The most important opera composers
17th century: Cavalli, Scarlatti, Lully, Rameau
18th century: Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart
19th century: Weber, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Massenet, Gounod, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Smetana, Dvorak, Richard Strauss, Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo
20th century: Berg, Schoenberg, Pfitzner, Schreker, Korngold, Orff, Stockhausen, Henze, Debussy, Ravel, Janácek, Britten, Tippett, Walton, Maxwell Davies, Birtwistle, Menotti, Barber, Argento, Glass, Adams