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Ellen Gulbranson
Ellen Gulbranson (née Norgren) (4 March 1863 – 2 January 1947) was a Swedish operatic soprano with a strong, dramatic voice best suited to the works of Richard Wagner. She was a leading figure among the second generation of Bayreuth singers and her voice is preserved on a few acoustic recordings that she made for Edison Records and Pathé Records during the early part of the 20th century. In 1911, she was awarded The King's Medal of Merit by Sweden's monarch. Biography Born Ellen Norgren in Stockholm, Gulbranson studied initially at the Stockholm Conservatory under Julius Gunther and then in Paris with Ellen Kenneth and the great pedagogue Mathilde Marchesi. Subsequently, she also studied with Marchesi's daughter Blanche, who strengthened Gulbranson's top notes and transformed her voice from that of a mezzo-soprano into that of a dramatic soprano. Gulbranson made her operatic debut in 1889 as Amneris in Giuseppe Verdi's ''Aida'' in Stockholm, and sang the Wagnerian roles of ...
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Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the Stockholm Municipality, municipality, with 1.6 million in the Stockholm urban area, urban area, and 2.4 million in the Metropolitan Stockholm, metropolitan area. The city stretches across fourteen islands where Mälaren, Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea. Outside the city to the east, and along the coast, is the island chain of the Stockholm archipelago. The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in 1252 by Swedish statesman Birger Jarl. It is also the county seat of Stockholm County. For several hundred years, Stockholm was the capital of Finland as well (), which then was a part of Sweden. The population of the municipality of Stockholm is expected to reach o ...
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Dramatic Soprano
A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a sustained, fuller sound. Usually this voice has a lower tessitura than other sopranos, and a darker timbre. They are often used for heroic, often long- suffering, tragic women of opera. Dramatic sopranos have a range from approximately low A ( A3) to "high C" (C6).Coffin (1960) Some dramatic sopranos, known as Wagnerian sopranos, have an exceptionally big voice that can assert itself over a large orchestra (of more than 80 or even 100 pieces). These voices are substantial, often denser in tone, extremely powerful and, ideally, evenly balanced throughout the vocal registers. Wagnerian sopranos usually play mythic heroines. Successful Wagnerian sopranos are rare and often Wagnerian roles are performed by Italianate dramatic sopranos. Drama ...
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Hvem Er Hvem?
''Hvem er hvem?'' ( en, Who is Who?) was a Norwegian book series, presenting facts about notable persons from Norway. The first edition was issued in 1912, and the 14th edition came in 1994. In the 2008 edition, edited by Knut Olav Åmås, one thousand persons were selected for presentation. About one third of the articles are longer, signed biographies, while the rest have a shorter, more encyclopedic format. Edition history *1912 (First edition, edited by Chr. Brinchmann, Anders Daae and K.V. Hammer). 3,500 biographies. *1930 (2nd edition, edited by Hjalmar Steenstrup). 3,250 biographies, of which 1,750 are new. *1934 (3rd edition, edited by Hjalmar Steenstrup) *1938 (4th edition, edited by Hjalmar Steenstrup) *1948 (5th edition, edited by Harald Gram and Bjørn Steenstrup). *1950 (6th edition, edited by Harald Gram and Bjørn Steenstrup) *1955 (7th edition, edited by Harald Gram and Bjørn Steenstrup) *1959 (8th edition, edited by Harald Gram and Bjørn Steenstrup) *1964 (9th ...
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Ulf Styren
Ulf Styren (4 April 1890 – 20 December 1974) was a Norwegian businessperson. He was born in Kristiania as a son of treasurer M. H. Styren (1846–1917) and Inga Othilie Johannessen (1866–1946). In 1916 he married Laila Elisabeth Camilla Gulbranson, a daughter of Hans Peter Francis Gulbranson and Ellen Gulbranson (née Norgren). He graduated as a machine engineer. He manager the glass works Drammens Glasverk from 1915 to 1930 and Oxelösund Glasbruk from 1930 to 1933. In 1933 he became chief executive of Askim Gummivarefabrik, and from 1937 Den Norske Kalosje- og Gummivarefabrik and Vestlandske Gummivarefabrik. In 1947 he became chief executive of Norsk Jernverk, serving as director-general from 1955 to 1958. He chaired the board of Grand Hotel and was a board member of Emaljeverket, Goodwill Produkter, Pallas Norsk Forsikringsselskap, Radioindustri and Automatindustri. He chaired the supervisory council of Pallas Norsk Forsikringsselskap and was a supervisory council me ...
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Arne Eggen
Arne Eggen (28 August 1881 in Trondheim, Norway – 26 October 1955 in Bærum, Norway) was a Norwegian composer and organist, married in 1916 to Engel Johanne Othilie Sparre Gulbranson (1878–1918), the brother of musicologist and composer (1877–1957), and brother-in-law to the opera singer Ellen Gulbranson (1863–1947). Biography Eggen studied at the Conservatory of Music in Oslo with Catharinus Elling (1858–1942), Peter Brynie Lindeman (1858–1930), and graduated as organist in 1905. He also studied at the Leipzig Conservatory (1906–1907) with Stephan Krehl and Karl Straube (1873–1950). He worked as organist in Bragernes Church (1908–1924), Drammen Church (1908–1924), Bryn Church (1924–1955) and Tanum Church, Bærum. He was chairman of the Norwegian Society of Composers (1927–1945), Honorary Chairman 1945 in TONO 1928–1930. Of his compositions include ''Oratorio King Olav'' (1930), the operas ''Olav Liljekrans'' (lyrics by Ibsen, 1931–1940) and ''Cy ...
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Eidé Norena
Karoline "Kaja" Eide Hansen, known professionally as Eidé Norena (April 26, 1884 – November 13, 1968) was a Norwegian soprano. Born in Horten, Norena studied in Oslo, Weimar, London, and Paris; her teachers included Ellen Gulbranson and Raimund von zur-Mühlen, and she received advice as well from Nellie Melba. She began her career as a concert singer before making her stage debut in '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' in Oslo. Soon thereafter she auditioned for Arturo Toscanini, who hired her to sing at La Scala. She sang at the Royal Opera House for several seasons, and from 1933 to 1938 she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, bowing there in ''La bohème'' on February 9, 1933. For six seasons she was on the roster of the Chicago Civic Opera. Norena was highly regarded as an actress, having been trained by her onetime husband, Egil Eide, to whom she was married from 1909 until 1939. Highly regarded for her work in Italian roles, she was especially noted for her performances as Gilda an ...
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Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, itself known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The area was fields until briefly settled in the 7th century when it became the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic, then abandoned at the end of the 9th century after which it returned to fields. By 1200 part of it had been walled off by the Abbot of Westminster Abbey for use as arable l ...
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Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856 to previous buildings. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The main auditorium seats 2,256 people, mak ...
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Lilli Lehmann
Lilli Lehmann, born Elisabeth Maria Lehmann, later Elisabeth Maria Lehmann-Kalisch (24 November 1848 – 17 May 1929) was a German operatic soprano. She was also a voice teacher. Biography The future opera star's father, Karl-August Lehmann, was a singer (Heldentenor) while her mother, Maria Theresia Löw (1809–1885), was a soprano. Her younger sister, Marie, also went on to become an operatic soprano. Her first lessons were from her mother, who had been a prima donna under Spohr at the Cassel opera. After singing small parts on the stage, for example in Mozart's ''Magic Flute'' at Prague in 1866, and studies under Heinrich Laube in Leipzig, Lehmann made her proper debut in 1870 in Berlin as a light soprano in Meyerbeer's ''Das Feldlager in Schlesien''. She subsequently became so successful that she was appointed an Imperial Chamber Singer for life in 1876. Lehmann sang in the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, singing in the first complete performances of The Ring Cycle as Wog ...
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Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special festival to showcase his own works, in particular his monumental cycle and ''Parsifal''. Performances take place in a specially designed theatre, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Wagner personally supervised the design and construction of the theatre, which contained many architectural innovations to accommodate the huge orchestras for which Wagner wrote as well as the composer's particular vision about the staging of his works. The Festival has become a pilgrimage destination for Wagnerians and classical-music enthusiasts. Origins The origins of the Festival itself lie rooted in Richard Wagner's interest in establishing his financial independence. A souring of the relationship with his patron, Ludwig II o ...
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Tristan Und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at the Königliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting. Wagner referred to the work not as an opera, but called it "" (literally ''a drama'', ''a plot'', or ''an action''). Wagner's composition of ''Tristan und Isolde'' was inspired by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (particularly ''The World as Will and Representation''), as well as by Wagner's affair with Mathilde Wesendonck. Widely acknowledged as a pinnacle of the operatic repertoire, ''Tristan'' was notable for Wagner's unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour, and harmonic suspension. The opera was enormously influential among Western classical com ...
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Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' of the ''Minnesänger'' Wolfram von Eschenbach, recounting the story of the Arthurian knight Parzival (Percival) and his quest for the Holy Grail. Wagner conceived the work in April 1857, but did not finish it until 25 years later. In composing it he took advantage of the particular acoustics of his Bayreuth Festspielhaus. ''Parsifal'' was first produced at the second Bayreuth Festival in 1882. The Bayreuth Festival maintained a monopoly on ''Parsifal'' productions until 1903, when the opera was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Wagner described ''Parsifal'' not as an opera, but as (a festival play for the consecration of the stage). At Bayreuth a tradition has arisen that audiences do not applaud at the end of the first ...
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