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Maybelle Marston
Maybelle Zenobia Berretta Marston (May 14, 1895 – February 22, 1983) was an American contralto singer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Early life Mabel Zenobia Berretta was from Philadelphia. She won a "cutest baby" contest at the New Jersey shore in 1896. Career Maybelle Beretta Marston sang with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music and other large venues. In 1925 Marston sang Gilbert and Sullivan roles in ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' (1925) ''The Mikado'' (1926 and 1941), and ''Iolanthe'' (1927). She also sang parts in ''Feuersnot'' (1927, its U.S. premiere), ''Die Walküre'' (1928 and 1929), '' I gioielli della Madonna'' (1928), ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' (1928, its U.S. premiere), ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' (1928 and 1930), ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (1928), ' (1929), ''Carmen'' (1929), ''Prince Igor'' (1929), ''Roméo et Juliette'' (1929), ''Das Rheingold'' (1929), ''Götterdämmerung'' (1930), ''Die Zauberflöte'' (1930), ''Le nozze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contralto
A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically between the F below middle C (F3 in scientific pitch notation) to the second F above middle C (F5), although, at the extremes, some voices can reach the D below middle C (D3) or the second B above middle C (B5). The contralto voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic contralto. History "Contralto" is primarily meaningful only in reference to classical and operatic singing, as other traditions lack a comparable Voice classification in non-classical music, system of vocal categorization. The term "contralto" is only applied to female singers; men singing in a similar range are called "countertenors". The Italian terms "contralto" and "alto" are not synonymous, "alto" technic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roméo Et Juliette
''Roméo et Juliette'' (, ''Romeo and Juliet'') is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on ''Romeo and Juliet'' by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique (Théâtre-Lyrique Impérial du Châtelet), Paris on 27 April 1867. This opera is notable for the series of four duets for the main characters and the waltz song ''"Je veux vivre"'' for the soprano. Performance history Gounod's opera ''Faust'' had become popular at the Théâtre Lyrique since its premiere in 1859 (it was performed over 300 times between 1859 and 1868) and this led to a further commission from the director Léon Carvalho. Walsh, T. J. ''Second Empire Opera – The Théâtre-Lyrique Paris 1851–1870.'' John Calder, London, 1981. Behind the scenes there were difficulties in casting the lead tenor, and Gounod was said to have composed the last act twice, but after the public general rehearsal and first night it was hail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reading Times
The ''Reading Eagle'' is the major daily newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania. A family-owned newspaper until the spring of 2019, its reported circulation is 37,000 (daily) and 50,000 (Sundays). It serves the Reading and Berks County region of Pennsylvania. After celebrating its sesquicentennial of local ownership and editorial control in 2018, the ''Reading Eagle'' was acquired by the Denver-based MediaNews Group's Digital First Media in May 2019. History The newspaper was founded on January 28, 1867. Initially an afternoon paper, it was published Monday through Saturday, and a Sunday morning edition was added later. In 1940, ''The Eagle'' acquired the ''Reading Times'', which was the city's morning paper, though they remained editorially separate newspapers. The staff of the two papers was combined in 1982. In June 2002, the ''Reading Times'' ceased publication, and the ''Eagle'' became a morning paper. The two newspapers published a joint Saturday-morning edition since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. He was one of the first "crossover" stars, a superstar appealing both to shrieking bobby soxers and opera purists, and in his heyday, he was the highest paid singer in the world. During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, earned three gold records, and was invited to sing at the third inauguration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The News Journal
''The News Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Wilmington, Delaware. It is headquartered in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near New Castle, and is owned by Gannett. History The ancestry of the News Journal reflects the mergers of several newspapers. It is dated to Oct. 1, 1866, when Howard M. Jenkins and Wilmer Atkinson started the afternoon publication ''Daily Commercial''. In 1877, that paper was absorbed into a rival, the ''Every Evening'', founded by Georgetown native William T. Croasdale. The ''Evening Journal'', later owned by the Du Pont family, was founded in 1888 as a competitor to The Every Evening. The two papers merged in 1933. Another predecessor to the News Journal was the ''Morning Herald'', founded in 1876 by Philadelphia lawyer John O'Byrne. It later became the Daily Morning News, bought by Alfred I. Du Pont in 1911. For most of the 20th century, the Du Pont family owned these two Delaware newspapers, ''The Morning News'' and ''The Evening Journa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pirates Of Penzance
''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where it was well received by both audiences and critics. Its London debut was on 3 April 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances. The story concerns Frederic, who, having completed his 21st year, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets the daughters of the incompetent Major-General Stanley, including Mabel, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic soon learns, however, that he was born on 29 February, and so, technically, he has a birthday only once each leap year. His indenture specifies that he remain apprenticed to the pirates until his "twenty-first birthday", meaning that he must serve for another 63 years. Bound by his own sense of duty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Kimball Hadley
Henry Kimball Hadley (20 December 1871 – 6 September 1937) was an American composer and conductor.''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 8th edition, p. 692 Early life Hadley was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, to a musical family. His father, from whom he received his first musical instruction in violin and piano, was a secondary school music teacher, his mother was active in church music, and his brother Arthur went on to a successful career as a professional cellist. In the Hadley home, the two brothers played string quartets with their father on viola and the composer Henry F. Gilbert on second violin. Hadley also studied harmony with his father and with Stephen A. Emery, and, from the age of fourteen, he studied composition with the prominent American composer George Whitefield Chadwick. Under Chadwick's tutelage, Hadley composed many works, including songs, chamber music, a musical, and an orchestral overture. In 1893, Hadley toured with the Laura Sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triple-Sec
''Triple-Sec'' is an English language American opera in one act composed by Marc Blitzstein with a libretto by Ronald Jeans. The first performance of the comic opera was in 1929 in the composer's hometown of Philadelphia. ''Triple-Sec'', the composer's first opera, has a running time of fifteen minutes. The opera was Blitzstein's first success as a composer. Blitzstein 's biographer Eric Gordon wrote "what gives the piece interest is not its story. Nor is Blitzstein's music inherently so attractive—all conversational recitative with no arias or set pieces, composed on a rakish idiom of tonal ambiguity to a chamber orchestra accompaniment. It is the Dadaist staging that makes the opera work." Blitzstein told the ''Daily Worker'' in 1941 that the opera "was one of those screwy modernist things in which, through stage devices, the audience is supposed to get drunk. It had a philosophy. I was slamming the smug people and traditions I had been brought up with." Synopsis In a prol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marc Blitzstein
Marcus Samuel Blitzstein (March 2, 1905January 22, 1964), was an American composer, lyricist, and Libretto, librettist. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-Trade union, union musical ''The Cradle Will Rock'', directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration. He is known for ''The Cradle Will Rock'' and for his off-Broadway translation/adaptation of ''The Threepenny Opera'' by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. His works also include the opera ''Regina (Blitzstein), Regina'', an adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play ''The Little Foxes''; the Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theater, musical ''Juno (musical), Juno'', based on Seán O'Casey's play ''Juno and the Paycock''; and ''No for an Answer''. He completed translation/adaptations of Brecht's and Weill's musical play ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' and of Brecht's play ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' with music by Paul Dessau. Blitzstein also composed music for films, such as ''Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851. The work, Verdi's sixteenth in the genre, is widely considered to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, ''La maledizione'' (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by the Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from the assassin hired by he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hansel And Gretel (opera)
''Hansel and Gretel'' (German: ') is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a ' (fairy-tale opera). The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale of the same name. It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the "" ("Evening Benediction") from act 2. The idea for the opera was proposed to Humperdinck by his sister, who approached him about writing music for songs that she had written for her children for Christmas based on "Hansel and Gretel". After several revisions, the musical sketches and the songs were turned into a full-scale opera. Humperdinck composed ''Hansel and Gretel'' in Frankfurt in 1891 and 1892. The opera was first performed in the Hoftheater in Weimar on 23 December 1893, conducted by Richard Strauss. It has been associated with Christmas since its earliest performances and today it is still most often performed at C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Marriage Of Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786. The opera's libretto is based on the 1784 stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, '' La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro'' ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"). It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity. Considered one of the greatest operas ever written, it is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears consistently among the top ten in the Operabase list of most frequently performed operas. In 2017, BBC News Magazine asked 172 opera singers to vote for the best operas ever written. ''The Marriage of Figaro'' came in first out of the 20 operas featured, with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
