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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 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 Naples."H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some 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 12 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 almost formulaic approach for some components (such as overtures) and a certain amount of self-borrowing. During ... [...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" '' |
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 ... [...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 Spanish operatic tenor 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-class district in Barcelon ... [...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] |
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 7730 m² - the third largest opera house in Europe after the Palais Garnier in Paris, and the 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, who was ... [...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 ( , ; scn, Palermu , 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 ..., with his wife ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leyla Gencer
Ayşe Leyla Gencer (, née Çeyrekgil; 10 October 192810 May 2008) 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.) Gencer's father died when she was very young. She grew up in the ... [...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. 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'', often appearing at London's King's Theatre too. In the same period he presented new French-style oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke Of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (Kenninghall, Norfolk, 10 March 1536Tower Hill, London, 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman and politician. Although from a family with strong Roman Catholic leanings, he was raised a Protestant. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I through her maternal grandmother, and held many high offices during her reign. Norfolk was the son of the poet, soldier and politician Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He is believed to have commissioned Thomas Tallis, probably in 1567, to compose his renowned motet in forty voice-parts, ''Spem in alium''. He was executed for his role in the Ridolfi plot. Early life, family, and religion Norfolk was born at his family's house at Kenninghall, Norfolk on March 10, 1536, being the eldest son of the Earl of Surrey and his wife Frances de Vere. His younger siblings were Jane, Henry, Katherine, and Margaret. After Surrey's execution in January 1547, their aunt, Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond, assigned t ... [...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] |
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 valued by com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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