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He Who Gets Slapped (opera)
'' He Who Gets Slapped'' (also known as ''Pantaloon'' and ''Pantaloon, He Who Gets Slapped'') is a 1956 opera in 3 Acts by composer Robert Ward with an English language libretto by Bernard Stambler which is based on Leonid Andreyev's play of the same name. The first of Ward's nine operas, the opera is written in a lyrical style reminiscent of verismo. The work is infrequently performed; with its most notable staging being at Lincoln Center by the New York City Opera in 1959. Stambler's adaptation of the play made some notable changes in plot and characterization, condensing the final two acts of the four act play into one act. The play's central character, "He", was renamed Pantaloon in reference to the character from Italian commedia dell'arte. Additionally, the play's tragic murder and suicides at the end are removed for a somewhat happier conclusion where Pantaloon is rejected by Consuelo instead of Pantaloon murdering her. Roles Composition history and the plot in relati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Ward (composer)
Robert Eugene Ward (September 13, 1917 – April 3, 2013) was an American composer who is best remembered for his opera ''The Crucible'' (1961) after the 1953 play of the same name by Arthur Miller. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for that opera in 1962. Early work and education Ward was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one of five children of the owner of a moving and storage company. He sang in church choirs and local opera theaters when he was a boy. His earliest extant compositions date to 1934, at a time he was attending John Adams High School, from which he graduated in 1935. After that, Ward attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where his composition teachers were Bernard Rogers, Howard Hanson and Edward Royce. Ward received a fellowship and attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York from 1939 to 1942, where he studied composition with Frederick Jacobi, orchestration with Bernard Wagenaar, and conducting with Albert Stoessel and Edgar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Atkinson (baritone)
David Anthony Stuart Atkinson (born David Burke; October 20, 1921 – October 4, 2012) was a Canadian baritone and New York Broadway actor/singer. Most of his career was spent performing in musical theatre, musicals and operettas in New York City from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, although he did appear in some operas and made a few television appearances. In 1952 he created the role of Sam in the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein's ''Trouble in Tahiti''. From 1956-1962 he was a leading performer at the New York City Opera where he starred in several musicals and appeared in the world premieres of several English language operas. His greatest success on the stage came late in his career: the role of Cervantes in ''Man of La Mancha'' which he portrayed in the original Broadway production (replacing Richard Kiley), the 1968 national tour, and in the 1972 Broadway revival. Life and career Born David Burke in Montreal, Atkinson grew up in Saint-Romuald, Quebec. While his pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Bruns
Philip Bruns (May 2, 1931 – February 8, 2012) was an American television and movie actor and writer. He portrayed George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman on the 1970s comedic series ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,'' and Morty Seinfeld, the father of Jerry Seinfeld, in the 1990 second episode of ''Seinfeld''. Early life Bruns was born on May 2, 1931 at a farm near Pipestone, Minnesota, the youngest of three children of Margie Evelyn Solon (née Trigg) and Henry Phillip Bruns. His ancestry was German and Irish.Phillip Bruns profile , phillipbrunsactor.com; accessed March 4, 2017. He played high school football. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree from [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Dooley
Paul Dooley (born Paul Brown; February 22, 1928) is an American character actor, writer and comedian. He is known for his roles in ''Breaking Away'', ''Sixteen Candles'', and ''Popeye''. Early life Dooley was born Paul Brown on February 22, 1928, in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene (née Barringer), a homemaker, and Pete James Brown, a factory worker. He has said that Parkersburg had few attractions that interested him, as there were not many cultural opportunities. He enjoyed listening to comedians on the radio, especially Jimmy Durante. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. In 1946, he joined the United States Navy and served for 2 years before then returning home and graduating from West Virginia University in 1952. Career After graduating from West Virginia University, Dooley went to New York City to try his luck in the entertainment industry. He initially found work as a clown for children's birthday pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chester Ludgin
Chester Ludgin (May 20, 1925 – August 9, 2003) was an American operatic baritone. Biography Chester Ludgin was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He made his professional debut in 1956 with The Experimental Opera Theatre of America (affiliated with the New Orleans Opera Association), as Baron Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's ''Tosca'', conducted by Renato Cellini and directed by Armando Agnini. The very next year, he first appeared with the New York City Opera, as Dr Falke in Johann Strauss II's ''Die Fledermaus'', opposite Phyllis Curtin. With the City Opera, Ludgin was heard in many roles, including what was perhaps his greatest success, John Proctor in the world premiere of Robert Ward's ''The Crucible'' (1961, with Norman Treigle as the Reverend John Hale). He was also in the premieres of Robert Kurka's ''The Good Soldier Schweik'' (1958), Norman Dello Joio's '' The Triumph of St. Joan'' (1959), and Abraham Ellstein's ''The Golem'' (1962) for that company. He also portrayed Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emile Renan
Emile Renan (28 June 1913 - 8 December 2001) was an American operatic bass-baritone and stage director who had a long association with the New York City Opera. He also performed as a guest artist with the other opera companies in North America throughout his career. He was particularly known for his portrayal of buffo roles and for his work in 20th century operas. Biography Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Renan studied voice under Eleanor McLellan and John Daggett Howell in New York City. Early on in his career he became the first singer to sound a note on the NYCO stage, portraying Sacristan in the NYCO's inaugural opera production, Puccini's ''Tosca'', on 21 February 1944. He went on to sing more than thirty-two more roles with the company over the next fifteen years, mostly in buffo parts. He sang in many twentieth century operas at the NYCO, including the world premieres of David Tamkin's ''The Dybbuk'' (as Meyer, 1951) and Robert Kurka's ''The Good Soldier Schweik'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the title role in ''Der fliegende Holländer'', Wotan/Der Wanderer in the ''Ring Cycle'' and Hans Sachs in '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. Wagner labelled these roles as ''Hoher Bass'' ("high bass")—see fach for more details. The bass-baritone voice is distinguished by two attributes. First, it must be capable of singing comfortably in a baritonal tessitura. Secondly, however, it needs to have the ripely resonant lower range typically associated with the bass voice. For example, the role of Wotan in ''Die Walküre'' covers the range from F2 (the F at the bottom of the bass clef) to F4 (the F above middle C), but only infrequently descends beyond C3 (the C below middle C). Bass-baritones are typically divide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Porretta
Frank Porretta Jr. (May 4, 1930, Detroit – April 23, 2015, Stamford, Connecticut) was an American tenor who had an active career performing in operas, musicals, and concerts from 1952 through 1971. He had a particularly fruitful relationship with the New York City Opera from 1956 to 1970 where he sang a highly diverse repertoire; including roles in new operas by composers Norman Dello Joio, Carlisle Floyd, Vittorio Giannini, and Robert Ward. For the NBC Opera Theatre he portrayed The Astronaut in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's ''Labyrinth''. Porretta also starred in several musicals at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera; notably performing on cast albums of '' The Great Waltz'', ''The King and I'' and ''The Merry Widow''. He made his only film appearance in the 1970 film ''Song of Norway'' in which he starred opposite Florence Henderson and Toralv Maurstad. After retiring from the stage in his early 40s, Porretta serve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Kelley
Norman Kelley (August 27, 1911 – September 4, 2006) was an American operatic tenor who had an active international career during the 1940s through the 1970s. He was notably a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera between 1957 and 1961, and he sang in several world premieres with the New York City Opera. He also notably translated Engelbert Humperdinck's '' Hänsel und Gretel'' into English, a version first performed in 1967 and used by opera companies to this present day. Biography Kelley was born and raised in Eddington, Maine, the oldest child of John Kelley and Janet Kelley (née Shiels) Kelley. At the age of 16, he moved to Boston with the intention of training to be a minister at Gordon College. However, an advertisement for acting instruction at the Leland School caught his eye and, after auditioning, he won a scholarship to the school which enabled him to pursue studies in theatre and music. He entered the New England Conservatory where he began studying singin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widely defined to be B2, though some roles include an A2 (two As below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to the second F above middle C (F5). The tenor voice type is generally divided into the ''leggero'' tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and tenor buffo or . History The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word ''wikt:teneo#Latin, tenere'', which means "to hold". As Fallows, Jander, Forbes, Steane, Harris and Waldman note in the "Tenor" article at ''Grove Music Online'': In polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the [tenor was the] structurally fundamental (or 'holding') voice, vocal or instrumental; by the 15th century it came to signify the male voice that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brenda Lewis
Brenda Lewis (March 2, 1921 – September 16, 2017) was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, and music educator. She enjoyed a 20-year-long collaboration with the New York City Opera (NYCO) with whom she notably created roles in several world premieres by American composers; including the title role in Jack Beeson's ''Lizzie Borden'' in 1965. She also performed with frequency at the Metropolitan Opera from 1952 to 1965, and was active as a guest artist with notable opera companies both nationally and internationally. Although she is mainly remembered as an exponent of American operas and musicals, she performed a broad repertoire of works and was particularly celebrated for her portrayals of Marie in ''Wozzeck'', Rosalinde in ''Die Fledermaus'', and the title roles of ''Carmen'' and '' Salome''; the latter of which she performed for the inauguration of the Houston Grand Opera in 1956. Lewis was also a familiar face to Broadway audiences in opere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regina Sarfaty
Regina Sarfaty (born 1934), later "Regina Sarfaty Rickless" after her marriage to Elwood A. Rickless in 1963, is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active career during the 1950s through the 1980s. Sarfaty first rose to prominence through her work at the Santa Fe Opera and the New York City Opera during the late 1950s. She later enjoyed international success in the 1960s and 1970s, and had a particularly lengthy career singing with the Zurich Opera. Biography Born in Rochester, New York, Sarfaty grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She won a scholarship to The Juilliard School where she matriculated in 1952 and studied voice with Florence Kimball. She graduated five years later with a Bachelor of Music. While a student, she began to perform professionally in operas and concerts. In 1956 she created the role of Zinida in the world premiere of Robert Ward's ''He Who Gets Slapped'' at the Juilliard School; a role she would later perform with the New York City Opera in 1959. Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
