|
Maria Tauberová
Maria Tauberová (née Proskeová) (28 April 1911 – 16 January 2003) was a Czech opera singer who had an active international career from the 1930s through the 1970s. A lyric coloratura soprano with an excellent technique, she possessed a warm bright voice that was even in all registers. She was particularly admired for her portrayal of Mozart heroines. In addition to an almost four-decade career at the Prague National Theatre, she sang throughout Europe and in South America, frequently with her husband, conductor Jaroslav Krombholc. Biography Born in Vysoké Mýto, Tauberová moved with her family to Vienna at the age of 9. She entered the Vienna Music Academy where she initially studied piano and then singing with Ferdinand Rebay. She later pursued further vocal training in Milan with Fernando Carpi in 1934. She began her career in Vienna, portraying the title role in Fritz Kreisler's operetta ''Sissy'' for a total of 360 performances. In 1936 Tauberová made her débuts in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Tauberová (1911-2003)
Maria Tauberová (née Proskeová) (28 April 1911 – 16 January 2003) was a Czech opera singer who had an active international career from the 1930s through the 1970s. A lyric coloratura soprano with an excellent vocal technique, technique, she possessed a warm bright voice that was even in all vocal register, registers. She was particularly admired for her portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart heroines. In addition to an almost four-decade career at the National Theatre (Prague), Prague National Theatre, she sang throughout Europe and in South America, frequently with her husband, conductor Jaroslav Krombholc. Biography Born in Vysoké Mýto, Tauberová moved with her family to Vienna at the age of 9. She entered the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Vienna Music Academy where she initially studied piano and then singing with Ferdinand Rebay. She later pursued further vocal training in Milan with Fernando Carpi in 1934. She began her career in Vienna, portra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Così Fan Tutte
(''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte who also wrote ''Le nozze di Figaro'' and ''Don Giovanni''. Although it is commonly held that was written and composed at the suggestion of the Emperor Joseph II, recent research does not support this idea. There is evidence that Mozart's contemporary Antonio Salieri tried to set the libretto but left it unfinished. In 1994, John Rice uncovered two terzetti by Salieri in the Austrian National Library. The short title, ''Così fan tutte'', literally means "So do they all", using the feminine plural (''tutte'') to indicate women. It is usually translated into English as "Women are like that". The words are sung by the three men in act 2, scene 3, just before the finale; this melodic phrase is also quoted in the overture to the opera. Da P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supraphon
Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers. History The Supraphon name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. The name was used for the label of domestic albums produced for export by Ultraphon company. Post World War II Ultraphon was nationalized and changed its name to Gramofonové závody. In 1961 the name was changed to Gramofonové závody – Supraphon and later just to Supraphon in 1969. In Czechoslovakia, it was one of the three major state-owned labels, the other two being Panton and Opus. Panton is currently a division of Supraphon; Opus (operating in Slovakia) became independent after break-up of Czechoslovakia and was acquired by Warner Music Group in 2019. Catalogues The artistic direction of the firm gave rise to a broad catalogue of titles which systematically mapped out the works of Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Leoš J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julietta
''Juliette'' is an opera by Bohuslav Martinů, who also wrote the libretto, in French, based on the play ''Juliette, ou La clé des songes'' (''Juliette, or The Key of Dreams)'' by the French author Georges Neveux. A libretto in Czech was later prepared for its premiere which took place at the Prague National Theatre on 16 March 1938. ''Juliette'' has become widely considered as Martinů's masterpiece. Performance history Martinů became aware of the play by Neveux in 1932, two years after its premiere at the in Paris (8th arrondissement) on 7 March 1930.Smaczny, Jan. "''Julietta''". In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. It appears that Neveux had come to an agreement with Kurt Weill to base a musical comedy on his play, but on hearing some of Martinů's music, passed his favour to the Czech.Bohuslav Martinů: ''Juliette ou la Clé des songes''. In: Kaminski, Piotr. ''Mille et Un Opéras''. Fayard, 2003, pp. 839–841. The initial work on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mirandolina
''Mirandolina'' ( H. 346) is a comic opera in three acts by Bohuslav Martinů, with a libretto (in Italian) by the composer after Carlo Goldoni's 1751 comedy ''La locandiera'' (''The Mistress of the Inn''). Salieri had an opera (''dramma giocoso'') on the same subject premiered at the Vienna Kärtnertortheater in 1773. The opera was written in 1953-4. It incorporates in places stretches of spoken dialogue between the characters, against an orchestral background. The opera was premiered on 17 May 1959 at the Prague National Theatre, Czechoslovakia (shortly before the composer's death), when it was conducted by Václav Kašlik. David Pountney has described the opera as "the work where Martinů's strain of fast-moving, neo-Classical style comes into its own... finding room for witty and ironic musical references to Italian madrigals, French vaudeville and Italian opera buffa".'David Pountney. In the Key of Dreams. ''Opera'', Vol 60 No 6, June 2009, p660. Martinů's biographer Bria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cunning Little Vixen
''The Cunning Little Vixen'' (original title ''Příhody lišky Bystroušky'' or ''Tales of Vixen Sharp-Ears'' in English), is a three-act Czech-language opera by Leoš Janáček completed in 1923 to a libretto the composer himself adapted from a novella by Rudolf Těsnohlídek. Name The opera's libretto was adapted by the composer from a 1920 serialized novella, ''Liška Bystrouška'', by Rudolf Těsnohlídek, which was first published in the newspaper ''Lidové noviny'' (with illustrations by Stanislav Lolek). For the title of the opera, ''Příhody'' means ''tales''; ''lišky'' is the genitive of ''vixen''. ''Bystroušky'', still genitive, is the pun ''sharp'', having the double meaning of ''pointed'', like fox ears, and ''clever''. The opera first became familiar outside Czechoslovakia in a 1927 German adaptation by Max Brod who provided the new name ''Das schlaue Füchslein'', by which Germans still know it and which in English means ''The Cunning Little Vixen''. Compositio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Two Widows
''The Two Widows'' ( cz, Dvĕ vdovy) is a two-act Czech opera by Bedřich Smetana based on the libretto of Emanuel Züngel. The libretto is based on Jean Pierre Felicien Mallefille's one-act play ''Les deux veuves''. The opera was composed between June 1873 and January 1874, and its premiere took place on 27 March 1874 at the Prague Czech Theatre under the direction of Smetana. However, this premiere was not successful and the opera was rewritten in 1874. The spoken dialogue was replaced by through-composed recitativesHolden p. 860 and some of the music and characters were reworked. The second premiere on 20 October 1874 was very successful. A further revised version was premiered on 17 March 1878, under Adolf Čech. For a later performance in Hamburg in 1882 "Smetena reluctan y added a trio in act 1 and an alternative ending to Agnes' aria in act 2, and consented to a redivision of the opera into three acts". Performance history The US premiere took place in New York on 23 Oc ... [...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] |
The Barber Of Seville
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ''The Barber of Seville'' (1775). The première of Rossini's opera (under the title ''Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione'') took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, with designs by Angelo Toselli. Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'' has proven to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as the opera buffa of all "opere buffe". After two hundred years, it remains a popular work. Composition history Rossini's opera recounts the events of the first of the three plays by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais that revolve around the clever and enterprising character named Figaro, the barber of the title. Mozart's opera ''The Marriage of Fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Contes D'Hoffmann
''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in October 1880, four months before the premiere. Composition history and sources Offenbach saw a play, , written by Barbier and Michel Carré and produced at the Odéon Theatre in Paris in 1851. After returning from America in 1876, Offenbach learned that Barbier had adapted the play, which had now set to music at the Opéra. Salomon handed the project to Offenbach. Work proceeded slowly, interrupted by the composition of profitable lighter works. Offenbach had a premonition, like Antonia, the heroine of Act 2, that he would die prior to its completion. Offenbach continued working on the opera throughout 1880, attending some rehearsals. On 5 October 1880, he died with the manuscript in his hand, just four months before the opening. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ariadne Auf Naxos
(''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's principal themes: the competition between high and low art for the public's attention. First version (1912) The opera was originally conceived as a 30-minute divertissement to be performed at the end of Hofmannsthal's adaptation of Molière's play ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme.'' Besides the opera, Strauss provided incidental music to be performed during the play. In the end, the opera occupied ninety minutes, and the performance of play plus opera occupied over six hours. It was first performed at the Hoftheater Stuttgart on 25 October 1912, directed by Max Reinhardt. The combination of the play and opera proved to be unsatisfactory to the audience: those who had come to hear the opera resented having to wait until the play finished. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faust (opera)
''Faust'' is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play ''Faust et Marguerite'', in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's ''Faust, Part One''. It debuted at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris on 19 March 1859, with influential sets designed by Charles-Antoine Cambon and Joseph Thierry, Jean Émile Daran, Édouard Desplechin, and Philippe Chaperon. Performance history The original version of Faust employed spoken dialogue, and it was in this form that the work was first performed. The manager of the Théâtre Lyrique, Léon Carvalho cast his wife Caroline Miolan-Carvalho as Marguerite and there were various changes during production, including the removal and contraction of several numbers. The tenor Hector Gruyer was originally cast as Faust but was found to be inadequate during rehearsals, being eventually replaced by a principal of the Opéra-Comique, Joseph-Théodore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
