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Hans Drewanz
Hans Drewanz (2 December 1929 – 22 June 2021) was a German conductor and academic teacher. He was the Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of Darmstadt for more than three decades, shaping musical life in the town especially at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. Life Hans Drewanz was born in Dresden on 2 December 1929. He grew up in Berlin with a brother named Hubertus. His father, Hanz Drewanz, was a Kapellmeister at a theatre; and his mother, Charlotte, was a kindergarten teacher. Drewanz was a pupil at the Musisches Gymnasium Frankfurt from 1940 until the end of World War II in 1945. Drewanz worked as an organist after 1945, and from 1947 as a répétiteur at the Oper Frankfurt. Simultaneously, he studied piano at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt with August Leopolder, while all other subjects had been previously covered by the Musisches Gymnasium. Although he did not complete his studies formally, he became personal assistant to Georg Solti at the Oper Frankfurt in 1953, and also worked wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth largest by area (after Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne), and the third most populous city in the area of former East Germany, after Berlin and Leipzig. Dresden's urban area comprises the towns of Freital, Pirna, Radebeul, Meissen, Coswig, Radeberg and Heidenau and has around 790,000 inhabitants. The Dresden metropolitan area has approximately 1.34 million inhabitants. Dresden is the second largest city on the River Elbe after Hamburg. Most of the city's population lives in the Elbe Valley, but a large, albeit very sparsely populated area of the city east of the Elbe lies in the West Lusatian Hill Country and Uplands (the westernmost part of the Sudetes) and thus in Lusatia. Many boroughs west of the Elbe lie in the foreland of the Ore Mounta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opernhaus Wuppertal
Opernhaus Wuppertal (Wuppertal Opera House) is a German theatre in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses mostly performances of operas, but also plays, run by the municipal Wuppertaler Bühnen. The house is also the venue for dance performances by the company created by Pina Bausch. The house was built in 1905 on a design by Carl Moritz as the ("Barmen Municipal Theatre"). It was rebuilt after being severely damaged during World War II and again restored over the period 2006–2009. The theatre is located in the center of Wuppertal-Barmen, served by the Wuppertal Suspension Railway and Wuppertal-Barmen station. History The original building was the ("Barmen Municipal Theatre"), an all-purpose theatre for opera and plays built in 1905 before Barmen was merged into Wuppertal. It was designed by the architect Carl Moritz in a style drawing on neo-Baroque and Jugendstil. It was completed in 1907. The theatre was severely damaged during a World War II air raid o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphony Of Psalms
The ''Symphony of Psalms'' is a choral symphony in three movements composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1930 during his neoclassical period. The work was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The symphony derives its name from the use of Psalm texts in the choral parts. History According to Stravinsky, the commission for the work came about from "a routine suggestion" from Koussevitzky, who was also Stravinsky's publisher, that he write something "popular" for orchestra without chorus. Stravinsky, however, insisted on the psalm-symphony idea, which he had had in mind for some time. The choice of Psalm 150, however, was in part because of the popularity of that text. The symphony was written in Nice, and Echarvines near Talloires, which was Stravinsky's summer home in those years. The three movements are performed without break, and the texts sung by the chorus are drawn from the Vulgate versions in Latin. Unlike many p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vespro Della Beata Vergine
''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' (''Vespers for the Blessed Virgin''), SV 206, is a musical setting by Claudio Monteverdi of the evening vespers on Marian feasts, scored for soloists, choirs, and orchestra. It is an ambitious work in scope and in its variety of style and scoring, and has a duration of around 90 minutes. Published in Venice (with a dedication to Pope Paul V dated 1 September 1610) as ("Mass for the Most Holy Virgin for six voices, and Vespers for several voices with some sacred songs, suitable for chapels and ducal chambers"), it is sometimes called Monteverdi's ''Vespers of 1610''. Monteverdi composed the music while musician and composer for the Gonzagas, the dukes of Mantua. The libretto is compiled from several Latin Biblical and liturgical texts. The thirteen movements include the introductory ''Deus in adiutorium'', five Psalms, four ''concertato'' motets and a vocal sonata on the " Sancta Maria" litany, several differently scored stanzas of the hymn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century. Born in Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire) to Jewish parents of humble origins, the German-speaking Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting posts of rising ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Fortner
Wolfgang Fortner (12 October 1907 – 5 September 1987) was a German composer, composition teacher and conductor. Life Fortner was born in Leipzig. From his parents, who were both singers, Fortner very early on had intense contact with music. In 1927 he began his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory ( organ with Karl Straube, composition with Hermann Graubner) and at University of Leipzig, (philosophy with Hans Driesch, musicology with Theodor Kroyer, and German studies with Hermann August Korff) . While still a student, two of his early compositions were publicly performed: ''Die vier marianischen Antiphonen'' at the Lower Rhineland Festival in Düsseldorf in 1928, and his First String Quartet in Königsberg in 1930 . In 1931 he completed his studies with the State Exam for a high teaching office, after he accepted a lectureship in music theory at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Heidelberg. There his music was attacked as Cultural Bolshevism. In 1935 and 1936 Fortner create ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death In Venice (opera)
''Death in Venice'', Op. 88, is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, his last. The opera is based on the novella ''Death in Venice'' by Thomas Mann. Myfanwy Piper wrote the English libretto. It was first performed at Snape Maltings, near Aldeburgh, England, on 16 June 1973. The often acerbic and severe score is marked by some haunting soundscapes of "ambiguous Venice". The boy Tadzio is portrayed by a silent dancer, to gamelan-like percussion accompaniment. The music of the opera is precise, direct and movingly understated. Composition history Britten had been contemplating the novella for many years and began work in September 1970 with approaches to Piper and to Golo Mann, son of the author. Because of agreements between Warner Brothers and the estate of Thomas Mann for the production of Luchino Visconti's 1971 film, Britten was advised not to see the movie when it was released.Strode, Rosamund "A 'Death in Venice chronicle" in ''Benjamin Britten: Death in Venice.'' (Camb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rake's Progress
''The Rake's Progress'' is an English-language opera from 1951 in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings ''A Rake's Progress'' (1733–1735) of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on 2 May 1947, in a Chicago exhibition. The story concerns the decline and fall of one Tom Rakewell, who deserts Anne Trulove for the delights of London in the company of Nick Shadow, who turns out to be the Devil. After several misadventures, all initiated by the devious Shadow, Tom ends up in Bedlam, a hospital for the insane at that time situated in the City of London. The moral of the tale is: "For idle hearts and hands and minds the Devil finds work to do." Performance history It was first performed at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 11 September 1951, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf creating the role of Anne Trulove, and Robert Rounseville that of Tom Rakewell. It was fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Golden Cockerel
''The Golden Cockerel'' ( rus, Золотой петушок, Zolotoy petushok ) is an opera in three acts, with short prologue and even shorter epilogue, composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, his last opera he completed before his death in 1908. Its libretto written by Vladimir Belsky derives from Alexander Pushkin's 1834 poem ''The Tale of the Golden Cockerel''. The opera was completed in 1907 and premiered in 1909 in Moscow, after the composer's death. Outside Russia it has often been performed in French as ''Le coq d'or''. Composition history Rimsky-Korsakov had considered his previous opera, ''The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya'' (1907) to be his final artistic statement in the medium, and, indeed, this work has been called a "summation of the nationalistic operatic tradition of Glinka and The Five." However, the political situation in Russia at the time inspired him to take up the pen to compose a "razor-sharp satire of the autocracy, of Ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penthesilea (opera)
''Penthesilea'' is a one-act opera by Othmar Schoeck, to a German-language libretto by the composer, after the work of the same name by Heinrich von Kleist. It was first performed at the Staatsoper in Dresden on 8 January 1927. Schoeck used the contrast between C major and F major as a musical basis for his work. Robin Holloway has noted the similarity of theme to Richard Strauss' '' Elektra'', as well as Schoeck's use of two pianos in the instrumentation. Holloway, Robin, "Schoeck the Evolutionary" (October 2001). ''Tempo'' (New Ser.), 218: pp. 2–6. Roles Synopsis The story is about the tragic love of Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, and Achilles. Achilles has defeated the Amazon queen Penthesilea in battle. However, he falls in love with her. After Penthesilea has recovered, Achilles allows her to think that she defeated him, because Amazon law stipulates a warrior may only associate with a man whom she has defeated. Under this idea, Penthesilea returns the affec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Der Prinz Von Homburg (opera)
''Der Prinz von Homburg'' (''The Prince of Homburg'') is a German-language opera in three acts by Hans Werner Henze with a libretto by Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973). It was completed in 1958 but premiered on 22 May 1960 in Hamburg. Background The text is based on the 1811 play, '' Prinz Friedrich von Homburg'' by Heinrich von Kleist. Frederick Bridgham prepared an English-language translation for the English National Opera/Schott 1996 production in London. The opera shows Henze's strong personal dislike of German militarism. In a 1996 lecture, extracted and translated in the programme to the ENO 1996 production, Henze mentions the Leipzig tradition from Bach to Max Reger, Hermann Grabner and Wolfgang Fortner, the Viennese classical tradition and the Second Viennese School, in particular Beethoven and Arnold Schoenberg, Gustav Mahler and Stravinsky as influences. He describes how he contrasts "the beautiful old harmonies of yesterday" used to represent the Prince's dreamworld ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darmstädter Ferienkurse
Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Courses of International New Music in Darmstadt), as a gathering with lectures and concerts over several summer weeks. Composers, performers, theorists and philosophers of contemporary music met first annually until 1970, and then biannually. The event was organised by the Kranichsteiner Musikinstitut, which was renamed Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD). It is regarded as a leading international forum of contemporary and experimental music with a focus on composition. The festival awards the for performers and young composers. History Overview The Ferienkurse were initiated in 1946 by Wolfgang Steinecke, then responsible for culture in the municipal government of Darmstadt. He directed them until his death in 1961, succeeded by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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