1.
Don Juan
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Don Juan, Don Giovanni is a legendary, fictional libertine. The first written version of the Don Juan legend was written by the Spanish dramatist Tirso de Molina and his play, El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra, was set in the fourteenth century and published in Spain around 1630. The name Don Juan is a metaphor for a womanizer. The original play was written in the Spanish Golden Age according to its beliefs and ideals, Tirso de Molina wrote El burlador de Sevilla in 1630 in order to demonstrate a life-changing lesson. However, through his play, he shows that even Don Juan, who is identified as the very devil, Tirso reminds us that we must pay for our actions, and that in the end, death makes us all equal. Although the various iterations of the Don Juan myth show some variation, starting with Tirsos work, Don Juan is portrayed as a wealthy libertine who devotes his life to seducing women, taking great pride in his ability to seduce women of all ages and stations in life. Tan largo me lo fiáis is the aphorism that Don Juan lives by and it is his way of indicating that he is young and death is still distant, trusting he has plenty of time to repent for his sins. His life is punctuated with violence and gambling, and in many interpretations, he kills Don Gonzalo. This leads to the famous last supper scene, whereby Don Juan invites the statue of the father to dinner, the ending depends on which version of the legend one is reading. Tirsos original play was meant as religious parable against Don Juans sinful ways, other authors and playwrights would interpret the ending in their own fashion. In Da Pontes libretto for Don Giovanni, he refuses to repent despite being given the opportunity by the statue. Esproncedas Don Felix walks into hell and to his death of his own volition, whereas Zorrillas Don Juan asks for, and receives, the figure of Don Juan has inspired many modern interpretations. In a famous passage, Kierkegaard discusses Mozarts version of the Don Juan story, Charles Rosen saw what he called the seductive physical power of Mozarts music as linked to 18th century libertinism, political fervor, and incipient Romanticism. In Spain, the first three decades of the century saw more cultural fervor surrounding the Don Juan figure than perhaps any other period. During the 1918 influenza epidemic in Spain, the figure of Don Juan served as a metaphor for the flu microbe, the Don Juan legend discusses the theological question of the Act of Contrition, through which those who regretted their sins before death, would automatically receive salvation. However, others believed that some sins were unforgivable and that a simple Act of Contrition would not save them from damnation for all the harm they had caused, Tirso de Molinas theological perspective is quite apparent through the message he conveys with the dreadful ending of his play. Specifically redefined as masculine honor and feminine integrity, under the importance of honor, men in this time period found feminine integrity to be a crucial element, to the point where women in the Italian version of Don Juan are devalued. These low views of the women society affect Don Juan’s opinions and are sources to his behavior and he begins to view women as a number he could add to his list and not see who they actually were
2.
Giuseppe Gazzaniga
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Giuseppe Gazzaniga was a member of the Neapolitan school of opera composers. He composed fifty-one operas and is considered to be one of the last Italian opera buffa composers, born in Verona, Gazzaniga was initially intended for the priesthood at the urging of his devout parents. He eventually convinced his father to him to pursue a career in music and began studies first in Venice. While there, he was a pupil of Niccolò Piccinni and Nicola Porpora, Gazzaniga presented his first opera, il Barone di Trocchia, at the Teatro di San Carlo in 1768. He would spend the several decades writing mostly operas in Italy with the exception of a few trips to Dresden, Vienna. His most successful opera was his Don Giovanni Tenorio written in 1787 to a libretto by Giovanni Bertati and his last opera, Martino Carbonaro o sia Gli sposi fuggitivi, was performed at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice in 1801. He also wrote a symphony and three piano concertos, in 1791, he became musical director of Crema Cathedral in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, where he composed numerous sacred works including several cantatas, oratorios, and masses. He remained in position until his death in 1818. His life and works were the subject of a study by the prominent 19th-century German critic Friedrich Chrysander
3.
Don Giovanni Tenorio
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It belongs to the genre of dramma giocoso and is in one act. Don Giovanni Tenorio was first performed at the Teatro San Moisè, Venice, the libretto, by Giovanni Bertati, is based on the legend of Don Juan, leading to comparisons with Mozarts Don Giovanni, which had its premiere later in 1787. Mozarts librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, certainly knew the earlier opera, gazzanigas work is much shorter than Mozarts, however, and originally formed part of a double-bill with another piece, Il capriccio drammatico. Don Giovanni The role was created by Antonio Baglioni, who sang Don Ottavio in the premiere of Mozarts opera, Donna Annas father, the Commendatore, challenges Giovanni to a duel and is killed. Meanwhile Don Giovanni encounters his old lover, as Don Giovanni woos Donna Ximena, Pasquariello gives Elvira a detailed account all his masters amorous conquests. Maturina and Biagio, accompanied by a party of peasants, arrive, Maturina and Biagio are about to be married, but Don Giovanni chases off a furious Biagio and attempts to seduce Maturina. Don Giovanni and Pasquariello follow Ottavio when he visits the Commendatores tomb, Pasquariello is terrfied when he hears the statue accept an invitation to dinner. Later that evening at Don Giovannis house, Elvira pleads with the Don to mend his ways, Giovanni and Pasquariello enjoy their dinner and sing the praises of food, wine, and Venetian women. The statue suddenly arrives and drags Don Giovanni to his death, Pasquariello and Lanterna describe Giovannis fate to them. The opera ends as all rejoice at his downfall, holden Synopsis and essay on the opera by Jeremy Gray for Bampton Classical Opera
4.
Lucio Battisti
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Lucio Battisti was an Italian singer, songwriter and composer. He is considered to be one of the best-known and most influential musicians, Battisti started his career in 1966 and from 1969 to 1994 he released 18 albums in his home country. A significant part of his production was translated into Spanish, English, French, Battisti was born in Poggio Bustone, a town in the province of Rieti, and moved with his family to Rome in 1950. In Milan he found the support of the French talent scout, Christine Leroux, under Lerouxs wing Battisti penned three sizeable hits in 1966 for other artists. Mogol also pushed Ricordi to allow Battisti to sing his own songs, Battistis voice became the point of his strength. As a singer, he made his debut with the song Per una lira in 1966, despite the poor success. Battisti continued to write for others, in the late 1960s, with the same song, Battisti classified fourth in the Cantagiro, a then popular Italian Pop music competition. 1969 saw another one of Battistis compositions, Il Paradiso, become a hit in the UK when it was covered by the group Amen Corner as Half as Nice, hitting the number one spot on the singles chart. In the same period another English band, The Hollies – featuring Graham Nash – recorded a Battisti song in Italian, in the same year Battisti took part in the Festival of Sanremo, with the song Unavventura, and his popularity began to increase. His first great hit was Acqua azzurra, acqua chiara, which won the Festivalbar, the same year, Ricordi issued Battistis self-titled debut album. During this successful year he met Grazia Letizia Veronese, who married and lived with Battisti until his death. He also became a popular TV presence, in 1970 Battisti won Festivalbar for the second time in a row, with the song Fiori rosa, fiori di pesco, and started to collaborate with Mina, who sang some of Mogol-Battistis finest tunes. In December, Ricordi issued Battistis second LP, Emozioni, which was a compilation of previously released singles, the new label released Umanamente uomo, il sogno followed by the even more successful Il mio canto libero. The latter topped the Italian charts for 8 weeks, one of its songs – Io vorrei, non vorrei, ma se vuoi – was later recorded by Mick Ronson with lyrics translated by David Bowie, as Music Is Lethal. The song Il mio canto libero has remained one of the most popular songs among Italians, another successful album was Il nostro caro angelo. In 1977 he released Io tu noi tutti and he also relocated to Los Angeles, and issued an album, Images, that featured some of his biggest hits re-recorded in English. However, the attempt to equal his European success in the United States failed, in 1978 Battisti released Una donna per amico, recorded in London and produced by Geoff Westley, it was his best-selling LP. This was followed in 1980 by Una giornata uggiosa, produced by the same team and it contained Battistis last great success, Con il nastro rosa
5.
Don Giovanni (album)
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Don Giovanni is an album by the Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti. Nearly four years in its making, it was released in March 1986 by the Numero Uno label and was later re-released by Sony BMG, in stylistic terms, it features an avant-garde blend of an almost minimalist sound, featuring synthpop inspired electronics, with classic Italian popular music. The title of the album alludes to Mozarts famous work Don Giovanni, the album was Italys third best-selling album in 1986. All lyrics written by Pasquale Panella, all composed by Lucio Battisti
6.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
7.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, he showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, while visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame, during his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons and he composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote, posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl and this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy and his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Ruperts Cathedral in Salzburg, the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself Wolfgang Amadè Mozart as an adult, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, Germany, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg, Leopold became the orchestras deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his sons birth, Leopold published a textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Nannerl was 7, she began lessons with her father. Years later, after her brothers death, she reminisced, He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, he was composing little pieces
8.
Francisco D'Andrade
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Considered a very elegant and cultured singer, he was particularly admired for his portrayal of the title role in Mozarts Don Giovanni. In his native city of Lisbon, DAndrade created the role of Adaour in the 1888 world premiere of Alfredo Keils Donna Bianca, appearing with his elder brother and his father was a prominent jurist there, and he initially trained as a lawyer. However, like his older brother António, DAndrade also had a keen interest in opera, both frequently attended performances in the Teatro do Ginásio and participated in amateur productions with the Sociedade Taborda. In the spring of 1881, he left for Milan to continue his training, first with the tenor Corrado Miraglia. DAndrade made his debut on 23 December 1882 at the Teatro Principe Amedeo in Sanremo as Amonasro in Verdis Aida. Both he and his brother were engaged as singers at the Théâtre Privé dOpéra in Moscow for the 1885/86 season, DAndrade began a five-year association with the Royal Italian Opera in London in 1886. Throughout his career he was admired for his portrayal of Don Giovanni. He had first sung with the Berlin Hofoper in 1889 and became a member of the company in 1906 remaining a member until his retirement. DAndrade moved back to Lisbon during World War I, but returned to Germany and he retired from the stage in 1919 and died in Berlin two years later at the age of 65. His body was taken back to Lisbon, where he was buried in the family tomb and he was survived by his wife, the Austrian pianist and singer Irma Noethig, whom he had married in 1900, and their son Francisco António Luís de Andrade. His widow later returned to Vienna, where she died in 1937, a portrait of DAndrade as Don Giovanni painted by Max Slevogt in 1912 hangs in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Also known as Der roter DAndrade, it depicts the scene in Act 2 of the opera where Don Giovanni taunts the statue of the dead Commendatore. It was the last of three large oil portraits which Slevoght had painted of DAndrade in different aspects of the role. The first of these, Der weiße DAndrade painted in 1902 and it was an immediate success at the 1902 Berlin Secession Exhibition and marked Slevogt as a major exponent of German Impressionism. Der schwarze DAndrade painted in 1903 depicts the scene of the opera where the white marble hand of the Commendatore summons Don Giovanni to hell. The young Max Slevogt first encountered DAndrade in 1894 when he was captivated by his triumphant performance as Don Giovanni in Munich and it was the beginning of Slevogts fascination with Mozart and particularly Don Giovanni. It was also the beginning of a friendship with DAndrade that would last until the singers death. When DAndrade died suddenly in 1921, Slevogt rushed to his house to paint him one last time, only later did he create a sketch of the coffin from memory entitled Grablegung Don Giovannis
9.
Max Slevogt
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Max Slevogt was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of the plein air style and he was born in Landshut, Germany, in 1868. From 1885 to 1889 he studied at the Munich Academy, and his paintings are dark in tone. In 1889 Slevogt visited Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian, in 1896, he drew caricatures for the magazines Simplicissimus and Jugend, and the next year he had his first solo exhibition in Vienna. Toward the end of the 1890s his palette brightened and he travelled again to Paris in 1900, where he was represented in the German pavilion of the world exhibition with the work Scheherezade, and was greatly impressed by the paintings of Édouard Manet. In 1901 he joined the Berlin Secession, a trip to Egypt in 1914 resulted in 21 paintings as well as numerous watercolors and drawings, on the return journey he stopped off in Italy. In June he acquired the country seat Neukastel, after the outbreak of World War I he was sent as official war painter to the western front. The war experience brought about a search for new style appropriate to the expression of the horrors of war, in the same year he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. He designed scenery for the performance of Mozarts Don Giovanni in the Dresdner state opera in 1924, in 1929 he was given a large 60th birthday exhibition in the Prussian academy of the arts in Berlin. During the last year of his life he worked on the religious mural Golgatha in the church in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine. It was destroyed by bombing raids during World War II, Max Slevogt died in Leinsweiler in 1932. He is buried in the place of the family Finkler east of his house
10.
Lorenzo Da Ponte
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Lorenzo Da Ponte was an Italian, later American opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozarts greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte, Lorenzo Da Ponte was born Emanuele Conegliano in 1749 in Ceneda, in the Republic of Venice. He was Jewish by birth, the eldest of three sons, in 1764, his father, Geronimo Conegliano, then a widower, converted himself and his family to Roman Catholicism in order to marry a Catholic woman. Emanuele, as was the custom, took the name of Lorenzo Da Ponte from the Bishop of Ceneda who baptised him, thanks to the bishop, the three Conegliano brothers studied at the Ceneda seminary. The bishop died in 1768, after which Lorenzo moved to the seminary at Portogruaro and he was ordained a priest in 1773. He began at this period writing poetry in Italian and Latin, including an ode to wine, in 1773 Da Ponte moved to Venice, where he made a living as a teacher of Latin, Italian and French. Although he was a Catholic priest, the man led a dissolute life. While priest of the church of San Luca, he took a mistress, at his 1779 trial, where he was charged with public concubinage and abduction of a respectable woman, it was alleged that he had been living in a brothel and organizing the entertainments there. He was found guilty and banished for fifteen years from Venice, Lorenzo Da Ponte moved to Gorizia, then part of Austria, where he lived as a writer, attaching himself to the leading noblemen and cultural patrons of the city. In 1781 he believed that he had an invitation from his friend Caterino Mazzolà, Mazzolà however offered him work at the theatre translating libretti and recommended that he seek to develop writing skills. He also gave him a letter of introduction to the composer Antonio Salieri, with the help of Salieri, Da Ponte applied for and obtained the post of librettist to the Italian Theatre in Vienna. Here he also found a patron in the banker Raimund Wetzlar von Plankenstern, as court poet and librettist in Vienna, he collaborated with Mozart, Salieri and Vicente Martín y Soler. However the quality of his elaboration gave them new life, there he rented a three-room apartment for 200 Gulden. With the death of Austrian Emperor Joseph II in 1790, Da Ponte lost his patron and he was formally dismissed from the Imperial Service in 1791, due to intrigues, receiving no support from the new Emperor, Leopold. After a precarious start in England, exercising a number of jobs including that of grocer and Italian teacher, he became librettist at the Kings Theatre, London, in 1803. In the United States, Da Ponte settled in New York City first, then Sunbury, Pennsylvania and he returned to New York to open a bookstore. He became friends with Clement Clarke Moore, and, through him and he was the first Roman Catholic priest to be appointed to the faculty, and he was also the first to have been born a Jew. In New York he introduced opera and produced in 1825 the first full performance of Don Giovanni in the United States and he also introduced Gioachino Rossinis music in the U. S. through a concert tour with his niece Giulia Da Ponte
11.
Estates Theatre
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The Estates Theatre or Stavovské divadlo is a historic theatre in Prague, Czech Republic. The Estates Theatre was designed by Anton Haffenecker and built in a less than two years for the aristocrat František Antonín Count Nostitz Rieneck. Pragues first standing public theatre, the Sporck Theatre, operated from 1724 to 1735, the owner of this theatre, Count Franz Anton von Sporck, permitted the free use of it to subsidize the commercial venture of the Venetian impresario Antonio Denzio. The next commercial theatre, the Kotzentheater or Divadlo v Kotcích, the final closure of the Kotzentheater coincided with the opening of Count Nostitz’s Nostitzsches Nationaltheater. The theatre opened in 1783 with a performance of the tragedy Emilia Galotti by the German playwright Gotthold Lessing, the building itself was constructed in a Neoclassical style and remains one of the few European theatres to be preserved in its almost original state to the present day. Its motto, Patriae et Musis To the Native Land and the Muses), the Estates Theatre has undergone several changes in its history. It first acquired the name Royal Theatre of the Estates in 1798 when it was purchased by the Czech Estates, with the opening of the Provisional Theatre in 1862, the Theatre of the Estates was dedicated to a German ensemble and renamed the Royal Provincial German Theatre. During the period between 1920 and 1948 the theatre regained the name Theatre of the Estates and became affiliated with the National Theatre. In 1948 the theatre was renamed the Tyl Theatre and would be known as such until 1990 when, at the end of a reconstruction project. While the theatre was built with the intention of producing German dramas and Italian operas. Czech productions were first staged in 1785 in order to reach a broader Czech audience, the somewhat political nature of these performances later led to idea of founding a National Theatre after 1848 with the defeat of the revolution and the departure of J. K. Many of the founding Czech dramatists were involved in the Estates Theatre, such as the brothers Thám, Tyl, Ján Kollár, and so on. The Estates Theatre was not limited to participants, many famous European artists were also active. Individuals such as Carl Maria von Weber, Anton Rubinstein, Karl Goldmark, other famous names include the actors A. W. Nestroy, along with opera singer Angelica Catalani and violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, one of the Estates Theatre’s many claims to glory is its strong link with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who conducted the world premiere of his opera Don Giovanni here in October 1787. Also, in 1791, Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito was staged in public here for the first time in celebration of the coronation of Emperor Leopold II and it is the only theatre left standing where Mozart performed. The Estates Theatre currently offers performances of dramas, ballets and operas with the focus of the company on the work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A more contemporary claim to fame originates from the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, the scenes of Mozart in Prague were shot at the Estates Theatre for authenticity
12.
Libretto
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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
13.
Libertine
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Libertinism is described as an extreme form of hedonism. Libertines put value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses, as a philosophy, libertinism gained new-found adherents in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, particularly in France and Great Britain. Notable among these were John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, the word Libertine was originally coined by John Calvin to negatively describe opponents of his policies in Geneva, Switzerland. This group, led by Ami Perrin, argued against Calvins insistence that church discipline should be enforced uniformly against all members of Genevan society and this was the last great political challenge Calvin had to face in Geneva. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the became more associated with debauchery. Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand wrote that Joseph Bonaparte sought only lifes pleasures, les Liaisons dangereuses, an epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, is a trenchant description of sexual libertinism. Wayland Young argues. the mere analysis of libertinism, carried out by a novelist with such a prodigious command of his medium. Was enough to condemn it and play a part in its destruction. The narrator subordinates reason to sense and it is based to some extent on Boileaus version of Juvenals eighth or fifteenth satire, and is also indebted to Hobbes, Montaigne, Lucretius and Epicurus, as well as the general libertine tradition. Confusion has arisen in its interpretation as it is ambiguous as to whether the speaker is Rochester himself and it criticises the vanities and corruptions of the statesmen and politicians of the court of Charles II. The libertine novel was an 18th century literary genre of which the lay in the European. The genre effectively ended with the French Revolution, themes of libertine novels were anti-clericalism, anti-establishment and eroticism. Authors include Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, Denis Diderot, Marquis de Sade, Choderlos de Laclos, other famous titles are Histoire de Dom Bougre, Portier des Chartreux and Thérèse Philosophe. Precursors to the writers were Théophile de Viau and Charles de Saint-Evremond, who were inspired by Epicurus. Robert Darnton is a historian who has covered this genre extensively. Critics have been divided as to the merits of William Hazlitts Liber Amoris. The critic Vivian de Sola Pinto linked John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochesters libertinism to Hobbesian materialism, in Shakespeares play Hamlet, Ophelia refers to her brother Laertes as a puffd and reckless libertine. A play, The Libertine, was written by Stephen Jeffreys, the 2004 film The Libertine, based on Jeffreys play, starred Johnny Depp as Rochester
14.
Prague
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Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the 14th largest city in the European Union and it is also the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its history and it was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The city has more than ten major museums, along with theatres, galleries, cinemas. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city, also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an Alpha- global city according to GaWC studies, Prague ranked sixth in the Tripadvisor world list of best destinations in 2016. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city more than 6.4 million international visitors annually. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul, the region was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes, around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map of Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis. In the following century, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in Levý Hradec, Butovice and in the Šárka valley. The construction of what came to be known as the Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, the first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad, was founded in the 10th century, Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied, I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia, under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973
15.
Supernatural
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One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of natural and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day, nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for the universe, or system of the works of God, as when it is said of a phoenix, or a chimera. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature a semi-deity or other kind of being. Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to a unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Views on the supernatural vary, for example it may be seen as, from this perspective, some events occur according to the laws of nature, and others occur according to a separate set of principles external to known nature. For example, in Scholasticism, it was believed that God was capable of performing any miracle so long as it didnt lead to a logical contradiction, others believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning, rainbows, floods, the supernatural is a feature of the philosophical traditions of Neoplatonism and Scholasticism. In contrast, the philosophy of Metaphysical naturalism argues for the conclusion that there are no supernatural entities, objects, most religions include elements of belief in the supernatural while also often featuring prominently in the study of the paranormal and occultism. Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as an intervention into the “natural” order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as a by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, in process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if “the natural” is defined more neutrally as “what is in the nature of things, in Whiteheads words, “It lies in the nature of things that the many enter into complex unity”. It is tempting to emphasize process theisms denial of the supernatural, dreams as a Source of Supernatural Agent Concepts. Riekki T, Lindeman M, Raij T. T, Supernatural Believers Attribute More Intentions to Random Movement than Skeptics, An fMRI Study. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Purzycki Benjamin G, the Minds of Gods, A Comparative Study of Supernatural Agency. Unresolved Mourning, Supernatural Beliefs and Dissociation, A Mediation Analysis, vail K. E, Arndt J, Addollahi A
16.
Seville
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Seville is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville, Spain. It is situated on the plain of the river Guadalquivir, the inhabitants of the city are known as sevillanos or hispalenses, after the Roman name of the city, Hispalis. Its Old Town, with an area of 4 square kilometres, the Seville harbour, located about 80 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean, is the only river port in Spain. Seville is also the hottest major metropolitan area in the geographical Western Europe, Seville was founded as the Roman city of Hispalis. It later became known as Ishbiliya after the Muslim conquest in 712, in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan departed from Seville for the first circumnavigation of the Earth. Spal is the oldest known name for Seville and it appears to have originated during the Phoenician colonisation of the Tartessian culture in south-western Iberia and, according to Manuel Pellicer Catalán, meant lowland in the Phoenician language. During Roman rule, the name was Latinised as Hispalis, nO8DO is the official motto of Seville. It is popularly believed to be a rebus signifying the Spanish No me ha dejado, meaning It has not abandoned me, the eight in the middle represents a madeja, or skein of wool. The emblem is present on the flag and features on city property such as manhole covers. Seville is approximately 2,200 years old, the passage of the various civilisations instrumental in its growth has left the city with a distinct personality, and a large and well-preserved historical centre. The city was known from Roman times as Hispalis, important archaeological remains also exist in the nearby towns of Santiponce and Carmona. The walls surrounding the city were built during the rule of Julius Caesar. Following Roman rule, there were successive conquests of the Roman province of Hispania Baetica by the Vandals, the Suebi, Seville was taken by the Moors, Muslims from North of Africa, during the conquest of Hispalis in 712. It was the capital for the kings of the Umayyad Caliphate, the Moorish urban influences continued and are present in contemporary Seville, for instance in the custom of decorating with herbaje and small fountains the courtyards of the houses. However, most buildings of the Moorish aesthetic actually belong to the Mudéjar style of Islamic art, developed under Christian rule and inspired by the Arabic style. Original Moorish buildings are the Patio del Yeso in the Alcázar, the city walls, in 1247, the Christian King Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon began the conquest of Andalusia. The decisive action took place in May 1248 when Ramon Bonifaz sailed up the Guadalquivir, the city surrendered on 23 November 1248. The citys development continued after the Castilian conquest in 1248, Public buildings constructed including churches, many of which were built in the Mudéjar style, and the Seville Cathedral, built during the 15th century with Gothic architecture
17.
Tirso de Molina
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Tirso de Molina was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and Roman Catholic monk. He is primarily known for writing The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest and his work is also of particular significance due to the abundance of female protagonists, as well as the exploration of sexual issues. He was born Gabriel Téllez in Madrid and he studied at Alcalá de Henares, joined the mendicant Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on 4 November 1600, and entered the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara, Spain on 21 January 1601. He was ordained a priest by 1610 and his first publication, the incomplete Cigarrales de Toledo, is a miscellany, containing short tales, novellas, verses and three plays. One of the novellas, Los tres maridos burlados, probably derived from Francesco Cieco da Ferraras Mambriano, and the play entitled El vergonzoso en palacio reveal his wit and ingenuity. The preface to the Cigarrales de Toledo states that Tirso de Molina had already written three hundred plays, and at this period of his career he was only to Lope de Vega in popularity. He showed hostility to culteranismo in the Cigarrales de Toledo, and made enemies by his attacks on the new school in such pieces as Amar por arte mayor. In 1626 it was advisable to transfer him to Salamanca. Though one of his plays, La huerta de San Juan, is dated 1626, there is no proof that it was begun after his departure from Madrid, and he seems to have written nothing for eight years. He had not lost his interest in the theatre, and published twelve representative pieces as the first part of his dramatic works and this was a formal protest against the weakness of those who had been persuaded to drive him out. Twelve plays constitute the part of his dramatic works which was published in 1634, supposedly edited by the writers nephew, Francisco Lucas de Ávila. A sixth volume of dramatic pieces, consisting of light comedies, was announced and he was absorbed by other duties. As official chronicler of his order, he compiled the elaborate Historia de la Merced, on 29 September 1645 Tirso de Molina became superior of the monastery at Soria, and died there. Though manifestly attracted by exceptional cases, by kind of moral aberration, by the infamous. The renaissance of his fame, however, dates from 1839–1842 and he is now accepted as among the greatest dramatists of Spain
18.
Villena
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Villena is a city in Spain, in the Valencian Community. It is the capital of the comarca of the Alto Vinalopó, the municipality has an area of 345.6 km² and a population of 34,928 inhabitants as of INE2008. There is evidence of settlement in the area from Middle Paleolithic, however, it is on dispute if the current city dates from visigothic times or before, though certainly it existed in the 11th century, during the Muslim period. After the Christian conquest, it became Seigneury, Principality, Duchy and finally Marquisate, until the people, encouraged by the Catholic Monarchs, in 1525 Charles V conceded the title of City to Villena. This is the most economically prosperous period, as shown by the monuments that survived to nowadays, although a railway station was inaugurated in 1858, economy kept being mainly agricultural until the rural exode that took place in the 1960s. Then, the model changed rapidly so that currently economy is based mainly on tertiary sector and industry, chiefly footwear, construction. Among the main events are the Moors and Christians festival. Near the latter there is evidence of an old Tower already ruined by the 14th century, as for the origin of the term Villena, there is some polemic. Menéndez Pidal proposed an evolution from a hypothetic antroponym Bellius or Vellius and the sufix -ana, as in Lucena or Maracena, however, Belliana or Bellius have not been documented in Roman times, as well as the evolution from Belliana to Villena involves several phonetic difficulties. So, Domene Verdú indicates that the origin of the toponym would be the term بليانة Bilyāna, purely Arabic and this Arabic term, documented from the 11th century on, evolved in two ways. On the one hand, following the rules of Medieval Spanish, to Belliena, on the other hand, Belliena was replaced by the Aragonese term Billena after the Christian conquest, which was carried out mostly by Aragonese and Catalan. The current spelling was consolidated around the 15th century, since Spanish had totally lost the distinction between and and writing was attracted by the villa, meaning town. The coat of arms of Villena has been used traditionally since at least 1477, the crown is a symbol of the marquisate of Villena. As the coat of arms has never made official, there are different versions according to the City Halls terms of office, as well as certain polemic about the position of the second, Villena is placed northwest in the province of Alicante, in the comarca of Alto Vinalopó. Villenas municipality, having an area of 345,6 km2 in the second widest in the province of Alicante, Villena region played an important role during the Bronze Age, and in the development of early metallurgy. Cabezo Redondo is an important archaeological site of the Bronze Age located on a hill 2 km from the town of Villena and it was a regional center inhabited between 1500 and 1100 BC, and probably belonged to Argaric culture. After the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula the city was called Medina Bilyana and was one of the seven cities mentioned in the Treaty of Tudmir, calatrava knights reconquered the city by the king James I of Aragon. The Cabezo Redondo gold hoard was an important archaeological find and it was made by the Spanish archaeologist José María Soler García
19.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
20.
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I and he was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the House of Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine. He has been ranked, with Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia and his policies are now known as Josephinism. He died with no sons and was succeeded by his younger brother, Joseph was born in the midst of the early upheavals of the War of the Austrian Succession. His real education was given to him through the writings of Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes and he married Princess Isabella of Parma in October 1760, a union fashioned to bolster the 1756 defensive pact between France and Austria. Joseph loved his bride, Isabella, finding her both stimulating and charming, and she sought, with care to cultivate his favor. The marriage of Joseph and Isabella resulted in the birth of a daughter, Isabella was fearful of pregnancy and early death. Her own pregnancy proved difficult as she suffered symptoms of pain, illness. She remained bedridden for six weeks after their daughters birth, almost immediately on the back of their newfound parenthood, the couple then endured two consecutive miscarriages—an ordeal particularly hard on Isabella—followed quickly by another pregnancy. Pregnancy was again provoking melancholy, fears and dread in Isabella, progressively ill with smallpox and strained by sudden childbirth and tragedy, Isabella died the following week. This marriage proved unhappy, albeit brief, as it lasted only two years. Though Maria Josepha loved her husband, she felt timid and inferior in his company, lacking common interests or pleasures, the relationship offered little for Joseph, who confessed he felt no love for her in return. He adapted by distancing himself from his wife to the point of near total avoidance, seeing her only at meals, Maria Josepha, in turn, suffered considerable misery in finding herself locked in a cold, loveless union. Four months after the anniversary of their wedding, Maria Josepha grew ill. Joseph neither visited her during her illness nor attended her funeral, though he expressed regret for not having shown her better kindness. One thing the union did provide him was the possibility of laying claim to a portion of Bavaria. In 1770, at the age of seven, Josephs only surviving child, Maria Theresa, became ill with pleurisy, the loss of his daughter was deeply traumatic for him and left him profoundly grief-stricken and scarred. He was made a member of the council of state
21.
Anthony of Saxony
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Anthony, also known by his German name Anton, was a King of Saxony from the House of Wettin. He became known as Anton der Gütige and he was the fifth but third surviving son of Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony, and Maria Antonia of Bavaria. With few chances to take part in the politics of the Electorate of Saxony or receive any land from his older brother Frederick Augustus III, no Elector of Saxony after Johann Georg I gave appananges to his younger sons. During the first years of the reign of his brother as Elector, Anton was the third in line. The death of Karl make him the next in line to the Electorate as Crown Prince and his aunt, the Dauphine of France, had wanted to engage her daughter Marie Zéphyrine of France to Anthony, Marie Zéphyrine died in 1755 abandoning plans. Another French candidate was Marie Zéphyrines sister Marie Clothilde but again nothing happened, caroline died after only one year of marriage, on 28 December 1782 having succumbed to smallpox. The premiere could not be arranged in time, however, so the opera The Marriage of Figaro was substituted on the orders of the brides uncle. The choice of The Marriage of Figaro was considered improper for a new bride by many observers, mozart complained bitterly of the intrigues surrounding this incident in a letter to his friend Gottfried von Jacquin that was written in stages between 15 October and 25 October 1787. After this Anton became, officially, the Heir to the Electorate and, from 1806, Anton succeeded his brother Frederick August I as King of Saxony when he died, on 5 May 1827. The 71-year-old new king was inexperienced in government, thus he had no intention of initiating profound changes in foreign or domestic policy. Prussian diplomats discussed granting the Prussian Rhineland to Anton in exchange for Lutheran Saxony in 1827, after the July Revolution of 1830 in France, disturbances in Saxony began in autumn. These were directed primarily against the old Constitution, therefore, on 13 September the cabinet dismissed Count Detlev von Einsiedel, followed by Bernhard von Lindenau. Because the people wished a younger regent, Anton agreed to appoint his nephew Frederick Augustus Prince Co-Regent, as another consequence of the disturbances, a new constitution was accepted in 1831 which came into effect on 4 September of that year. With it Saxony became a Constitutional monarchy and obtained a bi-cameral legislature and a responsible ministry, the constitution was more conservative than other constitutions existing at this time in the German Union. Still the constitution served Saxony until 1918, the king kept his exclusive sovereignty but was bound by the Government Business to cooperate with the Ministers and the decisions of both Chambers of the States meeting. The entry of Saxony into the Zollverein in 1833 let trade, industry, without surviving male issue, Anton was succeeded as king by his nephew, Frederick Augustus II. A History of Modern Germany, 1840-1945, dresden und Umgebung, Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur der sächsischen Hauptstadt. British Envoys to Germany 1816-1866, 1816-1829
22.
The Marriage of Figaro
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The Marriage of Figaro, K.492, is an opera buffa in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, the operas libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro, which was first performed in 1784. It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna, the opera is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears consistently among the top ten in the Operabase list of most frequently performed operas. Beaumarchaiss earlier play The Barber of Seville had already made a transition to opera in a version by Paisiello. Mozarts librettist managed to get approval for an operatic version which eventually achieved great success. The opera was the first of three collaborations between Mozart and Da Ponte, their collaborations were Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. In particular, Da Ponte replaced Figaros climactic speech against inherited nobility with an angry aria against unfaithful wives. Contrary to the myth, the libretto was approved by the Emperor before any music was written by Mozart. The Imperial Italian opera company paid Mozart 450 florins for the work, Da Ponte was paid 200 florins. Figaro premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, Mozart himself directed the first two performances, conducting seated at the keyboard, the custom of the day. Later performances were conducted by Joseph Weigl, the first production was given eight further performances, all in 1786. The applause of the audience on the first night resulted in five numbers being encored and you will therefore cause some posters to this effect to be printed. The requested posters were printed up and posted in the Burgtheater in time for the performance on 24 May. The newspaper Wiener Realzeitung carried a review of the opera in its issue of 11 July 1786, did not really know on the first day where it stood. Apart from that, it is true that the first performance was none of the best, but now, after several performances, one would be subscribing either to the cabal or to tastelessness if one were to maintain that Herr Mozarts music is anything but a masterpiece of art. It contains so many beauties, and such a wealth of ideas, as can be only from the source of innate genius. – Mozart directed the orchestra, playing his fortepiano, the joy which this causes is so far removed from all sensuality that one cannot speak of it. Where could words be found that are worthy to describe such joy, Joseph Haydn appreciated the opera greatly, writing to a friend that he heard it in his dreams
23.
Woodwind instrument
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Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the more general category of wind instruments. There are two types of woodwind instruments, flutes and reed instruments. What differentiates these instruments from other instruments is the way in which they produce their sound. Examples are a saxophone, a bassoon and a piccolo, flutes produce sound by directing a focused stream of air below the edge of a hole in a cylindrical tube. The flute family can be divided into two sub-families, open flutes and closed flutes, to produce a sound with an open flute, the player is required to blow a stream of air across a sharp edge that then splits the airstream. This split airstream then acts upon the air contained within the flutes hollow causing it to vibrate. Examples of open flutes are the flute, panpipes and shakuhachi. Ancient flutes of this variety were often made from sections of plants such as grasses, reeds. Later, flutes were made of such as tin, copper. Modern concert flutes are made of high-grade metal alloys, usually containing nickel, silver, copper. To produce a sound with a flute, the player is required to blow air into a duct. This duct acts as a channel bringing the air to a sharp edge, as with the open flutes, the air is then split, this causes the column of air within the closed flute to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of this type of include the recorder, ocarina. Reed instruments produce sound by focusing air into a mouthpiece which then causes a reed, or reeds, similar to flutes, Reed pipes are also further divided into two types, single reed and double reed. Single-reed woodwinds produce sound by placing a reed onto the opening of a mouthpiece, when air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed causes the air column in the instrument to vibrate and produce its unique sound. Single reed instruments include the clarinet, saxophone, and others such as the chalumeau, double-reed instruments use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane bound together at the base. This form of production has been estimated to have originated in the middle to late Neolithic period. The finished, bound reed is inserted into the instrument and vibrates as air is forced between the two pieces and this family of reed pipes is subdivided further into another two sub-families, exposed double reed, and capped double reed instruments
24.
Natural horn
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The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the modern-day horn, and is differentiated by its lack of valves. It consists of a mouthpiece, some long coiled tubing, pitch changes are made through a few techniques, Modulating the lip tension as done with modern brass instruments. This allows for notes in the series to be played. Changing the length of the instrument by switching the crooks and this is a rather slow process. Before the advent of the valved horn many ideas were attempted to speed up the process of changing the key of the instrument. Changing the position of the hand in the bell, this is called hand-stopping and this instrument was used extensively until the emergence of the valved horn in the early 19th century. The natural horn has several gaps in its harmonic range, to play chromatically, in addition to crooking the instrument into the right key, two additional techniques are required, bending and hand-stopping. Bending a note is achieved by modifying the embouchure to raise or lower the pitch fractionally, hand-stopping is a technique whereby the player can modify the pitch of a note by up to a semitone by inserting a cupped hand into the bell. Both change the timbre as well as the pitch, the List of compositions for horn includes many pieces that were originally written with the natural horn in mind. Until the development of the horn in the early to mid 19th century, Western music employed the natural horn. Substantial contributors to the horn repertoire include Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Telemann, Weber, the chromatic abilities of recently developed brass instruments, however, opened new possibilities for composers of the Romantic era, and fit with the artistic currents of the time. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, however, the natural horn still found its way into the works of some composers. Brahms did not care for the horn and wrote for natural horn. Benjamin Brittens Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, though written for the modern horn, györgy Ligetis Hamburg Concerto makes a great use of the natural horn and of natural sounds on the modern horn in the solo part and requires four natural horns in the orchestra. Below lists natural horn keys with their corresponding fingering on the modern horn, if a piece of music says the key on the left you can press the key combination on the right on the modern double horn to get the correct tube length. This is useful for simulating natural horn when playing older compositions, even then, the intonation may still be sharp, and a greater degree of hand in the horn can be needed. The Cyber Horn Museum Ericson, John
25.
Trumpet
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A trumpet is a musical instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the instruments with the highest register in the brass family, trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through almost-closed lips, producing a sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century they have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, there are many distinct types of trumpet, with the most common being pitched in B♭, having a tubing length of about 1.48 m. Early trumpets did not provide means to change the length of tubing, most trumpets have valves of the piston type, while some have the rotary type. The use of rotary-valved trumpets is more common in orchestral settings, each valve, when engaged, increases the length of tubing, lowering the pitch of the instrument. A musician who plays the trumpet is called a trumpet player or trumpeter, the earliest trumpets date back to 1500 BC and earlier. The bronze and silver trumpets from Tutankhamuns grave in Egypt, bronze lurs from Scandinavia, trumpets from the Oxus civilization of Central Asia have decorated swellings in the middle, yet are made out of one sheet of metal, which is considered a technical wonder. The Shofar, made from a ram horn and the Hatzotzeroth and they were played in Solomons Temple around 3000 years ago. They were said to be used to blow down the walls of Jericho and they are still used on certain religious days. The Salpinx was a straight trumpet 62 inches long, made of bone or bronze, Salpinx contests were a part of the original Olympic Games. The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art going back to AD300, the earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used for military or religious purposes, rather than music in the modern sense, and the modern bugle continues this signaling tradition. Improvements to instrument design and metal making in the late Middle Ages, the natural trumpets of this era consisted of a single coiled tube without valves and therefore could only produce the notes of a single overtone series. Changing keys required the player to change crooks of the instrument, the development of the upper, clarino register by specialist trumpeters—notably Cesare Bendinelli—would lend itself well to the Baroque era, also known as the Golden Age of the natural trumpet. During this period, a vast body of music was written for virtuoso trumpeters, the art was revived in the mid-20th century and natural trumpet playing is again a thriving art around the world. The melody-dominated homophony of the classical and romantic periods relegated the trumpet to a role by most major composers owing to the limitations of the natural trumpet. Berlioz wrote in 1844, Notwithstanding the real loftiness and distinguished nature of its quality of tone, there are few instruments that have been more degraded. The attempt to give the trumpet more chromatic freedom in its range saw the development of the keyed trumpet, the symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven, and as late as Brahms, were still played on natural trumpets
26.
Trombone
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The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the players vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate, nearly all trombones have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. Many modern trombone models also utilize a rotary valve as a means to lower pitch of the instrument, variants such as the valve trombone and superbone have three valves like those on the trumpet. The word trombone derives from Italian tromba and -one, so the name means large trumpet, the trombone has a predominantly cylindrical bore like its valved counterpart the baritone and in contrast to its conical valved counterparts, the euphonium and the horn. The most frequently encountered trombones are the trombone and bass trombone. The most common variant, the tenor, is an instrument pitched in B♭, an octave below the B♭ trumpet. A person who plays the trombone is called a trombonist or trombone player, the trombone is a predominantly cylindrical tube bent into an elongated S shape. Rather than being completely cylindrical from end to end, the tube is a series of tapers with the smallest at the mouthpiece receiver. The design of these affects the intonation of the instrument. As with other instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through pursed lips producing a vibration that creates a standing wave in the instrument. The detachable cup-shaped mouthpiece is similar to that of the baritone horn and it has the venturi, a small constriction of the air column that adds resistance greatly affecting the tone of the instrument, and is inserted into the mouthpiece receiver in the slide section. The slide section consists of a leadpipe, the inner and outer tubes. Modern stays are soldered, while sackbuts were made with loose, the slide, the most distinctive feature of the trombone, allows the player to extend the length of the air column, lowering the pitch. To prevent friction from slowing the action of the slide, additional sleeves were developed during the Renaissance, and this part of the slide must be lubricated frequently. Additional tubing connects the slide to the bell of the instrument through a neckpipe, for example, second position A is not in exactly the same place on the slide as second position E. Many types of trombone also include one or more rotary valves used to increase the length of the instrument by directing the air flow through additional tubing. This allows the instrument to reach notes that are not possible without the valve as well as play other notes in alternate positions. Like the trumpet, the trombone is considered a cylindrical bore instrument since it has sections of tubing, principally in the slide section
27.
Timpani
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Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper and they are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet. Timpani evolved from military drums to become a staple of the orchestra by the last third of the 18th century. Today, they are used in many types of ensembles, including concert bands, marching bands, orchestras. Timpani is an Italian plural, the singular of which is timpano and they are also often incorrectly termed timpanis. A musician who plays the timpani is a timpanist, alternative spellings with y in place of either or both is—tympani, tympany, or timpany—are occasionally encountered in older English texts. Although the word timpani has been adopted in the English language. The German word for timpani is Pauken, the French and Spanish is timbales, the Ashanti pair of talking drums are known as atumpan. The tympanum is defined in the Etymologiae of St. Isidore of Seville, est enim pars media symphoniae in similitudinem cribri. Tympanum autem dictum quod medium est, unde, et margaritum medium tympanum dicitur, et ipsum ut symphonia ad virgulam percutitur. The tympanum is skin or hide stretched over a wooden vessel which extends out. It is said by the symphonias to resemble a sieve, but has also likened to half a pearl. It is struck with a wand, beating time for the symphonia, the reference comparing the tympanum to half a pearl is borrowed from Pliny the Elder. The basic timpani drum consists of a drumhead stretched across the opening of a bowl made of copper or, in less expensive models, fiberglass. In the Sachs–Hornbostel classification, the timpani are thus considered membranophones, the heads tension can be adjusted by loosening or tightening the rods. Most timpani have six to eight tension rods, the shape of the bowl contributes to the quality of the drum. For example, hemispheric bowls produce brighter tones while parabolic bowls produce darker tones, another factor that affects the timbre of the drum is the quality of the bowls surface. Copper bowls may have a smooth, machined surface or a surface with many small dents hammered into it
28.
Figured bass
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Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era, provided the harmonic structure of the music. The phrase is shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing the continuo part are called the continuo group. The titles of many Baroque works make mention of the section, such as J. S. Bachs Concerto for Two Violins, Strings. The makeup of the group is often left to the discretion of the performers. At least one instrument capable of playing chords must be included, such as a harpsichord, organ, lute, theorbo, guitar, regal, or harp. In addition, any number of instruments play in the bass register may be included, such as cello, double bass, bass viol. The most common combination, at least in modern performances, is harpsichord and cello for instrumental works and secular works, such as operas. Harps, lutes, and other instruments are more typical of early 17th-century music. The keyboard player realizes a continuo part by playing, in addition to the bass line, notes above it to complete chords. The figured bass notation, described below, is a guide, but performers are expected to use their musical judgment. Experienced players sometimes incorporate motives found in the instrumental parts into their improvised chordal accompaniment. Modern editions of music usually supply a realized keyboard part, fully written out in staff notation for a player. With the rise in historically informed performance, however, the number of performers who are able to improvise their parts from the figures, as Baroque players would have done, has increased. Basso continuo, though a structural and identifying element of the Baroque period, continued to be used in many works, mostly sacred choral works. An example is C. P. E. Bachs Concerto in D minor for flute, strings and basso continuo. Examples of its use in the 19th century are rarer, but they do exist, masses by Anton Bruckner, Beethoven, the phrase tasto solo indicates that only the bass line is to be played for a short period, usually until the next figure is encountered. This instructs the chord-playing instrumentalist not to play any improvised chords for a period, composers were inconsistent in the usages described below. Especially in the 17th century, the numbers were omitted whenever the composer thought the chord was obvious, early composers such as Claudio Monteverdi often specified the octave by the use of compound intervals such as 10,11, and 15
29.
String section
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The string section is the largest body of a single instrument category in the standard Classical orchestra. It normally consists of the first violins, the violins, the violas, the cellos. The first and second play the same types of instruments. The first violins are generally given the melody or higher-pitch musical lines, the second violins may play a harmony part, a countermelody or an accompaniment passage. In discussions of the instrumentation of a work, the phrase the strings or. An orchestra consisting solely of a section is called a string orchestra. Smaller string sections are used in jazz, pop and rock music arrangements, the most common seating arrangement in the 2000s is with first violins, second violins, violas and cello sections arrayed clockwise around the conductor, with basses behind the cellos on the right. The principal string players sit at the front of their section, closest to the conductor and on the row of performers which is closest to the audience. If space or numbers are limited, cellos and basses can be put in the middle, violins and violas on the left and winds to the right, this is the usual arrangement in orchestra pits. The seating may also be specified by the composer, as in Béla Bartóks Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, in some cases, due to space constraints or other issues, a different layout may be used. The inside player typically turns the pages of the part, while the player continues playing. In cases where a turn occurs during an essential musical part. There are more variations of set-up with the bass section, depending on the size of the section. There are not usually as many basses as cellos, so they are either in one row, or for a larger section, in some orchestras, some or all of the string sections may be placed on wooden risers, which are platforms that elevate the performers. The size of a section may be expressed with a formula of the type 10-10-8-10-6, designating the number of first violins, second violins, violas, cellos. The numbers can vary widely, Wagner in Die Walküre specifies 16-16-12-12-8, in general, music from the Baroque music era and the Classical music period used smaller string sections. During the contemporary era, some composers requested smaller string sections. In some regional orchestras, amateur orchestras and youth orchestras, the sections may be relatively small
30.
Metre (music)
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The metre of music is its rhythmic structure, the patterns of accents heard in regularly recurring measures of stressed and unstressed beats at the frequency of the musics pulse. A variety of systems exist throughout the world for organising and playing music, such as the Indian system of tala. Later music for such as the pavane and galliard consisted of musical phrases to accompany a fixed sequence of basic steps with a defined tempo. The term is not very precisely defined, macPherson preferred to speak of time and rhythmic shape, Imogen Holst of measured rhythm. This perception and abstraction of rhythmic measure is the foundation of human instinctive musical participation, rhythms of recurrence arise from the interaction of two levels of motion, the faster providing the pulse and the slower organizing the beats into repetitive groups. Once a metric hierarchy has been established, we, as listeners, a definition of musical metre requires the possibility of identifying a repeating pattern of accented pulses — a pulse-group — which corresponds to the foot in poetry. Frequently a pulse-group can be identified by taking the accented beat as the first pulse in the group, frequently metres can be broken down into a pattern of duples and triples. The level of musical organisation implied by musical metre includes the most elementary levels of musical form, metrical rhythm, measured rhythm, and free rhythm are general classes of rhythm and may be distinguished in all aspects of temporality. Measured rhythm is where each time value is a multiple or fraction of a time unit. Free rhythm is where there is neither, some music, including chant, has freer rhythm, like the rhythm of prose compared to that of verse. Some music, such as some graphically scored works since the 1950s and non-European music such as Honkyoku repertoire for shakuhachi, may be considered ametric. Senza misura is an Italian musical term for without metre, meaning to play without a beat, Metric levels may be distinguished, the beat level is the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic time unit of the piece. Faster levels are division levels, and slower levels are multiple levels, a rhythmic unit is a durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level. In duple metre, each measure is divided into two beats, or a multiple thereof, for example, in the time signature 24, each measure contains two quarter-note beats, and with the time signature 68, each measure contains two dotted-quarter-note beats. Corresponding quadruple metres are 44, with 2 ×2 =4 quarter-note beats per measure, triple metre is a metre in which each measure is divided into three beats, or a multiple thereof. For example, in the time signature 34, each contains three quarter-note beats, and with a time signature of 98, each measure contains three dotted-quarter beats. Simple metre and compound metre are distinguished by the way the beats are subdivided, Simple metre or simple time is a metre in which each beat of the measure divides naturally into two equal parts. The top number in the signature will be 2,3,4,5
31.
Minuet
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A minuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 34 time. The name may refer to the steps, pas menus, taken in the dance, or else be derived from the branle à mener or amener. The minuet was traditionally said to have descended from the bransle de Poitou, at the period when it was most fashionable it was controlled, ceremonious and graceful. The name is given to a musical composition written in the same time and rhythm. Among Italian composers the minuet was often quicker and livelier and was sometimes written in 38 or 68 time. Because the tempo of a minuet was not standard, the tempo direction tempo di minuetto was ambiguous unless qualified by another direction, as it sometimes was. Initially, before its adoption in other than social dance. But the second section eventually expanded, resulting in a kind of ternary form, the second minuet provided form of contrast by means of different key and orchestration. On a larger scale, two such minuets might be combined, so that the first minuet was followed by a second one. The whole form might in any case be repeated as long as the dance lasted, around Lullys time it became a common practice to score this middle section for a trio. As a result, this section came to be called the minuets trio. 13 in G major, K.525, popularly known under the title Eine kleine Nachtmusik, a livelier form of the minuet simultaneously developed into the scherzo. This term came into existence approximately from Beethoven onwards, but the form itself can be traced back to Haydn, the minuet and trio eventually became the standard third movement in the four-movement classical symphony, Johann Stamitz being the first to employ it thus with regularity. An example of the form of the minuet is to be found in Don Giovanni. A famous example of a more recent instrumental work in minuet form is Ignacy Jan Paderewskis Minuet in G. Scherzo, revisiting Music Theory, A Guide to the Practice. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Dance Research, The Journal of the Society for Dance Research 24 and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Classical Form, A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, the Theory of Music as Applied to the Teaching and Practice of Voice and Instruments, 21st edition
32.
Mandolin
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A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family and is usually plucked with a plectrum or pick. It commonly has four courses of doubled metal strings tuned in unison, although five, the courses are normally tuned in a succession of perfect fifths. It is the member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello. There are many styles of mandolin, but three are common, the Neapolitan or round-backed mandolin, the mandolin and the flat-backed mandolin. The round-back has a bottom, constructed of strips of wood. The carved-top or arch-top mandolin has a shallower, arched back. The flat-backed mandolin uses thin sheets of wood for the body, each style of instrument has its own sound quality and is associated with particular forms of music. Neapolitan mandolins feature prominently in European classical music and traditional music, carved-top instruments are common in American folk music and bluegrass music. Flat-backed instruments are used in Irish, British and Brazilian folk music. Some modern Brazilian instruments feature a fifth course tuned a fifth lower than the standard fourth course. There has also been a type and an instrument with sixteen-strings. Much of mandolin development revolved around the soundboard, pre-mandolin instruments were quiet instruments, strung with as many as six courses of gut strings, and were plucked with the fingers or with a quill. However, modern instruments are louder—using four courses of metal strings, the modern soundboard is designed to withstand the pressure of metal strings that would break earlier instruments. The soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections, there is usually one or more sound holes in the soundboard, either round, oval, or shaped like a calligraphic f. A round or oval sound hole may be covered or bordered with decorative rosettes or purfling, Mandolins evolved from the lute family in Italy during the 17th and 18th centuries, and the deep bowled mandolin, produced particularly in Naples, became common in the 19th century. Dating to around c.13,000 BC, a painting in the Trois Frères cave in France depicts what some believe is a musical bow. From the musical bow, families of stringed instruments developed, since each string played a note, adding strings added new notes, creating bow harps, harps. In turn, this led to being able to play dyads and chords, another innovation occurred when the bow harp was straightened out and a bridge used to lift the strings off the stick-neck, creating the lute
33.
Pizzicato
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Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies depending on the type of stringed instrument. On bowed string instruments it is a method of playing by plucking the strings with the fingers and this produces a very different sound from bowing, short and percussive rather than sustained. On a keyboard string instrument, such as the piano, pizzicato may be employed as one of the variety of techniques involving direct manipulation of the strings known collectively as string piano. On the guitar, it is a form of plucking. For details of technique, see palm mute. When a string is struck or plucked, as with pizzicato and this complex timbre is called inharmonicity. The inharmonicity of a string depends on its characteristics, such as tension, composition, diameter. The first recognised use of pizzicato in classical music is found in Tobias Humes Captain Humes Poeticall Musicke, wherein he instructs the viola da gamba player to use pizzicato. Another early use is found in Claudio Monteverdis Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, later, in 1756, Leopold Mozart in his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule instructs the player to use the index finger of the right hand. This has remained the most usual way to execute a pizzicato, the bow is held in the hand at the same time unless there is enough time to put it down and pick it up again between bowed passages. In jazz and bluegrass, and the few popular music styles which use double bass, in classical double bass playing, pizzicato are often performed with the bow being held in the hand, as such, the string is usually only plucked with a single finger. In contrast, in jazz, bluegrass, and other non-Classical styles, in classical music, however, string instruments are most usually played with the bow, and composers give specific indications to play pizzicato where required. Pieces in classical music that are played entirely pizzicato include, J. S. Bach, johann Strauss II, Neue Pizzicato Polka. 4 Benjamin Britten, the movement of the Simple Symphony Leroy Anderson. He also included pizzicato in the movement of Winter from The Four Seasons. In music notation, a composer will normally indicate the performer should use pizzicato with the abbreviation pizz, a return to bowing is indicated by the Italian term arco. If a string player has to play pizzicato for a period of time
34.
Bassoon
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The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor clefs, and occasionally the treble. Appearing in its form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band. The bassoon is an instrument known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, variety of character. Listeners often compare its warm, dark, reedy timbre to that of a baritone voice. Someone who plays the bassoon is called a bassoonist, the word bassoon comes from French basson and from Italian bassone. However, the Italian name for the instrument is fagotto. B♭1–C5 The range of the bassoon begins at B♭1 and extends upward over three octaves, roughly to the G above the treble staff, higher notes are possible but difficult to produce, and rarely called for, orchestral and concert band parts rarely go higher than C5 or D5. Even Stravinskys famously difficult opening solo in The Rite of Spring only ascends to D5, a1 is possible with a special extension to the instrument—see Extended techniques below. The bassoon disassembles into six pieces, including the reed. Bassoons are double reed instruments like the oboe and the English horn, a modern beginners bassoon is generally made of maple, with medium-hardness types such as sycamore maple and sugar maple preferred. Both bore and tone holes are precision-machined, and each instrument is finished by hand for proper tuning and this ensures coverage by the fingers of the average adult hand. Wooden instruments are lined with hard rubber along the interior of the wing and boot joints to prevent damage from moisture, the end of the bell is usually fitted with a ring, either of metal, plastic or ivory. The joints between sections consist of a tenon fitting into a socket, the tenons are wrapped in either cork or string as a seal against air leaks. The bocal connects the reed to the rest of the instrument and is inserted into a socket at the top of the wing joint, bocals come in many different lengths and styles, depending on the desired tuning and playing characteristics. Folded upon itself, the bassoon stands 1.34 m tall, there are also short-reach bassoons made for the benefit of young or petite players. The origins of the dulcian are obscure, but by the century it was available in as many as eight different sizes. Otherwise, dulcian technique was rather primitive, with eight finger holes, the dulcian came to be known as fagotto in Italy. However, the etymology that equates fagotto with bundle of sticks is somewhat misleading
35.
Idomeneo
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Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera seria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, Mozart and Varesco were commissioned in 1780 by Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria for a court carnival. He probably chose the subject, though it might have been Mozart, the work premiered on 29 January 1781 at the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich, Germany. The sacrifice and oracle scenes are similar to Glucks Iphigénie en Aulide and it was first performed at the Cuvilliés Theatre of the Munich Residenz on 29 January 1781, under the musical direction of its 25-year-old composer. Idomeneo was Mozarts first mature opera, with it he demonstrated a mastery of orchestral color, accompanied recitatives, and melodic line. Mozart fought with the librettist, the court chaplain Varesco, making cuts and changes, even down to specific words. Idomeneo was performed three times in Munich, later in 1781 Mozart considered revisions that would have brought the work closer into line with Glucks style, this would have meant a bass Idomeneo and a tenor Idamante. A concert performance was given in 1786 at the Palais Auersperg in Vienna, for this, Mozart wrote some new music, made some cuts, and changed Idamante from a castrato to a tenor. The British premiere was given by the amateur Glasgow Grand Opera Society in 1934, the first performance in the United States was produced by Boris Goldovsky at the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood during the summer of 1947. Today Idomeneo is part of the operatic repertoire. There are several recordings of it, and it is regularly performed, in 2006 there was a controversy over the cancelling of a 2003 production directed by Hans Neuenfels at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Strauss replaced about 1/3 of Mozarts score with some of his own music, a few major changes to the plot were made as well, such as changing princess Elettra to priestess Ismene. Critics have noted that Strausss additions contain a blend of the classical style of composition. In 1984, New Yorks Mostly Mozart Festival presented Strausss version with Jerry Hadley in the role, Delores Ziegler as Idamante. The instrumentation is, Woodwinds,2 flutes, piccolo,2 oboes,2 clarinets,2 bassoons, B clarinets are used in No.15 and No.19. Other conventional hallmarks of the form are apparent, the exposition modulates from the tonic to the dominant. The overture concludes with an ending in D major chords. These chords, soft and tentative, turn out not to be a resolution of the overture in the tonic but chords in the dominant of G minor, island of Crete, shortly after the Trojan War
36.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Prague
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Daniel E. Freeman has provided the most comprehensive appraisal of the conditions that made Prague so attractive as a musical destination for Mozart in the 1780s. One of the most important reasons include a recovery in the population of the city created a musical public much larger than had been present in the city just a few decades prior to this time. Prague always retained a certain prestige as the city of the kingdom of Bohemia. It was later purchased by the Estates of Bohemia and is known as the Estates Theatre. Josepha had a strong connection with Mozart as a result of frequent visits she made to his native city of Salzburg. Mozarts opera The Marriage of Figaro, which premiered in Vienna, was produced in late 1786 in Prague with tremendous success, the orchestra and some affiliated music lovers funded a personal visit by Mozart so he could hear the production. Mozart first came to Prague on 11 January 1787 and stayed until the week of February. On 19 January a concert was organized for his benefit at which the Prague Symphony was given its first performance. Mozart also improvised a solo on the variations on the popular aria Non più andrai from The Marriage of Figaro. Afterward, Mozart said he counted this day as one of the happiest of his life, Daniel E. Mozart came to Prague for the second time to help supervise the first performance of his opera Don Giovanni. He arrived on 4 October 1787 and stayed until 12 or 13 November, the premiere of the opera was supposed to have taken place on 15 October, but could not be arranged until 29 October 1787. The work was received, the Prager Oberpostamtzeitung reported, Connoisseurs and musicians say that Prague has never heard the like. For further details, see Mozarts Berlin journey, Mozart wrote La clemenza di Tito for the festivities accompanying Leopold IIs Prague coronation as king of Bohemia in September 1791. Mozart obtained this commission after Antonio Salieri had allegedly rejected it, Mozart arrived on 28 August 1791 and left in the third week of September. The opera received its first performance on 6 September 1791, unlike the first two visits, Mozart was not the center of attention on his last visit. Rather, his activities were overshadowed by the ceremonies of the Imperial court. The grief exhibited for Mozart in Prague after his death on 5 December 1791 far exceeded that witnessed in any other European city, many more commemorations were organized in subsequent years and citizens of Prague took it upon themselves to provide sustenance to Mozarts widow and orphaned children. After Don Giovanni, Mozart may have had an offer to stay and write another opera for Prague
