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André Dran
André Theophile Joseph Dran (15 June 1924, in Metz – 12 September 2014, in Pouancé) was a French tenor,L'Art Lyrique website accessed 25 September 2015. whose career was mainly restricted to France and who left several complete opera recordings. Life and career Dran appeared at the Paris Opéra-Comique from 1953 to 1970, undertaking roles such as Pomponnet in '' la Fille de Madame Angot'', Antonin in '''', Nadir in '' |
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Est region. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany and Luxembourg,Says J.M. (2010) La Moselle, une rivière européenne. Eds. Serpenoise. the city forms a central place of the European Greater Region and the SaarLorLux euroregion. Metz has a rich 3,000-year history,Bour R. (2007) Histoire de Metz, nouvelle édition. Eds. Serpenoise. having variously been a Celtic ''oppidum'', an important Gallo-Roman city,Vigneron B. (1986) Metz antique: Divodurum Mediomatricorum. Eds. Maisonneuve. the Merovingian capital of Austrasia,Huguenin A. (2011) Histoire du royaume mérovingien d'Austrasie. Eds. des Paraiges. pp. 134,275 the birthplace of the Carolingian dynasty,Settipani C. (1989) Les ancêtres de Charlemagne. Ed. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enghien-les-Bains
Enghien-les-Bains () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the département of Val-d'Oise. Enghien-les-Bains is famous as a spa resort and a well-to-do suburb of Paris, developed in the nineteenth century around the scenic lake of Enghien. A casino, the only one in the vicinity of Paris, is located on the shores of the lake. Name The suffix ''les Bains'' (literally "the Baths") was added to the name when the ''commune'' was incorporated in 1850, to distinguish this place from the Belgian city of Enghien, near Mons, and to acknowledge the thermal baths for which Enghien-les-Bains is famous. The name Enghien itself does refer to the Belgian city, which was a fief of the princes of Condé, a cadet branch of the French royal family, who inherited the duchy of Montmorency in 1633. In 1689 they were allowed by King Louis XIV to rename the duchy of Montmorency to be the "duchy of Enghien", in order to revive the title, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jussi Björling
Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling ( , ; 5 February 19119 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequently at the major European opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London and La Scala in Milan. He sang the Italian, French and Russian opera repertory with taste. Early life Björling (surname also spelled as "Bjoerling" and "Bjorling" in English-language sources) was born in Stora Tuna, Borlänge, Dalarna, Sweden, in February 1911. The midwife's register shows he was born on 5 February, but the church baptism records erroneously show 2 February, and that was the day on which he celebrated his birthday throughout his whole life. He was known throughout his life by the name Jussi, which he received as a child from his Finnish-born grandmother (Henrika Matilda Björling née Lönnqvist, b. 1844 Pori, d. 1918 Borlänge). His father, D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Porter (music Critic)
Andrew Brian Porter (26 August 19283 April 2015) was a British music critic, opera librettist, opera director, scholar, and organist.''Opera''"Opera Magazine Editorial Board"(archived 9 May 2011 at Internet Archive), originally accessed 2 January 2011. Biography Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Porter studied organ at University College, Oxford in the late 1940s. He then began writing music criticism for various London newspapers, including ''The Times'' and ''The Daily Telegraph''. In 1953, he joined ''The Financial Times'', where he served as the lead critic until 1972, where his successor was Ronald Crichton. Stanley Sadie, in the 2001 edition of the ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', wrote that Porter "built up a distinctive tradition of criticism, with longer notices than were customary in British daily papers, based on his elegant, spacious literary style and always informed by a knowledge of music history and the findings of textual scholarship as well as an ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nixa Records
Nixa Record Company Ltd. was founded in 1950 by F. H. B. Nixon. Nixa was the second company, after Decca, to release LP records in Britain (at the time, EMI was attempting to promote 45 rpm records over 33 LP records). The record label, which traded as Nixa Records, was acquired by Pye Records in 1953. Nixon's stepson, John M. Reid (then also known as Nixon), was manager from 1950 until the company was sold to Pye in 1953. Nixa Records was set up principally to market the catalogue of Compagnie Générale du Disque, Paris, in Commonwealth of Nations countries. The artists included Dany Dauberson, André Claveau, and other continental cabaret and jazz artists. The shellac records were pressed for Nixa by the Decca Record Company. Later, Nixa made licensing arrangements with a number of US classical music record companies, including Westminster Records, Period Records, Concert Hall Records, Haydn Society and Vanguard Records, to manufacture and market their catalogues in the UK and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
René Leibowitz
René Leibowitz (; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish, later naturalised French, composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after the Second World War, and teaching a new generation of serialist composers. Leibowitz remained firmly committed to the musical aesthetic of Arnold Schoenberg, and was to some extent sidelined among the French avant-garde in the 1950s, when, under the influence of Leibowitz's former student, Pierre Boulez and others, the music of Schoenberg's pupil Anton Webern was adopted as the orthodox model by younger composers. Although his compositional ideas remained strictly serialist, as a conductor Leibowitz had broad sympathies, performing works by composers as diverse as Gluck, Beethoven, Brahms, Offenbach and Ravel, and his repertory extended to include pieces by Gershwin, Puccini, Sullivan and Johann Strauss. Life and career Early years ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Belle Hélène
''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy, Helen's elopement with Paris (mythology), Paris, which set off the Trojan War. The premiere was at the Théâtre des Variétés, Paris, on 17 December 1864. The work ran well, and productions followed in three continents. ''La belle Hélene'' continued to be revived throughout the 20th century and has remained a repertoire piece in the 21st. Background and first performance By 1864 Offenbach was well established as the leading French composer of operetta. After successes with his early works – short pieces for modest forces – he was granted a licence in 1858 to stage full-length operas with larger casts and chorus. The first of these to be produced, ''Orpheus in the Underworld, Orphée aux enfers'', achieved notoriety and box-office success for its risqué satire o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Pont Des Soupirs
''Le pont des soupirs '' ("The Bridge of Sighs") is an opéra bouffe (or operetta) set in Venice, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1861. The French libretto was written by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. Plays, including melodramas, set in Venice were quite common in Paris in the early 19th century; the libretto, by the successful team from ''Orphée aux enfers'', also nods towards the operas ''La reine de Chypre'' (1841) and '' Haydée'' (1847). Gänzl describes the piece as being in Offenbach's "best bouffe manner", noting a "long list of sparkling and funny musical pieces": the multiple serenade beneath Catarina's balcony, the tale of the loss of the Venetian fleet, the parody of an operatic mad scene for Catarina, and a farcical "quatuor des poignards". Gänzl, p. ?? Offenbach would return to Venice in the Giulietta act of his final work ''Les Contes d'Hoffmann''. Performance history ''Le pont des soupirs'' was first performed in a two-act version at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fra Diavolo (opera)
''Fra Diavolo, ou L'hôtellerie de Terracine'' (''Fra Diavolo, or The Inn of Terracina'') is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Daniel Auber, from a libretto by Auber's regular collaborator Eugène Scribe. It is loosely based on the life of the Itrani guerrilla leader Michele Pezza, active in southern Italy in the period 1800-1806, who went under the name of Fra Diavolo ("Brother Devil"). The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle Ventadour in Paris on 28 January 1830 and an Italian version was prepared by Auber and Scribe for performance in London in 1857. This contained new recitatives and arias, as well as expanding the roles of Fra Diavolo's accomplices. The opera was Auber's greatest success, one of the most popular works of the 19th century and was in the standard repertory in its original French as well as German and Italian versions. An English translation was also prepared. Hugh Macdonald has characterised this comic opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rape Of Lucretia
''The Rape of Lucretia'' (Op. 37) is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, written for Kathleen Ferrier, who performed the title role. Ronald Duncan based his English libretto on André Obey's play '. Performance history The opera was first performed at Glyndebourne in England on 12 July 1946. It is the first work to which Britten applied his term "chamber opera." The opera debuted in the United States on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre in a production staged by Agnes de Mille which opened on 29 December 1948 and closed on 15 January 1949 after 23 performances. The cast notably included Giorgio Tozzi as Tarquinius, Kitty Carlisle as Lucretia, Lidija Franklin as Bianca, Brenda Lewis as the Female Chorus, and Adelaide Bishop as Lucia. In 1996 the opera was presented at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis directed by Britten expert and friend, Colin Graham. It also appeared in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's 2009 season. In 2013, the opera was performed for the first time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortunio (opera)
''Fortunio'' is a comédie lyrique or opera in four acts (originally five) and five tableaux by the French composer André Messager. The libretto by Gaston Arman de Caillavet and Robert de Flers is based on Alfred de Musset's 1835 comedy ''Le Chandelier''. It was first performed by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle Favart in Paris, on 5 June 1907, and remained part of the regular repertory until the 1940s. In recent years it has been revived in several productions in France and other countries. The opera has no spoken dialogue and comprises completely sung recitative and arias. Fortunio, clerk to the lawyer Maître André, becomes the decoy for an affair between Jacqueline – the lawyer's wife – and Clavaroche, an army officer, Fortunio falls in love with Jacqueline before discovering what is going on between her and the officer. Eventually she falls for Fortunio's innocent charm and sends Clavaroche away. Background Alfred de Musset's play ''Le Chandelier'' was published in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Noguéra
Louis Noguéra was a French bass-baritone (born in Algiers on 12 October 1910, died in Paris on 8 March 1984Kutsch, K. J. and Riemens, Leo (2003). ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (fourth edition, in German). Munich: K. G. Saur, . .) who enjoyed a long career in Paris—principally at the Paris Opéra and Opéra-Comique but also elsewhere in France and abroad, and who left some recordings representative of his repertoire. Life and career Born Louis Claver, his career commenced in 1935, as a knight in ''Parsifal'', at the Opéra.L'Art Lyrique website accessed 15 December 2015. During his career at the Palais Garnier, Noguéra went on to sing roles such as Wagner and Valentin in '''', the pilot in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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