1.
War Memorial Opera House
–
The War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, California is located on the western side of Van Ness Avenue across from the rear facade of City Hall. It is part of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center and it has been the home of the San Francisco Opera since opening night in 1932. In 1927, $4 million in bonds were issued to finance the design. A colonnade of paired columns screens colossal arch-headed windows above a rusticated basement. The interior contains an entrance hall with a high barrel vaulted and coffered ceiling parallel to the street. The theater space is dominated by an aluminum and glass panel chandelier under a blue vault. The theater has 3,146 seats plus standing room for 200 behind the orchestra and this is smaller than the Metropolitan Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera, but it follows the trend of larger capacity in American opera houses than the main European opera houses of the 19th century. The San Francisco Symphony performed most of its concerts in the house, RCA Victor recorded the orchestra here, under the direction of Pierre Monteux, from 1941 to 1952 and in a special stereophonic session in January 1960. The orchestra also made a few recordings for RCA with Enrique Jorda in 1957 and 1958, in later years, the orchestra used a special acoustical shell that was placed around the musicians, greatly enhancing acoustics for concerts. The orchestras final concert in the house was an all-Beethoven concert, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the house was regularly blacked out and performances were monitored by air raid wardens. In spring of 1945, the United Nations had its first conference there, the UN Charter was later drafted and signed in the Herbst Theatre next door. Six years later in 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco was drafted and signed here, during the years of Kurt Herbert Adlers general directorship, the inadequacies of the house became apparent as the season was expanded. In particular, there was a lack of space and rehearsal space. In 1974, The Pointer Sisters were the first pop act to perform at the theatre, in 1979 the backstage area was extended, followed in 1981 by the opening of a new wing built onto the house on the Franklin Street side. This gave spaces for sets, coaches, and dancers as well as administrative space. At the same time, the nearby Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall, with a stage the size as that of the Opera House, was opened as part of the complex which included the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. In 1989, the powerful Loma Prieta earthquake that shook the Bay Area caused major damage to the Opera House, at this time additional private donations were raised for extensive technical improvements. The organ is not needed with the completion of the nearby Davies Symphony Hall, an underground extension below the neighboring plaza to accommodate additional dressing rooms and backstage facilities
2.
San Francisco
–
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
3.
Giovanni Martinelli
–
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
4.
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
–
The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a multi-purpose arena in San Francisco, California, named after promoter Bill Graham. It was designed by renowned Bay Area architect John Galen Howard, the World Cyber Games 2004 were held in the civic auditorium. In 1992, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to rename the San Francisco Civic Auditorium after the rock concert impresario Bill Graham, the arena has hosted concerts by many famous artists, spanning many different genres. It is owned by the City of San Francisco and since 2010 has been operated by Another Planet Entertainment, list of tennis stadiums by capacity Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
5.
Stanford University
–
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, adjacent to Palo Alto and between San Jose and San Francisco. Its 8, 180-acre campus is one of the largest in the United States, Stanford also has land and facilities elsewhere. The university was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Stanford was a former Governor of California and U. S. Senator, he made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. The school admitted its first students 125 years ago on October 1,1891, Stanford University struggled financially after Leland Stanfords death in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, Provost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would later be known as Silicon Valley. The university is one of the top fundraising institutions in the country. There are three schools that have both undergraduate and graduate students and another four professional schools. Students compete in 36 varsity sports, and the university is one of two institutions in the Division I FBS Pac-12 Conference. Stanford faculty and alumni have founded a number of companies that produce more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue. It is the alma mater of 30 living billionaires,17 astronauts and it is also one of the leading producers of members of the United States Congress. Sixty Nobel laureates and seven Fields Medalists have been affiliated with Stanford as students, alumni, Stanford University was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford, dedicated to Leland Stanford Jr, their only child. The institution opened in 1891 on Stanfords previous Palo Alto farm, despite being impacted by earthquakes in both 1906 and 1989, the campus was rebuilt each time. In 1919, The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace was started by Herbert Hoover to preserve artifacts related to World War I, the Stanford Medical Center, completed in 1959, is a teaching hospital with over 800 beds. The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which was established in 1962, in 2008, 60% of this land remained undeveloped. Besides the central campus described below, the university also operates at more remote locations, some elsewhere on the main campus. Stanfords main campus includes a place within unincorporated Santa Clara County. The campus also includes land in unincorporated San Mateo County, as well as in the city limits of Menlo Park, Woodside. The academic central campus is adjacent to Palo Alto, bounded by El Camino Real, Stanford Avenue, Junipero Serra Boulevard, the United States Postal Service has assigned it two ZIP codes,94305 for campus mail and 94309 for P. O. box mail
6.
Pagliacci
–
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
7.
Carmen
–
Carmen is an opera in four acts by French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, unaware that the work would achieve international acclaim within the following ten years. The opera is written in the genre of opéra comique with musical numbers separated by dialogue and it is set in southern Spain and tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy Carmen. José abandons his sweetheart and deserts from his military duties, yet loses Carmens love to the glamorous toreador Escamillo. The depictions of life, immorality, and lawlessness. After the premiere, most reviews were critical, and the French public was generally indifferent, Carmen initially gained its reputation through a series of productions outside France, and was not revived in Paris until 1883, thereafter it rapidly acquired popularity at home and abroad. Later commentators have asserted that Carmen forms the bridge between the tradition of opéra comique and the realism or verismo that characterised late 19th-century Italian opera. The opera has been recorded many times since the first acoustical recording in 1908, in the Paris of the 1860s, despite being a Prix de Rome laureate, Bizet struggled to get his stage works performed. The capitals two main state-funded opera houses—the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique—followed conservative repertoires that restricted opportunities for young native talent, Bizet was delighted with the Opéra-Comique commission, and expressed to his friend Edmund Galabert his satisfaction in the absolute certainty of having found my path. It was Bizet who first proposed an adaptation of Prosper Mérimées novella Carmen, Bizet may first have encountered the story during his Rome sojourn of 1858–60, since his journals record Mérimée as one of the writers whose works he absorbed in those years. Cast details are as provided by Mina Curtiss from the original piano, the stage designs are credited to Charles Ponchard. Place, Seville, Spain, and surrounding hills Time, Around 1820 Act 1 A square, on the right, a door to the tobacco factory. A group of soldiers relax in the square, waiting for the changing of the guard, moralès tells her that José is not yet on duty and invites her to wait with them. She declines, saying she will return later, José arrives with the new guard, which is greeted and imitated by a crowd of urchins. As the factory bell rings, the cigarette girls emerge and exchange banter with young men in the crowd, Carmen enters and sings her provocative habanera on the untameable nature of love. The men plead with her to choose a lover, and after some teasing she throws a flower to Don José, as the women go back to the factory, Micaëla returns and gives José a letter and a kiss from his mother. He reads that his mother wants him to home and marry Micaëla
8.
Faust (opera)
–
The manager Léon Carvalho insisted on various changes during production, including cutting several numbers. Faust was not initially well received, the publisher Antoine Choudens, who purchased the copyright for 10,000 francs, took the work on tour through Germany, Belgium, Italy and England, with Marie Miolan-Carvalho repeating her role. It was revived in Paris in 1862, and was a hit, further notable revivals at the Opéra took place on 4 December 1893 and 25 January 1908. The popularity of Faust has declined somewhat, beginning around 1950, a full production, with its large chorus and elaborate sets and costumes, is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking, particularly if the act 5 ballet is included. However, it appears as number 35 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide and it was Faust with which the Metropolitan Opera in New York City opened for the first time on 22 October 1883. It is the eighth most frequently performed there, with 747 performances through the 2011-2012 season. It was not until the period between 1965 and 1977 that the version was performed, and all performances in that production included the Walpurgisnacht. Place, Germany Time, 16th century Fausts cabinet Faust, a scholar, determines that his studies have come to nothing and have only caused him to miss out on life. He attempts to kill himself with poison but stops each time when he hears a choir and he curses science and faith, and asks for infernal guidance. Méphistophélès appears and, with an image of Marguerite at her spinning wheel. Fausts goblet of poison is magically transformed into an elixir of youth, making the aged doctor a handsome young gentleman, at the city gates A chorus of students, soldiers and villagers sings a drinking song. Valentin, leaving for war with his friend Wagner, entrusts the care of his sister Marguerite to his youthful friend Siébel, Méphistophélès appears, provides the crowd with wine, and sings a rousing, irreverent song about the Golden Calf. Méphistophélès maligns Marguerite, and Valentin tries to him with his sword. Valentin and friends use the hilts of their swords to fend off what they now know is an infernal power. Méphistophélès is joined by Faust and the villagers in a waltz, Marguerite appears and Faust declares his admiration, but she refuses Fausts arm out of modesty. Marguerites garden The lovesick boy Siébel leaves a bouquet for Marguerite, Faust sends Méphistophélès in search of a gift for Marguerite and sings a cavatina idealizing Marguerite as a pure child of nature. Méphistophélès brings in a box containing exquisite jewelry and a hand mirror and leaves it on Marguerites doorstep. Marguerite enters, pondering her encounter with Faust at the city gates, marthe, Marguerites neighbour, notices the jewellery and says it must be from an admirer
9.
Beniamino Gigli
–
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the beauty of his voice. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism of his interpretations, nevertheless, such was Giglis talent, he is considered to be one of the very finest tenors in the recorded history of music. Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoemaker who loved opera and his parents did not, however, view music as a secure career. Beniaminos brother Lorenzo became a famous Italian painter, in 1914, he won first prize in an international singing competition in Parma. His operatic debut came on October 15,1914, when he played Enzo in Amilcare Ponchiellis La Gioconda in Rovigo, Gigli rose to true international prominence after the death of the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso in 1921. Such was his popularity with audiences he was often called Caruso Secondo, in fact, the comparison was not valid as Caruso had a bigger, darker, more heroic voice than Giglis sizable yet honey-toned lyric instrument. Gigli left the Met in 1932, ostensibly after refusing to take a pay cut, giulio Gatti-Casazza, the Mets then general manager, was furious at his companys most popular male singer, he told the press that Gigli was the only singer not to accept the pay cut. After leaving the Met, Gigli returned again to Italy, and sang in houses there, elsewhere in Europe and he was criticised for being a favourite singer of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, having recorded the Fascist anthem Giovinezza in 1937. Toward the end of World War II, he was able to give few performances, however, he immediately returned to the stage when the war ended in 1945, and the audience acclaim was greater and more clamorous than ever. In addition to his performances, Gigli appeared as an actor in over twenty films from 1935 to 1953. In the last few years of his life, Gigli gave concert performances more often than he appeared on stage, before his retirement in 1955, Gigli undertook an exhausting world tour of farewell concerts. This impaired his health in the two years that remained to him, during which time he helped prepare his memoirs, Gigli died in Rome in 1957. Like many artists, Gigli was a man of contradictions, on one hand, he gave more fund-raising concerts and raised more money than any other singer in history, with close to one thousand benefit concerts. He was deeply devoted to Padre Pio, his confessor, to whom he donated an amount of money. Also, Gigli sang an unusual amount of sacred music, atypical of an operatic tenor. Additionally, he was throughout his life devoted to the sacred music of Don Lorenzo Perosi. On the other hand, Giglis relationships with women were often tainted by scandal and he lied in his memoirs, saying that he was married six months earlier than he really was
10.
Mefistofele
–
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito. The opera was given its premiere on 5 March 1868 at La Scala, Milan under the baton of the composer, despite his lack of experience, however, it was not a success and was immediately withdrawn after only two performances. Revisions in 1875 resulted in success in Bologna and, with adjustments in 1876 for Venice. Boito began consideration of an opera on the Faustian theme after completing his studies at the Milan Conservatory in 1861, Mefistofele is one of many pieces of classical music based on the Faust legend and, like many other composers, Boito used Goethes version as his starting point. He was an admirer of Richard Wagner and, like him, chose to write his own libretto, much of the text is actually a literal translation from Goethes German to Boitos Italian. The most popular earlier work based on the legend was Charles Gounods opera Faust and he hoped that it would be a wake-up call and an inspiration to other young Italian composers. The piano-vocal score was completed in 1867 while Boito was visiting relatives in Poland, furthermore, the work was far too long and the cast inadequate for the complexities of the music. When the curtain came down well after midnight, it was clear that the premiere had been a failure. After just two performances, with the one being divided into two sections and presented on successive evenings, the opera was withdrawn. Boito immediately set to work revising his opera, greatly reduced its length by about one-third by making many scenes smaller in scale, Faust was changed from a baritone to a tenor. The revised version was premiered in Bologna on 4 October 1875, this time sung by what is regarded to be a very fine cast. Boito made further minor revisions during 1876, and this version was first performed in Venice on 13 May 1876, the first British performance took place at Her Majestys Theatre, London on 6 July 1880 and the American premiere was on 16 November 1880 in Boston. Thereafter, Boito continued to make small changes until the definitive production in Milan on 25 May 1881. Chaliapin made his first appearance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 25 May 1926, parts of a subsequent performance on 31 May were recorded by His Masters Voice. In 1969, the New York City Opera presented a new production by Tito Capobianco, the Metropolitan Opera has given the work a total of 67 times since it first appeared there on 5 December 1883, most recently in February 2000. The Royal Opera in London has only one performance of the opera. As Mefistofele, Ramey made the role a signature one, appearing in productions in the 1980s and early 1990s. The opera was performed as part of the 2013/14 season at the Croatian National Theatre, directed by Michał Znaniecki, in 2014 the opera was performed in Kraków as a co-production with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the premiere in Trondheim, Norway took place in June 2015
11.
Tosca
–
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900 and it contains depictions of torture, murder and suicide, as well as some of Puccinis best-known lyrical arias. Puccini saw Sardous play when it was touring Italy in 1889 and, after some vacillation, turning the wordy French play into a succinct Italian opera took four years, during which the composer repeatedly argued with his librettists and publisher. Tosca premiered at a time of unrest in Rome, and its first performance was delayed for a day for fear of disturbances, despite indifferent reviews from the critics, the opera was an immediate success with the public. Musically, Tosca is structured as a work, with arias, recitative, choruses. Puccini used Wagnerian leitmotifs to identify characters, objects and ideas, the dramatic force of Tosca and its characters continues to fascinate both performers and audiences, and the work remains one of the most frequently performed operas. Many recordings of the work have been issued, both of studio and live performances, the French playwright Victorien Sardou wrote more than 70 plays, almost all of them successful, and none of them performed today. In the early 1880s Sardou began a collaboration with actress Sarah Bernhardt, Puccini had seen La Tosca at least twice, in Milan and Turin. Ricordi sent his agent in Paris, Emanuele Muzio, to negotiate with Sardou and he complained about the reception La Tosca had received in Italy, particularly in Milan, and warned that other composers were interested in the piece. Nonetheless, Ricordi reached terms with Sardou and assigned the librettist Luigi Illica to write a scenario for an adaptation, in 1891, Illica advised Puccini against the project, most likely because he felt the play could not be successfully adapted to a musical form. When Sardou expressed his unease at entrusting his most successful work to a new composer whose music he did not like. He withdrew from the agreement, which Ricordi then assigned to Alberto Franchetti, Illica wrote a libretto for Franchetti, who was never at ease with the assignment. There are several versions of how Ricordi got Franchetti to surrender the rights so he could recommission Puccini, by some accounts, Ricordi convinced Franchetti that the work was too violent to be successfully staged. Franchetti family tradition holds that Franchetti gave the work back as a gesture, saying. American scholar Deborah Burton contends that Franchetti gave it up simply because he saw merit in it. Franchetti surrendered the rights in May 1895, and in August Puccini signed a contract to control of the project. According to the libretto, the action of Tosca occurs in Rome in June 1800, Sardou, in his play, dates it more precisely, La Tosca takes place in the afternoon, evening, and early morning of 17 and 18 June 1800. Italy had long divided into a number of small states
12.
Giuseppe De Luca
–
Giuseppe De Luca, was an Italian baritone who achieved his greatest triumphs at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He notably created roles in the premieres of two operas by Giacomo Puccini, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and the title role in Gianni Schicchi. De Luca was born on Christmas Day,25 December 1876 in Rome and he sang in church choirs as a boy. After his voice broke, a wealthy patron paid for him to have singing lessons at the Rome Conservatory and he made his operatic debut at Piacenza in 1897, singing Valentin in Gounods Faust. His debut proved a success and he was invited to sing at a string of more important venues. He appeared at Italys foremost opera house, La Scala, Milan, from 1902 to 1910, subsequently, De Luca moved to America where he became a leading baritone at the Metropolitan Opera for 20 years, from 1915 to 1935. His first appearance at that house was on 25 November 1915, as Figaro in The Barber of Seville with Frieda Hempel as Rosina and Giacomo Damacco as Count Almaviva, after his retirement, he taught voice at the Juilliard School. He died at Columbus Hospital in New York City on 26 August 1950 at the age of 73, De Luca is notable for creating two important Puccini roles, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and the title role in Gianni Schicchi. He also created the Marquess in Massenets Grisélidis, Michonnet in Cileas Adriana Lecouvreur, Gleby in Giordanos Siberia, the illustrious conductor Arturo Toscanini is reputed to have once called De Luca, absolutely the best baritone I ever heard. Certainly, he was praised by critics and audiences alike in a range of operatic roles, ranging from buffo and bel canto parts through to the core Verdi. He even made some forays into Wagner during his days at La Scala. De Lucas elegant vocalism is preserved on numerous recordings which he made for the Gramophone, Fonotipia and Victor companies in Italy, CD reissues of his recordings are widely available today. Film clips of him performing also exist, De Luca was renowned as a master of lyric, smooth-toned legato singing and his recordings confirm his excellence in this regard. A small man, De Luca lacked a voice of huge dimensions, during De Lucas best years his voice also possessed exceptional beauty of tone, in the middle register particularly. He was a clever and versatile actor, too, and was considered to be memorable in ebullient comic roles. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, the Grand Tradition,70 years of Singing on Record
13.
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a family of moderate means. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, whose works influenced him. In his early operas Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy and he also participated briefly as an elected politician. He surprised the world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida. The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo, additionally, it lists Verdi as being born yesterday, but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Verdi himself, following his mother, always celebrated his birthday on 9 October, Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. From the age of four, Verdi was given lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents provided him with a spinet. Verdis gift for music was apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while. After Baistrocchis death, Verdi, at the age of eight, Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his sons education. something which Verdi tended to hide in later life. He picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by a father and of a sustained, sophisticated. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, at age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of the music school. This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of the Philharmonic Society was Antonio Barezzi, a grocer and distiller. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic, by June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic, none of us could rival him reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè
14.
Rigoletto
–
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi samuse by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time and it is considered by many to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdis middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his court jester Rigoletto. The operas original title, La maledizione, refers to the placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter had been seduced by the Duke with Rigolettos encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda likewise falls in love with the Duke, Verdi was commissioned to write a new opera by the La Fenice opera house in Venice in 1850. By this time he was already a composer and had a degree of freedom in choosing the works he would prefer to set to music. He then asked Francesco Maria Piave to examine the play Kean by Alexandre Dumas, père, Verdi soon stumbled upon Victor Hugos five-act play Le roi samuse. He later explained that The subject is grand, immense, and there is a character that is one of the greatest creations that the theatre can boast of, in any country and in all history. It was a controversial subject, and Hugo himself had already had trouble with censorship in France. As Austria at that time controlled much of Northern Italy. Hugos play depicted a king as an immoral and cynical womanizer, from the beginning, Verdi was aware of the risks, as was Piave. In a letter which Verdi wrote to Piave, Use four legs, run through the town, correspondence between a prudent Piave and an already committed Verdi followed, but the two underestimated the power and the intentions of Austrians and remained at risk. Even the friendly Guglielmo Brenna, secretary of La Fenice, who had promised them that they would not have problems with the censors, was wrong, at the beginning of the summer of 1850, rumours started to spread that Austrian censorship was going to forbid the production. The censors considered the Hugo work to verge on lèse majesté, in August, Verdi and Piave prudently retired to Busseto, Verdis hometown, to continue the composition and prepare a defensive scheme. They wrote to the theatre, assuring them that the doubts about the morality of the work were not justified but since very little time was left. Verdi was completely against this solution and preferred instead to have direct negotiations with censors, arguing over each. At this point, Brenna, La Fenices secretary, showed the Austrians some letters and articles depicting the bad character but the value of the artist
15.
Coit Tower
–
Coit Tower, also known as the Lillian Coit Memorial Tower, is a 210-foot tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The tower was proposed in 1931 as a use of Coits gift. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29,2008, although an apocryphal story claims that the tower was designed to resemble a fire hose nozzle due to Coits affinity with the San Francisco firefighters of the day, the resemblance is coincidental. Coit Tower was paid for with money left by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, before December 1866, there was no city fire department, and fires in the city, which broke out regularly in the wooden buildings, were extinguished by several volunteer fire companies. Lillie Coit was one of the eccentric characters in the history of North Beach and Telegraph Hill, smoking cigars. She was a gambler and often dressed like a man in order to gamble in the males-only establishments that dotted North Beach. Lillies fortune funded the monument four years following her death in 1929 and she had a special relationship with the citys firefighters. At the age of fifteen she witnessed the Knickerbocker Engine Co, after that Lillie became the Engine Co. mascot and could barely be constrained by her parents from jumping into action at the sound of every fire bell. After this she was riding with the Knickerbocker Engine Co. 5, especially so in street parades and celebrations in which the Engine Co. participated, through her youth and adulthood Lillie was recognized as an honorary firefighter. Two memorials were built in her name, one was Coit Tower, and the other was a sculpture depicting three firemen, one of them carrying a woman in his arms. Lillie is today the saint of San Francisco firefighters. The San Francisco County Board of Supervisors proposed that Coits bequest be used for a road at Lake Merced, Art Commission President Herbert Fleishhacker suggested a memorial on Telegraph Hill, which was approved by the estate executors. An additional $7,000 in city funds were appropriated, the winner was architect Arthur Brown, Jr, whose design was completed and dedicated on October 8,1933. Coit Tower was listed as a San Francisco Designated Landmark in 1984, browns competition design envisioned a restaurant in the tower, which was changed to an exhibition area in the final version. The design uses three nesting concrete cylinders, the outermost a tapering fluted 180-foot shaft that supports the viewing platform, an intermediate shaft contains a stairway, and an inner shaft houses the elevator. The observation deck is 32 feet below the top, with an arcade, a rotunda at the base houses display space and a gift shop. The Coit Tower murals were done under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project, olmsted Jr. Jose Moya del Pino and Frede Vidar
16.
Claudia Muzio
–
Claudia Muzio was an Italian operatic soprano, whose international career was among the most successful of the early 20th century. Her mother was a singer, Giovanna Gavirati. Muzio then continued her studies in Milan with Elettra Callery-Viviani. She was invited to the Met in New York in December 1916 and was so successful that she continued to appear there during six successive years. It was at the Metropolitan that Muzio created the role of Giorgetta in Il tabarro, in the world première of Puccinis triple bill, Il trittico and she established a special relationship with audiences at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, where she first appeared in June 1919. From then until 1934 she sang there in 23 different operas, between 1922 and 1932, she appeared regularly in Chicago. On 15 October 1932, she performed the role of Tosca to inaugurate the new War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Her last and according to some critics her greatest role was in Rome in 1934 as Cecilia in the opera of that name written for her by Licinio Refice and her most popular role, however, was Violetta, in which she was considered unsurpassed throughout the Latin opera world. Muzio was noted for the beauty and warmth of her voice and her performances were sometimes criticised for excessive use of dynamic extremes, including her exquisitely expressive pianissimo singing. She remained modest and even reclusive despite her fame and wealth. In her later years, Muzio experienced some financial anxiety after losing money through the extravagance of a manager/rumoured lover, in 1929 she married Renato Liberati, seventeen years her junior. In 1930 she started to experience health problems, but continued singing and recording. On 24 May 1936, after an illness, she died in a Rome hotel of what was officially described as heart failure. She is buried in the Cimitero del Verano in Rome, Muzio is represented by recordings from various stages of her career, but few of them are from the period of her greatest successes in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She also recorded primarily for two companies whose distribution was limited and erratic, Pathé and Edison and she was aided at Edison by chief recordist Walter Miller and staff conductor Cesare Sodero. Muzio recorded two arias, including Sì, mi chiamano Mimì from La bohème, when she was only 22 and her voice and technique were still relatively immature. In October, Muzio appeared in the production of Tosca at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, the opening night was recorded for radio. Muzio personally produced and financed a set of 26 recordings for Columbia in 1934 and 1935, by 1935, there is some noticeable weakening of the top of her voice but her expressive powers are well-displayed, especially in Addio del passato from Verdis La traviata
17.
Stern Grove
–
Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove, locally called Stern Grove, is a 33-acre recreational site in the Sunset District, San Francisco, California. It is administered by the citys Recreation and Parks Department, and is the setting for the 75-year-old Stern Grove Festival. The original Stern Grove landscaping and facilities were built by the Works Progress Administration and it consists of several park sections including the Concert Meadow, the West Meadow, and Pine Lake Park. The groves Pine Lake is one of three lakes in the city of San Francisco. In 2005, Stern Grove underwent a $15 million renovation, designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, since 1938, there have been weekly concerts and performances in the outdoor amphitheater during the summer months. Supported entirely by contributions, the concerts have always been free to the public, crowds have often exceeded 20,000 persons. Video tour of park and amphitheater Stern Grove at google maps
18.
RCA Records
–
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
19.
Kirsten Flagstad
–
Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano. She ranks among the greatest singers of the 20th century, desmond Shawe-Taylor wrote of her in the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, No one within living memory surpassed her in sheer beauty and consistency of line and tone. Flagstad was born in Hamar, Norway, in her grandparents home, though she never actually lived in Hamar, she always considered it her home town. She was raised in Oslo within a family, her father Michael Flagstad was a conductor. She received her musical training in Oslo and made her stage debut at the National Theatre in Oslo as Nuri in Eugen dAlberts Tiefland in 1913. Her first recordings were made between 1913 and 1915, after further study in Stockholm with Dr. Gillis Bratt, she pursued a career in opera and operetta in Norway. In 1919, she married her first husband Sigurd Hall and a year gave birth to her only child. Later that year she signed up with the newly created Opera Comique in Oslo, under the direction of Alexander Varnay, Varnay was the father of the famous soprano Astrid Varnay. Her ability to learn roles quickly was noted, as it took her only a few days to do so. She sang Desdemona opposite Leo Slezak, Minnie, Amelia and other roles at the Opera Comique. She sang at the Stora Teatern of Gothenburg, Sweden, between 1928 and 1934, Flagstad made her debut there singing Agathe in Der Freischütz by Weber. In 1930, a revival of Nielsens Saul and David featured Flagstad singing the role of Michal, on 31 May 1930 she married her second husband, the Norwegian industrialist and lumber merchant Henry Johansen, who subsequently helped her in expanding her career. In 1932 she made her debut in Rodelinda by Handel, after singing operetta and lyric roles such as Marguerite in Faust for over a decade, Flagstad decided to take on heavier operatic roles such as Tosca and Aida. The part of Aida helped to unleash Flagstads dramatic abilities, in 1932, she took on the role of Isolde in Richard Wagners Tristan und Isolde and appeared to have found her true voice. Ellen Gulbranson, a Swedish soprano at Bayreuth, persuaded Winifred Wagner to audition Flagstad for the Bayreuth Festival. Flagstad sang minor roles in 1933, but at the season in 1934, she sang the roles of Sieglinde in Die Walküre and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung at the Festival. Flagstad was first noticed by Otto Hermann Kahn, then Chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Opera, on a trip to Scandinavia in 1929 and their letters were never answered, however. At the time, Flagstad had just met her soon to be husband and had even briefly considered giving up opera altogether
20.
Kurt Herbert Adler
–
Kurt Herbert Adler was an Austrian-born American conductor and opera house director. Adler was born in Vienna, Austria, to a Jewish family and his work in the field of music led him to become the assistant to Arturo Toscanini at the Salzburg Festival in 1936 and he also worked in Italy. Following the Nazi occupation of Austria in 1938, as a Jew he was forced to leave, gaetano Merola, then General Director of the San Francisco Opera, heard of him and, over the telephone, invited him to the San Francisco Opera in 1943 as chorus director. In the following ten years, he took on more and more details as Merolas health. Adlers aims in taking over the company were several, one was to expand the season and, by the 1969 season, eleven operas were given five or six performances each on average while the season ran to late November. He was tireless in seeking out up-and-coming new singers, whether American or European and he retired in late December 1981 and continued to conduct and be involved with music until his death in Ross, California in 1988. The Adler Fellowship program was started in his name by Terence A. McEwen to support young singers managed by the San Francisco Opera and his son Ronald H. Adler is an opera director and has been artistic director at the Bavarian State Opera and the Berlin State Opera. Tradition is what you resort to when you dont have the time and money to do it right
21.
Leontyne Price
–
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in Laurel, Mississippi, she rose to acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s. Time magazine called her voice Rich, supple and shining, it was in its capable of effortlessly soaring from a smoky mezzo to the pure soprano gold of a perfectly spun high C. A lirico spinto soprano, she was considered well suited to the roles of Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini. After her retirement from the stage in 1985, she continued to appear in recitals. In October 2008, she was one of the recipients of the first Opera Honors given by the National Endowment for the Arts, Leontyne Price was born in Laurel, Mississippi. Her father James worked in a mill and her mother Katie was a midwife who sang in the church choir. They had waited 13 years for a child, and Leontyne became the focus of intense pride, given a toy piano at the age of three, she began piano lessons with a local teacher. When she was in kindergarten, her parents traded in the family phonograph as the payment on an upright piano. At 14, she was taken on a trip to hear Marian Anderson sing in Jackson. Meanwhile, she visited the home of Alexander and Elizabeth Chisholm. Mrs. Chisholm encouraged the early piano playing. During World War II, Price worked as a maid in the Chisholms household where she was allowed to play the piano. Mrs. Chisholm noticed her singing voice and accompanied her in several early recitals. Aiming for a career, Price enrolled in the music education program at the all-black Wilberforce College in Wilberforce. Her success in the club led to solo assignments. She sang in the choir with another singer, Betty Allen. With the help of the Chisholms and the famous bass Paul Robeson and she won a scholarship and was admitted to the studio of Florence Page Kimball, who would remain her principal teacher and advisor throughout the 1960s
22.
Dialogues of the Carmelites
–
Dialogues des Carmélites is a French opera in three acts, divided into twelve scenes with linking orchestral interludes, with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc, completed in 1956. The composers second opera, Poulenc wrote the libretto after the work of the name by Georges Bernanos. The world première of the opera occurred on 26 January 1957 at La Scala in Milan, the première of the original French-language version took place in Paris on 21 June 1957. The United States première, in English translation, followed in San Francisco in September 1957 and it traces a fictional path from 1789 up to these events, when nuns of the Carmelite Order were guillotined. The screenplay was judged unsatisfactory for a film, Bernanos died on 5 July 1948. Subsequently, his executor, Albert Béguin, found this manuscript. To assist Bernanos surviving family, Béguin sought to have the work published, in January 1949, she agreed, and gifted her portion of the royalties due to her, as creator of the original story, over to Bernanos widow and children. However, von Le Fort requested that the Bernanos work be titled differently from her own novella, Béguin chose Dialogues des Carmélites as the title for the Bernanos work, which was published in 1949. A German translation of the work, Die begnadete Angst, was published in 1951, the French stage premiere was by Jacques Hébertot in May 1952 at the Théâtre Hébertot. The genesis of the opera was in 1953, margarita Wallmann took her husband, president of Ricordi, which was Poulencs publishing firm, to see the Bernanos play in Vienna. She had asked Poulenc to write an oratorio for her, through the commission from Ricordi, wallman was the eventual producer of the La Scala première of Poulencs opera, and she later supervised the 1983 revival at Covent Garden. About the same time, M. Valcarenghi had approached Poulenc with a commission for a ballet for La Scala in Milan, separately, Poulenc had seen the Bernanos play, but the suggestion from Ricordi finalised the impetus to adapt the subject as an opera. Poulenc began to adapt the Bernanos text in the spring and summer of 1953 and this was independent of the discussion, concluded in January 1949, between Béguin and von Le Fort. The two-year literary rights dispute between Béguin and Lavery reached arbitration by a jury from La Societé des Auteurs in Paris, on 20 July 1954, this jury ruled unanimously for Lavery, and ordered the Bernanos heirs to pay Lavery 100,000 FF for past contract infringements. Poulenc had curtailed work on his opera in March 1954, in light of his understanding of the Béguin-Lavery dispute. Following the July 1954 decision, separate negotiations occurred between Béguin and Lavery, via his agent Marie Schebeko, on rights and royalties to allow Poulenc to write his opera. The formal agreement was dated 30 March 1955, and acknowledged Bernanos, Lavery, von Le Fort, Bruckberger, Poulenc then resumed work on the opera, and completed it October 1955. At this time, Poulenc had recommitted himself to spirituality and Roman Catholicism, although he was openly gay, Wallmann worked closely with Poulenc during the composition process and in evolving the structure, as well as later when she re-staged the production in other theatres
23.
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
–
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle was a noted French opera director. He studied philosophy, art, and history there and, in 1952 and he was greatly influenced by the work of art director Georges Wakhévitch who also designed sets and costumes for the theatre, the ballet, and the opera. In 1962, Ponnelle directed his first production of Richard Wagners Tristan und Isolde in Düsseldorf and his production of that opera at the Bayreuth Festival in 1981 was widely praised as one of the most aesthetically beautiful in its history. His 1969 production of Mozarts then neglected La Clemenza di Tito for Cologne helped re-establish this work in the repertory, Ponnelle also was a frequent guest at the Salzburg Festival. His son is the orchestra conductor Pierre-Dominique Ponnelle and his nephew is Jean Pierre Danel, Conductor - Wolfgang Sawallisch, Bavarian State Opera and Chorus. Singers, Donald McIntyre, Maria de Francesca-Cavazza, Robert Schunk, DVD, DGG004400734324 Massenet, Manon ♦. Conductor - Ádám Fischer, Chor und Orchestre der Wiener Staatsoper, singers, Edita Gruberova, Francisco Araiza, Pierre Thau, Hans Helm. DVD, DGG044007342077 Monteverdi, LOrfeo ♦, Conductor - Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Das Monteverdi-Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich. Singers, Philippe Huttenlocher, Dietlinde Turban, Trudeliese Schmidt, Francisco Araiza, DVD, DGG044007341636 Monteverdi, Il ritorno dUlisse in Patria ♦. Conductor - Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Das Monteverdi-Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich, singers, Werner Hollweg, Trudeliese Schmidt, Francisco Araiza, Janet Perry. DVD, DGG044007342787 Monteverdi, Lincoronazione di Poppea ♦, Conductor - Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Das Monteverdi-Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich. Singers, Rachel Yakar, Werner Hollweg, Trudeliese Schmidt, Paul Esswood, DVD, DGG044007341742 Mozart, Mitridate, re di Ponto ♦. Conductor - Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus, Wien, singers, Gösta Winbergh, Yvonne Kenny, Ann Murray, Anne Gjevang, Joan Rodgers, Peter Straka. DVD, DGG044007341278 Mozart, Idomeneo ♦, Conductor - James Levine, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Singers, Luciano Pavarotti, Ileana Cotrubas, Hildegard Behrens, Frederica von Stade, DVD, DGG044007342343 GH2 Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro ♦. Conductor - Karl Böhm, Vienna Philharmonic, singers, Hermann Prey, Mirella Freni, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kiri Te Kanawa, Maria Ewing, Paolo Montarsolo. DVD, DGG044007340349 Mozart, Così fan Tutte ♦, Conductor - Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Vienna Philharmonic. Singers, Edita Gruberova, Delores Ziegler, Teresa Stratas, Luis Lima, Ferruccio Furlanetto, DVD, DGG044007342374 Mozart, Die Zauberflöte ♦
24.
Merola Opera Program
–
Merola Opera Program is a San Francisco based training program for opera singers, coaches, and stage directors. Merola Opera Program is a world-renowned opera training and performance program for promising young artists, named for San Francisco Operas first general director, Gaetano Merola, the Merola Opera Program began during the 1954-55 season and established its full training program in 1957. Participants also perform in two complete opera productions with orchestra and the Schwabacher Summer Concert, Merola also enables young coach accompanists and stage directors of exceptional talent to develop skills through the apprentice coach and stage director programs. The Merola Opera Program is a financially independent 5013 organization that operates in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera Center, the Merola Opera Program is free to its artists and is supported by contributions of individuals, foundations and government entities. The program covers the artists travel, housing, weekly stipends, in addition, Merola alums may apply for Career Grants up to $12,000 for the five years following their participation in the program. The program began more than fifty years ago, on August 30,1953, San Francisco Opera founder and first General Director, Gaetano Merola, died at Stern Grove while conducting a young American singer in Un bel di from Madama Butterfly. The Merola Memorial Fund was used to underwrite the San Francisco Opera Debut Auditions, the first regional auditions were held in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco. Two hundred thirty-seven young singers applied and two hundred twelve were auditioned, fifteen singers advanced to the semi-finals, on June 2,1954. The eight finalists went on to the first San Francisco Opera Debut Auditions which took place at KNBC studios on June 13 and were broadest over KNBC
25.
Thomas Hampson
–
Thomas Walter Hampson is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings. Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf once said of her student, the best singer in Europe right now, born in Elkhart, Indiana, Hampson grew up in Spokane, Washington, where he enrolled at Eastern Washington State College in Cheney, majoring in political science/government. Concurrently, Hampson earned a BFA in Voice Performance at Fort Wright College under the tutelage of Sister Marietta Coyle. During the summers of 1978 and 1979, he studied under Gwendolyn Koldowsky and Martial Singher at the Music Academy of the West, where he won the Lotte Lehmann Award. He then continued his studies at the University of Southern California, where he worked with vocal coach Jack Metz and the baritone Horst Günter, a lifelong mentor. In 1980, as a consequence of winning the San Francisco Opera audition, he competed in the Merola Opera Program, in 1981, he was one of the winners in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions national finals. In his three years as a member of the Düsseldorf ensemble, he honed his stage experience with a number of smaller roles, engagements during this time also included those with companies in Hamburg, Cologne, and Vienna, and his 1984 London recital debut at Wigmore Hall. Shortly after, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut on 9 October 1986 as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, from this point forward, he was recognized as among the leading lyric baritones of the late century. In 1990, Hampson released his first solo album on Teldec titled Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The New York Times praised the recording, saying that the performances have a luminous beauty, in November, he made his San Francisco Opera debut, performing the title role in Monteverdis Il ritorno dUlisse in patria and role debut as Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1991, Hampson opened the New York Philharmonic season in a Live from Lincoln Center telecast and he also sang in the 25th Anniversary Gala of the Metropolitan Opera, which was recorded live for video/CDV. The same year, he released a Cole Porter tribute album on EMI/Angel, in 1992, he was named the Musical Americas Singer of the Year, alongside John Corigliano, Robert Shaw, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Yo-Yo Ma. Hampson began 1993 by performing his first rendition of the character in Ambroise Thomass Hamlet in Monte Carlo. The performance was recorded for EMI/Angel. 1993 also saw the beginning of Hampsons institutional involvement in the classical world, in January 1994, Hampson made his debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, singing Mahler and Copland, and conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. Later that month he was named Male Singer of the Year by the International Classical Music Awards and he then embarked on a five-month tour that led him to over twenty cities, featuring recitals debuts in Reutlingen, State College, Washington, D. C. Iowa City, Fort Worth, Quebec, and Buffalo, New York, in July, he opened the Mostly Mozart Festival in a telecast Live from Lincoln Center, and then in August he performed at the Salzburg Festival with a solo recital of Barber and Mahler. In 1995, Hampson received two awards for his contribution to music, the Cannes Classical Music Award for Singer of the Year in 1994
26.
Carlo Cossutta
–
Carlo Cossutta was a prominent Italian dramatic tenor who had a major international opera career that spanned from the mid-1950s through the late 1990s. He began and ended his career at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires where he sang regularly from 1958 through 1998, in the 1970s his international career skyrocketed with appearances at most of the major opera houses in Europe and the United States. He remained active on the stage during the 1980s but his career slowed down significantly in the 1990s after he contracted liver cancer. Cossutta had a voice, buttressed by a solid technique that provided exceptional stamina. He excelled in the dramatic and spinto tenor repertoire, and was successful in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. He was especially renowned for his performances of the role in Verdis Otello. Born in Santa Croce del Carso, in Trieste, Italy, after discovering his vocal capabilities he studied singing under Manfredo Miselli, Mario Melani, and Arturo Wolken in Buenos Aires. He made his opera debut in 1956 at a small Argentine theatre as Alfredo in Verdis La traviata. His first performance of note came two years later when he appeared for the first time at the Teatro Colón as Cassio in Verdis Otello in 1958 and he sang regularly at that house for the next four decades, initially in mainly supporting roles. Notable early appearances at the Teatro Colón include Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca, the year 1964 proved to be a milestone in Cossuttas career. That same year he launched his international career, making his European debut in London with the Royal Opera. During this time his career continued. He made his American debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago on October 4,1963 in the role of Abdallo in Verdis Nabucco and in that season also sang Cassio in Otello and Walter in Tannhauser. He returned to Covent Garden in 1965 to sing Turiddu in Pietro Mascagnis Cavalleria rusticana, in 1970 he appeared as the tenor soloist in a production of Verdis Requiem with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. After 1970 Cossuttas international career blossomed and he continued to appear at the Teatro Colón regularly through 1998 but with less frequency than in the 1960s as his international career became more important. On January 6,1971 he made his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin singing Alfredo to Beverly Sillss Violetta. In the 1971-1972 season, Cossutta made his debuts at La Scala, the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi, the Festival dei Due Mondi, on September 23,1972 he made his first appearance at the San Francisco Opera singing Radames in Verdis Aida. In the August 1973 he made his first appearance at the Arena di Verona Festival and he sang the title role in Verdis Otello for the first time at Covent Garden in 1974, a role which became one of his signature parts during the next decade
27.
Otello
–
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeares play Othello. It was Verdis penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, when it finally premiered in Milan on 5 February 1887, it proved to be a resounding success, and further stagings of Otello soon followed at leading theatres throughout Europe and America. Thus a plot of sorts was hatched in order to coax the composer out of retirement to write another opera, because of the importance of the dramatic aspects of opera to the composer, Verdi was especially selective in his choice of subjects. Consequently, if he were to agree to another opera after a decade of retirement. Verdis refusals continued as the 1870s progressed, but she confessed defeat yet again. Clara Maffei also tried, unsuccessfully, in March 1878 to interest Verdi, what would I succeed in doing. Boito, Verdi, and revisions of Simon Boccanegra While he was attempting to get Verdi involved a new opera, persisting with further attempts to convince the composer, Ricordi had also broached the idea of a collaboration with Boito for a new opera based on Shakespeares Othello. Because of its relatively straightforward story, the play Othello was selected as a likely target, collaborations with Boito in the revision of the 1857 opera Simon Boccanegra helped to convince Verdi of Boitos ability as a librettist. Verdi visited Milan on 30 June 1879, and conducted his Requiem Mass in a performance at La Scala. He received the acclaim of the public, which included the La Scala orchestra playing outside his hotel. Walker assumes that it was both Ricordi and Faccio who stage managed the effects to give the composer the sense of being welcome and respected in Milan. Finally, after some plotting, Ricordi, in conjunction with Verdis friend, during a dinner at Verdis Milan residence during the summer of 1879, Ricordi and Faccio guided the conversation towards Shakespeares play Othello and to the librettist Arrigo Boito. At the mention of Othello I saw Verdi fix his eyes on me, with suspicion and he had certainly understood, he had certainly reacted. I believed the time was ripe, suggestions were made, despite initial skepticism on the part of the composer, that Boito would be interested in creating a new libretto based upon the play. Within several days, Ricordi approached Verdi with the request that he would like to visit Sant Agata with a friend in September, Verdis reaction was clearly non-committal, I wish absolutely to avoid committing myself The best thing. Is for him to me the finished poem. Meanwhile, Boito began work on the libretto in spite of illness and, after appealing to Giuseppina, Ricordi was told that the Verdis would be coming to Milan and that he would meet privately with Boito. However, she noted in her letter of 7 November, Between ourselves, what Boito has so far written of the African seems to please him, and is very well done
28.
Margaret Price
–
Dame Margaret Berenice Price, DBE was a Welsh soprano. Price was born in Blackwood, near Caerphilly in South Wales, born with deformed legs, she underwent surgery at age four and suffered pain in her legs for the rest of her life. She often looked after her younger brother John, who was born with a mental handicap, the family had ties in Cardigan and north Pembrokeshire and often spent their summer holiday in Moylegrove. Her father, an amateur pianist, was opposed to a musical career. She was educated at Pontllanfraith Secondary School, near Caerphilly, over the next few years Price was trained as a mezzo-soprano. After graduation, she joined the Ambrosian Singers, performing them on the soundtrack of the 1961 Charlton Heston film El Cid. She remained only briefly with that ensemble and later admitted to having struggled somewhat during her time with that due to her inadequate skills at sight-singing. Unrecognised through the channel of competitions, she was championed by her now-converted father. As a result, Price made her debut in 1962. After her father wrote to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1962, however, she was accepted as an understudy, thanks to casting director Joan Ingpen, and she formed of a close personal and professional relationship with pianist and conductor James Lockhart. Solti added a rider to her contract, stating that she should never expect to sing lead in the main house, in 1967, she performed with Benjamin Brittens English Opera Group in Mozarts The Impresario, and as Titania in Brittens A Midsummer Nights Dream. In 1968, critic Desmond Shawe-Taylor called her singing brilliant, flexible, as Price did not enjoy travelling, she always kept a home stage, where she stayed and performed for the majority of each year. Price hence formed a relationship with Otto Klemperer, who conducted her first recording of a major role in a complete opera – Fiordiligi in Mozarts Così fan tutte. The 1972 recording established Price as a Mozart specialist, in the years that followed, Price appeared as a guest at important opera houses. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1985 as Desdemona in Verdis Otello, in 1989 she appeared in the WNO production of Salome at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, in a performance attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Price was most famous for her Mozart portraits, especially Fiordiligi, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, the Contessa in The Marriage of Figaro, and Pamina in The Magic Flute. Additionally, she sang Verdi roles, such as Amelia, Elisabetta and Desdemona, her role at the Met, as well as the title role in Aida, Richard Strausss Ariadne. Price was also active as a lieder singer, equally at home in the romantic idiom of Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann or Richard Strauss
29.
Thunder Bay
–
Thunder Bay is a city in, and the seat of, Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario with a population of 108,359 as of the Canada 2011 Census, European settlement in the region began in the late 17th century with a French fur trading outpost on the banks of the Kaministiquia River. Forestry and manufacturing played important roles in the citys economy and they have declined in recent years, but have been replaced by a knowledge economy based on medical research and education. Thunder Bay is the site of the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute, the city takes its name from the immense Thunder Bay at the head of Lake Superior, known on 18th-century French maps as Baie du Tonnerre. The city is referred to as the Lakehead, or Canadian Lakehead. European settlement at Thunder Bay began with two French fur trading posts which were subsequently abandoned, in 1803, the Montreal-based North West Company established Fort William as its mid-continent entrepôt. The fort thrived until 1821 when the North West Company merged with the Hudsons Bay Company, by the 1850s, the Province of Canada began to take an interest in its western extremity. Discovery of copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan had prompted a demand for mining locations on the Canadian shores of Lake Superior. In 1849, French-speaking Jesuits established the Mission de lImmaculée-Conception on the Kaministiquia to evangelize the Ojibwe, the Province of Canada negotiated the Robinson Treaty in 1850 with the Ojibwa of Lake Superior. As a result, an Indian reserve was set aside for them south of the Kaministiquia River, in 1859–60, the Department of Crown Lands surveyed two townships and the Town Plot of Fort William for European-Canadian settlement. Another settlement developed a few miles to the north of Fort William after construction by the federal Department of Public Works of a road connecting Lake Superior with the Red River Colony, the work was directed by Simon James Dawson. This public works depot or construction headquarters acquired its first name in May 1870 when Colonel Garnet Wolseley named it Prince Arthurs Landing and it was renamed Port Arthur by the Canadian Pacific Railway in May 1883. The arrival of the CPR in 1875 sparked a rivalry between the towns, which did not end until the amalgamation of 1970. Until the 1880s, Port Arthur was a larger and dynamic community. The CPR, in collaboration with the Hudsons Bay Company, preferred east Fort William, provoked by a prolonged tax dispute with Port Arthur and its seizure of a locomotive in 1889, the CPR relocated all its employees and facilities to Fort William. The collapse of silver mining after 1890 undermined the economy of Port Arthur and it had an economic depression, while Fort William thrived. In the era of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Thunder Bay began a period of growth, based on improved access to markets via the transcontinental railway. The CPR double-tracked its Winnipeg–Thunder Bay line, the Canadian Northern Railway established facilities at Port Arthur
30.
Honolulu
–
Honolulu is the capital and largest city of the U. S. state of Hawaii. It is an part of and the county seat of the City and County of Honolulu on the island of Oahu. The city is the gateway to Hawaii and a major portal into the United States. The city is also a hub for international business, military defense, as well as famously being host to a diverse variety of east-west and Pacific culture, cuisine. Honolulu is the most remote city of its size in the world and is both the westernmost and the southernmost major U. S. city. For statistical purposes, the U. S. Census Bureau recognizes the area commonly referred to as City of Honolulu as a census county division. Honolulu is a financial center of the islands and of the Pacific Ocean. The population of the city of Honolulu was 337,256 as of the 2010 census, while the Honolulu CCD was 390,738, Honolulu means sheltered harbor or calm port. The old name is said to be Kou, a district encompassing the area from Nuuanu Avenue to Alakea Street. The city has been the capital of the Hawaiian Islands since 1845, as of 2015, Honolulu was ranked high on world livability rankings, and was also ranked as the 2nd safest city in the U. S. It is also the most populated Oceanian city outside Australasia and ranks second to Auckland as the most populous city in Polynesia, evidence of the first settlement of Honolulu by the original Polynesian migrants to the archipelago comes from oral histories and artifacts. These indicate that there was a settlement where Honolulu now stands in the 11th century, however, after Kamehameha I conquered Oʻahu in the Battle of Nuʻuanu at Nuʻuanu Pali, he moved his royal court from the Island of Hawaiʻi to Waikīkī in 1804. His court relocated in 1809 to what is now downtown Honolulu, the capital was moved back to Kailua-Kona in 1812. In 1794, Captain William Brown of Great Britain was the first foreigner to sail into what is now Honolulu Harbor, more foreign ships followed, making the port of Honolulu a focal point for merchant ships traveling between North America and Asia. In 1845, Kamehameha III moved the permanent capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom from Lahaina on Maui to Honolulu and he and the kings that followed him transformed Honolulu into a modern capital, erecting buildings such as St. Andrews Cathedral, ʻIolani Palace, and Aliʻiōlani Hale. At the same time, Honolulu became the center of commerce in the islands, an economic and tourism boom following statehood brought rapid economic growth to Honolulu and Hawaiʻi. Modern air travel brings, as of 2007,7.6 million visitors annually to the islands, today, Honolulu is a modern city with numerous high-rise buildings, and Waikīkī is the center of the tourism industry in Hawaiʻi, with thousands of hotel rooms. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 68.4 square miles
31.
Metropolitan Opera
–
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
32.
Manon
–
It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 19 January 1884, with sets designed by Eugène Carpezat, Auguste-Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon, and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre. Prior to Massenets work, Halévy and Auber had used the subject for musical stage works, Massenet also wrote a one-act sequel to Manon, Le portrait de Manon, involving the Chevalier des Grieux as an older man. The composer worked at the score of Manon at his home outside Paris. Manon is Massenets most popular and enduring opera and, having conquered the worlds stages. It is the example of the charm and vitality of the music. The opera was a mainstay of the Opéra-Comique in Paris, reaching its 1, 000th performance there in 1919, its 1, 500th in 1931 and 2, due to its heavy vocal demands, the role of Manon was described by Sills as the French Isolde. At the Royal Opera House in London it was first presented 19 May 1891, the Metropolitan Opera gave its first staging on 16 January 1895, and Manon has subsequently been performed there on 266 occasions. Anna Netrebko recently starred in a new production directed by Laurent Pelly, a co-production with the Royal Opera House, the San Francisco Opera gave the opera many stagings beginning on 29 September 1924, the most recent being November 1998. Operabase shows 19 countries presenting a total of 425 performances of 81 productions in 61 cities, the ballet Lhistoire de Manon by Kenneth MacMillan, although using music entirely written by Massenet, does not include any from Manon. While the innkeeper is serving dinner to the party, the townspeople collect to witness the arrival of the coach from Arras, among them is Lescaut, a guardsman, who tells his comrades that he plans to meet a kinswoman. Manon is accosted by the opportunistic Guillot, who tells her that he has a carriage waiting and his heavy-handed seduction is undermined by the return of Lescaut, who then lectures the young woman on proper behavior. He leaves her once more and she admires the three fashionably-dressed actresses, but reproaches herself, unconvincingly vowing to rid herself of all worldly visions. Des Grieux, traveling home to see his father, catches sight of Manon, when he approaches, she is charmed by his chivalrous address, and their exchange rapidly becomes a mutual avowal of love. Both their planned journeys, hers to the convent and des Grieuxs to his home, are swiftly abandoned, but there are hints of incompatible aspirations, while he returns, over and again, to tous les deux, the phrase she fondly repeats is, à Paris. Making good use of the carriage provided by the disappointed Guillot, Manon and des Grieuxs apartment in Paris With little hope, des Grieux writes to his father, imploring permission to marry Manon. Lescaut enters intent on creating a scene and accompanied by de Brétigny, but his concern for offended family honor is only camouflage for his alliance with his friend. Trying to prove his honorable intentions, des Grieux shows Lescaut the letter to his father, after the two visitors depart, Manon appears to vacillate between accepting de Brétignys offer and warning des Grieux. When her lover out to post his letter, her farewell to the humble domesticity she has shared makes clear she has decided to go with de Brétigny
33.
Royal Opera House
–
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is referred to as simply Covent Garden. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, originally called the Theatre Royal, it served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented, a year later, Handels first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the theatre on the site following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, the main auditorium seats 2,256 people, making it the third largest in London, and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The proscenium is 12.20 m wide and 14.80 m high, the main auditorium is a Grade I listed building. The letters patent remained in the possession of the patentees heirs until the 19th century, in 1728, John Rich, actor-manager of the Dukes Company at Lincolns Inn Fields Theatre, commissioned The Beggars Opera from John Gay. In addition, a Royal Charter had created a fruit and vegetable market in the area, at its opening on 7 December 1732, Rich was carried by his actors in processional triumph into the theatre for its opening production of William Congreves The Way of the World. Despite the frequent interchangeability between the Covent Garden and Drury Lane companies, competition was intense, often presenting the plays at the same time. Rich introduced pantomime to the repertoire, himself performing and a tradition of seasonal pantomime continued at the modern theatre, in 1734, Covent Garden presented its first ballet, Pygmalion. Marie Sallé discarded tradition and her corset and danced in diaphanous robes, george Frideric Handel was named musical director of the company, at Lincolns Inn Fields, in 1719, but his first season of opera, at Covent Garden, was not presented until 1734. His first opera was Il pastor fido followed by Ariodante, the première of Alcina, there was a royal performance of Messiah in 1743, which was a success and began a tradition of Lenten oratorio performances. From 1735 until his death in 1759 he gave regular seasons there and he bequeathed his organ to John Rich, and it was placed in a prominent position on the stage, but was among many valuable items lost in a fire that destroyed the theatre on 20 September 1808. In 1792 the architect Henry Holland rebuilt the auditorium, within the shell of the building but deeper and wider than the old auditorium. Rebuilding began in December 1808, and the second Theatre Royal, the Old Price Riots lasted over two months, and the management was finally forced to accede to the audiences demands. During this time, entertainments were varied, opera and ballet were presented, kemble engaged a variety of acts, including the child performer Master Betty, the great clown Joseph Grimaldi made his name at Covent Garden
34.
Decca Records
–
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U. S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis along with American Deccas first president Jack Kapp and later American Decca president Milton Rackmil. In 1937, as a result of anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, the British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group, which is owned by Vivendi, the US Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG. The name Decca was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the word Mecca with the initial D of their logo Dulcet or their trademark Dulcephone, Samuel, a linguist, chose Decca as a brand name as it was easy to pronounce in most languages. The name dates back to a gramophone called the Decca Dulcephone patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel. That company was renamed the Decca Gramophone Co. Ltd. Within years, Decca Records Ltd. was the second largest record label in the world, Decca bought the UK branch of Brunswick Records and continued to run it under that name. In the 1950s the American Decca studios were located in the Pythian Temple in New York City, in classical music, Decca had a long way to go from its modest beginnings to catch up with the established HMV and Columbia labels. The pre-war classical repertoire on Decca was not extensive, but was select, heinrich Schlusnus made important pre-war lieder recordings for Decca. John Culshaw, who joined Decca in 1946 in a junior post and he revolutionised recording – of opera, in particular. Hitherto, the practice had been to put microphones in front of the performers, Culshaw was determined to make recordings that would be a theatre of the mind, making the listeners experience at home not second best to being in the opera house, but a wholly different experience. To that end he got the singers to move about in the studio as they would onstage, used sound effects and different acoustics. His skill, coupled with Decca engineering, took Decca into the first flight of recording companies and his pioneering recording of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Georg Solti was a huge artistic and commercial success. In the wake of Deccas lead, artists such as Herbert von Karajan, Joan Sutherland, however, Culshaw was, strictly speaking, not the first to do this. Far from being a mere rendering of the score, the 3-LP album set used sound effects to recreate the production as if the listener were watching a stage performance of the work. Until 1947, American Decca issued British Decca classical music recordings, afterwards, British Decca took over distribution through its new American subsidiary London Records. American Decca actively re-entered the classical music field in 1950 with distribution deals from Deutsche Grammophon, American Decca began issuing its own classical music recordings in 1956 when Israel Horowitz joined Decca to head its classical music operations
35.
Ring Cycle
–
Der Ring des Nibelungen, WWV86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas, the composer termed the cycle a Bühnenfestspiel, structured in three days preceded by a Vorabend. It is often referred to as the Ring Cycle, Wagners Ring, Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The first performance as an opened the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, beginning with Das Rheingold on 13 August. Wagners title is most literally rendered in English as The Ring of the Nibelung, the Nibelung of the title is the dwarf Alberich, and the ring in question is the one he fashions from the Rhine Gold. The title therefore denotes Alberichs Ring, Nibelungen is occasionally mistaken as a plural, but the Ring of the Nibelungs is incorrect. The cycle is a work of extraordinary scale, the first and shortest work, Das Rheingold, typically lasts two and a half hours, while the final and longest, Götterdämmerung, takes up to five hours, excluding intervals. The cycle is modelled after ancient Greek dramas that were presented as three tragedies and one satyr play, the Ring proper begins with Die Walküre and ends with Götterdämmerung, with Rheingold as a prelude. Wagner called Das Rheingold a Vorabend or Preliminary Evening, and Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung were subtitled First Day, Second Day and Third Day, respectively, the scale and scope of the story is epic. It follows the struggles of gods, heroes, and several mythical creatures over the magic ring that grants domination over the entire world. The drama and intrigue continue through three generations of protagonists, until the final cataclysm at the end of Götterdämmerung, the music of the cycle is thick and richly textured, and grows in complexity as the cycle proceeds. Wagner wrote for an orchestra of gargantuan proportions, including a greatly enlarged brass section with new instruments such as the Wagner tuba, bass trumpet and contrabass trombone. Remarkably, he uses a chorus only relatively briefly, in acts 2 and 3 of Götterdämmerung and he eventually had a purpose-built theatre constructed, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, in which to perform this work. The theatre has a stage that blends the huge orchestra with the singers voices. The result was that the singers did not have to strain themselves vocally during the long performances. The plot revolves around a ring that grants the power to rule the world. Wotans schemes to regain the ring, spanning generations, drive much of the action in the story, Hagen is drowned as he attempts to recover the ring. In the process, the gods and Valhalla are destroyed, details of the storylines can be found in the articles on each music drama
36.
La traviata
–
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
