1.
Buenos Aires
–
Buenos Aires is the capital and most populous city of Argentina. The city is located on the shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata. The city of Buenos Aires is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the Provinces capital, rather, in 1880, after decades of political infighting, Buenos Aires was federalized and removed from Buenos Aires Province. The city limits were enlarged to include the towns of Belgrano and Flores, the 1994 constitutional amendment granted the city autonomy, hence its formal name, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Its citizens first elected a chief of government in 1996, previously, Buenos Aires is considered an alpha city by the study GaWC5. Buenos Aires quality of life was ranked 81st in the world and one of the best in Latin America in 2012 and it is the most visited city in South America, and the second-most visited city of Latin America. Buenos Aires is a top tourist destination, and is known for its preserved Spanish/European-style architecture, Buenos Aires held the 1st Pan American Games in 1951 as well as hosting two venues in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Buenos Aires will host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and the 2018 G20 summit, Buenos Aires is a multicultural city, being home to multiple ethnic and religious groups. Several languages are spoken in the city in addition to Spanish, contributing to its culture, the hill was known to them as Buen Ayre, as it was free of the foul smell prevalent in the old city, which is adjacent to swampland. During the siege of Cagliari, the Aragonese built a sanctuary to the Virgin Mary on top of the hill, in 1335, King Alfonso the Gentle donated the church to the Mercedarians, who built an abbey that stands to this day. In the years after that, a story circulated, claiming that a statue of the Virgin Mary was retrieved from the sea after it miraculously helped to calm a storm in the Mediterranean Sea, the statue was placed in the abbey. Spanish sailors, especially Andalusians, venerated this image and frequently invoked the Fair Winds to aid them in their navigation, a sanctuary to the Virgin of Buen Ayre would be later erected in Seville. Pedro de Mendoza called the city Holy Mary of the Fair Winds, mendoza’s settlement soon came under attack by indigenous people, and was abandoned in 1541. For many years, the name was attributed to a Sancho del Campo, a second settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who sailed down the Paraná River from Asunción. Garay preserved the name chosen by Mendoza, calling the city Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María del Buen Aire. The short form Buenos Aires became the common usage during the 17th century, the usual abbreviation for Buenos Aires in Spanish is Bs. As. It is common as well to refer to it as B. A. or BA /ˌbiːˈeɪ/ bee-AY), while BA is used more by expats residing in the city, the locals more often use the abbreviation Baires, in one word. Seaman Juan Díaz de Solís, navigating in the name of Spain, was the first European to reach the Río de la Plata in 1516 and his expedition was cut short when he was killed during an attack by the native Charrúa tribe in what is now Uruguay
Buenos Aires
–
From the top, left to right:
Central Business District skyline, the
Palace of the Argentine National Congress,
Puente de la Mujer, Tango dancers in
San Telmo,
Casa Rosada, the
Metropolitan Cathedral,
Cabildo, the
Obelisco,
Teatro Colón,
La Recoleta Cemetery, the
Planetario within
Parque Tres de Febrero, and
Caminito.
Buenos Aires
–
Aldus verthoont hem de stadt Buenos Ayrros geleegen in Rio de la Plata, painting by a Dutch sailor who anchored at the port around 1628.
Buenos Aires
–
Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires
–
Depiction of
Juan de Garay and the second founding of Buenos Aires, 1580
2.
Argentina
–
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
Argentina
–
The
Cave of the Hands in
Santa Cruz province, with indigenous artwork dating from 13,000–9,000 years ago
Argentina
Argentina
–
The surrender of Beresford to
Santiago de Liniers during the
British invasions of the Río de la Plata
Argentina
–
Portrait of General
José de San Martin,
Libertador of Argentina,
Chile and
Peru
3.
Plaza de Mayo
–
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in the Monserrat barrio of central Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets, since being the scene of the 25 May 1810 revolution that led to independence, the plaza has been a hub of political life in Argentina. The modern plaza took form in 1884 when the colonnade separating the Plaza de la Victoria and its origins, however, can be traced back to Juan de Garays foundation of Buenos Aires itself, in 1580. Newly arrived to the dusty riverbank settlement, Jesuit clergymen in 1608 secured a title to much of the 2 hectares lot, completed in 1804, the Romanesque structure became the plazas market and the lot to the west of the colonnade became the Plaza de la Victoria. That year, however, Mayor Torcuato de Alvear ordered the space modernized, resulting in the demolition of the colonnade, the Plaza de Mayo has always been the focal point of political life in Buenos Aires. Its current name commemorates the May Revolution of 1810, which started the process towards the independence from Spain in 1816. Many other presidents, both democratic and military, have also saluted people in the Plaza from the balcony of the Casa Rosada. In an attempt to overthrow President Perón, the plaza was bombed during one of the populist leaders many rallies there on 16 June 1955, killing 364. Peróns final appearance at the plaza, on 12 June, was marked by a break with the far left. People perceived to be supportive of subversive activities would be detained, subject to abuse and torture. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo took advantage of the importance of the Plaza to open the publics eyes to what the military regime was doing. Today, Plaza de Mayo continues to be an indispensable tourist attraction for those who visit Buenos Aires, the Buenos Aires financial district, affectionately known as la City also lies besides the Plaza. Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo Grandmothers of the Plaza Tourism Buenos Aires Casa Rosada
Plaza de Mayo
–
Wide angle view of Plaza de Mayo towards the
Pirámide de Mayo and the
Casa Rosada.
Plaza de Mayo
–
Oath of the Constitution of Buenos Aires, 1854.
Plaza de Mayo
–
The old colonnade, 1864.
Plaza de Mayo
–
The Cathedral and May Pyramid, c. 1880.
4.
Alexander Witcomb
–
Alexander S. Witcomb was a British photographer whose work is considered historical heritage of Argentina. Where he established the first photography studio, Witcomb studied photography in France, then moved to Rio de Janeiro where he worked as a trader for some time. In 1872, he moved to Montevideo, where he worked in a bank. Witcomb moved again to Rosario, Argentina, where he worked with Christiano Junior, from whom he acquired his stuido. The partnership lasted until Witcomb travelled to Buenos Aires, Witcomb not only took pictures at his studio but in the streets, where he photographed the social life of Argentina. Because of his influences, Witcomb made several portraits of presidents of Argentina. In 1880, Witcomb established his own studio, located on Florida street n°364, starting as a photography studio, it then expanded its activities to an art gallery where new artists had the opportunity to show their work. Following Witcombs death in 1905, his son took his place continued with the exhibitions, Witcomb witnessed and photographed the life of Buenos Aires in many aspects, streets, notable persons, transport, celebrations, social and historic facts. The beginning of Witcomb galleries were as photographic art, in 1897 Alexander Witcomb established in Florida street n°364 of Buenos Aires city, with the purpose of exhibiting artwork. Since the galleries started activities until their closure in 1971, about 1,900 exhibitions were made there, between 1897 and 1913 Spanish curator José Artal organised modern art expositions of notable artists from his country. Artal designed brochures detailing the pieces to be exhibited, sending them to the media, art collectors, as during the first years of existence the gallery exhibited European art, in 1902 Martín Mahlharro opened the season with great success. In 1908 the Nexus Group, which include such as Carlos Ripamonte, Justo Lynch, Pío Collivadino, Alberto Rossi, among others. Painter Fernando Fader also made exhibitions of his work in 1906,1907 and 1908, in 1907 young artist Lia Gismondi was the first woman to make an individual exhibition, followed by other notable artists such as Julia Wernicke, Andree Moch and French painter Leonie Matthis. One year later Martín Malharro made his second exhibition. Taking advantage of the economic situation in Rosario, Santa Fe, Witcomb opened an exhibition room in that city. Meanwhile, everal young Argentine artists had also an opportunity to show their art at the Witcomb gallery in Buenos Aires, some of them were Victoria Aguirre, Francisco Recondo, Ramón Silva, Fray Guillermo Butler, Raúl Mazza, Faustino Brughetti, Eduardo Schiaffino, amongst others. In 1918, a painter named Benito Quinquela Martín exhibited in the gallery for the first time. The main subject of his paintings was his neighborhood, La Boca, in Rosario, a 16-year-old painter Antonio Berni exhibited his work in 1921, then repeating in 1922 and 1923
Alexander Witcomb
–
Alexander Witcomb at his studio, c. 1890s.
Alexander Witcomb
–
The first photo of the Cabildo ever taken, c. 1842-50.
Alexander Witcomb
–
Child in pose
Alexander Witcomb
–
Outdoors lunch
5.
Spanish language
–
Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
Spanish language
–
A page of
Cantar de Mio Cid, the oldest preserved Spanish
epic poem, in medieval Spanish.
Spanish language
–
Spanish is sole official language at the national level
Spanish language
–
Antonio de Nebrija, author of
Gramática de la lengua castellana, the first grammar of modern European languages.
Spanish language
–
Miguel de Cervantes author of
Don Quixote, considered the first modern European novel.
6.
Opera house
–
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building. While some venues are constructed specifically for operas, other houses are part of larger performing arts centers. In contrast, there was no house in London when Henry Purcell was composing. Early United States opera houses served a variety of functions in towns and cities, hosting community dances, fairs, plays, with the rise of bourgeois and capitalist social forms in the 19th century, European culture moved away from its patronage system to a publicly supported system. In the 2000s, most opera and theatre companies raise funds from a combination of government and institutional grants, ticket sales, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples introduces the plant horseshoe, the oldest in the world, a model for the Italian theater. On this model were built following theaters of Italy and Europe, among others, the theater of the Palace of Caserta. Given the popularity of opera in 18th and 19th century Europe, opera houses are large, with generally more than 1,000 seats. Modern opera houses of the century such as New Yorks Metropolitan Opera. Many operas are better suited to being presented in smaller theatres, in a traditional opera house, the auditorium is U-shaped, with the length of the sides determining the audience capacity. Around this are tiers of balconies, and often, nearer to the stage, are boxes and this is especially true of Wagners Bayreuth Festspielhaus where the pit is almost completely covered. The size of an opera orchestra varies, but for some operas, oratorios and other works, it may be large, for some romantic period works. Similarly, an opera may have a large cast of characters, chorus, dancers, therefore, a major opera house will have extensive dressing room facilities. Opera houses often have on-premises set and costume building shops and facilities for storage of costumes, make-up, masks, and stage properties, major opera houses throughout the world often have highly mechanized stages, with large stage elevators permitting heavy sets to be changed rapidly. At the Metropolitan Opera, for instance, sets are changed during the action, as the audience watches. This occurs in the Mets productions of such as Aida. Much the same happened in the remodeling of Milans La Scala opera house between 2002 and 2004, since the 1990s, however, many opera houses have begun using a subtle form of sound reinforcement called acoustic enhancement. Often, operas are presented in their languages, which may be different from the first language of the audience. For example, a Wagnerian opera presented in London may be in German, therefore, since the 1980s modern opera houses have assisted the audience by providing translated supertitles, projections of the words above or near to the stage
Opera house
–
Teatro di San Carlo in
Naples, the world’s oldest working theatre.
Opera house
–
Opera-Theatre of
Metz, built by
benefactor Duke de Belle-Isle during the 18th century, it is the oldest opera house working in France
Opera house
–
The
Grand Theatre, Warsaw, ca. 1890
Opera house
–
The
Vienna Court Opera, ca. 1898
7.
Konzerthaus Berlin
–
The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of Berlin housing the German orchestra Konzerthausorchester Berlin. The buildings predecessor, the National-Theater in the Friedrichstadt suburb, was destroyed by fire in 1817 and it had been designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans and inaugurated on January 1,1802. The new hall was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel between 1818 and 1821, the new Königliches Schauspielhaus was inaugurated on June 18,1821 with the acclaimed premiere of Carl Maria von Webers opera Der Freischütz. Other works that have premiered at the theatre include Undine by E. T. A. Hoffmann in 1816, during the 1848 Revolution its main auditorium housed the Prussian National Assembly for several weeks in September, with the Gendarmenmarkt a major arena of political events. Notable premieres at the theatre during this period included Penthesilea by Heinrich von Kleist in 1876, after World War I the Schauspielhaus reopened under the name of Preußisches Staatstheater Berlin in October 1919. Severely damaged by Allied bombing and the Battle of Berlin the building was rebuilt from 1977 onwards, the great hall is equipped with a notable four-manual pipe organ built by Jehmlich Orgelbau Dresden in 1984. The organ has four manuals and pedal,74 stops and 5,811 pipes, in 1994 the venue was renamed the Konzerthaus Berlin. Acoustically, the hall is considered to be amongst the five best concert venues in the world for music and/or opera
Konzerthaus Berlin
–
The Konzerthaus Berlin in 2015
Konzerthaus Berlin
–
Karl Friedrich Schinkel's design, copper engraving, about 1830
Konzerthaus Berlin
–
Konzerthaus Berlin at night (2015)
Konzerthaus Berlin
–
The square in 1910, showing the theatre
8.
Musikverein
–
The Wiener Musikverein, commonly shortened to Musikverein, is a concert hall in the Innere Stadt borough of Vienna, Austria. It is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra, none of these halls was built in the modern era with the application of acoustics science, and all share a long, tall, and narrow shoebox shape. The building is located on Dumbastraße/Bösendorferstraße behind the Hotel Imperial near the Ringstraße boulevard, however, since Bösendorferstraße is a relatively small street, the building is better known as being between Karlsplatz and Kärntner Ring. It was erected as the new concert hall run by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the plans were designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen in the Neoclassical style of an ancient Greek temple, including a concert hall and a smaller chamber music hall. The building was inaugurated on 6 January 1870, a major donor was Nikolaus Dumba, industrialist and liberal politician of Greek descent, whose name the Austrian government gave to one of the streets surrounding the Musikverein. The Großer Musikvereinssaal, or Goldener Saal, is about 49 m long,19 m wide and it has 1,744 seats and standing room for 300. The Skandalkonzert of 1913 was given there, and it is the venue for the annual Vienna New Years Concert, the Great Halls lively acoustics are primarily based on Hansens intuition, as he could not rely on any studies on architectural acoustics. The rooms rectangular shape and proportions, its boxes and sculptures allow early, the original equipment comprised a historic pipe organ built by Friedrich Ladegast, and the first organ recital was held by Anton Bruckner in 1872. The present–day organ was installed in 1907 by the Austrian firm of Rieger Orgelbau, highly esteemed by musicians such as Franz Schmidt or Marcel Dupré. Since 2001, the building has been undergoing renovation, and several new rehearsal halls have been installed in the basement, the names of the six halls refer to gold, Johannes Brahms, glass, metal, stone and wood respectively. Symphony Hall, Boston Notes Media related to Musikverein at Wikimedia Commons Musikverein website
Musikverein
–
Musikverein, 2006
Musikverein
–
Goldener Saal
Musikverein
–
The Musikverein at night, December 2012
9.
Concertgebouw
–
The Royal Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term concertgebouw literally translates into English as concert building, on 11 April 2013, on occasion of the buildings 125th anniversary, Queen Beatrix bestowed the Royal Title Koninklijk upon the building, as she did previously to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Because of its highly regarded acoustics, the Concertgebouw is considered one of the finest concert halls in the world, along with such as Bostons Symphony Hall. The architect of the building was Adolf Leonard van Gendt, who was inspired by the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, construction began in 1883 in a pasture that was then outside the city, in Nieuwer-Amstel, a municipality that in 1964 became Amstelveen. A total of 2,186 piles of length twelve to thirteen metres were sunk into the soil. The hall opened on 11 April 1888 with a concert, in which an orchestra of 120 musicians and a chorus of 500 singers participated, performing works of Wagner, Handel, Bach. The resident orchestra of the Concertgebouw is the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, for many decades the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest have also been regular performers in the Concertgebouw. The Main Hall seats 1,974, and is 44 metres long,28 metres wide and its reverberation time is 2.8 seconds without audience,2.2 seconds with, making it ideal for the late Romantic repertoire such as Mahler. Though this characteristic makes it unsuited for amplified music, groups such as Led Zeppelin, The Who. It hosts not only orchestral and operatic performances, but also jazz, a smaller, oval-shaped venue, the Recital Hall, is located behind the Main Hall. The Recital Hall is 20 metres long and 15 metres wide and its more intimate space is well-suited for chamber music and Lieder. The Recital Hall has 437 seats, when the Concertgebouw was built, acoustics were something of a black art. As in shipbuilding, designers drew upon what had worked in the past without entirely understanding the underlying science, when the building was completed, the acoustics were not perfect, and a lot of effort went into fine-tuning the aural ambience. During later restorations, particular care has been not to alter the materials used for interior decoration with this in mind. In the 1980s, the hall embarked on extensive fund-raising for renovations after the hall was found to be sinking into the ground. Pi de Bruijn was the architect for the annex to the original hall. Today, some nine hundred concerts and other events per year take place in the Concertgebouw, for a public of over 700,000, as of February 2014, the managing director of the Concertgebouw is Simon Reinink and the artistic director is Anneke Hogenstijn. The organ was built in 1890 by the organ builder Michael Maarschalkerweerd from Utrecht and it has 60 registers on three divisions and pedal
Concertgebouw
–
Concertgebouw in 2011
Concertgebouw
–
The organ in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw
Concertgebouw
–
Architectural drawings of the design, dated 1888.
Concertgebouw
–
The Concertgebouw in 1902.
10.
Symphony Hall, Boston
–
Symphony Hall is a concert hall located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by McKim, Mead and White, it was built in 1900 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the hall was designated a U. S. National Historic Landmark in 1999 and is a pending Boston Landmark. It was then noted that Symphony Hall remains, acoustically, among the top three concert halls in the world, and is considered the finest in the United States. Symphony Hall was inaugurated on October 15,1900, after the Orchestras original home was threatened by road-building, admired for its lively acoustics from the time of its opening, the hall is often cited as one of the best sounding classical concert venues in the world. The hall is modeled on the second Gewandhaus concert hall in Leipzig, the Hall is relatively long, narrow, and high, in a rectangular shoebox shape like Amsterdams Concertgebouw and Viennas Musikverein. It is 18. 6m high,22. 9m wide, stage walls slope inward to help focus the sound. With the exception of its floors, the Hall is built of brick, steel. Side balconies are very shallow to avoid trapping or muffling sound, conductor Herbert von Karajan, in comparing it to the Musikverein, stated that for much music, it is even better. Because of its slightly lower reverberation time, in 2006, due to years of wear and tear, the original concert stage floor was replaced at a cost of $250,000. In order to any change to the sound of the hall. These included tongue-in-groove, three-quarter inch, hard maple boards, a compressed wool underlayment and hardened steel cut nails, the vertical grain fir subfloor from 1899 was in excellent shape and was left in place. The nails used in the new floor were hand cut using the size and construction as the originals. Beethovens name is inscribed over the stage, the musicians name that appears in the hall since the original directors could agree on no other name. The halls leather seats are the ones installed in 1900. The hall seats 2,625 people during Symphony season and 2,371 during the Pops season, sixteen replicas of Greek and Roman statues line the upper level of the halls walls. Ten are of subjects, and six of historical figures. All are of plaster cast by P. P. Caproni, the Symphony Hall organ, a 4, 800-pipe Aeolian-Skinner was designed by G. Donald Harrison, installed in 1949, and autographed by Albert Schweitzer. It replaced the halls first organ, built in 1900 by George S. Hutchings of Boston, the Hutchings organ had fallen out of fashion by the 1940s when lighter, clearer tones became preferred
Symphony Hall, Boston
–
Symphony Hall
Symphony Hall, Boston
Symphony Hall, Boston
–
Symphony Hall interior
11.
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a family of moderate means. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, whose works influenced him. In his early operas Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy and he also participated briefly as an elected politician. He surprised the world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida. The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo, additionally, it lists Verdi as being born yesterday, but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Verdi himself, following his mother, always celebrated his birthday on 9 October, Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. From the age of four, Verdi was given lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents provided him with a spinet. Verdis gift for music was apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while. After Baistrocchis death, Verdi, at the age of eight, Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his sons education. something which Verdi tended to hide in later life. He picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by a father and of a sustained, sophisticated. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, at age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of the music school. This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of the Philharmonic Society was Antonio Barezzi, a grocer and distiller. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic, by June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic, none of us could rival him reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Giuseppe Verdi Portrait by
Giovanni Boldini, 1886
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Verdi's childhood home at Le Roncole.
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Antonio Barezzi, Verdi's patron and later father-in-law
Giuseppe Verdi
–
Margherita Barezzi, Verdi's first wife.
12.
Montevideo
–
Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 in an area of 201 square kilometres. The southernmost capital city in the Americas, Montevideo is situated in the southern coast of the country, the city was established in 1724 by a Spanish soldier, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst the Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region. It was also under brief British rule in 1807, Montevideo hosted all the matches during the first FIFA World Cup. Montevideo is the seat of the headquarters of Mercosur and ALADI, Latin America’s leading trade blocs. Montevideo has consistently rated as having the highest quality of life of any city in Latin America. As of 2010, Montevideo was the 19th largest city economy in the continent, in 2015, it has a GDP of $40.5 billion, and a per capita of $24,400. It is classified as a Beta World City, ranking seventh in Latin America, by 2014, is also regarded as the tenth most gay-friendly city in the world, first in Latin America. It is the hub of commerce and higher education in Uruguay as well as its chief port, the city is also the financial and cultural hub of a larger metropolitan area, with a population of around 2 million. There are several explanations about the word Montevideo, all agree that Monte refers to the Cerro de Montevideo, the hill situated across the Bay of Montevideo, but there is disagreement about the etymological origin of the video part. Monte vide eu is the most widespread belief but is rejected by the majority of experts, who consider it unlikely because it involves a mix of dialects. This is the oldest Spanish document that mentions the promontory with a similar to the one that designates the city. With the passing of time, these words were unified to Montevideo, no conclusive evidence has been found to confirm this academic hypothesis nor can it be asserted with certainty which were the other five mounts observable before the Cerro. Ovidio was the bishop of the Portuguese city of Braga, where he was always revered. Between 1680 and 1683, Portugal founded the city of Colonia do Sacramento in the region across the bay from Buenos Aires and this city met with no resistance from the Spanish until 1723, when they began to place fortifications on the elevations around Montevideo Bay. On 22 November 1723, Field Marshal Manuel de Freitas da Fonseca of Portugal built the Montevieu fort, a Spanish expedition was sent from Buenos Aires, organized by the Spanish governor of that city, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala. There was also one significant early Italian resident by the name of Jorge Burgues, a census of the citys inhabitants was performed in 1724 and then a plan was drawn delineating the city and designating it as San Felipe y Santiago de Montevideo, later shortened to Montevideo. The census counted fifty families of Galician and Canary Islands origin, more than 1000 indigenous, mostly Guaraní, in 1776, Spain made Montevideo its main naval base for the South Atlantic, with authority over the Argentine coast, Fernando Po, and the Falklands
Montevideo
–
Aerial view of Montevideo
Montevideo
–
Cerro de Montevideo as seen from the city, in 1865.
Montevideo
–
Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata at the beginning of the 17th century.
Montevideo
–
Map of Montevideo during the
Guerra Grande (1843–1851).
13.
Rio de Janeiro
–
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the second-most populous municipality in Brazil and the sixth-most populous in the Americas. The metropolis is anchor to the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazils third-most populous state. Part of the city has designated as a World Heritage Site, named Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city was initially the seat of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, later, in 1763, it became the capital of the State of Brazil, a state of the Portuguese Empire. Rio stayed the capital of the pluricontinental Lusitanian monarchy until 1822 and this is one of the few instances in history that the capital of a colonising country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies. Rio de Janeiro has the second largest municipal GDP in the country, the home of many universities and institutes, it is the second-largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific output according to 2005 data. The Maracanã Stadium held the finals of the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the city is divided into 33 administrative regions. Europeans first encountered Guanabara Bay on 1 January 1502, by a Portuguese expedition under explorer Gaspar de Lemos captain of a ship in Pedro Álvares Cabrals fleet, allegedly the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci participated as observer at the invitation of King Manuel I in the same expedition. The region of Rio was inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo, in 1555, one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, now called Villegagnon Island, was occupied by 500 French colonists under the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. Consequently, Villegagnon built Fort Coligny on the island when attempting to establish the France Antarctique colony, Rio de Janeiro was the name of Guanabara Bay. Until early in the 18th century, the city was threatened or invaded by several, mostly French, pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc, on 27 January 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. The kingdoms capital was transferred to the city, which, thus, as there was no physical space or urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes. The first printed newspaper in Brazil, the Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro, from the colonial period until the first independent decades, Rio de Janeiro was a city of slaves. There was an influx of African slaves to Rio de Janeiro, in 1819. In 1840, the number of slaves reached 220,000 people, the Port of Rio de Janeiro was the largest port of slaves in America. As a political center of the country, Rio concentrated the political-partisan life of the Empire and it was the main stage of the abolitionist and republican movements in the last half of the 19th century. Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic, until the early years of the 20th century, the city was largely limited to the neighbourhood now known as the historic city centre, on the mouth of Guanabara Bay. Expansion of the city to the north and south was facilitated by the consolidation and electrification of Rios streetcar transit system after 1905, though many thought that it was just campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Brasília built, at great cost, by 1960
Rio de Janeiro
–
From the top, left to right:
Christ the Redeemer, Botafogo's cove,
Rio Downtown,
Rio–Niterói bridge,
Maracanã Stadium, and panoramic view of
Barra da Tijuca from
Pedra da Gávea
Rio de Janeiro
–
Founding of Rio de Janeiro in 1565.
Rio de Janeiro
–
View of Rio de Janeiro from the church of the monastery of
São Bento, c. 1825.
Rio de Janeiro
–
Botafogo Bay in 1869.
14.
Charles Pellegrini
–
Charles Henri Pellegrini was an Italian Argentine engineer, lithographer, painter, and architect. Charles Henri Pellegrini was born in Chambéry, Savoie in 1800 when the region was occupied by French revolutionary forces. His mother, Marguerite Berthet, was French, and his father, Bernardo Pellegrini, was a Swiss-Italian from Coglio, Canton Ticino, Pellegrini was a talented sketch artist at an early age, and his drawings earned a prize while he was still in primary school. He enrolled at the University of Turin and later at the École Polytechnique, near Paris and he took a post in the Hydraulic Engineering Department. The bureau, however, was decommissioned in 1829 by order of the Governor of Buenos Aires and he then returned to his early talent, drawing, and sold a number of watercolour paintings, notably cityscape impressions. He continued to live as a lithographer and painter until 1837. He married María Bevans Bright in 1841, and the couple had four children and his wife was the daughter of Anglo Argentine engineer James Bevans, who had been Pellegrinis supervisor at the Hydraulic Engineering Department years earlier. That year, he and Luis Aldana founded the Lithograph of the Arts and he subsequently installed his own press at his downtown Buenos Aires home, and remained mostly at La Figura. Following the overthrow of Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852, Pellegrini returned to Buenos Aires, founded the Revista del Plata, the most notable of his works in this latter field was the Colón Theatre. The 2,500 seat opera house, inaugurated in 1857, Pellegrini published a volume of poetry in his later years. He died in Buenos Aires in 1875, at age 75 and his eldest son, Carlos Pellegrini, was elected Vice President of Argentina in 1886, and became President in 1890. Many of Pellegrinis watercolours are housed in the National Museum of Fine Arts
Charles Pellegrini
–
Charles Pellegrini with his eldest children, Julia and Carlos
Charles Pellegrini
–
Slaughterhouse, watercolour, 1829.
Charles Pellegrini
–
Plaza de la Victoria, watercolour, 1829.
Charles Pellegrini
–
Don Manuel Bernardino., watercolour.
15.
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
La traviata
–
Maria Callas in the role of Violetta
La traviata
–
Poster for the world premiere of La traviata
La traviata
–
Felice Varesi, the first Germont pere (Litho: Josef Kriehuber)
La traviata
–
Lodovico Graziani c. 1845, the first Alfredo
16.
Enrico Tamberlik
–
Enrico Tamberlik was an Italian tenor who sang to great acclaim at Europe and Americas leading opera venues. He excelled in the roles of the Italian and French repertories and was renowned for his powerful declamation and clarion high notes. Born in Rome, some claim that Tamberlik might have been of Romanian descent. Nonetheless, his training was entirely Italian. He studied first in Naples with Zirilli and Borgna, then in Bologna with Guglielmi and he appeared, too, in Madrid and Barcelona. In 1850, Tamberlik debuted at the Royal Opera House in Londons Covent Garden and he was to appear regularly at Covent Garden until 1870, enjoying star billing each time. Tamberlik sang often at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg from 1850 until 1863 and he made his initial guest appearance at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris in 1858, returning there many times until 1877. Tamberlik portrayed Alfredo in La traviata to the Violetta of Sofia Vera Lorini for the opening of the original Teatro Colón opera house in Buenos Aires in 1857 and he also appeared in North America, singing at the Academy of Music in New York City during the 1873-74 season. He last singing engagements in London were at Her Majestys Theatre in 1877 and he toured Spain again in 1881 and retired from the operatic stage shortly afterwards. Tamberliks death occurred in Paris, three days before his 69th birthday, other notable roles of his included Otello, Pollione, Arturo, Ernani, Robert le diable, Faust, Don Ottavio, Florestan, Max, Poliuto and Cellini. The heroic tenor Francesco Tamagno was regarded as being Tamberliks foremost successor, grove Music Online, entry by Elizabeth Forbes, July 2008. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, second edition, edited by Harold Rosenthal and John Warrack, Oxford University Press, the Great Singers, revised edition, by Henry Pleasants, Macmillan Publishing, London,1983
Enrico Tamberlik
–
Photograph by
André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri
Enrico Tamberlik
–
Enrico Tamberlik.
17.
Teatro Opera
–
The Teatro Opera is a prominent cinema and theatre house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The massive widening of Corrientes Street led to the demolition in 1935, however, following which the establishment was sold to Clemente Lococo. The theatre also hosted bandoneonist Ástor Piazzollas last, live performance in Argentina, economic instability and changing public tastes led to the theatres decline during the 1990s and in 1996, its proprietors considered selling the building to parking structure developers. The Opera Theatre was remodeled in 1998 and currently seats 1,852 spectators, sources Mimi Bohm, Buenos Aires Art Deco y Racionalismo, Ediciones Xavier Verstraeten, Buenos Aires,2008. Postcards depicting the original Opera Theatre Notes Official site Media related to Teatro Opera at Wikimedia Commons
Teatro Opera
–
The Opera Theatre, on Corrientes Avenue.
Teatro Opera
–
The theatre entrance
18.
9 de Julio Avenue
–
July 9 Avenue, located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the widest avenue in the world. Its name honors Argentinas Independence Day, July 9,1816, the avenue runs roughly 1 kilometre to the west of the Río de la Plata waterfront, from the Retiro district in the north to Constitución station in the south. The avenue has up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each, through the centre of the avenue runs one of the citys Metrobus corridors, which stretches 3 kilometres and was inaugurated in July 2013. There are two wide medians between the streets and the main road. The northern end of the avenue is connected to the Arturo Illia expressway, the southern end is connected to the 25 de Mayo tollway and the 9 de Julio elevated expressway which provides access to the two main southbound roads out of the city. The Republic Square is located on the intersection of this Avenue with the Corrientes Avenue, the idea of constructing July 9 Avenue was proposed during the time of Mayor Francisco Seeber. It was hoped to be like an artery that crossed through from the north to the south, later it was included in diverse plans and projects, but it wasn’t until 1912 that it passed the National Law 8.855 that authorized the municipality to carry it out. The sale would be part of the funds along with the loan issued by the local government of 25 million gold pesos. This money would come directly from the income of the local government, as soon as the respective law was sanctioned, Mayor Anchorena made a step toward completion by inaugurating it for the Centennial of Independence. The Municipality of the city of Buenos Aires started the acquisition of all the properties located particular track with an investment of 50,000,000 of the currency of that time. However, the municipality was not well-equipped enough with legal instruments and sufficient finances in order to further the ventures of construction of such a size in a sustainable and orderly way. The expropriations were carried out in a gradual and alternated way and this created a grave burden on the municipal treasury. This setback also had effects on the building developments in the central zone. With this, many buildings were degraded and were abandoned or demolished. The idea to construct the July 9th Avenue was maintained in the plan of 1925 where it was integrated into the North and South diagonals, forming at the ends two central monuments. The avenues unusual width is because it spans a city block. The distance between adjacent streets is roughly 110 m, greater than the distance between streets in Manhattan, the street flanking 9 de Julio to the east is called Carlos Pellegrini and Bernardo de Irigoyen. The street flanking 9 de Julio to the west is called Cerrito, the avenue was first planned in 1888, with the name of Ayohuma, but the road was long opposed by affected landlords and residents, so work did not start until 1935
9 de Julio Avenue
–
Aerial view of Avenida 9 de Julio facing north
9 de Julio Avenue
–
The avenue and obelisk on their 1937 inaugural.
9 de Julio Avenue
–
The avenue in 2007.
9 de Julio Avenue
–
Location of Avenida 9 de Julio in
Buenos Aires.
19.
Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires
–
The locomotive La Porteña, built by the British firm E. B. Wilson and Company in Leeds, was the first train to travel on this line. The route initially measured 10 km, stretching from Del Parque station to Floresta station, which at time was located in San José de Flores village. In 1863 the province became sole owner of the railway line, pressure from British capital and the debts owed by the state of Argentina led to its sale in 1890 to the British company Buenos Aires Western Railway. The BAWR network is part of Domingo Sarmiento Railway network. This grant was fulfilled by a bill presented on 9 January by a committee consisting of Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield, Bartolomé Mitre. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Justo José de Urquiza had also defended the idea and it must be taken into account that the western railway had no financial guarantee of minimum earnings, as the soon-established British railways would have. They would only earn what they obtained from their own activities, in any case, steam engines were finally purchased. A law sanctioned by Buenos Aires provinces Chamber of Representatives established the donation of land, free import of supplies. Among the engineers who worked on the project were Verger, Mouillard and, later, William Bragge, a steam engine named La Porteña arrived on 25 December 1856. Built by the firm E. B. Wilson and Company at The Railway Foundry in Leeds, England, it was purchased by the first administrator of the Railroad Company and its mechanics, the brothers John and Tomas Allan, came with it. The diffusion of wide gauge railway lines here is due to this fortuitous circumstance, others have been of the same opinion, including Vicente O. Cutolo. The works number shows the locomotive left Leeds in 1856, after the demolition of the Crimea railway had already begun and its dimensions and characteristics would have been unsuitable for the steep gradients in Balaclava, and technical considerations would have prevented conversion from standard to broad gauge. The vehicle was of type 0-4-0 ST, reached a speed of close to 25 km/h and it remained in use until August 1889, after which it was only used for shunting for ten years. It is currently on exhibit in the Provincial Transport Museum which forms part of the Enrique Udaondo Provincial Museographic Complex in Luján, the second engine which worked together with La Porteña was called La Argentina. It was transferred to Paraguay in 1869 by Domingo Sarmiento, together with four other locomotives. The engines were given such as Rauch, Libertad, Indio amigo and Voy a Chile. To begin with the train consisted of four carriages, each containing 30 passengers, the carriages had four axles, were wooden, originally quite luxurious and lit by oil lamps. There were 12 cargo wagons which could carry up to 5 tons
Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires
–
Locomotive La Porteña, c. 1873
Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires
–
Route map
Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires
–
Invitation card to the opening of the line, 1857.
Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires
–
Map of the line in the city of
Buenos Aires, 1870.
20.
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
Royal Opera House
–
The Royal Opera House, Bow Street frontage with
Plazzotta 's statue, Young Dancer, in the foreground
Royal Opera House
–
"Rich's Glory": John Rich takes over (seemingly invades) his new Covent Garden Theatre. (A caricature by
William Hogarth)
Royal Opera House
–
A satirical drawing from 1811 of the "Pigeon Holes" that flanked the upper gallery at Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
–
A picture of the first theatre drawn shortly before it burned down in 1808
21.
Covent Garden
–
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martins Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House. The area was settled in the 7th century when it became the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic. By 1200 part of it had been walled off by Westminster Abbey for use as arable land, referred to as the garden of the Abbey and Convent, and later the Covent Garden, it was seized by Henry VIII and granted to the Earls of Bedford in 1552. The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. Jones designed the Italianate arcaded square along with the church of St Pauls, the design of the square was new to London and had a significant influence on modern town planning, acting as the prototype for new estates as London grew. By 1654 a small open-air fruit-and-vegetable market had developed on the side of the fashionable square. Gradually, both the market and the area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee-houses. By the 18th century it had become a well-known red-light district, an Act of Parliament was drawn up to control the area, and Charles Fowlers neo-classical building was erected in 1830 to cover and help organise the market. The market grew and further buildings were added, the Floral Hall, Charter Market, by the end of the 1960s traffic congestion was causing problems, and in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles south-west at Nine Elms. With the postcode WC2, Covent Garden falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, the area has been served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station since 1907, the journey from Leicester Square, at 300 yards, is the shortest in London. What would become the Strand on the boundary of the future Covent Garden was used during the Roman period as part of a route to Silchester. Excavations in 2006 at St Martin-in-the-Fields revealed a late Roman grave and these revealed Covent Garden as the centre of a trading town called Lundenwic, developed around 600 AD, which stretched from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych. Alfred the Great gradually shifted the settlement into the old Roman town of Londinium from around 886 AD onwards, leaving no mark of the old town, a document from 1200 AD mentions a walled garden owned by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of St Peter, Westminster. A later document, dated between 1250 and 1283, refers to the garden of the Abbot and Convent of Westminster. By the 13th century this had become a 40-acre quadrangle of mixed orchard, meadow, pasture and arable land and this is how it was recorded from then on. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, Henry VIII took the land belonging to Westminster Abbey for himself and his son, Edward VI, granted it to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, in 1552. The Russell family, who in 1694 were advanced in their peerage from Earl to Duke of Bedford, held the land until 1918
Covent Garden
–
The interior of the former vegetable market
Covent Garden
–
Covent Garden on the
"Woodcut" map of the 1560s, with surrounding wall marked in green.
Covent Garden
–
The
Earl of Bedford was given Covent Garden in 1552.
Covent Garden
–
Plan of Covent Garden in 1690.
22.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
–
Flag
Italy
–
The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
–
Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
23.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
Belgium
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Charlemagne and
Charles V
Belgium
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Flaga
Belgium
Belgium
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Episode of the
Belgian Revolution of 1830 (1834), by
Egide Charles Gustave Wappers
24.
Acoustics
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Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of technology may be called an acoustical engineer. The application of acoustics is present in almost all aspects of society with the most obvious being the audio. Hearing is one of the most crucial means of survival in the animal world, accordingly, the science of acoustics spreads across many facets of human society—music, medicine, architecture, industrial production, warfare and more. Likewise, animal species such as songbirds and frogs use sound, art, craft, science and technology have provoked one another to advance the whole, as in many other fields of knowledge. Robert Bruce Lindsays Wheel of Acoustics is a well accepted overview of the fields in acoustics. The word acoustic is derived from the Greek word ἀκουστικός, meaning of or for hearing, ready to hear and that from ἀκουστός, heard, audible, which in turn derives from the verb ἀκούω, I hear. The Latin synonym is sonic, after which the term used to be a synonym for acoustics. Frequencies above and below the range are called ultrasonic and infrasonic. If, for example, a string of a length would sound particularly harmonious with a string of twice the length. In modern parlance, if a string sounds the note C when plucked, a string twice as long will sound a C an octave lower. In one system of tuning, the tones in between are then given by 16,9 for D,8,5 for E,3,2 for F,4,3 for G,6,5 for A. Aristotle understood that sound consisted of compressions and rarefactions of air which falls upon, a very good expression of the nature of wave motion. The physical understanding of acoustical processes advanced rapidly during and after the Scientific Revolution, mainly Galileo Galilei but also Marin Mersenne, independently, discovered the complete laws of vibrating strings. Experimental measurements of the speed of sound in air were carried out successfully between 1630 and 1680 by a number of investigators, prominently Mersenne, meanwhile, Newton derived the relationship for wave velocity in solids, a cornerstone of physical acoustics. The eighteenth century saw advances in acoustics as mathematicians applied the new techniques of calculus to elaborate theories of sound wave propagation. Also in the 19th century, Wheatstone, Ohm, and Henry developed the analogy between electricity and acoustics, the twentieth century saw a burgeoning of technological applications of the large body of scientific knowledge that was by then in place. The first such application was Sabine’s groundbreaking work in architectural acoustics, Underwater acoustics was used for detecting submarines in the first World War
Acoustics
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Principles of acoustics were applied since ancient times:
Roman theatre in the city of
Amman.
Acoustics
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Artificial omni-directional sound source in an
anechoic chamber
Acoustics
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Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Acoustics
25.
Luciano Pavarotti
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Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian operatic tenor who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. As one of the Three Tenors, Pavarotti became well known for his televised concerts, Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. He died from cancer on 6 September 2007. Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker. Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money, according to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943, for the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming. After abandoning the dream of becoming a goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven years in vocal training. Pavarottis earliest musical influences were his fathers recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day – Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa, at around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir. He was interested in pursuing a career as a football goalkeeper. He subsequently taught in a school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out. Recognising the risk involved, his father gave his consent only reluctantly, Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without remuneration. According to conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti never learned to read music and he later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer. At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni, like Pavarotti, Freni was destined to operatic greatness, they were to share the stage many times and make memorable recordings together. During his years of study, Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to sustain himself – first as an elementary school teacher. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns, when a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a disastrous concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision, Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making his debut as Rodolfo in La bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April 1961. He made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera in the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as Rodolfo, while generally successful, Pavarottis early roles did not immediately propel him into the stardom that he would later enjoy
Luciano Pavarotti
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Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in
Strelna, 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of
St. Petersburg.
Luciano Pavarotti
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With
Joan Sutherland in I puritani (1976)
Luciano Pavarotti
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Luciano Pavarotti performing on 15 June 2002 at a concert in the
Stade Vélodrome in
Marseille
26.
Aida
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Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in Egypt, it was commissioned by and first performed at Cairos Khedivial Opera House on 24 December 1871, ghislanzonis scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Aida eventually premiered in Cairo in late 1871, contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, for which Verdi had been invited to write an inaugural hymn, but had declined. The plot bears striking, though similarities to Metastasios libretto La Nitteti. Verdi originally chose to write an orchestral prelude instead of a full overture for the opera. He then composed an overture of the variety to replace the original prelude. However, in the end he decided not to have the overture performed because of its—his own words—pretentious insipidity and this overture, never used today, was given a rare broadcast performance by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 30 March 1940, but was never commercially issued. Aida met with acclaim when it finally opened in Cairo on 24 December 1871. He therefore considered the Italian premiere, held at La Scala, Milan on 8 February 1872, Verdi had also written the role of Aida for the voice of Teresa Stolz, who sang it for the first time at the Milan premiere. Verdi had asked her fiancé, Angelo Mariani, to conduct the Cairo premiere, the Milan Amneris, Maria Waldmann, was his favourite in the role and she repeated it a number of times at his request. Aida was received with enthusiasm at its Milan premiere. With Polish translation Aida was performed for the first time 9 June 1877, france,22 April 1876, Théâtre-Lyrique Italien, Salle Ventadour, Paris, with almost the same cast as the Milan premiere, but with Édouard de Reszke making his debut as the King. Rio de Janeiro,30 June 1886, Theatro Lyrico Fluminense, Arturo Toscanini, at the time a 19-year-old cellist who was assistant chorus master, was persuaded to take up the baton for the performance. Toscanini conducted the opera from memory, with great success. This would be the start of a promising career, laibach, Austrian Empire,1 October 1898, conducted by Hilarion Benišek A complete concert version of the opera was given in New York City in 1949. Conducted by Toscanini with Herva Nelli as Aida and Richard Tucker as Radamès, due to the length of the opera, it was divided into two telecasts, preserved on kinescopes, and later released on video by RCA and Testament. The audio portion of the broadcast, including some remakes in June 1954, was released on LP, La Scala mounted a lavish new production of Aida designed by Franco Zeffirelli for the opening night of its 2006/2007 season. The production starred Violeta Urmana in the role and Roberto Alagna as Radamès
Aida
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Cover of a very early vocal score, c. 1872.
Aida
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Radames (Giuseppe Fancelli) and Aida (
Teresa Stolz) in Act IV, Scene 2 of the 1872
La Scala European première (drawing by Leopoldo Metlicovitz)
Aida
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Verdi conducting the 1880
Paris Opera premiere
Aida
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Israeli Opera at Masada, 2011
27.
Luigi Mancinelli
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Luigi Mancinelli was a leading Italian orchestral conductor. He also composed music for the stage and concert hall and played the cello, as a conductor he was active both at home and abroad. He was especially associated with the music of Richard Wagner as well as that of major Italian opera composers such as Verdi and he was succeeded as pianoforte professor at the Bologna Conservatory in 1886 by Giuseppe Martucci. Mancinelli was on the roster of the New York Metropolitan Opera for 10 years. He wrote a number of operas as well, and composed orchestral music. The main theater in his birthplace of Orvieto was renamed the Teatro Mancinelli in his honor, brief examples of his artistry as a conductor can be heard on the Mapleson Cylinders, which were recorded during actual Metropolitan Opera performances at the beginning of the 20th century. One of the clearest of these primitive-sounding cylinders consists of an extract from the Torture Scene in Tosca. On it, the Italian tenor Emilio De Marchi appears as Mario Cavaradossi, Mancinelli died in Rome three days shy of his 73rd birthday. La vita, LIM, Lucca 1998, ISBN 88-7096-136-2 Antonio Mariani, Luigi Mancinelli
Luigi Mancinelli
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Luigi Mancinelli
28.
Hamlet (opera)
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On 11 September 1827 the Irish actress Harriet Smithson played the part of Ophelia in Hamlet. Her mad scene appeared to owe little to tradition and seemed almost like an improvisation and her performances produced an extraordinary reaction, men wept openly in the theater, and when they left were convulsed by uncontrollable emotion. I recognized the meaning of dramatic grandeur, beauty, truth, even the wife of the English ambassador, Lady Granville, felt compelled to report that the Parisians roar over Miss Smithsons Ophelia, and strange to say so did I. It wasnt long before new clothing and hair styles, à la mode dOphélie and modeled on those of the actress, not everything about the performance or the play was considered convincing. The supporting players were conceded to be weak, the large number of corpses on the stage in the final scene was found by many to be laughable. The moment in the Play Scene when Claudius rises up and interrupts the proceedings, then rushes from the stage, provoked a long and enthusiastic ovation. The journal Pandore wrote about that English candour which allows everything to be expressed and everything to be depicted, the composer Berlioz was soon totally infatuated with Miss Smithson. His love for her, initially unrequited, became an obsession and his Tristia, Op. Berlioz married Smithson in 1833, although their relationship ultimately fell apart. Although Harriet Smithsons stardom faded within a year and a half of her debut there, besides in music, it also manifested itself in art. Auguste Préaults relief Ophélie depicted a young woman wading into water with her hair let down, by the early 1840s Alexandre Dumas, who had become a personal friend of Berlioz and Smithson, had achieved international fame with his historical novels and dramas. An earlier verse translation of Hamlet into French by Jean-François Ducis, first performed in 1769, was still being given at the Comédie-Française, the Ducis play bore very little resemblance to the Shakespeare original. There were far fewer characters, no ghost, no Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, no players, there was no duel, and Hamlet did not die at the end. Modifications such as these were necessary to gain performances in the French theaters of his time, Ducis had told the English actor-impresario David Garrick that a ghost which speaks, itinerant players, and a fencing duel were absolutely inadmissible on the French stage. Dumas realized that Ducis play was not the same as the original, Pierre Le Tourneur had published a relatively faithful prose translation, not intended for performance, nevertheless, moral propriety and politesse dictated that only such highly sanitized versions as that of Ducis could be performed on stage. The French referred to these performing editions as imitations, and most knew that they were modified versions of the original. All the same, Ducis was at first accused of polluting French theaters with Shakespeare, Dumas could not speak or read English well. He needed help, so he selected a younger writer by the name of Paul Meurice from among his coterie of protégés and assistants. Meurice had earlier collaborated with Auguste Vacquerie on Falstaff, a combination of Parts I and II of Shakespeares Henry IV, the Dumas-Meurice Hamlet was performed at Dumas Théâtre Historique in 1847 and had an enormous success
Hamlet (opera)
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Ambroise Thomas
Hamlet (opera)
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Harriet Smithson as Ophelia (1827)
Hamlet (opera)
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Alexandre Dumas, père
Hamlet (opera)
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Cover of the piano-vocal score of Thomas' Hamlet (1868)
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