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Irische Legende
(''Irish Legend'') is a 1955 opera by Werner Egk who also wrote the libretto after the 1892/1899 verse drama ''The Countess Cathleen'' by W. B. Yeats. It premiered at the Salzburg Festival on 17 August 1955. History was the first opera that Egk composed after World War II. He had studied with Carl Orff in Munich, and was successful in the 1930s with , and ''Columbus''. He was invited to compose an opera for the 1955 Salzburg Festival. The project was supported by Wilhelm Furtwängler. Egk wrote his own libretto based on ''The Countess Cathleen'' by Yeats which has elements of Irish mysticism from both heathen and Christian roots. was premiered at the Salzburg Festival on 17 August 1955, conducted by George Szell and directed by Oscar Fritz Schuh, with Inge Borkh and the young Walter Berry in leading roles. The premiere performance was broadcast by international radio stations. The premiere received international recognition. The Salzburg Festival presented nine premieres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Werner Egk
Werner Egk (, 17 May 1901 – 10 July 1983), born Werner Joseph Mayer, was a German composer. Early career He was born in the Swabian town of Auchsesheim, today part of Donauwörth, Germany. His family, of Catholic peasant stock, moved to Augsburg when Egk was six. He studied at a Benedictine Gymnasium (academic high school) and entered the municipal conservatory. Egk demonstrated talents as a composer, graphic artist, and writer, and he moved first to Frankfurt to improve his piano talents and then, in 1921, to Munich. There, working as a theater composer and playing in the pit, he married Elizabeth Karl, a violinist. He derived his pen name "Egk" from his wife's initials: ''Elisabeth, Karl'' (Elisabeth, née Karl). His only son, Titus, was born in 1924. Egk moved to Berlin in 1928, meeting composers Arnold Schoenberg and Hanns Eisler. He intended to become a cinema composer and accompanied silent films. When radio broadcasting became available to the public, Egk immediate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Liebe Der Danae
''Die Liebe der Danae'' (''The Love of Danae'') is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to a February 1937 German libretto by Joseph Gregor, based on an outline written in 1920, "Danae, or The Marriage of Convenience", by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Strauss worked on the score in 1937, 1938 and into 1939, although he was pre-occupied with completing ''Daphne'', developing ideas with Gregor and finally replacing him as librettist for '' Capriccio'', and then succumbed to illness, which caused postponement for several months into 1940. The opera was finally finished on 28 June 1940. However, for a variety of reasons including Strauss' perception that the failure of ''Die Frau ohne Schatten'', as he put it, was caused by having been "put on in German theatres too soon after the last war",Boyden, p. 339 the composer refused to allow Clemens Krauss, to whom he had guaranteed the right to conduct the first performances, to stage it until two years after the war. The opera is an ingenio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oskar Czerwenka
Oskar Czerwenka (5 July 1924 – 1 June 2000) was an Austrian operatic bass and academic teacher. He was a member of the Vienna State Opera from 1951 to 1986, performing 75 roles, including his signature role Ochs auf Lerchenau and premieres of new operas. He was also an author, visual artist and illustrator, and performed in concert. He received several awards, and the state music school in his home town was named after him. Career Born in Vöcklabruck, Czerwenka grew up there. He studied international commerce and then began private opera studies in Vienna with Otto Iro. He made his debut on stage at the Graz Opera in 1947. He became a member of the Vienna State Opera in 1951, where he stayed to 1986, appearing in 1084 performances at the house. He also appeared at the Volksoper Wien and at major opera houses worldwide. He performed at the Salzburg Festival from 1953 and made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1959. Czerwenka sang 75 operatic parts, including his signatu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Lorenz (tenor)
Max Lorenz (born Max Sülzenfuß; 10 May 1901 – 11 January 1975) was a German heldentenor famous for Wagnerian roles. Career Lorenz was born in Düsseldorf, and studied with Ernst Grenzebach in Berlin in the 1920s. He later was a pupil of Estelle Liebling in New York City. He made his debut at the Semperoper in Dresden in 1927, becoming a principal tenor. From 1929 to 1944 he was a member of the ensemble at the Berlin State Opera, appearing also at the New York Metropolitan Opera (1931–1934), the Bayreuth Festspielhaus (1933–1939, 1952, 1954) and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1934 and 1937). He sang, too, at the Vienna State Opera (1929–1933, 1936–1944, 1954). Audiences at the Salzburg Festival also heard him, and he created roles in such post-World War II works as Gottfried von Einem’s '' Der Prozess'' (Josef K, 1953), Rolf Liebermann’s ''Penelope'' (1954) and Rudolf Wagner-Régeny’s ''Das Bergwerk zu Falun'' (1961). Lorenz's operatic and recital career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Litto
Maria Litto (1919–1996) was a German ballet dancer, choreographer and film actress. In 1970, she pioneered dance programming on German television. Early life Born in Ovenhausen, Höxter, on 9 September 1919, Litto attended the town's primary and secondary schools. From the age of 16, she received training in ballet at the ''Tanzschule Carus'' in Holzminden and, when 18, at the Folkwangschule in Essen. She completed her training at the Wuppertal Municipal Theatre. Career She joined the Berlin Opera ballet in 1941, first becoming a solo dancer and then, in 1944, prima ballerina. In 1948, she performed in Werner Egk's ballet ''Abraxas''. Thereafter she danced in various films including ''Third from the Right'', '' Melody of Fate'', ''Maya of the Seven Veils'' and, taking the lead role, in '' Queen of the Arena''. In 1953, she starred in the musical ''Die Blume von Hawaii'' ('' The Flower of Hawaii'') where she played Priness Lia a fictionalised version of Liliuokalani. In Novem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lilian Benningsen
Lilian Benningsen (17 July 1924 – 12 June 2014) was an Austrian operatic mezzo-soprano and contralto. She made an international career based at the Bavarian State Opera for decades, where she first appeared as Eboli in Verdi's ''Don Carlos''. She created several roles, such as Carolina in Henze's '' Elegie für junge Liebende'' at the 1961 Schwetzingen Festival. Her recordings include both operas and concerts. Life and career Born in Vienna, Benningsen was trained as a singer in Vienna by Elisabeth Radó and Anna Bahr-Mildenburg. She had her first great success in 1947 when the 23-year-old won first prize in the singing competition of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. About a year later, Benningsen made her debut at the Salzburger Landestheater, as Bostana in ''Der Barbier von Bagdad'' by Peter Cornelius. She moved on to the and the Cologne Opera, where she sang from 1950 to 1952. Her breakthrough came in 1951 when she appeared as a guest at the Bavarian State ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waldemar Kmentt
Waldemar Kmentt (Vienna, 2 February 1929 Vienna, 21 January 2015) was an Austrian operatic tenor, who was particularly associated with the German repertory, both opera and operetta. Born in Vienna, Kmentt studied at the Vienna Music Academy, first the piano, and later voice with Adolf Vogel, Elisabeth Radó and Hans Duhan. In 1950, he sang the tenor-solo part in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony under Karl Böhm. His professional opera debut was in 1951 at the Vienna State Opera, as the Prince in ''The Love for Three Oranges''. He appeared regularly at the Staatsoper for the next 35 years, in a total of 1,480 performances, and the company awarded him honorary membership in 1982. His Salzburg Festival debut was in 1955 in Hans Pfitzner's ''Palestrina'', as Dandini. Other roles at Salzburg Festival particularly include Mozart roles ( Belmonte, Don Ottavio, Ferrando, Tamino, and both Idamante and Idomeneo). Beginning in 1956, he appeared outside Austria, in places such as Milan, Rome ... [...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] |
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] |
Margarete Klose
Margarete Klose (6 August 1899 or 1902 – 14 December 1968) was a German operatic mezzo-soprano. Life Klose was born (as Frida Klose) and died in Berlin. She lost her father early in life and had to earn her living as a secretary, until a colleague recommended her to the Klindworth-Scharwenka conservatory, where she got a thorough musical education. Klose made her début in 1926 at the Theater Ulm in a supporting role of Emmerich Kálmán's operetta ''Countess Maritza''. Her next role was Azucena in Giuseppe Verdi's ''Il trovatore''. For the next three years Klose sang in Ulm and Kassel, before joining the Mannheim National Theatre in 1929. In 1932, Klose went back to Berlin where she was engaged alternately at Berlin State Opera (1932 to 1949 and 1955 to 1961) and Deutsche Oper Berlin (1949 to 1958). In addition she was a celebrated guest e.g. at Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Scala in Milan, Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, National Theatre Mun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically between the F below middle C (F3 in scientific pitch notation) to the second F above middle C (F5), although, at the extremes, some voices can reach the D below middle C (D3) or the second B above middle C (B5). The contralto voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic contralto. History "Contralto" is primarily meaningful only in reference to classical and operatic singing, as other traditions lack a comparable system of vocal categorization. The term "contralto" is only applied to female singers; men singing in a similar range are called "countertenors". The Italian terms "contralto" and "alto" are not synonymous, "alto" technically denoting a specific vocal range in choral singing without regard to factors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Böhme
Kurt Böhme (5 May 1908 – 20 December 1989) was a German bass. He was born in Dresden, Germany, where he studied with Adolf Kluge at the Dresden Conservatory. He made his debut in 1930 in Bautzen in Der Freischütz, singing both Kaspar (a signature role he was to perform roughly 350 times) and, following a 3-minute costume change, the Hermit. From 1930–1950, he was a member of the Dresden State Opera, 1949 he became a member of the Munich State Opera and in 1955 a member of the Vienna State Opera. In the 1950s and 1960s he became known worldwide because of his acting talents, performing the buffo role of Baron Ochs (more than 500 performances) as well as the 'heavies': Kaspar (1954 with Wilhelm Furtwängler), Fafner (1958–1964 with Georg Solti), and "Matteo" in Fra Diavolo (Dresden November 1944). He was best known for his interpretations of Wagnerian roles, and Mozart's big bass roles (Osmin, Sarastro, and the Commendatore), and Baron Ochs von Lerchenau in Strauss' Der ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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