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Baldassare Ferri
Baldassare Ferri (9 December 1610 – 10 September 1680) was an Italian ''castrato'' singer. He is said to have possessed "extraordinary endurance of breath, flexibility of voice and depth of emotion". History He was born in Perugia, and at the age of eleven was a chorister to Cardinal Crescenzi, at Orvieto, in whose service he remained until 1655, when the Swedish invasion broke up the court. Four years later the Prince, afterwards Wladislaus IV, of Poland, secured Ferri's services for the Court of Sigismund III, at Warsaw. In 1655 the singer entered the service of Ferdinand III in Vienna. He received many honors from royalty and the nobles of various countries, and was one of the most renowned singers of his time. In 1654 he journeyed to Sweden to sing by request before Queen Christine, his voice even then being famous throughout Europe. He was made a knight of St. Mark of Venice in 1643, sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Co ... [...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] |
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. The region of Umbria is bordered by Tuscany, Lazio, and Marche. The history of Perugia goes back to the Etruscan period; Perugia was one of the main Etruscan cities. The city is also known as the University, universities town, with the University of Perugia founded in 1308 (about 34,000 students), the University for Foreigners Perugia, University for Foreigners (5,000 students), and some smaller colleges such as the Academy of Fine Arts "Pietro Vannucci" ( it, Accademia di Belle Arti "Pietro Vannucci") public athenaeum founded in 1573, the Perugia University Institute of Linguistic Mediation for translators and interpreters, the Music Conservatory of Perugia, founded in 1788, and other institutes. Perugia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pier Paolo Crescenzi
Pier Paolo Crescenzi (1572 – 19 February 1645) was an Italian Catholic cardinal. Crescenzi was born in 1572, the son of Virgilio Crescenzi, Baron of Montorio, and Costanza del Drago, of the Marquises of Riofreddo. He was the brother of artist Giovanni Battista Crescenzi. He was educated at the University of Perugia and earned a doctorate ''in utroque iure'' (Civil and Canon Law). Very little is known about Crescenzi's early life, but on 17 August 1611 he was elevated to cardinal and installed as Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Nereo ed Achilleo. On 4 Jul 1612, he was appointed during the papacy of Pope Paul V as Bishop of Rieti. On 15 Jul 1612, he was consecrated bishop by Bonifazio Caetani, Bishop of Cassano all'Jonio, with Fabio Biondi, Titular Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Galeazzo Sanvitale, Archbishop Emeritus of Bari-Canosa, serving as co-consecrators. On 17 Mar 1621, he was appointed Bishop of Orvieto. In 1629, he was appointed Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina, where he ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orvieto
Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of the same stone, called ''tufa''. History Etruscan era The ancient city (''urbs vetus'' in Latin, whence "Orvieto"), populated since Etruscan times, has usually been associated with Etruscan Velzna, but some modern scholars differ. Orvieto was certainly a major centre of Etruscan civilization; the archaeological museum (Museo Claudio Faina e Museo Civico) houses some of the Etruscan artifacts that have been recovered in the immediate area. A tomb in the Orvieto Cannicella necropolis bears the inscription ''mi aviles katacinas'', "I am of Avile Katacina"; the tomb's occupant thus bore an Etruscan-Latin first name, Aulus, and a family name that is believed to be of Celtic origin (derived from "Catacos"). Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wladislaus IV
Ladislav is a Czech, Slovak and Croatian variant of the Slavic name Vladislav. The female form of this name is Ladislava. Folk etymology occasionally links ''Ladislav'' with the Slavic goddess Lada. Spellings and variations In Bulgarian and Russian this name is spelled in . ''László'' is a Hungarian variation of this name. Athletes *Ladislav Beneš, Czechoslovak Olympic handball player * Ladislav Benýšek, Czech ice hockey player *Ladislav Čepčianský, Czechoslovak sprint canoer *Ladislav Dluhoš, Czechoslovak ski jumper *Ladislav Fouček *Ladislav Hecht (1909–2004), Czechoslovak/American tennis player *Ladislav Hrubý, cross-country skier *Ladislav Jurkemik, Czechoslovak/Slovak footballer and manager *Ladislav Kačáni, Czechoslovak footballer and coach *Ladislav Kohn, Czech ice hockey player *Ladislav Kuna, Czechoslovak footballer *Ladislav Lubina, Czechoslovak ice hockey player and coach *Ladislav Maier, Czech footballer *Ladislav Nagy, Slovak ice hockey pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigismund III
Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Religiously zealous, he imposed Roman Catholicism across the vast realm, and his crusades against neighbouring states marked Poland's largest territorial expansion. As an enlightened despot, he presided over an era of prosperity and achievement, further distinguished by the transfer of the country's capital from Kraków to Warsaw. Sigismund was the son of King John III of Sweden and his first wife, Catherine Jagiellon, daughter of King Sigismund I of Poland. Elected monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1587, he sought to unify Poland and Sweden under one Catholic kingdom, and when he succeeded his deceased father in 1592 the Polish–Swedish union was created. O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608, in Graz – 2 April 1657, in Vienna) was from 1621 Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary from 1625, King of Croatia and Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 until his death in 1657. Ferdinand ascended the throne at the beginning of the last decade of the Thirty Years' War and introduced lenient policies to depart from old ideas of divine rights under his father, as he had wished to end the war quickly. As the numerous battles had not resulted in sufficient military containment of the Protestant enemies, and confronted with decaying Imperial power, Ferdinand was compelled to abandon the political stances of his Habsburg predecessors in many respects in order to open the long road towards the much delayed peace treaty. Although his authority among the princes was weakened after the war, in Bohemia, Hungary and the Austria, however, Ferdinand's position as sovereign was uncontested. Ferdinand was the first Habsburg mona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christina, Queen Of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December (New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death at the Battle of Lützen in 1632, but began ruling the Swedish Empire when she reached the age of eighteen in 1644. The Swedish queen is remembered as one of the most learned women of the 17th century. She was fond of books, manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures. With her interest in religion, philosophy, mathematics, and alchemy, she attracted many scientists to Stockholm, wanting the city to become the "Athens of the North". The Peace of Westphalia allowed her to establish an academy or university when and wherever she wanted. In 1644, she began issuing copper in lumps as large as fifteen kilograms to serve as currency. Christina's financial extravagance brought the state to the verge of bankruptcy, and the financial difficulties caus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, and the Sicilian School of poets who surrounded him then spread the form to the mainland. The earliest sonnets, however, no longer survive in the original Sicilian language, but only after being translated into Tuscan dialect. The term "sonnet" is derived from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (lit. "little song", derived from the Latin word ''sonus'', meaning a sound). By the 13th century it signified a poem of fourteen lines that followed a strict rhyme scheme and structure. According to Christopher Blum, during the Renaissance, the sonnet became the "choice mode of expressing romantic love". During that period, too, the form was taken up in many other European language areas and eventually any subject was considered acceptable for writers o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castrati
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] |
1610 Births
Year 161 ( CLXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Aurelius (or, less frequently, year 914 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 161 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * March 7 – Emperor Antoninus Pius dies, and is succeeded by Marcus Aurelius, who shares imperial power with Lucius Verus, although Marcus retains the title Pontifex Maximus. * Marcus Aurelius, a Spaniard like Trajan and Hadrian, is a stoical disciple of Epictetus, and an energetic man of action. He pursues the policy of his predecessor and maintains good relations with the Senate. As a legislator, he endeavors to create new principles of morality and humanity, particularly favoring women and slaves. * Aurelius red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1680 Deaths
Year 168 ( CLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Paullus (or, less frequently, year 921 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 168 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his adopted brother Lucius Verus leave Rome, and establish their headquarters at Aquileia. * The Roman army crosses the Alps into Pannonia, and subdues the Marcomanni at Carnuntum, north of the Danube. Asia * Emperor Ling of Han succeeds Emperor Huan of Han as the emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty; the first year of the ''Jianning'' era. Births * Cao Ren, Chinese general (d. 223) * Gu Yong, Chinese chancellor (d. 243) * Li Tong, Chinese general (d. 209) Deaths * Anicetus, pope of Rom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
