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The Judgement Of Paris (opera)
''The Judgment of Paris'' is an operatic libretto written by William Congreve. It was set by four British Baroque composers – John Weldon, John Eccles, Daniel Purcell and Gottfried Finger – as part of a music competition held in 1700-1701. Thomas Arne later composed a score to the libretto in 1742. Roles * Mercury, messenger of the gods *Paris, a shepherd *Juno, goddess of marriage *Pallas, goddess of war *Venus, goddess of love *Chorus Synopsis Setting: Mount Ida The god Mercury descends from the sky with the golden apple of Discord and asks the shepherd Paris to award it to whichever of the three goddesses – Juno, Pallas and Venus – he finds most worthy. Juno offers him worldly power, Pallas victory in war, and Venus the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris gives the golden apple to Venus. The "Musick Prize" A group of English nobles headed by Lord Halifax had become interested in promoting all-sung English opera (most English operas of the day took the form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
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 o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semi-opera
The terms "semi-opera", "dramatic opera" and "English opera" were all applied to Restoration entertainments that combined spoken plays with masque-like episodes employing singing and dancing characters. They usually included machines in the manner of the restoration spectacular. The first examples were the Shakespeare adaptations produced by Thomas Betterton with music by Matthew Locke. After Locke's death, a second flowering produced the semi-operas of Henry Purcell, notably ''King Arthur'' and '' The Fairy-Queen''. Semi-opera received a deathblow when the Lord Chamberlain separately licensed plays without music and the new Italian opera. Semi-operas were performed with singing, speaking and dancing roles. When music was written, it was usually for moments in the play immediately following either love scenes or those concerning the supernatural. It has been observedCurtis Price and Louise K. Stein: "Semi-opera" in ''New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' that several of Calder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Opera Company
The Early Opera Company is a British ensemble dedicated to the performance of baroque operas using period instruments. It was founded in 1994 by Christian Curnyn. Handel's operas feature prominently in its repertoire, and the Company has given notable performances of '' Acis and Galatea'', ''Dido and Aeneas'', ''Agrippina'' in New York, ''Orlando'' at the South Bank Centre Early Music Festival and ''Partenope'' at the Linbury Studio Theatre. They have also recorded ''Partenope'' and ''Semele'' for the Chaconne label on Chandos Records. The recording of ''Semele'' was awarded the Handel Prize in 2008. Soloists who have performed with the company include Joshua Bell, Sam Haywood and Jonathan Biss. They performed at the Lufthansa Baroque Music Festival in May 2009 with John Eccles's '' The Judgment of Paris'' in one its first ever performances. The ensemble also made the premiere recording of the work for Chandos Records Chandos Records is a British independent classical music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucy Crowe
Lucy Crowe is an English soprano in opera and concert. She has performed at international opera houses and music festivals such as the Glyndebourne Festival and Rheingau Musik Festival. Career Born in Staffordshire, England, Crowe studied voice at the Royal Academy of Music. Crowe received the Royal Overseas Gold Medal in 2002, and won second prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2005. In the field of historically informed performance she has collaborated with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Sixteen, The King's Consort and Les Musiciens du Louvre, among others. She has sung in Mozart's ''Requiem'', with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, Haydn's oratorios '' The Creation'' and '' The Seasons'' with John Eliot Gardiner. In 2010 she performed at the Wigmore Hall with Rolando Villazón and the Gabrieli Consort conducted by Paul McCreesh: "Lucy Crowe handled a couple of Cleopatra's arias from ''Giulio Cesare'' with all the bright ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susan Bickley
Susan Bickley is a British mezzo-soprano singer who performs in opera, Baroque and contemporary classical music. Personal life and education Susan Rochford Bickley was born into a Welsh family in Liverpool, England. Her father was a primary school deputy headmaster and her mother was a special needs teacher. Her younger brother Graham Bickley is an actor and singer. Bickley and her brother first began singing in church as children, accompanied by their father on the organ. She attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School in Liverpool and then studied music at City University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She later studied singing with Audrey Langford. In 1984 she married Anthony Castro and they have two children. Voice Bickley's voice is in the mezzo-soprano range. It has been described as having considerable range and expressivity. When singing the dual roles of Juno and Ino in Handel's ''Semele'' with Concerto Köln in 2015, her performance was reviewed in '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bampton Classical Opera
Bampton Classical Opera is an opera company based in Bampton, Oxfordshire and founded in 1993. It specialises in the production of lesser known opera from the Classical period. Performances are always sung in English. ''Opera today'' called the company 'ambitious, innovative and imaginative'. It works with a variety of conductors and ensembles and does not have a permanent music director. It performs with both modern and period instrument orchestras and has often appeared with the London Mozart Players and Chroma Ensemble. It particularly aims to provide performances for young singers. History Bampton Classical Opera was founded in 1993 by its current artistic directors, Gilly French and Jeremy Gray. Following a staging of Mozart’s rare unfinished opera '' L’oca del Cairo (The Cairo Goose)'' in 1994, the company specialised increasingly in rare works of the classical period, usually from the second half of the eighteenth-century. Venues The company's staged opera production ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred (Arne Opera)
''Alfred'' is a sung stage work about Alfred the Great with music by Thomas Arne and libretto by David Mallet and James Thomson. The work was initially devised as a masque in 1740 and was first performed at Cliveden, country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales, on 1 August 1740 to commemorate the accession of his grandfather George I and the birthday of the Princess Augusta. Arne later revised the work turning it into an all-sung oratorio in 1745 and then an opera in 1753. It is best known for its finale "Rule, Britannia!". Background and performance history Frederick, Prince of Wales made considerable efforts to demonstrate his British nationality and identity, to distinguish himself from his German father George II, with whom he was on very poor terms. Sleeve notes to McGegan recording on CD The masque ''Alfred'', to a text by David Mallet and James Thomson, was first performed at Frederick's country home at Cliveden on 1 August 1740. It was the ideal entertainment for him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cecilia Young
Cecilia Young (also Cecilia Arne) (January 1712 – 6 October 1789) was one of the greatest English sopranos of the eighteenth century, the wife of composer Thomas Arne, and the mother of composer Michael Arne. According to the music historian Charles Burney, she had "a good natural voice and a fine shake ndhad been so well taught, that her style of singing was infinitely superior to that of any other English woman of her time". She was part of a well-known English family of musicians that included several professional singers and organists. Young enjoyed a large amount of success through her close association with George Frideric Handel. She appeared in several of his oratorios and operas including the premieres of ''Ariodante'' (1735), ''Alcina'' (1735), '' Alexander's Feast'' (1736) and ''Saul'' (1739).Olive Baldwin, Thelma Wilson: "Cecilia Young", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 9 January 2009)(subscription access)/ref> Biography Early life, education, and earl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semele (Handel)
''Semele'' ( HWV 58) is a 'musical drama', originally presented "after the manner of an oratorio", in three parts by George Frideric Handel. Based on an existing opera libretto by William Congreve, the work is an opera in all but name but was first presented in concert form at Covent Garden theatre on 10 February 1744. The story comes from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' and concerns Semele, mother of Bacchus. Handel also referred to the work as 'The Story of Semele'. The work contains the famous aria ''Where'er you walk.'' The work fuses elements of opera, oratorio and classical drama. ''Semele'' was presented during Lent, one of Handel's regular oratorio seasons. However it was not what London audiences were expecting of an oratorio during the solemn season of Lent. ''Semele'' has a secular text with a story involving an adulterous sexual relationship. It is distinguished from Handel's operas by the large number of polyphonic choruses. ''Semele'' was performed four times during its ... [...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] |
Arne Paris Bampton
Arne may refer to: Places * Arne, Dorset, England, a village ** Arne RSPB reserve, a nature reserve adjacent to the village * Arné, Hautes-Pyrénées, Midi-Pyrénées, France * Arne (Boeotia), an ancient city in Boeotia, Greece * Arne (Thessaly), an ancient city in Thessaly, Greece * Arne, or modern Tell Aran, an ancient Arameans city near Aleppo, Syria * Arne Township, Benson County, North Dakota, United States * 959 Arne, an asteroid People * Arne (name), a given name and a surname, including a list of people with the name * Arne & Carlos, a Norwegian design duo Mythology * Arne (Greek myth), three figures in Greek mythology See also * Aarne Aarne as a surname may refer to: * Antti Aarne (1867–1925), Finnish folklorist *Els Aarne (1917–1995), Estonian composer * Johan Victor Aarne (1863–1934), Finnish metalsmith As a given name it may refer to: * Aarne Ahi (born 1943), Estoni ... * Aarne–Thompson classification systems * Arn (other) {{disambiguatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Rooley
Anthony Rooley (born 10 June 1944 in Leeds) is a British lutenist. Career In 1969, Rooley founded and directed the early music ensemble The Consort of Musicke, which continues to be one of the chief vehicles for his inspiration, among many other activities and interests. He has recorded extensively and continues to perform solo and duo repertoire with sopranos Evelyn Tubb and former partner Emma Kirkby. Anthony was appointed York Early Music Festival vice president in 2008. He continues regular work as a visiting professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he is director of AVES - ''Advanced Vocal Ensemble Studies''. Most recently he has been appointed a visiting professor at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent, under the heading "Developing a Practical Philosophy of Performance." In 2003, 2005 and 2007 he undertook four-month residencies at Florida State University, holding graduate seminars and directing productions. In 2003 this included a fully staged version of ''Sem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
