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Antigone (Mendelssohn)
''Antigone'', Op. 55, MWV M 12, is a suite of incidental music written in 1841 by Felix Mendelssohn to accompany the tragedy ''Antigone'' by Sophocles, staged by Ludwig Tieck. The text is based on Johann Jakob Christian Donner's German translation of the text, with additional assistance from August Böckh. The music is scored for narrators, tenor and bass soloists, two men's choirs and orchestra. It includes an overture and seven choruses. The choruses are set in the style of Greek chorus, with strophes and antistrophes sung antiphonally by the two choirs, with additional passages of recitative. The first performance took place at the New Palace, Potsdam on 28 October 1841. A public performance followed a week later at the Berlin State Opera on 6 November 1841. The music was published that year by Kistner in Leipzig, with a dedication to his patron, King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Background Mendelssohn had been appointed as court composer to Frederick William IV, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Incidental Music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the film score or soundtrack. Incidental music is often background music, and is intended to add atmosphere to the action. It may take the form of something as simple as a low, ominous tone suggesting an impending startling event or to enhance the depiction of a story-advancing sequence. It may also include pieces such as overtures, music played during scene changes, or at the end of an act, immediately preceding an interlude, as was customary with several nineteenth-century plays. It may also be required in plays that have musicians performing on-stage. History The phrase "incidental music" is from the German ''Inzidenzmusik'', which is defined in the ''Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre'' as "music that is specifically written fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, but only seven have survived in a complete form: '' Ajax'', '' Antigone'', '' Women of Trachis'', '' Oedipus Rex'', '' Electra'', '' Philoctetes'', and '' Oedipus at Colonus''. For almost fifty years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens, which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in thirty competitions, won twenty-four, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won thirteen competitions and was sometimes defeated by Sophocles; Euripides won four.. The most famous tragedies of Sophocles feature Oedip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Steinberg (music Critic)
Carl Michael Alfred Steinberg (4 October 1928 – 26 July 2009) was an American music critic and author who specialized in classical music. He was best known, according to ''San Francisco Chronicle'' music critic Joshua Kosman, for "the illuminating, witty and often deeply personal notes he wrote for the San Francisco Symphony's program booklets, beginning in 1979." He contributed several entries to the ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', wrote articles for music journals and magazine, notes for CDs, and published a number of books on music, both collected published annotations and new writings. Life and career Carl Michael Alfred Steinberg was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), on 4 October 1928. In 1939, Steinberg was among the 10,000 child refugees transported out of Germany via the ''Kindertransport''; he and his mother settled in England. The two stayed with a family in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire, an assignment organized by the Quakers, and att ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dedication (art)
In art, a dedication is the creation or attribution of a work of art as a tribute to or in honor of a person, place, or thing. The dedicatee may be the commissioner, conductor, premiere performer or musical ensemble, or patron. The work may be memorial. In music, examples include many of Beethoven's works, such as the Piano Sonata Op. 109, dedicated to his friend Antonie Brentano's daughter Maximiliane. In literature, examples include Vladimir Nabokov's dedication of works to his wife Véra. See also *Concert program A concert program (in American English) or concert programme (in British English) is a selection and ordering, or programming, of pieces to be performed at an occasion, or concert. Concert programs can be organized into a booklet. In some occasi ... References The arts Dedication {{art-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Germany and is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. The name of the city is usually interpreted as a Slavic term meaning ''place of linden trees'', in line with many other Slavic placenames in the region. Leipzig is located about southwest of Berlin, in the southernmost part of the North German Plain (the Leipzig Bay), at the confluence of the White Elster and its tributaries Pleiße and Parthe. The Leipzig Riverside Forest, Europe's largest intra-city riparian forest, has developed along these rivers. Leipzig is at the centre of Neuseenland (''new lake district''). This district has Bodies of water in Leipzig, several artificial lakes created from former lignite Open-pit_mining, open-pit mines. Leipzig has been a trade city s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin State Opera
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from 1741 to 1743 according to plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in the Palladian style. Damaged during the Allied bombing in World War II, the former Royal Prussian Opera House was rebuilt from 1951 to 1955 as part of the Forum Fridericianum square. Nicknamed ''Lindenoper'' in Berlin, it is "the world´s oldest state opera" and "the first theater anywhere to be, by itself, a prominent, freestanding monumental building in a city." History Names Originally called the ('Royal Opera'), the company was renamed the ('Prussian State Opera') in 1919. After World War II it began operating as the national opera company for Communist East Germany, taking the name ('German State Opera') in 1955. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Palace (Potsdam)
The New Palace () is a palace situated on the western side of the Sanssouci park in Potsdam, Germany. The building was begun in 1763, after the end of the Seven Years' War, under King ''Friedrich II'' (Frederick the Great) and was completed in 1769. It is considered to be the last great Prussian Baroque palace. History The building of the palace commenced at the end of the Seven Years' War, to celebrate Prussia's success. The war is also variably referred to as the '' Third Silesian War'', owing to the dispute over Silesia. In an architectural form, Frederick the Great sought to demonstrate the power and glories of Prussia attributing it as ''fanfaronade'', an excess of splendor in marble, stone and gilt. For the King, the New Palace was not a principal residence, but a display for the reception of important royals and dignitaries. Of the over 200 rooms, four principal gathering rooms and a theater were available for royal functions, balls and state occasions. During his occa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name recitativo () is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lines as formally composed songs do. It resembles sung ordinary speech more than a formal musical composition. Recitative can be distinguished on a continuum from more speech-like to more musically sung, with more sustained melodic lines. The mostly syllabic ''recitativo secco'' ("dry", accompanied only by Basso continuo, continuo, typically cello and harpsichord) is at one end of the spectrum, through ''recitativo accompagnato'' (using orchestra), the more melismatic arioso, and finally the full-blown aria or ensemble, where the pulse is entirely governed by the music. Secco recitatives can be more improvisatory and free for the singer, since the accompaniment is so sparse; in contrast, when recitative is accompanied by orchestra, the singer m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antiphonal
An antiphonary or antiphonal is one of the liturgical books intended for use (i.e. in the liturgical choir), and originally characterized, as its name implies, by the assignment to it principally of the antiphons used in various parts of the Latin liturgical rites. Medieval antiphonaries varied with regional liturgical tradition. In 1570, following the Council of Trent, the Roman Rite antiphonary was declared universal. The Roman Antiphonary (''Antiphonale Romanum'') contains the chants for the canonical hours for the hours of Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline for every day of the year. The ''Vesperale Romanum'' is an excerpt of the Antiphonary containing the chants sung at Vespers. The music for use at the Mass is contained in the Roman Gradual (''Graduale Romanum''), the chants of the ordinary are also edited as an excerpt from the Gradual, the ''Kyriale Romanum''. The ''Antiphonale Romanum'' was substantially revised in 1910–11 in the course of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antistrophe
Antistrophe (, "a turning back") is the portion of an ode sung by the chorus in its returning movement from west to east in response to the strophe, which was sung from east to west. Characteristics Usage as a literary device It has the nature of a reply and balances the effect of the strophe. Thus, in Gray's ode called "The Progress of Poesy" (excerpt below), the strophe, which dwelt in triumphant accents on the beauty, power and ecstasy verse, is answered by the antistrophe, in a depressed and melancholy key: When the sections of the chorus have ended their responses, they unite and close in the epode, thus exemplifying the triple form, in which the ancient sacred hymns of Greece were coined, from the days of Stesichorus onwards. As Milton says: " strophe, antistrophe and epode were a kind of stanza framed for the music then used with the chorus that sang". Other semantic usage ''Antistrophe'' was also a kind of ancient dance Dance is an The arts, art fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strophe
A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of varying line length. Strophic poetry is to be contrasted with poems composed line-by-line non-stanzaically, such as Greek epic poems or English blank verse, to which the term '' stichic'' applies. In its original Greek setting, "strophe, antistrophe and epode were a kind of stanza framed only for the music", as John Milton wrote in the preface to '' Samson Agonistes'', with the strophe chanted by a Greek chorus as it moved from right to left across the scene. Etymology Strophe (from Greek στροφή, "turn, bend, twist") is a concept in versification which properly means a turn, as from one foot to another, or from one side of a chorus to the other. Poetic structure In a more general sense, the strophe is a pair of stanzas of alte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Chorus
A Greek chorus () in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, is a homogeneous group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the action of the scene they appear in, or provide necessary insight into action which has taken place offstage. Historically, the chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison, and sometimes wore masks. The players used masks to change their emotions while they were performing. History A common theory for the origin of the Greek chorus stems from the ancient Greek poet Arion's invention of the tragedy, the stationary chorus, and satyrs' verses. In Aristotle's ''Poetics,'' he writes that " ragedy'sbeginnings, certainly, were in improvisation utoschediastikês as were also those for comedy, tragedy originating in impromptus by the leaders of dithyrambic choruses, and comedy in those of the leaders of the phallic performances which still remain customary in many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
