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Olaf Bär
Olaf Bär (born 19 December 1957) is a German operatic baritone. Life Bär received his musical training in his home city of Dresden, studying at the city's Hochschule für Musik. His career has concentrated on lieder and on the lyric baritone roles of the operatic repertoire. Many of his early lieder performances were accompanied by Geoffrey Parsons. His operatic debut was in 1981 in Dresden and he was a member of that city's opera company (Semperoper) from 1985 to 1991. His voice has been compared favorably with that of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.http://www.gramophone.co.uk/gramofilereview.asp?reviewID=9713097&mediaID=165502&issue=Reviewed%3A+Awards+1997 Selected recorded repertoire * Bach: Cantatas with Peter Schreier and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (EMI, 1991) * Brahms: '' A German Requiem'' (EMI, 1992) * Duruflé: Requiem (EMI, 1988) * Fauré: Requiem (EMI, 1988) * Mahler (arr. Schoenberg): '' Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen'' with Linos Ensemble (Capriccio, 1999) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretto, librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, Theatrical scenery, 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 conducting, 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 culture#Music, Western classical music, and Italian tradition in particular. Originally understood as an sung-through, entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include :Opera genres, numerous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Requiem (Fauré)
Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Opus number, Op. 48, between 1887 and 1890. The choral-orchestral setting of the shortened Catholic Requiem, Mass for the Dead in Latin is the best-known of his large works. Its focus is on eternal rest and consolation. Fauré's reasons for composing the work are unclear, but do not appear to have had anything to do with the death of his parents in the mid-1880s. He composed the work in the late 1880s and revised it in the 1890s, finishing it in 1900. In seven movement (music), movements, the work is scored for soprano and baritone soloists, mixed choir, orchestra and organ. Different from typical Requiem settings, the full Sequence (musical form), sequence is omitted, replaced by just one of its sections . The final movement is based on a text that is not part of the Requiem (liturgy), liturgy of the funeral Mass but of the Roman Catholic funeral, burial. Fauré wrote of the work, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of reli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' ("total work of art"), whereby he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. The drama was to be presented as a continuously sung narrative, without conventional operatic structures like Aria, arias and Recitative, recitatives. He described this vision in a List of prose works by Richard Wagner, series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber music, chamber groups, orchestra, choir and the opera. His works typify the spirit of the Romantic era in German music. Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony, to an affluent middle-class family with no musical connections, and was initially unsure whether to pursue a career as a lawyer or to make a living as a pianist-composer. He studied law at the universities of Leipzig University, Leipzig and Heidelberg University, Heidelberg but his main interests were music and Romantic literature. From 1829 he was a student of the piano teacher Friedrich Wieck, but his hopes for a career as a virtuoso pianist were frustrated by a worsening problem with his right hand, and he concentrated on composition. His early works were mainly piano pieces, inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winterreise
''Winterreise'' (, ''Winter Journey'') is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert (Schubert Thematic Catalogue, D. 911, published as Opus number, Op. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 Poetry, poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller. It is the second of Schubert's two song cycles on Müller's poems, the earlier being ''Die schöne Müllerin'' (D. 795, Op. 25, 1823). Both were originally written for tenor voice but are frequently Transposition (music), transposed to other vocal ranges, a precedent set by Schubert himself. The two works pose interpretative demands on listeners and performers due to their scale and structural coherence. Although Ludwig van Beethoven's cycle ''An die ferne Geliebte'' (''To the Distant Beloved'') was published earlier, in 1816, Schubert's cycles hold the foremost place in the genre's history. The cycle consists of a monodrama from the point of view of the wandering protagonist, in which concrete plot is somewhat ambiguous. After his beloved falls f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions by Franz Schubert, vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 ''Lieder'' (art songs in German) and other vocal works, seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music. His major works include "Erlkönig (Schubert), Erlkönig", "Gretchen am Spinnrade", and "Ave Maria (Schubert), Ave Maria"; the Trout Quintet, ''Trout'' Quintet; the Symphony No. 8 (Schubert), Symphony No. 8 in B minor (''Unfinished''); the Symphony No. 9 (Schubert), Symphony No. 9 in C major (''Great''); the String Quartet No. 14 (Schubert), String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (''Death and the Maiden''); the String Quintet (Schubert), String Quintet in C major; the Impromptus (Schubert), Impromptus for solo piano; the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Classical Players
The London Classical Players (LCP) was a British orchestra that specialized in music following historically informed performance (HIP) practices and orchestral performances on period musical instruments. Sir Roger Norrington founded the LCP in 1978. From 1978 to 1992, the concertmaster of the London Classical Players was baroque violinist John Holloway. The LCP made a variety of recordings for EMI Classics. Many of the players in the LCP overlapped with four other major HIP orchestral ensembles, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the English Baroque Soloists. Among their famous concert series was "The Beethoven Experience" in 1987, and "The Berlioz Experience" in 1988. In 1996, the LCP was invited to open the Prague Spring Festival in the traditional opening festival concert of Bedrich Smetana's ''Ma Vlast'', a controversial decision at the time. In 1997 the LCP formally dissolved and its work was absorbed into the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington (born 16 March 1934) is an English conductor. He is known for historically informed performances of Baroque, Classical and Romantic music. In November 2021 Norrington announced his retirement. Life Norrington is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and Edith Joyce Norrington née Carver, and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington. He studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Dragon School, Oxford, Westminster School, Clare College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music under Adrian Boult among others. Norrington played the violin, and worked as a tenor through the 1960s. In 1962 he founded the Schütz Choir (later the Schütz Choir of London). Conductor in Britain and US From 1969 to 1984, Norrington was music director of Kent Opera. In 1978, he founded the London Classical Players and remained their musical director until 1997. From 1985 to 1989, he was principal conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He is al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is still in Eindhoven. The company gained its royal honorary title in 1998. Philips was founded by Gerard Philips and his father Frederik, with their first products being light bulbs. Through the 20th century, it grew into one of the world's largest electronics conglomerates, with global market dominance in products ranging from kitchen appliances and electric shavers to light bulbs, televisions, cassettes, and compact discs (both of which were invented by Philips). At one point, it played a dominant role in the entertainment industry (through PolyGram). However, intense competition from primarily East Asian competitors throughout the 1990s and 2000s led to a period of downsizing, including the divestment of its lighting and c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neville Marriner
Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English conductor and violinist. Described as "one of the world's greatest conductors", Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of the 18 "Greatest and Most Famous Conductors of All Time". He founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and his partnership with them is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor. Early life Marriner was born in Lincoln, England, the son of Herbert Marriner, a carpenter, and his wife Ethel (née Roberts). He was educated at Lincoln School (then a grammar school), where he played in a jazz band with the composer Steve Race. He initially learned the violin as well as the piano from his father, and later studied the violin with Frederick Mountney. In 1939 he went to the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with the violinist William Henry Reed and was able to play among the second violins of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just two months before Mozart's death. It was Mozart's last opera. It was an outstanding success from its first performances, and remains a staple of the opera repertory. In the opera the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro; instead, he learns the high ideals of Sarastro's community and seeks to join it. Separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, more than 800 works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphony, symphonic, concerto, concertante, chamber music, chamber, operatic, and choir, choral repertoires. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Classical music, Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed Child prodigy, prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and performed before European r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
