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Bella Paalen
Bella Paalen, real name Isabella Pollak (9 July or 9 DecemberWilhelm Kosch (ed.): ''Deutsches Theaterlexikon''. Vol. II. Hurka–Pallenberg De Gruyter, Berlin, January 1971. p. 1722. (retrieved via De Gruyter Online) 1881 – 28 July 1964) was an Austrian-American operatic soprano of Hungarian origin. She was engaged for 31 years at the Vienna State Opera, k.-k. Hofoper in Vienna, later the State Opera, was appointed Kammersängerin there in 1933 and had to leave the country after the Anschluss because of her Jewish origins. Life and career Born in Pásztó, Austria-Hungary, Paalen was the daughter of Ernst Pollak (1851–1935) and Laura Pollak ''née'' Jamnitz (1858–1935). The father came from Jungbunzlau, the mother from Vienna where her two brothers (1883–1971) and Otto Friedrich Pollak (1885–1915) were born. Paalen's second brother and her parents also died in Vienna. In 1912, her brother Benno Fred changed his family name to Dolbin. She studied singing with Rosa Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bella Paalen
Bella Paalen, real name Isabella Pollak (9 July or 9 DecemberWilhelm Kosch (ed.): ''Deutsches Theaterlexikon''. Vol. II. Hurka–Pallenberg De Gruyter, Berlin, January 1971. p. 1722. (retrieved via De Gruyter Online) 1881 – 28 July 1964) was an Austrian-American operatic soprano of Hungarian origin. She was engaged for 31 years at the Vienna State Opera, k.-k. Hofoper in Vienna, later the State Opera, was appointed Kammersängerin there in 1933 and had to leave the country after the Anschluss because of her Jewish origins. Life and career Born in Pásztó, Austria-Hungary, Paalen was the daughter of Ernst Pollak (1851–1935) and Laura Pollak ''née'' Jamnitz (1858–1935). The father came from Jungbunzlau, the mother from Vienna where her two brothers (1883–1971) and Otto Friedrich Pollak (1885–1915) were born. Paalen's second brother and her parents also died in Vienna. In 1912, her brother Benno Fred changed his family name to Dolbin. She studied singing with Rosa Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graz Opera
The Graz Opera (German: Oper Graz) is an Austrian opera house and opera company based in Graz. The orchestra of the opera house also performs concerts as the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra (''Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester''). History Opera had been performed in Graz since the 17th century, originally in a converted coach house on the Habsburg royal estates. The National Theatre (Schauspielhaus Graz), constructed in 1776, saw many early performances of Mozart's operas, although today (after many reconstructions) it is devoted to the performances of plays. The city's first dedicated opera house and the immediate predecessor of the Graz Opera was the Thalia Theatre, adapted in 1864 from an old circus hall. Plans for a new theatre suitable to the growing size and importance of the city and intended to be a "new home for German art" were first proposed in 1887. Designed by Ferdinand Fellner and Herman Helmer in the neo-baroque style, the Graz Opera was inaugurated in 1899 with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its shorter length, the operetta is usually of a light and amusing character. It sometimes also includes satirical commentaries. "Operetta" is the Italian diminutive of "opera" and was used originally to describe a shorter, perhaps less ambitious work than an opera. Operetta provides an alternative to operatic performances in an accessible form targeting a different audience. Operetta became a recognizable form in the mid-19th century in France, and its popularity led to the development of many national styles of operetta. Distinctive styles emerged across countries including Austria-Hungary, Germany, England, Spain, the Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, and the United States. Through the transfer of operetta among different countries, cultural cosmop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spieloper
In the 19th century, Spieloper ('opera play') was understood to mean a light opera genre, developed from Singspiel. Works typical of the genre include those by Albert Lortzing, such as ''Zar und Zimmermann'', and Otto Nicolai's '' The Merry Wives of Windsor''. A key difference between Spieloper and Singspiel on the one hand, and opera buffa on the other, is that the two former genres contain spoken dialogues instead of recitatives, which is why Conradin Kreutzer's '' Das Nachtlager in Granada'' and Friedrich von Flotow's ''Martha'' do not belong to this genre. Technically, a Spieloper is an opera with a comic plot and light, pleasant music, differentiating it from more serious opera. Similarly, there are special role types such as Spieltenor or Spielbass for singers with lighter voices and the ability to act in comedies. The Spieloper was also inspired by the French opéra comique of the late 18th century, a narrowly defined form of opera. The boundaries between Spieloper and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selma Kurz
Selma Kurz (15 October 1874 – 10 May 1933) was an Austrian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano known for her brilliant coloratura technique. Background Selma Kurz was born in Bielsko-Biała to a very humble Jewish family of eleven children. She grew up in Bielitz. While still a girl, she was taken to a convent to be trained as a seamstress. The nuns quickly discovered the beauty of her voice, however, and she also often sang in the local synagogue. These circumstances led local people to raise some money so that she could go to Vienna and audition for Professor Gänsbacher, a prominent vocal teacher who did not teach women, but wrote important letters of recommendation. Little Selma was thus enabled to visit the imposing Schloss Totis, the Viennese residence, ''en villéggiature'', of the famous patron of the arts count Nicholas (Miklós) Esterházy de Galántha, who agreed to pay for her lessons with another prominent vocal pedagogue, Johannes Ress. Once her career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vera Schwarz
Vera Schwarz (10 July 1888 - 4 December 1964) was an Austrian soprano, known primarily for her operetta partnership with Richard Tauber. Life Vera Schwarz was born in Zagreb, the daughter of Hungarian-Croatian aviation pioneer David Schwarz. She studied in Vienna with Philipp Forstén and gave her debut in 1908 at the Theater an der Wien. From 1908 to 1912 she was a member of the Grazer Oper, and from 1911 to 1913 she sang at the Johann Strauß-Theater in Vienna. After performing in Karlsbad she came to the Hamburger Stadttheater in 1914. From 1918 to 1922 she was an ensemble member of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Vienna From 1921 to 1930 Schwarz appeared often as a guest in Vienna, performing the title roles of ''Tosca'' and ''Carmen'', Eva in ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'', Sieglinde in ''Die Walküre'', Countess in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' and Rachel in '' La Juive'', receiving the title "Kammersängerin"". It was during this time that she taught ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mattia Battistini
Mattia Battistini (27 February 1856 – 7 November 1928) was an Italian operatic baritone, referred to as the "King of Baritones" in multiple publications.Steane, J.B., 1998. Singers of the Century, vol. 2. Amadeus Press, Portland, pp. 48–52. Early life Battistini was born in Rome on February 27, 1856. He spent most of his childhood at the village of Collebaccaro di Contigliano, near Rieti, where his parents held an estate. His grandfather Giovanni and uncle Raffaele were personal physicians to the Pope, and his father, Cavaliere Luigi Battistini, was a professor of anatomy at the University of Rome. Battistini attended the Collegio Bandinelli and later the Istituto dell' Apollinare. Battistini dropped out of law school to study with Emilio Terziani (who taught composition) and with Venceslao Persichini (professor of singing) at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia—then the Liceo Musicale of Rome. Battistini worked with conductor Luigi Mancinelli and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theatre, and Richard Anton Tauber, an actor; his parents were not married and his father was reportedly unaware of the birth as he was touring North America at the time. The child was given the name Richard Denemy; he was sometimes known as arlRichard Tauber, and also used his mother's married name, Seiffert; but the claim by the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' that he was ever known as Ernst Seiffert has no support from any of the 12 published books and monographs about him listed in Daniel O'Hara's comprehensive Richard Tauber Chronology. After he was adopted by his father in 1913, his legal name became Richard Denemy-Tauber. Tauber accompanied his mother on tour to theatres, but she found it increasingly difficult to cope, and left him with fos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Un Ballo In Maschera
''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''. The plot concerns the assassination in 1792 of King Gustav III of Sweden who was shot, as the result of a political conspiracy, while attending a masked ball, dying of his wounds thirteen days later. It was to take over two years between the commission from Naples, planned for a production there, and its premiere performance at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 17 February 1859. In becoming the ''Un ballo in maschera'' which we know today, Verdi's opera (and his libretto) underwent a significant series of transformations and title changes, caused by a combination of censorship regulations in both Naples and Rome, as well as by the political situation in France in January 1858. Based on the Scribe libretto and begun as ''Gustavo III'' set in Stockho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiefland (opera)
''Tiefland'' (''The Lowlands'') is an opera in a prologue and two acts by Eugen d'Albert, to a libretto in German by Rudolf Lothar. Based on the 1896 Catalan play '' Terra baixa'' by Àngel Guimerà, ''Tiefland'' was d'Albert's seventh opera, and is the one which is now the best known. Performance history ''Tiefland'' was first performed on 15 November 1903 at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, with only limited success. Part of the reason for the lukewarm reception may have been because the house's leading dramatic tenor, Wilhelm Elsner, had died suddenly not too long before the opera's premiere, forcing another singer to learn and perform the role of Pedro in a relatively short amount of time. For its next performance, ''Tiefland'' was revised by D'Albert and revived in Hamburg and Berlin in 1907, where it played to long runs. Its American premiere took place at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on November 23, 1908 with Emmy Destinn and Erik Schmedes in the two leading ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December 1871, in a performance conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. Today the work holds a central place in the operatic canon, receiving performances every year around the world; at New York's Metropolitan Opera alone, ''Aida'' has been sung more than 1,100 times since 1886. Ghislanzoni's scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Elements of the opera's genesis and sources Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write an opera to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal, but Verdi declined. However, Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist, proposed to Khedive Pasha a plot for a celebratory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Der Rosenkavalier
(''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière's comedy ''Monsieur de Pourceaugnac''. It was first performed at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden on 26 January 1911 under the direction of Max Reinhardt, Ernst von Schuch conducting. Until the premiere, the working title was ''Ochs auf Lerchenau''. (The choice of the name Ochs is not accidental, for in German "Ochs" means "ox", which describes the character of the Baron throughout the opera.) The opera has four main characters: the aristocratic Marschallin; her very young lover, Count Octavian Rofrano; her brutish cousin Baron Ochs; and Ochs' prospective fiancée, Sophie von Faninal, the daughter of a rich bourgeois. At the Marschallin's suggestion, Octavian acts as Ochs' ''Rosenkavalier'' by pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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