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Caliban's Dream
"Caliban's Dream" is a track written by Rick Smith of electronic group Underworld for the ''Isles of Wonder'' opening ceremony of the 2012 summer Olympics in London, and the 14th and final track of the first disc of the official soundtrack. Writing and recording Smith told how the brief for the piece was given: "Frank ottrell-Boyce, the opening ceremony's writerand Danny oyle, its creative directorput forward beautiful, transcendental poems by people like WH Auden, Thomas Nash, Philip Larkin. They set the tone for Caliban's Dream. Very early on Danny encouraged me not to think in terms of "Eye of the Tiger" for the final stages; we weren't looking for anything testosterone-fuelled. Those poetic ideas that we had talked about initially just seemed so beautiful; we wanted to draw them into the story of the torch. Karl yde, Smith's partner in Underworldspent a long time working with those words to make them flow, helping avoid all the possible cliches we could fall prey to." ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underworld (band)
Underworld are a British electronic music group formed in 1987 in Cardiff, Wales and the principal collaborative project of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith. Prominent former members include Darren Emerson, from 1991 to 2001, and Darren Price, as part of the live band from 2005 to 2016. After briefly performing as a funk and synth-pop outfit, resulting in two albums between 1988 and 1989, Underworld gained prominence after reshaping into a alternative dance, dance and techno band, releasing albums including ''Dubnobasswithmyheadman'' (1994), ''Second Toughest in the Infants'' (1996) and ''Beaucoup Fish'' (1999), as well as singles "Born Slippy .NUXX" and "Dark & Long, Dark & Long (Dark Train)". Known for their psychedelic music, atmospheric, progressive house, progressive compositions, Hyde's cryptic lyrics, and dynamic live performances, Underworld have influenced a wide range of artists and have been featured in soundtracks and scores for films, television, and the 2012 Summer Olym ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main news ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
And I Will Kiss
"And I Will Kiss" is a song written by Rick Smith and Karl Hyde of electronic group Underworld for the ''Isles of Wonder'' opening ceremony of the 2012 summer Olympics in London, and the fourth track on the official soundtrack. The title makes reference to a speech given by Caliban in Act 2, Scene 2 of '' The Tempest'' by William Shakespeare: I'll show thee every fertile inch o' the island; And I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god. The choice of title was one of several references to ''The Tempest'' throughout the ceremony. The track accompanied the ''Pandemonium'' section of the ceremony, which depicted the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Writing and recording Rick Smith started work on the music "And I Will Kiss" in June 2011. His brief from Danny Boyle, the creative director of the Olympics opening ceremony was simple: "Danny wanted to frighten people. He was certain that by the end f the ''Pandemonium'' section people had to be going: 'Christ, you can't pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leitmotif
A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglicization of the German ''Leitmotiv'' (), literally meaning "leading motif", or "guiding motif". A musical motif has been defined as a "short musical idea ... melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic, or all three", a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition: "the smallest structural unit possessing thematic identity." In particular, such a motif should be "clearly identified so as to retain its identity if modified on subsequent appearances" whether such modification be in terms of rhythm, harmony, orchestration or accompaniment. It may also be "combined with other leitmotifs to suggest a new dramatic condition" or development. The technique is no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, hochanged the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions." Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway (GWR), a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship, and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering. Though Brunel's projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. During his career, Brunel achieved many engineering firsts, including assisting in the building of the first tunnel under a navigable river (the River Thames) and the development of the , the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Branagh
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus two honorary awards), two Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours and knighted on 9 November 2012. He was made a Freeman of his native city of Belfast in January 2018. In 2020, he was listed at number 20 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Branagh has both directed and starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, of which he is a devoted fan, including ''Henry V'' (1989), ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993), ''Othello'' (1995), ''Hamlet'' (1996), '' Love's Labour's Lost'' (2000), and ''As You Like It'' (2006). He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director for ''Henry V'' and for Best Adapted Screenplay for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caliban
Caliban ( ), son of the witch Sycorax, is an important character in William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. His character is one of the few Shakespearean figures to take on a life of its own "outside" Shakespeare's own work: as Russell Hoban put it, "Caliban is one of the hungry ideas, he's always looking for someone to word him into being ... Caliban is a necessary idea". Character Caliban is half human, half monster. After his island becomes occupied by Prospero and his daughter Miranda, Caliban is forced into slavery. While he is referred to as a calvaluna or mooncalf, a freckled monster, he is the only human inhabitant of the island that is otherwise "not honour'd with a human shape" (Prospero, I.2.283). In some traditions, he is depicted as a wild man, or a deformed man, or a beast man, or sometimes a mix of fish and man, a dwarf or even a tortoise. Banished from Algiers, Sycorax was left on the isle, pregnant with Caliban, and died before Prospero's arrival. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2012 Summer Olympics And Paralympics Cauldron
The 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics cauldron was used for the Olympic flame during the 2012 Summer Olympics, Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics, Paralympics of London 2012. The Olympic flame#Cauldron, cauldron was designed by Thomas Heatherwick and described as "one of the best-kept secrets of the opening ceremony": until it was lit during the Olympics ceremony, neither its design and location, nor who would light it, had been revealed. For the Olympics it consisted of 204 individual 'petals', and for the Paralympics 164, one for each competing nation. Commission and design British designer Thomas Heatherwick was chosen by Danny Boyle to design the cauldron for the 2012 London Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games (the same design would serve both).''Danny Boyle: Creating Wonder'' Amy Raphael, London: Faber and Faber, 2013, p. 406 Heatherwick was a highly regarded designer, responsible for the first prize-winning UK pavilion at Expo 2010, "Seed Cathedral" at the Exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services. The LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset the LSO was organised on co-operative lines, with all players sharing the profits at the end of each season. This practice continued for the orchestra's first four decades. The LSO underwent periods of eclipse in the 1930s and 1950s when it was regarded as inferior in quality to new London orchestras, to which it lost players and bookings: the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1930s and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic after the Second World War. The profit-sharing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aluphone
The Aluphone is a tuned percussion instrument consisting of aluminum bells that are struck with a mallet to produce musical tones. In its standard configuration, the bells of the Aluphone are mounted on a frame, but it can also be played as a single handheld bell or as a stack of bells. The bells of the Aluphone are very durable, so they can be struck with a large variety of mallets, wands, or hammers depending on the tone that the musician seeks to produce. The Aluphone is closely associated with Evelyn Glennie, who played the instrument in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. History According to Harry Ellis, the idea for the Aluphone was developed at a trade show that two men, Michael Hansen and Kai Stensgaard, were separately attending. At the trade show, Hansen was showcasing aluminum cones that were designed to protect the tops of wooden posts. As a musician, Stensgaard was curious about the sound the cones would make when he struck. He was impressed wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
