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Wilma Schmidt
Wilma Schmidt (27 June 1926 – 18 June 2022), also known as Wilma Schmidt-Liebethal, was a German operatic soprano. She performed for five decades in leading roles at the Staatsoper Hannover, and appeared as a guest at other opera houses and the Bayreuth Festival. Her broad repertoire included the Countess in Mozart's ''Figaro'', Agathe in Weber's ''Der Freischütz'', Elisabetta in Verdi's '' Don Carlo'' alongside Hans-Dieter Bader, Elisabeth in Wagner's ''Tannhäuser'', and her favourite role, the Marschallin in '' Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss. Career Schmidt was born on 27 June 1926. She was trained by Laurenz Hofer as a spinto soprano (''jugendlich-dramatischer Sopran''). She was engaged at the Staatsoper Hannover from 1949, when the main opera house was destroyed by bombing and performances took place in Herrenhausen. With colleagues, she took part in raising money for the rebuilding of the house, in theatre costumes. She soon performed major roles of a wide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany after Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. Hanover's urban area comprises the towns of Garbsen, Langenhagen and Laatzen and has a population of about 791,000 (2018). The Hanover Region has approximately 1.16 million inhabitants (2019). The city lies at the confluence of the River Leine and its tributary the Ihme, in the south of the North German Plain, and is the largest city in the Hannover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region. It is the fifth-largest city in the Low German dialect area after Hamburg, Dortmund, Essen and Bremen. Before it became the capital of Lower Saxony in 1946, Hannover was the capital of the Principality of Calenberg (1636–1692), the Electorate of Hanover (1692–1814), the Kingdom of Hannover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra''. It is a ''dramma giocoso'' blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements (although the composer entered it into his catalogue simply as ''opera buffa''). It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater (of Bohemia), now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. ''Don Giovanni'' is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte". Composition and premiere The opera was commissioned after the succes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Fledermaus
' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original literary source for ' was ' (''The Prison''), a farce by German playwright Julius Roderich Benedix that premiered in Berlin in 1851. On 10 September 1872, a three-act French vaudeville play by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, ', loosely based on the Benedix farce, opened at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. Meilhac and Halévy had provided several successful libretti for Offenbach and ''Le Réveillon'' later formed the basis for the 1926 silent film '' So This Is Paris'', directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Meilhac and Halévy's play was soon translated into German by Karl Haffner (1804–1876), at the instigation of Max Steiner, as a non-musical play for production in Vienna. The French custom of a New Year's Eve ''réveillon'', or supper party ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doktor Faust
''Doktor Faust'' is an opera by Ferruccio Busoni with a German libretto by the composer, based on the myth of Faust. Busoni worked on the opera, which he intended as his masterpiece, between 1916 and 1924, but it was still incomplete at the time of his death. His pupil Philipp Jarnach finished it. More recently, in 1982, Antony Beaumont completed the opera using sketches by Busoni that were previously thought to have been lost. Nancy Chamness published an analysis of the libretto to ''Doktor Faust'' and a comparison with Goethe's version. Performance history ''Doktor Faust'' was given its world premiere at the Sächsisches Staatstheater, Dresden on 21 May 1925 using the version completed by Philipp Jarnach. The premiere was conducted by Fritz Busch, produced by Alfred Reucker, and designed by Karl Danneman.Beaumont, p. 311. Over the next few years the opera was performed in many of the opera houses of Germany including those in Dortmund, Duisburg, Karlsruhe, Weimar, and Hanover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung
' (also: ') (English: ''The Taming of the Shrew'') is a German-language comic opera in four acts by the German composer Hermann Goetz. It was written between 1868 and 1872 and first performed at the National Theatre Mannheim on 11 October 1874 under the conductor . The libretto, by and the composer, is based on Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew''. The style of the opera shows Goetz turning away from the musical ideas of Richard Wagner towards the classicism of Mozart. ' was a huge success, not only in Germany but in the United States and in Great Britain, where it received high praise from George Bernard Shaw. Roles Recordings * 1944: Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden chorus and orchestra, conducted by Karl Elmendorff (Urania) * 2007: Bayerischer Rundfunk chorus and orchestra, conducted by Joseph Keilberth Joseph Keilberth (19 April 1908 – 20 July 1968) was a German conductor who specialised in opera. Career He started his career in the State Theatre of his nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jenůfa
''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the National Theatre, Brno on 21 January 1904. Composed between 1896 and 1902, it is among the first operas written in prose. The first of Janáček's operas in which his distinctive voice can clearly be heard, it is a grim story of infanticide and redemption. Like the playwright's original work, it is known for its unsentimental realism. While today it is heard in the composer's original version, ''Jenůfas early popularity was due to a revised version by Karel Kovařovic, altering what was considered its eccentric style and orchestration. Thus altered, it was well-received, first in Prague, and particularly after its Vienna première also worldwide. More than 70 years passed before audiences again heard it in Janáček's original ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eugene Onegin (opera)
''Eugene Onegin'' ( rus, Евгений Онегин, italic=yes, Yevgény Onégin, jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, Ru-Evgeny_Onegin.ogg), Opus number, Op. 24, is an opera ("lyrical scenes") in 3 acts (7 scenes), composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto, organised by the composer himself, very closely follows certain passages in Alexander Pushkin's 1825-1832 Eugene Onegin, novel in verse, retaining much of his poetry. Tchaikovsky's friend Konstantin Shilovsky contributed M. Triquet's verses in Act 2, Scene 1, while Tchaikovsky himself arranged the text for Lensky's arioso in Act 1, Scene 1, and almost all of Prince Gremin's aria in Act 3, Scene 1. ''Eugene Onegin'' is a well-known example of lyric opera, to which Tchaikovsky added music of a dramatic nature. The story concerns a selfish hero who lives to regret his blasé rejection of a young woman's love and his careless incitement of a fatal duel with his best friend. The opera was first performed in Moscow in 1879. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Tabarro
''Il tabarro'' (''The Cloak'') is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on 's play ''La houppelande''. It is the first of the trio of operas known as ''Il trittico''. The first performance was given on December 14, 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Roles Synopsis :Place: A barge on the Seine in Paris. :Time: 1910. It is close to sunset in Paris, and the stevedores work unloading Michele's barge. Giorgetta, Michele's wife, asks her husband if she can bring wine to the workers. He agrees but does not join them because she refuses his kiss. The stevedores start dancing to the music of a nearby organ grinder and one of them steps on Giorgetta's foot. Luigi, a stevedore, dances with her, and it is evident that there is something between them. Upon hearing of Michele's return the stevedores' gathering breaks up. Work is getting scarce and Giorgetta and Michele discuss which of the stevedores should be dismissed; she pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
''Manon Lescaut'' () is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1889 and 1892 to a libretto by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and , based on the 1731 novel '' Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. The opera was first performed in 1893 in Turin, at the Teatro Regio. Composition history The libretto is in Italian, and was cobbled together by five librettists whom Puccini employed: Ruggero Leoncavallo, Marco Praga, Giuseppe Giacosa, and Luigi Illica. The publisher, Giulio Ricordi, and the composer himself also contributed to the libretto. So confused was the authorship of the libretto that no one was credited on the title page of the original score. However, it was Illica and Giacosa who completed the libretto and went on to contribute the libretti to Puccini's next three – and most successful – works, ''La Bohème'', ''Tosca'' and ''Madama Butterfly''. Puccini took some musical elements in ''Manon Lesca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falstaff (opera)
''Falstaff'' () is a comic opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian-language libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from the play '' The Merry Wives of Windsor'' and scenes from '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', by William Shakespeare. The work premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan. Verdi wrote ''Falstaff'', the last of his 28 operas, as he approached the age of 80. It was his second comedy, and his third work based on a Shakespeare play, following '' Macbeth'' and '' Otello''. The plot revolves around the thwarted, sometimes farcical, efforts of the fat knight Sir John Falstaff to seduce two married women to gain access to their husbands' wealth. Verdi was concerned about working on a new opera at his advanced age, but he yearned to write a comic work and was pleased with Boito's draft libretto. It took the collaborators three years from mid-1889 to complete. Although the prospect of a new opera from Verdi aroused im ... [...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 '' Wallensteins Lager'' (''Wallenstein's Camp''). It was first performed in the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 29 November 1862 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 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 ''Don Alvaro''. Performances followed in Madrid (with the Duke of Rivas, the play's author, in attend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Masnadieri
''I masnadieri'' (''The Bandits'' or ''The Robbers'') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Andrea Maffei, based on the play ''Die Räuber'' by Friedrich von Schiller. As Verdi became more successful in Italy, he began to receive offers from other opera houses outside the country. The London impresario Benjamin Lumley had presented ''Ernani'' in 1845 and, as a result of its success, commissioned an opera from the composer which became ''I masnadieri''. It was given its first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre on 22 July 1847 with Verdi conducting the first two performances. While reasonably successful there and in Italy up to the mid-1860s, the opera disappeared for about 90 years until revived in 1951. It has been revived from time to time in the 21st century. Composition history In 1842 Lumley took over the management of Her Majesty's Theatre, the traditional home of Italian opera in London. Three years later Verdi's ''Ernani'' received its f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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