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La Cour De Célimène
''La cour de Célimène'' (''The Court of Célimène''), also known as ''Les douze'' (''The dozen'') is an opéra comique in two acts by French composer Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Joseph-Bernard Rosier (1804–1880). The principal character, the Countess, is not named, but her nickname in the opera, Célimène, refers to a character in Molière's drama ''Le Misanthrope'' who has a large number of suitors. Performance history The premiere took place at the second Salle Favart on 11 April 1855. It received nineteen performances, but was forgotten until a recording by Opera Rara was released in 2008. The opera returned to the stage for the first time in nearly a century and a half on 21 October 2011, when it opened the 60th season of Wexford Festival Opera. Roles Synopsis :Place: A chateau in Paris :Time: 1750 Act 1 ''The Countess's garden in the evening'' Twelve of the Countess's admirers are expecting her to arrive soon. There are four bree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opéra Comique
''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular ''opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Théâtre de la foire, Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a lesser extent the Comédie-Italienne),M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet and Richard Langham Smith"Opéra comique" ''Grove Music Online''. Oxford Music Online. 19 November 2009 which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections. Associated with the Paris theatre Opéra-Comique, of the same name, ''opéra comique'' is not necessarily comical or shallow; ''Carmen'', perhaps the most famous ''opéra comique'', is a tragedy. Use of the term The term ''opéra comique'' is complex in meaning and cannot simply be translated as "comic opera". The genre originated in the early 18th century with humorous and satirical plays performed at the theatres of the Paris fairs which contained songs (''Vaudeville (song), vaudevilles''), with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breeches Role
In theater, a breeches role or breeches part (also pants role, pants part, trouser role, trouser part, and Hosenrolle) is a role in which a female actor performs in male clothing. Breeches, tight-fitting knee-length pants, were a standard male garment when these roles were introduced. The theatrical term '' travesti'' covers both this sort of cross-dressing and also male actors dressing as female characters. Both are part of the long history of cross-dressing in music and opera and later in film and television. In opera, a breeches role refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer. Most often the character is an adolescent or a very young man, sung by a mezzo-soprano or contralto. Budden J., "Breeches part" in: '' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. The operatic concept assumes that the character is male, and the audience accepts him as such, even knowing that the actor is not. Cross-dressing female characters ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operas
Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of Western classical music, and Italian tradition in particular. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as ''Singspiel'' and ''Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1855 Operas
Events January–March * January 1 – Ottawa, Ontario, is incorporated as a city.' * January 5 – Ramón Castilla begins his third term as President of Peru. * January 23 ** The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in modern-day Minneapolis, a predecessor of the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge. ** The 8.2–8.3 Wairarapa earthquake claims between five and nine lives near the Cook Strait area of New Zealand. * January 26 – The Point No Point Treaty is signed in the Washington Territory. * January 27 – The Panama Railway becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. * January 29 – Lord Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, over the management of the Crimean War. * February 5 – Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. * February 11 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia. * February 12 – Michigan State University (the "pioneer" land-g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French-language Operas
French opera is both the art of opera in France and opera in the French language. It is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Messiaen. Many foreign-born composers have played a part in the French tradition, including Lully, Gluck, Salieri, Cherubini, Spontini, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Offenbach. French opera began at the court of Louis XIV with Jean-Baptiste Lully's (1673), although there had been various experiments with the form before that, most notably by Robert Cambert. Lully and his librettist Quinault created , a form in which dance music and choral writing were particularly prominent. Lully's most important successor was Rameau. After Rameau's death, Christoph Willibald Gluck was persuaded to produce six operas for the Paris Opera in the 1770s. They show the influence of Rameau, but simplified and with gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operas By Ambroise Thomas
Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of Western classical music, and Italian tradition in particular. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as ''Singspiel'' and ''Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alastair Miles
Alastair Miles (born 11 July 1961, Harrow, England) is a British operatic and concert bass who has had an international career since the late 1980s. Biography Education Alastair Miles was educated at The John Lyon School, Harrow, and subsequently at St Marylebone Grammar School. He began flute lessons at the age of fourteen with the composer Albert Alan Owen, a pupil of Nadia Boulanger, who inspired him to think about a career in music. Miles studied flute at the Guildhall School of Music under Trevor Wye, Peter Lloyd and Edward Beckett. He became an orchestral player and taught at Stowe School and Chetham's School of Music before embarking on his vocal career. From 1982 to 1985 he sang as a Lay Clerk in the choir of St. Albans Cathedral under the direction of Stephen Darlington. Having studied with bass-baritone Richard Standen whilst at the Guildhall, he was prompted by English National Opera baritone Geoffrey Chard, a near-neighbour of his parents, to have lessons wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Rodgers
Joan Rodgers C.B.E. (born 4 November 1956, Cleator Moor, Cumbria, England) is an English operatic soprano. Early life She attended Whitehaven Grammar School, gaining French, German and Russian A-levels. She read Russian at the University of Liverpool and studied at the RNCM. She studied singing with Audrey Langford. Career She made her professional opera debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1982 as Pamina in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute''; a role she later sang for her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1995. In 1983 she made her debut at the English National Opera as the Wood Nymph in ''Rusalka'', and performed for the first time at the Royal Opera House as the princess in ''L'enfant et les sortilèges''. She made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1989 as Susanna in Mozart's ''The Marriage of Figaro''. Personal life She was married to the conductor Paul Daniel Paul Daniel (born 5 July 1958) is an English conductor. Biography Early life Dani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laura Claycomb
Laura Claycomb (born August 23, 1968) is an American lyric coloratura soprano singer. Background Claycomb was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, but grew up in Dallas, where she excelled in church and school choir, winning numerous youth competitions, such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing, U.I.L., and Texas All-State Choir. A graduate of Highland Park High School, Claycomb won a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University, where she studied voice with Barbara Hill Moore, and completed two bachelor's degrees in vocal performance and foreign languages. She studied with the late Norma Newton from 1994 until Newton's death in 2008. She won the Silver Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1994, the Operetta Prize at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna in 1992, and First Prize in the National Opera Association Competition in 1992. Early career She gained international attention for the first time in 1994 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Litton
Andrew Litton (born May 16, 1959, New York City) is an American orchestral conductor. Litton is a graduate of The Fieldston School. Biography He studied piano with Nadia Reisenberg and conducting with Sixten Ehrling at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, receiving his Bachelor of Music degree and his Master of Music degree in piano and conducting. He also received lessons in conducting from Walter Weller at the Salzburg Mozarteum and Edoardo Müller in Milan. His early teachers included John DeMaio. The youngest-ever winner of the BBC International Conductors Competition in 1982, he served as Assistant Conductor at Teatro alla Scala and Exxon/Arts Endowment Assistant Conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. under Mstislav Rostropovich (1982-1985), where subsequently he was Associate Conductor (1985-1986). Litton was a participant in the Affiliate Artists Exxon-Arts Endowment Conductors Program. In 2003, he was awarded Yale University's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Geoffrey Mitchell is a countertenor-voiced chorister and choral conductor. Mitchell joined Exeter Cathedral choir at the age of eight. Ten years later, he joined the Renaissance Singers, while undertaking National Service in the Royal Navy. Mitchell has performed with the Purcell Singers, Schütz Choir, Cantores in Ecclesia, Pro Cantione Antiqua and the John Alldis Choir and as a soloist. He is a former Professor of Counter-Tenor at the Royal Academy of Music and former chairman and is vice-president of the National Federation of Cathedral Old Choristers’ Associations. Also , he is chief guest conductor of Carillon, guest conductor of Brazil's Camerata Antiqua of Curitiba, and director of the London Festival Singers. He conducted early recordings of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita for Andrew Lloyd Webber. At live performances by Pink Floyd of their ''Atom Heart Mother'' suite, he conducted his own Geoffrey Mitchell Choir as well as the brass section. Filmed extracts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Arturo Toscanini; of the Philharmonia's younger conductors, the most important to its development was Herbert von Karajan who, though never formally chief conductor, was closely associated with the orchestra in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Philharmonia became widely regarded as the finest of London's five symphony orchestras in its first two decades. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s the orchestra's chief conductor was Otto Klemperer, with whom the orchestra gave many concerts and made numerous recordings of the core orchestral repertoire. During Klemperer's tenure Legge, citing the difficulty of maintaining the orchestra's high standards, attempted to disband it in 1964, but the players, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
