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Petite Messe Solennelle
Gioachino Rossini's ''Petite messe solennelle'' (Little solemn mass) was written in 1863, possibly at the request of Count Alexis Pillet-Will for his wife Louise to whom it is dedicated. The composer, who had retired from composing operas more than 30 years before, described it as "the last of my '' péchés de vieillesse''" (sins of old age). The extended work is a missa solemnis, but Rossini labeled it, not without irony, ''petite'' (little). He scored it originally for twelve singers, four of them soloists, two pianos and harmonium. The mass was first performed on 14 March 1864 at the couple's new home in Paris. Rossini later produced an orchestral version, including an additional movement, a setting of the hymn "" as a soprano aria. This version of the mass was not performed during his lifetime because he could not obtain permission to perform it with female singers in a church. It was first performed three months after his death, at the Salle Ventadour in Paris by the com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mass (music)
The Mass ( la, missa) is a form of sacred musical composition that sets the invariable portions of the Christian Eucharistic liturgy (principally that of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism), known as the Mass. Most Masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin, the sacred language of the Catholic Church's Roman Rite, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship has long been the norm. For example, there have been many Masses written in English for a United States context since the Second Vatican Council, and others (often called "communion services") for the Church of England. Masses can be ''a cappella'', that is, without an independent accompaniment, or they can be accompanied by instrumental ''obbligatos'' up to and including a full orchestra. Many masses, especially later ones, were never intended to be performed during the celebration of an actual mass. History Middle Ages The earli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passy
Passy () is an area of Paris, France, located in the 16th arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is home to many of the city's wealthiest residents. Passy was a commune on the outskirts of Paris. In 1658, hot springs were discovered around which spa facilities were developed. This attracted Parisian society and English visitors, some of whom made the area, which combined attractive countryside with both modest houses and fine residences, their winter retreat. The population was 2,400 in 1836, 4,545 in 1841, but larger in summer. In 1861 the population was 11,431. Passy's population was 17,594 when it was absorbed into Paris along with several other communities in 1860. Notable people *Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière (1693–1762), French tax farmer and music patron *Niccolò Piccinni (1728–1800), Italian composer * Louis-Guillaume Le Veillard (1733–1794), aristocrat *Princess Marie Louise of Savoy (1749–1792), Savoyan princess * General Charles Edward Jennings de Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semiramide
''Semiramide'' () is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy ''Semiramis'', which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. The opera was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on 3 February 1823. ''Semiramide'' was Rossini's final Italian opera and according to Richard Osborne, "could well be dubbed ''Tancredi Revisited''". As in ''Tancredi'', Rossi's libretto was based on a Voltaire tragedy. The music took the form of a return to vocal traditions of Rossini's youth, and was a melodrama in which he "recreated the baroque tradition of decorative singing with unparalleled skill". The ensemble-scenes (particularly the duos between Arsace and Semiramide) and choruses are of a high order, as is the orchestral writing, which makes full use of a large pit. After this splendid work, one of his finest in the genre, Rossini turned his back on Italy and moved to Paris. Apart from ''Il viaggio a Reims'', which i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luigi Agnesi
Luigi Agnesi (17 July 1833 – 2 February 1875) was a Belgian operatic bass-baritone, conductor and composer. Life and career Born Louis Ferdinand Leopold Agniez in Namur, Agnesi graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 1853. There he had studied with Charles-Marie-François Bosselet ( harmony) and the François-Joseph Fétis (music composition). Shortly after graduating, he won the Belgian Prix de Rome which enabled him to pursue further studies in Italy for two years. His only opera composition, ''Hermold le Normand'', premiered unsuccessfully at La Monnaie in 1858. Frusturated with his composition career, Agniez decided to reorient himself towards a singing career. In 1861 he entered the Paris Conservatoire where he studied singing for the next three years under Gilbert Duprez. He made his professional opera debut in 1864 as Assur in Gioachino Rossini's ''Semiramide'' at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. In 1865 he made his London debut at Her Majesty's Theatre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italo Gardoni
Italo Gardoni (12 March 1821 – 26 March 1882) was a leading operatic tenore di grazia singer from Italy who enjoyed a major international career during the middle decades of the 19th century. Along with Giovanni Mario, Gaetano Fraschini, Enrico Tamberlik and Antonio Giuglini, he was one of the most celebrated Italian tenors of his era. His voice was not large but it was exceptionally pure toned and sweet, lacking any disruptive vibrato. He sang legato passages with impressive smoothness but he could also dispatch florid music with flair and considerable agility. Career Born in Parma, Gardoni studied with Antonio De Cesari (1797–1853). He made his debut as ''Roberto Devereux'' (Donizetti) in Viadana in 1840, and over the following 7 years made his career in France, Italy and Germany. In Paris in December 1844 he was Bothwell in the Paris première of Louis Niedermeyer's opera '' Marie Stuart'' at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique opposite the soprano Rosine Sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Marchisio
Barbara Marchisio (6 December 1833 – 19 April 1919) was an Italian operatic contralto and one of Rossini's favorite singers. She was known for her excellent technique and a voice which possessed both agility and a very wide extension which allowed her to sing roles in the soprano range. She was born in Turin into a family of musicians. Her younger sister Carlotta Marchisio was a noted soprano and their brother Antonino was a composer. Their father was a piano maker in the city. Both Barbara and Carlotta Marchisio trained as singers in Turin with Carlotta Marchionni. Barbara made her stage debut as Adalgisa in Bellini's ''Norma'' in Vicenza in 1856. After her sister's debut in 1857, they frequently appeared together, singing leading contralto and soprano roles in Paris (at the Théâtre-Italien) as well as in Brussels, Berlin, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and various theatres in Great Britain. In her later years she became a singing teacher at the Naples Conservatory and also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlotta Marchisio
Carlotta Marchisio (8 December 1835 – 28 June 1872) was an Italian operatic soprano and one of Rossini's favorite singers. Her voice was noted for its agility and beautiful timbre. She was born in Turin into a family of musicians. Her elder sister, Barbara Marchisio was a noted contralto and their brother Antonino was a composer. Both Carlotta and Barbara Marchisio trained as singers in Turin with Carlotta Marchionni. Carlotta made her debut as Adalgisa in Bellini's ''Norma'' at the Teatro Real in Madrid in March 1857. She frequently appeared with her sister Barbara, singing leading soprano and contralto roles in Paris (at the Théâtre-Italien) as well as in Brussels, Berlin, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and various theatres in Great Britain. In 1861, she married the Austrian bass Eugen Kuhn, who performed under the name Eugenio Cosselli. She died in childbirth at the age of 36 in her native city.Lamacchia, Saverio"Marchisio" ''Dizionario Biografico''. Treccani The ''Enci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Lavignac
Alexandre Jean Albert Lavignac (21 January 1846 – 28 May 1916) was a French music scholar, known for his essays on theory, and a minor composer. Biography Lavignac was born in Paris and studied with Antoine François Marmontel, François Benoist and Ambroise Thomas at the Conservatoire de Paris, where later he taught harmony. Among his pupils were Henri Casadesus, Claude Debussy, Vincent d'Indy, Amédée Gastoué, Philipp Jarnach, Henri O'Kelly, Gabriel Pierné, Wadia Sabra, Florent Schmitt. In March 1864, at the age of eighteen, he conducted from the harmonium the private premiere of Gioachino Rossini's ''Petite messe solennelle''. His condensed work, ''La Musique et les Musiciens'', an overview of musical grammar and materials, continued to be reprinted years after his death. In it he characterised the particular characteristics of instruments and of each key,page 424 somewhat in the way Berlioz and Gevaert (''Traité d'orchestration'', Gand, 1863, p. 189) had done: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (1867) also remains in the international repertory. He composed a large amount of church music, many songs, and popular short pieces including his Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod), Ave Maria (an elaboration of a Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach piece), and ''Funeral March of a Marionette''. Born in Paris into an artistic and musical family Gounod was a student at the Conservatoire de Paris and won France's most prestigious musical prize, the Prix de Rome. His studies took him to Italy, Austria and then Prussia, where he met Felix Mendelssohn, whose advocacy of the music of Bach was an early influence on him. He was deeply religious, and after his return to Paris, he briefly considered becoming a priest. He composed prolifically, writing church music, songs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metropolitan Museum Of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. The first portion of the approximately building was built in 1880. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 with its mission to bring art and art education to the American people. The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people held by an inspiring host. During the gathering they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" (Latin: ''aut delectare aut prodesse''). Salons in the tradition of the French literary and philosophical movements of the 17th and 18th centuries were carried on until as recently as the 1920s in urban settings. Historical background The salon was an Italian invention of the 16th century, which flourished in France throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The salon continued to flourish in Italy throughout the 19th century. In 16th-century Italy, some brilliant circles formed in the smaller courts which resembled salons, often galvanized by the presence of a beautiful and educated patroness such as Berta Zuckerkandl, Isabella d'Este or Elisabetta Gonzaga. Salons were an important place for the exchange of i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defined as his 13th birthday) on 15 February 1723, the kingdom was ruled by his grand-uncle Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent of France. Cardinal Fleury was chief minister from 1726 until his death in 1743, at which time the king took sole control of the kingdom. His reign of almost 59 years (from 1715 to 1774) was the second longest in the history of France, exceeded only by his predecessor, Louis XIV, who had ruled for 72 years (from 1643 to 1715). In 1748, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745. He ceded New France in North America to Great Britain and Spain at the conclusion of the disastrous Seven Years' War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of the Duchy of Lorr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
