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Johanna Jachmann-Wagner
Johanna Jachmann-Wagner or Johanna Wagner (13 October 1828 – 16 October 1894) was a mezzo-soprano singer, tragédienne in theatrical drama, and teacher of singing and theatrical performance who won great distinction in Europe during the third quarter of the 19th century. She was a niece of the composer Richard Wagner and was the original performer, and in some respects the inspiration, of the character of Elisabeth in '' Tannhäuser''. She was also the original intended performer of Brünnhilde in ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'', but in the event assumed other roles. Early career Johanna Wagner was born in Seelze, Hanover. She was the natural daughter of a soldier named Bock von Wülfingen, and was adopted by Albert Wagner (1799–1874) (eldest brother of Richard) and his wife Elise (1800–1864). They had two other daughters. From Seelze the family moved to Würzburg in 1830, where both parents worked in the Royal Bavarian Theatre, father being an actor, singer and stage-manage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born in Marbach to a devoutly Protestant family. Initially intended for the priesthood, in 1773 he entered a military academy in Stuttgart and ended up studying medicine. His first play, ''The Robbers'', was written at this time and proved very successful. After a brief stint as a regimental doctor, he left Stuttgart and eventually wound up in Weimar. In 1789, he became professor of History and Philosophy at Jena, where he wrote historical works. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendship with the already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works that he had le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Mitterwurzer
Anton Mitterwurzer(12 April 1818 in Sterzing – 2 April 1876 in Döbling) was a German opera singer, a noted baritone interpreter of the works of Gluck, Marschner, and Wagner. Biography Mitterwurzer was born in Sterzing, Tyrol and made his first theatrical appearance at Innsbruck. He was engaged at the age of twenty-one in Dresden and stayed there for thirty years, greatly influencing operatic methods. Mitterwurzer was at his best in Wagnerian roles like Wolfram, Telramund, and Hans Sachs Hans Sachs (5 November 1494 – 19 January 1576) was a German ''Meistersinger'' ("mastersinger"), poetry, poet, playwright, and shoemaking, shoemaker. Biography Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg (). As a child he attended a singing school that w .... Notes References * 1818 births 1876 deaths Male singers from the Austrian Empire German operatic baritones 19th-century German male opera singers People from Sterzing {{opera-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josef Tichatschek
Josef Aloys Tichatschek (11 July 1807 – 18 January 1886), originally Ticháček, was a Bohemian opera singer highly regarded by Richard Wagner. He created the title roles in Wagner's operas ''Rienzi'' and ''Tannhäuser''. As the first of the great Wagnerian tenors, he effectively was the original Heldentenor, although it is unlikely that his voice was as powerful as that of 20th-century heldentenors such as Lauritz Melchior or Jon Vickers, given the smaller volume of sound produced by orchestras in his heyday. Outline Born in Weckelsdorf (now part of Teplice nad Metují, Náchod District, Bohemia), Tichatschek originally studied medicine, but he abandoned this career path for professional singing. He received voice lessons in Vienna from the Italian tenor Giuseppe Ciccimarra (1790–1836) and joined the chorus of the Kärntnertortheater in 1830. He advanced to chorus inspector, and began to take small solo roles. Rising to the status of principal tenor, he worked first at G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
The ''Flying Dutchman'' () is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the sea forever. The myths and ghost story, ghost stories are likely to have originated from the Dutch Golden Age, 17th-century Golden Age of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and of Dutch Empire, Dutch maritime power. The oldest known extant version of the legend dates from the late 18th century. According to the legend, if hailed by another ship, the crew of the ''Flying Dutchman'' might try to send messages to land, or to people long dead. Reported sightings in the 19th and 20th centuries claimed that the ship glowed with a ghostly light. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship functions as a Portent (divination), portent of doom. It was commonly believed that the ''Flying Dutchman'' was a 17th-century cargo vessel known as a ''fluyt''. Origins The first known print reference to the ship appears in ''Travels in various part of Europe, Asia and Africa during a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rienzi
' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an 1842 opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rienzi'' . Written between July 1838 and November 1840, it was first performed at the Königliches Hoftheater Dresden, on 20 October 1842, and was the composer's first success. The opera is set in Rome and is based on the life of Cola di Rienzo (1313–1354), a late medieval Italian populist figure who succeeds in outwitting and then defeating the nobles and their followers and in raising the power of the people. Magnanimous at first, he is forced by events to crush the nobles' rebellion against the people's power, but popular opinion changes and even the Church, which had urged him to assert himself, turns against him. In the end the populace burns the Capitol, in which Rienzi and a few adherents have made a last stand. Composition history ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kammersänger
Kammersänger (male; ) or Kammersängerin (female; ), abbreviated Ks. or KS, is a German Title of honor, honorific title for distinguished singers of opera and classical music. It literally means "chamber singer". Historically, the title was bestowed by princes or kings, when it was styled ''Hofkammersänger(in)'', where ''Hof'' refers to the royal court. The title is given in Germany and in Austria usually on the recommendation of relevant national and local institutions. In East Germany, some concert halls bestowed this designation. Similar titles are , Staatsschauspieler, , , and Kammerkomponist/Kammerkompositeur. Titles and recipients Austria ;Österreichischer Kammersänger / Österreichische Kammersängerin The honorary title is awarded by the Federal President of Austria on the proposal of the responsible Federal Minister since 1971. * Germany * Elise Kutscherra de Nyss (Coburg, 1894) * Gerhard Unger (1952) * Theo Adam (1955) * Anny Schlemm (Frankfurt, 1963) * Sig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semperoper
The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the Theaterplatz (Dresden), Theaterplatz near the Elbe River in the historic centre of Dresden, Germany. The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841. After a devastating fire in 1869, the opera house was rebuilt, partly again by Semper, and completed in 1878. The opera house has a long history of premieres, including major works by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. History The first opera house at the location of today's Semperoper was built by the architect Gottfried Semper. It opened on 13 April 1841 with an opera by Carl Maria von Weber. The building style itself is debated among many, as it has features that appear in three styles: early Renaissance and Baroque, with Corinthian style pillars typical o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Reine De Chypre
''La reine de Chypre'' (, ''The Queen of Cyprus'') is an 1841 grand opera in five acts composed by Fromental Halévy to a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. Performance history ''La reine de Chypre'', first performed at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra on 22 December 1841 with Rosine Stoltz in the title role and Gilbert Duprez as Gérard, was regarded in its time as one of the composer's greatest achievements. Joseph Mazilier was the choreographer, and the ballet starred Adèle Dumilâtre, Adéle Dumilâtre, Natalie Fitzjames, and Pauline Leroux with Marius Petipa and Auguste Mabile.Pitou, pp. 1088–1090. The publisher Maurice Schlesinger was reputed to have paid the enormous sum of 30,000 francs for the rights to the opera. The opera prompted an extended eulogy from Richard Wagner, who was present at the first night, in the ''Dresden Abend-Zeitung'', for which he was a correspondent. However, since the 19th century it has been rarely revived. The lib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy (; 27 May 179917 March 1862), was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera ''La Juive''. Early career Halévy was born in Paris, son of the cantor Élie Halfon Halévy, who was the secretary of the Jewish community of Paris and a writer and teacher of Hebrew, and a French Jewish mother. The name Fromental (meaning 'oat grass'), by which he was generally known, reflects his birth on the day dedicated to that plant: 7 Prairial in the French Revolutionary calendar, which was still operative at that time. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris at the age of nine or ten (accounts differ), in 1809, becoming a pupil and later protégé of Cherubini. After two second-place attempts, he won the Prix de Rome in 1819: his cantata subject was ''Herminie''. As he had to delay his departure to Rome because of the death of his mother, he was able to accept the first commission that brought him t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra''. It is a ''dramma giocoso'' blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements (although the composer entered it into his catalogue simply as ''opera buffa''). It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theatre (of Bohemia), now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. ''Don Giovanni'' is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte". Composition and premiere The opera was commissioned after the success of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Der Wildschütz
''Der Wildschütz oder Die Stimme der Natur'' (''The Poacher, or The Voice of Nature'') is a German ''Komische Oper'', or comic opera, in three acts by Albert Lortzing from a libretto by the composer adapted from the comedy ''Der Rehbock, oder Die schuldlosen Schuldbewussten'' by August von Kotzebue. It had its premiere at the Stadttheater in Leipzig on 31 December 1842. Roles Synopsis Act 1 At the village hotel, the schoolmaster Baculus is celebrating his engagement to Gretchen. A hunter from the Count von Eberbach then arrives at the festivities with a letter telling Baculus that he has been dismissed from his schoolmaster post, as Baculus had earlier gone hunting on the count's land without his permission. Baculus thinks to send Gretchen to change the count's mind, but then recalls the count's weakness for young women. The Baroness von Freimann, sister of the count and recently widowed, arrives disguised as a student to travel ''incognito''. Her brother wants her to remarr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
