|
Mafalda Favero
Mafalda Favero (pseudonym of Giuseppina Favero) (6 January 19033 September 1981) was an Italian operatic soprano. Mafalda Favero was born in Portomaggiore, near Ferrara. When she was 17, she started studying with Alessandro Vezzani at the Bologna Conservatory and attracted the attention of Franco Alfano. She began her professional career in her early 20s in Cremona before moving to Parma where she sang several roles. She eventually transferred to La Scala where she debuted singing Eva in ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' under Arturo Toscanini in 1929. She remained one of the regular singers at La Scala until 1950, in addition to singing in London (Royal Opera House) in 1937 and 1939, and in the United States (Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera) in 1938. She had a large repertoire which included many contemporary works. She sang in the first performances of Alfano's '' L'ultimo Lord'', Mascagni's ''Pinotta'', Zandonai's '' Farsa amorosa'', and Wolf-Ferrari's '' Il& ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mafalda Favero 1953
''Mafalda'' () is an Argentine comic strip written and drawn by cartoonist Quino. The strip features a six-year-old girl named Mafalda, who reflects the Argentinian middle class and progressive youth, is concerned about humanity and world peace, and has an innocent but serious attitude toward problems. The comic strip ran from 1964 to 1973 and was very popular in Latin America, Europe, Quebec and Asia. Its popularity led to books and two animated cartoon series. ''Mafalda'' has been praised as masterful satire. History The comic strip artist Quino created ''Mafalda'' in 1963. He had received a proposal by fellow artist Miguel Brascó, and the comic strip would be a covert advertisement for the "Mansfield" line of products of the Siam Di Tella company. The characters would use their products, and all of them would have names starting with "M". The name "Mafalda" was selected as an homage to one of the characters of the 1962 Argentine film ''Dar la cara''. The comic strip was con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece ''Cavalleria rusticana'' caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the ''Verismo'' movement in Italian dramatic music. While it was often held that Mascagni, like Ruggero Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, ''L'amico Fritz'' and ''Iris'' have remained in the repertoire in Europe (especially Italy) since their premieres. Mascagni wrote fifteen operas, an operetta, several orchestral and vocal works, and also songs and piano music. He enjoyed immense success during his lifetime, both as a composer and conductor of his own and other people's music and created a variety of styles in his operas. Biography Early life and education Mascagni was born on 7 December 1863 in Livorno, Tuscany, the second son of Domenico and Emilia Mascagni. His father owned and operated a baker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lanfranco Rasponi
Lanfranco Rasponi (11 December 1914 – 9 April 1983) was an Italian author, critic, and publicist. He is primarily known for his writing on opera and opera singers, especially his 1982 book, ''The Last Prima Donnas''. Born in Florence, he was the son of an Italian aristocrat and an American mother. From the late 1940s to the early 1960s Rasponi was the publicity agent for many opera singers as well as for socialites and fashionable restaurants in New York City. For a while, he also owned the Sagittarius Gallery in Manhattan which specialised in introducing contemporary European artists. After a financial scandal in 1963, he left the United States for Italy and dedicated himself to writing. He spent his last years in Rio de Janeiro where he died at the age of 68. Life and career Rasponi was born in Florence, the son of Count Nerino Rasponi Dalle Teste and Caroline Montague, the daughter of a successful businessman in Chattanooga, Tennessee and divided his youth between Italy and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L'amico Fritz
''L'amico Fritz'' () is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 from a libretto by P. Suardon ( Nicola Daspuro) (with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti), based on the French novel ''L'ami Fritz'' by Émile Erckmann and Pierre-Alexandre Chatrian. While the opera enjoyed some success in its day and is probably Mascagni's most famous work after ''Cavalleria rusticana'', today it is performed far more rarely than ''Cavalleria'', which remains Mascagni's only enduringly popular work outside Italy, where ''L'amico Fritz'' and ''Iris'' are still in the active repertoire. The "Cherry Duet" between Fritz and Suzel in Act 2 is the best known piece in the opera and is often performed separately in concert. Performance history The opera was first performed in Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city has 3.26 million inhabitants. Its continuously built-up urban area (whose outer suburbs extend well beyond the boundaries of the administrative metropolitan city and even stretch into the nearby country of Switzerland) is the fourth largest in the EU with 5.27 million inhabitants. According to national sources, the population within the wider Milan metropolitan area (also known as Greater Milan), is estimated between 8.2 million and 12.5 million making it by far the largest metropolitan area in Italy and one of the largest in the EU.* * * * Milan is considered a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the fields of art, chemicals, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giulietta Simionato
Giulietta Simionato (born Giulia Simionato; Forlì, Romagna, 12 May 1910 – Rome, 5 May 2010) was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned the period from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966. Life As a girl she studied in a boarding school with nuns who sensed her musical qualities and invited her to study singing, which she did against the opposition of the family, especially her mother. After the latter's death, Giulietta studied first in Rovigo, then in Padua. Her singing debut was in the 1927 musical comedy film, 'Nina, Don't Be Stupid'. The following year she made her operatic debut at Montagnana. In 1933 she won the first "bel canto competition" in Florence against 385 competitors and got an audition at the Teatro alla Scala. The result was positive, but the artistic director Fabbroni found her voice still immature and invited her to return a few years later. Two years later she was put under contract. In 1928, she sang in Verdi's ''Rigoletto''. The first fif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madama Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther Long, which in turn was based on stories told to Long by his sister Jennie Correll and on the semi-autobiographical 1887 French novel '' Madame Chrysanthème'' by Pierre Loti.Chadwick Jenna"The Original Story: John Luther Long and David Belasco" on columbia.edu Long's version was dramatized by David Belasco as the one-act play '' Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan'', which, after premiering in New York in 1900, moved to London, where Puccini saw it in the summer of that year. The original version of the opera, in two acts, had its premiere on 17 February 1904 at La Scala in Milan. It was poorly received, despite having such notable singers as soprano Rosina Storchio, tenor Giovanni Zenatello and baritone Giuseppe De Luca in lead roles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic ''verismo'' style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. His most renowned works are ''La bohème'' (1896), ''Tosca'' (1900), '' Madama Butterfly'' (1904), and ''Turandot'' (1924), all of which are among the most frequently performed and recorded of all operas. Family and education Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini in Lucca, Italy, in 1858. He was the sixth of nine children of Michele Puccini (1813–1864) and Albina Magi (1830–1884). The Puccini family was established in Lucca as a local musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Dama Boba
''La dama boba'' (given various titles in English including ''The Lady Simpleton'', ''The Lady Boba: a Woman of Little Sense'', 'Lady Nitwit'', ''The Lady-Fool'') is a 1613 comedy by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. It is one of the earliest examples of the "comedia palatina" subgenre. De Vega completed it on 28 April 1613, as shown by a surviving manuscript copy in his own hand. Translations *''The Lady Simpleton'' Max Oppenheimer, Jr. Lawrence, KS: Coronado 1976 *''Lady Nitwit'' trans. William I. Oliver Editorial Bilingüe, 1998 *''Wit's end: an adaptation of Lope de Vega's La dama boba'' Edward H. Friedman 2000 *''The Lady Boba: a Woman of Little Sense'' David Johnston 2013 Adaptations *1939 - La dama boba (opera). Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari set the play as an opera in 1939.The New International Year Book 1939 - published 1940 Page 513 A new work by Wolf-Ferrari, La Dama Boba, with a libretto by Mario Ghisalberti based upon a Lope de Vega comedy, was produced in the Teatro del ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Campiello
''Il campiello'' (''The Little Square'') is an opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. The libretto was by Mario Ghisalberti, after the famous comedy of the same name written for the 1756 Venetian Carnival by the great Venetian playwright, Carlo Goldoni. Referred to as a ''commedia lirica'', it is an ensemble opera influenced by Mozart, as well as Giuseppe Verdi's last opera ''Falstaff''. It is concerned with the public lives of the volatile inhabitants of a "campiello" in Venice and is sung in the local dialect (except for two Neapolitan roles). Performance history ''Il campiello'' was first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 11 February 1936 under Gino Marinuzzi and as opera director Marcello Govoni. It has remained in the Italian repertory and occasionally been performed abroad. The Fujiwara Opera gave the Japanese premiere in Tokyo in July 1978. They revived it in July 2001 under Marco Titotto, including some Italian singers from the 1992 Trieste production. Role ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (born Ermanno Wolf) (January 12, 1876 – January 21, 1948) was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as '' Il segreto di Susanna'' (1909). A number of his works were based on plays by Carlo Goldoni, including ''Le donne curiose'' (1903), ''I quatro rusteghi'' (1906) and ''Il campiello'' (1936). Life Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was born in Venice in 1876, the son of German painter August Wolf and Emilia Ferrari, from Venice. He added his mother's maiden-name, Ferrari, to his surname in 1895. Although he studied piano from an early age, music was not the primary passion of his young life. As a teenager Wolf-Ferrari wanted to be a painter like his father; he studied intensively in Venice and Rome and traveled abroad to study in Munich. It was there that he decided to concentrate instead on music, taking lessons from Josef Rheinberger. He enrolled at the Munich conservatory and began taking counterpoint and composition classes. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
