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Les Illuminations (Britten)
' (''The Illuminations''), Opus number, Op. 18, is a song cycle by Benjamin Britten, first performed in 1940. It is composed for soprano or tenor soloist and string orchestra, and sets verse and prose poems written in 1872–1873 by Arthur Rimbaud, part of his collection ''Illuminations (poems), Les Illuminations''. History Britten began writing the cycle in Suffolk in March 1939 and completed it a few months later in the United States. It was the first of his song cycles to gain widespread popularity. The cycle was originally written for a soprano; Britten's biographer David Matthews comments that the work is "so much more sensuous when sung by the soprano voice for which the songs were conceived".Matthews, p. 56 Nevertheless the work can be, and more often is, sung by a tenor: Britten conducted the piece with Peter Pears as soloist within two years of the premiere. The first performance of the cycle was given on 30 January 1940 at the Aeolian Hall, London, Aeolian Hall, London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opus Number
In music, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositions with similar titles; the word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work, or "Opp." when referring to more than one work. Opus numbers do not necessarily indicate chronological order of composition. For example, posthumous publications of a composer's juvenilia are often numbered after other works, even though they may be some of the composer's first completed works. To indicate the specific place of a given work within a music catalogue, the opus number is paired with a cardinal number; for example, Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1801, nicknamed ''Moonlight Sonata'') is "Opus 27, No. 2", whose work-number identifies it as a companion piece to "Opus 27, No. 1" ( Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, 1800 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly''. In December 2024, Tortoise Media acquired the paper from the Scott Trust Limited, with the transition taking place on 22 April 2025. History Origins The first issue was published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, making ''The Observer'' the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1940 Compositions
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 194 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Caesar became a Roman Consul. * Battle of Issus: Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia, and defeats Pescennius Niger, Roman governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch, and is executed by Severus' troops. * Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage. Asia * Battle of Yan Province: Warlords Cao Cao and Lü Bu fight for control over Yan Province; the battle lasts for over 100 days. * First year of the ''Xingping'' era during the Han Dynasty i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song Cycles By Benjamin Britten
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usually made of sections that are repeated or performed with variation later. A song without instruments is said to be a cappella. Written words created specifically for music, or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in the classical tradition, it is called an art song. Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants. Songs composed in a simple style that are learned informally by ear are often referred to as folk songs. Songs composed for the mass market, designed to be sung by professional singers who sell their recordings or live shows, are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appeal, are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instrument, string and woodwind instrument, woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 through the merger of two well-established British music businesses, Boosey & Hawkes controls the copyright to much major 20th-century music, including works by Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Sergei Prokofiev, and Igor Stravinsky. It also publishes many prominent contemporary composers, including John Adams (composer), John Adams, Karl Jenkins, James MacMillan, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Steve Reich. With subsidiaries in Berlin and New York City, New York, the company also sells sheet music via its online shop. History Pre-merger Boosey & Hawkes was founded in 1930 through the merger of two respected music companies, Boosey & Company a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Alston (choreographer)
Sir Richard Alston CBE (born 30 October 1948) is a British choreographer. He has been resident choreographer and artistic director for the Ballet Rambert and is currently artistic director at The Place. His works include "Windhover" (1972), "Soda Lake", and "Pulsinella" (1987). Life and career Educated at Eton College, Alston trained as a dancer at the London School of Contemporary Dance, and then choreographed for the London Contemporary Dance Theatre before forming the UK's first independent dance company, Strider, in 1972. In 1976, he went to New York City to study at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio. In 1980 he was appointed resident choreographer with Ballet Rambert, serving as the company's artistic director from 1986 to 1992. During that time he created 25 works for Rambert as well as the Royal Danish Ballet (1982), the Royal Ballet (1983), and two solo works for Michael Clark (''Soda Lake'' and ''Dutiful Ducks''). He returned to Rambert in 2001, creating ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Ashton
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the opposition of his conventional middle-class family, Ashton was accepted as a pupil by Léonide Massine and then by Marie Rambert. In 1926 Rambert encouraged him to try his hand at choreography, and though he continued to dance professionally, with success, it was as a choreographer that he became famous. Ashton was chief choreographer to Ninette de Valois, from 1935 until his retirement in 1963, in the company known successively as the Vic-Wells Ballet, the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the The Royal Ballet, Royal Ballet. He succeeded de Valois as director of the company, serving until his own retirement in 1970. Ashton is widely credited with the creation of a specifically English genre of ballet. Among his best-known works are ''Façade (ballet), Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steuart Bedford
Steuart John Rudolf Bedford (31 July 1939 – 15 February 2021) was an English orchestral and opera conductor and pianist. He was the brother of composer David Bedford and of singer Peter Lehmann Bedford and a grandson of Liza Lehmann and Herbert Bedford; his parents were Leslie Bedford, an inventor, and Lesley Duff, a soprano opera singer. Bedford was particularly associated with the music of Benjamin Britten, and conducted the world premiere of '' Death in Venice'' in 1973. Bedford also conducted Britten's other operas, and made an orchestral suite of music from ''Death in Venice''. Between 1974 and 1998, he was one of the Artistic Directors of the Aldeburgh Festival. In 1989, he became joint artistic director with Oliver Knussen. In the summer of 2013, Bedford conducted a performance of '' Peter Grimes'' which was staged in its natural setting on the beach at Aldeburgh. His book ''Knowing Britten'', compiled through his conversations with the tenor Christopher Gillett, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felicity Lott
Dame Felicity Ann Emwhyla Lott, (born 8 May 1947) is an English soprano. Education Lott was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. From her earliest years she was musical, having started studying piano at age 5. She also played violin and began singing lessons at 12. She is an alumna of Royal Holloway, University of London, obtaining a BA in French and Latin in 1969. During her year in France as part of her four-year degree course, from 1967–68 she took singing lessons at the conservatory in Grenoble. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, winning the Principal's Prize. Career She made her operatic debut at the City of London Festival in 1974 as Seleuce in '' Tolomeo'' by Handel. The following year she appeared as Pamina in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'' at the English National Opera. In 1976 she appeared in the premiere of Henze's ''We Come to the River'' at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and began a long relationship with the Glyndebourne Festival. In 1977, sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Whitfield (conductor)
John Whitfield (21 March 1957 – 4 November 2019) was a British musician and conductor from Darlington, England. Whitfield was educated at Leighton Park School, Reading followed by Chetham's School of Music, Manchester and Keble College, Oxford. Contemporaneously he was principal bassoon of National Youth Orchestra (GB) and European Community (now Union) Youth Orchestra, EUYO. He was awarded Associate of the Royal College of Music with honours at just 17 and an MA in music from Oxford University. Conducting career Whitfield founded Endymion, which he conducted at venues around the world. The ensemble is noted for its performances of modern classical music, particularly by British composers. As a conductor he toured for Arts Council Contemporary Music Network and performed at state occasions for Queen Elizabeth II, gave numerous broadcasts and recordings for BBC Radio 3, BBC Two television, and ITV, and made recordings for EMI of Britten and Stravinsky. From 1991 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jill Gomez
Jill Carnegy, Countess of Northesk (''née'' Gomez; born 21 September 1942) is a Trinidadian and British soprano who enjoyed an active career on the operatic stage and in the concert hall in a wide repertoire, and has made many recordings. Life and career Gomez was born in New Amsterdam, Guyana,Blyth, A. Jill Gomez. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. to Albert Clyde Gomez, a Spanish Trinidadian and to Denise Price Gomez (née Denham), and brought up in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Her father became managing director and vice-chairman of Angostura, the famous distillers, and her British mother was a well-known actress and broadcaster in Trinidad. After studying at St. Joseph's Convent (Port of Spain) in Trinidad and dominating at the islands' biennial Music Festival, she moved to England at 13, where she studied voice and piano at London's Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where her most importa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. With a limited performance size, the orchestra specializes in 18th-century music and was created to perform Baroque Music. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationally, and holds the distinction of having the most extensive discography of any chamber orchestra and being the most well-traveled orchestra in the world; no other orchestra has played concerts (as of 2013, according to its own publicity) in as many countries as the English Chamber Orchestra. History The English Chamber Orchestra has its origins in the Goldsbrough Orchestra, founded in 1948 by Lawrence Leonard and Arnold Goldsbrough. The name was considered to prevent success outside of the UK and in 1960 it was changed to the English Chamber Orchestra, when Quintin Ballardie (a principal violinist with the ori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
