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Tiefland (opera)
''Tiefland'' (''The Lowlands'') is an opera in a prologue and two acts by Eugen d'Albert, to a libretto in German by Rudolf Lothar. Based on the 1896 Catalan language, Catalan play ''Terra baixa'' by Àngel Guimerà, ''Tiefland'' was d'Albert's seventh opera, and is the one which is now the best known. Performance history ''Tiefland'' was first performed on 15 November 1903 at the Prague State Opera, Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, with only limited success. Part of the reason for the lukewarm reception may have been because the house's leading dramatic tenor, Wilhelm Elsner, had died suddenly not too long before the opera's premiere, forcing another singer to learn and perform the role of Pedro in a relatively short amount of time. For its next performance, ''Tiefland'' was revised by D'Albert and revived in Hamburg and Berlin in 1907, where it played to long runs. Its American premiere took place at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on November 23, 1908 with Emmy Destinn a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eugen D'Albert
Eugen (originally Eugène) Francis Charles d'Albert (10 April 1864 – 3 March 1932) was a Scottish-born pianist and composer who immigrated to Germany. Educated in Britain, d'Albert showed early musical talent and, at the age of seventeen, he won a scholarship to study in Austria. Feeling a kinship with German culture and music, he soon immigrated to Germany, where he studied with Franz Liszt and began a career as a concert pianist. D'Albert repudiated his early training and upbringing in Scotland and considered himself German. While pursuing his career as a pianist, d'Albert focused increasingly on composing, producing 21 operas and a considerable output of piano, vocal, chamber and orchestral works. His most successful opera was '' Tiefland'', which premiered in Prague in 1903. His successful orchestral works included his cello concerto (1899), a symphony, two string quartets and two piano concertos. In 1907 d'Albert became the director of the Hochschule für Musik in Berl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nadja Michael
Nadja Michael (born 1969) is a German opera singer with an active international career singing leading soprano roles. Her mother's great-aunt was the soprano Erna Sack. Early life and education She was born near Leipzig in Wurzen, then East Germany. Growing up, she enjoyed singing German folksongs with her family while her mother played the piano. Her grandmother and father both served time in prison for political reasons. Eventually, she escaped to West Germany where she studied music in Stuttgart. Later, she attended the Jacobs School of Music (Indiana University) in the United States. Opera career She began her career as a mezzo-soprano but became a soprano in April 2005. Michael has appeared at La Scala (''Salome'', 2007), Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (''Salome'', 2008), Vienna State Opera (''Fidelio''), Arena di Verona, Glyndebourne, Salzburg, Munich (''Macbeth'' and '' Medea in Corinto''), Brussels ('' Médée'', 2008), Chicago (''Macbeth'', 2010), Berlin ('' Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber (16 May 1891, Linz – 8 January 1948, London) was an Austrian lyric tenor and film actor. He performed the tenor role in numerous operas, including ''Don Giovanni'' by Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and actress who performed soubrette roles at the local theater, and Richard Anton Tauber, an actor. His parents were not married, and his father was reportedly unaware of his birth as he was touring North America at the time. The child was named Richard Denemy. He was sometimes known as arlRichard Tauber and also used his mother's married name, Seiffert; however, the claim by the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' that he was ever known as Ernst Seiffert is not supported by any of the 12 published books and monographs about him listed in Daniel O'Hara's comprehensive Richard Tauber Chronology. After being adopted by his father in 1913, his legal name became Richard Denemy-Tauber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vilhelm Herold
Vilhelm Christoffer Herold (born March 19, 1865 – December 15, 1937) was an operatic tenor, voice teacher, and theatre director. Herold created the role of David in Carl Nielsen's opera '' Saul og David'' in 1902). Career Herold was born in Hasle, Bornholm. He made his stage debut on February 10, 1893, in the title role of Gounod's ''Faust'' at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. However, he also sang throughout Europe, including a command performance for King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace in 1905. The previous year, he had made his Covent Garden debut in the title role of ''Lohengrin''. He also sang at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Herold was a prominent interpreter of Pedro in Eugen d'Albert's '' Tiefland'' during the years following its premiere, with the composer himself pronouncing him as ideal in the role. ("Sie sind das Ideal eines Pedro.") He also sang Pedro in the 1913 Oslo performance of ''Tiefland'' which marked Kirsten Flagstad's stage debut.Rosenthal, H. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montserrat Caballé
María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch or Folc (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), also known as Montserrat Caballé (i Folch), was a Spanish operatic soprano from Catalonia. Widely considered to be one of the best sopranos of the 20th century, she won a variety of musical awards thoroughout her six-decade career, including three Grammy Awards. Caballé performed a wide variety of roles, but is best known as an exponent of the works of Verdi and of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Gioachino Rossini, Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti, Donizetti. She was noticed internationally when she stepped in for a performance of Donizetti's ''Lucrezia Borgia (opera), Lucrezia Borgia'' at Carnegie Hall in 1965, and then appeared at leading opera houses. Her voice was described as pure but powerful, with superb control of vocal shadings and exquisite Dynamics (music), pianissimo. Caballé is also known for her 1987 duet with Freddie M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southernmost capital on the European mainland. With its urban area's population numbering over 3.6 million, it is the List of urban areas in the European Union, eighth-largest urban area in the European Union (EU). The Municipality of Athens (also City of Athens), which constitutes a small administrative unit of the entire urban area, had a population of 643,452 (2021) within its official limits, and a land area of . Athens is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE. According to Greek mythology the city was named after Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Callas
Maria Callas (born Maria Anna Cecilia Sophia Kalogeropoulos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel canto'' technique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations. Her repertoire ranged from classical ''opera seria'' to the ''bel canto'' operas of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini, and further to the works of Verdi and Puccini, and in her early career to the music dramas of Wagner. Her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as ''La Divina'' ("The Divine One"). Born in Manhattan and raised in Astoria, Queens, New York City, to Greek immigrant parents, she was raised by an overbearing mother who had wanted a son. Maria received her musical education in Greece at age 13 and later established her career in Italy. Forced to deal with the exigencies of 1940s wartime poverty and with near-sightedness that left her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad (12 July 1895 – 7 December 1962) was a Norwegian opera singer, who was the outstanding Wagnerian soprano of her era. Her triumphant debut in New York on 2 February 1935 is one of the legends of opera. Giulio Gatti-Casazza, the longstanding General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera said, "I have given America two great gifts — Caruso and Flagstad." Called "the voice of the century", she ranks among the greatest singers of the 20th century. Desmond Shawe-Taylor wrote of her in the ''New Grove Dictionary of Opera'': "No one within living memory surpassed her in sheer beauty and consistency of line and tone." Early life and career Flagstad was born in Hamar, Norway, in her grandparents' home, now the Kirsten Flagstad Museum. Though she never actually lived in Hamar, she always considered it her home town. She was raised in Oslo within a musical family; her father Michael Flagstad was a conductor and her mother Maja Flagstad a pianist. Their other ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Opera is a professional opera company in Sarasota, Florida, USA, which was founded as the Asolo Opera Guild and, until 1974, presented a visiting company's productions. Between 1974 and 1979, it set about mounting its own productions in the same venue until, in 1979, it acquired the Edwards Theatre, which became the Sarasota Opera House in 1984. The house underwent a further renovation in 2008, creating a 1,119-seat venue. In addition to two or three operas in the popular repertoire, each season typically includes an opera as part of the long-running "Verdi Cycle", the company's planned presentations of every Verdi opera, and one in the "Masterworks Revival" series. Company history Initially bringing the Turnau Opera of Woodstock, New York to perform chamber-sized operas at the historic Asolo Theater on the grounds of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the guild then began mounting its own productions, also at the Asolo, in 1974, but when it acquired the Edwards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinz Fricke
Heinz Fricke (11 February 1927 – 7 December 2015) was a German conductor. From 1961 to 1992 he held the position of Generalmusikdirektor of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. He also worked at Den Norske Opera. In 2010 Fricke announced his retirement after 18 years with the Washington National Opera Washington National Opera (WNO) is an American opera company in Washington, D.C. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performance ... and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra (he was appointed to both in 1993). He was the honorary Music Director Emeritus of the WNO and the KCOHO. References External links Washington National Opera Bio German male conductors (music) Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1927 births 2015 deaths 20th-century German conductors (music) 21st-century German conductors (music) 20th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washington Opera
Washington National Opera (WNO) is an American opera company in Washington, D.C. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Opera in Washington, DC had become established after World War I and it did flourish for a time as the Washington National Opera Association until the Depression and World War Two years, and into the 1960s in various outdoor opera venues. However, with the establishment of the Opera Society of Washington in 1956–57, the way was laid for a company to function in the city, especially after the opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971 and its move there in 1979. After making initial appearances with the company from 1986 onwards, tenor Plácido Domingo took over as general director in 1996, a post which he held until June 2011, after which the company, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semiha Berksoy
Semiha Berksoy (24 May 1910 – 15 August 2004) was a Turkish opera singer and painter. Early life Semiha Berksoy was born in Çengelköy, Istanbul on 25 May 1910. Her mother was a painter, her father a poet and accountant. Semiha Berksoy studied music and the visual arts at Istanbul Conservatory.Sebnem Arsu (August 23, 2004"Semiha Berksoy, 94, Turkish Star of Opera and Art, Dies" ''The New York Times''. Career Berksoy started her acting career with the role of ''Semiha'' in the first Turkish sound movie ''İstanbul Sokaklarında'' directed by Muhsin Ertuğrul in 1931. She was cast in operettas in Istanbul theaters early in her career. She sang in the first Turkish opera ''Özsoy'' in 1934 (commissioned by Kemal Atatürk, composed by Adnan Saygun). She was honoured as the First Turkish Opera Singer and rewarded with the opportunity to go to Berlin Music Academy for further training. She started her international singing career in 1934, performing in Turkey, Germany and Por ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
