1.
List of works for the stage by Wagner
–
Richard Wagners works for the stage, representing more than 50 years of creative life, comprise his 13 completed operas and a similar number of failed or abandoned projects. His first effort, begun when he was 13, was a drama, Leubald. Wagners musical education began in 1828, and a later he was producing his earliest compositions, writing words and music, since lost, for his first opera attempt. During the subsequent decade he began several opera projects, none of which was successful although two were completed and one was staged professionally. After accepting the post of Kapellmeister at the Dresden court of the King of Saxony in February 1843, Wagner continued to compose operas and his political activities forced him to flee the city in 1849, beginning a long period of exile. In Zurich, his first refuge, he wrote the essay Die Kunst und die Revolution, in which he introduced the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk and this idea was developed in the extended discourse Oper und Drama, 1850–51. According to Wagner historian Robert Gutman, The orchestra with its many tongues would take over the traditional operatic tasks of the chorus, from his first attempt in the opera genre, Die Laune des Verliebten, Wagner became his own librettist and remained so throughout his creative career. His practice was to music and text simultaneously, in biographer Robert Gutmans words. Unlike the works of composers, those of Richard Wagner were not identified by opus numbers. In 1983 the Wagner scholar John Deathbridge, in an article in The Musical Times, each of Wagners known works, whether finished or unfinished, is listed in a number sequence running from 1 to 113. The list includes all compositions and all prose drafts where the music is either lost or unwritten, translation, Bayreuth canon List of compositions by Richard Wagner Bassett, Peter, The Nibelungs Ring, Wakefield Press, Adelaide. ISBN 1-86254-624-X Retrieved on 25 March 2009 Borchmeyer, Dieter, Drama, ISBN 0-691-11497-8 Retrieved on 25 March 2009 Elschek, Oskár, A History of Slovak Music, Veda, Bratislava. ISBN 80-224-0724-0 Gutman, Robert W. Laura Macy, Retrieved on 26 March 2009 Richard Wagner in Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts Retrieved on 24 March 2009 Saffle, Michael, Richard Wagner, A Guide to Research, Taylor and Francis, ISBN 0-8240-5695-7 Retrieved on 25 March 2009 Wagner Rarities, MusicalCriticism. com. Retrieved 25 March 2009 Die Feen, Piano and vocal score K Ferd, Retrieved on 5 April 2009 Das Liebesverbot, Piano and vocal score ed. Otto Singer. Retrieved on 5 April 2009 Rienzi, Piano and vocal score ed. Gustav Kogel, Retrieved on 6 April 2009 Die fliegende Holländer, Piano and vocal score eds John Troutbeck and Theodore Baker. Retrieved on 6 April 2009 Tannhauser, Piano and vocal score arr, Retrieved on 6 April 2009 Lohengrin, Piano and vocal score G. Schirmer, New York 1897. Retrieved on 6 April 2007 Das Rheingold, Piano and vocal score arr, Retrieved on 6 April 2009 Die Walküre, Piano and vocal score arr
List of works for the stage by Wagner
–
Front page of the Dresden score of Wagner's 1845 opera
Tannhäuser
List of works for the stage by Wagner
–
Richard Wagner in Paris, 1860
2.
Richard Wagner
–
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas. Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works and he described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and his advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music, Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. The Ring and Parsifal were premiered here and his most important stage works continue to be performed at the annual Bayreuth Festival, until his final years, Wagners life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment, notably, since the late 20th century, where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century, his influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, Richard Wagner was born to an ethnic German family in Leipzig, where his family lived at No. 3, the Brühl in the Jewish quarter and he was baptized at St. Thomas Church. He was the child of Carl Friedrich Wagner, who was a clerk in the Leipzig police service, and his wife, Johanna Rosine. Wagners father Carl died of typhus six months after Richards birth, afterwards his mother Johanna lived with Carls friend, the actor and playwright Ludwig Geyer. In August 1814 Johanna and Geyer probably married—although no documentation of this has found in the Leipzig church registers. She and her family moved to Geyers residence in Dresden, until he was fourteen, Wagner was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer. He almost certainly thought that Geyer was his biological father, Geyers love of the theatre came to be shared by his stepson, and Wagner took part in his performances. In his autobiography Mein Leben Wagner recalled once playing the part of an angel, in late 1820, Wagner was enrolled at Pastor Wetzels school at Possendorf, near Dresden, where he received some piano instruction from his Latin teacher. He struggled to play a scale at the keyboard and preferred playing theatre overtures by ear. Following Geyers death in 1821, Richard was sent to the Kreuzschule, at the age of nine he was hugely impressed by the Gothic elements of Carl Maria von Webers opera Der Freischütz, which he saw Weber conduct. At this period Wagner entertained ambitions as a playwright and his first creative effort, listed in the Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis as WWV1, was a tragedy called Leubald. Begun when he was in school in 1826, the play was influenced by Shakespeare
Richard Wagner
–
Richard Wagner in 1871
Richard Wagner
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Wagner's birthplace, at 3,
the Brühl, Leipzig
Richard Wagner
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Wilhelmine "Minna" Planer (1835), by Alexander von Otterstedt
Richard Wagner
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Wagner c. 1840, by Ernest Benedikt Kietz
3.
National Theatre Munich
–
The National Theater on Max-Joseph-Platz in Munich, Germany is a historic opera house, home of the Bavarian State Opera, Bavarian State Orchestra and the Bavarian State Ballet. The first theatre was commissioned in 1810 by King Maximilian I of Bavaria because the nearby Cuvilliés Theatre had too little space and it was designed by Karl von Fischer, with the 1782 Odéon in Paris as architectural precedent. Construction began on 26 October 1811 but was interrupted in 1813 by financing problems, in 1817 a fire occurred in the unfinished building. Coincidentally the Paris Odéon itself burned down in 1818, designed by Leo von Klenze, the second theater incorporated Neo-Grec features in its portico and triangular pediment and an entrance supported by Corinthian columns. In 1925 it was modified to create a stage area with updated equipment. The building was gutted in an air raid on the night of 3 October 1943, the third and present theatre recreates Karl von Fischers original neo-classical design, though on a slightly larger,2, 100-seat scale. The magnificent royal box is the center of the interior rondel, the new stage covers 2,500 square metres, and is thus the worlds third largest, after the Opéra Bastille in Paris and the Grand Theatre, Warsaw. Through the consistent use of wood as a material, the auditorium has excellent acoustics. Architect Gerhard Moritz Graubner closely preserved the look of the foyer. It opened on 21 November 1963 with a performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten under the baton of Joseph Keilberth. Two nights later came the first public performance, of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, during its early years, the National Theatre saw the premières of a significant number of operas, including many by German composers. During the latter part of the 19th century, it was Richard Strauss who would make his mark on the theatre in the city in which he was born in 1864. After accepting the position of conductor for a time, Strauss returned to the theatre to become principal conductor from 1894 to 1898. In the pre-War period, his Friedenstag and Capriccio were premièred in Munich, in the post-War period, the house has seen significant productions and many world premieres. The list refers only to those premieres of the Bavarian State Opera staged in the National Theatre, the Bavarian State Opera had additional premieres also in other theatres. The Bayerisches Staatsballett had also premieres in the National Theatre
National Theatre Munich
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National Theatre, Munich
National Theatre Munich
–
Königsbau of the
Munich Residenz (left) and National Theatre (right), photographed by Joseph Albert (1860)
National Theatre Munich
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National Theatre, around 1900
National Theatre Munich
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Deutsche Bundespost stamp, West Germany, 1964)
4.
Munich
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Munich is the capital and largest city of the German state of Bavaria, on the banks of River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, the Munich Metropolitan Region is home to 5.8 million people. According to the Globalization and World Rankings Research Institute Munich is considered an alpha-world city, the name of the city is derived from the Old/Middle High German term Munichen, meaning by the monks. It derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who ran a monastery at the place that was later to become the Old Town of Munich, Munich was first mentioned in 1158. From 1255 the city was seat of the Bavarian Dukes, black and gold—the colours of the Holy Roman Empire—have been the citys official colours since the time of Ludwig the Bavarian, when it was an imperial residence. Following a final reunification of the Wittelsbachian Duchy of Bavaria, previously divided and sub-divided for more than 200 years, like wide parts of the Holy Roman Empire, the area recovered slowly economically. In 1918, during the German Revolution, the house of Wittelsbach, which governed Bavaria since 1180, was forced to abdicate in Munich. In the 1920s, Munich became home to political factions, among them the NSDAP. During World War II, Munich was heavily bombed and more than 50% of the entire city, the postwar period was characterised by American occupation until 1949 and a strong increase of population and economic power during the years of the Wirtschaftswunder after 1949. The city is home to corporations like BMW, Siemens, MAN, Linde, Allianz and MunichRE as well as many small. Munich is home to national and international authorities, major universities, major museums. Its numerous architectural attractions, international events, exhibitions and conferences. Munich is one of the most prosperous and fastest growing cities in Germany and it is a top-ranked destination for migration and expatriate location, despite being the municipality with the highest density of population in Germany. Munich nowadays hosts more than 530,000 people of foreign background, the year 1158 is assumed to be the foundation date, which is the earliest date the city is mentioned in a document. The document was signed in Augsburg, by that time the Guelph Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, had built a bridge over the river Isar next to a settlement of Benedictine monks—this was on the Old Salt Route and a toll bridge. In 1175, Munich was officially granted city status and received fortification, in 1180, with the trial of Henry the Lion, Otto I Wittelsbach became Duke of Bavaria and Munich was handed over to the Bishop of Freising. In 1240, Munich was transferred to Otto II Wittelsbach and in 1255, Duke Louis IV, a native of Munich, was elected German king in 1314 and crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in 1328. He strengthened the position by granting it the salt monopoly
Munich
–
From left to right: The
Munich Frauenkirche, the
Nymphenburg Palace, the
BMW Headquarters, the
New Town Hall, the
Munich Hofgarten and the
Allianz Arena.
Munich
–
Munich city
coat of arms
Munich
–
Banners with the colours of Munich (left) and Bavaria (right) with the
Frauenkirche in the background
Munich
–
Bombing damage to the Altstadt. Note the roofless and pockmarked Altes Rathaus looking up the Tal. The roofless Heilig-Geist-Kirche is on the right of the photo. Its spire, without the copper top, is behind the church. The Talbruck gate tower is missing completely.
5.
Bavarian State Opera
–
The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany. Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra, the opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653, when Giovanni Battista Maccionis Larpa festante was performed in the court theatre. In 1753 the Residence Theatre was opened as a major stage, while opera performances were also held in the Prinzregententheater, the companys home base is the National Theatre Munich on Max-Joseph-Platz. In 1875 the Munich Opera Festival took place for the first time which nowadays can be viewed as one of the most important opera festivals worldwide, sir Peter Jonas became the Staatsoper Staatsintendant in 1993, the first British Intendant of any major German speaking opera house. In 2008, Nikolaus Bachler became General Director of the opera company, the current Generalmusikdirektor of the company is Kirill Petrenko, since 2013. In October 2015, the announced the extensions of the current respective contracts of Bachler. Petrenko is scheduled to work as a guest conductor with the company in the year of his current contract. Henneberg 28 June 2000, KANON für geschlossene Gesellschaft by Ruedi Häusermann 30 October 2000, Bernarda Albas Haus by Aribert Reimann 27 June 2002, K
Bavarian State Opera
–
National Theatre Munich exterior
Bavarian State Opera
–
National Theatre Munich interior
6.
Nuremberg
–
Nuremberg is a city on the river Pegnitz and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia, about 170 kilometres north of Munich. It is the second-largest city in Bavaria, and the largest in Franconia, the population as of February 2015, is 517,498, which makes it Germanys fourteenth-largest city. The urban area also includes Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a population of 763,854. The European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg has ca.3.5 million inhabitants, Nuremberg was, according to the first documentary mention of the city in 1050, the location of an Imperial castle between the East Franks and the Bavarian March of the Nordgau. From 1050 to 1571, the city expanded and rose dramatically in importance due to its location on key trade routes, Nuremberg is often referred to as having been the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly because Imperial Diet and courts met at Nuremberg Castle. The Diets of Nuremberg were an important part of the structure of the empire. The increasing demand of the court and the increasing importance of the city attracted increased trade. Nuremberg soon became, with Augsburg, one of the two great trade centers on the route from Italy to Northern Europe. In 1298, the Jews of the town were accused of having desecrated the host, behind the massacre of 1298 was also the desire to combine the northern and southern parts of the city, which were divided by the Pegnitz. The Jews of the German lands suffered many massacres during the plague years, in 1349, Nurembergs Jews were subjected to a pogrom. They were burned at the stake or expelled, and a marketplace was built over the former Jewish quarter, the plague returned to the city in 1405,1435,1437,1482,1494,1520 and 1534. Charles was the patron of the Frauenkirche, built between 1352 and 1362, where the Imperial court worshipped during its stays in Nuremberg. Charles IV conferred upon the city the right to conclude alliances independently, frequent fights took place with the burgraves without, however, inflicting lasting damage upon the city. Through these and other acquisitions the city accumulated considerable territory, the Hussite Wars, recurrence of the Black Death in 1437, and the First Margrave War led to a severe fall in population in the mid-15th century. During the Middle Ages, Nurembergs literary culture was rich, varied, the cultural flowering of Nuremberg, in the 15th and 16th centuries, made it the centre of the German Renaissance. In 1525, Nuremberg accepted the Protestant Reformation, and in 1532, during the 1552 revolution against Charles V, Nuremberg tried to purchase its neutrality, but the city was attacked without a declaration of war and was forced into a disadvantageous peace. The state of affairs in the early 16th century, increased trade routes elsewhere, frequent quartering of Imperial, Swedish and League soldiers, the financial costs of the war and the cessation of trade caused irreparable damage to the city and a near-halving of the population. In 1632, the city, occupied by the forces of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, was besieged by the army of Imperial general Albrecht von Wallenstein, the city declined after the war and recovered its importance only in the 19th century, when it grew as an industrial centre
Nuremberg
–
Nuremberg Castle
Nuremberg
–
Flag
Nuremberg
–
Old fortifications of Nuremberg
Nuremberg
–
The Imperial Castle
7.
Free imperial city
–
The evolution of some German cities into self-ruling constitutional entities of the Empire was slower than that of the secular and ecclesiastical princes. In the course of the 13th and 14th centuries, some cities were promoted by the emperor to the status of Imperial Cities, essentially for fiscal reasons. The Free Cities were those, such as Basel, Augsburg, Cologne or Strasbourg, like the other Imperial Estates, they could wage war, make peace, and control their own trade, and they permitted little interference from outside. In the later Middle Ages, a number of Free Cities formed City Leagues, such as the Hanseatic League or the Alsatian Décapole, to promote and defend their interests. In the course of the Middle Ages, cities gained, and sometimes — if rarely — lost, some favored cities gained a charter by gift. Others purchased one from a prince in need of funds, some won it by force of arms during the troubled 13th and 14th centuries and other lost their privileges during the same period by the same way. Some cities became free through the created by the extinction of dominant families. Some voluntarily placed themselves under the protection of a territorial ruler, a few, like Protestant Donauwörth, which in 1607 was annexed to the Catholic Duchy of Bavaria, were stripped by the Emperor of their status as a Free City — for genuine or trumped-up reasons. There were approximately four thousand towns and cities in the Empire, during the late Middle Ages, fewer than two hundred of these places ever enjoyed the status of Free Imperial Cities, and some of those did so only for a few decades. The military tax register of 1521 listed eighty-five such cities, from the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 to 1803, their number oscillated at around fifty. These cities were located in small territories where the ruler was weak. They were nevertheless the exception among the multitude of territorial towns, Cities of both latter categories normally had representation in territorial diets, but not in the Imperial Diet. The cities divided themselves into two groups, or benches, in the Imperial Diet, the Rhenish and the Swabian Bench. To avoid the possibility that they would have the vote in case of a tie between the Electors and the Princes, it was decided that these should decide first and consult the cities afterward. Constitutionally, if in no way, the diminutive Free Imperial City of Isny was the equal of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Instead, many found it more profitable to maintain agents at the Aulic Council in Vienna. At the opposite end, the authority of Cologne, Aachen, Worms, Goslar, Wetzlar and they were the most economically significant burgher families who had asserted themselves politically over time. The burgher status was usually a privilege renewed pro-forma in each generation of the family concerned
Free imperial city
–
Rottweil, c. 1435. Swabian Rottweil maintained its independence up to the
mediatization of 1802–03.
Free imperial city
–
The Free Imperial Cities in the 18th century
Free imperial city
–
Partial list of the Free Imperial Cities of Swabia based on the Reichsmatrikel of 1521. It indicates the number of horsemen (left hand column) and infantry (right hand column) which each Imperial Estate had to contribute to the defence of the Empire
Free imperial city
–
Weissenburg-im-Nordgau in 1725
8.
Renaissance
–
The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
Renaissance
–
David, by
Michelangelo (
Accademia di Belle Arti,
Florence) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art.
Renaissance
–
Renaissance
Renaissance
–
Leonardo da Vinci 's
Vitruvian Man (c. 1490) shows clearly the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance thinkers. Based on the specifications in
Vitruvius '
De architectura (1st century BC), Leonardo tried to draw the perfectly proportioned man.
Renaissance
–
Portrait of a young woman (c. 1480-85) (
Simonetta Vespucci) by
Sandro Botticelli
9.
Guild
–
A guild /ɡɪld/ is an association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a particular town. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of tradesmen and they were organized in a manner something between a professional association, trade union, a cartel, and a secret society. A lasting legacy of traditional guilds are the guildhalls constructed and used as meeting places, an important result of the guild framework was the emergence of universities at Bologna, Oxford and Paris, they originated as guilds of students as at Bologna, or of masters as at Paris. Usually the founders were free independent master craftsmen who hired apprentices, there were several types of guilds, including the two main categories of merchant guilds and craft guilds but also the frith guild and religious guild. In many cases became the governing body of a town. The Freedom of the City, effective from the Middle Ages until 1835, gave the right to trade, Trade guilds arose in the 14th century as craftsmen united to protect their common interest. The occasion for these oaths were drunken banquets held on December 26, gregory of Tours tells a miraculous tale of a builder whose art and techniques suddenly left him, but were restored by an apparition of the Virgin Mary in a dream. Michel Rouche remarks that the story speaks for the importance of practically transmitted journeymanship, in France, guilds were called corps de métiers. According to Viktor Ivanovich Rutenburg, Within the guild itself there was little division of labour. Thus, according to Étienne Boileaus Book of Handicrafts, by the century there were no less than 100 guilds in Paris. In Catalan towns, specially at Barcelona, guilds or gremis were a basic agent in the society, a shoemakers guild is recorded in 1208. In England, specifically in the City of London Corporation, more than 110 guilds, referred to as companies, survive today. Other groups, such as the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers, have been formed far more recently, membership in a livery company is expected for individuals participating in the governance of The City, as the Lord Mayor and the Remembrancer. The guild system reached a state in Germany circa 1300 and held on in German cities into the 19th century. In the 15th century, Hamburg had 100 guilds, Cologne 80, the latest guilds to develop in Western Europe were the gremios of Spain, e. g. Valencia or Toledo. Not all city economies were controlled by guilds, some cities were free, in order to become a Master, a Journeyman would have to go on a three-year voyage called Journeyman years. The practice of the Journeyman years still exists in Germany and France, in Ghent, as in Florence, the woolen textile industry developed as a congeries of specialized guilds. The appearance of the European guilds was tied to the emergent money economy, before this time it was not possible to run a money-driven organization, as commodity money was the normal way of doing business
Guild
–
One of the legacies of the guilds, the elevated
Windsor Guildhall was originally a meeting place for guilds, as well as magistrates' seat and
town hall.
Guild
–
Traditional
wrought-iron guild sign of a
glazier — in
Germany. These signs can be found in many old European towns where guild members marked their places of business. Many survived through time or staged a comeback in industrial times. Today they are newly created or even restored, especially in old town areas.
Guild
–
The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild by
Rembrandt, 1662.
Guild
–
A center of urban government: the
Guildhall, London (engraving, ca 1805)
10.
Meistersinger
–
A Meistersinger was a member of a German guild for lyric poetry, composition and unaccompanied art song of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The Meistersingers were drawn from middle class males for the most part, the Meistersingers carried on and developed the traditions of the medieval Minnesingers. Frauenlob is said to have established the earliest Meistersinger school at Mainz, the schools were established first in the upper Rhine district, then elsewhere. In the 14th century there were schools at Mainz, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Würzburg, Zurich, each guild had various classes of members, ranging from beginners, or Schüler, and Schulfreunde, to Meister. Meisters were poets who could both write new verses to existing melodies and invent new melodies, the poem was technically known as a Bar or Gesetz, the melody as a Ton or Weis. The songs were all sung without accompaniment, the rules of the art were set down in the so-called Tabulatur or law-book of the guild. Poetry was to them an art that could be learned through diligent study. More attention was paid to fitting the syllables to the melody than to the meaning, sentiment. The various songs were divided into three strophes, and each strophe was divided into two Stollen and a discant or Abgesang, the meetings took place either in the town hall or, more frequently, on Sundays in the church. Three times a year, at Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, special festivals, at such competitions or Schulsingen, judges were appointed to criticize the competitors and note their offences against the rules of the Tabulatur. Prizes were awarded, and those who sang ill were fined, the prize was sometimes money, sometimes a crown, as at Nuremberg in the time of Hans Sachs. Flowers had also an important part in these competitions, often in the older days one singer would hang up a wreath as a challenge and as a reward for victory. The meistersinger often wore a costume which was not seldom motley, in Nuremberg, where the master singers flourished particularly, the special festivals were opened with free singing, in which anybody might sing, though not belonging to the corporation. In this the choice of the subjects was left comparatively uncontrolled, then followed the chief singing, when only those who belonged to the corporation were allowed to sing, and only on scriptural subjects. The judges sat behind a curtain, every fault was marked, and he who had fewest received the prize. Meistersinger poetry played a part in German town life of the 15th and 16th century. The tradition often reinforced German burgher values, as such, it was middle-class popular art rather than high art, the Meistergesang culminated in the 16th century and declined shortly thereafter. Meistersinger traditions lingered in southern Germany as late as the 19th century, a society in Ulm dissolved in 1839, the plot of Richard Wagners 1868 opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg revolves around the guild of Meistersingers and their singing contest
Meistersinger
–
Hans Sachs, leader of a famous 16th-century Meistersinger school in Nuremberg
11.
Master craftsman
–
A master craftsman or master tradesman was a member of a guild. In the European guild system, only masters and journeymen were allowed to be members of the guild, an aspiring master would have to pass through the career chain from apprentice to journeyman before he could be elected to become a master craftsman. He would then have to produce a sum of money and a masterpiece before he could join the guild. If the masterpiece was not accepted by the masters, he was not allowed to join the guild, originally, holders of the academic degree of Master of Arts were also considered, in the Medieval universities, as master craftsmen in their own academic field. The Guild of Master Craftsmen continues a tradition established by the guilds of medieval Europe, the earliest of these were frith or peace guilds - groups bonded together for mutual protection following the breakdown of the kins, which were groups related by blood ties. The world-renowned College of Arms in London awarded the coat of arms of The Guild of Master Craftsmen in 1992, the southern keep of Lewes Castle, which overlooks the Guild’s headquarters, is featured above the helmet as the crest. While guilds as such do not exist, many trades continue the apprentice-journeyman-master model, carpenters, electricians, pipefitters and plumbers are notable examples. The terms Master Mariner and harbormaster reflect the fact that the holders of positions were originally Master craftsman in the Seamens Guild. Further derived from harbormaster is stationmaster, though no longer existed when railways came into being. In Germany, the craftsman is the highest professional qualification in crafts and is a state-approved grade. The qualification includes theoretical and practical training in the craft as well as business, additionally, it implies the qualification to train apprentices. These qualifications prepare the Meister for running their own business or alternatively for higher positions at a company, the status of master craftsmen is regulated in the German Gesetz zur Ordnung des Handwerks. While privileged guilds have been abolished in Germany, the ranks of apprentice, journeyman, for security-relevant crafts, e. g. electricians and chimney sweeps, any business in the trade has to be run by a master craftsman or has to employ at least one Meister. Journeymen and master craftsmen are by law members of their regional chamber of crafts. The chamber organizes vocational training and oversees the examination of the journeymen, if these requirements are fulfilled, the candidate can take courses for the Meisterprüfung. The duration of the courses takes 4 to 6 years depending on the craft, the examination includes theoretical, practical and oral parts and takes 5 to 7 days. In some crafts, the creation of a masterpiece is also part of the examination, the German Meister qualifies the holder to study for a bachelors degree at University, whether the Meister holds a regular university entrance qualification or not. According to the German Qualifications Framework, the Meisterbrief is at the level as a bachelors degree, even though it is not an academic degree
Master craftsman
–
Craftsman Selling Cases By A Teak Wood Building Ahmedabad, by
Edwin Lord Weeks
Master craftsman
–
A master discusses a vacuum compressor with his apprentice boy and several other craftspersons
12.
Hans Sachs
–
Hans Sachs was a German Meistersinger, poet, playwright, and shoemaker. Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg, as a child he attended a singing school that was held in the church of Nuremberg. This helped to awaken in him a taste for poetry and music and he attended Latin school in Nuremberg. When he was 14 he took up an apprenticeship as a shoemaker, after the apprenticeship, at age 17, he was a journeyman and set out on his Wanderjahre, that is, travelling about with companions and students. Over several years he worked at his craft in many towns, including Regensburg, Passau, Salzburg, Munich, Osnabrück, Lübeck, and Leipzig. In 1513 he reached the town of Wels in Austria. The Emperor Maximilian I chanced to pass through town with his dazzling retinue. The prince placed him in the halls of the palace of Insbruck, later Hans Sachs quit the court and went to Schatz and Munich. In the same year, he took up a kind of apprenticeship to become a mastersinger at Munich, lienhard Nunnenbeck, a linen weaver, was his master. In 1516 he settled in Nuremberg and stayed there for the rest of his life, on 1 September 1519 he married Kunigunde Creutzer. He married again on 2 September 1561, this time to the young widow Barbara Harscher, in spite of this, his advocacy of the new faith earned him a reproof from the town council of Nuremberg, and he was forbidden to publish any more “pamphlets or rhymes”. It was not long, however, before the council itself openly threw in its lot with the Reformation and he wrote over 6000 pieces of various kinds. Exact numbers vary widely in literature, mainly because it is not always clear if a piece is an independent work or part of a larger work. Also, certain works may be put in different categories by different authors and his productivity is especially remarkable because he kept working as a shoemaker throughout his life. His mastersongs were not published, being intended solely for the use of the Nuremberg Meistersinger school and his fame rests mainly on the “spoken poems” which include his dramatic writings. His “tragedies” and “comedies” are, however, little more than stories told in dialogue, Sachs had little idea of the essentials of dramatic construction or the nature of dramatic action. The subjects are drawn from the most varied sources, but particularly the Bible, the classics and he succeeds best in the short anecdotal Fastnachtsspiel or Shrovetide play, where characterisation and humorous situation are of more importance than dramatic form or construction. Some of his farces have been played on the modern stage, among these are, Der fahrende Schüler im Paradies Das Wildbad Das heiss Eisen Der Bauer im Fegefeuer Hans Sachs is the subject of an opera by Albert Lortzing
Hans Sachs
–
Hans Sachs, wood engraving by Michael Ostendorfer.
Hans Sachs
–
Hans Sachs memorial
Nuremberg by Johann Konrad Krausser
13.
Das Liebesverbot
–
Das Liebesverbot, is an early opera in two acts by Richard Wagner, with the libretto written by the composer after Shakespeares Measure for Measure. Described as a Große komische Oper, it was composed in 1834 and it was never performed again in Wagners lifetime. Restrained sexuality versus eroticism plays an important role in Das Liebesverbot, themes recur throughout much of Wagners output, most notably in Tannhäuser, Die Walküre. In each opera, the self-abandonment to love brings the lovers into mortal combat with the social order. In Das Liebesverbot, because it is a comedy, the outcome is a happy one, Wagners second opera, and his first to be performed, has many signs of an early work, the style is modelled closely on contemporary French and Italian comic opera. It is also referred to as the comedy, in that only two of Wagners works are comedies, the other being Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The opera was performed in the following hundred years. In the United Kingdom, the first performance was given on 16 February 1965 at the Collegiate Theatre of the University of London, the cast was led by Mark Schnaible as Friedrich and Claudia Waite as Isabella, Corrado Rovaris conducted. In 1994 Das Liebesverbot was performed at the Wexford Opera Festival, the first fully staged performance in the United States was at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY, in the summer of 2008. In 2009, a production was presented at the International Festival of Young Singers at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg plus a staged production at the Staatstheater Braunschweig in October. In 2013,200 years after the birth, it was performed in Bayreuth for the first time. A production of the Oper Leipzig was shown in the Oberfrankenhalle and it was staged by Aron Stiehl with elements of operetta and revue, Constantin Trinks conducted the Gewandhausorchester. Since 2011 a production of work has formed part of the repertoire of Helikon Opera Moscow. In Romania it was staged at the Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Opera, in 2016 it was staged by the Teatro Real, Madrid. The synopsis is Wagners own description of his scenario, in a translation by William Ashton Ellis published in 1898, Luzio promises to go at once to Isabella in the cloister of the Elisabethans, where she has lately entered her novitiate. A convent Within the quiet cloister walls we make the acquaintance of this sister, in confidential converse with her friend Marianne, Marianne discloses to her friend, from whom she has long been parted, the sad fate that has brought her hither. Isabellas horror finds vent in a tempest of wrath, only to be allayed by the resolve to leave a world where such monstrosities can go unpunished. Her violence unwittingly exhibits her to Luzio in the most seductive light, fired by sudden love, he implores her to leave the nunnery for ever and take his hand
Das Liebesverbot
–
1922 vocal score with illustration by Franz Stassen
Das Liebesverbot
–
Richard Wagner c. 1840
14.
Aria
–
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term became used almost exclusively to describe a piece for one voice, with or without orchestral accompaniment. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, the term, which derives from the Greek and Latin aer first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term refers to an instrumental form. By the early 16th century it was in use as meaning a simple setting of strophic poetry, melodic madrigals. In the context of staged works and concert works, arias evolved from simple melodies into structured forms, the aria evolved typically in one of two forms. Binary form arias were in two sections, arias in ternary form were known as da capo arias, in the da capo aria the B episode would typically be in a different key – the dominant or relative major key. This version of form with ritornelli became a dominant feature of European opera throughout the 18th century. It is thought by some writers to be the origin of the forms of concerto. The ritornelli became essential to the structure of the aria – while the words determine the character of a melody the ritornello instruments often decided in terms it shall be presented. By the early 18th century, composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti had established the aria form and it offered balance and continuity, and yet gave scope for contrast. The very regularity of its conventional features enabled deviations from the normal to be exploited with telling effect. In the early years of the century, arias in the Italian style began to take over in French opera, giving rise eventually to the French genre of ariette, normally in a relatively simple ternary form. Types of operatic aria became known by a variety of terms according to their character – e. g. aria parlante, aria di bravura, aria buffa, and so on. By the end of this first vocal paragraph the music, if it were in a key as it usually was, had modulated to the dominant. The orchestra then played a second ritornello usually shorter than the first, the singer re-entered and sang the same words through a second time. The music of this paragraph was often slightly more elaborate than that of the first. There were more repeats of words and perhaps more florid vocalisations, the key worked its way back to the tonic for the final vocal cadence after which the orchestra rounded the section off with a final ritornello
Aria
–
The farewell aria of Sultan Bazajet in
Handel 's opera
Tamerlano. (Note the
da capo instruction). First edition, London, 1719.
Aria
–
Gluck in a 1775 portrait by
Joseph Duplessis
15.
Choir
–
A choir is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical repertoire, which spans from the Medieval era to the present. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with arm, a body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus. The former term is often applied to groups affiliated with a church and the second to groups that perform in theatres or concert halls. Choirs may sing without instrumental accompaniment, with the accompaniment of a piano or pipe organ, with a small ensemble, choirs are often led by a conductor or choirmaster. Other than four, the most common number of parts are three, five, six, and eight, choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is called a cappella singing, many choirs perform in one or many locations such as a church, opera house, or school hall. In some cases choirs join up to become one mass choir that performs for a special concert, in this case they provide a series of songs or musical works to celebrate and provide entertainment to others. Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as a concert, by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face. The primary duties of the conductor or choirmaster are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble. The conductor or choral director typically stands on a raised platform, many choral conductors use their hands to conduct. In the 2010s, most conductors do not play an instrument when conducting, although in earlier periods of music history. In Baroque music from the 1600s to the 1750s, conductors performing in the 2010s may lead an ensemble while playing a harpsichord or the violin, conducting while playing a piano may also be done with musical theatre pit orchestras. Communication is typically non-verbal during a performance, however, in rehearsals, frequent interruptions allow the conductor to give verbal directions as to how the music should be sung. Conductors act as guides to the choirs they conduct and they choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make certain adjustments, work out their interpretation, and relay their vision to the singers. Choral conductors may also have to conduct instrumental ensembles such as if the choir is singing a piece for choir. They may also attend to matters, such as scheduling rehearsals, planning a concert season, hearing auditions
Choir
–
Evensong rehearsal in the
quire of
York Minster, showing carved choirstalls
Choir
–
Amelia Nagoski, DMA conducting a choral ensemble at Western New England University
Choir
–
Egyptian Alexandria Jewish choir of Rabbin Moshe Cohen at Samuel Menashe synagogue,
Alexandria, Egypt
Choir
–
An English school choir
16.
Ballet
–
Ballet /ˈbæleɪ/ is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own based on French terminology. It has been influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres. Becoming a ballet dancer requires years of training, Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures to evolve the art. Ballet may also refer to a dance work, which consists of the choreography. A well-known example of this is The Nutcracker, a ballet that was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained artists, the word came into English usage from the French around 1630. Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries before being spread from Italy to France by an Italian aristocrat, Catherine de Medici, in France, ballet developed even further under her aristocratic influence. The dancers in these early court ballets were mostly noble amateurs, Ballets in this period were lengthy and elaborate and often served a political purpose. Ornamented costumes were meant to impress viewers and restricted freedom of movement. The ballets were performed in large chambers with viewers on three sides, French court ballet reached its height under the reign of King Louis XIV. Known as the Sun King, Louis symbolized the brilliance of France, in 1661 Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse to establish standards and certify dance instructors. In 1672, Louis XIV made Jean-Baptiste Lully the director of the Académie Royale de Musique from which the first professional ballet company, Lully is considered the most important composer of music for ballets de cour and instrumental to the development of the form. Ballet went into decline in France after 1830, though it continued to develop in Denmark, Italy, the arrival in Europe on the eve of First World War of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, revived interest in the ballet and started the modern era. The Russian choreographer Michel Fokine challenged tradition and called for reforms that reinvigorated ballet as an art form, in the 20th century, ballet had a wide influence on other dance genres, and subgenres of ballet have also evolved. In the United States, choreographer George Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet, other developments include contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet. Also in the century, ballet took a turn dividing it from classical ballet to the introduction of modern dance. Stylistic variations have emerged and evolved since the Italian Renaissance, early, classical variations are primarily associated with geographic origin
Ballet
–
Classical bell tutus in The Dance Class by
Degas, 1874
Ballet
–
Anna Pavlova in
Giselle, wearing a romantic tutu
Ballet
–
Scene from act 4 of
Swan Lake,
Vienna State Opera, 2004
Ballet
–
Harlequin and
Columbina from the mime theater at
Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark
17.
Mein Leben (Wagner)
–
Mein Leben is the title given by the composer Richard Wagner to his autobiography, covering the years from his birth in 1813 to 1864. Wagner began dictating Mein Leben to his wife Cosima on 17 July 1865 in Munich, Wagner was indebted to the King, who had rescued him from a life of exile and financial harassment in the previous year. At around the time in 1864, Wagner had been given the news of the death of his hate-figure. The book therefore ends on a triumphant note with the exaltation of Wagner at the death of his supposed enemy, the book is amongst the most readable of Wagners prose writings, generally free of the complex syntax that is typical of his theoretical works. His complex and frequently tempestuous career, friendships and controversies make for a racy, nonetheless the book is a major source for Wagners life and indeed for musical and cultural life of Europe in the period which it covers. The final section of the book, covering 1861 to 1864, was not completed until 1880, however, Wagner and Cosima had already determined to print a few copies for private circulation. The first volume was printed in 1870 in an edition of fifteen, volumes 2 and 3 were printed in 1872 and 1875, in editions of eighteen copies. Wagner recruited the young Friedrich Nietzsche to act as proof-reader and to see the book though a press in Basel, volume 4 was printed in 1880 in Bayreuth. There was no intention to distribute the book beyond a circle of trusted friends, for this reason. I was bold enough to assert that you too would have asked him to do it and this is despite the fact that Wagner, in dictating to Cosima, had watered down some of his past, particularly his love life and his involvement in the 1849 Revolution in Dresden. Following a suggestion by Nietzsche, Wagner included a symbolic crest as a frontispiece to the first volume and this showed a vulture holding a shield with the constellation of The Plough, thus referring both to Wagners natural father Carl and to his beloved stepfather, Ludwig Geyer. This was later the source for Nietzsches taunt, that Wagner might have been Jewish, both Geyer and Adler were common Jewish surnames, although Ludwig Geyer was not in fact Jewish. Over the years, and particularly after Wagners death, Cosima attempted to recall all the copies that had been distributed, many of these were apparently burnt by Cosima. The first complete edition appeared in 1963. The edition translated by Andrew Gray is based on this and is the first complete English translation
Mein Leben (Wagner)
–
Wagner family
crest devised for Mein Leben (see text, The frontispiece)
18.
Spa town
–
A spa town is a resort town based around a mineral spa. Patrons visited spas to take the waters for their health benefits. The word spa is derived from the name of Spa, such a town in Belgium, thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He became interested in the properties of the hot mineral waters there and in 1676 wrote A discourse of Bathe. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water and this brought the health-giving properties of the waters to the attention of the aristocracy, who started to partake in them soon after. The term spa is used for towns or resorts offering hydrotherapy, Most are within 30 km of Daylesford, Victoria, the Daylesford and Hepburn Springs call themselves the Spa Centre of Australia. Chaudfontaine Ostend Spa See, List of spa towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina Banja Vrućica, the traditional ones are, Águas de Lindoia, Serra Negra, Águas de São Pedro, Caxambu, Poços de Caldas, Caldas Novas, Araxá, and São Lourenço. See, List of spa towns in Bulgaria Bulgaria is known for its more than 500 mineral springs, other famous spa towns include Sandanski, Hisarya, Bankya, Devin, Kyustendil, Varshets, Velingard. In Bulgarian, the word for a spa is баня, See, List of spa towns in Canada Harrison Hot Springs is one of the oldest among 18 in British Columbia, there are also two in Alberta and one in Ontario. See, List of spa towns in Croatia In Croatia, the word Toplice implies a spa town, the most famous spa towns in Croatia are Daruvar, Šibenik and Sisak. See, Spa towns in the Czech Republic In the Czech Language, the most famous spa towns in Czech Republic are Karlovy Vary, Teplice, Františkovy Lázně and Mariánské Lázně. See, List of spa towns in France In France, the words bains, thermes, there are more than 50 spa towns in France, including Vichy, Aix-les-Bains, Bagnoles-de-lOrne, Dax, and Enghien-les-Bains. See, List of spa towns in Germany In Germany, the word Bad implies a spa town, blasien, Titisee, Tegernsee, Travemünde and Zingst. Wiesbaden is the largest spa town in Germany, See, List of spa towns in Hungary In Hungary, the word fürdő or the more archaic füred, fürdőváros or fürdőhely implies a spa town. Hungary is rich in waters with health benefits, and many spa towns are popular tourist destinations. Budapest has several spas, including Turkish style spas dating back to the 16th century, eger also has a Turkish spa. Other famous spas include the ones at Hévíz, Harkány, Bük, Hajdúszoboszló, Gyula, Bogács, Bükkszék, Zalakaros, the Cave Bath at Miskolctapolca and the Zsóry-fürdő at Mezőkövesd. See, List of spa towns in Italy In Italy, spa towns and these places were known and used since the Roman age
Spa town
–
The statue of "A man breaking a walking crutch" in the spa town
Piešťany (
Slovakia) - a very eloquent symbol of spa towns and balneotherapy.
Spa town
–
Print of
Spa,
Belgium, 1895
Spa town
–
The Roman walls of Hisarya. Many spa towns in Bulgaria have existed since the
Roman Empire.
Spa town
–
A spa town
Mariánské Lázně
19.
Marienbad
–
Mariánské Lázně is a spa town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. The town, surrounded by mountains, is a mosaic of parks. Most of its buildings come from the towns Golden Era in the half of the 19th century. German settlers were called into this region by Bohemian rulers from the Přemyslid dynasty in the 12th Century, although the town itself is only about two hundred years old, the locality has been inhabited much longer. The first written record dates back to 1273, when there was a village of Úšovice, the springs first appear in a document dating from 1341 where they are called the Auschowitzer springs belonging to the Tepl Abbey. The place obtained its current name of Marienbad in 1808, became a watering-place in 1818, by the early 20th century, approximately 1,000,000 bottles of mineral water were exported annually from Marienbad. The water from the Cross Spring was evaporated and the product was sold as a laxative under the name of sal teplensis. The modern spa town was founded by the Tepl abbots, namely Karl Kaspar Reitenberger, the name Marienbad first appeared in 1786, since 1865 it has been a town. Then a second period of growth, the towns Golden Era, between 1870 and 1914 many new hotels, colonnades and other buildings, designed by Friedrich Zickler, Josef Schaffer, and Arnold Heymann, were constructed or rebuilt from older houses. In 1872 the town got a connection with the town of Eger and thus with the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire. The town soon became one of the top European spas, popular with notable figures, at those times, about 20,000 visitors came every year. Marienbad remained a popular destination between World War I and World War II, after World War II, the ethnic German population of the town was forcibly expelled according to the Potsdam agreement, thereby emptying the town of the majority of its population. After the communist coup-détat in 1948, it got sealed off from most of its foreign visitors, after the return of democracy in 1989 much effort was put into restoring the town into its original character. Until their expulsion in 1945 the majority of the population of the city spoke German, nowadays, however, most of the inhabitants are Czechs. The top attraction of the town is its 100 mineral springs with high carbon content and often also higher iron content. Most of them are well-kept and often pavilions and/or colonnades are built around them, the most notable ones are, Křížový pramen - is the most famous spring of Mariánské lázně. A monumental pavilion with a bearing a patriarchal cross and 72 Ionic columns was built over the spring in 1818-1826. Todays concrete building is a copy from 1911–1912, originally it was a light wooden, the water from the spring is high-mineralized with a strong laxative effect, it has been used for both curative drinks and baths
Marienbad
–
Mariánské Lázně
Marienbad
–
Mariánské Lázně, 1815, copper engraving
Marienbad
–
Typical buildings in the town centre.
Marienbad
–
The Singing Fountain
20.
Georg Gottfried Gervinus
–
Georg Gottfried Gervinus was a German literary and political historian. He was educated at the gymnasium of the town, and intended for a commercial career, in 1826 he went to Heidelberg, where he attended the lectures of the historian Schlosser, who became henceforth his guide and his model. In 1828 he was appointed teacher at a school at Frankfort-on-Main. This work is the first comprehensive history of German literature written both with scholarly erudition and literary skill, in the following year he wrote his Grundzüge der Historik, which is perhaps the most thoughtful of his philosophico-historical productions. After several years in Heidelberg, Darmstadt and Rome, he settled permanently in Heidelberg, where, in 1844, he was appointed honorary professor. He zealously took up in the year the cause of the German Catholics, hoping it would lead to a union of all the Christian confessions. He founded, together with other patriotic scholars, the Deutsche Zeitung. His appearance in the political arena secured his election as deputy for the Prussian province of Saxony to the National Assembly sitting in 1848 at Frankfort, disgusted with the failure of that body, he retired from all active political life. Gervinus now devoted himself to literary and historical studies, and between 1849 and 1852 published his work on Shakespeare. The latter work caused some stir in the literary and political world, however, the verdict was rescinded by a higher tribunal. Afterward, Gervinus buried himself still more among his books, in 1856, the Händel-Gesellschaft society was founded by Gervinus and the German music historian and critic Friedrich Chrysander. The aim of the society was to publish the works of Georg Frideric Handel. He died in Heidelberg on 18 March 1871, geschichte der Deutschen Dichtung was the first comprehensive history of German poetry in a connected form. The author represented the literary activity of Germany in its successive stages as it grew out of her life, thus making political history the foil. His judgment was sincere and independent, although his criticism often assumed a censorious and pedantic tone against the most prominent poets of Germany, for example Goethe, Schiller, the object of Gervinus in writing this literary history was also a patriotic one. He had a no less patriotic object in view in writing his commentary on Shakespeare, as a political historian, Gervinus was the antipode of Ranke. Following the principles of F. C, Schlosser, he slighted all documentary history. He had such a deep distrust of all papers and diplomatic documents that he considered them as most untrustworthy sources for any historical record
Georg Gottfried Gervinus
–
Gervinus as seen in a lithograph of the
Göttingen Seven, by Carl Rohde, 1837/38
Georg Gottfried Gervinus
–
First issue of July 1, 1847 of Deutsche Zeitung, a liberal daily issued founded by Georg Gottfried.
Georg Gottfried Gervinus
–
His grave in Heidelberg
21.
Martin Luther
–
Martin Luther, O. S. A. was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church and he strongly disputed the Catholic view on indulgences as he understood it to be, that freedom from Gods punishment for sin could be purchased with money. Luther proposed a discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His translation of the Bible into the vernacular made it accessible to the laity. It fostered the development of a version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the writing of an English translation. His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches and his marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry. In two of his works, Luther expressed antagonistic views towards Jews, writing that Jewish homes and synagogues should be destroyed, their money confiscated. Condemned by virtually every Lutheran denomination, these statements and their influence on antisemitism have contributed to his controversial status, Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder and his wife Margarethe on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was baptized as a Catholic the next morning on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours and his family moved to Mansfeld in 1484, where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters and served as one of four citizen representatives on the local council. He had several brothers and sisters, and is known to have close to one of them. Hans Luther was ambitious for himself and his family, and he was determined to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent Martin to Latin schools in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended a school operated by a lay group called the Brethren of the Common Life, the three schools focused on the so-called trivium, grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell, in 1501, at the age of 19, he entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beerhouse and whorehouse. He was made to wake at four every morning for what has been described as a day of rote learning and he received his masters degree in 1505. In accordance with his fathers wishes, Luther enrolled in law school at the university that year but dropped out almost immediately. Luther sought assurances about life and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing particular interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, philosophy proved to be unsatisfying, offering assurance about the use of reason but none about loving God, which to Luther was more important. Reason could not lead men to God, he felt, for Luther, reason could be used to question men and institutions, but not God. Human beings could learn about God only through divine revelation, he believed and he later attributed his decision to an event, on 2 July 1505, he was returning to university on horseback after a trip home
Martin Luther
–
Luther (1529) by
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Martin Luther
–
Portraits of Hans and Margarethe Luther by
Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1527
Martin Luther
–
Luther as an
Augustinian friar
Martin Luther
–
According to one account, Luther nailed his
Ninety-Five Theses to the door of
All Saints' Church in
Wittenberg on 31 October 1517, sparking the
Reformation. The
Latin inscription above informs the reader that the original door was destroyed by a fire, and that in 1857, King
Frederick William IV of Prussia ordered the replacement be made. Luther's theses were engraved into today's bronze gate (pictured).
22.
Protestant Reformation
–
The period is usually considered to have begun with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Luther in 1517 to the Thirty Years War and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura, the initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The spread of Gutenbergs printing press provided the means for the dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. The largest groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists, Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The new movement influenced the Church of England decisively after 1547 under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, there were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical Reformation, which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian and other Pietistic movements. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent, much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the Jesuits. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years War, which left it devastated. The oldest Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum and Moravian Church, the later Protestant Churches generally date their doctrinal separation from the Roman Catholic Church to the 16th century. The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice. They especially objected to the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and the abuses thereof, and to simony, the reformers saw these practices as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Churchs hierarchy, which included the pope. Unrest due to the Great Schism of Western Christianity excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church, New perspectives came from John Wycliffe at Oxford University and from Jan Hus at the Charles University in Prague. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, the Roman Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the Council of Constance by condemning Hus, who was executed by burning despite a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428, the Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the century and could not prevent schism. Pope Sixtus IV established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead, Pope Alexander VI was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes. He was the father of seven children, including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, in response to papal corruption, particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses. The Reformation was born of Luthers dual declaration – first, the discovering of Jesus and salvation by faith alone, the Protestant reformers were unanimous in agreement and this understanding of prophecy furnished importance to their deeds. It was the point and the battle cry that made the Reformation nearly unassailable
Protestant Reformation
–
Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
–
Execution of
Jan Hus, an important Reformation precursor, in 1415.
Protestant Reformation
–
Martin Luther, shown in a portrait by
Lucas Cranach the Elder, initiated the Protestant Reformation in 1517.
Protestant Reformation
–
Martin Luther's 1534
Bible translated into German. Luther's translation influenced the development of the current Standard German.
23.
Athenians
–
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
Athenians
–
From upper left: the
Acropolis, the
Hellenic Parliament, the
Zappeion, the
Acropolis Museum,
Monastiraki Square, Athens view towards the sea
Athenians
–
Athena, patron goddess of Athens;
National Archaeological Museum
Athenians
–
Acropolis of Athens, with
Odeon of Herodes Atticus seen on bottom left
Athenians
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Statue of
Theseus. Theseus was responsible, according to the myth, for the
synoikismos ("dwelling together")—the political unification of
Attica under Athens.
24.
Satyr play
–
Satyr plays were an ancient Greek form of tragicomedy, similar in spirit to the bawdy satire of burlesque. They featured choruses of satyrs, were based on Greek mythology, and were rife with drunkenness, brazen sexuality, pranks, sight gags. Satyric drama was one of the three varieties of Athenian drama, the two being tragedy and comedy. It can be traced back to Pratinas of Phlius, c.500 BC, after settling in Athens, he probably adapted the dithyramb, customary in his native home, with its chorus of satyrs, to complement the form of tragedy which had been recently invented in Athens. It met with approval and was developed by his son Aristeas, by Choerilus, by Aeschylus. They were short, half the duration of a tragedy, the general theme of heaven, fate, and the gods affecting human affairs in the tragedies was carried through into the festivities of the chorus of satyrs and Sileni, companions of Dionysus. The origins of culture and the emergence of the satyr play can be traced to ancient rural celebrations in honour of the god Dionysus. Brockett also suggests the possibility that the play was the first form of drama from which both tragedy and comedy gradually emerged. A. E. Haigh however maintained that the play is a survival from “the primitive period of Bacchic worship”. Haigh lists several examples of recorded entries to the City Dionysia, thus, in 472 BC Aeschylus won the first prize with Phineaus, Persae, Glaucus and the satyr play Prometheus. Among Euripides’ entries, Haigh underlines Theristae, Sisyphus and Alcestis which Euripides was allowed to present as a replacement of the satyr play. The mythological origins of the satyrs are closely linked to the advent of Dionysus into Hellenic culture, the satyrs and their female counterpart, the maenads, were followers of Dionysus, a “late-comer to Olympus and probably of Asiatic origin”. According to Roger Lancelyn Green, the satyrs probably began as minor deities, while their designated leader Silenus originated as a water spirit. Silenus was already an attendant to Dionysus when the satyrs joined the god’s following, the satyrs characterised themselves by amorality, excessive drinking and the breaking down of traditional values and barriers. The amusing effect of the play did not depend so much on the action itself, as was the case in comedy and that relation was in keeping with the wanton, saucy, and insolent, and at the same time cowardly, nature of the satyrs. The number of persons in the chorus is not known, although there were probably either twelve or fifteen, the dance of the chorus in the satyric drama was called sicinnis, and consisted of a fantastic kind of skipping and jumping. The only satyr play to survive in its entirety is Euripides Cyclops, based on Odysseus encounter with the cyclops, Polyphemus, in Book 9 of the Odyssey. We also have fragments of a satyr play of Sophocles called Ichneutae, in which the satyrs are employed by Apollo to track down his stolen cattle
Satyr play
–
Papposilenus playing the crotals, theatrical type of the satyr play,
Louvre
Satyr play
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Actor as Papposilenus, around 100 AD, after 4th-century BC original
25.
Arthur Schopenhauer
–
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work The World as Will and Representation, wherein he characterizes the phenomenal world as the product of a blind and his writing on aesthetics, morality, and psychology would exert important influence on thinkers and artists throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Though his work failed to garner substantial attention during his life, Schopenhauer has had an impact across various disciplines, including philosophy, literature. When Danzig became part of Prussia in 1793, Heinrich moved to Hamburg, as early as 1799, Arthur started playing the flute. In 1805, Schopenhauers father died, possibly by suicide and he dedicated himself wholly to studies at the Gotha gymnasium in Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, but left in disgust after seeing one of the masters lampooned. By that time, Johanna Schopenhauer had already opened her famous salon and he was also disgusted by the ease with which his mother had forgotten his fathers memory. He left to become a student at the University of Göttingen in 1809, there he studied metaphysics and psychology under Gottlob Ernst Schulze, the author of Aenesidemus, who advised him to concentrate on Plato and Immanuel Kant. In Berlin, from 1811 to 1812, he had attended lectures by the prominent post-Kantian philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Schopenhauer had a notably strained relationship with his mother Johanna. He wrote his first book, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and his mother informed him that the book was incomprehensible and it was unlikely that anyone would ever buy a copy. In a fit of temper Arthur Schopenhauer told her that his work would be long after the rubbish she wrote would have been totally forgotten. In fact, although they considered her novels of dubious quality and we published more and more of her son Arthurs work and today nobody remembers Johanna, but her sons works are in steady demand and contribute to Brockhaus reputation. He kept large portraits of the pair in his office in Leipzig for the edification of his new editors, in 1814, Schopenhauer began his seminal work The World as Will and Representation. He finished it in 1818 and Brockhaus published it that December, in Dresden in 1819, Schopenhauer fathered, with a servant, an illegitimate daughter who was born and died the same year. In 1820, Schopenhauer became a lecturer at the University of Berlin and he scheduled his lectures to coincide with those of the famous philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, whom Schopenhauer described as a clumsy charlatan. However, only five students turned up to Schopenhauers lectures, a late essay, On University Philosophy, expressed his resentment towards the work conducted in academies. While in Berlin, Schopenhauer was named as a defendant in a lawsuit initiated by a woman named Caroline Marquet and she asked for damages, alleging that Schopenhauer had pushed her. According to Schopenhauers court testimony, she annoyed him by raising her voice while standing right outside his door. Marquet alleged that the philosopher had assaulted and battered her after she refused to leave his doorway and her companion testified that she saw Marquet prostrate outside his apartment
Arthur Schopenhauer
–
Schopenhauer, 1855.
Arthur Schopenhauer
–
Schopenhauer's birthplace house, ul. Św. Ducha (formerly Heiligegeistgasse)
Arthur Schopenhauer
–
Schopenhauer as a youth
Arthur Schopenhauer
–
Grave at Frankfurt Hauptfriedhof
26.
Aesthetics
–
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgements of sentiment. More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as critical reflection on art, in modern English, the term aesthetic can also refer to a set of principles underlying the works of a particular art movement or theory, one speaks, for example, of the Cubist aesthetic. The word aesthetic is derived from the Greek αἰσθητικός, which in turn was derived from αἰσθάνομαι, for some, aesthetics is considered a synonym for the philosophy of art since Hegel, while others insist that there is a significant distinction between these closely related fields. In practice, aesthetic judgement refers to the sensory contemplation or appreciation of an object, philosophical aesthetics has not only to speak about art and to produce judgments about art works, but has also to give a definition of what art is. Art is an entity for philosophy, because art deals with the senses. Hence, there are two different conceptions of art in aesthetics, art as knowledge or art as action, any aesthetic doctrines that guided the production and interpretation of prehistoric art are mostly unknown. Western aesthetics usually refers to Greek philosophers as the earliest source of aesthetic considerations. Plato believed in beauty as a form in which beautiful objects partake and he felt that beautiful objects incorporated proportion, harmony, and unity among their parts. Similarly, in the Metaphysics, Aristotle found that the elements of beauty were order, symmetry. From the late 17th to the early 20th century Western aesthetics underwent a revolution into what is often called modernism. German and British thinkers emphasized beauty as the key component of art and of the aesthetic experience, and saw art as necessarily aiming at absolute beauty. For Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten aesthetics is the science of the experiences, a younger sister of logic. For Immanuel Kant the aesthetic experience of beauty is a judgment of a subjective but similar human truth, however, beauty cannot be reduced to any more basic set of features. For Friedrich Schiller aesthetic appreciation of beauty is the most perfect reconciliation of the sensual and rational parts of human nature, for Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, the philosophy of art is the organon of philosophy concerning the relation between man and nature. So aesthetics began now to be the name for the philosophy of art, Friedrich von Schlegel, August Wilhelm Schlegel, Friedrich Schleiermacher and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel also gave lectures on aesthetics as philosophy of art after 1800. For Hegel, all culture is a matter of absolute spirit coming to be manifest to itself, stage by stage, Art is the first stage in which the absolute spirit is manifest immediately to sense-perception, and is thus an objective rather than subjective revelation of beauty. It is thus for Schopenhauer one way to fight the suffering, the British were largely divided into intuitionist and analytic camps
Aesthetics
–
Bronze sculpture, thought to be either
Poseidon or
Zeus,
National Archaeological Museum of Athens
Aesthetics
–
Cubist painting by
Georges Braque, Violin and Candlestick (1910)
Aesthetics
–
William Hogarth, self-portrait, 1745
Aesthetics
–
Example of the
Dada aesthetic,
Marcel Duchamp 's Fountain 1917
27.
Tristan und Isolde
–
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting. Wagner referred to the not as an opera, but called it eine Handlung. Wagners composition of Tristan und Isolde was inspired by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertoire, Tristan was notable for Wagners unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonality, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension. Other composers like Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky formulated their styles in contrast to Wagners musical legacy. Many see Tristan as the beginning of the move away from common practice harmony and tonality, both Wagners libretto style and music were also profoundly influential on the Symbolist poets of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Wagner was forced to abandon his position as conductor of the Dresden Opera in 1849 and he left his wife, Minna, in Dresden, and fled to Zürich. There, in 1852, he met the wealthy silk trader Otto Wesendonck, Wesendonck became a supporter of Wagner and bankrolled the composer for several years. Wesendoncks wife, Mathilde, became enamoured of the composer, though Wagner was working on his epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, he found himself intrigued by the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The story of Tristan and Isolde is a romance of the Middle Ages. Several versions of the story exist, the earliest dating to the middle of the 12th century, gottfrieds version, part of the courtly branch of the legend, had a huge influence on later German literature. It was some such mood that inspired the conception of a Tristan und Isolde. I have devised in my mind a Tristan und Isolde, the simplest, yet most full-blooded musical conception imaginable, by the end of 1854, Wagner had sketched out all three acts of an opera on the Tristan theme, based on Gottfried von Strassburgs telling of the story. On 20 August he began the prose sketch for the opera, Wagner, at this time, had moved into a cottage built in the grounds of Wesendoncks villa, where, during his work on Tristan und Isolde, he became passionately involved with Mathilde Wesendonck. Whether or not this relationship was platonic remains uncertain, one evening in September of that year, Wagner read the finished poem of Tristan to an audience including his wife, Minna, his current muse, Mathilde, and his future mistress, Cosima von Bülow. By October 1857, Wagner had begun the composition sketch of the first Act, during November, however, he set five of Mathildes poems to music known today as the Wesendonck Lieder. This was a move by Wagner, who almost never set to music poetic texts other than his own. But Wagner resolved to write Tristan only after he had secured a deal with the Leipzig-based firm Breitkopf & Härtel
Tristan und Isolde
–
Ludwig and
Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld as Tristan and Isolde in the first performance, conducted by
Hans von Bülow
Tristan und Isolde
–
Tristan and Isolde with the Potion (1916) by
John William Waterhouse, oil on canvas
Tristan und Isolde
–
Tristan und Isolde by Ferdinand Leeke
28.
Libretto
–
A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata. Libretto, from Italian, is the diminutive of the word libro, sometimes other language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, livret for French works and Textbuch for German. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. The relationship of the librettist to the composer in the creation of a work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources. In the context of a modern English language musical theatre piece, Libretti for operas, oratorios and cantatas in the 17th and 18th centuries generally were written by someone other than the composer, often a well-known poet. Metastasio was one of the most highly regarded librettists in Europe and his libretti were set many times by many different composers. Another noted 18th-century librettist was Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libretti for three of Mozarts greatest operas, as well as for other composers. Eugène Scribe was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, providing the words for works by Meyerbeer, Auber, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. The French writers duo Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote a number of opera and operetta libretti for the likes of Jacques Offenbach, Jules Massenet. Arrigo Boito, who wrote libretti for, among others, Giuseppe Verdi and Amilcare Ponchielli, the libretto is not always written before the music. Some composers wrote their own libretti, Richard Wagner is perhaps most famous in this regard, with his transformations of Germanic legends and events into epic subjects for his operas and music dramas. Hector Berlioz, too, wrote the libretti for two of his works, La Damnation de Faust and Les Troyens. Alban Berg adapted Georg Büchners play Woyzeck for the libretto of Wozzeck, sometimes the libretto is written in close collaboration with the composer, this can involve adaptation, as was the case with Rimsky-Korsakov and his librettist Belsky, or an entirely original work. In the case of musicals, the music, the lyrics, thus, a musical such as Fiddler on the Roof has a composer, a lyricist and the writer of the book. In rare cases, the composer writes everything except the dance arrangements - music, lyrics and libretto, Other matters in the process of developing a libretto parallel those of spoken dramas for stage or screen. A famous case of the latter is Wagners 1861 revision of the original 1845 Dresden version of his opera Tannhäuser for Paris, since the late 19th century some opera composers have written music to prose or free verse libretti. The libretto of a musical, on the hand, is almost always written in prose
Libretto
–
Cover of a 1921 libretto for Giordano's
Andrea Chénier
Libretto
–
The composer of
Cavalleria rusticana,
Pietro Mascagni, flanked by his librettists,
Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and
Guido Menasci.
Libretto
–
Pages from an 1859 libretto for
Ernani, with the original Italian lyrics, English translation and musical notation for one of the arias.
Libretto
–
Henry Purcell (1659–1695) whose operas were written to English libretti.
29.
Leipzig
–
Leipzig is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. With a population of 570,087 inhabitants it is Germanys tenth most populous city, Leipzig is located about 160 kilometres southwest of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster, Pleisse, and Parthe rivers at the southern end of the North German Plain. Leipzig has been a city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The city sits at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, Leipzig was once one of the major European centers of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing. Leipzig became an urban center within the German Democratic Republic after the Second World War. Leipzig later played a significant role in instigating the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, through events which took place in, Leipzig today is an economic center and the most livable city in Germany, according to the GfK marketing research institution. Since the opening of the Leipzig City Tunnel in 2013, Leipzig forms the centerpiece of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland public transit system, Leipzig is currently listed as Gamma World City and Germanys Boomtown. Outside of Leipzig the Neuseenland district forms a lake area of approximately 300 square kilometres. Leipzig is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means settlement where the linden trees stand, an older spelling of the name in English is Leipsic. The Latin name Lipsia was also used, the name is cognate with Lipetsk in Russia and Liepāja in Latvia. In 1937 the Nazi government officially renamed the city Reichsmessestadt Leipzig, the common usage of this nickname for Leipzig up until the present is reflected, for example, in the name of a popular blog for local arts and culture, Heldenstadt. de. Leipzig was first documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg as urbs Libzi and endowed with city, Leipzig Trade Fair, started in the Middle Ages, became an event of international importance and is the oldest remaining trade fair in the world. During the Thirty Years War, two battles took place in Breitenfeld, about 8 kilometres outside Leipzig city walls, the first Battle of Breitenfeld took place in 1631 and the second in 1642. Both battles resulted in victories for the Swedish-led side, on 24 December 1701, an oil-fueled street lighting system was introduced. The city employed light guards who had to follow a schedule to ensure the punctual lighting of the 700 lanterns. The Leipzig region was the arena of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig between Napoleonic France and a coalition of Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden. It was the largest battle in Europe prior to the First World War, in 1913 the Monument to the Battle of the Nations celebrating the centenary of this event was completed. The railway station has two entrance halls, the eastern one for the Royal Saxon State Railways and the western one for the Prussian state railways
Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig
30.
Penzing (Vienna)
–
Penzing is the 14th District of Vienna and consists of the boroughs of Penzing, Breitensee, Baumgarten, Hütteldorf and Hadersdorf-Weidlingau. In the west, it shares a border with Purkersdorf and Mauerbach, a large portion of the district is made up of greenery, including the Steinhof park, the Dehnepark and a portion of the Wienerwald. The famous Jugendstil architect Otto Wagner participated in the planning, the complex includes the Kirche am Steinhof, the Jugendstiltheater and a memorial site for Nazi crimes in medicine
Penzing (Vienna)
–
Kirche am Steinhof
Penzing (Vienna)
–
Location of the district within Vienna
Penzing (Vienna)
–
Aerial view of with Otto-Wagner-Spital near the top of the photo (three rows of big buildings), square-shaped
Gerhard Hanappi Stadium downwards from it, and
Baumgarten between them, with its sizable Baumgartner Cemetery.
Media related to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Wikimedia Commons
