 At least 27 operas have been based on Romeo and Juliet . The earliest , Romeo und Julie in 1776 , a Singspiel by Georg Benda , omits much of the action of the play and most of its characters , and has a happy ending . It is occasionally revived . The best @-@ known is Gounod 's 1867 Roméo et Juliette ( libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré ) , a critical triumph when first performed and frequently revived today . Bellini 's I <unk> e i <unk> is also revived from time to time , but has sometimes been judged unfavourably because of its perceived liberties with Shakespeare ; however , Bellini and his librettist , Felice Romani , worked from Italian sources — principally Romani 's libretto for Giulietta e Romeo by Nicola <unk> — rather than directly adapting Shakespeare 's play . Among later operas there is Heinrich <unk> 's 1940 work Romeo und Julia . 
