Julianne Baird
Julianne Baird (born December 10, 1952) is an American soprano best known for her singing in Baroque works, in both opera and sacred music. She has nearly 100 recordings to her credit and is a well-traveled recitalist and soloist with major symphony orchestras. She is also a noted teacher of voice. Biography Baird grew up in Kent, Ohio, graduating from Kent's Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1970. She studied voice and musicology at the Eastman School of Music, earned a Diploma in Performance Practice from the Salzburg Mozarteum, and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in music history from Stanford University. Baird is a distinguished professor at Rutgers University-Camden where she directs a Madrigal Ensemble and teaches Music History, specifically Ancient Music, Renaissance Music and Baroque Music. She frequently teaches master classes and workshops throughout the United States. She published an annotated translation of the 18th-century treatise, ''Introduction to the A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Statesville, North Carolina
Statesville is a city in and the county seat of Iredell County, North Carolina, United States, and it is part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. Statesville was established in 1789 by an act of the North Carolina Legislature. The population was recorded as 95 in the 1800 Census. The population was 28,419 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History In 1753, Scotch-Irish Americans, Scots-Irish Presbyterians and German Americans, German Lutherans, who had originally settled in Pennsylvania, began arriving in what would become Statesville in 1789Keever, Homer M.; ''Iredell Piedmont County'', with illustrations by Louise Gilbert and maps by Mild red Jenkins Miller, published for the Iredell County Bicentennial Commission by Brady Printing Company from type set by the Statesville Record and Landmark, copyright, November 1976 to plant crops in the fertile soil where game and water were also plentiful. The settlement, known as Fourth Creek Congregation, was named ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Johann Friedrich Agricola
Johann Friedrich Agricola (4 January 1720 – 2 December 1774) was a German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Flavio Anicio Olibrio. Biography Agricola was born in Dobitschen, Thuringia. Leipzig While a student of law at Leipzig (1738–41) he studied music under Johann Sebastian Bach.Philipp Spitta. '' Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750''. Novello & Co. 1899III, p. 243/ref> Berlin In 1741 Agricola went to Berlin, where he studied musical composition under Johann Joachim Quantz. He was soon generally recognized as one of the most skillful organists of his time. The success of his comic opera, ''Il filosofo convinto in amore'', performed at Potsdam in 1750, led to an appointment as court composer to Frederick the Great. In 1759, on the death of Carl Heinrich Graun, he was appointed conductor of the royal orchestra. He married the noted court operatic soprano Benede ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history. Born in Cremona, where he undertook his first musical studies and compositions, Monteverdi developed his career first at the court of Mantua () and then until his death in the Republic of Venice where he was ''maestro di cappella'' at the basilica of San Marco. His surviving letters give insight into the life of a professional musician in Italy of the period, including problems of income, patronage and politics. Much of Monteverdi's output, including many stage works, has been lost. His surviving music includes nine books of madrigals, large-scale religious works, such as his ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' (''Vespers for the Blessed Virgin'') ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Dowland
John Dowland (c. 1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", "Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", " Now o now I needs must part" and " In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and with the 20th century's early music revival, has been a continuing source of repertoire for lutenists and classical guitarists. Career and compositions Very little is known of John Dowland's early life, but it is generally thought he was born in London; some sources even put his birth year as 1563. Irish historian W. H. Grattan Flood claimed that he was born in Dalkey, near Dublin, but no corroborating evidence has ever been found either for that or for Thomas Fuller's claim that he was born in Westminster. There is, however, one very clear piece of evidence pointing to Dublin as his place of origin: he dedic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest English opera composers, Purcell is often linked with John Dunstaple and William Byrd as England's most important early music composers. No later native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, William Walton and Benjamin Britten in the 20th century. Life and work Early life Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane, Old Pye Street, Westminster – the area of London later known as Devil's Acre, a notorious slum – in 1659. Henry Purcell Senior, whose older brother Thomas Purcell was a musician, was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England. Henry the elder had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. Daniel Purcell, the youngest of the b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Berenice (opera)
''Berenice'' ( HWV 38) is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel to a 1709 Antonio Salvi libretto, ''Berenice, regina d’Egitto'', or ''Berenice, Queen of Egypt''. Handel began the music in December 1736; the premiere took place at Covent Garden Theatre in London on 18 May 1737 — but was unsuccessful, with just three further performances. Set circa 81 B.C., ''Berenice'' traces the life of Berenice III of Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy IX, the main character in another Handel opera, ''Tolomeo''. Background The German-born Handel, after spending some of his early career composing operas and other pieces in Italy, settled in London, where in 1711 he had brought Italian opera for the first time with his opera ''Rinaldo''. An enormous success, ''Rinaldo'' created a craze in London for Italian ''opera seria'', a form focused overwhelmingly on solo arias for the star virtuoso singers. Handel had presented new operas in London for years with great success. One of the major attra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sosarme
''Sosarme, re di Media'' ("Sosarmes, King of Media", HWV 30) is an opera by George Frideric Handel written in 1732 for the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, London, where it ran for 12 performances. The text was based on an earlier libretto by Antonio Salvi, ''Dionisio, Re di Portogallo'' (Dionisius, King of Portugal), and adapted by an unknown writer. The original setting of Portugal was changed to Sardis in Lydia. Performance history ''Sosarme'' had its premiere on 15 February 1732 and was a great success, as noted by the diary known as "Colman's Opera Register": "In Febry Sosarmes - a New Opera - took much by Hendell - & was for many Nights much crowded to some peoples admiration." It was revived for 3 performances in 1734 with arias from '' Riccardo Primo''. The first revival since 1734 was in 1970 at Abingdon, UK, though the work had been broadcast in full by the BBC in 1955, a performance on which the slightly abridged recording of the same year, under Anthony Lewis (lis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Muzio Scevola
''Muzio Scevola'' (; "Mucius Scaevola", HWV 13) is an opera seria in three acts about Gaius Mucius Scaevola. The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio Rolli, adapted from a text by Silvio Stampiglia. The music for the first act was composed by Filippo Amadei (family name sometimes given as Mattei), the second act by Giovanni Bononcini, and the third by George Frideric Handel. Collaborations of groups of composers were common in the 18th century, though this is the only one done in London. Bononcini had written the music for two earlier treatments of this story on his own, works dating from 1695 and 1710. Performance history The opera's initial run of performances began at the King's Theatre in London on 15 April 1721. Handel revived the work on 7 November 1722 when it received a further five performances. It was also performed in Hamburg. The first modern performance was in Essen in 1928. The work receives occasional concert performances and stagings today. Among oth ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Siroe
''Siroe, re di Persia'' ('' Siroes, King of Persia'', HWV 24), is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was his 12th opera for the Royal Academy of Music and was written for the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. The opera uses an Italian-language libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Metastasio's ''Siroe''. Like many of Metastasio's libretti, it was also set by Handel's contemporaries, e.g. by Leonardo Vinci, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Adolph Hasse (see Hasse's ''Siroe''). Pasquale Errichelli's setting of the libretto (see Errichelli's ''Siroe'') premiered in the year of Handel's death. The story of the opera is a fictionalisation of some events in the life of Kavad II (also known as Shērōē), King of the Sasanian Empire in 628 AD. Performance history The opera was first given under the direction of the composer at the King's Theatre in London on 17 February 1728 and it was also seen in Braunschweig, Germany. It was rediscovered and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Deidamia (opera)
''Deidamia'' ( HWV 42) is an opera in three acts composed by George Frideric Handel to an Italian libretto by Paolo Antonio Rolli. It premiered on 10 January 1741 at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London. Performance history A ballad opera on the same story by John Gay had been performed in London in 1733, under the title ''Achilles.'' Handel's opera, a co-production with the Earl of Holderness, was first performed on 10 January 1741 at London's Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, but received only two more performances at a time when the public was becoming tired of Italian opera. The work was Handel's last Italian opera, and he subsequently turned his attention to composing oratorios. The opera was revived in the 1950s and it receives staged performances today, e.g. the 2012 staging by David Alden for Netherlands Opera.Loomis, George (27 March 2012)"Twists and Turns on the Achilles Myth in Handel's 'Deidamia'" ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 24 October 2014. Roles Synopsis Th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Messiah (Handel)
''Messiah'' (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Bible, Coverdale Psalter by Charles Jennens. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western culture#Music, Western music. Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, had been established through his compositions of Italian opera. He turned to English oratorio in the 1730s in response to changes in public taste; ''Messiah'' was his sixth work in this genre. Although its Structure of Handel's Messiah, structure resembles that of Opera#The Baroque era, opera, it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle (Saale), 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 Handel's Naturalisation Act 1727, became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphony, 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 c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |