Famous opera masterpieces | Featuring many great opera singers

‘Triumphal March’ from Verdi’s opera AidaGiuseppe Verdi

'Triumphal March' from Verdi's opera Aida

This is the Triumphal March from the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, a leading Italian composer of the 19th century.

The march is performed in Act 2, Scene 2, when the victorious general Radamès returns in triumph.

Many listeners surely feel a thrill at the trumpet fanfares.

In Japan, it is often heard during television broadcasts of soccer matches.

Candide Overture – Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein

Candide Overture – Leonard Bernstein

This is the Overture from the opera Candide by Leonard Bernstein—born in 1918, an American composer, conductor, and pianist.

Candide is based on the adventure novel by the 18th-century French thinker Voltaire, which sharply criticizes society.

Leonard Bernstein undertook the arduous task of adapting this novel into an opera.

Intermezzo from the opera Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni)Pietro Mascagni

Intermezzo from the opera Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni)

This is the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, a work by Pietro Mascagni, an Italian opera composer and conductor born in 1863.

The opera’s title means “Rustic Chivalry,” and its plot involves a love triangle that leads to a duel and murder.

The Intermezzo is especially famous and is often performed on its own.

Scene of frenzyJōn Sazārando: Uta

Donizetti: Mad Scene from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor

This is a piece from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, which portrays the tragic love of Lucia, a young woman whose brother’s scheme prevents her from marrying the man she loves.

The aria is sung in the scene where Lucia, driven mad after a complete falling-out with her lover Edgardo, stabs the husband her brother forced upon her.

Yet the text she sings is full of dreamlike imagery, which powerfully heightens the sense of terror.

Composed in an era when vocal virtuosity was prized, the piece demands exceptionally high technical skill—such as sustaining rapid, very high notes—making it not only terrifyingly expressive but also a captivating masterpiece.

Opera ‘Pagliacci’ (by Ruggero Leoncavallo)Doresuden Kokuritsu Kagikyokujo Kangen Gakudan

Leoncavallo 'Pagliacci' 'Vesti la giubba' Del Monaco

Lively music plays as the curtain rises and a clown steps out to deliver a prologue, heightening the anticipation for the drama to come.

Inspired by a case handled by his judge father, the composer Ruggero Leoncavallo wrote the libretto himself, and the production became a smash hit—a masterpiece that stands as a hallmark of verismo opera.

Opera Orfeo ed Euridice (by Gluck)Furaiburuku Barokku Kangen Gakudan

Gluck – Opera «Orfeo ed Euridice» Wq.30 | René Jacobs Freiburger Barockorchester

Because Orpheus’s beloved wife, Eurydice, dies after being bitten by a venomous snake, Orpheus goes to plead with the king of the underworld to return her.

She is granted back on the condition that he must not look back at her until they reach the surface, but he turns to look at her along the way, and she is taken back to the underworld.

Along with this story, it is an elegant opera composed of delicate melodies.

Song of GemsRosu Anheresu: uta

Renée Fleming – Jewel Song – Faust

This is a piece sung in the opera Faust.

Marguerite, a young woman who has received jewels from Faust—who has regained his youth through the devil’s power—gazes at her reflection in the mirror, entranced.

She adorns herself with the remaining jewels from the casket, one by one, realizes her own beauty, gains confidence, and feels the stirrings of love.