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Paganini (operetta)
''Paganini'' is an operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German libretto was by and Bela Jenbach. Lehár composed the work as a vehicle for Richard Tauber, the acclaimed Austrian tenor, though he assumed the role (with Vera Schwarz as the princess) in Berlin on 30 January 1926, rather than the Vienna premiere which was at the Johann Strauss Theater on 30 October 1925 with Carl Clewing in the title role. Tauber's contract with the Berlin State Opera required him to be in Stockholm at the time of the Vienna premiere. The operetta was so coolly received in Vienna that the Berlin impresario, Heinz Saltenberg, was reluctant to mount it at the without guarantees against losses. In the event, Tauber and Schwarz made it a huge success in Berlin, where it ran for three months. It was the first Lehár operetta specially written for Tauber, who had previously appeared in the composer's ''Zigeunerliebe'' in 1920 and ' in 1922 with great success. A new production was mounted in Berlin at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its shorter length, the operetta is usually of a light and amusing character. It sometimes also includes satirical commentaries. "Operetta" is the Italian diminutive of "opera" and was used originally to describe a shorter, perhaps less ambitious work than an opera. Operetta provides an alternative to operatic performances in an accessible form targeting a different audience. Operetta became a recognizable form in the mid-19th century in France, and its popularity led to the development of many national styles of operetta. Distinctive styles emerged across countries including Austria-Hungary, Germany, England, Spain, the Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, and the United States. Through the transfer of operetta among different countries, cultural cosmop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op. 1 are among the best known of his compositions and have served as an inspiration for many prominent composers. Biography Childhood Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa (then capital of the Republic of Genoa) on 27 October 1782, the third of the six children of Antonio and Teresa (née Bocciardo) Paganini. Paganini's father was an unsuccessful trader, but he managed to supplement his income by playing music on the mandolin. At the age of five, Paganini started learning the mandolin from his father and moved to the violin by the age of seven. His musical talents were quickly recognized, earning him numerous scholarships for violin lessons. The young Paganini studied under various local violinists, including Giovanni Serve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinz Zednik
Heinz Zednik (born February 21, 1940) is an Austrian operatic buffo tenor, closely associated with the character tenor roles of Richard Wagner, Wagner such as Mime and Loge (''Der Ring des Nibelungen'') and David (''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''). He is also distinguished in roles such as Valzacchi (''Der Rosenkavalier''), Monostatos (''The Magic Flute''), Pedrillo (''Die Entführung aus dem Serail''), the Scribe (''Khovanshchina''), the Captain in ''Wozzeck'', and the Director (Luciano Berio's ''Un re in ascolto''). Zednik studied singing in Vienna before making his professional opera début in 1964 at Graz as Maestro Trabuco in ''La forza del destino''. Shortly thereafter he was engaged by the Vienna State Opera where he remains a member to this day. He appeared at the Bayreuth Festival annually from 1970 through 1980, and was seen as the successor to Gerhard Stolze. During his time at the festival, he sang Loge and Mime in the ''Jahrhundertring'' (''Centenary Ring'') in 197 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anneliese Rothenberger
Anneliese Rothenberger (19 June 191924 May 2010) was a German operatic soprano who had an active international performance career which spanned from 1942 to 1983. She specialized in the lyric coloratura soprano repertoire, and was particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss. Life and career Rothenberger was born in Mannheim, Germany. She studied with Erika Müller, and took up her first engagement in Koblenz in 1942. In 1946, Günther Rennert offered her a job at the Hamburg Opera House, where she sang in Rennert's now famous production of Alban Berg's ''Lulu'' twenty years later, a role she would also perform at the Munich Opera Festival, under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi. 1954 saw her make her debut at the Salzburg Festival, and she appeared in Rolf Liebermann's ''Schule der Frauen'', three years later. From 1954, she became a guest singer at the Vienna State Opera. New York City audiences had their fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolai Gedda
Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda, known professionally as Nicolai Gedda (11 July 1925 – 8 January 2017), was a Swedish operatic tenor. Debuting in 1951, Gedda had a long and successful career in opera until the age of 77 in June 2003, when he made his final operatic recording. Skilled at languages, he performed operas in French, Russian, German, Italian, English, Czech and Swedish, as well as one in Latin. In January 1958, he created the part of Anatol in the world premiere of the American opera ''Vanessa'' at the Metropolitan Opera. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is one of the most widely recorded opera singers in history. His singing is best known for its beauty of tone, vocal control, and musical perception. Early years Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda, who later changed the spelling of his surname to Gedda, was born out of wedlock in Stockholm to a Swedish mother and a half-Russian father. He was raised by his aunt Olga Gädda and his adoptive father Michail Ustinov (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willi Boskovsky
Willibald Karl Boskovsky (16 June 1909 – 21 April 1991) was an Austrian violinist and conductor, best known as the long-standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert from 1955 to 1979. Biography Boskovsky was born in Vienna, and joined the Vienna Academy of music at the age of nine. He was the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic from 1939 to 1971. He was also, from 1955, the conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert, which is mostly devoted to the music of Johann Strauss II and his contemporaries. Along with the Vienna Philharmonic, he was also the chief conductor of the Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester up until his death. A forerunner of this ensemble was the 19th-century Strauss Orchestra founded by Johann Strauss I in 1835. He died in Visp, Switzerland. In chamber ensemble he led the ''Boskovsky Quartet'' with Philipp Matheis (2nd violin), Gunther Breitenbach (viola) and Nikolaus Hübner (violoncello). The Boskovsky Quartet, together with Johann Krump (double- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bavarian State Opera
The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Electress consort Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, when Giovanni Battista Maccioni's ''L'arpa festante'' was performed in the court theatre. In 1753, the Residence Theatre (Cuvilliés Theatre) was opened as a major stage. While opera performances were also held in the Prinzregententheater (completed in 1901), the company's home base is the Nationaltheater München on Max-Joseph-Platz. In 1875, the Munich Opera Festival took place for the first time. Sir Peter Jonas became the general manager in 1993, the first British general manager of any major German-speaking opera house. In 2008, Nikolaus Bachler became Intendant (general manager) of the opera company, and Kirill Petrenko became Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) in 2013. In 2014, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically between the F below middle C (F3 in scientific pitch notation) to the second F above middle C (F5), although, at the extremes, some voices can reach the D below middle C (D3) or the second B above middle C (B5). The contralto voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic contralto. History "Contralto" is primarily meaningful only in reference to classical and operatic singing, as other traditions lack a comparable system of vocal categorization. The term "contralto" is only applied to female singers; men singing in a similar range are called "countertenors". The Italian terms "contralto" and "alto" are not synonymous, "alto" technically denoting a specific vocal range in choral singing without regard to factors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass (voice Type)
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] |
Baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A2 to A4) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, ''Kavalierbariton'', Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, ''baryton-noble'' baritone, and the bass-baritone. History The first use of the term "baritone" emerged as ''baritonans'', late in the 15th century, usually in French sacred polyphonic music. At this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices (including the bass), but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the averag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felice Pasquale Baciocchi
Felice Pasquale Baciocchi (18 May 1762 – 27 April 1841) was born at Ajaccio into a noble, but poor, Corsican family. He was second lieutenant in the French army in 1778, lieutenant in 1788, then captain in 1794. Around 5 May 1797, he married Elisa Maria Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger sister, in Marseilles. Baciocchi was appointed secretary to the ambassador to the Spanish Royal Court in November 1800 and moved to Madrid, while his wife remained in France. Baciocchi was then promoted to army colonel in 1802, to brigadier general in 1804, and to major general in 1809. He was also made a senator in 1804 and imperial prince in 1805. Thanks to his brother-in-law's conquests, Baciocchi became Prince of Lucca, but without the associated power or the sovereign power, which really was exercised by his wife. He also serenely endured her infidelities. Baciocchi was an avid amateur violinist, and he studied with violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini for ten years while residing in Lucca a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) = 1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word '' sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" '' |
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