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Aleksandr Sumarokov
Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov (; , Villmanstrand – ) was a Russian poet and playwright who single-handedly created classical theatre in Russia, thus assisting Mikhail Lomonosov to inaugurate the reign of classicism in Russian literature. Life and works Alexander Sumarakov was born in 1717 into a family of Muscovite gentry. He was born in Villmanstrand (now Lappeenranta) in Swedish-ruled Finland, where his father was most likely serving in the Great Northern War against Sweden. Sumarokov was educated at the Cadet School in Saint Petersburg, where he became closely familiar with French learning. Neither an aristocratic dilettante like Antiokh Kantemir nor a learned professor like Vasily Trediakovsky or Mikhail Lomonosov, he was the first gentleman in Russia to choose the profession of letters. He consequently may be called the father of the Russian literary profession. His pursuits did not undermine his position in the family; indeed, his grandson was made a count and, when th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Losenko
Anton Pavlovich Losenko (; – ) was a Russian neoclassical painter and academician who specialized in historical subjects and portraits. He was one of the founders of the Imperial Russian historical movement in painting. Life and work Anton Losenko was born to the family of a Russian negotiant Pavel Yakovlevich Losev in Hlukhiv, in the region of ''Chernihovshchyna'' (now in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine). He became an orphan and at the age of seven was sent to a Court Choir in Saint Petersburg. In 1753, as he had lost his voice but had shown talent for painting, he was sent for apprenticeship to the artist Ivan Argunov. After five and a half years of apprenticeship, he was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1759. Among the paintings he created there was the ''Portrait of Ivan Shuvalov'' (1760) and the ''Portrait of Alexander Sumarokov'' (1760). In 1760, the Academy sent him to Paris to study art under the French neoclassical painter Jean II Restout. There he painted a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivan Dmitrevsky
Ivan Afanasyevich Dmitrevsky () (February 28, 1734 in Yaroslavl – October 27, 1821 in Saint Petersburg) is generally regarded as the most influential actor of Russian Neoclassicism and "Russia's first great tragedian". Together with his friend Fyodor Volkov he inaugurated the first Russian theatre in his native Yaroslavl (1750), later moving with the rest of the troupe to St Petersburg (1756). His tragic parts in Alexander Sumarokov's plays were admired by Catherine the Great and her friend Ekaterina Dashkova. Later, he delivered lectures on theatre in the Russian Academy The Russian Academy or Imperial Russian Academy () was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1783 by Empress Catherine II of Russia and princess Dashkova as a research center for Russian language and Russian literature, following the example ..., of which he was a member. In his writings and plays, Dmitrevsky emphasized reason over emotions, propagating "the loud, artificial declamatory acting sty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People From Lappeenranta
The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a people is any plurality of persons considered as a whole. Used in politics and law, the term "a people" refers to the collective or community of an ethnic group or nation. Concepts Legal Chapter One, Article One of the Charter of the United Nations states that "peoples" have the right to self-determination. Though the mere status as peoples and the right to self-determination, as for example in the case of Indigenous peoples (''peoples'', as in all groups of indigenous people, not merely all indigenous persons as in ''indigenous people''), does not automatically provide for independent sovereignty and therefore secession. Indeed, judge Ivor Jennings identified the inherent problems in the right of "peoples" to self-determination, as i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1777 Deaths
Events January–March * January 2 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of the Assunpink Creek: American general George Washington's army repulses a British attack by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, in a second battle at Trenton, New Jersey. * January 3 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Princeton: American general George Washington's army defeats British troops. * January 13 – Mission Santa Clara de Asís is founded in what becomes Santa Clara, California. * January 15 – Vermont declares its independence from New York, becoming the Vermont Republic, an independent country, a status it retains until it joins the United States as the 14th state in 1791. * January 21 – The Continental Congress approves a resolution "that an unauthentic copy, with names of the signers of the Declaration of independence, be sent to each of the United States. *February 5 – Under the 1st Constitution of Georgia, 8 counties a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1717 Births
Events January–March * January 1 – Count Carl Gyllenborg, the Swedish ambassador to the Kingdom of Great Britain, is arrested in London over a plot to assist the Pretender to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart. * January 4 (December 24, 1716 Old Style) – The kingdoms of Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic sign the Triple Alliance, in an attempt to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Britain having signed a preliminary alliance with France on November 28 (November 17) 1716. * February 1 – The Silent Sejm, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, marks the beginning of the Russian Empire's increasing influence and control over the Commonwealth. * February 6 – Following the treaty between France and Britain, the Pretender James Stuart leaves France, and seeks refuge with Pope Clement XI. * February 26–March 6 – What becomes the northeastern United States is paralyzed by a series of blizzards that bury the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Raupach
Hermann Friedrich Raupach (December 21, 1728 – December 12, 1778) was an 18th-century German composer. Biography Hermann Raupach was born at Stralsund in Germany, the son and pupil of composer and organist Christoph Raupach (1686-1744) and the nephew of Lutheran church historian Bernhard Raupach (1682–1745). Raupach was a harpsichordist, who became the assistant of Vincenzo Manfredini, at the Russian Imperial Court Orchestra in Saint Petersburg in 1755. In 1758 he was appointed a Kapellmeister and court composer. Some of his operas were performed in Russian. His ''Alceste'' (''Альцеста'', 1758) is regarded as "the second Russian opera" (after Araja's '' Tsefal i Prokris'', 1755). The role of Admet in this opera was sung by Dmitry Bortniansky, called the "Orpheus of the Neva River". In 1762 Raupach left St Petersburg for Hamburg and then to Paris, where he met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and improvised with him on harpsichord in 4 hands. Mozart arranged some movem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francesco Araja
Francesco Domenico Araja (or Araia, Russian: Арайя) (June 25, 1709 in Naples, Kingdom of Sicily – between 1762 and 1770 in Bologna, States of the Church) was an Italian composer who spent 25 years in Russia and wrote at least 14 operas for the Russian Imperial Court including '' Tsefal i Prokris'', the first opera in Russian. Biography He was born and received his musical education in Naples and began to compose operas at the age of 20. His early operas were produced in the theatres of Naples, Florence, Rome, Milan, and Venice. In 1735 he was invited to St. Petersburg together with a big Italian opera troupe, and became the ''maestro di cappella'' (''Kapellmeister'') to Empress Anne Ioanovna and later Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. In the winter operas were usually given in a wing of the Zimniy Dvorets (the Winter Palace), and in the summer time in the Theatre of Letniy Sad in the Summer Garden. His ''La forza dell'amore e dell'odio'' was the first Italian oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsefal I Prokris
''Cephalus and Prokris'' ({{langx, ru, Цефал и Прокрис – ''Tsefal i Prokris''), is an opera seria in three acts by the Italian composer Francesco Araja. Dating to 1755, it was the first opera written in the Russian language. Araja composed the opera to a Russian libretto by Alexander Sumarokov after the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Performance history It was staged at St. Petersburg in a wing of Zimniy Dvorets on March 7, S February 27 1755 with effective sets by Giuseppe Valeriani. It was the first opera performed with Russian singers. The main roles were performed by Elisaveta Belogradskaya ( Prokris) and Gavrilo Martsenkovich known as "Gavrilushka" (Cephalus). The other actors were "pevchie" (the singers) of Count Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky: Stefan Evstafiev (Aurora), Stefan Rzhevsky (Erechtheus, the King of Athens), Nikolay Ktitarev (Minos, the King of Crete), Ivan Tatishchev (Tester, the nobleman of Minos and magician). This opera had a great success, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libretto
A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass (liturgy), Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet. The Italian language, Italian word (, ) is the diminutive of the word ''wiktionary:libro#Italian, libro'' ("book"). Sometimes other-language cognates, equivalents are used for libretti in that language, ''livret'' for French works, ''Textbuch'' for German and ''libreto'' for Spanish. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. Some ballet historians also use the word ''libretto'' to refer to the 15- to 40-page books which were on sale to 19th century ballet audiences in Paris and contained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as '' Phèdre'', '' Andromaque'', and '' Athalie''. He did write one comedy, '' Les Plaideurs'', and a muted tragedy, '' Esther'', for the young. Racine's plays displayed his mastery of the dodecasyllabic (12 syllable) French alexandrine. His writing is renowned for its elegance, purity, speed, and fury, and for what American poet Robert Lowell described as a "diamond-edge", and the "glory of its hard, electric rage". Racine's dramaturgy is marked by his psychological insight, the prevailing passion of his characters, and the nakedness of both plot and stage. Biography Racine was born on 21 December 1639 in La Ferté- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lope De Vega
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of Spain, Lope de Vega is often considered second only to Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes said that Lope de Vega was “The Phoenix of Wits” (''Fénix de los ingenios'') and “Monster of Nature” (''Monstruo de naturaleza'').Foreword to , Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1615. Quoted in Lope de Vega renewed the literary life of Spanish theatre when it became mass culture, and with the playwrights Pedro Calderón de la Barca and Tirso de Molina defined the characteristics of Spanish Baroque theatre with great insight into the human condition. The literary production of Lope de Vega includes 3,000 sonnets, three novels, four novellas, nine epic poems, and approximately 500 play (theatre), stageplays. Personally and professionally, Lope de Ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially Criticism of the Catholic Church, of the Roman Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including Stageplay, plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and even scientific Exposition (narrative), expositions. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties and was at constant risk from the strict censorship laws of the Catholic French monarchy. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
