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Günther Morbach
Günther Morbach (26 November 1927 – 4 August 2009) was a German classical bass in opera and concert. He performed major roles at German opera houses and on international tours. Career Born in Zehdenick, Morbach studied voice at the Musikhochschule Hamburg from the end of the 1940s with Prof. Korberg. He made his stage debut at the Stadttheater Flensburg in 1955, as the Polizeikommissar in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss. He was from 1956 a member of Stadttheater Augsburg, from 1959 of the Opernhaus Essen, from 1960 of the Oper Frankfurt, and from 1965 of the Opernhaus Dortmund. In 1966, when the new opera house was opened, he appeared as Sarastro in Mozart's ''Die Zauberflöte'', conducted by Wilhelm Schüchter. Morbach was a member of the Staatstheater Braunschweig from 1969 where he stayed until he retired from the stage in 1993. He performed more than 180 roles, of comic as well as serious characters. In the German repertoire, he was known for Don Alfonso in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zehdenick
Zehdenick () is a town in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Havel, southeast of Fürstenberg/Havel, and north of Berlin (centre). Since 31 July 2013, the city has the additional appellation "Havelstadt". Geography Zehdenick is located about 60 km north of Berlin on the Havel. It forms the northern starting point of the natural region of the Zehdenick-Spandauer Havelniederung. East extends the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve. The urban area belongs mainly to the historical landscape Uckermark. The subdivisions Marienthal and Ribbeck pertain to the Ruppiner Land, Mildenberg and Zabelsdorf to the Land Löwenberg. Zehdenick has a share in the '' Naturschutzgebiet'' Kleine Schorfheide. Subdivision The urban area of Zehdenick next to the core city Zehdenick includes 13 villages: Besides these ''Ortsteile'' (districts), there are several smaller inhabited places: Amt Mildenberg, Ausbau (District Ribbeck), Ausbau (Core city Zehden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86B, is the second of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870, and received its first performance as part of the ''Ring'' cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 14 August 1876. As the ''Ring'' cycle was conceived by Wagner in reverse order of performance, ''Die Walküre'' was the third of the four texts to be written, although Wagner composed the music in performance sequence. The text was completed by July 1852, and the music by March 1856. Wagner largely followed the principles related to the form of musical drama, which he had set out in his 1851 essay ''Opera and Drama'' under which the music would interpret the text emotionally, reflecting the feelings and moods behind the work, using a system of recurring leitmotifs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmas Oratorio
The ''Christmas Oratorio'' (German: ''Weihnachtsoratorium''), , is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance in a church service on a feast day of the Christmas period. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a largely lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The date is confirmed in Bach's autograph manuscript. The next complete public performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The ''Christmas Oratorio'' is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The author of the text is unknown, although a likely collaborator was Christian Friedrich Henrici ( Picander). The work belongs to a group of three oratorios written in 1734 and 1735 for major feasts, the other two works being th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oratorio
An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters (e.g. soloists), and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, and typically involves significant theatrical spectacle, including sets, props, and costuming, as well as staged interactions between characters. In oratorio, there is generally minimal staging, with the chorus often assuming a more central dramatic role, and the work is typically presented as a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are not infrequently presented in concert form. A particularly important difference between opera and oratorio is in the typical subject matter of the text. An opera libretto may deal with any conceivable dramatic subject (e.g. history, mythology, Richard Nixon, Anna Nicole Smith an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harald Weiss
Harald Weiss (surname also spelled "Weiß") (born 26 May 1949) is a German composer, director, screenwriter, and free-lance artist. Biography Weiss was born in Salzgitter. His compositions are influenced by minimalism as well as jazz and rock music. Numerous trips (in the context of theatre workshops and tours) to Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America have also had a significant influence on his music. Weiss has received many awards for his musical compositions and films, including the Niedersachsen Kulturpreis (1982), the Kulturpreis of Bielefeld (1984), and a fellowship from the Villa Massimo in Rome (1985-1986). In 2009, Dorothee Mields and Andreas Karasiak were the soloists in his requiem composition ''Schwarz vor Augen und es ward Licht'', dedicated to the Knabenchor Hannover, premiered on 31 October 2009 with the NDR Symphony Orchestra. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jakob Lenz (opera)
''Jakob Lenz'' is a one-act chamber opera by Wolfgang Rihm, written 1977–78 to a libretto by Michael Fröhling after Georg Büchner's 1836 novella '' Lenz'' which in turn is based on an incident in the life of the German poet Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (1751–1792). Rihm dedicated the opera to his teacher, .Work details Rihm received for ''Jakob Lenz'' the Beethoven Prize of the city of Bonn in 1980. __TOC__ Performance history The first performance was given at the |
Lulu (opera)
''Lulu'' (composed from 1929 to 1935, premièred incomplete in 1937 and complete in 1979) is an opera in three acts by Alban Berg. Berg adapted the libretto from Frank Wedekind's two ''Lulu'' Play (theatre), plays, ''Erdgeist'' (''Earth Spirit (play), Earth Spirit'', 1895) and ''Die Büchse der Pandora'' (''Pandora's Box (play), Pandora's Box'', 1904). Berg died before completing the third and final act, and the opera was typically performed as a "torso" until Friedrich Cerha's 1979 orchestration of the act 3 sketches, which is now established as the standard version. ''Lulu'' is notable for using twelve-tone technique during a time that was particularly inhospitable to it. Theodor W. Adorno praised it as "one of those works that reveals the extent of its quality the longer and more deeply one immerses oneself in it." The opera tells the story of Lulu, an ambiguous in the fin de siècle, through a series of chiastic structures in both the music and drama alike. Introduced allegor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathis Der Maler
''Mathis der Maler'' (''Matthias the Painter'' is an opera by Paul Hindemith. The work's protagonist, Matthias Grünewald, was a historical figure who flourished during the Reformation, and whose art, in particular the Isenheim Altarpiece, inspired many creative figures in the early 20th century. Hindemith completed the opera, writing his own libretto, in 1935. By that time, however, the rise of Nazism prevented Hindemith from securing a performance in Germany. The story, set during the German Peasants' War (1524–25), concerns Matthias's struggle for artistic freedom of expression in the repressive climate of his day, which mirrored Hindemith's own struggle as the Nazis attained power and repressed dissent. The opera's obvious political message did not escape the regime. Performance history The opera was first performed at the Opernhaus Zürich on 28 May 1938, conducted by Robert Denzler. On 14 October 1956, a rebuilt Schauspiel Köln in Cologne opened with a gala performance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boris Godunov (opera)
''Boris Godunov'' ( ) is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the List of Russian rulers, Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar (1598 to 1605) during the Time of Troubles, and his nemesis (mythology), nemesis, the False Dmitriy I, False Dmitriy (reigned 1605 to 1606). The Russian-language libretto was written by the composer, and is based on the 1825 drama ''Boris Godunov (play), Boris Godunov'' by Alexander Pushkin, Aleksandr Pushkin, and, in the Revised Version of 1872, on Nikolay Karamzin's ''History of the Russian State''. Among major operas, ''Boris Godunov'' shares with Giuseppe Verdi's ''Don Carlos'' (1867) the distinction of having an extremely complex creative history, as well as a great wealth of alternative material. The composer created two versions—the Original Version of 1869, which ... [...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] |
Simon Boccanegra
''Simon Boccanegra'' () is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play ''Simón Bocanegra'' (1843) by Antonio García Gutiérrez, whose play ''El trovador'' had been the basis for Verdi's 1853 opera, '' Il trovatore''. ''Simon Boccanegra'' was first performed at Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 12 March 1857. Given the complications of the original plot and the generally poor popular response – although the critical one was more encouraging – the opera dropped out of favour after 1866. Finally, 23 years later, Verdi's publisher persuaded the composer to revise the opera, with text changes to be prepared by Arrigo Boito, the librettist who aspired to work with the aging composer on a project which eventually became a new opera, ''Otello'', but to whom Verdi had not totally committed at that time. The revised version of ''Simon Boccanegra'', with the now-famous Council Chamber scene, was first perfo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Pasquale
''Don Pasquale'' () is a Gaetano Donizetti opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts, with an Italian libretto completed largely by Giovanni Ruffini as well as the composer. It was based on a libretto by Angelo Anelli for Stefano Pavesi's opera ''Ser Marcantonio'' written in 1810 but, on the published libretto, the author appears as "M.A." Donizetti so dominated the preparation of the libretto that Ruffini refused to allow his name to be put on the score. This resulted in confusion over the identity of the librettist for more than half a century, but as Herbert Weinstock establishes, it was largely Ruffini's work and, in withholding his name from it as librettist, "Donizetti or [his assistant] Michele Accursi may have thought that, lacking Ruffini's name, the authorship might as well be assigned to Accursi's initials as to a pseudonym". The opera was first performed on 3 January 1843 by the Théâtre-Italien at the Salle Ventadour in Paris with great success and it is general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
