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Tancrède (Voltaire) P1
''Tancrède'' is a 1702 ''tragédie en musique'' (a French opera in the lyric tragedy tradition) in a prologue and five acts by composer André Campra and librettist Antoine Danchet, based on ''Gerusalemme liberata'' by Torquato Tasso. The opera contains 23 dances in addition to the singing. It is famous for having the alleged first contralto role in French opera. (However, in modern terms it is considered more of a mezzo-soprano range.) The role was written for Julie d'Aubigny, known as 'La Maupin', the most colorful singer of this era.The part of Clorinde is notated in the soprano cleforiginal score, p. 71, but, although it never descends below d′, tradition has it that it was the first major ''bas-dessus'' (contralto) role in the French opera history (Sadie, Julie Anne, ''Maupin'', in Sadie, Stanley (ed), ''op. cit.'', III, p. 274). It's also notable for the unusual choice of three low-lying voices for the main male parts. Performance history ''Tancrède'' was first performe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity. Born in Pesaro to parents who were both musicians (his father a trumpeter, his mother a singer), Rossini began to compose by the age of 12 and was educated at music school in Bologna. His first opera was performed in Venice in 1810 when he was 18 years old. In 1815 he was engaged to write operas and manage theatres in Naples. In the period 1810–1823 he wrote 34 operas for the Italian stage that were performed in Venice, Milan, Ferrara, Naples and elsewhere; this productivity necessitated an almost formulaic approach for some components (such as overtures) and a certain amount of self-borrowing. During ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marin Marais
Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for six months. In 1676 he was hired as a musician to the royal court of Versailles and was moderately successful there, being appointed in 1679 as ''ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole,'' a title he kept until 1725. He was the father of the composer Roland Marais (c. 1685 – c. 1750). Career Marin Marais was a master of the viol, and the leading French composer of music for the instrument. He wrote five books of '' Pièces de viole'' (1686–1725) for the instrument, generally suites with basso continuo. These were quite popular in the court, and for these he was remembered in later years as he who "founded and firmly established the empire of the viol" (Hubert Le Blanc, 1740). His other works include a book of ''Pièces en t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operas By André Campra
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as '' Singspiel'' and '' Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Grove Dictionary Of Opera
''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. First published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, London, it was edited by Stanley Sadie with contributions from over 1,300 scholars. There are 11,000 articles in total, covering over 2,900 composers and 1800 operas. Appendices including an index of role names and an index of incipits of arias, ensembles, and opera pieces. The dictionary is available online, together with ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. References *William Salaman, "Review: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", ''British Journal of Music Education'' (1999), 16: 97-110 Cambridge University Pres*John Simon, "Review: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 4 vols.", ''National Review'', April 26, 199* * *Charles Rosen, "Review: The New Grove Dictionary of O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Travesti (theatre)
''Travesti'' is a theatrical term referring to the portrayal of a character in an opera, play, or ballet by a performer of the opposite sex. For social reasons, female roles were played by boys or men in many early forms of theatre, and ''travesti'' roles continued to be used in several types of context even after actresses became accepted on the stage. The popular British theatrical form of the pantomime traditionally contains a role for a " principal boy", a breeches role played by a young woman, and also one or more pantomime dames, female comic roles played by men. Similarly, in the formerly popular genre of Victorian burlesque, there were usually one or more breeches roles. Etymology The word means "disguised" in French. Depending on sources, the term may be given as travesty, ''travesti'', or ''en travesti''. The ''Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English'' explains the origin of the latter term as "pseudo- French", although French sources from the mid-19th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widely defined to be B2, though some roles include an A2 (two As below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to the second F above middle C (F5). The tenor voice type is generally divided into the ''leggero'' tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and tenor buffo or . History The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word ''wikt:teneo#Latin, tenere'', which means "to hold". As Fallows, Jander, Forbes, Steane, Harris and Waldman note in the "Tenor" article at ''Grove Music Online'': In polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the [tenor was the] structurally fundamental (or 'holding') voice, vocal or instrumental; by the 15th century it came to signify the male voice that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Dun
Jean Dun, also known as Jean Dun "père", (? – 1735) was a French opera singer active at the Paris Opéra where he created many bass roles during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was also the bass soloist at the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris during the time Charpentier was the Master of Music there. His voice is described in contemporary sources as ''basse-taille'', which is closer in quality to that of a modern baritone. Little is known about his early life, but according to Casaglia, he appeared in the small role of Eutyro in the premiere of Francesco Cavalli's ''Ercole amante'' in 1662.Casaglia (2005) By 1697, he was singing leading roles, sometimes creating as many as two or three in one opera, e.g. in the 1710 premiere of André Campra's opéra-ballet ''Les fêtes vénitiennes''. In the course of his lengthy career he appeared in more than 37 operas.Antony (2008) p. 34. Dun retired from the stage in 1720 with a pension from the Paris Opéra, but from 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie-Louise Desmatins
Marie-Louise Desmatins ( fl. 1682–1708) was a French soprano and creator of many roles in French Baroque opera. She performed in Jean Baptiste Lully's ''Persée'' (1682), '' Armide'' (1686 and 1703 revival), ''Achille et Polyxène'' (1687), ''Thésée'' (1698 revival), ''Isis'' (1704 revival), ''Roland'' (1705 revival), '' Bellérophon'' (1705 revival), '' Alceste'' (1706 revival), as well as in Pascal Collasse's '' Enée et Lavinie'' (1690) and ''Thétis et Pélée'' (1699 revival), André Cardinal Destouches' ''Issé'' (1697), Henri Desmarets' '' Didon'' (1704 revival), André Campra's ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' (1704), and Marin Marais' '' Alcyone'' (1706). The absence of her name in subsequent cast lists remained unexplained until 2007, when a report on the novel ''La Musique du Diable'' (1711) confirmed her death. A satirical narrative of Desmatins' afterlife in Hades, the novel suggests that she died of complications of a primitive form of liposuction Liposuction, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Hardouin
Charles Hardouin (1694 in Brittany, fl. Paris – 1718) was a French operatic baritone (''basse taille''). Beginning his career as a cathedral singer, Hardouin was engaged by the Paris Opéra as a principal singer around 1693–1694, though from 1697 onwards he was eclipsed by the more powerful Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard. He was still singing in 1718 when he was acclaimed as Poliphème in Lully's '' Acis et Galatée''. Roles created *The grand priest in Destouches's '' Issé'' (Paris, 1697) *Mars in Desmarets' '' Vénus et Adonis'' (Paris, 1697) *Argante in André Campra's ''Tancrède'' (Paris, 1702) *Cadmus in Marin Marais's ''Sémélé'' (Paris, 1709) *Filindo/Héraclite in Campra's ''Les fêtes vénitiennes'' (Paris, 1710) *Eole/Arbas in Campra's ''Idoménée ''Idoménée'' (English: ''Idomeneus'') is an opera by the French composer André Campra. It takes the form of a ''tragédie en musique'' in a prologue and five acts. ''Idoménée'' was first performed on 12 January 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard
Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard (10 August 1669 – 24 August 1741) was a French operatic baritone (''basse taille''). Thévenard was born at Orléans or possibly Paris. Arriving in Paris in 1690, he studied under the composer André Cardinal Destouches and went on to become a member of the Académie Royale de Musique. He was notable for playing tragic roles that made use of his skill at declamatory recitatives. He appeared in over 80 tragédies en musique and opéras ballet before finally retiring in 1729. He died in Paris. Roles created *Apollon/Vertumne/l'Automne in Pascal Colasse et Louis Lully's ''Ballet des Saisons'' (Paris, 1695) *Jupiter/Hylas in Destouches's '' Issé'' (Fontainebleau, 1697) *Silvandre/Zuliman in André Campra's L'Europe galante (Paris, 1697) *The title role in Destouches's ''Amadis de Grèce'' (Paris, 1699) *Argapise in Destouches's ''Marthesie, première reine des Amazones'' (Paris, 1699) *Pygmalion in Michel de la Barre's ''Le triomphe des arts'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the title role in ''Der fliegende Holländer'', Wotan/Der Wanderer in the ''Ring Cycle'' and Hans Sachs in '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. Wagner labelled these roles as ''Hoher Bass'' ("high bass")—see fach for more details. The bass-baritone voice is distinguished by two attributes. First, it must be capable of singing comfortably in a baritonal tessitura. Secondly, however, it needs to have the ripely resonant lower range typically associated with the bass voice. For example, the role of Wotan in ''Die Walküre'' covers the range from F2 (the F at the bottom of the bass clef) to F4 (the F above middle C), but only infrequently descends beyond C3 (the C below middle C). Bass-baritones are typically divide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
