Graf Cagliostro is a comic opera

Comic opera

Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...

 in two acts by Mikael Tariverdiev

Mikael Tariverdiev

Mikael Tariverdiev |Georgia]] - 24 June 1996, Sochi, Russia) was a prominent Soviet composer of Armenian descent. He headed the Composers' Guild of Soviet Cinematographers' Union from its inception.-Biography:...

, written in 1981 to a libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Nikolai Kemarsky, after the tale of the same name by Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy.

Tolstoy's novella, based on the quack Cagliostro, was updated by composer and librettist so that it impinges on the modern world, (and uses modern musical style). Tariverdiev wrote:

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast (Conductor: - )
Praskovia Petrovna	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Cagliostro	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Alexei	tenor
Maria	soprano
Jan Lozhkin	tenor
Four generals	baritone and bass
Chorus of tourists, etc.

Recording

• Moscow Chamber Theatre, conducted by Vladimir Agronsky. Bomba Music, Russia 2003 (2 CDs)