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What operas have been based on Shakespeare's plays? Are there any that are particularly good or famous?

According to an article from the San Francisco Classical Voice, there are over 200 operatic adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. Some of the best were written by the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. He used Shakespeare plots in Falstaff, Otello and Macbeth. Otello, based on the tragedy Othello, is widely considered one of Verdi's finest achievements. Falstaff is also considered a masterpiece and is one of only two comedic operas written by Verdi. The Classical Voice lists Falstaff and Otello as the best of the many operas adapted from Shakespeare.


Other famous composers who have tackled Shakespeare include Benjamin Britten, Hector Berlioz, Leonard Bernstein (he composed West Side Story which is not actually an opera, but is a popular musical version of Romeo and Juliet) and Gioachino Rossini. Operas such as Falstaff and Beatrice et Benedict are based on Shakespeare but are often changed or an amalgam of the Bard's works. In the case of Falstaff, the libretto draws from three of Shakespeare's plays which included the comedic character, The Merry Wives of Windsor and both of the plays about Henry IV. Beatrice et Benedict is loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing. As suggested, several of these versions have different names than the original Shakespeare titles. The Fairy Queen, by Henry Purcell, is based on the comedy Midsummer Night's Dream.    

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