1.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
2.
Antonio Vivaldi
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Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers and he composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons, many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, however, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldis arrival, and Vivaldi himself died less than a year later in poverty. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born in 1678 in Venice, then the capital of the Republic of Venice and he was baptized immediately after his birth at his home by the midwife, which led to a belief that his life was somehow in danger. Though not known for certain, the childs immediate baptism was most likely due either to his health or to an earthquake that shook the city that day. In the trauma of the earthquake, Vivaldis mother may have dedicated him to the priesthood, Vivaldis official church baptism took place two months later. Vivaldis parents were Giovanni Battista Vivaldi and Camilla Calicchio, as recorded in the register of San Giovanni in Bragora, Giovanni Battista, who was a barber before becoming a professional violinist, taught Antonio to play the violin and then toured Venice playing the violin with his young son. Antonio was probably taught at an age, judging by the extensive musical knowledge he had acquired by the age of 24. Giovanni Battista was one of the founders of the Sovvegno dei musicisti di Santa Cecilia, the president of the Sovvegno was Giovanni Legrenzi, an early Baroque composer and the maestro di cappella at St Marks Basilica. It is possible that Legrenzi gave the young Antonio his first lessons in composition, the Luxembourg scholar Walter Kolneder has discerned the influence of Legrenzis style in Vivaldis early liturgical work Laetatus sum, written in 1691 at the age of thirteen. His symptoms, strettezza di petto, have interpreted as a form of asthma. This did not prevent him from learning to play the violin, composing or taking part in musical activities, in 1693, at the age of fifteen, he began studying to become a priest. He was ordained in 1703, aged 25, and was nicknamed il Prete Rosso. Not long after his ordination, in 1704, he was given a dispensation from celebrating Mass because of his ill health, Vivaldi only said Mass as a priest a few times and appeared to have withdrawn from priestly duties, though he remained a priest. In September 1703, Vivaldi became maestro di violino at a called the Pio Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. While Vivaldi is most famous as a composer, he was regarded as an exceptional technical violinist as well, Vivaldi was only 25 when he started working at the Ospedale della Pietà
3.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
4.
Charles XII of Sweden
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Charles XII, also Carl, Latinized to Carolus Rex, was the King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a line of the House of Wittelsbach. Charles was the surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder. He assumed power, after a caretaker government, at the age of fifteen. Leading the Swedish army against the alliance Charles won multiple victories despite being usually significantly outnumbered, a major victory over a Russian army some three times the size in 1700 at the Battle of Narva compelled Peter the Great to sue for peace which Charles then rejected. Russia was now the remaining hostile power. The defeat was followed by Surrender at Perevolochna, two campaigns met with frustration and ultimate failure, concluding with his death at the Siege of Fredriksten in 1718. At the time, most of the Swedish Empire was under military occupation. This situation was later formalized, albeit moderated in the subsequent Treaty of Nystad, Charles was an exceptionally skilled military leader and tactician as well as an able politician, credited with introducing important tax and legal reforms. With the war consuming more than half his life and nearly all his reign, Charles, like all kings, was styled by a royal title, which combined all his titles into one single phrase. The fact that Charles was crowned as Charles XII does not mean that he was the 12th king of Sweden by that name, Swedish kings Erik XIV and Charles IX gave themselves numerals after studying a mythological history of Sweden. He was actually the 6th King Charles, the non-mathematic numbering tradition continues with the current King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, being counted as the equivalent of Charles XVI. In late 1699 Charles sent a detachment to reinforce his brother-in-law Duke Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp. A Saxon army simultaneously invaded Swedish Livonia and in February 1700 invested Riga, Russia also declared war, but stopped short of an attack on Swedish Ingria until September 1700. Leading a force of 8,000 and 43 ships in an invasion of Zealand, Charles rapidly compelled the Danes to submit to the Peace of Travendal in August 1700, Russia had opened their part of the war by invading the Swedish-held territories of Livonia and Estonia. Charles countered this by attacking the Russian besiegers at the Battle of Narva, the Russians outnumbered the Swedish army of ten thousand men by almost four to one. Charles attacked under cover of a blizzard, effectively split the Russian army in two and won the battle, many of Peters troops who fled the battlefield drowned in the Narva River. The total number of Russian fatalities reached about 10,000 at the end of the battle, while the Swedish forces lost 667 men, Charles did not pursue the Russian army
5.
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Bachs compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor and his music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth. He is now regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. Bach was born in Eisenach, in the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach and his father Johann Ambrosius Bach was the director of the town musicians, and all of his uncles were professional musicians. His father probably taught him to play the violin and harpsichord, apparently at his own initiative, Bach attended St. Michaels School in Lüneburg for two years. He received the title of Royal Court Composer from Augustus III in 1736, Bachs health and vision declined in 1749, and he died on 28 July 1750. Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, the capital of the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany and he was the son of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town musicians, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. He was the eighth and youngest child of Johann Ambrosius, who taught him violin. His uncles were all musicians, whose posts included church organists, court chamber musicians. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, introduced him to the organ, Bachs mother died in 1694, and his father died eight months later. The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach, there he studied, performed, and copied music, including his own brothers, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were so valuable and private and blank ledger paper of that type was costly. He received valuable teaching from his brother, who instructed him on the clavichord, also during this time he was taught theology, Latin, Greek, French and Italian at the local gymnasium. By 3 April 1700 Bach and his schoolfriend Georg Erdmann–who was two years Bachs elder–were enrolled in the prestigious St. Michaels School in Lüneburg, some two weeks travel north of Ohrdruf and their journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot. His two years there were critical in exposing Bach to a range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the Schools three-manual organ and he came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany, sent to the highly selective school to prepare for careers in other disciplines. While in Lüneburg, Bach had access to St. Johns Church and possibly used the famous organ from 1553. His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties, despite strong family connections and a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and the authorities after several years in the post. Bach was dissatisfied with the standard of singers in the choir and he called one of them a Zippel Fagottist
6.
1704 in architecture
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The year 1704 in architecture involved some significant events. English architect and dramatist John Vanbrugh Is commissioned to begin Blenheim Palace, new Schleissheim Palace near Munich in Bavaria, designed by Enrico Zuccalli, is completed. Cound Hall, Shropshire, England, designed by John Prince or Price, is completed, burgh House, Hampstead, London is built. Church of the Ascension, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, hirado Castle in Nagasaki is begun by Shigenobu Matsura, 29th lord of the Matsura clan. March 6 - Isaac Ware, English architect August 26 - John Wood, the Elder, English architect working in Bath Paolo Falconieri, Florentine architect, painter and mathematician
7.
Carl Heinrich Graun
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Carl Heinrich Graun was a German composer and tenor singer. Along with Johann Adolph Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time, Graun was born in Wahrenbrück in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1714, he followed his brother, Johann Gottlieb Graun, to the school of the Kreuzkirche, Dresden, and sang in the Dresdner Kreuzchor and he studied singing with Christian Petzold and composition with Johann Christoph Schmidt. In 1724, Graun moved to Braunschweig, singing at the opera house and he was Kapellmeister to Frederick the Great from his ascension to the throne in 1740 until Grauns death nineteen years later in Berlin. Graun wrote a number of operas and his opera Cesare e Cleopatra inaugurated the opening of the Berlin State Opera in 1742. Montezuma was written to a libretto by King Frederick and his works are rarely played today, though his passion cantata Der Tod Jesu was frequently performed in Germany for many years after his death. His other works include concertos and trio sonatas and he married twice and had a daughter, who became a singer, from his first marriage and four sons from his second. His great-great-great-great-grandson, Vladimir Nabokov, became an eminent 20th-century novelist, grubbs, The Sacred Choral Music of the Graun Brothers,1972 Graun, Carl Heinrich by E. Eugene Helm, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Encyclopædia Britannica
8.
Domenico Scarlatti
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Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. Like his renowned father Alessandro Scarlatti, he composed in a variety of musical forms, Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, belonging to Spanish Crown, in 1685, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. He was the sixth of ten children of the composer and teacher Alessandro Scarlatti, domenicos older brother Pietro Filippo was also a musician. He probably first studied music under his father, other composers who may have been his early teachers include Gaetano Greco, Francesco Gasparini, and Bernardo Pasquini, all of whom may have influenced his musical style. He was appointed as composer and organist at the chapel in Naples in 1701. In 1704, he revised Carlo Francesco Pollarolos opera Irene for performance at Naples, soon afterwards, his father sent him to Venice. After this, nothing is known of Scarlattis life until 1709, later in life, he was known to cross himself in veneration when speaking of Handels skill. In Rome, Scarlatti composed several operas for Queen Casimires private theatre and he was Maestro Di Cappella at St. Peters from 1715 to 1719. In 1719 he travelled to London to direct his opera Narciso at the Kings Theatre, according to Vicente Bicchi, Domenico Scarlatti arrived in Lisbon on 29 November 1719. There he taught music to the Portuguese princess Maria Magdalena Barbara and he left Lisbon on 28 January 1727 for Rome, where he married Maria Caterina Gentili on 6 May 1728. In 1729 he moved to Seville, staying for four years, in 1733 he went to Madrid as music master to Princess Maria Barbara, who had married into the Spanish royal house. The Princess later became Queen of Spain, Scarlatti remained in the country for the remaining twenty-five years of his life, and had five children there. After the death of his first wife in 1742, he married a Spaniard, among his compositions during his time in Madrid were a number of the 555 keyboard sonatas for which he is best known. Scarlatti befriended the castrato singer Farinelli, a fellow Neapolitan also enjoying royal patronage in Madrid, the musicologist and harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick commented that Farinellis correspondence provides most of the direct information about Scarlatti that has transmitted itself to our day. Domenico Scarlatti died in Madrid, at the age of 71 and his residence on Calle Leganitos is designated with a historical plaque, and his descendants still live in Madrid. He was buried at a convent there, in Madrid, only a small fraction of Scarlattis compositions were published during his lifetime, Scarlatti himself seems to have overseen the publication in 1738 of the most famous collection, his 30 Essercizi. These were well received throughout Europe, and were championed by the foremost English writer on music of the eighteenth century, the many sonatas which were unpublished during Scarlattis lifetime have appeared in print irregularly in the two and a half centuries since. Scarlattis 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in form, and some in early sonata form
9.
Johann Christoph Pepusch
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Johann Christoph Pepusch, also known as John Christopher Pepusch and Dr Pepusch, was a German-born composer who spent most of his working life in England. At the age of 14, he was appointed to the Prussian court, about 1700, he settled in England where he was one of the founders, in 1726, of The Academy of Vocal Music, which around 1730/1 was renamed The Academy of Ancient Music. Pepusch remained Director of the Academy until his death in 1752, during a period of twenty years, Pepusch directed the musical establishment at Cannons, a large house northwest of London. For a couple of years he worked alongside George Frideric Handel - in 1717/18 both men were employed there by James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos
10.
Reinhard Keiser
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Reinhard Keiser was a popular German opera composer based in Hamburg. He wrote over a hundred operas, Johann Adolf Scheibe considered him an equal to Johann Kuhnau, George Frideric Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann, but his work was largely forgotten for many decades. This was a period for him – composing not only operas. He helped transition opera from the mid-Baroque to the late-Baroque, early in 1704, when he was conducting the operas Nebukadnezar and Salomon in Hamburg, the season had to be unexpectedly concluded, for reasons most likely related to government affairs. He went to Brunswick, and afterward Weissenfels, to reconnect with areas in which he was previously active and he ended up coming out with a masterpiece, Almira, at Weissenfels, in July. He stayed there for a while, spending many holidays there, eventually heading back to Hamburg shortly after Easter in 1705, to produce a comeback to Händels Nero, produced in February 1705. Keiser would have to face Händel again, but this time he would be at home, Hendel would put on what was planned as a double opera, but was in fact two, Florindo, and Daphne, he did that in January 1708, coming back from Italy. In 1718, with the Hamburg Opera defunct, he left Hamburg to seek employment, going to Thuringia. From this period three manuscripts of trio sonatas for flute, violin and basso continuo survive, between 1721 and 1727, Keiser traveled back and forth between Hamburg and Copenhagen, receiving the title of Master of the Danish Royal Chapel. After the dissolution of the troop, Keiser returned once more to Hamburg. Three operas from the period between 1722 and 1734 survive, personal relations with Telemann remained good, with Telemann programming several productions of Keisers operas. In 1728 he became the St. Marys Cathedral precentor of Hamburg, in an obituary, his colleague Johann Mattheson described him as the greatest opera composer in the world. Lukas-Passion Wir gingen all in der Irre, Hamburg Seelige / Erlösungs-Gedancken / Aus dem / Oratorio / Der / Zum Tode verurtheilte und gecreutzigte / Jesus, Hamburg, Auf Unkosten des Autoris, und zu finden bey seel. Benjamin Schillers Wittwe im Thum / Anno 1715, Hamburg - Revision of Thränen unter dem Kreutze Jesu Der siegende David. Sources The Reinhard Keiser Society This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Free scores by Reinhard Keiser at the International Music Score Library Project Free scores by Reinhard Keiser in the Choral Public Domain Library
11.
Christian Friedrich Hunold
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Christian Friedrich Hunold was a German author who wrote under the pseudonym Menantes. Hunold went to school in Arnstadt and continued in 1691 at the Gymnasium Illustre Augusteum in Weißenfels until 1698, from 1698 until winter 1699/1700 he studied law and languages at the University of Jena. His first novel, Die Verliebte und Galante Welt, was an instant success, the publication of his novel Satyrischer Roman in 1706 caused a scandal. Hunold moved to Halle and held private seminars, the second part of Satyrischer Roman was published in Stade by Hinrich Brummer in 1710. Hunold continued his own studies and graduated in 1714 in law and he died 6 August 1721 in Halle of tuberculosis. A biography of him by Benjamin Wedel was published in 1731 including some of his letters, Hunold wrote the libretto Der blutige und sterbende Jesus, set by Reinhard Keiser in 1704, an early Protestant Passion oratorio. Hunold appears to have known Bach, and in Halle he wrote texts for Bach cantatas which were performed at the court of Leopold, with the partial exception of Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen, BWV Anh. 5, which religious themes, these were secular works. This collaboration between Bach and Hunold lasted from 1718 to 1720 after which year the composer found another librettist for his series of congratulatory cantatas. After the poet had died Bach returned to his work as the basis for the cantata Ich bin in mir vergnügt, Wedel,1706 Benjamin Wedel, Geheime Nachrichten und Briefe von Herrn Menantes Leben und Schriften. Cöln 1731 Hans Schröder, Lexikon der hamburgischen Schriftsteller bis zur Gegenwart, perthes-Besser u. Mauke, Hamburg 1851–1883 Herbert Singer, Der galante Roman. Herbert Singer, Der deutsche Roman zwischen Barock und Rokoko, hiersemann, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-7772-9105-6, p. 2184–2213 Jens-Fietje Dwars, Leben und Werk des vormals berühmten Christian Friedrich Hunold alias Menantes. Quartus-Verlag, Bucha 2005, ISBN 3-931505-74-X Cornelia Hobohm, Menantes, ein Dichterleben zwischen Barock und Aufklärung. Amsterdam / New York 2008, p. 325–355, biography Christian Friedrich Hunold Hunolds works at Gutenberg
