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Zaïs (Rameau)
''Zaïs'' is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau first performed on 29 February 1748 at the Opéra in Paris. It takes the form of a ''pastorale héroïque'' in four acts and a prologue. The librettist was Louis de Cahusac. The score is particularly remarkable for its overture, which depicts the emergence of the four elements out of chaos. It looks back to Jean-Féry Rebel's ballet ''Les élemens'' and forward to Haydn's overture for his oratorio '' The Creation''. Roles According to the published libretto Synopsis Zaïs, a genie, disguises himself as a shepherd to win the love of a shepherdess, Zélide. After a series of ordeals in which Zaïs shows he is willing to give up his magic powers for his love, Oromases, the king of the genies, grants Zélide immortality so the couple can marry. Recordings * ''Zaïs'', John Elwes (Zaïs), Marjanne Kweksilber (Zélidie), Max van Egmond (Oromazès), David Thomas (Cindor), Mieke van der Sluis (Une Sylphide/ La Grande Prêtresse de l'Amou ...
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Portrait Of Jean-Philippe Rameau - Joseph Aved
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer. History Prehistorical portraiture Plastered human skulls were reconstructed human skulls that were made in the ancient Levant between 9000 and 6000 BC in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. They represent some of the oldest forms of art in the Middle East and demonstrate that the prehistoric population took great care in burying their ancestors below their homes. The skulls denote some of the earliest sculptural examples of portraiture in the history of art. Historical portraitu ...
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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 ...
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Operas By Jean-Philippe Rameau
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 ...
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Operas
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 singing: ...
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Cuthbert Girdlestone
Cuthbert Morton Girdlestone (17 September 1895 – 10 December 1975) was a British musicology, musicologist and literary scholar. Born in Bovey Tracey, Devon, he was educated at University of Cambridge, Cambridge and the University of Paris, Sorbonne, and thereafter took up the chair in French in Armstrong College, Newcastle, Armstrong College, later to be King's College in Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle in 1926, a position he held until 1960. His most famous publications are his much-reprinted study of the Mozart Piano Concertos (1939, published originally in French) and his biography of Jean-Philippe Rameau (1957). Books *Girdlestone, Cuthbert. ''Mozart et ses concertos pour piano.'' Paris, Fischbacher. 1939. **Girdlestone, Cuthbert. ''Mozart and His Piano Concertos''. New York: Dover Publications, 1964. "An unabridged and corrected republication of the second (1958) edition of the work first published in 1948 by Cassell & Company, Ltd., London, under the title Mozart’s Piano ...
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Christophe Rousset
Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18th centuries and is the founder of the French music ensemble Les Talens Lyriques. Biography Rousset was born in Avignon, France on 12 April 1961. He studied harpsichord at La Schola Cantorum de Paris with Huguette Dreyfus, and subsequently at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Bob van Asperen winning the prestigious First Prize in the 7th Bruges Harpsichord Competition at the age of 22. This was followed by the creation of his own ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, in 1991. At the heart of the ensemble is Rousset's research and expertise across the music of the Baroque, Classical and early Romantic periods. Having initially attracted the notice of the international press and record companies for his proficiency as a harpsichordist, he ...
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Les Talens Lyriques
The French musical ensemble Les Talens Lyriques was created in 1991 in Paris, France, by the harpsichordist and orchestral conductor Christophe Rousset. This instrumental and vocal formation derives its name from the subtitle of ''Les fêtes d'Hébé'' (1739) an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Description The repertoire of Les Talens Lyriques extends from Monteverdi (''L'incoronazione di Poppea'', ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ''and ''L'Orfeo''), Francesco Cavalli ('' La Didone'' and ''La Calisto'') to Handel (''Scipione'', ''Riccardo Primo'', ''Rinaldo'', ''Admeto'', ''Giulio Cesare'', ''Serse'', '' Arianna'', ''Tamerlano'', ''Ariodante'', ''Semele'' and ''Alcina''), taking in on the way Jean-Baptiste Lully (''Persée'', ''Roland'', '' Bellérophon'', '' Phaéton'', ''Isis'', '' Amadis'' and '' Armide''), Henri Desmarets (''Vénus et Adonis''), Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville (''Les fêtes de Paphos''), Cimarosa (''Il Mercato di Malmantile'', ''Il matrimonio segreto''), ...
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Sandrine Piau
Sandrine Piau (born 5 June 1965) is a French soprano. She is particularly renowned in Baroque music although also excels in Romantic and modernist art songs. She has the versatility to perform works from Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart to Schumann, Debussy, and Poulenc. In addition to an active career in concerts and operas, she is prolific in studio recordings, primarily with Harmonia Mundi, Naïve, and Alpha since 2018. Biography Born in Issy-les-Moulineaux, she initially studied harp and turned to singing at the Conservatoire de Paris. After meeting William Christie, she commenced her exposure to Baroque music and their collaboration notably at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. She proceeded further vocal studies with Rachel Yakar and René Jacobs. She collaborated with many of the leading European conductors of the Baroque revival, including Marc Minkowski, Philippe Herreweghe, Paul McCreesh, Alan Curtis, Christophe Rousset, René Jacobs, and Fabio Biondi. Piau also excels in opera ...
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Gustav Leonhardt
Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leonhardt professionally played many instruments, including the harpsichord, pipe organ, claviorganum (a combination of harpsichord and organ), clavichord, fortepiano and piano. He also conducted orchestras and choruses. Biography Gustav Leonhardt was born in 's-Graveland, near Hilversum, and studied organ and harpsichord from 1947 to 1950 with Eduard Müller at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel. In 1950, he made his debut as a harpsichordist in Vienna, where he studied musicology. He was professor of harpsichord at the Academy of Music from 1952 to 1955 and at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1954. He was also a church organist. Career Leonhardt performed and conducted a variety of solo, chamber, orchestral, operatic, and choral ...
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La Petite Bande
La Petite Bande is a Belgium-based ensemble specialising in music of the Baroque and Classical eras played on period instruments. They are particularly known for their recordings of works by Corelli, Rameau, Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. History The ensemble was brought together in 1972 by Sigiswald Kuijken, originally for the one-off purpose of recording Lully's comédie-ballet, ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'', conducted by Gustav Leonhardt for the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label. The ensemble was given its name from Lully's '' Petite Bande des Violons du Roi'', an orchestra of 21 string players at the court of Louis XIV. The nucleus of the original group was the Leonhardt Consort along with Sigiswald Kuijken and his brothers Wieland and Barthold. Following the recording, the group continued to give concerts throughout Europe and became a permanent ensemble based in Leuven with Kuijken as director. Their initial repertoire concentrated on French Baroque music, but soon bra ...
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René Jacobs
René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his musical career as a boy chorister at the Cathedral. Later he studied classical philology at the University of Ghent while continuing to sing in Brussels and in The Hague. The Kuijken brothers, Gustav Leonhardt and Alfred Deller all encouraged him to pursue a career as a countertenor, and he quickly became known as one of the best of his time. He recorded a large amount of less-known Baroque music by such composers as Antonio Cesti, d'India, Ferrari, Marenzio, Lambert, Guédron, William Lawes and others. He also sang in much-acclaimed recordings of the major works of Bach (such as the ''St Matthew Passion'' led by Gustav Leonhardt and Philippe Herreweghe). Conductor In 1977, he founded the ensemble Concerto Vocale. As a conductor, Jacobs r ...
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David Thomas (singer)
David Thomas (born 1943) is an English classical bass singer, performing mostly in concert. He has performed internationally at notable concert halls and festivals. Life Thomas began his musical career as a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He attended King's School, Canterbury, and then as a teenager on a choral scholarship at King's College, Cambridge. He focused on Early music, appearing with ensembles such as Consort of Musicke, conducted by Anthony Rooley, and Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood. As a soloist, he performad Bach's ''Christmas Oratorio'' in Leipzig and Berlin, Handel's ''Messiah'' in Italy, Handel's ''Serse'' at the Göttingen Handel Festival, among others. In the U.S., he performed ''Messiah'' in the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Schubert's ''Winterreise'' at Cornell University, and Handel's oratorios ''Judas Maccabaeus'', '' Susanna'' and ''Theodora'', conducted by Nicholas McGegan. He sang ...
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