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Benno Kusche
Benno Paul Kusche (30 January 1916 – 14 May 2010) was a German operatic baritone, who was praised as one of the best Mozart and Wagner singers, especially in character roles and opera buffa. Career Born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Kusche was the son of the painter Paul Kusche. From 1935 to 1937 he attended the theatre academy of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. There he discovered his talent as a singer. He made his debut at the Heidelberg Opera Festival in 1938. Kusche received his first engagement in 1938 at the Theater Koblenz. He joined the Theater Augsburg in 1939. Here he was active until his conscription for military service in 1941 and, after being wounded and discharged, returned to the Augsburg company from 1943 until the theatre was bombed in 1944. Soon after the collapse of the Nazi dictatorship he played in operettas in the , then at Augsburg. From 1946 Kusche belonged to the Bavarian State Opera as a bass baritone known beyond Germany and was a member of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A2 to A4) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, ''Kavalierbariton'', Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, ''baryton-noble'' baritone, and the bass-baritone. History The first use of the term "baritone" emerged as ''baritonans'', late in the 15th century, usually in French sacred polyphonic music. At this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices (including the bass), but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the averag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra''. It is a ''dramma giocoso'' blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements (although the composer entered it into his catalogue simply as ''opera buffa''). It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater (of Bohemia), now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. ''Don Giovanni'' is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte". Composition and premiere The opera was commissioned after the succes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Operettas By Johann Strauss II
This is a complete list of the operettas written by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II (1825–1899). With the exceptions of ''Eine Nacht in Venedig'' and three incomplete works (''Die lustigen Weiber von Wien'', ''Romulus'' and ''Der Schelm von Bergen''), all premieres took place in Vienna. List of operettas Operettas arranged by others using music by Johann Strauss II (selection) * ''La reine Indigo'', opérette in 3 acts (1875) * ''La tzigane'', opérette in 3 acts (1877) * '' Wiener Blut'', Operette in 3 acts, arranged by Adolf Müller (1899) * ''Gräfin Pepi'', Operette in 3 acts, arranged by E Reiterer (1902) * ''Tausend und eine Nacht'', Operette in a prelude and 2 acts, arranged by E Reiterer (1906) * ''Reiche Mädchen'', Operette in 3 acts (1909) * ''Der blaue Held'', Operette in 3 acts (1912) * ''Faschingshochzeit'', Operette arranged by J Klein (1921) * ''Casanova'', Operette in 7 scenes, arranged by Ralph Benatzky (1928) * '' Walzer aus Wien'', Singspiel in 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gräfin Mariza
''Gräfin Mariza'' (''Countess Maritza'') is an operetta in three acts composed by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán, with a German libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald. It premiered in Vienna on 28 February 1924 at the Theater an der Wien. English adaptations As ''Countess Maritza'', it made its New York City debut on 18 September 1926 at the Shubert Theatre, in an adaptation by Harry B. Smith, and with interpolated music by other composers, playing 318 performances, with Yvonne d'Arle in the title role on opening night. The show was staged by J. C. Huffman. As ''Maritza'', it opened in London at the Palace Theatre on 6 July 1938, with Mary Losseff in the title role. A London revival by New Sadler's Wells Opera opened at Sadler's Wells Theatre in February 1983, with a new English book and lyrics by Nigel Douglas, starring Marilyn Hill Smith (Maritza), Ramon Remedios (Tassilo), Laureen Livingstone (Lisa), Lynn Barber (Manja) and Tudor Davies (Zsupan) conducte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gasparone
''Gasparone'' is an operetta in three acts by Carl Millöcker to a German libretto by Friedrich Zell and Richard Genée. The libretto was later revised by and . An amusing feature of the work is that the title character never appears and acts as a scapegoat upon which all the misdeeds in Syracuse, Sicily, can be blamed. Performance history The opera had its premiere on 26 January 1884 at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna. It was subsequently given in Berlin at the Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater on September 26, 1884, and in New York City in German at the Thalia Theater in 1885 and in English at the Standard Theatre in 1885 and again in 1887 with Lillian Russell as Carlotta, Eugène Oudin as Count Erminio and J. H. Ryley. After its debut, Millöcker revised the piece, creating eight versions. However, the most commonly used performing edition is that prepared in 1932 by the composer Ernst Steffan. This version includes "Dunkelrote Rosen" which Millöcker wrote as a vo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schwarzwaldmädel
' (''Black Forest Girl'') is a 1917 operetta in three acts by German composer Leon Jessel. The libretto is by August Neidhart, and the operetta premiered on 25 August 1917 at the old Komische Oper Berlin. It is the most popular operetta written in Germany. Performance history ' premiered at the Komische Oper in Berlin in August 1917. The opera's touching libretto, appealing melodies, and elegant instrumentation proved immensely popular. It ran in Berlin for 900 performances, and within the next 10 years was performed approximately 6,000 times in Germany and abroad. The work is by far Leon Jessel's greatest success as an operetta composer, and it catapulted him to the height of the world of European operetta. With the rise of Nazism in the late 1920s, Jessel, who had converted to Christianity in 1894 but was Jewish by birth, had his music boycotted in Germany as early as 1927. The last Nazi-era performance of ''Schwarzwaldmädel'' in Germany was in 1936, and recordings and distr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Marszalek
Franz Marszalek (born 2 August 1900 in Breslau, Schlesien, Germany (now Wrocław, Silesia, Poland); died 28 October 1975 in Cologne, Germany) was a German conductor and composer, who was a leading figure in operetta. He began his studies in Wrocław, and moved to Berlin in 1933. He conducted the Cologne Radio Orchestra from 1949 to 1965, with an emphasis on operetta music. He was a longtime friend of the operetta composer Eduard Künneke, whose music he championed in concerts and in recordings with the Cologne Radio Orchestra and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (German: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln) is a German radio orchestra based in Cologne, where the orchestra mainly performs at two concert halls: the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie. Histor .... External links Brief note in Dutch 1900 births 1975 deaths Musicians from Wrocław German male conductors (music) Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD. As well as contributing to the output of the national television channel '' Das Erste'', WDR produces the regional television service WDR Fernsehen (formerly known as WDF and West3) and six regional radio networks. History Origins The Westdeutsche Funkstunde AG (WEFAG) was established on 15 September 1924. There was a substantial purge of left wing staff following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. This included Ernst Hardt, Hans Stein and Walter Stern. WDR was created in 1955, when Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) was split into Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) – covering Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and Hamburg – and Westdeutscher Rundfunk, responsible for Nort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Fledermaus
' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original literary source for ' was ' (''The Prison''), a farce by German playwright Julius Roderich Benedix that premiered in Berlin in 1851. On 10 September 1872, a three-act French vaudeville play by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, ', loosely based on the Benedix farce, opened at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. Meilhac and Halévy had provided several successful libretti for Offenbach and ''Le Réveillon'' later formed the basis for the 1926 silent film '' So This Is Paris'', directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Meilhac and Halévy's play was soon translated into German by Karl Haffner (1804–1876), at the instigation of Max Steiner, as a non-musical play for production in Vienna. The French custom of a New Year's Eve ''réveillon'', or supper party ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Der Bettelstudent
''Der Bettelstudent'' (''The Beggar Student'') is an operetta in three acts by Carl Millöcker with a German libretto by Camillo Walzel (under the pseudonym of F. Zell) and Richard Genée, based on ''Les noces de Fernande'' by Victorien Sardou and ''The Lady of Lyons'' by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. However, the librettists added the element of combining love and politics to the French comedy plots. It premiered in Vienna in 1882. Performance history The work was performed first at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, on 6 December 1882. It was a success and allowed Millöcker to retire from conducting. Johann Strauss II rejected the libretto in favor of '' A Night in Venice'', but Millöcker's work turned out to be an enduringly popular operetta, with over 5,000 productions. The piece played at the Thalia Theatre in New York City in 1883 and then in English at the Casino Theatre in 1883. It was revived in New York at least three times: in 1898 and 1899 at the Thalia Theatre, and in 191 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Gypsy Baron
''The Gypsy Baron'' () is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story ''Saffi'' by Mór Jókai. Jokai later published a novel ''A cigánybáró'' () in 1885 using an expanded version of this same story. While an operetta, ''The Gypsy Baron'' was a departure from Strauss's earlier more comic and light hearted works; displaying more serious tones both musically and dramatically in what musicologist Andrew Lamb described as "a step in Strauss’s quest for the composition of a genuine opera". During the composer's lifetime, the operetta enjoyed great success internationally. It is considered one of Strauss's three best stage works, along with ''Die Fledermaus'' (1874) and '' Eine Nacht in Venedig'' (1883). Composition history Strauss was introduced to Jókai's story prior to its publication as a novel in Pest, Hungary in February 1883 by hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Così Fan Tutte
(''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte who also wrote ''Le nozze di Figaro'' and ''Don Giovanni''. Although it is commonly held that was written and composed at the suggestion of the Emperor Joseph II, recent research does not support this idea. There is evidence that Mozart's contemporary Antonio Salieri tried to set the libretto but left it unfinished. In 1994, John Rice uncovered two terzetti by Salieri in the Austrian National Library. The short title, ''Così fan tutte'', literally means "So do they all", using the feminine plural (''tutte'') to indicate women. It is usually translated into English as "Women are like that". The words are sung by the three men in act 2, scene 3, just before the finale; this melodic phrase is also quoted in the overture to the opera. Da P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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