|
Help, Help, The Globolinks!
''Help, Help, the Globolinks!'' is an opera in four scenes by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera and first performed as ''Hilfe, Hilfe, die Globolinks!'' in a German translation by Kurt Honolka on December 21, 1968, in a double bill with Menotti's ''Amahl and the Night Visitors''. The opera had its English language premiere on August 1, 1969, in the United States at the Santa Fe Opera in a double bill with Igor Stravinsky's '' The Nightingale''. Both premiere productions were directed by the composer. Many of the cast members from the Santa Fe production reprised their roles for the work's New York debut at the New York City Opera in December 1969. Roles Synopsis Prologue The opening fugue is interrupted by a police bulletin telling us that dangerous creatures known only as Globolinks have landed on earth. A ballet follows accompanied by recorded electronic music, during which the Globolinks ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. One of the most frequently performed opera composers of the 20th century, his most successful works were written in the 1940s and 1950s. Highly influenced by Giacomo Puccini and Modest Mussorgsky, Menotti further developed the verismo tradition of opera in the post-World War II era. Rejecting atonality and the aesthetic of the Second Viennese School, Menotti's music is characterized by expressive lyricism which carefully sets language to natural rhythms in ways that highlight textual meaning and underscore dramatic intent. Like Wagner, Menotti wrote the libretti of all his operas. He wrote the classic Christmas opera '' Amahl and the Night Visitors'' (1951), along with over two dozen other operas intended to appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arlene Saunders
Arlene Saunders (Cleveland, October 5, 1930 – April 17, 2020) was an American spinto soprano opera singer. After making her operatic debut as Rosalinde von Eisenstein, in ''Die Fledermaus'', with the National Opera Company in 1958, she made her first appearance with the New York City Opera in 1961, as Giorgetta in ''Il tabarro'' (conducted by Julius Rudel). With that company, she soon sang in ''Carmen'' (as Micaëla), ''La bohème'' (as Mimì), ''Louise'' (opposite Norman Treigle as the Père), ''Die lustige Witwe'' and ''Don Giovanni'' (as Donna Elvira). In 1964, Saunders began a relationship with the Hamburg State Opera, with whom she made films of ''Le nozze di Figaro'' (as the Contessa, 1967), ''Der Freischütz'' (1968), and ''Die Meistersinger'' (with Giorgio Tozzi and Richard Cassilly, 1970). With the company she also created the part of the music teacher in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's '' Help, Help, the Globolinks!'' in 1968 (which was filmed the followin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John DeMain
John DeMain is an American conductor, currently in his 29th year as music director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin, as well as serving as artistic director of Madison Opera. He was music director and principal conductor of Houston Grand Opera for eighteen years in the 1970s and 1980s, establishing a reputation for conducting new operas. Notable among the world premieres he led there were Floyd's ''Willie Stark'' (1981), Bernstein's ''A Quiet Place'' (1983), Adams's '' Nixon in China'' (1987) and Tippett's ''New Year'' (1989). DeMain also conducted the United States premiere of '' Akhnaten'', by Philip Glass, in 1984. One of his early achievements with the chorus and orchestra of the Houston company was the second-ever complete recording of Gershwin's ''Porgy and Bess'', made for RCA in 1976 in its New York studios. Today, besides his work in Madison, he acts as occasional guest conductor for Los Angeles Opera. DeMain lives in Madison Madison may refer to: P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life (magazine)
''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the most popular magazines in the nation, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population. ''Life'' was independently published for its first 53 years until 1936 as a general-interest and light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes, and social commentary. It featured some of the most notable writers, editors, illustrators and cartoonists of its time: Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell and Jacob Hartman Jr. Gibson became the editor and owner of the magazine after John Ames Mitchell died in 1918. During its later years, the magazine offered brief capsule reviews (similar to those in ''The New Yorker'') of plays and movies currently running in New York City, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass (voice Type)
A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E2–E4).; ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' gives E2–E4/F4 Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to national style and classification system. Italians favour subdividing basses into the ''basso cantante'' (singing bass), ''basso buffo'' ("funny" bass), or the dramatic ''basso profondo'' (low bass). The American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass. The German ''Fach'' system offers further distinctions: Spielbass (Bassbuffo), Schwerer Spielbass (Schwerer Bassbuffo), Charakterbass (Bassbariton), and Seriöser Bass. These classification systems can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Grundheber
Franz Grundheber (born 27 September 1937) is a German operatic baritone. At the Hamburg State Opera, he performed over 150 roles from 1966. His voice is flexible enough to sing Italian opera as well as Wagner roles and contemporary opera; he is a stage presence in acting and singing. He has performed at major international opera houses and is known for his performance of the title role of Alban Berg's ''Wozzeck'', filmed for DVD in 1994 in a production staged by Patrice Chéreau. Career Grundheber was born in Trier and graduated from the Max-Planck- Gymnasium in 1959. He subsequently enrolled in the Air Force of the Bundeswehr, where he spent three years. After studying in Hamburg, he embarked upon a two-year scholarship under Margaret Harshaw at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and spent a summer at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California in 1966. In 1966, Grundheber joined the Hamburg State Opera where he became a prolific performer. He first san ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Kraft
Jean Kraft (January 9, 1927 – July 15, 2021) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. She began her career singing with the New York City Opera (NYCO) during the early 1960s, after which she embarked on a partnership with The Santa Fe Opera from 1965 through 1987. In 1970 she joined the roster of singers at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she remained a fixture until 1989. She also performed as a guest of many other opera companies throughout the United States. In 2005 ''Opera News'' called her "a gifted mezzo and observant, imaginative actress who lent distinction to a wide range of character roles. By the end of her Met tenure, she had sung nearly 800 performances and become a solid audience favorite." Early life and education Born in Menasha, Wisconsin on January 9, 1927, Kraft began her career working as pianist as a teenager and was also a proficient clarinet and trumpet player. After working as a pianist for four years she decided to reorient her path towards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ursula Boese
Ursula Boese (27 July 1928 – 25 October 2016) was a German operatic contralto. A member of the Hamburg State Opera from 1960 to 1993, she pursued an international career. She appeared as Stravinsky's Iocaste at the San Francisco Opera in the presence of the composer, as Wagner's Fricka in Wieland Wagner's last production of the Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival, and as Verdi's Ulrica alongside Luciano Pavarotti. Life Born in Hamburg, Boese studied voice at the Musikhochschule Hamburg in her hometown, graduating with a diploma, and began as a concert singer during her studies. In 1958, she appeared at the Bayreuth Festival for the first time, making her stage debut, as Floßhilde and the Second Norn in ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch. She sang several roles there, including Fricka in the Ring Cycle in 1965, staged by Wieland Wagner. She became a member of the Hamburg State Opera (HSO) in 1960, where she remained until her retirement in 1993. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic mezzo-soprano. History While mezzo-sopranos typically sing secondary roles in operas, notable exceptions include the title role in Bizet's '' Carmen'', Angelina (Cinderella) in Rossini's ''La Cenerentola'', and Rosina in Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'' (all of which are also sung by sopranos and contraltos). Many 19th-century French-language operas give the leading female role to mezzos, includin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Marschner
Kurt Marschner (27 April 1913 – 25 September 1984) was a German operatic tenor and actor. Life and career Born in Krásná Lípa, Marschner trained as a singer at the Dresden Conservatory. He made his debut in Karlsbad (Sudetenland), not far from his native village. From 1942 to 1944 Marschner sang at the opera in German-occupied Oslo. After the end of the war he played in Oldenburg and Frankfurt. In 1949 Marschner joined the Hamburg State Opera where he remained a member of the ensemble for several decades. At this venue he took part in over 4000 performances. In addition to his work on stage, Marschner also appeared in filmed performances beginning in the 1960s: At first he played and sang small parts in works such as ''Fidelio'' and ''The Magic Flute''. In later years Marschner also took over bigger supporting roles such as Balthasar Zorn in Wagner's ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' and also leading roles such as Orpheus in Offenbach's ''Orpheus in the Underworld''. I ... [...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] |
William Workman (baritone)
William Workman (February 4, 1940, Valdosta, Georgia — September 13, 2019, Horst, Steinburg) was an American baritone who had an active career in operas and concerts from the 1960s into the 2000s. Particularly active with the Hamburg State Opera (HSO) and Opera Frankfurt, he notably created the roles of Tony in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's ''Help, Help, the Globolinks!'' (1968) and Prince Henri of Condé in the world premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's ''The Devils of Loudun'' (1969). His final appearance with the HSO was as Osmin in Mozart's ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' in 2004. Life and career Born in Valdosta, Georgia, Workman studied voice at Davidson College with Donald Plott before pursuing studies in opera with Martial Singher at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He continued with further training with Singher at the Music Academy of the West in California. In 1965 became a resident artist at the Hamburg State Opera (HSO), making his profe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_with_conductor_John_Demain_in_Tokyo_in_1995.jpg "Click for more on -> John DeMain")
