1.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
Opera
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The performers from the Atlanta Opera sing the finale of
Lucia di Lammermoor. The
opera orchestra is visible in the lowered area in front of the stage.
Opera
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The
Palais Garnier of the
Paris Opéra, one of the world's most famous
opera houses.
Opera
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Claudio Monteverdi
Opera
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George Frideric Handel, 1733
2.
Giacomo Puccini
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Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian opera composer who has been called the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi. Puccinis early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera, later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. Puccinis most renowned works are La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini in Lucca in Tuscany, in 1858. He was one of nine children of Michele Puccini and Albina Magi, the Puccini family was established in Lucca as a local musical dynasty by Puccinis great-great grandfather – also named Giacomo. This first Giacomo Puccini was maestro di cappella of the Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca and he was succeeded in this position by his son, Antonio Puccini, and then by Antonios son Domenico, and Domenicos son Michele. Each of these men studied music at Bologna, and some additional musical studies elsewhere. Domenico Puccini studied for a time under Giovanni Paisiello, each composed music for the church. In addition, Domenico composed several operas, and Michele composed one opera, Puccinis father Michele enjoyed a reputation throughout northern Italy, and his funeral was an occasion of public mourning, at which the then-famed composer Giovanni Pacini conducted a Requiem. However, when Michele Puccini died in 1864, his son Giacomo was only six years old, as a child, he nevertheless participated in the musical life of the Cattedrale di San Martino, as a member of the boys choir and later as a substitute organist. Puccini was given an education at the seminary of San Michele in Lucca. One of Puccinis uncles, Fortunato Magi, supervised his musical education, Puccini got a diploma from the Pacini School of Music in Lucca in 1880, having studied there with his uncle Fortunato, and later with Carlo Angeloni, who had also instructed Alfredo Catalani. Puccini studied at the conservatory for three years, sharing a room with Pietro Mascagni, in 1880, at the age of 21, Puccini composed his Mass, which marks the culmination of his familys long association with church music in his native Lucca. Puccini wrote a piece called the Capriccio sinfonica as a thesis composition for the Milan Conservatory. Puccinis teachers Ponchielli and Bazzini were impressed by the work, and it was performed at a student concert at the conservatory on 14 July 1883, conducted by Franco Faccio. Puccinis work was reviewed in the Milanese publication Perseveranza. After the premiere of the Capriccio sinfonica, Ponchielli and Puccini discussed the possibility that Puccinis next work might be an opera, Ponchielli invited Puccini to stay at his villa, where Puccini was introduced to another young man named Fernando Fontana. Puccini and Fontana agreed to collaborate on an opera, for which Fontana would provide the libretto, the work, Le Villi, was entered into a competition sponsored by the Sozogno music publishing company in 1883. Although it did not win, Le Villi was later staged at the Teatro Dal Verme, G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers assisted with the premier by printing the libretto without charge
Giacomo Puccini
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Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
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Puccini's birthplace, seen in 1984
Giacomo Puccini
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Original poster for Puccini's
Tosca
Giacomo Puccini
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Puccini photographed in 1908
3.
Luigi Illica
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Luigi Illica was an Italian librettist who wrote for Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Alfredo Catalani, Umberto Giordano, Baron Alberto Franchetti and other important Italian composers. His most famous opera libretti are those for La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and his personal life sometimes imitated his libretti. The reason he is photographed with his head slightly turned is because he lost his right ear in a duel over a woman. The Award is now awarded every two years and alternates with the Illica Opera Stage International Competition, which offers prizes and debut opportunities to young singers, the dates given are those of publication. Works by Luigi Illica at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Luigi Illica at Internet Archive
Luigi Illica
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Luigi Illica
Luigi Illica
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Bust of Luigi Illica at Castell'Arquato
4.
Giuseppe Giacosa
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Giuseppe Giacosa was an Italian poet, playwright and librettist. He was born in Colleretto Parella, now Colleretto Giacosa, near Turin, Giuseppe went to the University of Turin, studying in the University of Turin, Faculty of Law. Though he gained a degree in law, he did not pursue a legal career and he gained initial fame for his play Una Partita a Scacchi in 1871. His main field was playwriting, which he accomplished with both insight and simplicity, using subjects set in Piedmont and themes addressing contemporary bourgeois values. He wrote La signora di Challant, based on a novella by Matteo Bandello, for noted French actress Sarah Bernhardt, produced in New York in 1891. Giacosa wrote the final polished version of the libretto for Giacomo Puccinis Manon Lescaut, which had begun by Ruggero Leoncavallo, Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva. He also wrote the librettos used by Puccini for La bohème, Tosca, Illica supplied the plot and dialogue, and Giacosa polished the libretto into verses. Scapigliatura Works by Giuseppe Giacosa at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Giuseppe Giacosa at Internet Archive
Giuseppe Giacosa
–
Giuseppe Giacosa
5.
La Tosca
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La Tosca is a five-act drama by the 19th-century French playwright Victorien Sardou. It was first performed on 24 November 1887 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, the play itself is no longer performed, but its operatic adaptation, Giacomo Puccinis Tosca, has achieved enduring popularity. There have been several adaptations of the play including two for the Japanese theatre and an English burlesque, Tra-La-La Tosca as well as several film versions. La Tosca is set in Rome on 17 June 1800 following the French victory in the Battle of Marengo, the action takes place over an eighteen-hour period, ending at dawn on 18 June 1800. Its melodramatic plot centers on Floria Tosca, an opera singer, her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, an artist and Bonapartist sympathiser. By the end of the play, all three are dead, Scarpia arrests Cavaradossi and sentences him to death in the Castel SantAngelo. He then offers to spare her lover if Tosca will yield to his sexual desire and she appears to acquiesce, but as soon as Scarpia gives the order for the firing squad to use blanks, she stabs him to death. On discovering that Cavaradossis execution had in fact been a real one, Victorien Sardous grandfather had served as a surgeon with Napoleons army in Italy, and Sardou retained a lifelong interest in the French Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars. In addition to La Tosca, six of his plays were set against the events of those times, Monsieur Garat, Les Merveilleuses, Thermidor, Madame Sans-Gêne, Robespierre. Sardou wrote La Tosca specifically for Sarah Bernhardt and she was in her mid-40s by then and Frances leading actress. In 1883, she had taken over the lease on the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin. It was the third play Sardou had written specifically for her, both their first collaboration, Fédora, and their second, Théodora, had been highly successful. Pierre Berton, who played Baron Scarpia, had been Bernhardts on and off lover for many years, the costumes were designed by Théophile Thomas, who also designed Sarah Bernhardts costumes for Hugos Ruy Blas, Sardous Cléopâtre and Théodora, and Barbiers Jeanne dArc. The period leading up to the premiere was not without problems, as had happened before, once word got out of a new Sardou play, another author would accuse him of plagiarism. In the 1882 caricature of Sardou, one of the signs on the states, Idées des autres and another. He also claimed that he had read the play to Sarah Bernhardt and Félix Duquesnel, nevertheless, he said he would graciously permit Sardous play to go ahead, and had brought up the issue solely to avoid being accused of plagiarism should Saint-Auban ever be produced. Sardou, in turn, issued a robust denial in the French papers, Bernhardt was eventually pacified and rehearsals continued. The Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin was packed for the night on 24 November 1887
La Tosca
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Poster by
Alphonse Mucha depicting
Sarah Bernhardt in the title role
La Tosca
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Sardou in an 1882 caricature from Le Trombinoscope
La Tosca
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Queen Maria Carolina
La Tosca
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Camille Dumény as Mario Cavaradossi, complete with his "revolutionary's mustache"
6.
Victorien Sardou
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Victorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, Victorien was born in rue Beautreillis, Paris on 5 September 1831. The Sardous were settled at Le Cannet, a village near Cannes, a nights frost killed all the trees and the family was ruined. Victoriens father, Antoine Léandre Sardou, came to Paris in search of employment, with all these occupations, he hardly succeeded in making a livelihood, and when he retired to his native country, Victorien was left on his own resources. He had begun studying medicine, but had to desist for want of funds and he taught French to foreign pupils, he also gave lessons in Latin, history and mathematics to students, and wrote articles for cheap encyclopaedias. At the same time he was trying to make headway in the literary world. His talents had been encouraged by an old bas-bleu, Mme de Bawl, who had published novels and enjoyed some reputation in the days of the Restoration, but she could do little for her protégé. Victorien Sardou made efforts to attract the attention of Mlle Rachel, La Taverne was withdrawn after five nights. Another drama by Sardou, Bernard Palissy, was accepted at the same theatre, a Canadian play, Fleur de Liane, would have been produced at the Ambigu but for the death of the manager. Sardou submitted to Adolphe Lemoine, manager of the Gymnase, a play entitled Paris à lenvers, montigny thought fit to consult Eugène Scribe, who was revolted by the scene in question. In 1857, Sardou felt the pangs of actual want, and he was living in poverty and was dying in his garret, surrounded with his rejected manuscripts. A lady who was living in the same house unexpectedly came to his assistance and her name was Mlle de Brécourt. She had theatrical connections, and was a favourite of Mlle Déjazet. She nursed him, cured him, and, when he was well again, Déjazet had just established the theatre named after her, and every show after La Taverne was put on at this theatre. Fortune began to smile on the author, garat and Gervais were done at Theatre des Varlétés and in English at Criterion Theatre in London. Les Pattes de mouche obtained a similar success at the Gymnase, fédora was written expressly for Sarah Bernhardt, as were many of his later plays. This was later adapted by Umberto Giordano, and he made an opera entitled Fedora, the play dealt with nihilism, which was coined from Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. He struck a new vein by introducing a strong element in some of his dramatic romances
Victorien Sardou
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Sardou in 1880
Victorien Sardou
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Sarah Bernhardt in the title role of Sardou's Théodora in 1884.
Victorien Sardou
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Sardou's grave in Marly-le-roi
Victorien Sardou
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Sardou in 1901.
7.
Libretto
–
A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata. Libretto, from Italian, is the diminutive of the word libro, sometimes other language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, livret for French works and Textbuch for German. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. The relationship of the librettist to the composer in the creation of a work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources. In the context of a modern English language musical theatre piece, Libretti for operas, oratorios and cantatas in the 17th and 18th centuries generally were written by someone other than the composer, often a well-known poet. Metastasio was one of the most highly regarded librettists in Europe and his libretti were set many times by many different composers. Another noted 18th-century librettist was Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libretti for three of Mozarts greatest operas, as well as for other composers. Eugène Scribe was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, providing the words for works by Meyerbeer, Auber, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. The French writers duo Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote a number of opera and operetta libretti for the likes of Jacques Offenbach, Jules Massenet. Arrigo Boito, who wrote libretti for, among others, Giuseppe Verdi and Amilcare Ponchielli, the libretto is not always written before the music. Some composers wrote their own libretti, Richard Wagner is perhaps most famous in this regard, with his transformations of Germanic legends and events into epic subjects for his operas and music dramas. Hector Berlioz, too, wrote the libretti for two of his works, La Damnation de Faust and Les Troyens. Alban Berg adapted Georg Büchners play Woyzeck for the libretto of Wozzeck, sometimes the libretto is written in close collaboration with the composer, this can involve adaptation, as was the case with Rimsky-Korsakov and his librettist Belsky, or an entirely original work. In the case of musicals, the music, the lyrics, thus, a musical such as Fiddler on the Roof has a composer, a lyricist and the writer of the book. In rare cases, the composer writes everything except the dance arrangements - music, lyrics and libretto, Other matters in the process of developing a libretto parallel those of spoken dramas for stage or screen. A famous case of the latter is Wagners 1861 revision of the original 1845 Dresden version of his opera Tannhäuser for Paris, since the late 19th century some opera composers have written music to prose or free verse libretti. The libretto of a musical, on the hand, is almost always written in prose
Libretto
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Cover of a 1921 libretto for Giordano's
Andrea Chénier
Libretto
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The composer of
Cavalleria rusticana,
Pietro Mascagni, flanked by his librettists,
Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and
Guido Menasci.
Libretto
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Pages from an 1859 libretto for
Ernani, with the original Italian lyrics, English translation and musical notation for one of the arias.
Libretto
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Henry Purcell (1659–1695) whose operas were written to English libretti.
8.
Melodrama
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A melodrama is a dramatic or literary work in which the plot, which is typically sensational and designed to appeal strongly to the emotions, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Characters are often drawn, and may appear stereotyped. In scholarly and historical contexts, melodramas are Victorian dramas in which orchestral music or song was used to accompany the action. The term is now applied to stage performances without incidental music, novels, movies. In modern contexts, the melodrama is generally pejorative, as it suggests that the work in question lacks subtlety, character development. By extension, language or behavior which resembles melodrama is often called melodramatic, the term originated from the early 19th-century French word mélodrame. It is derived from Greek melos, music, and French drame and this applies to both Victorian stage melodrama and 20th-century film melodrama. Movie director Sidney Lumet stressed the primacy of plot, saying in 2007 In a well-written drama, the characters in a well-written melodrama come out of the story. The relationship of melodrama to realism is complex, the protagonists of melodramatic works may either be ordinary people who are caught up in extraordinary events, or highly exaggerated and unrealistic characters. According to Singer, late Victorian and Edwardian melodrama combined a focus on realism in stage sets and props with anti-realism in character. Melodrama in this period strove for accuracy in the depiction of incredible. Novelist Wilkie Collins is noted for his attention to accuracy in detail in his works, beginning in the 18th century, melodrama was a technique of combining spoken recitation with short pieces of accompanying music. In such works, music and spoken dialogue typically alternated, although the music was also used to accompany pantomime. The earliest known examples are scenes in J. E. Eberlins Latin school play Sigismundus, the first full melodrama was Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Pygmalion, the text of which was written in 1762 but was first staged in Lyon in 1770. The overture and an Andante were composed by Rousseau, but the bulk of the music was composed by Horace Coignet, a different musical setting of Rousseaus Pygmalion by Anton Schweitzer was performed in Weimar in 1772, and Goethe wrote of it approvingly in Dichtung und Wahrheit. Pygmalion is a monodrama, written for one actor, some 30 other monodramas were produced in Germany in the fourth quarter of the 18th century. When two actors are involved the term duodrama may be used, georg Benda was particularly successful with his duodramas Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea. The sensational success of Bendas melodramas led Mozart to use two long melodramatic monologues in his opera Zaide, other later, and better-known examples of the melodramatic style in operas are the grave-digging scene in Beethovens Fidelio and the incantation scene in Webers Der Freischütz
Melodrama
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Poster for
The Perils of Pauline (1914) a classic melodramatic film series
9.
Kingdom of Naples
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It continued to be officially known as the Kingdom of Sicily, although it no longer included the island of Sicily. For much of its existence, the realm was contested between French and Spanish dynasties, in 1816, it was reunified with the island kingdom of Sicily once again to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Following the rebellion in 1282, King Charles I of Sicily was forced to leave the island of Sicily by Peter III of Aragons troops, Charles, however, maintained his possessions on the mainland, customarily known as the Kingdom of Naples, after its capital city. Charles and his Angevin successors maintained a claim to Sicily, warring against the Aragonese until 1373, joans reign was contested by Louis the Great, the Angevin King of Hungary, who captured the kingdom several times. Queen Joan I also played a part in the demise of the first Kingdom of Naples. This led to Joan Is murder at the hands of the Prince of Durazzo in 1382, the two competing Angevin lines contested each other for the possession of the Kingdom of Naples over the following decades. René of Anjou temporarily united the claims of junior and senior Angevin lines, in 1442, however, Alfonso V conquered the Kingdom of Naples and unified Sicily and Naples once again as dependencies of Aragon. At his death in 1458, the kingdom was again separated and Naples was inherited by Ferrante, Alfonsos illegitimate son. Charles VIII expelled Alfonso II of Naples from Naples in 1495, Ferrantino was restored to the throne, but died in 1496, and was succeeded by his uncle, Frederick IV. Charles VIIIs successor, Louis XII reiterated the French claim, in 1501, he occupied Naples and partitioned the kingdom with Ferdinand of Aragon, who abandoned his cousin King Frederick. The deal soon fell through, however, and Aragon and France resumed their war over the kingdom, the Spanish troops occupying Calabria and Apulia, led by Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova did not respect the new agreement, and expelled all Frenchmen from the area. The peace treaties that continued were never definitive, but they established at least that the title of King of Naples was reserved for Ferdinands grandson, the future Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Ferdinand nevertheless continued in possession of the kingdom, being considered as the heir of his uncle Alfonso I of Naples. The French finally abandoned their claims to Naples by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, in the Treaty of London, five cities on coast of Tuscany were designated the Stato dei Presidi, and part of the Kingdom of Naples. After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, under the terms of the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714, Naples was given to Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor. He also gained control of Sicily in 1720, but Austrian rule did not last long, when Charles inherited the Spanish throne from his older half-brother in 1759, he left Naples and Sicily to his younger son, Ferdinand IV. Despite the two Kingdoms being in a union under the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasts, they remained constitutionally separate. Being a member of the House of Bourbon, Ferdinand IV was an opponent of the French Revolution and Napoleon
Kingdom of Naples
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Provinces of the "Kingdom of Naples"
Kingdom of Naples
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Flag of Naples under the Angevins (1282–1442)
10.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
Napoleon
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The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, by
Jacques-Louis David, 1812
Napoleon
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Imperial coat of arms
Napoleon
–
Napoleon's father
Carlo Buonaparte was
Corsica 's representative to the court of
Louis XVI of France.
Napoleon
–
Napoleon Bonaparte, aged 23, Lieutenant-Colonel of a battalion of Corsican
Republican volunteers
11.
Campaigns of 1800 in the French Revolutionary Wars
–
The French Revolutionary Wars continued from 1799 with the French fighting the forces of the Second Coalition. Napoleon Bonaparte had returned from Egypt and taken control of the French government and he prepared a new campaign, sending Moreau to the Rhine frontier and personally going to take command in the Alps, where French forces had been driven almost out of Italy in 1799. Melas attacked first, and by the week in April had advanced to the Var, with Massena and half his army in Genoa besieged by land by the Austrians. In response Berthier moved – not to the frontier, but to Geneva-. The Army of the Reserve was joined by Napoleon, and in mid-May set out to cross the Alps to attack the Austrian rear, the bulk of the army crossed by the Great St Bernard Pass still covered by snow. Artillery was manhandled over with great effort and ingenuity, on May 14,1800, the 40, 000-strong French army was stopped by 400 Austro-Piedmontese soldiers at Fort Bard in the Aosta Valley. They held the pass for two weeks, completely ruining Napoleons surprise attack on the Po Valley, once over the Alps, Napoleon did not proceed directly to the relief of Genoa. He entered Milan on 2 June and by crossing to the South bank of the Po completely cut Melass communications, taking up a strong defensive position at Stradella, he confidently awaited an attempt by the Austrian Army to fight its way out. However, Melas had not raised the siege of Genoa, and on 4 June, Massena had duly capitulated. Napoleon then faced the possibility that, thanks to the British command of the Mediterranean, far from falling back and his defensive posture would not prevent this, he had to find and attack the Austrians before they could regroup. He therefore advanced from Stradella towards Alessandria, where Melas was, convinced that Melas was about to retreat, Napoleon sent strong detachments to block Melass routes northwards to the Po, and southwards to Genoa. At this point, Melas attacked, and for all the brilliance of the previous campaign, Melas promptly entered into negotiations which led to the Austrians evacuating Northern Italy west of the Ticino, and suspending military operations in Italy. Napoleon returned to Paris after the victory, leaving Brune to consolidate in Italy and this treaty proved difficult to administer. Austria was slow to give up some of the Venetian territories, supported by French republican forces, Swiss insurgents staged several uprisings, ultimately causing the overthrow of the Swiss Confederation after 18 months of civil war. By early 1799, the French Directory had become impatient with stalling tactics employed by Austria, the uprising in Naples raised further alarms, and recent gains in Switzerland suggested the timing was fortuitous to venture on another campaign in northern Italy and southwestern Germany. At the beginning of 1800, the armies of France and Austria faced each other across the Rhine, feldzeugmeister Pál Kray led approximately 120,000 troops. Of these,25,000 men were deployed east of Lake Constance to protect the Vorarlberg, unwisely, Kray set up his main magazine at Stockach, near the northwestern end of Lake Constance, only a days march from French-held Switzerland. General of Division Jean Victor Marie Moreau commanded an army of 137,000 French troops
Campaigns of 1800 in the French Revolutionary Wars
–
Jacques-Louis David:
Napoleon crosses the
Great St. Bernard Pass. In reality, Napoleon crossed the Alps on the back of a mule.
Campaigns of 1800 in the French Revolutionary Wars
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The Battles of Stockach and Engen in May 1800, followed by a larger battle at Messkirch, followed the Hohentwiel capitulation to the French.
Campaigns of 1800 in the French Revolutionary Wars
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The Battle of Messkirch was won from the high ground.
Campaigns of 1800 in the French Revolutionary Wars
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Jean Victor Moreau commanded the French Army of the Rhine.
12.
Aria
–
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term became used almost exclusively to describe a piece for one voice, with or without orchestral accompaniment. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, the term, which derives from the Greek and Latin aer first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term refers to an instrumental form. By the early 16th century it was in use as meaning a simple setting of strophic poetry, melodic madrigals. In the context of staged works and concert works, arias evolved from simple melodies into structured forms, the aria evolved typically in one of two forms. Binary form arias were in two sections, arias in ternary form were known as da capo arias, in the da capo aria the B episode would typically be in a different key – the dominant or relative major key. This version of form with ritornelli became a dominant feature of European opera throughout the 18th century. It is thought by some writers to be the origin of the forms of concerto. The ritornelli became essential to the structure of the aria – while the words determine the character of a melody the ritornello instruments often decided in terms it shall be presented. By the early 18th century, composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti had established the aria form and it offered balance and continuity, and yet gave scope for contrast. The very regularity of its conventional features enabled deviations from the normal to be exploited with telling effect. In the early years of the century, arias in the Italian style began to take over in French opera, giving rise eventually to the French genre of ariette, normally in a relatively simple ternary form. Types of operatic aria became known by a variety of terms according to their character – e. g. aria parlante, aria di bravura, aria buffa, and so on. By the end of this first vocal paragraph the music, if it were in a key as it usually was, had modulated to the dominant. The orchestra then played a second ritornello usually shorter than the first, the singer re-entered and sang the same words through a second time. The music of this paragraph was often slightly more elaborate than that of the first. There were more repeats of words and perhaps more florid vocalisations, the key worked its way back to the tonic for the final vocal cadence after which the orchestra rounded the section off with a final ritornello
Aria
–
The farewell aria of Sultan Bazajet in
Handel 's opera
Tamerlano. (Note the
da capo instruction). First edition, London, 1719.
Aria
–
Gluck in a 1775 portrait by
Joseph Duplessis
13.
Richard Wagner
–
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas. Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works and he described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and his advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music, Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. The Ring and Parsifal were premiered here and his most important stage works continue to be performed at the annual Bayreuth Festival, until his final years, Wagners life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment, notably, since the late 20th century, where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century, his influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, Richard Wagner was born to an ethnic German family in Leipzig, where his family lived at No. 3, the Brühl in the Jewish quarter and he was baptized at St. Thomas Church. He was the child of Carl Friedrich Wagner, who was a clerk in the Leipzig police service, and his wife, Johanna Rosine. Wagners father Carl died of typhus six months after Richards birth, afterwards his mother Johanna lived with Carls friend, the actor and playwright Ludwig Geyer. In August 1814 Johanna and Geyer probably married—although no documentation of this has found in the Leipzig church registers. She and her family moved to Geyers residence in Dresden, until he was fourteen, Wagner was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer. He almost certainly thought that Geyer was his biological father, Geyers love of the theatre came to be shared by his stepson, and Wagner took part in his performances. In his autobiography Mein Leben Wagner recalled once playing the part of an angel, in late 1820, Wagner was enrolled at Pastor Wetzels school at Possendorf, near Dresden, where he received some piano instruction from his Latin teacher. He struggled to play a scale at the keyboard and preferred playing theatre overtures by ear. Following Geyers death in 1821, Richard was sent to the Kreuzschule, at the age of nine he was hugely impressed by the Gothic elements of Carl Maria von Webers opera Der Freischütz, which he saw Weber conduct. At this period Wagner entertained ambitions as a playwright and his first creative effort, listed in the Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis as WWV1, was a tragedy called Leubald. Begun when he was in school in 1826, the play was influenced by Shakespeare
Richard Wagner
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Richard Wagner in 1871
Richard Wagner
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Wagner's birthplace, at 3,
the Brühl, Leipzig
Richard Wagner
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Wilhelmine "Minna" Planer (1835), by Alexander von Otterstedt
Richard Wagner
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Wagner c. 1840, by Ernest Benedikt Kietz
14.
Leitmotif
–
A leitmotif or leitmotiv /ˌlaɪtmoʊˈtiːf/ is a short, constantly recurring musical phrase associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the concepts of idée fixe or motto-theme. The spelling leitmotif is an anglicization of the German Leitmotiv, literally meaning leading motif, or perhaps more accurately, a musical motif has been defined as a short musical idea. It may also be combined with other leitmotifs to suggest a new dramatic condition or development, although usually a short melody, it can also be a chord progression or even a simple rhythm. Leitmotifs can help to bind a work together into a coherent whole, by association, the word has also been used to mean any sort of recurring theme, in literature, or the life of a fictional character or a real person. It is sometimes used in discussion of other musical genres, such as instrumental pieces, cinema. The use of characteristic, short, recurring motives in orchestral music can be traced back to the seventeenth century. In French opera of the eighteenth century, reminiscence motif can be identified. Their use, however, is not extensive or systematic, indeed, the first use of the word leitmotif in print was by the critic Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns in describing Webers work, although this was not until 1871. Motives also figured occasionally in purely instrumental music of the romantic period, the related idea of the musical idée fixe was coined by Hector Berlioz in reference to his Symphonie fantastique. This purely instrumental, programmatic work features a recurring melody representing the object of the artists obsessive affection and depicting her presence in various real, in La forza del destino, the opening theme of the overture recurs whenever Leonora feels guilt or fear. In Il Trovatore, the theme of the first aria by Azucena is repeated whenever she invokes the horror of how her mother was burnt alive, Richard Wagner is the earliest composer most specifically associated with the concept of leitmotif. His cycle of four operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen, uses hundreds of leitmotifs, often related to characters, things. While some of these occur in only one of the operas. Wagner had raised the issue of how music could best unite disparate elements of the plot of a drama in his essay Opera and Drama. Some controversy surrounded the use of the word in Wagners own circle, Wagner never authorised the use of the leitmotiv, using words such as Grundthema. His preferred name for the technique was Hauptmotiv, which he first used in 1877, the word gained currency with the overly literal interpretations of Wagners music by Hans von Wolzogen, who in 1876 published a Leitfaden to the Ring. In it he claimed to have isolated and named all of the motifs in the cycle
Leitmotif
–
Leitmotif associated with Siegfried in
Richard Wagner 's
opera of the same name Play (
help ·
info)
Leitmotif
–
The leitmotif associated with Salome herself in Richard Strauss's opera
Salome. Play (
help ·
info)
15.
Punch (magazine)
–
Punch, or The London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, after the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002, Punch was founded on 17 July 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells, on an initial investment of £25. It was jointly edited by Mayhew and Mark Lemon and it was subtitled The London Charivari in homage to Charles Philipons French satirical humour magazine Le Charivari. Mayhew ceased to be joint editor in 1842 and became suggestor in chief until he severed his connection in 1845, the magazine initially struggled for readers, except for an 1842 Almanack issue which shocked its creators by selling 90,000 copies. In December 1842 due to difficulties the magazine was sold to Bradbury and Evans. Bradbury and Evans capitalised on newly evolving mass printing technologies and also were the publishers for Charles Dickens, Punch humorously appropriated the term to refer to its political cartoons, and the popularity of the Punch cartoons led to the terms widespread use. The illustrator Archibald Henning designed the cover of the magazines first issues, the cover design varied in the early years, though Richard Doyle designed what became the magazines masthead in 1849. Artists who published in Punch during the 1840s and 50s included John Leech, Richard Doyle, John Tenniel and this group became known as The Punch Brotherhood, which also included Charles Dickens who joined Bradbury and Evans after leaving Chapman and Hall in 1843. Punch authors and artists contributed to another Bradbury and Evans literary magazine called Once A Week. In the 1860s and 1870s, conservative Punch faced competition from upstart liberal journal Fun, at Evanss café in London, the two journals had Round tables in competition with each other. Punch gave several phrases to the English language, including The Crystal Palace, several British humour classics were first serialised in Punch, such as the Diary of a Nobody and 1066 and All That. Towards the end of the century, the artistic roster included Harry Furniss, Linley Sambourne, Francis Carruthers Gould. Among the outstanding cartoonists of the century were Bernard Partridge, H. M. Bateman, Bernard Hollowood who also edited the magazine from 1957 to 1968, Kenneth Mahood. Circulation broke the 100,000 mark around 1910, and peaked in 1947–1948 at 175,000 to 184,000, sales declined steadily thereafter, ultimately, the magazine was forced to close in 1992 after 150 years of publication. Punch was widely emulated worldwide and popular in the colonies, however, the colonial experience, especially in India, also influenced Punch and its iconography. Tenniels Punch cartoons of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny led to a surge in the magazines popularity, colonial India was time and again caricatured in Punch and can be seen as a significant source for producing knowledge about India. Many Punch cartoonists of the late 20th century published collections of their own, Punch magazine ceased publishing in 1992
Punch (magazine)
Punch (magazine)
–
Cover of the first Punch, or The London Charivari, depicts Punch hanging a caricatured
Devil, 1841 (see
gallery below for enlarged detail)
Punch (magazine)
–
Editorial meeting of Punch magazine in the late 19th century
16.
Sarah Bernhardt
–
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress. She was referred to as the most famous actress the world has ever known, Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, at the beginning of the Belle Epoque period, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas. She developed a reputation as a dramatic actress and tragedienne. In her later career she starred in some of the earliest films ever produced, Sarah Bernhardt was born in Paris as Rosine Bernardt on October 23,1844. She was the daughter of a Dutch-Jewish courtesan, or upper-class prostitute, Judith Bernard. Four different addresses in Paris are claimed as her birthplace,125 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré,5 rue de lEcole-de-Medicine,22 rue de la Michodière and 265 rue Saint-Honoré. The father, whoever he was, left a sum of one hundred francs for her future dowry when she came of age. Sarah lived for months with the nurse and her husband in the tiny apartment of the concierge. While there, the child showed the first signs of tuberculosis. Sarah was discovered on the street by her aunt Rosine, who was passing by, when Sarahs mother finally returned to Paris, Sarah was taken to her apartment at 265 rue Saint-Honoré, where she lived, attended by servants, rarely ever seeing her mother. At the age of eight, Sarah could neither read or writer and her mother sent her away to a school for young ladies in Auteuil run by a Madame Fressard, where for the first time she was with other children her own age. The other children made fun of her appearance and curly hair. During the two years she attended the school, her mother came to see her only twice and she completely forgot all of her lines and fled the stage in tears. At the age of ten, by obtaining the sponsorship of the Duc de Morny, her mother sent Sarah to Grandchamp, at the convent, she was soon on the stage again, performing the part of the Archangel Raphael in the story of Tobias and the Angel. She received her first communion as a Roman Catholic in 1856, however, she never forgot her Jewish heritage. When asked years later by a reporter if she were a Christian, she replied, No, Im a Roman Catholic, Im waiting until Christians become better. At the age of fifteen, her mother withdrew her from the school and her mother summoned a family council, which also included the Duc de Morny, one of her friends. Morny proposed that Sarah should become an actress, an idea which horrified the young girl, Morny arranged for her to attend her first theater performance at the Comedie Française in a party which included her mother, the Duc de Morny, and his friend Alexandre Dumas
Sarah Bernhardt
–
Bernhardt around 1878
Sarah Bernhardt
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Sarah Bernhardt, in 1864
Sarah Bernhardt
–
Sarah Bernhardt by
Napoleon Sarony
Sarah Bernhardt
–
Bernhardt photographed by
Félix Nadar 1865
17.
Giulio Ricordi
–
Upon his fathers death in 1888, Giulio became the head of the company until his death. With the nickname Jules Burgmein, Ricordi contributed a great deal to the prestige of the Casa Ricordi as it also produced several magazines. Ricordi was also publisher of the operas by Giuseppe Verdi. In 1853, Ricordi built a mansion, Villa Margherita Ricordi, but he also had the good sense to promote younger composers of merit. These included Amilcare Ponchielli, Alfredo Catalani, Carlos Gomes, Umberto Giordano, to Puccini in particular, he became something of a father-figure, feared but deeply trusted. Works by or about Giulio Ricordi at Internet Archive Free scores by Giulio Ricordi at the International Music Score Library Project
Giulio Ricordi
–
Giulio Ricordi
18.
Emanuele Muzio
–
Donnino Emanuele Muzio was an Italian composer, conductor and vocal teacher. He was a friend and the only student of Giuseppe Verdi. In April 1844, Verdi took on Muzio, eight years his junior, as a pupil and he had known him since about 1828 as a protégé of his own supporter, Antonio Barezzi. Muzio, who in fact was Verdis only pupil, became indispensable to the composer and he reported to Barezzi that Verdi has a breadth of spirit, of generosity, a wisdom. The relationship was to grow stronger, and Muzio remained a lifelong friend, in November 1846, Muzio wrote of Verdi, If you could see us, I seem more like a friend, rather than his pupil. We are always together at dinner, in the cafes, when we play cards. All in all, he doesnt go anywhere without me at his side, in the house we have a big table and he was chosen by Verdi as one of the executors of his will, but predeceased the composer in 1890. Muzio was conductor of the Italian Opera in Brussels in 1852 as well as conducting in London, in 1875, he settled in Paris as a vocal teacher. His students include Carlotta Patti and Clara Louise Kellogg, lallievo di Verdi, Emanuele Muzio by Gaspare Nello Vetro Free scores by Emanuele Muzio at the International Music Score Library Project
Emanuele Muzio
–
Emanuele Muzio, portrait by
Giovanni Boldini
Emanuele Muzio
–
Emanuele Muzio—Verdi's pupil
19.
Alberto Franchetti
–
Alberto Franchetti was an Italian opera composer. Alberto Franchetti was born in Turin, a Jewish nobleman of independent means and he studied first in Venice, then at the Munich Conservatory under Josef Rheinberger, and finally in Dresden under Felix Draeseke. His first major success occurred in 1888 with his opera Asrael and his operatic style combined Wagnerianism and the traits of Meyerbeer with Italian verismo. During his life, critics referred to him as the Meyerbeer of modern Italy. The words of music critic G. B, in this regard Alberto Franchetti knows that he has no rival. Grove considers Cristoforo Colombo Franchettis best work, however, his most popular opera was Germania. It clung to the operatic repertoire until the First World War, it was performed worldwide. But by the war, Germania had lapsed into obscurity, another version is that Franchetti waived his rights to the opera because he felt that Puccini would make a better job of it - this is believed to have been stated by the Franchetti family. Of Franchettis last opera Glauco only the third act finale No piange ancora with its haunting melody and this was despite a plea for tolerance on his behalf from Pietro Mascagni to Benito Mussolini, which was rejected, just before Franchettis death. Recent revivals and recordings of Cristoforo Colombo and Germania show his work to be of genuine quality with an ability in orchestration and use of the chorus. These traits, along with a tendency for two-dimensional characters, were recognised early. He also wrote a Symphony in E minor and he was the director of the Florence College of Music from 1926 to 1928, it was the only musical post he ever held. He died in Viareggio in 1942, aged 81 and he was a member of the World War 2 Italian Resistance Underground movement from 1946 to 1948. Arnold Franchetti was Professor of Composition at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. London, New York and Melbourne, Oxford University Press
Alberto Franchetti
–
Alberto Franchetti. Photograph by Giovanni Artico circa 1906.
20.
Voice type
–
Other considerations are physical characteristics, speech level, scientific testing, and vocal register. A singers voice type is identified by a known as voice classification, by which the human voice is evaluated. The discipline of voice classification developed within European classical music and is not generally applicable to other forms of singing, voice classification is often used within opera to associate possible roles with potential voices. Voice classification is a tool for singers, composers, venues, while useful, voice classification systems have been used too rigidly, i. e. a house assigning a singer to a specific type and only casting him or her in roles they consider belonging to this category. A singer will choose a repertoire that suits his or her instrument, many different voice types are used in vocal pedagogy in a variety of voice classification systems. Most of these types, however, are grouped into seven major categories that are, for the most part. Women are typically divided into three groups, soprano, mezzo-soprano, and alto, men are usually divided into four groups, countertenor, tenor, baritone, and bass. Some women fall into the tenor or baritone groups, while men identified as countertenors can be grouped as contralto, mezzo-soprano, when considering the pre-pubescent voice, an eighth term, treble, is applied. Within each of these categories, subcategories identify specific vocal qualities such as coloratura facility. The vocal range of classical performance covers about five octaves, from a low G1 to a high G6, any individuals voice can perform over a range of one and a half to more than two octaves. Vocal ranges are grouped into overlapping types that each span two octaves. Many singers fall between groups and can perform some parts in either type, soprano range, The soprano is the highest singing voice. The typical soprano voice lies between C4 and C6, the low extreme for sopranos is roughly A3. Most soprano roles do not extend above C6 although there are several standard soprano roles that call for D6, at the highest extreme, some coloratura soprano roles may reach to F6. Soprano tessitura, The tessitura of the soprano voice lies higher than all the other voices except the sopranino, in particular, the coloratura soprano has the highest tessitura of all the soprano subtypes. Soprano subtypes, As with all types, sopranos are often divided into different subcategories based on range, vocal color or timbre, the weight of voice. Sopranos are often broken down into five subcategories, coloratura soprano, soubrette, lyric soprano, spinto soprano, two types of soprano especially dear to the French are the Dugazon and the Falcon, which are intermediate voice types between the soprano and the mezzo soprano. A Dugazon is a darker-colored soubrette, a Falcon a darker-colored soprano drammatico
Voice type
–
Soprano voice range (C4–C6) indicated on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C.
21.
Leopoldo Mugnone
–
Leopoldo Mugnone was an Italian conductor, especially of opera, whose most famous work was done in the period 1890-1920, both in Europe and South America. He conducted various operatic premieres, and was also a composer of operas, a year later he was recruited as a chorus director for an operetta troupe at the Teatro Nuovo, run by F. Sadowsky. From there he went on to the Garibaldi Theatre, first as chorus master and later as concertatore, two other early operettas by him, Don Bizzarro e le sue figlie, and Mamma Angot al serraglio di Costantinopoli were produced during the later 1870s at Naples. Mugnone was himself the teacher of the conductor Uriel Nespoli, Mugnone established his reputation in Italy and beyond, and conducted a tour with the double-bass player Bottesini. In 1887 at the Costanzi Theatre in a season he conducted La forza del destino. According to Giuseppe Depanis, a Carmen of his of 1888, with Luisa Borghi, Mugnone was very esteemed by Verdi, who especially admired his performances of Otello and Falstaff, and became a friend of the conductor. After a May 1894 performance of Falstaff at the Paris Opera, Boito wrote to Verdi, with the same work Mugnone gave the inaugural concert of the Teatro Massimo at Palermo on 16 May 1897. A story goes that he once got hold of a score with Toscaninis annotations and flung it from him, saying, the Verdi centenary celebrations of October 1913, at La Scala, opened with a memorable performance of Nabucco which he arranged and directed. His own compositions, however, and many of his most important premieres, were in the field of verismo opera, in 1890 he conducted the sensational premiere of Mascagnis Cavalleria rusticana, at the Costanzi with Gemma Bellincioni and Roberto Stagno. After this he was out by composers of the young school as one likely to be sympathetic to their work. It appeared in Barcelona in 1893, Mugnone became famous for other revivals of important operas, including Glucks Orfeo, Rossinis Guglielmo Tell, and Berliozs La Damnation de Faust in its original form as an oratorio. During the Exhibition of 1899 he directed a Grand Opera season in Paris, Mugnone conducted the world premiere of Tosca in Rome in 1900. His own opera Vita Brettona was premiered at Naples in 1905 and he gave the first London performances of Cileas Adriana Lecouvreur and Giordanos Fedora. He gave the first performance of Franchettis La figlia di Iorio at La Scala in 1906 and he conducted for Eugenia Burzios famous La Scala debut in March 1906 as Katiusha in the Risurrezione of Franco Alfano. In 1910 he gave the premiere of Giordanos Mese Mariano at the Teatro Massimo, djamileh by Bizet, Orfeo by Gluck, Labilia by N. It was through Sonzogno that Mugnano began to develop his work in operatic seasons in Argentina and elsewhere in South America, in Buenos Aires he gave the first South American Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in August 1898. Between May and August 1919 he conducted a Covent Garden Italian season, including Aida, Tosca, Madame Butterfly and other works, and this appearance was under the management of Thomas Beecham, who describes him as a man of fiery and uncontrollable temper. Never a day passed without a stormy scene with singers, chorus and orchestra and these scenes always ended in Beechams room, and after several such experiences Beecham called his bluff by producing tickets for Mugnone and his family to return to Italy the following day
Leopoldo Mugnone
–
Leopoldo Mugnone
22.
Soprano
–
A soprano is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The sopranos vocal range is from approximately middle C =261 Hz to high A =880 Hz in choral music, in four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto. The lyric soprano is the most common female singing voice, the word soprano comes from the Italian word sopra, as the soprano is the highest pitch human voice, often given to the leading female roles in operas. The term soprano is also based on the Latin word superius which, like soprano, the word superius was especially used in choral and other multi-part vocal music between the 13th and 16th centuries. The soprano has the highest vocal range of all voice types, a soprano and a mezzo-soprano have a similar range, but their tessituras will lie in different parts of that range. The low extreme for sopranos is roughly A3 or B♭3, within opera, the lowest demanded note for sopranos is F3. Often low notes in higher voices will project less, lack timbre, however, rarely is a soprano simply unable to sing a low note in a song within a soprano role. The high extreme, at a minimum, for non-coloratura sopranos is soprano C, a couple of roles have optional E♭6s, as well. In the coloratura repertoire several roles call for E♭6 on up to F6, in rare cases, some coloratura roles go as high as G6 or G♯6, such as Mozarts concert aria Popoli di Tessaglia. Or the title role of Jules Massenets opera Esclarmonde, while not necessarily within the tessitura, a good soprano will be able to sing her top notes full-throated, with timbre and dynamic control. In opera, the tessitura, vocal weight, and timbre of voices, a singers tessitura is where the voice has the best timbre, easy volume, and most comfort. Within the soprano voice type category are five generally recognized subcategories, coloratura soprano, soubrette, lyric soprano, spinto soprano, the coloratura soprano may be a lyric coloratura or a dramatic coloratura. The lyric coloratura soprano is a very agile light voice with a high upper extension capable of fast vocal coloratura, Light coloraturas have a range of approximately middle C to high F with some coloratura sopranos being able to sing somewhat higher or lower. Dramatic coloraturas have a range of approximately low B to high F with some coloratura sopranos being able to sing higher or lower. In classical music and opera, a soubrette soprano refers to both a type and a particular type of opera role. A soubrette voice is light with a bright, sweet timbre, a tessitura in the mid-range, the soubrette voice is not a weak voice, for it must carry over an orchestra without a microphone like all voices in opera. The voice, however, has a lighter weight than other soprano voices with a brighter timbre
Soprano
–
Soprano voice range (C4–C6) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C.
23.
Tenor
–
Tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is one of the highest of the male voice types. The tenors vocal range lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, and A4, the A above middle C, in solo work, this range extends up to C5, or tenor high C. The low extreme for tenors is roughly A♭2, at the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to two Fs above middle C. The tenor voice type is divided into the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor. The name tenor derives from the Latin word tenere, which means to hold, in medieval and Renaissance polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the tenor was the structurally fundamental voice, vocal or instrumental. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, until the late 16th century introduction of the contratenor singers, the tenor was usually the highest voice, assuming the role of providing a foundation. It was also in the 18th century that tenor came to signify the male voice that sang such parts, thus, for earlier repertoire, a line marked tenor indicated the parts role, and not the required voice type. Indeed, even as late as the century, partbooks labelled tenor might contain parts for a range of voice types. The vocal range of the tenor is one of the highest of the voice types. Within opera, the lowest note in the tenor repertoire is probably A♭2 in Rossinis rarely performed La donna del lago in the role of Rodrigo di Dhu. Within more frequently performed repertoire, Mime and Herod both call for an A2, a few tenor roles in the standard repertoire call for a tenor C. Some of the few top Cs in the operatic repertoire are either optional or interpolated by tradition. However, the highest demanded note in the standard operatic repertoire is D5. Some operatic roles for tenors require a darker timbre and fewer high notes, in the leggero repertoire, the highest note is F5, therefore, very few tenors can, given the raising of concert pitch since its composition, have this role in their repertoire without transposition. Within the tenor voice type category are seven generally recognized subcategories, leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, Mozart tenor, Also known as the tenore di grazia, the leggero tenor is essentially the male equivalent of a lyric coloratura. This voice is light, agile, and capable of executing difficult passages of fioritura, the typical leggero tenor possesses a range spanning from approximately C3 to E♭5, with a few being able to sing up to F5 or higher in full voice. In some cases, the chest register of the leggero tenor may extend below C3, voices of this type are utilized frequently in the operas of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and in music dating from the Baroque period. Leggero tenor roles in operas, The lyric tenor is a warm voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy
Tenor
–
Tenor voice range (C3–C5) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4).
24.
Baritone
–
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice types. It is the most common male voice, the baritone voice type is generally divided into the baryton-Martin baritone, lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone. The first use of the term baritone emerged as baritonans, late in the 15th century, at this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices, but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the average male choral voice. Baritones took roughly the range as it is today at the beginning of the 18th century. Indeed, many works of the 18th century have roles marked as bass that in reality are low baritone roles. Examples of this are to be found, for instance, in the operas, the greatest and most enduring parts for baritones in 18th-century operatic music were composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They include Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Papageno in The Magic Flute and these included the likes of Filippo Galli, Giovanni Inchindi, and Henri-Bernard Dabadie. The basse-taille and the bass were commonly confused because their roles were sometimes sung by singers of either actual voice part. The bel canto style of vocalism which arose in Italy in the early 19th century supplanted the castrato-dominated opera seria of the previous century and it led to the baritone being viewed as a separate voice category from the bass. More often than not, however, baritones found themselves portraying villains, the principal composers of bel canto opera are considered to be, Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and the young Giuseppe Verdi. Figaro in Il barbiere is often called the first true baritone role, however, Donizetti and Verdi in their vocal writing went on to emphasize the top fifth of the baritone voice, rather than its lower notes—thus generating a more brilliant sound. The major international baritone of the first half of the 19th century was the Italian Antonio Tamburini and he was a famous Don Giovanni in Mozarts eponymous opera as well as being a Bellini and Donizetti specialist. Commentators praised his voice for its beauty, flexibility and smooth tonal emission, Tamburinis range, however, was probably closer to that of a bass-baritone than to that of a modern Verdi baritone. His French equivalent was Henri-Bernard Dabadie, who was a mainstay of the Paris Opera between 1819 and 1836 and the creator of several major Rossinian baritone roles, including Guillaume Tell. Dabadie sang in Italy, too, where he originated the role of Belcore in Lelisir damore in 1832, the most important of Tamburinis Italianate successors were all Verdians. In France, Paul Barroilhet succeeded Dabadie as the Paris operas best known baritone, like Dabadie, he also sang in Italy and created an important Donizetti role, in his case, Alphonse in La favorite. Antonio Pini-Corsi was the standout Italian buffo baritone in the period between about 1880 and World War I, reveling in comic roles by Rossini, Donizetti and Paer. In 1893, he created the part of Ford in Verdis last opera, notable among their contemporaries were the cultured and technically adroit French baritones Jean Lassalle, Victor Maurel, Paul Lhérie, and Maurice Renaud
Baritone
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Baritone voice range (A2–A4) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4).
25.
Bass (voice type)
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A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C. Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to style and classification system. Italians favour subdividing basses into the basso cantante, basso buffo, the American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass. The German fach system offers further distinctions, Spielbaß, Schwerer Spielbaß, Charakterbaß, rare is the performer who embodies a single fach without also touching repertoire from another category. Cultural influence and individual variation create a variation in range. Many British composers such as Benjamin Britten have written parts for bass that center far higher than the bass tessitura as implied by the clef, the Harvard Dictionary of Music defines the range as being from the E below low C to middle C. The bass has the lowest vocal range of all voice types, the low extreme for basses is generally C2. However, several extreme bass singers, referred to as basso profondos, within opera, the lowest note in the standard bass repertoire is D2, sung by the character Osmin in Mozarts Die Entführung aus dem Serail, but few roles fall below F2. The high extreme, a few roles in the standard repertoire call for a high F♯ or G. In the operatic repertoire, the highest notes are a G♯4 and, in the aria Fra lombre e glorrori in Handels serenata Aci. Basso cantante is a higher, more lyrical voice and it is produced using a more Italianate vocal production, and possesses a faster vibrato, than its closest Germanic/Anglo-Saxon equivalent, the bass-baritone. Hoher Bass or high bass or often a dramatic bass-baritone, jugendlicher Bass denotes the role of a young man sung by a bass, regardless of the age of the singer. They are usually the blustering antagonist of the hero/heroine or the fool in bel canto operas. English equivalent, dramatic bass Basso profondo is the lowest bass voice type, steane in Voices, Singers & Critics, the basso profondo voice derives from a method of tone-production that eliminates the more Italian quick vibrato. In its place is a kind of tonal solidity, a front, which may nevertheless prove susceptible to the other kind of vibrato. Dramatic basso profondo is a basso profondo voice
Bass (voice type)
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Bass voice range (E2–E4) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4).
26.
French Revolutionary Wars
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The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts, lasting from 1792 until 1802, resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted the French First Republic against Britain, Austria and several other monarchies and they are divided in two periods, the War of the First Coalition and the War of the Second Coalition. Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension as the political ambitions of the Revolution expanded, French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe. The Revolutionary Wars began from increasing political pressure on King Louis XVI of France to prove his loyalty to the new direction France was taking. In the spring of 1792, France declared war on Prussia and Austria, the victory rejuvenated the French nation and emboldened the National Convention to abolish the monarchy. A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793, by 1795, the French had captured the Austrian Netherlands and knocked Spain and Prussia out of the war with the Peace of Basel. A hitherto unknown general called Napoleon Bonaparte began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796, in less than a year, French armies under Napoleon decimated the Habsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching towards Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Campo Formio, the War of the Second Coalition began with the French invasion of Egypt, headed by Napoleon, in 1798. The Allies took the opportunity presented by the French strategic effort in the Middle East to regain territories lost from the First Coalition. The war began well for the Allies in Europe, where they pushed the French out of Italy and invaded Switzerland—racking up victories at Magnano, Cassano. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the French victory at Zurich in September 1799, meanwhile, Napoleons forces annihilated a series of Egyptian and Ottoman armies at the battles of the Pyramids, Mount Tabor, and Abukir. These victories and the conquest of Egypt further enhanced Napoleons popularity back in France, however, the Royal Navy had managed to inflict a humiliating defeat on the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of the Mediterranean. Napoleons arrival from Egypt led to the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched a new assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This latest effort culminated in a decisive French victory at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, another crushing French triumph at Hohenlinden in Bavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, the United Kingdom found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to the Treaty of Amiens with Napoleons government in 1802, concluding the Revolutionary Wars. The lingering tensions proved too difficult to contain, however, in 1789–1792, the entire governmental structure of France was transformed to fall into line with the Revolutionary principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. As a result, one of the first major elements of the French state to be restructured was the army, the transformation of the army was best seen in the officer corps. Before the revolution 90% had been nobility, compared to only 3% in 1794, Revolutionary fervour was high, and was closely monitored by the Committee of Public Safety, which assigned Representatives on Mission to keep watch on generals
French Revolutionary Wars
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The
Battle of Valmy
French Revolutionary Wars
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Anonymous caricature depicting the treatment given to the
Brunswick Manifesto by the French population
French Revolutionary Wars
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While the
First Coalition attacked the new Republic, France faced civil war and counterrevolutionary
guerrilla war. Here, several insurgents of the
Chouannerie have been taken prisoner.
French Revolutionary Wars
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General Jourdan at the
battle of Fleurus, 26 June 1794
27.
Papal States
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The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Romagna and these holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. By 1861, much of the Papal States territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy, only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Popes temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Vatican by signing the Lateran Treaty, granting the Vatican City State sovereignty. The Papal States were also known as the Papal State, the territories were also referred to variously as the State of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States. For its first 300 years the Catholic Church was persecuted and unrecognized and this system began to change during the reign of the emperor Constantine I, who made Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and restoring to it any properties that had been confiscated. The Lateran Palace was the first significant new donation to the Church, other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. But the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, the seeds of the Papal States as a sovereign political entity were planted in the 6th century. Beginning In 535, the Byzantine Empire, under emperor Justinian I, launched a reconquest of Italy that took decades and devastated Italys political, just as these wars wound down, the Lombards entered the peninsula from the north and conquered much of the countryside. While the popes remained Byzantine subjects, in practice the Duchy of Rome, nevertheless, the pope and the exarch still worked together to control the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the took a ever larger role in defending Rome from the Lombards. In practice, the papal efforts served to focus Lombard aggrandizement on the exarch, a climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries embodied in the Lombard king Liutprands Donation of Sutri to Pope Gregory II. When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. In 751, Pope Zachary had Pepin the Younger crowned king in place of the powerless Merovingian figurehead king Childeric III, zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the title Patrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, Pepin defeated the Lombards – taking control of northern Italy – and made a gift of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope. The cooperation between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty climaxed in 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and emperors – and between the Papal States and the Empire – is disputed. Events in the 9th century postponed the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed as it was subdivided among Charlemagnes grandchildren
Papal States
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The
Quirinal Palace, papal residence and home to the civil offices of the Papal States from the
Renaissance until their annexation
Papal States
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Flag in 1870
Papal States
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Antichristus (1521) by
Lucas Cranach the Elder is a woodcut of the Papal States at war during the Renaissance.
Papal States
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The Breach of Porta Pia, on the right, in 1870.
28.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
French Revolution
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The
August Insurrection in 1792 precipitated the last days of the monarchy.
French Revolution
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The French government faced a fiscal crisis in the 1780s, and King Louis XVI was blamed for mishandling these affairs.
French Revolution
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Caricature of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back.
French Revolution
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The meeting of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 at Versailles.
29.
Roman Republic (18th century)
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The Roman Republic was proclaimed on 15 February 1798 after Louis Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had invaded the city of Rome on 10 February. The Roman Republic was a client republic under the French Directory composed of territory conquered from the Papal States, Pope Pius VI was exiled to France and died there in 1799. It immediately took the control of the other two former-papal revolutionary administrations, the Tiberina Republic and the Anconine Republic, the Roman Republic was short-lived, as the Papal States were restored in October 1799. Napoleons campaign on the Italian peninsula from 1796 to 1797 was one of the reasons for his elevation to supreme commander of the French Army during the Wars of the Republic. At the same time he intended to reinforce the French Army of Italy, which was outnumbered by Austria and this invasion of the Italian Peninsula was also a diversion since, according to the First Coalition, the main offensive was expected in the Rhine River. Rome, under the rule of the Papal States, was part of the First Coalition, bonaparte, skeptical over divided command for the invasion, sent two letters to the Directory. The letters let the Directory relent the invasion for a while, the Austrians were defeated at the Battle of Lodi on 10 May 1796 and retreated to Minico. Under the Treatry of Tolentino, signed on 19 February 1797, in February 1798, the French invaded the Papal States, motivated by the killing of French general Mathurin-Léonard Duphot in December 1797. After the successful invasion, the Papal States became a satellite state renamed the Roman Republic, under the leadership of Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Pope Pius VI was taken prisoner, escorted out of Rome on 20 February 1798 and exiled to France, where he would later die. However, the republic did not last long and popular support for it was low, following a Neapolitan invasion on 30 September 1799, the Papal States were restored under Pope Pius VII in June 1800. The French invaded the Papal States again in 1808, after which it was divided between France and the Kingdom of Italy until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Republics government was based on that of the more famous namesake Roman Republic, a Senate. The government was run by the senators, each one representing a different political party, the Senate was basically a Parliament. The main purpose of the Senate was to provide a chamber of second thought to consider legislation passed by a house, whose members are usually elected. The Roman Republic flag was a vertical tricolour black-white-red, taken from the French tricolour and it was governed by a clique of consuls, like the ancient Roman Republic. French forces had invaded the Papal States partly in revenge for the death of French general Mathurin-Léonard Duphot in 1797, historical states of Italy Consul § Roman Republic www. historyofwar. org/articles/campaign_napoleon_italy_1796. html Imperial City, Rome under Napoleon, Susan Vandiver Nicassio
Roman Republic (18th century)
–
Flag of the Roman Republic, with the black stripe instead of the blue one of the
flag of France.
30.
Consul
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Consul was the title of one of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently a somewhat significant title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other city states and also revived in modern states. The relating adjective is consular, from the consularis, in modern terminology, a consul is a type of diplomat. The American Heritage Dictionary defines consul as an appointed by a government to reside in a foreign country. Throughout most of southern France, a consul was an equivalent to the échevins of the north. The most prominent were those of Bordeaux and Toulouse, which came to be known as jurats and capitouls, the capitouls of Toulouse were granted transmittable nobility. In many other towns the first consul, was the equivalent of a mayor today, assisted by a variable number of secondary consuls. His main task was to levy and collect tax, the Dukes of Gaeta often used also the title of consul in its Greek form Hypatos. The city-state of Genoa, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of consul on various state officials, among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities. This institution, with its name, was emulated by other powers and is reflected in the modern usage of the word. In reality, the first consul, Bonaparte, dominated his two colleagues and held power, soon making himself consul for life and eventually, in 1804. Chief magistrate, an office held for four months by one of the consuls. As noted above, Bologna already had consuls at some parts of its Medieval history, while many cities had a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but consul was used in some. It was not uncommon for an organization under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state, the founding statute, or contract, of such an organisation was called lex, law. The people elected each year were patricians, members of the upper class. org, see each present country
Consul
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A portrait of the three Consuls,
Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès,
Napoleon Bonaparte and
Charles-François Lebrun (left to right)
31.
Battle of Marengo
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The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Surprised by the Austrian advance toward Genoa in mid-April 1800, Bonaparte had hastily led his army over the Alps in mid-May, initially, their two assaults across the Fontanone stream near Marengo village were repelled, and General Jean Lannes reinforced the French right. Bonaparte realised the true position and issued orders at 11,00 am to recall the detachment under Général de Division Louis Desaix, on the Austrian left, Ott’s column had taken Castel Ceriolo, and its advance guard moved south to attack Lannes’s flank. Melas renewed the assault and the Austrians broke the central French position. By 2,30 pm the French were withdrawing and Austrian dragoons seized the Marengo farm, Bonaparte had by then arrived with the reserve, but Berthier’s troops began to fall back on the main vine belts. Knowing Desaix was approaching, Bonaparte was anxious about a column of Ott’s soldiers marching from the north, the French then withdrew steadily eastward toward San Giuliano Vecchio as the Austrians formed a column to follow them in line with Ott’s advance in the northern sector. The French casualties were considerably fewer, but included Desaix, the whole French line chased after the Austrians to seal une victoire politique that secured Bonaparte’s grip on power after the coup. It would be followed by a campaign, which sought to rewrite the story of the battle three times during Napoleon’s rule. The Battle of Marengo was the victory that sealed the success of Bonapartes Italian campaign of 1800 and is best understood in the context of that campaign. By a daring crossing of the Alps with his Army of the Reserve in mid-May 1800 almost before the passes were open, Bonaparte had threatened Melass lines of communications in northern Italy. The French army then seized Milan on 2 June, followed by Pavia, Piacenza and Stradella, Lombardy, Bonaparte hoped that Melass preoccupation with the Siege of Genoa, held by General André Masséna, would prevent the Austrians from responding to his offensive. However, Genoa surrendered on 4 June, freeing a number of Austrians for operations against the French. On 9 June, General Jean Lannes beat Feldmarschallleutnant Peter Ott in the Battle of Montebello and this caused Bonaparte to become overconfident. He became convinced that Melas would not attack, and further, as other French forces closed from the west and south, the Austrian commander had withdrawn most of his troops from their positions near Nice and Genoa to Alessandria on the main Turin-Mantua road. Ott arrived from Montebello of 13 June in a war council, nonetheless, by abandoning the San Giuliano plain, where the superior Austrian cavalry could have given him an edge, Melas probably made a serious mistake. Bonaparte knew that Ott had no way out from Alessandria, Victor then deployed divisional generals Gaspard Amédée Gardanne and Jacques-Antoine de Chambarlhac de Laubespins divisions along the Fontanone stream. The battle took place to the east of Alessandria, on a plain crossed by a river forming meanders, on the plain were spread numerous hamlets and farms which represented strategic points. The three main sites of the battle formed a triangle, with Marengo in the west, Castel Ceriolo in the north, a small stream, the Fontanone, passed between Marengo and the Bormida
Battle of Marengo
–
Louis-François Lejeune: The Battle of Marengo
Battle of Marengo
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Napoleon Crossing the Alps by
Jacques-Louis David
Battle of Marengo
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Torre Garofoli, Napoleon's headquarters before the battle
Battle of Marengo
–
Michael von Melas led the centre of the army during the attack, but he mistakenly believed that the battle was over before the arrival of Desaix.
32.
Alessandria
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Alessandria listen is a city and comune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about 90 kilometres southeast of Turin. Alessandria is also a railway hub. Alessandria stood in the territories of the marchese of Montferrat, an ally of the Emperor, with a name assumed in 1168 to honor the Emperors opponent. In 1174–75 the fortress was tested by Imperial siege and stood fast. A legend says it was saved by a peasant, Gagliaudo, he fed his cow with the last grain remaining within the city. Here he was captured, and his cow cut open to be cooked and he answered that he was forced to feed his cow with grain because there was such a lot of it, and no room to place it within the city. The Emperor, fearing that the siege would last too long, a statue of Gagliaudo can be found on the left corner of the city cathedral. Alessandria entered into conflicts with the older communes of the region. The new domination was evidenced by the construction of a new big Cittadella on the side of the river Tanaro. With Napoleons success at the Battle of Marengo, Alessandria fell to France, during this period another substantial fort was built to the north of the city containing impressive and substantial barracks which are still used as a military headquarters and stores. The remains of a fort to the south of the city have been sliced in two by a railway, a third one still remains in the middle of the same quarter. From 1814 Alessandria was Savoyard territory once more, part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, during the years of the Risorgimento, Alessandria was an active center of the liberals. In a suburb, Spinetta Marengo, the Battle of Marengo is reenacted annually, Alessandria was the first capital of an Italian province to be governed by a Socialist, the clockmaker Paolo Sacco was elected mayor on July 25,1899. On end of month the city was liberated from the German occupation by the partisan resistance. On November 6,1994 the Tanaro flooded a part of the city, causing major damage. The first known Jews in Alessandria, named Abraham opened a bank in or about 1490. Of the 230 Jews living in the city in 1684,170 were members of the Vitale family, the Jewish Ghetto was established in 1724
Alessandria
–
Alessandria Cathedral on the Piazza del Duomo
33.
Michael von Melas
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Michael Friedrich Benedikt Baron von Melas was a Transylvanian-born field marshal of Saxon descent for the Austrian Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. He was born in Radeln, Transylvania in 1729 and joined the Austrian army at age 17 and he served in the Seven Years War as aide de camp for Leopold Josef Graf Daun. He was promoted to colonel in 1781 and he fought on the lower Rhine in 1794 and the middle Rhine in 1795. He later led the Austrian army in Italy during Napoleon Bonapartes campaigns in Italy, a stand made by the French forces further down the road, and a subsequent counter-attack by the French General Louis Desaix led to a defeat for von Melas forces. Von Melas was later a Habsburg commander in Bohemia, Melas retired in 1803, he died in 1806 at Týnec nad Labem, in Bohemia. Melas at Napoleon Guide Melas in The Memoirs of Baron de Marbot
Michael von Melas
–
Michael von Melas
Michael von Melas
–
Grave of Melas and his wife Josefa in
Týnec nad Labem
34.
Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)
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The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company, sometimes referred to as the old Met, the Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22,1883, with a performance of Faust. It was located at 1411 Broadway, occupying the block between West 39th Street and West 40th Street on the west side of the street in the Garment District of Midtown Manhattan. Nicknamed The Yellow Brick Brewery for its industrial looking exterior, the original Metropolitan Opera House was designed by J. Cleaveland Cady, on August 27,1892, the nine-year-old theater was gutted by fire. The 1892−93 season was canceled while the house was rebuilt along its original lines. During that season, the Vaudeville Club, which became the Metropolitan Opera Club, was founded and hosted entertainment in the undamaged portions of the house. In 1903, architects Carrère and Hastings extensively redesigned the interior of the opera house, the familiar golden auditorium with its sunburst chandelier, and curved proscenium inscribed with the names of six composers, dates from this time. The first of the Mets signature gold damask stage curtains was installed in 1906, in 1940, ownership of the opera house shifted from the wealthy families who occupied the theaters boxes to the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association. At this time the last major change to the interior was completed. The second tier of privately held boxes was converted into standard row seating and this enlarged the seating capacity and left only the first tier of boxes from the golden horseshoe of the opera houses origins as a showplace for New York society. The Met had a capacity of 3,625 with 224 standing room places. While the theater was noted for its excellent acoustics and elegant interior, scenery and sets were a regular sight leaning against the building exterior on 39th Street where crews had to shift them between performances. Various plans were put forward over the years to build a new home for the company, proposed new locations included Columbus Circle and what is now Rockefeller Center, but none of these plans came to fruition. Only with the development of Lincoln Center on New Yorks Upper West Side did the Met finally have the opportunity to build an opera house. The Metropolitan Opera said goodbye to its old house on April 16,1966, the long time Met star soprano Zinka Milanov made her last Met appearance that night and among the many invited guests was soprano Anna Case who had made her debut at the house in 1909. The final performance at the house was given not by the Met but the Bolshoi Ballet. The theater was purchased by Jack D. Weiler and despite a campaign to preserve the theater, it failed to obtain landmark status and it was replaced by a 40-story office tower,1411 Broadway, intended to provide a steady income for the opera company. Since 1966, the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center has been home to the Metropolitan Opera, the Met, One Hundred Years of Grand Opera
Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)
–
The Metropolitan Opera in 1905, looking uptown
Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)
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A recital at the old Met by pianist
Josef Hofmann, November 28, 1937.
Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)
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Metropolitan Opera House program cover showing the
Proscenium arch, 1935
35.
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
Mary, also known by various titles, styles and honorifics, was a 1st-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin, the miraculous birth took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Marys life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to the Catholic and Orthodox teaching, at the end of her life her body was assumed directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion and she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, there is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, many Protestants minimize Marys role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Mary also has a position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Marys name in the manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name ܡܪܝܡ. The English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament, in Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husbands involvement. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelos Pietà, the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, this phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, the scriptural basis for the term Queen can be seen in Luke 1,32 and the Isaiah 9,6. Queen Mother can be found in 1 Kings 2, 19-20 and Jeremiah 13, other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
Our Lady of Vladimir, one of the medieval representations of the
Theotokos
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
Virgin and Child with angels and Sts. George and Theodore. Icon from around 600, from
Saint Catherine's Monastery.
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
The
Annunciation by
Eustache Le Sueur, an example of 17th-century
Marian art. The
Angel Gabriel announces to Mary her pregnancy with Jesus and offers her
White Lilies.
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
The Virgin's first seven steps, mosaic from
Chora Church, c. 12th century
36.
Sacristan
–
A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacristan were performed by the doorkeepers, and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretals of Gregory IX speak of the sacristan as if he had an office attached to a certain benefice. Nowadays the sacristan is elected or appointed, the under-sacristan is also mentioned in the Decretals. He was the assistant of the sacristan, was subject to the archdeacon, by the early twentieth century the office was hardly ever attached to a benefice and so usually a salaried position. Altar societies were once commonly organised within most Catholic parish churches, in the Eastern Churches, the sacristan is known as the ecclesiarch, particularly in monasteries. In large monasteries he may be assigned an assistant known as the paraecclesiarch, an analogous office is that of the skeuophylax. In parishes, however, the sacristan is called church sexton, in addition to the tasks and responsibilities mentioned above, if an individual has a message for the priest while serving in the sanctuary, it is given to the sexton to give to the priest or deacon. Many Christian faith schools appoint sacristans as members of their bodies, particularly in British public schools. For instance, The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, Sacristans aid the school’s chaplain in day-to-day running of the chapel and promotion of a Christian ethos in the school. In terms of seniority, they are regarded as second only to the school captains. In the Old Testament, the office and duties of the sacristan are assigned to the Levites,1 Chronicles 23-26 describes how David assigned them duties such as temple doorkeepers, guardians, singers and musicians. Verger Goggin, John Francis, Kelly, Blanche Mary, media related to Sacristans at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of sacristan at Wiktionary
Sacristan
–
A sacristan
37.
Angelus
–
Angelus is the sixteenth single from Japanese singer Hitomi Shimatani, and features the b-side Z. Z. Z. Both songs are featured on her 2004 album, Tsuioku+Love Letter and this was the third and final single released to promote the album. It peaked at number 8 on the Oricon charts and went on to sell around 53,000 copies. Angelus is an dance song with Latin elements - such as squealing horns - while Z. Z. Z. -Zip. Zap. Zipangu. - is a bouncy dance/pop song. Angelus was also used as the theme for the sixth season of the anime InuYasha. It was also featured on the game series Dance Dance Revolution. Angelus, Angerasu Z. Z. Z. Zip, angelus, Angerasu Z. Z. Z. Zip
Angelus
–
"Angelus/Z! Z! Z! (Zip! Zap! Zipangu!)"
Angelus
38.
Mary Magdalene
–
Mary Magdalene, literally translated as Mary the Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, was a Jewish woman who, according to texts included in the New Testament, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus crucifixion and resurrection, within the four Gospels she is named at least 12 times, more than most of the apostles. Based on texts of the early Christian era in the third century, the Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her, and the longer ending of Mark says Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, John 20 and Mark 16,9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection. Ideas that go beyond the presentation of Mary Magdalene as a prominent representative of the women who followed Jesus have been put forward over the centuries. Mary Magdalene is considered to be a saint by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, other Protestant churches honor her as a heroine of the faith. The Eastern Orthodox churches also commemorate her on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, during the Middle Ages, Mary Magdalene was regarded in Western Christianity as a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman, claims not found in any of the four canonical gospels. Mary was a common name in New Testament times, held by a number of women in the canonical Gospels. Mary Magdalene In addition, there were Mary, the mother of James, in the four Gospels, Mary Magdalene is nearly always distinguished from other women named Mary by adding the Magdalene to her name. This has been interpreted to mean the woman from Magdala, a town on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Luke 8,2 says that she was actually called Magdalene, in Hebrew מגדל Migdal means tower, fortress, in Aramaic, Magdala means tower or elevated, great, magnificent. Talmudic passages speak of a Miriam hamegadela se’ar nasha, Miriam, the plaiter of womens hair, in the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene is also referred to simply as Mary at least twice. Gnostic writings use Mary, Mary Magdalene, or Magdalene, Mary Magdalenes name is mostly given as Μαρία, but in Matthew 28,1 as Μαριάμ, both of which are regarded as Greek forms of Miriam, the Hebrew name for Moses sister. The name had very popular during Jesus time due to its connections to the ruling Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties. Primary sources about Mary Magdalene come from the four canonical Gospels and these apocryphal sources are dated from the end of the 1st to the early 4th century, all written well after Saint Marys death. The canonical gospels are dated from the half of the 1st century. In addition, the Gregorian figure of the composite Magdalen developed an elaborate literary, Luke 8,2 and Mark 16,9 say Jesus cleansed her of seven demons. Some interpret this as meaning that he healed her from mental or physical illnesses and that she provided for the apostles suggests she was prosperous
Mary Magdalene
–
Domenico Tintoretto, The Penitent Magdalene, c. 1598
Mary Magdalene
–
Mary in fine clothes, from a German group of the
Entombment of Christ
Mary Magdalene
–
The Magdalene washing the feet of Jesus, surrounded by
grisailles of other scenes from the life of the "composite Magdalen",
Frans Francken II, 1637
Mary Magdalene
–
Detail of Mary kissing the feet of the crucified Jesus, Italian, early 14th century
39.
Te Deum
–
The Te Deum is an early Christian hymn of praise. The title is taken from its opening Latin words, Te Deum laudamus, rendered as Thee, O God and it is sung either after Mass or the Divine Office or as a separate religious ceremony. The hymn also remains in use in the Anglican Communion and some Lutheran Churches in similar settings, a plenary indulgence is granted, under the usual conditions, to those who recite it in public on New Years Eve. Authorship is traditionally ascribed to Saints Ambrose and Augustine, on the occasion of the baptism by the former in AD387. It has also ascribed to Saint Hilary, but The Historical Companion to Hymns Ancient and Modern says it is now accredited to Nicetas. The petitions at the end of the hymn are a selection of verses from the book of Psalms, the hymn follows the outline of the Apostles Creed, mixing a poetic vision of the heavenly liturgy with its declaration of faith. The hymn then returns to its formula, naming Christ and recalling his birth, suffering and death. The hymn was chanted jubilantly by the people of Orléans after the successful Siege of Orléans, during the Hundred Years War, when St. Joan of Arc and the French army entered the town. The text has been set to music by composers, with settings by Haydn, Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, Bruckner, Furtwängler, Dvořák, Britten, Kodály. Jean-Baptiste Lully wrote a setting of Te Deum for the court of Louis XIV of France, earlier it had been used as the theme music for Bud Greenspans documentary series, The Olympiad. Sir William Waltons Coronation Te Deum was written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, puccinis opera Tosca features a dramatic performance of the initial part of the Te Deum at the end of Act I. A version by Father Michael Keating is popular in some Charismatic circles, mark Hayes wrote a setting of the text in 2005, with Latin phrases interpolated amid primarily English lyrics. In 1978, British hymnodist Christopher Idle wrote God We Praise You, British composer John Rutter has composed two settings of this hymn, one entitled Te Deum and the other Winchester Te Deum. Igor Stravinsky set the first 12 lines of the text as part of The Flood in 1962, antony Pitts was commissioned by the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music to write a setting for the 2011 10th Anniversary Festival. The 18th-century German hymn Großer Gott, wir loben dich is a translation of the Te Deum. In the Book of Common Prayer, verse is written in half-lines, at which reading pauses, texts on Wikisource, Te Deum Te Deum Catholic Encyclopedia entry Piers Maxim Te Deum in Service, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris on YouTube
Te Deum
–
Te Deum stained glass window by
Christopher Whall at St Mary's church, Ware, Hertfordshire
40.
Palazzo Farnese
–
Palazzo Farnese or Farnese Palace is one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome. Owned by the Italian Republic, it was given to the French government in 1936 for a period of 99 years, and currently serves as the French embassy in Italy. First designed in 1517 for the Farnese family, the expanded in size and conception when Alessandro Farnese became Pope Paul III in 1534. Its building history involved some of the most prominent Italian architects of the 16th century, including Michelangelo, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, work was interrupted by the Sack of Rome in 1527. The massive palace block and its facade dominate the Piazza Farnese, when Paul appeared on the balcony, the entire facade became a setting for his person. The courtyard, initially open arcades, is ringed by an exercise in ascending orders. The piano nobile entablature was given a frieze with garlands, added by Michelangelo, while the practicalities of achieving this bridge remain dubious, the idea was a bold and expansive one. During the 16th century, two large granite basins from the Baths of Caracalla were adapted as fountains in the Piazza Farnese, the palazzo was further modified for the papal nephew Ranuccio Farnese by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. It was completed for the second Cardinal Alessandro Farnese by Giacomo della Portas porticoed facade towards the Tiber which was finished in 1589, following the death of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese in 1626, the palazzo stood virtually uninhabited for twenty years. At the conclusion of the War of Castro with the papacy, Duke Odoardo was able to regain his family properties, the resulting inventory is the oldest surviving complete inventory of Palazzo Farnese. After Odoardos death, Pope Alexander VII allowed Queen Christina of Sweden to lodge in the palace for several months, other rooms have frescoes by Daniele da Volterra and by other artists. For generations, the room with Herculean frescoes accommodated the famous Greco-Roman antique sculpture known as the Farnese Hercules, other works from the family collection of classical sculpture were also housed in the palace. One of the vault and ceiling fresco by Annibale Carracci is Galleria Farnese and this large central scene depicts the triumphal progress of Bacchus and Ariadne. Two smaller paintings are attached to the top and bottom of the central picture, USA, the Chief Secretary’s Building in Sydney, Australia, and the Royal Palace, Stockholm. In England Charles Barrys great admiration for the building led him to use it as the model for Londons Reform Club, in Puccinis opera Tosca, set in Napoleonic Rome, the heroines confrontation with the malevolent Chief of Police, Scarpia, takes place in Palazzo Farnese. The Palazzo was inherited from the Farnese by the Bourbon kings of Naples, though the government of Benito Mussolini ransomed it in 1936, the French Embassy remains, under a 99-year lease for which they pay the Italian government a symbolic fee of 1 euro per month. The Palazzo Farnese houses the great scholarly library amassed by the Ecole Française de Rome, concentrating especially on the archeology of Italy, the first three volumes are, F. C. Uginet, Le palais farnèse à travers les documents financiers. Ecole Française de Rome I.1 and I.2, Étude des manuscrits latins et en langue vernaculaire
Palazzo Farnese
–
Palazzo Farnese in Rome
Palazzo Farnese
–
A mid-18th-century engraving of Palazzo Farnese by
Giuseppe Vasi.
Palazzo Farnese
–
The coat of arms of Farnese Pope Paul III
Palazzo Farnese
–
Detail of the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne by
Annibale Carracci, the
Farnese Gallery, 1595.
41.
Cantata
–
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. Cantatas for use in the liturgy of church services are called church cantata or sacred cantata, several cantatas were, and still are, written for special occasions, such as Christmas cantatas. Johann Sebastian Bach composed cycles of cantatas for the occasions of the liturgical year. The term originated in the early 17th century simultaneously with opera, prior to that, all cultured music was vocal. With the rise of music the term appeared, while the instrumental art became sufficiently developed to be embodied in sonatas. From the beginning of the 17th century until late in the 18th, a cantata consisted first of a declamatory narrative or scene in recitative, held together by a primitive aria repeated at intervals. Fine examples may be found in the music of Giacomo Carissimi. With the rise of the da capo aria, the became a group of two or three arias joined by recitative. George Frideric Handels numerous Italian duets and trios are examples on a large scale. His Latin motet Silete Venti, for solo, shows the use of this form in church music. This is equally evident whether we examine the church cantatas of Bach, of which nearly 200 are extant. Cantatas were in demand for the services of the Lutheran church. Many secular cantatas were composed for events in the nobility and they were so similar in form to the sacred ones that many of them were parodied to sacred cantatas, for example in Bachs Christmas Oratorio. The term cantata came to be applied almost exclusively to choral works, Anton Bruckner composed several Name-day cantatas, a Festive Cantata and two secular cantatas. Brucknerss Psalm 146 is also in cantata form, mendelssohns Symphony Cantata, the Lobgesang, is a hybrid work, partly in the oratorio style. Robert Schumann wrote the cantata Paradise and the Peri, the full lyric possibilities of a string of choral songs were realized by Johannes Brahms in his Rinaldo, that—like the Walpurgisnacht—was set to a text by Goethe. The competition for the French Prix de Rome prescribed that each candidate submit a cantata, hector Berlioz failed in three attempts before finally winning in 1830 with Sardanapale. While almost all of the Prix de Rome cantatas have long since been forgotten, cantatas, both of the chamber variety and on a grand scale, were composed after 1900 as well
Cantata
–
Hymns
42.
Romanesco dialect
–
Romanesco is a variety of regional Italian spoken in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, especially in the core city. It is a Central Italian dialect and is thus close to the Tuscan dialect. There exist a few notable grammatical and idiomatic differences from Standard Italian, rich in expressions and sayings, Romanesco is used for informal/colloquial communication by most of the natives of Rome, often with code-switching with the standard language. The medieval Roman dialect belonged to the family of Italian dialects. A typical example of Romanesco of that period is Vita di Cola di Rienzo, therefore, current Romanesco has grammar and roots that are rather different from other dialects in Central Italy. Before Rome became the city of Italy, Romanesco was spoken only inside the walls of the city. Romanesco pronunciation differs from Standard Italian in these cases, the letter J is still used and is pronounced /j/. A Roman pun recites, Tera, chitara e guera, co ddu ere, sinnò è erore, note that ere and erore are also wrong, libbro /ˈlibbɾo/ for Standard Italian libro /ˈliːbro/ book, aggenda for agenda diary, agenda. Today, Romanesco is generally considered more of a regional idiom than a true language, classical Romanesco, which reached high literature with Belli, has disappeared. External forces such as immigration and the dominance of Italian are playing a role in the transformation, ma nun cè lingua come la romana Pe dì una cosa co ttanto divario Che ppare un magazzino de dogana. Le lingue der monno - G. G. Belli But there is no language like the Roman one To express a concept with so many variants So that it seems a customs warehouse, languages of the world - G. G. A description of the Roman dialect Lucio Felici, Le vicende del dialetto romanesco, in Capitolium,1972, n°4, pp. 26–33
Romanesco dialect
–
Romanesco
Romanesco dialect
–
Advertisement in Romanesco at Roman subway station
Romanesco dialect
–
The young Giuseppe Gioachino Belli
43.
E lucevan le stelle
–
E lucevan le stelle is a romantic aria from the third act of Giacomo Puccinis opera Tosca, composed in 1900 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is sung by Mario Cavaradossi, a painter in love with the singer Tosca, written in B minor, it is one of the most famous opera arias. The vocal range extends from F♯3 to A4, the aria is considered part of the spinto tenor repertoire. The aria is introduced by a clarinet solo. The incipit of the melody is repeated on the lines O dolci baci, o languide carezze, and also restated in forte in the closing bars of the opera, as Tosca jumps from the ramparts. In 1920, the stage performer Al Jolson, together with Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose, wrote a song, Avalon. The following year, G. Ricordi, the publisher of Puccinis operas, puccini and his publisher prevailed in the case and were awarded $25,000 in damages and all future royalties for the song. An analysis of the theme of female unveiling in this aria and other operas of the time can be found in Jeremy Tambling, Opera and the Culture of Fascism, Oxford University Press,1996. E lucevan le stelle, transposed for bass-baritone, Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Recording of the aria on YouTube by Alfredo Kraus
E lucevan le stelle
–
Castel Sant'Angelo, the scene of the aria
44.
Motif (music)
–
It is commonly regarded as the shortest subdivision of a theme or phrase that still maintains its identity as a musical idea. The smallest structural unit possessing thematic identity, a harmonic motif is a series of chords defined in the abstract, that is, without reference to melody or rhythm. A melodic motif is a formula, established without reference to intervals. A rhythmic motif is the term designating a characteristic rhythmic formula, a motif thematically associated with a person, place, or idea is called a leitmotif. Occasionally such a motif is a cryptogram of the name involved. A head-motif is an idea at the opening of a set of movements which serves to unite those movements. In hearing a phrase as a figure, rather than a motif, we are at the time placing it in the background, even if it is. strong. Any motif may be used to construct complete melodies, themes and pieces, musical development uses a distinct musical figure that is subsequently altered, repeated, or sequenced throughout a piece or section of a piece of music, guaranteeing its unity. Such motivic development has its roots in the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Motivic saturation is the immersion of a motive in a composition. The use of motives is discussed in Adolph Weiss The Lyceum of Schönberg, hugo Riemann defines a motif as, the concrete content of a rhythmically basic time-unit. Anton Webern defines a motif as, the smallest independent particle in a musical idea, arnold Schoenberg defines a motif as, a unit which contains one or more features of interval and rhythm presence is maintained in constant use throughout a piece. Head-motif refers to a musical idea of a set of movements which serves to unite those movements. It may also be called a motto, and is a frequent device in cyclic masses
Motif (music)
–
A phrase originally presented as a motif may become a
figure which accompanies another
melody, as in the second movement of
Claude Debussy 's
String Quartet (1893). Play (
help ·
info) White would classify the accompaniment as motivic material since it was, "derived from an important motive stated earlier".
45.
Swiss Guard
–
See Pontifical Swiss Guard for the Swiss Guard stationed at the Vatican. Swiss Guards are the Swiss soldiers who have served as guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century, Foreign military service was outlawed by the revised Swiss Constitution of 1874, with the only exception being the Pontifical Swiss Guard stationed at the Vatican. The modern Papal Swiss Guard serves as both a unit and a bodyguard. Established in 1506, it is one of the oldest military units in the world, the earliest Swiss guard unit to be established on a permanent basis was the Hundred Swiss, which served at the French court from 1490 to 1817. This small force was complemented in 1567 by a Swiss Guards regiment, in the 18th and early 19th centuries several other Swiss Guard units existed for periods in various European courts. In addition to household and palace units, Swiss mercenary regiments have served as regular line troops in various armies, notably those of France, Spain. They were considered the most effective mercenaries of the 15th century, at the Battle of Marignano, the Landsknecht in French service defeated the Swiss pikemen. In addition the Gardes Suisses served in the field as a regiment in times of war. King Francis I of France used some 120,000 Swiss mercenaries in the Italian Wars, the Hundred Swiss were created in 1480 when Louis XI retained a Swiss company for his personal guard. By 1496 they comprised one hundred guardsmen plus about twenty-seven officers and their main role was the protection of the King within the palace as the garde du dedans du Louvre, but in the earlier part of their history they accompanied the King to war. In the Battle of Pavia the Hundred Swiss of King Francis I were slain before Francis was captured by the Spanish, the Hundred Swiss shared the indoor guard with the Kings Bodyguards, who were Frenchmen. The Hundred Swiss were armed with halberds, the blade of which carried the Royal arms in gold and their ceremonial dress as worn until 1789 comprised an elaborate 16th century Swiss costume covered with braiding and livery lace. A less ornate dark blue and red uniform with bearskin headdress was worn for ordinary duties, the Cent Suisses company was disbanded after Louis XVI left Versailles in October 1789. It was however refounded on 15 July 1814 with an establishment of 136 guardsmen, the Hundred Swiss accompanied Louis XVIII into exile in Belgium the following year and returned with him to Paris following the Battle of Waterloo. The unit then resumed its role of palace guards at the Tuileries. In 1616, King Louis XIII gave a regiment of Swiss infantry the name of Gardes suisses, the new regiment had the primary role of protecting the doors, gates and outer perimeters of the various royal palaces. In its early years this unit was officially a regiment of the line, during the 17th and 18th centuries the Swiss Guards maintained a reputation for discipline and steadiness in both peacetime service and foreign campaigning. Their officers were all Swiss and their rate of pay substantially higher than that of the regular French soldiers, internal discipline was maintained according to Swiss codes which were significantly harsher than those of the regular French Army
Swiss Guard
–
Swiss Guard posted at
St. Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Swiss Guard
–
The famous red-black Swiss Gate (Schweizertor) in Vienna
Swiss Guard
–
Grenadier of the Swiss Guard in France, 1779
Swiss Guard
–
Massacre of the Swiss Guards
46.
Giovanni Paisiello
–
Giovanni Paisiello was an Italian composer of the Classical era. Paisiello was born in Taranto and educated by the Jesuits there and he became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and eventually became assistant master. In 1772 Paisiello began to write music, and composed a requiem for Gennara di Borbone. In the same year he married Cecilia Pallini, and the marriage was a happy one, when, in 1816, Gioachino Rossini set a revised version of the libretto to music, under the title of Almaviva ossia la inutil precauzione the fans of Paisiello stormed the stage. Paisiello left Russia in 1784, and, after producing Il Re Teodoro at Vienna, entered the service of Ferdinand IV of Naples, the power of the Bonaparte family was tottering to its fall, and Paisiellos fortunes fell with it. The death of his wife in 1815 tried him severely and his health failed rapidly, and constitutional jealousy of the popularity of others was a source of worry and vexation. Paisiello is known to have composed 94 operas, which are known for their beautiful melodies. Perhaps the best-known tune he wrote is Nel cor più non mi sento from La Molinara. Paisiello also wrote a great deal of music, including eight masses, as well as fifty-one instrumental compositions. He also composed the Inno al Re, the anthem of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Manuscript scores of many of his operas were presented to the library of the British Museum by Domenico Dragonetti, the Concise Grove Dictionary of Music notes that Paisiello was one of the most successful and influential opera composers of his time. Most of his over 80 operas are comic and use a simple, direct and spirited style, latterly with sharper characterization, more colorful scoring and his serious operas have less than the conventional amount of virtuoso vocal writing, those for Russia are the closest to Glucks reform approach. Paisiello was primarily an opera composer and his instrumental works are therefore imbued with a similar vocally conceived melodic line, granted they may be lacking in the sophisticated counterpoint and motivic work of Haydn and Mozarts music. This characterization, however, does not do justice to the extreme drama, essentially he had mastered all the techniques which made for good opera, and this made his works widely popular and admired throughout Europe. Parma, Loca del Cairo Edizioni Musicali,2006 and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Paisiello, Giovanni. A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, free scores by Giovanni Paisiello at the International Music Score Library Project Robinson, Michael F. Paisiello, Giovanni. Free scores by Giovanni Paisiello in the Choral Public Domain Library
Giovanni Paisiello
–
Paisiello at the clavichord, by
Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1791. The score is
Nina, o sia La pazza per amore.
47.
Pastiche
–
A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, or music that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche celebrates, rather than mocks, the work it imitates, the word pastiche is a French cognate of the Italian noun pasticcio, which is a pâté or pie-filling mixed from diverse ingredients. Metaphorically, pastiche and pasticcio describe works that are composed by several authors. Pastiche is an example of eclecticism in art, a literary allusion may refer to another work, but it does not reiterate it. Moreover, allusion requires the audience to share in the cultural knowledge. Both allusion and pastiche are mechanisms of intertextuality, in literature usage, the term denotes a literary technique employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-cheek imitation of anothers style, although jocular, it is usually respectful. For example, many stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, originally penned by Arthur Conan Doyle, have written as pastiches since the authors time. Ellery Queen and Nero Wolfe are other subjects of mystery parodies and pastiches. A similar example of pastiche is the posthumous continuations of the Robert E. Howard stories and this includes the Conan stories of L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. David Lodges novel The British Museum Is Falling Down is a pastiche of works by Joyce, Kafka, in 1991 Alexandra Ripley wrote the novel Scarlett, a pastiche of Gone with the Wind, in an unsuccessful attempt to have it recognized as a canonical sequel. Charles Rosen has characterized Mozarts various works in imitation of Baroque style as pastiche, some of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys works, such as his Variations on a Rococo Theme and Serenade for Strings, employ a poised classical form reminiscent of 18th-century composers such as Mozart. Perhaps one of the best examples of pastiche in modern music is that of George Rochberg, Rochberg turned to pastiche from serialism after the death of his son in 1963. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is unusual as it is a pastiche in both senses of the word, as there are distinct styles imitated in the song. A similar earlier example is Happiness is a Warm Gun by The Beatles, one can find musical pastiches throughout the work of the American composer Frank Zappa. A pastiche Mass is a musical Mass where the constituent movements come from different Mass settings, most often this convention has been chosen for concert performances, particularly by early-music ensembles. Masses are composed of movements, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, for example, the Missa Solemnis by Beethoven and the Messe de Nostre Dame by Guillaume de Machaut. In a pastiche Mass, the performers may choose a Kyrie from one composer, and a Gloria from another, or choose a Kyrie from one setting of a composer. In musical theater pastiche is often a tool for evoking the sounds of a particular era for which a show is set
Pastiche
–
A pastiche combining elements of two PD-art files (
original 1 and
original 2), in
Photoshop
48.
Edgar (opera)
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Edgar is an operatic dramma lirico in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, freely based on the play in verse La Coupe et les lèvres by Alfred de Musset. The first performance was given at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 21 April 1889, the opera was not a success. Puccini repeatedly revised it, before giving up in frustration. Edgar, Puccinis second opera, was composed on a commission from the publisher Ricordi after the reception of his first stage work. The plot indicates the influence of Wagners Tannhäuser, both centre on medieval knights struggling between a life of sensual indulgence and ideal love. Edgar is torn between the love of Fidelia and the profane love of Tigrana, Wagners hero indulges himself with Venus while pining for the love of Elizabeth. The gypsy-like figure of Tigrana also parallels the anti-heroine of Bizets Carmen, the original version had four acts and was tepidly received. In January 1890, Ricordi published a version, including a different ending for act 2. In the autumn of 1891, Puccini revised the work again, cutting the last act, in this final form the opera had even less success than in its original four-act structure. Some of the music that was cut in 1891 was reused in Tosca and became the beautiful act 3 duet, the funeral march from act 3 was played at Puccinis funeral, conducted by Arturo Toscanini and the aria Addio, mio dolce amor from act 4 was sung. Puccini finally gave up on Edgar and in years, bitterly repudiated the work. He wrote, It was an organism defective from the point of view. Although I knew that I wrote some pages which do me credit, the basis of an opera is the subject and its treatment. In setting the libretto of Edgar I have, with all respect to the memory of my friend Fontana and it was more my fault than his. On a copy of the score that he sent to a friend, the autograph of the acts 1 and 3 of the original version is preserved in the Archivio Ricordi in Milan. The autograph of the acts 2 and 4, which was believed lost till 2008, is owned by Simonetta Puccini, the first version was performed at the Teatro Regio in Turin on 25 June 2008, directed by Yoram David. American musicologist Dr. Linda Fairtile is working on producing the critical edition of the first version, Fairtile worked on it together with Gabriele Dotto and Claudio Toscani. In the operas 1905 version, it was first given in the US on 12 April 1966, however, the original version was given its UK premiere at Lewes Town Hall by New Sussex Opera on 25 October 2012
Edgar (opera)
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Giacomo Puccini
Edgar (opera)
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Librettist Ferdinando Fontana and composer Giacomo Puccini
Edgar (opera)
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Teatro Costanzi
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The Teatro dellOpera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has several changes of name as well modifications. The Teatro dellOpera was originally known as the Teatro Costanzi after the contractor who built it and it was financed by Costanzi, who commissioned the Milanese architect Achille Sfondrini, a specialist in the building and renovation of theatres. Designing the theatre, Sfondrini paid particular attention to the acoustics, conceiving the interior structure as a resonance chamber, as is evident from the horseshoe shape in particular. With a seating capacity of 2,212, the house had three tiers of boxes, an amphitheatre and two galleries, surmounted by a dome adorned with splendid frescoes by Annibale Brugnoli. Costanzi was obliged to manage the theater himself, under his direction, and despite financial problems, the opera house held many world premieres of operas, including Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni on 17 May 1890. For a brief period the theatre was managed by Costanzis son, Enrico, who gained renown by organizing another great premiere, in 1907 the Teatro Costanzi was purchased by the impresario Walter Mocchi on behalf of the Società Teatrale Internazionale e Nazionale. In 1912 Mocchis wife, Emma Carelli, became the director of the new Impresa Costanzi, as the theatre was later known. During the fourteen years of her tenure, major works which had not been performed before in Rome were staged, in November 1926 the Costanzi was bought by the Rome City Council and its name changed to Teatro Reale dellOpera. A partial rebuilding ensued, led by architect Marcello Piacentini and lasting fifteen months, the house re-opened on 27 February 1928 with the opera Nerone by Arrigo Boito. Chief among several major changes was the entrance, from the street formerly known as Via del Teatro to the opposite side. In addition, the amphitheatre inside the theatre was replaced by a tier of boxes. The interior was embellished by new stuccowork, decorations, and furnishings, including a magnificent chandelier measuring six meters in diameter, the theaters legendary acoustics still bear comparison with any other auditorium in the world. The seating capacity is about 1,600, the house was retrofitted with air-conditioning subsequent to a restoration, which provided improvements to the interior. The stucco work was restored, the great proscenium arch strengthened. The post-war period saw celebrated productions, including Mozarts Le nozze di Figaro in 1964 and Verdis Don Carlos in 1965, from 2001 to 2010, the music director and chief conductor of the company was Gianluigi Gelmetti. Later, Muti assumed a similar to that of music director. Notable productions under Muti have included Glucks Iphigénie en Aulide, Verdis Nabucco, Simon Boccanegra, the name Teatro Costanzi remains officially in use, to refer to the main auditorium
Teatro Costanzi
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Facade of the Teatro dell'Opera.
50.
Arturo Toscanini
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Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and of the 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for detail and sonority. He was at times the music director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Toscanini was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, and won a scholarship to the music conservatory. Living conditions at the conservatory were harsh, for example, his diet consisted almost completely of fish. When he became successful, he never ate anything that came from the sea and he joined the orchestra of an opera company, with which he toured South America in 1886. Carlo Superti and Aristide Venturi tried unsuccessfully to finish the work, in desperation, the singers suggested the name of their assistant Chorus Master, who knew the whole opera from memory. The public was taken by surprise, at first by the youth and sheer aplomb of this unknown conductor, for the rest of that season, Toscanini conducted eighteen operas, all with absolute success. Thus began his career as a conductor, at age 19, upon returning to Italy, Toscanini set out on a dual path for some time. He continued to conduct, his first appearance in Italy being at the Teatro Carignano in Turin, on November 4,1886, in the world premiere of the revised version of Alfredo Catalanis Edmea. This was the beginning of Toscaninis lifelong friendship and championing of Catalani, however, he also returned to his chair in the cello section, and participated as cellist in the world premiere of Verdis Otello under the composers supervision. The composer was impressed when Toscanini consulted him personally about Verdis Te Deum. Verdi said that he had left it out for fear that certain interpreters would have exaggerated the marking, gradually, Toscaninis reputation as an operatic conductor of unusual authority and skill supplanted his cello career. In the following decade, he consolidated his career in Italy, entrusted with the premieres of Puccinis La bohème. In 1896, Toscanini conducted his first symphonic concert and he exhibited a considerable capacity for hard work, conducting 43 concerts in Turin in 1898. By 1898, Toscanini was Principal Conductor at La Scala, where he remained until 1908, returning as Music Director and he brought the La Scala Orchestra to the United States on a concert tour in 1920/21, during which he made his first recordings. Outside Europe, Toscanini conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and he toured Europe with the New York Philharmonic in 1930. At each performance, he and the orchestra were acclaimed by critics, Toscanini was the first non-German conductor to appear at Bayreuth, and the New York Philharmonic was the first non-German orchestra to play there
Arturo Toscanini
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Toscanini's family tomb at the
Monumental Cemetery of Milan in 2015
Arturo Toscanini
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Toscanini in 1908.
Arturo Toscanini
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Arturo Toscanini poses on a ship's deck.
Arturo Toscanini
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Toscanini lifts his hat for the camera on a ship's deck.
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