For me, it would have to be something nice, but not so interesting that I want to stay awake (Ariadne auf Naxos). Or something I’ve heard a million times (The Magic Flute).
Beethoven has always been calming for me, so maybe Fidelio too.
If you’re looking for beautiful music, maybe Tosca or Rusalka.
There are others that I wouldn’t necessarily fall asleep to, like Don Carlo, Pagliacci, Rigoletto, or La Traviata. This is a pretty good list of some of the best known operas.
You get told it’s just pneumonia, but it keeps coming back for years.
Eventually someone figures it out and says you have mesothelioma. You travel the country for a few years, looking for treatment wherever you can. It costs everything you have.
Somewhere along the way, you have to put down $120,000 in cash for a surgery that gives you a few more years. But your last years are still mostly pain and exhaustion.
I wish my uncle hadn’t died the way he did.