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Mam'zelle Angot
''Mam'zelle Angot'' is a one-act ballet in three scenes. The choreography and libretto are by Léonide Massine; the music is by Charles Lecocq. The plot is broadly based on Lecocq's 1872 opéra bouffe, ''La fille de Madame Angot''. Background Massine had previously created ballets to scores specially arranged from works by Scarlatti ('' The Good-Humoured Ladies'', 1917), Rossini (''La boutique fantasque'', 1919), Johann Strauss (''Le beau Danube'', 1933) and Offenbach (''Gaîté Parisienne'', 1938). They were arranged and orchestrated by, respectively, Vincenzo Tommasini, Ottorino Respighi, Roger Désormière and Manuel Rosenthal. Massine's innovation of creating ballets to scores arranged from the music of a single composer was followed by other choreographers including George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton and John Cranko. ''Mam'zelle Angot'' was Massine's final work in this genre. History Massine's first version of the ballet was produced by Ballet Theatre under the title ''Made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Léonide Massine
Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (russian: Леони́д Фёдорович Мя́син), better known in the West by the French transliteration as Léonide Massine (15 March 1979), was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. Massine created the world's first symphonic ballet, ''Les Présages'', and many others in the same vein. Besides his "symphonic ballets," Massine choreographed many other popular works during his long career, some of which were serious and dramatic, and others lighthearted and romantic. He created some of his most famous roles in his own comic works, among them the Can-Can Dancer in ''La Boutique fantasque'' (1919), the Hussar in ''Le Beau Danube'' (1924), and, perhaps best known of all, the Peruvian in ''Gaîté Parisienne'' (1938). Today his oeuvre is represented by his son Theodor Massine. Early life and education Massine was born into a musical family on 9 August 1895 in Moscow, Russia. His mother was a soprano in the Bolshoi Theater Chorus and his father ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cranko
John Cyril Cranko (15 August 1927 – 26 June 1973) was a South African ballet dancer and choreographer with the Royal Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. Life and career Early life Cranko was born in Rustenburg in the former province of Transvaal, Union of South Africa. As a child, he would put on puppet shows as a creative outlet. Cranko received his early ballet training in Cape Town under the leading South African ballet teacher and director, Dulcie Howes, of the University of Cape Town Ballet School. In 1945 he choreographed his first work (using Stravinsky's Suite from ''L'Histoire du soldat'') for the Cape Town Ballet Club. He then moved to London, studying with the Sadler's Wells Ballet School (later called the Royal Ballet) in 1946Dromgoole, Nicholas"John Cranko" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', retrieved 19 March 2015, and dancing his first role with the Sadler's Wells Ballet in November 1947. London Cranko collaborated with the designer John Piper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nora Kaye
Nora Kaye-Ross (January 17, 1920 – February 28, 1987) was an American prima-ballerina known for her ability to perform dramatic roles. Called the ''Duse of Dance'' after the acclaimed actress Eleonora Duse, she also worked in films as a choreographer and producer and performed on Broadway. Early life Kaye was born Nora Koreff in New York City, New York, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Louise (1895–1973) and Gregory Joseph Koreff (1893–1976). She later changed her surname to Kaye. Her father, Gregory Koreff was an actor with the Moscow Art Theatre and worked under Konstantin Stanislavski. At the age of five, Kaye began studying dancing under tutelage from Michel Fokine and three years later joined a ballet class at the Metropolitan Opera school where she continued her studies under Margaret Curtis. When Kaye turned 15, she graduated from the Metropolitan Opera into its corps de ballet. Kaye also studied at the School of American Ballet and with such no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)
The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company. History The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1883. The Metropolitan Opera House (also known as "the old Met"), opened on October 22, 1883, with a performance of ''Faust''. It was located at 1411 Broadway, occupying the whole block between West 39th Street and West 40th Street on the west side of the street in the Garment District of Midtown Manhattan. Nicknamed "The Yellow Brick Brewery" for its industrial looking exterior, the original Metropolitan Opera House was designed by J. Cleaveland Cady. On August 27, 1892, the nine-year-old theater was gutted by fire. The 1892−93 season was canceled while the opera house was rebuilt along its original lines. During that season, the Vaudeville Club, which eventually became the Metropolitan Opera Club, was founded and hosted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spring and a shorter season at the David H. Koch Theater in the fall; the company tours around the world the rest of the year. The company was scheduled to have a 5-week spring season at the MET preceded by a 2-week season at the Koch Theater beginning in 2020. ABT is the parent company of the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and was recognized as "America's National Ballet Company" in 2006 by the United States Congress. History In 1939 Pleasant and Chase committed to the creation of "a large scale company with an eclectic repertory". The pair and a small group from Mordkin Ballet formed Ballet Theatre. Their new company's first performa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Mackerras
Mackerras in 2005 Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the English National Opera (and its predecessor) and Welsh National Opera and was the first Australian chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He also specialized in Czech music as a whole, producing many recordings for the Czech label Supraphon. Early life and education Mackerras was born in Schenectady, New York, to Australian parents, Alan Mackerras and Catherine MacLaurin. His father was an electrical engineer and a Quaker. Mackerras grew up in a very musical family and his mother was immensely cultured. In 1928, when Charles was aged two, the family returned to Sydney, Australia. They initially lived in the suburb of Rose Bay, and in 1933 they moved to the then semi-rural suburb of Turramurra. Mackerras was the eldest of seven ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, whose works significantly influenced him. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician. The chorus "Va, pensiero" from his early opera ''Nabucco'' (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in the spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. An intensely private person, Verdi did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements. As he became professionally successful, he was able ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', ''The Pirates of Penzance'' and ''The Mikado''. His works include 24 operas, 11 major orchestral works, ten choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord". The son of a military bandmaster, Sullivan composed his first anthem at the age of eight and was later a soloist in the boys' choir of the Chapel Royal. In 1856, at 14, he was awarded the first Mendelssohn Scholarship by the Royal Academy of Music, which allowed him to study at the academy and then at the Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre, Leipzig Conservatoire in Germany. His graduation piece, inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lady And The Fool
''The Lady and the Fool'' is a ballet, created by choreographer John Cranko with lesser-known operatic music by Giuseppe Verdi arranged by Sir Charles Mackerras. The story concerns the love of a poor clown for a society beauty, who finally rejects her wealthy suitors and chooses a life with the clown. Background and productions After the success of ''Pineapple Poll'', Mackerras and Cranko sought a new collaboration, eventually deciding on adapting music by Verdi to a story by Cranko. The piece was premiered in 1954 at the New Theatre, Oxford, with its London premiere at Sadler’s Wells Theatre on 31 March 1954. The two clowns were played by Kenneth MacMillan and Johaar Mosaval, with Patricia Miller as La capricciosa. The following year the ballet was re-worked by Cranko for Covent Garden, opening on 9 June 1955, dropping one character and reassigning some dances to other characters, allowing the action to be more clearly focussed and the characters more interesting.Percival J. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pineapple Poll
''Pineapple Poll'' is a Gilbert and Sullivan-inspired comic ballet, created by choreographer John Cranko with arranger Sir Charles Mackerras. ''Pineapple Poll'' is based on "The Bumboat Woman's Story", one of W. S. Gilbert's Bab Ballads, written in 1870. The Gilbert and Sullivan opera ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' was also based, in part, on this story. For the ballet, Cranko expanded the story of the Bab Ballad and added a happy ending. All the music is arranged from Sullivan's music. The piece premiered in 1951 at Sadler's Wells Theatre and was given many revivals internationally during the following decades. It remains in the repertoire of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. It has also been recorded many times. Background and productions Mackerras and his family were Gilbert and Sullivan fans. As a youth, at the all-male St Aloysius College in Sydney, he played Kate in ''The Pirates of Penzance'', Leila in ''Iolanthe'' and Ko-Ko in ''The Mikado''.Simeone, Nigel. "Sir Charles Mackerras (192 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantata ''Belshazzar's Feast'', the Viola Concerto, the First Symphony, and the British coronation marches ''Crown Imperial'' and '' Orb and Sceptre''. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary Sitwell siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education. His earliest work of note was a collaboration with Edith Sitwell, ''Façade'', which at first brought him notoriety as a modernist, but later became a popular ballet score. In middle age, Walton left Britain and set up home with his young wife Susana on the Italian island of Ischia. By this time, he had ceased to be regarded as a moderni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wise Virgins
''The Wise Virgins'' is a one-act ballet based on the biblical Parable of the Ten Virgins.Vaughan D. ''Frederick Ashton and his Ballets.'' A & C Black Ltd, London, 1977. It was created in 1940 with choreography by Frederick Ashton, to a score of music by Johann Sebastian Bach orchestrated by William Walton. History The music of the ballet was the first to be decided. Some years before, at an evening gathering in Cambridge with Boris Ord and Constant Lambert (Music Director of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet), the two musicians played some Bach at the piano. One of the pieces was "Sheep may safely graze" which comes from a secular cantata about hunting, ''Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd'', BWV 208. Ashton, wanting to use this music and believing it to be a religious subject, chose the parable of the wise and foolish virgins from the Gospel of Matthew 25:1-13.Kavanagh J. ''Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton.'' Faber & Faber Ltd, London, 1996, pp. 260-3. According to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
