Premieres : Resources in the Library
A Handbook of American Operatic Premieres, 1731-1962 by Call Number: REF ML182.O4 M3 1963
Opera : An Encyclopedia of World Premieres and Significant Performances by Call Number: REF ML102.O6 M45 2007
Online Resources
- Grove's Timeline of 100 Operatic PremièresChronological overview, representing all historical styles of opera and including all the major works.
- Opening Night!Cross-index of data for over 43,000 opera and oratorio premieres that received a public performance between the years 1589 and the present. Housed at Stanford University Libraries.
- Televised Opera and Musical Comedy DatabaseDocuments more than three-quarters of a century of opera, operetta, and musical comedy telecasts produced in the United States.
Archives
- Dresdner Opernarchiv digital
Archives of the Dresden Opera House from 1765 till 1900. Includes around 1,200 manuscripts for about 650 operas.
. - Glyndebourne. Opera Archive
Glyndebourne's Performance Archive contains information on performances dating back to 1934. Includes a Beginner's Guide to Opera.
. - Lyric Opera of Chicago. Performance Library.
Materials go back to the Lyric's founding in 1954 and include lists of opera, musical, and recital performances and artists from past seasons.
. - L‘Opéra de Paris
Digitized archives of the Paris Opera, divided into thematic groups: Journal of the Opera, administration, management registers, inventories, and the correspondence of Charles Nuitter, archivist of the Opera.
. - Metropolitan Opera Archives
The Met Opera's Archives Database has a Repertory Report, which lists works by number of performances and a Performers Report, which lists performers and conductors by number of performances.
. - National Negro Opera Company. Collection, 1879-1996
The National Negro Opera Company, the first African-American opera company in the United States, was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1941, by Mary Cardwell Dawson. The collection contains materials and records related to the company and to Dawson. It includes correspondence, administrative and financial records, photographs, programs, promotional and publicity materials, scrapbooks, clippings, address books, notebooks, music, and books.
. - Opéra-Comique
Digital archives of the Opéra-Comique and three other institutions that are historically linked to it: the Comédie-Italienne, the Théâtre Feydeau and the Théâtre-Italien. [Through Gallica]
. - Royal Opera House. Performance Database
While the Royal Opera House's Performance Database gives varying amounts of information about casts, it does provide links to other ROH collections for sets, designs, photographs, and more.
. - San Francisco Opera. Performance Archive
SFO's archive begins with the 1923-24 season. Includes lists of cast, conductor, stage director, chorus master, dates & times, and scans of programs.
. - Teatro alla Scala. L'archivio storico
Information about opera and concert performances at La Scala since 1950; includes chronologies, casts, playbills, librettos, synopses, discographies, and thousands of images.
. - Teatro La Fenice di Venezia. Archivio storico
The Historical Archive of La Fenice contains posters, photographs, opera & symphony scores covering more than two centuries of the theater's history.
.