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Mercedes Capsir
Mercedes Capsir (; 20 July 1895 – 13 March 1969) was a Catalan opera singer, a high coloratura soprano, particularly associated with light Italian roles, such as Lucia and Gilda. Life and career Mercedes Capsir was born in Barcelona, in the same house where another Spanish soprano, Maria Barrientos, had been born 12 years earlier. She studied (piano, composition, voice) at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu, before making her debut in Genora, in 1913, as Gilda in ''Rigoletto'', a role she will remain closely associated with throughout her career. In 1916, she made her debut at the Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, as well as at the Paris Opera in 1917. Gilda was her debut role at all these opera houses. Her Italian debut took place in Bologna, as Rosina in ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', followed by Elvira in ''I puritani'', in Venice, opposite Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, she al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits,Barcelona: Población por municipios y sexo – Instituto Nacional de EstadÃstica. (National Statistics Institute) its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miguel Fleta
Miguel Burro Fleta (28 December 1897, in Albalate de Cinca, Province of Huesca, Aragon – 29 May 1938, in A Coruña) was a Spanish operatic tenor. Despite his short stage career, lasting from 1919 to 1935, Fleta has been described as one of the most significant Iberian opera singers of the 20th century. Among the important international venues at which he sang were La Scala, Milan, (in 1923-26) and the New York Metropolitan Opera (in 1923-25). Additionally, in 1926, he had the honour of creating the role of Calaf in Puccini's posthumously-premiered final opera, ''Turandot'', at the insistence of La Scala's principal conductor, Arturo Toscanini. But this taxing dramatic role took him to the limit of his resources and he did not attempt it again. Fleta made his operatic debut in Trieste in 1919, having previously studied voice at the Madrid conservatory. Successful engagements in Rome followed, leading to his La Scala and Met debuts. He quit the Met in acrimonious circumstances, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1895 Births
Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty is founded in England by Octavia Hill, Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. * January 13 – First Italo-Ethiopian War: Battle of Coatit – Italian forces defeat the Ethiopians. * January 17 – Félix Faure is elected President of the French Republic, after the resignation of Jean Casimir-Perier. * February 9 – Mintonette, later known as volleyball, is created by William G. Morgan at Holyoke, Massachusetts. * February 11 – The lowest ever UK temperature of is recorded at Braemar, in Aberdeenshire. This record is equalled in 1982, and again in 1995. * February 14 – Oscar Wilde's last play, the comedy ''The Importance of Being Earnest'', is first shown at St Jam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Éditions Robert Laffont
Éditions Robert Laffont is a book publishing company in France founded in 1941 by Robert Laffont. Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium. It is considered one of the most important French publishing houses. Imprints belonging to Éditions Robert Laffont include éditions Julliard, les Seghers, Foreign Rights and NiL Éditions. In 1990, Éditions Robert Laffont was acquired by the French publishing group Groupe de La Cité. It is now part of Editis. Éditions Robert Laffont published the '' Quid'' encyclopedia from 1975 to 2007, but announced that the 2008 edition of the encyclopedia would not be published after annual sales had fallen from a high of 400,000 to less than 100,000, apparently because of competition from online information sources such as Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alain Pâris
Alain Pâris (born 22 November 1947) is a French conductor and musicologist. Biography Born in Paris, Alain Pâris was trained as a pianist and has a law degree. He studied conducting with Pierre Dervaux, Paul Paray and Georg Solti and won the First prize at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors in 1968. For thirty-seven years, he was the youngest winner before Lionel Bringuier took his place. An assistant to Michel Plasson at the Capitole de Toulouse, he was principal conductor at the Opéra du Rhin (1983–1987) and professor of conducting at the conservatoire de Strasbourg (1986–89). He conducts most of the major French orchestras (Orchestre de Paris, Radio France orchestras, Lyon, Strasbourg, Lille...) and develops an international career, notably as a regular guest of the St. Petersburg Capella(1993–1999), the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara (1998–2000), the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra (1999–2011), the Athens State Orchestra (20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dino Borgioli
Dino Borgioli (15 February 189112 September 1960) was an Italian lyric tenor. Praised by critics for his musicianship, he was particularly associated with roles in operas composed by Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti. Life and career Dino Borgioli was born and died in Florence, where he studied with Eugenio Giachetti. He made his operatic debut in 1914, as Arturo in ''I puritani'', at the Teatro Corso in Milan. He then sang the role of Fernand in ''La favorite'' at the Teatro Dal Verme, before making his La Scala debut in 1918 as Ernesto in ''Don Pasquale''. In 1924, he was the lead tenor in the Melba-Williamson Grand Opera tour of Australia, opening the Sydney season opposite Nellie Melba in ''La bohème''. On the international scene, Borgioli debuted at the Royal Opera House in London, as Edgardo in ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', opposite Toti Dal Monte in 1925—and at the Glyndebourne Festival where he sang as Ottavio in'' Don Giovanni'', and as Ernesto. He also appeared in P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riccardo Stracciari
Riccardo Stracciari (June 26, 1875 – October 10, 1955) was a leading Italian baritone. His repertoire consisted mainly of Italian operatic works, with Rossini's Figaro and Verdi's Rigoletto becoming his signature roles during a long and distinguished career which stretched from 1899 to 1944. Life and career Born in Casalecchio di Reno near Bologna, Italy, Stracciari first sang in an operetta chorus during 1894. He then entered the Bologna Conservatory, undertaking vocal studies with Umberto Masetti. He made his professional debut in 1899, at the Teatro Communale in Bologna, in Pesori's sacred work ''La risurrezione di Christo''. The following year he made his operatic debut as Marcello in Puccini's ''La bohème'' in Rovigo. After appearing in various Italian opera houses, he made his debut at Italy's leading operatic venue, La Scala, Milan, in 1904. Stracciari's career quickly became international, with debuts at the Royal Opera House in London in 1905, followed by hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Matrimonio Segreto
' (''The Secret Marriage'') is a dramma giocoso in two acts, music by Domenico Cimarosa, on a libretto by Giovanni Bertati, based on the 1766 play ''The Clandestine Marriage'' by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick. It was first performed on 7 February 1792 at the Imperial Hofburg Theatre in Vienna in the presence of Emperor Leopold II. Performance history Cimarosa's only work still to be regularly performed, it is arguably one of the greatest 18th century opera buffa apart from those by Mozart. Its premiere was the occasion of the longest encore in operatic history; Leopold II was so delighted that he ordered supper served to the company and the entire opera repeated immediately after. The Italian premiere of the opera was given at La Scala in Milan on 17 February 1793 with Maria Gazzotti as Carolina and Vincenzo Del Moro as Paolino. On 23 May, the same year, it arrived at the Teatre de la Santa Creu in Barcelona. England saw the work for the first time on 11 January 1794 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Re
''Il re'' (''The king'') is a novella or opera in one act and three scenes by composer Umberto Giordano to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. The opera premiered at La Scala in Milan on 12 January 1929.Julian Budden: "Il re", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed March 04, 2009)(subscription access)/ref> The opera is a short comedy, only lasting about 1 hour in performance, about a young woman, Rosalina, betrothed to Colombello. One day she sees the King in all his majesty and falls in love with him, breaking the engagement with Colombello. But after meeting the king privately in his chamber, and seeing him with no crown or clothes, she loses her interest in him and returns to Colombello. Performance history Unusual for a 20th-century opera, ''Il re'' was written specifically as a vehicle for Toti Dal Monte, a coloratura soprano of the old school. Dal Monte performed the work a number of times during her career but after her retirement, the opera quickly fell into o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina'', was written for a competition promoted by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno for the best one-act opera, remembered today because it marked the beginning of Italian ''verismo''. The winner was Mascagni's ''Cavalleria rusticana''. Giordano, the youngest contestant, was placed sixth among seventy-three entries with his ''Marina'', a work which generated enough interest for Sonzogno to commission the staging of an opera based on it in the 1891–92 season. The result was ''Mala vita'', a gritty ''verismo'' opera about a labourer who vows to reform a prostitute if he is cured of his tuberculosis. This work caused something of a scandal when performed at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, in February 1892. It played successfully in Vienna, Pragu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Traviata
''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 1848 novel. The opera was originally titled ''Violetta'', after the main character. It was first performed on 6 March 1853 at La Fenice opera house in Venice. Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, "c. 1700". It was not until the 1880s that the composer's and librettist's original wishes were carried out and " realistic" productions were staged. ''La traviata'' has become immensely popular and is among the most frequently performed of all operas. Composition history For Verdi, the years 1851 to 1853 were filled with operatic activity. First, he had agreed with the librettist Salvadore Cammarano on a subject for what would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
