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Eva Urbanová
Eva Urbanová (born 20 April 1961) is a Czech operatic soprano who has had an active international career since 1987. She has been a principal artist at the National Theatre in Prague since 1990 and has appeared as a guest artist at many of the world's best opera houses, including La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She has made several recording on the Supraphon music label and was honored with a Thalia Award in 1993. In 2003 she was presented with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France. Biography Urbanová was born in the hospital in Slaný, but her native village is Zvoleněves where she grew up. Later she moved to Vrčeň, where she has been living ever since. She studied singing with Ludmilla Kotnauerová in Plzeň. She made her professional opera debut on 18 April 1987 at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň, remaining at that theatre for the next three years. Among the roles she portrayed at that house include Amelia in Giu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libuše (opera)
''Libuše'' () is a "festival opera" in three acts, with music by Bedřich Smetana. The libretto was originally written in German by Josef Wenzig, and was then translated into Czech by . In Czech historical myth, Libuše, the title character, prophesied the founding of Prague. Background The opera was composed in 1871–72. From the very beginning, the new opera's premiere was destined to mark a major, exceptional event. After abandoning an initial idea to dedicate it to the coronation of the Austrian Emperor as King of Bohemia (which actually never happened), Smetana focused on a historic occasion whose dimension was indeed exclusively national, namely, the inauguration of the National Theatre in Prague. Consequently, the premiere had to wait for nine years after the opera's completion, until 11 June, 1881. After that, Libuše was also performed as part of the National Theatre (Prague), National Theatre's definitive reopening on 18 November, 1883, following its previous destructi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vrčeň
Vrčeň is a municipality and village in Plzeň-South District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 400 inhabitants. Vrčeň lies approximately south-east of Plzeň and south-west of Prague. Demographics Notable people *Eva Urbanová Eva Urbanová (born 20 April 1961) is a Czech operatic soprano who has had an active international career since 1987. She has been a principal artist at the National Theatre in Prague since 1990 and has appeared as a guest artist at many of the w ... (born 1961), operatic soprano; lives here References External links * Villages in Plzeň-South District {{Plzeň-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rusalka (opera)
''Rusalka'' (), Op. 114, is an opera ('lyric fairy tale') by Antonín Dvořák. His ninth opera (1900–1901), it became his most successful, frequenting the standard repertoire worldwide. Jaroslav Kvapil wrote the libretto on Karel Jaromír Erben's and Božena Němcová's fairy tales. The rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology; it usually inhabits a lake or river. For many years unfamiliarity with Dvořák's operas outside the Czech lands helped reinforce a perception that composition of operas was a marginal activity, and that despite the beauty of its melodies and orchestral timbres ''Rusalka'' was not a central part of his output or of international lyric theatre. In recent years it has been performed more regularly by major opera companies. In the five seasons from 2008 to 2013 it was performed by opera companies worldwide far more than all of Dvořák's other operas combined. The most popular excerpt from ''Rusalka'' is the soprano aria, the "Song to the Moon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tannhäuser (opera)
''Tannhäuser'' (; full title , "Tannhäuser and the Minnesängers' Contest at Wartburg") is an 1845 opera in three acts, with music and text by Richard Wagner ( WWV 70 in the catalogue of the composer's works). It is based on two German legends: Tannhäuser, the mythologized medieval German Minnesänger and poet, and the tale of the Wartburg Song Contest. The story centres on the struggle between sacred and profane love, as well as redemption through love, a theme running through most of Wagner's work. The opera remains a staple of major opera house repertoire in the 21st century. Composition history Sources The libretto of ''Tannhäuser'' combines mythological elements characteristic of German ''Romantische Oper'' (Romantic opera) and the medieval setting typical of many French Grand Operas. Wagner brings these two together by constructing a plot involving the 14th-century '' Minnesänger'' and the myth of Venus and her subterranean realm of Venusberg. Both the histori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Carlos
''Don Carlos'' is an 1867 five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the 1787 play '' Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedrich Schiller and several incidents from Eugène Cormon's 1846 play ''Philippe II, Roi d'Espagne''. The opera is most often performed in Italian translation, usually under the title ''Don Carlo''. The opera's story is based on conflicts in the life of Carlos, Prince of Asturias (1545–1568). Though he was betrothed to Elisabeth of Valois, part of the peace treaty ending the Italian War of 1551–59 between the Houses of Habsburg and Valois demanded that she be married instead to his father Philip II of Spain. It was commissioned and produced by the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra (Paris Opera) and given its premiere at the Salle Le Peletier on 11 March 1867. The first performance in Italian was given at Covent Garden in London in Jun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December 1871, in a performance conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. Today the work holds a central place in the operatic canon, receiving performances every year around the world. At New York's Metropolitan Opera alone, ''Aida'' has been sung more than 1,100 times since 1886. Ghislanzoni's scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Elements of the opera's genesis and sources Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write an opera to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal, but Verdi declined. However, Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist, proposed to Khedive Pasha a plot for a cele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zdeněk Košler
Zdeněk Košler (March 25, 1928 – July 2, 1995) was a Czechoslovak conductor, who played an important role in Czechoslovak musical life of the second half of 20th century, notably during the 1960s and 1980s.Sleeve note of the Supraphon CD (SU 0077-2 632), p. 31 He was particularly well known as an opera conductor. Life and work Born in Prague, Košler came from a musical family. His father was a member of the Prague National Theatre Orchestra, and his younger brother Miroslav was a choirmaster. After finishing his studies at the gymnasium, he enrolled at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where he was a pupil of Karel Ančerl. In 1948, while still a student, he began to work as a répétiteur at the Prague's National Theatre. In that time he began also to gain some experience with the baton. In 1949 Košler joined the Olomouc Opera, where he conducted works by Leoš Janáček ('' The Makropulos Affair'') and by W. A. Mozart (''Così fan tutte'', ''The Marriage of Fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dalibor (opera)
''Dalibor'' is a Czech opera in three acts by Bedřich Smetana. The libretto was written in German by Josef Wenzig, and translated into Czech by . It was first performed at the New Town Theatre in Prague on 16 May 1868. The opera received criticism at the time for being overly influenced by German opera, including that of Wagner's ''Lohengrin''. The subject of the opera is (fl. c. 1490), a Czech knight who took part in an uprising in Ploskovice in support of the oppressed people and was sentenced to death in 1498, during the reign of Vladislaus II of Hungary. The plot bears a resemblance to that of Beethoven's ''Fidelio'', in that the central female characters in each opera disguise themselves in male clothing and gain the confidence of a jailor to try to save the imprisoned hero. Performance history Smetana had great affection for the opera, but because of the lukewarm reception, died thinking that he had failed with this opera. The revival in 1886, however, two years after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedřich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana ( ; ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his 1866 opera '' The Bartered Bride'' and for the symphonic cycle '' Má vlast'' ("My Fatherland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native Bohemia. It contains the famous symphonic poem "Vltava", also popularly known by its German name "Die Moldau" (in English, "The Moldau"). Smetana was naturally gifted as a composer, and gave his first public performance at the age of six. After conventional schooling, he studied music under Josef Proksch in Prague. His first nationalistic music was written during the 1848 Prague uprising, in which he briefly participated. After failing to establish his career in Prague, he left fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jacobin
''Jakobín'', or ''The Jacobin'', is an operatic pastoral comedy in three acts by Antonín Dvořák, his Op. 84 ( B. 159). Its Czech libretto by Marie Červinková-Riegrová employs characters from Alois Jirásek's story ''At the Ducal Court'' but in a plot of her devising. The opera's first performance took place on 9 February 1889 at the National Theatre in Prague with Adolf Čech conducting; it was however revised by both librettist (in 1894) and composer (in 1897) and premiered again, under Čech, on 19 June 1898, with notable adjustments to the last act, in the version that has since been standard. Evaluation Dvořák felt great affection for the subject, as the central character is a music teacher and he had in mind his former teacher Antonín Liehmann, whose daughter Terinka's name is taken by one of the main characters. John Clapham has briefly discussed the presence of Czech musical style in ''Jakobín''. H. C. Colles has described this opera as "the most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana. Dvořák's style has been described as "the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them," and Dvořák has been described as "arguably the most versatile... composer of his time". Dvořák displayed his musical gifts at an early age, being a talented violin student. The first public performances of his works were in Prague in 1872 and, with special success, in 1873, when he was 31 years old. Seeking recognition beyond the Prague area, he submitted scores of symphonies and other works to German and Austrian competitions. He did not win a prize until 1874, with Johannes Brahms on the jury of the Austrian State Competit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
