1.
Piazza della Scala
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Piazza della Scala is a pedestrian central square of Milan, Italy, connected to the main square of Milan, Piazza del Duomo, by the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II passage. On the opposite side to La Scala, to the south-east, is the facade of Palazzo Marino, another relevant building on the square, on the north-eastern side, is the Palazzo della Banca Commerciale Italiana. The south-western side of the square has the entry to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele as well as Palazzo Beltrami. Most of the architecture of the square is due to architect Luca Beltrami, who designed the palace, the facade of Palazzo Marino. The centre of the square is marked by the monument of Leonardo da Vinci by sculptor Pietro Magni, Piazza della Scala is a relatively recent addition to the plan of Milans centre. The oldest building on the square, Palazzo Marino, dates back to the 16th century, at the time, nevertheless, in fact, the main facade of Palazzo Marino was originally the one facing Piazza San Fedele, to the south-east. Likewise, when La Scala was built, it was facing a rather than a square. It was only in the late 19th Century that the authorities of Milan initiated a renovation of the area. Luca Beltrami first contributed with Palazzo Beltrami, then with the new facade of Palazzo Marino, and, much later, with the Banca Commerciale building
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
4.
Giuseppe Piermarini
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Giuseppe Piermarini was an Italian architect who trained with Luigi Vanvitelli in Rome and designed the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, which remains the work by which he is remembered. Indeed, il Piermarini serves as an euphemism for the celebrated opera house. Piermarini was appointed professor in the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, better known as Brera Academy, Milan, Piermarini was born at Foligno, then part of the Papal States. He was Vanvitellis collaborator at Caserta, 1765-1769, when he removed to Milan, for the Royal Villa of Monza, successive changes adapted the original pleasure villa to a seat of court. In 1779 Piermarini was officially named architect of the Imperial Kingdom, over the years successive internal reconstructions have altered the interior of the Teatro alla Scala, so that only Piermarinis general plan, and his facade, are what remain of his designs. Piermarinis lesser works in Milan include Palazzo Greppi and Palazzo Belgioioso, at Parabiago, his friend the successful cabinetmaker Giuseppe Maggiolini commissioned him to erect a new façade for the Chiesa Prepositurale dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio. He also designed the Villa Tittoni Traversi, in 1798 he returned to his native Foligno, where he effected some changes in the Duomo and prepared a project for the Cappella del Sacramento in the church of San Lorenzo at Spello. Among his pupils was Giacomo Albertolli, the nephew of Piermarinis collaborator in stucco decoration of palaces, Giacomo succeeded him as professor of architecture in the Brera Academy. He died in Foligno in 1808
5.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
6.
Opera house
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An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building. While some venues are constructed specifically for operas, other houses are part of larger performing arts centers. In contrast, there was no house in London when Henry Purcell was composing. Early United States opera houses served a variety of functions in towns and cities, hosting community dances, fairs, plays, with the rise of bourgeois and capitalist social forms in the 19th century, European culture moved away from its patronage system to a publicly supported system. In the 2000s, most opera and theatre companies raise funds from a combination of government and institutional grants, ticket sales, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples introduces the plant horseshoe, the oldest in the world, a model for the Italian theater. On this model were built following theaters of Italy and Europe, among others, the theater of the Palace of Caserta. Given the popularity of opera in 18th and 19th century Europe, opera houses are large, with generally more than 1,000 seats. Modern opera houses of the century such as New Yorks Metropolitan Opera. Many operas are better suited to being presented in smaller theatres, in a traditional opera house, the auditorium is U-shaped, with the length of the sides determining the audience capacity. Around this are tiers of balconies, and often, nearer to the stage, are boxes and this is especially true of Wagners Bayreuth Festspielhaus where the pit is almost completely covered. The size of an opera orchestra varies, but for some operas, oratorios and other works, it may be large, for some romantic period works. Similarly, an opera may have a large cast of characters, chorus, dancers, therefore, a major opera house will have extensive dressing room facilities. Opera houses often have on-premises set and costume building shops and facilities for storage of costumes, make-up, masks, and stage properties, major opera houses throughout the world often have highly mechanized stages, with large stage elevators permitting heavy sets to be changed rapidly. At the Metropolitan Opera, for instance, sets are changed during the action, as the audience watches. This occurs in the Mets productions of such as Aida. Much the same happened in the remodeling of Milans La Scala opera house between 2002 and 2004, since the 1990s, however, many opera houses have begun using a subtle form of sound reinforcement called acoustic enhancement. Often, operas are presented in their languages, which may be different from the first language of the audience. For example, a Wagnerian opera presented in London may be in German, therefore, since the 1980s modern opera houses have assisted the audience by providing translated supertitles, projections of the words above or near to the stage
7.
Milan
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Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period
8.
Antonio Salieri
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Antonio Salieri was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann, and a protégé of Gluck, Salieri helped to develop and shape many of the features of operatic compositional vocabulary, and his music was a powerful influence on contemporary composers. Appointed the director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court, during his career he also spent time writing works for opera houses in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and his dramatic works were widely performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. As the Austrian imperial Kapellmeister from 1788 to 1824, he was responsible for music at the court chapel, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, and Ludwig van Beethoven were among the most famous of his pupils. Salieris music slowly disappeared from the repertoire between 1800 and 1868 and was heard after that period until the revival of his fame in the late 20th century. This revival was due to the dramatic and highly fictionalized depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffers play Amadeus and his music today has regained some modest popularity via recordings. He is popularly remembered as a bitter rival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This includes rumours that Salieri murdered Mozart out of jealousy, when in reality, Salieri would recall little from his childhood in later years except passions for sugar, reading, and music. Salieri responded to the reprimand by saying the priests organ playing displeased him because it was in a theatrical style. It is possible that Antonios father and Giovanni were friends or business associates, Salieri and Gassmann arrived in Vienna on 15 June 1766. Gassmanns first act was to take Salieri to the Italian Church to consecrate his teaching and service to God, Salieris education included instruction in Latin and Italian poetry by Fr. Don Pietro Tommasi, instruction in the German language, and European literature and his music studies revolved around vocal composition, and thoroughbass. His musical theory training in harmony and counterpoint was rooted in Johann Fuxs Gradus ad Parnassum, as a result, Salieri continued to live with Gassmann even after Gassmanns marriage, an arrangement that lasted until the year of Gassmanns death and Salieris own marriage in 1774. Few of Salieris compositions have survived from this early period, in his old age Salieri hinted that these works were either purposely destroyed, or had been lost with the exception of a few works for the church. Among these sacred works there survives a Mass in C major written without a Gloria and in the antique a cappella style, a complete opera composed in 1769 La vestale has also been lost. Beginning in 1766 Gassmann introduced Salieri to the chamber music performances held during Emperor Joseph IIs evening meal. Salieri quickly impressed the Emperor, and Gassmann was instructed to bring his pupil as often as he wished and this was the beginning of a relationship between monarch and musician that would last until Josephs death in 1790
9.
Europa riconosciuta
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Europa riconosciuta is an opera in two acts by Antonio Salieri, designated as a dramma per musica, set to an Italian libretto by Mattia Verazi. The opera takes place in Tyre in Phoenicia and tells a story of love, violence, the central character, Europa, was once the lover of Zeus and helps resolve all disagreements after she discloses her identity – thus the title Europa Revealed. Though a traditional opera seria, the work differentiates itself from several of the characteristics of the genre. For example, a murder is seen onstage and a finale is used in both acts, a practice more typical of opera buffa. Musically, the opera is quite challenging, requiring four principal singers capable of spanning wide tessituras, sustaining long phrases, and making dextrous leaps. For example, the roles of Europa and Semele go up to a high F sharp above high C a few times, the opera was first performed for the inauguration of La Scala on 3 August 1778. The opera was not performed again until 7 December 2004 for the re-opening of La Scala, since the work had not been performed for so long, La Scala had to re-print the score for Europa riconosciuta from scratch, working from the original manuscripts in its library. The premiere of the new Europa riconosciuta was broadcast live on a closed-circuit telecast, princess Europa of Tyre and Prince Isséo are engaged to be married. Their plans to wed are ruined when the king of Crete, Asterio, abducts Europa from her father’s palace, Europas father King Agenore of Tyre, tries to find his daughter but fails. In despair, he leaves his throne to his niece Semele instead of Europa on the condition that Semele must marry the man who kills the first foreigner to enter the nation of Tyre, in this way Europa’s kidnapping will be avenged. After Agenore’s death, Asterio sails from Crete towards Tyre in the hopes of placing Europa on the Tyrian throne, a major storm devastates Asterio’s fleet and causes his own ship to shipwreck off the coast of Tyre. Asterio, his wife Europa, and their son step off their boat onto the shore and are startled by the appearance of Egisto, Asterio manages to hide Europa in a cave, but is unable to save himself, his men, and his son from capture. Upon seeing this, Europa emerges from her hiding-place and tries to defend her son and her efforts fail and she is taken with the rest of the Cretan prisoners to the palace of Tyre by Egisto and his men. Isséo has recently returned from an attack against the Cypriot rebels. Semele is in love with Isséo and has decided to marry him and she asks Egisto to assemble the grand council so that she can announce the name of the man she has chosen to marry, who will become the next king of Tyre. Meanwhile, Egisto, is determined to grasp the throne for himself, Isséo and his soldiers enter the throne room celebrating their victory. Semele informs Isséo of her desire to share the Tyrian throne with him, Isséo refuses Semeles request because he is still in love with Europa, and therefore is not free to love Semele. The council members pray for Temides aid, Semele proclaims that she is prepared to choose the new king
10.
Saint Ambrose
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Aurelius Ambrosius, better known in English as Saint Ambrose, was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He was the Roman governor of Liguria and Emilia, headquartered in Milan, Ambrose was a staunch opponent of Arianism, and has been accused of fostering persecutions of Arians, Jews, and pagans. Ambrose was one of the four original Doctors of the Church and he is notable for his influence on Augustine of Hippo. Ambrose was born into a Roman Christian family about 340 and was raised in Gallia Belgica and his mother was a woman of intellect and piety. Ambroses siblings, Satyrus and Marcellina, are venerated as saints. There is a legend that as an infant, a swarm of bees settled on his face while he lay in his cradle and his father considered this a sign of his future eloquence and honeyed tongue. For this reason, bees and beehives often appear in the saints symbology, after the early death of his father, Ambrose followed his fathers career. He was educated in Rome, studying literature, law, Ambrose was the Governor of Aemilia-Liguria in northern Italy until 374, when he became the Bishop of Milan. He was a popular political figure, and since he was the Governor in the effective capital in the Roman West. In the late 4th century there was a conflict in the diocese of Milan between the Nicene Church and Arians. In 374 the bishop of Milan, Auxentius, an Arian, died, Ambrose went to the church where the election was to take place, to prevent an uproar, which was probable in this crisis. His address was interrupted by a call Ambrose, bishop, which was taken up by the whole assembly. Ambrose was known to be Nicene Christian in belief, but also acceptable to Arians due to the charity shown in matters in this regard. At first he refused the office, for which he was in no way prepared. Upon his appointment, Ambrose fled to a colleagues home seeking to hide, upon receiving a letter from the Emperor Gratian praising the appropriateness of Rome appointing individuals evidently worthy of holy positions, Ambroses host gave him up. Within a week, he was baptized, ordained and duly consecrated bishop of Milan and this raised his popularity even further, giving him considerable political leverage over even the emperor. Ambrose also wrote a treatise by the name of The Goodness of Death, according to legend, Ambrose immediately and forcefully stopped Arianism in Milan. He studied theology with Simplician, a presbyter of Rome, in the confrontation with Arians, Ambrose sought to theologically refute their propositions, which were contrary to the Nicene creed and thus to the officially defined orthodoxy
11.
Patron saint
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Catholics believe that patron saints, having already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges. Historically, a practice has also occurred in many Islamic lands. With regard to the omnipresence of this belief, the late Martin Lings wrote. Traditionally, it has been understood that the saint of a particular place prays for that places wellbeing and for the health. Saints often become the patrons of places where they were born or had been active, professions sometimes have a patron saint owing to that individual being involved somewhat with it, although some of the connections were tenuous. Lacking such a saint, an occupation would have a patron whose acts or miracles in some way recall the profession and it is, however, generally discouraged in some Protestant branches such as Calvinism, where the practice is considered a form of idolatry. In Islam, the veneration or commemoration and recognition of saints is found in many branches of traditional Sunnism
12.
Scuola di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala
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The school forms part of the theatres Academy for Performing Arts. The ballet school was founded in 1813 by Benedetto Ricci, as the Accademia di ballo of the Teatro alla Scala, following the defeat of Napoleon, the schools name was changed to Imperial Regia Accademia di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala. For many years after its foundation the school offered two courses, of the duration of eight years, the first consisted in apprenticeship. The classes were accompanied by a violinist, many famous dancers have been directors of the school. Among them, the famous Carlo Blasis, who joined the school in 1838 and directed it for 15 years, and the Italian ballerina Caterina Beretta, who was the school director from 1905 to 1908. Because of the first world War, the school was closed down in 1917, the famous Russian ballet dancer Olga Preobrajenska was appointed as the new school director. Enrico Cecchetti was director of the school until his death on November 13,1928, following his recommendation, Cia Fornaroli, grande prima ballerina of the Theatre La Scala, was appointed as the school new director. She directed the school until 1932, when Ettorina Mazzucchelli took her place as the school director, esmée Bulnes directed the school until 1967, followed by Elide Bonagiunta. The next school director was John Field, former director of the Royal Ballet of London and former director of the Corpo di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala. John Field left the school in July 1974, his place was taken by Anna Maria Prina, former student of the school, current director of the dance department of the Academy is Frédéric Olivieri. In 1998 the school was moved to a new dedicated building, the school typically accepts students 8 years old and older. From 1999, the school also offers classes to children aged between 6 and 10. In the same year, the school has introduced modern and contemporary classes, students are evaluated in both disciplines in order to achieve the Diploma released by the school. The method currently taught at the school is based on the Italian method, recently, the school has also started classes of American style and technique. The curriculum includes ballet technique, pointe classes, pas de deux, the students also learn contemporary and modern technique. Many of the school also participate to production held at the Teatro alla Scala with the Corpo di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala. All students also attend regular classes, organized for them by the city of Milan. At this date, the faculty is composed of, Loreta Alexandrescu, Amelia Colombini, Vera Karpenko, Tatiana Nikonova, Leonid Nikonov, the classes of modern/contemporary dance are taught by Emanuela Tagliavia
13.
Carnival
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Carnival is a Western Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide. Carnival typically involves a public celebration and/or parade combining some elements of a circus, masks, people wear masks and costumes during many such celebrations, allowing them to lose their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. Excessive consumption of alcohol, meat, and other foods proscribed during Lent is extremely common, the term Carnival is traditionally used in areas with a large Catholic presence. However, the Philippines, a predominantly Roman Catholic country, does not celebrate Carnival anymore since the dissolution of the Manila Carnival after 1939, in Slavic Eastern Orthodox nations, Maslenitsa is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent. In German-speaking Europe and the Netherlands, the Carnival season traditionally opens on 11/11 and this dates back to celebrations before the Advent season or with harvest celebrations of St. Martins Day. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is the biggest in the world, followed jointly by Barranquilla, Colombia, alternative names are used for regional and local celebrations. The origin may be from the Italian word carne or carrus, the former suggests an origin within Christianity, while the alternative links to earlier religions. Folk etymologies state that the word comes from the Late Latin expression carne vale, the word carne may also be translated as flesh, producing a farewell to the flesh, a phrase embraced by certain carnival celebrants to embolden the festivals carefree spirit. However, this interpretation is not supported by philological evidence, the Italian carne levare is one possible origin, meaning to remove meat, since meat is prohibited during Lent. Other scholars argue for the origin from the Roman name for the festival of the Navigium Isidis, the festival consisted of a parade of masks following an adorned wooden boat, possibly source of the floats. From the anthropological point of view, carnival is a ritual, in which social roles are reversed. Winter was thought of as the reign of the winter spirits, Carnival can thus be regarded as a rite of passage from darkness to light, from winter to summer, a fertility celebration, the first spring festival of the new year. Traditionally, a carnival feast was the last opportunity for people to eat well. Until spring produce was available, people were limited to the necessary meals during this period. On what nowadays is called vastenavond, all the winter stores of lard, butter. The selected livestock had already been slaughtered in November and the meat would be no longer preservable, all the food that had survived the winter had to be eaten to assure that everyone was fed enough to survive until the coming spring would provide new food sources. Several Germanic tribes celebrated the returning of the daylight, the winter would be driven out, to make sure that fertility could return in spring
14.
Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este
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Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria-Este was a son of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I and Maria Theresa of Austria. He was the founder of the House of Austria-Este and Governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1765 and 1796 and he was also designated as the heir to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, but he never reigned, owing to the Napoleonic Wars. Ferdinand was born at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna as the son and fourteenth child of the Holy Roman Emperor Franz I and of his wife. In 1763, the last Este Duke of Modena, Ercole III, signed a treaty with the Empress Maria Theresa engaging the nine-year-old Ferdinand to his only daughter Maria Beatrice, making him thus his heir. In 1771, the Perpetual Imperial Diet approved the eventual investiture of Ferdinand with the imperial fiefs held by Ercole III, on 15 October 1771, Ferdinand married Maria Beatrice Ricciarda dEste, only surviving child of Duke Ercole III of Modena and Reggio. Festivities arranged for this included the operas Ascanio in Alba by Mozart. He and his family lived in Milan, in 1780, Ferdinand was confirmed as Governor of Lombardy by his brother, the new Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. In 1796, Napoleons invasion of Milan forced the family to flee the French forces, Duke Ercole III also had to flee Modena, which overthrew the monarchy and joined the Cisalpine Republic. By the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, Duke Ercole III was granted the Duchy of Breisgau, when Ercole III died in 1803, Ferdinand succeeded as Duke of Breisgau, as well as titular Duke of Modena and Reggio. By the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805, Ferdinand ceded the Duchy of Breisgau to the Grand Duchy of Baden, Ferdinand died the following year in Vienna. He is buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, in 1814, Ferdinands eldest surviving son, Francis IV, was recognised as Duke of Modena by the Congress of Vienna. Andrew Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky Knight of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Weissensteiner, Habsburg, Ferdinand Karl Anton von Este. In Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich, kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien 1860, S.204 f
15.
Neoclassicism
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The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, laterally competing with Romanticism. In architecture, the style continued throughout the 19th, 20th, European Neoclassicism in the visual arts began c.1760 in opposition to the then-dominant Baroque and Rococo styles. Each neo-classicism selects some models among the range of classics that are available to it. They ignored both Archaic Greek art and the works of Late Antiquity, the Rococo art of ancient Palmyra came as a revelation, through engravings in Woods The Ruins of Palmyra. While the movement is described as the opposed counterpart of Romanticism. The case of the main champion of late Neoclassicism, Ingres, demonstrates this especially well. The revival can be traced to the establishment of formal archaeology, the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann were important in shaping this movement in both architecture and the visual arts. With the advent of the Grand Tour, a fad of collecting antiquities began that laid the foundations of many great collections spreading a Neoclassical revival throughout Europe, Neoclassicism in each art implies a particular canon of a classical model. In English, the term Neoclassicism is used primarily of the arts, the similar movement in English literature. This, which had been dominant for decades, was beginning to decline by the time Neoclassicism in the visual arts became fashionable. Though terms differ, the situation in French literature was similar, in music, the period saw the rise of classical music, and Neoclassicism is used of 20th-century developments. Ingress coronation portrait of Napoleon even borrowed from Late Antique consular diptychs and their Carolingian revival, much Neoclassical painting is more classicizing in subject matter than in anything else. A fierce, but often very badly informed, dispute raged for decades over the merits of Greek and Roman art, with Winckelmann. The work of artists, who could not easily be described as insipid, combined aspects of Romanticism with a generally Neoclassical style. Unlike Carstens unrealized schemes, the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi were numerous and profitable and his main subject matter was the buildings and ruins of Rome, and he was more stimulated by the ancient than the modern. Neoclassicism in painting gained a new sense of direction with the success of Jacques-Louis Davids Oath of the Horatii at the Paris Salon of 1785. Despite its evocation of republican virtues, this was a commission by the royal government, David managed to combine an idealist style with drama and forcefulness. David rapidly became the leader of French art, and after the French Revolution became a politician with control of government patronage in art
16.
Lombardy
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Lombardy is one of the twenty administrative regions of Italy, in the northwest of the country, with an area of 23,844 square kilometres. Milan, Lombardys capital, is the second-largest city and the largest metropolitan area in Italy, the word Lombardy comes from Lombard, which in turn is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus, derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz + *bardaz, equivalent to long beard. Some sources derive the second element instead from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ, *barduz, Lombardy referred during the early Middle Ages to the entire territory of Italy ruled by the Lombards, a Germanic tribe who conquered much of the Italian peninsula beginning in the 6th century. During the late Middle Ages, the term shifted meaning and was used to identify the whole of Northern Italy, with a surface of 23,861 km2, Lombardy is the 4th largest region of Italy. It is bordered by Switzerland and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, three distinct natural zones can be fairly easily distinguished in the Lombardy region, mountains, hills and plains – the latter being divided in Alta and Bassa. Inconsistent with the three distinctions above made is the subregion of Oltrepò Pavese, formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po River. The mighty Po river marks the border of the region for a length of about 210 km. In its progress it receives the waters of the Ticino River, the other streams which contribute to the great river are, the Olona, the Lambro, the Adda, the Oglio and the Mincio. The numerous lakes of Lombardy, all of glacial origin, lie in the northern highlands, from west to east these are Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, then Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. A minor mountainous area, the Oltrepò Pavese, lies south of the Po, in the plains, intensively cultivated for centuries, little of the original environment remains. The most commons trees are elm, alder, sycamore, poplar, willow, in the area of the foothills lakes, however, grow olive trees, cypresses and larches, as well as varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolias, azaleas, acacias. Numerous species of flora in the Prealpine area include some kinds of saxifrage, the Lombard garlic, groundsels bellflowers. The highlands are characterized by the vegetation of the whole range of the Italian Alps. At a lower levels oak woods or broadleafed trees grow, on the slopes beech trees grow at the lowest limits. Shrubs such as rhododendron, dwarf pine and juniper are native to the summital zone, Lombardy has a wide array of climates, due to local variances in elevation, proximity to inland water basins, and large metropolitan areas. In addition, there is a seasonal temperature variation. A peculiarity of the climate is the thick fog that covers the plains between October and February. In the Alpine foothills, characterised by an Oceanic climate, numerous lakes exercise a mitigating influence, in the hills and mountains, the climate is humid continental
17.
Maria Theresa of Austria
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Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, by marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Holy Roman Empress. She started her 40-year reign when her father, Emperor Charles VI, Charles VI paved the way for her accession with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and spent his entire reign securing it. Upon the death of her father, Saxony, Prussia, Bavaria, Prussia proceeded to invade the affluent Habsburg province of Silesia, sparking a nine-year conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession, and subsequently conquered it. Maria Theresa would later try to reconquer Silesia during the Seven Years War. Of the sixteen, ten survived to adulthood and she had eleven daughters and five sons. She criticised and disapproved of many of Josephs actions, Maria Theresa understood the importance of her public persona and was able to simultaneously evoke both esteem and affection from her subjects. However, she refused to allow religious toleration and contemporary travelers thought her regime was bigoted and superstitious. As a young monarch who fought two wars, she believed that her cause should be the cause of her subjects. The dowager empresses, her aunt Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg and grandmother Eleonor Magdalene of the Palatinate-Neuburg, were her godmothers and her father was the only surviving male member of the House of Habsburg and hoped for a son who would prevent the extinction of his dynasty and succeed him. Thus, the birth of Maria Theresa was a disappointment to him. Charles sought the other European powers approval for disinheriting his nieces and they exacted harsh terms, in the Treaty of Vienna, Great Britain demanded that Austria abolish the Ostend Company in return for its recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction. France, Spain, Saxony-Poland, Bavaria and Prussia later reneged, little more than a year after her birth, Maria Theresa was joined by a sister, Maria Anna, and another one, named Maria Amalia, was born in 1724. The portraits of the family show that Maria Theresa resembled Elisabeth Christine. The Prussian ambassador noted that she had blue eyes, fair hair with a slight tinge of red, a wide mouth. Unlike many other members of the House of Habsburg, neither Maria Theresas parents nor her grandparents were closely related to each other, Maria Theresa was a serious and reserved child who enjoyed singing and archery. She was barred from riding by her father, but she would later learn the basics for the sake of her Hungarian coronation ceremony. The imperial family staged opera productions, often conducted by Charles VI and her education was overseen by Jesuits
18.
Stendhal
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Marie-Henri Beyle, better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Born in Grenoble, Isère, he was a child, disliking his unimaginative father and mourning his mother, whom he passionately loved. He spent the happiest years of his life at the Beyle country house in Claix near Grenoble and his closest friend was his younger sister, Pauline, with whom he maintained a steady correspondence throughout the first decade of the 19th century. The military and theatrical worlds of the First French Empire were a revelation to Beyle and he was named an auditor with the Conseil dÉtat on 3 August 1810, and thereafter took part in the French administration and in the Napoleonic wars in Italy. He travelled extensively in Germany and was part of Napoleons army in the 1812 invasion of Russia, Stendhal witnessed the burning of Moscow from just outside the city. Stendhal was appointed Commissioner of War Supplies and sent to Smolensk to prepare provisions for the returning army and he crossed the Berezina River by finding a usable ford rather than the overwhelmed pontoon bridge, which probably saved his life and those of his companions. Stendhal arrived in Paris in 1813, largely unaware of the fiasco that the retreat had become. Stendhal became known, during the Russian campaign, for keeping his wits about him and he also maintained his daily routine, shaving each day during the retreat from Moscow. After the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau, he left for Italy and he formed a particular attachment to Italy, where he spent much of the remainder of his career, serving as French consul at Trieste and Civitavecchia. His novel The Charterhouse of Parma, written in 52 days, is set in Italy, Stendhal was a dandy and wit about town in Paris, as well as an inveterate womaniser who was obsessed with his sexual conquests. His genuine empathy towards women is evident in his books, Simone de Beauvoir spoke highly of him in The Second Sex. One of his works is On Love, a rational analysis of romantic passion that was based on his unrequited love for Mathilde, Countess Dembowska. This fusion of, and tension between, clear-headed analysis and romantic feeling is typical of Stendhals great novels, he could be considered a Romantic realist, Stendhal suffered miserable physical disabilities in his final years as he continued to produce some of his most famous work. Modern medicine has shown that his problems were more attributable to his treatment than to his syphilis. Stendhal died on 23 March 1842, a few hours after collapsing with a seizure on the streets of Paris and he is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre. Before settling on the pen name Stendhal, he published under pen names, including Louis Alexandre Bombet. The only book that Stendhal published under his own name was The History of Painting, from the publication of Rome, Naples, Florence onwards, he published his works under the pseudonym M. de Stendhal, officier de cavalerie. He borrowed this nom de plume from the German city of Stendal, birthplace of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, in 1807 Stendhal stayed near Stendal, where he fell in love with a woman named Wilhelmine, whom he called Minette, and for whose sake he remained in the city
19.
Roberto Alagna
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Roberto Alagna is a French tenor. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France and obtained French citizenship at age 18, Alagna was born outside the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian immigrants. As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets, influenced primarily by the films of Mario Lanza and learning from recordings of many historic tenors, he then switched to opera, but remained largely self-taught. He was discovered by Gabriel Dussurget, the co-founder of the Aix-en-Provence Festival and this led to many engagements throughout the smaller cities in France and Italy, mainly again as Alfredo, a role he would eventually sing over 150 times. His reputation grew and he was invited to sing at major theatres such as La Scala in 1990, Covent Garden in 1992. His performances of Roméo in Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod at Covent Garden in 1994 catapulted him to international stardom, Alagna opened the 2006/07 season at La Scala on 7 December 2006 in the new production of Aïda by Franco Zeffirelli. During the second performance on 10 December, Alagna, whose opening performance was considered ill-at-ease, was booed and whistled from the loggione, and he walked off the stage. The tenors reaction to his criticism was denounced as immature and unprofessional by La Scala management and Zeffirelli. Alagna is too sensitive, it is too easy to hurt his feelings and he does not know how to act like a true star. The role of Radames was taken over successfully for the rest of the performance by his understudy Antonello Palombi, who entered on stage wearing jeans and a black shirt. His wife had flown to New York to be with him for the September engagements, Alagna was also engaged by the Metropolitan Opera at the last minute to cover for the indisposed Marco Berti in a 16 October 2007 performance of Aida. After the performance, the audience gave him a standing ovation, the 15 December performance of Roméo et Juliette starring Alagna and Netrebko was broadcast by the Met into 447 theatres worldwide in high definition and seen by about 97,000 people. He has also recorded music with an homage album to Luis Mariano, Sicilien. Alagnas first wife, Florence Lancien, died of a tumour in 1994, they had one daughter, Ornella. In 1996, he married Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, the couple announced a divorce in 2009, but had reunited by 2011. However, in January 2013, the couple agreed on a formal divorce. Alagna and the Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak had begun a relationship, Alagna has worked together on several projects with his brothers Frédérico Alagna and the stage director and composer David Alagna. The three brothers recorded an album of music, Serenades, and worked together on the younger brother Davids opera based on Hugos Last Day of a Condemned Man
20.
Aida
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Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in Egypt, it was commissioned by and first performed at Cairos Khedivial Opera House on 24 December 1871, ghislanzonis scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Aida eventually premiered in Cairo in late 1871, contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, for which Verdi had been invited to write an inaugural hymn, but had declined. The plot bears striking, though similarities to Metastasios libretto La Nitteti. Verdi originally chose to write an orchestral prelude instead of a full overture for the opera. He then composed an overture of the variety to replace the original prelude. However, in the end he decided not to have the overture performed because of its—his own words—pretentious insipidity and this overture, never used today, was given a rare broadcast performance by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 30 March 1940, but was never commercially issued. Aida met with acclaim when it finally opened in Cairo on 24 December 1871. He therefore considered the Italian premiere, held at La Scala, Milan on 8 February 1872, Verdi had also written the role of Aida for the voice of Teresa Stolz, who sang it for the first time at the Milan premiere. Verdi had asked her fiancé, Angelo Mariani, to conduct the Cairo premiere, the Milan Amneris, Maria Waldmann, was his favourite in the role and she repeated it a number of times at his request. Aida was received with enthusiasm at its Milan premiere. With Polish translation Aida was performed for the first time 9 June 1877, france,22 April 1876, Théâtre-Lyrique Italien, Salle Ventadour, Paris, with almost the same cast as the Milan premiere, but with Édouard de Reszke making his debut as the King. Rio de Janeiro,30 June 1886, Theatro Lyrico Fluminense, Arturo Toscanini, at the time a 19-year-old cellist who was assistant chorus master, was persuaded to take up the baton for the performance. Toscanini conducted the opera from memory, with great success. This would be the start of a promising career, laibach, Austrian Empire,1 October 1898, conducted by Hilarion Benišek A complete concert version of the opera was given in New York City in 1949. Conducted by Toscanini with Herva Nelli as Aida and Richard Tucker as Radamès, due to the length of the opera, it was divided into two telecasts, preserved on kinescopes, and later released on video by RCA and Testament. The audio portion of the broadcast, including some remakes in June 1954, was released on LP, La Scala mounted a lavish new production of Aida designed by Franco Zeffirelli for the opening night of its 2006/2007 season. The production starred Violeta Urmana in the role and Roberto Alagna as Radamès
21.
Casino
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A casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. The industry that deals in casinos is called the gaming industry, casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions. There is much debate whether or not the social and economic consequences of casino gambling outweigh the initial revenue that may be generated. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment events, such as comedy, concerts. The term casino is a confusing linguistic false friend for translators, Casino is of Italian origin, the root casa originally meant a small country villa, summerhouse, or social club. In modern-day Italian, the term designates a bordello, while the gambling house is spelled casinò with an accent. Not all casinos were used for gaming, the Copenhagen Casino was a theatre, known for the mass public meetings often held in its hall during the 1848 Revolution, which made Denmark a constitutional monarchy. Until 1937, it was a well-known Danish theatre, the Hanko Casino in Hanko, Finland—one of that towns most conspicuous landmarks—was never used for gambling. Rather, it was a hall for the Russian nobility which frequented this spa resort in the late 19th century and is now used as a restaurant. In military and non-military usage in German and Spanish, a casino or kasino is an officers mess, in Italian—the source-language of the word—a casino is either a brothel, a mess, or a noisy environment, while a gaming house is called a casinò. The precise origin of gambling is unknown and it is generally believed that gambling in some form or another has been seen in almost every society in history. From the Ancient Greeks and Romans to Napoleons France and Elizabethan England and it was closed in 1774 as the city government felt it was impoverishing the local gentry. In American history, early gambling establishments were known as saloons, the creation and importance of saloons was greatly influenced by four major cities, New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago and San Francisco. It was in the saloons that travelers could find people to talk to, drink with, during the early 20th century in America, gambling became outlawed and banned by state legislation and social reformers of the time. However, in 1931, gambling was legalized throughout the state of Nevada, Americas first legalized casinos were set up in those places. In 1976 New Jersey allowed gambling in Atlantic City, now Americas second largest gambling city, most jurisdictions worldwide have a minimum gambling age. Customers gamble by playing games of chance, in cases with an element of skill, such as craps, roulette, baccarat, blackjack. Most games played have mathematically determined odds that ensure the house has at all times an overall advantage over the players and this can be expressed more precisely by the notion of expected value, which is uniformly negative
22.
Mary Shelley
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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. When Mary was four, her father married a neighbour, with whom, as her stepmother, in 1814, Mary began a romance with one of her fathers political followers, Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she eventually married. Together with Marys stepsister Claire Clairmont, Mary and Shelley left for France, upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percys child. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter and they married in late 1816, after the suicide of Percy Shelleys first wife, Harriet. In 1816, the couple spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child. In 1822, her husband drowned when his boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son, the last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53. Recent scholarship has yielded a comprehensive view of Mary Shelley’s achievements. Mary Shelleys works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practised by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley was born as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in Somers Town, London and she was the second child of the feminist philosopher, educator, and writer Mary Wollstonecraft, and the first child of the philosopher, novelist, and journalist William Godwin. Wollstonecraft died of fever shortly after Mary was born. Godwin was left to bring up Mary, along with her older half-sister, Fanny Imlay, a year after Wollstonecrafts death, Godwin published his Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which he intended as a sincere and compassionate tribute. However, because the Memoirs revealed Wollstonecrafts affairs and her illegitimate child, Mary Godwin read these memoirs and her mothers books, and was brought up to cherish her mothers memory. Marys earliest years were happy ones, judging from the letters of William Godwins housekeeper and nurse, but Godwin was often deeply in debt, feeling that he could not raise the children by himself, he cast about for a second wife. In December 1801, he married Mary Jane Clairmont, a woman with two young children of her own—Charles and Claire
23.
Otto Nicolai
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Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai was a German composer, conductor, and founder of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his version of Shakespeares comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor as Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor. In addition to five operas, Nicolai composed lieder, works for orchestra, chorus, ensemble, Nicolai, a child prodigy, was born in Königsberg, Prussia. He received his first musical education from his father, Carl Ernst Daniel Nicolai, after initial successes in Germany, including his first symphony and public concerts, he became musician to the Prussian embassy in Rome. When Giuseppe Verdi declined the libretto of Il proscritto by the proprietors of La Scala in Milan, later, Nicolai refused a libretto by the same author, and it went to Verdi, whose Nabucco was his first early success. All of Nicolais operas were written in Italian, the sole exception being his last and best known opera, The Merry Wives of Windsor. At one time he was popular in Italy than Verdi himself was. During the early 1840s, Nicolai established himself as a figure in the concert life of Vienna. In 1844 he was offered the position, vacated by Felix Mendelssohn, of Kapellmeister at the Berlin Cathedral, but he did not reestablish himself in Berlin until the last year of his life. On 11 May 1849, two months after the premiere of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and only two days after his appointment as Hofkapellmeister at the Berlin Staatsoper, he collapsed and died from a stroke. On the very day of his death, he was elected a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts. Nicolai was portrayed by Hans Nielsen in the 1940 film Falstaff in Vienna, published by Schott Music in 1999. Der dritte Psalm for alto solo, six sonatas for two horns, from the Handel Knot-Farquharson Cousins ms Mass in D major. Te Deum, Psalm 97, Der Herr ist König, Psalm 31, Herr, auf Dich traue ich, schröder, B. ed. Otto Nicolais Tagebücher nebst biographischen Ergänzungen. Altmann Wilhelm, ed. Otto Nicolai, Briefe an seinen Vater, brown, Clive, ed. Nicolai, Carl Otto Ehrenfried in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Attibution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Otto
24.
Il templario
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Il templario is an Italian-language opera by the German composer Otto Nicolai from a libretto written by Girolamo Maria Marini based on Walter Scotts Ivanhoe. Marini was a poet when not employed by the government tobacco monopoly. Il templario received its premiere performances at the Teatro Regio, Turin in 1840, However, it disappeared for over 160 years until it was reconstructed in 2006 and performed in 2008. The success of Nicolais opera had an unintended contributing indirect effect on the failure of Verdis early attempt at the opera genre, Un giorno di regno. After its original highly successful run in Italy, Il templario was forgotten, as fashion moved on, goebels was attracted to the story of Ivanhoe but sought to have Nicolais opera rewritten to remove the flattering elements around the Jewish heroine Rebecca. However, the Second World War intervened before such a version could be made, the rediscovered opera was again lost when the archives of both Bote & Bock in Berlin and Casa Ricordi in Milan were destroyed during World War II. Re-discovery and reconstruction However interest in Nicolai renewed in the 1990s, following Wittmanns reconstruction, Il templario was then performed at the Chemnitz Opera in March 2008 conducted by Frank Beermann, with the American tenor Stanley Jackson as Ivanhoe. A live recording of the 7 March performance was later issued, cedrico turns against his son, leading Ivanhoe to leave for the Crusades. Ivanhoe is wounded and cared for by the Jewish Rebecca, who with her father Isacco follows Ivanhoe back to England, Rebecca is in turn loved by Briano, the templar of the operas title. Briano and Rebecca are both – inexplicably – struck dead in the scene of the opera, leaving the Anglo-Saxons praising Ivanhoe. Notes Sources Ashbrook, William, Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 052123526X ISBN 0-521-23526-X Budden, Julian, The Operas of Verdi, Volume 1, From Oberto to Rigoletto. ISBN 0-304-310581 Holden, Amanda, The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York, ISBN 0-140-29312-4 Laviska, David, Review of the 2008 recording on musicalcriticism. com,22 June 2010 Retrieved 4 July 2012
25.
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
26.
Arturo Toscanini
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Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and of the 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for detail and sonority. He was at times the music director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Toscanini was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, and won a scholarship to the music conservatory. Living conditions at the conservatory were harsh, for example, his diet consisted almost completely of fish. When he became successful, he never ate anything that came from the sea and he joined the orchestra of an opera company, with which he toured South America in 1886. Carlo Superti and Aristide Venturi tried unsuccessfully to finish the work, in desperation, the singers suggested the name of their assistant Chorus Master, who knew the whole opera from memory. The public was taken by surprise, at first by the youth and sheer aplomb of this unknown conductor, for the rest of that season, Toscanini conducted eighteen operas, all with absolute success. Thus began his career as a conductor, at age 19, upon returning to Italy, Toscanini set out on a dual path for some time. He continued to conduct, his first appearance in Italy being at the Teatro Carignano in Turin, on November 4,1886, in the world premiere of the revised version of Alfredo Catalanis Edmea. This was the beginning of Toscaninis lifelong friendship and championing of Catalani, however, he also returned to his chair in the cello section, and participated as cellist in the world premiere of Verdis Otello under the composers supervision. The composer was impressed when Toscanini consulted him personally about Verdis Te Deum. Verdi said that he had left it out for fear that certain interpreters would have exaggerated the marking, gradually, Toscaninis reputation as an operatic conductor of unusual authority and skill supplanted his cello career. In the following decade, he consolidated his career in Italy, entrusted with the premieres of Puccinis La bohème. In 1896, Toscanini conducted his first symphonic concert and he exhibited a considerable capacity for hard work, conducting 43 concerts in Turin in 1898. By 1898, Toscanini was Principal Conductor at La Scala, where he remained until 1908, returning as Music Director and he brought the La Scala Orchestra to the United States on a concert tour in 1920/21, during which he made his first recordings. Outside Europe, Toscanini conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and he toured Europe with the New York Philharmonic in 1930. At each performance, he and the orchestra were acclaimed by critics, Toscanini was the first non-German conductor to appear at Bayreuth, and the New York Philharmonic was the first non-German orchestra to play there
27.
Giuseppe Verdi
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Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a family of moderate means. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, whose works influenced him. In his early operas Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy and he also participated briefly as an elected politician. He surprised the world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida. The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo, additionally, it lists Verdi as being born yesterday, but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Verdi himself, following his mother, always celebrated his birthday on 9 October, Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. From the age of four, Verdi was given lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents provided him with a spinet. Verdis gift for music was apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while. After Baistrocchis death, Verdi, at the age of eight, Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his sons education. something which Verdi tended to hide in later life. He picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by a father and of a sustained, sophisticated. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, at age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of the music school. This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of the Philharmonic Society was Antonio Barezzi, a grocer and distiller. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic, by June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic, none of us could rival him reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè
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Giacomo Puccini
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Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian opera composer who has been called the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi. Puccinis early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera, later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. Puccinis most renowned works are La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini in Lucca in Tuscany, in 1858. He was one of nine children of Michele Puccini and Albina Magi, the Puccini family was established in Lucca as a local musical dynasty by Puccinis great-great grandfather – also named Giacomo. This first Giacomo Puccini was maestro di cappella of the Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca and he was succeeded in this position by his son, Antonio Puccini, and then by Antonios son Domenico, and Domenicos son Michele. Each of these men studied music at Bologna, and some additional musical studies elsewhere. Domenico Puccini studied for a time under Giovanni Paisiello, each composed music for the church. In addition, Domenico composed several operas, and Michele composed one opera, Puccinis father Michele enjoyed a reputation throughout northern Italy, and his funeral was an occasion of public mourning, at which the then-famed composer Giovanni Pacini conducted a Requiem. However, when Michele Puccini died in 1864, his son Giacomo was only six years old, as a child, he nevertheless participated in the musical life of the Cattedrale di San Martino, as a member of the boys choir and later as a substitute organist. Puccini was given an education at the seminary of San Michele in Lucca. One of Puccinis uncles, Fortunato Magi, supervised his musical education, Puccini got a diploma from the Pacini School of Music in Lucca in 1880, having studied there with his uncle Fortunato, and later with Carlo Angeloni, who had also instructed Alfredo Catalani. Puccini studied at the conservatory for three years, sharing a room with Pietro Mascagni, in 1880, at the age of 21, Puccini composed his Mass, which marks the culmination of his familys long association with church music in his native Lucca. Puccini wrote a piece called the Capriccio sinfonica as a thesis composition for the Milan Conservatory. Puccinis teachers Ponchielli and Bazzini were impressed by the work, and it was performed at a student concert at the conservatory on 14 July 1883, conducted by Franco Faccio. Puccinis work was reviewed in the Milanese publication Perseveranza. After the premiere of the Capriccio sinfonica, Ponchielli and Puccini discussed the possibility that Puccinis next work might be an opera, Ponchielli invited Puccini to stay at his villa, where Puccini was introduced to another young man named Fernando Fontana. Puccini and Fontana agreed to collaborate on an opera, for which Fontana would provide the libretto, the work, Le Villi, was entered into a competition sponsored by the Sozogno music publishing company in 1883. Although it did not win, Le Villi was later staged at the Teatro Dal Verme, G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers assisted with the premier by printing the libretto without charge
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Renata Tebaldi
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Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period. Tebaldi was born Renata Ersilia Clotilde Tebaldi in Pesaro on 1 February 1922 and she was the daughter of a cellist, Teobaldo Tebaldi, and Giuseppina Barbieri, a nurse. Her parents separated before her birth and Tebaldi grew up with her mother in the home of her grandparents in Langhirano. Stricken with polio at the age of three, Tebaldi became interested in music and was a member of the choir in Langhirano. She later studied with Beverley Peck Johnson in New York City, Tebaldi made her stage debut as Elena in Boitos Mefistofele in Rovigo in 1944, and performed in Parma in La Bohème, Lamico Fritz and Andrea Chénier. She caused a stir when in 1946 she made her debut as Desdemona alongside Francesco Merli as Otello in Trieste and her major breakthrough came in 1946, when she auditioned for Arturo Toscanini. Toscanini was favorably impressed, calling her voce dangelo, Tebaldi made her La Scala debut that year at the concert which marked the reopening of the theatre after World War II. She sang the Prayer from Rossinis biblical opera, Mosè in Egitto and she was given the operatic roles of Margherita and Elena in Mefistofele and Elsa in Lohengrin in 1946. The following year, she appeared in La Bohème and as Eva in Die Meistersinger, Toscanini encouraged her to sing the role of Aida and invited her to rehearse the role in his studio. This was the greatest success in her young career and was to launch her international career. Her voice was used for Sophia Lorens singing in the version of Aida. During the early 1950s, controversy regarding a supposed rivalry between Tebaldi and Maria Callas, a Greek-American soprano. In 1951, Tebaldi and Maria Callas were jointly booked for a recital in Rio de Janeiro. Although the singers agreed that neither would perform encores, Tebaldi took two, and Callas was reportedly incensed, according to John Ardoin, however, these two singers should never have been compared. Tebaldi was trained by Carmen Melis, a noted verismo specialist, Callas was a dramatic soprano, whereas Tebaldi considered herself essentially a lyric soprano. They shared a few roles, including Tosca in Puccinis opera and La Gioconda, the alleged rivalry aside, Callas made remarks appreciative of Tebaldi, and vice versa. During an interview with Norman Ross in Chicago, Callas said, I admire Tebaldis tone, sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice. Francis Robinson of the Met wrote of an incident in which Tebaldi asked him to recommend a recording of La Gioconda in order to help her learn the role, being fully aware of the alleged rivalry, he recommended Zinka Milanovs version
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Giovanna d'Arco
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The work partly reflects the story of Joan of Arc and appears to be loosely based on the play Die Jungfrau von Orleans by Friedrich von Schiller. After writing the music over the autumn and winter of 1844/45, some scholars speculate on the reasons for Verdis having chosen this subject. Therefore, Buddens telling comment that invention was not Soleras strong suit is meaningful in light of what happened next, I have not allowed myself to be imposed upon by the authority either of Schiller or Shakespeare. My play is original. But musicologist Julian Budden, when he refers to Joan dying on the field of battle rather than being burnt at the stake, 19th century The original Giovanna was Erminia Frezzolini, who had previously appeared in Verdis I Lombardi alla prima crociata two years earlier. She was paired with her husband, tenor Antonio Poggi, as Charles, baritone Filippo Colini portrayed Giovannas father Giacomo. Verdi himself esteemed his work but was unhappy with the way it had been staged, while the critics were rather dismissive of the opera, Holden notes that it was ecstatically received by audiences. And it was given a respectable 17 performances, for the operas first production in Rome, three months after the Milan premiere, the plot had to be cleared of any direct religious connotations by order of the papal censor. The title was changed to Orietta di Lesbo, the setting was shifted to the Greek island, performances under this title were also given in Palermo in 1848. It was also presented elsewhere in Europe, but, as the century wore on, 20th century and beyond In 1951 Renata Tebaldi played the title role in Naples, Milan and Paris, in a tour that led to further revivals. However, the opera has only been staged in modern times. Its US premiere was given in March 1966, in a performance at Carnegie Hall, New York. Its first stage performance in the US was given in 1976 by Vincent La Selva at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, NYGO also gave the opera in 1983 and in 1995, the latter as part of its Viva Verdi. Festival of all of the operas in chronological order. It also received its UK premiere at the Royal Academy of Music in London on 23 May 1966, another notable performance in the United States was a concert version at Carnegie Hall with June Anderson and Carlo Guelfi in a presentation by the Opera Orchestra of New York. The opera was performed in concert at Avery Fisher Hall in 1985, with Welsh soprano Margaret Price, Carlo Bergonzi. 2008 saw two productions, the Teatro Regio di Parma presented the opera as part of its Festival Verdi, and it was also performed by Sarasota Opera in March 2010 as part of its Verdi Cycle. In September 2013, Chicago Opera Theater staged performances of the opera and this preceded a symposium on 15 September on the subject of the opera which was presented by the company and the Italian Cultural Institute. The event featured Verdi experts Philip Gossett, Jesse Rosenberg and Alberto Rizzuti, later, he expresses his frustration with the limitations of being a ruler
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Requiem (Verdi)
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The Messa da Requiem is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra by Giuseppe Verdi. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet, the first performance, at the San Marco church in Milan on 22 May 1874, marked the first anniversary of Manzonis death. The work was at one time called the Manzoni Requiem and it is rarely performed in liturgy, but rather in concert form of around 85–90 minutes in length. Musicologist David Rosen calls it probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed since the compilation of Mozarts Requiem, after Gioachino Rossinis death in 1868, Verdi suggested that a number of Italian composers collaborate on a Requiem in Rossinis honor. He began the effort by submitting the concluding movement, the Libera me, during the next year a Messa per Rossini was compiled by Verdi and twelve other famous Italian composers of the time. The premiere was scheduled for 13 November 1869, the first anniversary of Rossinis death, however, on 4 November, nine days before the premiere, the organising committee abandoned it. Verdi blamed this on the conductor, Angelo Mariani. He pointed to Marianis lack of enthusiasm for the project, even though he had part of the organising committee from the start. The composition remained unperformed until 1988, when Helmuth Rilling premiered the complete Messa per Rossini in Stuttgart, in the meantime, Verdi kept toying with his Libera me, frustrated that the combined commemoration of Rossinis life would not be performed in his lifetime. On 22 May 1873, the Italian writer and humanist Alessandro Manzoni, upon hearing of his death, Verdi resolved to complete a Requiem—this time entirely of his own writing—for Manzoni. Verdi traveled to Paris in June, where he commenced work on the Requiem and it included a revised version of the Libera me originally composed for Rossini. The Requiem was first performed in the church of San Marco in Milan on 22 May 1874, Verdi himself conducted, and the four soloists were Teresa Stolz, Maria Waldmann, Giuseppe Capponi and Ormondo Maini. Teresa Stolz went on to a brilliant career, Waldmann retired very young in 1875, also, Teresa Stolz was engaged to Angelo Mariani in 1869, but she later left him. The Requiem was repeated at La Scala three days later on 25 May with the soloists and Verdi again conducting. It won immediate contemporary success, although not everywhere and it received seven performances at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, but the new Royal Albert Hall in London could not be filled for such a Catholic occasion. In Venice, impressive Byzantine ecclesiastical decor was designed for the occasion of the performance and it later disappeared from the standard choral repertoire, but made a reappearance in the 1930s and is now regularly performed and a staple of many choral societies. The playwright and music critic George Bernard Shaw was an admirer of the work from its first London performance. The Requiem was performed 16 times between 1943 and 1944 by prisoners in the camp of Theresienstadt under the direction of Rafael Schächter
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Otello
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Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeares play Othello. It was Verdis penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, when it finally premiered in Milan on 5 February 1887, it proved to be a resounding success, and further stagings of Otello soon followed at leading theatres throughout Europe and America. Thus a plot of sorts was hatched in order to coax the composer out of retirement to write another opera, because of the importance of the dramatic aspects of opera to the composer, Verdi was especially selective in his choice of subjects. Consequently, if he were to agree to another opera after a decade of retirement. Verdis refusals continued as the 1870s progressed, but she confessed defeat yet again. Clara Maffei also tried, unsuccessfully, in March 1878 to interest Verdi, what would I succeed in doing. Boito, Verdi, and revisions of Simon Boccanegra While he was attempting to get Verdi involved a new opera, persisting with further attempts to convince the composer, Ricordi had also broached the idea of a collaboration with Boito for a new opera based on Shakespeares Othello. Because of its relatively straightforward story, the play Othello was selected as a likely target, collaborations with Boito in the revision of the 1857 opera Simon Boccanegra helped to convince Verdi of Boitos ability as a librettist. Verdi visited Milan on 30 June 1879, and conducted his Requiem Mass in a performance at La Scala. He received the acclaim of the public, which included the La Scala orchestra playing outside his hotel. Walker assumes that it was both Ricordi and Faccio who stage managed the effects to give the composer the sense of being welcome and respected in Milan. Finally, after some plotting, Ricordi, in conjunction with Verdis friend, during a dinner at Verdis Milan residence during the summer of 1879, Ricordi and Faccio guided the conversation towards Shakespeares play Othello and to the librettist Arrigo Boito. At the mention of Othello I saw Verdi fix his eyes on me, with suspicion and he had certainly understood, he had certainly reacted. I believed the time was ripe, suggestions were made, despite initial skepticism on the part of the composer, that Boito would be interested in creating a new libretto based upon the play. Within several days, Ricordi approached Verdi with the request that he would like to visit Sant Agata with a friend in September, Verdis reaction was clearly non-committal, I wish absolutely to avoid committing myself The best thing. Is for him to me the finished poem. Meanwhile, Boito began work on the libretto in spite of illness and, after appealing to Giuseppina, Ricordi was told that the Verdis would be coming to Milan and that he would meet privately with Boito. However, she noted in her letter of 7 November, Between ourselves, what Boito has so far written of the African seems to please him, and is very well done
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Falstaff (opera)
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Falstaff is an opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeares The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV, the work premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan. Verdi wrote Falstaff, which was the last of his 28 operas, as he was approaching the age of 80 and it was his second comedy, and his third work based on a Shakespeare play, following Macbeth and Otello. The plot revolves around the thwarted, sometimes farcical, efforts of the fat knight, Sir John Falstaff, Verdi was concerned about working on a new opera at his advanced age, but he yearned to write a comic work and was pleased with Boitos draft libretto. It took the three years from mid-1889 to complete. Although the prospect of a new opera from Verdi aroused immense interest in Italy and around the world, some felt that the piece suffered from a lack of the full-blooded melodies of the best of Verdis previous operas, a view strongly contradicted by Toscanini. Conductors of the generation after Toscanini to champion the work included Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti, the work is now part of the regular operatic repertory. Verdi made numerous changes to the music after the first performance, the work was first recorded in 1932 and has subsequently received many studio and live recordings. Singers closely associated with the role have included Victor Maurel, Mariano Stabile, Giuseppe Valdengo, Tito Gobbi, Geraint Evans. By 1889 Verdi had been a composer for more than fifty years. He had written 27 operas, of only one was a comedy, his second work, Un giorno di regno. His fellow composer Rossini commented that he admired Verdi greatly, Verdi disagreed and said that he longed to write another light-hearted opera, but nobody would give him the chance. He had included moments of even in his tragic operas, for example in Un ballo in maschera. For a comic subject Verdi considered Cervantess Don Quixote and plays by Goldoni, Molière and Labiche, the singer Victor Maurel sent him a French libretto based on Shakespeares The Taming of the Shrew. Verdi liked it, but replied that to deal with it properly you need a Rossini or a Donizetti, following the success of Otello in 1887 he commented, After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little. He confided his ambition to the librettist of Otello, Arrigo Boito, Boito said nothing at the time, but he secretly began work on a libretto based on The Merry Wives of Windsor with additional material taken from Henry IV, parts 1 and 2. Many composers had set the play to music, with success, among them Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Antonio Salieri, Michael William Balfe. The first version to secure a place in the repertoire was Otto Nicolais The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1849
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Architect
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An architect is someone who plans, designs, and reviews the construction of buildings. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, which derives from the Greek, practical, technical, and academic requirements for becoming an architect vary by jurisdiction. The terms architect and architecture are used in the disciplines of landscape architecture, naval architecture. In most jurisdictions, the professional and commercial uses of the terms architect, throughout ancient and medieval history, most architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans—such as stone masons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. Until modern times, there was no distinction between architect and engineer. In Europe, the architect and engineer were primarily geographical variations that referred to the same person. It is suggested that various developments in technology and mathematics allowed the development of the gentleman architect. Paper was not used in Europe for drawing until the 15th century, pencils were used more often for drawing by 1600. The availability of both allowed pre-construction drawings to be made by professionals, until the 18th-century, buildings continued to be designed and set out by craftsmen with the exception of high-status projects. In most developed countries, only qualified people with appropriate license, certification, or registration with a relevant body, such licensure usually requires an accredited university degree, successful completion of exams, and a training period. To practice architecture implies the ability to independently of supervision. In many places, independent, non-licensed individuals may perform design services outside the professional restrictions, such design houses, in the architectural profession, technical and environmental knowledge, design and construction management, and an understanding of business are as important as design. However, design is the force throughout the project and beyond. An architect accepts a commission from a client, the commission might involve preparing feasibility reports, building audits, the design of a building or of several buildings, structures, and the spaces among them. The architect participates in developing the requirements the client wants in the building, throughout the project, the architect co-ordinates a design team. Structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers and other specialists, are hired by the client or the architect, the architect hired by a client is responsible for creating a design concept that meets the requirements of that client and provides a facility suitable to the required use. In that, the architect must meet with and question the client to ascertain all the requirements, often the full brief is not entirely clear at the beginning, entailing a degree of risk in the design undertaking. The architect may make proposals to the client which may rework the terms of the brief
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Mario Botta
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Mario Botta is a Swiss architect. He studied at the Liceo Artistico in Milan and the IUAV in Venice and his ideas were influenced by Le Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn. He opened his own practice in 1970 in Lugano, Botta designed his first buildings at age 16, a two-family house at Morbio Superiore in Ticino. His designs tend to include a sense of geometry, often being based on very simple shapes. His buildings are made of brick, yet his use of material is wide, varied. He also designed the Europa-Park Dome, which many major events at the Europa-Park theme park resort in Germany. “A church is the place, par excellence, of architecture, “When you enter a church, you already are part of what has transpired and will transpire there. The church is a house that puts a believer in a dimension where he or she is the protagonist, the sacred directly lives in the collective. Man becomes a participant in a church, even if he never says anything. ”In 1998, he designed the new bus station for Vimercate and he worked at La Scalas theatre renovation, which proved controversial as preservationists feared that historic details would be lost. In 2004, he designed Museum One of the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, on January 1,2006 he received the Grand Officer award from President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. In 2006 he designed his first ever spa, the Bergoase Spa in Arosa, the spa opened in December 2006 and cost an estimated CHF35 million. Mario Botta participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions project in 2007 and he was a member of the Jury of the Global Holcim Awards in 2012. Markus Breitschmid, Architecture and the Ambient – Mario Botta, architectura et Ars Series, Volume 2, Virginia Tech Architecture Publications,2013. ISBN 978-0-9893936-5-2 Publications by and about Mario Botta in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library Official website Mario Botta at the archINFORM database, theaterlexikon der Schweiz / Dictionnaire du théâtre en Suisse / Dizionario Teatrale Svizzero / Lexicon da teater svizzer
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Riccardo Muti
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Riccardo Muti is an Italian conductor. He holds two music directorships, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, previously he held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival. Muti has been a recording artist and has received dozens of honors, titles, awards. He is particularly associated with the music of Giuseppe Verdi, Muti was born in Naples but he spent his early childhood in Molfetta, near Bari, in the long region of Apulia on Italys southern Adriatic coast. His father was a doctor in Molfetta and a singer, his mother. Muti graduated from Liceo classico Vittorio Emanuele II in Naples, then studied piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella under Vincenzo Vitale, here Muti was awarded a diploma cum laude. He was subsequently awarded a diploma in Composition and Conducting by the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, Milan, where he studied with the composer Bruno Bettinelli and he has also studied composition with Nino Rota, whom he considers a mentor. Since 1971 he has been a frequent conductor of operas and concerts at the Salzburg Festival, from 1972 Muti regularly conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and in 1973 he was appointed its principal conductor, succeeding Otto Klemperer. In 1986 Muti became principal conductor of the Filarmonica della Scala, Milan, with which in 1988 he received the Viotti dOro, in 1991, after twelve years as music director, he announced his resignation from the Philadelphia Orchestra, effective at the end of the 1991–1992 season. In 1995 he was the president of the jury of the International Composing Competition 2 Agosto, Muti has been a regular guest of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. In 1996 he conducted the latter during Vienna Festival Week and on tour to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Germany, Muti has also led the orchestras globally televised Vienna New Years Concert on several occasions, in 1993,1997,2000 and 2004. Muti is also scheduled for the 2018 concert, a special relationship connects Muti with the Salzburg Festival, where the conductor debuted in 1971 with Donizettis Don Pasquale. In 2011, Muti will conduct a new production of Verdis Macbeth, Muti also owns a residence close to Salzburg. From 2007 to 2011, Muti was the conductor at Salzburgs Whitsun Festival. He conducted productions of rare Italian operas from the 18th century, the Academy has as purpose to pass on to young musicians Riccardo Mutis experience and lessons and to make the audience understand in its full complexity the path to accomplish an opera production. In the USA, from 1980 to 1992, Muti was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, in 1979, he was appointed its music director and, in 1992, conductor laureate. Muti stated that his approach was to remain faithful to the intent of the composer and his sonic changes to the orchestra remain controversial. Some felt he turned it into an institution with a lean sound much favored by modern recording engineers
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Daniel Barenboim
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Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentine-Israeli pianist and conductor who is also a citizen of Palestine and Spain. In May,2015 he proudly introduced his new piano at Royal Festival Hall and it was designed by Chris Maene, a Belgian instrument maker. This Barenboim grand piano has straight parallel strings, soundboard veins which go in different directions, specially designed bridges, ribs and bracing, some listeners have been excited by the pianos new sound, while others find it very similar to a conventional Steinway. Together with the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, he was given Spains Prince of Asturias Concord Award and he has won seven Grammy awards for his work and discography. Barenboim is a polyglot, fluent in Spanish, Hebrew, English, French, Italian, Daniel Barenboim was born in 1942 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Argentinian-Jewish parents Aida and Enrique Barenboim. He started piano lessons at the age of five with his mother, continuing to study with his father, on 19 August 1950, at the age of seven, he gave his first formal concert in his hometown, Buenos Aires. In 1952, Barenboims family moved to Israel, two years later, in the summer of 1954, his parents took him to Salzburg to take part in Igor Markevitchs conducting classes. During that summer he met and played for Wilhelm Furtwängler. In 1955 Barenboim studied harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, on 15 June 1967, Barenboim and British cellist Jacqueline du Pré were married in Jerusalem at a Western Wall ceremony, Du Pré having converted to Judaism. Acting as one of the witnesses was the conductor Zubin Mehta, since I was not Jewish I had to temporarily be renamed Moshe Cohen, which made me a kosher witness, Mehta recalled. Du Pré retired from music in 1973, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the marriage lasted until du Prés death in 1987. In the early 1980s, Barenboim began an affair with the Russian pianist Elena Bashkirova, with whom he has two sons born in Paris before du Prés death, David Arthur, born 1983, and Michael, born 1985. Barenboim worked to keep his relationship with Bashkirova hidden from du Pré and he and Bashkirova married in 1988. Both sons are part of the world, David is a manager-writer for the German hip-hop band Level 8. Barenboim holds citizenship in Argentina, Israel, Palestine, and Spain, after performing in Buenos Aires, Barenboim made his international debut as a pianist at the age of 10 in 1952 in Vienna and Rome. In 1955 he performed in Paris, in 1956 in London, regular concert tours of Europe, the United States, South America, Australia and the Far East followed thereafter. In June 1967, Barenboim and his then fiancée Du Pré gave concerts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba before and during the Six-Day War. His friendship with musicians Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, and Pinchas Zukerman, following his debut as a conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra in Abbey Road Studios, London, in 1966, Barenboim was invited to conduct by many European and American symphony orchestras
