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Comic Opera
Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, ''opera buffa'', emerged as an alternative to ''opera seria''. It quickly made its way to France, where it became ''opéra comique'', and eventually, in the following century, Operetta#Operetta in French, French operetta, with Jacques Offenbach as its most accomplished practitioner. The influence of Italian and French forms spread to other parts of Europe. Many countries developed their own genres of comic opera, incorporating the Italian and French models along with their own musical traditions. Examples include German ''singspiel'', Operetta#Austria–Hungary, Viennese operetta, Spanish ''zarzuela'', Russian comic opera, English ballad opera, ballad and Savoy opera, North American operetta and musical comedy. Italian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alessandro Scarlatti
Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque music, Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan school of opera. Nicknamed by his contemporaries "the Italian Orpheus", he divided his career between Naples and Rome; a significant part of his works was composed for the papal city. He is often considered the founder of the Neapolitan school, although he has only been its most illustrious representative: his contribution, his originality and his influence were essential, as well as lasting, both in Italy and in Europe. Particularly known for his operas, he brought the Italian dramatic tradition to its maximum development, begun by Claudio Monteverdi, Monteverdi at the beginning of 17th century and continued by Antonio Cesti, Cesti, Francesco Cavalli, Cavalli, Giacomo Carissimi, Carissimi, Giovanni Legrenzi, Legrenzi and Alessandro Stradell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces and some Church music, sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity. Born in Pesaro to parents who were both musicians (his father a trumpeter, his mother a singer), Rossini began to compose by the age of twelve and was educated at music school in Bologna. His first opera was performed in Venice in 1810 when he was 18 years old. In 1815 he was engaged to write operas and manage theatres in Naples. In the period 1810–1823, he wrote 34 operas for the Italian stage that were performed in Venice, Milan, Ferrara, Naples and elsewhere; this productivity necessitated an alm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, more than 800 works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphony, symphonic, concerto, concertante, chamber music, chamber, operatic, and choir, choral repertoires. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Classical music, Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed Child prodigy, prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and performed before European r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Matrimonio Segreto
' (''The Secret Marriage'') is a dramma giocoso in two acts, music by Domenico Cimarosa, on a libretto by Giovanni Bertati, based on the 1766 play '' The Clandestine Marriage'' by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick. It was first performed on 7 February 1792 at the Imperial Hofburg Theatre in Vienna in the presence of Emperor Leopold II. Performance history Cimarosa's only work still to be regularly performed, it is arguably one of the greatest 18th century opera buffa apart from those by Mozart. Its premiere was the occasion of the longest encore in operatic history; Leopold II was so delighted that he ordered supper served to the company and the entire opera repeated immediately after without the orchestra, with the composer accompanying on the harpsichord. The Italian premiere of the opera was given at La Scala in Milan on 17 February 1793 with Maria Gazzotti as Carolina and Vincenzo Del Moro as Paolino. On 23 May, the same year, it arrived at the Teatre de la Santa Cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domenico Cimarosa
Domenico Cimarosa (; 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Music of Italy, Italian composer of the Neapolitan School and of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is ''Il matrimonio segreto'' (1792); most of his operas are comedies. He also wrote instrumental works and church music. Cimarosa was principally based in Naples, but spent some of his career in various other parts of Italy, composing for the opera houses of Rome, Venice, Florence and elsewhere. He was engaged by Catherine the Great of Russia as her court composer and conductor between 1787 and 1791. In his later years, returning to Naples, he backed the losing side in the struggle to overthrow the monarchy there, and was imprisoned and then exiled. He died in Venice at the age of 51. Life and career Early years Cimarosa was born in Aversa, a town near Naples. His family name was Cimmarosa, which is how he is recorded on his baptismal record. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina (opera)
''Nina, o sia La pazza per amore'' (''Nina, or Madly in Love'') is an opera, described in 1790 as a ''commedia in prosa ed in verso per musica'', in two acts by Giovanni Paisiello to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Battista Lorenzi after Giuseppe Carpani's translation of Benoît-Joseph Marsollier's ''Nina (Dalayrac), Nina, ou La folle par amour'', set by Nicolas Dalayrac in 1786. The work is a sentimental comedy with set numbers, recitative and spoken dialog. It is set in Italy in the 18th century. ''Nina'' was first performed in a one-act version at the Teatro del Reale Sito di Belvedere in Caserta, San Leucio on 25 June 1789. The revised and familiar two-act work was presented at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples in the autumn of 1790. Roles *Nina (soprano) *Lindoro, her lover/Un Pastore (tenor) *The Count, her father (bass (voice type), bass) *Susanna, her companion (mezzo-soprano) *Giorgio, the Count's valet (bass) *A musician (tenor) *Second musician *Chorus (staff and patie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in Taranto in the Apulia region and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and eventually became assistant master. For the theatre of the Conservatorio, which he left in 1763, he wrote some intermezzi, one of which attracted so much notice that he was invited to write two operas, ''La Pupilla'' and ''Il Mondo al Rovescio'', for Bologna, and a third, ''Il Marchese di Tidipano'', for Rome. His reputation now firmly established, he settled for some years at Naples, where, despite the popularity of Niccolò Piccinni, Domenico Cimarosa and Pietro Guglielmi, of whose triumphs he was bitterly je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Cecchina (opera)
''La buona figliuola'' (''The Good-Natured Girl'' or ''The Accomplish'd Maid''), or ''La Cecchina'' (''The Girl from Cecchina'' or ''Fannie''), is an opera buffa in three acts by Niccolò Piccinni. The libretto, by Carlo Goldoni, is based on Samuel Richardson's novel ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded''. This was Piccinni's most successful Italian opera. There was a sequel entitled ''La buona figliuola maritata'' (1761) by the same composer and librettist. ''La buona figliuola supposta vedova'' by Gaetano Latilla followed in 1766. Performance history It was first performed at the Teatro delle Dame, Rome, on 6 February 1760 with an all-male cast. It was given in London at the King's Theatre on 25 November 1766 with Gaetano Guadagni, Savi, Lovattini, Morigi, Quercioli, Piatti, and Michele; and at Covent Garden in English as ''The Accomplish'd Maid'' on 3 December 1766. It was revived as ''La Cecchina'' (with alterations) on 7 February 1928 in Bari (the composer's native city), as part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niccolò Piccinni
Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of the Classical period. Life Piccinni was born in Bari, in the Apulia region. From the age of fourteen, he was educated at the Conservatory of San Onofrio by Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante,. thanks to the intervention of the Bishop of Bari (his father, although himself a musician, was opposed to his son following the same career). Piccinni's first opera, ''Le donne dispettose'', was produced in 1755 with the patronage of Prince Vintimille. In 1760 he composed, at Rome, the ''chef d'œuvre'' of his early life, '' La Cecchina, ossia la buona Figliuola'', an ''opera buffa'' with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni, which "enjoyed a two-year run in Rome and was played in all the important European capitals. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Filosofo Di Campagna
''Il filosofo di campagna'' (''The Country Philosopher'') is a dramma giocoso per musica in 3 acts by composer Baldassare Galuppi. The opera uses an Italian language libretto by Carlo Goldoni. The work premiered at the Teatro San Samuele in Venice on 26 October 1754. ''Il filosofo di campagna'', which has been defined a "masterly opera", obtained a great success, with many performances throughout Europe. Roles Synopsis Tritemio wants his daughter Eugenia to marry Nardo, a rich farmer, known as "the Philosopher", but Eugenia is in love with the nobleman Rinaldo. Lesbina, housemaid of Tritemio, in order to avoid that Nardo meets Eugenia, takes the place of the girl. Nardo, who has never seen Eugenia before, ends up falling in love with Lesbina, convinced that she is the true daughter of Tritemio. After a series of misunderstandings, Nardo learns of the true identity of Lesbina, but he accepts the housemaid all the same and remains in love with her. Lesbina persuades Tritemio t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baldassare Galuppi
Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was a Venetian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. P. E. Bach, whose works are emblematic of the prevailing galant music that developed in Europe throughout the 18th century. He achieved international success, spending periods of his career in Vienna, London and Saint Petersburg, but his main base remained Venice, where he held a succession of leading appointments. In his early career Galuppi made a modest success in ''opera seria'', but from the 1740s, together with the playwright and librettist Carlo Goldoni, he became famous throughout Europe for his comic operas in the new ''dramma giocoso'' style. To the succeeding generation of composers, he was known as "the father of comic opera". Some of his mature ''opere serie'', for which his librettists included the poet and dramatist M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
