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Das Nusch-Nuschi
''Das Nusch-Nuschi'' (''The Nusch-Nuschi''), Op. 20, is an opera in one act by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Franz Blei. Subtitled ''A Play for Burmese Marionettes in One Act'' (Ein Spiel für burmanische Marionetten in einem Akt), it is a staged work with both singers and dancers. It is the second work in a triptych of expressionist one-act operas, the others being ''Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen'' and ''Sancta Susanna''. They are the first operas written by Hindemith. The first two were premiered together at the Württembergisches Landestheater in Stuttgart on 4 June 1921; all three were performed at the Oper Frankfurt in 1922. History ''Das Nusch-Nuschi'' was the second piece in a triptych of one-act operas by Hindemith influenced by Expressionism. Hindemith experienced World War I as a soldier in Belgium and Northern France. In a second wave of expressionism after the war, he became interested in the movement. It was a period of changes in society. Hindemith des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Neue Sachlichkeit'' (new objectivity) style of music in the 1920s, with compositions such as '' Kammermusik'', including works with viola and viola d'amore as solo instruments in a neo-Bachian spirit. Other notable compositions include his song cycle ''Das Marienleben'' (1923), ''Der Schwanendreher'' for viola and orchestra (1935), the opera ''Mathis der Maler'' (1938), the '' Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber'' (1943), and the oratorio ''When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd'', a requiem based on Walt Whitman's poem (1946). Life and career Hindemith was born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, the eldest child of the painter and decorator Robert Hindemith from Lower Silesia and his wife Marie Hindemith, née Warnecke. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fritz Busch
Fritz Busch (13 March 1890 – 14 September 1951) was a German conductor. Busch was born in Siegen, Westphalia, to a musical family, and studied at the Cologne Conservatory. After army service in the First World War, he was appointed to senior posts in two German opera houses. At the Stuttgart Opera (1918 to 1922) he modernised the repertory, and at the Dresden State Opera (1922 to 1933) he presented world premieres of operas by Richard Strauss, Ferruccio Busoni, Paul Hindemith and Kurt Weill among others. He also conducted at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals. Being an ardent Anti-Nazi, Busch was dismissed from his post as director at Dresden in 1933 and made most of his later career outside Germany. He conducted in New York and London, but his main bases were Buenos Aires, where he was in charge at the Teatro Colón for several opera seasons in the 1930s and 1940s; Copenhagen and Stockholm, conducting the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Stockholm Philharmonic; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augmentation (music)
In Western music and music theory, augmentation (from Late Latin ''augmentare'', to increase) is the lengthening of a note or the widening of an interval. Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used. Augmentation is also the term for the proportional lengthening of the value of individual note-shapes in older notation by coloration, by use of a sign of proportion, or by a notational symbol such as the modern dot. A major or perfect interval that is widened by a chromatic semitone is an augmented interval, and the process may be called augmentation. Augmentation in composition A melody or series of notes is ''augmented'' if the lengths of the notes are prolonged; augmentation is thus the opposite of diminution, where note values are shortened. A melody originally consisting of four quavers (eighth notes) for example, is augmented if it later appears with four crotchets (quarter notes) instead. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fugue
In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition. It is not to be confused with a ''fuguing tune'', which is a style of song popularized by and mostly limited to early American (i.e. shape note or "Sacred Harp") music and West Gallery music. A fugue usually has three main sections: an exposition, a development and a final entry that contains the return of the subject in the fugue's tonic key. Some fugues have a recapitulation. In the Middle Ages, the term was widely used to denote any works in canonic style; by the Renaissance, it had come to denote specifically imitative works. Since the 17th century, the term ''fugue'' has described what is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure of imitative counterpoint. Most fugues open with a short ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tristan Und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at the Königliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting. Wagner referred to the work not as an opera, but called it "" (literally ''a drama'', ''a plot'', or ''an action''). Wagner's composition of ''Tristan und Isolde'' was inspired by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (particularly ''The World as Will and Representation''), as well as by Wagner's affair with Mathilde Wesendonck. Widely acknowledged as a pinnacle of the operatic repertoire, ''Tristan'' was notable for Wagner's unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour, and harmonic suspension. The opera was enormously influential among Western classical com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commedia Dell'arte
(; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Characterized by masked "types", was responsible for the rise of actresses such as Isabella Andreini and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. A , such as ''The Tooth Puller'', is both scripted and improvised. Characters' entrances and exits are scripted. A special characteristic of is the , a joke or "something foolish or witty", usually well known to the performers and to some extent a scripted routine. Another characteristic of is pantomime, which is mostly used by the character Arlecchino, now better known as Harlequin. The characters of the usually represent fixed social types and stock characters, such as foolish old men, devious servants, or military officers full of false bravado. The characters are exaggerated " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as saws and ladders. The term arises from a device developed for use in the broad, physical comedy style known as ''commedia dell'arte'' in 16th-century Italy. The "Clapper (musical instrument), slap stick" consists of two thin slats of wood, which make a "slap" when striking another actor, with little force needed to make a loud—and comical—sound. The physical slap stick remains a key component of the plot in the traditional and popular Punch and Judy puppet show. Other examples of slapstick humor include ''The Naked Gun'' and Mr. Bean (character), Mr. Bean. Origins The name "slapstick" originates from the Italian ''Batacchio'' or ''Bataccio'' – called the "Clapper (musical instrument), slap stick" in English – a club-like objec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felix Decken
Felix Decken (12 February 1864 – 10 February 1928)Paul S. Ulrich, ''Biographisches Verzeichnis für Theater, Tanz und Musik.'' Fundstellennachweis aus deutschsprachigen Nachschlagewerken und Jahrbüchern, 2 Bde., Berlin 1997, vol. 1, p. 360) was a German operatic buffo tenor, actor and stage director. Career Born in Wesel, Decken began his stage career in Rostock in 1892. He was a member of the opera in Elberfeld (now Wuppertal) from 1893 to 1896, then moved Hofbühne in Stuttgarter , where he made his debut as Beppo in Auber's ''Fra Diavolo''. He was known for buffo parts, both for his singing as for acting with humour. His parts included Gomez in Kreutzer's ''Das Nachtlager in Granada'', Georg in Lortzing's ''Der Waffenschmied'' and other parts in Lortzing operas, David in Wagner's ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'', Mime in his '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'', and Eisenstein in '' Fledermaus'' by Johann Strauss. In 1907 he was awarded the title of a royal Kammersänger. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically between the F below middle C (F3 in scientific pitch notation) to the second F above middle C (F5), although, at the extremes, some voices can reach the D below middle C (D3) or the second B above middle C (B5). The contralto voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic contralto. History "Contralto" is primarily meaningful only in reference to classical and operatic singing, as other traditions lack a comparable system of vocal categorization. The term "contralto" is only applied to female singers; men singing in a similar range are called "countertenors". The Italian terms "contralto" and "alto" are not synonymous, "alto" technically denoting a specific vocal range in choral singing without regard to factors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erna Ellmenreich
Erna Ellmenreich (30 May 1885 – 14 April 1976) was a German operatic soprano, a member of the Staatstheater Stuttgart. She performed there leading parts and several premieres, including ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Strauss and works by Paul Hindemith. Career Born in Meran, Ellmenreich made her stage debut as Marguerite in Gounod's ''Faust'' in 1908 at the Hoftheater (Court theatre) in Stuttgart. She was a member of the company from 1909 to 1924. It was named Württembergisches Landestheater from 1918, and later Staatstheater (State theatre). She appeared as a guest artist, for example in 1910 at the Cologne Opera and in 1916 at the Frankfurt Opera. In Stuttgart, Ellmenreich took part in numerous premieres. On 25 October 1912 she appeared as Echo in ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Strauss. The production was part of the opening festivities for the new theatre building, staged in the ''Kleines Haus'' (small hall) by Max Reinhardt, with Maria Jeritza in the title role. In 1917 Ellm ... [...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" '' |
Reinhold Fritz
Reinhold Fritz (16 March 1884 – 30 October 1950) was a German operatic bass-baritone. He was engaged at the Stuttgart Court Opera for 25 years and was awarded the title Kammersänger. He performed a broad repertoire of both serious and comic roles, and participated in world premieres including the first version of ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Strauss, Siegfried Wagner's '' An allem ist Hütchen schuld!'' and Hindemith's ''Das Nusch-Nuschi''. Fritz was dismissed in 1933 under the Nazi regime because his wife was Jewish. Life and career Born in Ostfildern, Fritz learned the profession of a goldsmith and practised it for six years in Esslingen am Neckar. In 1904 he began studying voice in Stuttgart, and was engaged as an apprentice (''Eleve'') at the Stuttgart Court Opera in 1908. After only one year he was accepted as a member of the ensemble. He built a broad repertoire of both serious and comic roles, and quickly became one of the pillars of the ensemble. His voice range ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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