Who is the king who has the most number of operas dedicated to him?
Curiously enough, that king is Tigranes the Great, King of the Kingdom of Armenia in 95-55 BC.
There are 23 operas about him in total, written by known European composers.
This might be good news for lovers of music and opera in particular, as well as for those interested in history of Armenia.
Below is the list of the composers and the operas devoted to Tigranes with their premiere dates (according to the available data).
- Alessandro Scarlatti – Tigrane, 1715.
- Niccolò Piccinni – Tigrane (or Farnaspe), 1761.
- Tomaso Albinoni – Il Tigrane, re d’Armenia, 1697.
- Antonio Maria Bononcini – Tigrane, re d’Armenia, 1710.
- Vincenzo Righini – Tigrane, 1795.
- Lambuniani — Tigranes the Great.
- Francesco Gasparini, Francesco Bartolomeo Conti, Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Antonio Vivaldi – Tigrane re d’Armenia, 1719.
- Johann Adolf Hasse – Tigrane, 1729.
- Arena — Tigrane.
- Santos — Tigrane.
- Giuseppe Antonia Paganelli – Tigrane, 1733.
- Christoph Willibald Gluck – Il Tigrane, 1743.
- Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi – Il re pastore, 1767.
- Gall — Tigrane.
- Antonio Tozzi – Tigrane.
- Seloniat — Tigrane.
- Skarlatti – Tigran the Great or Pompeii Armenian.
- G. Saotii — Tigrane.
- P. Bernardoni – Tigrane.
- Hendel – Tigranes the Great.
- Artamonov – Tigranes the Great.
- Hots – Tigranes the Great.
- Vivaldi – Tigranes, the King of Armenia.