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Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with the work premiering at Vienna's Theater an der Wien on 20 November 1805. The following year, Stephan von Breuning helped shorten the work from three acts to two. After further work on the libretto by Georg Friedrich Treitschke, a final version was performed at the Kärntnertortheater on 23 May 1814. By convention, both of the first two versions are referred to as ''Leonore''. The libretto, with some spoken dialogue, tells how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio", rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison. Bouilly's scenario fits Beethoven's aesthetic and political outlook: a story of personal sacrifice, heroism, and eventual triumph. With its underlying struggle for liberty and justice mirroring con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, he began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression. Beethoven was born in Bonn. His musical talent was obvious at an early age. He was initially harshly and intensively tau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Peerce
Jan Peerce (born Yehoshua Pinkhes Perelmuth; June 3, 1904 December 15, 1984) was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway theatre, Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce. Family life Jan Peerce was born Jacob Pincus Perelmuth (though his Hebrew gravestone gives his first name as יהושע, or Joshua, not Jacob), to a American Jews, Jewish family. His parents, Louis and Henya Perelmuth, came from the village of :be:Вёска Гарадзец, Кобрынскі раён, Horodetz, formerly in Poland, now Belarus.Biographical sketcnarrated by Jan's friend Isaac Stern/ref> Their first child, a daughter, died in an epidemic. In 1903 they emigrated to America along with their second child, a boy named Mottel. A year later, on June 3, 1904, their third child, Jacob Pincus, was born in a cold water flat in the Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York (state ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Gaveaux
Pierre Gaveaux (9 October 1761 – 5 February 1825) was a French operatic tenor and composer, notable for creating the role of Jason in Cherubini's ''Médée'' and for composing '' Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal'', the first operatic version of the story that later found fame as ''Fidelio''. Early life Gaveaux was born in Béziers and sang in the cathedral choir there from the age of seven. Although intending to enter the priesthood, he also took lessons in composition. He next became first tenor at the Basilica of Saint-Seurin in Bordeaux, studying with Franz Ignaz Beck, and subsequently decided to follow a career in music, becoming a conductor at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux as well as continuing to sing. Career as a singer After a period in Montpellier, he moved to Paris where, on 26 January 1789, he took part in a performance of Giacomo Tritto's ''Le Avventure Amorose'', which marked the inauguration of the Théâtre de Monsieur company in the Salle des Machines a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theater An Der Wien
The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served primarily as an opera house, hosting its own company. Although "" is German for "Vienna", the "" in the name of the theatre is actually the name of the Wien River, which once flowed by the theatre site; "" means "on the banks of the Wien". In modern times, the river has been covered over in this location and the covered riverbed now houses the Naschmarkt, an open-air market. The theatre is operated in cooperation with Vereinigte Bühnen Wien (VBW) which also operates the Raimund Theater and the . History Early history The theatre was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who is best known as Mozart's librettist and collaborator on the opera ''The Magic Flute'' (1791). Schikaneder's troupe had already ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emanuel Schikaneder
Emanuel Schikaneder (born Johann Joseph Schickeneder; 1 September 1751 – 21 September 1812) was a German impresario, dramatist, actor, singer, and composer. He wrote the libretto of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera ''The Magic Flute'' and was the builder of the Theater an der Wien. Peter Branscombe called him "one of the most talented theatre men of his era". Aside from Mozart, he worked with Salieri, Haydn and Beethoven. Early years Schikaneder was born in Straubing in Bavaria to Joseph Schickeneder and Juliana Schiessl. Both of his parents worked as domestic servants and were extremely poor.Dent (1956, 16) They had a total of four children: Urban (born 1746), Johann Joseph (died at age two), Emanuel (born 1751 and also originally named Johann Joseph), and Maria (born 1753). Schikaneder's father died shortly after Maria's birth, at which time his mother returned to Regensburg, making a living selling religious articles from a wooden shed adjacent to the local cathedral. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Nicolas Bouilly
Jean-Nicolas Bouilly (24 January 1763 – 14 April 1842) was a French playwright, librettist, children's writer, and politician of the French Revolution. He is best known for writing a libretto, supposedly based on a true story, about a woman who disguises herself as a man to rescue her husband from prison, which formed the basis of Beethoven's opera ''Fidelio'' as well as a number of other operas. Life Bouilly was born near Tours, and was briefly a lawyer for the Parlement de Paris. At the outbreak of the Revolution he held office under the new government and was head of the military commission in Tours during the Reign of Terror. In 1795, he served as a member of the Committee of Public Instruction having a considerable share in the organization of primary education, but retired from public life four years later in order to devote himself to literature. Bouilly died in Paris. Works ;Theatre *1790: ''Pierre le Grand'', comedy in 4 acts and in prose,mingled with singing, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Sonnleithner
Joseph Ferdinand Sonnleithner (3 March 1766 – 25 December 1835) was an Austrian librettist, theater director, archivist and lawyer. He was the son of Christoph Sonnleithner, brother of Ignaz von Sonnleithner and uncle of Franz Grillparzer and Leopold von Sonnleithner. He was a personal friend and attorney of Ludwig van Beethoven, and he wrote numerous librettos, among them, Beethoven's stage opera ''Fidelio'', ''Faniska'' by Luigi Cherubini and ''Agnes Sorel'' by Adalbert Gyrowetz. Life Sonnleithner began working for the Viennese court in 1787, first at Joseph II's private office and later in the chancellery. From 1796 he published the ''Wiener Theater-Almanach'', and in 1802 he became partner in the Kunst und Industrie-Comptoir publishing house. For a short period from February to August 1804 he served as artistic director of the Theater an der Wien, and from 1804 to 1814 as secretary of court theaters in Vienna. He was also a leading figure in Viennese musical life in the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonora (opera)
''Leonora, ossia L’amore coniugale'' (''Leonora or Conjugal Love'') is an opera (specifically a ''dramma semiserio'') in two acts by the Italian composer Ferdinando Paer. The libretto, by Giovanni Schmidt, is based on '' Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal'' (1794) by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, which was also the source of Beethoven's ''Fidelio''. Beethoven himself owned a score of Paer's opera and it is believed to have had some influence on his work. ''Leonora'' was first performed at the Kleines Kurfürstliches Theater, Dresden, on 3 October 1804 with the composer's wife singing the title role. Roles Synopsis Leonora disguises herself as a man in order to infiltrate the prison where her husband, Florestano, is being held by his enemy, Don Pizarro. She fools the jailer Rocco into giving her a job. When Don Pizarro hears of the imminent arrival of the governor, Don Fernando, he orders Rocco to execute Florestano. Leonora accompanies Rocco to the underground cell where Florestano is bein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theater Am Kärntnertor
or (Carinthian Gate Theatre) was a prestigious theatre in Vienna during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its official title was (Imperial and Royal Court Theatre of Vienna). History The theatre was built in 1709 to designs by Antonio Beduzzi on a site near the former Kärntnertor, on the grounds of the present Hotel Sacher. The expenses of building the theatre were borne by the City of Vienna, and it was intended (as Eva Badura-Skoda notes)Badura-Skoda 1973 to be "frequented by the Viennese population of all classes". However, at the command of the emperor, the first performances were of Italian operas, an elite form of entertainment. In 1711, the theatre was redirected to its original purpose when it was placed under the direction of Josef Stranitzky, who put on a variety of entertainment, often embodying a German version of the Italian commedia dell'arte. The theatre was managed by Stranitzky's widow after his death. In 1728, court artists Borosini and Sellier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Michael Vogl
Johann Michael Vogl (August 10, 1768 – November 19, Michael Lorenz: ''Studien zum Schubertkreis'', Phil. Diss. Vienna, 2001 1840), was an Austrian baritone singer and composer. Though famous in his day, he is remembered mainly for his close professional relationship and friendship with composer Franz Schubert. Vogl was born in Steyr. As a young man he enrolled at the ''Gymnasium'' at Kremsmünster, where he studied languages, philosophy, and sang in several musical productions by his friend Franz Süßmayr (the same man who completed Mozart's ''Requiem''). In 1786 Vogl went to Vienna to study, and later to practice law. In 1795 he debuted at the Vienna Hofoper, and quickly attracted a following for both his acting capability and the beauty of his voice. In 1813, Franz Schubert attended a performance of Gluck's '' Iphigénie en Tauride'' in which Vogl sang the role of Orestes; Schubert never forgot the experience and determined to write for Vogl. The following year, whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Umlauf
Michael Umlauf (August 9, 1781 – June 20, 1842), was an Austrian composer, conductor, and violinist. His father, Ignaz Umlauf, was also a notable composer. His sister, Elisabeth Hölzel (née Umlauf), had a career as a contralto and her son Gustav Hölzel was an important bass-baritone. Umlauf was born at Vienna. At an early age he became a violinist in the Vienna court orchestra. His earliest known compositions were a series of ballet scores for the court theatres dated 1804. He is listed in the theatre almanac of 1809 as Kapellmeister Gyrowetz’s deputy, and by the 1815 almanac he had advanced to fourth of the six Kapellmeisters at the Kärntnertortheater. Umlauf retired in 1825 during Barbaia’s direction of the court opera, and applied without success for the post of second Kapellmeister at the Stephansdom. It was 1840 before he again came to the fore, this time as music director at the two court theatres, but his lengthy absence had left him quite out of touch and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as '' Singspiel'' and '' Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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