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Angelo Badà
Angelo Badà (Pernate, 27 May 1876 – Novara, 23 March 1941) was an Italian operatic tenor. He was on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for 30 years where he gave a total of 2,170 performance in 94 different operas in over 100 different roles from 1908 through 1938. Only two singers in the Met's history have made more appearances with the company: Charles Anthony and George Cehanovsky. He mostly appeared in comprimario roles during his career, although he did occasionally perform larger parts. His repertoire encompassed operas in the English, Italian, French, and German languages. Life and career Born in Pernate (Novara), Badà studied singing in his native city with Cecilio Manfredi. He made his professional opera debut in January 1900 as the messenger in Giuseppe Verdi's ''Aida''. He spent the next eight years performing mainly comprimario roles in major opera houses in Italy, including La Scala in Milan and the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. He also made appearances at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as '' Singspiel'' and '' Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina'', was written for a competition promoted by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno for the best one-act opera, remembered today because it marked the beginning of Italian ''verismo''. The winner was Mascagni's ''Cavalleria rusticana''. Giordano, the youngest contestant, was placed sixth among seventy-three entries with his ''Marina'', a work which generated enough interest for Sonzogno to commission the staging of an opera based on it in the 1891–92 season. The result was ''Mala vita'', a gritty ''verismo'' opera about a labourer who vows to reform a prostitute if he is cured of his tuberculosis. This work caused something of a scandal when performed at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, in February 1892. It played successfully in Vienna, Pragu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1941 Deaths
Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre in Germany, in the first phase of mass killings under the Action T4 program here. * January 1 – Thailand's Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decrees January 1 as the official start of the Thai solar calendar new year (thus the previous year that began April 1 had only 9 months). * January 3 – A decree (''Normalschrifterlass'') promulgated in Germany by Martin Bormann, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, requires replacement of blackletter typefaces by Antiqua. * January 4 – The short subject ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'' is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card. * January 5 – WWII: Battle of Bardia in Libya: Australian and British troops de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1876 Births
Events January–March * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. * February 2 – The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs is formed at a meeting in Chicago; it replaces the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. Morgan Bulkeley of the Hartford Dark Blues is selected as the league's first president. * February 2 – Third Carlist War – Battle of Montejurra: The new commander General Fernando Primo de Rivera marches on the remaining Carlist stronghold at Estella, where he meets a force of about 1,600 men under General Carlos Calderón, at nearby Montejurra. After a courageous and costly defence, Calderón is forced to withdraw. * February 14 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray. * February 19 – Third Carlist War: Government troops under General Primo de Rivera drive throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Ibbetson (opera)
'' ''Peter Ibbetson'' is an opera in three acts by American composer Deems Taylor from a libretto by the composer and Constance Collier, based on the 1891 novel by George du Maurier. ''Peter Ibbetson'' was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on 7 February 1931 and it appeared in four seasons for a total of 22 performances (in the house and on tour) until 1935 and the retirement of the two singers who created the starring roles, Lucrezia Bori and Edward Johnson. Performance history The opera opened the 1933-34 Met season and was broadcast twice, in 1932 (when the operas were still being broadcast only in part) and again in 1934. On 29 June 1960 the Empire State Music Festival presented a performance of ''Peter Ibbetson'' which was broadcast. Licia Albanese was coached in the part of Mary by its creator, Lucrezia Bori. In 1999 the opera was revived in concert form by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra with Lauren Flanigan as Mary. Roles Synopsis :Time: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deems Taylor
Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American music critic, composer, and promoter of classical music. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." Early life and family Deems Taylor was born in New York City to JoJo and Katherine Taylor. He attended Ethical Culture Elementary School, followed by New York University. Taylor married three times. His first wife was Jane Anderson. They were married in 1910, but divorced in 1918. In 1921, he married Mary Kennedy, who was an actress and a writer. They had a daughter, Joan Kennedy Taylor, in 1926, and divorced in 1934. He was involved romantically with soprano Colette D'Arville after his divorce. Taylor married a third and last time in 1945, to costume designer Lucille Watson-Little. They were divorced eight years later. Taylor died on July 3, 1966 of leukemia at the age of 80. He is interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L'oiseau Bleu (opera)
''L'oiseau bleu'' (''The Blue Bird'') is an opera in four acts (eight tableaux) by the French composer and conductor Albert Wolff. The libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck is based on his 1908 play of the same name. Boris Anisfeld designed the sets. Performance history It was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City on 27 December 1919. Maeterlinck, the playwright and Nobel laureate, was present at the premiere, which, in the immediate aftermath of World War I, was a benefit for four charities: the Queen of the Belgians Fund, the Millerand Fund for French Orphans, the Three Big Sister Organizations (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish), and the Milk for the Children of America Fund. The first Belgian performance was on 21 April 1920, and it was revived at the Théâtre de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Wolff (conductor)
Albert Louis Wolff (19 January 1884 – 20 February 1970) was a French conductor and composer of Dutch descent. Most of his career was spent in European venues, with the exception of two years that he spent as a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and a few years in Buenos Aires during the Second World War. He is most known for holding the position of principal conductor with the Opéra-Comique in Paris for several years. He was married to the French mezzo-soprano Simone Ballard. Biography Early life and education Wolff was born in Paris, of Dutch parents, though he was a French citizen from birth, never lived in the Netherlands, and never had a Dutch passport. When only 12 years old, he began his musical education at the Paris Conservatoire. There, he studied with such teachers as André Gedalge, Xavier Leroux, and Paul Antonin Vidal. At the same time he played the piano in cabarets and was organist at the Église Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin (Paris) for four years. Upon graduatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gianni Schicchi
() is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's (The Triptych)three one-act operas with contrasting themes, originally written to be presented together. Although it continues to be performed with one or both of the other operas, is now more frequently staged either alone or with short operas by other composers. The aria is one of Puccini's best known, and one of the most popular arias in opera. Puccini had long considered writing a set of one-act operas which would be performed together in a single evening, but faced with a lack of suitable subjects and opposition from his publisher, he repeatedly put the project aside. However, by 1916 Puccini had completed the one-act tragedy and, after considering various ideas, he began work the following year on the solemn, religious, all- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Tabarro
''Il tabarro'' (''The Cloak'') is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on 's play ''La houppelande''. It is the first of the trio of operas known as ''Il trittico''. The first performance was given on December 14, 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Roles Synopsis :Place: A barge on the Seine in Paris. :Time: 1910. It is close to sunset in Paris, and the stevedores work unloading Michele's barge. Giorgetta, Michele's wife, asks her husband if she can bring wine to the workers. He agrees but does not join them because she refuses his kiss. The stevedores start dancing to the music of a nearby organ grinder and one of them steps on Giorgetta's foot. Luigi, a stevedore, dances with her, and it is evident that there is something between them. Upon hearing of Michele's return the stevedores' gathering breaks up. Work is getting scarce and Giorgetta and Michele discuss which of the stevedores should be dismissed; she pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanewis
''Shanewis'' (or ''The Robin Woman'') (1918) is an opera in one act and two scenes by American composer Charles Wakefield Cadman with an English-language libretto by Nelle Richmond Eberhart. They collaborated with Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone, a Cherokee/ Creek singer, who contributed elements from her life for the contemporary plot related to Native American issues.Pamela Karantonis, Dylan Robinson. ''Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures'' Rout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Wakefield Cadman
Charles Wakefield Cadman (December 24, 1881 – December 30, 1946) was an American composer. For 40 years he worked closely with Nelle Richmond Eberhart, who wrote most of the texts to his songs, including ''Four American Indian Songs''. She also wrote the librettos for his five operas, two of which were based on Indian themes. He composed in a wide variety of genres. Life and career Cadman's musical education, unlike that of most of his American contemporaries, was completely American. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he began piano lessons at 13. Eventually, he went to nearby Pittsburgh where he studied harmony, theory, and orchestration with Luigi von Kunits and Emil Paur, then concertmaster and conductor, respectively, of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. This was the sum of his formal training, although he has been said to have been a pupil of Anna Priscilla Risher as well. By the age of eighteen, he was working as a clerk in a railroad office in Homestead, also in steel co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
