|
The Choice Of Hercules (Handel)
''The Choice of Hercules'' ( HWV 69) is an oratorio in one act (three scenes) by George Frideric Handel. Handel produced the score between 28 June and 5 July 1750. The first performance was given on 1 March 1751 at the Covent Garden Theatre, London with Cecilia Young as Virtue, Isabella Young as Hercules, and Thomas Lowe as attendant. The libretto is derived from the poem (1743) of Robert Lowth but revised, probably, by Thomas Morell. The story centres on the Choice of Hercules, in which the youthful Hercules must decide between the paths of pleasure and virtue. These are represented by two women who present their various arguments to Hercules, and his confusion is articulated in the trio ''Where shall I go?''. The classical myth of "the choice of Hercules," as told by the 5th-century Athenian sophist Prodicus (Xenophon ''Memorabilia'' 2.1.21-34), anticipates that Hercules will choose to follow Virtue's path. And, indeed, the Chorus sings ( Chorus, 24) that "Virtue will place t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle (Saale), 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 Handel's Naturalisation Act 1727, became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphony, 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 c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Morell
Thomas Morell (; 18 March 1703 – 19 February 1784) was an English librettist, classical scholar, and printer.Smith, R. (2002). Thomas Morell and His Letter about Handel. Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 127(2), 191-225. Retrieved March 1, 2020 
Life He was born in , |
The King's Consort
The King's Consort is a British period music orchestra founded in 1980 by the English conductor and harpsichordist Robert King (b. 1960, Wombourne). The ensemble has an associated choral group, Choir of The King's Consort. Together, they have made over 90 recordings, largely on the Hyperion label, and sold over 1,000,000 discs. The orchestra performs concert seasons in the UK and tours internationally. Their repertoire is primarily from the baroque and early classical periods but has also included late 19th century repertoire as well as contemporary commissions by Michael Finnissy and, more recently, Michael Berkeley and includes recordings and live performances of opera and instrumental music. The ensemble's main performing base has been in London's Wigmore Hall from 1987, and the larger Cadogan Hall for performances that required both the orchestra and the choir. The King's Consort have performed seven times at the BBC Proms including ''The Coronation of King George II'' a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Daniels (tenor)
Charles Daniels is an English tenor, particularly noted for his performances of baroque music. He is a frequent soloist with The King's Consort, and has made over 25 recordings with the ensemble on the Hyperion label. Biography Born 1960 in Salisbury, Daniels attended the choir school at King's College, Cambridge where he was a chorister, then Winchester College for his secondary education. He returned to King's College for his university education, where he was a choral scholar, reading Natural Sciences and Music. After taking his degree, he studied under Edward Brooks at the Royal College of Music in London where he was awarded a Foundation Scholarship. His concert and recording repertoire extends from the Middle Ages to 20th-century composers such as Luigi Nono and Benjamin Britten. In December 2001, he was the tenor soloist in a performance of Wojciech Kilar's ''Missa pro pace'', performed in the Vatican in the presence of Pope John Paul II. However, he is best known for his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Blaze
Robin Blaze (born 1971 in Manchester) is an English countertenor. Early life The son of Peter Blaze, a professional golfer, and Christine, Blaze and his brother Mark grew up in Shadwell, near Leeds, and was educated at Leeds Grammar School, Uppingham School, and Magdalen College, Oxford. At Uppingham, Blaze was taught by the celebrated countertenor John Whitworth.Charlotte Smith"Obituary: John Whitworth, countertenor"in '' Gramophone'', 5 September 2013, accessed 22 June 2020 Having made his first solo recordings as a treble with Stephen Lomas, Blaze was both a chorister and an academical clerk at Magdalen College, where he recorded with the Dufay Consort. After graduating, he won a scholarship for postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music, where he continued to study with Michael Chance and Ashley Stafford. After completing his education, he took a position as professor of Vocal Studies at the Royal College. He has also studied flute, piano, and organ. Opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alice Coote
Alice Coote OBE (born 10 May 1968) is a British lyric mezzo-soprano. Life Coote was born in Frodsham, Cheshire, the daughter of the painter Mark Coote. She was educated at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London (though she did not complete her course), the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (where she came into contact with Janet Baker and Brigitte Fassbaender) and the National Opera Studio during 1995/96. Coote was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist from 2001 until 2003. She sings both operatic roles, particularly trouser roles, and recital repertoire, often with pianist Julius Drake. An interpreter of Handel she has also performed contemporary pieces such as Dominick Argento's ''From the Diary of Virginia Woolf'', a partly atonal work first performed by Janet Baker, who influenced Coote. Judith Weir has written a song cycle, ''The Voice of Desire'', especially for her; it was premiered at a BBC Chamber Prom. Coote has performed at England's Opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susan Gritton
Susan Gritton (born 31 August 1965) is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss. Life and career Gritton was born in Reigate, Surrey. She was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of London, where she studied Botany. On the operatic stage, her roles include Ellen Orford ''Peter Grimes'' (La Scala, Sydney & Tokyo); Blanche ''Dialogues des Carmélites'' (Bayerische Staatsoper); Countess Madeleine ''Capriccio'' and Tatyana ''Eugene Onegin'' (Grange Park); Micaela ''Carmen'' and Liù ''Turandot'' (Covent Garden); Donna Anna ''Don Giovanni'' (Bolshoi & Opera de Montreal & Scottish Opera); Elettra ''Idomeneo'' (Netherlands Opera) and Konstanze ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' (Deutsche Staatsoper & Bayerische Staatsoper). Title roles include Theodora (Glyndebourne); Rodelinda (Bayerische Staatsoper); The Bart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert King (conductor)
Robert King (born 27 June 1960 in Wombourne) is an English conductor, harpsichordist, editor and author. His career has concentrated on period performance of classical music, in particular from the baroque and early modern periods. In 2007, he was convicted of fourteen charges of indecent assault, some against minors, and jailed. Following his release, he resumed his musical career. Career As a youth, he was a member of the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge. He read music at St John's College, Cambridge and in 1980, while still a student, founded the period instrument orchestra The King's Consort. As conductor and artistic director of The King's Consort, King has made more than 100 recordings, mostly for Hyperion Records. He has worked as a conductor with orchestras in Europe and North America, including the Seattle, Houston, New World, Oregon, Detroit, Atlanta, Minnesota, WDR and NDR Symphony Orchestras, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Munich Radio Orchestra, Zurich Chamber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conductor (music)
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties of the conductor are to interpret the score in a way which reflects the specific indications in that score, set the tempo, ensure correct entries by ensemble members, and "shape" the phrasing where appropriate. Conductors communicate with their musicians primarily through hand gestures, usually with the aid of a baton, and may use other gestures or signals such as eye contact. A conductor usually supplements their direction with verbal instructions to their musicians in rehearsal. The conductor typically stands on a raised podium with a large music stand for the full score, which contains the musical notation for all the instruments or voices. Since the mid-19th century, most conductors have not played an instrument when conducting, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Movement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately as stand-alone pieces, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession. A movement is a section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ..., "a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena". Sources Formal sections in music analysis {{music-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aria
In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger work. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, or they can be stand-alone concert arias. The term was originally used to refer to any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. Etymology The Italian term ''aria'', which derives from the Greek ἀήρ and Latin ''aer'' (air), first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term 'aria' refers to an instrumental form (cf. Santino Garsi da Parma lute works, 'Aria del Gran Duca'). By the early 16th century it was in common use as meaning a simple setting of strophic poetry; me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass (liturgy), Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet. ''Libretto'' (; plural ''libretti'' ), from Italian, is the diminutive of the word ''wiktionary:libro#Italian, libro'' ("book"). Sometimes other-language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, ''livret'' for French works, ''Textbuch'' for German and ''libreto'' for Spanish. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. Some ballet historians also use the word ''libretto'' to refer to the 15 to 40 page books which were on sale to 19th century ballet audiences in Paris and contained a ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
