1.
Singspiel
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A Singspiel is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, Singspiel plots are generally comic or romantic in nature, and frequently include elements of magic, fantastical creatures, and comically exaggerated characterizations of good and evil. Some of the first Singspiele were miracle plays in Germany, where dialogue was interspersed with singing, in the 18th century, some Singspiele were translations of English ballad operas. In 1736, the Prussian ambassador to England commissioned a translation of the ballad opera The Devil to Pay and this was successfully performed in the 1740s in Hamburg and Leipzig. French operas with dialogue were frequently transcribed into the German and became very successful in Vienna in the late 1770s. By contrast, German translations of contemporary Italian opere buffe, which were successful in England. Mozart wrote several Singspiele, Zaide, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Der Schauspieldirektor, in 1927, Kurt Weill created a new word, Songspiel, to describe his work Mahagonny-Songspiel. Notes Sources Barbara Russano Hanning, Donald Jay Grout, Concise History of Western Music, grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Singspiel. Media related to Singspiele at Wikimedia Commons
2.
Josepha Hofer
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Josepha Weber was a German soprano of the classical era. She was a sister-in-law of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the first to perform the role of The Queen of the Night in Mozarts opera The Magic Flute and she was born in Zell im Wiesental, in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the daughter of Fridolin Weber. She had three sisters, Aloysia, who was an early love interest of Mozart and sang in his later operas, Constanze, who married Mozart in 1782. The composer Carl Maria von Weber was the son of her fathers half brother, josepha grew up mostly in Mannheim, and moved with her family first to Munich then to Vienna, following the singing career of her sister Aloysia. By 1789 she was the prima donna in the troupe run by Johann Friedel at the suburban Theater auf der Wieden. Following Friedels death in that year, the theater was taken over by Emanuel Schikaneder, at the premiere of The Magic Flute in 1791, Hofer took the role of the Queen of the Night, a famously demanding coloratura part. She continued to perform this role until 1801, when she relinquished it at age 43 and she was again the Queen of the Night in Schikaneder and Winters sequel to The Magic Flute, Das Labyrinth oder der Kampf mit den Elementen. She was also the first to perform the role of Oberon in Paul Wranitzky’s opera and her first husband was the musician Franz de Paula Hofer. Hofer was employed as a violinist at the Imperial court and her second husband was the singer Sebastian Meier. Meier was the first to perform the role of Pizarro in Beethovens opera Fidelio, josepha Meier retired from singing in 1805, and died in Vienna on December 29,1819. Of her singing, the New Grove says, According to contemporary reports, she commanded a high tessitura but had a rough edge to her voice. The former quality equipped her to take on the very difficult coloratura passages that Mozart wrote into the Queen of the Nights part, except as indicated by footnote all information above is taken from the article Weber, in the online edition of Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press Buch, David Der Stein der Weisen, ISBN 0-89579-616-3 Deutsch, Otto Erich Mozart, A Documentary Biography. Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press Der Zauberfloete zweyter Theil unter dem Titel, hrsg. von Manuela Jahrmärker und Till Gerrit Waidelich, Tutzing 1992, ISBN 3-7952-0694-4 Oberon, König der Elfen. Singspiel in drei Akten von Paul Wranitzky, hrsg. von Christoph-Hellmut Mahling und Joachim Veit
3.
Emanuel Schikaneder
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Emanuel Schikaneder, born Johann Joseph Schickeneder, was a German impresario, dramatist, actor, singer and composer. He wrote the libretto of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts opera The Magic Flute and was the builder of the Theater an der Wien, Branscombe called him one of the most talented theatre men of his era. Schikaneder was born in Straubing in Bavaria to Joseph Schickeneder and Juliana Schiessl, both of his parents worked as domestic servants and were extremely poor. They had a total of four children, Urban, Johann Joseph, Emanuel, Schikaneders father died shortly after Marias birth, at which time his mother returned to Regensburg, making a living selling religious articles from a wooden shed adjacent to the local cathedral. Schikaneder received his education at a Jesuit school in Regensburg as well as training in the cathedral as a singer. As a young adult he began to pursue his career in the theater, appearing with Andreas Schopfs theatrical troupe around 1773 and performing opera, farce, Schikaneder danced at a court ballet in Innsbruck in 1774, and the following year his Singspiel Die Lyranten was debuted there. This was a success, and was performed frequently in the following years. Schikaneder was the librettist, composer, and principal singer, a versatility he would continue to exhibit throughout his career, Schikaneder married on 9 February 1777. His wife, called Eleonore, was born Maria Magdalena Arth in 1751 and was the actress in the Schopf company. Schikaneder was frequently unfaithful to her, the 1779 baptismal records for Augsburg record two children born to him out of wedlock—each to different mothers, Eleonore played an important role in Schikaneders career, particularly in inviting him in 1788 to join her at the Theater auf der Wieden. In 1777 Schikaneder performed the role of Hamlet in Munich to general acclaim, in the same year, he and Eleonore joined the theatrical troupe of Joseph Moser in Nuremberg Following the death of his wife, Moser handed over the management of his troupe to Schikaneder in 1778. In the fall of 1780, the Schikaneder troupe made a stay in Salzburg. The Mozart family at the time consisted of father Leopold, Nannerl, the Mozarts rarely missed his shows, and invited Schikaneder to Sunday sessions of Bölzlschiessen, their favorite family sport. The composition was intended for Schikaneders production of Die zwey schlaflosen Nächte by August Werthes, from November 1784 to February 1785, Schikaneder collaborated with theater director Hubert Kumpf for a series of performances at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. He had been invited to do so by the Emperor Joseph II, the Vienna run was admired by critics and attracted large audiences, often including the Emperor and his court. Schikaneder and Kumpf opened their season with a revival of Mozarts Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Joseph Haydns La fedeltà premiata was also performed by the troupe. Works of spoken drama were of interest for their political content, the Austrian Empire at the time was governed by the system of hereditary aristocracy, which was falling under increasing criticism as the values of the Enlightenment spread. Schikaneder put on a comedy entitled Der Fremde which included a character named Baron Seltenreich who was a caricature of a scheming windbag of the Viennese aristocracy
4.
Composer
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A composer is a person who creates or writes music, which can be vocal music, instrumental music or music which combines both instruments and voices. The core meaning of the term refers to individuals who have contributed to the tradition of Western classical music through creation of works expressed in written musical notation, many composers are also skilled performers, either as singers, instrumentalists, and/or conductors. Examples of composers who are well known for their ability as performers include J. S. Bach, Mozart. In many popular genres, such as rock and country. For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has previously composed and notated is termed interpretation. Different performers interpretations of the work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others, although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st century, a culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composers written intention came to be highly valued. This musical culture is almost certainly related to the esteem in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers. The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise. In Classical music, the composer typically orchestrates her own compositions, in some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and instead compose the song in her mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music. In the development of European classical music, the function of composing music initially did not have greater importance than that of performing it. The preservation of individual compositions did not receive attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In as much as the role of the composer in western art music has seen continued solidification, for instance, in certain contexts the line between composer and performer, sound designer, arranger, producer, and other roles, can be quite blurred. The term composer is often used to refer to composers of music, such as those found in classical, jazz or other forms of art. In popular and folk music, the composer is usually called a songwriter and this is distinct from a 19th-century conception of instrumental composition, where the work was represented solely by a musical score to be interpreted by performers
5.
Tenor
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Tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is one of the highest of the male voice types. The tenors vocal range lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, and A4, the A above middle C, in solo work, this range extends up to C5, or tenor high C. The low extreme for tenors is roughly A♭2, at the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to two Fs above middle C. The tenor voice type is divided into the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor. The name tenor derives from the Latin word tenere, which means to hold, in medieval and Renaissance polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the tenor was the structurally fundamental voice, vocal or instrumental. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, until the late 16th century introduction of the contratenor singers, the tenor was usually the highest voice, assuming the role of providing a foundation. It was also in the 18th century that tenor came to signify the male voice that sang such parts, thus, for earlier repertoire, a line marked tenor indicated the parts role, and not the required voice type. Indeed, even as late as the century, partbooks labelled tenor might contain parts for a range of voice types. The vocal range of the tenor is one of the highest of the voice types. Within opera, the lowest note in the tenor repertoire is probably A♭2 in Rossinis rarely performed La donna del lago in the role of Rodrigo di Dhu. Within more frequently performed repertoire, Mime and Herod both call for an A2, a few tenor roles in the standard repertoire call for a tenor C. Some of the few top Cs in the operatic repertoire are either optional or interpolated by tradition. However, the highest demanded note in the standard operatic repertoire is D5. Some operatic roles for tenors require a darker timbre and fewer high notes, in the leggero repertoire, the highest note is F5, therefore, very few tenors can, given the raising of concert pitch since its composition, have this role in their repertoire without transposition. Within the tenor voice type category are seven generally recognized subcategories, leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, Mozart tenor, Also known as the tenore di grazia, the leggero tenor is essentially the male equivalent of a lyric coloratura. This voice is light, agile, and capable of executing difficult passages of fioritura, the typical leggero tenor possesses a range spanning from approximately C3 to E♭5, with a few being able to sing up to F5 or higher in full voice. In some cases, the chest register of the leggero tenor may extend below C3, voices of this type are utilized frequently in the operas of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and in music dating from the Baroque period. Leggero tenor roles in operas, The lyric tenor is a warm voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy
6.
Classical period (music)
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The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about the year 1730 and the year 1820. This article is about the period in most of the 18th century to the early 19th century, though overlapping with the Baroque. The Classical period falls between the Baroque and the Romantic periods, Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic, using a melody line over a subordinate chordal accompaniment. It also makes use of style galant which emphasized light elegance in place of the Baroques dignified seriousness, variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced than before and the orchestra increased in size, range, and power. The harpsichord was replaced as the keyboard instrument by the piano. Instrumental music was considered important by Classical period composers, vocal music, such as songs for a singer and piano, choral works, and opera were also important during this period. Ludwig van Beethoven is regarded either as a Romantic composer or a Classical period composer who was part of the transition to the Romantic era, Franz Schubert is also a transitional figure, as were Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Luigi Cherubini, and Carl Maria von Weber. The period is referred to as the era of Viennese Classic or Classicism, since Gluck, Mozart, Haydn, Salieri. In the middle of the 18th century, Europe began to move toward a new style in architecture, literature, and this style sought to emulate the ideals of Classical antiquity, especially those of Classical Greece. Classical music was still linked to aristocratic Court culture and supported by absolute monarchies. Classical music used formality and emphasis on order and hierarchy, in contrast with the richly layered music of the Baroque era, Classical music moved towards simplicity rather than complexity. In addition, the size of orchestras began to increase. The remarkable development of ideas in natural philosophy had already established itself in the public consciousness, in particular, Newtons physics was taken as a paradigm, structures should be well-founded in axioms and be both well-articulated and orderly. This move meant that chords became a more prevalent feature of music. As a result, the structure of a piece of music became more audible. The new style was encouraged by changes in the economic order. As the 18th century progressed, the nobility became the patrons of instrumental music, while public taste increasingly preferred lighter
7.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, he showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, while visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame, during his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons and he composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote, posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl and this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy and his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Ruperts Cathedral in Salzburg, the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself Wolfgang Amadè Mozart as an adult, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, Germany, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg, Leopold became the orchestras deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his sons birth, Leopold published a textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Nannerl was 7, she began lessons with her father. Years later, after her brothers death, she reminisced, He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, he was composing little pieces
8.
The Magic Flute
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The Magic Flute, K.620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneders theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the hand of his female companion Papagena. The opera was the culmination of a period of increasing involvement by Mozart with Schikaneders theatrical troupe, Mozart was a close friend of one of the singer-composers of the troupe, tenor Benedikt Schack, and had contributed to the compositions of the troupe, which were often collaboratively written. Mozarts participation increased with his contributions to the 1790 collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen, like The Magic Flute, Der Stein der Weisen was a fairy-tale opera and can be considered a kind of precursor, it employed much the same cast in similar roles. The libretto for The Magic Flute, written by Schikaneder, is thought by scholars to be based on many sources, especially for the role of Papageno, the libretto draws on the Hanswurst tradition of the Viennese popular theatre. Many scholars also acknowledge an influence of Freemasonry, for detailed discussion of sources see Branscombe, as well as Libretto of The Magic Flute. In composing the opera, Mozart evidently kept in mind the skills of the intended for the premiere. Thus, the lines for Papageno—sung by Schikaneder himself—and Monostatos are often stated first in the strings so the singer can find his pitch. In contrast, Mozarts sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, who premiered the role of the Queen of the Night, evidently needed little such help, in ensembles, Mozart skillfully combined voices of different ability levels. The vocal ranges of two of the singers for whom Mozart tailored his music have posed challenges for many singers who have since recreated their roles. Both arias of the Queen of the Night, O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn and Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen require high F6, rare in opera. At the low end, the part of Sarastro, premiered by Franz Xaver Gerl, the opera was premiered in Vienna on 30 September 1791 at the suburban Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart conducted the orchestra, Schikaneder himself played Papageno, while the role of the Queen of the Night was sung by Mozarts sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, as Mozarts letters show, he was very pleased to have achieved such a success. Solomon continues, Mozarts delight is reflected in his last three letters, written to Constanze, who with her sister Sophie was spending the week of October in Baden. I have this moment returned from the opera, which was as full as ever, he wrote on 7 October, but what always gives me the most pleasure is the silent approval. You can see how this opera is becoming more and more esteemed, … He went to hear his opera almost every night, taking along relatives
9.
Bohemia
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Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the present-day Czech Republic. Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia, later an independent principality, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, after World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945, border regions with sizeable German-speaking minorities of all three Czech lands were joined to Nazi Germany as the Sudetenland, in 1990, the name was changed to the Czech Republic, which become a separate state in 1993 with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Until 1948, Bohemia was a unit of Czechoslovakia as one of its lands. Bohemia was bordered in the south by Upper and Lower Austria, in the west by Bavaria and in the north by Saxony and Lusatia, in the northeast by Silesia, and in the east by Moravia. In the 2nd century BC, the Romans were competing for dominance in northern Italy, the Romans defeated the Boii at the Battle of Placentia and the Battle of Mutina. After this, many of the Boii retreated north across the Alps, much later Roman authors refer to the area they had once occupied as Boiohaemum. The earliest mention was by Tacitus Germania 28, and later mentions of the name are in Strabo. The name appears to include the tribal name Boi- plus the Germanic element *haimaz home and this Boiohaemum was apparently isolated to the area where King Marobods kingdom was centred, within the Hercynian forest. The Czech name Čechy is derived from the name of the Slavic ethnic group, the Czechs, Bohemia, like neighbouring Bavaria, is named after the Boii, who were a large Celtic nation known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the Helvetii into southern France, to the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast in Hungaria, were Sarmatian peoples. In the area of modern Bohemia the Marcomanni and other Suebic groups were led by their king Marobodus and he took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. In late classical times and the early Middle Ages, two new Suebic groupings appeared to the west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the Alemanni, many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westwards, even settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the Vandals, other groups pushed southwards towards Pannonia. These are precursors of todays Czechs, though the amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx was divided into two or three waves, the first wave came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic Lombards left Bohemia. Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by Samos tribal confederation and his death marked the end of the old Slavonic confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after Carantania in Carinthia. Other sources divide the population of Bohemia at this time into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare, Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but only became dominant much later, in the 10th or 11th century
