Cross-dressing Research

A brief chronological list of male opera roles sung from the beginning by women.  The purpose of this seems to be to make the character seem youthful.  Since I first posted this, it has acquired a few roles where the character is female but the singer is a man.

role	opera	composer	Fach
Lenia	Eliogabalo	Cavalli	tenor
Ottone	Agrippina	Handel	contralto
Sesto	Giulio Cesare	Handel	soprano
L'Amour	Les Indes Galantes	Rameau	soprano
Bellone	Les Indes Galantes	Rameau	baritone
Platée	Platée	Rameau	haute-contre
Sesto	La clemenza di Tito	Gluck	mezzo-soprano
Amore	Orfeo ed Euridice	Gluck	soprano
Cherubino	Nozze di Figaro	Mozart	mezzo-soprano
Annio	La clemenza di Tito	Mozart	mezzo-soprano
Tancredi	Tancredi	Rossini	mezzo-soprano
Roggiero	Tancredi	Rossini	mezzo-soprano
Ottone	Adelaide di Borgogna	Rossini	contralto
Malcolm	La Donna del Lago	Rossini	mezzo-soprano
Arsace	Semiramide	Rossini	contralto
Puck	Oberon	Weber	contralto
Isolier	Le comte Ory	Rossini	mezzo-soprano
Jemmy	William Tell	Rossini	soprano
Romeo	I Capuletti e I Montecchi	Bellini	mezzo-soprano
Smeton	Anna Bolena	Donizetti	mezzo-soprano
Maffio Orsini	Lucrezia Borgia	Donizetti	contralto
Vanya	A Life for the Tsar	Glinka	contralto
Urbain	Les Huguenots	Meyerbeer	mezzo-soprano
Ascanio	Benvenuto Cellini	Berlioz	mezzo-soprano
Pierroto (?)	Linda di Chamounix	Donizetti	contralto
Ratmir	Russlan and Ludmilla	Glinka	contralto
Adriano	Rienzi	Wagner	mezzo-soprano
The Shepherd	Tannhäuser	Wagner	soprano
Siebel	Faust	Gounod	mezzo-soprano
Oscar	Ballo in Maschera	Verdi	soprano
Stephano	Romeo and Juliet	Gounod	soprano
Tibaldo	Don Carlo	Verdi	soprano
Fyodor	Boris Godunov	Mussorgsky	mezzo-soprano
Orlofsky	Fledermaus	Strauss, J	mezzo-soprano
Nicklausse	Tales of Hoffmann	Offenbach	mezzo-soprano
Walter	La Wally	Catalani	soprano
Hansel	Hänsel und Gretel	Humperdinck	mezzo-soprano
The Sand-Man	Hänsel und Gretel	Humperdinck	soprano
The Dew-Man	Hänsel und Gretel	Humperdinck	soprano
Cricket	Cricket on the Hearth	Goldmark	soprano
Le Prince Charmant	Cendrillon	Massenet	soprano/tenor
The Kitchen Boy	Rusalka	Dvořák	soprano
Yniold	Pelleas et Melisande	Debussy	soprano
Page	Salome	Strauss	contralto
Chérubin	Chérubin	Massenet	mezzo-soprano
Octavian	Rosenkavalier	Strauss	mezzo-soprano
The Composer	Ariadne auf Naxos	Strauss	mezzo-soprano
Aljeja, a young Tartar	From the House of the Dead	Janáček	mezzo-soprano
Cherubino	Ghosts of Versailles	Corigliano	mezzo-soprano
Ariel	The Tempest	Ades	soprano
Pilgrim	L'Amour de Loin	Saariaho	mezzo-soprano
Pip	Moby Dick	Heggie	soprano

The list isn't intended to be complete but instead tries to show how this spans all eras and nationalities of opera.  Nicklausse in Conte d'Hoffmann is a special case, since the character represents both Hoffmann's female muse and male friend.  There is another list at least this long of roles originally sung by castrati, but the date range is earlier.