Dear All, There are a lot of opera composers who composed one or two
insignificant symphonies.

Wagner comes to mind for his one symphony and I guess Bizet as well
although the Bizet is certainly played far more often on the radio.

Strauss comes to mind with his two symphonies, like the Wagner rarely
played.

Then there are the symphony composers who composed one opera.

Beethoven of course first and foremost and I would neither deem his one
opera (in two great versions) insignificant nor would I limit him to
being a symphony composer.

My question really concerns what composers are deemed equally great as
both opera and symphonic composers.

To me two absolutely fit this category: Berlioz and Chaikovsky (I used
Richard Taruskin's intelligent English orthography).

Prokofiev might come to mind but alas I only know two of his symphonies
(5 and 6) and none of his operas although a DVD of War and Peace is on
my short list.

He, like Chaikovsky, is also famed for his ballets.

There are many others if I wanted to start going through a catalogue but
I will leave this to the collective wisdom of the list.

Looking forward to your replies.

Ciao,
Yoel