1.
Swedish language
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Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken natively by more than 9 million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is currently the largest of the North Germanic languages by number of speakers, Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from the rural dialects still exist. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages, V2, Swedish morphology is similar to English, that is, words have comparatively few inflections. There are two genders, no cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Older analyses posit the cases nominative and genitive and there are remains of distinct accusative and dative forms as well. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are inflected according to gender, number. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes, complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles, the prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, by many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. In the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language began to undergo new changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, the dialects of Old East Norse that were spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish while the dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish. The dialects are described as runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, from 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain, there was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr dead
2.
Opera house
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An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building. While some venues are constructed specifically for operas, other houses are part of larger performing arts centers. In contrast, there was no house in London when Henry Purcell was composing. Early United States opera houses served a variety of functions in towns and cities, hosting community dances, fairs, plays, with the rise of bourgeois and capitalist social forms in the 19th century, European culture moved away from its patronage system to a publicly supported system. In the 2000s, most opera and theatre companies raise funds from a combination of government and institutional grants, ticket sales, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples introduces the plant horseshoe, the oldest in the world, a model for the Italian theater. On this model were built following theaters of Italy and Europe, among others, the theater of the Palace of Caserta. Given the popularity of opera in 18th and 19th century Europe, opera houses are large, with generally more than 1,000 seats. Modern opera houses of the century such as New Yorks Metropolitan Opera. Many operas are better suited to being presented in smaller theatres, in a traditional opera house, the auditorium is U-shaped, with the length of the sides determining the audience capacity. Around this are tiers of balconies, and often, nearer to the stage, are boxes and this is especially true of Wagners Bayreuth Festspielhaus where the pit is almost completely covered. The size of an opera orchestra varies, but for some operas, oratorios and other works, it may be large, for some romantic period works. Similarly, an opera may have a large cast of characters, chorus, dancers, therefore, a major opera house will have extensive dressing room facilities. Opera houses often have on-premises set and costume building shops and facilities for storage of costumes, make-up, masks, and stage properties, major opera houses throughout the world often have highly mechanized stages, with large stage elevators permitting heavy sets to be changed rapidly. At the Metropolitan Opera, for instance, sets are changed during the action, as the audience watches. This occurs in the Mets productions of such as Aida. Much the same happened in the remodeling of Milans La Scala opera house between 2002 and 2004, since the 1990s, however, many opera houses have begun using a subtle form of sound reinforcement called acoustic enhancement. Often, operas are presented in their languages, which may be different from the first language of the audience. For example, a Wagnerian opera presented in London may be in German, therefore, since the 1980s modern opera houses have assisted the audience by providing translated supertitles, projections of the words above or near to the stage
3.
Drottningholm Palace
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The Drottningholm Palace is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. Built on the island Lovön, it is one of Swedens Royal Palaces and it was originally built in the late 16th century. It served as a summer residence of the Swedish royal court for most of the 18th century. Apart from being the residence of the Swedish royal family. The name Drottningholm came from the original building designed by Willem Boy. This palace was preceded by a mansion called Torvesund. The Queen Dowager Regent Hedwig Eleonora bought the castle in 1661, a year after her role as Queen of Sweden ended, Hedwig Eleonora engaged the architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder to design and rebuild the castle. In 1662, work began on the reconstruction of the building, with the castle almost complete, Nicodemus died in 1681. His son Nicodemus Tessin the Younger continued his work and completed the interior designs. During the period of the reconstruction, Hedwig Eleonora was head of the protectorate for the still-underage King, Charles XI of Sweden, Sweden had grown to be a powerful country after the Peace of Westphalia. The position of the queen, essentially the ruler of Sweden, during the reign of the kings Charles XI of Sweden and Charles XII of Sweden, the royal court was often present at the palace, which was used for hunting. Hedwig Eleonora used the palace as a residence until her death in 1715. Drottningholm continued to regularly as a summer residence for the royal court during the entire 18th-century. After the death of Hedwig Eleonora in 1715, Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, during Louisa Ulrikas ownership of Drottningholm the interior of the palace was transformed in a more sophisticated French rococo style. Louisa Ulrika was also responsible for having the Drottningholm Palace Theatre rebuilt in a grand style after the more modest original building burnt down in 1762, Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Fredrick continued to reside at the palace during their reign. In 1777, Louisa Ulrika sold Drottningholm to the Swedish state, during the reign of Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden and Charles XIII of Sweden the palace was gradually used more sporadically. After the Coup of 1809, the deposed Gustav IV Adolf was kept here under guard in the Chinese Drawing Room for eleven days, during the reign of Charles XIV John of Sweden, the palace was abandoned. The King regarded it as a symbol of the old dynasty, the buildings were damaged by the forces of nature, and their inventories were either taken away or auctioned off
4.
Stockholm
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The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC. It is also the capital of Stockholm County, Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the countrys GDP and it is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europes top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and it hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the citys most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is known for its decoration of the stations. Swedens national football arena is located north of the city centre, Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Ministers residence is adjacent at the Sager House. After the Ice Age, around 8,000 BCE, there were already a number of people living in the present-day Stockholm area. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, at the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive impact on the area because of the trade routes they created. Stockholms location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne, the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word meaning fortification, the second part of the name means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Stockholms core, the present Old Town was built on the island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid 13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time
5.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
6.
Joseph Haydn
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Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. Haydn spent much of his career as a musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, yet his music circulated widely and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. He was a friend and mentor of Mozart, a teacher of Beethoven, Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, a village that at that time stood on the border with Hungary. His father was Mathias Haydn, a wheelwright who served as Marktrichter. Haydns mother Maria, née Koller, had worked as a cook in the palace of Count Harrach. Neither parent could read music, however, Mathias was a folk musician. According to Haydns later reminiscences, his family was extremely musical. Haydns parents had noticed that their son was musically gifted and knew that in Rohrau he would have no chance to obtain serious musical training, Haydn therefore went off with Frankh to Hainburg 12 kilometres away, he never again lived with his parents. Life in the Frankh household was not easy for Haydn, who later remembered being frequently hungry and he began his musical training there, and could soon play both harpsichord and violin. The people of Hainburg heard him sing treble parts in the church choir, Haydn passed his audition with Reutter, and after several months of further training moved to Vienna, where he worked for the next nine years as a chorister. Haydn lived in the Kapellhaus next to the cathedral, along with Reutter, Reutters family, and the other four choirboys, the choirboys were instructed in Latin and other school subjects as well as voice, violin, and keyboard. Reutter was of help to Haydn in the areas of music theory and composition. However, since St. Stephens was one of the musical centres in Europe. Like Frankh before him, Reutter did not always bother to make sure Haydn was properly fed, by 1749, Haydn had matured physically to the point that he was no longer able to sing high choral parts. Empress Maria Theresa herself complained to Reutter about his singing, calling it crowing, one day, Haydn carried out a prank, snipping off the pigtail of a fellow chorister. This was enough for Reutter, Haydn was first caned, then summarily dismissed and he had the good fortune to be taken in by a friend, Johann Michael Spangler, who shared his familys crowded garret room with Haydn for a few months. Haydn immediately began his pursuit of a career as a freelance musician and he was also briefly in Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitzs employ, playing the organ in the Bohemian Chancellery chapel at the Judenplatz
7.
George Frideric Handel
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George Frideric Handel was a German, later British baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712 and he was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition. Within fifteen years, Handel had started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera, musicologist Winton Dean writes that his operas show that Handel was not only a great composer, he was a dramatic genius of the first order. As Alexanders Feast was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works, after his success with Messiah he never composed an Italian opera again. Almost blind, and having lived in England for nearly fifty years, he died in 1759 and his funeral was given full state honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey in London. Handel was born in 1685 in Halle-on-Saal, Duchy of Magdeburg, to Georg Händel and his father,63 when George Frideric was born, was an eminent barber-surgeon who served the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Georg Händel was the son of a coppersmith, Valentin Händel who had emigrated from Eisleben in 1608 with his first wife Anna Belching and they were Protestants and chose reliably Protestant Saxony over Silesia, a Hapsburg possession as religious tensions mounted in the years before the Thirty Years War. Halle was a prosperous city, home of a salt-mining industry. Even the smaller churches all had able organists and fair choirs, and humanities, the Thirty Years War brought extensive destruction to Halle, and by the 1680s it was impoverished. But since the middle of the war the city was under the administration of the Duke of Saxony, the arts and music, however, flourished only among the higher strata, which did not describe Handels family. Handel was the child of this marriage, the first son died still born. Two younger sisters were born after the birth of George Frideric, Dorthea Sophia, born 6 October 1687 and Johanna Christiana, born 10 January 1690. Early in his life Handel is reported to have attended the gymnasium in Halle, Mainwaring is the source for almost all information of Handels childhood, and much of that information came from J. C. Smith, Jr. Handels confidant and copyist. Whether they came from Smith or elsewhere, Mainwaring frequently relates misinformation and it is from Mainwaring that the portrait of Handels father as implacably opposed to any musical education comes. This did nothing to dampen young Handels inclination, in fact, Mainwaring tells the story of Handels secret attic spinnet, Handel found means to get a little clavichord privately conveyd to a room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep, but Handel had to have had some experience with the keyboard to have made the impression in Weissenfels that resulted in his receiving formal musical training. Somehow Handel made his way to the organ, where he surprised everyone with his playing. Overhearing this performance and noting the youth of the performer caused the Duke to recommend to Georg Händel that Handel be given musical instruction, Handels father engaged the organist at the Halle parish church, the young Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, to instruct Handel
8.
Christoph Willibald Gluck
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Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. With a series of new works in the 1760s, among them Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste. The strong influence of French opera in these works encouraged Gluck to move to Paris, fusing the traditions of Italian opera and the French national genre into a new synthesis, Gluck wrote eight operas for the Parisian stages. One of the last of these, Iphigénie en Tauride, was a success and is generally acknowledged to be his finest work. Gluck was born on 2 July 1714 in Erasbach near Neumarkt and his father Alexander was a forester in Erasbach, and after 1717 head forester in Reichstadt, Kreibitz and Eisenberg, all in northern Bohemia. According to some biographers, it was here, in the middle of Lusatian Mountains, in 1727 the family moved to Eisenberg, where his father was admitted to the service of Prince Philip Hyazinth von Lobkowitz. The Alsatian painter Johann Christian von Mannlich says it was as a Bohemian schoolboy that Gluck received his first musical training. Mannlich relates in his memoirs, written in French and published in 1810 and he quotes Gluck as saying, My father was forestmaster at M. in Bohemia and he planned that eventually I should succeed him. In my homeland everyone is musical, music is taught in the schools, as I was passionate about the art, I made rapid progress. I played several instruments and the schoolmaster, singling me out from the other pupils, I no longer thought and dreamt of anything but music, the art of forestry was neglected. Most now claim that the object of Glucks travels was not Vienna but Prague, at the time the University of Prague boasted a flourishing musical scene that included performances of both Italian opera and oratorio. Gluck eventually left Prague without taking a degree, and vanishes from the record until 1737. According to the music historian Daniel Heartz, there has been considerable controversy concerning Glucks native language, Glucks first biographer, Anton Schmid, accepted that Gluck spoke Czech, but thought Salieri incorrect, proposing instead that Gluck learned Czech in Prague. Heartz writes, More devious manoeuvres have been attempted by Glucks German biographers of this century, while the French ones have, without exception, hans Joachim Moser wanted a lyric work in Czech as proof. In fact, the music theorist Larent Garcin, writing in 1770 before Gluck arrived in Paris, in 1737 Gluck arrived in Milan, where he studied under G. B. Sammartini, who, according to Carpani, taught Gluck practical knowledge of all the instruments, apparently this relationship lasted for several years. Set to a libretto by Metastasio, the opera opened the Milanese Carnival of 1742, according to one anecdote, the public would not accept Glucks style until he inserted an aria in the lighter Milanese manner for contrast. Nearly all of his operas in this period were, like Artaserse, set to Metastasios texts, in 1745 Gluck accepted an invitation to become house composer at Londons Kings Theatre, probably travelling to England via Frankfurt and in the company of Georg Christian, Fürst von Lobkowitz
9.
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
10.
Historically informed performance
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Historically informed performance is an approach to the performance of Western music and theatre. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived. Whenever this knowledge conflicts with current aesthetic criteria, the option of re-training the listener/viewer, Music is usually played on instruments corresponding to the period of the piece being played, such as period instruments for early music. Historical treatises, as well as historical evidence, are used to gain insight into the performance practice of a historic era. Corresponding types of acting and scenery are deployed, historically informed performance has originated in the performance of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, but has come to encompass music from the Classical and Romantic eras as well. Quite recently, the phenomenon has begun to affect the theatrical stage, historically informed performance needs to access musical instruments corresponding to the period of the music being played. This has led to the revival of musical instruments entirely gone out of practice, during the second half of the 18th century, the fortepiano gradually replaced the harpsichord. Many harpsichords were destroyed, indeed, the Paris Conservatory is notorious for having used harpsichords for firewood during the French Revolution, composers such as François Couperin, Domenico Scarlatti, Girolamo Frescobaldi, and Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for the harpsichord, clavichord, and organ. Among the foremost modern players of the harpsichord are Robert Hill, Igor Kipnis, Ton Koopman, Wanda Landowska, Gustav Leonhardt, Trevor Pinnock, Skip Sempé, Andreas Staier, Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, Marin Marais, Antoine Forqueray, and Carl Frederick Abel. From largest to smallest, the family consists of, contrabass or violone bass viol tenor viol alto viol treble or descant viol. Among the foremost modern players of the viols are Paolo Pandolfo, Wieland Kuijken, Jordi Savall, John Hsu, there are many modern viol consorts. Recorders in multiple sizes are often played today in consorts of mixed size, handel and Telemann, among others, wrote solo works for the recorder. Arnold Dolmetsch did much to revive the recorder as a concert instrument, reconstructing a consort of recorders all at low pitch. A few of the singers who have contributed to the historically informed performance movement are Emma Kirkby, Max van Egmond, Julianne Baird, Nigel Rogers, historic pictures, layout sketches and sources give information about the layout of singers and instruments. Three main layouts are documented, Circle Choir in the front of the instruments Singers, Johann Mattheson, The singers must stand alltime in front. Some familiar difficult items are as follows, Early composers often wrote using the symbols as today, yet in a different meaning. For example, what is written as an appoggiatura is often meant to be longer or shorter than the notated length, E. g. the note durations may be omitted altogether, such as in unmeasured preludes, pieces written without rhythm or metre indications. The music may be written using alternative, non-modern notations, such as tablature, some tablature notations are only partially decoded, such as the notation in the harp manuscript by Robert ap Huw
11.
Royal Swedish Opera
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Royal Swedish Opera is Swedens national stage for opera and ballet. It lies on the side of the Norrström river and is connected to the Royal Palace through the Norrbro bridge. Further historically as well as important buildings in the close neighborhood are the Sager House, official residence of the Prime Minister of Sweden. But the first opera house was not opened until 1782 and served for a century before being replaced at the end of the 19th century. Both houses are called the Royal Opera, however the terms The Gustavian Opera and The Oscarian Opera, or the Old. The Swedish Opera company had first been located in Bollhuset, but there was a need to separate the Opera from the theatre, construction began in 1775 and the theatre was inaugurated on 30 September 1782 with a performance of the German composer Johann Gottlieb Naumanns Cora och Alonzo. It was also the place for public balls, events inspired from the famous opera-balls in Paris. The building was very imposing with its center Corinthian tetrastyle portico supporting four statues, the four-tiered auditorium was oval in shape, had excellent acoustics and sight lines. The sumptuous foyer contained neoclassic medallions and pilasters and it was in the foyer of the opera house where the king met his fate, during a masquerade on March 16,1792, he was shot by Jacob Johan Anckarström, and died 7 days later. Following the assassination, the house was closed until 1 November 1792, when it was opened again. It remained closed until 1809, and when the king was deposed, it took until May 1812, the new house had the letters Kungl. The building is now simply called Operan, written in letters above the middle arch on the front facade. It is a majestic neo-classical building with a magnificent gold foyer, most productions are now sung in the original language, with only a few in Swedish. The Royal Swedish Family of King Carl XVI Gustaf keeps the Royal Box reserved, located in the first tier in the auditorium above the orchestra pit, the orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera, the Royal Swedish Orchestra, Kungliga Hovkapellet, dates back to 1526. Royal housekeeping accounts from 1526 mention twelve musicians including wind players, consequently, the Royal Swedish Orchestra is one of the oldest orchestras in Europe. Armas Järnefelt was on the staff from 1905, rising to become chief conductor between 1923-1933 and 1938-1946. The Royal Swedish Ballet, Kungliga Baletten, was founded by Gustav III of Sweden in 1773, the current general manager of the Royal Swedish Opera is the Swedish mezzo-soprano Birgitta Svendén. In November 2011, the Dutch conductor Lawrence Renes was named the chief conductor of the company, as of the 2012–13 season
12.
Du Londel Troupe
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The Du Londel Troupe was a French 18th-century theatre troupe. From 1753 to 1771, it was active as the French Theatre of Sweden, the French troupe performed in Copenhagen in Denmark in 1748–53. They also performed in Oslo in Norway during the stay there in 1749. The Du Londel Troupe performed the latest plays from Paris and also ballets, in 1771, the French Theatre was dissolved by Gustav III of Sweden, who wished to establish a Swedish-language national theatre. La troupe du Roi de Suede Lars Löfgren, teater före 1800 Anna Ivarsdotter Johnsson and Leif Jonsson, Musiken i Sverige. Frihetstiden och Gustaviansk tid 1720-1810 Klas Ralf, Operan 200 år, jubelboken Prisma H. J. Huitfeldt, Christiania Theaterhistorie
13.
Louisa Ulrika of Prussia
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Louisa Ulrika of Prussia was Queen of Sweden between 1751 and 1771 by her marriage to King Adolf Frederick, and queen mother during the reign of King Gustav III. She was given the Swedish name Ulrika because Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden had been her god mother, Louisa Ulrika was described as beautiful, intelligent, with a fierce temperament and a strong will. She was given an education in accordance with the French age of enlightenment by the governess Marthe de Roucoulle. She and her eldest brother, the future Frederick the Great, had a good relationship, sharing their interest in science. Her favorites among her siblings were her younger brother Prince Augustus William of Prussia, at the court of her mother, she was introduced to Voltaire, with whom she engaged in a lifelong correspondence, and Maupertuis. Several dynastic marriages were considered for her from 1732 onward, including Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, Charles III of Spain and Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt, but none came to fruition. She was appointed co-adjutrix of Quedlinburg Abbey with the prospect of becoming a reigning princess-abbess in 1743 and this plans discontinued when Christian lost the election to the Russian candidate, Adolf Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp. When negotiations were made to arrange a marriage for the elected crown prince Adolf Frederick of Sweden. These plans were revoked when a decision was made to create an alliance between Sweden, Russia and Prussia through dynastic marriage. The heir to the Swedish throne was therefore to marry a member of the Prussian royal house, in accordance with this agreement, Louisa Ulrika or her sister Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia were to be selected for the Swedish match. The Swedish envoy in Berlin, Carl Rudenschöld, inspected them an recommended that the proposal be made to Louisa Ulrika, after having consulted Adolf Frederick, however, the Swedes chose Louisa Ulrika, and her brother gave his consent on 1 March 1744. She was given tuition about Sweden, was advised not to get involved in politics, on 17 July 1744, Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Frederick were married per procura in Berlin, with her favorite brother August Wilhelm as proxy for the absent groom. She was escorted from Berlin to Swedish Pomerania by the Swedish envoy count Carl Gustaf Tessin, his spouse Ulla Tessin and his wifes niece Charlotta Sparre, who was appointed her maid of honor. The entourage left from Perth on Rügen and arrived in Sweden in Karlskrona, Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Frederick reportedly had a mutually good impression of each other at their first meeting, and their personal relationship is described as mutually happy and harmonious. Adolf Frederick is described as introverted, gentle, and submissive, reportedly, Louisa Ulrika was pleased with him because she immediately felt secure in the fact that she was his superior. Louisa Ulrika was received with enthusiasm in Sweden as the hope for the salvation of succession crisis, Carl Gustaf Tessin described her as the wisdom of a god in the image of an angel. Despite French being her native language, she was tutored in the Swedish by Carl Jesper Benzelius and she studied Swedish literature and gathered a Swedish language library, she corresponded with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and created a nature scientific collection. Her arrogant and haughty demeanor, however, eventually made her less popular outside of the royal court, the crown princes court was dominated by Carl Gustaf Tessin, who escorted Louisa Ulrika to Sweden and remained an influential favorite during her years as crown princess
14.
Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz
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Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz was a Swedish architect and civil servant. As överintendent, he headed the royal and public building works from 1767 until his retirement in 1795, Adelcrantz was born in 1716 in Stockholm and was the son of the architect Göran Josuæ Adelcrantz, who had changed his name from Törnqvist at his ennoblement four years earlier. As a student in Uppsala, Göran Josua Törnqvist had been a member of the student theatre troupe known as Den Swänska Theatren that later performed in the Lejonkulan theatre in Stockholm. He came into the employment of Nicodemus Tessin the Younger in 1697, the year the fire at the old Castle of Stockholm took place. Törnqvist had studied architecture before this and may have discovered by Tessin for his scenographies. Göran Josua Adelcrantz remained in the shadow of the dominant Tessin, through his marriage in 1711 to the young widow Anna Maria Köhnmann, daughter of a wealthy businessman, Törnqvists finances improved considerably. Among other things, he became the possessor of the manor of Signhildsberg near Sigtuna, the next year Charles XII ennobled him, on the recommendation of his patron Tessin. Born in Stockholm, Carl Fredrik was the child of the marriage. After a short time of study in Uppsala, Carl Fredrik began his career as a civil servant in the Kammarrevisionen court. Göran Josua Adelcrantz did not attempt to suppress the artistic inclination of his son, half a year after his father’s death in 1739, Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz left his employment in Kammarrevisionen, and on 11 August 1739 he left Stockholm for France and Italy. Although his notes from the journey have been lost, it is known that he spent two years in Paris and several months in Rome, in December 1741, while he was still in Rome, Adelcrantz was given a position within the palace construction project. In late summer 1743, he started on his journey to Sweden. Adelcrantz was back in Stockholm in late summer 1751, when Hårleman suddenly died in 1753, he was succeeded as överintendent by Carl Johan Cronstedt, and Adelcrantz was given Cronstedts position as hovintendent. In the absence of royal factories of the French type, the Swedish office may in actuality been more closely have resembled the subordinate office of the premier architecte, the task of the office was later extended to all public building projects, including churches. At the end of 1753, Adelcrantz was again given a foreign mission, in accordance with his instructions, he sent home a large number of models and engravings to be used for interior details in the latest fashion. He also contracted Pierre Hubert LArchevêque as a successor to J. P. Bouchardon, in Paris, Adelcrantz sat for the portrait by Alexander Roslin that he later bequested to the Swedish Academy of Arts. The diary that he is known to have kept during his journey was mentioned as sold at auction in 1831, but also appears to be lost. After his return, he worked on the furnishing of the Palace which was finished in November, the same year also saw his election as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
15.
Deus ex machina
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Deus ex machina is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός, meaning god from the machine. The term was coined from the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a machine is used to bring actors playing gods onto the stage, the machine could be either a crane used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought actors up through a trapdoor. Preparation to pick up the actors was done behind the skene, the idea was introduced by Aeschylus and was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. Although the device is associated mostly with Greek tragedy, it appeared in comedies. Aeschylus used the device in his Eumenides, but it was with Euripides that it became a stage machine. More than half of Euripides extant tragedies employ a deus ex machina in their resolution, in Alcestis, the eponymous heroine agrees to give up her own life in order to spare the life of her husband, Admetus. At the end, Heracles shows up and seizes Alcestis from Death, restoring her to life, aristophanes play Thesmophoriazusae parodies Euripides frequent use of the crane by making Euripides himself a character in the play and bringing him on stage by way of the mechane. The effect of the device on Greek audiences was a direct, audiences would have a feeling of wonder and astonishment at the appearance of the gods, which would often add to the moral effect of the drama. Shakespeare used the device in As You Like It, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Cymbeline and it was also used in John Gays The Beggars Opera where the author uses a character to break the action and rewrite the ending as a reprieve of the hanging of MacHeath. Both in Shakespeares and Gays plays the deus ex machina happens with breaking the illusion often in the form of an episodic narrator exposing the play itself. This is different from the use of the deus ex machina in the ancient examples with the coming from a participant in the action in the form of a god. It is natural for the gods to be considered participants and not outside sources because of their privileged position and it is these attributes that allow the Greek gods to believably wrap up and solve the series of events. During the politically turbulent 17th and 18th centuries, the deus ex machina was sometimes used to make a controversial thesis more palatable to the powers of the day. Aristotle was the first to use deus ex machina as a term to describe the technique as a device to resolve the plot of tragedies and it is generally deemed undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. In H. G. Wellss The War of the Worlds, in the novel Lord of the Flies, the rescue of the savage children by a passing navy officer is viewed by some critics as a deus ex machina. The abrupt ending conveys the terrible fate that would have afflicted the children if the officer had not arrived at that moment. J. R. R. Tolkien coined the term eucatastrophe to refer to a turn of events that ensures the protagonist does not meet some impending fate. He also referred to the Great Eagles that appear in places in The Hobbit
16.
Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden
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Adolf Frederick or Adolph Frederick was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin and his reign saw an extended period of internal peace, although the finances stagnated following failed mercantilist doctrines pursued by the Hat administration. Following his death, his son Gustav III seized power in 1772 in a military coup détat and his mother was Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach. On his mothers side, Adolf Frederick descended from King Gustav Vasa and from Christina Magdalena, from both his parents he was descended from Holstein-Gottorp, a house with a number of medieval Scandinavian royal dynasties among its ancestors. From 1727 to 1750 prince Adolf Frederick was prince-bishop of Lübeck, shortly afterwards, the young boy was invited to Russia by his maternal aunt, Empress Elizabeth, who soon declared him her heir, he later became known as Peter III of Russia. He succeeded as King Adolf Fredrik twelve years later, on 25 March 1751, during his twenty-year reign, Adolf Frederick was little more than a figurehead, the real power being lodged in the hands of the Riksdag of the Estates, often distracted by party strife. Twice he endeavoured to free himself from the tutelage of the estates and his mother died a widow in Hamburg on 22 December 1755. She was a descendant of royal dynasties of Sweden, granddaughter of Christina Magdalena of Palatinate. The king was regarded, both during his time and in times, as dependent on others, a weak ruler. But he was also a good husband, a caring father. His favourite pastime was to make snuffboxes, which he spent a great deal of time doing. His personal hospitality and friendliness were witnessed by many who mourned him at his death. His portrait is included with the 16-sheet series of Princely Persons on Horseback by Johann Elias Ridinger
17.
Gustav III of Sweden
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Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. Gustav was an opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility since the death of King Charles XII. Nonetheless, his leadership in the Battle of Svensksund averted a complete military defeat. The much-praised Freedom of the Press Act of 1766 was severely curtailed, however, by amendments in 1774 and 1792, effectively extinguishing independent media. Gustavs immense powers were placed in the hands of a regency under his brother Prince Carl and Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm until his son, the Gustavian autocracy thus survived until 1809, when his son was ousted in another coup detat, which definitively established parliament as the dominant political power. A patron of the arts and benefactor of arts and literature, Gustav founded the Swedish Academy, in 1772 he founded the Royal Order of Vasa to acknowledge and reward those Swedes who had contributed to advances in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. In 1782, Gustav III was the first formally neutral head of state in the world to recognize the United States during its war for independence from Great Britain. Nonetheless, he perhaps owed most of what shaped him during his education to the poet. State interference with his education as a child caused significant political disruptions within the royal family. Even his most hostile teachers were amazed by his combination of natural gifts, on the whole, Gustav cannot be said to have been well educated, but he read widely, there was scarcely a French author of his day with whose works he was not intimately acquainted. His enthusiasm for the ideas of the French enlightenment was as sincere as that of his mother, if more critical. Gustav married Princess Sophia Magdalena, daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark, by proxy in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, on 1 October 1766 and in person in Stockholm on 4 November 1766. The match was not a one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temperament. The marriage produced two children, Crown Prince Gustav Adolf, and Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland, for the consummation of the marriage, the king and queen requested actual physical instruction by Count Adolf Munck, reportedly because of anatomical problems of both spouses. There were also rumors that the queen was pregnant by Munck. Gustavs mother supported rumors that he was not the father of his first son and it was rumored at the time that Gustav was homosexual, a possibility asserted by some writers. The close personal relationships which he formed two of his courtiers, Count Axel von Fersen and Baron Gustav Armfelt, were alluded to in that regard. His sister-in-law Charlotte implied as much in her famous diary, professor Erik Lönnroth of the Swedish Academy, who described the assistance provided by Munck, has concluded that there is no factual basis for the assumption that Gustav III was homosexual
18.
Giuseppe Verdi
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Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a family of moderate means. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, whose works influenced him. In his early operas Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy and he also participated briefly as an elected politician. He surprised the world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida. The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo, additionally, it lists Verdi as being born yesterday, but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Verdi himself, following his mother, always celebrated his birthday on 9 October, Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. From the age of four, Verdi was given lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents provided him with a spinet. Verdis gift for music was apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while. After Baistrocchis death, Verdi, at the age of eight, Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his sons education. something which Verdi tended to hide in later life. He picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by a father and of a sustained, sophisticated. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, at age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of the music school. This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of the Philharmonic Society was Antonio Barezzi, a grocer and distiller. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic, by June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic, none of us could rival him reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè
19.
Un ballo in maschera
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Un ballo in maschera is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. However, Sommas libretto was based on the five act libretto which playwright Eugène Scribe had written for Daniel Aubers 1833 opera, Gustave III. Scribe wrote about the assassination in 1792 of King Gustav III of Sweden who was killed as the result of a conspiracy against him. He was shot while attending a masked dance and died 13 days later of his wounds. It was to take two years between the time of the commission from Naples and planned for a production there and its premiere performance at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 17 February 1859. In order to become the Un ballo in maschera which we know today, Verdis opera was forced to undergo a significant series of transformations and title changes. These changes were caused by a combination of censorship regulations in both Naples and Rome, as well as by the situation in France in January 1858. It became one of the most frustrating experiences of Verdis career, from the mid-20th century, it has become more common for the setting to revert to its original 18th-century Stockholm location. A re-creation of the original Gustavo III has been staged in Sweden, when this proved to be impracticable, Verdi turned to the subject of King Gustav IIIs assassination as portrayed in Scribe and Aubers opera, albeit not an historically accurate narrative. That subject was known and had been used by other composers. Sommas new libretto, known as Gustavo III, was presented to the censors in Naples by late 1857, as had happened with Rigoletto, changes in characters names and titles were proposed and the location was moved from Stockholm to Stettin. Working together with Somma over Christmas, Verdi accommodated these changes, Somma was asked to change the names of the characters on the Gustave libretto while Verdi worked on completing sketches of the music. The name of the opera became Una vendetta in dominò, by 9 January 1858, prior to setting out for Naples, Verdi wrote from his home the San Carlo that the opera is done and even here I am working on the full score. The imposition of further, more stringent requirements by the censor incurred Verdis wrath. He broke his contract, returned to SantAgata in April, and was sued by the management of the San Carlo house and this provoked him to lodge a counter-claim against the theatre for damages and, eventually, the legal fight ended. When the legal issues were resolved within a few months, Verdi was free to present the libretto, there, the censors demanded further changes. Removing the action from Europe, the location became Boston during the British colonial period and the character became Riccardo. At this point, the opera became Un ballo in maschera set in North America, Un ballo in maschera received its premiere performance at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 17 February 1859 and was immediately successful
20.
Mary Skeaping
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Mary Skeaping was a British ballerina and choreographer. Skeaping toured as a dancer with the companies of Anna Pavlova and she was ballet mistress for Sadlers Wells Ballet from 1948–52 and ballet master of the Royal Swedish Ballet of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1953-1962. She directed the dance sequences for the film The Little Ballerina in 1948, responsible for the first four-act ballet production on BBC-TV, Swan Lake in 1951, she mounted a new production of Giselle for London Festival Ballet in 1971. For the Royal Ballets Ballet for All she created The Loves of Mars and she also researched in the history of the Swedish ballet. She was acknowledged as an authority on the technique of the ballet de cour, Skeaping was awarded the MBE in 1958 and Order of Gustav Vasa in 1961. Jubelboken Prisma Klas Åke Heed, Ny svensk teaterhistoria, teater före 1800, Gidlunds förlag http, //www. ne. se/mary-skeaping http, //www. answers. com/topic/mary-skeaping
21.
Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm
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The Chinese Pavilion, located in the grounds of the Drottningholm Palace park, is a Chinese-inspired royal pavilion originally built between 1753–1769. The pavilion is one of Swedens Royal Palaces and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first building was a pavilion with two wings in Chinese style. The buildings were prefabricated at Arsenalsgatan in Stockholm and they were made in the log cabin technique and shipped to Drottningholm where they were assembled. The architects were probably Carl Hårleman and Carl Johan Cronstedt, everything was finished and in place in time for Queen Lovisa Ulrikas birthday on 24 July 1753. The pavilion was a gift to the Queen from King Adolf Frederick. At the presentation, she received the key to the castle from the young Crown Prince Gustav, seven years old. In a letter to her mother, Queen Sophia Dorothea of Prussia, the Queen wrote, Having been built in haste and secrecy, the small castle did not endure the harsh Swedish climate. After ten years, rot had begun to attack the wooden frame, the second and current structure replaced the old wooden pavilion from 1753. Designed by Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz, construction began in 1763 and was completed in 1769, the royal court’s chief supervisor, Jean Eric Rehn, led the interior design work. The architecture is rococo and was intended to have an exotic character, containing Chinese elements. The rooms of the Pavilion are full of luxury items brought to Sweden from China by the Swedish East India Company, porcelain, silk, lacquers, etc. The walls in the Yellow Room are covered with Chinese lacquered panels, the panels depict relations between Asia and Europe in the 1700s. The motifs are scenes from Canton by the Pearl River and the European Thirteen Factories separated from the city by double walls, the wings are connected to the main building by a series of curved rooms. Lacquer-red walls used for the facade and the sculptural ornamentation show good knowledge of Chinese buildings, the interior is among the foremost in Swedish rococo design. There are four houses, also in Chinese style, just north of the pavilion, the east one, northeast of the pavilion, is called The Billiard. It used to house a billiard table which is now gone, instead, two of King Adolf Fredericks lathes are on display together with tools from the lathe chamber. The house to the west, northwest of the pavilion, is known as The Silver Chamber, a bit further north, resting on a high base, is the Adolf Fredericks Studio and the Confidance
22.
UNESCO
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005
23.
World Heritage Sites
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A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
24.
Ingmar Bergman
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Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer, and producer who worked in film, television, theatre and radio. He directed over sixty films and documentaries for cinematic release and for television and he also directed over 170 plays. From 1953 he forged a creative partnership with his full-time cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Among his company of actors were Harriet and Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Gunnar Björnstrand, Erland Josephson, Ingrid Thulin, most of his films were set in Sweden, and numerous films from Through a Glass Darkly onward were filmed on the island of Fårö. His work often dealt with death, illness, faith, betrayal, bleakness and insanity. Ingmar Bergman was born in Uppsala, Sweden, the son of Erik Bergman, a Lutheran minister and later chaplain to the King of Sweden, and Karin and he grew up with his older brother Dag and sister Margareta surrounded by religious imagery and discussion. His father was a parish minister with strict ideas of parenting. Ingmar was locked up in dark closets for infractions, such as wetting the bed, there was everything that ones imagination could desire—angels, saints, dragons, prophets, devils, humans. Although raised in a devout Lutheran household, Bergman later stated that he lost his faith at age eight and only came to terms with this fact while making Winter Light in 1962. His interest in theatre and film began early, At the age of nine, he traded a set of tin soldiers for a magic lantern, a possession that altered the course of his life. Within a year, he had created, by playing with this toy and he fashioned his own scenery, marionettes, and lighting effects and gave puppet productions of Strindberg plays in which he spoke all the parts. Bergman attended Palmgrens School as a teenager and his school years were unhappy, and he remembered them unfavorably in later years. Bergman wrote in a response that he had disliked the emphasis on homework. In 1934, aged 16, he was sent to Germany to spend the vacation with family friends. He attended a Nazi rally in Weimar at which he saw Adolf Hitler, Bergman commented that Hitler was unbelievably charismatic. The Nazism I had seen seemed fun and youthful, Bergman did two five-month stretches of mandatory military service. In 1937 he entered Stockholm University College to study art and literature and he spent most of his time involved in student theatre and became a genuine movie addict. At the same time, a romantic involvement led to a break with his father lasted for years
25.
The Magic Flute (1975 film)
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The Magic Flute is Ingmar Bergmans 1975 film version of Mozarts opera Die Zauberflöte. It was intended as a production and was first shown on Swedish television on 1 January 1975. The work is viewed as one of the most successful films of an opera ever made. Although Bergman carried out the project in his mid-50s, it was rooted in his youth, also while still a child, he serendipitously discovered the Baroque theater that served as the inspiration for his much-later production, As a boy I loved roam around. One October day I set out for Drottningholm to see its unique court theater from the eighteenth century, for some reason the stage door was unlocked. I walked inside and saw for the first time the carefully restored baroque theater, I remember distinctly what a bewitching experience it was, the effect of chiaroscuro, the silence, the stage. In my imagination I have always seen The Magic Flute living inside that old theater, in that keenly acoustical wooden box, with its slanted stage floor, its backdrops, here lies the noble, magical illusion of theater. The moment the curtain is raised, an agreement between stage and audience manifest itself, in other words, it is obvious that the drama of The Magic Flute should unfold in a baroque theater. At one stage Bergman had hoped to direct a production at the Malmö City Theater. The origin of his version was in the 1960s, when Magnus Enhörning, head of the Swedish Radio, asked him for possible projects. Enhörning readily agreed and supported the project without hesitation, the German-language libretto of The Magic Flute was the work of Mozarts collaborator Emanuel Schikaneder, who was also theatre manager and sang Papageno at the first performances in 1791. For the plot, see The Magic Flute, and for details of the libretto see Libretto of the Magic Flute. However, Bergman altered the libretto in a number of respects, Sarastro is Paminas father, trios in Act 2 are omitted, instead of his usual costume of plumage, Papageno wears conventional clothing. The roles of the Three Slaves, originally spoken roles assigned to adult actors, are given to children, the latter film includes a puppet-theatre sequence of part of Act 1 of the opera. Evidon also sees a parallel between Bergmans treatment of Sarastro and Amfortas in Parsifal, in producing the opera, Bergman sought to fulfill his early dream of a production in the Drottningholm Palace Theatre. This setting would also approximate the conditions of the original 1791 production in the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, the introductory exterior shots of the film are intended to suggest that it was indeed filmed in the Drottningholm theatre. However, the scenery at Drottningholm was considered too fragile to accommodate a film crew, so the stage – complete with wings, curtains, and wind machines – was painstakingly copied and erected in the studios of the Swedish Film Institute. Bergman asked his friend Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt to conduct the opera, the renowned choir conductor Eric Ericson also declined at first but was later persuaded by Bergman to take it on
26.
DVD
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DVD is a digital optical disc storage format invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. The medium can store any kind of data and is widely used for software. DVDs offer higher capacity than compact discs while having the same dimensions. Pre-recorded DVDs are mass-produced using molding machines that physically stamp data onto the DVD, such discs are a form of DVD-ROM because data can only be read and not written or erased. Blank recordable DVD discs can be recorded using a DVD recorder. Rewritable DVDs can be recorded and erased many times, DVDs containing other types of information may be referred to as DVD data discs. The OED also states that in 1995, The companies said the name of the format will simply be DVD. Toshiba had been using the name ‘digital video disk’, but that was switched to ‘digital versatile disk’ after computer companies complained that it left out their applications, Digital versatile disc is the explanation provided in a DVD Forum Primer from 2000 and in the DVD Forums mission statement. There were several formats developed for recording video on optical discs before the DVD, Optical recording technology was invented by David Paul Gregg and James Russell in 1958 and first patented in 1961. A consumer optical disc data format known as LaserDisc was developed in the United States and it used much larger discs than the later formats. CD Video used analog video encoding on optical discs matching the established standard 120 mm size of audio CDs, Video CD became one of the first formats for distributing digitally encoded films in this format, in 1993. In the same year, two new optical disc formats were being developed. By the time of the launches for both formats in January 1995, the MMCD nomenclature had been dropped, and Philips and Sony were referring to their format as Digital Video Disc. Representatives from the SD camp asked IBM for advice on the system to use for their disc. Alan E. Bell, a researcher from IBMs Almaden Research Center, got that request and this group was referred to as the Technical Working Group, or TWG. On August 14,1995, an ad hoc group formed from five computer companies issued a release stating that they would only accept a single format. The TWG voted to both formats unless the two camps agreed on a single, converged standard. They recruited Lou Gerstner, president of IBM, to pressure the executives of the warring factions, as a result, the DVD specification provided a storage capacity of 4.7 GB for a single-layered, single-sided disc and 8.5 GB for a dual-layered, single-sided disc
27.
Theater auf der Wieden
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The Theater auf der Wieden, also called the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden or the Wiednertheater, was a theater located in the then-suburban Wieden district of Vienna in the late 18th century. During most of this period the director of the theater was Emanuel Schikaneder, remembered today as librettist, the Freihaus was a large complex of businesses and residences belonging to the Starhemberg family. It was located at the edge of the Wiedner suburb, separated from the inner city by the Glacis. The Freihaus attracted intensive development because by an earlier Imperial decree it was free from taxation, the complex was called the Starhembergische Freihaus, from which was derived the name Freihaus-Theater. Christian Rossbach, a director who had already been successfully mounting productions in Vienna for several years. This was approved 16 March 1787, and construction began, following a design by the architect Andreas Zach, the building was completed within six months and was opened for its first performance on 14 October. The theater was a three-story structure having a divided parterre and two galleries, the external walls and roof were of brick and the interior was of wood. According to Krzeszowiak the theater had very good acoustics, no description of the theaters capacity survives. The stage area was substantial, forming 12 meters of the 30 meter length of the building, Honolka judges that it was planned from the beginning for opulent scenic design. The founding director was Christian Rossbach, who served from October 1787 to March 1788, rossbachs venture lasted only a few months and ended in financial failure, despite a dispensation from the Emperor to perform during Lent. He first tried playing in venues in Vienna, then left Vienna with half of his troupe to play the provinces in Moravia. Rossbach was succeeded by Johann Friedel, who ran the productions from March 1788 to his death in March 1789, Friedel worked in collaboration with his lover Eleonore Schikaneder, the estranged wife of Friedels former theatrical colleague Emanuel Schikaneder. Following Friedels death, Eleonore reconciled with her husband and invited him to take on the directorship, Schikaneder created a new troupe partly from the participants in Friedels ensemble, and partly from personnel he brought with him from his former troupe, playing in Regensburg. The company offered mostly German operas and plays songs and incidental music. The company staged Mozarts Abduction from the Seraglio in April and May 1789, starting in 1789, Schikaneders company staged a series of fairy tale operas. These included Der Stein der Weisen, a written work to which Mozart contributed a small portion of the music. The fairy tale series culminated with the premiere in September 1791 of Mozarts The Magic Flute, the latter was a success, and played for over 100 performances in its first year alone,223 over the life of the theater. It gave rise to a sequel by Schikaneder and Peter von Winter entitled The Magic Flute Second Part, the theater continued to be used for opera until 1801, when Schikaneder moved the troupe to his newly built Theater an der Wien
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Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
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Culture of Sweden
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Swedish society and its culture is concerned with the welfare and well-being of others, both within and outside Sweden. Swedes have a tradition of informal coffee-break get-togethers known as Fika, the 25 historical provinces of Sweden, which early in their histories had poor intercommunication, each have a distinct culture. The provinces long ago lost their importance as administrative and political regions, but are seen as cultural ones. Each province has a history, each with its own robust nature. Some of them constituted separated parts of Sweden with their own laws, other regions have been independent, or a part of another country, such as, etc. They have different indigenous dialects of North Germanic, and some have ethnic minorities, singing is popular in Sweden, and of its 9 million inhabitants,600,000 belong to various choirs. Three of the worlds leading songwriters, Jörgen Elofsson, Daniel Liljeroth and Max Martin, in popular music, the group ABBA became the essence of Swedish music during the 1970s and early 1980s. Later Roxette emerged, mostly performing songs in the late 1980s. This band was successful in the USA. Europe, Ace of Base and The Cardigans are Swedish pop groups that have been popular internationally, pop promo director Jonas Åkerlund is from Sweden. He is perhaps best known for The Prodigys Smack My Bitch Up, indie pop/rock is very big in Sweden. Gothenburg especially has spawned a number of prominent bands and artists, thanks to labels such as Sincerely Yours, Service. In contrast with its pop music scene, Sweden also boasts one of the most prolific death metal scenes in the world. Gothenburg is famed in the scene for the death metal sound. Melodic death metal is quite a broad genre with many variations, still, many bands are influenced by genres as broad as Swedish folk music, alternative music, electronica, gothic music, progressive music and even neo-classical music. However, there are a lot of bands and artists who dominate the national music scene, such as Kent, Håkan Hellström. Traditional Swedish national costumes are worn on special occasions, such as Midsummer. Many such costumes are darkly colored, sverigedräkten, a version mainly in blue and yellow, has been the established National Costume since 2004 and is thus worn by royalty on some official occasions
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History of Sweden
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During the 11th and 12th centuries, Sweden gradually became a unified Christian kingdom that later included what is today Finland. During the early Middle Ages, the Swedish state also expanded to control Norrland and Finland, Modern Sweden started out of the Kalmar Union formed in 1397 and by the unification of the country by King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. Vasa fought for an independent Sweden and broke with the papacy, in the 17th century Sweden expanded its territories to form the Swedish empire. Most of these territories had to be given up during the 18th century. During the 17th century, after winning wars against Denmark, Russia, Swedens role in the Thirty Years War determined the political as well as the religious balance of power in Europe. The Russians won a war against Sweden in 1709, capturing much of the Swedish army, Sweden joined in the Enlightenment culture of the day in the arts, architecture, science and learning. Between 1570 and 1800 Sweden experienced two periods of urban expansion, Finland was lost to Russia in a war in 1808–1809. In the early 19th century Finland and the territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost. After its last war in 1814, Sweden entered into a union with Norway which lasted until 1905. Since 1814, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a foreign policy in peacetime. Sweden was neutral in World War I, post-war prosperity provided the foundations for the social welfare policies characteristic of modern Sweden. Sweden created a model of social democracy. Sweden remained neutral during World War II, avoiding the fate of occupied Norway, Sweden was one of the first non-participants of World War II to join the United Nations. Apart from this, the tried to stay out of alliances and remain officially neutral during the entire Cold War. The social democratic party held government for 44 years, the 1976 parliamentary elections brought a liberal/right-wing coalition to power. During the Cold War, Sweden was suspicious of the superpowers, with the end of the Cold War, that suspicion has lessened somewhat, although Sweden still chooses to remain nonaligned. The earliest images can, however, be found in the province of Jämtland and they depict wild animals such as elk, reindeer, bears and seals. The period 2300–500 BC was the most intensive carving period, with carvings of agriculture, warfare, ships, domesticated animals, also, petroglyphs with themes have been found in Bohuslän, these are dated from 800–500 BC
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Bollhuset
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The name Bollhuset means The Ball House, and it was built in 1627 for ball sports and used in this way for forty years. The name Lejonkulan, however, was in fact the name of a different building, Bollhuset was the scene of a long series of most important events in the history of the theater in the city and in the history of Swedish theater. The building was located on Slottsbacken near the Royal palace Tre Kronor and it was described as a large, but simple rectangular building of white bricks with a hip roof. From 1648, when an additional Ball House was built, Bollhuset was referred to as Stora Bollhuset or Gamla Bollhuset, while the new ball house was called Lilla Bollhuset or Nya Bollhuset. In 1663-1679, it was owned by Charles Boit and thereafter by his widow until it was taken over by the crown again in 1699, when it was given to the French court theater. Because a ball house was designed with as spectator gallery around an arena. It is further more confusing because a building, Lejonkulan, was also used by the travelling theater companies during the same period. During the 17th century, foreign travelling theater companies often visited Stockholm, especially from Germany, an English troupe, the troupe of Joris Jollifoot, played in the city in 1648-1649. The German theater troop of Christian Theun l, thum performed in the city from 1628 to 1655, but it is not known if they ever performed in Bollhuset. The foreign actors at Bollhuset did play for the public, but as most people could not understand foreign languages, it remained mostly a theater for the royal court, thereafter, Bollhuset was again used by foreign theater companies in parallel to the Lilla Bollhuset. In 1699, Bollhuset was again taken over by the crown, the French theater used it until 1706, when the theater was closed due to the Great Northern War. After the peace of 1721, it was used by foreign theater companies. During the Age of Liberty, the first national theater was to be founded at Bollhuset and this was granted by the Riksdag, who encouraged the establishment of the first native troupe of actors. One of the arguments taken up in the parliament was the costs of the expensive foreign troupes. At this point, the theater had eight hundred seats, Sweden now saw theater, opera and ballet performed in the native language by native artists for the first time. It was temporary closed by regent queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden in 1738 because of the clerical opposition, the theater was first under the rule of the state, its first play was a political one. This did not last long and from 1740 it was ruled by the theater troupe themselves and this first attempt to start a native Swedish theater was interrupted. Though the Swedish theatre was popular among the public, the aristocracy, after the 1753-54 season, the Swedish theatre was expelled from their localities in Bollhuset by queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, who hired a French theater company instead
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Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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Edinburgh International Festival
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The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual festival of performing arts in Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks in August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music, theatre, opera, the festival also hosts a series of visual art exhibitions, talks and workshops. Bing had looked at several English cities before shifting his focus to Scotland and settling on Edinburgh, certain preconditions were obviously required of such a centre. It should be a town of size, capable of absorbing and entertaining anything between 50,000 and 150,000 visitors over a period of three weeks to a month. It should, like Salzburg, have considerable scenic and picturesque appeal and it should be set in a country likely to be attractive to tourists and foreign visitors. It should have sufficient number of theatres, concert halls and open spaces for the staging of a programme of an ambitious. Greatly daring but not without confidence I recommended Edinburgh as the centre, wood approached Falconer, who enthusiastically welcomed the initiative on behalf of the city. As it was too late to finalise arrangements for 1946, plans were made for the following year, the first International Festival took place between 22 August and 11 September 1947. The Festival has since taken place every August, the British Armys desire to showcase itself during the Festival period led to the independent staging of the first Edinburgh Military Tattoo, featuring displays of piping and dancing, in 1950. This annual event has come to be regarded as an part of the official festival. In 1999, the Festival opened a new box office and information centre in The Hub. The Edinburgh International Festival was brought forward to coincide with the Fringe in 2015, the principal venues of the Festival are, The Edinburgh Playhouse Usher Hall Festival Theatre, primarily used for opera and ballet productions. Collectively, the group is referred to as the Edinburgh Festival. Most notable of these is the Edinburgh Fringe, which started as an offshoot of the International Festival and has grown to be the worlds largest arts festival. List of opera festivals Bruce, G. Festival in the North, the Edinburgh International Festival,1947 –1996
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Manifesta
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Manifesta began as a Dutch initiative to create a pan-European platform for the contemporary visual arts. The main office of the International Foundation Manifesta, initiator of the editions of the Manifesta Biennial is located in Amsterdam. Manifesta developed into a network for young professionals in Europe. This is due, in no small measure, to its pan-European ambitions, both the network and the exhibition, with its related activities, are equally important components of this itinerant event. Manifesta offers a platform for emerging artists, on the basis of a networking organisation, in other words, each new edition aims to establish a close dialogue between a specific cultural and artistic situation and the broader context of European visual contemporary art. Manifesta 1 was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1996 in 16 different museums and 36 public spaces, a team of five curators, from Barcelona, Budapest, London, Moscow, and Paris/Zurich, selected 72 artists from 30 different European countries and five from elsewhere. Since then it has held in Luxembourg, Ljubljana, Frankfurt. The event was due to be held in the city of Nicosia, Cyprus. In 2008 Manifesta 7 took place in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy, Manifesta 8 took place in the region of Murcia Spain in 2010. Manifesta 9 took place in 2012 in the region of Limburg, the Manifesta biennials and organization have not operated without controversy. The most notable problem was in 2006 when the event, planned to be held in Cyprus, was met with opposition from Cypriot artists and it was cancelled due to political reasons and relocated to Berlin. Curated by Andrew Renton, Katalyn Neray, Rosa Martinez, Viktor Misiano and Hans Ulrich Obrist, it was held in 16 different museums and 36 public spaces in Rotterdam, Netherlands. All the works displayed at Manifesta 1 were specially made for this event, Manifesta 2 was held under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg, curated by Robert Fleck, Maria Lind and Barbara Vanderlinden, and included mostly site-specific work. The exhibition catalogue contained information about the infrastructure for contemporary art in approximately 30 European countries. For Manifesta 3 the work by artists, artists’ collectives, urban planners, the curatorial team gave the exhibition the theme of Borderline Syndrome. In order to support the subject they were exploring they also solicited catalogue contributions not only from a range of Slovenian and foreign intellectuals. The catalogue has turned today into a collector’s item. org. TOOAUP Manifesta 6 was to be held in Nicosia, however, the plans that emerged from the Manifesta 6 curators were met with strong opposition by prominent Cypriot artists. Helene Black wrote an letter to Manifesta, accusing them of using Cypruss demilitarised Green Line as a cultural commodity
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Beiteddine Festival
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The Beiteddine Festival is an annual summer festival that takes place in Beiteddine Palace in Beiteddine, Lebanon. It was launched amidst war and destruction in the middle of the 80s and it came as an act of faith in Lebanons cultural specificity and its power of creativity and artistic freedom. It was a call for normality in the middle of the chaos and it was established in 1984 with local artistic performances and it gradually started having regional and international performances. Over the years it has included concerts or performances related to music, dance, theatre, opera, jazz. The festival takes place in the large 200-year-old Beiteddine Palace in the Chouf Mountains, in Lebanon
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Bergen International Festival
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Bergen International Festival is an annual international music and cultural festival in Bergen, Norway. The festival is the largest in the Nordic countries in its genre and has a number of activities in music, dance, literature, visual arts, folklore. In the same span the International Jazz Festival, Nattjazz. The model was the Salzburg Festival, and the initiative came partly from opera singer Fanny Elstad, the original festival director was Frank Meidell Falch from 1951 to 1957. Christen Gran Bøgh, who died in 1955, also played a role in the festivals first edition. Edvard Grieg’s piano concerto in A minor is called the signature work of the Festival
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Berliner Festspiele
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The interplay of different art forms that results from this is unrivalled and highly significant for the development of the modern arts. Festivals such as MaerzMusik, Theatertreffen, Jazzfest Berlin and Musikfest Berlin are of a quality, as are the large-scale retrospectives in the Festspiele’s art. These always set new standards in the presentation of contemporary art, for example with focus on “Between the Arts”. Festivalgoers have become significantly younger over the past few years, and the Festspiele itself has been committed to the support of children and adolescents for decades
