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Elisabetta, Regina D'Inghilterra
''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'' (; ''Elizabeth, Queen of England'') is a ''dramma per musica'' or opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, from the play ''Il paggio di Leicester'' (''Leicester's Page'') by Carlo Federici, which itself "was derived from a novel ''The Recess'' (1785) by Sophia Lee." It was premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 4 October 1815 and was the first of nine operas which Rossini wrote for the San Carlo. Altogether, this was one of eighteen operas which he wrote during the time he spent in Naples. Rossini took melodies from other operas to compose ''Elisabetta'', including the overture, first written for '' Aureliano in Palmira'', which is more famous as the overture to ''The Barber of Seville''. As Holden notes, with the re-uses of earlier music, "it is as if Rossini wished to present himself to the Neapolitan public by offering a selection of the best music from operas unlikely to have been revived in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces and some Church music, sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity. Born in Pesaro to parents who were both musicians (his father a trumpeter, his mother a singer), Rossini began to compose by the age of twelve and was educated at music school in Bologna. His first opera was performed in Venice in 1810 when he was 18 years old. In 1815 he was engaged to write operas and manage theatres in Naples. In the period 1810–1823, he wrote 34 operas for the Italian stage that were performed in Venice, Milan, Ferrara, Naples and elsewhere; this productivity necessitated an alm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical 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 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral music, or to soprano C (C6) 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 soprano, coloratura, soubrette, lyric soprano, lyric, spinto soprano, spinto, and dramatic soprano, dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word ''wikt:sopra, sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as the soprano is the highest pitch human voice, often given to the leading female roles in operas. "Soprano" refers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerie Masterson
Margaret Valerie Masterson (born 3 June 1937) is a retired English opera singer, a lecturer and Vice-President of British Youth Opera. After study in Italy, she began to sing opera in Europe. Returning to England, Masterson performed as principal soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1964 to 1969, becoming popular with audiences and participating in several of the company's recordings, as well as those of Gilbert and Sullivan for All and the BBC. She next joined English National Opera and went on to an international opera career lasting more than three decades. Although she performed a wide variety of roles, she was best known for her roles in the French repertoire and the works of Handel, as well as Gilbert and Sullivan. Her recordings include, in addition to many opera roles, operettas and musical theatre. She has been appointed a CBE and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music. Early career and D'Oyly Carte Masterson was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Catalan operatic tenor from Spain who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his debut on the operatic stage at 11 as Trujamán in Manuel de Falla's '' El retablo de Maese Pedro'', and went on to a career that encompassed over 60 roles, performing in the world's leading opera houses and on numerous recordings. He gained fame with a wider audience as one of the Three Tenors, with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, in a series of large concerts from 1990 to 2003. He is also known for his humanitarian work as president of the José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation (La Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia), which he established following his own recovery from the disease in 1988. Life and career Early years Carreras was born in Sants, a working-clas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montserrat Caballé
María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch or Folc (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), also known as Montserrat Caballé (i Folch), was a Spanish operatic soprano from Catalonia. Widely considered to be one of the best sopranos of the 20th century, she won a variety of musical awards thoroughout her six-decade career, including three Grammy Awards. Caballé performed 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 Gioachino Rossini, Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti, Donizetti. She was noticed internationally when she stepped in for a performance of Donizetti's ''Lucrezia Borgia (opera), 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 Dynamics (music), pianissimo. Caballé is also known for her 1987 duet with Freddie M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teatro Massimo
The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. It is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe (at the time of its inauguration, it was - with its area of - the third largest opera house in Europe after the Palais Garnier in Paris, and the Vienna State Opera, K. K. Hof-Opernhaus in Vienna), renowned for its perfect acoustics. Construction and opening An international competition for the creation of the opera house was announced by the Palermo Council in 1864 at the instigation of the mayor, Antonio Starrabba di Rudinì. For many years there had been talk of building a large new theatre in Palermo, worthy of the second biggest city in southern Italy (after Naples) and designed to promote the image of the city following the unification of Italy in 1861. The opera house was designed, and overseen by the Italian architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Gianandrea Gavazzeni (25 July 19095 February 1996) was an Italian pianist, conductor (especially of opera), composer and musicologist. Gavazzeni was born in Bergamo. For almost 50 years, starting from 1948, he was principal conductor at La Scala, Milan, in 1966–68 being its music and artistic director. He had his Metropolitan Opera debut on 11 October 1976. He conducted eight performances of Giuseppe Verdi's '' Il trovatore'' that year at the Met. His compositions include concertos such as 'Concerto bergamasco'; 'The Song of St Alexander'; and sonatas. His last wife was the soprano Denia Mazzola-Gavazzeni. In January 1993, at age 83, he conducted Jules Massenet's '' Esclarmonde'' at Teatro Massimo di Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ..., with his wife ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leyla Gencer
Leyla Gencer (, née Çeyrekgil; 10 October 192810 May 2008) also known as La Diva Turca was a Turkish operatic soprano. Gencer was a notable '' bel canto'' soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a repertoire encompassing more than seventy roles. She made very few commercial recordings; however, numerous bootleg recordings of her performances exist. She was particularly associated with the heroines of Donizetti. Early life Leyla Gencer was born in Polonezköy (near Istanbul) to a Turkish father and a Polish mother. Her father, Hasanzade İbrahim Bey (who took the surname ''Çeyrekgil'' under the Surname Law of 1934), was a wealthy businessman, whose family was from the city of Safranbolu. Her mother, Lexanda Angela Minakovska, was from a Roman Catholic family of the Lithuanian aristocracy (she later converted to Islam and chose the name ''Atiye'' after her husband's death.) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel García (tenor)
Manuel del Pópulo Vicente Rodriguez García (also known as Manuel García the Senior; 21 January 1775 – 10 June 1832) was a Spanish opera singer, composer, impresario, and singing teacher. He is often credited as a key figure in the development of modern vocal technique and vocal pedagogy. Biography García was born in Seville, Spain, on 21 January 1775. In 1808, he went to Paris, with previous experience as a tenor at Madrid and Cadiz. By that year, when he appeared in the opera '' Griselda'' in Paris, he was already a composer of light operas. He lived in Naples, Italy, performing in Gioachino Rossini's operas. These included the premières of ''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'', in which he portrayed The Duke of Norfolk and ''The Barber of Seville'', in which he portrayed the role of Count Almaviva. In 1816, he visited Paris and London, England. Between 1819 and 1823, he lived in Paris, and sang in operas such as ''The Barber of Seville'', ''Otello'', and ''Don Giovanni'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke Of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (10 March 1536 or 1538 2 June 1572), was an English nobleman and politician. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I and held many high offices during the earlier part of her reign. Norfolk was the son of the poet, soldier and politician Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was executed for his role in the Ridolfi plot. Early life, family, and religion Thomas was born on 10 March 1536 (although some sources cite his birth in 1538) at Kenninghall, Norfolk, being the first or second of five children of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and his wife Lady Frances Howard, Countess of Surrey, Frances de Vere. His paternal grandparents were Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and Lady Elizabeth Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, Elizabeth Stafford. His maternal grandparents were John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, and Lady Elizabeth de Vere, Countess of Oxford, Elizabeth Trussell. His siblings were Jane Neville, Countess of Westmorland, Jane born in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contralto
A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. 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 Voice classification in non-classical music, 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" technic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrea Nozzari
Andrea Nozzari (27 February 1776 – 12 December 1832) was an Italian tenor. Nozzari was born in Vertova and studied in Bergamo and Rome. He is notable for the principal roles written for him by Gioachino Rossini and mostly premiered in Domenico Barbaia's theatres in Naples. These were: *Leicester in '' Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'' (1815) *Otello in ''Otello'' (1816) *Rinaldo in ''Armida'' (1817) *Osiride in '' Mosè in Egitto'' (1818) *Agorante in '' Ricciardo e Zoraide'' (1818) *Pirro in '' Ermione'' (1819) *Rodrigo in '' La donna del lago'' (1819) *Paolo Erisso in '' Maometto II'' (1820) *Antenore in '' Zelmira'' (1822) He also premièred the title roles in Giovanni Pacini's '' Alessandro nelle Indie'' (1824) and Donizetti's '' Alfredo il grande'', and roles in operas by Michele Carafa, Manuel García, Johann Simon Mayr, Saverio Mercadante, Nicola Antonio Manfroce and Stefano Pavesi. Nozzari's voice had a baritonal quality, and his intense acting was much va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
