List of historical opera characters


This is a list of historical figures who have been characters in opera or operetta.
Historical accuracy in such works has often been subject to the imperatives of dramatic presentation. Consequently, in many cases:
For the purposes of this list, Biblical characters are generally taken to be fictional, unless there is clear evidence of their historicity.
Operas appear in bold when the historical figure is also the title role.
Where a character appears in more than opera, the entries are sorted by composer.

List of historical figures

A

Abdisho IV Maron, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church
Peter Abelard, French priest, scholar, theologian
John Quincy Adams, American President
Gabriele Adorno, fifth Doge of Genoa
Flavius Aetius, Roman general
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German alchemist, writer
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Roman statesman and general
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Roman consul
Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt
3rd Duke of Alba, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands
Albert of Mainz, Elector and Archbishop of Mainz
Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut
Alexander the Great, King of Macedon
Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome
Tsar Alexander I of Russia
Brigadier General Edward Porter Alexander, American military commander
Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, consort of Tsar Nicholas II
Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia, son of Peter the Great
  • Franz Lehár: Der Zarewitsch
Saint Alexius of Rome
  • Stefano Landi: Sant'Alessio
Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, husband of Lucrezia Borgia
Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Torquato Tasso
King Alfonso XI of Castile
  • Gaetano Donizetti: La favorite
King Alfred the Great, legendary Anglo-Saxon king
  • Thomas Arne: Alfred
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Alfredo il grande
  • Antonín Dvořák: Alfred
  • Friedrich von Flotow: Alfred der Große
Dante Alighieri: see Dante
Almanzor, de facto ruler of al-Andalus
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer: L'esule di Granata
Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: La Conquista
  • Roger Sessions: Montezuma
Amalasuntha, Queen of the Ostrogoths
  • André Messager: Isoline
Anacreon, Greek lyric poet
  • Luigi Cherubini: Anacréon
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau: Anacréon
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau: Anacréon
Jacob Johan Anckarström, Swedish military officer, assassin of Gustav III
  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera
Tommaso Aniello: see Masaniello
Anne of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Rome and Bavaria
  • Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg
Queen Anne of Great Britain
  • Friedrich von Flotow: Martha
Queen Anne , second consort of Henry VIII of England
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII
Queen Anne , consort of Richard III of England
Saint Anthony the Great
  • Bernice Johnson Reagon: The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Susan B. Anthony, American women’s rights activist
  • Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All
Antiochus I Soter, King of the Seleucid Empire
  • Étienne Méhul: Stratonice
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les fêtes de Polymnie
Rodrigo Ponce de León, 4th Duke of Arcos, Spanish grandee, Viceroy of Naples
  • Antônio Carlos Gomes: Salvator Rosa
Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, British socialite and sexual celebrity
  • Thomas Adès: Powder Her Face
Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, Finnish-Swedish diplomat, possible lover of Gustav III of Sweden
  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
Arminius, Germanic chieftain
  • George Frideric Handel: Arminio
Edwin H. Armstrong, American radio pioneer, inventor of FM radio transmission
  • Evan Hause: The Birth and Theft of Television
Artabanus of Persia, political figure
King Artaxerxes I of Persia
  • Girolamo Abos: Artaserse
  • Thomas Arne: Artaxerxes
  • Antonio Sacchini: Artaserse
King Arthur, legendary king of Britain
  • Isaac Albéniz: Merlin
  • Grażyna Bacewicz: The Adventure of King Arthur
  • Ernest Chausson: Le roi Arthus
  • Henry Purcell: King Arthur
  • Amadeu Vives i Roig: Artús
  • Max Vogrich: King Arthur
Chester A. Arthur, American President
  • Douglas Moore: The Ballad of Baby Doe
Ulrica Arfvidsson, Swedish fortune-teller
  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera
Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer
  • Johann Joseph Abert: Astorga
Atahualpa, Inca sovereign emperor
Attila the Hun
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Attila
Atys, son of King Croesus of Lydia
  • Reinhard Keiser: Croesus
Caesar Augustus, Roman Emperor
  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
Aurelian, Emperor of Rome
Pharaoh Ay of Egypt
Francis Bacon, Irish painter
Cardinal Maffeo Barberini: see Pope Urban VIII
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian prince and general
Brigitte Bardot, French actress
Pyotr Fyodorovich Basmanov, Russian boyar
Daisy Bates, Irish-Australian indigenous welfare worker and anthropologist
Bayezid I "The Thunderbolt", Ottoman Sultan
Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright
Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
Belisarius, Byzantine general
Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general
Belshazzar, Prince of Babylon
Olga Benário Prestes, German-Brazilian communist militant
Levin August, Count von Bennigsen, German general
Queen Berenice III of Egypt
Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Marshal of France
Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States
Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany
Harman Blennerhassett, Irish-American lawyer
Blondel de Nesle, French troubador
Boabdil: see Muhammad XII of Granada
Francisco de Bobadilla, Spanish colonial administrator
Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer, poet
Simone Boccanegra, first Doge of Genoa
George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford, brother of Anne Boleyn
Simón Bolívar, South American revolutionary
Caroline Bonaparte, Queen Consort of Naples and Sicily, sister of Napoleon
Pauline Bonaparte, Princess of France, sister of Napoleon
Lizzie Borden, American celebrity and possible axe-murderer
Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer
Saint Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía, Spanish Superior-General of the Jesuits
Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI
Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal
Đurađ Branković, Serbian despot
Prince Braslav of Pannonian Croatia
Ed Broadbent, Canadian politician
Gian Francesco Brogni, Italian cardinal
  • Fromental Halévy: La Juive
John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton, British memoirist and politician
John Brown, Sergeant of the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry Volunteer Militia
  • Walter Schumann: John Brown's Body
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Flemish painter
  • Jean Absil: Pierre Breughel l'Ancien
Antonín Brus z Mohelnice, Archbishop of Prague
  • Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina
Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar
  • Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars
William Jennings Bryan, American Secretary of State, presidential candidate
  • Douglas Moore: The Ballad of Baby Doe
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham , English poet, statesman
  • Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne
Gautama Buddha
  • Max Vogrich: Buddha
Johannes Bureus, Swedish scholar
  • Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: The Doomsday Prophets
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman, adviser to Elizabeth I
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
Aaron Burr, third Vice President of the United States
  • Walter Damrosch: The Man Without a Country
Anne Isabella Byron, Baroness Byron, wife of Lord Byron
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
Lord Byron''', English poet
Cacamatzin, Aztec king
Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian adventurer and imposter
Maria Callas, American-Greek opera singer
Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet
Kim Campbell, Prime Minister of Canada
Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, British socialite
  • Thomas Adès: Powder Her Face
Lorenzo Campeggio, Cardinal Protector of England
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII
Canek, Aztec High Priest
  • Henry Kimball Hadley: Azora, the Daughter of Montezuma
Wolfgang Capito, German religious reformer
  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler
Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician and physician
  • Mary Finsterer: Biographica
Carlos, Prince of Asturias, son of Philip II of Spain
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos
Julian Carlton, American murderer of Mamah Cheney, mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright
  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow
Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor
  • Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos
Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and libertine
  • Dominick Argento: Casanova's Homecoming
  • Albert Lortzing: Casanova
Servilius Casca, co-assassin of Julius Caesar
Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman politician, co-assassin of Julius Caesar
  • Giselher Klebe: Die Ermordung Cäsars
Fidel Castro, Cuban leader
  • Luigi Nono: Al gran sole carico d'amore
Inês de Castro, lover and lawful wife of King Peter I of Portugal
  • Vicent Lleó i Balbastre: Inés de Castro
  • James MacMillan: Ines de Castro
  • Thomas Pasatieri: Ines de Castro
  • Giuseppe Persiani: Ines de Castro
  • Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli: Ines de Castro
Sir William Catesby
  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III
Empress Catherine I of Russia
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Il falegname di Livonia, o Pietro il grande, czar delle Russie
  • André Grétry: Pierre le Grand
Empress Catherine II "The Great" of Russia
  • César Cui: The Captain's Daughter
  • Igor Wakhévitch: Être Dieu: opéra-poème, audiovisuel et cathare en six parties
Queen Catherine , first wife of Henry VIII of England
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII
Queen Catherine , sixth and last wife of Henry VIII
  • Anthony Collins: Catherine Parr
Pierre Cauchon, French bishop
  • Norman Dello Joio: The Triumph of St. Joan
Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt, French general
  • Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace
Guido Cavalcanti, Florentine poet
Arthur Cecil, English actor, theatre manager
Cecily Neville, Duchess of York
  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III
Benvenuto Cellini, Italian sculptor, goldsmith, artisan
  • Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio
Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman, protagonist of a famous murder trial
  • Havergal Brian: The Cenci
  • Alberto Ginastera: Beatrix Cenci
  • Berthold Goldschmidt: Beatrice Cenci
  • Alessandro Londei e Brunella Caronti: Beatrice Cenci
  • James Rolfe: Beatrice Chancy
Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish writer
  • Rafael Aceves y Lozano: El manco de Lepanto
  • Jacinto Guerrero: El huésped del sevillano, zarzuela
Lindy Chamberlain and Michael Chamberlain, Australian parents wrongly convicted of the murder of their daughter Azaria
  • Moya Henderson: Lindy
Charles Chaplin, British actor
  • Salvador Bacarisse: Charlot
Charlemagne, King of the Franks
  • Vincenzo Manfredini: Carlo Magno
  • Franz Schubert: Fierrabras
  • Carl Maria von Weber: Oberon
King Charles II of England
  • Sir George Alexander Macfarren: King Charles II
  • Robert Planquette: Nell Gwynne
King Charles II of Spain
  • Jules Massenet: Don César de Bazan
  • William Vincent Wallace: Maritana
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
  • Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Ernani
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos
King Charles VI of France
King Charles VII of France
  • Walter Braunfels: Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna
  • César Cui: The Saracen
  • Norman Dello Joio: The Triumph of St. Joan
  • Fromental Halévy: Charles VI
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Maid of Orleans
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
King Charles XI of Sweden
  • Fredrik Pacius: Kung Karls jakt
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy
  • Giovanni Pacini: Carlo di Borgogna
Charles Martel, Duke and Prince of the Franks
  • Jacques Offenbach: Geneviève de Brabant
Charmian, servant to Cleopatra
  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
  • Jules Massenet: Cléopâtre
Thomas Chatterton, English poet and forger
  • Ruggero Leoncavallo: Chatterton
  • Matthias Pintscher: Thomas Chatterton
  • Gerard Victory: Chatterton
Geoffrey Chaucer, English author, poet, philosopher, courtier and diplomat
  • Reginald De Koven: The Canterbury Pilgrims
Danny Chen, American army private who committed suicide in Afghanistan
  • Huang Ruo: An American Soldier
Edwin Cheney, American electrical engineer
Mamah Cheney, wife of Edwin Cheney, murdered mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright
  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow
André Chénier, French journalist
  • Umberto Giordano: Andrea Chénier
Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Lieutenant of the Tower of London
  • Gilbert and Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard
Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French composer
  • Giacomo Orefice: Chopin
Chou En-lai: see Zhou Enlai
Jean Chrétien, Canadian Prime Minister
Christina, Queen of Sweden
Saint Christopher, revered but legendary saint
Tillius Cimber, co-assassin of Julius Caesar
Helvius Cinna, Roman poet
Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Roman consul
Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, French royal favourite of Louis XIII
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence
Emperor Claudius of Rome
Cleitus the Black, Macedonian soldier
Pope Clement VII
Cleopatra VII, Pharaoh of Egypt
Henry Clifford, 10th Baron de Clifford, English military commander
Bill Clinton, US President
Hillary Clinton, American First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State
Olivier de Clisson, Breton soldier
Cloelia, early Roman figure, possibly legendary
Robert Coates, Canadian politician
Howell Cobb, American political figure
  • Philip Glass: Appomattox
Walter Cocking, dean at the University of Georgia, the focus of the "Cocking affair"
  • Michael Braz: A Scholar Under Siege
Horatius Cocles, Roman military officer
  • Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola
Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Roman consul, husband of Lucretia
  • Benjamin Britten: The Rape of Lucretia
Stefano Colonna, Roman political figure
  • Richard Wagner: Rienzi
Christopher Columbus, Genoese explorer of the New World
  • Leonardo Balada: Cristóbal Colón
  • Leonardo Balada: Death of Columbus
  • Ramon Carnicer: Cristoforo Colombo
  • Manuel de Falla: Atlántida
  • Alberto Franchetti: Cristoforo Colombo
  • Philip Glass: The Voyage
  • Darius Milhaud: Christophe Colomb
Anthony Comstock, American morals campaigner
  • Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All
Emperor Constantine I "The Great" of Rome
Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish scientist
  • Claude Vivier: Kopernikus
Charlotte Corday, French Girondin revolutionary
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Charlotte Corday
Saint Corentin of Quimper, Breton patron saint of seafood
  • Édouard Lalo: Le roi d'Ys
Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, legendary Roman leader
  • Francesco Cavalli: Coriolano
Catherine Cornaro, consort of James II of Cyprus
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro
  • Fromental Halévy: La reine de Chypre
  • Franz Lachner: Caterina Cornaro
Giorgio Cornaro, Italian nobleman, father of Catherine Cornaro
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro
Jeronimus Cornelisz, Dutch apothecary and merchant
  • Richard Mills: Batavia
Hernán Cortés, Spanish conquistador
  • Ruperto Chapí: Las naves de Cortés
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: La Conquista
  • Carl Heinrich Graun: Montezuma
  • Henry Kimball Hadley: Azora, the Daughter of Montezuma
  • Aniceto Ortega: Guatimotzin
  • Wolfgang Rihm: Die Eroberung von Mexico
  • Roger Sessions: Montezuma
  • Gaspare Spontini: Fernand Cortez
  • Antonio Vivaldi: Motezuma
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII
Marcus Licinius Crassus, Roman general and politician
  • Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
Flavius Julius Crispus, Caesar of the Roman Empire
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta
Croesus, King of Lydia
  • Reinhard Keiser: Croesus
Oliver Cromwell, English Puritan leader
Cuauhtémoc, Aztec king
Sir Henry Cuffe, English politician
Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist and duellist
Cyrus the Great, King of Persia
Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter
Dalibor of Kozojed, Czech knight
  • Bedřich Smetana: Dalibor
Dante Alighieri, Italian poet
  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini
  • Ambroise Thomas: Françoise de Rimini
  • Giacomo Puccini: Gianni Schicchi
Georges Danton, French revolutionary figure
Jacques d'Arc, French farmer, father of Joan of Arc
King Darius III of Persia
Sir William Davenant, English poet and playwright
Louis-Nicolas Davout, Marshal of France
Gotse Delchev, Macedonian revolutionary figure
  • Kiril Makedonski: Goce
Marion Delorme, French courtesan
Camille Desmoulins, French revolutionary journalist, politician
Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Spanish conquistador
Jimena Díaz, wife of El Cid, ruler of Valencia
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, "El Cid"
Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian Communist leader
Emperor Diocletian of Rome
  • Henry Purcell: Dioclesian
Tsar Dmitri Ioannovich of Russia, the so-called "False Dmitriy I"
Dmitry Donskoy, Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Vladimir
Dobrynya Nikitich, legendary Kievan bogatyr
Publius Cornelius Dolabella, Roman general
Saint Dominic, Domingo de Guzman, founder of the Dominicans
  • Antonio Braga: San Domenico di Guzman
Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, English writer, lover of Oscar Wilde
James Douglas, Lord of Douglas, Scots soldier, known as the "Black Douglas"
Frederick Douglass, African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman
  • Ulysses Kay: Frederick Douglass
  • Dorothy Rudd Moore: Frederick Douglass
György Dózsa, Hungarian leader of peasant revolt
  • Ferenc Erkel: György Dózsa
Sir Francis Drake, English adventurer, pirate, politician
  • Matthew Locke: The History of Sir Francis Drake
John Dryden, English poet
King Duncan I of Scotland
Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Éboli, Spanish aristocrat
Nelson Eddy, American tenor, actor
King Edward II of England
King Edward III of England
King Edward IV of England
King Edward V of England
King Edward VI of England
Adolf Eichmann, German Nazi SS Head
Albert Einstein, German-American scientist
Emperor Elagabalus of Rome
Eleanor of Austria, Queen Consort of Portugal and France
Eleanor of Guzman, mistress of King Alfonso XI of Castile and mother of Henry II
Elisabeth, Queen of Bohemia
Elisabeth Farnese, Queen Consort to Philip V of Spain
Elisabeth of Valois, daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici, wife of Philip II of Spain
Elisiv of Kiev
Queen Elizabeth I of Castile: see Queen Isabella I of Castile
Queen Elizabeth I of England
Queen Elizabeth , consort of King Edward IV of England
Fanny Elssler, Austrian ballerina
Ninon de l'Enclos, French courtesan
Enzio of Sardinia, king of Sardinia
Louise d'Épinay, French diarist, memoirist
Erasistratus, Greek anatomist, physician
King Eric V of Denmark
José de Espronceda, Spanish poet
  • Federico Moreno Torroba: El poeta
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Elizabethan courtier and royal favourite
  • Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
  • Edward German: Merrie England
Frances, Countess of Essex, English noblewoman
  • Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
Eufrosinia', daughter of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Prince of Halych
Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice
Farinelli, Italian castrato singer
Philo Farnsworth, American television pioneer
Fausta Flavia Maxima, Empress of Rome, second wife of Constantine the Great
Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist
Marie Favart, French opera singer, actress
Dianne Feinstein, American politician
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
King Ferdinand I of León and Castile
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
King Ferdinand II of Aragon
King Ferdinand VI of Spain
Roger de Flor, German-born soldier serving Aragon kings
Errol Flynn, Australian-American film actor
James Forrestal, US Secretary of Defense
Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice
Joseph Fouché, Duke of Otranto
Francesca da Rimini, contemporary and literary subject of Dante
Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans
  • Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise
King Francis I of France
  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Ascanio
Anne Frank, Dutch diarist
  • Grigory Frid: The Diary of Anne Frank
Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
John Allen Fraser, Canadian politician
  • Alexina Louie: '
Fredegund, Merovingian Queen Consort
  • César Franck: Ghiselle
  • Reinhard Keiser: Fredegunda
Frederick I "Barbarossa", Holy Roman Emperor
  • Giuseppe Verdi: La battaglia di Legnano
King Frederick II "The Great" of Prussia
Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg
Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg
  • Hans Werner Henze: Der Prinz von Homburg
Friedrich Friesen, German gymnast and soldier
Jean Froissart, French chronicler
Georg von Frundsberg, South German knight
Tsar Fyodor II of Russia, son of Boris Godunov
Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist
Vasily Vasilyevich Galitzine, Russian statesman
Galla Placidia, Roman regent, daughter of Emperor Theodosius I
Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer
Count Peter Gamba, associate of Lord Byron
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian freedom advocate
Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish poet and soldier
Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian freedom fighter
Margaret "Peggy" Garner, American slave who killed her own daughter rather than allow the child to be returned to slavery
  • Richard Danielpour: Margaret Garner
Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect
  • Joan Guinjoan: Gaudí
Paul Gauguin, French painter
  • Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
  • Michael Smetanin: Gauguin: A Synthetic Life
  • Christopher Yavelow: The Passion of Vincent van Gogh
Artemisia Gentileschi, Florentine painter
  • Laura Schwendinger: Artemisia
King George III of the United Kingdom
Priscilla German Reed, English singer and actress
Thomas German Reed, English composer and theatre manager
  • Thomas German Reed : Our Island Home
Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer and murderer
Allen Ginsberg, American poet
Lisa del Giocondo, Italian woman, subject of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa
  • Max von Schillings: Mona Lisa
Salvatore Giuliano, Sicilian peasant
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Salvatore Giuliano
Godfrey of Bouillon, Frankish knight, leader of the First Crusade
  • George Frideric Handel: Rinaldo
Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia
  • Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Xenia Borisovna Godunova, daughter of Boris Godunov
  • Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij
  • Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Sir Eugene Goossens, English conductor and composer
Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, English harpsichordist
  • Roger Scruton: Violet
St Maria Goretti, 20th century Catholic martyr
  • Marcel Delannoy: Maria Goretti, radiophonic opera
Sidney Gottlieb,
  • Evan Hause: Man: Biology of a Fall
Francisco Goya, Spanish painter
  • Gian Carlo Menotti: Goya
  • Michael Nyman: Facing Goya
Princess Grace of Monaco, American-born actress
  • Michael Daugherty: Jackie O
Antonio Gramsci, Italian political theorist
  • Luigi Nono: Al gran sole carico d'amore
Urbain Grandier, French priest
  • Krzysztof Penderecki: The Devils of Loudun
Julia Dent Grant, American First Lady
  • Philip Glass: Appomattox
Ulysses S. Grant, American President
  • Philip Glass: Appomattox
  • Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All
Thomas Gray, English poet
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer
Nina Grieg, Norwegian singer, cousin and wife of Edvard Grieg
  • Edvard Grieg, arr. Robert Wright and George Forrest: Song of Norway
Gen Leslie Groves, American military officer
  • John Adams: Doctor Atomic
Matthias Grünewald, German renaissance painter
  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler
Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli, Italian mistress of Lord Byron
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
Guinevere, wife of King Arthur of Britain
  • Ernest Chausson: Le roi Arthus
Francis, Duke of Guise, French nobleman
  • André Messager: Le bourgeois de Calais
Günther von Schwarzburg, German king
  • Ignaz Holzbauer: Günther von Schwarzburg
Saint Guntram, King of Burgundy
  • César Franck: Ghiselle
King Gustav I of Sweden
  • Giuseppe Apolloni: Gustavo Wasa
King Gustav III of Sweden
  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera
Nell Gwyn''', English actress, mistress of King Charles II
Hadrian, Roman emperor
Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio, Lord Nelson
Sir William Hamilton, British diplomat, husband of Emma, Lady Hamilton
Hannibal, Carthaginian ruler
King Harald Hardrada
Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, British sea captain, commander of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar
Harold Godwinson, Anglo-Saxon King of England
Frank Harris, Irish-American journalist, publisher
  • Theodore Morrison: Oscar
Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid Caliph
  • Carl Maria von Weber: Oberon
Hasdrubal Gisco, Carthaginian general
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III
Richard Hauptmann, American convicted murderer
  • Cary John Franklin: Loss of Eden
Wiebbe Hayes, Dutch soldier
  • Richard Mills: Batavia
Heloïse, French nun associated with Peter Abelard
Sally Hemings, American mixed-race slave owned by Thomas Jefferson
  • Damon Ferrante: '
Henri, Prince of Condé, French noble
  • Krzysztof Penderecki: The Devils of Loudun
Henrietta Maria of France, queen consort of Charles I of England
  • Vincenzo Bellini: I puritani
Henry I, Duke of Guise
  • George Onslow: Le duc de Guise
King Henry II of England
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Rosmonda d'Inghilterra
  • Otto Nicolai: Rosmonda d'Inghilterra
King Henry III of Castile
  • Amadeu Vives i Roig: La villana
King Henry III of France also as Henri de Valois, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania
King Henry IV of France
  • Fromental Halévy: Le Roi et le batelier
King Henry V of England
  • Gustav Holst: At the Boar's Head
King Henry VII of England
  • Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III
King Henry VIII of England
Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony, King of the Germans
  • Richard Wagner: Lohengrin
Henry the Lion, German prince
  • Agostino Steffani: Henrico Leone
Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French revolutionary politician
  • Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod
Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia
  • Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser
E. T. A. Hoffmann, German author
  • Jacques Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann
Fanny Holland, English singer and actress
  • Thomas German Reed : Our Island Home
Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik, Dutch alcoholic prostitute, sometime lover of Vincent van Gogh
  • Einojuhani Rautavaara: Vincent
Pharaoh Horemheb of Egypt
  • Philip Glass: Akhnaten
Count Claes Fredrik Horn, co-conspirator with Anckarström in the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden
  • Daniel Auber: Gustave III
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera
Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American escapologist
  • Peter Schat: Houdini
Ladislaus Hunyadi, Hungarian statesman
Stig Andersen Hvide, Danish marshal, later an outlaw
Queen Hypsicratea of Pontus, consort of Mithradates VI
Muhammad al-Idrisi, Andalusian cartographer, traveller
Gwen Ifill, American television journalist
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish knight, founder of the Society of Jesus
Igor Svyatoslavich, Prince of Putivl, Novgorod-Seversk and Chernigov
Jaakko Ilkka, Finnish peasant leader
Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden
John Ireland, Dean of Westminster
Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen Consort of Charles VI of France
Isabel Moctezuma, daughter of Moctezuma II
Queen Isabella I of Castile
Isabella of France, Queen Consort of Edward II of England and mother of Edward III
Isabella of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress, Queen Consort of Aragon and Castile
Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, "Ivan the Terrible"
Izumi Shikibu, Japanese poet
Jack the Ripper, unidentified murderer of English prostitutes
King James II of Cyprus "James the Bastard of Lusignan"
King James V of Scotland
Lady Jane Grey, disputed Queen of England
Queen Jane , third consort of Henry VIII of England
Thomas Jefferson, American President
Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia
  • Karl Michael Ziehrer: König Jérôme oder Immer Lustick
Jesus of Nazareth and his apostles
Jiang Qing Chinese figure, 4th wife of Mao Zedong
St Joan of Arc, French saint
  • Walter Braunfels: Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna
  • Norman Dello Joio: The Triumph of St. Joan
  • Giselher Klebe: Das Mädchen aus Domrémy
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Maid of Orleans
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
  • For details of other musical depictions of Joan of Arc, see Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc#Operas, oratorios, and vocal works
Joan I of Naples, Queen of Naples
  • Juan Manén: Giovanna di Napoli
Joanna of Castile, Queen of Castile and Aragon
Patriarch Job of Moscow, Russian Orthodox prelate
  • Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij
John, Prince of Asturias, Spanish prince, son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile
  • Vicente Martín y Soler: Una cosa rara
King John of England
  • Sir Arthur Sullivan: Ivanhoe
Don John of Austria, Bavarian soldier in Spanish service, son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
John of Leiden, Dutch Anabaptist leader
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer: Le prophète
Andrew Johnson, American President
  • Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All
Lyndon B. Johnson, American President
  • Evan Hause: Nightingale: The Last Days of James Forrestal
Ben Jonson, English poet
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
  • Georg Jarno: Die Försterchristl
Joséphine de Beauharnais, Consort of Napoleon I
  • Emmerich Kálmán: Kaiserin Josephine
Julia Caesaris, daughter of Julius Caesar, 4th wife of Pompey the Great
  • Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
Julius Caesar, Consul and Dictator of Rome
Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter
Christoph Kaufmann, associate of Jakob Lenz
Grace Kelly: see Princess Grace of Monaco
Ned Kelly, Australian outlaw and folk hero
John F. Kennedy, American President
Johannes Kepler, German astronomer, mathematician
Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky, "Tararui", Russian boyar
Edgar Ray Killen, KKK leader, murderer
Larry King, American talk-show host
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Henry Kissinger, American Secretary of State
Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer
Leon Klinghoffer, American ship passenger murdered by terrorists
Vasily Kochubey, Cossack hetman, associate of Ivan Mazepa
Konchak, Polovtsian khan
Konchakovna, his daughter
Theodor Körner, German poet and soldier
Maria Korp, Australian murder victim
Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish revolutionary hero
Anne Kronenberg, American political administrator
Kublai Khan, Grand Khan of the Mongol Empire
Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian field marshal
Ladislaus I of Poland: see Władysław I the Elbow-high
Ladislaus the Posthumous, Duke of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia
Lady Caroline Lamb, lover of Lord Byron
Anne Françoise Elisabeth Lange, French actress, known as "Mademoiselle Lange"
Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress
Agnes Lee, daughter of Robert E. Lee
Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee
General Robert E. Lee
François Joseph Lefebvre, Marshal of France, Duke of Danzig
  • Ivan Caryll: The Duchess of Dantzic
  • Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne
Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer
  • Victor Davies: Transit of Venus
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English courtier, favourite of Elizabeth I
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Il castello di Kenilworth
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
  • Gioachino Rossini: Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
Augusta Leigh, half-sister and incestuous lover of Lord Byron
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, German writer
  • Wolfgang Rihm: Jakob Lenz
Pope St Leo I "The Great"
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Attila
Brother Leo, friend and confidant of Francis of Assisi
  • Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise
Leonidas of Epirus
  • George Frideric Handel: Alessandro
 Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Roman triumvir
  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
 Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, heir to Emperor Caligula of Rome
Leszek I the White, High Duke of Poland 1194-1227
  • Józef Elsner: Leszek Biały
Ada Leverson, British novelist
  • Theodore Morrison: Oscar
Li Bai or Li Po, Chinese poet
  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo
Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii
  • Paul Abraham: Die Blume von Hawaii, operetta
Abraham Lincoln, American President
Mary Todd Lincoln, American First Lady
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American writer and aviator
Charles Lindbergh, American pioneer aviator
Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Bohemian Talmudic scholar
King Louis V of France
King Louis VI of France
King Louis XII of France
King Louis XIII of France
King Louis XIV of France
King Louis XV of France
King Louis XVI of France
Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell
Lucan, Roman poet
Lucretia, Roman noblewoman raped by Sextus Tarquinius
Martin Luther, initiator of the Protestant Reformation
Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow, Prussian general
Douglas MacArthur, American general
Jeanette MacDonald, American soprano, actress
Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada
William McDougall, Canadian politician
Ralph McGill, American anti-segregationist journalist
Wilmer McLean, American Civil War figure
Colin McPhee, Canadian composer and musicologist
King Macbeth of Scotland
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, Roman general, natural father of Scipio Aemilianus
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126
Gaius Maecenas, political adviser to Octavian
  • Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra
Saint Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney
  • Peter Maxwell Davies: The Martyrdom of St Magnus
Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer
  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo
Marion Mahony, American architect and artist, wife of Walter Burley Griffin
  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow
Giovanni Malatesta, husband and murderer of Francesca da Rimini
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini
  • Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini
Malatestino Malatesta, Lord of Rimini
  • Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini
Paolo Malatesta, brother-in-law and lover of Francesca da Rimini
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Francesca da Rimini
  • Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini
La Malinche, Aztec mistress of Hernán Cortés
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: La Conquista
  • Wolfgang Rihm: Die Eroberung von Mexico
  • Roger Sessions: Montezuma
Mao Zedong, Chinese leader
  • John Adams: Nixon in China
Madame Mao: see Jiang Qing
Jean-Paul Marat, Jacobin leader
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Charlotte Corday
Benedetto Marcello, Italian composer
  • Joachim Raff: Benedetto Marcello
Alexey Maresyev, Russian fighter pilot
Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort to Henry VI of England
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer: Margherita d'Anjou
Marguérite de Valois, consort of Henry IV of France/Henry III of Navarre
  • Ferdinand Hérold: Le pré aux clercs
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots
Maria Carolina of Austria
  • Umberto Giordano: Madame Sans-Gêne
Sister Maria Celeste, Italian nun, illegitimate daughter of Galileo Galilei
  • Philip Glass: Galileo Galilei
Maria Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier, Infanta of Spain
  • Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien
Marie Antoinette, Queen Consort of Louis XVI of France
  • John Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, wife of Napoleon I
  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon
Marie Louise Gonzaga, French Queen consort to 2 Polish kings
  • Charles Gounod: Cinq-Mars
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria
  • Johann Strauss II: Cagliostro in Wien
Guadalupe Marín, Mexican model and novelist, second wife of Diego Rivera
  • Robert Xavier Rodriguez: Frida
Mark Antony, Roman politician and general
Auguste de Marmont
  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon
Martyrs of Compiègne, a group of French Carmelite nuns
  • Francis Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites
Saint Mary of Egypt, patron saint of penitents
  • Ottorino Respighi: Maria egiziaca
  • John Tavener: Mary of Egypt
Mary, Queen of Scots
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
  • Thea Musgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots
  • Louis Niedermeyer: Marie Stuart
Queen Mary I of England "Bloody Mary"
  • Antônio Carlos Gomes: Maria Tudor
  • Giovanni Pacini: Maria, regina d'Inghilterra
Mary Tudor, Queen of France, sister of Henry VIII, husband of Louis XII
  • André Messager: La Basoche
Masaniello, Neapolitan fisherman, revolutionary leader
Masinissa, first King of Numidia
Mata Hari, Dutch spy
  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: '
Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor
King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
  • Ferenc Erkel: Hunyadi László
Maurice, Elector of Saxony
  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V
Maurice de Saxe
  • Francesco Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur
  • Jacques Offenbach: Madame Favart
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius, aka Maximian, Roman ruler
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Fausta
Maximinian, co-Emperor of Rome
  • Henry Purcell: Dioclesian
Ivan Mazepa, Cossack hetman, military leader
Col. Robert R. McCormick, American newspaper publisher
  • Alexina Louie: '
Catherine de' Medici
  • George Onslow: Le duc de Guise
Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence
  • Fromental Halévy: Guido et Ginevra
Giuliano de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent
Lorenzo de' Medici, "Lorenzo the Magnificent", Italian statesman
  • Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Medici
Lorenzino de' Medici, Italian writer and assassin
  • Giovanni Pacini: Lorenzino de' Medici
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II
  • Gioachino Rossini: Maometto II
  • Gioachino Rossini: Le siège de Corinthe
Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov, Russian statesman
  • André Grétry: Pierre le Grand
Bartolomeo Merelli, Italian impresario and librettist
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Risorgimento!
Valeria Messalina, Roman Empress
  • Isidore de Lara: Messaline
Caecilia Metella Dalmatica, fourth wife of Lucius Cornelius Sulla
  • George Frideric Handel: Silla
Cornelia Metella, Pompey's second wife
  • George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare
Klemens Wenzel, Prince von Metternich
  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon
Harvey Milk, American politician and gay activist
  • Stewart Wallace: Harvey Milk
John Milton, English poet
  • Gaspare Spontini: Milton
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto, Scottish diplomat, Governor-General of India
  • Lennox Berkeley: Nelson
King Mithridates VI of Pontus
  • Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto
  • Alessandro Scarlatti: Mitridate Eupatore
  • Domènec Terradellas: Mitridate
Marina Mniszech, Polish noble and Russian political adventurer
  • Antonín Dvořák: Dimitrij
  • Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Moctezuma II, Aztec ruler
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: La Conquista
  • Carl Heinrich Graun: Montezuma
  • Henry Kimball Hadley: Azora, the Daughter of Montezuma
  • Josef Mysliveček: Motezuma
  • Wolfgang Rihm: Die Eroberung von Mexico
  • Antonio Sacchini: Montezuma
  • Roger Sessions: Montezuma
  • Antonio Vivaldi: Motezuma
  • Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli: Montesuma
King Mojmír II of Great Moravia
  • Eugen Suchoň: Svätopluk
Marilyn Monroe, American actress
Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola, Anglo-Italian condottiero
Thomas Moore, Irish poet, songwriter
Mordred, legendary Arthurian character
Thomas Morton, American colonist of New England
George Moscone, Mayor of San Francisco
Moses, biblical character
Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, Elizabethan figure
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer
Gaius Mucius Scaevola, Roman figure
Muhammad XII of Granada, aka Boabdil, last Nasrid ruler of Granada
Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada
Mila Mulroney, Canadian First Lady
  • Alexina Louie:
Ottoman Sultan Murad II
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish Baroque painter
  • Josep Soler i Sardà: Murillo
John Murray II, British publisher
Eadweard Muybridge, English pioneer photographer
Emperor Napoleon I of France
Emperor Napoleon II of France
Louis, comte de Narbonne-Lara
Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate and vandal
Nebuchadnezzar II, ruler of Babylon
Nefertiti, wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt
Adam Albert von Neipperg, Austrian general
Frances Nelson, Lady Nelson, wife of Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British admiral, naval hero
Emperor Nero of Rome
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Nitocris, Queen of Egypt, maybe legendary
  • Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini: Nitocri
Pat Nixon, American First Lady
  • John Adams: Nixon in China
Richard Nixon, American President
  • John Adams: Nixon in China
Rikard Nordraak, Norwegian composer
  • Edvard Grieg, arr. Robert Wright and George Forrest: Song of Norway
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English politician, uncle to two of Henry VIII’s wives
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English nobleman
  • Gioachino Rossini: Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
Rosaleen Norton, so-called "Witch of Kings Cross", Sydney occultist
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English admiral and statesman
J. F. Oberlin, Alsatian pastor, philanthropist
Empress Claudia Octavia of Rome, consort of Nero
Octavia the Younger, fourth wife of Mark Antony
King Olaf I Tryggvason of Norway
King Olaf II of Norway
Frank Olson, American biochemist
Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American First Lady, wife of John F. Kennedy, then of Aristotle Onassis
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist
Sallustia Orbiana, wife of Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome
Pylyp Orlyk, associate of Ivan Mazepa
Pier Francesco Orsini, Italian condottiero
Emperor Marcus Salvius Otho of Rome
María de Padilla, mistress and secret wife of Peter of Castile
Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer
Sarah Palin, American politician, Governor of Alaska, vice-presidential candidate
Papantzin, Aztec princess, sister of Moctezuma II
Johan Papegoja, Governor of New Sweden
Ely S. Parker, American Seneca native, Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist
Francisco Pelsaert, Dutch merchant, naval commander
Samuel Pepys, English diarist
Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland
Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Castilian nobleman, known as Guzmán el Bueno
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer
Pericles, Athenian statesman
Saint Peter, Christian apostle
King Peter III of Aragon, "Peter the Great"
King Peter of Castile, "Peter the Cruel"
Tsar Peter I "The Great" of Russia
Peter the Hermit, priest and leader of the First Crusade
Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Roman courtier, writer
Michele Pezza, Neapolitan guerilla leader, known as "Fra Diavolo"
King Pharnaces II of Pontus
Phidias, Greek sculptor
King Philip II of Spain
King Philip V of Spain
Gaspare Pisciotta, Sicilian peasant
Gaius Calpurnius Piso, Roman senator
Pope Pius IV
Sylvia Plath
Edgar Allan Poe, American writer
Poliziano, Italian renaissance poet, scholar
  • Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Medici
Marco Polo, Italian adventurer
  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo
Saint Polyeuctus
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Poliuto
  • Charles Gounod: Polyeucte
Lorenz Truchsess von Pommersfelden
  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler
Madame de Pompadour, French courtier, mistress of Louis XV
  • Leo Fall: Madame Pompadour
  • Edwin Penhorwood: Too Many Sopranos
Pompey the Great, Roman military and political leader
  • Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
Empress Poppaea Augusta Sabina, consort of Roman Emperors Nero and Otho
  • George Frideric Handel: Agrippina
  • Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
Lars Porsena, King of Etruria
  • Filippo Amadei, Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola
Porus, King of Paurava
  • George Frideric Handel: Poro
Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, death penalty abolitionist
  • Jake Heggie: Dead Man Walking
Přemysl, the Ploughman, first ruler of Bohemia
  • Tomaso Albinoni: Primislao, primo re di Boemia
John of Procida, Italian medieval physician and diplomat
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes
John Proctor, a tavern keeper in 17th century Massachusetts who was hanged for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials
  • Robert Ward: The Crucible
Chevalier de Prokesch-Osten
  • Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert: L'Aiglon
Marcel Proust, French novelist
  • Alfred Schnittke: Life with an Idiot
Pharaoh Ptolemy IX Lathyros of Egypt
  • George Frideric Handel: Tolomeo
Pharaoh Ptolemy XI Alexander II of Egypt
  • George Frideric Handel: Tolomeo
Publius Valerius Publicola, Roman consul
  • George Frideric Handel: Muzio Scevola
Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian pretender to the throne
  • César Cui: The Captain's Daughter
Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of unified China
  • Tan Dun: The First Emperor
Vasco de Quiroga''', member of the second Audiencia in Mexico and first bishop of Michoacán
Nikolay Raevsky, Russian general
Gilles de Rais, French soldier and serial killer of children
Elizabeth Raleigh, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh, English explorer and courtier
Raphael, Italian painter
Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic, confidant of Tsarina Alexandra
Rastislav of Moravia, second ruler of Moravia
Sir Richard Ratcliffe
John Aaron Rawlins, American general, Secretary of War
Stenka Razin, cossack leader
Nancy Reagan, US First Lady
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States
Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing, co-conspirator with Anckarström in the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden
Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, English noblewoman
King Richard I "Coeur de Lion" of England
King Richard II of England
King Richard III of England
Prince Richard
Rafael del Riego, Spanish general
Louis Riel, executed Canadian rebel
Cola di Rienzo, Roman tribune
Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet
Arthur Rimbaud, French poet
Diego Rivera, Mexican painter
King Robert I of Scotland, "Robert the Bruce"
Robert I, Duke of Normandy
Maximilien Robespierre, French revolutionary figure
Robin Hood
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English writer, libertine
Roderic, Visigothic King of Hispania
  • Alberto Ginastera: Don Rodrigo
King Roger II of Sicily
  • Karol Szymanowski: King Roger
Rogneda of Polotsk, consort of Vladimir I of Kiev
  • Alexander Serov: Rogneda
Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet
  • Antônio Carlos Gomes: Salvator Rosa
Gioachino Rossini
Roxana, wife of Alexander the Great
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II, Count Palatine of the Rhine
Paavo Ruotsalainen, Finnish farmer and lay preacher
Lillian Russell, American actress and singer
Rustichello da Pisa, Italian writer
Hans Sachs, German meistersinger
Oliver Sacks, British neurologist, writer
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French revolutionary figure
Ōtomo no Sakanoe no Iratsume, Japanese poet
Antonio Salieri, Italian-Austrian composer
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, Elizabethan minister
  • Benjamin Britten: Gloriana
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
Sappho, ancient Greek poet
  • Charles Gounod: Sapho
  • Giovanni Pacini: Saffo
Sardanapalus, king of Assyria
  • Giulio Alary: Sardanapale
  • Franz Liszt: Sardanapale
William Sargant, British psychiatrist
  • Evan Hause: Man: Biology of a Fall
David Sarnoff, American television pioneer
  • Evan Hause: The Birth and Theft of Television
Girolamo Savonarola, Florentine heretic and book-burner
  • Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Savonarola
Diane Sawyer, American television journalist
  • Curtis K. Hughes: Say It Ain't So, Joe
Sylvester von Schaumberg
  • Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler
Hans and Sophie Scholl, sibling co-founders of non-violent resistance movement The White Rose
  • Udo Zimmermann: Weiße Rose
Kurt Schwitters, German painter
  • Michael Nyman: '
Scipio Aemilianus, aka Scipio Africanus the Younger, Roman general, nephew and adopted son of Scipio Africanus the Elder
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126
Scipio Africanus, aka Scipio Africanus the Elder, Roman general
  • Joachim Albertini: Scipione Africano
  • Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano
  • George Frideric Handel: Scipione
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126
  • Antonio Sacchini: Scipione in Cartagena
King Sebastian of Portugal
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Dom Sébastien
Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria, founder of the Seleucid Empire
  • Étienne Méhul: Stratonice
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les fêtes de Polymnie
Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher, dramatist
  • Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass and others: '
  • Reinhard Keiser: Octavia
  • Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
Sesostris, legendary king of Egypt
  • Andrea Adolfati: Sesostri, re d'Egitto
  • Domènec Terradellas: Sesostri, re d'Egitto
Sextus Pompey, Roman general, son of Pompey the Great
  • Francesco Cavalli: Pompeo Magno
  • George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare
William Shakespeare, English playwright
  • Tan Dun: Marco Polo
  • Ambroise Thomas: Le songe d'une nuit d'été
Fyodor Shaklovity, Russian diplomat
  • Modest Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina
Andrey Shchelkalov, Russian administrator, official
  • Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English soldier
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, English statesman
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
  • Fromental Halévy: La Juive
George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, Albanian national hero
  • François Francoeur: Scanderbeg
  • Antonio Vivaldi: Scanderbeg
Bengt Skytte, Swedish official
  • Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: The Doomsday Prophets
Mark Smeaton, English courtier
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena
Anna Nicole Smith, American actress and model
  • Mark-Anthony Turnage: Anna Nicole
Scott Smith, American gay activist
  • Stewart Wallace: Harvey Milk
Dame Ethel Smyth, English composer
  • Roger Scruton: Violet
Socrates, Greek philosopher
  • Georg Philipp Telemann: Der geduldige Sokrates
Solon, Greek philosopher
  • Reinhard Keiser: Croesus
Sophonisba, Carthaginian noblewoman, daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco
  • Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini: La Sofonisba
  • Francesco Cavalli: Scipione affricano
Agnès Sorel, mistress of King Charles VII of France
  • César Cui: The Saracen
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Maid of Orleans
Sidney Souers, American admiral and intelligence expert
  • Evan Hause: Nightingale: The Last Days of James Forrestal
Edmund Spenser, English poet
  • Virgil Thomson: Lord Byron
Arthur Stace, Australian citizen who over 35 years chalked the word "Eternity" over 500,000 times on the footpaths of Sydney
  • Jonathan Mills: The Eternity Man
Stanisław I Leszczyński, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Un giorno di regno
Stateira, consort of Darius III of Persia
  • Francesco Cavalli: Statira principessa di Persia
Gertrude Stein, American writer
  • Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All
King Stephen I of Hungary
  • Ferenc Erkel: István király
Thaddeus Stevens, American politician
  • Virgil Thomson: The Mother of Us All
Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Frederic Hymen Cowen: Harold or the Norman Conquest
Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer
  • Friedrich von Flotow: Alessandro Stradella
  • Louis Niedermeyer: Stradella
  • at least 2 other operas
Stratonice, wife of Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria
  • Étienne Méhul: Stratonice
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les fêtes de Polymnie
Johann Strauss I, Viennese waltz composer
Johann Strauss II, Viennese waltz composer
Giuseppina Strepponi, operatic soprano
  • Lorenzo Ferrero: Risorgimento!
Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Croatian general
  • Ivan Zajc: Nikola Šubić Zrinjski
Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
  • Ernst Krenek: Karl V
Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman general and dictator
  • George Frideric Handel: Silla
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Lucio Silla
Louis Sullivan, American architect
  • Daron Hagen: Shining Brow
Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary leader
  • Huang Ruo: Dr. Sun Yat-sen
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English aristocrat, poet
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII
Ivan Susanin, Russian folk hero and martyr
  • Mikhail Glinka: A Life for the Tsar
King Svatopluk I of Great Moravia
King Svatopluk II of Great Moravia
Syphax, king of the Libyan tribe of Masaesyli
Erzsébet Szilágyi, Hungarian noblewoman, wife of János Hunyadi
Augusta Tabor, American philanthropist and first wife of Horace Tabor
Horace Tabor, American businessman, politician
Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian Catholic prelate
Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer
Eugene Talmadge, Governor of Georgia
Tamerlane: see Timur
Tancred, Prince of Galilee, Norman Crusade leader
Tannhäuser, Medieval German poet
Lucius Tarquinius, one of 3 kings of Rome
Sextus Tarquinius, son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, King of Rome
Torquato Tasso, Italian poet
John Taverner, 16th century English composer
Dame Elizabeth Taylor, British-US actress
William Tell, Swiss national hero
Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist
Beatrice di Tenda, Italian noblewoman
Saint Teresa of Ávila, Spanish mystic and theologian
Nikola Tesla, Croatian scientist
Themistocles, Athenian general and politician
James Thomson, Scottish poet
Virgil Thomson, American composer and critic
François Auguste de Thou, French magistrate
Thusnelda, wife of Arminius
Tigranes the Great, Emperor of Armenia
Timur, aka Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid dynasty
King Tiridates I of Armenia
Emperor Titus of Rome
Tiye, mother of Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt
Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist
Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae
Titus Manlius Torquatus, Roman dictator
François Leclerc du Tremblay, "Père Joseph", the original eminence grise
Georges de la Trémoille, French soldier, favourite of Charles VII
Olegas Truchanas, Lithuanian-Australian wilderness photographer
Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Harry S. Truman, American President
  • Evan Hause: Nightingale: The Last Days of James Forrestal
Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet
  • Nikolai Korndorf: MR
Harriet Tubman, American abolitionist and former slave
  • Thea Musgrave: Harriet, the Woman Called Moses
John Turner, Prime Minister of Canada
Wat Tyler, English leader of peasant revolution
Pope Urban VIII
Valdemar IV of Denmark, King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375
Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor
Martin van Buren, American President
Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer, brother of Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter
Publius Quinctilius Varus, Roman general
Tsar Vasily IV of Russia
Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer
Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter
Lucius Verus: see Vologases IV of Parthia
Micaela Villegas, "La Perricholi", Peruvian actress and singer
François Villon, French poet and vagabond
Francesc de Vinatea, Valencian nobleman, opposed to Alfonso IV of Aragon
Gaius Iulius Vindex, Roman general
Filippo Maria Visconti, ruler of Milan, husband of Beatrice di Tenda
Vladimir I, Grand Prince of Kiev
Vladimir III Igorevich, Prince of Putivl and Halych
Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince Galitsky, son of Yaroslav Osmomysl, Prince of Halych
Vologases IV of Parthia, king
Voltaire, French writer
Jacob Wallenberg, Swedish banker
Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat who rescued many Jews
Konrad von Wallenrode, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
Albrecht von Wallenstein, Bohemian military commander
Walther von der Vogelweide, Medieval German poet
Princess Wanda, legendary Polish queen
Andy Warhol, American artist
Daniel Webster, American statesman
Dan White, American politician, assassin of George Moscone and Harvey Milk
  • Stewart Wallace: Harvey Milk
George Hunter White, American CIA operative
  • Evan Hause: Man: Biology of a Fall
Patrick White, Australian novelist
  • Elena Kats-Chernin: Whiteley
Brett Whiteley, Australian painter
Wendy Whiteley, his muse and sometime wife
Arkie Whiteley, their daughter
  • Elena Kats-Chernin: Whiteley
Walt Whitman
  • Theodore Morrison: Oscar
Oscar Wilde, Irish writer
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
William the Conqueror
  • Frederic Hymen Cowen: Harold or the Norman Conquest
William the Silent
Sir Alfred Wills, English judge
Robert R. Wilson, American physicist
Władysław I the Elbow-high, King of Poland 1320-33
Wolfram von Eschenbach, Medieval German poet
Thomas Wolsey, English cardinal
Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect
Catherine "Kitty" Wright, American socialite, social worker, first wife of Frank Lloyd Wright
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka "Joe the Plumber", American plumber, television celebrity
Malcolm X, African-American human rights activist
King Xerxes I "The Great" of Persia
Xiphares, son of Mithridates VI of Pontus
Yaghi-Siyan, Governor of Antioch
Ōtomo no Yakamochi, Japanese poet, diplomat
Yaroslav I the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev
Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov, Russian general
Yuri II, Grand Prince of Vladimir
Emiliano Zapata, Mexican leader
Zeno, Byzantine emperor
Zenobia, Queen of the Palmyrene Empire
Zhou Enlai, Chinese political leader
Zoroaster
Venerable Zosimas of Palestine
Nikola Šubić Zrinski: see Šubić Zrinski