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Duetto Buffo Di Due Gatti
The "Duetto buffo di due gatti" (humorous duet for two cats) is a performance piece for two sopranos and piano. Often performed as a comical concert encore, it consists entirely of the repeated word ''miau'' ("meow") sung by the singers. It is sometimes performed by a soprano and a tenor, or a soprano and a bass. While the piece is typically attributed to Gioachino Rossini, it was not actually written by him, but is instead a compilation written in 1825 that draws principally on his 1816 opera ''Otello''. Hubert Hunt claims that the compiler was Robert Lucas de Pearsall, who for this purpose adopted the pseudonym "G. Berthold". Structure In order of appearance, the piece consists of: *the "Katte-Cavatine" by the Danish composer C. E. F. WeyseRichard Osborne: ''Rossini''. London: Dent (1986), p. 179. *part of the duet for Otello and Jago in act 2 of ''Otello'' *part of the cabaletta to the aria "Ah, come mai non senti", sung by Rodrigo in the same act Recordings Some albums incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo section rather than performing simultaneously. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is a "piano duet" or " piano four hands". A piece for two pianists performing together on separate pianos is a " piano duo". The term ''duet'' is also used as a verb for the act of performing a musical duet, or colloquially as a noun to refer to the performers of a duet. A musical ensemble with more than two solo instruments or voices is called trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, etc. History When Mozart was young, he and his sister Marianne played a duet of his composition at a London concert in 1765. The four-hand, described as a duet, was in many of his compositions which included five sonatas; a set of va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the operas of Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss. After retiring from the stage, she was a voice teacher internationally. She is considered one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century. Early life Schwarzkopf was born on 9 December 1915 in Jarocin, Jarotschin in the Province of Posen in Prussia, German Empire, Germany (now Poland) to Friedrich Schwarzkopf and his wife, Elisabeth (). Schwarzkopf performed in her first opera in 1928, as Eurydice in a school production of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' in Magdeburg, Germany. In 1934, Schwarzkopf began her musical studies at the Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin Hochschule für Musik, where her singing tutor, Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, attempted to train her to be a mezzo-s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L'enfant Et Les Sortilèges
''L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties'' (''The Child and the Spells: A Lyric Fantasy in Two Parts'') is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first being ''L'heure espagnole''. Written from 1917 to 1925, ''L'enfant et les sortilèges'' was first performed in Monte Carlo in 1925 conducted by Victor de Sabata. After being offered the opportunity to write a musical work, Colette wrote the text in eight days. Several composers had proposed to Colette that she write to music, but she was only excited by the prospect of Ravel. Composition history During World War I, the Opéra de Paris director Jacques Rouché asked Colette to provide the text for a fairy ballet. Colette originally wrote the story under the title ''Divertissements pour ma fille''. After Colette chose Ravel to set the text to music, a copy was sent to him in 1916 while he was still serving in the war; however, the mailed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montserrat Martí
Montserrat Martí (born 15 November 1971), also known as Montsita, is a Spanish soprano. Early life Martí was born as Montserrat Martí Caballé in Barcelona on 15 November 1972 to Montserrat Caballé and Bernabé Martí. She made her first appearance as a singer in 1993, singing with her mother in London. Following that, the mother and daughter sang together on a few occasions both on stage and on recordings. Career In her early life, it was Vangelis who asked her mother if Martí also sang. It was the first time they sang together, and mother and daughter felt an emotional connection that lasted all their lives. In 1998, Martí moved to Germany to begin her career as an opera singer. In the same year, she played the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Hamburg State Opera. Martí has sung in various classical halls and opera houses worldwide, such as Gran Teatre del Liceu, Palau de la Música Catalana and Teatro Real in Spain; Bolshoi Theatre and Mariinsky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé i Folch or Folc (full name: María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch (, , ; (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), known simply as Montserrat Caballé, was a Catalan Spanish operatic soprano. She sang a wide variety of roles, but is best known as an exponent of the works of Verdi and of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti. She was noticed internationally when she stepped in for a performance of Donizetti's ''Lucrezia Borgia'' at Carnegie Hall in 1965, and then appeared at leading opera houses. Her voice was described as pure but powerful, with superb control of vocal shadings and exquisite pianissimo. Caballé became popular to non-classical music audiences in 1987, when she recorded, at the request of the International Olympic Committee, "Barcelona", a duet with Freddie Mercury, which became an official theme song for the 1992 Olympic Games. She received several international awards and also Grammy A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friedrich Haider
Friedrich Haider (born 7 November 1961) is an Austrian conductor and pianist. Life and work Haider is a graduate of the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz (piano with Martha Picker and conducting with Leopold Mayer), the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (conducting with Karl Österreicher and the (master classes by Milan Horvat). His theatrical debut took place on 26 July 1984 in Klagenfurt with Johann Strauss II' '' Wiener Blut''. In the concert hall he introduced himself in the same year for the first time on the podium of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. After various stations as an assistant, he developed a repertoire at mainly smaller opera houses, which today comprises more than 60 titles and combines the most diverse subjects and styles. Haider has repeatedly devoted himself to Italian bel canto, achieving personal success above all with his discovery of ''Roberto Devereux'' by Donizetti – especially in 2004 at the Bavarian State Opera. After his succes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vesselina Kasarova
Vesselina Kasarova ( bg, Веселина Кацарова; born 18 July 1965) is a Bulgarian operatic mezzo-soprano. Early life and education Kasarova was born in the central Bulgarian town of Stara Zagora. Under the communist regime she studied Russian as a second language and had an early start in music education. She started taking piano lessons at the Pionerski Dom at age 4 (in 1970) and enrolled at Hristina Morfova School of Music and Performing Arts (normal studies in the morning, and music in the afternoon) in her native town in 1979. As she studied piano and worked as accompanist at recitals, Kasarova became so drawn to the voice as a musical instrument that upon earning her concert pianist diploma in 1987, she switched to study singing under Ressa Koleva at Bulgarian State Music Academy in Sofia, focusing on the works of Mozart and Rossini. Kasarova gave her first singing performance in her native town singing " Habanera" from Bizet's ''Carmen''. She performed at Sofia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edita Gruberová
Edita Gruberová (; 23 December 1946 – 18 October 2021) was a Slovak coloratura soprano. She made her stage debut in Bratislava in 1968 as Rosina in Rossini's ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', and successfully auditioned at the Vienna State Opera the following year, which became her base. She received international recognition for roles such as Mozart's Queen of the Night in ''Die Zauberflöte'' and Zerbinetta in ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Strauss. In her later career, she explored heavier roles in the Italian bel canto repertoire, such as the title role in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', and Elvira in Bellini's ''I puritani''. In 2019, she portrayed Elisabetta in Donizetti's ''Roberto Devereux'', who leaves her throne, concluding a stage career performing leading roles over 51 years. She is remembered as the "" (Slovak Nightingale), and as prima donna assoluta. Early life and education Edita Gruberová was born on 23 December 1946 in Rača, Bratislava, to a German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerstin Meyer
Kerstin Margareta Meyer, CBE (3 April 1928 – 14 April 2020) was a Swedish mezzo-soprano who enjoyed an international career in opera and concert. A long-time member of the Royal Swedish Opera and Hamburg State Opera, she appeared regularly at the Royal Opera House in London and international opera houses and festivals, including in world premieres such as Alexander Goehr's ''Arden Must Die'' and György Ligeti's ''Le Grand Macabre''. Early life Meyer was born in Stockholm. An only child, both her father and grandfather were musicians; her grandfather was from Poland and played in symphony orchestras. After arriving in Sweden he also had a music shop and gave instrumental lessons. Amis, John. People: 102 Kerstin Meyer. ''Opera'', October 1973, Vol.24 No.10 p879-886. Her father played the trumpet and toured with his father's orchestra around Europe, and later settled to making violins in his own shop. Although she started to play the piano at six, she always wanted to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elisabeth Söderström
Anna Elisabeth Söderström (married name Olow; 7 May 192720 November 2009) was a Swedish soprano who performed both opera and song, and was known as a leading interpreter of the works of Janáček, Rachmaninoff and Sibelius.Elizabeth Sleeman, ''International Who's Who 2004,'' Routledge, 2003. p. 1579. She was particularly well known for her recordings of the lead soprano roles in the three Janáček operas ''Jenůfa'', ''Káťa Kabanová'', and '' The Makropoulos Affair'', all of which received Gramophone Awards. The ''Gramophone'' critic John Warrack described her portrayal of Káťa Kabanová as "establishing by an infinity of subtle touches and discreet, sensitive singing the picture of Káta as the richest and most human character in the drama". Career Born in Stockholm, Söderström received her first musical schooling from Adelaide von Skilondz and later studied at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm. She made her debut in 1947 at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre sin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BIS (record Label)
BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden. BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings. The company has recorded the complete works of Sibelius. Other composers of the Nordic countries and Estonia are also well represented in their catalogue, including Kalevi Aho, Christian Lindberg, Jón Leifs, Geirr Tveitt, Eduard Tubin, Allan Pettersson and James MacMillan. Other notable BIS projects include the Bach Cantatas by the Bach Collegium Japan under Masaaki Suzuki, and the complete piano music of Edvard Grieg by pianist Eva Knardahl. In 2009, BIS completed a five-year Beethoven symphony cycle with Finnish born conductor Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Johnson (musician)
Graham Johnson OBE (born 10 July 1950) is a British classical pianist and Lieder accompanist. Biography Johnson was born in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn .... His father played the piano and the saxophone. In 1967, Johnson began studies at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM), where his teachers included Harry Isaacs and John Streets. Johnson has acknowledged a 1972 live recital by Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten as key in directing his musical career ambitions towards being an accompanist. After leaving the RAM in 1972, he continued studies with Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons (pianist), Geoffrey Parsons. Johnson was the official pianist at Peter Pears's first masterclasses at the Snape Maltings, which brought him into contact with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
