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An American Overture
''An American Overture'' (originally titled ''Occasional Overture''), opus number, Op. 27 is an orchestral composition by Benjamin Britten. It was composed in 1941, while Britten and his life partner, the tenor Peter Pears, lived in the United States. Personal difficulties, global events, and the desire to earn more money goaded Britten to leave England and pursue a career in the United States. Britten began to compose ''An American Overture'' while he and Pears were living at the home of the piano duo Bartlett and Robertson in Escondido, California, Escondido, California. The work had resulted from a proposal initiated in August 1941, by the conductor Artur Rodziński for a short orchestral work he intended to conduct in concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in October and November of that year respectively. Britten completed the work on October 16, during a guest stay at the home of Elizabeth Mayer in Amityville, New York, Amit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera ''Peter Grimes'' (1945), the ''War Requiem'' (1962) and the orchestral showpiece ''The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'' (1945). Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of a dentist. He showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the ''a cappella'' choral work ''A Boy Was Born'' in 1934. With the premiere of ''Peter Grimes'' in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Third Programme
The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in Great Britain, Britain, playing an important role in disseminating the arts, broadcasting music (mainly classical music, classical), plays, documentary features and talks. It was the BBC's third national radio network, the other two being the BBC Home Service, Home Service (mainly speech-based) and the BBC Light Programme, Light Programme, principally devoted to light entertainment and light music, music. History When it started in 1946, the Third Programme broadcast for six hours each evening from 6.00 pm to midnight, although its output was cut to just 24 hours a week from October 1957, with the early part of weekday evenings being given over to educational programming (known as "Network Three"). The frequencies were also used durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RMS Ausonia
RMS ''Ausonia'', launched in 1921, was one of Cunard's six post-World War I "A-class" ocean liners for the Canadian service. History ''Ausonia'' was built in Newcastle by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., launched on 22 March 1921, and completed in June. She made her maiden voyage on 31 August 1921 from Liverpool to Montreal, and the following season went into service on the London-Canada route. In December 1938, the ''Ausonia'' carried about 50 American veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade returning from the Spanish Civil War from Le Havre, France, by way of England and Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving in New York City on 20 December 1938. On 29 April 1939, English composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears sailed from Southampton for Canada on ''Ausonia'' to begin what became a three-year sojourn in North America. Britten described the voyage as at first "bloody boring", though there was later a "terrific gale" and even "ice bumping against the ship". Towards the end of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lennox Berkeley
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley CBE (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer. Biography Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James Charles Harris, former British consul in Monaco, and Royal Navy Captain Hastings George FitzHardinge Berkeley (1855–1934), the illegitimate and eldest son of George Lennox Rawdon Berkeley, the 7th Earl of Berkeley (1827–1888). He attended the Dragon School in Oxford, going on to Gresham's School, in Holt, Norfolk and St George's School in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. He studied French at Merton College, Oxford, graduating with a fourth class degree in 1926. While at university he coxed the college rowing eight. He became an honorary fellow of Merton College in 1974. In 1927, he went to Paris to study music with Nadia Boulanger, and there became acquainted with Francis Poulenc, Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wulff Scherchen
Wulff is a German family surname and may refer to: People * Anna Wulff (1874–1935), Danish educator *Christian Wulff (born 1959), German politician, former president of Germany * Bettina Wulff (born 1973), wife of Christian *Erwin Neutzsky-Wulff (born 1949), Danish philosopher and author *Evgenii Wulff (1885–1941), Russian botanist *George Wulff (1863–1925), Russian cristallographe *Kai Wulff (fl. 1980–2001), German-born American actor * Marte Wulff, Norwegian singer and songwriter *Mikaela Wulff (born 1990), Finnish competitive sailor *Lee Wulff (1905–1991), American sportsman *Wilhelm Wulff, Nazi occult astrologer Science * Wulffite, an alkali copper sulfate mineral with the chemical formula K3 Na Cu4 O2( S O4)4 * Wulff net, special graph paper designed to read stereographic projections Other uses *Wulff (comics), a fictional mutant character in the Marvel 2099 setting *''Wulffmorgenthaler'', a webcomic and newspaper comic strip See also *Wolff, a surname *Wulf '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone (born Leib Milstein (Russian: Лейб Мильштейн); September 30, 1895 – September 25, 1980) was an American film director. Milestone directed '' Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) and '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930), both of which received the Academy Award for Best Director. He also directed '' The Front Page'' (1931), '' The General Died at Dawn'' (1936), ''Of Mice and Men'' (1939), '' Ocean's 11'' (1960), and received the directing credit for '' Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1962), though Marlon Brando largely appropriated his responsibilities during its production. Early life Lev or Leib Milstein was born in Kishinev, capital of Bessarabia, Russian Empire (now Chișinău, Moldova), into a wealthy, distinguished family of Jewish heritage. Milstein received his primary education at Jewish schools, reflecting his parents' liberal social and political orientation, and including a study of several languages. Milstein's family discouraged his early l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knights Of The Round Table
The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace of Arthur's kingdom following an early warring period, entrusted in later years to undergo a mystical quest for the Holy Grail. The Round Table at which they meet is a symbol of the equality of its members, who range from sovereign royals to minor nobles. The various Round Table stories present an assortment of knights from all over Great Britain and abroad, some of whom are even from outside of Europe. Their ranks often include King Arthur's family, Arthur's close and distant relatives, such as Agravain, Gaheris and Yvain, as well as his reconciled former enemies, like Galehaut, Pellinore and King Lot, Lot. Several of the most notable Knights of the Round Table, among them Bedivere, Gawain and Sir Kay, Kay, are based on older characters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramount Studios
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States (behind Universal Pictures), and the sole member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor put 24 actors and actresses under contract and honored each with a star on the logo. In 1967, the number of stars was reduced to 22 and their hidden meaning was dropped. In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. The company's headquarters and studios are located at 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, California. The most commercially successful film franchises from Paramount Pictures include ''Transformers'', '' Mission: Impossible'', and ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Palmer (director)
Tony Palmer (born 29 August 1941)IMDb: Tony Palmer Retrieved 24 September 2011 is a British film director and author. His work includes over 100 films, ranging from early works with the Beatles, Cream (band), Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher (''Irish Tour '74 (Film), Irish Tour '74'') and Frank Zappa (''200 Motels''), to his classical portraits which include profiles of Maria Callas, Margot Fonteyn, John Osborne, Igor Stravinsky, Richard Wagner, Yehudi Menuhin, Julian Lloyd Webber, Carl Orff, Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He is also a stage director of theatre and opera. Among over 40 international prizes for his work are 12 Gold Medals from the New York Film Festival as well as numerous BAFTAs and Emmy Awards. Palmer has won the Prix Italia twice, for ''A Time There Was'' in 1980 and ''At the Haunted End of the Day'' in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many consider the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which he called his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets ''Appalachian Spring'', ''Billy the Kid (ballet), Billy the Kid'' and ''Rodeo (ballet), Rodeo'', his ''Fanfare for the Common Man'' and Symphony No. 3 (Copland), Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera, and film scores. After some initial studie ... [...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] |
Our Hunting Fathers
''Our Hunting Fathers'', Op. 8, is an orchestral song cycle by Benjamin Britten, first performed in 1936. Its text, assembled and partly written by W. H. Auden, with a pacifist slant, puzzled audiences at the premiere, and the work has never achieved the popularity of the composer's later orchestral song-cycles, '' Les Illuminations'', the ''Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings'' and the ''Nocturne''. Background In the mid-1930s Britten was employed by the GPO Film Unit, composing music for documentary films. Also working for the unit was the poet and critic W. H. Auden, with whom Britten collaborated on the films ''Coal Face'' (1935) and ''Night Mail'' (1936). Auden was something of a mentor to the young Britten, encouraging him to widen his aesthetic, intellectual and political horizons. Britten received a commission to compose a work involving orchestra for the 1936 Norfolk and Norwich Triennial Music Festival. Auden assembled the text for an orchestral song cycle, writing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
