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Arsinoe, Queen Of Cyprus
''Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus'' by Thomas Clayton was the first Italian-style opera (in English) to be staged in England. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 16 January 1705. There were various historical women named Arsinoe, but from the mid seventeenth-century the name became popular for fictional characters who, like the title-role of this opera, bore no relation to any of them. Introduction of Italian opera to London Clayton visited Italy and on his return staged a number of Italian singing and dancing interludes for the public at his house in York Buildings in 1703. Encouraged by the success of these ventures he decided to stage a full Italian-style opera in English. The libretto was originally written for the theatre in Bologna by in 1667 and performed in Venice in 1668 with music by Petronio Franceschini. (Stanzani had in fact plagiarised from ''La regina Floridea'', an opera staged in Milan). It was translated into English by Peter Anthony Motteux, who made a n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Clayton (composer)
Thomas Clayton (16731725) was an English violinist and composer, and a member of The King's Musick at the court of William III. His is said to be the first to acclimatise legitimate opera in England. Life His father was William Clayton. He studied in Italy, from about 1702 to about 1704, bringing with him (as was said at the time) a considerable quantity of Italian songs which he had collected abroad. These he set to an adaptation by Peter Anthony Motteux of a drama by Stonzani, which had been performed at Bologna in 1677, and at Venice in 1678. In association with Nicola Haym and Charles Dieupart, Clayton entered upon a series of opera performances at Drury Lane Theatre — the first venture of the kind in the annals of the English stage. The first season began on Tuesday, 16 Jan. 1705, with ''Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus'', the work which Clayton had vamped up from his Italian gleanings. It was announced as 'a new opera, after the Italian manner, all sung,' with recitatives ins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherine Tofts
Catherine Tofts or Katherine Tofts (died 1756) was the first English singer who sang Italian opera in England. Life About 1704, the competition between Tofts and Margherita de l'Épine was in earnest. Perhaps to illustrate the famed rivalry, Marco Ricci painted L'Épine with her back to Tofts, in the composition ''Rehearsal of an opera'' (c.1709) . Jonathon Swift has a short poem about Mrs Tofts in his "works" which talks of her beauty. It is thought however that the verse was written by Alexander Pope. Tofts quit the stage in 1709 and married Joseph Smith, English consul at Venice. They had a son but he died when still a child and Catherine became mentally ill. She died in 1756 and her husband married again the following year.Stuart L. Morrison, ‘Smith, Joseph (1673/4?–1770)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed 9 May 2015/ref> References See also * Margherita de l'Épine Margherita is an Italian feminine given name. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English-language Operas
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera In England
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] |
Valentino Urbani
Valentino Urbani (born in Udine; ''fl.'' 1690–1722) was an Italian mezzo-soprano or alto castrato who sang for the composer George Frideric Handel in the 18th century. He was known by the stage name Valentini. He sang the role of Eustazio at the première of Handel’s ''Rinaldo'', the role of Silvio at the premiere of ''Il pastor fido'', and the role of Egeo at the first performance of ''Teseo''. His powers of singing seem to have been limited and by the time of his Handel roles his voice was declining but he is reputed to have been a fine actor. Charles Burney noted that "his voice was feeble, and his execution moderate", but Cibber praises his acting enthusiastically: "his hearers bore with the absurdity of his singing the part of Turnus in ''Camilla'', all in Italian, while every other character was sung and recited in English". Urbani was the first castrato to sing regularly in London, where he created a sensation''Interculturalism and resistance in the London theater, 16 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castrato
A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity. Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents the larynx from being transformed by the normal physiological events of puberty. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by both sexes) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. Prepubescent castration for this purpose diminished greatly in the late 18th century. Methods of castration used to terminate on the onset of puberty varied. Methods involved using opium to medically induce a coma, then submerging the boy into an ice or milk bath where the procedure of either severing the vas deferens (similar to a vasectomy), twisting the testicles until they atrophied, or comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jakob Greber
Johann Jakob Greber (? – buried 5 July 1731) was a German Baroque composer and musician. His first name sometimes appeared in its Italianized version, Giacomo, especially during the years he spent in London (1702 – 1705). Greber composed solo cantatas, sonatas, and stage works, including the opera which opened London's Queen's Theatre in 1705. He died in Mannheim, where for many years he was '' Kapellmeister'' of the court orchestra of Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine. Life Greber's date and place of birth are unknown, although the '' Neue Deutsche Biographie'' proposes an approximate date of 1673.Steffen, Gerhard (1966) "Greber, Johann Jacob", '' Neue Deutsche Biographie'', Vol. 7, p. 16Online versionaccessed 19 June 2013 He is presumed to have studied in Italy and arrived in London from there in 1702, accompanied by his mistress, the opera singer Margherita de L'Epine. He was to remain in London for the next three years composing incidental music for plays and ari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, ''The Relapse'' (1696) and ''The Provoked Wife'' (1697), which have become enduring stage favourites but originally occasioned much controversy. He was knighted in 1714.Robert Chambers, Book of Days Vanbrugh was in many senses a radical throughout his life. As a young man and a committed Whig, he was part of the scheme to overthrow James II and put William III on the throne. He was imprisoned by the French as a political prisoner. In his career as a playwright, he offended many sections of Restoration and 18th century society, not only by the sexual explicitness of his plays, but also by their messages in defence of women's rights in marriage. He was attacked on both counts, and was one of the prime targets of Jeremy Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Burney
Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist and book donor to the British Museum. He was a close friend and supporter of Joseph Haydn. Early life and career Charles Burney was born at Raven Street, Shrewsbury, the fourth of six children of James Macburney (1678–1749), a musician, dancer and portrait painter, and his second wife Ann (''née'' Cooper, c. 1690–1775). In childhood he and a brother Richard (1723–1792) were for unknown reasons sent to the care of a "Nurse Ball" at nearby Condover, where they lived until 1739. He began formal education at Shrewsbury School in 1737 and was later sent in 1739 to The King's School, Chester, where his father then lived and worked. His first music master was a Mr Baker, the cathedral organist, and a pupil of Dr John Blow. Returning to Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camilla (Bononcini)
''Camilla'' was an opera first performed at Drury Lane in London on 30 April 1706. The libretto was based on ''Il Trionfo di Camilla, regina de' Volsci'' by Silvio Stampiglia, translated into English verse by Owen Swiny, Peter Motteux, or others. Authorship of the music for the original is attributed variously to Giovanni Bononcini and to his brother Marc Antonio. Music for the London version was adapted by Nicola Haym. The opera was the first to be sung in a mixture of English and Italian, and it was one of the first London operas in which the castrato Nicolò Grimaldi (known as Nicolini) performed. There were three separate productions of ''Camilla'' in London which together had 111 or 112 performances from 1706 to 1728, making it the most popular and successful work of its period, after ''The Beggar's Opera''. Roles and plot The story is based very loosely on the mythological figure of Camilla in Virgil's ''Aeneid''. The characters are: Camilla, heiress to the throne of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonio Maria Bononcini
Antonio Maria Bononcini (18 June 1677 – 8 July 1726) was an Italian cellist and composer, the younger brother of the better-known Giovanni Bononcini. Bononcini was born and died at Modena in Italy. Like his brother, he studied with Giovanni Paolo Colonna. Between 1690 and 1693, he played in the orchestra of Cardinal Pamphili. In 1698 he composed an allegory, ''La fama eroica'', for performance in Rome. He worked for some years with his brother, and joined him in the court orchestra at Vienna, where in 1705 he became ''Kapellmeister'' to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. In 1713 he returned to Italy, where he worked in Milan, Naples and Modena. In 1721 he became the ''maestro di cappella'' in Modena, where he remained for the rest of his life. In addition to his stage works, he composed over 40 cantatas (most of them for solo voice and harpsichord), as well as sacred music including a ''Mass in G minor'', a '' Stabat Mater in C Minor'', and a ''Salve Regina The "S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicola Haym
Nicola Francesco Haym (6 July 1678 – 31 July 1729) was an Italian opera librettist, composer, theatre manager and performer, literary editor and numismatist. He is best remembered for adapting texts into libretti for the London operas of George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini. Libretti that he provided for Handel included those for ''Giulio Cesare'', ''Ottone'', ''Flavio'', ''Tamerlano'', '' Rodelinda'', and several others; for Bononcini, he produced two, ''Calfurnia'' and ''Astianatte''. Compositions Haym was born in Rome. His career began as a cellist in Italy, and he arrived in London in 1701: he swiftly became master of the 2nd Duke of Bedford's chamber music. He wrote the libretto for Bononcini's '' Camilla'', a seminal work of enormous success that did much to establish Italian opera in London. Later, when operas in London came to be performed entirely in Italian, rather than in a bilingual blend of English and Italian, Haym spent much time adapting both librett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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