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Four Verses Of Captain Lebyadkin
The ''Four Verses of Captain Lebyadkin'' () by Dmitri Shostakovich is a song cycle composed in 1974. It is his final vocal work. Despite having a lifelong appreciation for the writings of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Shostakovich did not embark on a large-scale musical setting of them until the penultimate year of his life, when he became fascinated by Captain Ignat Lebyadkin, a character who affected to be a learned poet in ''Demons''. Shostakovich had read the novel while convalescing in Barvikha. He selected several of his verses from the novel and fashioned them together idiosyncratically for his song cycle. Yevgeny Nesterenko and premiered the work at the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on May 10, 1975; it was the last time Shostakovich attended a premiere of his own music. The reception from the public and press was muted. Alfred Schnittke, who was in the audience, recalled that the hall was only half full. Krzysztof Meyer called the work "truly astonishing", while , presid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song Cycle
A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combination of solo songs mingled with choral pieces. The number of songs in a song cycle may be as brief as two songs or as long as 30 or more songs. The term "song cycle" did not enter lexicography until 1865, in Arrey von Dommer's edition of ''Koch’s Musikalisches Lexikon'', but works definable in retrospect as song cycles existed long before then. One of the earliest examples may be the set of seven Cantiga de amigo, Cantigas de amigo by the 13th-century Galicians, Galician jongleur Martin Codax. Jeffrey Mark identified the group of dialect songs 'Hodge und Malkyn' from Thomas Ravenscroft's ''The Briefe Discourse'' (1614) as the first of a number of early 17th-century examples in England. A song cycle is similar to a song collection, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nose (opera)
''The Nose'', Op. 15, () is Dmitri Shostakovich's first opera, a satirical work completed in 1928 based on Nikolai Gogol's 1836 story of the same name. Style and structure The opera was written between 1927 and 1928. The libretto is by Shostakovich, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Georgy Ionin, and Alexander Preis. Shostakovich stated it was a satire on the times of Alexander I. The plot concerns a Saint Petersburg official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own. Gogol's original work was expanded by borrowing from some of his other works, including " The Overcoat", ''Marriage'', " Diary of a Madman", and '' Dead Souls'' as well as '' The Brothers Karamazov'' (1881) by Dostoyevsky. The latter occurs in act 2, scene 6, where Kovalyov returns home to find Ivan singing. The song is Shostakovich's setting of the words of part 2, book 5, chapter 2 of ''Karamazov'', where the lackey, Smerdiakov, sings to his neighbour Mariia Kondratevna. An invisible force ties to my bel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
24 Preludes And Fugues (Shostakovich)
The 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich are a set of 24 musical pieces for solo piano, one in each of the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. The cycle was composed in 1950 and 1951 while Shostakovich was in Moscow, and premiered by pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva in Leningrad in December 1952; it was published the same year. A complete performance takes approximately 2 hours and 32 minutes. It is one of several examples of music written in all major and/or minor keys. Form and structure Each piece is in two parts—a prelude and fugue—varying in pace, length and complexity (for example, Fugue No. 13 in F major is in five voices, while Fugue No. 9 in E major is in only two voices). The pieces proceed in relative major/minor pairs around the circle of fifths: first C major and A minor (prelude and fugue nos. 1 and 2), then to one sharp (G major, E minor), two sharps (D major, B minor), and so on, ending with D minor (1 flat). Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sevastopol
Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base throughout its history. Since the city's founding in 1783 it has been a major base for Russia's Black Sea Fleet. During the Cold War of the 20th century, it was a closed city. The total administrative area is and includes a significant amount of rural land. The urban population, largely concentrated around Sevastopol Bay, is 479,394, and the total population is 547,820. Sevastopol, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and under the Ukrainian legal framework, it is administratively one of two cities with special status (the other being Kyiv). However, it has been occupied by Russia since 27 February 2014, before Russia annexed Crimea on 18 March 2014 and gave it the status of a federal city of R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Sevastopol (1854–1855)
The siege of Sevastopol (at the time called in English the siege of Sebastopol) lasted from October 1854 until September 1855, during the Crimean War. The allies ( French, Sardinian, Ottoman, and British) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854, intending to make a triumphal march to Sevastopol, the capital of the Crimea, with 50,000 men. Major battles along the way were Alma (September 1854), Balaklava (October 1854), Inkerman (November 1854), Tchernaya (August 1855), Redan (September 1855), and, finally, Malakoff (September 1855). During the siege, the allied navy undertook six bombardments of the capital, on 17 October 1854; and on 9 April, 6 June, 17 June, 17 August, and 5 September 1855. The siege of Sevastopol is one of the last classic sieges in history. The city of Sevastopol was the home of the tsar's Black Sea Fleet, which threatened the Mediterranean. The Russian field army withdrew before the allies could encircle it. The siege was the culminating struggle for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nestor Kukolnik
Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik () (1809–1868) was a Russian playwright and prose writer of Carpatho-Rusyn origin. Immensely popular during the early part of his career, his works were subsequently dismissed as sententious and sentimental. Today, he is best remembered for having contributed to the libretto of the first Russian opera, ''A Life for the Tsar'' by Mikhail Glinka. Glinka also set many of his lyrics to music. Family background Nestor Kukolnik was born on 8 September 1809 in the city of Saint Petersburg in the family of a professor lecturing at the Saint Petersburg Teacher's College. His father, Bazyli Wojciech Kukolnik, belonged to the ethnic group of Rusyns (Ruthenians) and came from an old noble family. A graduate of Vienna University, he also lectured in Poland. In 1804, Bazyli Wojciech Kukolnik was invited to teach in Russia along with professors Ivan Orlay (Orlay János) and Mikhail Balugjanskij. Among his pupils were Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afanasy Fet
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet ( rus, Афана́сий Афана́сьевич Фет, p=ɐfɐˈnasʲɪj ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈfʲɛt, a=Ru-Afanasiy Afanas'yevich Fyet.oga), later known as Shenshin ( rus, Шенши́н, p=ʂɨnˈʂɨn, a=Ru-Afanasiy Afanas'yevich Shinshin.oga; – ), was a renowned Russian poet regarded as the finest master of lyric verse in Russian literature. Biography Afanasy Fet was born on 5 December 1820 to Afanasy Shenshin, a 44-year-old Russian landlord from Mtsensk, and Charlotte Becker, a 22-year-old daughter of Karl Becker, a German inn-keeper. While staying with them during his visit to Germany, Shenshin fell in love with Charlotte, who agreed to follow him to Russia. Pregnant with her second child, she divorced her husband Johann Foeth, a Darmstadt court official, and married her Russian suitor, but was forced to leave her one-year-old daughter Carolina behind.Later Carolina Foeth too came to Russia where she married Alexander Matveyev, the rect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2,952,301, making Kyiv the List of European cities by population within city limits, seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyiv is an important industrial, scientific, educational, and cultural center. It is home to many High tech, high-tech industries, higher education institutions, and historical landmarks. The city has an extensive system of Transport in Kyiv, public transport and infrastructure, including the Kyiv Metro. The city's name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, one of its four legendary founders. During History of Kyiv, its history, Kyiv, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of prominence and obscurity. The city probably existed as a commercial center as early as the 5th century. A Slav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Repino, Saint Petersburg
Repino () is an administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, area of Saint Petersburg, Russia, and a station of the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad. It was known by its Finnish name Kuokkala until 1948, when it was renamed after its most famous inhabitant, the painter Ilya Repin. It is northwest of St. Petersburg Petersburg-Aktuell, "Repino: Zu Gast beim großen Meister" retrieved 25 May 2007. on the Karelian Isthmus and Gulf of Finland. The population was 2,478 at the 2010 Census. History The first mention of Kuokkala is in a peace treaty between the Republic of Novgorod and the Kingdom of Sweden (800–1521), Kingdom of Sweden in 1323. The territory where the village is located was fought over b ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaak Glikman
Isaac Davydovich Glikman (1911–2003) was a Soviet literary critic, theater critic, librettist, screenwriter, and teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was a close friend of the composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Biography Glikman was born in 1911 in Vitebsk, in the family of Jewish actor David Glikman. He graduated from philology faculty of the Leningrad University. It was while working in an administrative capacity for the Leningrad Philharmonia's Mass Education Unit that he first met Shostakovich in 1931; he then became his literary consultant and unofficial secretary. In the 1940s he headed the literary section of the Maly Opera Theater. Collaborating with composers, librettists and directors, he helped to create new stage works, among them Sergei Prokofiev's ''War and Peace''. He wrote screenplays for famous operas and operettas, and worked for many years as a music consultant and editor at Lenfilm. Filmography * 1958: ''Mister X'' * 1959: ''Morning Star'' * 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orpheus In The Underworld
''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "opéra bouffon" at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris, on 21 October 1858, and was extensively revised and expanded in a four-act "opéra féerie" version, presented at the Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin), Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 7 February 1874. The opera is a lampoon of the ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. In this version Orpheus is not the son of Apollo but a rustic violin teacher. He is glad to be rid of his wife, Eurydice, when she is abducted by the god of the underworld, Pluto (mythology), Pluto. Orpheus has to be bullied by Public Opinion into trying to rescue Eurydice. The reprehensible conduct of the gods of Mount Olympus#Name and mythological associations, Olympus in the opera was widely seen as a vei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss II and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' remains part of the standard opera repertory. Born in Cologne, Kingdom of Prussia, the son of a synagogue hazzan, cantor, Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of 14, he was accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire; he found academic study unfulfilling and left after a year, but remained in Paris. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
