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Il Pigmalione
''Il Pigmalione'' (''Pygmalion'') is a ''scena lirica'' (lyric scene or opera) in one act by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist is unknown, but it is known that the libretto was based on one by Antonio Simeone Sografi for 's ''Pimmalione'' (1790), in turn based on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ''Pygmalion'' and ultimately based on Book X of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. Sografi's libretto was also used for an opera by Bonifacio Asioli (1796). This was Donizetti's first opera, written in six days between 25 September and 1 October 1816 when the composer was 19Osborne 1994, p. 139 and a student at the Bologna Academy, a position acquired for him with the help of his teacher in Bergamo, Johann Simon MayrAllitt 1991, p. 9 and where his "gift for spontaneous composition flowered". It has been noted that although the comedy is "musically slender, the score, nevertheless, reveals the fledgling composer's flair for melody". It was not performed until 13 October 1960. Performance history The p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style during the first half of the nineteenth century and a probable influence on other composers such as Giuseppe Verdi. Donizetti was born in Bergamo in Lombardy. At an early age he was taken up by Simon Mayr who enrolled him with a full scholarship in a school which he had set up. There he received detailed musical training. Mayr was instrumental in obtaining a place for Donizetti at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy ''Il Pigmalione'', which may never have been performed during his lifetime. An offer in 1822 from Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, which followed the composer's ninth opera, led to his move to Naples and his residency there until productio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pygmalion (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Pygmalion (; Ancient Greek: Πυγμαλίων ''Pugmalíōn'', ''gen''.: Πυγμαλίωνος) was a legendary figure of Cyprus, who was a king and a sculptor. He is most familiar from Ovid's narrative poem Metamorphoses (poem), ''Metamorphoses'', in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. In Ovid In book 10 of Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...'s ''Metamorphoses'', Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory. He named her Galatea (mythology), Galatea. According to Ovid, when Pygmalion saw the Propoetides of Cyprus practicing prostitution, he began "detesting the faults beyond measure which nature has given to women". He determined to remain celibate and to occupy himself with sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amanda Holden (writer)
Amanda Juliet Holden (; 19 January 1948 – 7 September 2021) was a British pianist, librettist, translator, editor and academic teacher. She is known for translating opera librettos to more contemporary English for the English National Opera, and for writing new librettos, especially in collaboration with Brett Dean. She contributed to encyclopedias such as the ''New Penguin Opera Guide''. Life and career Amanda Juliet Warren was born in London, the daughter of Sir Brian Warren and Dame Josephine Barnes. She was educated at Benenden School, and studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, with Egon Wellesz where she gained a Master of Arts (MA), at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a MA at the American University, Washington, DC. She also had degrees from the Royal Academy of Music (ARCM and LRAM).Holden /Amanda, ''Who's Who'' (UK), 2012 She first worked as a freelance pianist and accompanist, teacher at the Guildhall School, and therapist from 1973 to 1986. Libret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Ashbrook
William Ashbrook (January 28, 1922 – March 31, 2009) was an American musicologist, writer, journalist, and academic. He was perhaps best noted as a historian, researcher and popularizer of the works of Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti. Biography Ashbrook was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1946, and a Master's degree in musicology from Harvard University in 1947.Gossett, Philip, "In Memory of William Ashbrook", ''Opera Quarterly'', November 18, 2009 Ashbrook began an academic career by teaching humanities and then, for nearly twenty years, was a member of the English Department at Indiana State University at Terre Haute. He retired in 1974 as Distinguished Professor Emeritus. From 1974 to 1984 he was professor of opera at the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts (now the University of the Arts). Ashbrook died in Denver, Colorado at the age of 87. Ashbrook as o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olimpiade
''L'Olimpiade'' is an opera libretto in three acts by Metastasio originally written for an operatic setting by Antonio Caldara of 1733. Metastasio’s plot vaguely draws upon the narrative of "The Trial of the Suitors" provided from Book 6 of '' The Histories'' of Herodotus, which had previously been the base for Apostolo Zeno's libretto ''Gli inganni felici'' (1695). The story, set in Ancient Greece at the time of the Olympic Games, is about amorous rivalry and characters' taking places to gain the loved one. The story ends with the announcement of two marriages. Background Metastasio, as Imperial court poet at the court of Vienna, was requested to write the libretto to help celebrate the birthday of Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1733. The court composer Caldara was assigned to compose the music. The libretto attracted attention immediately and productions were soon mounted across Europe. Metastasio himself commented to Saverio Mattei that ''L’O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rita (opera)
(''Two Men and a Woman''), also known as ''Rita'', is an in one act, composed by Gaetano Donizetti to a French libretto by Gustave Vaëz. The opera, a domestic comedy consisting of eight musical numbers connected by spoken dialogue, was completed in 1841. Never performed in Donizetti's lifetime, it premiered posthumously at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 7 May 1860. Composition history In 1841, while Donizetti was in Paris waiting for the libretto to be completed for a commission by La Scala, he had a chance encounter with Gustave Vaëz, who had co-written the libretti for two of his earlier operas, ''Lucie de Lammermoor'' (the French version of ''Lucia di Lammermoor'') and ''La favorite''. He asked Vaëz if he could provide a libretto for a short opera to keep him busy while waiting for the La Scala project to advance. Vaëz quickly created ''Deux hommes et une femme'' (''Two Men and a Woman''), a comic piece in one act consisting of eight musical numbers connected by spoken d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venus (mythology)
Venus (), , is a Roman goddess, whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles. The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman art and Latin literature. In the later classical tradition of the West, Venus became one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality. She is usually depicted nude in paintings. Etymology The Latin theonym ''Venus'' and the common noun ''venus'' ('love, charm') stem from a Proto-Italic form reconstructed as ''*wenos-'' ('desire'), itself from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) ' ('desire'; cf. Messapic ''Venas'', Old Indic ''vánas'' 'de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ideal Of Feminine Beauty
Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considered in abstract algebra * Ideal, special subsets of a semigroup * Ideal (order theory), special kind of lower sets of an order * Ideal (set theory), a collection of sets regarded as "small" or "negligible" * Ideal (Lie algebra), a particular subset in a Lie algebra * Ideal point, a boundary point in hyperbolic geometry * Ideal triangle, a triangle in hyperbolic geometry whose vertices are ideal points Science * Ideal chain, in science, the simplest model describing a polymer * Ideal gas law, in physics, governing the pressure of an ideal gas * Ideal transformer, an electrical transformer having zero resistance and perfect magnetic threading * Ideal final result, in TRIZ methodology, the best possible solution * Thought experiment, sometimes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists.Quint. ''Inst.'' 10.1.93 Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus banished him to Tomis, a Dacian province on the Black Sea, where he remained a decade until his death. Overview A contemporary of the older poets Virgil and Horace, Ovid was the first major Roman poet to begin his career during Augustus's reign. Collectively, they are considered the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian described Ovid as the last of the Latin love elegists.Quint. ''Inst.'' 10.1.93 He enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, but the emperor Augus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in stone, metal, ceramic art, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or Molding (process), moulded or Casting, cast. Sculpture in stone survives far better than works of art in perishable materials, and often represents the majority of the surviving works (other than pottery) from ancient cultures, though conversely traditions of sculpture in wood may have vanished almost entirely. However, most ancient sculpture was brightly painted, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the Sovereign state, state, or others may wield that power on behalf of the monarch. Usually a monarch either personally inheritance, inherits the lawful right to exercise the state's sovereign rights (often referred to as ''the throne'' or ''the Crown, the crown'') or is elective monarchy, selected by an established process from a family or cohort eligible to provide the nation's monarch. Alternatively, an individual may self-proclaimed monarchy, proclaim themself monarch, which may be backed and Legitimacy (political), legitimated through acclamation, right of conquest or a combination of means. If a young child is crowned the monarch, then a regent is often appointed to govern until the monarch reaches the requisite adult a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geographically in Western Asia, its cultural ties and geopolitics are overwhelmingly Southern European. Cyprus is the third-largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located north of Egypt, east of Greece, south of Turkey, and west of Lebanon and Syria. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is ''de facto'' governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which was established after the 1974 invasion and which is recognised as a country only by Turkey. The earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains include the well-preserved ruins from the Hellenistic period such as Salamis and Kourion, and Cypr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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