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English Eccentrics (opera)
''English Eccentrics'' is a chamber opera in two acts by Malcolm Williamson to an English libretto by Geoffrey Dunn, based on Edith Sitwell's 1933 book, ''The English Eccentrics''. It was commissioned by the English Opera Group.Covell, R. The English Eccentrics. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan, London & New York, 1997. The opera requires the cast to make many quick changes of roles between scenes, and contrives the confrontation of several of the characters, who did not meet in real life. Performance history The work, the second opera by the composer, was first performed in the Jubilee Hall at Aldeburgh in Suffolk, England on 11 June 1964 as part of the Aldeburgh Festival in a production by William Chappell. Jacobs, Arthur. Non-Opera and Noh-Opera. ''Opera'', August 1964, Vol.15 No.8, p531. With the principals on stage, the 'quartet' of singers were in the pit with the orchestra, seven members of the English Chamber Orchestra, and it was broadcast on the BBC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, (21 November 19312 March 2003) was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death. Biography Williamson was born in Sydney in 1931; his father was an Anglican priest, Rev. George Williamson. He studied composition and horn at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His teachers included Eugene Goossens. In 1950 he moved to London where he worked as an organist, a proofreader, and a nightclub pianist. In 1952 he converted to Roman Catholicism. From 1953 he studied with Elisabeth Lutyens and Erwin Stein. His first major success was with his Piano Concerto No. 1, premiered by Clive Lythgoe at the 1958 Cheltenham Festival to a standing ovation. Williamson was a prolific composer at this time, receiving many commissions and often performing his own works, both on organ and piano. In 1975, the death of Arthur Bliss left the title of Master of the Queen's Music vacant. The selection of Williamson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meredith Davies
(Albert) Meredith Davies CBE (30 July 1922 – 9 March 2005) was a British conductor, renowned for his advocacy of English music by composers such as Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius and Ralph Vaughan Williams. His co-conducting, with the composer, of the premiere of Britten's ''War Requiem'', at the re-consecration of Coventry Cathedral on 30 May 1962, is generally regarded as one of the highlights of British 20th-century choral music. Biography Meredith Davies was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, the second son of a clergyman. At the age of seven he became a junior exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music in London, as a cellist. He went to the Stationers' Company's School, North London. He soon showed an interest in the organ, and was taken as a pupil by George Thalben-Ball. At age 17 he served as organist at Hurstpierpoint College for a year, before being elected in 1940 as organ scholar of Keble College, Oxford. Studies for his Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A2 to A4) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, ''Kavalierbariton'', Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, ''baryton-noble'' baritone, and the bass-baritone. History The first use of the term "baritone" emerged as ''baritonans'', late in the 15th century, usually in French sacred polyphonic music. At this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices (including the bass), but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the averag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Robinson, 2nd Baron Rokeby
Matthew Robinson, 2nd Baron Rokeby (Baptised, York 12 April 1713 – 30 November 1800), FRS, was an English landowner, politician and nobleman. In later life, he was considered an eccentric. Early life Lord Rokeby was born Matthew Robinson in a large family from Yorkshire. His parents were Matthew Robinson (1694–1778) of Edgely and West Layton, Yorkshire, and Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Drake of Cambridge; his sisters included the novelists Elizabeth Montagu and Sarah Scott. Of his six brothers, Thomas the second was known as a legal writer, William the fifth as a cleric, and the youngest, Charles, as a Member of Parliament. His father inherited property in the neighbourhood of Rokeby from his great-uncle Matthew Robinson, rector of Burneston; and his mother inherited the Mount Morris estate at Monks Horton, near Hythe, Kent, from her brother Morris Drake Morris, which Rokeby in turn succeeded to in 1746. Robinson was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1730, and to Trinity Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustavus Katterfelto
Gustavus Katterfelto (or Katerfelto) (c. 1743–1799) was a Prussian conjurer, scientific lecturer, and quack. Career Christian William Anthony Katterfelto (known as Gustavus) arrived at Hull in September 1776 and traveled around Britain until his death in 1799. He performed in London from 1780 to 1784. The widespread flu epidemic of 1782 made him famous as a quack, when he used a solar microscope to show images of microbes he believed were its cause. These "insects" provided him with the catchphrase "Wonders! Wonders! Wonders!" which often headed his advertisements. He lectured in Piccadilly on electricity, magnetism and the invented terms "styangraphy, palenchics, and caprimantic arts" to impress his audience. Katterfelto was an accomplished conjurer, who performed with a black cat which he advertised as "evil". He claimed to have launched the first hot air balloon fifteen years before the Montgolfier brothers, and claimed to be the greatest natural philosopher since Isaac New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna Pollak
Anna Pollak OBE (1 May 1912 – 28 November 1996) was an English opera singer who sang leading mezzo-soprano roles primarily with the Sadlers Wells Opera Company and the English Opera Group. She created several roles in 20th century operas including Bianca in Benjamin Britten's ''The Rape of Lucretia'' and Lady Nelson in Lennox Berkeley's ''Nelson''. Life and career Pollak was born in Manchester to an Austrian father and Russian mother and spent part of her childhood in the Netherlands. After finishing her education in Manchester, she began working as a stage actress and as a singer in musical comedy, pantomime, and revues. During World War II she worked for ARP, the British civil defense organisation, and entertained British troops at ENSA concerts. After the war, she auditioned for the newly re-opened Sadlers Wells Opera. She had no formal musical training, let alone training in opera, apart from encouragement and advice from the conductor Lawrance Collingwood and the soprano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic mezzo-soprano. History While mezzo-sopranos typically sing secondary roles in operas, notable exceptions include the title role in Bizet's '' Carmen'', Angelina (Cinderella) in Rossini's ''La Cenerentola'', and Rosina in Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'' (all of which are also sung by sopranos and contraltos). Many 19th-century French-language operas give the leading female role to mezzos, includin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane Lewson
Jane Lewson (née ''Vaughan'') (1700?–1816), commonly known as Lady Lewson, was an eccentric woman who claimed to be a supercentenarian. She claimed to be born in 1700 in Strand, London. Early in life she married a wealthy man, who died when she was 26, leaving her with one daughter. When her daughter married she spent the rest of her years as an eccentric widow, living in Coldbath Square and rarely leaving her home despite her considerable wealth. She became well known during her era for the fact that, until her death at the purported age of 116, she continued to wear the fashions of the reign of George I, and hence she became known as Lady Lewson because of her fashion style. She was known for her extreme superstition and fear of getting a cold, which led her to only use one teacup, she smeared herself with pigs fat instead of washing and she would never have her windows washed in case they were broken and let in germs. By the time of her death, it was said they had become so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
April Cantelo
April Rosemary Cantelo (born 2 April 1928) is an English soprano. Life and career Cantelo was born in Purbrook, Hampshire in 1928. She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She studied in London under Vilém Tauský, Joan Cross, Imogen Holst and others. She sang in the Glyndebourne Chorus and then made her debut in Edinburgh in 1950 as Barbarina and Echo. Blyth, A. April Cantelo. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. She played Rosetta in '' Love in a Village'', the pasticcio by Arne, at Aldeburgh in June 1952. In the first half of the 1950s she sang Barbarina, Countess Ceprano and Poussette at Covent Garden. Cantelo sang in the British premieres of Hans Werner Henze's ''Boulevard Solitude'' (Manon Lescaut) and Kurt Weill's ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' (Jenny). She appeared in the world premiere of Malcolm Williamson's '' English Eccentrics''. Among the roles she created are: * Lady in ''The Grace of Todd'' ... [...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" '' |
John Fryatt
John James Fryatt (7 July 1927 – 7 January 2011) was an English actor and opera singer best known for his performance in comic character roles. Fryatt began his career with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1952 in Gilbert and Sullivan roles, then Sadler's Wells Opera in 1959, becoming popular in tenor character roles in Offenbach operettas. His international opera career continued from the 1960s to the 1990s, becoming known in the roles of Don Basilio in '' The Marriage of Figaro'' and Sellem in ''The Rake's Progress'', among many others. He also played a role in the West End as Roscoe in the 1987 production of ''Follies''. Early life and career Fryatt was born in York. From 1950, he studied privately with Frank Titterton and subsequently with Joseph Hislop. He was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in January 1952, playing Gilbert and Sullivan chorus roles. His first named role there, in 1953, was the small tenor part of the First Citizen in ''The Yeomen of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Owen Brannigan
Owen Brannigan OBE (10 March 19089 May 1973) was an English bass, known in opera for buffo roles and in concert for a wide range of solo parts in music ranging from Henry Purcell to Michael Tippett. He is best remembered for his roles in Mozart and Britten operas and for his recordings of roles in Britten, Offenbach and Gilbert and Sullivan operas, as well as recordings of English folk songs. Brannigan began as an amateur singer and attended music college part-time, while working as a joiner, until his quality was recognised and he was awarded a scholarship during World War II. Although he had an international opera career, he performed most frequently with English opera companies, particularly Sadler's Wells opera, and later at Glyndebourne and Covent Garden. Highlights of his broad repertory included creating three roles in Benjamin Britten's early operas, and two more in later Britten operas that were written specifically for him. On record and in concert at the Proms h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
