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Giovanni Bottesini
Giovanni Bottesini (22 December 1821 – 7 July 1889) was an Italian Romantic composer, conductor, and a double bass virtuoso. Biography Born in Crema, Lombardy, he was taught the rudiments of music by his father, an accomplished clarinetist and composer, at a young age and had played timpani in Crema with the Teatro Sociale before the age of eleven. He studied violin with Carlo Cogliati, and probably would have continued on this instrument except for a unique turn of events. His father sought a place for him in the Milan Conservatory in 1835, but due to the Bottesini family's lack of money, Bottesini needed a scholarship. Only two positions were available: double bass and bassoon. He prepared a successful audition for the double bass scholarship in a matter of weeks. Only four years later, a surprisingly short time by the standards of the day, he left with a prize of 300 francs for solo playing. This money financed the acquisition of an instrument of Carlo Giuseppe Testore, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Puritani
' (''The Puritans'') is an 1835 opera by Vincenzo Bellini. It was originally written in two acts and changed to three acts before the premiere on the advice of Gioachino Rossini, with whom the young composer had become friends. The music was set to a libretto by Count Carlo Pepoli, an Italian émigré poet whom Bellini had met at a salon run by the exile Princess Belgiojoso, which became a meeting place for many Italian revolutionaries. The opera is based on ''Têtes Rondes et Cavaliers'' (''Roundheads and Cavaliers''), a historical play written by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine and set in the English Civil War. Except for its title, the opera is not in any way based on Walter Scott's 1816 novel '' Old Mortality'' (translated into Italian in 1825 as ''I Puritani di Scozia''), despite some claims to the contrary. When Bellini arrived in Paris in mid-August 1833, he had intended to stay only about three weeks, the main aim being to continue the negotiations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannes Matthias Sperger
Johannes Matthias Sperger, also often Johann, (Czech: Jan Matyáš Sperger; 23 March 1750 – 13 May 1812) was an Austrian double bassist and composer. Sperger was born in Feldsberg,At the time of his birth, Feldsberg was part of Lower Austria. and trained from 1767 in Vienna as a contrabassist and composer. He worked from 1777 in the Hofkapelle of the Archbishop of Pressburg. From 1778 he was also a member in the Wiener Tonkünstlersozietät, participating in its concerts several times playing his own works and as soloist. From 1783 to 1786, Sperger was a member of the Hofkapelle of count Ludwig von Erdödy in Kohfidisch. From 1789 he was employed as first contrabassist of the Mecklenburg Schwerin Hofkapelle in Ludwigslust. He was a prolific composer, writing at least forty-four symphonies, numerous instrumental concertos, including eighteen for contrabass. He also wrote sonatas, rondos and dances, cantatas, choral works, and airs. He died in Ludwigslust Ludwigslust () ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freemason
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizations in history. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of three main traditions: *Anglo-American Freemasonry, Anglo-American style Freemasonry, which insists that a "volume of sacred law", such as the Bible, Quran, or other religious text be open in a working Masonic lodge, lodge, that every member professes belief in a God, supreme being, that only men be admitted, and discussion of religion or politics does not take place within the lodge. *Continental Freemasonry or Liberal Freemasonry which has continued to evolve beyond these restrictions, particularly regarding religious belief and political discussion. *Co-Freemasonry, Women Freemasonry or Co-Freemasonry, which includes organizations that either admit women exclusively (such as the Ord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parma Conservatory
The Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito, better known in English as the Parma Conservatory, is a music conservatory in Parma, Italy. It was originally established as the Regia Scuola di Canto, a school for singing in 1819 by Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, and expanded into a conservatory of music in 1825. In 1840 instrumental music instruction began, followed by the addition of music composition, conducting, and other musical studies. Initially a school open only to men, the Parma Conservatory became a co-education institution in 1855 known as the Regia Scuola di Musica. In 1888 the school moved from being a private school to a public institution operated by the Government of Italy. Its name was changed to its present title to honor the composer Arrigo Boito in 1919. History The first school of music in the city of Parma was the Regia Scuola di Canto; a school founded in 1769 with the purpose of training vocalists attached to the Teatro Ducale opera house. It was housed at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gran Duo Concertante
The Gran Duo Concertante for two double basses and orchestra was composed by the Italian double bass virtuoso Giovanni Bottesini. The piece was premiered in Venice in 1844 by Bottesini and Giovanni Arpesani. Arpesani and Bottesini were both former students at the Milan Conservatory and at the time both were playing principal bass at Venetian opera houses, Bottesini at the Teatro San Benedetto and Arpesani at Teatro La Fenice. The ''Gran Duo Concertante'' is in three main sections performed without a break and usually lasts around 15 minutes if played up to tempo, but this estimate can vary greatly due to the artists' interpretation of the music. Double concertos were generally composed for different instruments, and Bottesini soon adapted the piece as a duo with violin which he performed in Italy with the violinist Luigi Arditi in the mid-1840s. The pair then moved to Havana, Cuba and performed the Gran Duo many times in the Americas, sometimes using the titles “La Fiesta de los ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typical three- movement structure, a slow movement (e.g., lento or adagio) preceded and followed by fast movements (e.g., presto or allegro), became a standard from the early 18th century. The concerto originated as a genre of vocal music in the late 16th century: the instrumental variant appeared around a century later, when Italians such as Giuseppe Torelli and Arcangelo Corelli started to publish their concertos. A few decades later, Venetian composers, such as Antonio Vivaldi, had written hundreds of violin concertos, while also producing solo concertos for other instruments such as a cello or a woodwind instrument, and concerti grossi for a group of soloists. The first keyboard concertos, such as George Frideric Handel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oratorio
An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters (e.g. soloists), and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, and typically involves significant theatrical spectacle, including sets, props, and costuming, as well as staged interactions between characters. In oratorio, there is generally minimal staging, with the chorus often assuming a more central dramatic role, and the work is typically presented as a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are not infrequently presented in concert form. A particularly important difference between opera and oratorio is in the typical subject matter of the text. An opera libretto may deal with any conceivable dramatic subject (e.g. history, mythology, Richard Nixon, Anna Nicole Smith an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luigi Mancinelli
Luigi Mancinelli (; 5 February 1848 – 2 February 1921) was an Italian Conducting, conductor, cello, cellist and composer. His early career was in Italy, where he established a reputation in Perugia and then Bologna. After 1886 he worked mostly in other countries, as principal conductor at the Royal Opera House, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London and at the Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street), "Old Metropolitan" Opera House in New York, and in other appointments in Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. Mancinelli was highly regarded not only in the Italian repertory, in which he first came to prominence, but also in German and French opera. Despite his high reputation as a conductor, his compositions met with limited success, and none of them entered the regular repertoire. Life and career Early years Mancinelli was born in Orvieto in central Italy. He studied organ and cello with his elder brother, Marino (who later became a well-known conductor in Italian opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito (; born Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) was an Italian librettist, composer, poet and critic whose only completed opera was ''Mefistofele''. Among the operas for which he wrote the libretto, libretti are Giuseppe Verdi's monumental last two operas ''Otello'' and ''Falstaff (opera), Falstaff'' as well as Amilcare Ponchielli's ''La Gioconda (opera), La Gioconda''. Along with Emilio Praga and his brother Camillo Boito, he is regarded as one of the prominent representatives of the Scapigliatura (Italian bohemian) artistic movement. He wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio. Biography file:Arrigo Boito - Birthplace in Padua.jpg, Birthplace in Padua Boito was born in Padua. He was the son of :it:Silvestro Boito, Silvestro Boito, a painter of miniatures, who was not of noble birth but passed himself off as a nobleman, and his wife, a Polish people, Polish countess, Józefina Radolińska. His older brother, Camillo Boito ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libretto
A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass (liturgy), Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet. The Italian language, Italian word (, ) is the diminutive of the word ''wiktionary:libro#Italian, libro'' ("book"). Sometimes other-language cognates, equivalents are used for libretti in that language, ''livret'' for French works, ''Textbuch'' for German and ''libreto'' for Spanish. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. Some ballet historians also use the word ''libretto'' to refer to the 15- to 40-page books which were on sale to 19th century ballet audiences in Paris and contained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
