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José María Alvira
José María Alvira (18 June 1864 – 31 July 1938) was a Spanish composer, singing teacher, and pianist. Life and work Alvira was born in Zaragoza, Aragon. At a young age, he was already showing unusual musical talent, and by eleven he was playing violin for an opera company, for which he wrote ''Fantasía para violín''. His family finances enabled him to study in Paris. In 1880 he was admitted to the Théâtre Lyrique orchestra, where he began studying composition and instrumentation, but also law, in order to please his parents. Although since he was small, he showed great liking and aptitudes for the music, he had to follow, by paternal decision, a Law career, which he finished in Madrid in 1885. The growing attraction he felt for art made him abandon those activities to give himself entirely to music, beginning with a trip that he made to Italy, performing as conductor at the Espezzia theater with the opera Lucrezia Borgia (opera). He returned to Madrid, where he studied com ...
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Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the Huerva and the Gállego, roughly in the center of both Aragon and the Ebro basin. On 1 January 2021 the population of the municipality of Zaragoza was 675,301, (the fifth most populated in Spain) on a land area of . The population of the metropolitan area was estimated in 2006 at 783,763 inhabitants. The municipality is home to more than 50 percent of the Aragonese population. The city lies at an elevation of about above sea level. Zaragoza hosted Expo 2008 in the summer of 2008, a world's fair on water and sustainable development. It was also a candidate for the European Capital of Culture in 2012. The city is famous for its folklore, local cuisine, and landmarks such as the Basílica del Pilar, La Seo Cathedral and the A ...
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The Barber Of Seville
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ''The Barber of Seville'' (1775). The première of Rossini's opera (under the title ''Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione'') took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, with designs by Angelo Toselli. Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'' has proven to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as the opera buffa of all "opere buffe". After two hundred years, it remains a popular work. Composition history Rossini's opera recounts the events of the first of the three plays by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais that revolve around the clever and enterprising character named Figaro, the barber of the title. Mozart's opera ''The Marriage of Fi ...
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Tito Schipa
Tito Schipa (; born Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa; 2 January 1889 in Lecce16 December 1965) was an Italian lyric tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing 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 widel ..., considered the greatest Tenore di grazia, tenore di grazia and one of the most popular tenors of the century. Biography Schipa was born as Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa on 27 December 1888 in Lecce in Apulia into an Arbëreshë people, Arbëreshë family; his birthday was recorded as January 2, 1889 for military conscription purposes. He studied in Milan and made his operatic debut at age 21 in 1910 at Vercelli. He subsequently appeared throughout Italy and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1917, he created the role of Ruggiero in Giacomo Puccini, Puccini's ''La rondine''. In 1919, Schipa traveled to the United ...
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Amelita Galli-Curci
Amelita Galli-Curci (18 November 1882 – 26 November 1963) was an Italian coloratura soprano. She was one of the most popular operatic singers of the 20th century, with her recordings selling in large numbers. Early life She was born as Amelita Galli into an upper-middle-class Italian family of Spanish heritage in Milan, where she studied piano at the Milan Conservatory, winning a gold medal for piano performance, and at the age of 16 was offered a professorship. She was inspired to sing by her grandmother. Operatic composer Pietro Mascagni also encouraged Galli-Curci's singing ambitions. By her own choice, Galli-Curci's voice was largely self-trained at the beginning of her career. She honed her technique by listening to other sopranos, reading old singing-method books, and doing piano exercises with her voice instead of using a keyboard. She later studied regularly with Estelle Liebling for more than a decade in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Career Galli-Curci mad ...
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Ofelia Nieto
Maria Ofelia Erenia Nieto Iglesias ( stage name, Ofelia Nieto; Algete, March 18, 1898 – Madrid, 22 May 1931) was a Spanish opera and zarzuela singer. She was the daughter of José Nieto Méndez, a notary of Burgos, and Erundina. She was a sister of Ángeles Ottein and José Nieto, who were also opera and zarzuela singers. Nieto was 14 when she debuted in Amadeu Vives i Roig Amadeu Vives i Roig (; 18 November 1871 – 2 December 1932) was a Spanish musical composer, creator of over a hundred stage works. He is best known for '' Doña Francisquita'', which Christopher Webber has praised for its "easy lyricism, fluen ...'s ''Maruxa'' in the title role. After marriage, she retired in 1928. References Bibliography * * * * * * * Further reading * Santiago, Antón de. 1994. ''Ofelia Nieto, una gallega en el Olimpo del "bel canto"''. La Coruña: Biblioteca Gallega. External links Actas de Nacimiento y Bautismo de Ofelia Nieto y Ángeles Ottein 1931 deaths 1898 bir ...
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Giuseppe Anselmi
Antonio Giuseppe Anselmi (6 November 1876, Nicolosi - 27 May 1929, Zoagli) was an Italian operatic tenor. He became famous throughout Europe during the first decade of the 20th century for his stylish performances of lyric roles. He never sang in the United States. Life and career Anselmi came from the Catania area on the east coast of Sicily. He studied violin and piano at the Naples Conservatory as a teenager, and then joined an operetta troupe with which he toured Italy and the Middle East. The music publisher Giulio Ricordi allegedly heard him and advised him to undergo vocal instruction with Luigi Mancinelli, one of Italy's leading conductors. According to some sources, Anselmi's first appearance on stage in an operatic role happened as early as 1896, when he sang Turiddu (''Cavalleria rusticana'') in Greece. His Italian operatic debut took place in Genoa in 1900, and his career took off quickly from there. He appeared initially at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, in late De ...
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Ángeles Ottein
María de los Ángeles Nieto Iglesias ( stage name, Ángeles Ottein; Algete, 24 June 1895 – Madrid, 12 March 1981) was a Spanish soprano, opera and zarzuela singer. She was the daughter of José Nieto Méndez, a notary of Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of ..., and Erundina. Her siblings included Ofelia Nieto and José Nieto, who were also opera and zarzuela singers. Ottein debuted in 1914 with a performance in ''Marina'', performing in opera and zarzuela for the next 40 years. References Bibliography * Girbal Hernández, F. ''Cien cantantes españoles de ópera y zarzuela''. Ed. Lira 1994 (in Spanish) * * Matas, Ricart. ''Diccionario Biográfico de la Música''. Ed. Iberia 1956 (in Spanish)* Sagarmínaga, Joaquín. ''Diccionario de Cantantes Líricos Espa ...
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Titta Ruffo
Titta Ruffo (9 June 1877 – 5 July 1953), born as Ruffo Cafiero (double forename) Titta, was an Italian operatic baritone who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" ("voice of the lion"), he was greatly admired, even by rival baritones, such as Giuseppe De Luca, who said of Ruffo: "His was not a voice, it was a miracle" (although not often published is the second part of De Luca's conclusion "which he uffobawled away..."), and Victor Maurel, the creator of Verdi's Iago and Falstaff. Maurel said that the notes of Ruffo's upper register were the most glorious baritone sounds he had ever heard (see Pleasants, cited below). Indeed Walter Legge, the prominent classical record producer, went so far as to call Ruffo "a genius". Biography Born Ruffo Titta in Pisa (he reversed his forename and surname for the stage), Ruffo was the son of an engineer. He studied voice with several teachers. In Musical America, December 27, 1913, Ruffo wrote the foll ...
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Zarzuela
() is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of a royal hunting lodge, the Palace of Zarzuela, near Madrid, where that type of entertainment was allegedly first presented to the court. The palace in turn was named after the brambles () that grew there. There are two main forms of ''zarzuela'': Baroque ''zarzuela'' (c. 1630–1750), the earliest style, and Romantic ''zarzuela'' (c. 1850–1950). Romantic zarzuelas can be further divided into two main subgenres, ''género grande'' and ''género chico'', although other sub-divisions exist. ''Zarzuela'' spread to the Spanish dominions, and many Spanish-speaking countries – notably Cuba – developed their own traditions. ''Zarzuela'' is also a strong tradition in the Philippines, where it is also referred to in certain ...
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Carmen Sánchez
Carmen Sánchez (21 April 1898 – 20 November 1985) was a Spanish singer, dancer, and actress. She started her career as dancer and singer of zarzuela at very young age. At age 20, she finished working on copla or chotis and was featured in films between 1927 and 1928. She was a pioneer of silent films. She became a famous Spanish actress after the Spanish Civil War. Professional career Carmen Sánchez was born in Madrid, Spain. In the 1920s, she became a famous dramatic theatre actress. In the 1930s, Sánchez established a theater company and achieved success for her work in theaters across Spain including Madrid, Lara, Princess Beatrice, Princess Elizabeth, Cervantes, and Cómico. During the first half of the twentieth century, she primarily worked in the theater alongside famous Spanish actors like José Romeu, Enrique Rambal, Pepita Meliá, Rafael Bardem, Manuel Luna, Carmen Ruíz Moragas, and Carola Fernán Gomez. The civil war in Spain suspended her work but her work ...
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Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851. The work, Verdi's sixteenth in the genre, is widely considered to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duchy of Mantua, Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, ''La maledizione'' (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from the assassin hired by ...
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The Master Singers Of Nürnberg
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a ...
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