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Mignon (opera)
''Mignon'' () is an 1866 ''opéra comique'' (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel ''Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre''. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's "The Dead" (in ''Dubliners'') and Willa Cather's '' The Professor's House''. Thomas's goddaughter Mignon Nevada was named after the main character. The aria “I am Titania” was used repeatedly in the British feature film “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp”. Performance history The first performance was at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 17 November 1866. The piece proved popular: more than 100 performances took place by the following July, the 1,000th was given there on 13 May 1894, and the 1,500th on 25 May 1919. The opera was also adapted and translated into German for performance in Berlin with Madame Lucca as Mignon. Lucca was well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet (opera), Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning France's top music prize, the Prix de Rome. He pursued a career as a composer of operas, completing his first opera, ''La double échelle'', in 1837. He wrote twenty further operas over the next decades, mostly comic, but he also treated more serious subjects, finding considerable success with audiences in France and abroad. Thomas was appointed as a professor at the Conservatoire in 1856, and in 1871 he succeeded Daniel Auber as director. Between then and his death at his home in Paris twenty-five years later, he modernised the Conservatoire's organisation while imposing a rigidly conservative curriculum, hostile to modern music, and attempting to prevent composers such as César Franck and Gabriel Fauré fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Meister
Wilhelm Meister is the main character in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novels ''Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship'' and its sequel '' Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years''. Description and history Wilhelm Meister's story concerns how he comes from a family of businessmen and desires to transcend bourgeois life. In ''Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship'', published in 1795–1796, he tries to achieve this by joining a theatre troupe and a secret society. In '' Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years'', published in 1821 and revised substantially in 1829, he travels widely without a permanent residence. Goethe chose the name Wilhelm as a nod to William Shakespeare, whose works feature prominently in ''Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship''. The last name Meister, meaning ''Master'', reflects the character's capability and active role. A recurring motif throughout both novels is Meister's fascination with the painting '' The King's Sick Son'' by Antonio Bellucci. In other media Meister is portray ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
