Lina Pagliughi
Lina Pagliughi (27 May 1907 – 2 October 1980) was an Italian-American opera singer. Based in Italy for the majority of her career, she made a number of recordings and established herself as one of the world's finest lyric coloratura sopranos of the 1930s and 1940s. Career Pagliughi was born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, to Italian immigrants. Her parents took her to live in San Francisco when still a child and she displayed a love of singing at an early age. She was noticed by the legendary soprano Luisa Tetrazzini who sensed her potential and encouraged her to study toward an operatic career. At the age of 15, Pagliughi moved to Italy with her family and she took voice lessons from the conductor/pedagogue Gaetano Bavagnoli in Milan. She made her debut in 1927, at Milan's Teatro Communale, as Gilda in ''Rigoletto''. Her success was such that she was immediately engaged to sing the part in a complete recording of the opera, with the baritone Luigi Piazza and the tenor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coloratura Soprano
A coloratura soprano () is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music that is distinguished by agile run (music), runs, leaps and Trill (music), trills. The term ''coloratura'' refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice. Within the coloratura category, there are roles written specifically for lighter voices known as lyric coloraturas and others for larger voices known as dramatic coloraturas. Categories within a certain vocal range are determined by the size, weight and color of the voice. Coloratura is particularly found in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and 19th centuries. Lyric coloratura soprano A very agile light voice with a high upper extension, capable of fast vocal coloratura. Lyric coloraturas have a range of approximately middle C (Scientific pitch notation, C4) to "high F" (F6). Such a soprano is sometimes referred to as a soprano leggero if her vocal tim ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Toti Dal Monte
Antonietta Meneghel (27 June 1893 – 26 January 1975), better known by her stage name Toti Dal Monte, was a celebrated Italian operatic lyric soprano. She may be best remembered today for her performance as Cio-cio-san in Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly'', having recorded this role complete in 1939 with Beniamino Gigli as Pinkerton. Career Born in Mogliano Veneto, in the Province of Treviso, Dal Monte studied singing at the Naples Conservatory under Barbara Marchisio. She made her debut at La Scala at the age of 23 as Biancofiore in Zandonai's '' Francesca da Rimini''. She was an immediate success, and her clear "nightingale-like" voice came to be highly appreciated throughout the world. Her best-known roles included the bel canto parts of Amina (in Bellini's ''La sonnambula''), Lucia (in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'') and Gilda (in Verdi's ''Rigoletto''). In 1922 she performed several parts opposite the tenor Carlo Broccardi at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; including ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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La Sonnambula
''La sonnambula'' (; ''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eugène Scribe and choreographed by Jean-Pierre Aumer called ''La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur''. The ballet had premiered in Paris in September 1827 at the height of a fashion for stage works incorporating somnambulism. The role of Amina was originally written for the soprano sfogato Giuditta Pasta and the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, but during Bellini's lifetime another soprano sfogato, Maria Malibran, was a notable exponent of the role. The first performance took place at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on 6 March 1831. The majority of twentieth-century recordings have been made with a soprano cast as Amina, usually with added top-notes and other changes according to tradition, although it was released in soprano ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Un Giorno Di Regno
''Un giorno di regno, ossia Il finto Stanislao'' (''A One-Day Reign, or The Pretend Stanislaus'', but often translated into English as ''King for a Day'') is an operatic '' melodramma giocoso'' in two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto written in 1818 by Felice Romani. Originally written for the Bohemian composer Adalbert GyrowetzGossett, p. 37: Gossett goes on to note that "for many Italian librettists of the time, French operatic texts were a rich vein to be mined." (Although ''Le faux Stanislas'' was a verse drama, not an operatic libretto.)Budden, p. 73 the libretto was based on the play ''Le faux Stanislas'' written by the Frenchman Alexandre-Vincent Pineux Duval in 1808. ''Un giorno'' was given its premiere performance at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan on 5 September 1840. After the success of his first opera, '' Oberto'' in 1839, Verdi received a commission from La Scala impresario Merelli to write three more operas. ''Un giorno'' was first of the three, but ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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La Fille Du Régiment
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure 8'' (album) * ''L.A.'' (EP), by Teddy Thompson *'' L.A. (Light Album)'', a Beach Boys album * "L.A." (Neil Young song), 1973 *The La's, an English rock band * L.A. Reid, a prominent music producer * Yung L.A., a rapper *Lady A, an American country music trio * "L.A." (Amy Macdonald song), 2007 *"La", a song by Australian-Israeli singer-songwriter Old Man River *''La'', a Les Gordon album Other media * l(a, a poem by E. E. Cummings * La (Tarzan), fictional queen of the lost city of Opar (Tarzan) *'' Lá'', later known as Lá Nua, an Irish language newspaper * La7, an Italian television channel *LucasArts, an American video game developer and publisher * Liber Annuus, academic journal Business, organizations, and governmen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Giovanni Malipiero
Giovanni Malipiero (20 April 1906 – 10 April 1970) was an operatic tenor who enjoyed a prominent career on stage and on radio in his native Italy during the 1930s and 1940s. Career and recorded legacy Malipiero was born in Padua, Italy, where he also studied singing. Lonigo, near Vicenza, was the scene of his professional debut in 1930, as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's ''Rigoletto''. The following year he sang the same role at the Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona. This performance marked the true start of his career as a leading artist. The fine quality of Malipiero's lyric voice soon attracted the attention of impresarios, and he was invited to sing at principal venues throughout Italy, including the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, La Fenice in Venice and the Verona Arena. Other major Italian cities that heard him sing were Naples, Parma, Turin and Genoa, and he travelled also to Monaco. In 1937, he made the first of what would prove to be many appearances at Italy's foremost opera h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lucia Di Lammermoor
''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoor''. Donizetti wrote ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' in 1835, when he was reaching the peak of his reputation as an opera composer. Gioachino Rossini had recently retired and Vincenzo Bellini had died shortly before the premiere of ''Lucia'' leaving Donizetti as "the sole reigning genius of Italian opera".Mackerras, p. 29 Not only were conditions ripe for Donizetti's success as a composer, but there was also a widespread interest in the history and culture of Scotland. The perceived romance of its violent wars and feuds, as well as its folklore and mythology, intrigued 19th century readers and audiences. Walter Scott dramatized these elements in his novel ''The Bride of Lammermoor'', which inspired several musical works including ''Lucia''.Mackerras, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bel Canto
, )—with several similar constructions (, , , pronounced in English as )—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing, and whose definitions have often been misunderstood. ''Bel canto'' was not only seen as a vocal technique, but also as a source of national pride for Italians, specifically in how the musical qualities aligned with their identity. However, this pride was often complicated by political circumstances. The phrase was not associated with a "school" of singing until the middle of the 19th century, when writers in the early 1860s used it nostalgically to describe a manner of singing that had begun to wane around 1830. Nonetheless, "neither musical nor general dictionaries saw fit to attempt definition f ''bel canto''until after 1900". The term remains vague and ambiguous in the 21st century and is often used to evoke a lost singing tradition. History of the term and its various definitions As generally understood today, the term ''bel canto'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cetra Records
Cetra (Compagnia per edizioni, teatro, registrazioni ed affini) was an Italian record company, active between 1933 and 1957, the year in which, by merging with (Fonodisco Italiano Trevisan), it gave birth to Fonit Cetra. Its roster of artists included Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Lina Pagliughi, Ebe Stignani, Carlo Bergonzi, Galliano Masini, Giovanni Malipiero, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Carlo Tagliabue, Rolando Panerai, Italo Tajo, Giuseppe Taddei, Tancredi Pasero and Cesare Siepi, among other leading Italian opera singers. The company was notable for issuing many recordings of obscure or rarely performed operas and the more obscure operas of Giuseppe Verdi to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the composer's 1901 death in 1951. Cetra recordings are often now reissued by the company Fonit Cetra. Cetra opera albums were first distributed in the United States on the Cetra-Soria label (founded by Dario and Dorle Soria, who later founded Angel Records). In 1966, Everest R ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hjördis Schymberg
Hjördis Gunborg Schymberg (April 24, 1909 – September 8, 2008) was a Swedish Coloratura soprano, coloratura and lyric soprano active on the opera stage and in concert halls between 1934 and 1968. One of the leading singers of the Royal Swedish Opera, she was awarded the title of ''Hovsångare, Hovsångerska'' (Court Singer) in 1943, and in her later years became a distinguished Vocal pedagogy, voice teacher. Biography Hjördis Schymberg was born on the island of Alnön on April 24, 1909, the fourth of five musically talented sisters. Her father worked in the local lumber mill and her mother was a seamstress. As a child, she played both the violin and piano and sang with the Gustavsberg, Sundsvall, Gustavsberg children's orchestra. She and her sisters also sang in cafes and performed music to accompany silent films.Östlund (2009) At the age of 16, she had her own radio program, ''Tant Hjördis sjunger med barnen'' (Aunt Hjördis sings with children), but it was not until 1929 t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of Government of the United Kingdom, the national government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. London grew rapidly 19th-century London, in the 19th century, becoming the world's List of largest cities throughout history, largest city at the time. Since the 19th cen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to a larger district, the Monte Carlo Quarter (corresponding to the former municipality of Monte Carlo), which besides Monte Carlo/Spélugues also includes the wards of Saint Roman, Monaco, La Rousse/Saint Roman, Larvotto, Larvotto/Bas Moulins and Saint Michel, Monaco, Saint Michel. The permanent population of the ward of Monte Carlo is about 3,500, while that of the quarter is about 15,000. Monaco has four traditional quarters, from west to east they are: Fontvieille, Monaco, Fontvieille (the newest), Monaco City, Monaco-Ville (the oldest), La Condamine, and Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is situated on a prominent escarpment at the base of the Maritime Alps along the French Riviera. Near the quarter's western end is the "world-famous Place du Ca ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |