1.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
2.
Baritone
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A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice types. It is the most common male voice, the baritone voice type is generally divided into the baryton-Martin baritone, lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone. The first use of the term baritone emerged as baritonans, late in the 15th century, at this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices, but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the average male choral voice. Baritones took roughly the range as it is today at the beginning of the 18th century. Indeed, many works of the 18th century have roles marked as bass that in reality are low baritone roles. Examples of this are to be found, for instance, in the operas, the greatest and most enduring parts for baritones in 18th-century operatic music were composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They include Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Papageno in The Magic Flute and these included the likes of Filippo Galli, Giovanni Inchindi, and Henri-Bernard Dabadie. The basse-taille and the bass were commonly confused because their roles were sometimes sung by singers of either actual voice part. The bel canto style of vocalism which arose in Italy in the early 19th century supplanted the castrato-dominated opera seria of the previous century and it led to the baritone being viewed as a separate voice category from the bass. More often than not, however, baritones found themselves portraying villains, the principal composers of bel canto opera are considered to be, Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and the young Giuseppe Verdi. Figaro in Il barbiere is often called the first true baritone role, however, Donizetti and Verdi in their vocal writing went on to emphasize the top fifth of the baritone voice, rather than its lower notes—thus generating a more brilliant sound. The major international baritone of the first half of the 19th century was the Italian Antonio Tamburini and he was a famous Don Giovanni in Mozarts eponymous opera as well as being a Bellini and Donizetti specialist. Commentators praised his voice for its beauty, flexibility and smooth tonal emission, Tamburinis range, however, was probably closer to that of a bass-baritone than to that of a modern Verdi baritone. His French equivalent was Henri-Bernard Dabadie, who was a mainstay of the Paris Opera between 1819 and 1836 and the creator of several major Rossinian baritone roles, including Guillaume Tell. Dabadie sang in Italy, too, where he originated the role of Belcore in Lelisir damore in 1832, the most important of Tamburinis Italianate successors were all Verdians. In France, Paul Barroilhet succeeded Dabadie as the Paris operas best known baritone, like Dabadie, he also sang in Italy and created an important Donizetti role, in his case, Alphonse in La favorite. Antonio Pini-Corsi was the standout Italian buffo baritone in the period between about 1880 and World War I, reveling in comic roles by Rossini, Donizetti and Paer. In 1893, he created the part of Ford in Verdis last opera, notable among their contemporaries were the cultured and technically adroit French baritones Jean Lassalle, Victor Maurel, Paul Lhérie, and Maurice Renaud
3.
Musical theatre
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Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement, since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. Musicals are performed around the world and they may be presented in large venues, such as big-budget Broadway or West End productions in New York City or London. Alternatively, musicals may be staged in smaller fringe theatre, Off-Broadway or regional theatre productions, musicals are often presented by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other performance spaces. In addition to the United States and Britain, there are vibrant musical theatre scenes in continental Europe, Asia, Australasia, Canada, the three main components of a book musical are its music, lyrics and book. The interpretation of a musical is the responsibility of its team, which includes a director. A musicals production is also characterized by technical aspects, such as set design, costumes, stage properties, lighting. The creative team, designs and interpretations generally change from the production to succeeding productions. Some production elements, however, may be retained from the production, for example. There is no fixed length for a musical, while it can range from a short one-act entertainment to several acts and several hours in length, most musicals range from one and a half to three hours. Musicals are usually presented in two acts, with one intermission, and the first act is frequently longer than the second. A book musical is usually built four to six main theme tunes that are reprised later in the show. Several shorter musicals on Broadway and in the West End have been presented in one act in recent decades, moments of greatest dramatic intensity in a book musical are often performed in song. Proverbially, when the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing, typically, many fewer words are sung in a five-minute song than are spoken in a five-minute block of dialogue. Therefore, there is time to develop drama in a musical than in a straight play of equivalent length. Within the compressed nature of a musical, the writers must develop the characters, the material presented in a musical may be original, or it may be adapted from novels, plays, classic legends, historical events or films. On the other hand, many musical theatre works have been adapted for musical films, such as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver
4.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
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Part of Brooklyn Community Board 1, the neighborhood is served in the south by the NYPDs 90th Precinct and in the north by the 94th Precinct. On the New York City Council, the western and southern parts of the neighborhood are represented by the 33rd District, and its eastern part by the 34th District. As of the 2010 United States Census, the neighborhood had a population of 32,926, since the late 1990s, Williamsburg has undergone gentrification characterized by hipster culture, a contemporary art scene, and vibrant nightlife. During the early 2000s, the became a center for indie rock and electroclash. Numerous ethnic groups inhabit enclaves within the neighborhood, including Italians, Jews, Hispanics, Poles, Puerto Ricans, in 1638 the Dutch West India Company first purchased the areas land from the local Native Americans. In 1661, the company chartered the Town of Boswijck, including land that would later become Williamsburg, after the English takeover of New Netherland in 1664, the towns name was anglicized to Bushwick. During colonial times, villagers called the area Bushwick Shore and this name lasted for about 140 years. Bushwick residents called Bushwick Shore the Strand, farmers and gardeners from the other Bushwick villages sent their goods to Bushwick Shore to be ferried across the East River to New York City for sale via a market at present day Grand Street. Bushwick Shores favorable location close to New York City led to the creation of several farming developments, in 1802, real estate speculator Richard M. Woodhull acquired 13 acres near what would become Metropolitan Avenue, then North 2nd Street. He had Colonel Jonathan Williams, a U. S. Engineer, survey the property, Williamsburg was incorporated in as the, Village of Williamsburgh within the Town of Bushwick in 1827. In two years it had a company, a post office and a population of over 1,000. The deep drafts along the East River encouraged industrialists, many from Germany, raw material was shipped in, and finished products were sent out of factories straight to the docks. Several sugar barons built processing refineries, Now all are gone except the now-defunct Domino Sugar. Other important industries included shipbuilding and brewing, on April 18,1835, the Village of Williamsburg annexed a portion of the Town of Bushwick. The Village then consisted of three districts, the first district was commonly called the South Side, the second district was called the North Side, and the third district was called the New Village. The names North Side and South Side remain in common usage today, the New Village became populated by Germans and for a time was known by the sobriquet of Dutchtown. In 1845 the population of Williamsburgh was 11,500, reflecting its increasing urbanization, Williamsburg separated from Bushwick as the Town of Williamsburg in 1840. It became the City of Williamsburg in 1852, which was organized into three wards, the old First Ward roughly coincides with the South Side and the Second Ward with the North Side, with the modern boundary at Grand Street
5.
Brooklyn
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
6.
Pultusk
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Pułtusk is a town in Poland by the river Narew,70 kilometres north of Warsaw. It is located in the Masovian Voivodship and has about 19,000 inhabitants, in 1339 Pułtusk was granted town rights and throughout the 15th and 17th centuries, it was one of the most important economic centres in the Masovian region. The favorable placement of the town on the Narew River, where grain and other goods were transported to Gdańsk, contributed to the town’s growth, moreover, the construction of Europe’s longest paved market square was a sign of the town’s economic success. During the millennium of its existence, Pułtusk was possibly the most invaded town in Poland and it is one of the most popular weekend places for the inhabitants of Warsaw. Pułtusk is one of the oldest towns in Poland and, due to its beauty and floating gondolas, the town has existed since at least the 10th century. In the Middle Ages, the Castle in Pułtusk was one of the most important defensive forts in northern Masovia against the attacks of Old Prussians and Lithuanians. According to a legend, the town initially was known as Tusk, however, historians assume that the town got its name from a small river named Pełta. From the 11th century onwards, the town belonged to the bishops of Płock, thanks to a ford on the river located nearby, Pułtusk became an important centre of trade and commerce. It received its civic charter based on that of Chełmno in 1257, in 1440 an academy was founded in the town, becoming the most influential schools of higher education in the Polish Kingdom. Among its professors were Jakub Wujek and Piotr Skarga, by 1595 there were more than 600 students, and their number reached 900 by 1696. The town was destroyed by Lithuanians in 1262 and 1324, in the 14th century Pułtusk became the official seat of Płock bishops. The town was burnt by Lithuanians in 1368, but following the Union of Krewo the Lithuanian raids were stopped. By the 15th century Pułtusks merchants were among the richest in Poland, the town was granted a privilege of organizing nine grand markets a year and two small markets a week. The city also gained much profit from exporting wood and grain to Gdańsk, as well as from mead, in around 1405, the Mayors House, today known as the Polonia House or Polonia Castle, was constructed. In 1449 a Gothic church was added to the citys facilities, in the 16th century the castle was rebuilt by several renowned Italian architects, including Giovanni Battista of Venice and Bartolommeo Berrecci, and Giovanni Cini of Siena. In 1566 one of the first public theatres in Poland was established in Pułtusk, in the 16th century the town was visited by many notable individuals, such as Jan Kochanowski, King Sigismund III, and Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski. In 1530 the first Masovian printing house was opened, although the town and the castle were initially conquered by Polish forces, they were later recaptured by the Swedish army, which looted and destroyed it. After the Partitions of Poland, the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, the Polish forces of General Antoni Madaliński stationed in Pułtusk in 1794 declined to obey Prussian orders and started their march towards Kraków
7.
Richard Bonelli
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Richard Bonelli was an American operatic baritone active from 1915 to the late 1970s. Bonelli was born George Richard Bunn to Martin and Ida Bunn of Port Byron and his family later moved to Syracuse and soon George preferred to be called Richard. Prior to deciding on a career in music, Bonelli was a friend of race car driver and later mayor of Salt Lake City, Bonelli studied at Syracuse University and his voice teachers included Arthur Alexander in Los Angeles, Jean de Reszke and William Valonat in Paris. Bonellis operatic debut came on April 21,1915 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as Valentin in Gounods Faust and he toured with the San Carlo Opera Company between 1922 and 1924. In 1923 he made his European debut as Dardano in Catalanis Dejanice during the Carnevale season in Modena and he returned to Europe in 1924 to sing at the Monte Carlo Opera and was eventually engaged by the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris. Between 1925 and 1931 Bonelli performed with the Chicago Opera Company and his Chicago debut in 1925 was in the role of Germont in Verdis La traviata with Claudia Muzio and Antonio Cortis. His debut role in San Francisco was Figaro in Rossinis Il barbiere di Siviglia, seizing the opportunity of a one-year collapse of Chicago Civic Opera, the Met impresario Giulio Gatti-Casazza quickly engaged Bonelli for leading baritone roles in New York. His first performance with the Metropolitan Opera was on 29 November 1932, again as Rossinis Figaro, the cast included Lily Pons, Tito Schipa, and Ezio Pinza. Bonellis New York Metropolitan Opera debut came on December 1,1932 as Giorgio Germont in Verdis La traviata opposite Rosa Ponselle as Violetta and he remained on the Mets active roster until 1945, making his final performance as Rossinis Figaro on March 14 that year. He was the Tonio in the first ever live telecast of opera, from the Met on March 10,1940 alongside Hilda Burke, in Italy, he performed under the name Riccardo Bonelli. He also appeared in two movies, a role in 1935s Enter Madame and a cameo appearance in 1941s The Hard-Boiled Canary. After retiring from singing, Bonelli became a voice teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. Among his students were Frank Guarrera, Enrico Di Giuseppe, Lucine Amara, in 1949 when Edward Johnson retired from his position of general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Bonelli was a contender for the job though it ultimately went to Rudolf Bing. Bonellis favorite baritone was Titta Ruffo, even after retiring from teaching, he periodically performed on stage into his 80s. His later appearances were more on the West Coast of the United States and he was actor Robert Stacks uncle. Bonelli died in Los Angeles on June 7,1980 at the age of 91
8.
Il trovatore
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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
9.
Metropolitan Opera
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The Metropolitan Opera, commonly referred to as The Met, is a company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager, the music director position is in transition as of 2016. The music director designate is Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the director emeritus is James Levine. The Met was founded in 1880 as an alternative to the previously established Academy of Music opera house, the Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music organization in North America. It presents about 27 different operas each year in a season lasts from late September through May. The operas are presented in a rotating schedule with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Moving to the new Lincoln Center location in 1966, performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday, several operas are presented in new productions each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other opera houses, the rest of the years operas are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons. The 2015-16 season comprised 227 performances of 25 operas, the operas in the Mets repertoire consist of a wide range of works, from 18th-century Baroque and 19th-century Bel canto to the Minimalism of the late 20th century. These operas are presented in staged productions that range in style from those with elaborate traditional decors to others that feature modern conceptual designs, the Mets performing company consists of a large symphony-sized orchestra, a chorus, childrens choir, and many supporting and leading solo singers. The company also employs numerous free-lance dancers, actors, musicians, the Mets roster of singers includes both international and American artists, some of whose careers have been developed through the Mets young artists programs. The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1880 to create an alternative to New Yorks old established Academy of Music opera house, the subscribers to the Academys limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these old families were loath to admit New Yorks newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded, the Metropolitan Operas founding subscribers determined to build a new house that would outshine the old Academy in every way. A group of some 22 men assembled at Delmonicos restaurant on April 28,1880 and they elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company. The first Met subscribers included members of the Morgan, Roosevelt, the new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22,1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Musics opera season folded just three years after the Met opened, in its early decades the Met did not produce the opera performances itself but hired prominent manager/impresarios to stage a season of opera at the new Metropolitan Opera House. Henry Abbey served as manager for the season, 1883–84
10.
Pitcher
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In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important defensive player, there are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and closer. The National League in Major League Baseball and the Japanese Central League are among the leagues that have not adopted the designated hitter position. In most cases, the objective of the pitcher is to deliver the pitch to the catcher without allowing the batter to hit the ball with the bat. A successful pitch is delivered in such a way that the batter either allows the pitch to pass through the zone, swings the bat at the ball and misses it. If the batter elects not to swing at the pitch, it is called a strike if any part of the passes through the strike zone. A check swing is when the batter begins to swing, If the batter successfully checks the swing and the pitch is out of the strike zone, it is called a ball. There are two legal pitching positions, the windup and the set position or stretch, either position may be used at any time, typically, the windup is used when the bases are empty, while the set position is used when at least one runner is on base. Each position has certain procedures that must be followed, a balk can be called on a pitcher from either position. A power pitcher is one who relies on the velocity of his pitches to succeed, generally, power pitchers record a high percentage of strikeouts. A control pitcher succeeds by throwing accurate pitches and thus records few walks, nearly all action during a game is centered on the pitcher for the defensive team. A pitchers particular style, time taken between pitches, and skill heavily influence the dynamics of the game and can determine the victor. Meanwhile, a batter stands in the box at one side of the plate. The type and sequence of pitches chosen depend upon the situation in a game. The relationship between pitcher and catcher is so important that some teams select the starting catcher for a game based on the starting pitcher. Together, the pitcher and catcher are known as the battery, although the object and mechanics of pitching remain the same, pitchers may be classified according to their roles and effectiveness. The starting pitcher begins the game, and he may be followed by relief pitchers, such as the long reliever, the left-handed specialist, the middle reliever. In Major League Baseball, every team uses Baseball Rubbing Mud to rub game balls in before their pitchers use them in games, a skilled pitcher often throws a variety of different pitches to prevent the batter from hitting the ball well
11.
Crooner
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Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of jazz standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, backed by either a full orchestra, a big band or a piano. Originally it was a term denoting a sentimental singing style made possible by the use of microphones. Some performers, such as Russ Columbo, did not accept the term and this dominant popular vocal style coincided with the advent of radio broadcasting and electrical recording. Before the advent of the microphone, popular singers like Al Jolson had to project to the seats of a theater, as did opera singers. The microphone made possible the more personal style and he could be heard by anyone with a phonograph or a radio. His first film, The Vagabond Lover, was promoted with the line, while his success brought press warnings of the Vallee Peril, this punk from Maine with the dripping voice required mounted police to beat back screaming, swooning females at his vaudeville shows. Even The New York Times predicted that crooning would be just a passing fad, the newspaper printed, They sing like that because they can’t help it. Their style is begging to go out of fashion…, crooners will soon go the way of tandem bicycles, mah jongg and midget golf. Voice range shifted from tenor to baritone, still, a 1931 record by Dick Robinson, Crosby, Columbo & Vallee, called upon men to fight these public enemies brought into homes via radio. There were female crooners, including Annette Hanshaw, Mildred Bailey and their performances had a variety of influences including ballads and swing and was included in popular film soundtracks. The term is used to describe a female singer, although Mildred Baileys pre-swing records as well as Helen Rowland are often considered part of the crooning style. Due to the country songs popularized by Bing Crosby, the style of singing became an enduring part of country music. Bing Crosby achieved a million seller with his 1940 rendition of the song San Antonio Rose, eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves and Ray Price are especially well known for their country crooner standards. Dean Martin is rather famous for the music he recorded in the period when he was working for Reprise Records. Fellow Italian-American crooner Perry Como recorded several albums with country producer Chet Atkins in Nashville, list of crooners Gary Giddins, Bing Crosby, A Pocketful of Dreams, The Early Years, 1903–1940. Boston, Little, Brown and Co.2001, allison McCracken, Real Men Dont Sing, Crooning in American Culture. Durham, NC, Duke University Press,2015
12.
Bar and Bat Mitzvah
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Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are Jewish coming of age rituals. Bar is a Jewish Babylonian Aramaic word literally meaning son, while bat means daughter in Hebrew, thus bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah literally translate to son of commandment and daughter of commandment. However, in usage, the word bar means under the category of or subject to. Bar mitzvah therefore translates to an who is subject to the law, although the term is commonly used to refer to the ritual itself, in fact the phrase originally refers to the person. According to Jewish law, when Jewish boys become 13 years old, they become accountable for their actions, a girl becomes a bat mitzvah at the age of 12 according to Orthodox and Conservative Jews, and at the age of 13 according to Reform Jews. Prior to reaching bar mitzvah age, the parents hold the responsibility for the childs actions. After this age, the boys and girls bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics, traditionally, the father of the bar mitzvah gives thanks to God that he is no longer punished for the childs sins. Bar mitzvah is mentioned in the Mishnah and in the Talmud, in some classic sources, the age of 13 appears for instance as the age from which males must fast on the Day of Atonement, while females fast from the age of 12. The age of bnai mitzvah roughly coincides with physical puberty, the bar or bat mitzvah ceremony is usually held on the first Shabbat after a boys thirteenth and a girls twelfth birthday. Reaching the age of bar or bat Mitzvah signifies becoming a member of the Jewish community with the responsibilities that come with it. According to Rabbi Mark Washofsky, The Reform Movement in North America has struggled over the bar/bat mitzvah, at one time, this ceremony was on the verge of extinction in Reform congregations. Most of them preferred to replace bar/bat mitzvah with confirmation, which considered a more enlightened. Yet the enduring popularity of bar/bat mitzvah prevailed and today, in our communities and he may also give a dvar Torah and/or lead part or all of the prayer services. In Orthodox circles, the occasion is celebrated during a weekday service that includes reading from the Torah. However, this does not delay the onset of rights and responsibilities of being a Jewish adult which comes about strictly by virtue of age, the obligation to lay tefillin begins when a boy reaches bar mitzvah age. In some Orthodox circles, however, the custom is for the bar mitzvah boy to begin putting on one to three months before his bar mitzvah. This way, by the time he is obligated in the commandment, Bar mitzvah festivities typically include a seudat mitzvah, a celebratory meal with family, friends, and members of the community. Others may celebrate in different ways such as taking the bar or bat mitzvah on a trip or organizing some special event in the celebrants honor
13.
Radio City Music Hall
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Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city and its interior was declared a city landmark in 1978. It is notable as being the headquarters for the dance company. The 12-acre complex in Midtown Manhattan known as Rockefeller Center was developed between 1929 and 1940 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. on land leased from Columbia University. The Radio City Music Hall was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and its originally planned name was International Music Hall. The names Radio City and Radio City Music Hall derive from one of the complexs first tenants, Radio City Music Hall was a project of Rockefeller, Samuel Roxy Rothafel, who previously opened the Roxy Theatre in 1927, and RCA chairman David Sarnoff. The Music Hall opened to the public on December 27,1932 with a stage show featuring Ray Bolger, Doc Rockwell. The opening was meant to be a return to high-class variety entertainment, the new format was not a success. The program was long, and individual acts were lost in the cavernous hall. On January 11,1933, the Music Hall converted to the format of a feature film. The film-plus-stage-spectacle format continued at the Music Hall until 1979, with four complete performances presented every day, plans for alternate uses for the structure included converting the theater into tennis courts, a shopping mall or the American Stock Exchange. Joining forces with the media and political allies, including New York Lt. Gov. Mary Anne Krupsak, they challenged the Rockefeller establishment, against all odds, to save The Showplace of the Nation. On March 28,1978 New York Citys Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the interior of Radio City Music Hall a landmark guaranteeing that the building would remain a theatre, on May 12,1978, Radio City Music Hall was placed on The National Register of Historic Places. Regular film showings at Radio City ended in 1979 and in 1980, after a renovation, Radio City Music Hall is currently leased to and managed by The Madison Square Garden Company. Movie premieres and feature runs have occasionally taken place such as the Harry Potter film series. The Radio City Christmas Spectacular continues to be an important annual event, starting in 2013, however, the Tony Awards will be the only major televised awards ceremony at Radio City, as the Video Music Awards relocated permanently to the Barclays Center that year. Radio City has 5,933 seats for spectators, and additional seating can be placed on the pit elevator during events that do not require that space bringing the capacity to over 6,000. Designed by Edward Durell Stone, the interior of the theater with its austere Art Deco lines represented a break with the ornate rococo ornament associated with movie palaces at the time
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Arturo Toscanini
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Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and of the 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for detail and sonority. He was at times the music director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Toscanini was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, and won a scholarship to the music conservatory. Living conditions at the conservatory were harsh, for example, his diet consisted almost completely of fish. When he became successful, he never ate anything that came from the sea and he joined the orchestra of an opera company, with which he toured South America in 1886. Carlo Superti and Aristide Venturi tried unsuccessfully to finish the work, in desperation, the singers suggested the name of their assistant Chorus Master, who knew the whole opera from memory. The public was taken by surprise, at first by the youth and sheer aplomb of this unknown conductor, for the rest of that season, Toscanini conducted eighteen operas, all with absolute success. Thus began his career as a conductor, at age 19, upon returning to Italy, Toscanini set out on a dual path for some time. He continued to conduct, his first appearance in Italy being at the Teatro Carignano in Turin, on November 4,1886, in the world premiere of the revised version of Alfredo Catalanis Edmea. This was the beginning of Toscaninis lifelong friendship and championing of Catalani, however, he also returned to his chair in the cello section, and participated as cellist in the world premiere of Verdis Otello under the composers supervision. The composer was impressed when Toscanini consulted him personally about Verdis Te Deum. Verdi said that he had left it out for fear that certain interpreters would have exaggerated the marking, gradually, Toscaninis reputation as an operatic conductor of unusual authority and skill supplanted his cello career. In the following decade, he consolidated his career in Italy, entrusted with the premieres of Puccinis La bohème. In 1896, Toscanini conducted his first symphonic concert and he exhibited a considerable capacity for hard work, conducting 43 concerts in Turin in 1898. By 1898, Toscanini was Principal Conductor at La Scala, where he remained until 1908, returning as Music Director and he brought the La Scala Orchestra to the United States on a concert tour in 1920/21, during which he made his first recordings. Outside Europe, Toscanini conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and he toured Europe with the New York Philharmonic in 1930. At each performance, he and the orchestra were acclaimed by critics, Toscanini was the first non-German conductor to appear at Bayreuth, and the New York Philharmonic was the first non-German orchestra to play there
15.
La traviata
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La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux Camélias, an adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The opera was originally titled Violetta, after the main character and it was first performed on 6 March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice. Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting and it was not until the 1880s that the composer and librettists original wishes were carried out and realistic productions were staged. For Verdi, the years 1851 to 1853 were filled with operatic activity, in addition, personal affairs in his home town limited his activities that spring, but after Rigolettos success in Venice, an additional commission was offered by Brenna, the secretary of La Fenice. After Verdis return from Paris a contract was signed in May 1852, with performances scheduled for March 1853, Verdi sees The Lady of the Camellias play Verdi and Giuseppina Strepponi had visited Paris from late 1851 and into March 1852. In February the couple attended a performance of Alexander Dumas filss The Lady of the Camellias, as a result of this, Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz reports, the composer immediately began to compose music for what would later become La traviata. Writing to Piave, he added that I dont want any of those subjects that one can find by the hundreds. But at the time, the composer expressed concern about censorship in Venice. As the months dragged on into October, it was agreed that Piave would come to SantAgata, one subject was chosen, Piave set to work, and then Verdi threw in another idea, which may have been La traviata. However, within a time, a synopsis was dispatched to Venice under the title of Amore e morte. However, as Budden reveals, Verdi writes to his friend De Sanctis telling him that for Venice Im doing La Dame aux camélias which will probably be called La traviata, a subject for our own age. Although still bogged down at SantAgata, Piave was sanguine, Everything will turn out fine, Verdi was filled with premonitions of disaster upon his arrival in Venice on 21 February for rehearsals and he made his unhappiness clear to the singers. 19th century The audience jeered at times during the premiere, directing some of their scorn at the casting of soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli in the role of Violetta. Though she was a singer, they considered her to be too old. The next day, Verdi wrote to his friend Emanuele Muzio in what has now become perhaps his most famous letter, was the fault mine or the singers. Coincidentally, as Philips-Matz points out, an Italian translation of the play La Dame aux camélias was being presented just a short distance from La Fenice. As Budden notes, it came to be Venice that made an honest woman of Violetta when Verdi allowed a performance at the Teatro San Benedetto, then it was a fiasco, now it has created a furore
16.
Licia Albanese
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Licia Albanese was an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the heroines of Verdi and Puccini. She also made recordings and was chairwoman of The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation. Felicia Albanese was born in Noicàttaro, today part of Torre a Mare and she made her unofficial debut in Milan in 1934, when she replaced another soprano in Puccinis Madama Butterfly, the role for which she would be celebrated. Over 40 years, she more than 300 performances of Cio-Cio-San. Although she has been praised for many of her roles, including Mimì, Violetta, Liù and Manon Lescaut, it is her portrayal of the geisha which has remained her best known. Her connection with that began early with her teacher, Giuseppina Baldassare-Tedeschi, a contemporary of the composer. There is some controversy regarding when she made her formal debut and it was either in that same year at the Teatro Municipale in Bari, singing in La bohème, or in Parma, or in Milan in 1935 in Madama Butterfly. By the end of year, she had debuted at La Scala as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. She soon realized great success all over the world, especially for her performances in Carmen, Lamico Fritz and Madama Butterfly in Italy, France and England. Albanese made her Metropolitan Opera debut on February 9,1940 and her success was instantaneous, and Albanese remained at the Met for 26 seasons, performing a total of 427 performances of 17 roles in 16 operas. She left the company in 1966 in a dispute with General Manager Sir Rudolf Bing, after performing in four productions during 1965/66, she was scheduled for only one performance the next season. Arturo Toscanini invited Albanese to join his broadcast concert performances of La bohème, both performances were later issued on LP and CD by RCA Victor. Albanese went to San Francisco in the summer of 1972 for the gala concert at Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove celebrating the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Opera. Even after a career spanning seven decades, Albanese continued to perform occasionally, during the 1987 spring season of the Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, Texas, Albanese starred in a stage revival of Follies, which was a great success. Albanese died on August 15,2014, at the age of 105 in her home in Manhattan and her popularity in La traviata was such that she sang more performances of that opera at the Met and the San Francisco Opera than any other singer in either companys history. Her voice had a character which the Italians call a lirico spinto, marked by its quick vibrato, incisive diction, intensity of attack. During her career she performed many of the contemporary greats of opera—Beniamino Gigli, Claudia Muzio, Jussi Björling
17.
Un ballo in maschera
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Un ballo in maschera is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. However, Sommas libretto was based on the five act libretto which playwright Eugène Scribe had written for Daniel Aubers 1833 opera, Gustave III. Scribe wrote about the assassination in 1792 of King Gustav III of Sweden who was killed as the result of a conspiracy against him. He was shot while attending a masked dance and died 13 days later of his wounds. It was to take two years between the time of the commission from Naples and planned for a production there and its premiere performance at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 17 February 1859. In order to become the Un ballo in maschera which we know today, Verdis opera was forced to undergo a significant series of transformations and title changes. These changes were caused by a combination of censorship regulations in both Naples and Rome, as well as by the situation in France in January 1858. It became one of the most frustrating experiences of Verdis career, from the mid-20th century, it has become more common for the setting to revert to its original 18th-century Stockholm location. A re-creation of the original Gustavo III has been staged in Sweden, when this proved to be impracticable, Verdi turned to the subject of King Gustav IIIs assassination as portrayed in Scribe and Aubers opera, albeit not an historically accurate narrative. That subject was known and had been used by other composers. Sommas new libretto, known as Gustavo III, was presented to the censors in Naples by late 1857, as had happened with Rigoletto, changes in characters names and titles were proposed and the location was moved from Stockholm to Stettin. Working together with Somma over Christmas, Verdi accommodated these changes, Somma was asked to change the names of the characters on the Gustave libretto while Verdi worked on completing sketches of the music. The name of the opera became Una vendetta in dominò, by 9 January 1858, prior to setting out for Naples, Verdi wrote from his home the San Carlo that the opera is done and even here I am working on the full score. The imposition of further, more stringent requirements by the censor incurred Verdis wrath. He broke his contract, returned to SantAgata in April, and was sued by the management of the San Carlo house and this provoked him to lodge a counter-claim against the theatre for damages and, eventually, the legal fight ended. When the legal issues were resolved within a few months, Verdi was free to present the libretto, there, the censors demanded further changes. Removing the action from Europe, the location became Boston during the British colonial period and the character became Riccardo. At this point, the opera became Un ballo in maschera set in North America, Un ballo in maschera received its premiere performance at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 17 February 1859 and was immediately successful
18.
Herva Nelli
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Herva Nelli was an Italian-born operatic soprano. Named after the French socialist Gustave Hervé, she was born in Florence, at the age of ten, however, she and her family left Italy for the United States, settling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she later studied at the Pittsburgh Music Institute. In 1937, the soprano made her debut with Brooklyns Salmaggi Opera. She also sang the roles of Bellinis Norma, Verdis Aida. In 1947, she made her New York City Opera debut, as Santuzza, also in 1947, Nelli successfully auditioned for the conductor Arturo Toscanini, and sang the part of Desdemona in the NBC Symphony Orchestras concert version of Verdis Otello, opposite Ramón Vinay. When Toscanini died three years later, he left his protégée his baton in his will, in 1948, Nelli sang in Genoa and at the Teatro alla Scala. At the latter theatre, she participated in the Boito Memorial Concert, from 1949, the glamorous dramatic soprano performed with the New Orleans Opera Association, Aida, Otello, Aida again, and Il trovatore. She was also heard in Philadelphia, in Aïda, La Gioconda, Cavalleria rusticana, Norma, Il trovatore, Otello, La forza del destino, Puccinis Tosca. In 1951, Nelli reappeared with the New York City Opera, in Cavalleria rusticana again, as well as Aida, with the Baltimore Civic Opera in 1952, she debuted in Aida, in the 1954-55 season, she sang there in Il trovatore. In 1953, Nelli debuted at the Metropolitan Opera, with which she appeared until 1961 and she was seen in Aida, La forza del destino, Il trovatore, Cavalleria rusticana, Andrea Chénier, Un ballo in maschera and Mozarts Don Giovanni. With the Met, she toured to Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Dallas, Toronto, Herva Nelli was also heard at the Cincinnati Opera many times between 1953 and 1956, Aida, La traviata, Andrea Chénier, Un ballo in maschera and Puccinis Madama Butterfly. The soprano was also seen with the Pittsburgh Opera, San Franciscos Cosmopolitan Opera, Lyric Theater of Chicago, Tulsa Opera and Opera Guild of Miami. Upon her 1951 return to the City Opera, Howard Taubman wrote of her in The New York Times, Mme Nellis voice is of size and range. Her pianissimo singing can be lovely, indeed, but she has a tendency to force and drive her tone until it loses its natural beauty. It was performed at the Hollywood Bowl, as presented by the Festival of Faith, at the Teatro Colón, in 1958, she was the soprano soloist for Beethovens Ninth Symphony, conducted by Juan José Castro. Among the orchestras with which she sang the Verdi Requiem were the New York Philharmonic, the prima donna toured to Colombia, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and Madeira. Nelli gave her farewell in April 1962, with the Brooklyn Opera Company, at the Academy of Music, in Norma, in retirement, she acquired a particular reputation as a chef. In 1985, she appeared in an interview in the documentary Toscanini, The Maestro, on May 31,1994, the soprano succumbed to leukemia at the age of eighty-five, at the Sharon Country Manor, in Connecticut
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RCA Records
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RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. It is one of SMEs three flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, blues, jazz, the companys name is derived from the initials of the labels former parent company, the Radio Corporation of America. It is the second oldest recording company in US history, after sister label Columbia Records, RCAs Canadian unit is Sonys oldest label in Canada. It was one of only two Canadian record companies to survive the Great Depression, kelly, Enrique Iglesias, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Giorgio Moroder, Jennifer Hudson, DAngelo, Pink, Tinashe, G-Eazy, Pitbull, Zayn and Wizkid. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the worlds largest manufacturer of phonographs and phonograph records. The company then became RCA Victor but retained use of the Victor Records name on their labels until the beginning of 1946 when the labels were finally switched over to RCA Victor. With Victor, RCA acquired New World rights to the famous Nipper His Masters Voice trademark, in Shanghai, China, in 1931, RCA Victors British affiliate the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI. This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board, in September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33⅓ rpm records sold to the public, calling them Program Transcriptions. In the depths of the Great Depression, the format was a commercial failure, during the early part of the depression, RCA made a number of attempts to produce a successful cheap label to compete with the dime store labels. The first was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931 sold at Montgomery Ward, in 1932, Bluebird Records was created as a sub-label of RCA Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a blue label. In 1933, RCA reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label, another cheap label, Sunrise, was produced. The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and Bluebird Records still survives eight decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued, RCA also produced records for Montgomery Ward label during the 1930s. Besides manufacturing records for themselves, RCA Victor operated RCA Custom which was the leading record manufacturer for independent record labels, RCA Custom also pressed record compilations for The Readers Digest Association. RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1935, but EMI continued to distribute RCA recordings in the UK, RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV classical recordings on the RCA and HMV labels in North America. During World War II, ties between RCA and its Japanese affiliate JVC were severed, the Japanese record company is today called Victor Entertainment and is still a JVC subsidiary. From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban, virtually all union musicians could not make recordings during that period
20.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
21.
Sam Berman
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Sam Berman was an American caricaturist of the 1940s and 1950s. Berman was in school when he began drawing cartoons for the Hartford Courant. He went to New York to study art and then landed a position as a staff cartoonist for the Newark Star Eagle, during the 1930s his political cartoons were published in color in Colliers. He designed titles for Nothing Sacred and other films of the 1930s and his murals graced the walls of the Café Society club in Greenwich Village, and he illustrated Mark Hellingers syndicated newspaper column, Goin to Town, throughout the 1930s and the 1940s. During World War II, he did a series depicting Nazi leaders, with a tight deadline, he created caricatures of NBCs most popular radio personalities and shows, each printed on a separate 6x7 card, and inserted in a green vinyl slipcase. V. Kaltenborn, Kay Kyser, Art Linkletter, Robert Merrill, Frank Sinatra and Red Skelton, as well as the stars of Amos n Andy, A Date with Judy, Dr. I. The Great Gildersleeve, Mr. District Attorney, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, Truth or Consequences and his advertising art included a unique approach of caricaturing ordinary people, as seen in his Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter ad which ran in The Saturday Evening Post in 1955. His childrens books include Pixie Petes Christmas Party, Miriam Schleins Shapes, other books illustrated by Berman include Sullivan Bites News, Perverse News Items by Frank Sullivan. As head of his own map-making firm, he created a relief map. Berman lived in Chappaqua, New York and later lived in Spain, Berman died in 1995 in New York City,2 weeks after his 88th birthday. List of caricaturists Drew Friedman, Sam Berman
22.
Giuseppe Verdi
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Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a family of moderate means. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, whose works influenced him. In his early operas Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy and he also participated briefly as an elected politician. He surprised the world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida. The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo, additionally, it lists Verdi as being born yesterday, but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Verdi himself, following his mother, always celebrated his birthday on 9 October, Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. From the age of four, Verdi was given lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents provided him with a spinet. Verdis gift for music was apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while. After Baistrocchis death, Verdi, at the age of eight, Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his sons education. something which Verdi tended to hide in later life. He picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by a father and of a sustained, sophisticated. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, at age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of the music school. This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of the Philharmonic Society was Antonio Barezzi, a grocer and distiller. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic, by June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic, none of us could rival him reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè
23.
Aida
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Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in Egypt, it was commissioned by and first performed at Cairos Khedivial Opera House on 24 December 1871, ghislanzonis scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Aida eventually premiered in Cairo in late 1871, contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, for which Verdi had been invited to write an inaugural hymn, but had declined. The plot bears striking, though similarities to Metastasios libretto La Nitteti. Verdi originally chose to write an orchestral prelude instead of a full overture for the opera. He then composed an overture of the variety to replace the original prelude. However, in the end he decided not to have the overture performed because of its—his own words—pretentious insipidity and this overture, never used today, was given a rare broadcast performance by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 30 March 1940, but was never commercially issued. Aida met with acclaim when it finally opened in Cairo on 24 December 1871. He therefore considered the Italian premiere, held at La Scala, Milan on 8 February 1872, Verdi had also written the role of Aida for the voice of Teresa Stolz, who sang it for the first time at the Milan premiere. Verdi had asked her fiancé, Angelo Mariani, to conduct the Cairo premiere, the Milan Amneris, Maria Waldmann, was his favourite in the role and she repeated it a number of times at his request. Aida was received with enthusiasm at its Milan premiere. With Polish translation Aida was performed for the first time 9 June 1877, france,22 April 1876, Théâtre-Lyrique Italien, Salle Ventadour, Paris, with almost the same cast as the Milan premiere, but with Édouard de Reszke making his debut as the King. Rio de Janeiro,30 June 1886, Theatro Lyrico Fluminense, Arturo Toscanini, at the time a 19-year-old cellist who was assistant chorus master, was persuaded to take up the baton for the performance. Toscanini conducted the opera from memory, with great success. This would be the start of a promising career, laibach, Austrian Empire,1 October 1898, conducted by Hilarion Benišek A complete concert version of the opera was given in New York City in 1949. Conducted by Toscanini with Herva Nelli as Aida and Richard Tucker as Radamès, due to the length of the opera, it was divided into two telecasts, preserved on kinescopes, and later released on video by RCA and Testament. The audio portion of the broadcast, including some remakes in June 1954, was released on LP, La Scala mounted a lavish new production of Aida designed by Franco Zeffirelli for the opening night of its 2006/2007 season. The production starred Violeta Urmana in the role and Roberto Alagna as Radamès
24.
Newark, New Jersey
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Newark is the most populous city in the U. S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County. For 2015, the Census Bureaus Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 281,944, Newark is the second largest city in the New York metropolitan area, located approximately 8 miles west of lower Manhattan. Settled in 1666 by Puritans from New Haven Colony, Newark is one of the oldest European cities in the United States and its location at the mouth of the Passaic River, has made the citys waterfront an integral part of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Today, Port Newark-Elizabeth is the container shipping terminal of the busiest seaport on the American East Coast. In addition, Newark Liberty International Airport was the first municipal airport in the United States. Several leading companies have their headquarters in Newark, including Prudential, PSEG, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Audible. com, IDT Corporation, the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey sits in the city as well. Local cultural venues include the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark Symphony Hall, The Prudential Center and the Newark Museum. Newark is divided into five wards, the East, West, South, North and Central wards. Newarks Branch Brook Park is the oldest county park in the United States and is home to the nations largest collection of cherry blossom trees, Newark was settled in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat from the New Haven Colony. It was conceived as an assembly of the faithful, though this did not last for long as new settlers came with different ideas. On October 31,1693 it was organized as a New Jersey township based on the Newark Tract, Newark was granted a Royal charter on April 27,1713. It was incorporated on February 21,1798 by the New Jersey Legislatures Township Act of 1798, during its time as a township, portions were taken to form Springfield Township, Caldwell Township, Orange Township, Bloomfield Township and Clinton Township. Newark was reincorporated as a city on April 11,1836, replacing Newark Township, the previously independent Vailsburg borough was annexed by Newark on January 1,1905. In 1926, South Orange Township changed its name to Maplewood, as a result of this, a portion of Maplewood known as Ivy Hill was re-annexed to Newarks Vailsburg. During the American Revolutionary War British troops made several raids into the town, the city has experienced revitalization since the 1990s. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had an area of 26.107 square miles. It has the third-smallest land area among the 100 most populous cities in the U. S. behind neighboring Jersey City and Hialeah, the citys altitude ranges from 0 in the east to approximately 230 feet above sea level in the western section of the city. Newark is essentially a large basin sloping towards the Passaic River, historically, Newarks high places have been its wealthier neighborhoods
25.
Giovanni Martinelli
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Giovanni Martinelli was an Italian operatic tenor. He was associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well. Martinelli was one of the most famous tenors of the 20th century, enjoying a career at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Martinelli was born on October 22,1885 in Montagnana, a town in the province of Padua, Veneto To parents Anna Isotti and G Martinelli. After service as a clarinetist in a band, he studied with Giuseppe Mandolini in Milan. The role of Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West became his role, he sang it for his debut in Rome, Brescia, Naples, Genoa—all in 1911—as well as in Monte Carlo. Cavaradossi in Tosca was his role at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, in London. On April 25,1913 he portrayed Pantagruel in the premiere of Jules Massenets Panurge at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris. Martinellis debut at the Metropolitan Opera took place on November 20,1913, as Rodolfo in La Bohème, where the young tenors easy high C and pure, silvery tone attracted favorable attention. But also as Arnold in Guglielmo Tell, Eleazar in La Juive, Enzo in La Gioconda, Don Jose in Carmen, Vasco de Gama in LAfricaine, Canio in I pagliacci, Pollione in Norma. He also sang in Boston, San Francisco and Chicago, often trying out new roles there, before singing them at the Met. Outside the United States, Martinelli appeared in Paris and Buenos Aires during his prime, in 1937, he returned to London to sing at Covent Garden in highly acclaimed performances of Otello and as Calaf, opposite the exceptionally powerful English dramatic soprano Eva Turner. He retired from the stage in 1950, although he gave one performance, at the age of 82, as Emperor Altoum in Turandot. During retirement he taught singing in New York, where one of his pupils was tenor Jack Harrold, Martinelli was essentially a spinto tenor of steely brilliance, commanding a strong high C. His interpretive style was generally restrained and noble, but he was capable of delivering passionate, histrionic outbursts where appropriate in such roles as Canio. In lyrical or lighthearted music however, his voice production could be too forceful and he died on February 2,1969 at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. In private life Martinelli was said to be something of a playboy, possessing a personality, a wealth of memorable anecdotes. He was married to Adele Previtali from August 7,1913 until his death, Martinelli made a large number of commercial recordings for the Edison and Victor Talking Machine Company/RCA Victor by the acoustic and electrical processes which are available on CD reissues
26.
Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air
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The Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air was an annual singing competition sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera of New York City for more than two decades. The competitions purpose was to find, encourage, and promote developing young singers with promising future careers. Winners of the competition were given a prize and the opportunity to perform opera selections on the radio with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Established in 1935 by newly appointed Met director Edward Johnson, the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air was broadcast live on NBC Radio, given the number of contestants, the competition was heard through a series of broadcasts that spanned several weeks. At this point the competition was referred to as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions of the Air. The first two winners of the competition were the tenor Arthur Carron and the contralto Anna Kaskas, both of which became resident artists at the Met soon after, the competition ceased to operate in 1958, but the Met continues to operate the National Council Auditions. Regina Resnik Robert Merrill Thomas Hayward Christine Johnson
27.
Jeanette MacDonald
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Jeanette Anna MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy. During the 1930s and 1940s she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Oscars and she later appeared in opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of the most influential sopranos of the 20th century, introducing opera to movie-going audiences, MacDonald was born June 18,1903, at her familys Philadelphia home at 5123 Arch Street. She was the youngest of the three daughters of Anna Mae and Daniel MacDonald and she had Scottish, English, and Dutch ancestry. Starting at an age, she took dancing lessons with Al White, imitated her mothers opera records. She performed at church and school functions and began touring in kiddie shows and she was the younger sister of character actress Blossom Rock who is most famous as Grandmama on the TV show Addams Family. In 1920 she appeared in two musicals, Jerome Kerns Night Boat as a replacement, and Irene on the road as the second female lead. Shipman once remarked that MacDonald did not have the legs for a chorus girl. In 1921 MacDonald played in Tangerine, as one of the Six Wives, in 1922 MacDonald was a featured singer in a Greenwich Village revue, Fantastic Fricassee. Good press notices brought her a role in The Magic Ring, MacDonald played the second female lead in this long-running musical which starred Mitzi Hajos. In 1925 MacDonald again had the female lead opposite Queenie Smith in Tip Toes. The following year found her still in a female lead in Bubblin Over. MacDonald finally landed the role in Yes, Yes, Yvette. Planned as a sequel to producer H. H. Frazees No, No, Nanette, MacDonald also played the lead in her next two plays, Sunny Days, her first show for producers Lee and J. J. Shubert, for which she received rave reviews, and Angela and her last play was Boom Boom, with her name above the title. While MacDonald was appearing in Angela, film star Richard Dix spotted her and had her screen-tested for his film Nothing, the Shuberts wouldn’t let her out of her contract to appear in the film, which starred Dix and Helen Kane, the Boop-boop-a-doop girl. In 1929, famed film director Ernst Lubitsch was looking through old screen tests of Broadway performers and he cast her as the leading lady in his first sound film, The Love Parade, which starred the Continental sensation Maurice Chevalier. In the first rush of sound films, 1929–30, MacDonald starred in six films and her first, The Love Parade, directed by Lubitsch and co-starring Chevalier, was a landmark of early sound films and received a Best Picture nomination
28.
Up in Central Park
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Up in Central Park is a Broadway musical with a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and music by Sigmund Romberg. The musical was Rombergs last stage work produced during his lifetime, produced by Michael Todd, the Broadway production, staged by John Kennedy, and choreographed by Helen Tamiris, opened on January 27,1945 at the Century Theatre, where it ran for 504 performances. Cast included Wilbur Evans and Betty Bruce, the musical is set in the Boss Tweed era of New York City in the 1870s. Wilbur Evans plays John Matthews, a New York Times reporter investigating the Tweed’s crooked political machine and he falls in love with the daughter of one of the Boss’ ward heelers, who marries a politician, who is killed. She later rekindles her love for Matthews, the settings, costumes and dances evoked the lithographs of Currier and Ives. In 1948 the musical was made into a directed by William A. Seiter and starring Deanna Durbin, Dick Haymes. Mary Grant designed the films costumes, the movie version omits much of the Broadway score and changes the story considerably. The film was not a success, decca released an album of eight songs from the show with original cast members Wilbur Evans and Betty Bruce, along with the show orchestra conducted by Max Meth. Also appearing on the album are Eileen Farrell and Celeste Holm, RCA Victor put out an album with Jeanette MacDonald and Robert Merrill singing six selections from the score, with Russell Bennett conducting. Up in Central Park at the Internet Broadway Database
29.
Georges Bizet
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Georges Bizet, registered at birth as Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer of the romantic era. During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes and he was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were largely ignored, as a result, his career stalled. Restless for success, he began many theatrical projects during the 1860s, neither of his two operas that reached the stage in this time—Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth—were immediately successful. The production of Bizets final opera, Carmen, was delayed because of fears that its themes of betrayal and murder would offend audiences. After its premiere on 3 March 1875, Bizet was convinced that the work was a failure, Bizets marriage to Geneviève Halévy was intermittently happy and produced one son. After his death, his work, apart from Carmen, was generally neglected, manuscripts were given away or lost, and published versions of his works were frequently revised and adapted by other hands. He founded no school and had no obvious disciples or successors, after years of neglect, his works began to be performed more frequently in the 20th century. Later commentators have acclaimed him as a composer of brilliance and originality whose premature death was a significant loss to French musical theatre, Georges Bizet was born in Paris on 25 October 1838. He was registered as Alexandre César Léopold, but baptised as Georges on 16 March 1840 and his father, Adolphe Bizet, had been a hairdresser and wigmaker before becoming a singing teacher despite his lack of formal training. He also composed a few works, including at least one published song, in 1837 Adolphe married Aimée Delsarte, against the wishes of her family who considered him a poor prospect, the Delsartes, though impoverished, were a cultured and highly musical family. Aimée was an accomplished pianist, while her brother François Delsarte was a singer and teacher who performed at the courts of both Louis Philippe and Napoleon III. François Delsartes wife Rosine, a prodigy, had been an assistant professor of solfège at the Conservatoire de Paris at the age of 13. Georges, a child, showed early aptitude for music and quickly picked up the basics of musical notation from his mother. This precocity convinced his ambitious parents that he was ready to begin studying at the Conservatoire even though he was only nine years old. Georges was interviewed by Joseph Meifred, the horn virtuoso who was a member of the Conservatoires Committee of Studies, Meifred was so struck by the boys demonstration of his skills that he waived the age rule and offered to take him as soon as a place became available. Bizet was admitted to the Conservatoire on 9 October 1848, two weeks before his 10th birthday and he made an early impression, within six months he had won first prize in solfège, a feat that impressed Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann, the Conservatoires former professor of piano
30.
Thomas Beecham
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Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras. From the early 20th century until his death, Beecham was an influence on the musical life of Britain and. Born to an industrial family, Beecham began his career as a conductor in 1899. Among the works he introduced to England were Richard Strausss Elektra, Salome and Der Rosenkavalier, together with his younger colleague Malcolm Sargent, Beecham founded the London Philharmonic, and he conducted its first performance at the Queens Hall in 1932. In the 1940s he worked for three years in the United States where he was director of the Seattle Symphony and conducted at the Metropolitan Opera. After his return to Britain, he founded the Royal Philharmonic in 1946, Beechams repertoire was eclectic, sometimes favouring lesser-known composers over famous ones. His specialities included composers whose works were neglected in Britain before he became their advocate, such as Delius, other composers with whose music he was frequently associated were Haydn, Schubert, Sibelius and the composer he revered above all others, Mozart. Beecham was born in St Helens, Lancashire, in a house adjoining the Beechams Pills laxative factory founded by his grandfather and his parents were Joseph Beecham, the elder son of Thomas, and Josephine, née Burnett. In 1885, with the family firm flourishing financially, Joseph Beecham moved his family to a house in Ewanville, Huyton. Their former home was demolished to make room for an extension to the pill factory and he did not find university life to his taste and successfully sought his fathers permission to leave Oxford in 1898. He studied as a pianist, but had difficulty because of his small hands and he studied composition privately with Frederic Austin in Liverpool, Charles Wood in London, and Moritz Moszkowski in Paris. As a conductor, he was self-taught, Beecham first conducted in public in St Helens in October 1899, with an ad hoc ensemble comprising local musicians and players from the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hallé in Manchester. A month later, he stood in at short notice for the celebrated conductor Hans Richter at a concert by the Hallé to mark Joseph Beechams inauguration as mayor of St Helens, soon afterwards, Joseph Beecham secretly committed his wife to a mental hospital. Thomas and his elder sister Emily helped to secure their mothers release, Beecham was estranged from his father for ten years. Beechams professional début as a conductor was in 1902 at the Shakespeare Theatre, Clapham, with Balfes The Bohemian Girl and he was engaged as assistant conductor for a tour and was allotted four other operas, including Carmen and Pagliacci. A Beecham biographer calls the company grandly named but decidedly ramshackle, though Beechams Carmen was Zélie de Lussan, Beecham was also composing music in these early years, but he was not satisfied with his own efforts and instead concentrated on conducting. In 1906 Beecham was invited to conduct the New Symphony Orchestra, throughout his career, Beecham frequently chose to programme works to suit his own tastes rather than those of the paying public
31.
Zinka Milanov
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Zinka Milanov was a Croatian-born operatic spinto soprano who had a major career centered on the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. After finishing her education in Zagreb, Milanov made her debut in 1927 in Ljubljana as Leonora in Giuseppe Verdis Il Trovatore, from 1928 to 1936, she was the leading soprano of the Croatian National Theatre. In 1937, Milanov performed at the Metropolitan Opera for the first time and she also performed as a concert singer and was a noted vocal coach and teacher. Mlanov is the sister of the composer and pianist Božidar Kunc, born in Zagreb, Croatia as Zinka Kunc, she studied with the Wagnerian soprano Milka Ternina and her assistant Marija Kostrenčić. She also studied in Milan with Carpi and in Berlin with Stückgolt, on October 29,1927, she made her operatic debut as Leonora in Giuseppe Verdis Il Trovatore in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at age 21. Her debut in her native Croatia, at the National Theatre in Zagreb, after an early debut in Dresden, her teacher, Ternina, was not pleased and much work commenced to perfect her technique. She performed in Zagreb and Ljubljana almost exclusively for the six years. Later she became a member of the New German Theatre in Prague and she was discovered there by Bruno Walter, who recommended her to Arturo Toscanini for a performance of Verdis Requiem in Salzburg. In 1937, the soprano made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, at that time she adopted the name Milanov, the stage name of her second husband, an actor. According to Milanov herself, Kunc wasnt glamorous enough for the Metropolitan Opera, in 1940, Milanov was one of the featured soloists in a radio performance of Beethovens Missa Solemnis, along with Jussi Bjoerling, Alexander Kipnis, Bruna Castagna, and the Westminster Choir. Toscanini conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra, in 1947, she left the Met when she married, for the third time, to Yugoslav general and diplomat Ljubomir Ilić, and returned to live in Yugoslavia. She was at the peak of her artistic and vocal powers when she made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala as Tosca in 1950, Milanov returned to the Metropolitan Opera the same year, invited by Rudolf Bing in his first year there as general manager. She gave her performance in 1966 at the closing night of the old Metropolitan Opera House. Having worked as a teacher while still performing, Milanov devoted herself to teaching after her retirement. Among her pupils were Betty Allen, Grace Bumbry, Christa Ludwig, Regina Resnik, Dubravka Zubovic and she recorded prolifically from the 1940s through to the 1960s. Her voice was well-suited to Italian operas such as those of Verdi, Ponchielli, Puccini and she died in New York City, aged 83. Verdi, Il trovatore - Zinka Milanov, Jussi Bjorling, Fedora Barbieri, Leonard Warren, Nicola Moscona, Robert Shaw Chorale, RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, RCA Victor,1952. Verdi, Aida - Zinka Milanov, Jussi Bjorling, Fedora Barbieri, Leonard Warren, Boris Christoff, Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Jonel Perlea, RCA Victor,1955
32.
Pagliacci
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Pagliacci is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It is the only Leoncavallo opera that is widely performed. Opera companies have frequently staged Pagliacci with Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni, Nellie Melba played Nedda in London in 1893, soon after the Italian premiere, and it was given in New York on 15 June 1893, with Agostino Montegriffo as Canio. Around 1890, when Pietro Mascagnis Cavalleria rusticana premiered, Leoncavallo was a little-known composer, after seeing Mascagnis success, he decided to write an opera in response, one act composed in the verismo style. Leoncavallo claimed that he based the story of Pagliacci on an incident from his childhood, a murder in 1865, the murderer was Gaetano DAlessandro, with his brother Luigi an accomplice to the crime. The incident resulted from a series of perceived romantic entanglements involving Scavello, Luigi DAlessandro, Leoncavallos father, a judge, was the presiding magistrate over the criminal investigation. The composer pleaded ignorance of Mendès play, later there were counter-accusations that Mendès play resembled that of Don Manuel Tamayo y Baus Un Drama Nuevo. These would potentially have included Mendès play, another version of La femme de Tabarin by Paul Ferrier, and Tabarin, Leoncavallo originally titled his story Il pagliaccio. Pagliacci received mixed reviews upon its world premiere, but was instantly successful with the public and has remained so ever since. The UK premiere of Pagliacci took place at the Royal Opera House, the US premiere followed a month later at Grand Opera House in New York on 15 June, with American born tenor, Agostino Montegriffo, as Canio. The Metropolitan Opera first staged the work on 11 December as a double-bill with Orfeo ed Euridice, the Met again staged Pagliacci as a double-bill, this time followed by Cavalleria rusticana on 22 December 1893. The two operas have since been performed as a double-bill, a pairing referred to in the operatic world colloquially as Cav. Pagliacci was produced alone in Washington National Operas November 1997 production by Franco Zeffirelli, the re-organised New York City Opera presented Pagliacci in 2016 on a double bill with Rachmaninoffs Aleko. Place, Calabria, near Montalto, on the Feast of the Assumption Time, during the overture, the curtain rises. From behind a curtain, Tonio, dressed as his commedia character Taddeo. He reminds the audience that actors have feelings too, and that the show is real people. At three oclock in the afternoon, the commedia troupe enters the village to the cheering of the villagers, Canio describes the nights performance, the troubles of Pagliaccio. He says the play will begin at ventitré ore, a method of time-keeping that means the play will begin an hour before sunset
33.
Cavalleria rusticana
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Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play and short story written by Giovanni Verga. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pag double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. In July 1888 the Milanese music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno announced an open to all young Italian composers who had not yet had an opera performed on stage. They were invited to submit a one-act opera, which would be judged by a jury of five prominent Italian critics, the best three would be staged in Rome at Sonzognos expense. Targioni-Tozzetti chose Cavalleria rusticana, a short story by Giovanni Verga. He and his colleague Guido Menasci set about composing the libretto, sending it to Mascagni in fragments, the opera was finally submitted on the last day that entries would be accepted. In all,73 operas were submitted, and on 5 March 1890, there have been two other operas based on Vergas story. The first, Mala Pasqua. by Stanislao Gastaldon, was entered in the competition as Mascagnis. However, Gastaldon withdrew it when he received an opportunity to have it performed at the Teatro Costanzi, in the 1907 Sonzogno competition, Domenico Monleone submitted an opera based on the story, and likewise called Cavalleria rusticana. The opera was not successful in the competition, but premiered later that year in Amsterdam and went on to a tour throughout Europe. Sonzogno, wishing to protect the property which Mascagnis version had become, took legal action. Monleone changed the opera ‘beyond recognition’, setting the music to a new libretto, in this form it was presented as La giostra dei falchi in 1914. Cavalleria rusticana opened on the evening of 19 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome to an empty house. However, the audience included not only the most authoritative music critics in the country but also Queen Margherita and it was a success from its opening notes. Following Stagnos rendition of the Siciliana behind the curtain the audience leaped to their feet with a thunderous applause not heard for many years, the number was encored as were a number of other numbers in the opera. It was a sensation, with Mascagni taking 40 curtain calls, although Mascagni had started writing two other operas earlier, Cavalleria rusticana was his first opera to be completed and performed. It remains the best known of his fifteen operas and one operetta, apart from Cavalleria rusticana, only Iris and Lamico Fritz have remained in the standard repertory, with Isabeau and Il piccolo Marat on the fringes of the Italian repertoire. Its success has been ever since its first performance
34.
Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick
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Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick was a 1952 hillbilly movie made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Claude Binyon and produced by William Perlberg and George Seaton. It is based on a 1919 play by Walter Benjamin Hare which was one of the most produced plays in the history of American theater with 40,000 performances, as of 1952, the cinematography was by Charles Lang and the costume design by Edith Head. The film stars Alan Young, Dinah Shore and Robert Merrill, supporting are Adele Jergens, Minerva Urecal, Martha Stewart, and Veda Ann Borg. Alan Young had previously appeared in only three films–in the 1940s and all supporting roles, Dinah Shore had only acted eight years previously, in Up in Arms and Belle of the Yukon, and this was her last major film role. The film also marked the debut of opera star Robert Merrill, Alan Young as Aaron Slick Dinah Shore as Josie Berry Robert Merrill as Bill Merridew Adele Jergens as Gladys Minerva Urecal as Mrs. She is courted by shy-bumpkin neighbor, and is almost tricked out of her land by crooks who know there is an oilfield there, Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick had an unfortunate release. Produced in Technicolor as an A production, its boxoffice failed in its initial playdates, the film thereafter opened as a B movie. And the songs, which are delivered by Miss Shore, Mr. Young and Robert Merrill. Chores written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans My Beloved written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans Marshmallow Moon written by Jay Livingston, Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick at the Internet Movie Database
35.
Leonard Warren
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Leonard Warren was an American opera singer. A baritone, he was a leading artist for years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Born Leonard Warenoff in the Bronx to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, in 1935, he joined the chorus at Radio City Music Hall. In 1938, he entered the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air, despite the fact Warren was obviously a novice, his natural gifts were apparent, and he was immediately given a contract. The Met sent him to Italy that summer with a stipend to study, returning to America, Warren made his concert debut at the Metropolitan Opera in excerpts from La traviata and Pagliacci during a concert in New York City in November 1938. His formal operatic debut took place there in January 1939, when he sang Paolo in Simon Boccanegra, a recording contract with RCA Victor soon followed. Warren later sang in San Francisco, Chicago, Mexico City and Buenos Aires, in 1958, he made a highly successful tour of the Soviet Union, but for most of his career he remained in New York City and sang at the Met. Sometime during that period, he converted to Roman Catholicism, the faith of his wife Agatha and this was the first complete operatic recording to be released on LP records. He also sang the role in a Madison Square Garden Red Cross benefit concert in 1944, jan Peerce again sang the Duke, but this time Zinka Milanov was Gilda, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. This Rigoletto excerpt was released on records and CD by RCA Victor. Private recordings exist of his Simon Boccanegra and Iago in Otello and he also was the Renato in an album of highlights from Un ballo in maschera made with Marian Anderson as Ulrica on the occasion of her Met debut. Warren took part in a historic milestone in 1948, when he sang in the first-ever live telecast from the Metropolitan Opera. Giuseppe Verdis Otello was broadcast complete by ABC-TV on November 29,1948, ramon Vinay was Otello, Licia Albanese was Desdemona, and Warren sang the role of Iago. In 1958 Warren toured the USSR and he was one of the few American artists invited to do so and had great success at concerts in Leningrad and Kiev. The concerts were recorded and excerpts have been released on the RCA Victor LP and later CD Leonard Warren, in his book The American Opera Singer, Peter G. And of course the top was its special glory -- when relaxing with friends Warren would often tear into tenor arias like Di quella pira. He could have, but never did, overindulge that applause-getting facility, soprano Renata Tebaldi said of his voice, it was a very, very soft, velvety voice. He was truly stupendous. The actor and opera fan Tony Randall said Warrens voice was huge, Warrens last complete performance was in the title role of Simon Boccanegra on March 1,1960 at the Met
36.
Lewisohn Stadium
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Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater and athletic facility built on the campus of the City College of New York. It opened in 1915 and was demolished in 1973, the Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues, from 136th to 138th Streets, in 1915, with a capacity of 8,000. Financier and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn donated the money for construction, the stadium hosted many athletic, musical, and theatrical events and was one of New Yorks public landmarks. It was demolished in 1973 to make way for the $125 million North Academic Center. The CCNY football team played its games at Lewisohn from 1921 to 1950. Leopold Stokowski made a series of recordings for Everest with the Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York, george Gershwin played his Rhapsody in Blue. Performers ranged from Van Cliburn, Jascha Heifetz, and Yehudi Menuhin to Leontyne Price, Pete Seeger, Thomas Hayward, Harry Belafonte, Jack Benny, due to declining attendances, the concerts were discontinued in 1966. It was also used for CCNYs annual Army ROTCs reviews at the end of academic year. Along with Jasper Oval, Lewisohn was used throughout the year for many of the colleges uptown campus outdoor intramural sports. The derelict stadium was used in the 1973 film Serpico, directed by Sidney Lumet, in a scene with Tony Roberts, http, //digital-archives. ccny. cuny. edu/exhibits/lostworld/lewisohn. html 1952 Concert at Lewisohn Stadium with Marian Anderson and Mischa Elman at The WNYC Archives
37.
Time (magazine)
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Time is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It was founded in 1923 and for decades was dominated by Henry Luce, a European edition is published in London and also covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong, the South Pacific edition, which covers Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, is based in Sydney, Australia. In December 2008, Time discontinued publishing a Canadian advertiser edition, Time has the worlds largest circulation for a weekly news magazine, and has a readership of 26 million,20 million of which are based in the United States. As of 2012, it had a circulation of 3.3 million making it the eleventh most circulated magazine in the United States reception room circuit, as of 2015, its circulation was 3,036,602. Richard Stengel was the editor from May 2006 to October 2013. Nancy Gibbs has been the editor since October 2013. Time magazine was created in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, the two had previously worked together as chairman and managing editor respectively of the Yale Daily News. They first called the proposed magazine Facts and they wanted to emphasize brevity, so that a busy man could read it in an hour. They changed the name to Time and used the slogan Take Time–Its Brief and it set out to tell the news through people, and for many decades the magazines cover depicted a single person. More recently, Time has incorporated People of the Year issues which grew in popularity over the years, notable mentions of them were Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, Matej Turk, etc. The first issue of Time was published on March 3,1923, featuring Joseph G. Cannon, the retired Speaker of the House of Representatives, on its cover, a facsimile reprint of Issue No. 1, including all of the articles and advertisements contained in the original, was included with copies of the February 28,1938 issue as a commemoration of the magazines 15th anniversary. The cover price was 15¢ On Haddens death in 1929, Luce became the dominant man at Time, the Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise 1923–1941. In 1929, Roy Larsen was also named a Time Inc. director, J. P. Morgan retained a certain control through two directorates and a share of stocks, both over Time and Fortune. Other shareholders were Brown Brothers W. A. Harriman & Co. the Intimate History of a Changing Enterprise 1957–1983. According to the September 10,1979 issue of The New York Times, after Time magazine began publishing its weekly issues in March 1923, Roy Larsen was able to increase its circulation by utilizing U. S. radio and movie theaters around the world. It often promoted both Time magazine and U. S. political and corporate interests, Larsen next arranged for a 30-minute radio program, The March of Time, to be broadcast over CBS, beginning on March 6,1931
38.
Richard Tucker
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Richard Tucker was an American operatic tenor. Tucker was born Rivn Ticker in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Bessarabian Jewish parents and his father, Sruel Ticker, and mother Fanya-Tsipa Ticker had already adopted the surname Tucker by the time their son entered first grade. His musical aptitude was discovered early, and was nurtured under the tutelage of Samuel Weisser at the Tifereth Israel synagogue in lower Manhattan. As a teenager, Tuckers interests alternated between athletics, at which he excelled during his years, and singing for weddings. Until then, Tuckers income derived mainly from his weekly commissions as a salesman for the Reliable Silk Company, in Manhattans garment district. On February 11,1936, Tucker married Sara Perelmuth, the youngest child of Levi and Anna Perelmuth, proprietors of the Grand Mansion, a kosher banquet hall in Manhattans Lower East Side. In a rare moment of the pupil disregarding the advice, Tucker entered the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air in 1941. When Met general manager Edward Johnson came unannounced to the Brooklyn Jewish Center to hear Tucker sing, however, on January 25,1945, under the baton of Emil Cooper, Tucker made his debut as Enzo in La Gioconda. The debut, one of the most successful in the annals of the Met and this was the first full opera performance ever broadcast on national television. In the ensuing years, Tuckers ample lyric voice evolved into a voice of near-dramatic proportions. Tucker remained a dominant tenor and steadily took on new challenges, the tenor was nearly 60 years old at the time. Before and after each Metropolitan Opera season, Tucker appeared on concert stages through the U. S, throughout his opera career, Tucker also officiated as a cantor during Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and other sacred events in the Jewish liturgical calendar. Tucker had a contract with Columbia Records, and eventually recorded for RCA Victor as well. However, his recordings with soprano Leontyne Price invariably show him in fine ringing voice and he also made a famous recording of Aida with a colleague from his Verona debut, Maria Callas. He recorded the Verdi Requiem with fellow Jewish opera super-star George London, many other commercial recordings, as well as private recordings of his concerts and broadcast performances, have been digitally remastered and are available in CD and online downloadable formats. A number of his television appearances on The Voice of Firestone and The Bell Telephone Hour were preserved in kinescope and videotape form. Never prone to looking back upon his career, Tucker always lived in the moment and he also displayed a propensity for playing pranks on some of his fellow singers, often provoking a smile at some inappropriate moment in a performance. Once, during a broadcast of La forza del destino with baritone Robert Merrill, in later years, Merrill described his tenor friend as an original, right out of the pages of a Damon Runyon story
