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Maria Stuarda
''Maria Stuarda'' (Mary Stuart) is a tragic opera (''tragedia lirica''), in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Andrea Maffei's translation of Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play '' Maria Stuart''. The opera is one of a number of operas by Donizetti which deal with the Tudor period in English history, including ''Anna Bolena'' (named for Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn), ''Roberto Devereux'' (named for a putative lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England) and '' Il castello di Kenilworth''. The lead female characters of the operas ''Anna Bolena'', ''Maria Stuarda'', and ''Roberto Devereux'' are often referred to as the "Three Donizetti Queens". The story is loosely based on the lives of Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Schiller had invented the confrontation of the two Queens, who in fact never met.Ashbrook 1972, pp. 17 to 30. After a series of problems surrounding its presentation in Naples after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
Opera is a form of 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 the Western classical music tradition. 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 employ two st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth I Of England
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed when Elizabeth was two years old. Anne's marriage to Henry was annulled, and Elizabeth was for a time declared illegitimate. Her half-brother Edward VI ruled until his death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters, the Catholic Mary and the younger Elizabeth, in spite of statute law to the contrary. Edward's will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Mary's reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. Upon her half-sister's death in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni Pacini
Giovanni Pacini (11 February 17966 December 1867) was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni's operas. The family was of Tuscan origin, living in Catania when the composer was born. His first 25 or so operas were written when Gioachino Rossini dominated the Italian operatic stage. But Pacini's operas were "rather superficial", a fact which, later, he candidly admitted in his ''Memoirs''.Rose 2001, in Holden, p. 650 For some years he held the post of "director of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples." Later, retiring to Viareggio to found a school of music, Pacini took time to assess the state of opera in Italy and, during a five-year period during which he stopped composing, laid out his ideas in his Memoirs. Like Saverio Mercadante, who also reassessed the strength and weaknesses of this period in opera, Pacini's style did change, but he quickly be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuseppe Nicolini (composer)
Giuseppe Nicolini (or Niccolini; 29 January 1762 – 18 December 1842) was an Italian composer who wrote at least 45 operas. From 1819 onwards, he devoted himself primarily to religious music. He was born and died at Piacenza. Operas Nicolini's operas include: *''La famiglia stravagante'' (''dramma giocoso'', 1793, Parma) *''La clemenza di Tito'' (''opera seria'', libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1797, Livorno) *''I due fratelli ridicoli (Li fratelli ridicoli)'' (''dramma giocoso'', libretto by Filippo Livigni, 1798, Rome) *''Il trionfo del bel sesso'' (''dramma giocoso'', libretto by Giovanni Bertati, 1799) *''I baccanali di Roma'' (1801, Milan) *''Il geloso innamorato'' (''farsa'', libretto by Giambattista Lorenzi, 1804, Naples) *' (opera seria, libretto by Michelangelo Prunetti, 1807, Rome) *''Le due gemelle'' (''farsa'', 1808, Rome) *''Coriolano ossia L'assedio di Roma'' (''opera seria'', libretto by Luigi Romanelli, 1808, Milan) *''Angelica e Medoro ossia L'Orlando'' (''opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 179517 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as prolific a number of works as either; and his development of operatic structures, melodic styles and orchestration contributed significantly to the foundations upon which Giuseppe Verdi built his dramatic technique. Biography Early years Mercadante was born illegitimate in Altamura, near Bari in Apulia; his precise date of birth has not been recorded, but he was baptised on 17 September 1795. Mercadante studied flute, violin and composition at the conservatory in Naples, and organized concerts among his compatriots.Michael Rose, "Mercadante: Flute Concertos", booklet accompanying the 2004 RCA CD recording with James Galway and I Solisti Veneti under Claudio Scimone. The opera composer Gioachino Rossini sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alberto Mazzucato
Alberto Mazzucato (28 July 1813 – 31 December 1877) was an Italian composer, music teacher, and writer. Mazzucato was born in Udine. Trained at the Padua Conservatory, he composed eight operas between 1834 and 1843, of which his most successful was ''Esmeralda'' (1838). He also contributed music to the pastiche ''La vergine di Kermo'' (1870) which also contained music by Carlo Pedrotti, Antonio Cagnoni, Federico Ricci, Amilcare Ponchielli, and Giovanni Pacini. Along with Luigi Felice Rossi and Guglielmo Quarenghi, he formed the Società di S Cecilia in 1860. After his last opera, ''Hernani'', premiered at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa on 26 December 1843, Mazzucato retired from his work as a composer in order to focus on his career as an educator. He had been appointed to the staff of the Milan Conservatory in 1843, eventually becoming its Director in 1872. Among his notable pupils were composers Arrigo Boito, Benedetto Junck, Isidore de Lara, Antônio Carlos Gomes, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolò Gabrielli
Count Nicolò Gabrielli di Quercita (21 February 1814 – 14 June 1891) was an Italian opera composer. Biography Born in Naples, at the time when the city was capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Nicolò Gabrielli was the scion of a distinguished yet decayed aristocratic family originally from Gubbio and settled thereafter in Tropea and Palermo. He showed since his early childhood a talent for music that led him to enter the Naples conservatory where he studied under the supervision of Nicola Zingarelli and Gaetano Donizetti. He dedicated himself especially to musical composition, and debuted in August 1835 with a melodrama in Neapolitan dialect, ''I dotti per fanatismo''. Nicolò Gabrielli was a very prolific composer, and from 1835 onwards worked at many melodramas, opera buffas, commedias and farsas, including ''La lettera perduta'' (1836), ''Il Cid'' (1836), ''La parola di matrimonio'' (1837), ''L'americano in fiera ossia Farvest Calelas'' (1837), ''Vinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlo Coccia
Carlo Coccia (14 April 1782 – 13 April 1873) was an Italian opera composer. He was known for the genre of opera semiseria. Life and career Coccia was born in Naples, and studied in his native city with Pietro Casella, Fedele Fenaroli, and Giovanni Paisiello, who introduced him to King Joseph Bonaparte for whom he became the private musician. He wrote his first opera, ''Il matrimonio per lettera di cambio'', in 1807, but it was a failure; however, the following year, with the help of Paisiello, his second opera, ''Il poeta fortunato'', was well received. He then moved to Venice, where he concentrated on opera semiseria, of which ''Clotilde'' from 1815, is perhaps the best example. Accused of imitating other composers, and of producing too many uneven operas in great haste, he was eventually eclipsed by the emerging Rossini, and left for Lisbon, where he remained from 1820 to 1823. He then settled in London in 1824, where he was conductor at His Majesty's Theatre. In 1827 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michele Carafa
Michele Enrico Francesco Vincenzo Aloisio Paolo Carafa di Colobrano (17 November 1787 – 26 July 1872) was an Italian opera composer. He was born in Naples and studied in Paris with Luigi Cherubini. He was Professor of counterpoint at the Paris Conservatoire from 1840 to 1858. One of his notable pupils was Achille Peri. Life and work Michele Enrico was born the second son of Giovanni Carafa, prince of Colubrano and duke of Alvito, and princess Teresa Lembo. He was given a solid musical education. In 1802, he composed his first opera, ''Il Fantasma'', which was staged at the theater of his father-in-law, prince of Caramanico, in 1805. He moved in 1806 to Paris, where he was taught composition by Luigi Cherubini and piano by Friedrich Kalkbrenner. However, pressured by his father to give up music for a military career, he became a lieutenant of the hussars in Napoleon's army. Taken prisoner in the Battle of Campo Tenese in 1806, he was freed and participated in the war ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary I Of England
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She is best known for her vigorous attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament, but during her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions. Mary was the only child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive to adulthood. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded their father in 1547 at the age of nine. When Edward became terminally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because he supposed, correctly, that she would reverse the Protestant ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloriana
''Gloriana'', Op. 53, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten to an English libretto by William Plomer, based on Lytton Strachey's 1928 ''Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History''. The first performance was presented at the Royal Opera House, London, in 1953 during the celebrations of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. ''Gloriana'' was the name given by the 16th-century poet Edmund Spenser to his character representing Queen Elizabeth I in his poem ''The Faerie Queene''. It became the popular name given to Elizabeth I. It is recorded that the troops at Tilbury hailed her with cries of "Gloriana, Gloriana, Gloriana", after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The opera depicts the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex, and was composed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953. Several in the audience of its gala opening were disappointed by the opera, which presents the first Elizabeth as a sympathetic, but flawed, character motiva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
