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Thaïs (opera)
''Thaïs'' () is an opera, a ''comédie lyrique'' in three acts and seven tableaux, by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet, based on the novel ''Thaïs (novel), Thaïs'' by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Palais Garnier, Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sibyl Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role. The original production was directed by Alexandre Lapissida, with costumes designed by Charles Bianchini and sets by Marcel Jambon (act 1, scene 1; act 3) and Eugène Carpezat (act 1, scene 2; act 2). The opera was later revised by the composer and was premiered at the same opera house on 13 April 1898. The work was first performed in Italy at the Teatro Lirico (Milan), Teatro Lirico Internazionale in Milan on 17 October 1903 with Lina Cavalieri in the title role and Francesco Maria Bonini as Athanaël. In 1907, the role served as Mary Garden's American debut in New York in the U.S. premiere performance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther'' (1892). He also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music. While still a schoolboy, Massenet was admitted to France's principal music college, the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied under Ambroise Thomas, whom he greatly admired. After winning the country's top musical prize, the , in 1863, he composed prolifically in many genres, but quickly became best known for his operas. Between 1867 and his death forty-five years later he wrote more than forty stage works in a wide variety of styles, from opéra-comique to grand-scale depictions of classical myths, romantic comedies, Drame lyrique, lyric dramas, as well as oratorios, cantatas and ballets. Massenet had a g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The Western Roman Empire, western empire collapsed in 476 AD, but the Byzantine Empire, eastern empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, the city of Rome had expanded its rule from the Italian peninsula to most of the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by List of Roman civil wars and revolts, civil wars and political conflicts, which culminated in the Wars of Augustus, victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power () and the new title of ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price ( born Mary Violet Leontine Price February 10, 1927) is an American spinto soprano who was the first African-American soprano to receive international acclaim. From 1961 she began a long association with the Metropolitan Opera. She regularly appeared at the world's major opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and La Scala. She was particularly renowned for her performances of the title role in Giuseppe Verdi's ''Aida''. Born in Laurel, Mississippi, Price studied music at Wilberforce University in Ohio where she began her undergraduate education in the fall 1944 semester as a student in the College of Education and Industrial Arts. Internal conflicts within Wilberforce's administration led the College of Education and Industrial Arts to break from Wilberforce University in June 1947 just before Price began her senior year at the school. It became a separate college known as the State College of Education and Ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills (born Belle Miriam Silverman; May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose career peak was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verdi, she was especially renowned for her performances in coloratura soprano roles in live opera and recordings. Sills was largely associated with the operas of Donizetti, of which she performed and recorded many roles. Her signature roles include the title role in Donizetti's '' Lucia di Lammermoor'', the title role in Massenet's '' Manon'', Marie in Donizetti's '' La fille du régiment'', the three heroines in Offenbach's '' Les contes d'Hoffmann'', Rosina in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville'', Violetta in Verdi's '' La traviata'', and most notably Elisabetta in Donizetti's '' Roberto Devereux''. ''The New York Times'' noted, In her prime her technique was exemplary. She could dispatch coloratura roulades and embellishments, capped b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna Moffo
Anna Moffo (June 27, 1932 – March 9, 2006) was an American opera singer, television personality, and actress. One of the leading lyric-coloratura sopranos of her generation, she possessed a warm and radiant voice of considerable range and agility. Noted for her physical beauty, she was nicknamed "La Bellissima". Winning a Fulbright scholarship to study in Italy, Moffo became popular there after performing leading operatic roles on three RAI television productions in 1956. She returned to America for her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on October 16, 1957. In New York, her Metropolitan Opera debut took place on November 14, 1959. She performed at the Met for over seventeen seasons. Moffo's earliest recordings were made for EMI Records; she signed an exclusive contract with RCA Red Seal, RCA Victor in 1960, recording for the company until the late 1970s. In the early 1960s, she hosted her own show on Italian television and appeared in several operatic films along with other no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carol Neblett
Carol Lee Neblett (February 1, 1946 – November 23, 2017) was an American operatic soprano. Life and career Neblett was born in Modesto, California and raised in Redondo Beach. She studied at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1969 she made her operatic debut with the New York City Opera, playing the part of Musetta in Puccini's ''La bohème''. With that company, she continued to sing many leading roles, in '' Mefistofele'' (with Norman Treigle), ''Prince Igor'' (conducted by Julius Rudel), ''Faust'', ''Manon'', ''Louise'' (opposite John Alexander, later Harry Theyard), '' La traviata'', ''Le coq d'or'', ''Carmen'' (as Micaëla, with Joy Davidson, staged by Tito Capobianco), ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (as the Contessa Almaviva, with Michael Devlin and Susanne Marsee), ''Don Giovanni'' (as Donna Elvira), ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' (with Alan Titus as Nerone), '' Ariadne auf Naxos'' (directed by Sarah Caldwell), and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's '' Die tote St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esclarmonde
''Esclarmonde'' () is an opéra () in four acts and eight Tableau vivant, tableaux, with prologue and epilogue, by Jules Massenet, to a French libretto by Alfred Blau and Louis de Gramont, Louis Ferdinand de Gramont. It was first performed at the Exposition Universelle (1889), Exposition Universelle on 15 May 1889 by the Opéra-Comique at the Théâtre de la Ville, Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris. ''Esclarmonde'' is perhaps Massenet's most ambitious work for the stage and is his most ''Richard Wagner, Wagnerian'' in style and scope. In orchestral coloring and structure of melody, however, it follows French traditions. The opera has been revived sporadically in the modern era, most notably during the 1970s with Joan Sutherland, conducted by Massenet champion Richard Bonynge. The role of Esclarmonde is notoriously difficult to sing, with challenging stratospheric coloratura passages. Background The story of the opera is based on the medieval chivalric tale ''P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entr'acte
(or , ;Since 1932–35 the recommends this spelling, with no apostrophe, so historical, ceremonial and traditional uses (such as the 1924 René Clair film title) are still spelled . and ', , and ) means 'between the acts'. It can mean a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonymous to an intermission (this is nowadays the more common meaning in French), but it more often (in English) indicates a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production. But despite this, an entr'acte is often paired with a longer intermission, as an intermission is usually "between acts." However, there can also be an entr'acte on its own, usually between the two acts without an intermission. In the case of stage musicals, the serves as the overture of act 2 (and sometimes acts 3 and 4, as in ''Carmen''). In films that were meant to be shown with an intermission, there was frequently a specially recorded on the soundtrack between the first and second half of the film, al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Méditation (Thaïs)
"Méditation" () is a symphonic intermezzo from the opera Thaïs (opera), ''Thaïs'' by French composer Jules Massenet. The piece is written for solo violin, orchestra and backstage chorus. The opera premiered at the Palais Garnier, Opéra Garnier in Paris on March 16, 1894. Description The Méditation is an instrumental ''entr'acte'' performed between the scenes of Act II in the opera ''Thaïs (opera), Thaïs''; a wordless choir, chorus joins in for the last reprise. In the first scene of Act II, Athanaël, a Cenobite monk, confronts Thaïs, a beautiful and hedonistic courtesan and devotée of Venus (mythology), Venus, and attempts to persuade her to leave her life of luxury and pleasure and find salvation through God. It is during a time of reflection following the encounter that the ''Méditation'' occurs. In the second scene of Act II, following the ''Méditation'', Thaïs tells Athanaël that she will let him take her to a cloister near the desert. Ernest Newman comment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lust
Lust is an intense desire for something. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for redolence, when one is lusting for a particular smell that brings back memories. It is similar to but distinguished from passion, in that properly ordered passion propels individuals to achieve benevolent goals whilst lust does not. In religion Religions tend to draw a distinction between passion and lust by further categorizing lust as an immoral desire and passion as morally accepted. Lust is defined as immoral because its object or action of affection is improperly ordered according to natural law and/or the appetite for the particular object (eg sexual desire) is governing the person's will and intellect rather than the will and intellect governing the appetite for that object. Whereas passion, regardless of its strength, is maintaine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venus (mythology)
Venus (; ) is a Roman goddess whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles. The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman art and Latin literature. In the later classical tradition of the West, Venus became one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality. As such, she is usually depicted nude. Etymology The Latin theonym and the common noun ('love, charm') stem from a Proto-Italic form reconstructed as ''*wenos-'' ('desire'), itself from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) ' ('desire'; cf. Messapic , Old Indic 'desire'). Derivatives include ''venust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Courtesan
A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together. Prior to the Renaissance, courtesans served to convey information to visiting dignitaries, when servants could not be trusted. In Renaissance Europe, courtiers played an extremely important role in upper-class society. As it was customary during this time for royal couples to lead separate lives—commonly marrying simply to preserve bloodlines and to secure political alliances—men and women would often seek gratification and companionship from people living at court. In fact, the verb 'to court' originally meant "to be or reside at court", and later came to mean "to behave as a courtier" and then ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
