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Alcyone (opera)
''Alcyone'' is an opera by the French composer Marin Marais. It takes the form of a ''tragédie en musique'' in a prologue and five acts. The libretto, by Antoine Houdar de la Motte, is based on the Greek myth of Ceyx and Alcyone as recounted by Ovid in his ''Metamorphoses''. The opera was first performed on 18 February 1706 by the Académie royale de musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris. The score is particularly famous for the storm scene (''tempête'') in act 4. The "Marche pour les Matelots", from act 3, became popular as a dance tune and is the basis of the Christmas carol "Masters in This Hall". Having been recorded by Erato in 1990, ''Alcione'' received its first stage production since the composer's death as the first work to appear at the newly refurbished Opéra Comique in Paris on 25 April 2017; directed by Louise Moaty, Jordi Savall conducted Le Concert des Nations, with Lea Desandre in the title role and Marc Mauillon, Cyril Auvity, Lisandro Abadie an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marin Marais
Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for six months. In 1676 he was hired as a musician to the royal court of Versailles and was moderately successful there, being appointed in 1679 as ''ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole,'' a title he kept until 1725. He was the father of the composer Roland Marais (c. 1685 – c. 1750). Career Marin Marais was a master of the viol, and the leading French composer of music for the instrument. He wrote five books of '' Pièces de viole'' (1686–1725) for the instrument, generally suites with basso continuo. These were quite popular in the court, and for these he was remembered in later years as he who "founded and firmly established the empire of the viol" ( Hubert Le Blanc, 1740). His other works include a book of ''Pièces en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lea Desandre
Lea Desandre (born 1993) is a French-Italian mezzo-soprano. Biography Born in 1993, as a small child she first became interested in dance but at 12, prompted by her music teacher, she joined the children's choir of the Paris Opéra. Her first model was Natalie Dessay, of whom she admits to be "a superfan". Taking advantage of the availability of reduced price tickets aimed at her age range, she attended performances featuring her idol Natalie Dessay. "Thanks to these reduced price tickets I was able to go about Paris to feed myself with music" she has said. She also frequented places where her favourite opera stars got together, some of which usually gave her advice, lured by her teenage charm. She enrolled at the Boulogne-Billancourt Music School under Esthel Durand and went later to Venice to study with contralto Sara Mingardo. "She received me at her house and told me: we'll read scores and will thus end by finding who you are", comments Miss Desandre. Career In 2013, Lea De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass (voice Type)
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 vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E2–E4).; ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' gives E2–E4/F4 Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to national style and classification system. Italians favour subdividing basses into the ''basso cantante'' (singing bass), ''basso buffo'' ("funny" bass), or the dramatic ''basso profondo'' (low bass). The American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass. The German ''Fach'' system offers further distinctions: Spielbass (Bassbuffo), Schwerer Spielbass (Schwerer Bassbuffo), Charakterbass (Bassbariton), and Seriöser Bass. These classification systems can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phorbas
In Greek mythology, Phorbas (; Ancient Greek: Φόρβας ''Phórbās'', gen. Φόρβαντος ''Phórbantos'' means "giving pasture"), or Phorbaceus , may refer to: *Phorbas of Elis, son of Lapithes and Orsinome, and a brother of Periphas. *Phorbas, son of Triopas and Hiscilla, daughter of Myrmidon. *Phorbas, king of Argos, father of a different Triopas who succeeded him as king. *Phorbas, a shepherd of King Laius, who found the infant Oedipus on the hillside and ensured his survival to fulfill his destiny. A number of sculptures, ranging from the 14th to the 19th century, memorialize Phorbas' rescue of Oedipus. He might be the same as Phorbas, attendant of Antigone. *Phorbas, listed as a king or archon of Athens *Phorbas of Lesbos, father of Diomede *Phorbas of Troy, who was favored and made rich by Hermes. He had a son Ilioneus, who was killed by Peneleos. *Phorbas, son of Metion of Syene, who fought on Phineus' side against Perseus *Phorbas of Acarnania, son of Poseidon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pan (god)
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Pan (; grc, wikt:Πάν, Πάν, Pán) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, Pastoral#Pastoral music, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia (ancient region), Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens, and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. In Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion and myth, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature god who was the father of Bona Dea, sometimes identified as Fauna (goddess), Fauna; he was also closely associated with Silvanus (mythology), Sylvanus, due to their similar relationships with woodlands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in Romanticism, the Romantic movement of western Europe and also in the 20th-centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard
Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard (10 August 1669 – 24 August 1741) was a French operatic baritone (''basse taille''). Thévenard was born at Orléans or possibly Paris. Arriving in Paris in 1690, he studied under the composer André Cardinal Destouches and went on to become a member of the Académie Royale de Musique. He was notable for playing tragic roles that made use of his skill at declamatory recitatives. He appeared in over 80 tragédies en musique and opéras ballet before finally retiring in 1729. He died in Paris. Roles created *Apollon/Vertumne/l'Automne in Pascal Colasse et Louis Lully's ''Ballet des Saisons'' (Paris, 1695) *Jupiter/Hylas in Destouches's '' Issé'' (Fontainebleau, 1697) *Silvandre/Zuliman in André Campra's L'Europe galante (Paris, 1697) *The title role in Destouches's ''Amadis de Grèce'' (Paris, 1699) *Argapise in Destouches's ''Marthesie, première reine des Amazones'' (Paris, 1699) *Pygmalion in Michel de la Barre's ''Le triomphe des arts'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A2 to A4) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, ''Kavalierbariton'', Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, ''baryton-noble'' baritone, and the bass-baritone. History The first use of the term "baritone" emerged as ''baritonans'', late in the 15th century, usually in French sacred polyphonic music. At this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices (including the bass), but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the averag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peleus
In Greek mythology, Peleus (; Ancient Greek: Πηλεύς ''Pēleus'') was a hero, king of Phthia, husband of Thetis and the father of their son Achilles. This myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BC. Biography Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Endeïs, the oread of Mount Pelion in Thessaly. He married the sea-nymph Thetis with whom he fathered Achilles. Peleus and his brother Telamon were friends of Heracles, and served in Heracles' expedition against the Amazons, his war against King Laomedon, and his quest for the Golden Fleece alongside Jason and the Argonauts. Though there were no further kings in Aegina, the kings of Epirus claimed descent from Peleus in the historic period. Mythology Peleus and his brother Telamon killed their half-brother Phocus, perhaps in a hunting accident and certainly in an unthinking moment, and fled Aegina to escape punishment. In Phthia, Peleus was purified by the city's ruler, E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haute-contre
The haute-contre (plural hautes-contre) was the primary French operatic tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera, from the middle of the seventeenth century until the latter part of the eighteenth century. History This voice was predominantly used in male solo roles, typically heroic and amatory ones, but also in comic parts, even ''en travesti'' (see apropos the portrait reproduced below and representing Pierre Jélyotte made up for the female title role of Rameau's ''Platée''). Lully wrote 8 out of 14 leading male roles for the voice; Charpentier, who was an haute-contre himself, composed extensively for the voice-part, as did Rameau and, later, Gluck. The leading ''hautes-contre'' of the ''Académie Royale de Musique'' that created the main roles of Lully's operas, at the end of the seventeenth century, were Bernard Clédière (who started off as a ''taille'', a lower Tenor voice type) and Louis Gaulard Dumesny. Notable ''hautes-contre'' of the eighteent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie-Louise Desmatins
Marie-Louise Desmatins ( fl. 1682–1708) was a French soprano and creator of many roles in French Baroque opera. She performed in Jean Baptiste Lully's ''Persée'' (1682), '' Armide'' (1686 and 1703 revival), ''Achille et Polyxène'' (1687), ''Thésée'' (1698 revival), ''Isis'' (1704 revival), ''Roland'' (1705 revival), '' Bellérophon'' (1705 revival), '' Alceste'' (1706 revival), as well as in Pascal Collasse's '' Enée et Lavinie'' (1690) and ''Thétis et Pélée'' (1699 revival), André Cardinal Destouches' ''Issé'' (1697), Henri Desmarets' '' Didon'' (1704 revival), André Campra's ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' (1704), and Marin Marais' '' Alcyone'' (1706). The absence of her name in subsequent cast lists remained unexplained until 2007, when a report on the novel ''La Musique du Diable'' (1711) confirmed her death. A satirical narrative of Desmatins' afterlife in Hades, the novel suggests that she died of complications of a primitive form of liposuction Liposuction, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) = 1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word '' sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" '' |
Voice Type
A voice type is a group of voices with similar vocal ranges, capable of singing in a similar tessitura, and with similar vocal transition points ('' passaggi''). Voice classification is most strongly associated with European classical music, though it, and the terms it utilizes, are used in other styles of music as well. A singer will choose a repertoire that suits their voice. Some singers such as Enrico Caruso, Rosa Ponselle, Joan Sutherland, Maria Callas, Jessye Norman, Ewa Podleś, and Plácido Domingo have voices that allow them to sing roles from a wide variety of types; some singers such as Shirley Verrett and Grace Bumbry change type and even voice part over their careers; and some singers such as Leonie Rysanek have voices that lower with age, causing them to cycle through types over their careers. Some roles are hard to classify, having very unusual vocal requirements; Mozart wrote many of his roles for specific singers who often had remarkable voices, and some of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
