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Léon Melchissédec
Léon Melchissédec (born Clermont Ferrand, 7 May 1843, died Neuilly-sur-Seine 23 March 1925) was a French baritone who enjoyed a long career in the French capital across a broad range of operatic genres, and later made some recordings and also taught at the Paris Conservatoire.Forbes E. Léon Melchissédec. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. Life and career He played second violin in the Théâtre de Saint-Étienne before coming to Paris to study.Martin J. ''Nos artistes des théâtres et concerts.'' Paul Ollendorff, Paris, 1895. After classes with Alkan, Puget, Mocker and Levasseur at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won a first prize in 1865,Kutsch KJ, Riemens L. Léon Melchissèdec. In : ''Unvergängliche Stimmen: Sängerlexikon.'' Francke Verlag, Bern and Munchen, 1982. he made his debut at the Paris Opéra-Comique on 16 July 1866 in Cohen's ''José Maria''. Remaining at the Opéra-Comique until 1877, Melchissédec’s repert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Léon Melchissédec - Photo By Alphonse Liébert - Gallica
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again from 1296 to 1301 * León (historical region), composed of the Spanish provinces León, Salamanca, and Zamora * Viscounty of Léon, a feudal state in France during the 11th to 13th centuries * Saint-Pol-de-Léon, a commune in Brittany, France * Léon, Landes, a commune in Aquitaine, France * Isla de León, a Spanish island * Leon (Souda Bay), an islet in Souda Bay, Chania, on the island of Crete North America * León, Guanajuato, Mexico, a large city * Leon, California, United States, a ghost town * Leon, Iowa, United States * Leon, Kansas, United States * Leon, New York, United States * Leon, Oklahoma, United States * Leon, Virginia, United States * Leon, West Virginia, United States * Leon, Wisconsin (other), United States, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Le Timbre D’argent
''Le timbre d'argent'' (, ''The Silver Bell'') is an in four acts by composer Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. Although completed in 1865, the opera did not receive its premiere performance until 23 February 1877, when it was presented by Albert Vizentini's Théâtre National Lyrique at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris.Saint-Saëns 1877, p. 3; Boston Public Library 1916p. 339 Langham-Smith 1992, p. 874; Harding 1980, p. 202. It includes the well-known aria "Le bonheur est chose légère". History ''Le timbre d'argent'' is the first opera that Saint-Saëns composed. The opera was commissioned by the Théâtre Lyrique and he began composing the music for it in 1864, finishing in 1865. The work's premiere was delayed, first by the financial difficulties of the opera house and then later by the Franco-Prussian War. Over the next 12 years Saint-Saëns recomposed the dialogue to form a Grand Opera version, but Albert Vizentini and his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet (opera), Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning France's top music prize, the Prix de Rome. He pursued a career as a composer of operas, completing his first opera, ''La double échelle'', in 1837. He wrote twenty further operas over the next decades, mostly comic, but he also treated more serious subjects, finding considerable success with audiences in France and abroad. Thomas was appointed as a professor at the Conservatoire in 1856, and in 1871 he succeeded Daniel Auber as director. Between then and his death at his home in Paris twenty-five years later, he modernised the Conservatoire's organisation while imposing a rigidly conservative curriculum, hostile to modern music, and attempting to prevent composers such as César Franck and Gabriel Fauré fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Marston Records
Marston Records is an independent American record label. The label specializes in the remastering and reissuing of very early and rare recordings. It was founded in 1997 by Ward Marston and Scott Kessler. Releases on Marston Records Collections of rare recordings of singers include Giuseppe Anselmi, Jane Bathori, Mattia Battistini, Celestina Boninsegna, Max Bouvet, Rosalia Chalia, Feodor Chaliapin, Arthur Endrèze, Emilio de Gogorza, Lotte Lehmann, Félia Litvinne, Fernando De Lucia, John McCormack, Léon Melchissédec, Graziella Pareto, Maurice Renaud, Tito Schipa, Lotte Schöne, Hina Spani, Conchita Supervía, Lawrence Tibbett, Vanni-Marcoux, César Vezzani and Francisco Viñas. Collections of pianists' rare recordings include Josef Hofmann, Raoul von Koczalski, Jorge Bolet and Vladimir de Pachmann Vladimir de Pachmann or Pachman (27 July 18486 January 1933) was a pianist from the Russian Empire of German ethnicity, especially noted for performing the works of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Pathé Records
Pathé Records was an international record company and label and producer of phonographs, based in France, and active from the 1890s through the 1930s. Early years The Pathé record business was founded by brothers Charles and Émile Pathé, then owners of a successful bistro in Paris. In 1894, they began selling Edison and Columbia phonographs and accompanying cylinder records. Shortly thereafter, the brothers designed and sold their own phonographs. These incorporated elements of other brands. Soon after, they also started marketing pre-recorded cylinder records. By 1896 the Pathé brothers had offices and recording studios not only in Paris, but also in London, Milan, and St. Petersburg. Pathé cylinders and discs In 1894, the Pathé brothers started selling their own phonographs. The earliest Pathé offerings were phonograph cylinders. Pathé manufactured cylinder records until approximately 1914. In addition to standard size cylinder records (), Pathé produced sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Roméo Et Juliette
''Roméo et Juliette'' (, ''Romeo and Juliet'') is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on ''Romeo and Juliet'' by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique (Théâtre-Lyrique Impérial du Châtelet), Paris on 27 April 1867. This opera is notable for the series of four duets for the main characters and the waltz song ''"Je veux vivre"'' for the soprano. Performance history Gounod's opera ''Faust'' had become popular at the Théâtre Lyrique since its premiere in 1859 (it was performed over 300 times between 1859 and 1868) and this led to a further commission from the director Léon Carvalho. Walsh, T. J. ''Second Empire Opera – The Théâtre-Lyrique Paris 1851–1870.'' John Calder, London, 1981. Behind the scenes there were difficulties in casting the lead tenor, and Gounod was said to have composed the last act twice, but after the public general rehearsal and first night it was hail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Le Cid (opera)
''Le Cid'' is an opera in four acts and ten tableaux by Jules Massenet to a France, French libretto by Adolphe d'Ennery, Louis Gallet and Édouard Blau. It is based on Le Cid, the play of the same name by Pierre Corneille. It was first performed by a star-studded cast at the Paris Opéra on 30 November 1885 in the presence of Jules Grévy, President Grévy, with Jean de Reszke as Rodrigue. The staging was directed by Pedro Gailhard, with costumes designed by Comte Lepic, and sets by Eugène Carpezat (act 1), Enrico Robecchi and his student Amable (act 2), Auguste Alfred Rubé, Philippe Chaperon and their students Marcel Jambon (act 3), and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (act 4). The opera had been seen 150 times by 1919 but faded from the repertory and was not performed again in Paris until the 2015 revival at the Palais Garnier. While ''Le Cid'' is not in the standard operatic repertory, the ballet suite is a popular concert and recording piece which includes dances from different regions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Le Tribut De Zamora
is a grand opera in four acts by Charles Gounod, to a libretto by Adolphe d'Ennery and Jules Brésil set in Moorish Spain shortly after the Battle of Zamora in 939 CE. The work was premiered at the Paris Opera's Palais Garnier on 1 April 1881. It was Gounod's last work for the stage. The libretto was offered to Gounod after negotiations with Giuseppe Verdi stalled. The premiere was a success, Hermosa's patriotic (sung by Gabrielle Krauss) being enthusiastically encored, and praise being showered on the magnificent costumes by Eugène Lacoste and the four settings designed by Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon (acts 1 and 4), Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (act 2), Antoine Lavastre and Eugène Carpezat (act 3). The piece ran for 34 performances. Twentieth century criticism is less kind, calling it "musty...too reminiscent of his earlier work" or dismissing it as an exercise in ''spagnuolismo'' (Hispanicism). Roles Synopsis Scene: Moorish Spain shortly after the Moors de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Faust (opera)
''Faust'' is a grand opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play ''Faust et Marguerite'', in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's '' Faust, Part One''. It debuted at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris on 19 March 1859, with influential sets designed by Charles-Antoine Cambon and Joseph Thierry, Jean Émile Daran, Édouard Desplechin, and Philippe Chaperon. Performance history The original version of Faust employed spoken dialogue, and it was in this form that the work was first performed. The manager of the Théâtre Lyrique, Léon Carvalho cast his wife Caroline Miolan-Carvalho as Marguerite and there were various changes during production, including the removal and contraction of several numbers. The tenor Hector Gruyer was originally cast as Faust but was found to be inadequate during rehearsals, being eventually replaced by a principal of the Opéra-Comique, Jose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851. The work, Verdi's sixteenth in the genre, is widely considered to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, ''La maledizione'' (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by the Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from the assassin hired by he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
La Favorite
''La favorite'' (''The Favourite'', frequently referred to by its Italian title: ''La favorita'') is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play ''Le comte de Comminges'' by Baculard d'Arnaud with additions by Eugène Scribe based on the story of Leonora de Guzman. The opera concerns the romantic struggles of the King of Castile, Alfonso XI, and his mistress, the "favourite" Leonora, against the backdrop of the political wiles of receding Moorish Spain and the life of the Catholic Church. It premiered on 2 December 1840 at the Académie Royale de Musique (Salle Le Peletier) in Paris. Background Originally, Donizetti had been composing an opera by the name of ''Le Duc d'Albe'' as his second work for the Opéra in Paris. However, the director, Léon Pillet, objected to an opera without a prominent role for his mistress, mezzo-soprano Rosine Stoltz. Donizetti therefore abandoned ''Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
L'Africaine
''L'Africaine'' (''The African Woman'') is an 1837 five-act French ''grand opéra'' by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe. By 1852, the plot had been revised to depict fictional events in the life of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, adopting his Gallicized name as its working title, ''Vasco de Gama''. The full score was copied the day before Meyerbeer died in 1864. François-Joseph Fétis's published edition, ''L'Africaine'', premiered in 1865 at the Paris Opéra and was long performed. Since 2013, some productions and recordings have applied revisions, including the title ''Vasco de Gama'', based on Meyerbeer's manuscript, from which Casa Ricordi published a Historical editions (music), critical edition in 2018. Composition The first contract between Meyerbeer and Scribe for the writing of the libretto was signed in May 1837. The starting point for the story was "Le Mancenillier", a poem by Charles Hubert Millevoye, in which a girl sits under a tree releasin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
