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Isabelle Cals
Isabelle Cals (born 1993) is a French operatic soprano and mezzo-soprano who made an international career in opera and concert. Her roles include Bizet's Carmen and Wagner's Kundry. Life and career Born in south-western France, Cals achieved a master's degree in Chinese, and a degree in international relations. She worked as expert for Asia in a lawyer's office and then for three years for Deloitte. She turned to singing at age 24, first as a mezzo-soprano, studying at the Centre de formation lyrique of the Opéra de Paris. Her roles include the title roles of Debussy's ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' and Offenbach's ''La belle Hélène'', and Concepcion in Ravel's ''L'heure espagnole''. Although in demand as a mezzo-soprano, performing roles such as the title role of Bizet's ''Carmen'', she decided to expand her tessitura into the soprano register, and especially study towards a better technique. Her first role as a soprano was Donna Elvira in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' in 2006. She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opéra De Paris
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be known more simply as the . Classical ballet as it is known today arose within the Paris Opera as the Paris Opera Ballet and has remained an integral and important part of the company. Currently called the , it mainly produces operas at its modern 2,723-seat theatre Opéra Bastille which opened in 1989, and ballets and some classical operas at the older 1,979-seat Palais Garnier which opened in 1875. Small scale and contemporary works are also staged in the 500-seat Amphitheatre under the Opéra Bastille. The company's annual budget is in the order of 200 million euros, of which €100M come from the French state and €70M from box office receipts. With this money, the company runs the two houses and supports a large permanent s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeanne D'Arc Au Bûcher
''Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' (''Joan of Arc at the Stake'') is an oratorio by Arthur Honegger, originally commissioned by Ida Rubinstein. It was set to a libretto by Paul Claudel, and the work runs about 70 minutes. It premiered on 12 May 1938 in Basel, with Rubinstein as Jeanne, and Jean Périer in the speaking role of Brother Dominique, with the Basel Boys Choir singing the children's chorus part, and Paul Sacher conducting. The drama takes place during Joan of Arc's last minutes on the stake, with flashbacks to her trial and her younger days. Honegger entitled his work a ''dramatic oratorio'', adding speaking roles and actors. The work has an important part for the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument (played at the premiere by its inventor Maurice Martenot). Claudel's dramatic frame provided Honegger with a space – between heaven and earth, past and present – where he could mix styles from the popular to the sublime. A hybrid work: partly oratorio and partly ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dialogues Des Carmélites
' (''Dialogues of the Carmelites''), FP 159, is an opera in three acts, divided into twelve scenes with linking orchestral interludes, with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc, completed in 1956. The composer's second opera, Poulenc wrote the libretto after the work of the same name by Georges Bernanos. The opera tells a fictionalised version of the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, Carmelite nuns who, in 1794 during the closing days of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their vocation. The world première of the opera occurred (in Italian translation) on 26 January 1957 at La Scala in Milan. The première of the French-language version took place in Paris on 21 June 1957. The United States première, in English, followed in San Francisco in September 1957. Development Bernanos had been hired in 1947 to write the dialogue for a film screenplay, through Raymond-Léopold Bruckberger and the scenario writer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eugene Onegin (opera)
''Eugene Onegin'' ( rus, Евгений Онегин, italic=yes, Yevgény Onégin, jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, Ru-Evgeny_Onegin.ogg), Op. 24, is an opera ("lyrical scenes") in 3 acts (7 scenes), composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto, organised by the composer himself, very closely follows certain passages in Alexander Pushkin's 1825-1832 novel in verse, retaining much of his poetry. Tchaikovsky's friend Konstantin Shilovsky contributed M. Triquet's verses in Act 2, Scene 1, while Tchaikovsky himself arranged the text for Lensky's arioso in Act 1, Scene 1, and almost all of Prince Gremin's aria in Act 3, Scene 1. ''Eugene Onegin'' is a well-known example of lyric opera, to which Tchaikovsky added music of a dramatic nature. The story concerns a selfish hero who lives to regret his blasé rejection of a young woman's love and his careless incitement of a fatal duel with his best friend. The opera was first performed in Moscow in 1879. There are several recor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falstaff (opera)
''Falstaff'' () is a comic opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian-language libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from the play ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' and scenes from ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and ''Henry IV, Part 2, Part 2'', by William Shakespeare. The work premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan. Verdi wrote ''Falstaff'', the last of his 28 operas, as he approached the age of 80. It was his second comedy, and his third work based on a Shakespeare play, following ''Macbeth (opera), Macbeth'' and ''Otello''. The plot revolves around the thwarted, sometimes farcical, efforts of the fat knight Sir John Falstaff to seduce two married women to gain access to their husbands' wealth. Verdi was concerned about working on a new opera at his advanced age, but he yearned to write a comic work and was pleased with Boito's draft libretto. It took the collaborators three years from mid-1889 to complete. Although the prospect of a new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rusalka (opera)
''Rusalka'' (), Op. 114, is an opera ('lyric fairy tale') by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil (1868–1950) based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. A rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river. ''Rusalka'' was the ninth opera Dvořák composed. It is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses. Dvořák had played viola for pit orchestras in Prague (the Estates Theatre from 1857 until 1859 while a student, then from 1862 until 1871 at the Provisional Theatre). He thus had direct experience of a wide range of operas by Mozart, Weber, Rossini, Lortzing, Wagner, Verdi and Smetana. 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 orchestr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Damnation De Faust
''La damnation de Faust'' (English: ''The Damnation of Faust''), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "''légende dramatique''" ( dramatic legend). It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 6 December 1846. Background and composition history The French composer was inspired by a translation of Goethe's dramatic poem '' Faust'' and produced a musical work that, like the masterpiece on which it is based, defies easy categorisation. Conceived at various times as a free-form oratorio and as an opera (Berlioz ultimately called it a "légende dramatique") its travelogue form and cosmic perspective have made it an extreme challenge to stage as an opera. Berlioz himself was eager to see the work staged, but once he did, he conceded that the production techniques of his time were not up to the task of bringing the work to dramatic life. Most of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Contes D'Hoffmann
''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in October 1880, four months before the premiere. Composition history and sources Offenbach saw a play, , written by Barbier and Michel Carré and produced at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, Odéon Theatre in Paris in 1851. After returning from America in 1876, Offenbach learned that Barbier had adapted the play, which had now set to music at the Opéra. Salomon handed the project to Offenbach. Work proceeded slowly, interrupted by the composition of profitable lighter works. Offenbach had a premonition, like Antonia, the heroine of Act 2, that he would die prior to its completion. Offenbach continued working on the opera throughout 1880, attending some rehearsals. On 5 October 1880, he died with the manuscript in his hand, just four m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Béatrice Et Bénédict
''Béatrice et Bénédict'' (''Beatrice and Benedick'') is an ''opéra comique'' in two acts by French composer Hector Berlioz. Berlioz wrote the French libretto himself, based in general outline on a subplot in Shakespeare's '' Much Ado About Nothing''. Berlioz had been interested in setting Shakespeare's comedy since his return from Italy in 1833, but only composed the score of ''Béatrice et Bénédict'' following the completion of ''Les Troyens'' in 1858. It was first performed at the opening of the Theater Baden-Baden on 9 August 1862. Holoman D. K. "''Béatrice et Bénédict''". In: '' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. Berlioz conducted the first two performances of a German version in Weimar in 1863, where, as he wrote in his memoirs, he was "overwhelmed by all sorts of kind attention." It is the first notable version of Shakespeare's play in operatic form, and was followed by works by, among others, Árpád Doppler, Paul Puget, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armide (Lully)
''Armide'' is an opera in five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The libretto by Philippe Quinault is based on Torquato Tasso's poem ''La Gerusalemme liberata'' (''Jerusalem Delivered''). The work is in the form of a tragédie en musique, a genre invented by Lully and Quinault. Critics in the 18th century regarded ''Armide'' as Lully's masterpiece. It continues to be well-regarded, featuring some of the best-known music in French baroque opera and being arguably ahead of its time in its psychological interest. Unlike most of his operas, ''Armide'' concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a character – not Renaud, who spends most of the opera under Armide's spell, but Armide, who repeatedly tries without success to choose vengeance over love. Performance history ''Armide'' was first performed on 15 February 1686 by the Paris Opera at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, with scenery by Bérain, in the presence of the Grand Dauphin. The subject for the opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opéra De Marseille
The Opéra de Marseille, known today as the Opéra Municipal, is an opera company located in Marseille, France. In 1685, the city was the second in France after Bordeaux to have an opera house which was erected on a tennis court. However, the first real theatre, the ''Grand-Théâtre'' or ''Salle Bauveau'' was constructed in 1787. During its period of great opulence following the Revolution, it was the site of many major opera presentations, including Verdi’s ''Rigoletto'' and ''Il Trovatore'' in 1860 and performances in 1866 of ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' and ''Il Barbiere di Siviglia'' by the famous soprano, Adelina Patti. Also, French premieres of major operatic works were given in the theatre: these include ''Aida'' (1877), ''La Fanciulla del West'' (1912), and an historic performance by Dame Nellie Melba in Ambroise Thomas’ ''Hamlet'' in 1890. Some years following the installation of electricity, in November 1919 a fire destroyed the 18th century theatre, leaving only its she ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphony No
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section (violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). Etymology and origins The word ''symphony'' is derived from the Greek word (), meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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