This is a list of operas specifically composed and produced for television performance. It does not include productions of the established opera repertoire subsequently broadcast on television.

Year of premiereCom­posedComposerOpera titleLibrettist and/or source(s)Television station 1938 Spike Hughes CinderellaWyver, John. "A tale of six Cinders, part 2: Cinderella (BBC, 1938, 1948, 1950)", Screen Plays, 12 January 2012 Spike Hughes BBC Television 1947 Spike Hughes St Patrick's Day Richard Brinsley Sheridan BBC Television 1951 Gian Carlo Menotti Amahl and the Night Visitors Gian Carlo Menotti NBC 1952 Malcolm Arnold The Dancing Master Joe Mendoza, based on the play by William Wycherley BBC (rejected)Alberge, Dalya. "Malcolm Arnold's The Dancing Master finally comes in from the cold", The Guardian, 11 October 2012 1953 Bohuslav Martinů The Marriage Bohuslav Martinů NBC 1953 Bohuslav Martinů What Men Live By Bohuslav Martinů NBC 1954 Bernard Herrmann A Christmas Carol Maxwell Anderson after Charles Dickens CBS 1955 Lukas Foss Griffelkin Alastair Reid NBC 1955 Walter Kaufmann Christmas Slippers Betty Marsh WinnipegMargaret Ross Griffel (2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary, p. 91 1956 Norman Dello Joio The Trial at Rouen Norman Dello Joio NBC 1956 Leonard Kastle The Swing Leonard Kastle NBC 1956 Arthur Benjamin Mañana Caryl Brahms BBC Television1 February 1956, Radio Times, issue 1681, 29 January 1956 1956 Malcolm Arnold The Open Window Sidney Gilliat BBC Television14 December 1956 Radio Times, issue 1726, 9 December 1956 1957 Joan Trimble Blind RafteryBlind Raftery, Radio Times, issue 1749, 21 May 1957, pp. 6, 17 Cedric Cliffe, based on the novel by Donn-Byrne BBC Television 1957 Stanley Hollingsworth La Grande Bretèche Stanley Hollingsworth NBC 1959 Richard Arnell The Petrified Princess Richard Arnell BBC Television 1959 Guy Halahan The Spur of the MomentRadio Times, 14 June, 1959, p. 13 Joe Mendoza, after Frank Baker, Miss Hargreaves BBC Television 1959 Gian Carlo Menotti Maria Golovin Gian Carlo Menotti NBC 1959 Lee Hoiby Beatrice Marci Nardi WAVE 1959 Ezra Laderman Sarah Clair Rascom CBS 1959 Heinrich Sutermeister Seraphine (Die stümme Apothekerin) Heinrich Sutermeister, after François Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel Schweizer Fernsehen 1959 Henk Badings Salto mortale Henk Badings and Belcampo (Herman Pieter Schönfeld Wichers) Nederlandse Omroep Stichting 1959 Paul Angerer Passkontrolle ORF 1960 Arthur Bliss Tobias and the Angel Christopher Hassall BBC Television19 May 1960, Radio Times, 15 May 1960 1961 Leonard Kastle Deseret Anne Howard Bailey NBC 1961 Jean Prodromidès Les Perses (The Persians) , after Aeschylus RTF 1962 Igor Stravinsky The Flood Robert Craft CBS 1962 Phyllis Tate Dark Pilgrimage Phyllis Tate BBC Television 1962 Edwin Coleman A Christmas CarolBBC Arts Margaret Burns Harris, after Charles Dickens BBC Television 1962 Riccardo Malipiero Battono alla porta Dino Buzzati RAI 1963 Ben McPeek The Bargain Ben McPeek CBC Television 1963 Gian Carlo Menotti Labyrinth Gian Carlo Menotti NBC 1963 Carlisle Floyd The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair Carlisle Floyd NCE 1963 Ton de Leeuw Alceste Euripides Nederlandse Omroep Stichting 1964 Heinrich Sutermeister Heinrich Sutermeister, after Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost" Mainz, ZDF 1965 David Amram The Final IngredientThe New York Times, 12 April, 1965 Arnold Weinstein ABC 1965 Mark Bucci The Hero Mark Bucci National Educational Television 1965 Carl Davis The ArrangementRadio Times, Issue 2168, 29 May, 1965 BBC Television 1965 Gian Carlo Menotti Martin's Lie Gian Carlo Menotti CBS 1966 R. Murray Schafer Loving R. Murray Schafer CBC Television1966 :sl:Kruno Cipci Doktor Petelinhttps://bsf.si/sl/film/doktor-petelin/#ekipa Fran Žižek TV Ljubljana 1967 Ezra Laderman The Trials of Galileo Joe Darion CBS Television 1967 Ingvar Lidholm Holländaren (The Dutchman) after August Strindberg Sveriges Television 1967 Christopher Whelen Some Place of DarknessChristopher Whelen. "Thoughts on Television Opera", in Composer 24 (1967), p. 17 John Hopkins BBC Television 1968 Roman Vlad Giuseppe Berto's (1965) RAI 1968 Norman Kay The Rose Affair After the novel by Alun Owen BBC Television 1969 Thomas Eastwood The Rebel4 April 1969, Radio Times, issue 2368, 29 March 1969, p. 71 Ronald Duncan BBC Television 1969 Heinrich Sutermeister La croisade des enfants (The Children's Crusade) Heinrich Sutermeister, after Marcel Schwob TvR 1970 Jack Beeson My Heart's in the Highlands Jack Beeson PBS 1971 Heinrich Sutermeister Das Flaschenteufel Kurt Weibel, after Robert Louis Stevenson's The Bottle Imp Mainz, ZDF 1971 1969–70 Benjamin Britten Owen Wingrave Myfanwy Piper, after Henry James BBC Two 1971 Ezra Laderman And David Wept Joe Darion, after the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba CBS Television"Ezra Laderman", Milken Archive of Jewish Music1973 John EatonMyshkinWise MusicPatrick Creagh after Dostoevsky's The IdiotPBS 1976 Alun Hoddinott Murder, The MagicianBritish Film Institute John Morgan HTV 1976 Godfrey Ridout The Lost Child John Reid CBC Television 1976 Raymond Pannell AberfanDzeguze, K. 'Situation tragedy', in Maclean's, 31 October, 1977 Beverly Pannell CBC Television 1977 Carl Davis Orpheus in the Underworld5 June 1977, Radio Times, issue 2795, 4 June 1977, p. 29 John Wells BBC Television 1978 Norman Kay A Christmas Carol John Morgan, after Charles Dickens HTV 1979 Alun Hoddinott The Rajah's DiamondRadio Times Issue 2924, 24th November 1979 Myfanwy Piper, from R. L. Stevenson's New Arabian Nights BBC Television 1982 Peter Sculthorpe QuirosQuiros : opera, Australian Music Centre Brian Bell ABC Television 1984 Robert Ashley Perfect Lives Robert Ashley Channel Four 1990 Salvador Brotons Reverend Everyman Gary Corseri, from Hofmannsthal's Jedermann WFSU-TVGriffel, M. R., Operas in English: A Dictionary (2012), p. 413 1991 Michael Nyman Letters, Riddles and Writs Jeremy Newson and Pat Gavin BBC Television 1993 Stewart Copeland Horse OperaThe Independent, 6 October, 1993 Jonathan Moore Channel Four 1993 Anthony Moore Camera Peter Blegvad Channel Four 1994 1991–92 Gerald Barry The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit Meredith Oakes Channel Four 1994 1992 Orlando Gough The EmpressThe Independent, 14 February, 1994 David Gale, from Wedekind Channel Four 1995 1993 Michael Torke King of HeartsMichaeltorke.com Christopher Rawlence Channel Four 1995 Mike Westbrook Kate Westbrook Good Friday, 1663Mike Westbrook website Helen Simpson Channel Four 2005 Judith Weir Armida Judith Weir Channel Four 2006 Jonathan Dove Man on the Moon Nicholas Wright Channel Four 2006 Alexina Louie Burnt Toast: 8 Mini Comic Operas About Love Dan Redican CBC Television 2015 Elena Kats-Chernin The Divorce Joanna Murray-Smith ABC TV (Australia)

See also List of radio operas Radio opera

References

Further reading

"Television's audience for opera", The Guardian, 8 December 1966, p. 8.