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Giuseppina Grassini
Gioseppa Maria Camilla, commonly known as Giuseppina (or also Josephina) Grassini (8 April 1773 – 3 January 1850) was a noted Italian dramatic contralto, and a singing teacher. She was also known for her affairs with Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. She sang in various productions by composers such as Cimarosa, Cherubini and Zingarelli. Biography After growing up under the musical guidance of her mother, an amateur violinist, and Domenico Zucchinetti in Varese, and Antonio Secchi in Milan, Grassini made her stage début in 1789 in Parma singing in Guglielmi's ''La pastorella nobile'', and the following year at Milan's La Scala in three ''opere buffe'' including Guglielmi's ''La bella pescatrice'' and Salieri's ''La cifra''. These first comic performances were not a great success, and Grassini was driven to resume the study of singing and to turn to drama. Beginnings and Italian career apex From 1792 she returned fully to the stage in the theatres of Vicenza, Ven ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Winter
Peter Winter, later Peter von Winter, (baptised 28 August 1754 – 17 October 1825) was a German violinist, conductor and composer, especially of operas. He began his career as a player at the Mannheim court, and advanced to conductor. When the court moved to Munich, he followed and later became kapellmeister of the opera there. His opera ''Das Labyrinth'', a sequel to Mozart's ''Die Zauberflöte'', was premiered in Vienna in 1798, and his '' Maometto'' at La Scala in Milan in 1817. His work has been regarded as a bridge between Mozart and Weber in the development of German opera. Career Winter was born in Mannheim. He was a child prodigy on the violin, who occasionally played in the Mannheim court orchestra, from age ten, both violin and double bass. He studied violin in Mannheim with Wilhelm Cramer and Thaddäus Hampel, and later composition with Georg Joseph Vogler. Winter was engaged as a violinist in the orchestra from 1776. He also conducted from 1777. When the court mov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Cifra
is an opera by Antonio Salieri in two acts, set to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The work, a dramma giocoso, is set in Scotland, and was written for Adriana Ferrarese del Bene, the first Fiordiligi in Mozart's ''Così fan tutte''. Performance history The opera was first performed in Vienna on 9 December 1789. This was followed by a production in Dresden on 13 October 1790. It went on to receive several productions both in Germany and Austria between 1789 and 1805. ''La cifra'' received a recent performance in Cologne in June 2006, in a production conducted by Martin Haselböck and directed by Christian Stückl. In August 2018, Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble performed ''La Cifra'' at La Mama as part of that summer's Mozart and Salieri Festival. It was the opera's North American premiere, conducted by Catherine O'Shaughnessy and directed by Bea Goodwin Roles Synopsis Fideling, a Scottish lord, is seeking a lost noblewoman with whom he had fallen in love. Lisotta, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castrato
A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity. Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents the larynx from being transformed by the normal physiological events of puberty. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by both sexes) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. Prepubescent castration for this purpose diminished greatly in the late 18th century. Methods of castration used to terminate on the onset of puberty varied. Methods involved using opium to medically induce a coma, then submerging the boy into an ice or milk bath where the procedure of either severing the vas deferens (similar to a vasectomy), twisting the testicles until they atrophied, or comp ... [...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" '' |
Sebastiano Nasolini
Sebastiano is both a masculine Italian given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Sebastiano Antonio Tanara (1650–1724), Italian cardinal * Sebastiano Baggio (1913–1993), Italian clergyman * Sebastiano Bianchi (16th century), Italian engraver * Sebastiano Bombelli (1635–1724), Italian painter * Sebastiano Brunetti (died 1649), Italian painter * Sebastiano Carezo (fl. 1780), Spanish dancer (''Sebastián Cerezo'') * Sebastiano Conca (c. 1680 – 1764), Italian painter * Sebastiano Dolci (1699–1777), Croatian writer * Sebastiano Esposito (born 2002), Italian footballer * Sebastiano Filippi (c. 1536 – 1602), Italian late Renaissance-Mannerist painter * Sebastiano Galeotti (1656–1746), Italian painter * Sebastiano Ghezzi (1580–1645), Italian painter and architect * Sebastiano Guala (17th century), Italian church architect * Sebastiano Martinelli (1848–1918), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church * Sebastiano Mazzoni (c. 1611 – 1678), Italian p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice became the site of many famous operatic premieres at which the works of several of the four major bel canto era composers – Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi – were performed. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of three theatres to fire, the first in 1774 after the city's leading house was destroyed and rebuilt but not opened until 1792; the second fire came in 1836, but rebuilding was completed within a year. However, the third fire was the result of arson. It destroyed the house in 1996 leaving only the exterior walls, but it was rebuilt and re-opened in November 2004. In order to celebrate this event the tradition of the Venice New Year's Concert started. Hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Simon Mayr
Johann(es) Simon Mayr (also spelled Majer, Mayer, Maier), also known in Italian as Giovanni Simone Mayr or Simone Mayr (14 June 1763 – 2 December 1845), was a German composer. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was an early inspiration to Rossini and taught and advocated for Donizetti. Life He was born in Mendorf near Altmannstein, Landkreis Eichstätt, Bavaria, and studied theology at the University of Ingolstadt, continuing his studies in Italy from 1787. He was closely associated with the Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt while a student in Ingolstadt, and the ideals of the French Enlightenment were a strong influence on his philosophy as a musician as corroborated by his famed ''Zibaldone'' or "Notebooks" compiled toward the end of his career. Shortly thereafter, he took music lessons with Carlo Lenzi, and later with Ferdinando Bertoni. He moved to Bergamo in 1802 and was appointed ''maestro di cappella'' at the Cath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdinando Bertoni
Ferdinando Bertoni (15 August 1725 – 1 December 1813) was an Italian composer and organist. Early years He was born in Salò, and began his music studies in Brescia, not far from his birthplace. Around 1740 he went to Bologna, where he studied until 1745 with the famous music theorist Giovanni Battista Martini. Career Then he moved to Venice, where in 1752 he was appointed as first organist at San Marco. From 1755 to 1777 he was choirmaster at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, also in Venice. In the period 1778–1783 he was in London, where he composed operas for the King's Theatre. Back to Venice in 1784, he succeeded Baldassare Galuppi in 1785 as Kapellmeister of San Marco and preserved this position until his retirement in 1808. Works A prolific writer of church music, Bertoni also composed 70 operas which fell into oblivion, except ''Orfeo'' (Venice, Teatro San Benedetto, 1776), based on the same libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi for the work of Christoph Willibald Gluck, ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demofoonte
''Demofonte'' (also ''Demofoonte''; ''Il Demofoonte''; ''Demofoonte, ré di Tracia'' ing of Thrace ''Démophon''; ''Demophontes''; or ''Dirce, L'usurpatore innocente'' irce, the Innocent Usurper is an opera seria libretto by Metastasio. The libretto was first set by Antonio Caldara in 1733, but remained popular throughout the eighteenth century and was set over seventy times. General information *Title and title abbreviation: ''Demofoonte'' (Demof.) dramma per musica – dm *Volume and page number in the Brunelli edition of Metastasio's works: I, 635 *Text incipit of the first line of the work: ircea:"Credimi, o padre: ol tuo soverchio affetto" *Composer of first setting: Antonio Caldara *Place and date of first performance (or of completion): Vienna, Hoftheater, November 4, 1733 *Occasion for the first performance: Name-day of the Emperor Charles VI Other settings The libretto, written in 1731 or 1733, became immensely popular. By 1800 it had inspired at least 73 operas (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcos António Portugal
Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal (24 March 1762 – 17 February 1830), known as Marcos Portugal, or Marco Portogallo, was a Portuguese-born Brazilian classical composer, who achieved great international fame for his 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 librett ...s. Biography Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal was born in Lisbon. He studied music at the Royal Patriarchal Music Seminary of Lisbon, Patriarchal Seminary in Lisbon where, as a 14-year-old student, he wrote his first work, a ''Miserere''. He later worked as composer and organist at the Patriarchal See, and was ''maestro'' at the Theatre of Salitre in Lisbon from c. 1784. He lived in Italy from late 1792 to 1800, possibly funded by the prince regent D. John, the later King John VI of Portugal. He wrote ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (; 4 April 1752 – 5 May 1837) was an Italian composer, chiefly of opera. Life Early career Zingarelli was born in Naples, where he studied (from the age of 7) at the Santa Maria di Loreto Conservatory under Fenaroli and Speranza. In 1789–1790 Zingarelli went to Paris to compose ''Antigone''. He left France hurriedly at the time of the revolution and eventually returned to Italy. He was appointed maestro di cappella at Milan Cathedral in 1793, and remained there until 1794, when he took up the prestigious post of maestro di cappella at the Santa Casa, Loreto. Rome In 1804, Zingarelli was appointed choir master of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Seven years later he publicly refused, as an Italian patriot, to conduct a ''Te Deum'' for Napoleon's new-born son, known as King of Rome, in St. Peter's Basilica. As a result of this refusal he was captured and taken to Paris. Nevertheless, the Emperor was a great admirer of Zingarelli's music and soon gav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferrara
Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces dating from the Renaissance, when it hosted the court of the House of Este. For its beauty and cultural importance, it has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. History Antiquity and Middle Ages The first documented settlements in the area of the present-day Province of Ferrara date from the 6th century BC. The ruins of the Etruscan town of Spina, established along the lagoons at the ancient mouth of Po river, were lost until modern times, when drainage schemes in the Valli di Comacchio marshes in 1922 first officially revealed a necropolis with over 4,000 tombs, evidence of a population centre that in Antiquity must have played a major rol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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