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Roland (Lully)
''Roland'' is an opera with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and a libretto by Philippe Quinault. It was first performed on January 8, 1685, at the Palace of Versailles by the Académie Royale de Musique (Paris Opera) and later, beginning on March 8, 1685, at the company's public theatre in Paris, the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. The story is derived from Ariosto's epic poem ''Orlando Furioso''. The opera takes the form of a tragédie en musique with an allegorical prologue and five acts. Roles There is also a chorus of Fairies, Islanders, Shepherds and Shepherdesses, Heroes and followers of Glory. Synopsis The opera opens with an allegorical prologue in which Démogorgon, King of the Fairies, sings the praises of Louis XIV and asks to see the story of the famous paladin Roland. Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne loves Angélique, the daughter of the King of Cathay, but, unbeknown to him, she is in love with Médor, a soldier in the army of Africa. In Act One, Roland gives Ang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland (opera By Jean-Baptiste Lully)
Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Franks, Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was military governor of the Breton March, responsible for defending Francia's frontier against the Bretons. His only historical attestation is in Einhard's ''Vita Karoli Magni'', which notes he was part of the Frankish rearguard killed in retribution by the Basques in Iberia at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. The story of Roland's death at Roncevaux Pass was embellished in later medieval literature, medieval and Renaissance literature. The first and most famous of these epic treatments was the Old French ''Chanson de Roland'' of the 11th century. Two masterpieces of Italian Renaissance poetry, the ''Orlando Innamorato'' and ''Orlando Furioso'' (by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haute-contre
The haute-contre (plural hautes-contre) was the primary French operatic tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera, from the middle of the seventeenth century until the latter part of the eighteenth century. History This voice was predominantly used in male solo roles, typically heroic and amatory ones, but also in comic parts, even ''en travesti'' (see apropos the portrait reproduced below and representing Pierre Jélyotte made up for the female title role of Rameau's ''Platée''). Lully wrote 8 out of 14 leading male roles for the voice; Charpentier, who was an haute-contre himself, composed extensively for the voice-part, as did Rameau and, later, Gluck. The leading ''hautes-contre'' of the ''Académie Royale de Musique'' that created the main roles of Lully's operas, at the end of the seventeenth century, were Bernard Clédière (who started off as a ''taille'', a lower Tenor voice type) and Louis Gaulard Dumesny. Notable ''hautes-contre'' of the eighteent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niccolò Piccinni
Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of the Classical period. Life Piccinni was born in Bari, in the Apulia region. From the age of fourteen, he was educated at the S. Onofrio Conservatory by Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante,. thanks to the intervention of the Bishop of Bari (his father, although himself a musician, was opposed to his son following the same career). Piccinni's first opera, ''Le donne dispettose'', was produced in 1755 with the patronage of Prince Vintimille. In 1760 he composed, at Rome, the ''chef d'œuvre'' of his early life, '' La Cecchina, ossia la buona Figliuola'', an ''opera buffa'' with a libretto by Goldoni, which "enjoyed a two-year run in Rome and was played in all the important European capitals. It can probably ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland (Piccinni)
''Roland'' is a tragédie lyrique in three acts by the composer Niccolò Piccinni. The opera was a new setting of a libretto written by Philippe Quinault for Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1685, specially adapted for Piccinni by Jean-François Marmontel and based on Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem '' Orlando Furioso'' (''The Frenzy of Orlando''). The opera was first performed on 27 January 1778 by the Académie Royale de Musique ( Paris Opera) at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. Background and performance history ''Roland'' was the first opera Piccinni wrote for Paris. He had been hired by the Académie royale de musique in 1776, in spite of his ignorance of the French language. Piccinni still knew no French when he was composing ''Roland'' and had to be helped all the way by his librettist Marmontel, who provided a translation of every word along with details on how to accentuate it correctly. Marmontel also helped Piccinni come to terms with the French style of opera, which was very differ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-François Marmontel
Jean-François Marmontel (11 July 1723 – 31 December 1799) was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement. Biography He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin (today in Corrèze). After studying with the Jesuits at Mauriac, Cantal, he taught in their colleges at Clermont-Ferrand and Toulouse; and in 1745, acting on the advice of Voltaire, he set out for Paris to try for literary success. From 1748 to 1753 he wrote a succession of tragedies: ''Denys le Tyran'' (1748); ''Aristomene'' (1749); ''Cleopâtre'' (1750); ''Heraclides'' (1752); ''Egyptus'' (1753). These literary works, though only moderately successful on the stage, secured Marmontel's introduction into literary and fashionable circles. He wrote a series of articles for the ''Encyclopédie'' evincing considerable critical power and insight, which in their collected form, under the title ''Eléments de Littérature'', still rank among the French classics. He also wrote several c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Chanson De Roland
''The Song of Roland'' (french: La Chanson de Roland) is an 11th-century ''chanson de geste'' based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 AD, during the reign of the Carolingian king Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various manuscript versions, which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in Medieval literature, Medieval and Renaissance literature, Renaissance literature from the 12th to 16th centuries. The epic poem written in Vulgar Latin is the first and one of the most outstanding examples of the ''chanson de geste'', a literary form that flourished between the 11th and 16th centuries in Medieval Europe and celebrated legendary deeds. The date of composition is put in the period between 1040 AD and 1115 AD; an early version began around 1040 AD with additions and alterations made up until about 1115 AD. The final text contains about 4,000 lines of poetry. Manuscripts and d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a masterly French stylist. Court preacher to Louis XIV of France, Bossuet was a strong advocate of political absolutism and the divine right of kings. He argued that government was divinely ordained and that kings received sovereign power from God. He was also an important courtier and politician. The works best known to English speakers are three great orations delivered at the funerals of Queen Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I of England (1669), of her daughter Henriette, Duchess of Orléans (1670), and of the outstanding military commander ''le Grand Condé'' (1687). His work ''Discours sur l'histoire universelle'' ( ''Discourse on Universal History'' 1681) has been regarded by many Catholics as an actualization or new version of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Françoise D'Aubigné, Marquise De Maintenon
Françoise d'Aubigné (27 November 1635 – 15 April 1719), known first as Madame Scarron and subsequently as Madame de Maintenon (), was a French noblewoman who secretly married King Louis XIV. Although she was never considered queen of France, she was one of the King's closest advisers and the royal children's governess. In 1686, she founded the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, a school for girls from poorer noble families. Childhood Birth at Niort Françoise d'Aubigné was born on 27 November 1635, in Niort, France. A plaque suggests her birthplace was at the Hotel du Chaumont, but some sources indicate she was born in or just outside the local prison, where her Huguenot father Constant d'Aubigné was incarcerated for conspiring against King Louis XIII's powerful chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Her mother, Jeanne de Cardilhac, was the daughter of the prison director and was probably seduced by the incarcerated Constant. She was a fervent Catholic and had her child bapt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France , burial_date = 9 September 1715 , burial_place = Basilica of Saint-Denis , religion = Catholicism (Gallican Rite) , signature = Louis XIV Signature.svg Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign in history whose date is verifiable. Although Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the age of absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Bossuet, Colbert, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, Lully, Mazarin, Molière, Racine, Turenne, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armide (Lully)
''Armide'' is an opera in five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The libretto by Philippe Quinault is based on Torquato Tasso's poem ''La Gerusalemme liberata'' (''Jerusalem Delivered''). The work is in the form of a tragédie en musique, a genre invented by Lully and Quinault. Critics in the 18th century regarded ''Armide'' as Lully's masterpiece. It continues to be well-regarded, featuring some of the best-known music in French baroque opera and being arguably ahead of its time in its psychological interest. Unlike most of his operas, ''Armide'' concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a character – not Renaud, who spends most of the opera under Armide's spell, but Armide, who repeatedly tries without success to choose vengeance over love. Performance history ''Armide'' was first performed on 15 February 1686 by the Paris Opera at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, with scenery by Bérain, in the presence of the Grand Dauphin. The subject for the opera was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amadis (Lully)
''Amadis'' or ''Amadis de Gaule'' (Amadis of Gaul) is a ''tragédie en musique'' in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault based on Nicolas Herberay des Essarts' adaptation of Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo's '' Amadis de Gaula''. It was premiered by the Paris Opera at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal sometime from January 15 to 18, 1684. There was a later production at Versailles without scenery or machines in 1685.Rosow 1992, pp. 103–104. Performance history ''Amadis'' was the first ''tragédie en musique'' to be based on chivalric rather than mythological themes; Lully's last three completed operas followed in this course. Louis XIV of France chose the theme. In the dance troupe the principal male dancers were Pierre Beauchamp, Louis-Guillaume Pécour and Lestang, and the principal female dancers were La Fontaine, Carré and Pesan. There were eight revivals of the opera in Paris between 1687 and 1771. Between 1687 and 1729 it was pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cathay
Cathay (; ) is a historical name for China that was used in Europe. During the early modern period, the term ''Cathay'' initially evolved as a term referring to what is now Northern China, completely separate and distinct from China, which was a reference to southern China. As knowledge of East Asia increased, Cathay came to be seen as the same polity as China as a whole. The term ''Cathay'' became a poetic name for China. The name ''Cathay'' originates from the word '' Khitan'', a name of a para-Mongolic nomadic people who ruled the Liao dynasty in northern China from 916 to 1125, and who later migrated west after they were overthrown by the Jin dynasty to form the Qara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty) for another century thereafter. Originally, this name was the name applied by Central and Western Asians and Europeans to northern China; the name was also used in Marco Polo's book on his travels in Yuan dynasty China (he referred to southern China as '' Mangi''). Odoric of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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