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Norman Walker (bass)
Norman Walker (24 November 1907 – 5 November 1963) was an English bass singer, distinguished for his work in both opera and oratorio.The core data in this article is derived from Brook 1958, apart from those details signalled by other footnotes. Early development Walker was born into a musical family in Shaw, Lancashire, England. His father played trombone in an amateur brass band, and his mother was an amateur soprano. A choirboy in the parish church, he continued his musical studies when he went to work in a cotton mill on leaving school. By the age of fifteen and a half he already had a deep bass voice, which he used at the evening institute where he studied harmony. At the age of 17 he made his first public performance as a soloist in a concert programme including Handel arias. When he was eighteen he was heard by Mrs Percy Pitt, wife of the conductor, and went to Laurence Lee for a year's training. While still working in a cotton mill he began to appear in Gilbert and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass (vocal Range)
A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E2–E4).; ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' gives E2–E4/F4 Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to national style and classification system. Italians favour subdividing basses into the ''basso cantante'' (singing bass), ''basso buffo'' ("funny" bass), or the dramatic ''basso profondo'' (low bass). The American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass. The German ''Fach'' system offers further distinctions: Spielbass (Bassbuffo), Schwerer Spielbass (Schwerer Bassbuffo), Charakterbass (Bassbariton), and Seriöser Bass. These classification systems can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just two months before the composer's premature death. Still a staple of the opera repertory, its popularity was reflected by two immediate sequels, Peter Winter's ''Das Labyrinth oder Der Kampf mit den Elementen. Der Zauberflöte zweyter Theil'' (1798) and a fragmentary libretto by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe titled ''The Magic Flute Part Two''. The allegorical plot was influenced by Schikaneder and Mozart's interest in Freemasonry and concerns the initiation of Prince Tamino. Enlisted by the Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from the high priest Sarastro, Tamino comes to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition resulted in more than List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 800 works of virtually every genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphony, symphonic, concerto, concertante, chamber music, chamber, operatic, and choir, choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as among the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". Born in Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg, Salzburg, in the Holy Roman Empire, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on Keyboard instrument, keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whom The Gods Love (1936 Film)
''Whom the Gods Love'', also known as ''Mozart'', is a 1936 British biographical film directed by Basil Dean and starring Stephen Haggard, Victoria Hopper and John Loder (actor), John Loder. The film portrays the life of the Eighteenth Century Austrian Empire, Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Cast * Stephen Haggard as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * Victoria Hopper as Constanze Mozart, Constance Mozart * John Loder (actor), John Loder as Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz, Prince Lobkowitz * Liane Haid as Aloysia Weber, Aloysia * Jean Cadell as Anna Maria Mozart, Frau Mozart * Hubert Harben as Leopold Mozart * Frederick Leister as Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor * Marie Lohr as Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Empress * Laurence Hanray as Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Archbishop of Salzburg * George Curzon (actor), George Curzon as Lorenzo Da Ponte * Richard Goolden as Weber * Muriel George as Frau Weber * Raymond Huntley as Langer * Leueen MacGrath as Josepha Weber, Josefa Weber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest paid film star in the world in 1937. She was known affectionately as ''Our Gracie'' and ''the Lancashire Lass'' and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979. Life and work Early life Fields was born Grace Stansfield, a daughter of Frederick Stansfield (1874–1956) and his wife Sarah Jane 'Jenny' Stansfield née Bamford (1879–1953), over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire. Her great-grandfather, William Stansfield (b.1805), of Hebden Bridge, Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Look Up And Laugh
''Look Up and Laugh'' is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Basil Dean and starring Gracie Fields, Alfred Drayton and Douglas Wakefield. The film is notable for featuring an appearance by Vivien Leigh in an early supporting role. Plot Gracie Pearson (Fields) is a singer/comedian who returns home to enjoy a little holiday, but there is trouble brewing. First, she has to use all of her hard-earned money to pay for part of what her brother owes to a money lender. Then when they go to see their father, they find he has collapsed due to the Plumborough Market (where he has a stall) is threatened with demolition to make way for a department store. She receives a telegram offering a West End singing job, but decides to try to save the market instead. As time runs out, Gracie rallies the stall keepers together through a series of ever more hilarious schemes in their attempts to save their livelihoods. Cast * Gracie Fields as Gracie Pearson * Vivien Leigh as Marjorie Belfer * Dougla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sing As We Go
''Sing As We Go'' is a 1934 British musical film starring Gracie Fields, John Loder and Stanley Holloway. The script was written by Gordon Wellesley and J. B. Priestley. Considered by many to be British music hall star Gracie Fields' finest vehicle, this film was written for her by leading novelist J.B. Priestley. In this morale-boosting depression movie, set in the industrial north of England, Fields stars as a resourceful, determined working class heroine, laid off from her job in a clothing mill, who has to seek work in the seaside resort of Blackpool. This gives her the opportunity both to fall into many misadventures and, of course, to sing. The decision to film on location brings the film a life and immediacy all too absent from most films of the period. The film provides us with a snapshot of life in a seaside resort in the 1930s. The final scene of the millworkers returning to the re-opened mill while Fields leads them in the rousing title song has become an almost ico ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Java Head (1934 Film)
''Java Head'' is a 1934 British historical drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and J. Walter Ruben. It stars Anna May Wong, Elizabeth Allan and Ralph Richardson. Synopsis The son of a wealthy Bristol shipping magnate marries a Chinese noblewoman, but she soon becomes aware that he is in fact in love with another woman. Cast * Anna May Wong as Princess Taou Yuen * Elizabeth Allan as Nettie Vollar * John Loder as Gerrit Ammidon * Edmund Gwenn as Jeremy Ammidon * Ralph Richardson as William Ammidon * Herbert Lomas as Barzil Dunsack * George Curzon as Edward Dunsack * Roy Emerton as Broadrick * John Marriner as John Stone * Grey Blake as Roger Brevard * Amy Brandon Thomas as Rhoda * Frances Carson as Kate Production The screenplay was written by Gordon Wellesley and Carol Reed served as an assistant director. The film is an adaptation of a novel by Joseph Hergesheimer of the same name. Its sets were designed by Edward Carrick. A previous silent version was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Dean
Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, after organising unofficial entertainments for his comrades in the army, he was appointed do so officially. After the war he produced and directed mostly in the West End. He staged premieres of plays by writers including J. M. Barrie, Noël Coward, John Galsworthy, Harley Granville-Barker and Somerset Maugham. He produced nearly 40 films, and directed 16, mainly in the 1930s, with stars including Gracie Fields. Together with Leslie Henson, Dean set up and ran the Entertainments National Service Association, or ENSA, in 1939 to provide a wide range of entertainment for British armed forces personnel during the Second World War. After the war he resumed his West End career successfully but without regaining his pre-war dominance. Life and career Early years D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autumn Crocus (film)
''Autumn Crocus'' is a 1934 British romance film directed by Basil Dean and starring Ivor Novello, Fay Compton and Muriel Aked. The film follows a teacher who falls in love with the married owner of the guest house in which she is staying during a holiday to Austria. It was based on Dodie Smith's first play '' Autumn Crocus'', previously a West End hit for director Basil Dean. The film was made by Associated Talking Pictures at Ealing Studios, with art direction by Edward Carrick. It was the final film appearance of its star, Ivor Novello. A contemporary reviewer wrote, "Novello's schoolboy knees under his Tyrolean shorts make the audience, if not the players, feel bashful". Cast * Ivor Novello as Andreas Steiner * Fay Compton as Jenny Grey * Muriel Aked as Miss Mayne * Esme Church as Edith * Frederick Ranalow as Herr Feldmann * Jack Hawkins as Alaric * Diana Beaumont as Audrey * Mignon O'Doherty as Frau Feldmann * George Zucco as Reverend Mayne * Gertrude Gould as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Hyde
Walter Hyde (6 February 1875 – 11 November 1951) was a British tenor, actor and teacher of voice whose career spanned genres from musical theatre to grand opera. In 1901 he sang Borrachio in the premiere of Stanford's ''Much Ado About Nothing'' and soon appeared in London's West End in light opera and Edwardian musical comedy. He appeared regularly at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden between 1908 and 1924, becoming known for roles in Wagner operas, among others, both in Britain and America. He was also in demand as a concert artist. In his later years he was Professor of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music where his students included Geraint Evans and Owen Brannigan. Early life Hyde was born in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham in 1875, the third son of Henry Michael Hyde (1848–1920), a carpenter, and Elizabeth ''née'' Hiley (1851–1932). His twin brothers, Harry and Charles, were two years older. The family had musical inclinations. Hyde later recalled: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guildhall School Of Music
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with drama and production arts. The school has students from over seventy countries. Widely regarded as one of the leading performing arts institutions in the world, it was ranked first in both the Guardian’s 2022 League Table for Music and the Complete University Guide's 2023 Arts, Drama and Music league table. It is also ranked the sixth university in the world for performing arts in the 2022 QS World University Rankings. Based within the Barbican Centre in the City of London, the school currently numbers just over 1,000 students, approximately 800 of whom are music students and 200 on the drama and technical theatre programmes. The school is a member of Conservatoires UK, the European Association of Conservatoires and the Fede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
