1.
Opera
–
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
Opera
–
The performers from the Atlanta Opera sing the finale of
Lucia di Lammermoor. The
opera orchestra is visible in the lowered area in front of the stage.
Opera
–
The
Palais Garnier of the
Paris Opéra, one of the world's most famous
opera houses.
Opera
–
Claudio Monteverdi
Opera
–
George Frideric Handel, 1733
2.
Giuseppe Verdi
–
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
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Giuseppe Verdi Portrait by
Giovanni Boldini, 1886
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Verdi's childhood home at Le Roncole.
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Antonio Barezzi, Verdi's patron and later father-in-law
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Margherita Barezzi, Verdi's first wife.
3.
Maria Callas
–
Maria Callas, Commendatore OMRI, was a Greek-American soprano, and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her bel canto technique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations and her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina. Born in New York City and raised by a mother, she received her musical education in Greece. Forced to deal with the exigencies of wartime poverty and with myopia that left her nearly blind onstage, she endured struggles and scandal over the course of her career. She turned herself from a woman into a svelte and glamorous one after a mid-career weight loss, which might have contributed to her vocal decline. The press exulted in publicizing Callass temperamental behavior, her rivalry with Renata Tebaldi. Callass father had shortened the surname Kalogeropoulos first to Kalos and subsequently to Callas in order to make it more manageable, If you marry this man, I will never be able to help you. Evangelia had ignored his warning, but soon realized that her father was right, the situation was aggravated by Georges philandering and was improved neither by the birth of a daughter, named Yakinthi, in 1917 nor the birth of a son, named Vassilis, in 1920. Vassiliss death from meningitis in the summer of 1922 dealt another blow to the marriage, the family left for New York in July 1923, moving first into an apartment in Astoria, Queens. Evangelia was convinced that her child would be a boy. Maria was christened three years later at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in 1926, when Maria was 4, George Callas opened his own pharmacy, settling the family in Manhattan on 192nd Street in Washington Heights where Callas grew up. Around the age of three, Marias musical talent began to manifest itself, and after Evangelia discovered that her youngest daughter also had a voice, Callas later recalled, I was made to sing when I was only five, and I hated it. George was unhappy with his wife favoring their elder daughter, as well as the put upon young Mary to sing. The marriage continued to deteriorate and in 1937 Evangelia decided to return to Athens with her two daughters, I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular. It is a thing to make a child feel ugly. Ill never forgive her for taking my childhood away, during all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money. Everything I did for them was good and everything they did to me was mostly bad. In 1957, she told Norman Ross, Children should have a wonderful childhood, I have not had it – I wish I had
Maria Callas
–
Maria Callas as Violetta in
La traviata, 1958
Maria Callas
–
The apartment house in Athens where Callas lived from 1937 to 1945
Maria Callas
–
Maria Callas with her teacher
Elvira de Hidalgo in 1954
Maria Callas
–
The Villa in Sirmione where Callas lived with Giovanni Battista Meneghini between 1950 and 1959
4.
Francesco Maria Piave
–
Francesco Maria Piave was an Italian opera librettist who was born in Murano in the lagoon of Venice, during the brief Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. Piaves career spanned over twenty years working with many of the significant composers of his day, including Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, Federico Ricci, and even one for Michael Balfe. He is most well known as Giuseppe Verdis librettist, for whom he was to write 10 librettos, the most well-known being those for Rigoletto and La traviata. But Piave was not only a librettist, he was a journalist and translator in addition to being the resident poet, later, Verdi was helpful in securing him the same position at La Scala in Milan. His expertise as a manager and his tact as a negotiator served Verdi very well. Verdi helped to support his wife and daughter, proposing that an album of pieces by famous composers be compiled, the composer paid for his funeral when he died nine years later in Milan aged 65 and arranged for his burial at the Monumental Cemetery. The composer completely dominates and enslaves the librettist, who becomes more than an instrument in his hands. Notes Sources Baldini, Gabriele, The Story of Giuseppe Verdi, Cambridge, et al, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29712-5 Black, John, Piave, Francesco Maria in Stanley Sadie, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. Three, ISBN 0-333-73432-7 ISBN 1-56159-228-5 Budden, Julian, Verdi. ISBN0028646169 ISBN9780028646169 Kimball, David, in Holden, Amanda, The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York, ISBN 0-140-29312-4 OGrady, Deidre, Piave, Boito, Pirandello, From Romantic Realism to Modernism. ISBN 978-0-7734-7703-2 ISBN 0-7734-7703-9 Phillips-Matz, Mary Jane, Verdi, A Biography, London & New York, ISBN 0-19-313204-4 Werfel, Franz and Stefan, Paul, Verdi, The Man and His Letters, New York, Vienna House. ISBN 0-8443-0088-8 Works by or about Francesco Maria Piave at Internet Archive
Francesco Maria Piave
–
Francesco Maria Piave
Francesco Maria Piave
–
Piave's grave at the
Monumental Cemetery of Milan
Francesco Maria Piave
–
Caricature of Piave as "a theatrical jack-of-all-trades", after 1861
5.
Alexandre Dumas, fils
–
Dumas, fils was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a well-known playwright and author of classics such as The Three Musketeers. Dumas, fils was admitted to the Académie française in 1874, Dumas was born in Paris, France, the illegitimate child of Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay, a dressmaker, and novelist Alexandre Dumas. In 1831 his father recognized him and ensured that the young Dumas received the best education possible at the Institution Goubaux. At that time, the law allowed the elder Dumas to take the child away from his mother and her agony inspired the younger Dumas to write about tragic female characters. At boarding schools, he was taunted by his classmates because of his family situation. These issues profoundly influenced his thoughts, behaviour, and writing, in 1844, Dumas moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to live with his father. There he met Marie Duplessis, a courtesan who would be the inspiration for the character Marguerite Gauthier in his romantic novel La Dame aux camélias. Adapted into a play, it was titled Camille in English and became the basis for Verdis 1853 opera, La Traviata, Duplessis undergoing yet another name change, this time to Violetta Valéry. Although he admitted that he had done the adaptation because he needed the money, he had success with the play. He was not only more renowned than his father during his lifetime, after this, he virtually abandoned writing novels. On 31 December 1864, in Moscow, Dumas married Nadezhda von Knorring, daughter of Johan Reinhold von Knorring, after Nadezhdas death, Dumas married Henriette Régnier de La Brière in June 1895, without issue. In 1874, he was admitted to the Académie française and in 1894 he was awarded the Légion dhonneur, Dumas died at Marly-le-Roi, Yvelines, on 27 November 1895, and was interred in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. His grave is, perhaps coincidentally, only some 100 metres away from that of Marie Duplessis, aventures de quatre femmes et d’un perroquet Césarine La Dame aux camélias. Texte online ), with an illustrated by Albert Besnard English titled as Camellias Le Docteur Servan Antonine Le Roman d’une femme Les Quatre Restaurations. Vivier LAmi des femmes Le Supplice dune femme coll, emile de Girardin Héloïse Paranquet coll. Durentin Les Idées de Madame Aubray Le Filleul de Pompignac coll, francois Une Visite de noces La Princesse Georges La Femme de Claude Monsieur Alphonse LÉtrangère Les Danicheff coll. de Corvin La Comtesse Romani coll. Gustave Fould La Princesse de Bagdad Denise Francillon La Route de Thèbes Illegitimacy in fiction Legitimacy Maurois, the Titans, a three-generation biography of the Dumas. New York, Harper & Brothers Publishers, a Critical Edition of the Manuscripts of La Route de Thebes by Alexandre Dumas fils
Alexandre Dumas, fils
–
Alexandre Dumas (fils) in his later years
Alexandre Dumas, fils
–
Alexandre Dumas (fils), in his youth
Alexandre Dumas, fils
–
Bust of Alexander Dumas Fils, by the sculptor
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux,
Orsay Museum
Alexandre Dumas, fils
–
Tomb,
Montmartre Cemetery
6.
Teatro La Fenice
–
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre, however, the third fire was the result of arson. It destroyed the house in 1996 leaving only the exterior walls, in 1774, the Teatro San Benedetto, which had been Venices leading opera house for more than forty years, burned to the ground. By 1789, with interest from a number of opera lovers who wanted a spectacular new house. The house would face on one side a campo, or small plaza, however, the process was not without controversy especially in regard to the aesthetics of the building. Some thirty responses were received and, as Romanelli accounts, Selvas was designated as the design to be constructed, the actual award for best design went to his chief rival, Pietro Bianchi. However, Selvas design and finished opera house appears to have been of high quality, construction began in June 1790, and by May 1792 the theatre was completed. It was named La Fenice, in reference to the survival, first of the fire. La Fenice was inaugurated on 16 May 1792, with an opera by Giovanni Paisiello entitled I giuochi dAgrigento set to a libretto by Alessandro Pepoli. But no sooner had the house been rebuilt than a legal dispute broke out between the company managing it and the owners, the Venier family. The issue was decided in favor of the Veniers, at the beginning of the 19th century, La Fenice acquired a European reputation. Rossini mounted two major productions there, Tancredi in 1813 and Semiramide in 1823, two of Bellinis operas were given their premieres there, I Capuleti e i Montecchi in March 1830 and Beatrice di Tenda in March 1833. Donizetti, fresh from his triumphs at La Scala in Milan and at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, returned to Venice in 1836 with his Belisario, in December 1836, disaster struck again when the theatre was destroyed by fire. However, it was rebuilt with a design provided by the architect-engineer team of the brothers, Tommaso. The interior displays a late-Empire luxury of gilt decorations, plushy extravagance, La Fenice once again rose from its ashes to open its doors on the evening of 26 December 1837. Giuseppe Verdis association with La Fenice began in 1844, with the performance of Ernani during the carnival season. Over the next 13 years, the premieres of Attila, Rigoletto, La traviata, during the First World War, La Fenice was closed, but it reopened to become the scene of much activity, attracting many of the worlds greatest singers and conductors. On 29 January 1996, La Fenice was completely destroyed by fire, only its acoustics were preserved, since Lamberto Tronchin, an Italian acoustician, had measured the acoustics two months earlier
Teatro La Fenice
–
Emblem hanging in the entrance to the opera house
Teatro La Fenice
–
Facade of La Fenice in 2007
Teatro La Fenice
–
Interior of first theatre, 1829
Teatro La Fenice
–
Interior of La Fenice in 1837
7.
Libretto
–
A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata. Libretto, from Italian, is the diminutive of the word libro, sometimes other language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, livret for French works and Textbuch for German. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. The relationship of the librettist to the composer in the creation of a work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources. In the context of a modern English language musical theatre piece, Libretti for operas, oratorios and cantatas in the 17th and 18th centuries generally were written by someone other than the composer, often a well-known poet. Metastasio was one of the most highly regarded librettists in Europe and his libretti were set many times by many different composers. Another noted 18th-century librettist was Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libretti for three of Mozarts greatest operas, as well as for other composers. Eugène Scribe was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, providing the words for works by Meyerbeer, Auber, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. The French writers duo Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote a number of opera and operetta libretti for the likes of Jacques Offenbach, Jules Massenet. Arrigo Boito, who wrote libretti for, among others, Giuseppe Verdi and Amilcare Ponchielli, the libretto is not always written before the music. Some composers wrote their own libretti, Richard Wagner is perhaps most famous in this regard, with his transformations of Germanic legends and events into epic subjects for his operas and music dramas. Hector Berlioz, too, wrote the libretti for two of his works, La Damnation de Faust and Les Troyens. Alban Berg adapted Georg Büchners play Woyzeck for the libretto of Wozzeck, sometimes the libretto is written in close collaboration with the composer, this can involve adaptation, as was the case with Rimsky-Korsakov and his librettist Belsky, or an entirely original work. In the case of musicals, the music, the lyrics, thus, a musical such as Fiddler on the Roof has a composer, a lyricist and the writer of the book. In rare cases, the composer writes everything except the dance arrangements - music, lyrics and libretto, Other matters in the process of developing a libretto parallel those of spoken dramas for stage or screen. A famous case of the latter is Wagners 1861 revision of the original 1845 Dresden version of his opera Tannhäuser for Paris, since the late 19th century some opera composers have written music to prose or free verse libretti. The libretto of a musical, on the hand, is almost always written in prose
Libretto
–
Cover of a 1921 libretto for Giordano's
Andrea Chénier
Libretto
–
The composer of
Cavalleria rusticana,
Pietro Mascagni, flanked by his librettists,
Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and
Guido Menasci.
Libretto
–
Pages from an 1859 libretto for
Ernani, with the original Italian lyrics, English translation and musical notation for one of the arias.
Libretto
–
Henry Purcell (1659–1695) whose operas were written to English libretti.
8.
La Fenice
–
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre, however, the third fire was the result of arson. It destroyed the house in 1996 leaving only the exterior walls, in 1774, the Teatro San Benedetto, which had been Venices leading opera house for more than forty years, burned to the ground. By 1789, with interest from a number of opera lovers who wanted a spectacular new house. The house would face on one side a campo, or small plaza, however, the process was not without controversy especially in regard to the aesthetics of the building. Some thirty responses were received and, as Romanelli accounts, Selvas was designated as the design to be constructed, the actual award for best design went to his chief rival, Pietro Bianchi. However, Selvas design and finished opera house appears to have been of high quality, construction began in June 1790, and by May 1792 the theatre was completed. It was named La Fenice, in reference to the survival, first of the fire. La Fenice was inaugurated on 16 May 1792, with an opera by Giovanni Paisiello entitled I giuochi dAgrigento set to a libretto by Alessandro Pepoli. But no sooner had the house been rebuilt than a legal dispute broke out between the company managing it and the owners, the Venier family. The issue was decided in favor of the Veniers, at the beginning of the 19th century, La Fenice acquired a European reputation. Rossini mounted two major productions there, Tancredi in 1813 and Semiramide in 1823, two of Bellinis operas were given their premieres there, I Capuleti e i Montecchi in March 1830 and Beatrice di Tenda in March 1833. Donizetti, fresh from his triumphs at La Scala in Milan and at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, returned to Venice in 1836 with his Belisario, in December 1836, disaster struck again when the theatre was destroyed by fire. However, it was rebuilt with a design provided by the architect-engineer team of the brothers, Tommaso. The interior displays a late-Empire luxury of gilt decorations, plushy extravagance, La Fenice once again rose from its ashes to open its doors on the evening of 26 December 1837. Giuseppe Verdis association with La Fenice began in 1844, with the performance of Ernani during the carnival season. Over the next 13 years, the premieres of Attila, Rigoletto, La traviata, during the First World War, La Fenice was closed, but it reopened to become the scene of much activity, attracting many of the worlds greatest singers and conductors. On 29 January 1996, La Fenice was completely destroyed by fire, only its acoustics were preserved, since Lamberto Tronchin, an Italian acoustician, had measured the acoustics two months earlier
La Fenice
–
Emblem hanging in the entrance to the opera house
La Fenice
–
Facade of La Fenice in 2007
La Fenice
–
Interior of first theatre, 1829
La Fenice
–
Interior of La Fenice in 1837
9.
Salvadore Cammarano
–
Salvadore Cammarano was a prolific Italian librettist and playwright perhaps best known for writing the text of Lucia di Lammermoor for Gaetano Donizetti. For Verdi he wrote Alzira, La battaglia di Legnano and Luisa Miller, Cammarano also started work on libretto for a proposed adaptation of William Shakespeares play King Lear, named Re Lear, but he died before completing it, a detailed scenario survives. His father, Giuseppe, was a painter and set-designer and his son, Michele, was also a painter. Warrack, John and Ewan West, The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, Oxford University Press,1992 ISBN 0-19-869164-5 Opera at Stanford University
Salvadore Cammarano
–
Salvadore Cammarano
10.
Il trovatore
–
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. The premiere took place at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 19 January 1853, where it began a victorious march throughout the operatic world and it began with his January 1850 approach to Cammarano with the idea of Il trovatore. These revisions are seen largely in the expansion of the role of Leonora, Then, in May 1851, an additional commission was offered by the Venice company after Rigolettos success there. Then another came from Paris while he was visiting that city from late 1851, today, in its Italian version, Trovatore is given very frequently and is a staple of the standard operatic repertoire. When considering setting Gutiérrezs play, Verdi turned to work with Cammarano and their correspondence began as early as January 1850, well before Verdi had done anything to develop a libretto with Piave for what later became Rigoletto in Venice. At this time, it was also the first since Oberto that the composer was beginning to prepare an opera with a librettist, in his first letter to Cammarano, Verdi proposed El Trovador as the subject with two feminine roles. The first, the gypsy, a woman of character after whom I want to name the opera. Relationship with Cammarano Verdis time and energy were spent mostly on finishing Rigoletto, within a matter of weeks, Verdi was expressing his frustration to a mutual friend, de Sanctis, at having no communication from Cammarano. These included Leonora taking the veil and also the importance of the Azucena/Manrico relationship and he continued by asking whether the librettist liked the drama and emphasized that the more unusual and bizarre the better. Verdi also plainly states that if there were no standard forms – cavatinas, duets, trios, choruses, finales, etc. and if you could avoid beginning with an opening chorus. Correspondence continued between the two men for the two months or so, including another letter from the composer of 9 April which included three pages of suggestions. But he also made concessions and expresses his happiness in what he is receiving in the way of verse, during the period to follow, in spite of his preoccupations but especially after he had begun to overcome them, Verdi had kept in touch with the librettist. In a letter around the time of his departure for France, he wrote encouragingly to Cammarano. Preoccupations and delays in 1851–1852 There then arose the question of where the opera would eventually be presented, Verdi had turned down an offer from Naples, but became concerned about the availability of his preferred Azucena, Rita Gabussi-De Bassini. She turned out not to be on the Naples roster, including work on Trovatore, other projects consumed him, but a significant event occurred in February, when the couple attended a performance of Alexander Dumas filss The Lady of the Camellias. The couple returned to SantAgata by mid-March 1852 and Verdi immediately began work on Trovatore after a years delay. Death of Cammarano and work with Bardare Then, in July 1852, by way of an announcement in a theatrical journal and this was both a professional and a personal blow. The composer learned that Cammarano had completed Manricos third-act aria, Di quella pira just eight days before his death, leone Emanuele Bardare was a young poet from Naples who was beginning his career, eventually he wrote more than 15 librettos before 1880
Il trovatore
–
Anna Netrebko (detail) as Leonora at the
Salzburg Festival 2014
Il trovatore
–
Librettist Salvadore Cammarano
Il trovatore
–
tenor Carlo Baucardé, sang Manrico
Il trovatore
–
Mezzo Emilia Goggi, sang Azucena
11.
Rigoletto
–
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi samuse by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time and it is considered by many to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdis middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his court jester Rigoletto. The operas original title, La maledizione, refers to the placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter had been seduced by the Duke with Rigolettos encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda likewise falls in love with the Duke, Verdi was commissioned to write a new opera by the La Fenice opera house in Venice in 1850. By this time he was already a composer and had a degree of freedom in choosing the works he would prefer to set to music. He then asked Francesco Maria Piave to examine the play Kean by Alexandre Dumas, père, Verdi soon stumbled upon Victor Hugos five-act play Le roi samuse. He later explained that The subject is grand, immense, and there is a character that is one of the greatest creations that the theatre can boast of, in any country and in all history. It was a controversial subject, and Hugo himself had already had trouble with censorship in France. As Austria at that time controlled much of Northern Italy. Hugos play depicted a king as an immoral and cynical womanizer, from the beginning, Verdi was aware of the risks, as was Piave. In a letter which Verdi wrote to Piave, Use four legs, run through the town, correspondence between a prudent Piave and an already committed Verdi followed, but the two underestimated the power and the intentions of Austrians and remained at risk. Even the friendly Guglielmo Brenna, secretary of La Fenice, who had promised them that they would not have problems with the censors, was wrong, at the beginning of the summer of 1850, rumours started to spread that Austrian censorship was going to forbid the production. The censors considered the Hugo work to verge on lèse majesté, in August, Verdi and Piave prudently retired to Busseto, Verdis hometown, to continue the composition and prepare a defensive scheme. They wrote to the theatre, assuring them that the doubts about the morality of the work were not justified but since very little time was left. Verdi was completely against this solution and preferred instead to have direct negotiations with censors, arguing over each. At this point, Brenna, La Fenices secretary, showed the Austrians some letters and articles depicting the bad character but the value of the artist
Rigoletto
–
Set design by Philippe Chaperon.
Rigoletto
–
Francesco Maria Piave, the librettist of Rigoletto
Rigoletto
–
La Fenice 's poster for the world premiere of Rigoletto
Rigoletto
–
Felice Varesi, the first Rigoletto
12.
Giuseppina Strepponi
–
Clelia Maria Josepha Strepponi was a nineteenth-century Italian operatic soprano of great renown and the second wife of composer Giuseppe Verdi. She is often credited with having contributed to Verdis first successes, starring in a number of his early operas, donizetti wrote the title role of his opera Adelia specifically for Strepponi. Strepponi was born in the city of Lodi in the Lombard region of Italy. Her first lessons in music were with her father who focused mainly on teaching her to play the piano, Strepponi made her professional opera début in December 1834 as Adria in Luigi Riccis Chiara di Rosembergh at the Teatro Orfeo. She had her first major success during the spring at the Theatro Grande in Trieste singing the title role in Rossinis Matilde di Shabran. This success quickly led to engagements at major opera houses throughout Italy. Although she was talented, she never sang outside Italy after 1835. Strepponi became a celebrity among opera singers during the late 1830s, in 1836 she sang the roles of Ninetta in Rossinis La gazza ladra, Elvira in Bellinis I puritani, and the title role in Rossinis La Cenerentola at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In Spring 1837, she went under contract with Alessandro Lanari of Florence, then known as the king of impresarios, however, within a very short time, she found herself pregnant and had to sing through three pregnancies during the time with Lanari. That same year she reprised the role of Elvira and portrayed the roles of Elena in Donizettis Marino Faliero and the title role in Donizettis Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. In 1838 she sang the roles in Donizettis Maria di Rudenz, Bellinis Beatrice di Tenda. Strepponis performance was considered one of the strongest aspects of this production, however, the record of constant performances over several years has invited speculation about what that might have done to the quality of her voice in later years. Returning to Milan for rehearsals of Nabucco, she claimed that illness would prevent future performances in Vienna, the doctors conclusions would allow her to do that, but it took her more than a year to recover. Strepponi continued to remain a popular singer during the early 1840s. She notably sang the role in Donizettis Adelia in 1841 at the Teatro Apollo in Rome. This was followed by an acclaimed portrayal as Abigaille in the world premiere of Verdis Nabucco at La Scala in 1842. Also in 1843, she sang the roles of Elisabetta in Donizettis Roberto Devereux, other notable roles for Strepponi during the early 1840s included the title role in Bellinis Norma, the Marchesa del Poggio in Verdis Un giorno di regno, and the title role in Giovanni Pacinis Saffo. Her voice never recovered and she appeared only sporadically in operas until her retirement in February 1846
Giuseppina Strepponi
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Painting by Karoly Gyurkovich, c. 1860s.
Giuseppina Strepponi
–
Giuseppina Strepponi (c. 1845) (
Museo Teatrale alla Scala)
Giuseppina Strepponi
–
Baritone Giorgio Ronconi
Giuseppina Strepponi
–
Tenor Napoleone Moriani
13.
The Lady of the Camellias
–
La Dame aux Camélias is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848, and subsequently adapted for the stage. La Dame aux Camélias premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, the play was an instant success, and Giuseppe Verdi immediately set about putting the story to music. His work became the 1853 opera La Traviata, with the female protagonist, Marguerite Gautier, in the English-speaking world, La Dame aux Camélias became known as Camille and 16 versions have been performed at Broadway theatres alone. The title character is Marguerite Gautier, who is based on Marie Duplessis, Marguerite is nicknamed la dame aux camélias because she wears a red camellia when shes menstruating and unavailable for making love and a white camelia when she is available to her lovers. Armand falls in love with Marguerite and ultimately becomes her lover and he convinces her to leave her life as a courtesan and to live with him in the countryside. Up until Marguerites death, Armand believes that she him for another man. Marguerites death is described as an unending agony, during which Marguerite, abandoned by everyone, the story is narrated after Marguerites death by two male narrators, Armand and an unnamed frame narrator. Some scholars believe that Marguerites illness and Duplessiss publicized cause of death, the novel is also marked by the description of Parisian life during the 19th century and the fragile world of the courtesan. Since its debut as a play, numerous editions have been performed at theatres around the world, bernhardt quickly became associated with the role after starring in Camellias in Paris, London, and several Broadway revivals, plus the 1911 film. Dancer/Impresario Ida Rubinstein successfully recreated Bernhardts interpretation of the role onstage in the mid-1920s and it is also the inspiration for the 2008 musical Marguerite, which places the story in 1944 German-occupied France. In addition to inspiring La Traviata, La Dame aux Camélias has been adapted for approximately twenty different motion pictures in numerous countries, there have been at least eight adaptations of La Dame aux Camélias entitled Camille. In addition to the Camille films, the story has been the adapted into numerous other versions, Kameliadamen. Kameliadamen was a 1907 Danish silent film directed by Viggo Larsen and starring Oda Alstrup, Larsen, Gustave Lund, La Dame aux Camélias, a 1911 French language silent film, directed by André Calmettes and Henri Pouctal. La Signora delle Camelie, a 1915 Italian language silent film and it was directed by Baldassarre Negroni. It stars Hesperia, Alberto Collo and Ida Carloni Talli, La Signora delle Camelie, a 1915 Italian language silent film. It was directed by Gustavo Serena and it stars Francesca Bertini and Serena. Camille, a 1915 English language silent film that stars Clara Kimball Young, Camille, an English language silent film starring Theda Bara. Arme Violetta, a German language silent film starring Pola Negri, Camille, an English language silent film starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino, directed by Ray C
The Lady of the Camellias
–
Poster for a performance of the theatrical version, with
Sarah Bernhardt (1896)
The Lady of the Camellias
–
Illustration by
Albert Lynch
The Lady of the Camellias
–
Marie Duplessis
The Lady of the Camellias
–
Eleonora Duse as Marguerite Gautier in 1896
14.
Cardinal Richelieu
–
Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu and Fronsac, commonly referred to as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1616, Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIIIs chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642, he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, Cardinal de Richelieu was often known by the title of the kings Chief Minister or First Minister. He sought to consolidate power and crush domestic factions. By restraining the power of the nobility, he transformed France into a strong and his chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro-Spanish Habsburg dynasty, and to ensure French dominance in the Thirty Years War that engulfed Europe. Although he was a cardinal, he did not hesitate to make alliances with Protestant rulers in attempting to achieve his goals. While a powerful figure, events like the Day of the Dupes show that in fact he very much depended on the kings confidence to keep this power. As alumnus of the University of Paris and headmaster of the Collège de Sorbonne, Richelieu was also famous for his patronage of the arts, most notably, he founded the Académie Française, the learned society responsible for matters pertaining to the French language. Richelieu is also known by the sobriquet lÉminence rouge, from the red shade of a cardinals clerical dress and this in part allowed the colony to eventually develop into the heartland of Francophone culture in North America. He is also a character in The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Born in Paris, Armand du Plessis was the fourth of five children, at the age of nine, young Richelieu was sent to the College of Navarre in Paris to study philosophy. Thereafter, he began to train for a military career and his private life seems to have been typical of a young officer of the era, in 1605, aged twenty, he was treated by Théodore de Mayerne for gonorrhea. King Henry III had rewarded Richelieus father for his participation in the Wars of Religion by granting his family the bishopric of Luçon. The family appropriated most of the revenues of the bishopric for private use, they were, however, challenged by clergymen, to protect the important source of revenue, Richelieus mother proposed to make her second son, Alphonse, the bishop of Luçon. Alphonse, who had no desire to become a bishop, became instead a Carthusian monk, thus, it became necessary that the younger Richelieu join the clergy. He had strong interests, and threw himself into studying for his new post. In 1606 King Henry IV nominated Richelieu to become Bishop of Luçon, as Richelieu had not yet reached the canonical minimum age, it was necessary that he journey to Rome for a special dispensation from the Pope. This secured, Richelieu was consecrated bishop in April 1607, soon after he returned to his diocese in 1608, Richelieu was heralded as a reformer
Cardinal Richelieu
–
Portrait of Cardinal Richelieu, 1633–40,
Philippe de Champaigne,
National Gallery,
London
Cardinal Richelieu
–
The young King
Louis XIII was only a figurehead during his early reign; power actually rested with his mother,
Marie de Médicis.
Cardinal Richelieu
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Henri Motte 's depiction of Cardinal Richelieu at the
Siege of La Rochelle.
Cardinal Richelieu
–
Letter of Cardinal Richelieu to
Claude de Razilly asking him to do everything in his power to relieve
Ré Island in the
Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, July 1627.
15.
Fanny Salvini-Donatelli
–
Fanny Salvini-Donatelli was an Italian operatic soprano. She is best known today for creating the role of Violetta in Verdis opera, La traviata, Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, whose real name was Francesca Lucchi, was born in Florence to a prosperous family. Financial hardship following her fathers death led her to a career as an actress, in the early 1830s she became the second wife of the actor, Giuseppe Salvini. However, her marriage was a one, as was her relationship with her stepchildren. Following her desertion of the family in 1842, Giuseppe Salvini obtained a separation on the grounds of infidelity, while married to Salvini, she studied singing and made her operatic debut in 1839 at the Teatro Apollo in Venice as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. She also performed at La Scala, the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, outside Italy, she sang in Paris, Barcelona, Vienna, and London. She was generally thought to have retired from the stage in 1860, however, she is reported as singing at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1877. Fanny Salvini-Donatelli died in Milan in June 1891, Verdi himself described the 1853 premiere of La traviata as a fiasco. Salvatini-Donatelli was 38 years old at the time and quite stout and her physical unsuitability for playing a beautiful young woman wasting away from tuberculosis is often cited as one of the reasons for the operas initial failure. His request for a change was unsuccessful. Whatever the audience may have thought of Fanny Salvini-Donatellis physical appearance, contemporary accounts show that her first act aria, Sempre libera, received great applause. The critic in La Gazzetta di Venezia wrote the day, Salvini-Donatelli sang those coloratura passages, of which the maestro wrote so many, with an indescribable skill. The failure of the night performance was only relative. Things only started derailing in the act, especially the singing of the baritone. La traviata also did well at the box office. It ran for ten performances at La Fenice that season, with an average evening profit more than double that of Verdis other two operas in the repertory there, Ernani and Il Corsaro. In any case, a year later it was mounted again at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice to a triumphant reception. On that occasion, the role of Violetta was taken by Maria Spezia who was thirteen years younger, the first night problems do not appear to have dissuaded Salvini-Donatelli from essaying the role again
Fanny Salvini-Donatelli
–
Portrait of Fanny Salvini-Donatelli from the
Teatro La Fenice archives
Fanny Salvini-Donatelli
–
The
Theater am Kärntnertor where Salvini-Donatelli made her Vienna debut in 1843 as Abigaille in Verdi's
Nabucco
Fanny Salvini-Donatelli
–
Violetta's costume designed by Giuseppe Bertoja for the premiere of La traviata
16.
Stiffelio
–
Stiffelio is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, from an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. The origin of this was the novel “Le pasteur d’hommes”, by Émile Souvestre and this was adapted into the French play Le pasteur, ou Lévangile et le foyer by Émile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois. That was in turn translated into Italian by Gaetano Vestri as Stifellius, Verdis experience in Naples for Luisa Miller had not been a good one and he returned home to Busseto to consider the subject for his next opera. The idea for Stiffelio came from his librettist and, entering into a contract with his publisher, Ricordi, he agreed to proceed, leaving the decision as to the location of the premiere to Ricordi. This became the Teatro Grande in Trieste and, in spite of difficulties with the censors which resulted in cuts and changes, however, by June 1850 it became clear that the subject was beyond Cammaranos ability to fashion into a libretto, and so it was abandoned. However, the commitment to Ricordi remained, Verdi had returned to Busseto with many ideas in mind, among them a new opera for Venice, which included a request for a draft scenario from Piave based on Victor Hugos Le roi samuse. Plus several others of interest to him, however, it was the librettist who came back with the suggestion of Stifellius, and between March and May 1850 discussions with Piave proceeded until a sketch of Stiffelio was received. Verdi responded enthusiastically, proclaiming it good and exciting and asking, in all the history Ive read, I dont remember coming across the name. Reactions to the choice of subject and how it worked as a libretto, the tendency of its most powerful moments to avoid or radically manipulate traditional structures has been much praised. Budden basically agrees, stating that was tired of stock subjects, he wanted something with genuinely human, as distinct from melodramatic, interest. Stiffelio had the attraction of being a play with a core of moral sensibility, the same attraction, in fact. As Stiffelio moved towards completion, Ricordi decided that it should be performed in Trieste, a married priest was a contradiction in terms. Therefore there was no question of a church in the final scene, the changes which were demanded included Stiffelio being referred to not as a minister, but as a sectarian. Both men were forced to agree to accept the changes. The story of shocked conservative post-Revolutionary Italian religious and political powers, from its very premiere at Trieste in November 1850, its text was diluted to appease the authorities, making a mockery of the action and thus of Verdis carefully calibrated music. The libretto was rewritten for subsequent revivals, and even some of Verdis music was dropped, hansells statement establishes what happened to Verdis opera in the years between the 1850 premiere and October 1993. To begin with, a version of the opera, entitled Guglielmo Wellingrode, was presented in 1851. In fact, when asked by impresario Alessandro Linari in 1852 to create a suitable ending, Verdi was furious
Stiffelio
–
Lars Cleveman as Stiffelio and Lena Nordin as Lina, Königliche Oper, Stockholm 2011
Stiffelio
–
Baritone Filippo Colini sang Stankar
Stiffelio
–
Original poster for Stiffelio, 1850
Stiffelio
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Scene from act 2 of Stiffelio: the confrontation with Raffaele
17.
Baritone
–
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice types. It is the most common male voice, the baritone voice type is generally divided into the baryton-Martin baritone, lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone. The first use of the term baritone emerged as baritonans, late in the 15th century, at this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices, but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the average male choral voice. Baritones took roughly the range as it is today at the beginning of the 18th century. Indeed, many works of the 18th century have roles marked as bass that in reality are low baritone roles. Examples of this are to be found, for instance, in the operas, the greatest and most enduring parts for baritones in 18th-century operatic music were composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They include Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Papageno in The Magic Flute and these included the likes of Filippo Galli, Giovanni Inchindi, and Henri-Bernard Dabadie. The basse-taille and the bass were commonly confused because their roles were sometimes sung by singers of either actual voice part. The bel canto style of vocalism which arose in Italy in the early 19th century supplanted the castrato-dominated opera seria of the previous century and it led to the baritone being viewed as a separate voice category from the bass. More often than not, however, baritones found themselves portraying villains, the principal composers of bel canto opera are considered to be, Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and the young Giuseppe Verdi. Figaro in Il barbiere is often called the first true baritone role, however, Donizetti and Verdi in their vocal writing went on to emphasize the top fifth of the baritone voice, rather than its lower notes—thus generating a more brilliant sound. The major international baritone of the first half of the 19th century was the Italian Antonio Tamburini and he was a famous Don Giovanni in Mozarts eponymous opera as well as being a Bellini and Donizetti specialist. Commentators praised his voice for its beauty, flexibility and smooth tonal emission, Tamburinis range, however, was probably closer to that of a bass-baritone than to that of a modern Verdi baritone. His French equivalent was Henri-Bernard Dabadie, who was a mainstay of the Paris Opera between 1819 and 1836 and the creator of several major Rossinian baritone roles, including Guillaume Tell. Dabadie sang in Italy, too, where he originated the role of Belcore in Lelisir damore in 1832, the most important of Tamburinis Italianate successors were all Verdians. In France, Paul Barroilhet succeeded Dabadie as the Paris operas best known baritone, like Dabadie, he also sang in Italy and created an important Donizetti role, in his case, Alphonse in La favorite. Antonio Pini-Corsi was the standout Italian buffo baritone in the period between about 1880 and World War I, reveling in comic roles by Rossini, Donizetti and Paer. In 1893, he created the part of Ford in Verdis last opera, notable among their contemporaries were the cultured and technically adroit French baritones Jean Lassalle, Victor Maurel, Paul Lhérie, and Maurice Renaud
Baritone
–
Baritone voice range (A2–A4) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4).
18.
Felice Varesi
–
Felice Varesi was a French-born Italian baritone with an illustrious singing career that began in the 1830s and extended into the 1860s. He is best remembered today for his association with several famous operas composed by Giuseppe Verdi. By 1841 he was singing at La Scala, Milan, and from 1842 to 1847 he was in demand in Vienna, here he created the role of Antonio in Donizettis Linda di Chamounix as well as appearing in other works by the same composer. In 1844 he sang the role of Don Carlo in Ernani at Padua, his initial Verdi opera, in 1847, in Florence, he was the first Macbeth in Verdis opera of that name. Then, in 1851 at La Fenice, Venice, he created Verdis Rigoletto and he came to London in 1864 to perform Rigoletto – probably his best known role – at Her Majestys Theatre. Varesi was admired for his intelligence, musicianship and acting ability as well for the quality of his voice. He set the scene for a generation of great Verdi baritones that included Francesco Graziani, Leone Giraldoni and Antonio Cotogni. He was married to the operatic soprano Cecilia Boccabadatti Gazzudo and their daughter, Elena, also sang as a soprano, opening a singing school in Chicago following her retirement from the stage. Forbes, Elizabeth, Varesi, Felice in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, harold Rosenthal and John Warrack, Varesi, Felice in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera ISBN 0-19-311321-X
Felice Varesi
–
Felice Varesi, lithograph by
Josef Kriehuber, 1843
19.
Tenor
–
Tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is one of the highest of the male voice types. The tenors vocal range lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, and A4, the A above middle C, in solo work, this range extends up to C5, or tenor high C. The low extreme for tenors is roughly A♭2, at the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to two Fs above middle C. The tenor voice type is divided into the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor. The name tenor derives from the Latin word tenere, which means to hold, in medieval and Renaissance polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the tenor was the structurally fundamental voice, vocal or instrumental. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, until the late 16th century introduction of the contratenor singers, the tenor was usually the highest voice, assuming the role of providing a foundation. It was also in the 18th century that tenor came to signify the male voice that sang such parts, thus, for earlier repertoire, a line marked tenor indicated the parts role, and not the required voice type. Indeed, even as late as the century, partbooks labelled tenor might contain parts for a range of voice types. The vocal range of the tenor is one of the highest of the voice types. Within opera, the lowest note in the tenor repertoire is probably A♭2 in Rossinis rarely performed La donna del lago in the role of Rodrigo di Dhu. Within more frequently performed repertoire, Mime and Herod both call for an A2, a few tenor roles in the standard repertoire call for a tenor C. Some of the few top Cs in the operatic repertoire are either optional or interpolated by tradition. However, the highest demanded note in the standard operatic repertoire is D5. Some operatic roles for tenors require a darker timbre and fewer high notes, in the leggero repertoire, the highest note is F5, therefore, very few tenors can, given the raising of concert pitch since its composition, have this role in their repertoire without transposition. Within the tenor voice type category are seven generally recognized subcategories, leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, Mozart tenor, Also known as the tenore di grazia, the leggero tenor is essentially the male equivalent of a lyric coloratura. This voice is light, agile, and capable of executing difficult passages of fioritura, the typical leggero tenor possesses a range spanning from approximately C3 to E♭5, with a few being able to sing up to F5 or higher in full voice. In some cases, the chest register of the leggero tenor may extend below C3, voices of this type are utilized frequently in the operas of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and in music dating from the Baroque period. Leggero tenor roles in operas, The lyric tenor is a warm voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy
Tenor
–
Tenor voice range (C3–C5) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4).
20.
Lodovico Graziani
–
Lodovico Graziani was an Italian operatic tenor. According to John Warrack and Ewan West, writing in The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, His voice was clear and vibrant and he is now mainly remembered for having created the role of Alfredo Germont in the world premiere of Giuseppe Verdis La traviata in 1853. Graziani was born in Fermo, Italy, into a musical family, lodovico studied with Cellini and made his debut in 1845 in Bologna in Carlo Cambiaggios Don Procopio. In 1846 he was heard at the Regio Teatro degli Avvalorati in Livorno as Elvino in Vincenzo Bellinis La sonnambula and he made his debut at La Scala on 14 August 1847 in the title role of Gaetano Donizettis Dom Sébastien. In 1851, at the Théâtre-Italiens Salle Ventadour in Paris, Graziani sang Gennaro in Donizettis Lucrezia Borgia with Marianna Barbieri-Nini in the title role, in his second season there, on 6 March 1853, he created the role of Alfredo in Verdis La traviata. Graziani had not been well — one performance was cancelled because of his indisposition, later in his career, in other Verdi roles, Graziani was more successful. Graziani returned to the Théâtre-Italien for the 1854–1855 season to sing Manrico in Verdis Il trovatore, the performances, which introduced the opera to Paris beginning on 23 December 1854, were successful. Graziani returned to La Scala in 1855 in Giuseppe Apollonis Lebreo, other Verdi roles at La Scala included the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and Enrico in Giovanna de Guzman. Lodovico Grazianis three brothers who became professional singers were, Giuseppe, a bass, Francesco, a baritone, from Il Trovatore to La Forza del destino. Meyerbeer, Giacomo, Letellier, Robert Ignatius, editor, the Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer,3. Madison, New Jersey, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, the New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Sadie, Stanley, editor, John Tyrell, executive editor, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press
Lodovico Graziani
–
Lodovico Graziani circa 1845
21.
Emanuele Muzio
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Donnino Emanuele Muzio was an Italian composer, conductor and vocal teacher. He was a friend and the only student of Giuseppe Verdi. In April 1844, Verdi took on Muzio, eight years his junior, as a pupil and he had known him since about 1828 as a protégé of his own supporter, Antonio Barezzi. Muzio, who in fact was Verdis only pupil, became indispensable to the composer and he reported to Barezzi that Verdi has a breadth of spirit, of generosity, a wisdom. The relationship was to grow stronger, and Muzio remained a lifelong friend, in November 1846, Muzio wrote of Verdi, If you could see us, I seem more like a friend, rather than his pupil. We are always together at dinner, in the cafes, when we play cards. All in all, he doesnt go anywhere without me at his side, in the house we have a big table and he was chosen by Verdi as one of the executors of his will, but predeceased the composer in 1890. Muzio was conductor of the Italian Opera in Brussels in 1852 as well as conducting in London, in 1875, he settled in Paris as a vocal teacher. His students include Carlotta Patti and Clara Louise Kellogg, lallievo di Verdi, Emanuele Muzio by Gaspare Nello Vetro Free scores by Emanuele Muzio at the International Music Score Library Project
Emanuele Muzio
–
Emanuele Muzio, portrait by
Giovanni Boldini
Emanuele Muzio
–
Emanuele Muzio—Verdi's pupil
22.
Josef Kriehuber
–
Josef Kriehuber was an Austrian lithographer and painter. He made numerous portraits for nobility and government officials, Josef Kriehuber left more than 3000 lithographs, with portraits of many people. Josef Kriehuber was born in Vienna, Austria on 14 December 1800 and he was first trained by his brother Johann Kriehuber, then studied at the Vienna Academy under Hubert Maurer, then moved to Galicia, where he devoted himself to horse painting. He worked as a lithographer for several Viennese publishing houses, with nearly 3,000 works, Josef Kriehuber was the most important portrait lithographer of the Viennese Biedermeier period. Kriehuber is also noted for his studies of the Prater park and he taught at the Vienna Theresianum academy. Kriehuber was only 13 years old when he went to the art-class in the Imperial Academy in Vienna, in 1818, he accompanied the prince Sanguszko as a drawing-master to Poland. In 1821 he returned to Vienna, to earn himself money for the course at the academy, and for the cost of living, he became one of the most industrious lithographic employees of the publishing company Trentsensky. In 1826, his first portraits using the new printing technique of lithography appear, in the next few decades, Kriehuber becomes the most sought-after and best-paid portraitist of Biedermeier Vienna. His success probably stems from the fact that he is a master of portraying men as more distinguished and his works, an image of the Viennese society of this epoch, include nearly 3000 portrait-lithographs, along with a few hundred water-colours. There are but few persons of that time who did not have their portrait made by Kriehuber. In 1860 he was hailed as first artist awarded the Franz Joseph Order in Austria, with the advances of photography, however, commissions fell off, Kriehubers last years were overshadowed by poverty. He died on 30 May 1876, in his city of Vienna. His final resting place, now a grave, is in Viennas Zentralfriedhof. Significant collections of his works are in the Albertina, and in the collection of the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Since 1889 a street in Vienna-Margareten, has named after Kriehuber. AEIOU Encyclopedia, Kriehuber, Josef,2008, webpge, AEIOU-Encyclopedia-496-Kriehuber, wolfgang von Wurzbach, Catalog of the Portrait-Lithograhs of Josef Kriehuber. Vienna, Walter Krieg Verlag,1958 Selma Krasa, Josef Kriehuber 1800–1876, – Vienna, Edition Christian Brandstätter,1987 Joseph Kriehuber. In Constantin von Wurzbach, Biographical Lexicon of the Kaiserthums Austria, ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexicon of the Image Artist from the Antique until the Gegenwart, Bd
Josef Kriehuber
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Self-portrait of Josef Kriehuber, Lithography, 1860
Josef Kriehuber
–
Robert Schumann,
Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, in 1839
Josef Kriehuber
–
Monument at the Wiener
Zentralfriedhof cemetery.
23.
Teatro San Benedetto
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The Teatro San Benedetto was a theatre in Venice, particularly prominent in the operatic life of the city in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It saw the premieres of over 140 operas, including Rossinis Litaliana in Algeri, the small, elegant theatre was first constructed by Michele Grimani on land owned by the Venier family. It was inaugurated on 26 December 1755 with a performance of Gioacchino Cocchis opera Zoe, in 1766 the ownership of the San Benedetto passed from Grimani to a consortium of patrician families in Venice who had been box holders at the theatre. The original design of the theatre was circular, however it was rebuilt in the traditional horseshoe shape following a fire in 1773. In 1786 the owners consortium had to cede the theatre to the Venier family following a lawsuit, the theatre then became the Teatro Venier. In 1810, the passed to the impresario Giovanni Gallo. In 1937 the building was remodelled as a movie theater. The cinema was closed in 2007 and will undergo restoration in 2010 in a project financed by the City of Venice, biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, Luoghi di rappresentazione, Venezia. Comune di Venezia, Ex Cinema Rossini, firmata la convenzione, ad aprile 2010 avvio dei lavori, feldman, Martha, Opera and sovereignty, transforming myths in eighteenth-century Italy, University of Chicago Press,2007, p.390. ISBN 0-226-24113-0 Talbot, Michael, Grimani, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd Edition,2001
Teatro San Benedetto
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Set design by Francesco Bagnara for the production of
L'italiana in Algeri at the Teatro San Benedetto in 1826
24.
Teatro Real
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Teatro Real or simply El Real, as it is known colloquially, is a major opera house located in Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 and inaugurated on 19 November 1850, it closed in 1925, the theater also offers guided tours in several languages, including the auditorium, stage, workshops and rehearsal rooms. In 1863, Giuseppe Verdi visited the theatre for the Spanish premiere of his La Forza del Destino, in 1925, the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev performed in the theatre with the presence of Nijinsky and Stravinsky). The theatre reopened in 1966 as a hall as well as the main concert venue for the Spanish National Orchestra. The reopening was celebrated with a concert of the Spanish National Orchestra conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, in 1969, the 14th Eurovision Song Contest was held at the theatre, featuring an onstage metal sculpture created by surrealist Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. In the 1990s, the house was remodeled to host opera again, the building was completed in late 1995, then the process of technical, administrative, artistic and functional organization began which led to the opening of the theatre in 1997. The remodeling was based on the old style of opera house with only basic modernization leaving many seats without a view of the stage. The company staged the first modern revival of Vicente Martín y Solers Il burbero di buon cuore in 2007, the theatre stages around seventeen opera titles per year, as well as two or three major ballets and several recitals. The most popular operas at the Teatro Real have included Verdis Rigoletto, followed by Aida with 361, donizettis Lucrezia Borgia has been given some 218 performances since its debut in the house in 1919. The Teatro Real has been celebrating its bicentenary with a programme beginning in 2016. One of the operas featured was Bellinis I Puritani, a co-production with the Teatro Municipal of Santiago, a performance of this work was streamed in July 2016 via the Teatro Reals Facebook page, an example of the theatre extending its reach by digital services. The event was relayed to a number of venues and was a national trending topic on Twitter. The orchestra of the Teatro Real is the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, the current artistic manager is Joan Matabosch, former director of Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. The Opera House offers daily different types of guided tours, lasting between 50 and 90 minutes and given in various languages and this gives the public the opportunity to learn about the building, including the stage area, the workshops and the rehearsal spaces. Teatro Real official web site Teatro Real at Google Cultural Institute
Teatro Real
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Teatro Real de Madrid
Teatro Real
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the royal box of the theatre.
25.
Gran Teatre del Liceu
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The Gran Teatre del Liceu, or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The Liceu opened on 4 April 1847, in 1837, the Liceo Filodramático de Montesión was founded in Barcelona to promote musical education and organize scenic representations of opera performed by Liceo students. A theater was built in the convent building — named Teatro de Montesión or Teatro del Liceo de Montesión — and plays and operas performed, the repertoire was Italian, the most performed composers being Donizetti and Mercadante as well as Bellini and Rossini. The Barcelona premiere of Hérolds Zampa was held here, in 1838 the society changed its name to Liceo Dramático Filarmónico de S. M. la Reina Isabel II. Lack of space, as well as brought to bear by a group of nuns. The last theatre performance was on 8 September, the Trinitarian convent building located in the centre of the town at la Rambla was purchased. The managers of the Liceu entrusted Joaquim de Gispert dAnglí with a project to make the construction of the new building viable, two different societies were created, a building society and an auxiliary building society. Shareholders of the society obtained the right of use in perpetuity of some theatre boxes. Those of the society contributed the rest of the money necessary in exchange for property of other spaces in the building including some shops. This is reflected in the architecture, for example, there is no royal box. The queen did not contribute to the construction, and the name of the society was changed to Liceo Filarmónico Dramático, miquel Garriga i Roca was the architect contracted, construction began on 11 April 1845. The Theatre was inaugurated on 4 April 1847, the first complete opera, Donizettis Anna Bolena on 17 April. At this point Liceu was the biggest opera house in Europe with 3,500 seats. Other operas performed in the Liceu during the first year were, I due Foscari, Il bravo, Parisina dEste, Giovanna dArco, Leonora, Ernani, Norma, Linda di Chamounix and Il barbiere di Siviglia. The building was damaged by fire on 9 April 1861. From the old building only the façade, the entrance hall, on 7 November 1893, on the opening night of the season and during the second act of the opera Guillaume Tell by Rossini, two Orsini bombs were thrown into the stalls of the opera house. Only one of the bombs exploded, some twenty people were killed, the attack was the work of the anarchist Santiago Salvador and it deeply shocked Barcelona, becoming a symbol of the turbulent social unrest of the time. The Liceu reopened its doors on 18 January 1894, but the seats occupied by those killed by the bombs were not used for a number of years, the second bomb was put on display in the Van Gogh Museum in 2007 during an exhibit on Barcelona around 1900
Gran Teatre del Liceu
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Liceu façade (2006)
Gran Teatre del Liceu
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Interior of the Gran Teatre del Liceu after the 1999 rebuilding
Gran Teatre del Liceu
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View of the house from the stage, 1847
Gran Teatre del Liceu
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Explosion of Liceu of Barcelona by the anarchist Santiago Salvador in the cover of the newspaper Le Petit Journal, 1893
26.
Academy of Music (New York City)
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The Academy of Music was a New York City opera house, located on the northeast corner of East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. The 4, 000-seat hall opened on October 2,1854, the review in The New York Times declared it to be an acoustical triumph, but In every other aspect. The Academys opera season became the center of life for New Yorks elite. The Academy of Music has been described as the first successful dedicated opera house in the United States, by May 1853, the interior has been dismantled and the furnishings sold off, with the shell of the building sold to the Mercantile Library Association. The stages proscenium opening was 48 feet, with an additional 35 feet in the wings, the height of the proscenium opening was 30 feet. Its first opera season was from October through December 1854, the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company was engaged by US actor James Henry Hackett. The company performed Bellinis Norma for the inauguration of the theatre with Giulia Grisi in the title role, Maretzeks company performed an annual season at the Academy through 1878. His company was not the group active at the opera house as the theater during this time. Musicologist George Whitney Martin writes, New Yorks Academy of Music, from 1854 to 1883 the citys leading house for opera, because it was primarily a real estate venture run by a board of investors seeking the highest rent possible. The Academy hosted several American premieres, including Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, Aida, Lohengrin, Die Walkure, in 1860 it was the site of a reception for the Prince of Wales. These balls were covered by the press, which did little to dim the enthusiasm or ribald behavior of the participants, one reporter wrote that women were thrown in the air and then sexually assaulted amid the jeers and laughter of the other drunken wretches on the floor. Not a whisper of shame in the crowd and these spectacles grew in size over the following decades, in 1876, one such ball was attended by over 4000 people. Still, it was the season that made the Academy the mainstay of social life for New Yorks uppertens. This emblem of social prominence was passed down generation to generation. The Metropolitans new opera house at Broadway and 39th Street, twice the size of the Academy and it contained three tiers of elegant boxes to display the wealth of the citys new economic leaders. The new opera house was an instant success with New York society and music lovers alike, in 1888 the Academy began to offer vaudeville. From January 28 to March 1901, a revival of Clyde Fitchs play Barbara Frietchie appeared there, the venue was rented by labor organizations in the early 1900s and used to stage rallies. In 1926 it was demolished, along with its neighbor Tammany Hall, on the south side of 14th Street across from the site of the opera house, a movie theatre opened in 1927 which took the name the Academy of Music
Academy of Music (New York City)
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Academy of Music, New York, c.1909
Academy of Music (New York City)
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Hanukkah celebration by the
Young Men's Hebrew Association at the Academy of Music, December 16, 1880
27.
George Templeton Strong
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George Templeton Strong was an American lawyer and diarist. His 2, 250-page diary, discovered in the 1930s, provides a personal account of life in the 19th century. The historian Paula Baker described him as perhaps the equivalent of South Carolinas Mary Chesnut, quotable, opinionated. He received his education from Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School. In 1838 he graduated from Columbia College with high honors and served as president of the Philolexian Society and that same year he joined the law practice of his father that became Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Today it is the nations oldest operating law firm, on May 15,1848, Strong married Ellen Ruggles in Grace Church, New York. A gifted amateur singer, she was the daughter of Samuel B, in 1853, Strong was elected a trustee of Columbia College. Strong served for years as a vestryman at the prominent Episcopal Trinity Church. Strong helped found the United States Sanitary Commission, which helped ameliorate the sufferings of wounded soldiers during the American Civil War and he was also treasurer and member of its executive committee throughout the war. He also helped to start the Union League Club of New York, the organization provided a means to reconciling the whites and blacks of the South into the Republican Party. Strong funded a Union regiment during the war, and Ellen Strong served on a hospital ship and he avoided military service by simply taking advantage of that section of the Enrollment Act of 1863 allowing draftees to pay $300 to a substitute who served for them. Strongs 2, 250-page diary, now in the collections of the New-York Historical Society, beginning at the age of fifteen, Strong wrote almost every day of his life for nearly forty years. Excerpts from this diary are featured in Ken Burns 1990 documentary The Civil War and in Ric Burnss New York, extensive selections from the diary were published in four volumes in 1952, and remain of interest to historians of New York City, as well as to bibliographic collectors. The family was musical, and both Strong and his wife performed as amateurs and he served as President of the New York Philharmonic Society for several years. Their son, also named George Templeton Strong, became a noted Romantic composer and painter, although he had most of his career in Europe after moving to Switzerland in the late nineteenth century, the younger Strong is considered an American composer. Willis, George Templeton Strong, Americas Civil War, History 393, University of the South- Sewanee Mr. Lincoln, Review, Music of George Templeton Strong, Classical CD Review, December 2002 Civil War Draft Records, Exemptions and Enrollments George Templeton Strong. Guide to the Strong Family Papers, 1747-1940
George Templeton Strong
–
George Templeton Strong c. 1870
28.
Don Giovanni
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Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and it was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater, now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. Da Pontes libretto was billed as a dramma giocoso, a designation of its time that denotes a mixing of serious. Mozart entered the work into his catalogue as an opera buffa, although sometimes classified as comic, it blends comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements. A staple of the operatic repertoire, Don Giovanni for the five seasons 2011/12 through 2015/16 was ninth on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide. It has also proved a fruitful subject for writers and philosophers, the opera was commissioned as a result of the overwhelming success of Mozarts trip to Prague in January and February 1787. The subject matter may have chosen in consideration of the long history of Don Juan operas in Prague. For Bertati, the setting was Villena, Spain, whereas Da Pontes libretto only specifies a city in Spain, the score was completed on 28 or 29 October 1787 after Da Ponte was recalled to Vienna to work on another opera. Reports about the completion of the overture conflict, some say it was completed the day before the premiere. More likely it was completed the day before, in light of the fact that Mozart recorded the completion of the opera on 28 October. The score calls for double woodwinds, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, basso continuo for the recitatives, and the string section. The composer also specified occasional special musical effects, in act 2, Giovanni is seen to play the mandolin, accompanied by pizzicato strings. In the same act, two of the Commendatores interventions are accompanied by a chorale of oboes, clarinets, bassoons. The instrumentation and vocal writing are very reminiscent of Mozarts treatment of the voice of Neptune in Idomeneo, the opera was first performed on 29 October 1787 in Prague under its full title of Il Dissoluto Punito ossia il Don Giovanni – Dramma giocoso in due atti. The work was received, as was often true of Mozarts work in Prague. The Prager Oberpostamtzeitung reported, Connoisseurs and musicians say that Prague has never heard the like, the Provincialnachrichten of Vienna reported, Herr Mozart conducted in person and was welcomed joyously and jubilantly by the numerous gathering. Mozart also supervised the Vienna premiere of the work, which place on 7 May 1788. These cuts are very seldom performed in theatres or recordings, the operas final ensemble was generally omitted until the early 20th century, a tradition that apparently began very early on
Don Giovanni
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Portrait of
Francisco D'Andrade in the title role by
Max Slevogt, 1912
Don Giovanni
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Original playbill for the Vienna premiere of Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
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Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Don Giovanni,
Salzburg Festival 2014
Don Giovanni
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Luigi Bassi in the title role of Don Giovanni in 1787
29.
New York Post
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New York Post is an American daily newspaper, primarily distributed in New York City and its surrounding area. It is the 13th-oldest and seventh-most-widely circulated newspaper in the United States, established in 1801 by federalist and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, it became a respected broadsheet in the 19th century, under the name New York Evening Post. The modern version of the paper is published in tabloid format, in 1976, Rupert Murdoch bought Post for US$30.5 million. Since 1993, Post has been owned by News Corporation and its successor, News Corp and its editorial offices are located at 1211 Avenue of the Americas. New York Post, established on November 16,1801 as New-York Evening Post, the Hartford Courant, believed to be the oldest continuously published newspaper, was founded in 1764 as a semi-weekly paper, it did not begin publishing daily until 1836. The New Hampshire Gazette, which has trademarked its claim of being The Nations Oldest Newspaper, was founded in 1756, moreover, since the 1890s it has been published only for weekends. Post was founded by Alexander Hamilton with about US$10,000 from a group of investors in the autumn of 1801 as New-York Evening Post, the meeting at which Hamilton first recruited investors for the new paper took place in the then-country weekend villa that is now Gracie Mansion. Hamilton chose William Coleman as his first editor, the most famous 19th-century New-York Evening Post editor was the poet and abolitionist William Cullen Bryant. So well respected was New-York Evening Post under Bryants editorship, it received praise from the English philosopher John Stuart Mill, in the summer of 1829, Bryant invited William Leggett, the Locofoco Democrat, to write for the paper. There, in addition to literary and drama reviews, Leggett began to write political editorials, leggetts classical liberal philosophy entailed a fierce opposition to central banking, a support for voluntary labor unions, and a dedication to laissez-faire economics. He was a member of the Equal Rights Party, Leggett became a co-owner and editor at Post in 1831, eventually working as sole editor of the newspaper while Bryant traveled in Europe in 1834 through 1835. Another co-owner of the paper was John Bigelow, from 1849 to 1861, he was one of the editors and co-owners of New York Evening Post. In 1881 Henry Villard took control of New-York Evening Post, as well as The Nation, with this acquisition, the paper was managed by the triumvirate of Carl Schurz, Horace White, and Edwin L. Godkin. When Schurz left the paper in 1883, Godkin became editor-in-chief, White became editor-in-chief in 1899, and remained in that role until his retirement in 1903. Villard sold the paper in 1918, after allegations of pro-German sympathies during World War I hurt its circulation. The new owner was Thomas Lamont, a partner in the Wall Street firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. Conservative Cyrus H. K. Curtis—publisher of the Ladies Home Journal—purchased New-York Evening Post in 1924, in 1934, J. David Stern purchased the paper, changed its name to New York Post, and restored its broadsheet size and liberal perspective. In 1939, Dorothy Schiff purchased the paper and her husband, George Backer, was named editor and publisher
New York Post
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August 27, 2015 front page of the New York Post
New York Post
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Alexander Hamilton
New York Post
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William Cullen Bryant
New York Post
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One of the paper's most famous headlines, from the April 15, 1983 edition.
30.
Salle Ventadour
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When the Théâtre-Italien company went out of business in 1878, the theatre was converted to offices. The Opéra-Comique first performed at the Salle Ventadour on 20 April 1829, the opening night audience was a distinguished one and found the new theatre luxurious and comfortable. After 22 March 1832 the Opéra-Comique left the Salle Ventadour and moved to the Salle de la Bourse, the Salle Ventadour was reopened on 10 June 1834 as the Théâtre Nautique — nautique since some of the main attractions were works performed in a basin of water on the stage. The programs included the ballet-pantomime Les ondines, which was based on Fouqués novella Undine, about a water sprite who marries a knight in order to save her soul, and used music from E. T. A. These were interspersed with choruses by Carl Maria von Weber and others, the entracte was the overture to Webers opera Oberon. The reviews were not good, and the size of the audience decreased over time and he called the concoction La derniére heure dun condamné, and it used music by Cesare Pugni. The new piece was a pantomime, since Smithsons French was far from perfect, unfortunately, this new performance was not as favorably received. But apparently her performances were not enough to rescue the enterprise, the Salle Ventadour was used for a brief time by the Théâtre-Italien after the destruction of the companys previous home, the Salle Favart, by fire on 15 January 1838. Only one opera new to Paris was presented, Gaetano Donizettis Parisina, the company moved to the Odéon for three years before returning to the Salle Ventadour in 1841. Their aim was to bring together in one theatre the elitist, the new company opened on 8 November 1838 with the premiere of Hugos drama Ruy Blas with Frédérick Lemaître in the title role. Two new plays by Dumas were also presented, Bathilde and Lalchimiste, jolys venture was short-lived however, closing on 16 May 1841. After the Théâtre de la Renaissance closed in 1841 the theater was expanded to a capacity of 1,294 and was used by the Théâtre-Italien company from 2 October 1841 to 28 June 1878. Among the important singers appearing in Verdis operas were Giorgio Ronconi, Adelaide Borghi-Mamo, verdi is reported to have referred to the Salle Ventadour as his favorite opera house in Paris. Besides opera, the Salle Ventadour was also used for concerts. Giaocchino Rossinis Stabat Mater received its premiere there on 7 January 1842, Richard Wagner conducted three concerts devoted to his own music, including extracts from The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, and Lohengrin, on 25 January,1 and 8 February 1860. Verdi conducted the Paris premiere of his Requiem on 30 May 1876, the name Théâtre de la Renaissance was revived for the use of Carvalhos venture, in order to distinguish it from the Théâtre-Italien. Carvalho had overextended himself, however, and soon went bankrupt, the Théâtre-Italien also shared the theater with the Paris Opéra from 19 January to December 1874. Companies sharing the theatre usually performed on alternate nights, the libretto follows Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet more closely than that of the opera by Gounod, but Richard dIvrys opera suffered in comparison
Salle Ventadour
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The Salle Ventadour as an opera house in the mid 19th century.
Salle Ventadour
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A performance by the Théâtre-Italien at the Salle Ventadour (ca. 1843).
31.
Gilbert Duprez
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Gilbert Duprez was a French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer who famously pioneered the delivery of the operatic high C from the chest. He also created the role of Edgardo in the popular bel canto-era opera Lucia di Lammermoor in 1835, gilbert-Louis Duprez, to give his full name, was born in Paris. He studied singing, music theory, and composition with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and he worked in that theatre without much success until 1828, when he decided to try his luck in Italy. There, the scene was more active and developed. As a result, Duprez was able to immerse himself in work, beginning principally with tenore contraltino roles such as Idreno in Semiramide and Rodrigo in Otello and he appeared, too, as Gualtiero in Bellinis Il pirata. The latter role proved to be his first undisputed stage success, probably because it was free of elaborate coloratura passages and his Italian career then proceeded on a highly successful course. It embraced, among other things, two premieres of operas by Donizetti, namely, Parisina at Florence in 1832, and, more significantly, consequently, he obtained equal billing with Adolphe Nourrit as principal tenor of the theatre. Nourrit responded by leaving for Italy in emulation of his competitor, ironically the role of Poliuto, which Donizetti had written expressly for Nourrit in order to help him to maintain his exalted position, was to become associated in the publics mind with Duprez. His last public appearance was in 1851 in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Théâtre des Italiens and he then devoted himself to teaching, first at Pariss Conservatoire, and afterwards privately. His students included the celebrated French virtuoso bass Pol Plançon, whose voice is preserved on gramophone recordings made in 1902-1908, Duprez also devised a system of written exercises for singers and composed a few less than successful operettas. Duprez died at Poissy, near Paris, in 1896, one can differentiate two distinct phases in Duprezs artistic life. Initially, being equipped by nature with a clear but comparatively thin voice, so, when he first went to Italy, he naturally assumed equivalent tenore contraltino roles in operas written by Rossini. However, he failed to any great impression on Italian audiences with his Rossinian endeavours. While in Italy, he began by modelling himself on the bel-canto tenor Rubini, whose bravura vocalism was a byword for sweetness, soon, however, he found a new source of inspiration in the person of Domenico Donzelli, the then greatest living baritonal tenor. Donzelli possessed a robust voice and a deliberately darkened timbre, coupled with firmly accented diction, immense nobility of phrasing and a vibrant, intense method of acting. The merging of Rubini and Donzellis contrasting styles in Duprez, and the introduction of the famous high C from the chest, gave rise to a category of tenor. The dramatic tenor of the present day is a descendant in terms of range, tessitura. Duprez was a man and, regrettably, the chest high C was an element of his vocal mechanism which soon took a toll on his physical resources
Gilbert Duprez
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Gilbert Duprez
Gilbert Duprez
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With
Rosine Stoltz in
La favorite
Gilbert Duprez
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As Gaston in the première performance of
Giuseppe Verdi 's
Jérusalem.
Gilbert Duprez
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Duprez's original manuscript from Jéliotte, 1853
32.
Christina Nilsson
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Christina Nilsson, Countess de Casa Miranda, was a Swedish operatic soprano. She possessed a brilliant bel canto technique and was considered a rival to the Victorian eras most famous diva, Nilsson became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1869. Christina Nilsson was born Kristina Jonasdotter on Sjöabol farm, near Växjö, Småland, to the peasants Jonas Nilsson, from her earliest years, she demonstrated vocal talent. She taught herself to play on the violin and flute, and she was discovered by a prominent civil servant when, aged 14, she was performing at a market in Ljungby. He soon became her patron, enabling her to have vocal training and she was a pupil of Franz Berwald for two years. In 1860, she gave concerts in Stockholm and Uppsala, after four years study in Paris, she had her operatic début 1864 as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdis opera La Traviata at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris. After this success she sang at major houses in London, Saint Petersburg, Vienna. She also appeared in the Metropolitan Operas inaugural performance on 22 October 1883 in Gounods Faust, in September 1885 she was contemplating retiring from the spotlight, and held a farewell concert from the balcony of Grand Hotel in Stockholm. An estimated 50000 people gathered to hear the world famous soprano, suddenly a rumour spread that the scaffolding on a nearby building was falling down, and panic spread in the crowd. 19 people were killed in the chaos that followed, and the bodies and all the injured were brought to the hotel lobby. The Stockholm police were criticized for the way they handled the event and she donated generously to the families of the victims. Christina Nilsson was married in Westminster Abbey to the French banker Auguste Rouzaud, in 1887 she married Angel Ramon Maria Vallejo y Miranda, Count de Casa Miranda, who died in 1902. In correspondence, Nilsson often signed her first name as Christine and she died in Vaxjö, Sweden in 1921. Unfortunately, unlike Patti, she never made recordings of her voice. The Dutch artist Anton Pieck has an illustration of a street corner scene, at the corner, by the sign of the Old Queens Head Inn, stands a man selling jack-in-the-boxes. At the center of the scene, which takes place in England perhaps London, circa 1890. It is possible that Wharton actually attended performances at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1880s, Nilsson is also mentioned in later portions of the novel. Nilsson is mentioned briefly in Leo Tolstoys novel Anna Karenina, sarah Elizabeth Forbush Downss novel Max, A Cradle Mystery refers to visiting Nilsson performances in Chicago
Christina Nilsson
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Christina Nilsson.
Christina Nilsson
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Autographed photograph.
Christina Nilsson
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Pandora by
Alexandre Cabanel, 1873. Nilsson was the model for this painting.
Christina Nilsson
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Nilsson as Ophelia, caricatured by André Gill, 1868.
33.
Voice type
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Other considerations are physical characteristics, speech level, scientific testing, and vocal register. A singers voice type is identified by a known as voice classification, by which the human voice is evaluated. The discipline of voice classification developed within European classical music and is not generally applicable to other forms of singing, voice classification is often used within opera to associate possible roles with potential voices. Voice classification is a tool for singers, composers, venues, while useful, voice classification systems have been used too rigidly, i. e. a house assigning a singer to a specific type and only casting him or her in roles they consider belonging to this category. A singer will choose a repertoire that suits his or her instrument, many different voice types are used in vocal pedagogy in a variety of voice classification systems. Most of these types, however, are grouped into seven major categories that are, for the most part. Women are typically divided into three groups, soprano, mezzo-soprano, and alto, men are usually divided into four groups, countertenor, tenor, baritone, and bass. Some women fall into the tenor or baritone groups, while men identified as countertenors can be grouped as contralto, mezzo-soprano, when considering the pre-pubescent voice, an eighth term, treble, is applied. Within each of these categories, subcategories identify specific vocal qualities such as coloratura facility. The vocal range of classical performance covers about five octaves, from a low G1 to a high G6, any individuals voice can perform over a range of one and a half to more than two octaves. Vocal ranges are grouped into overlapping types that each span two octaves. Many singers fall between groups and can perform some parts in either type, soprano range, The soprano is the highest singing voice. The typical soprano voice lies between C4 and C6, the low extreme for sopranos is roughly A3. Most soprano roles do not extend above C6 although there are several standard soprano roles that call for D6, at the highest extreme, some coloratura soprano roles may reach to F6. Soprano tessitura, The tessitura of the soprano voice lies higher than all the other voices except the sopranino, in particular, the coloratura soprano has the highest tessitura of all the soprano subtypes. Soprano subtypes, As with all types, sopranos are often divided into different subcategories based on range, vocal color or timbre, the weight of voice. Sopranos are often broken down into five subcategories, coloratura soprano, soubrette, lyric soprano, spinto soprano, two types of soprano especially dear to the French are the Dugazon and the Falcon, which are intermediate voice types between the soprano and the mezzo soprano. A Dugazon is a darker-colored soubrette, a Falcon a darker-colored soprano drammatico
Voice type
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Soprano voice range (C4–C6) indicated on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C.
34.
Conducting
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Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. A conductors directions will almost invariably be supplemented or reinforced by verbal instructions or suggestions to their musicians in rehearsal prior to a performance. The conductor typically stands on a podium with a large music stand for the full score. Conducting while playing a piano or synthesizer may also be done with musical theatre pit orchestras, communication is typically non-verbal during a performance. However, in rehearsals, frequent interruptions allow the conductor to give verbal directions as to how the music should be played or sung, Conductors act as guides to the orchestras or choirs they conduct. They choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make adjustments, work out their interpretation. They may also attend to matters, such as scheduling rehearsals, planning a concert season, hearing auditions and selecting members. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles such as big bands are usually led by conductors. The principal conductor of an orchestra or opera company is referred to as a music director or chief conductor, or by the German words Kapellmeister or Dirigent. Conductors of choirs or choruses are sometimes referred to as director, chorus master, or choirmaster. Conductors of concert bands, military bands, marching bands and other bands may hold the title of director, bandmaster. Respected senior conductors are sometimes referred to by the Italian word, an early form of conducting is cheironomy, the use of hand gestures to indicate melodic shape. This has been practiced at least as far back as the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, other devices to indicate the passing of time came into use. Rolled up sheets of paper, smaller sticks and unadorned hands are all shown in pictures from this period, the large staff was responsible for the death of Jean-Baptiste Lully, who injured his foot with one while conducting a Te Deum for the Kings recovery from illness. The wound became gangrenous and Lully refused amputation, whereupon the gangrene spread to his leg, in instrumental music throughout the 18th century, a member of the ensemble usually acted as the conductor. This was sometimes the concertmaster, who could use his bow as a baton and it was common to conduct from the harpsichord in pieces that had a basso continuo part. In opera performances, there were sometimes two conductors – the keyboard player was in charge of the singers, and the principal violinist or leader was in charge of the orchestra. By the early 19th century, it became the norm to have a dedicated conductor, the size of the usual orchestra expanded during this period, and the use of a baton became more common, as it was easier to see than bare hands or rolled-up paper
Conducting
–
Steven Sametz conducting the Lehigh University Choir, sans baton
Conducting
Conducting
–
Andrew Lee Neer conducting with a baton in Detroit in 2011
Conducting
–
Giuseppe Verdi conducting his opera
Aida in 1881
35.
Soprano
–
A soprano is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The sopranos vocal range is from approximately middle C =261 Hz to high A =880 Hz in choral music, in four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto. The lyric soprano is the most common female singing voice, the word soprano comes from the Italian word sopra, as the soprano is the highest pitch human voice, often given to the leading female roles in operas. The term soprano is also based on the Latin word superius which, like soprano, the word superius was especially used in choral and other multi-part vocal music between the 13th and 16th centuries. The soprano has the highest vocal range of all voice types, a soprano and a mezzo-soprano have a similar range, but their tessituras will lie in different parts of that range. The low extreme for sopranos is roughly A3 or B♭3, within opera, the lowest demanded note for sopranos is F3. Often low notes in higher voices will project less, lack timbre, however, rarely is a soprano simply unable to sing a low note in a song within a soprano role. The high extreme, at a minimum, for non-coloratura sopranos is soprano C, a couple of roles have optional E♭6s, as well. In the coloratura repertoire several roles call for E♭6 on up to F6, in rare cases, some coloratura roles go as high as G6 or G♯6, such as Mozarts concert aria Popoli di Tessaglia. Or the title role of Jules Massenets opera Esclarmonde, while not necessarily within the tessitura, a good soprano will be able to sing her top notes full-throated, with timbre and dynamic control. In opera, the tessitura, vocal weight, and timbre of voices, a singers tessitura is where the voice has the best timbre, easy volume, and most comfort. Within the soprano voice type category are five generally recognized subcategories, coloratura soprano, soubrette, lyric soprano, spinto soprano, the coloratura soprano may be a lyric coloratura or a dramatic coloratura. The lyric coloratura soprano is a very agile light voice with a high upper extension capable of fast vocal coloratura, Light coloraturas have a range of approximately middle C to high F with some coloratura sopranos being able to sing somewhat higher or lower. Dramatic coloraturas have a range of approximately low B to high F with some coloratura sopranos being able to sing higher or lower. In classical music and opera, a soubrette soprano refers to both a type and a particular type of opera role. A soubrette voice is light with a bright, sweet timbre, a tessitura in the mid-range, the soubrette voice is not a weak voice, for it must carry over an orchestra without a microphone like all voices in opera. The voice, however, has a lighter weight than other soprano voices with a brighter timbre
Soprano
–
Soprano voice range (C4–C6) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C.
36.
Mezzo-soprano
–
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-sopranos vocal range extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above. In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C, the mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic mezzo-soprano. Mezzo-sopranos are well represented in music, early music. Some roles designated for lighter soubrette sopranos are sung by mezzo-sopranos, such roles include Despina in Mozarts Così fan tutte and Zerlina in his Don Giovanni. Mezzos sometimes play dramatic soprano roles such as Santuzza in Mascagnis Cavalleria rusticana, Lady Macbeth in Verdis Macbeth, the vocal range of the mezzo-sopranos lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a heavier, darker tone than sopranos, the mezzo-soprano voice resonates in a higher range than that of a contralto. The terms Dugazon and Galli-Marié are sometimes used to refer to light mezzo-sopranos, usually men singing within the female range are called countertenors since there is a lighter more breathy tonal quality difference. Within the mezzo-soprano voice type category are three generally recognized subcategories, coloratura mezzo-soprano, lyric mezzo-soprano, and dramatic mezzo-soprano, a coloratura mezzo-soprano has a warm lower register and an agile high register. The roles they sing often demand not only the use of the register but also leaps into the upper tessitura with highly ornamented. They have a range from approximately the G below middle C to the B two octaves above middle C, some coloratura mezzo-sopranos can sing up to high C or high D, but this is very rare. What distinguishes these voices from being called sopranos is their extension into the register and warmer vocal quality. Although coloratura mezzo-sopranos have impressive and at times thrilling high notes, they are most comfortable singing in the middle of their range, many of the hero roles in the operas of Handel and Monteverdi, originally sung by male castrati, can be successfully sung today by coloratura mezzo-sopranos. Rossini demanded similar qualities for his heroines, and Vivaldi wrote roles frequently for this voice as well. Coloratura mezzo-sopranos also often sing lyric-mezzo-soprano roles or soubrette roles, coloratura mezzo-soprano roles in operas, The lyric mezzo-soprano has a range from approximately the G below middle C to the A two octaves above middle C. This voice has a smooth, sensitive and at times lachrymose quality. Lyric mezzo-sopranos do not have the agility of the coloratura mezzo-soprano or the size of the dramatic mezzo-soprano. The lyric mezzo-soprano is ideal for most trouser roles and this voice has less vocal facility than the coloratura mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
–
Mezzo-soprano voice range (A3–A5) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4).
37.
Bass (voice type)
–
A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C. Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to style and classification system. Italians favour subdividing basses into the basso cantante, basso buffo, the American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass. The German fach system offers further distinctions, Spielbaß, Schwerer Spielbaß, Charakterbaß, rare is the performer who embodies a single fach without also touching repertoire from another category. Cultural influence and individual variation create a variation in range. Many British composers such as Benjamin Britten have written parts for bass that center far higher than the bass tessitura as implied by the clef, the Harvard Dictionary of Music defines the range as being from the E below low C to middle C. The bass has the lowest vocal range of all voice types, the low extreme for basses is generally C2. However, several extreme bass singers, referred to as basso profondos, within opera, the lowest note in the standard bass repertoire is D2, sung by the character Osmin in Mozarts Die Entführung aus dem Serail, but few roles fall below F2. The high extreme, a few roles in the standard repertoire call for a high F♯ or G. In the operatic repertoire, the highest notes are a G♯4 and, in the aria Fra lombre e glorrori in Handels serenata Aci. Basso cantante is a higher, more lyrical voice and it is produced using a more Italianate vocal production, and possesses a faster vibrato, than its closest Germanic/Anglo-Saxon equivalent, the bass-baritone. Hoher Bass or high bass or often a dramatic bass-baritone, jugendlicher Bass denotes the role of a young man sung by a bass, regardless of the age of the singer. They are usually the blustering antagonist of the hero/heroine or the fool in bel canto operas. English equivalent, dramatic bass Basso profondo is the lowest bass voice type, steane in Voices, Singers & Critics, the basso profondo voice derives from a method of tone-production that eliminates the more Italian quick vibrato. In its place is a kind of tonal solidity, a front, which may nevertheless prove susceptible to the other kind of vibrato. Dramatic basso profondo is a basso profondo voice
Bass (voice type)
–
Bass voice range (E2–E4) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4).
38.
Courtesan
–
A courtesan was originally a courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person. In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, prior to the Renaissance, courtesans served to convey information to visiting dignitaries, when servants could not be trusted. In Renaissance Europe, courtiers played an important role in upper-class society. In fact, the verb to court originally meant to be or reside at court, the most intimate companion of a ruler was called the favourite. The word was borrowed by English from Italian through the French form courtisane during the 16th century, a male figure comparable to the courtesan was the Italian cicisbeo, the French chevalier servant, the Spanish cortejo or estrecho. It actually seems that the figure of the servant of a married lady was quite common in Europe up to the 18th century. The courtesans of East Asia, particularly those of the Japanese empire, examples of Japanese courtesans included the Oiran class, who were more focused on the aspect of entertainment in comparison with European courtesans. There were two types of courtesan, in one category was a type of courtesan known as the cortigiana onesta, or the honest courtesan, who was cast as an intellectual. In the other was the cortigiana di lume, a class of courtesan. Although the latter was considered better than an average courtesan. It is with type of courtesan that the art of courtisanerie is best associated. The cortigiane oneste were usually well-educated and worldly, and often held simultaneous careers as performers or artists and they were typically chosen on the basis of their breeding—social and conversational skills, intelligence, common-sense, and companionship—as well as their physical attributes. It was usually their wit and personality that set apart from regular women. Sex constituted only a facet of the array of services. For example, they were well-dressed and ready to engage and participate in a variety of topics ranging from art to music to politics, in some cases, courtesans were from well-to-do backgrounds, and were even married—but to husbands lower on the social ladder than their clients. In cases like this, a courtesan was solely dependent on her benefactor or benefactors financially, making her vulnerable, Cora Pearl is a good example. In the event that the courtesan had angered or dissatisfied a benefactor, they would find themselves cast out of wealthy circles. In instances like this, it was often viewed simply as an agreement by both parties involved
Courtesan
–
Veronica Franco, famous Venetian poetess and courtesan. Portrait by
Paolo Veronese.
Courtesan
–
Lais of Corinth by
Hans Holbein the Younger,
Kunstmuseum Basel
Courtesan
–
Madame de Pompadour, by
Maurice Quentin de La Tour,
Louvre Museum, Paris
39.
Salon (gathering)
–
These gatherings often consciously followed Horaces definition of the aims of poetry, either to please or to educate. Salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical movements of the 17th and 18th centuries, were carried on until as recently as the 1940s in urban settings, the salon was an Italian invention of the 16th century which flourished in France throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The salon continued to flourish in Italy throughout the 19th century, one important place for the exchange of ideas was the salon. The word salon first appeared in France in 1664, Literary gatherings before this were often referred to by using the name of the room in which they occurred, like cabinet, réduit, ruelle and alcôve. Before the end of the 17th century, these gatherings were held in the bedroom. This practice may be contrasted with the formalities of Louis XIVs petit lever. She established the rules of etiquette of the salon which resembled the earlier codes of Italian chivalry, the historiography of the salons is far from straightforward. The salons have been studied in depth by a mixture of feminist, Marxist, each of these methodologies focus on different aspects of the salons, and thus have varying analyses of the salons’ importance in terms of French history and the Enlightenment as a whole. Major historiographical debates focus on the relationship between the salons and the sphere, as well as the role of women within the salons. Breaking down the salons into historical periods is complicated due to the various historiographical debates that surround them, most studies stretch from the early 16th century up until around the end of the 18th century. Goodman is typical in ending her study at the French Revolution where, she writes, Steven Kale is relatively alone in his recent attempts to extend the period of the salon up until Revolution of 1848. This world did not disappear in 1789, as recently as the 1940s, salons hosted by Gertrude Stein gained notoriety for including Pablo Picasso and other twentieth-century luminaries like Alice B. The content and form of the salon to some extent defines the character, contemporary literature about the salons is dominated by idealistic notions of politesse, civilité and honnêteté, but whether the salons lived up to these standards is matter of debate. Older texts on the salons tend to paint a picture of the salons. Today, however, this view is considered an adequate analysis of the salon. Dena Goodman claims that rather than being leisure based or schools of civilité salons were instead at the heart of the philosophic community. In short, Goodman argues, the 17th and 18th century saw the emergence of the academic, Enlightenment salons, politeness, argues Goodman, took second-place to academic discussion. The period in which salons were dominant has been labeled the age of conversation, the topics of conversation within the salons - that is, what was and was not polite to talk about - are thus vital when trying to determine the form of the salons
Salon (gathering)
–
Réunion de dames,
Abraham Bosse, 17th century.
Salon (gathering)
–
A Reading in the Salon of Mme Geoffrin, 1755
Salon (gathering)
–
"Abbé Delille reciting his poem, La Conversation in the salon of Madame Geoffrin" from Jacques Delille, "La Conversation" (Paris, 1812)
Salon (gathering)
–
Portrait of Mme Geoffrin, salonnière, by
Marianne Loir (National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC)
40.
Viscount
–
A viscount or viscountess is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status, but historically deemed to convey a lower-middling rank. In many countries a viscount, and its equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial position. In the case of French viscounts, it is customary to leave the title untranslated as vicomte, the word viscount comes from Old French visconte, itself from Medieval Latin vicecomitem, accusative of vicecomes, from Late Latin vice- deputy + Latin comes. During the Carolingian Empire, the kings appointed counts to administer provinces and other regions, as governors. Viscounts were appointed to assist the counts in their running of the province, the kings strictly prevented the offices of their counts and viscounts from becoming hereditary, in order to consolidate their position and limit chance of rebellion. The title was in use in Normandy by at least the eleventh century. Similar to the Carolingian use of the title, the Norman viscounts were local administrators and their role was to administer justice and to collect taxes and revenues, often being castellan of the local castle. Under the Normans, the position developed into a hereditary one, the viscount was eventually replaced by bailiffs, and provosts. As a rank in British peerage, it was first recorded in 1440, the word viscount corresponds in the UK to the Anglo-Saxon shire reeve. A viscount is the rank in the British peerage system, standing below an earl. There are approximately 270 viscountcies currently extant in the peerages of the British Isles, an exception exists for Viscounts in the peerage of Scotland, who were traditionally styled The Viscount of, such as the Viscount of Arbuthnott. In practice, however, very few maintain this style, instead using the common version The Viscount in general parlance. A British viscount is addressed in speech as Lord, while his wife is Lady, the children of a viscount are known as The Honourable. A specifically British custom is the use of viscount as a title for the heir of an earl or marquess. The peers heir apparent will sometimes be referred to as a viscount, for example, the eldest son of the Earl Howe is Viscount Curzon, because this is the second most senior title held by the Earl. However, the son of a marquess or an earl can be referred to as a viscount when the title of viscount is not the second most senior if those above it share their name with the substantive title. For example, the second most senior title of the Marquess of Salisbury is the Earl of Salisbury, sometimes the son of a peer can be referred to as a viscount even when he could use a more senior courtesy title which differs in name from the substantive title. Family tradition plays a role in this, for example, the eldest son of the Marquess of Londonderry is Viscount Castlereagh, even though the Marquess is also the Earl Vane
Viscount
–
Royal, noble and
chivalric ranks
41.
Bourgeois
–
A legally defined class of the Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Régime in France, that of inhabitants having the rights of citizenship and political rights in a city. This bourgeoisie destroyed aristocratic privilege and established civic equality after the French monarchy collapsed, the aristocracy crumbled because it refused to reform institutions and financial systems. An affluent and often opulent stratum of the class who stand opposite the proletariat class. In English, bourgeoisie identified a social class oriented to economic materialism and hedonism, hence, since the 19th century, the term bourgeoisie usually is politically and sociologically synonymous with the ruling upper class of a capitalist society. The 18th century saw a partial rehabilitation of bourgeois values in such as the drame bourgeois and bourgeois tragedy. The bourgeoisie emerged as a historical and political phenomenon in the 11th century when the bourgs of Central and this urban expansion was possible thanks to economic concentration due to the appearance of protective self-organisation into guilds. Guilds arose when individual businessmen conflicted with their feudal landlords who demanded greater rents than previously agreed. In English, the bourgeoisie is often used to denote the middle classes. In fact, the French term encompasses both the upper and middle classes, a misunderstanding which has occurred in other languages as well. The bourgeoisie in France and many French-speaking countries consists of four evolving social layers, petite bourgeoisie, moyenne bourgeoisie, grande bourgeoisie, the petite bourgeoisie consists of people who have experienced a brief ascension in social mobility for one or two generations. It usually starts with a trade or craft, and by the second and third generation, the petite bourgeois would belong to the British lower middle class and would be American middle income. They are distinguished mainly by their mentality, and would differentiate themselves from the proletariat or working class and this class would include artisans, small traders, shopkeepers, and small farm owners. They are not employed, but may not be able to afford employees themselves, the moyenne bourgeoisie or middle bourgeoisie contains people who have solid incomes and assets, but not the aura of those who have become established at a higher level. They tend to belong to a family that has been bourgeois for three or more generations, some members of this class may have relatives from similar backgrounds, or may even have aristocratic connections. The moyenne bourgeoisie is the equivalent of the British and American upper-middle classes, the grande bourgeoisie are families that have been bourgeois since the 19th century, or for at least four or five generations. Members of these tend to marry with the aristocracy or make other advantageous marriages. This bourgeoisie family has acquired an established historical and cultural heritage over the decades, the names of these families are generally known in the city where they reside, and their ancestors have often contributed to the regions history. These families are respected and revered and they belong to the upper class, and in the British class system are considered part of the gentry
Bourgeois
–
The prototypical bourgeois: Monsieur Jourdain, the protagonist in
Molière 's play
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670).
Bourgeois
–
The 16th-century German banker
Jakob Fugger and his principal accountant, M. Schwarz, registering an entry to a ledger. The background shows a file cabinet indicating the European cities where the Fugger Banker conducts business. (1517)
Bourgeois
–
Thomas Mann (1875–1955) portrayed the moral, intellectual, and physical decadence of the German upper bourgeoisie in the novel
Buddenbrooks (1926)
42.
Lucrezia Bori
–
Lucrezia Bori was a Spanish operatic singer, a lyric soprano and a tireless and effective fundraiser for the Metropolitan Opera. Lucrezia Bori was born on December 24,1887, in Valencia and her real name was Lucrecia Borja y González de Riancho. Her father was an officer in the Spanish army and her family were descended from the influential family of the Italian Renaissance, the House of Borgia and she herself was named after her ancestor, Lucrezia Borgia. Her voice had a unique timbre and transparent quality unlike any present-day singer and she studied in Milan with Vidal and made her debut at the Teatro Adriano in Rome as Micaëla in Bizets Carmen on October 31,1908. In December,1910, she made her debut at La Scala as Carolina in Il Matrimonio Segreto and her career at the Metropolitan Opera began in the summer of 1910 during the Mets first visit to Paris. On June 9 of that year she replaced a singer who had become ill in the role of Manon in Puccinis Manon Lescaut, on the opening night of the 1912-13 season, she made her debut with the Met in New York when she sang Manon opposite Enrico Caruso. In 1915 she was forced to stop singing for an operation to remove nodes on her vocal cords. Following a lengthy convalescence, she returned to the stage in 1921, during the course of her career with the Opera, she appeared a total of 654 times and sang the leading role in 39 operas. She was famous for her portrayals of Manon in Massenets opera, Mimì in La bohème, Fiora in L amore dei trè rè, Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande, beginning late in 1932, Bori began a career as fundraiser. Early in 1933, Bori agreed to work with the Operas managers to obtain the funds, in this work she was not a figurehead. After a personal appeal from her during a radio broadcast of Manon and she also traveled widely and participated in numerous benefits, at which she performed. During this period of fundraising, she continued to out a arduous schedule of performance. It took only two months to raise the $300,000 that was needed, in May 1933, the chairman of the Metropolitan board publicly thanked Bori, saying she had accomplished a feat that was thought to be impossible. From 1933 to 1935 Bori served as chair of the Maintain the Metropolitan committee which had succeeded the Save the Metropolitan committee, to assure the viability of the 1934-35 opera season, this committee raised an amount approximately equal to the sum raised the previous year. In 1935, she was the first performer to be elected to the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Opera Association, in joining the board she continued to sit on its opera management committee. Her farewell gala on March 29,1936 was one of the events at the Metropolitan. Bori sang scenes from Manon and La traviata, with contributions from Flagstad, Melchior, Rethberg, Pinza, Ponselle, Martinelli, Tibbett, after her retirement from singing she was named chairman of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Under her leadership the Guild collected musical instruments for military hospitals, Bori suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on May 2,1960, and died in Roosevelt Hospital on May 14
Lucrezia Bori
–
Lucrezia Bori
43.
Edison Records
–
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered sound recording and reproduction and was an important player in the early recording industry. The first phonograph cylinders were manufactured in 1888, followed by Edisons foundation of the Edison Phonograph Company in the same year, until 1910 the recordings did not carry the names of the artists. The company began to lag behind its rivals in the 1920s, Edison invented the phonograph, the first device for recording and playing back sound, in 1877. The earliest phonograph was something of a curiosity, although it was one that fascinated much of the public. Early machines were sold to entrepreneurs who made an out of traveling around the country giving phonograph concerts. Talking dolls and Talking clocks were manufactured as expensive novelties using the early phonograph, in 1887, Edison turned his attention back to improving the phonograph and the phonograph cylinder. The following year, the Edison company debuted the Perfected Phonograph, Edison introduced wax cylinders approximately 4 1⁄4 inches long and 2 1⁄4 inches in external diameter, which became the industry standard. Several experimental wax cylinder recordings of music and speech made in 1888 still exist, the wax entertainment cylinder made its commercial debut in 1889. At first, the customers were entrepreneurs who installed nickel-in-the-slot phonographs in amusement arcades, saloons. At that time, a phonograph cost the equivalent of several months wages for the worker and was driven by an electric motor powered by hazardous. When relatively affordable spring-motor-driven phonographs designed for home use appeared in the mid-1890s, blank records were an important part of the business early on. Most phonographs had or could be fitted with attachments for the users to make their own recordings, one important early use, in line with the original term for a phonograph as a talking machine, was in business for recording dictation. Attachments were added to facilitate starting, stopping, and skipping back the recording for dictation, the business phonograph eventually evolved into a separate device from the home entertainment phonograph. Edison Records brand of business phonograph was called The Ediphone, see Phonograph cylinder, Edison also holds the achievement of being one of the first companies to record the first African-American quartet to record, the Unique Quartet. A notable technological triumph of the Edison Laboratories was devising a method to mass-produce pre-recorded phonograph cylinders in molds and this was done by using very slightly tapered cylinders and molding in a material that contracted as it set. To Edisons disappointment the commercial potential of this process was not realized for some years, most of the regional Edison distributors were able to fill the small early market for recordings by mechanical duplication of a few dozen cylinders at a time. Molded cylinders did not become a significant force in the marketplace until the end of the 1890s, before using metal cylinders though Edison used paraffin paper. In 1902, Edisons National Phonograph Company introduced Edison Gold Moulded Records, cylinder records of improved hard black wax, capable of being played hundreds of times before wearing out
Edison Records
–
1903 advertisement
Edison Records
–
Edison Records logo from 1910s sleeve
Edison Records
–
Edison New Standard Phonograph ad, 1898
Edison Records
–
This is an example of a wax cylinder mold. Note the grooves on the inside and machined backup shell.
44.
Fife Opera
–
Fife Opera is a semi-professional grand opera company dating back to 1975, and based in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. It has produced over 40 full-scale productions since its inception, the company was founded in 1975 with the impetus being provided by Kirsty Adam, who was then keen to draw together a number of opera enthusiasts and singers from across the county. In 1978, the company performed Menottis Amahl and the Night Visitors in the 13th-century Cistercian Culross Abbey, from the outset, the musical director, Richard Galloway, insisted on auditioning everyone interested in joining, and insisted on high vocal quality and level of professionalism from company members. Despite this, for the companys first full-scale production from 1979, Bizets Carmen, a bomb scare interrupted Fife Operas 1981 production of Smetanas The Bartered Bride leading to hoardes of Bohemian peasants being spilt out into the War Memorial Gardens. The company has appeared at Falkland Palace and Stirling Castle, Fife Opera has a large proportion of younger singers, and increasingly is geared towards outreach and touring. In recent years, it has appeared annually at the Edinburgh Festival, highlights from the companys past productions include Aida in 2004 and the 1983 presentation of La traviata. Among the comparative rarities performed are Lakmé by Léo Delibes, Les pêcheurs de perles by Georges Bizet,2012 saw the Come and Sing idea developed further with a Come and Sing from the Shows day in March and a Come and Sing Aida in May. Fife Opera is a charity and receives funding and support from the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, Making Music. Fife Opera Fife Opera at Easy Fundraising Adam Smith Theatre
Fife Opera
–
Scene from Fife Opera's 2004 production of
La traviata
Fife Opera
–
The Magic Flute from 2006
45.
Orchestra
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The term orchestra derives from the Greek ὀρχήστρα, the name for the area in front of a stage in ancient Greek theatre reserved for the Greek chorus. A full-size orchestra may sometimes be called an orchestra or philharmonic orchestra. The actual number of employed in a given performance may vary from seventy to over one hundred musicians, depending on the work being played. The term chamber orchestra usually refers to smaller-sized ensembles of about fifty musicians or fewer, the typical orchestra grew in size throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a peak with the large orchestras called for in the works of Richard Wagner, and later, Gustav Mahler. Orchestras are usually led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of the hands and arms, the conductor unifies the orchestra, sets the tempo and shapes the sound of the ensemble. The first violin, commonly called the concertmaster, also plays an important role in leading the musicians, the typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of related musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. The orchestra, depending on the size, contains almost all of the instruments in each group. Chamber orchestra usually refers to smaller-sized ensembles, a chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians. The term concert orchestra may also be used, as in the BBC Concert Orchestra, the so-called standard complement of doubled winds and brass in the orchestra from the first half of the 19th century is generally attributed to the forces called for by Beethoven. The composers instrumentation almost always included paired flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, the exceptions to this are his Symphony No. 4, Violin Concerto, and Piano Concerto No,4, which each specify a single flute. Beethoven carefully calculated the expansion of this particular timbral palette in Symphonies 3,5,6, the third horn in the Eroica Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility, but also the effect of choral brass in the Trio movement. Piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones add to the finale of his Symphony No.5. A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver the effect of storm and sunshine in the Sixth, for several decades after his death, symphonic instrumentation was faithful to Beethovens well-established model, with few exceptions. Apart from the core orchestral complement, various instruments are called for occasionally. These include the guitar, heckelphone, flugelhorn, cornet, harpsichord. Saxophones, for example, appear in some 19th- through 21st-century scores.6 and 9 and William Waltons Belshazzars Feast, and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th-century works, usually playing parts marked tenor tuba, including Gustav Holsts The Planets, cornets appear in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys ballet Swan Lake, Claude Debussys La Mer, and several orchestral works by Hector Berlioz
Orchestra
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The Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra.
Orchestra
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Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra
Orchestra
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Göttinger Symphonie Orchester
Orchestra
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A modern orchestra concert hall: Philharmony in
Szczecin, Poland
46.
Instrumentation (music)
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In music, instrumentation is the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and the properties of those instruments individually. Instrumentation is sometimes used as a synonym for orchestration, the haunting second movement of Schubert’s Trio in E flat exemplifies the variety and interest that is possible with just three instruments. Kern Holoman, G. W. Hopkins, Paul Griffiths, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, pp.397, 575-577, in The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, edited by Christopher H. Gibbs, 72–98. Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, a Treatise on Instrumentation, A Practical Guide to Orchestration
Instrumentation (music)
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This notation indicates differing pitches, dynamics, articulations, instrumentation, timbre, and rhythm (durations and onsets). Created by Hyacinth (talk) 12:57, 22 May 2014 (UTC) using Sibelius.
47.
Flute
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The flute is a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening, according to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a player, flautist, flutist or, less commonly. Flutes are the earliest extant musical instruments, as paleolithic instruments with hand-bored holes have been found, a number of flutes dating to about 43,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe. Flutes, including the famous Bansuri, have been a part of Indian classical music since 1500 BC. A major deity of Hinduism, Krishna, has been associated with the flute, the English verb flout has the same linguistic root, and the modern Dutch verb fluiten still shares the two meanings. Attempts to trace the word back to the Latin flare have been pronounced phonologically impossible or inadmissable, the first known use of the word flute was in the 14th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this was in Geoffrey Chaucers The Hous of Fame, today, a musician who plays any instrument in the flute family can be called a flutist, or flautist, or simply a flute player. Flutist dates back to at least 1603, the earliest quote cited by the Oxford English Dictionary, flautist was used in 1860 by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Marble Faun, after being adopted during the 18th century from Italy, like many musical terms in England since the Italian Renaissance. Other English terms, now obsolete, are fluter and flutenist. The oldest flute ever discovered may be a fragment of the femur of a cave bear. In 2008 another flute dated back to at least 35,000 years ago was discovered in Hohle Fels cave near Ulm, the five-holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone. The researchers involved in the officially published their findings in the journal Nature. The flute, one of several found, was found in the Hohle Fels cavern next to the Venus of Hohle Fels, on announcing the discovery, scientists suggested that the finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe. Scientists have also suggested that the discovery of the flute may help to explain the probable behavioural and cognitive gulf between Neanderthals and early modern human. A three-holed flute,18.7 cm long, made from a mammoth tusk was discovered in 2004, the earliest extant Chinese transverse flute is a chi flute discovered in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at the Suizhou site, Hubei province, China. It dates from 433 BC, of the later Zhou Dynasty and it is fashioned of lacquered bamboo with closed ends and has five stops that are at the flutes side instead of the top
Flute
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A selection of flutes from around the world
Flute
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Chinese women playing flutes, from the 12th-century
Song dynasty remake of the Night Revels of Han Xizai, originally by
Gu Hongzhong (10th century)
Flute
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Panflute players.
Cantigas de Santa Maria, mid-13th century, Spain
Flute
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Statue of
Krishna playing a flute
48.
Piccolo
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The piccolo /ˈpɪkəloʊ/ is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its sibling, the standard transverse flute. This gave rise to the name ottavino, the name by which the instrument is referred to in the scores of Italian composers, piccolos are now manufactured in the key of C or D♭. It was for this D♭ piccolo that John Philip Sousa wrote the solo in the final repeat of the closing section of his march The Stars. In the orchestral setting, the player is often designated as piccolo/flute III. The larger orchestras have designated this position as a position due to the demands of the literature. Piccolos are often orchestrated to double the violins or the flutes, adding sparkle, in concert band settings, the piccolo is almost always used and a piccolo part is almost always available. Historically, the piccolo had no keys, and should not be confused with the fife, the piccolo is used in conjunction with marching drums in traditional formations at the Carnival of Basel, Switzerland. It is a myth that one of the earliest pieces to use the piccolo was Beethovens Symphony No.5 in C Minor, although neither Joseph Haydn nor Mozart used it in their symphonies, some of their contemporaries did, including Hoffmeister, Süssmayr and Michael Haydn. Also, Mozart used the piccolo in his opera Idomeneo, opera orchestras in Paris sometimes included small transverse flutes at the octave as early as 1735 as existing scores by Rameau show. Finely made piccolos are often available with a variety of similar to the flute. Most piccolos have a body with a cylindrical head, which is like the Baroque flute. There are a number of pieces for piccolo alone, by composers as Samuel Adler, Robert Dick, Michael Isaacson, David Loeb, Polly Moller, Vincent Persichetti. Additionally, there is a selection of chamber music that uses the piccolo. One example is the Quintet for Piccolo and String Quartet by Graham Waterhouse, another is Stockhausens Zungenspitzentanz, for piccolo and two euphoniums, with optional percussionist and dancer. Bryn Mawr, Theodore Presser Company,2008, the Symphonic Debutante Piccolo, Was it Really Beethovens Fifth. The Woodwind Fingering Guide, with piccolo fingerings
Piccolo
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A Yamaha piccolo. The body is made of
ABS resin, and the head is plated with
silver.
Piccolo
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The piccolo sounds one
octave higher than written. Sounding:
Piccolo
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A piccolo being played
49.
Oboe
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Oboes /ˈoʊboʊ/ OH-boh are a family of double reed woodwind musical instruments. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range, oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. A soprano oboe measures roughly 65 cm long, with keys, a conical bore. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed and vibrating a column of air, the distinctive oboe tone is versatile, and has been described as bright. When the term oboe is used alone, it is taken to mean the standard treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called a hautbois, hoboy. The spelling of oboe was adopted into English c.1770 from the Italian oboè, a musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist or simply an oboe player. In comparison to other woodwind instruments, the treble oboe is sometimes referred to as having a clear. The Sprightly Companion, a book published by Henry Playford in 1695, describes the oboe as Majestical and Stately. Humorously, the sound of the oboe is described in the play Angels in America as like that of a if the duck were a songbird. The rich timbre of the oboe is derived from its conical bore, as a result, oboes are readily audible over other instruments in large ensembles. The highest note of the oboe is a lower than the nominally highest note of the B♭ clarinet. Since the clarinet has a range of notes, the lowest note of the B♭ clarinet is significantly deeper than the lowest note of the oboe. Music for the oboe is written in concert pitch. Orchestras normally tune to a concert A played by the oboe, according to the League of American Orchestras, this is done because the pitch of the oboe is secure and its penetrating sound makes it ideal for tuning purposes. The pitch of the oboe is affected by the way in which the reed is made. The reed has a significant effect on the sound of the instrument, Variations in cane and other construction materials, the age of the reed, and differences in scrape and length all affect the pitch of the instrument. German and French reeds, for instance, differ in many ways, weather conditions such as temperature and humidity also affect the pitch
Oboe
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A modern oboe with a reed
Oboe
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Classical oboe, copy by Sand Dalton of an original by Johann Friedrich Floth, c. 1805
Oboe
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The members of the oboe family from top:
heckelphone,
bass oboe,
cor anglais,
oboe d'amore, regular oboe, and
piccolo oboe
Oboe
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Oboist
Albrecht Mayer preparing reeds for use. Most oboists scrape their own reeds to achieve the desired tone and response
50.
Clarinet
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The clarinet is a musical-instrument family belonging to the group known as the woodwind instruments. It has a mouthpiece, a straight cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist, the word clarinet may have entered the English language via the French clarinette, or from Provençal clarin, oboe. It would seem however that its roots are to be found amongst some of the various names for trumpets used around the renaissance. Clarion, clarin and the Italian clarino are all derived from the medieval term claro which referred to a form of trumpet. This is probably the origin of the Italian clarinetto, itself a diminutive of clarino, according to Johann Gottfried Walther, writing in 1732, the reason for the name is that it sounded from far off not unlike a trumpet. The English form clarinet is found as early as 1733, while the similarity in sound between the earliest clarinets and the trumpet may hold a clue to its name, other factors may have been involved. The trumpet parts that required this speciality were known by the term clarino, Johann Christoph Denner is generally believed to have invented the clarinet in Germany around the year 1700 by adding a register key to the earlier chalumeau. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve the tone and these days the most popular clarinet is the B♭ clarinet. However, the clarinet in A, just a lower, is commonly used in orchestral music. Since the middle of the 19th century the clarinet has become an essential addition to the orchestra. The clarinet family ranges from the BBB♭ octo-contrabass to the A♭ piccolo clarinet, the clarinet has proved to be an exceptionally flexible instrument, equally at home in the classical repertoire as in concert bands, military bands, marching bands, klezmer, and jazz. The cylindrical bore is primarily responsible for the clarinets distinctive timbre, the tone quality can vary greatly with the musician, the music, the instrument, the mouthpiece, and the reed. The most prominent were the German/Viennese traditions and the French school, the latter was centered on the clarinetists of the Conservatoire de Paris. The proliferation of recorded music has made examples of different styles of clarinet playing available, the modern clarinetist has a diverse palette of acceptable tone qualities to choose from. The A clarinet and B♭ clarinet have nearly the same bore, orchestral players using the A and B♭ instruments in the same concert could use the same mouthpiece for both. The A and the B♭ instruments have nearly identical tonal quality, the tone of the E♭ clarinet is brighter than that of the lower clarinets and can be heard even through loud orchestral or concert band textures. The bass clarinet has a deep, mellow sound, while the alto clarinet is similar in tone to the bass
Clarinet
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Bass clarinet
Clarinet
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Written range (though it is possible to play higher):
Clarinet
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Sound wave propagation in the soprano clarinet
Clarinet
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Schüller's quarter-tone clarinet
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