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Gawain (opera)
''Gawain'' is an opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle to a libretto by David Harsent. The story is based on the Middle English romance ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. The opera was a commission from the Royal Opera House, London, where it was first performed on 30 May 1991. Rhian Samuel has published a detailed analysis of the opera. Birtwistle revised it in 1994, and the premiere of the revised version was given at the Royal Opera House on 20 April 1994. Music The plot of ''Gawain'' is ideally suited to Birtwistle's approach to musical structure. The repetitious structure of events can be paralleled with a repetitious musical structure. Thus the three hunts in Act 2 use the same musical material, as do the three seductions. The music is varied and adapted every time it is heard, but inner coherence is easily established. The synopsis also indicates many points where recurring motifs are heard: trios of door knocks; the return to the Arthurian court at the end of the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' The Triumph of Time'' (1972) and the operas '' The Mask of Orpheus'' (1986), '' Gawain'' (1991), and '' The Minotaur'' (2008). The last of these was ranked by music critics at ''The Guardian'' in 2019 as the third-best piece of the 21st century. Even his compositions that were not written for the stage often showed a theatrical approach. A performance of his saxophone concerto '' Panic'' during the BBC's Last Night of the Proms caused "national notoriety". He received many international awards and honorary degrees. Life and career Early life Harrison Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire around 20 miles north of Manchester. His parents, Fred and Madge Birtwistle, ran a bakery, and his interest in music was encourag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baritone
A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the Greek language, Greek (), meaning "low sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second F below C (musical note), middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. Scientific pitch notation, F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second G below middle C to the G above middle C (G2 to G4) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, ''Kavalierbariton'', Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, ''baryton-noble'' baritone, and the bass-baritone. History The first use of the term "baritone" emerged as ''baritonans'', late in the 15th century, usually in French Religious music, sacred Polyphony, polyphonic music. At t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NMC Recordings
NMC Recordings is a British recording label and a charity which specialises in recording works by living composers from the British Isles. History The composer Colin Matthews founded NMC in 1989, with financial assistance from the Gustav Holst, Holst Foundation. NMC is an abbreviation for "New Music Cassettes", which refers to the intended main means of packaging its recordings at the time. Matthews continues as a producer of NMC's recordings. NMC was originally administered through the Society for the Promotion of New Music. In 1992, NMC became independent, and Matthews invited Bill Colleran to become NMC's first board chairman. Colleran served in this capacity from 1993 to 2004. Additional financial support for NMC resulted after the 1993 Copyright Duration Directive (93/98/EEC), which extended the copyright term from 50 to 70 years. As a result, the music of Gustav Holst came back into copyright, and NMC obtained increased funding. However, it has fallen out of copyri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collins Classics
Collins Classics is a record label which specialises in classical music. It was founded in 1989 as a musical subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers and distributed through Pinnacle Entertainment (United Kingdom). Artists who recorded for the label include Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, the Duke Quartet, choral group the Sixteen, Harry Christophers and Joanna MacGregor. Collins Classics also recorded over 130 albums with orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Munich Symphony Orchestra and many more. In 2008 the label was sold to Phoenix Music International Ltd which continue to distribute the Collins Classics label digitally. See also * List of record labels File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg File:Bingola1011b.jpg Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts also featuring. The station has described itself as "the world's most significant commissioner of new music". Through its BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, New Generation Artists scheme, it promotes young musicians of all nationalities. The station broadcasts the The Proms, BBC Proms concerts, live and in full, each summer in addition to performances by the BBC Orchestras and Singers. There are regular productions of both classic plays and newly commissioned drama. Radio 3 won the Sony Radio Academy UK Station of the Year Gold Award for 2009 and was nominated again in 2011. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 1.9 million with a listening share of 1.6% as of March 2024. History Radio 3 is the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mummers Play
Mummers' plays are folk plays performed by troupes of amateur actors, traditionally all male, known as mummers or guisers (also by local names such as ''rhymers'', ''pace-eggers'', ''soulers'', ''tipteerers'', ''wrenboys'', and ''galoshins''). Historically, mummers' plays consisted of informal groups of costumed community members that visited from house to house on various holidays. Today the term refers especially to a play in which a number of characters are called on stage, two of whom engage in a combat, the loser being revived by a doctor character. This play is sometimes found associated with a sword dance though both also exist in Britain independently. Plays may be performed in the street or during visits to houses and pubs. They are generally performed seasonally, often at Christmas, Easter or on Plough Monday, more rarely on Halloween or All Souls' Day, and often with a collection of money. The practice may be compared with other customs such as those of Halloween, Bon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camelot
Camelot is a legendary castle and Royal court, court associated with King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world. Medieval texts locate it somewhere in Great Britain and sometimes associate it with real cities, though more usually its precise location is not revealed. Most scholars regard it as being entirely fictional, its unspecified geography being perfect for chivalric romance writers. Nevertheless, arguments about the location of the "real Camelot" have occurred since the 15th century and continue today in popular works and for tourism purposes. Etymology The name's derivation is uncertain. It has numerous different spellings in medieval French Arthurian romances, including ''Camaalot'', ''Camalot'', ''Chamalot'', ''Camehelot'' (sometimes read as ''Camchilot''), ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gawain And The Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English alliterative verse. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of folk motifs: the beheading game and the exchange of winnings. Written in stanzas of alliterative verse, each of which ends in a rhyming bob and wheel, it draws on Welsh people, Welsh, Irish, and English stories, as well as the French chivalric tradition. It is an important example of a chivalric romance, which typically involves a hero who goes on a quest that tests his prowess. It remains popular in modern English renderings from J. R. R. Tolkien, Simon Armitage, and others, as well as through film and stage adaptations. The story describes how Gawain, Sir Gawain, who was not yet a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any man to strike him with his axe if he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass (vocal Range)
A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to '' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E2–E4). Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to national style and classification system. Italians favour subdividing basses into the ''basso cantante'' (singing bass), ''basso buffo'' (comical bass), or the dramatic ''basso profondo'' (deep bass). The American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass. The German '' Fach'' system offers further distinctions: Spielbass (Bassbuffo), Schwerer Spielbass (Schwerer Bassbuffo), Charakterbass (Bassbariton), and Seriöser Bass. These classifications tend to describe roles rather than singers: it is rare for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Green Knight
The Green Knight (, , ) is a heroic character of the Matter of Britain, originating in the 14th-century poem '' Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' and the related medieval work '' The Greene Knight''. His true name is revealed to be Bertilak de Hautdesert (spelled in some translations as "Bercilak" or "Bernlak") in ''Sir Gawain'', while ''The Greene Knight'' names him "Bredbeddle". The Green Knight later features as one of Arthur's greatest champions in the fragmentary ballad '' King Arthur and King Cornwall'', again with the name "Bredbeddle". In ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'', Bertilak is transformed into the Green Knight by Morgan le Fay, a traditional adversary of King Arthur, to test his court. However, in ''The Greene Knight'', he is transformed by a different woman for the same purpose. In both stories, he sends his wife to seduce Gawain as a further test. The ''King Arthur and King Cornwall'' ballad portrays him as an exorcist and one of the most powerful knights of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedivere
Bedivere ( or ; ; ; , also Bedevere and other spellings) is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-handed great warrior named Bedwyr Bedrydant. Arthurian chivalric romances, inspired by his portrayal in the chronicle ''Historia Regum Britanniae'', portray Bedivere as a Knights of the Round Table, Knight of the Round Table of King Arthur who serves as Arthur's marshal and is frequently associated with his brother Sir Lucan, Lucan and his cousin Griflet as well as with Sir Kay, Kay. In the English versions, Bedivere notably assumes Griflet's hitherto traditional role from French romances as the one who eventually returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake after Battle of Camlann, Arthur's last battle. Bedwyr In early Welsh sources, Bedwyr Bedrydant ("Bedwyr of the Perfect Sinew") is a handsome, one-handed warrior under King Arthur, Arthur's command. His father is given as Pedrawd or Bedraw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Countertenor
A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a specific kind of countertenor) may match the soprano's range of around C4 to C6.A sopranist is a term, widely used falsely, used to describe a countertenor whose vocal range is so high it is equivalent to that of a soprano. Countertenors often have tenor or baritone chest voices, but sing in falsetto or head voice much more often than they do in their chest voice. The nature of the countertenor voice has radically changed throughout musical history, from a modal voice, to a modal and falsetto voice, to the primarily falsetto voice that is denoted by the term today. This is partly because of changes in human physiology ( increase in body height) and partly because of fluctuations in pitch. The term first came into use in England during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
