The earliest Christmas operas appeared in the early 17th century, not long after the creation of the art form. Hardly seasonal fun for all the family.The Metropolitan Opera at Christmas time with a large poster for Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel displayed in the windowĬhristmas operas are operas which are thematically based on either the Nativity of Jesus or secular Christmas stories. The ultimate Christmas downer climaxes on Christmas Eve with Werther’s suicide and the sound of children singing carols outside. Jake Heggie’s operatic version of the popular Christmas film about a man redeemed as he’s about to commit suicide on Christmas Eve is full of tuneful life. OK, it’s not strictly speaking an opera, but Britten’s eminently stageable, heart-warming cantata tells the real story of Santa Claus.

Pfitzner: The Christmas ElfĪ rival to Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel (which is not set at Christmas), Pfitzner’s fairy-tale tells how an elf and a grumpy fir tree cure a sick child with the help of the Christ child. This charming folk opera set on a typically Russian Christmas Eve features a comical devil, a lot of dancing and a quest for a pair of the Tsarina’s slippers. John Adams’ take on the Nativity combines texts in English and Spanish to give the Christmas story a contemporary slant. Britten: Paul Bunyanīenjamin Britten and WH Auden’s Christmas party scene that concludes their American folk opera is a riot of ham, turkey and mince pies taken to excess. It may have a sad ending, but La Bohéme’s first two acts set on Christmas Eve are full of the joys of the season. The ultimate Christmas feel-good opera can still draw a tear when the lame boy who tells tall stories is cured by the Christ child. Paul Hindemith’s masterful setting of Thornton Wilder’s play compresses 90 years of Christmases into 50 thought-provoking minutes.

Juan Diego Flórez as Werther, celebrating Christmas. It’s almost time to hang the stockings, baste the turkey and choose your Christmas play list so Clive Paget takes a wander through his opera collection and picks the top ten works that take place over the festive season.

Best christmas opera music