Editing List of major opera composers (section)

=== 1700–1799 ===
[[File:Joseph Siffred Duplessis - Christoph Willibald Gluck - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Gluck in a 1775 portrait by [[Joseph Duplessis]].]]
* '''[[Giovanni Battista Pergolesi]]''' (1710–1736) Though Pergolesi also composed [[opera seria]]s, his most influential work was the short [[opera buffa]], ''[[La serva padrona]]''.<ref>''Oxford Companion to Music'', p. 783</ref>
* '''[[Christoph Willibald Gluck]]''' (1714–1787) Was a key figure in the transformation of Baroque into Classical opera, paving the way for [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], though his influence stretched much further into the 19th century, with both [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]] and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] acknowledging their debt to him. In his ''reform operas'' from ''[[Orfeo ed Euridice]]'' onwards, he sought to throw off the formal conventions of ''[[opera seria]]'' and write music of "beautiful simplicity" (his own words).<ref>Orrey p. 85</ref>
* '''[[Joseph Haydn]]''' (1732–1809) Haydn wrote nineteen operas including several comic operas and singspiels.<ref>Manual of Music: Its History, Biography and Literature Page 96 Wilber M. Derthick · 1888</ref>
* '''[[Giovanni Paisiello]]''' (1740–1816) Italian composer who wrote the first opera to include [[Pierre Beaumarchais|Beaumarchais]]' character Figaro as a main character, as well as writing a substantial number of other operas, some of them in St. Petersburg.
* '''[[André Grétry]]''' (1741–1813) [[Liège]] (present day [[Belgium|Belgian]]) composer crucial to the development of [[France|French]] ''[[opéra comique]]'', whose simplicity of musical style and sophisticated dramaturgy were immensely popular, as well as linking pre-revolutionary [[Rococo (music)|rococo]] comedy to the later [[Romantic music|romantic]] style. 
* '''[[Domenico Cimarosa]]''' (1749–1801) Italian composer most famous for the [[opera buffa]], ''[[Il matrimonio segreto]]'', which forms a bridge between the comedies of [[Mozart]] and [[Rossini]].<ref>''Viking Opera Guide'' pp. 216–218</ref>
* '''[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]''' (1756–1791) Mozart's series of comic collaborations (''[[The Marriage of Figaro]]'', ''[[Don Giovanni]]'', and ''[[Così fan tutte]]'') with [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]] are among the most popular operas in the repertoire today,<ref>Orrey p. 101</ref> along with his [[Singspiel]] ''[[The Magic Flute]]''.
*'''[[Antonio Salieri]]''' (1750–1825) Italian composer who was a major contributor to and shaper of Viennese musical life from 1770 to 1820, he also composed successful operas in Italy and Paris, and won admiration from German operagoers as a composer who, in the words of one contemporary critic, ‘could bind all the power of German music to the sweet Italian style’.<ref>Jane Schatkin Hettrick, [[John A. Rice (musicologist)|John A. Rice]]. "Salieri, Antonio" in ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]''.</ref> His opera ''[[Europa riconosciuta]]'' was composed for the inauguration of [[La Scala]]. Among his other most successful operas were ''[[Les Danaïdes]]'', ''[[Axur, re d'Ormus]]'' (the Italian version of French ''[[Tarare (opera)|Tarare]]'') and ''[[Falstaff (Salieri)|Falstaff]]''.
* '''[[Luigi Cherubini]]''' (1760–1842) Follower of [[Gluck]], Cherubini's most famous opera is ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Médée]]''. The title role has proved a challenge to sopranos (including [[Maria Callas]]) since its premiere in 1797.<ref>''Viking Opera Guide'' p. 210</ref>
* '''[[Ludwig van Beethoven]]''' (1770–1827) Wrote only one opera, ''[[Fidelio]]'', a tale of freedom from political oppression, which has become one of the major [[Opera in German|German language operas]].<ref>Orrey p. 139</ref>
* '''[[Gaspare Spontini]]''' (1774–1851) Though Italian, Spontini is best known for his work in France during the [[Napoleon|Napoleonic era]]. His masterpiece ''[[La vestale]]'' influenced [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]] and [[Berlioz]].<ref>''Viking Opera Guide'' p. 1002</ref>
* '''[[Daniel Auber]]''' (1782–1871) French composer celebrated for high-spirited ''[[opéra comique]]s'' such as ''[[Fra Diavolo (opera)|Fra Diavolo]]'' and ''[[Le domino noir]]''. His [[grand opera]] ''[[La muette de Portici]]'' attained unexpected political influence when a performance in Brussels in 1830 sparked off a revolution which led to the creation of Belgium.<ref>''Viking Opera Guide'' pp. 37–38</ref>
* '''[[Carl Maria von Weber]]''' (1786–1826) Founded [[German Romanticism|German Romantic]] opera<ref>Orrey p. 140</ref> in order to challenge the dominance of Italian [[bel canto]]. Master of orchestral colour and atmosphere, Weber was never well served by his librettists, and only one of his works, ''[[Der Freischütz]]'', is performed with any frequency. Though he died young, his influence on later German composers, especially [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], was immense.
* '''[[Giacomo Meyerbeer]]''' (1791–1864) The archetypal composer of French grand opera, Meyerbeer's huge extravaganzas such as ''[[Les Huguenots]]'' and ''[[Le prophète]]'' were immensely popular in their day.<ref>''Oxford Illustrated History of Opera'' pp. 146–150</ref>
* '''[[Gioachino Rossini]]''' (1792–1868) Links [[bel canto]] with grand opera. His immortal ''[[Barber of Seville]]'' was the only one of his operas that was continuously performed into the 20th century,<ref name="Britannica p. 631 C.2">Britannica p. 631 C.2</ref> but his serious operas, such as ''[[Semiramide]]'' and ''[[Ermione]]'', are recognised as masterpieces now that singers with appropriate technique are again available to perform them. ''[[William Tell (opera)|Guillaume Tell]]'', his swan-song, has a vast sweep<ref name="Britannica p. 631 C.2"/> only equalled in the 19th century by the later works of [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]], [[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky]] and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]].
*'''[[Heinrich Marschner]]''' (1795–1861) German composer who was the most important exponent of German Romantic opera in the generation between Weber and Wagner.<ref>A. Dean Palmer. "Marschner, Heinrich August" in ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]''.</ref> His most successful operas were ''[[Hans Heiling]]'', ''[[Der Vampyr]]'' and ''[[Der Templer und die Jüdin]]''.
* '''[[Gaetano Donizetti]]''' (1797–1848) Along with Rossini and [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]], Donizetti is generally acknowledged as one of the masters of the ''bel canto'' style. His masterwork is generally cited as being ''[[Lucia di Lammermoor]]''.<ref>Orrey p. 134</ref>
* '''[[Fromental Halévy]]''' (1799–1862) Along with Meyerbeer, the best known composer of French grand opera, Halévy's key work is ''[[La Juive]]'', a story of religious intolerance set in 15th century Switzerland.<ref>''Viking Opera Guide'' p. 412</ref>