Although originally intended for an actual church service, the piece grew much too large (and was completed a couple of years too late) to ever be used liturgically.
Commitment Factor: About 75 - 80 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1823). A full scale choral Mass for soloists, chorus, orchestra and organ. After Bach’s Mass [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: “Leonore” was the original title of Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio.”
Commitment Factor: About 13 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1806). Originally an overture to the opera, Beethoven detached it for use as an independent concert work.
What to Listen For: There are three “Leonore” overtures in all, and one to “Fidelio.” The first two were [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven’s friend and staunchest supporter among the nobility, was also a very decent composer in his own right.
Commitment Factor: About 37 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1811). Composed for piano, violin and cello in four movements. Beethoven’s Trios are the greatest written for this combination of instruments, alongside those of Schubert, [...]

Active Years: 1813-1883
Position: Opera Composer
Career Highlights: Der Fliegande Hollander, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, The Ring Cycle, Tristan und Isolde, Der Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Parsifal.
Career Totals: 13 operas
Scouting Report: Among the top composers of all time, Wagner strove to create a German myth in opera. Writing his own libretti, he extensively utilized the ‘lietmotiv’ (re occurring themes for [...]