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Celeste Gismondi
Celeste Gismondi (died 11 March 1735), originally known as Celeste Resse and nicknamed ''La Celestina'' ("The Heavenly"), was an Italian soprano opera singer, who performed a major role in the première of some works by George Frideric Handel, including ''Orlando (opera), Orlando''. Biography It is unknown when Gismondi was born. The suggestion that Gismondi, about whom nothing was knowing prior to her arrival in London in 1732, was the same as Resse, was first proposed by Strohm in 1985 (R. Strohm, Essays on Handel and Italian opera, Cambridge). The first traces we find of the career of Resse was in Naples in April 1722, where she sang in the Early theatres in Naples#Teatro dei Fiorentini, Teatro dei Fiorentini in the comedic opera ''La noce de Veneviento'' by Francesco Feo. She performed later the same year in ''Lo castiello saccheato'', and in 1723 in ''Lo labborinto'', both by Leonardo Vinci. Because her name didn't appear in the original programmes for the operas, it has been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) = 1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word '' sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" '' |
Nicola Porpora
Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included composers Matteo Capranica and Joseph Haydn. Biography Porpora was born in Naples. He graduated from the music conservatory Poveri di Gesù Cristo of his native city, where the civic opera scene was dominated by Alessandro Scarlatti. Porpora's first opera, ''Agrippina,'' was successfully performed at the Neapolitan court in 1708. His second, ''Berenice'', was performed at Rome. In a long career, he followed these up by many further operas, supported as ''maestro di cappella'' in the households of aristocratic patrons, such as the commander of military forces at Naples, prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt, or of the Portuguese ambassador at Rome, for composing operas alone did not yet make a viable career. However, his enduring fame rests chiefly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1735 Deaths
Events January–March * January 2 – Alexander Pope's poem ''Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot'' is published in London. * January 8 – George Frideric Handel's opera ''Ariodante'' is premièred at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. * February 3 – All 256 people on board the Dutch East India Company ships '' Vliegenthart'' and ''Anna Catherina'' die when the two ships sink in a gale off of the Netherlands coast. The wreckage of ''Vliegenthart'' remains undiscovered until 1981. * February 14 – The ''Order of St. Anna'' is established in Russia, in honor of the daughter of Peter the Great. * March 10 – The Russian Empire and Persia sign the Treaty of Ganja, with Russia ceding territories in the Caucasus mountains to Persia, and the two rivals forming a defensive alliance against the Ottoman Empire. * March 11 – Abraham Patras becomes the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) upon the death of Dirck van Cloon. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Year Of Birth Unknown
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions around the planet, four seasons are generally recognized: spring, summer, autumn and winter. In tropical and subtropical regions, several geographical sectors do not present defined seasons; but in the seasonal tropics, the annual wet and dry seasons are recognized and tracked. A calendar year is an approximation of the number of days of the Earth's orbital period, as counted in a given calendar. The Gregorian calendar, or modern calendar, presents its calendar year to be either a common year of 365 days or a leap year of 366 days, as do the Julian calendars. For the Gregorian calendar, the average length of the calendar year ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlo Arrigoni
Carlo Arrigoni (6 December 1697 – 19 August 1744) was an Italian composer and musician who was active in several countries during the first half of the 18th century. Life and work Arrigoni was born in Florence. Little is known of his early years or musical education. His first oratorio was performed in his native city in 1719 and was followed by ''Il Pentimento d’Accabo'' (Accabo’s repentance, 1722), a setting for five voices of a poem by his relative, Father Crisostomo Arrigoni. His opera ''La Vedova'' (The widow) was also performed that same year in Foligno. The next mention of Arrigoni is in Brussels, then part of the Austrian Netherlands, where ''Il Pentimento d’Accabo'' was performed in 1728. At the start of the 1730s he was working at the Dublin Academy of Music, then transferred to London in 1732. There he published chamber cantatas dedicated to the English queen, Caroline of Ansbach, and shared in the musical life of the capital until 1736. In April 1733 Arrigoni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arianna In Nasso (Porpora)
''Arianna in Nasso'' is a 1733 opera by Nicola Porpora to a libretto by Paolo Rolli, chief conductor of the Opera of the Nobility. Background The choice of the subject of Ariadne was a challenge to Handel, whose '' Arianna in Creta'' was completed by 5 October 1733. Handel's ''Arianna in Creta'' was based on Pietro Pariati's much-set ''Arianna e Teseo'', in the later of two versions by Leonardo Leo (1729). This was a libretto which Porpora himself had also used for his own ''Arianna e Teseo'' (1721). Handel's choice of libretto obliged Porpora to turn to Rolli's libretto which was modeled not on Pariati but on Stampa's libretto to Giovanni Porta Giovanni Porta (c. 1677 – 21 June 1755) was an Italian opera composer. His opera '' Argippo'', to a libretto by Domenico Lalli, was premiered in Venice in 1717.Freeman, Daniel E. (1992)''The Opera Theater of Count Franz Anton Von Sporck i ...'s ''dramma pastorale'', ''Arianna''. Colin Timms, Bruce Wood ''Music in the London The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Griselda (Giovanni Bononcini)
''Griselda'' is a dramma per musica in three acts that was composed by Giovanni Bononcini. The opera uses a revised version of the 1701 Italian libretto by Apostolo Zeno that was based on Giovanni Boccaccio's ''The Decameron'' (Summary of Decameron tales#Tenth tale .28X.2C 10.29, X, 10, "The Patient Griselda").''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, The Italian poet Paolo Antonio Rolli was hired to revise the text. Bononcini's opera premiered in London at the Her Majesty's Theatre, King’s Theatre on 22 February 1722. From the opera, an aria "Per la gloria d'adorarvi" is nowadays a famous and popular concert piece, with opera singers such as Oleg Ryabets (performed in 2001, at Kasals Hall, Tokyo, and in 2005, at Festival Die Metamorfosen by Georges-Emmanuel Schneider, Interlaken), or Ramon Vargas (recording in 2002, Arie Antiche). Bononcini's brother, Antonio Maria Bononcini, also composed Griselda (Antonio Maria Bononcini), his own ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni Bononcini
Giovanni Bononcini (or Buononcini) (18 July 1670 – 9 July 1747) (sometimes cited also as Giovanni Battista Bononcini) was an Italian Baroque composer, cellist, singer and teacher, one of a family of string players and composers. Biography Early years Bononcini was born in Modena, Italy, the oldest of three sons. His father, Giovanni Maria Bononcini (1642–1678), was a violinist and a composer, and his younger brother, Antonio Maria Bononcini, was also a composer. An orphan from the age of 8, Giovanni Battista studied in the music school of Giovanni Paolo Colonna at San Petronio Basilica in Bologna (perhaps in 1680 or 1681). In 1685, at the age of 15, he published three collections of instrumental works (in two of which he gave his age as 13). On 30 May 1686, he was accepted as a member of the prestigious Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna. His services were already much in demand: he worked at San Petronio as a string player and singer, published further collections of instru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther (Handel)
''Esther'' ( HWV 50) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. It is generally acknowledged to be the first English oratorio. Handel set a libretto after the Old Testament drama by Jean Racine. The work was originally composed in 1718, but was heavily revised into a full oratorio in 1732. Masque (1718, revised 1720) ''Esther'' began in 1718 as a masque, or chamber drama (HWV 50a), composed early in Handel's English career, and before the body of his success as an opera composer. It was first composed and performed at Cannons, where the Duke of Chandos employed Handel from 1716 - 1718 as resident composer writing for his patron's singers and small orchestra. Little is known about this first version of ''Esther''. The version which survives is of a revision in 1720, also probably intended for private performance at Cannons, where the very wealthy Duke of Chandos employed a group of musicians and singers, and where '' Acis and Galatea'', Handel's first non-religious vocal work in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deborah (Handel)
''Deborah'' ( HWV 51) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. It was one of Handel's early oratorios in English and was based on a libretto by Samuel Humphreys. It received its premiere performance at the King's Theatre in London on 17 March 1733. The story of the oratorio takes place in a single day and is based on the Biblical stories found in 4 and 5 Judges. The Israelites have been subjugated for 20 years by the Canaanites, when the prophetess Deborah foretells the death of the Canaanite commander Sisera at the hands of a woman. The Israelite commander Barak leads them into battle against the Canaanites. The Israelites are victorious and a woman, Jael, assassinates Sisera as he sleeps in her tent. Handel reused music from numerous previous compositions for ''Deborah''. The work, with large choruses and grand orchestral effects, was very successful and was revived by Handel in subsequent years. Background By 1733, Handel had spent nearly twenty years composing and presen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floridante
''Floridante'' ( HWV 14) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio Rolli after Francesco Silvani's libretto for Marc'Antonio Ziani dramma per musica ''La costanza in trionfo'' of 1696. The opera was first given at the King's Theatre in London on 9 December 1721 and was a success with audiences, being revived by Handel in several subsequent seasons. The plot involves dynastic struggles and love tangles in a fictionalised Ancient Persia and is notable for an exceptionally beautiful duet, "Ah, mia cara." Background The German-born Handel, after spending some of his early career composing operas and other pieces in Italy, settled in London, where in 1711 he had brought Italian opera for the first time with his opera '' Rinaldo''. A tremendous success, ''Rinaldo'' created a craze in London for Italian opera seria, a form focused overwhelmingly on solo arias for the star virtuoso singers. In 1719, Handel was appoin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tolomeo
''Tolomeo, re d'Egitto'' ("Ptolemy, King of Egypt", HWV 25) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel to an Italian text by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's ''Tolomeo et Alessandro''. It was Handel's 13th (or 14th if the one act Handel contributed to the collaborative opera ''Muzio Scevola'' is counted) and last opera for the Royal Academy of Music (1719) and was also the last of the operas he composed for the triumvirate of internationally renowned singers, the castrato Senesino and the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. The story of the opera is a fictionalisation of some events in the life of Ptolemy IX Lathyros, king of Egypt. An aria from the opera,'' Non lo dirò col labbro'', was adapted by Arthur Somervell (1863–1937) as the popular English-language classic " Silent Worship" in 1928. Performance history ''Tolomeo'' was first performed at the King's Theatre, London on 30 April 1728 and received seven perfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
