Based on literature
An opera whose story is substantially derived from a pre-existing literary work or literary tradition.
44 operas
- Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Le nozze di Figaro (1786) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Don Giovanni (1787) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Medea (1797) — Luigi Cherubini
- Fidelio (1805) — Ludwig van Beethoven
- Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816) — Gioachino Rossini
- Armida (1817) — Gioachino Rossini
- Guillaume Tell (1829) — Gioachino Rossini
- Anna Bolena (1830) — Gaetano Donizetti
- Norma (1831) — Vincenzo Bellini
- Die Feen (1834) — Richard Wagner
- Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) — Gaetano Donizetti
- Maria Stuarda (1835) — Gaetano Donizetti
- Das Liebesverbot (1836) — Richard Wagner
- Rienzi (1842) — Richard Wagner
- Macbeth (1847) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Lohengrin (1848) — Richard Wagner
- Rigoletto (1851) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Il trovatore (1853) — Giuseppe Verdi
- La traviata (1853) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Faust (1859) — Charles Gounod
- La forza del destino (1862) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Roméo et Juliette (1867) — Charles Gounod
- Carmen (1875) — Georges Bizet
- La Gioconda (1876) — Amilcare Ponchielli
- Eugene Onegin (1879) — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Parsifal (1882) — Richard Wagner
- Le Villi (1884) — Giacomo Puccini
- Otello (1887) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Edgar (1889) — Giacomo Puccini
- Cavalleria rusticana (1890) — Pietro Mascagni
- The Queen of Spades (1890) — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Pagliacci (1892) — Ruggero Leoncavallo
- Iolanta (1892) — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Manon Lescaut (1893) — Giacomo Puccini
- Falstaff (1893) — Giuseppe Verdi
- La bohème (1896) — Giacomo Puccini
- Zanetto (1896) — Pietro Mascagni
- Tosca (1900) — Giacomo Puccini
- Rusalka (1901) — Antonín Dvořák
- Jenůfa (1904) — Leoš Janáček
- Madama Butterfly (1904) — Giacomo Puccini
- La fanciulla del West (1910) — Giacomo Puccini
- Turandot (1926) — Giacomo Puccini