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Maria Tauberová
Maria Tauberová (; 28 April 1911 – 16 January 2003) was a Czech opera singer who had an active international career from the 1930s through the 1970s. A lyric coloratura soprano with an excellent technique, she possessed a warm bright voice that was even in all registers. She was particularly admired for her portrayal of Mozart heroines. In addition to an almost four-decade career at the Prague National Theatre, she sang throughout Europe and in South America, frequently with her husband, conductor Jaroslav Krombholc. Biography Born in Vysoké Mýto, Tauberová moved with her family to Vienna at the age of 9. She entered the Vienna Music Academy where she initially studied piano and then singing with Ferdinand Rebay. She later pursued further vocal training in Milan with Fernando Carpi in 1934. She began her career in Vienna, portraying the title role in Fritz Kreisler's operetta ''Sissy'' for a total of 360 performances. In 1936 Tauberová made her débuts in Plzeň and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Così Fan Tutte
(''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte who also wrote ''The Marriage of Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro'' and ''Don Giovanni''. Although it is commonly held that was written and composed at the suggestion of the Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Joseph II, recent research does not support this idea. There is evidence that Mozart's contemporary Antonio Salieri tried to set the libretto but left it unfinished. In 1994, John A. Rice (musicologist), John Rice uncovered two String trio, terzetti by Salieri in the Austrian National Library. The short title, ''Così fan tutte'', literally means "So do they all", using the feminine plural (''wikt:tutte#Italian, tutte'') to indicate women. It is usually translated into English as "Women are like that". The words a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supraphon
Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers. History The Supraphon name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. The name was used for the label of domestic albums produced for export by Ultraphon company. After World War II, Ultraphon was nationalized and its name changed to ''Gramofonové závody''. In 1961, the name was changed to ''Gramofonové závody – Supraphon'' and later simplified to ''Supraphon'' in 1969. In Czechoslovakia, Supraphon was one of the three major state-owned labels, the other two being Panton and Opus. By January 2013, Supraphon was the official Czech distributor for the Warner Music Group. The Czech branch of Warner Music revived after the company acquired EMI Czech Republic. Panton is currently a division of Supraphon. Opus, operating in Slovakia, became independent after the break-up of Czechoslovakia and was acquire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julietta
''Julietta'' is an opera by Bohuslav Martinů, who also wrote the libretto, in French, based on the play ''Juliette ou la Clé des songes'' (''Juliette, or The Key of Dreams)'' by the French author Georges Neveux. A libretto in Czech was later prepared for its premiere which took place at the Prague National Theatre on 16 March 1938. ''Julietta'' has become widely considered as Martinů's masterpiece. Performance history Martinů became aware of the play by Neveux in 1932, two years after its premiere at the in Paris (8th arrondissement) on 7 March 1930.Smaczny, Jan. "''Julietta''". In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. It appears that Neveux had come to an agreement with Kurt Weill to base a musical comedy on his play, but on hearing some of Martinů's music, passed his favour to the Czech.Bohuslav Martinů: ''Juliette ou la Clé des songes''. In: Kaminski, Piotr. ''Mille et Un Opéras''. Fayard, 2003, pp. 839–841. The initial work o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mirandolina (opera)
''Mirandolina'' ( H. 346) is a 1953–54 comic opera in three acts by Bohuslav Martinů, with an Italian-language libretto by the composer after Carlo Goldoni's 1751 comedy ''The Mistress of the Inn'' (''La locandiera''). The opera, incorporating stretches of spoken dialogue between the characters against an orchestral background, was premiered on 17 May 1959 (shortly before the composer's death) at the Prague National Theatre, Czechoslovakia, when it was conducted by Václav Kašlik. David Pountney has described the opera as "the work where Martinů's strain of fast-moving, neo-Classical style comes into its own... finding room for witty and ironic musical references to Italian madrigals, French vaudeville and Italian opera buffa".'David Pountney. In the Key of Dreams. ''Opera'', Vol 60 No 6, June 2009, p660. Martinů's biographer Brian Large noted several highlights from the score: a coloratura aria in Act 1 Scene 6 for Mirandolina as well as waltzes, intermezzos and a saltarell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cunning Little Vixen
''The Cunning Little Vixen'' (original title ''Příhody lišky Bystroušky'' or ''Tales of Vixen Sharp-Ears'' in English), is a three-act Czech-language opera by Leoš Janáček completed in 1923 to a libretto the composer himself adapted from a novella by Rudolf Těsnohlídek. Name The opera's libretto was adapted by the composer from a 1920 serialized novella, ''Liška Bystrouška'', by Rudolf Těsnohlídek, which was first published in the newspaper ''Lidové noviny'' (with illustrations by Stanislav Lolek). For the title of the opera, ''Příhody'' means ''tales''; ''lišky'' is the genitive of ''vixen''. ''Bystroušky'', still genitive, is the pun ''sharp'', having the double meaning of ''pointed'', like fox ears, and ''clever''. The opera first became familiar outside Czechoslovakia in a 1927 German adaptation by Max Brod who provided the new name ''Das schlaue Füchslein'', by which Germans still know it and which in English means ''The Cunning Little Vixen''. Compositi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Two Widows
''The Two Widows'' () is a two-act Czech opera by Bedřich Smetana based on the libretto of . The libretto is based on Jean Pierre Felicien Mallefille's one-act play ''Les deux veuves''. The opera was composed between June 1873 and January 1874, and its premiere took place on 27 March 1874 at the Prague Czech Theatre under the direction of Smetana. However, this premiere was not successful and the opera was rewritten in 1874. The spoken dialogue was replaced by through-composed recitativesHolden p. 860 and some of the music and characters were reworked. The second premiere on 20 October 1874 was very successful. A further revised version was premiered on 17 March 1878, under Adolf Čech. For a later performance in Hamburg in 1882 "Smetena reluctan y added a trio in act 1 and an alternative ending to Anežka's aria in act 2, and consented to a redivision of the opera into three acts". Performance history The US premiere took place in New York on 23 October 1949 and it was first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Barber Of Seville
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy '' The Barber of Seville'' (1775). The premiere of Rossini's opera (under the title ''Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione'') took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, with designs by Angelo Toselli. Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'' is considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as the opera buffa of all "opere buffe". After two centuries, it remains a popular work. Composition history Rossini's opera recounts the events of the first of the three plays by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais that revolve around the clever and enterprising character named Figaro, the barber of the title. Mozart's opera '' The Marriage of Figaro,'' composed 30 years earlier in 178 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Contes D'Hoffmann
''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in October 1880, four months before the premiere. Composition history and sources Offenbach saw a play, , written by Barbier and Michel Carré and produced at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, Odéon Theatre in Paris in 1851. After returning from America in 1876, Offenbach learned that Barbier had adapted the play, which Hector Salomon had now set to music at the Opéra. Salomon handed the project to Offenbach. Work proceeded slowly, interrupted by the composition of profitable lighter works. Offenbach had a premonition, like Antonia, the heroine of Act 2, that he would die prior to its completion. Offenbach continued working on the opera throughout 1880, attending some rehearsals. On 5 October 1880, he died with the manuscript in his han ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
