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John Beard (tenor)
John Beard (c. 1716 – 5 February 1791) was an English tenor of the 18th century. He is best remembered for creating an extensive number of roles in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel. Beard's début came in Handel's 1734 revival of his ''Il pastor fido'', which was a great success. Beard continued to sing for Handel, creating roles in ten of his operas and performing in every one of Handel's English-language oratorios, odes, and music dramas, with the sole exception of '' The Choice of Hercules''. He also performed for Thomas Arne, and sang at the Chapel Royal. His marriage, during 1739, to Lady Henrietta Herbert, only daughter of James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave caused much scandal: Lord Egmont commented that "there is no prudence below the girdle". Lady Henrietta died in 1753. In 1759 Beard married again, this time to Charlotte Rich, whose father John Rich was the proprietor of the opera house in Covent Garden. After John Rich died in 1761, Beard succ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Beard
John Beard may refer to: * John Beard (artist) (born 1943), Welsh artist and painter * John Beard (colonial administrator) (died 1685), Chief Agent and Governor of Bengal * John Beard (embryologist) (1858–1924), Scottish embryologist and anatomist * John Beard (news anchor) (born 1945), American newscaster and ''Arrested Development'' actor ** John Beard (''Arrested Development''), the character he plays *John Beard (politician) (1797–1876), American politician * John Beard (tenor) ( 1716–1791), English singer of Handel's operas and oratorios * John Beard (trade unionist) (1871–1950), British trade unionist and politician * John F. Beard (1822–1891), Wisconsin legislator * John Relly Beard (1800–1876), Unitarian minister * John Stanley Beard (1916–2011), British-born Australian forester and ecologist * John Stanley Coombe Beard (1890–1970), English architect * John W. Beard (born 1951), Iowan politician * John William Beard John William Beard (March 15, 1920 â ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castrato
A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity. Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents the larynx from being transformed by the normal physiological events of puberty. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by both sexes) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. Prepubescent castration for this purpose diminished greatly in the late 18th century. Methods of castration used to terminate on the onset of puberty varied. Methods involved using opium to medically induce a coma, then submerging the boy into an ice or milk bath where the procedure of either severing the vas deferens (similar to a vasectomy), twisting the testicles until they atrophied, or comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1791 Deaths
Events January–March * January 1 – Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arrives in England, to perform a series of concerts. * January 2 – Northwest Indian War: Big Bottom Massacre – The war begins in the Ohio Country, with this massacre. * January 12 – Holy Roman troops reenter Liège, heralding the end of the Liège Revolution, and the restoration of its Prince-Bishops. * January 25 – The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act 1791, splitting the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada. * February 8 – The Bank of the United States, based in Philadelphia, is incorporated by the federal government with a 20-year charter and started with $10,000,000 capital.''Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909'', ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p169 * February 21 – The United States opens diplomatic relations with Portugal. * March 2 – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Year Of Birth Uncertain
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in Earth's orbit, its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar climate, subpolar regions around the planet, four seasons are generally recognized: spring (season), spring, summer, autumn and winter. In tropics, tropical and subtropics, subtropical regions, several geographical sectors do not present defined seasons; but in the tropics#Seasons and climate, seasonal tropics, the annual wet season, wet and dry seasons are recognized and tracked. A calendar year is an approximation of the number of days of the Earth's orbital period, as counted in a given calendar. The Gregorian calendar, or modern calendar, presents its calendar year to be either a common year of 365 days or a leap year of 366 days, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1710s Births
Year 171 ( CLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Herennianus (or, less frequently, year 924 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 171 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Marcus Aurelius forms a new military command, the ''praetentura Italiae et Alpium''. Aquileia is relieved, and the Marcomanni are evicted from Roman territory. * Marcus Aurelius signs a peace treaty with the Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges. The Germanic tribes of the Hasdingi (Vandals) and the Lacringi become Roman allies. * Armenia and Mesopotamia become protectorates of the Roman Empire. * The Costoboci cross the Danube (Dacia) and ravage Thrace in the Balkan Peninsula. They reach Eleusis, near Athens, and destr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Boyce (composer)
William Boyce (baptised 11 September 1711 – 7 February 1779) was an English composer and organist. Like Beethoven later on, he became deaf but continued to compose. He knew Handel, Arne, Gluck, Bach, Abel, and a very young Mozart all of whom respected his work. Life Boyce was born in London, at Joiners Hall, then in Lower Thames Street, to John Boyce, at the time a joiner and cabinet-maker, and beadle of the Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers, and his wife Elizabeth Cordwell. He was baptised on 11 September 1711 and was admitted by his father as a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral in 1719. After his voice broke in 1727, he studied music with Maurice Greene.Bruce (2005) His first professional appointment came in 1734 when he was employed as an organist at the Oxford Chapel in central London. He went on to take a number of similar posts before being appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1757 (he had applied for the post on the death of Maurice Greene in 1755) and beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Greene (composer)
Maurice Greene (12 August 1696 – 1 December 1755) was an English composer and organist. Biography Born in London, the son of a clergyman, Greene became a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral under Jeremiah Clarke and Charles King. He studied the organ under Richard Brind, and after Brind died, Greene became organist at St Paul's. With the death of William Croft in 1727, Greene became organist at the Chapel Royal, and in 1730 he became Professor of Music at Cambridge University. In 1735 he was appointed Master of the King's Musick. At his death, Greene was working on the compilation ''Cathedral Music'', which his student and successor as Master of the King's Musick, William Boyce, was to complete. Many items from that collection are still used in Anglican services today. He wrote very competent music in the Georgian style, particularly long Verse Anthems. His acknowledged masterpiece, ''Lord, let me know mine end'', is a representative example. Greene sets a text full of pathos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rees's Cyclopædia
Rees's ''Cyclopædia'', in full ''The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature'' was an important 19th-century British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minister and scholar who had edited previous editions of '' Chambers's Cyclopædia''. Background When Rees was planning his ''Cyclopædia'', Europe was in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and during serialised publication (1802–1820) the Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812 occurred. Britain absorbed into its empire a number of the former French and Dutch colonies around the world; Romanticism came to the fore; evangelical Christianity flourished with the efforts of William Wilberforce; and factory manufacture burgeoned. With this background, philosophical radicalism was suspect in Britain, and aspects of the ''Cyclopædia'' were thought to be distinctly subversive and attracted the hostility of the Loyalist press. Contributors Jeremiah Joyce and Char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Burney
Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist and book donor to the British Museum. He was a close friend and supporter of Joseph Haydn. Early life and career Charles Burney was born at Raven Street, Shrewsbury, the fourth of six children of James Macburney (1678–1749), a musician, dancer and portrait painter, and his second wife Ann (''née'' Cooper, c. 1690–1775). In childhood he and a brother Richard (1723–1792) were for unknown reasons sent to the care of a "Nurse Ball" at nearby Condover, where they lived until 1739. He began formal education at Shrewsbury School in 1737 and was later sent in 1739 to The King's School, Chester, where his father then lived and worked. His first music master was a Mr Baker, the cathedral organist, and a pupil of Dr John Blow. Returning to Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love In A Village
''Love in a Village'' is a ballad opera in three acts that was composed and arranged by Thomas Arne. A pastiche, the work contains 42 musical numbers of which only five were newly composed works by Arne. The other music is made up of 13 pieces borrowed from Arne's earlier stage works, a new overture was by C. F. Abel, and 23 songs by other composers, including Bishop, Boyce, Geminiani, Giordani, and Galuppi, albeit with new texts. The English libretto, by Isaac Bickerstaffe, is based on Charles Johnson’s 1729 play '' The Village Opera''. The opera premiered at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in London on 8 December 1762.John A. Parkinson: "Love in a Village", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed February 16, 2009)(subscription access)/ref> One of its best known songs is the '' Miller of Dee''. History ''Love in a Village'' was received enthusiastically at its premiere and became one of Arne's more popular operas, enjoying 40 performances in its first season alone. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jephtha (Handel)
''Jephtha'' ( HWV 70) is an oratorio (1751) by George Frideric Handel with an English language libretto by the Rev. Thomas Morell, based on the story of Jephtha in Judges (Chapter 11) and ''Jephthes, sive Votum'' (''Jeptha, or the Vow'') (1554) by George Buchanan. Whilst writing ''Jephtha'', Handel was increasingly troubled by his gradual loss of sight, and this proved to be his last oratorio. In the autograph score, at the end of the chorus "How dark, O Lord, are thy decrees" he wrote "Reached here on 13 February 1751, unable to go on owing to weakening of the sight of my left eye." The story revolves around Jephtha's rash promise to the Almighty that if he is victorious, he will sacrifice the first creature he meets on his return. He is met by his beloved daughter Iphis. However, an angel intervenes to stop the sacrifice, and Iphis only needs to dedicate her life to the Lord. This is an unusual interpretation of the Bible story, although one which has been current since the Mid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judas Maccabeus (oratorio)
''Judas Maccabaeus'' ( HWV 63) is an oratorio in three acts composed in 1746 by George Frideric Handel based on a libretto written by Thomas Morell. The oratorio was devised as a compliment to the victorious Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland upon his return from the Battle of Culloden (16 April 1746). Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xxii; and HHA 1/24. Synopsis Morell's libretto is based on the deuterocanonical (or apocryphal) book 1 Maccabees (2–8), with motives added from the '' Antiquitates Judaicae'' by Flavius Josephus. The events depicted in the oratorio are from the period 170–160 BC when Judea was ruled by the Seleucid Empire which undertook to destroy the Jewish religion. Being ordered to worship Zeus, many Jews obeyed under the threat of persecution; however, some did not. One who defied was the elderly priest Mattathias who killed a fellow Jew who was about to offer a pagan sacrifice. After tearing down a pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
