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Richard Leveridge
Richard Leveridge (or Leueridge) (19 July 1670 – 22 March 1758) was an English bass singer of the London stage and a composer of baroque music, including many popular songs. Life Richard Leveridge was born in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, in 1670, and in 1695 became the leading bass singer in the United Company managed by Christopher Rich at Drury Lane, after the defection of several leading singers from Rich's company. His first important role of which anything is known was as the magician Ismeron in Henry Purcell's opera '' The Indian Queen'', which included the aria "Ye twice ten hundred deities". Purcell himself remained loyal to the company, and for several months Leveridge worked closely with him. It is likely that "Arise, ye subterranean winds" in the music (attributed to Purcell) for ''The Tempest'' was written for him. After Purcell's death he continued to work with composers Daniel Purcell and Jeremiah Clarke, and took a leading part in Clarke's Ode up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Frye
Thomas Frye (c. 1710 – 3 April 1762) was an Anglo-Irish artist, best known for his portraits in oil and pastel, including some miniatures and his early mezzotint engravings. He was also the patentee of the Bow porcelain factory, London, and claimed in his epitaph to be "the inventor and first manufacturer of porcelain in England," though his rivals at the Chelsea porcelain factory seem to have preceded him in bringing wares to market. The Bow porcelain works did not long survive Frye's death; their final auctions took place in May 1764. Frye was born at Edenderry, County Offaly, Ireland, in 1710; in his youth he went to London to practice as an artist. His earliest works are a pair of pastel portraits of boys, one dated 1734 (Earl of Iveagh). For the Worshipful Company of Saddlers he painted a full-length portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales (1736, destroyed 1940), which he engraved in mezzotint and published in 1741. With his silent partner, a London merchant Edward H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, ''Macbeth'' most clearly reflects his relationship with King James, patron of Shakespeare's acting company. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy. A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rinaldo (opera)
''Rinaldo'' ( HWV 7) is an opera by George Frideric Handel, composed in 1711, and was the first Italian language opera written specifically for the London stage. The libretto was prepared by Giacomo Rossi from a scenario provided by Aaron Hill, and the work was first performed at the Queen's Theatre in London's Haymarket on 24 February 1711. The story of love, war and redemption, set at the time of the First Crusade, is loosely based on Torquato Tasso's epic poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ("Jerusalem Delivered"), and its staging involved many original and vivid effects. It was a great success with the public, despite negative reactions from literary critics hostile to the contemporary trend towards Italian entertainment in English theatres. Handel composed ''Rinaldo'' quickly, borrowing and adapting music from operas and other works that he had composed during a long stay in Italy in the years 1706–10, during which he established a considerable reputation. In the years follo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teseo
''Teseo'' ("Theseus", HWV 9; ) is an opera seria with music by George Frideric Handel, the only Handel opera that is in five acts. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Philippe Quinault's ''Thésée''. It was Handel's third London opera, intended to follow the success of '' Rinaldo'' after the unpopular ''Il pastor fido''. First performed on 10 January 1713,''Teseo'' featured "magical" effects such as flying dragons, transformation scenes and apparitions and had a cast of notable Italian opera singers. It was a success with London audiences, receiving thirteen performances even though the stage machinery for the "magical" effects broke down, and would have received more performances had not one of the theatre's managers run away with the box office receipts. Performance history The opera was premiered at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket on 10 January 1713. It received an additional 12 performances through 16 May 1713, a mark of success at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Pastor Fido
''Il pastor fido'' (''The Faithfull Shepherd'' in Richard Fanshawe's 1647 English translation) is a pastoral tragicomedy set in Arcadia by Giovanni Battista Guarini, first published in 1590 in Venice. Plot summary To redress an ancient wrong, the gods of Arcadia every year demand the sacrifice of a virgin. According to the oracle, this curse can only be lifted when a young man and a young woman, each of godly descent, are wed. In Arcadia there are now only two that can claim such lineage: the young Silvio (the son of the priest Montano, and a descendant of Hercules) and the nymph Amarilli (the daughter of Titiro, and a descendant of Pan). Thus the two have been promised to each other in marriage. The play unfolds a double plot. One storyline follows Silvio, who cares only for the hunt and gives no thought to love or to his impending marriage. Silvio is pursued by a nymph named Dorinda. She tries to win his love in several ways, but he scorns her affections. One day D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age. Handel started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. In 1737, he had a physical brea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuseppe Maria Boschi
Giuseppe Maria Boschi (born Viterbo !--According to the reference; the previous Mantua, however, accords with the Italian Wikipedia, and may be correct.-->; '' fl'' 1698–1744) was an Italian bass singer – though in modern terms a baritone – of the 18th century. He is best remembered for his association with the composer George Frideric Handel, whom he worked for in both Italy and London. During the first decade of the century he is known to have performed at Casale Monferrato, Vicenza, Ferrara, Vienna, Bologna and at Venice, where he created the role of Pallas in Handel's '' Agrippina'' for the 1709–1710 ''Carnevale'' season. He made his London début in 1710 and, after 1711, returned to northern Italy, where he appeared in Venice, Verona, Bologna and Genoa. From 1717 to 1720 he was active primarily in Dresden. From 1720 to 1728 he was engaged by the Handel's Royal Academy of Music in London, where he sang in all of the 32 operas that the organisation prod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomyris, Queen Of Scythia
''Thomyris, Queen of Scythia'' was a pasticcio opera based on a libretto by Peter Anthony Motteux. It was produced by John James Heidegger at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in April 1707. Motteux’s prologue directly referenced Anne, Queen of Great Britain, under whose reign female stage protagonists were very popular. Action The opera is named after the historical queen Tomyris, mentioned by Herodotus as the killer of Cyrus the Great. However the action of the opera is based on a love triangle between entirely fictional characters; Thomyris’ son prince Orontes and the Armenian king Tigranes, who are rivals for the affections of the Persian princess Cleora. Cleora, held captive by Orontes, falls in love with him although she is betrothed to Tigranes. The original 1707 version of the opera concludes when Thomyris intervenes to prevent the Scythians from sacrificing Cleora; she has received false news of Orontes’s death, while Tigranes is wounded in battle. In the 1709 version ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosamond (opera)
''Rosamond '' is an opera in three acts by Thomas Clayton with a libretto by Joseph Addison. It was first performed on 4 March 1707 at Drury Lane. Development Addison and Clayton both objected to the new practice of having parts of operas performed in London sung in Italian; they felt that the texts used should be examples of the finest literary English. Addison however followed the norm of Italian opera by having three male and three female characters. In 1705 Clayton had enjoyed considerable success with his opera ''Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus'' which had run for twenty-four nights in its first season, as well as eleven nights the following year. There were three further performances in 1707, but by that time Antonio Maria Bononcini’s ''Camilla'' had appeared on the stage, and the public appetite for a better musical experience had moved on. The cast of ''Rosamond'' was Francis Hughes (King Henry), Catherine Tofts (Queen Elinor), Richard Leveridge (Sir Trusty), Miss Gallia (Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camilla (Bononcini)
''Camilla'' was an opera first performed at Drury Lane in London on 30 April 1706. The libretto was based on ''Il Trionfo di Camilla, regina de' Volsci'' by Silvio Stampiglia, translated into English verse by Owen Swiny, Peter Motteux, or others. Authorship of the music for the original is attributed variously to Giovanni Bononcini and to his brother Marc Antonio. Music for the London version was adapted by Nicola Haym. The opera was the first to be sung in a mixture of English and Italian, and it was one of the first London operas in which the castrato Nicolò Grimaldi (known as Nicolini) performed. There were three separate productions of ''Camilla'' in London which together had 111 or 112 performances from 1706 to 1728, making it the most popular and successful work of its period, after ''The Beggar's Opera''. Roles and plot The story is based very loosely on the mythological figure of Camilla in Virgil's ''Aeneid''. The characters are: Camilla, heiress to the throne of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arsinoe, Queen Of Cyprus
''Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus'' by Thomas Clayton was the first Italian-style opera (in English) to be staged in England. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 16 January 1705. There were various historical women named Arsinoe, but from the mid seventeenth-century the name became popular for fictional characters who, like the title-role of this opera, bore no relation to any of them. Introduction of Italian opera to London Clayton visited Italy and on his return staged a number of Italian singing and dancing interludes for the public at his house in York Buildings in 1703. Encouraged by the success of these ventures he decided to stage a full Italian-style opera in English. The libretto was originally written for the theatre in Bologna by in 1667 and performed in Venice in 1668 with music by Petronio Franceschini. (Stanzani had in fact plagiarised from ''La regina Floridea'', an opera staged in Milan). It was translated into English by Peter Anthony Motteux, who made a n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Arthur (opera)
''King Arthur, or The British Worthy'' (Z. 628), is a semi-opera in five acts with music by Henry Purcell and a libretto by John Dryden. It was first performed at the Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden, London, in late May or early June 1691. The plot is based on the battles between King Arthur's Britons and the Saxons, rather than the legends of Camelot (although Merlin does make an appearance). It is a Restoration spectacular, including such supernatural characters as Cupid and Venus plus references to the Germanic gods of the Saxons, Woden, Thor, and Freya. The tale centres on Arthur's endeavours to recover his fiancée, the blind Cornish Princess Emmeline, who has been abducted by his arch-enemy, the Saxon King Oswald of Kent. ''King Arthur'' is a "dramatick opera" or semi-opera: the principal characters do not sing, except if they are supernatural, pastoral or, in the case of Comus and the popular ''Your hay it is mow'd'', drunk. Secondary characters sing to them, usually as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
