|
La Favorita
''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 ''L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on or around dramatic historic events. The term is particularly applied (sometimes specifically used in its French-language equivalent grand opéra, ) to certain productions of the Paris Opéra from the late 1820s to around 1860; 'grand opéra' has sometimes been used to denote the Paris Opéra itself. The term 'grand opera' is also used in a broader application in respect of contemporary or later works of similar monumental proportions from France, Germany, Italy, and other countries. It may also be used colloquially in an imprecise sense to refer to 'serious opera without spoken dialogue'. Origins Paris at the turn of the 19th century drew in many composers, both French and foreign, especially those of opera. Several Italians working durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mistress (lover)
A mistress or kept woman is a woman who is in a relatively long-term sexual and romantic relationship with someone who is married to a different person. Description A mistress is usually in a long-term good relationship with a person who is married to someone else and is often referred to as "the other woman". Generally, the relationship is stable and at least semi-permanent, but the couple do not live together openly. The relationship is often, but not always, secret. There is often also the implication that the mistress is sometimes "kept"i.e., her lover is paying all or some of her living expenses. Historically the term "mistress" denoted a "kept woman", who was maintained in a comfortable, or even lavish, lifestyle by a wealthy man so that she would be available for his sexual pleasure. Such a woman could move between the roles of a mistress and a courtesan depending on her situation and environment. Whereas the word "lover" was used when the illicit female partner was ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jules Diéterle
Jules Diéterle (8 February 1811 – 22 April 1889) was a 19th-century French architect, also a draftsman, painter, China painting, painter on porcelain, sculptor and theatre decorator. Biography Born in Paris, Diéterle, son of Jean Georges Diéterle,Frenchized first names. They are Johann Georg Dieterle (without accent) or Dieterlen. Johann Georg Dieterle was born on 31 March 1774 in Baiersbronn, Ortslage Heselbach, Landkreis Freudenstadt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He applied for French citizenship twice: on 2 February 1833 and 15 July 1841. Source: Archives nationales (France), Archives nationales, documents references, BB/11/344, file n°985 X2 and BB/11/450, file n°4537 X3. piano maker, and Marie-Antoinette TerrassonJean Georges Diéterle and Marie-Antoinette Terrasson were married in Paris on 25 Prairial year 11 (14 June 1803) and the religious ceremony took place at the Sainte-Marguerite church. The marriage contract was signed in front of Me Louis Claude Laisné ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Séchan
Charles Polycarpe Séchan (29 June 1803 – 14 September 1874) was a French painter and theatre designer. Life Born in Paris, son of the tailor merchant Jean-Fris Séchan, he lost his parents, who had no fortune, very early on. He learned the first elements of drawing from a humble local school. He made his first steps in the career by entering the studio of Lefèvre, decorator of the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin. He created the sets of ''Périnet Leclerc'', by Lockroy and Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, and particularly the one representing a ''Vue du vieux Paris'', was executed entirely on his drawings. After four or five years in the Lefèvre workshop, he moved to the Ciceri workshop, the first and most famous in his time.. Recommended by the marquis de la Valette, he was commissioned by the sultan Abdulmejid I ʻAbd al-Majīd (ALA-LC romanization of , ), also spelled as Abd ul Majid, Abd ul-Majid, Abd ol Majid, Abd ol-Majid, and Abdolmajid, is a Muslim male given name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles-Antoine Cambon
Charles-Antoine Cambon (; 21 April 1802 – 22 October 1875) was a French scenographer, theatrical production designer, who acquired international renown in the Romanticism, Romantic Era. Career Little biographical information exists on Cambon's early years, other than that he would have been active as an Watercolor painting, aquarelle and sepia artist before studying with Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri, Pierre-Luc Charles Ciceri. At Ciceri's workshop Cambon made acquaintance with Humanité-René Philastre, who would become his first long-term associate. As a stage design for a "Salon" at the Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra testifies, Philastre and Cambon started collaborating in 1824 at the latest. From that time until 1848, Philastre and Cambon accepted numerous joint commissions for theatrical interior decorations and stage designs. Thus, they decorated the interiors of venues in Angoulême, Antwerp, Beaune, Brest, Choiseul, Dijon, Douai, Ghent, Lille, Lyon, Paris and Rouen, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Blom
Eric Walter Blom (20 August 188811 April 1959) was a Swiss-born British-naturalised music lexicographer, music critic and writer. He is best known as the editor of the 5th edition of ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1954). Early life Blom was born in Bern, Switzerland. His father was of Danish and British descent, and his mother was Swiss. He was educated in German-speaking Switzerland,Frank Howes, "Blom, Eric (Walter)" in ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th edition, Supplementary Volume, 1961 and later in England. He was largely self-taught in music. He started in music journalism by assisting Rosa Newmarch in writing program notes for Sir Henry J. Wood's Prom Concerts, which were notable for their abundance of accurate information. From 1923 to 1931 he was the London music correspondent for the ''Manchester Guardian''. He then went to the '' Birmingham Post'' (1931–46, succeeding A J Sheldon), and returned to London in 1949, as music cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grove's Dictionary Of Music And Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theory of music. Earlier editions were published under the titles ''A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', and ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''; the work has gone through several editions since the 19th century and is widely used. In recent years it has been made available as an electronic resource called ''Grove Music Online'', which is now an important part of ''Oxford Music Online''. ''A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' ''A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' was first published in London by Macmillan and Co. in four volumes (1879, 1880, 1883, 1889) edited by George Grove with an Appendix edited by J. A. Fuller Maitland in the fourth volume. An Index edited by Mrs. E. Wodehouse was issued as a separate volume in 1890. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L'Ange De Nisida
''L'Ange de Nisida'' (''The Angel of Nisida'') is an ''opera semiseria'' in four acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti, from a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz. Parts of the libretto are considered analogous with the libretto for Giovanni Pacini's ''Adelaide e Comingio'', and the final scene is based on the François-Thomas-Marie de Baculard d'Arnaud play ''Les Amants malheureux, ou le comte de Comminges''. Donizetti worked on the opera in late 1839—its final page is dated 27 December 1839. Because the subject matter involved the mistress of a Neapolitan king, and may thus have caused difficulties with the Italian censors, Donizetti decided that the opera should be presented in France. The theater company Donizetti contracted went bankrupt; the opera was reworked as ''La favorite'' in September 1840. ''L'Ange'' finally received its premiere in its original form in 2018 in a concert performance at London's Royal Opera House. Composition histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic. History While mezzo-sopranos typically sing secondary roles in operas, notable exceptions include the title role in Georges Bizet, Bizet's ''Carmen'', Angelina (Cinderella) in Gioachino Rossini, Rossini's ''La Cenerentola'', and Rosina in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville, Barber of Seville'' (all of which are also sung by sopranos and contraltos). Many 19th-century French- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Léon Pillet
Léon Pillet (6 December 1803 – 20 March 1868)Huebner 1992. was a French journalist, civil servant, and director of the Paris Opera from 1840 to 1847. A political appointee, he was probably the least successful director of the Paris Opera in the 19th century.Fulcher 1987, p. 103; Gerhard 1998, p. 35. Early life and training Born Raymond-François-Léon Pillet in Paris,Parturier 1942, p. 163. he was the son of Fabien Pillet (1772–1855), who was a journalist and French administrator.Larousse 1874vol. 12, p. 1015 After attending the Lycée Napoléon (now the Lycée Henri-IV), Léon Pillet continued his studies in law and joined the offices of an attorney by the name of Mauguin.Vapereau 1858p. 1449 Journalist He took part in the founding of the ''Nouveau Journal de Paris'' in 1827, serving mainly as its drama critic. Later, when the suppression of the privileges of the major journals gave more leeway to the enterprise, he became its editor, transforming it into a political ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salle Le Peletier
The Salle Le Peletier or Lepeletier (sometimes referred to as the Salle de la rue Le Peletier or the Opéra Le Peletier) was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the garden of the Hôtel de Choiseul on the rue Lepeletier. Due to the many changes in government and management during the theatre's existence, it had a number of different official names, the most important of which were: Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique (1821–1848), Opéra-Théâtre de la Nation (1848–1850), Théâtre de l'Académie Nationale de Musique (1850–1852), Théâtre de l'Académie Impériale de Musique (1852–1854), Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra (1854–1870), and Théâtre National de l'Opéra (1870–1873). History When King Louis XVIII's nephew, Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry, was fatally stabbed on the night of 13 February 1820 in front of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
