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Ingrid Bjoner
Ingrid Kristine Bjoner Pierpoint (8 November 1927 – 4 September 2006) was a Norwegian soprano who had an international opera career between 1956 and 1990. She was particularly celebrated for her portrayal of Wagnerian heroines and for her performances in operas by Richard Strauss. In addition to performing in operas, Bjoner was an active concert soloist and recital performer throughout her career. Biography Background Ingrid Kristine Bjoner Pierpoint was born at Kråkstad in Akershus, Norway. Her parents were Johan Bjoner (1877–1950) and Alma Prestangen (1890–1982). She was the eighth of nine children born to a farming family. Bjoner was educated as a pharmacist at the University of Oslo during which time she also studied voice with Gudrun Boellemose. She drew considerable public notice after an extraordinary performance at Oslo Cathedral which reoriented her path towards a professional musical career. She travelled to Germany for further voice lessons with Paul Lohmann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kråkstad
Kråkstad is a village and former municipality located in Ski municipality in Viken, Norway. Overview The parish of ''Kraakstad'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Ski was separated from Kråkstad July 1, 1931 - and the rest of Kråkstad was merged with Ski January 1, 1964. The village has 839 inhabitants (2006), and a train station on Indre Østfoldbanen. The Norwegian footballer Martin Andresen grew up in this village. Mayhem Members of the black metal band Mayhem lived in a house near the village in the early 1990s, and became infamous when vocalist Dead committed suicide inside the house on 8 April 1991 by slitting his wrists and neck and then shooting himself in the forehead with a shotgun. Guitarist Euronymous then took photographs of Dead's corpse, one of which became the cover of their Dawn of the Black Hearts album. Dead's suicide was said to cause "a change in mentality" in the black metal scene and was the first in a stri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (''The Ring of the Nibelung''). His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex textures, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ariadne Auf Naxos
(''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's principal themes: the competition between high and low art for the public's attention. First version (1912) The opera was originally conceived as a 30-minute divertissement to be performed at the end of Hofmannsthal's adaptation of Molière's play ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme.'' Besides the opera, Strauss provided incidental music to be performed during the play. In the end, the opera occupied ninety minutes, and the performance of play plus opera occupied over six hours. It was first performed at the Hoftheater Stuttgart on 25 October 1912, directed by Max Reinhardt. The combination of the play and opera proved to be unsatisfactory to the audience: those who had come to hear the opera resented having to wait until the play finished. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll, and designs by Josef Hlávka. The opera house was inaugurated as the "Vienna Court Opera" (''Wiener Hofoper'') in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. It became known by its current name after the establishment of the First Austrian Republic in 1921. The Vienna State Opera is the successor of the old Vienna Court Opera (built in 1636 inside the Hofburg). The new site was chosen and the construction paid by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1861. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from the Vienna State Opera's orchestra. The building is also the home of the Vienna State Ballet, and it hosts the annual Vienna Opera Ball during the carnival season. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deutsche Oper Am Rhein
The Deutsche Oper am Rhein (German Opera on the Rhine) is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company. Axel Kober has been its Music Director since 2009. The resident orchestra, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, play both opera and symphonic repertoire. After the 1875 construction of what became the Düsseldorf ''Opernhaus'', a strong connection between the two cities’ opera houses existed from 1887 to 1920, and was not re-established until 1955 with the creation of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. The company performs in the Opernhaus Düsseldorf, built in 1875. It was partially destroyed during World War II, and reconstructed to officially re-open in 1956. Theater Duisburg, built in 1912, was destroyed, and rebuilt in 1950. For the 25th anniversary of the house, Alexander Goehr was commissioned to compose an opera. He wrote '' Behold the Sun'' with a libretto by John McGrath about the anabaptists in Münster. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drottningholm Palace Theatre
The Drottningholm Palace Theatre ( sv , Drottningholms slottsteater) is an opera house located at Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the few 18th century theatres in Europe that is still used as a theatre with its original stage machinery. Currently, the reinvigorated theatre has acquired a growing international reputation as a summer opera festival theatre by focusing on works by Haydn, Handel, Gluck and Mozart and emphasis on authentic performance. The theatre has also had guest performances by the Royal Swedish Opera. History The first theatre to be built on the Drottningholm site was built at the behest of the Queen Lovisa Ulrika by the German master builder, Georg Greggenhofer (1718 or 1719–1779). The theatre opened in 1754 and hosted a new troupe of French actors, the Du Londel Troupe, that had been engaged by the court a year earlier and was to use the theatre until 1771. The troupe used the theatre in the summer months to show French theat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rodelinda (opera)
''Rodelinda, regina de' Longobardi'' ( HWV 19) is an opera seria in three acts composed for the first Royal Academy of Music by George Frideric Handel. The libretto is by Nicola Francesco Haym, based on an earlier libretto by Antonio Salvi. ''Rodelinda'' has long been regarded as one of Handel's greatest works. Performance history ''Rodelinda'' was first performed at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket, London, on 13 February 1725. It was produced with the same singers as ''Tamerlano''. There were 14 performances; it was repeated on 18 December 1725, and again on 4 May 1731, a further 16 performances in all, each revival including changes and fresh material. In 1735 and 1736 it was also performed, with only modest success, in Hamburg at the Oper am Gänsemarkt. The first modern production – in heavily altered form – was in Göttingen on 26 June 1920 where it was the first of a series of modern Handel opera revivals produced by the Handel enthusiast Oskar Hagen. The opera r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age. Handel started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. In 1737, he had a physical break ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wuppertal Opera
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 on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Norwegian Opera And Ballet
The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet ( no, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, links=no) is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisation in the country, it is currently resident at the Oslo Opera House, since the spring of 2008. History Founded in 1957, the company had Kirsten Flagstad as its first general manager, from 1958 to 1960, and placed an emphasis on presenting operas and ballets written by Norwegian composers, and Norwegian as the standard language of the opera singers. Subsequent general managers have included Bjørn Simensen. The Ballet School at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet was founded in 1965. In January 2009, the Norwegian Opera and Ballet was reorganized, during the tenure of Tom Remlov as general managing director. The company's current general manager is Nils Are Karstad Lysø. In the 1980s and 1990s, ''Den Norske Opera'' campaigned for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra''. It is a ''dramma giocoso'' blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements (although the composer entered it into his catalogue simply as ''opera buffa''). It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater (of Bohemia), now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. ''Don Giovanni'' is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte". Composition and premiere The opera was commissioned after the succes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition resulted in more than List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 800 works of virtually every genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphony, symphonic, concerto, concertante, chamber music, chamber, operatic, and choir, choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as among the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". Born in Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg, Salzburg, in the Holy Roman Empire, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on Keyboard instrument, keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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