1.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
2.
Operetta
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Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. By this time, the part of the genre name had become misleading. With this new connotation, opéra comique had dominated the French operatic stage since the decline of tragédie lyrique, most researchers acknowledge that the credit for creating the operetta form should go to Hervé, a singer, composer, librettist, conductor, and scene painter. In 1842 he wrote the little opérette, LOurs et le pacha, based on the vaudeville show by Scribe. In 1848, Hervé made his first notable appearance on the Parisian stage, with Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança, hervés most famous works are the Gounod-parody Le Petit Faust and Mamzelle Nitouche. Jacques Offenbach further developed and popularized operetta, giving it its enormous vogue during the Second Empire, Offenbachs earliest one-act pieces included Les deux aveugles, Le violoneux and Ba-ta-clan, and his first full-length operetta success was Orphée aux enfers. Offenbachs tradition was carried on by Robert Planquette, André Messager. What characterizes Offenbachs operettas is both the way they portray life, and the extremely frivolous way this is done. The character was modeled after Offenbachs female star Hortense Schneider. Considering how Zolas Nana describes an Offenbach-style operetta performance in Paris, it is not surprising that the mostly male, upper-class audiences in other cities like Vienna and Berlin longed to see these shows in their home towns as well, which inspired worldwide performance of Offenbachs works. The highly erotic way Offenbachs operettas were originally played, with stars like Hortense Schneider created a reaction from certain parts of the general public. Operetta was considered an art form. Indeed, together with its grotesque qualities, frivolity is one of the elements of authentic operetta à la Offenbach. It was only later, when audiences widened and became more middle and lower class, the most significant composer of operetta in the German language was the Austrian Johann Strauss II. His first operetta was Indigo und die vierzig Räuber and his third operetta, Die Fledermaus, became the most performed operetta in the world, and remains his most popular stage work. Its libretto was based on a written by Offenbachs librettists. In all, Strauss wrote 16 operettas and one opera, most with great success when first premiered, many of his lesser operettas are now largely forgotten, since his later librettists were less talented and he often composed independently of the plot. Strausss operettas, waltzes, polkas, and marches often have a strongly Viennese style, the Theater an der Wien never failed to draw huge crowds when his stage works were first performed
3.
Baritone
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A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice types. It is the most common male voice, the baritone voice type is generally divided into the baryton-Martin baritone, lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone. The first use of the term baritone emerged as baritonans, late in the 15th century, at this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices, but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the average male choral voice. Baritones took roughly the range as it is today at the beginning of the 18th century. Indeed, many works of the 18th century have roles marked as bass that in reality are low baritone roles. Examples of this are to be found, for instance, in the operas, the greatest and most enduring parts for baritones in 18th-century operatic music were composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They include Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Papageno in The Magic Flute and these included the likes of Filippo Galli, Giovanni Inchindi, and Henri-Bernard Dabadie. The basse-taille and the bass were commonly confused because their roles were sometimes sung by singers of either actual voice part. The bel canto style of vocalism which arose in Italy in the early 19th century supplanted the castrato-dominated opera seria of the previous century and it led to the baritone being viewed as a separate voice category from the bass. More often than not, however, baritones found themselves portraying villains, the principal composers of bel canto opera are considered to be, Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and the young Giuseppe Verdi. Figaro in Il barbiere is often called the first true baritone role, however, Donizetti and Verdi in their vocal writing went on to emphasize the top fifth of the baritone voice, rather than its lower notes—thus generating a more brilliant sound. The major international baritone of the first half of the 19th century was the Italian Antonio Tamburini and he was a famous Don Giovanni in Mozarts eponymous opera as well as being a Bellini and Donizetti specialist. Commentators praised his voice for its beauty, flexibility and smooth tonal emission, Tamburinis range, however, was probably closer to that of a bass-baritone than to that of a modern Verdi baritone. His French equivalent was Henri-Bernard Dabadie, who was a mainstay of the Paris Opera between 1819 and 1836 and the creator of several major Rossinian baritone roles, including Guillaume Tell. Dabadie sang in Italy, too, where he originated the role of Belcore in Lelisir damore in 1832, the most important of Tamburinis Italianate successors were all Verdians. In France, Paul Barroilhet succeeded Dabadie as the Paris operas best known baritone, like Dabadie, he also sang in Italy and created an important Donizetti role, in his case, Alphonse in La favorite. Antonio Pini-Corsi was the standout Italian buffo baritone in the period between about 1880 and World War I, reveling in comic roles by Rossini, Donizetti and Paer. In 1893, he created the part of Ford in Verdis last opera, notable among their contemporaries were the cultured and technically adroit French baritones Jean Lassalle, Victor Maurel, Paul Lhérie, and Maurice Renaud
4.
Meyersdale, Pennsylvania
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Meyersdale is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on the Casselman River,73 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area, in the past, Meyersdales chief industry was the mining of coal. Meyersdale is located along the Great Allegheny Passage, a recreational trail. The Big Savage Tunnel, located southeast of Meyersdale, is the longest tunnel on the trail, the Pennsylvania Maple Festival has taken place each March in Meyersdale since 1948. Meyersdale was first settled as early as 1776, but the growth of the dates from the advent of the first railroad in 1871. Coal mining began in the next year, the borough was named for an early settler. In 1981-82, Meyersdale received an All-America City Award from the National Civic League, the Meyersdale Wind Farm began commercial operations in 2003. The New Colonial Hotel and Second National Bank of Meyersdale are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Salisbury Junction Viaduct north of Meyersdale has been documented by the Historic American Engineering Record. According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has an area of 0.8 square miles. As of the census of 2000, there were 2,473 people,1,019 households, the population density was 2,950.7 people per square mile. There were 1,089 housing units at a density of 1,299.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the borough was 99. 35% White,0. 24% African American,0. 12% Native American,0. 16% Asian, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 73% of the population. 31. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 18. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.89. In the borough the population was out with 22. 2% under the age of 18,7. 5% from 18 to 24,26. 4% from 25 to 44,21. 8% from 45 to 64. The median age was 41 years, for every 100 females there were 84.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.9 males, the median income for a household in the borough was $24,652, and the median income for a family was $29,798. Males had an income of $26,167 versus $18,205 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $14,116, about 16. 8% of families and 20. 4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31. 4% of those under age 18 and 18. 3% of those age 65 or over
5.
Methodism
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Methodism, or the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and Johns brother Charles Wesley were also significant leaders in the movement and it originated as a revival within the 18th century Church of England and became a separate Church after Wesleys death. Because of vigorous missionary work, the movement spread throughout the British Empire, Wesleys theology focused on sanctification and the effect of faith on the character of a Christian. Distinguishing Methodist doctrines include an assurance of salvation, imparted righteousness, the possibility of perfection in love, the works of piety and the primacy of Scripture. Most Methodists teach that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for all of humanity and that salvation is available for all, in theology and this teaching rejects the Calvinist position that God has pre-ordained the salvation of a select group of people. However, Whitefield and several others were considered Calvinistic Methodists and held to the latter position, Methodism emphasises charity and support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the works of mercy. These ideals are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens and schools to follow Christs command to spread the gospel, the movement has a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high church to low church in liturgical usage. Denominations that descend from the British Methodist tradition are generally less ritualistic, Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition and Charles Wesley was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of the Methodist Church. In Britain, the Methodist Church had an effect in the early decades of the making of the working class. In the United States, it became the religion of many slaves who later formed black churches in the Methodist tradition. The Methodist revival began with a group of men, including John Wesley and his younger brother Charles, the Wesley brothers founded the Holy Club at the University of Oxford, where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at Lincoln College. The club met weekly and they set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving Communion every week, fasting regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury and frequently visited the sick, the fellowship were branded as Methodist by their fellow students because of the way they used rule and method to go about their religious affairs. John, who was leader of the club, took the attempted mockery, unsuccessful in their work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith. They looked for help to Peter Boehler and other members of the Moravian Church, at a Moravian service in Aldersgate on 24 May 1738, John experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion, when he felt his heart strangely warmed. Charles had reported an experience an few days previously. Considered a pivotal moment, Daniel L. John Wesley came under the influence of the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, Arminius had rejected the Calvinist teaching that God had pre-ordained an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally. Conversely, George Whitefield, Howell Harris, and Selina Hastings, George Whitefield, returning from his own mission in Georgia, joined the Wesley brothers in what was rapidly to become a national crusade
6.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
7.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
8.
Peabody Institute
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The Peabody Institute was founded in 1857 by philanthropist George Peabody, and is the oldest conservatory in the United States. Its association with JHU allows students to do research across disciplines, George Peabody founded the Institute with a bequest of about $800,000 from his fortune made in Massachusetts and Baltimore. Completion of the Grecian-Italian west wing building housing the Institute, designed by Edmund George Lind, was delayed by the Civil War, the library was created and endowed by Peabodys friend and fellow Bay-Stater, Enoch Pratt. In 1978, the Institute began working with The Johns Hopkins University under an affiliation agreement, in 1985, the Institute became a division of the university. Peabody is one of 156 schools in the United States that offers a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree, Peabody Preparatory offers instruction and enrichment programs for school-age children across various sites in Baltimore and its surrounding counties, Downtown, Towson, Annapolis and Howard County. The Peabody Childrens Chorus is for children ages 6 to 18 and it is divided into three groups, Training Choir, Choristers, and Cantate, grouped by age in ascending order. They practice weekly in Towson or Columbia, Maryland, and sing in concerts biannually under the instruction of Doreen Falby, Bradley Permenter, tori Amos, singer, songwriter, at age five, Amos was the youngest student ever admitted to the Institute
9.
Baltimore
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Baltimore is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maryland, and the 29th-most populous city in the country. It was established by the Constitution of Maryland and is not part of any county, thus, it is the largest independent city in the United States, with a population of 621,849 as of 2015. As of 2010, the population of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area was 2.7 million, founded in 1729, Baltimore is the second largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic. Baltimores Inner Harbor was once the leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States. With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed a city of neighborhoods, in the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, later the American national anthem, in Baltimore. More than 65,000 properties, or roughly one in three buildings in the city, are listed on the National Register, more than any city in the nation. The city has 289 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the historical records of the government of Baltimore are located at the Baltimore City Archives. The city is named after Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, of the Irish House of Lords, Baltimore Manor was the name of the estate in County Longford on which the Calvert family lived in Ireland. Baltimore is an anglicization of the Irish name Baile an Tí Mhóir, in 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 210 miles from Jamestown to the uppermost Chesapeake Bay, leading the first European expedition to the Patapsco River. The name Patapsco is derived from pota-psk-ut, which translates to backwater or tide covered with froth in Algonquian dialect, a quarter century after John Smiths voyage, English colonists began to settle in Maryland. The area constituting the modern City of Baltimore and its area was first settled by David Jones in 1661. He claimed the area today as Harbor East on the east bank of the Jones Falls stream. In the early 1600s, the immediate Baltimore vicinity was populated, if at all. The Baltimore area had been inhabited by Native Americans since at least the 10th millennium BC, one Paleo-Indian site and several Archaic period and Woodland period archaeological sites have been identified in Baltimore, including four from the Late Woodland period. During the Late Woodland period, the culture that is called the Potomac Creek complex resided in the area from Baltimore to the Rappahannock River in Virginia. It was located on the Bush River on land that in 1773 became part of Harford County, in 1674, the General Assembly passed An Act for erecting a Court-house and Prison in each County within this Province. The site of the house and jail for Baltimore County was evidently Old Baltimore near the Bush River. In 1683, the General Assembly passed An Act for Advancement of Trade to establish towns, ports, one of the towns established by the act in Baltimore County was on Bush River, on Town Land, near the Court-House
