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Prima La Musica E Poi Le Parole
(First the music and then the words) is an opera in one act by Antonio Salieri to a libretto by Giovanni Battista Casti. The work was first performed on 7 February 1786 in Vienna, following a commission by the Emperor Joseph II."Salieri: ''Prima la musica e poi le parole''"
by Jane Schatkin Hettrick at ''Opera Today'', 19 February 2008 The opera (more specifically, a ') was first performed at one end of the of the in Vienna by an Italian troupe; simultaneously,

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Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy. Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann, and a protégé of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Salieri was a cosmopolitan composer who wrote operas in three languages. Salieri helped to develop and shape many of the features of operatic compositional vocabulary, and his music was a powerful influence on contemporary composers. Appointed the director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court, a post he held from 1774 until 1792, Salieri dominated Italian-language opera in Vienna. During his career, he also spent time writing works for opera houses in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and his dramatic works were widely performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. As the Aus ...
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Francesco Benucci
Francesco Benucci (c. 1745 – 5 April 1824) was an Italian bass/baritone singer of the 18th century. He sang a number of important roles in the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri and other composers. Life Historical background and early career He was born c. 1745 in Livorno and began his early career there around 1768.Link (2004, vii) The start of Benucci's career took place in an already flourishing world of opera buffa, which provided an existing role type, the comic bass singer or ''buffo'', at which Benucci came to excel. The historical background is described by Rice: :In one of his earliest appearances (Livorno 1768) Benucci sang Tritemio in ''Il filosofo di campagna''. That he began his career in an opera by Galuppi and Goldoni and in a role created by Carattoli is emblematic of his place in the history of opera buffa. He took up the tradition ... to which Goldoni, in collaboration with composers as Galuppi and such singers as Carattoli, had contribut ...
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Melba Ramos
Melba Ramos is a Puerto Rican- born soprano active in the opera houses and concert halls of Europe. Since 1989 her operatic career has been primarily in Germany and in Austria where she has sung many leading roles at the Vienna Volksoper. In 2002, she created the role of Faustina in the posthumous premiere of Joachim Raff's ''Benedetto Marcello''.Sinkovicz, Wilhelm (22 February 2011)"Melba Ramos: In Wien zur Primadonna geworden" ''Die Presse''. Retrieved 28 April 2015 . Ramos was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and studied voice at the Pablo Casals Conservatory of Music in San Juan. A previous District winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she made her official debut as Despina in ''Così fan tutte''. From 1989 to 1992 was a member of the Opera Studio at Cologne Opera. She was then engaged by Wuppertal Opera and in 2002 by the Vienna Volksoper. Some of the roles she has portrayed at the Volksoper include, Cio-Cio-San in ''Madama Butterfly'' (2011), Giorgetta ...
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Teldec
Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing facility was located in Nortorf near Kiel in Germany. The company was founded in 1950 as a co-operation between Telefunken and Decca Records. The name Teldec is the result of taking the first three letters of both labels: Telefunken and Decca. Records manufactured by Teldec mostly were released under the Telefunken or Decca label, but normally these records contained no hint that they were made by Teldec. In 1983, Telefunken and Decca pulled out of Teldec and in 1987 Teldec was sold to Time Warner. In 1997, the remaining compact-disc production facility in Nortorf was to be closed by Time Warner, but after a management buyout, the new company OK Media, continued CD production. In 2001, after the merger of AOL & Time Warner, Teldec closed. ...
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Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra in 1988. History The Concertgebouw opened on 11 April 1888. The Concertgebouw Orchestra was established several months later and gave its first concert in the Concertgebouw on 3 November 1888. This performance was conducted by the orchestra's first chief conductor, Willem Kes. 1888–1945: Kes and Mengelberg Kes served as the orchestra's chief conductor from its 1888 founding to 1895. In 1895, Willem Mengelberg became chief conductor and remained in this position for fifty years, an unusually long tenure for a music director. He is generally regarded as having brought the orchestra to a level of major international significance, with a particular championing of such then-contemporary composers as Gustav Mah ...
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Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt or historically Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt; () (6 December 1929 – 5 March 2016) was an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble, Concentus Musicus Wien, in 1953, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement. Around 1970, Harnoncourt began conducting opera and concert performances, soon leading international symphony orchestras, and appearing at leading concert halls, operatic venues and festivals. His repertoire then widened to include composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2001 and 2003, he conducted the Vienna New Year's Concert. Harnoncourt was also the author of several books, mostly on subjects of performance history and musical aesthetics. Early life Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt was born as an Austrian citizen in Berlin, German ...
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Julia Hamari
Julia Hamari (born 21 November 1942) is a Hungarian mezzo-soprano and alto singer in opera and concert, appearing internationally. She is an academic voice teacher in Stuttgart. Professional career Julia Hamari was born in Budapest where she received her vocal training with Fatime Martins and Jenö Sipos. She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and received her diploma for both singer and singing teacher. In 1964 she won the Erkel International Singing Competition in Budapest. She then continued her studies at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Stuttgart until 1966. In 1966, she made her debut as a soloist in Bach's ''St Matthew Passion'' with Karl Richter in Vienna, together with Teresa Stich-Randall, Peter Schreier, Hermann Prey and Ernst Gerold Schramm. Opera Her opera debut was the part of Mercedes in Bizet's ''Carmen'' at the Salzburg Festival of 1967 (with Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers and Mirella Freni, Herbert von Karajan conducting). Shortly thereafter she appe ...
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Thomas Hampson
Thomas Walter Hampson (born June 28, 1955) is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings. Hampson's operatic repertoire spans a range of more than 80 roles, including the title roles in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'', Rossini's ''Guillaume Tell'' and ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', Thomas' ''Hamlet'', and Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin''. The center of his Verdi repertoire remains Posa in ''Don Carlo'', Germont in ''La traviata'', the title roles in ''Macbeth'' and ''Simon Boccanegra'', and more recently also Amfortas in Wagner's ''Parsifal'' and Scarpia in Puccini's ''Tosca''. As a recitalist Hampson has won worldwide recognition for his thoughtfully researched and creatively constructed programs that explore the rich repertoire of song in a wide range of styles, languages, and periods. He is one of the most important interpreters of German Romantic song – especially known fo ...
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Robert Holl
Robert Holl (born 10 March 1947) is a Dutch bass-baritone classical singer. Life and career Holl was born in Rotterdam and studied at the Rotterdams Conservatorium. After winning the first prize at the 1971 International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch (IVC), he went to study with Hans Hotter in Munich.Gemeentearchief Rotterdam collecties.gemeentearchief.rotterdam.nl In 1972, he won the first prize in the ARD International Music Competition. He was then engaged at the Bavarian State Opera from 1973 to 1975. Decorations and awards * ''Kammersänger'' of the City of Vienna (1990) * Honorary member of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna (1997) * Honorary member of the Carinthian Summer Festival (1997) * Honorary member of the Weinbruderschaft Krems (26 April 1997) * Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (31 May 2005) * Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (27 October 2007) Selected discography *''The Core of All Things'' songs by Edgar Tinel, P ...
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Roberta Alexander
Roberta Alexander (born March 3, 1949) is an American operatic soprano. She began her career as a lyric soprano in 1975 and spent the next three decades performing principal roles with opera houses internationally. Particularly celebrated for her performances of Mozart heroines, she was a leading soprano at the Metropolitan Opera from 1983 to 1991. In addition to principal Mozart roles like Countess Almaviva, Elettra, Fiordiligi, and Donna Elvira, she had particular success with the parts of Mimì in Puccini's ''La bohème'' and the title role in Janáček's ''Jenůfa''. More recently she has performed secondary character roles on stage, including performances at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in 2013, La Scala in 2014, and La Monnaie in 2015. She performed the Fifth Maid in Strauss's '' Elektra'' at the Met in 2016 and Curra in Verdi's '' La forza del destino'' at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2019. Life and career Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Alexander's parent ...
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Bongiovanni (record Label)
F. Bongiovanni (1905) of Bologna is an Italian classical music publisher and, since 1975, classical record label. The company was founded by Francesco Bongiovanni to publish the works of then modern composers such as Respighi, Zandonai, Alfano, Pietro Cimara, and Francesco Balilla Pratella. Among the most famous pieces published by Bongiovanni are Respighi's Nebbie and Balilla Pratella's futurist manifesto in music, Musica Futurista. Bongiovanni played a central role in promoting music written by the composers of the Generazione dell'80, and in 1938 Alfredo Casella wrote: "The history of music in Bologna can't be written without the name Bongiovanni". In 1975, Bongiovanni produced its first record, a live recital of Mirella Freni, for which the company received the 1976 Award of the Italian Record Critics. At that time, professional produced live recordings of classical music were still a rarity, and the then owner Giancarlo Bongiovanni can be seen as a pioneer in this regard. Soon ...
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Opera Buffa
''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramma bernesco'', ''dramma comico'', ''divertimento giocoso''. Especially associated with developments in Naples in the first half of the 18th century, whence its popularity spread to Rome and northern Italy, ''buffa'' was at first characterized by everyday settings, local dialects, and simple vocal writing (the basso buffo is the associated voice type), the main requirement being clear diction and facility with patter. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' considers ''La Cilla'' (music by Michelangelo Faggioli, text by , 1706) and Luigi and Federico Ricci's'' Crispino e la comare'' (1850) to be the first and last appearances of the genre, although the term is still occasionally applied to newer work (for example Ernst Krenek's ''Zeitoper'' ...
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