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Bianca Scacciati
Bianca Scacciati (3 July 1894 in Florence – 15 October 1948 in Brescia) was an Italian operatic soprano, noted for her prominence in verismo. Biography Born into a family of opera-loving railwaymen, she showed her talents at singing from a very early age. Her abilities as a soprano was first recognised by the singing teacher Ernesta Bruschini, sister of the more famous Matilde Bruschini. On 1 November 1917, only just turned 24, she made her debut at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence in the role of Margherita in Faust by Charles Gounod in the (sung in Italian), going on with the same role at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, with such names as Alessandro Bonci (Faust), Vincenzo Bettoni (Mefistofele) and Luigi Piazza (Valentino). On the 27th of July 1920, she sang at the Arena di Verona, in one of the very first seasons of the theatre, in Boito's ''Mefistofele'', alongside Nazzareno De Angelis, Aureliano Pertile, Linda Barla Ricci, directed by Piero Fabbroni. In 192 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico anno 2013, datISTAT/ref> Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic and financial center. During this time, Florence rose to a position of enormous influence in Italy, Europe, and beyond. Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy (established in 1861). The Florentine dialect forms the base of Standard Italian and it became the language of culture throug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazzareno De Angelis
Nazzareno De Angelis (17 November 1881 – 14 December 1962) was an Italian operatic bass, particularly associated with Verdi, Rossini and Wagner roles. He was the grandfather of the nationalist militants Nanni and Marcello De Angelis. Career De Angelis was born at L'Aquila, Abruzzo. During his 36-year career, De Angelis appeared on stage on more than 1500 occasions, performing a repertoire of 57 different operas. He was especially celebrated for his powerful portrayal of the title role in Arrigo Boito's ''Mefistofele'', which he sang at least 500 times between 1906 and 1938. De Angelis began his working life as an apprentice printer, while his first serious exposure to music came in local choirs as a boy soprano. Earning praise for the excellence of his voice, he became a part of the choir of the Giulia Chapel and later the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He left the choir at puberty and began studying with Dr. Faberi at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. For several y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December 1871, in a performance conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. Today the work holds a central place in the operatic canon, receiving performances every year around the world; at New York's Metropolitan Opera alone, ''Aida'' has been sung more than 1,100 times since 1886. Ghislanzoni's scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Elements of the opera's genesis and sources Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write an opera to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal, but Verdi declined. However, Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist, proposed to Khedive Pasha a plot for a celebrato ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gino Marinuzzi
Gino Marinuzzi (24 March 188217 August 1945) was an Italian conductor and composer, particularly associated with the operas of Wagner and the Italian repertory. Biography Marinuzzi was born and studied in Palermo, and began his career there as well, conducting the local premieres of '' Tristan und Isolde'' in 1909, and '' Parsifal'' in 1914. He then appeared in Rome and Milan, where he conducted several local premieres (mostly Wagner operas) and many revivals of rarely performed operas such as ''Lucrezia Borgia'', '' La straniera'', ''Beatrice di Tenda'' and '' L'incoronazione di Poppea''. In 1930 he conducted the world premiere of Ildebrando Pizzetti's ''Lo straniero''. He made guest appearances at the Paris Opéra, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Monte Carlo Opera, where he conducted the world premiere of Puccini's ''La rondine'' in 1917. He was artistic director of the Chicago Opera Association from 1919 to 1921, and the Rome Opera from 1928 to 1934. He cond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, which in 2015 became the Metropolitan City of Genoa, had 855,834 resident persons. Over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. On the Gulf of Genoa in the Ligurian Sea, Genoa has historically been one of the most important ports on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean: it is currently the busiest in Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea and twelfth-busiest in the European Union. Genoa was the capital of Republic of Genoa, one of the most powerful maritime republics for over seven centuries, from the 11th century to 1797. Particularly from the 12th century to the 15th century, the city played a leading role in the commercial trade in Euro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teatro Carlo Felice
The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the side of Piazza De Ferrari. The hall is named for King Carlo Felice, and dates from 24 December 1824, when the Most Excellent Department of Theatres was established. On 31 January 1825, local architect Carlo Barabino submitted his design for the opera house which was to be built on the site of the church of San Domenico. The Dominican friars were moved elsewhere without delay or ceremony, and the first stone of the new building was laid on 19 March 1826. The inaugural performance of Bellini's '' Bianca e Fernando'' took place on 7 April 1828, even though the structure and decoration were not quite finished. The auditorium accommodated an audience of about 2,500 in five tiers (each with 33 boxes), a gallery above, and standing room in the orchestra pit. The acoustics were considered among the best of the time. For nea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfredo Catalani
Alfredo Catalani (19 June 1854 – 7 August 1893) was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas '' Loreley'' (1890) and ''La Wally'' (1892). ''La Wally'' was composed to a libretto by Luigi Illica, and features Catalani's most famous aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana." This aria, sung by American soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez, was at the heart of Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 film ''Diva''. Catalani's other operas were much less successful. Life and career Born in Lucca, Catalani came from a musical family. He was trained at the Milan Conservatory, where his teachers included Antonio Bazzini. Despite the growing influence of the ''verismo'' style of opera during the 1880s and early 1890s, Catalani chose to compose in a more traditional manner, which had traces of Richard Wagner, Wagner in it. As a result, his operas (''La Wally'' excepted) have largely lost their place in the modern repertoire, even compared to those of Jules Massenet, Massenet and Giacomo P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Wally
''La Wally'' is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892. The libretto is based on a hugely successful ' by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), ' (''The Vulture Wally: A Story from the Tyrolean Alps''). Wally, short for Walburga, is a girl with some heroic attributes. The story is based on an episode in the life of Tyrolean painter Anna Stainer-Knittel, whom von Hillern met. She gets her epithet "Geier" (vulture) from once stealing a vulture's hatchling from her nest. Von Hillern's piece was originally serialized in '' Deutsche Rundschau'' and was reproduced in English as "A German Peasant Romance" [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, whose works significantly influenced him. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician. The chorus "Va, pensiero" from his early opera ''Nabucco'' (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in the spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. An intensely private person, Verdi did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements. As he became professionally successful, he was able to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otello (Verdi)
''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. The composer was reluctant to write anything new after the success of ''Aida'' in 1871, and he retreated into retirement. It took his Milan publisher Giulio Ricordi the next ten years, first to encourage the revision of Verdi's 1857 ''Simon Boccanegra'' by introducing Boito as librettist and then to begin the arduous process of persuading and cajoling Verdi to see Boito's completed libretto for ''Otello'' in July/August 1881. However, the process of writing the first drafts of the libretto and the years of their revision, with Verdi all along not promising anything, dragged on. It wasn't until 1884, five years after the first drafts of the libretto, that composition began, with most of the work finishing in late 1885. When it finally premiere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second most populous city in Emilia-Romagna after Bologna, the region's capital. The city is home to the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world. Parma is divided into two parts by the stream of the same name. The district on the far side of the river is ''Oltretorrente''. Parma's Etruscan name was adapted by Romans to describe the round shield called '' Parma''. The Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci (born in a hamlet in the countryside) wrote: "As a capital city it had to have a river. As a little capital it received a stream, which is often dry", with reference to the time when the city was capital of the independent Duchy of Parma. History Prehistory Parma was already a built-up area in the Bronze Age. In the curr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teatro Regio (Parma)
Teatro Regio di Parma, originally constructed as the Nuovo Teatro Ducale (New Ducal Theatre),Martini, "Before the Teatro Regio", pp. 56 is an opera house and opera company in Parma, Italy. Replacing an obsolete house, the new Ducale achieved prominence in the years after 1829, and especially so after the composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born near Busseto, some thirty kilometres away, had achieved fame. Also well known in Parma was the conductor Arturo Toscanini, born there in 1867. As has been noted by Lee Marshall, "while not as well known as La Scala in Milan or La Fenice in Venice, the city’s Teatro Regio....is considered by opera buffs to be one of the true homes of the great Italian tradition, and the well-informed audience is famous for giving voice to its approval or disapproval – not just from the gallery." The 1,400-seat auditorium, with four tiers of boxes topped by a gallery, was inaugurated on 16 May 1829 when it presented the premiere of Vincenzo Bellini's '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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