Famous opera masterpieces | Featuring many great opera singers

Batti, batti, o bel Masetto / Beat me, Masetto (/ Beat me, my dear Masetto / Beat me, beat me please, hey Masetto / Strike me, Masetto)

Batti, batti o bel Masetto

This is a song from the opera Don Giovanni in which Zerlina, who has nearly been seduced by the playboy Don Giovanni, begs her bridegroom for forgiveness.

The title, literally “Beat me, beat me, oh Masetto,” has been translated in various ways.

In any case, as the title suggests, the lyrics are quite intense.

Yet the music itself is light and charming.

Casta Diva / O pure goddessRenee Fleming/ Rune Furemingu: Uta

Renée Fleming: Casta Diva (Bellini)

This is a song from the opera Norma, in which Norma, the high priestess living in Gaul (around present-day France and Switzerland) under the rule of the Roman Empire, prays to the moon for peace.

It is known for its beautiful melody—so much so that Chopin actively drew on it as inspiration for his own.

Let me weep Opera ‘Rinaldo’ Michie Nakamaru 0001Georg Friedrich Händel

Let me weep – Opera “Rinaldo” – Michie Nakamaru 0001

This is “Lascia ch’io pianga” (Let me weep) from the opera Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, a composer born in Germany in 1685 who later became a naturalized British citizen.

In this aria, Almirena sings, “Let me weep over my cruel fate,” vowing to remain faithful to her beloved Rinaldo despite being courted by the enemy king.

Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral from the opera LohengrinWilhelm Wagner

Yutaka Sado & Siena Wind Orchestra / Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral

This piece, with its majestic and sacred atmosphere, unfolds at a leisurely tempo and is distinguished by its rich orchestration.

The harmony between brass and strings is beautiful, leaving listeners deeply moved.

Premiered in August 1850, the work depicts a scene from an opera, superbly conveying the protagonist’s purity and the solemnity of the ritual.

It is often used as background music for weddings and religious ceremonies and is beloved by many.

It is recommended not only for those interested in classical music but also for anyone seeking a beautiful melody that resonates with the heart.

Whoever has won a lovely wife (who has married a good wife)

L. v. Beethoven — Fidelio: „Wer ein holdes Weib errungen” (Finale)

This is the final piece sung in Fidelio, the only opera Beethoven completed.

It is a chorus that praises the brave and devoted spirit of Leonore, who infiltrated the prison disguised as the young jailer Fidelio to rescue her husband Florestan, who had been unjustly imprisoned due to the prison governor’s scheming.

Go, my thoughts, borne on golden wingsArturo Toscanini

Verdi “Nabucco” ‘Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate’ Toscanini

A chorus sung in Verdi’s Nabucco.

In Italy—Verdi’s homeland and the birthplace of opera—it is so beloved that it is said to be second to none.

Within a work that is weighty and dark in tone, this number, a beacon of hope, went on to gain a life of its own.

C. Saint-Saëns “Henry VIII” in 4 Acts, Imperial Theatre of Compiègne (France), 1991, Part 2/2Camille Saint-Saëns

C. Saint-Saëns “Henry VIII” in 4 Acts, Imperial Theatre of Compiègne (France), 1991, Part 2/2

Henry VIII is an opera by Camille Saint-Saëns, born in 1835, a French composer who was also a pianist and organist.

The work incorporates a great deal of church music—a specialty of Saint-Saëns, who served as a church organist—and its majestic choral and orchestral sonorities are moving and praised alongside its arias.