|
Carl Heinrich Graun
Carl Heinrich Graun (7 May 1704 – 8 August 1759) was a German composer and tenor. Along with Johann Adolph Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time. Biography Graun was born in Wahrenbrück in the Electorate of Saxony. In 1714, he followed his brother, Johann Gottlieb Graun, to the school of the Kreuzkirche, Dresden, and sang in the Dresdner Kreuzchor and the chorus of the Opernhaus am Zwinger. He studied singing with Christian Petzold and composition with (1664–1728). In 1724, Graun moved to Braunschweig, singing at the opera house and writing six operas for the company. In 1735, Graun moved to Rheinsberg in Brandenburg, after he had written the opera ''Lo specchio della fedeltà'' for the marriage of the then crown prince Frederick (the Great) and Elisabeth Christine in Schloss Salzdahlum in 1733. He was ''Kapellmeister'' to Frederick the Great from his ascension to the throne in 1740 until Graun's death ninetee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Uebigau-Wahrenbrück
Uebigau-Wahrenbrück is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, 11 km northwest of Bad Liebenwerda, and 21 km east of Torgau. Geography The town is composed by the villages of Bahnsdorf, Beiersdorf, Beutersitz, Bomsdorf, Bönitz, Domsdorf, Drasdo, Kauxdorf, Langennaundorf, Marxdorf, München/Elster, Neudeck, Prestewitz, Rothstein, Saxdorf, Uebigau (municipal seat), Wahrenbrück, Wiederau, Wildgrube, Winkel and Zinsdorf. History From 1815 to 1944, the constituent localities of Uebigau-Wahrenbrück were part of the Prussian Province of Saxony. From 1944 to 1945, they were part of the Province of Halle-Merseburg. From 1952 to 1990, they were part of the Bezirk Cottbus of East Germany. On 31 December 2001, the town of Uebigau-Wahrenbrück was formed by merging the towns of Uebigau and Wahrenbrück with the municipalities of Bahnsdorf, Drasdo and Wiederau. Demography File:Bevölkerungsentwickl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Rheinsberg
Rheinsberg () is a town and a municipality in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in Brandenburg, in north-eastern Germany. It is located on lake and the river Rhin, approximately north-east of Neuruppin and north-west of Berlin. History Frederick the Great, while still Crown Prince, designed and moved into a restored chateau in Rheinsberg shortly after his 1733 marriage to Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern. Here he experienced his "Rheinsberg Period", an era marked by regular correspondence with Voltaire, boisterous celebration in the company of minor philosophers and musicians, and the writing of several works of political theory, including the ''Anti-Machiavel.'' Crown Prince Frederick lived in the castle in Rheinsberg with his wife until he became King of Prussia in 1740 upon the death of his father, Frederick William I of Prussia, Frederick William I. He immediately banished his wife to Schönhausen Castle in the district of Berlin that is today called Pankow. King Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Speak, Memory
''Speak, Memory'' is a memoir by writer Vladimir Nabokov. The book includes individual essays published between 1936 and 1951 to create the first edition in 1951. Nabokov's revised and extended edition appeared in 1966. Scope The book is dedicated to his wife, Véra, and covers his life from 1903 until his emigration to America in 1940. The first twelve chapters describe Nabokov's remembrance of his youth in an aristocratic family living in pre-revolutionary Saint Petersburg and at their country estate Vyra, near Siverskaya. The three remaining chapters recall his years at Cambridge and as part of the Russian émigré community in Berlin and Paris. Through memory Nabokov is able to possess the past. Nabokov published " Mademoiselle O", which became Chapter Five of the book, in French in 1936, and in English in '' The Atlantic Monthly'' in 1943, without indicating that it was non-fiction. Subsequent pieces of the autobiography were published as individual or collected stor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian (1926–1938) while living in Berlin, where he met his wife, Véra Nabokov. He achieved international acclaim and prominence after moving to the United States, where he began writing in English. Trilingual in Russian, English, and French, Nabokov became a U.S. citizen in 1945 and lived mostly on the East Coast before returning to Europe in 1961, where he settled in Montreux, Switzerland. From 1948 to 1959, Nabokov was a professor of Russian literature at Cornell University. His 1955 novel ''Lolita'' ranked fourth on Modern Library's list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels, 100 best 20th-century novels in 1998 and is considered one of the greatest works of 20th-century literature. Nabokov's ''Pale Fire'', published in 1962, ranked 5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Trio Sonata
The trio sonata is a genre, typically consisting of several movements, with two melody instruments and basso continuo. It originated in the early 17th century and was a favorite chamber ensemble combination in the Baroque era. Basic structure The trio sonata typically was written for two melody instruments (such as two violins) and basso continuo. However, either or both of the melody parts could be played on the flute, recorder, oboe, or even viola da gamba. The bass part, the continuo, typically involves two players. One player plays the bass line on a bass instrument such as a bass viol, violone, violoncello, or bassoon. The second player fills in harmonies above the bass line, using an instrument that can produce chords, such as a small organ, a harpsichord, or a theorbo. These chords are normally indicated to the player by placing numbers above the bass part rather than writing out the chords in full, a style of notation called figured bass. Because there normally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Der Tod Jesu
''Der Tod Jesu'' (''The Death of Jesus'') is an oratorio libretto by Karl Wilhelm Ramler. In its setting by Carl Heinrich Graun in 1755, it was the most often performed Passion of the 18th century in Germany. The poem is part of the '' Empfindsamkeit'' movement of the 1750s. It is the middle of three oratorio texts by Ramler – ''Die Hirten bei der Krippe zu Bethlehem'', ''Der Tod Jesu'', and ''Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt'' – which may have been viewed by Ramler as a libretto cycle, though they were never set as a cycle by any composer. The libretto was intended for Graun but a copy of Ramler's text was somehow received by Telemann who produced his own setting of the oratorio (TWV 5:6) in Hamburg before Graun could perform the premiere in Berlin. Ramler revised his text in 1760. The text is not a full retelling of the Passion of Christ and it does not quote Bible texts. Instead, it presents emotively various aspects of the Passion. Settings * Georg Philipp Telemann, Ham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Passion Cantata
In Christian music, a Passion is a setting of the Passion of Christ. Liturgically, most Passions were intended to be performed as part of church services in the Holy Week. Passion settings developed from medieval intoned readings of the Gospel texts relating Christ's Passion, to which later polyphonic settings were added. Passion Plays, another tradition that originated in the Middle Ages, could be provided with music such as hymns, contributing to Passion as a genre in music. While Passion music in Catholic countries had to compete with other devotions such as the Stations of the Cross, the ''Improperia'' and Tenebrae, in Protestant Germany settings of the Gospels became a focal point of Passiontide services, with Passion cantatas (and later Passions in oratorio format) performed on Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Its best known examples, the Bach Passions, date from the first half of the 18th century. Later musical settings of the Passion of Christ, such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Libretto
A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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. The Italian language, Italian word (, ) is the diminutive of the word ''wiktionary:libro#Italian, libro'' ("book"). Sometimes other-language cognates, 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Montezuma (Graun)
''Montezuma'' is an opera seria in three acts by the German composer Carl Heinrich Graun. The libretto was written in French by Graun's patron, Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia, and turned into an Italian libretto by Giampetro Tagliazucchi. The work's plot concerns Hernán Cortés's conquest of Mexico and the defeat of the Aztec emperor Montezuma. It was first performed at the Königliches Opernhaus (Royal court opera) in Berlin on 6 January 1755. The title role was originally performed by a castrato, but today is performed by either a male countertenor or a female mezzo-soprano. The seven roles are Erissena (s), Eupaforice (s), Montezuma (ms), Tezeuco (alto), Pilpatoè (s), Narvès (t) and Cortès (b). In the original production, Giovanni Cinzio Tedeschi, a musico who sang under the stage name Amadori, and whose tenure in Berlin lasted only about a year, created the role of Montezuma. Giovanna Astrua portrayed Eupaforice. Antonio Huber (also spelled Uber), a musico known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Berlin State Opera
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from 1741 to 1743 according to plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in the Palladian style. Damaged during the Allied bombing in World War II, the former Royal Prussian Opera House was rebuilt from 1951 to 1955 as part of the Forum Fridericianum square. Nicknamed ''Lindenoper'' in Berlin, it is "the world´s oldest state opera" and "the first theater anywhere to be, by itself, a prominent, freestanding monumental building in a city." History Names Originally called the ('Royal Opera'), the company was renamed the ('Prussian State Opera') in 1919. After World War II it began operating as the national opera company for Communist East Germany, taking the name ('German State Opera') in 1955. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Cesare E Cleopatra
''Cesare e Cleopatra'' is a dramma per musica, that consists of three acts, by composer Carl Heinrich Graun. The opera uses an Italian-language libretto by Giovan Gualberto Bottarelli. Performances It was commissioned by Frederick II of Prussia for the opening of the newly built ''Königliches Opernhaus'' (Royal Opera House) in Berlin, and was notably the inaugural performance of the newly formed Berlin State Opera. Although construction of the opera house was not entirely complete, the opera premiered in the new theatre using a German language translation on 7 December, 1742, under the baton of the composer. The production starred soprano Maria Giovanna Gasparini as Cleopatra VII and castrato Paolo Bedeschi as Julius Caesar. Recordings * 1992 on the Serenissima label (360171), live: Jacobs/Williams-J/Dawson/Beronesi/Popken/Francis/Rayam/Trekel * 1995 on the HM label (mis-titled "Cleopatra e Cesare"): René Jacobs; Janet Williams (Cleopatra), Iris Vermillion (Cesare), Lyn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
