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The Legend (opera)
''The Legend'' is a one-act tragic opera composed by Joseph Carl Breil to an English libretto by Jacques Byrne. It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on March 12, 1919 in a triple bill with two other one-act operas, John Hugo's '' The Temple Dancer'' and Charles Cadman's ''Shanewis''. Its melodramatic story is set in Muscovadia, a mythical country in the Balkans, and involves an impoverished nobleman turned bandit, his daughter Carmelita, and her lover Stephen, a captain in the hussars. The action unfolds over a single night at the end of which both lovers are dead—Stephen stabbed to death by Carmelita and Carmelita shot by Stephen's fellow hussars. The only one of Breil's six operas to be performed by a major opera company, ''The Legend'' received scathing press reviews and after its three performances at the Met disappeared from the repertory. Background and performance history Although primarily known as a composer of silent film scores including those fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Carl Breil
Joseph Carl Breil (29 June 1870 – 23 January 1926) was an American lyric tenor, stage director, composer and conductor. He was one of the earliest American composers to compose specific music for motion pictures. His first film was ''Les amours de la reine Élisabeth'' (1912) starring Sarah Bernhardt. He later composed and arranged scores for several other early motion pictures, including such epics as D. W. Griffith's ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915) and '' Intolerance'' (1916), as well as scoring the preview version of ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1925), a score that is now lost. His love theme for "Birth of a Nation", titled "The Perfect Song", was published by Chappell & Co. in an arrangement for voice and keyboard. It was later used as the theme for the radio show "Amos and Andy".M. Marks: ''Music and the Silent Film'' (New York, 1997) Life Joseph was the first of four children born to Joseph and Margaret Breil of Pittsburgh. (Joseph Sr., a lawyer, was an immigrant fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constance Balfour
Constance L. Balfour (born Constance Lell Loucks; 1880 – January 28, 1965) was an American soprano, based in California. Early life Balfour was born in Michigan and lived in Lincoln, Nebraska and in Houston, Texas as a young woman. She studied voice in Paris, Berlin, and London, and toured Italy, Germany, and South Africa as well, giving concerts. Career In 1909 and 1910, Balfour headed the Constance Balfour Concert Company, a small touring group. She toured the East Coast of the United States in 1918–1919. During that time, she appeared in the summer "Stadium concerts" in New York City. During World War I she sang at a concert for sailors at Pelham Bay Naval Station, for soldiers at Fort Totten on Long Island, and at war relief concerts for Liberty Loans and the American Red Cross. She returned to California by the end of 1919. On Christmas Day 1919, she sang at the first outdoor concert given by the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. She sang for the Santa Monica Bay Woman's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Gibbons Huneker
James Gibbons Huneker (January 31, 1857 – February 9, 1921) was an American art, book, music, and theater critic. A colorful individual and an ambitious writer, he was "an American with a great mission," in the words of his friend, the critic Benjamin De Casseres, and that mission was to educate Americans about the best cultural achievements, native and European, of his time. From 1892 to 1899, he was the husband of the sculptor Clio Hinton. Biography Huneker was born in Philadelphia. Forced by his parents to study law, he knew that a legal career was not what he wanted; he was passionately interested in music and writing, hoping one day to be a concert pianist and a novelist. At twenty-one, he abandoned his office job and Philadelphia ties and (with his pregnant girlfriend, then wife) left for Paris, telling his parents that he was departing only the night before the ship sailed. On a tight budget supplemented with money his parents sent, he studied piano under Leopold Doutre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Althouse
Paul Shearer Althouse (December 2, 1889 – February 6, 1954) was an American opera singer. He began his career as a lyric tenor with a robust Italianate sound, in roles including Cavaradossi in ''Tosca'', Pinkerton in ''Madama Butterfly'', and Turiddu in '' Cavalleria rusticana''. He later branched out into the dramatic tenor repertoire, finding success in portraying Wagnerian heroes. He sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for 30 years. Biography He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on December 2, 1889 to Harry Jacob Althouse (1871-1937) and Laura May Shearer (1873-1942). Althouse sang as a boy soprano in the choir of his hometown's Episcopal Church. He received his first voice lessons at the church from Evelyn Essick. He studied music at Bucknell University and then singing privately with Perley Dunn Aldrich in Philadelphia and Oscar Saenger and Percy Rector Stevens in New York City. He made his professional opera debut with the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Forza Del Destino
' (; ''The Power of Fate'', often translated ''The Force of Destiny'') is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, ' (1835), by Ángel de Saavedra, 3rd Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's ''Wallenstein (trilogy of plays)#Wallenstein's Camp, Wallensteins Lager'' (''Wallenstein's Camp''). It was first performed in the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 29 November 1862 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. (N.S. 10 November). ' is frequently performed, and there have been a number of complete recordings. In addition, the overture (to the revised version of the opera) is part of the standard Musical repertoire, repertoire for orchestras, often played as the opening piece at concerts. Performance history Revisions After its premiere in Russia, ''La forza'' underwent some revisions and made its debut abroad with performances in Rome in 1863 under the title ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Melba Ponzillo, known as Rosa Ponselle (January 22, 1897 – May 25, 1981) was an American operatic soprano. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century. Early life She was born Rosa Ponzillo on January 22, 1897, in Meriden, Connecticut, the youngest of three children. The family lived on the city's west side in a neighbourhood chiefly populated by immigrants from the south of Italy, first at the corner of Lewis Avenue and Bartlett Street, then on Foster Street, where Ponselle was born, moving when she was three to Springdale Avenue. Her parents were Italian immigrants from Caiazzo, near Caserta. Ponselle had an exceptionally mature voice at an early age and, at least in her early years, sang on natural endowment with little, if any, vocal training. Instead, her early prowess as a piano student (which was cultivated by a local music teacher, Anna Ryan, the organist of a nearby ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Bel Geddes
Norman Bel Geddes (born Norman Melancton Geddes; April 27, 1893 – May 8, 1958) was an American theatrical and industrial designer. Early life Bel Geddes was born Norman Melancton Geddes in Adrian, Michigan and was raised in New Philadelphia, Ohio, the son of Flora Luelle (née Yingling) and Clifton Terry Geddes, a stockbroker. When he married Helen Belle Schneider in 1916, they combined their names to ''Bel Geddes''. Their daughters were actress Barbara Bel Geddes and writer Joan Ulanov. Career Bel Geddes began his career with set designs for Aline Barnsdall's Los Angeles Little Theater in the 1916–17 season, then in 1918 as the scene designer for the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He designed and directed various theatrical works, from ''Arabesque'' and '' The Five O'Clock Girl'' on Broadway to an ice show, ''It Happened on Ice'', produced by Sonja Henie. He also created set designs for the film '' Feet of Clay'' (1924), directed by Cecil B. DeMille, designed cost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.", "Modern human beings—''Homo sapiens''—originated in Africa. Then, interm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triptych
A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works. The middle panel is typically the largest and it is flanked by two smaller related works, although there are triptychs of equal-sized panels. The form can also be used for pendant jewelry. Beyond its association with art, the term is sometimes used more generally to connote anything with three parts, particularly if integrated into a single unit. In art The triptych form appears in early Christian art, and was a popular standard format for altar paintings from the Middle Ages onwards. Its geographical range was from the eastern Byzantine churches to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Trittico
''Il trittico'' (''The Triptych'') is the title of a collection of three one-act operas, ''Il tabarro'', '' Suor Angelica'', and '' Gianni Schicchi'', by Giacomo Puccini. The work received its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera on 14 December 1918. Background Around 1904, Puccini first began planning a set of one-act operas, largely because of the success of Pietro Mascagni's ''Cavalleria rusticana''. Originally, he planned to write each opera to reflect one of the parts of Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. However, he eventually based only '' Gianni Schicchi'' on Dante's epic poem. The link in the final work is that each opera deals with the concealment of a death. Puccini also intended that the three should be performed as a set, and wrote to Casa Ricordi to complain about their giving permission in 1920 to The Royal Opera, London, "for ''Tabarro'' and ''Schicchi'' without ''Angelica''". He reluctantly agreed that the two operas could be given in a programme with Serge Diaghilev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puccini
Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic '' verismo'' style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. His most renowned works are '' La bohème'' (1896), '' Tosca'' (1900), '' Madama Butterfly'' (1904), and '' Turandot'' (1924), all of which are among the most frequently performed and recorded of all operas. Family and education Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini in Lucca, Italy, in 1858. He was the sixth of nine children of Michele Puccini (1813–1864) and Albina Magi (1830–1884). The Puccini family was established in Lucca as a lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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