Which new operas will last

Please forgive my taste for lists.  I maintain a list of operas for all sorts of purposes, and this piece is everything since Einstein.  The operas included in my list come from a variety of sources, but do not cover everything.

The New York Times classical music reviewers have issued their own take on new operas of lasting significance here.  We did something similar at a party I attended last month.  Their starting point was Einstein on the Beach, generally considered the musical milestone that separates the present from the past.  They considered all the places where New York Times critics fly to.   Our starting point was 2000, and the operas to be considered were only those presented in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The Times operas are in bold, and ours have -SF.  * Identifies those I have seen.

1976	Einstein on the Beach*	Philip Glass
1976	The Martyrdom of saint Magnus	Peter Maxwell Davies
1977	The Women in the Garden*	Vivian Fine
1978	Le Grand Macabre*	György Ligeti
1978	Lear*	Aribert Reimann
1978	The Red Line	Aulis Sallinen
1979	The Village Singer*	Stephen Paulus
1979	Sweeney Todd*	Stephen Sondheim
1979	King Harald's Saga	Judith Weir
1980	The Lighthouse*	Peter Maxwell Davies
1980	Donnerstag aus Licht *	Karlheinz Stockhausen
1981	Satyagraha*	Philip Glass
1982	The Postman Always Rings Twice	Stephen Paulus
1983	Saint-François d'Assise*	Olivier Messiaen
1984	Un re in ascolto	Luciano Berio
1984	The Mask Of Orpheus	Harrison Birtwistle
1984	Akhnaten	Philip Glass
1984	Samstag aus Licht	Karlheinz Stockhausen
1986	The man who mistook his wife for a hat	Michael Laurence Nyman
1987	Nixon in China*	John Adams
1987	The Fall of the House of Usher	Philip Glass
1987	A Night at the Chinese Opera*	Judith Weir
1987	The Aspern Papers	Dominick Argento
1988	Montag aus Licht	Karlheinz Stockhausen
1988	Greek	Mark-Anthony Turnage
1991	The Death of Klinghoffer*	John Adams
1991	Gawain	Harrison Birtwistle
1991	The ghosts of Versailles*	John Corigliano
1991	Orphée*	Philip Glass
1991	Dienstag aus Licht	Karlheinz Stockhausen
1991	Mary of Egypt	John Tavener
1992	McTeague	William Elden Bolcom
1992	Life with an idiot	Alfred Garyevich Schnittke
1994	La Belle et la Bête	Philip Glass
1994	The Dangerous Liaisons*	Conrad Susa
1994	Blond Eckbert	Judith Weir
1995	Harvey Milk*	Stewart Wallace
1996	Rent*	Jonathan Larson
1996	Der Koenig Kandaules	Alexander von Zemlinsky
1996	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Lowell Liebermann
1997	Parodia*	Pablo Ortiz
1998	Little Women*	Mark Adamo
1998	A Streetcar Named Desire*	Andre Previn
1999	A View from the Bridge	William Elden Bolcom
1999	The Great Gatsby*	John Harbison
2000	El Niño*	John Adams
2000	Dead Man Walking*	Jake Heggie-SF
2000	L'Amour de Loin*	Kaija Saariaho
2002	Tea: A Mirror of Soul*	Tan Dun
2002	Galileo Galilei	Philip Glass
2002	Sophie's Choice*	Nicholas Maw
2003	L'Upupa Und Der Triumph Der Sohnesliebe	Hans Werner Henze
2003	The Little Prince	Rachel Portman
2005	Doctor Atomic*	John Adams--SF
2005	The Tempest*	Thomas Ades
2005	Margaret Garner	Richard Danielpour
2005	Grendel	Elliot Goldenthal
2005	Ainadamar*	Oswaldo Golijov-SF
2005	An American Tragedy	Tobias Picker
2005	Perfect Lives	Robert Ashley
2006	The First Emperor*	Tan Dun
2006	Adriana Mater	Kaija Saariaho
2007	Appomattox*	Philip Glass-SF
2007	Phaedra	Hans Werner Henze
2008	The Bonesetter’s Daughter*	Stewart Wallace-SF
2008	The Minotaur*	Harrison Birtwistle
2009	The Letter*	Paul Moravec
2010	Il Postino*	Daniel Catán
2010	Moby-Dick*	Jake Heggie-SF
2011	Heart of a Soldier*	Christopher Theofanidis-SF
2011	Anna Nicole*	Mark-Anthony Turnage
2011	Kommilitonen	Peter Maxwell Davies
2012	Written on Skin*	George Benjamin
2012	Dog Days	David T. Little
2013	The Gospel of Mary Magdalene*	Mark Adamo-SF
2013	Bonjour, M. Gaugin	Fabrizio Carlone-SF
2013	The Secret Garden*	Nolan Gasser-SF
2013	The Perfect American*	Philip Glass
2013	Dolores Claiborne*	Tobias Picker-SF
2013	Champion*	Terence Blanchard-SF
2013	Brokeback Mountain*	Charles Wuorinen-SF
2014	As One*	Laura Kaminsky-SF
2014	La Ciociara*	Marco Tutino-SF

The first thing you should notice is the absolute lack of any overlap between the two lists.  Apparently New York Times critics do not fly to the west cost of the United States, very much preferring London.

You should also notice right away something else interesting about the list from the New York Times:  George Benjamin, Peter Maxwell Davies, Thomas Ades, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Judith Weir, and Harrison Birtwistle are all British.  Hmmm.  Robert Ashley, David T. Little, Lowell Liebermann, John Adams and Philip Glass are Americans.  Kaija Saariaho is the only composer from a non-English speaking country.

I became curious about an opera about Anna Nicole Smith and have the DVD.  It's extremely entertaining if not exactly what you would call significant.  I no longer remember what led me to see L'Amour de Loin, but it is also on DVD.  I agree with them that this is a very important opera, but if you don't have Dawn Upshaw and Gerald Finley to sing it, then what?  

Satyagraha and The Death of Klinghoffer have played at the San Francisco Opera, and The Tempest was simulcast from the Met. I saw A Night at the Chinese Opera in a student production while I was in London. The rest are unknown to me.

I've seen all three of John Adams' major operas, Nixon, Klinghoffer, and Dr. Atomic, and I thought Klinghoffer was the least interesting.  Why would anyone want to see an opera about terrorists killing an old man in a wheelchair?  I found it disgusting.  I liked very much the idea of Nixon and Mao talking at each other and understanding not one thing the other said.  This was very entertaining, as was the nutso Madama Mao and the comic genius Kissinger.  I like politics as comedy, I guess.  There is definitely nothing funny about Klinghoffer.  Europeans like operas with political content whether or not the music is particularly interesting.  So are we to allow Europeans to decide for us?

So I would say that I agree with about half of their choices.  Satyagraha is wonderful.  I still like Orphee.

The things not considered by the New York Times critics were probably more interesting than those that were.  For instance, Saint-François d'Assise by Olivier Messiaen falls within their boundaries.  I don't know what I would predict for it, but it is a towering and spectacular work. 

Anything by Jake Heggie is not important for them, including his masterpieces Dead Man Walking and Moby-Dick.  I found both of these very moving.  Golijov's Ainadamar may or may not be classical music, but it's the most musically exciting of anything in the list.  My friends liked these three operas.

The problem with all of them is that you wouldn't go to any of them to hear the singing.