1.
Conducting
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Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. A conductors directions will almost invariably be supplemented or reinforced by verbal instructions or suggestions to their musicians in rehearsal prior to a performance. The conductor typically stands on a podium with a large music stand for the full score. Conducting while playing a piano or synthesizer may also be done with musical theatre pit orchestras, communication is typically non-verbal during a performance. However, in rehearsals, frequent interruptions allow the conductor to give verbal directions as to how the music should be played or sung, Conductors act as guides to the orchestras or choirs they conduct. They choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make adjustments, work out their interpretation. They may also attend to matters, such as scheduling rehearsals, planning a concert season, hearing auditions and selecting members. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles such as big bands are usually led by conductors. The principal conductor of an orchestra or opera company is referred to as a music director or chief conductor, or by the German words Kapellmeister or Dirigent. Conductors of choirs or choruses are sometimes referred to as director, chorus master, or choirmaster. Conductors of concert bands, military bands, marching bands and other bands may hold the title of director, bandmaster. Respected senior conductors are sometimes referred to by the Italian word, an early form of conducting is cheironomy, the use of hand gestures to indicate melodic shape. This has been practiced at least as far back as the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, other devices to indicate the passing of time came into use. Rolled up sheets of paper, smaller sticks and unadorned hands are all shown in pictures from this period, the large staff was responsible for the death of Jean-Baptiste Lully, who injured his foot with one while conducting a Te Deum for the Kings recovery from illness. The wound became gangrenous and Lully refused amputation, whereupon the gangrene spread to his leg, in instrumental music throughout the 18th century, a member of the ensemble usually acted as the conductor. This was sometimes the concertmaster, who could use his bow as a baton and it was common to conduct from the harpsichord in pieces that had a basso continuo part. In opera performances, there were sometimes two conductors – the keyboard player was in charge of the singers, and the principal violinist or leader was in charge of the orchestra. By the early 19th century, it became the norm to have a dedicated conductor, the size of the usual orchestra expanded during this period, and the use of a baton became more common, as it was easier to see than bare hands or rolled-up paper
2.
Berlin Philharmonic
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The Berlin Philharmonic, is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany and is consistently ranked as one of the best orchestras in the world. The BPO supports several music ensembles. The orchestra was renamed and reorganized under the management of Hermann Wolff in 1882. Their new conductor was Ludwig von Brenner, in 1887 Hans von Bülow, one of the most esteemed conductors in the world, programmes of this period show that the orchestra possessed only 46 strings, much less than the Wagnerian ideal of 64. In 1895, Arthur Nikisch became chief conductor, and was succeeded in 1923 by Wilhelm Furtwängler, despite several changes in leadership, the orchestra continued to perform throughout World War II. After Furtwängler fled to Switzerland in 1945, Leo Borchard became chief conductor and this arrangement lasted only a few months, as Borchard was accidentally shot and killed by the American forces occupying Berlin. Sergiu Celibidache then took over as conductor for seven years. Furtwängler returned in 1952 and conducted the orchestra until his death in 1954 and his successor was Herbert von Karajan, who led the orchestra from 1955 until his resignation in April 1989, only months before his death. Under him, the made a vast number of recordings and toured widely. The orchestra hired its first female musician, violinist Madeleine Carruzzo, however, Karajans hiring in September 1982 of Sabine Meyer, the first female wind player to the orchestra, led to controversy when the orchestra voted 73 to 4 not to admit her to the orchestra. After Karajan stood down from the orchestra in 1989, the offered the chief conductorship to Carlos Kleiber. In 1989, the orchestra elected Claudio Abbado as its principal conductor. He expanded the repertoire beyond the core classical and romantic works into more modern 20th-century works. Abbado stepped down from the conductorship of the orchestra in 2002. During the post-unification period, the orchestra encountered financial problems resulting from stress in the city of Berlin. In 2006, the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic established the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize in Abbados honour, in June 1999, the musicians elected Sir Simon Rattle as their next chief conductor. Rattle made it a condition of his signing with the Berlin Philharmonic that it be turned into a public foundation, with the power to make its own artistic. This required a change to state law, which was approved in 2001, Rattles contract with the orchestra was initially through 2012
3.
Macedonians (Greeks)
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Macedonians are a regional and historical population group of ethnic Greeks, inhabiting or originating from the Greek region of Macedonia, in Northern Greece. Today, most Macedonians live in or around the capital city of Thessaloniki and other cities and towns in Greek Macedonia, while many have spread across Greece. The name Macedonia comes from the ancient Greek word μακεδνός and it is commonly explained as having originally meant a tall one or highlander, possibly descriptive of the people. The shorter English name variant Macedon developed in Middle English, based on a borrowing from the French form of the name, Greek populations have inhabited the region of Macedonia since ancient times. The rise of Macedon, from a kingdom at the periphery of Classical Greek affairs, to one which came to dominate the entire Hellenic world. Alexanders adoption of the styles of government of the territories was accompanied by the spread of Greek culture. In the partition of Alexanders empire among the Diadochi, Macedonia fell to the Antipatrid dynasty, after the Roman conquest of the Balkans, the Macedonians were an integral component of the people of the Roman province of Macedonia. Under Roman control and later in the Byzantine Empire the region saw also the influx of many ethnicities that settled in the area where the indigenous ancient Macedonians lived, the region had also since ancient times a significant Romaniote Jew population. After the Ottoman conquest and towards the end of the Ottoman era, the matter of the multicultural composition of the people of Macedonia came to be known as the Macedonian Question. Thessaloniki remained the biggest city where the part of Macedonians resided. The Greek War of Independence refers to the efforts of the Greeks to establish an independent Greek state, at the time that Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire. Even after the end of the Greek national revolution, there were revolts in Macedonia with all of them having as their stated aim the union of the region with the Kingdom of Greece. The Greek revolution in Macedonia started in Chalkidiki, where the population was almost entirely Greek, on 28 May 1821, Yussuf Bey of Thessaloniki, alarmed by the danger of a general insurrection, demanded hostages from the region. Yussuf Bey took the revenge by beheading a bishop, impaling three dignitaries while in durance and imprisoning a lot of Christians in Thessaloniki, the Ottomans also turned Muslims and Jews against the Greeks, stating that the latters intended to exterminate non-Christian populations. The revolution in Chalkidiki ended on 27 December, with the submission of Mount Athos to the Ottomans, events of the Russo-Turkish Crimean War in 1854 ignited a new Macedonian revolt that was spawned in Chalkidiki. One of the instigators of the revolt was Dimitrios Karatasos, son of Anastasios Karatasos. The insurrections of the Macedonian Greeks had the support of King Otto of Greece, the revolt however failed in its part having deteriorated the Greco-Turkish relations for the years to come. On the eve of the 20th century, Macedonians were a Greek minority population in a number of areas inside the region of Macedonia
4.
Aromanians
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Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern peoples descending from the Latinized population of the Balkans and Central-Eastern Europe. The Aromanians speak the Aromanian language, a Latin-derived language similar to Romanian and it descends from the Vulgar Latin spoken by the Paleo-Balkan peoples subsequent to their Romanization. It is a mix of domestic and Latin language with additional influences from other surrounding languages of the Balkans, such as Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian, the term Aromanian derives directly from the Latin Romanus, meaning Roman citizen. The term was coined by Gustav Weigand in his 1894 work Die Aromunen, the first book to which many scholars have referred to as the most valuable to translate their ethnical name is a grammar printed in 1813 in Austria by Michael Boiagi. The Greek title was Grammatike Romanike Etoi Makedono-Blachike, the terms Aromanian or Vlach are both exonyms, the first one is modern, the second medieval. The Aromanians call themselves Armâńi or Rrămăńi, depending on which of the two dialectal groups they belong, and identify as part of the fara armāneascā or the populu armānescu. The endonym is rendered in Romanian as Aromâni, in Greek as Armanoi, in Albanian as Arumunët, in Bulgarian as Arumani, in Macedonian as Aromanci, in Serbo-Croatian as Armani and Aromuni. The term is noted in the languages, Greek Vlachoi, Albanian Vllah/Vllehët, Bulgarian and Serbian Vlasi, Turkish Ulahlar. Kahl divides the Aromanians into two groups, the Rrămăńi and Armâńi. Further, the Aromanians are divided into sub-groups, distinguished according to geographic area, Aromanians are grouped into several branches such as, Pindeans, concentrated in and around the Pindus Mountains of Northern and Central Greece. Gramustians, from Gramos Mountains, an area in the western region of Albania. Muzachiars, from Muzachia situated in central Albania, farsherots, concentrated in Epirus, from Frashër, once Aromanian urban center situated in south-eastern Albania. Moscopolitans, from the city of Moscopole, once an important urban center of the Balkans, the first two groups call themselves Rrãmãn, while the other three groups call themselves Armãn. The Aromanian communities have several nicknames depending on the country where they are living, gramustians and Pindians are nicknamed Koutsovlachs. This term is taken as derogatory, as the first element of this term is from the Greek koutso- meaning lame. Following a Turkish etymology where küçük means little they are the group of Vlachs as opposed to the more numerous Vlachs. Farsherots, from Frashër, Moscopole and Muzachia are nicknamed Frashariotes or Arvanitovlachs, most of the Frashariotes are characterized also as Greek-Vlach Northern Epirotes because of their frequent historical inhabitance of ethnic Greek territory. In Romania, the demonym macedoni and machedoni is also used, in Albania, the terms Vllah and Çoban or Çobenj are used
5.
Kozani
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The Historical–Folklore and Natural History Museum of Kozani is a museum in Kozani, Greece. The museum belongs to the Kozani Literature and Arts Association and it was founded in 1969 and has been housed in a six-storey building constructed in the traditional West Macedonian style in Kozani town centre since 1987. A new four-storey building was erected nearby in 1993, through the museum, the Association hopes to preserve the monuments and other aspects of Greek heritage in the Kozani area and in Western Macedonia more generally. One showcase displays examples of teratogenesis in the animal world, on the ground floor, which is an interior courtyard, are a traditional oven, a well, and reconstructions of the life of farmers and woodcutters. The history and folklore sections occupy the upper storeys of the museum, on the third and fourth floors are reconstructions of the rural and light industrial occupations of the olden days. The fifth floor displays 58 men’s and women’s traditional costumes of Western Macedonia, on the sixth floor there are reconstructions of a number of rooms from old town houses in Kozani, the ‘Kitchen’, ‘K. Gertsos’s Room’, ‘G. The museum runs educational programmes for schoolchildren, involving guided tours, official website Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism Municipality of Kozani
6.
Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire
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The administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire were administrative divisions of the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire. Outside this system were various types of vassal and tributary states, the Ottoman Empire was first subdivided into provinces, in the sense of fixed territorial units with governors appointed by the sultan, in the late 14th century. The beylerbey, or governor, of each province was appointed by the central government, sanjaks were governed by sanjak beys, selected from the high military ranks by the central government. Beylerbeyis had authority over all the sancakbeyis in a region, kaza was a subdivision of sancak and referred to the basic administrative district, governed by a kadi. It is considered difficult to define the number and exact borders of Ottoman provinces and domains. All the subdivisions were very unequal in regard of area and population, and these translations are rarely consistent between the works of different scholars, however. Sanjaks were further divided into timars, kadiluks and zeamets, the initial organization dates back to the Ottoman beginnings as a Seljuk vassal state in central Anatolia. The Ottoman Empire over the years became an amalgamation of pre-existing polities and this extension was based on an already established administrative structure of the Seljuk system in which the hereditary rulers of these territories were known as beys. These beys, which were not eliminated, continued to rule under the suzerainty of the Ottoman sultans, the term bey came to be applied not only to these former rulers but also to new governors appointed where the local leadership had been eliminated. The Ottoman Empire was, at first, subdivided into the sovereign’s sanjak, sanjaks were governed by sanjakbeys, military governors who received a flag or standard – a sanjak – from the sultan. At the end of the 14th century, a beylerbeylik was established for Anatolia. He was always considered inferior in rank to the beylerbey of Rumelia, in addition to their duties as governors-general, beylerbeys were the commanders of all troops in their province. Following the conquests between 1362 and 1400 of Murad I and his son Bayezid I, a need arose for the organisation of Ottoman territory. There were two eras of administrative organisation. The first was the organisation that evolved with the rise of the Empire. An eyalet was the territory of office of a beylerbey, and was subdivided in sanjaks. Toward the end of the 16th century, the beylerbeyliks began to be known as eyalets, the beylerbeyliks where the timar system was not applied, such as Habesh, Algers, Egypt, Baghdad, Basra and Lahsa, were more autonomous than the others. Instead of collecting provincial revenues through the timariot sipahis, the beylerbey transferred fixed annuals sums to Istanbul, the Vilayets were introduced with the promulgation of the Vilayet Law in 1864, as part of the administrative reforms that were being enacted throughout the empire
7.
Rumelia
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Rumelia, also known as Turkey in Europe, was a historical term describing the area now referred to as the Balkans when it was administered by the Ottoman Empire. As such, it was used in Greek, Turkish, Albanian. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum meant the Sultanate of Anatolia, the name Rumelia was ultimately applied to a province composed of central Albania and north-western Macedonia, with Bitola for its chief town. Owing to administrative changes effected between 1870 and 1875, the name ceased to correspond to any political division. Eastern Rumelia was constituted as a province of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Berlin,1878. The Kosovo Vilayet was created in 1877 and this region in Turkey is also referred to as Eastern Thrace or Turkish Thrace. In Greece, the term Ρούμελη has been used since Ottoman times to refer to Central Greece, the word Rumeli is also used in some cases to refer exclusively to the part of Istanbul Province that is situated west of the Bosphorus
8.
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
9.
Chemnitz
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Chemnitz, known from 1953 to 1990 as Karl-Marx-Stadt, is the third-largest city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county, located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. The citys economy is based on the sector and manufacturing industry. Chemnitz University of Technology has around 10,000 students, Chemnitz is named after the river Chemnitz, a small tributary of the Zwickau Mulde. The word Chemnitz is from the Sorbian language, and means stony, the word is composed of the Slavic word kamen meaning stone and the feminine suffix -ica. It is known in Czech as Saská Kamenice and in Polish as Kamienica Saska, there are many other towns named Kamenica or Kamenice in areas with past or present Slavic settlement. An early Slavic tribes settlement was located at Kamienica, and the first documented use of the name Chemnitz was the 1143 site of a Benedictine monastery around which a settlement grew, circa 1170 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor granted it the rights of an imperial city. In 1307, the town became subordinate to the Margraviate of Meissen, in medieval times, Chemnitz became a centre of textile production and trade. More than one third of the worked in textile production. By the early 19th century Chemnitz had become an industrial centre, in 1913, Chemnitz had a population of 320,000 and, like Leipzig and Dresden, was larger at that time than today. After losing inhabitants due to the first World War Chemnitz grew rapidly again, before the world economic crises, it was supposed that the city would keep on growing and would become a Millionenstadt by incorporating also fast growing smaller towns and municipalities around it. During World War II, Chemnitz contained factories that produced military hardware, 2/3–5 March, USAAF bombers attacked the marshalling yards. 5 March,760 RAF bombers attacked, the headquarters of the auto manufacturer Auto Union were also based in Chemnitz since 1932 and its buildings were also badly damaged. At the end of the war, the companys executives fled and relocated the company in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, the World War II bombings left most of the city in ruins, and post-war, the East German reconstruction included large low rise housing. Some tourist sites were reconstructed during the East German era and after German reunification and it was occupied by Soviet troops on 8 May 1945. After dissolution of the states in the GDR in 1952, Chemnitz became seat of a district, on 10 May 1953, the city was renamed by decision of the East German government to Karl-Marx-Stadt after Karl Marx. GDR Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl said, The people who live here, do not look back and they look with love and devotion to the founder of the socialist doctrine, the greatest son of the German people, to Karl Marx. I hereby fulfill about the governments decision, I carry out the solemn act of renaming the city and declare, From now on, this city bears the proud name and mandatory Karl-Marx-Stadt
10.
Electorate of Saxony
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Upon the extinction of the House of Ascania, it was enfeoffed to the Margraves of Meissen from the Wettin dynasty in 1423, who moved the residence up the Elbe river to Dresden. After the Empires dissolution in 1806, the Wettin electors raised Saxony to a kingdom, when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa deposed the Saxon duke Henry the Lion in 1180, the Wittenberg lands belonged to Alberts youngest son Count Bernhard of Anhalt, who assumed the Saxon ducal title. Bernards eldest son, Albert I, ceded Anhalt to his younger brother Henry, retained the ducal title and his sons divided the possessions into the duchies of Saxe-Wittenberg and Saxe-Lauenburg. Louis was succeeded by the Luxembourg king Charles of Bohemia, after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1355, Charles issued the Golden Bull of 1356, the fundamental law of the Empire settling the method of electing the German King by seven Prince-electors. In this way, the country, though small in area, the electoral dignity was connected with it the obligation of male primogeniture, that is, only the eldest son could succeed as ruler. This forbade the division of the territory among several heirs, preventing the disintegration of the country, the importance of this stipulation is shown by the history of most of the fragmented German principalities which were not electorates. Late Alberts Ascanian relative Duke Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg protested in vain, thus, in 1423, Saxe-Wittenberg, the Margraviate of Meissen and Thuringia were united under one ruler, and the unified territory gradually received the name of Saxony. The partition decisively enfeebled the Wettin dynasty in the rivalry with the rising House of Hohenzollern, the Protestant movement of the 16th century was largely effected under the protection of the Saxon rulers. The Elector did not become at once an adherent of the new opinions, owing to his intervention, Pope Leo X decided against summoning Luther to Rome in 1518, and the Elector secured for Luther Imperial safe-conduct to the 1521 Diet of Worms. When Luther was declared to be under the ban of the empire by Emperor Charles V. Lutheran doctrines spread first in Ernestine Saxony, in 1525, Frederick died and was succeeded by his brother, John the Constant. John was followed in 1532 by his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous, in 1542, he seized the Diocese of Naumburg-Zeitz, and confiscated the secular possessions of the Dioceses of Meissen and Hildesheim. The Catholic faith was forcibly suppressed, after the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, Elector John Frederick was placed under the Imperial ban and finally defeated and captured by Emperor Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg on 24 April 1547. In the Capitulation of Wittenberg of May 19, he was obliged to yield former Saxe-Wittenberg with the dignity to his Albertine cousin Duke Maurice. The Saxon Electorate after the Wittenberg Capitulation consisted of former Saxe-Wittenberg and Meissen together, Maurice secretly shared in all the princely conspiracies against the Emperor, who only escaped capture by flight. During the same year, Charles V was obliged by the Peace of Passau to grant freedom of religion to the Protestant Estates, Maurice died in 1553 at the age of 32. His brother and successor Elector Augustus seized the Catholic dioceses of Merseburg, the last Bishop of Merseburg, Michael Helding called Sidonius, died at Vienna in 1561. In the same manner after the death of Julius von Pflug, the last Catholic Bishop of Naumburg, in 1564 and those cathedral canons who were still Catholic were only permitted to exercise their religion for ten years more
11.
Frederick Augustus III, Elector of Saxony
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Frederick Augustus I was King of Saxony from the House of Wettin. He was also Elector Frederick Augustus III of Saxony and Duke Frederick Augustus I of Warsaw, succeeding his father in 1763 as the elector Frederick Augustus III, he brought order and efficiency to his countrys finances and administration. In foreign policy, he was neutralist but drifted towards Prussia, whose side he took in the Bavarian succession dispute, for his cooperation he received substantial financial compensation from Prussia. In 1785, Frederick Augustus joined the Prussian-sponsored Fürstenbund, but remained neutral during the Austro-Prussian dispute in 1790. Offered the Polish crown in 1791, he declined as he feared that his politics may cause further damage to the Polish state. The next year Saxony reluctantly joined the coalition against Revolutionary France but was defeated by 1796, a year later, Napoleon secured the Grand Duchy of Warsaw for him. Frederick Augustus remained an ally to France even after the disastrous Russian campaign. Although he had started half-hearted negotiations with Austria, he broke them off after the French victory at Lützen, in the Battle of Leipzig, however, his troops went over to Prussia and he was taken as prisoner to Berlin. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Frederick Augustus lost three-fifths of his territory to Prussia and he spent the rest of his life attempting to rehabilitate his truncated state. The Augustusplatz in Leipzig is named after him and he was the second son of Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony, and Maria Antonia Walpurgis of Bavaria, Princess of Bavaria. Because he was underage at the time of the death of his father in 1763 and his uncle Prince Franz Xavier functioned as his representative. In 1765 Prince Franz Xavier ceded the Polish throne to Stanisław II Augustus on behalf of the underage Elector, Frederick Augustus was named successor to Stanislaw, however, when a Polish Constitution was ratified by the lower House of the Polish Parliament. At the same time, the head of the Saxon Royal House was established as heir to the Polish throne, as a matter of fact, a full partition of Poland among the neighboring powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia had already taken place by 1795. Frederick Augustus himself did not sign the Declaration, Saxony wanted nothing to do with the defensive alliance against France formed between Austria and Prussia. Nonetheless, a proclamation of the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire issued in March 1793 obligated Frederick Augustus to take part, there was great concern in Saxony in April 1795 when Prussia suddenly concluded a separate peace with France in order to facilitate the partition of Poland. The Congress of Rastatt was supposed to authorize the surrender of left bank areas of the Rhine to France in return for compensation for the rulers who were relinquishing their territories. Frederick Augustus also did not participate in the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, with respect to the Prussian idea of a north German empire, within which Saxony was supposed to be raised to a kingdom, he appeared reserved. At the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt in 1806 the Prussian – Saxon troops suffered a defeat at the hands of Napoleon
12.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
13.
Slavs
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Slavs are the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe. They are native to Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Northeastern Europe, North Asia, Slavs speak Slavic languages of the Balto-Slavic language group. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central, states with Slavic languages comprise over 50% of the territory of Europe, therefore it is the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe by land area. Present-day Slavic people are classified into West Slavs, East Slavs, there are an estimated 360 million Slavs worldwide. The Slavic autonym is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural *Slověne, the oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest the autonym as Slověne. The word slovo and the related slava and slukh originate from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, cognate with Ancient Greek κλῆς, whence comes the name Pericles, Latin clueo, some other theories have limited support. The English term slave eventually derives from the ethnonym Slav, Slavs were captured and enslaved by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. The Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni make their first appearance in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a name in the remote past. He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, and that believe in one god. They lived in scattered housing, and constantly changed settlement, regarding warfare, they were mainly foot soldiers with small shields and battleaxes, lightly clothed, some entering battle naked with only their genitals covered. And they live a life, giving no heed to bodily comforts. Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and forests for their cities, another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes. Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius that slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I. The Avars asked the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars, he declined and is reported as saying, Others do not conquer our land. The relationship between the Slavs and a called the Veneti east of the River Vistula in the Roman period is uncertain. The name may refer both to Balts and Slavs, perhaps some Slavs migrated with the movement of the Vandals to Iberia and north Africa. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers, the Byzantine records note that grass would not regrow in places where the Slavs had marched through, so great were their numbers
14.
Mojstrana
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Mojstrana is a village in the Municipality of Kranjska Gora in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. Mojstrana is located in the Upper Sava Valley at the point where Bistrica Creek joins the Sava River below the road from Jesenice to Kranjska Gora at an elevation of 641 m. The glacial Vrata Valley leads from Mojstrana towards the southwest past Peričnik Falls to the face of Mount Triglav. The road to three other valleys—Radovna, Krma, and Kot—also begins in Mojstrana, Mojstrana was first attested in 1763–87 as Moistrana. The suffix -ana indicates that the name is of Romance or pre-Romance origin, the root *mojstr- is believed to be related to Friulian majostre strawberry, blueberry, thus referring to an area rich in strawberries or blueberries. The development of the settlement is connected to ironworks and iron ore in the area as well as a cement works that ceased to operate after the First World War, Mojstrana is the site of a mass grave associated with the Second World War. The Mlačca Mass Grave, also known as the Tnal Mass Grave, is located in the south of the settlement. It contains the remains of between 10 and 20 German soldiers, and perhaps civilians as well and its inhabitants today are mostly either farmers or work in the local metal, wood, or textile workshops as well as in the nearby town of Jesenice. Tourism is also important because Mojstrana is the point for many routes in the Julian Alps. Since 7 August 2010, Mojstrana has housed the Slovenian Alpine Museum, there is also a small ski slope next to the village
15.
Duchy of Carniola
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The Duchy of Carniola was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, established under Habsburg rule on the territory of the former East Frankish March of Carniola in 1364. A hereditary land of the Habsburg Monarchy, it became a constituent land of the Austrian Empire in 1804, a separate crown land from 1849, it was incorporated into the Cisleithanian territories of Austria-Hungary from 1867 until the states dissolution in 1918. The borders of the historic Carniola region had varied over the centuries, in the north, it bordered the Imperial Duchy of Carinthia, from the Predil Pass and Fusine along the main ridge of the Karawanks range up to Jezersko. In the northeast and east, it bordered on the Duchy of Styria, i. e. the present-day Štajerska or Lower Styrian lands beyond the Sava River, which until 1456 were held by the Counts of Celje. In the southwest, beyond the Dinaric Alps, the Counts of Görz held the remaining Friulian territory, the remains of the Margraviate of Istria south of the Karst Plateau and the Brkini Hills were also administered from Carniola. In its final extent, re-established in 1815, the duchy had an area of 9,904 square kilometres, in 1914, before the beginning of World War I, it had a population of a little under 530,000 inhabitants. Until 1860, these sub-regions coincided with the districts of Ljubljana, Novo Mesto and they were later divided into smaller units, called political districts. Between 1861 and 1918, Carniola was divided into districts consisting of 359 municipalities. The districts were, Kamnik, Kranj, Radovljica, the neighbourhood of Ljubljana, Logatec, Postojna, Litija, Krško, Novo Mesto, Črnomelj, the political districts were in turn divided into 31 judicial circuits. The former March of Carniola, i. e. Upper Carniola and it was nevertheless temporarily still held by the Carinthian rulers in personal union, like the Meinhardiner duke Henry VI, who died in 1335 without a male heir. Alberts son Rudolf IV of Austria, the Founder, in the course of his Privilegium Maius, rudolph also founded the town of Novo Mesto in Lower Carniola, then named Rudolphswerth. In 1457, the Inner Austrian territories were re-united with the Archduchy of Austria under the rule of the Habsburg emperor Frederick III. When Fredericks descendant, Emperor Ferdinand I, died in 1564, Charles son, Emperor Ferdinand II, inherited all the dynastys lands in 1619 and the duchy formed a constituent part of the Habsburg Monarchy ever since. Napoleon subsequent to the 1809 Treaty of Schönbrunn formed the short-lived Illyrian Provinces from the territories in Carniola, Carinthia, Croatia, Gorizia and Gradisca. The Final Act of the 1815 Congress of Vienna restored the Illyrian Provinces to the Austrian Empire, the home legislature consisted of a single chamber of thirty-seven members, among whom the prince-bishop sat ex-officio. The emperor convened the legislature, and it was presided over by the k. k, the landed interests elected ten members, the cities and towns eight, the commercial and industrial boards two, the village communes sixteen. The land budget of 1901 amounted to 3,573,280 crowns, the Austrian Imperial-Royal government was represented by the Imperial-Royal president, appointed by the emperor, and the Imperial-Royal Government in Ljubljana. In the majority of other Austrian crown lands these were known as Imperial-Royal Lieutenant, in 1918, the duchy ceased to exist and its territory became part of the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and subsequently part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
16.
Slovenia
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Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and it covers 20,273 square kilometers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana, additionally, the Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a river network, a rich aquifer system. Over half of the territory is covered by forest, the human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of South Slavic, Germanic, Romance, although the population is not homogeneous, the majority is Slovene. South Slavic language Slovene is the language throughout the country. Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented and has strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in the late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction, Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, in December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, in June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and there is evidence of habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ±700 BP, in the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe, in the transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, in the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC
17.
Slovenes
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They speak the Slovene, a South Slavic language with significant similarities to West Slavic languages. The majority of ethnic Slovenes live in Slovenia, and they are a minority in Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and Italy. Expatriates live mainly in other European countries, and in Argentina, Australia, Canada, most Slovenes today live within the borders of the independent Slovenia. In the Slovenian national census of 2002,1,631,363 people ethnically declared themselves as Slovenes, while 1,723,434 people claimed Slovene as their native language. The autochthonous Slovene minority in Italy is estimated at 83,000 to 100,000, the Slovene minority in southern Austria at 24,855, in Croatia at 13,200, and in Hungary at 3,180. Significant Slovene expatriate communities live in the United States and Canada, in other European countries, in Argentina, the largest population of Slovenes outside of Slovenia is in Cleveland, Ohio. In total 39-36% of 399-458 sampled Slovenian males belong to Y-DNA Haplogroup R1a, more frequent than in South Slavic peoples, constituting 41% in the capital region, Slovenian population displays close genetic affiliations with West Slavic populations. The homogenous genetic strata of the West Slavic populations and the Slovenian population suggest the existence of a common ancestral Slavic population in central European region. The M458 branch constitutes 4%, while the dominant clade is Z280, specifically its R1a-CTS3402 clade, the Z92 branch of Z280 which is significant among East Slavs is recorded as completely absent among Slovenes, Hungarians and Austrians. Of 100 sampled Slovenians, 18% belong to R1b, of which 8% of R1b belongs to the P312 branch, 6% to the eastern, the Dinaric-North haplotypes of I2a1b are with overwhelming higher frequency than Dinaric-South even in regions with high frequency. From 623 to 658, Slavic peoples between the upper Elbe River and the Karavanke mountain range were united under the leadership of King Samo in what was to become known as Samos Tribal Union. The tribal union collapsed after Samos death, but a smaller Slavic tribal principality Carantania remained, due to pressing danger of Avar tribes from the east, the Carantanians accepted a union with Bavaria in 745 and later recognized Frankish rule and accepted Christianity in the 8th century. The last Slavic state formation in the region, the principality of Prince Kocelj, Slovene ethnic territory subsequently shrank due to pressing of Germans from the west and the arrival of Hungarians in the Pannonian plain, and stabilized in the present form in the 15th century. The first mentions of a common Slovene ethnic identity, transcending regional boundaries, date from the 16th century, during this period, the first books in Slovene were written by the Protestant preacher Primož Trubar and his followers, establishing the base for the development of standard Slovene. In the second half of the 16th century, numerous books were printed in Slovene, at the beginning of the 17th century, Protestantism was suppressed by the Habsburg-sponsored Counter Reformation, which introduced the new aesthetics of Baroque culture. The Enlightenment in the Habsburg monarchy brought significant social and cultural progress to the Slovene people and it hastened economic development and facilitated the appearance of a middle class. The start of activities by Slovene intellectuals of the time brought about a national revival. Before the Napoleonic Wars, some secular literature in Slovene emerged, during the same period, the first history of the Slovene Lands as an ethnic unity was written by Anton Tomaž Linhart, while Jernej Kopitar compiled the first comprehensive grammar of Slovene
18.
Hugo Wolf
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Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. Hugo Wolf was born in Windischgrätz in the Duchy of Styria, from his maternal side, he was related to Herbert von Karajan. He spent most of his life in Vienna, becoming a representative of New German trend in Lieder, a trend which followed from the expressive, chromatic and dramatic musical innovations of Richard Wagner. A child prodigy, Wolf was taught piano and violin by his father beginning at the age of four, from there, he went to the Vienna Conservatory much to the disappointment of his father, who had hoped his son would not try to make his living from music. Once again, however, he was dismissed for breach of discipline, after eight months with his family, he returned to Vienna to teach music. Though his fiery temperament was not ideally suited to teaching, Wolfs musical gifts, as well as his charm, earned him attention. During their relationship, hints of his style would become evident in his Lieder. Wolf was prone to depression and wide mood swings, which would affect him all through his life, when Franck left him just before his 21st birthday, he was despondent. He returned home, although his family relationships were also strained, Wagners death in February 1883 was another deeply moving event in the life of the young composer. The song Zur Ruh, zur Ruh was composed shortly afterward and is considered to be the best of his early works, it is speculated that it was intended as an elegy for Wagner. Wolf often despaired of his own future in the years, in a world from which his idol had departed, leaving tremendous footsteps to follow. This left him often extremely temperamental, alienating friends and patrons and his activities as a critic began to pick up. He was merciless in his criticism of the works he saw taking over the musical atmosphere of the time. But he was as fervent in his support of Liszt, Schubert and Chopin, known as Wild Wolf for the intensity and expressive strength of his convictions, his vitriol made him some enemies. Shortly thereafter, he completed the terse, witty one-movement Italian Serenade for string quartet which is regarded as one of the finest examples of his mature compositional style. Only a week later his father died, leaving him devastated,1888 and 1889 proved to be amazingly productive years for Wolf, and a turning point in his career. Here he composed the Mörike-Lieder at a frenzied pace, a short break, and a change of house, this time to the vacation home of more longtime friends, the Ecksteins, and the Eichendorff-Lieder followed, then the 51 Goethe-Lieder, spilling into 1889. Wolf himself saw the merit of these compositions immediately, raving to friends that they were the best things he had yet composed and it was now that the world outside Vienna would recognize Wolf as well
19.
Slovene language
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Slovene or Slovenian belongs to the group of South Slavic languages. It is spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide and it is the first language of about 2.1 million Slovenian people and is one of the 24 official and working languages of the European Union. Standard Slovene is the standard language that was formed in the 18th century, mostly based on Upper and Lower Carniolan dialect groups. For example, the Resian and Torre dialects in the Italian Province of Udine differ most from other Slovene dialects, the distinctive characteristics of Slovene are dual grammatical number, two accentual norms, and abundant inflection. Although Slovene is basically an SVO language, word order is very flexible, Slovene has a T-V distinction, second-person plural forms are used for individuals as a sign of respect. Slovene and Slovak are the two modern Slavic languages whose names for themselves literally mean Slavic. Slovene is an Indo-European language belonging to the Western subgroup of the South Slavic branch of the Slavic languages, furthermore, Slovene shares certain linguistic characteristics with all South Slavic languages, including those of the Eastern subgroup, such as Bulgarian. The Slovene language also has commonalities with the West Slavic languages. Like all Slavic languages, Slovene traces its roots to the same group of languages that produced Old Church Slavonic. The earliest known examples of a distinct, written Slovene dialect are from the Freising Manuscripts, the consensus estimate of their date of origin is between 972 and 1093. These religious writings are among the oldest surviving manuscripts in any Slavic language and this linguistic border remained almost unchanged until the late 19th century, when a second process of Germanization took place, mostly in Carinthia. Between the 9th and 12th century, proto-Slovene spread into northern Istria, during most of the Middle Ages, Slovene was a vernacular language of the peasantry, although it was also spoken in most of the towns on Slovene territory, together with German or Italian. Although during this time, German emerged as the language of the nobility, Slovene had some role in the courtly life of the Carinthian, Carniolan and Styrian nobility. This is proved by the survival of certain ritual formulas in Slovene, the words Buge waz primi, gralva Venus. The first printed Slovene words, stara pravda, appeared in 1515 in Vienna in a poem of the German mercenaries who suppressed the Slovene peasant revolt. Standard Slovene emerged in the half of the 16th century, thanks to the works of Slovene Lutheran authors. During this period, German had a influence on Slovene. Many Slovene scientists before the 1920s also wrote in languages, mostly German
20.
Salzburg
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Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. Salzburgs Old Town is internationally renowned for its architecture and is one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, the city has three universities and a large population of students. Tourists also visit Salzburg to tour the historic center and the scenic Alpine surroundings, Salzburg was the birthplace of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the mid‑20th century, the city was the setting for the musical play, traces of human settlements have been found in the area, dating to the Neolithic Age. The first settlements in Salzburg continuous with the present were apparently by the Celts around the 5th century BC, around 15 BC the Roman Empire merged the settlements into one city. At this time, the city was called Juvavum and was awarded the status of a Roman municipium in 45 AD, Juvavum developed into an important town of the Roman province of Noricum. After the Norican frontiers collapse, Juvavum declined so sharply that by the late 7th century it became a ruin. The Life of Saint Rupert credits the 8th-century saint with the citys rebirth, when Theodo of Bavaria asked Rupert to become bishop c. 700, Rupert reconnoitered the river for the site of his basilica, Rupert chose Juvavum, ordained priests, and annexed the manor Piding. He traveled to evangelise among pagans, the name Salzburg means Salt Castle. The name derives from the barges carrying salt on the Salzach River, the Festung Hohensalzburg, the citys fortress, was built in 1077 by Archbishop Gebhard, who made it his residence. It was greatly expanded during the following centuries, independence from Bavaria was secured in the late 14th century. Salzburg was the seat of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, a prince-bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire, as the reformation movement gained steam, riots broke out among peasants in the areas in and around Salzburg. The city was occupied during the German Peasants War, and the archbishop had to flee to the safety of the fortress It was besieged for three months in 1525. It was in the 17th century that Italian architects rebuilt the city center as it is today along with many palaces,21,475 citizens refused to recant their beliefs and were expelled from Salzburg. Most of them accepted an offer by King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, the rest settled in other Protestant states in Europe and the British colonies in America. In 1772–1803, under archbishop Hieronymus Graf von Colloredo, Salzburg was a centre of late Illuminism, in 1803, the archbishopric was secularised by Emperor Napoleon, he transferred the territory to Ferdinando III of Tuscany, former Grand Duke of Tuscany, as the Electorate of Salzburg
21.
Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
22.
Mozarteum University of Salzburg
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Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, also known simply as Mozarteum Salzburg, is a university in Salzburg, Austria which specializes in music and the dramatic arts. It is famous as one of the most respected universities in Europe for music studies and was named after Salzburg native Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The predecessor of the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg was the Cathedral Music Association and Mozarteum and its purpose was the refinement of musical taste with regard to sacred music as well as concerts. Through the 19th century, the concerts of the orchestra, officially named the Mozarteum Orchestra in 1908, in Salzburg, the Foundation built and maintains a building with two concert halls, called the Mozarteum. It was constructed 1910–14, designed by the Munich architect Richard Berndl, the University Mozarteum is affiliated with the International Mozarteum Foundation. The recently rebuilt University main building is located at Mirabellplatz 1, the original 100-rank grand concert hall organ was built by the Austrian firm Rieger in 1914. A completely new organ in neo-baroque style was installed in 1970 by E. F. Walcker & Cie and this organ was dismantled in 2008. In 2010 a new 50 stop tracker action organ was installed by Hermann Eule Orgelbau, the original 1914 façade was reconstructed. It was rebuilt in 1941, including a new console and some neobaroque modifications, the organ is in bad condition, but still playable
23.
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
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The University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. Today, with a student body of three thousand, it is the largest institution of its kind in Austria, and one of the largest in the world. In 1817, it was established by the Society for the Friends of Music and it has had several names, Vienna Conservatory, Vienna Academy and in 1909 it was nationalized as the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts. In 1998, the university assumed its current name to reflect its university status, with a student body of more than 3000, the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien is one of the largest arts universities in the world. The University consists of 24 departments including the Max Reinhardt Seminar, Vienna Film Academy, MDW facilities include the Schönbrunn Palace Theater, Antonio Vivaldi Room, Salesian Convent, St. Ursula Church, Lothringerstrasse and the Anton Von Webern Platz. Modern film studios were completed on the university campus in 2004, the University organizes around 10 competitions, including the International Beethoven Piano Competition. It also presents an acclaimed film festival every two years. The MDW may be considered an institution to all major orchestras in Austria. Calls for a conservatory in Vienna started in 1808. In 1811 an outline for an education institution for Vienna was published. A year later the Society for the Friends of Music was formed, the Vienna Conservatory was founded in 1817. It was meant to be modeled on the Paris Conservatory, but, due to a lack of funds, Antonio Salieri was the Conservatorys first director. In 1819, it hired violinist Joseph Böhm, and by 1827 offered courses in most orchestral instruments, the conservatorys finances were very unstable. Tuition fees were introduced in 1829, but by 1837 the institution was bankrupt, the state eventually funded the conservatory from 1841 to 1844 and from 1846 to 1848. In 1848 political unrest caused the state to discontinue funding, with support from the state and the city, finances again stabilized after 1851. Despite growing state subsidy, The Society for the Friends of Music, however, by a January 1,1909 imperial resolution the school was nationalized and became the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts. Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr. was director from 1851 to 1893, from 1907 Wilhelm Bopp had been the director of Conservatory. The Conservatory was still dominated by the aging Robert Fuchs and Hermann Grädener, in 1912, attempting to rejuvenate the conservatory Bopp offered teaching positions to Franz Schreker and Arnold Schoenberg
24.
Josef Hofmann
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Josef Casimir Hofmann was a Polish American virtuoso pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor. Josef Hofmann was born in Podgórze, in Austro-Hungarian Galicia in 1876, Hofmann was of partial Jewish ancestry. His father was the composer, conductor and pianist Kazimierz Hofmann, Anton Rubinstein took Hofmann as his only private student in 1892 and arranged the debut of his pupil in Hamburg, Germany in 1894. Hofmann toured and performed extensively over the next 50 years as one of the most celebrated pianists of the era, in 1913, he was presented with a set of keys to the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. As a composer, Hofmann published over one hundred works, many of those under the pseudonym Michel Dvorsky and he made the United States his base during World War I and became a US citizen in 1926. In 1924, he became the first head of the department at the inception of the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. He was instrumental in recruiting illustrious musicians such as Efrem Zimbalist, Fritz Reiner, Marcella Sembrich, Hofmanns pupils included Jean Behrend, Abram Chasins, Abbey Simon, Shura Cherkassky, Ezra Rachlin, Nadia Reisenberg, and Harry Kaufman. While not a pupil, Jorge Bolet benefited from Hofmanns interest, in 1937, the 50th anniversary of his New York debut performance was celebrated with gala performances including a Golden Jubilee recital at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City. In 1938 he was forced to leave the Curtis Institute of Music over financial, in the years from 1939 to 1946, his artistic eminence deteriorated, in part due to family difficulties and alcoholism. In 1946, he gave his last recital at Carnegie Hall, home to his 151 appearances and he spent his last decade in Los Angeles in relative obscurity, working on inventions and keeping a steady correspondence with associates. As an inventor, Hofmann had over 70 patents, and his invention of pneumatic shock absorbers for cars, Hofmann died of pneumonia on February 16,1957 in Los Angeles. He was survived by four children and his second wife, Betty Short, had previously been one of his pupils. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, the Josef Hofmann Piano Competition, co-sponsored by the American Council for Polish Culture and the University of South Carolina Aiken was established in his honor in 1994. Anton Rubinstein heard the seven-year-old Hofmann play Beethovens C minor Piano Concerto in Warsaw, at that age, Hofmann gave concerts in Germany, France, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Great Britain. In 1887, an American tour was arranged and after three months of performances that included fifty recitals, seventeen of which were at the Metropolitan Opera House, yet soon after, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children stepped in, citing the boys fragile health. However, as per the contract that had paid Hofmann $10,000, the contract was rendered void by Alfred Corning Clark who donated $50,000 and, in turn, legally forbade Hofmann to perform in public until he turned 18 years old. The final segment of the tour was cancelled and the returned to Potsdam. This marked the end of Hofmanns child prodigy years, in 1892, Rubinstein accepted Hofmann as his only private pupil, the two meeting for 42 sessions in Dresdens Hotel dEurope
25.
Franz Schalk
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Franz Schalk was an Austrian conductor. From 1918 to 1929 he was director of the Vienna State Opera and he was later involved in the establishment of the Salzburg Festival. Born in Vienna, he studied under composer Anton Bruckner, from 1900, he was first kapellmeister of the Vienna Court Opera. Between 1904 and 1921, he was head of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, in 1918 he became director of the Vienna State Opera, but from 1919 shared the directorship with Richard Strauss, with the well-known composer considered blatantly the greater equal of the pair. Tensions resulting from unclear division of responsibility between the two men led to Strausss resignation. Schalks most famous quote is Every theatre is an insane asylum, today, he is best known for his association with Anton Bruckner. He gave the premiere of Bruckners Symphony No.5 in 1894, Schalks version of the Fifth Symphony was the one chosen for first publication, and was the only version heard by audiences for almost forty years. Present-day conductor Leon Botstein is a prominent advocate of Schalks versions of Bruckners music, Schalk was also involved in the early publication of Mahlers Symphony No.10. Schalk gave the premiere of Richard Strausss opera Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1919 and he died in 1931, aged 68. Some of his work as a conductor has been preserved and is available on CD, Schalks elder brother Joseph was also a prominent conductor and musician. Franz Schalk at the aeiou Encyclopedia An article about Bruckner, written from a pro-Schalk viewpoint Available recordings
26.
Salome (opera)
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Salome, Op.54, is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmanns German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer, the opera is famous for its Dance of the Seven Veils. The final scene is frequently heard as a concert-piece for dramatic sopranos, Oscar Wilde originally wrote his Salomé in French. Strauss saw the play in Lachmanns version and immediately set to work on an opera, the plays formal structure was well-suited to musical adaptation. Wilde himself described Salomé as containing refrains whose recurring motifs make it so like a piece of music, Strauss composed the opera to a German libretto, and that is the version that has become widely known. Marjorie Lawrence sang the role both in French and in German in the 1930s. The French version is less well known today, although it was revived in Lyon in 1990. In 2011, the French version was staged by Liège Opera, the combination of the Christian biblical theme, the erotic and the murderous, which so attracted Wilde to the tale, shocked opera audiences from its first appearance. This precedent has been followed, one early notable exception being that of Aino Ackté. It was first performed at the Hofoper in Dresden on 9 December 1905, Gustav Mahler could not gain the consent of the Vienna censor to have it performed, therefore it was not given at the Vienna State Opera until 1918. The Austrian premiere was given at the Graz Opera in 1906 under the composer, with Arnold Schoenberg, Giacomo Puccini, Alban Berg, Salome was banned in London by the Lord Chamberlains office until 1907. When it was given its premiere performance at Covent Garden in London under Thomas Beecham on 8 December 1910, it was modified, much to Beechams annoyance and later amusement. In New York, the took place on 22 January 1907 after which, under pressure from wealthy patrons. These patrons entreated the visiting Edward Elgar to lead the objections to the work, in 1930, Strauss took part in a festival of his music at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and conducted Salome on 5 November in a version with a slightly reduced orchestration. Today, Salome is a part of the operatic repertoire, there are numerous recordings. A great terrace in the Palace of Herod, set above the banqueting hall, some soldiers are leaning over the balcony. To the right there is a staircase, to the left, at the back. The moon is shining very brightly, the voice of the Prophet Jochanaan is heard from his prison in the palace cistern, Herod fears him and has ordered that no one should contact him, including Jerusalems High Priest
27.
Ulm
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Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at almost 120,000, founded around 850, Ulm is rich in history and traditions as a former Free Imperial City. Today, it is an economic centre due to its varied industries, internationally, Ulm is primarily known for having the church with the tallest steeple in the world, the Gothic minster, and as the birthplace of Albert Einstein. Ulm lies at the point where the rivers Blau and Iller join the Danube, at an altitude of 479 m above sea level. Most parts of the city, including the old town, are situated on the bank of the Danube, only the districts of Wiblingen, Gögglingen, Donaustetten. Across from the old town, on the side of the river, lies the twin city of Neu-Ulm in the state of Bavaria, smaller than Ulm and, until 1810. Except for the Danube in the south, the city is surrounded by forests and hills rise to altitudes of over 620 metres. South of the Danube, plains and hills finally end in the edge of the Alps. The city of Ulm is situated in the part of the North Alpine Foreland basin. The Turritellenplatte of Ermingen is a famous site of Burdigalian age. On the right side of Danube and Iller there is the district town Neu-Ulm. On the left side Ulm is almost completely surrounded by the Alb-Danube district, nine districts that were integrated during the latest municipality reform in the 1970s. They have own local councils which acquire an important consulting position to the city council concerning issues that are related to the prevailing districts. But at the end, final decisions can only be made by the city council of the city of Ulm. The oldest traceable settlement of the Ulm area began in the early Neolithic period, settlements of this time have been identified at the villages of Eggingen and Lehr, today districts of the city. In the city area of Ulm proper, the oldest find dates from the late Neolithic period, the earliest written mention of Ulm is dated 22 July 854 AD, when King Louis the German signed a document in the Kings palace of Hulma in the Duchy of Swabia. The city was declared an Imperial City by Friedrich Barbarossa in 1181, at first, Ulms significance was due to the privilege of a Königspfalz, a place of accommodation for the medieval German kings and emperors on their frequent travels. Later, Ulm became a city of traders and craftsmen, one of the most important legal documents of the city, an agreement between the Ulm patricians and the trade guilds, dates from 1397
28.
Salzburg Festival
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The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, one highlight is the annual performance of the play Jedermann by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Since 1967, an annual Salzburg Easter Festival has also been held, Music festivals had been held in Salzburg at irregular intervals since 1877 held by the International Mozarteum Foundation, but were discontinued in 1910. Although a festival was planned for 1914, it was cancelled at the outbreak of World War I, the Salzburg Festival was officially inaugurated on 22 August 1920 with Reinhardts performance of Hofmannsthals Jedermann on the steps of Salzburg Cathedral, starring Alexander Moissi. The practice has become a tradition, and the play is now performed at Cathedral Square, since 1921 it has been accompanied by several performances of chamber music. The first operatic production came in 1922, with Mozarts Don Giovanni conducted by Richard Strauss, the singers were mainly drawn from the Wiener Staatsoper, including Richard Tauber in the part of Don Ottavio. At that time the festival had developed a large-scale program including live broadcasts by the Austrian RAVAG radio network. During the years from 1934 to 1937 famed conductors such as Arturo Toscanini, in 1936, the festival featured a performance by the Trapp Family Singers, whose story was later dramatized as the musical and film The Sound of Music. In 1937, Boyd Neel and his orchestra premiered Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge at the Festival, the Festivals popularity suffered a major blow as a consequence of the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938. Toscanini resigned in protest, artists of Jewish descent like Reinhardt and Georg Solti had to emigrate, nevertheless, the festival remained in operation until in 1944 it was cancelled by the order of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels in reaction to the 20 July plot. At the end of World War II, the Salzburg Festival reopened in summer 1945 immediately after the Allied victory in Europe. The post-war festival slowly regained its prominence as an opera festival, especially for works by Mozart. In 1960 the Great Festival Hall opera house opened its doors, upon Karajans death in 1989, the festival was drastically modernized and expanded by director Gerard Mortier, who was succeeded by Peter Ruzicka in 2001. In 2006, the festival was led by intendant Jürgen Flimm and that year, Salzburg celebrated the 250th anniversary of Mozarts birth by staging all 22 of his operatic works, to great acclaim. All 22 were filmed and released on DVD in November 2006, the 2006 festival also saw the opening of the Haus für Mozart. Alexander Pereira succeeded Flimm, who departed in 2011 to become director of the Berlin State Opera, Pereiras objective for the festival was to present only new productions. The 2015 festival marked the first one for which Bechtolf was responsible for the artistic programming, budget cuts led to a retreat from Pereiras new productions only objective. The remaining four opera productions—Norma, Il trovatore, Iphigénie en Tauride, the Salzburg Whitsun Festival was established at the behest of Herbert von Karajan in 1973 as a brief concert series with the name Pfingstkonzerte
29.
Max Reinhardt
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Max Reinhardt was an Austrian-born American theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most prominent directors of German-language theatre in the early 20th century, in 1920, he established the Salzburg Festival with the performance of Hofmannsthals Jedermann. Reinhardt was born Maximilian Goldmann in the spa town of Baden near Vienna, the son of Wilhelm Goldmann, a Jewish merchant from Stomfa, Hungary, having finished school, he began an apprenticeship at a bank, but already took acting lessons. In 1890, he gave his debut on a stage in Vienna with the artists name Max Reinhardt. In 1893 he performed at the re-opened Salzburg City Theatre and one later joined the Deutsches Theater ensemble under director Otto Brahm in Berlin. In 1901, Reinhardt together with Friedrich Kayßler and several other colleagues founded the Schall und Rauch Kabarett stage in Berlin. Re-opened as Kleines Theater it was the first of numerous stages, from 1903 to 1905, he managed the Neues Theater and in 1906 acquired the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. In 1911, he premiered with Karl Vollmöllers The Miracle at Olympia, by employing powerful staging techniques, and harmonising stage design, language, music and choreography, Reinhardt introduced new dimensions into German theatre. The Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, which is arguably the most important German-language acting school, was installed implementing his ideas, in 1910, Siegfried Jacobsen wrote his book entitled Max Reinhardt. In 1914, he was persuaded to sign the Manifesto of the Ninety-Three and he was signatory 66, he later expressed regret at signing. By 1930, he ran 11 stages in Berlin and, in addition, in the United States, he successfully directed The Miracle in 1924, and a popular stage version of Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream in 1927. Reinhardt followed that success by directing a film version in 1935 using a different cast. Mickey Rooney and Olivia de Havilland had also appeared in Reinhardts 1934 stage production, the Nazis banned the film because of the Jewish ancestry of both Reinhardt and Felix Mendelssohn, whose music was used throughout the film. After the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi-governed Germany in 1938, he emigrated first to Britain, Reinhardt opened the Reinhardt School of the Theatre in Hollywood, on Sunset Boulevard. Several notable stars of the day received classical training, among them actress Nanette Fabray. In 1940, he became a citizen of the United States. At that time, he was married to his wife, actress Helene Thimig. Compared with most of his contemporaries, Reinhardt was more interested in film than in theater and he made films as a director and from time to time also as a producer
30.
Faust (opera)
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The manager Léon Carvalho insisted on various changes during production, including cutting several numbers. Faust was not initially well received, the publisher Antoine Choudens, who purchased the copyright for 10,000 francs, took the work on tour through Germany, Belgium, Italy and England, with Marie Miolan-Carvalho repeating her role. It was revived in Paris in 1862, and was a hit, further notable revivals at the Opéra took place on 4 December 1893 and 25 January 1908. The popularity of Faust has declined somewhat, beginning around 1950, a full production, with its large chorus and elaborate sets and costumes, is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking, particularly if the act 5 ballet is included. However, it appears as number 35 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide and it was Faust with which the Metropolitan Opera in New York City opened for the first time on 22 October 1883. It is the eighth most frequently performed there, with 747 performances through the 2011-2012 season. It was not until the period between 1965 and 1977 that the version was performed, and all performances in that production included the Walpurgisnacht. Place, Germany Time, 16th century Fausts cabinet Faust, a scholar, determines that his studies have come to nothing and have only caused him to miss out on life. He attempts to kill himself with poison but stops each time when he hears a choir and he curses science and faith, and asks for infernal guidance. Méphistophélès appears and, with an image of Marguerite at her spinning wheel. Fausts goblet of poison is magically transformed into an elixir of youth, making the aged doctor a handsome young gentleman, at the city gates A chorus of students, soldiers and villagers sings a drinking song. Valentin, leaving for war with his friend Wagner, entrusts the care of his sister Marguerite to his youthful friend Siébel, Méphistophélès appears, provides the crowd with wine, and sings a rousing, irreverent song about the Golden Calf. Méphistophélès maligns Marguerite, and Valentin tries to him with his sword. Valentin and friends use the hilts of their swords to fend off what they now know is an infernal power. Méphistophélès is joined by Faust and the villagers in a waltz, Marguerite appears and Faust declares his admiration, but she refuses Fausts arm out of modesty. Marguerites garden The lovesick boy Siébel leaves a bouquet for Marguerite, Faust sends Méphistophélès in search of a gift for Marguerite and sings a cavatina idealizing Marguerite as a pure child of nature. Méphistophélès brings in a box containing exquisite jewelry and a hand mirror and leaves it on Marguerites doorstep. Marguerite enters, pondering her encounter with Faust at the city gates, marthe, Marguerites neighbour, notices the jewellery and says it must be from an admirer
31.
Vienna Philharmonic
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The Vienna Philharmonic, founded in 1842, is an orchestra regularly considered one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria and its members are selected from the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. Selection involves a process, with each musician having to demonstrate his or her capability for a minimum of three years performing for the opera and ballet. After this probationary period, the musician may request from the Vienna Philharmonics board an application for a position in the orchestra, until the 1830s, orchestral performance in Vienna was done by ad hoc orchestras, consisting of professional and amateur musicians brought together for specific performances. Nicolai and the orchestra gave only 11 concerts in the five years, and when Nicolai left Vienna in 1847. Between 1854 and 1857 Karl Eckert – the first permanent conductor of the Vienna Court Opera – led the Vienna Philharmonic in a few concerts. In 1857, Eckert was made Director of the Hofoper – the first musician to have given the post, in 1860. Since that time, writes Vienna Philharmonic violinist and president Clemens Hellsberg, in 1860, the orchestra elected Otto Dessoff to be permanent conductor. According to Max Kalbeck, the Vienna-based music critic, newspaper editor, and biographer, after fifteen years, in 1875, Dessoff was pushed out of his position in Vienna through intrigue, and he left Vienna to become conductor of the Badische Staatskapelle in Karlsruhe, Germany. In Karlruhe the next year, he fulfilled the request of his friend Johannes Brahms to conduct the first performance of his Symphony no,1, in 1873 Brahms had conducted the premiere of his Variations on a Theme by Haydn with Dessoffs Vienna Philharmonic. In 1875, the orchestra chose Hans Richter to take Dessoffs place as subscription conductor and he remained until 1898, except for the season 1882/1883 when he was in dispute with the orchestral committee. Richter led the VPO in the premieres of Brahmss Second Symphony, Tragic Overture. 3, the Violin Concerto of Tchaikovsky in 1881, and in 1892 the 8th symphony of Anton Bruckner and it was Richter who in 1881 appointed Arnold Rosé as concertmaster, who was to become Gustav Mahlers brother-in-law and was concertmaster until the Anschluss in 1938. In order to be eligible for a pension, Richter intended to remain in his position for 25 years, Richter recommended Mahler or Ferdinand Löwe to the orchestra as his replacement. In 1898, on 24 September, the orchestra elected Gustav Mahler, under Mahlers baton the Vienna Philharmonic played abroad for the first time at the 1900 Paris World Exposition. He resigned on 1 April 1901, like Richter, citing health concerns as a pretext, in 1901, Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr. briefly took his place, he remained only until 1903. He was most renowned for his Beethoven – he programmed at least two symphonies per season, and complete cycles in 1916/17 and 1926/27 and it was Weingartner who led the orchestras first concert devoted to entirely to the music of Johann Strauss, Jr. on 25 October 1925. In 1927, when Weingartner resigned, the orchestra elected Wilhelm Furtwängler and he resigned at the end of the 1929/30 season because of increased professional demands in Berlin
32.
Berlin State Opera
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The Berlin State Opera is a German opera company based in Berlin. Its permanent home is the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, commonly referred to as Lindenoper, in the central Mitte district, originally the Hofoper from 1742, it was named Königliches Opernhaus in 1844, and Staatsoper Unter den Linden in 1918. From 1949 to 1990 it housed the opera of East Germany. Since 2004, the State Opera company belongs to the Berlin Opera Foundation, like the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Berlin State Ballet, king Frederick II of Prussia shortly after his accession to the throne commissioned the original building on the site. Construction work began in July 1741 with what was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff to be the first part of a Forum Fredericianum on present-day Bebelplatz. Although not entirely completed, the Court Opera was inaugurated with a performance of Carl Heinrich Grauns Cesare e Cleopatra on December 7,1742. This event marked the beginning of the successful, 250-year co-operation between the Staatsoper and the Staatskapelle Berlin, the orchestra, whose roots trace back to the 16th century. In 1821, the Berlin Opera—hosted at the Schauspielhaus Berlin—gave the premiere of Webers Der Freischütz, in 1842, Wilhelm Taubert instituted the tradition of regular symphonic concerts. In the same year, Giacomo Meyerbeer succeeded Gaspare Spontini as General Music Director, Felix Mendelssohn also conducted symphonic concerts for a year. On August 18,1843 the Linden Opera was destroyed by fire, in 1849, Otto Nicolais Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor was premiered at the Royal Opera House, conducted by the composer himself. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century and they included Felix von Weingartner, Karl Muck, Richard Strauss, and Leo Blech. After the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, the Opera was renamed Staatsoper unter den Linden, in the 1920s, Kurt Adler, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Erich Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Bruno Walter occupied the conductors post. In 1925, Alban Bergs Wozzeck, was given its premiere in a production conducted by Erich Kleiber in the composers presence, after having undergone an extensive renovation, the Linden Opera reopened on 28 April 1928 with a new production of Die Zauberflöte. The cast included Delia Reinhardt, Richard Tauber, Friedrich Schorr and Leo Schützendorf, in the same year, the famous Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin and Serge Diaghilevs Ballets Russes with conductor Ernest Ansermet were guest performers. In 1930 Erich Kleiber conducted the premiere of Darius Milhauds Christophe Colomb, however, in 1934, when symphonic pieces from Alban Bergs Lulu were performed by Kleiber, the National Socialists provoked a scandal and the conductor was forced into exile. After Hitlers Nazi takeover, members of Jewish origin were dismissed from the ensemble, many German musicians associated with the opera went into exile, including the conductors Kurt Adler, Otto Klemperer and Fritz Busch. During the Third Reich, Robert Heger, Herbert von Karajan,1938, Werner Egk conducted the first night of his opera Peer Gynt on November 24. Herbert von Karajan´s interpretation of Mozart´s Die Zauberflöte was performed on December 18, Karajan continued as Generalmusikdirektor, the principal musical director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden between 1941 and 1945
33.
Fidelio
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Fidelio, Op.72, is a German opera with spoken dialogue by Ludwig van Beethoven, his only opera. The German libretto was prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. The following year, Stephan von Breuning helped shorten the work from three acts to two, after further work on the libretto by Georg Friedrich Treitschke, a final version performed at the Kärntnertortheater on 23 May 1814. By convention, both of the first two versions are referred to as Leonore, the opera tells how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named Fidelio, rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison. Bouillys scenario fits Beethovens aesthetic and political outlook, a story of sacrifice, heroism. With its underlying struggle for liberty and justice mirroring contemporary political movements in Europe, the finale celebrates Leonores bravery with alternating contributions of soloists and chorus. The distant origin of Fidelio dates from 1803, when the librettist, the contract included free housing for Beethoven in the apartment complex that was part of Schikaneders large suburban theater, the Theater an der Wien. Beethoven was to set a new libretto by Schikaneder, entitled Vestas Feuer, however and he spent about a month composing music for it, then abandoned it when the libretto for Fidelio came to his attention. The time Beethoven spent on Vestas Feuer was not entirely wasted, welch’ ein Augenblick. and the duet O namenlose Freude for Leonora and Florestan, both originated as music for Vestas Feuer. The success of these performances was hindered by the fact that Vienna was under French military occupation, after this premiere, Beethoven was pressured by friends to revise and shorten the opera into just two acts, and he did so with the help of Stephan von Breuning. The composer also wrote a new overture, in this form the opera was first performed on 29 March and 10 April 1806, with greater success. Further performances were prevented by a dispute between Beethoven and the theatre management, in 1814 Beethoven revised his opera yet again, with additional work on the libretto by Georg Friedrich Treitschke. This version was first performed at the Kärntnertortheater on 23 May 1814, the 17-year-old Franz Schubert was in the audience, having sold his school books to obtain a ticket. The increasingly deaf Beethoven led the performance, assisted by Michael Umlauf, the role of Pizarro was taken by Johann Michael Vogl, who later became known for his collaborations with Schubert. This version of the opera was a success, and Fidelio has been part of the operatic repertory ever since. Beethoven cannot be said to have enjoyed the difficulties posed by writing and producing an opera, in a letter to Treitschke he said, I assure you, dear Treitschke, that this opera will win me a martyrs crown. You have by your co-operation saved what is best from the shipwreck, for all this I shall be eternally grateful to you. The full score was not published until 1826, and all three versions are known as Beethovens Opus 72, the first performance outside Vienna took place in Prague on 21 November 1814, with a revival in Vienna on 3 November 1822
34.
Tristan und Isolde
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Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting. Wagner referred to the not as an opera, but called it eine Handlung. Wagners composition of Tristan und Isolde was inspired by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertoire, Tristan was notable for Wagners unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonality, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension. Other composers like Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky formulated their styles in contrast to Wagners musical legacy. Many see Tristan as the beginning of the move away from common practice harmony and tonality, both Wagners libretto style and music were also profoundly influential on the Symbolist poets of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Wagner was forced to abandon his position as conductor of the Dresden Opera in 1849 and he left his wife, Minna, in Dresden, and fled to Zürich. There, in 1852, he met the wealthy silk trader Otto Wesendonck, Wesendonck became a supporter of Wagner and bankrolled the composer for several years. Wesendoncks wife, Mathilde, became enamoured of the composer, though Wagner was working on his epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, he found himself intrigued by the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The story of Tristan and Isolde is a romance of the Middle Ages. Several versions of the story exist, the earliest dating to the middle of the 12th century, gottfrieds version, part of the courtly branch of the legend, had a huge influence on later German literature. It was some such mood that inspired the conception of a Tristan und Isolde. I have devised in my mind a Tristan und Isolde, the simplest, yet most full-blooded musical conception imaginable, by the end of 1854, Wagner had sketched out all three acts of an opera on the Tristan theme, based on Gottfried von Strassburgs telling of the story. On 20 August he began the prose sketch for the opera, Wagner, at this time, had moved into a cottage built in the grounds of Wesendoncks villa, where, during his work on Tristan und Isolde, he became passionately involved with Mathilde Wesendonck. Whether or not this relationship was platonic remains uncertain, one evening in September of that year, Wagner read the finished poem of Tristan to an audience including his wife, Minna, his current muse, Mathilde, and his future mistress, Cosima von Bülow. By October 1857, Wagner had begun the composition sketch of the first Act, during November, however, he set five of Mathildes poems to music known today as the Wesendonck Lieder. This was a move by Wagner, who almost never set to music poetic texts other than his own. But Wagner resolved to write Tristan only after he had secured a deal with the Leipzig-based firm Breitkopf & Härtel
35.
Richard Wagner
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Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas. Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works and he described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and his advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music, Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. The Ring and Parsifal were premiered here and his most important stage works continue to be performed at the annual Bayreuth Festival, until his final years, Wagners life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment, notably, since the late 20th century, where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century, his influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, Richard Wagner was born to an ethnic German family in Leipzig, where his family lived at No. 3, the Brühl in the Jewish quarter and he was baptized at St. Thomas Church. He was the child of Carl Friedrich Wagner, who was a clerk in the Leipzig police service, and his wife, Johanna Rosine. Wagners father Carl died of typhus six months after Richards birth, afterwards his mother Johanna lived with Carls friend, the actor and playwright Ludwig Geyer. In August 1814 Johanna and Geyer probably married—although no documentation of this has found in the Leipzig church registers. She and her family moved to Geyers residence in Dresden, until he was fourteen, Wagner was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer. He almost certainly thought that Geyer was his biological father, Geyers love of the theatre came to be shared by his stepson, and Wagner took part in his performances. In his autobiography Mein Leben Wagner recalled once playing the part of an angel, in late 1820, Wagner was enrolled at Pastor Wetzels school at Possendorf, near Dresden, where he received some piano instruction from his Latin teacher. He struggled to play a scale at the keyboard and preferred playing theatre overtures by ear. Following Geyers death in 1821, Richard was sent to the Kreuzschule, at the age of nine he was hugely impressed by the Gothic elements of Carl Maria von Webers opera Der Freischütz, which he saw Weber conduct. At this period Wagner entertained ambitions as a playwright and his first creative effort, listed in the Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis as WWV1, was a tragedy called Leubald. Begun when he was in school in 1826, the play was influenced by Shakespeare
36.
Victor de Sabata
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Victor de Sabata was an Italian conductor and composer. He is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished conductors of the twentieth century, especially for his Verdi, Puccini. He is also acclaimed for his interpretations of orchestral music, like his near contemporary Wilhelm Furtwängler, de Sabata regarded composition as more important than conducting but achieved more lasting recognition for his conducting than his compositions. De Sabata was born in the city of Trieste, at the part of Austria-Hungary. His Roman Catholic father, Amedeo de Sabata, was a singing teacher and chorus master, and his mother, Rosita Tedeschi. De Sabata began playing the piano at the age of four and he composed his first work for orchestra at the age of twelve. His formal musical studies began after his family moved to Milan around 1900, in Milan, de Sabata studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, excelling at piano, violin, theory, composition and conducting, and graduating cum laude in composition, piano and violin. He would remain a virtuoso pianist and violinist up until the end of his life, in 1911 he performed in an orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini who influenced him to become a conductor. De Sabatas first opera, Il macigno, was produced at the house of La Scala on 31 March 1917 to a mixed reception. It was frequently performed during the few years. In 1918 de Sabata was appointed conductor of the Monte Carlo Opera, in 1925, he conducted the world premiere of Lenfant et les sortilèges by Ravel. Ravel said that de Sabata was a conductor the like of which I have never before encountered, Ravel also claimed that, within twelve hours of receiving the score to Lenfant, the conductor had memorized it. In 1921, while still conducting opera at Monte Carlo, de Sabata began his career as a conductor with the Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 1927 he made his U. S. debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, De Sabata conducted the orchestra of La Scala in concert starting in the 1921–1922 season, and conducted opera there from 1929. He became the conductor in 1930 in succession to Toscanini. Soon after taking up the post, he resigned because of a disagreement with the orchestra over the reception of his composition A Thousand. Toscanini wrote him a letter in order to him to return, saying that his absence was damaging to you. De Sabata did return to La Scala, and continued in the post for over 20 years, however, he did not reply to Toscanini, and the two conductors remained estranged until the 1950s
37.
Deutsche Grammophon
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Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label that was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its merger with the MCA family of labels in 1999 and it is the oldest surviving established record company. Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft was founded in 1898 by German-born United States citizen Emile Berliner as the German branch of his Berliner Gramophone Company, Berliner sent his nephew Joseph Sanders from America to set up operations. Based in the city of Hanover, the company had links with the U. S, victor Talking Machine Company and the British Gramophone Company, but those links were severed at the onset of World War I. Early labels bore the legend Grammophon and the painting His Masters Voice featuring the dog Nipper, in 1941, Deutsche Grammophon was purchased by the Siemens & Halske electronics company. In 1949, Deutsche Grammophon sold the German rights of the His Masters Voice trademark to the Electrola unit of EMI, the dog and gramophone were replaced by the crown of tulips, designed by Siemens advertising consultant Hans Domizlaff. In 1962 Siemens formed a joint venture with Netherlands-based Philips to create the DGG/PPI Record Group, by this time, DGG had built a solid reputation for high-quality recording in the classical field as well as a very notable roster of contracted singers, musicians, and conductors. The fine quality both of recording and of pressings helped DGG especially succeed and attract Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra to DGG/Polydor, in 1987 Siemens sold off its interest in PolyGram, and Philips became the majority shareholder. In 1998, the Seagram Company Ltd. of Canada purchased Deutsche Grammophon, since then, Deutsche Grammophon was merged into Universal Music Group, a division of Vivendi. Deutsche Grammophon has a back catalogue of notable recordings. The company is reissuing a portion of it in its Originals series and it also released the majority of the compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen until the composer bought the rights to the recordings and re-released them on his own label. Other German composers associated with the label included Paul Hindemith and Hans Werner Henze, in 2011, Tori Amos signed to the label. The conductor most associated with the label is Herbert von Karajan, other conductors under contract included Ferenc Fricsay, Carlos Kleiber, Karl Böhm, Eugen Jochum, Rafael Kubelik, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Claudio Abbado, and Christian Thielemann. Recent signings include Gustavo Dudamel and Myung-whun Chung
38.
The Magic Flute
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The Magic Flute, K.620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneders theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the hand of his female companion Papagena. The opera was the culmination of a period of increasing involvement by Mozart with Schikaneders theatrical troupe, Mozart was a close friend of one of the singer-composers of the troupe, tenor Benedikt Schack, and had contributed to the compositions of the troupe, which were often collaboratively written. Mozarts participation increased with his contributions to the 1790 collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen, like The Magic Flute, Der Stein der Weisen was a fairy-tale opera and can be considered a kind of precursor, it employed much the same cast in similar roles. The libretto for The Magic Flute, written by Schikaneder, is thought by scholars to be based on many sources, especially for the role of Papageno, the libretto draws on the Hanswurst tradition of the Viennese popular theatre. Many scholars also acknowledge an influence of Freemasonry, for detailed discussion of sources see Branscombe, as well as Libretto of The Magic Flute. In composing the opera, Mozart evidently kept in mind the skills of the intended for the premiere. Thus, the lines for Papageno—sung by Schikaneder himself—and Monostatos are often stated first in the strings so the singer can find his pitch. In contrast, Mozarts sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, who premiered the role of the Queen of the Night, evidently needed little such help, in ensembles, Mozart skillfully combined voices of different ability levels. The vocal ranges of two of the singers for whom Mozart tailored his music have posed challenges for many singers who have since recreated their roles. Both arias of the Queen of the Night, O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn and Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen require high F6, rare in opera. At the low end, the part of Sarastro, premiered by Franz Xaver Gerl, the opera was premiered in Vienna on 30 September 1791 at the suburban Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart conducted the orchestra, Schikaneder himself played Papageno, while the role of the Queen of the Night was sung by Mozarts sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, as Mozarts letters show, he was very pleased to have achieved such a success. Solomon continues, Mozarts delight is reflected in his last three letters, written to Constanze, who with her sister Sophie was spending the week of October in Baden. I have this moment returned from the opera, which was as full as ever, he wrote on 7 October, but what always gives me the most pleasure is the silent approval. You can see how this opera is becoming more and more esteemed, … He went to hear his opera almost every night, taking along relatives
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World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
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Nazi Party
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Its precursor, the German Workers Party, existed from 1919 to 1920. The party emerged from the German nationalist, racist, and populist Freikorps paramilitary culture, the party was created as a means to draw workers away from communism and into völkisch nationalism. Pseudo-scientific racism theories were central to Nazism, the Nazis propagated the idea of a peoples community. Their aim was to unite racially desirable Germans as national comrades, while excluding those deemed either to be political dissidents, to maintain the supposed purity and strength of the Aryan race, the Nazis sought to exterminate Jews, Romani, and the physically and mentally handicapped. They imposed exclusionary segregation on homosexuals, Africans, Jehovahs Witnesses, the partys leader since 1921, Adolf Hitler, was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. Hitler rapidly established a regime known as the Third Reich. The term Nazi derives from the name given in German to a party member Nationalsozialist and was coined in response to the German term Sozi, members of the party referred to themselves as Nationalsozialisten, rarely as Nazis. The term Parteigenosse was commonly used among Nazis, with the feminine form Parteigenossin used when it was appropriate, the term was in use before the rise of the party as a colloquial and derogatory word for a backward peasant, characterising an awkward and clumsy person. It derived from Ignaz, being a version of Ignatius, a common name in Bavaria. Opponents seized on this and shortened the name in intentional association to the long-time existing Sozi to the dismissive Nazi. In 1933, when Adolf Hitler assumed power of the German government, usage of the designation Nazi diminished in Germany, the use of Nazi Germany, and Nazi regime, was popularised by anti-Nazis and German exiles abroad. Thereafter, the spread into other languages and eventually was brought back to Germany after the Second World War. The party grew out of political groups with a nationalist orientation that formed in the last years of World War I. In 1918, a called the Freien Arbeiterausschuss für einen guten Frieden was created in Bremen. On 7 March 1918, Anton Drexler, an avid German nationalist, Drexler saw the situation of political violence and instability in Germany as the result of the new Weimar Republic being out-of-touch with the masses, especially the lower classes. These were all well-known themes popular with various Weimar paramilitary groups such as the Freikorps, though very small, Drexlers movement did receive attention and support from some influential figures. Supporter Dietrich Eckhart brought military figure Count Felix Graf von Bothmer, later in 1918, Karl Harrer, convinced Drexler and several others to form the Politischer Arbeiterzirkel. The members met periodically for discussions with themes of nationalism and racism directed against the Jews and they became one of many völkisch movements that existed in Germany at the time
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