
Explore the Opera Database
The Database includes over 860+ operas and ballets that use the saxophone. Click on the link to get started

About The Database
What is an opera?
This database includes all operas, operettas, and chamber operas that use the saxophone. What is an opera? The definition I used is fairly simple. To qualify as an opera, the work had to meet one of these two definitions.
Does the composer call it an opera?
Do opera companies perform this work?
If the piece fits one of those definitions and includes the saxophone in the score, then it is included in this database.
I have also expanded the database to include ballet since ballets were essential in French Romantic opera. Many of the earliest operas have saxophone solos within the ballet.
How to cite the Opera Database
Chicago Manual of Style
Huntimer, Mary. The Operatic Saxophone Opera Database. theoperaticsaxophone.com. Accessed [January 1, 2021].
MLA Style
Huntimer, Mary. The Operatic Saxophone Opera Database. theoperaticsaxophone.com. Accessed [1 Jan 2021].
News
Opera Spotlight
- Harry Lawrence Freeman—The Black WagnerThe first major American opera composer is not who you might expect, a Black man born right after the Civil War in Cleveland, Ohio. Harry Lawrence Freeman (1869-1954) is perhaps on of the most unique American composers whose work spans the 19th and 20th century. Born in Cleveland to a middle class home, Freeman wasContinue reading “Harry Lawrence Freeman—The Black Wagner”
- Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “Blues Opera” is coming back to the stageHarold Arlen (1905-1986) is best known for his contributions to movie musicals, penning one of the most popular songs in movie history, the Wizard of Oz’s “Over the Rainbow.” What is not as well known are his works outside of Hollywood. A little known opera Arlen composed in 1959 with librettist Johnny Mercer, Free andContinue reading “Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “Blues Opera” is coming back to the stage”
- The Jazz Operas of W. Franke HarlingIn 1925, composer W. Franke Harling (1887-1958) set out to make an opera that experimented with jazz. This concept made headlines across the musical world, “New American Music Drama of Redemption Utilizes’ Jazz” is just one example from Musical America.[1] What makes this opera unique is it premiered 10 years before the opera that isContinue reading “The Jazz Operas of W. Franke Harling”
About Me
The Saxophone Opera database is compiled and edited by Mary Huntimer, DMA. I am a saxophonist, teacher, and lover of old movies, especially silent films.
Questions about the database? Know of an opera that is missing from the database? Contact me at: maryhuntimer@theoperaticsaxophone.com
This website was created to help saxophonists learn more about the history of how the saxophone has been used in opera and ballet. I have spent 100s of hours putting the database together and researching operas. Any donation amount will help keep this website running. Donate now!
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