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Heinrich Bensing
Heinrich Bensing (26 July 1911 – 30 December 1955) was a German opera singer. Life Bensing was born in Metz. After the Second World War, he had guest contracts with the Hamburg State Opera (1947-1955), with the Vienna State Opera (1949-1954) and with the Cologne Opera House. After 1945 he sang ''Don José'' in ''Carmen'', the title role in '' The Tales of Hoffmann'', the Duke of Mantua in '' Rigoletto'', Radames in '' Aida'', the title role in ''Don Carlos'' and Pinkerton in ''Madama Butterfly''. He died in Frankfurt at age 42. Repertoire Bensing was especially considered a valued singer in the Italian repertoire. He belonged to the "small circle of German tenors who possessed vocal brilliance and power for the great parts of Italian opera." Recordings On the occasion of the re-release of this radio production of ''Die Frau ohne Schatten'' from the year 1950 (Symphonie-Orchester des Hessischen Rundfunks, conductor: Winfried Zillig) on CD, Bensing's "experience in the Ital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Est region. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany and Luxembourg,Says J.M. (2010) La Moselle, une rivière européenne. Eds. Serpenoise. the city forms a central place of the European Greater Region and the SaarLorLux euroregion. Metz has a rich 3,000-year history,Bour R. (2007) Histoire de Metz, nouvelle édition. Eds. Serpenoise. having variously been a Celtic ''oppidum'', an important Gallo-Roman city,Vigneron B. (1986) Metz antique: Divodurum Mediomatricorum. Eds. Maisonneuve. the Merovingian capital of Austrasia,Huguenin A. (2011) Histoire du royaume mérovingien d'Austrasie. Eds. des Paraiges. pp. 134,275 the birthplace of the Carolingian dynasty,Settipani C. (1989) Les ancêtres de Charlemagne. Ed. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tessitura
In music, tessitura (, pl. ''tessiture'', "texture"; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer or less frequently, musical instrument, the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or characteristic) timbre. This broad definition is often interpreted to refer specifically to the pitch range that most frequently occurs within a given part of a musical piece. Hence, in musical notation, ''tessitura'' is the ambitus, or a narrower part of it, in which that particular vocal (or less often instrumental) part lies—whether high or low, etc. However, the tessitura of a part or voice is not decided by the extremes of its range, but rather by the share of this total range which is most used. Hence, it is referred to as the "heart" of a range. For example, throughout the entirety of Wagner's ''Ring'', the music written for the tenor role of Siegfried ranges from C to C, but the tessitura is described as high because the phrases are mos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musicians From Metz
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who write both music and lyrics for songs, conductors who direct a musical performance, or performers who perform for an audience. A music performer is generally either a singer who provides vocals or an instrumentalist who plays a musical instrument. Musicians may perform on their own or as part of a group, band or orchestra. Musicians specialize in a musical style, and some musicians play in a variety of different styles depending on cultures and background. A musician who records and releases music can be known as a recording artist. Types Composer A composer is a musician who creates musical compositions. The title is principally used for those who write classical music or film music. Those who write the music for popular songs may be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1955 Deaths
Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan). * January 22 – In the United States, The Pentagon announces a plan to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), armed with nuclear weapons. * January 23 – The Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17, near Birmingham, England. * January 25 – The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941. * January 28 – The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China. February * February 10 – The United States Seventh Flee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1911 Births
A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 moment magnitude strikes near Almaty in Russian Turkestan, killing 450 or more people. ** Siege of Sidney Street in London: Two Latvian anarchists die, after a seven-hour siege against a combined police and military force. Home Secretary Winston Churchill arrives to oversee events. * January 5 – Egypt's Zamalek SC is founded as a general sports and Association football club by Belgian lawyer George Merzbach as Qasr El Nile Club. * January 14 – Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition makes landfall, on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. * January 18 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS ''Pennsylvania'' stationed in San Francisco harbor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Großes Sängerlexikon
''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', literally: Large singers' lexicon) is a single-field dictionary of singers in classical music, edited by Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens and first published in 1987. The first edition was in two volumes and contained the biographies of nearly 7000 singers from the 1590s through the 1980s. It grew out of ''Unvergängliche Stimmen. Kleines Sängerlexikon'' (Immortal voices. Small singers' lexicon), published in 1962, which covered only singers who had made recordings. A 1992 review in ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'' described the ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' as "indispensable in the search for concise background information about those persons who are undoubtedly the most important to the performance of opera."Arndt, Michael (1992) "Reviewed Work: ''Großes Sängerlexikon Ergänzungsband'' by Karl-Josef Kutsch, Leo Riemens" ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'', Vol. 153, No. 9, p. 50. Retrieved via JSTOR 26 March 2019 . ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Riemens
Leonardus Antony Marinus Riemens (3 December 1910 – 3 April 1985) was a Dutch musicologist and cultural journalist. He wrote a book about Maria Callas, and together with Karl-Josef Kutsch began a reference book about opera singers in 1962, which grew to ''Großes Sängerlexikon'', the standard reference in the field. Background and career Born in Zevenbergen, Riemens grew up in a family of physicians in Amsterdam. He studied musicology in Amsterdam and worked from 1931 as a feature editor for the newspaper '. Later he was a member of the extreme-right NSB. During the Second World War he worked for the nazified ''Nederlandsche Omroep''. From 1954 to 1976 he was an opera and television critic for the newspaper ''De Telegraaf''. Riemens published numerous articles in the professional journals ''Opera'', ', '' Gramophone'' and '' Opera News''. He wrote an opera guide and a biography about Maria Callas. At Radio Hilversum he designed the series ''Uren der Zangkunst''. Riemens ow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl-Josef Kutsch
Karl-Josef Kutsch, also known as K. J. Kutsch, (born 11 May 1924) is a German physician and co-author with Leo Riemens of the ''Großes Sängerlexikon'', the standard reference for opera singers. Life and work Born in Gangelt, Kutsch studied medicine, was drafted and participated as a soldier in the Russia campaign of the Second World War. He then completed his studies at the Goethe University Frankfurt in 1948. He practised as a physician from 1952 to 1989 in his hometown, together with his wife. From the 1950s, Kutsch built a collection of records and singers' biographies. Together with the Dutch musicologist Leo Riemens, he published a small biographical dictionary of singers in 1962 under the title ''Unvergängliche Stimmen'' (''Immortal Voices'').Jan David SchmitzSängerlexikon CD-ROMhsozkult.de In 1975 the work was revised as ''Unvergängliche Stimmen / Sängerlexikon'', which was again revised in 1985 with his and Riemens' cooperation and became the standard work. Under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Frau Ohne Schatten
' (''The Woman without a Shadow''), Op. 65, is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917. When it premiered at the Vienna State Opera on 10 October 1919, critics and audiences were unenthusiastic. Many cited problems with Hofmannsthal's complicated and heavily symbolic libretto. However, it is now a standard part of the operatic repertoire. Composition history Work on the opera began in 1911. Hofmannsthal's earliest sketches for the libretto are based on a piece by Goethe, ' (1795). Hofmannsthal handles Goethe's material freely, adding the idea of two couples, the emperor and empress who come from another realm, and the dyer and his wife who belong to the ordinary world. Hofmannsthal also drew on portions of ''The Arabian Nights'', ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', and even quotes Goethe's ''Faust''. The opera is conceived as a fairy tale on the theme of lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamburg State Opera
The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''Generalmusikdirektor'' of the company is Kent Nagano. History Opera in Hamburg dates to 2 January 1678 when the Oper am Gänsemarkt was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile. It was not a court theatre but the first public opera house in Germany established by the art-loving citizens of Hamburg, a prosperous member of the Hanseatic League. The Hamburg ''Bürgeroper'' resisted the dominance of the Italianate style and rapidly became the leading musical center of the German Baroque. In 1703, George Friedrich Handel was engaged as violinist and harpsichordist and performances of his operas were not long in appearing. In 1705, Hamburg gave the world première of his opera ''Nero''. In 1721, Georg Philipp Telem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its namesake Main River, it forms a continuous conurbation with the neighboring city of Offenbach am Main and its urban area has a population of over 2.3 million. The city is the heart of the larger Rhine-Main metropolitan region, which has a population of more than 5.6 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region. Frankfurt's central business district, the Bankenviertel, lies about northwest of the geographic center of the EU at Gadheim, Lower Franconia. Like France and Franconia, the city is named after the Franks. Frankfurt is the largest city in the Rhine Franconian dialect area. Frankfurt was a city state, the Free City of Frankfurt, for nearly five centuries, and was one of the most import ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madama Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther Long, which in turn was based on stories told to Long by his sister Jennie Correll and on the semi-autobiographical 1887 French novel '' Madame Chrysanthème'' by Pierre Loti.Chadwick Jenna"The Original Story: John Luther Long and David Belasco" on columbia.edu Long's version was dramatized by David Belasco as the one-act play '' Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan'', which, after premiering in New York in 1900, moved to London, where Puccini saw it in the summer of that year. The original version of the opera, in two acts, had its premiere on 17 February 1904 at La Scala in Milan. It was poorly received, despite having such notable singers as soprano Rosina Storchio, tenor Giovanni Zenatello and baritone Giuseppe De Luca in lead roles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
