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August Kindermann
August Kindermann (6 February 1817 – 6 March 1891) was a German bass-baritone singer and regisseur, particularly noted for his performances in the operas of Richard Wagner. He was born in Potsdam. He began his career singing in the chorus of the Berlin State Opera in 1836 and made his solo debut there in 1837 in a small role in Spontini's ''Agnes von Hohenstaufen''. He went on to sing bass and baritone roles with Leipzig Opera from 1839 to 1846. While at Leipzig, he became a friend of Albert Lortzing and sang in the premieres of two of his operas: the title role in ''Hans Sachs'' (1840) and Count von Eberbach in ''Der Wildschütz'' (1842). He also sang Gazna in the premiere of Robert Schumann's secular oratorio '' Das Paradies und die Peri'' (1843). In 1846, Kinderman moved to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich where he was a Kammersänger and stage director who enjoyed great popularity. In 1855, he directed the company's production of Wagner's ''Tannhäuser'' as well as sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
August Kindermann By Eduard Von Grützner
August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in the original ten-month Roman calendar under Romulus in 753 BC, with March being the first month of the year. About 700 BC, it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 46 BC (708 AUC), giving it its modern length of 31 days. In 8 BC, it was renamed in honor of Emperor Augustus. According to a Senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, he chose this month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs, including the conquest of Egypt. Commonly repeated lore has it that August has 31 days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio, the choir often plays a central role, and there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hedwig Reicher-Kindermann
Hedwig Reicher-Kindermann (1853–1883) was a German opera singer whose range covered both soprano and contralto. She trained as a pianist until she was 15 when her father recognized her singing abilities. In 1871, she was engaged by the Court Theatre in Munich where she performed as a singer, dancer and actress. After singing in Bayreuth in 1876, she made guest appearances in Austria, France and Italy. In 1880, she was engaged by the Leipzig Opera where she became known for her Wagnerian roles. From September 1882, she toured widely with Angelo Neumann's Niebelungentheater but died in Trieste, Italy, on 2 June shortly after appearing as Brünnhilde in Wagner's ''Götterdämmerung''. Biography Born in Munich on 15 July 1853, Hedwig Kindermann was the fifth daughter of the baritone August Kindermann and his wife Magdalena née Hofmann. Her mother, a teacher at the Leipzig Conservatory taught her piano from the age of five while she was also trained in voice by her father. When sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Seven Ravens
"The Seven Ravens" (German: ''Die sieben Raben'') is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 25). It is of Aarne–Thompson type 451 ("The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers"), commonly found throughout Europe. Georgios A Megas collected another, Greek variant in ''Folktales of Greece''. Other variants of the Aarne–Thompson type include ''The Six Swans'', ''The Twelve Wild Ducks'', '' Udea and her Seven Brothers'', ''The Wild Swans'', and ''The Twelve Brothers''. An animated feature film based on the story was released in 1937 (see ''The Seven Ravens''). Origin The tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of the ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' in 1812, under the name "Die drei Raben" (The Three Ravens). In the second edition, in 1819, the name was retitled ''Die sieben Raben'' and substantially rewritten. Their source was the Hassenpflug family, and others. Synopsis A peasant has seven sons and no daughter. Finally a daughter is born, but i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josef Rheinberger
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (17 March 1839 – 25 November 1901) was a Liechtensteiner organist and composer, residing in Bavaria for most of his life. Life Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, whose father was the treasurer for Aloys II, Prince of Liechtenstein, showed exceptional musical talent at an early age. When only seven years old, he was already serving as organist of the Vaduz parish church, and his first composition was performed the following year. In 1849, he studied with composer Philipp M. Schmutzer (31 December 1821 – 17 November 1898) in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg. In 1851, his father, who had initially opposed his son's desire to embark on the life of a professional musician, relented and allowed him to enter the Munich Conservatorium. Not long after graduating, he became professor of piano and of composition at the same institution. When this first version of the Munich Conservatorium was dissolved, he was appointed ''répétiteur'' at the Court Theatre, from which he r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' of the ''Minnesänger'' Wolfram von Eschenbach, recounting the story of the Arthurian knight Parzival (Percival) and his quest for the Holy Grail. Wagner conceived the work in April 1857, but did not finish it until 25 years later. In composing it he took advantage of the particular acoustics of his Bayreuth Festspielhaus. ''Parsifal'' was first produced at the second Bayreuth Festival in 1882. The Bayreuth Festival maintained a monopoly on ''Parsifal'' productions until 1903, when the opera was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Wagner described ''Parsifal'' not as an opera, but as (a festival play for the consecration of the stage). At Bayreuth a tradition has arisen that audiences do not applaud at the end of the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titurel
''Titurel'' is a fragmentary Middle High German Romance (heroic literature), romance written by Wolfram von Eschenbach after 1217. The fragments which survive indicate that the story would have served as a prequel to Wolfram's earlier work, ''Parzival'', expanding on the stories of characters from that work and on the theme of the Holy Grail. ''Titurel'' was continued by a later poet named Albrecht, who tied the story together in a work generally known as ''Jüngere Titurel'' ("Younger Titurel"). History Wolfram's ''Parzival'' was an adaptation of the unfinished French romance ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'', by Chrétien de Troyes. ''Titurel'' provides the back-story, back-stories of Wolfram's characters, principally the wounded Grail-king Titurel and the tragic lovers Sigune and Schionatulander. ''Titurel'' was written some time after 1217, as indicated by its mention of the death of Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia, which occurred that year. It survives in three fragments ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870, and received its first performance as part of the ''Ring'' cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 14 August 1876. As the ''Ring'' cycle was conceived by Wagner in reverse order of performance, ''Die Walküre'' was the third of the four texts to be written, although Wagner composed the music in performance sequence. The text was completed by July 1852, and the music by March 1856. Wagner largely followed the principles related to the form of musical drama, which he had set out in his 1851 essay ''Opera and Drama'' under which the music would interpret the text emotionally, reflecting the feelings and moods behind the work, using a system of recurring leitmotifs to represent people, ideas, and situations rather than the conv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 22 September 1869, and received its first performance as part of the ''Ring'' cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, on 13 August 1876. Wagner wrote the ''Ring'' librettos in reverse order, so that ''Das Rheingold'' was the last of the texts to be written; it was, however, the first to be set to music. The score was completed in 1854, but Wagner was unwilling to sanction its performance until the whole cycle was complete; he worked intermittently on this music until 1874. The 1869 Munich premiere of ''Das Rheingold'' was staged, much against Wagner's wishes, on the orders of his patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Following its 1876 Bayreuth premiere, the ''Ring'' cycle was introduced into the worldwide repertory, with perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wōdanaz
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and depicts him as the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, the god was also known in Old English as ', in Old Saxon as , in Old Dutch as ''Wuodan'', in Old Frisian as ''Wêda'', and in Old High German as , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *''Wōðanaz'', meaning 'lord of frenzy', or 'leader of the possessed'. Odin appears as a prominent god throughout the recorded history of Northern Europe, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania (from BCE) through movement of peoples during the Migration Period (4th to 6th centuries CE) and the Viking Age (8th to 11th centuries CE). In the modern period, the rural folklore of Germani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfram Von Eschenbach
Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry. Life Little is known of Wolfram's life. There are no historical documents which mention him, and his works are the sole source of evidence. In ''Parzival'', he talks of ''wir Beier'' ("we Bavarians"); the dialect of his works is East Franconian. This and a number of geographical references have resulted in the present-day Wolframs-Eschenbach, until 1917 Obereschenbach, near Ansbach in present-day Bavaria, being officially designated as his birthplace. However, the evidence is circumstantial and not without problems - there are at least four other places named Eschenbach in Bavaria, and Wolframs-Eschenbach was not part of the Duchy of Bavaria ('' Altbayern'') in Wolfram's time. The arms shown in the Manesse manuscript come from the imagination of a 14th-century artist, drawing on the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tannhäuser (opera)
''Tannhäuser'' (; full title , "Tannhäuser and the Minnesängers' Contest at Wartburg") is an 1845 opera in three acts, with music and text by Richard Wagner ( WWV 70 in the catalogue of the composer's works). It is based on two German legends: Tannhäuser, the mythologized medieval German Minnesänger and poet, and the tale of the Wartburg Song Contest. The story centres on the struggle between sacred and profane love, as well as redemption through love, a theme running through most of Wagner's work. The opera remains a staple of major opera house repertoire in the 21st century. Composition history Sources The libretto of ''Tannhäuser'' combines mythological elements characteristic of German ''Romantische Oper'' (Romantic opera) and the medieval setting typical of many French Grand Operas. Wagner brings these two together by constructing a plot involving the 14th-century Minnesingers and the myth of Venus and her subterranean realm of Venusberg. Both the historical and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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