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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
12.
Aida
–
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
13.
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
14.
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
15.
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
16.
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
17.
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
18.
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
19.
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
20.
Buenos Aires Western Railway
–
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
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
