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Ruth Althén
Ruth Ester Althén née Whitefield (1890–1985) was a Swedish operatic soprano. Trained by Thekla Hofer and Ture Rangström, she made her début at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1915 with the title role in '' Aida''. Engaged by the Royal Opera in 1918, she also performed in concerts. Biography Born in Kristianstad on 11 September 1890, Ruth Ester Whitefield was the daughter of the businessman Nils Whitefield and his wife Ingrid née Hanson. She studied voice in Stockholm under Thekla Hofer, Ture Rangström and Haldis Ingebjart. She continued training in Berlin under Ernst Grenzebach and in Milan under Vittorio Maria Vanzo and Giannina Russ. In 1918 she married the organist and composer The marriage was dissolved in 1941. She made her début as Aida in 1914 at the Royal Swedish Opera where she was engaged in 1918. Other successful roles included Elsa in '' Lohengrin'', Elena in '' Mefistofele'' and Elisabet in ''Tannhäuser''. She also played Desdemona in ''Otello'', Rosina in ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tannhäuser (opera)
''Tannhäuser'' (; full title , "Tannhäuser and the Minnesängers' Contest at Wartburg") is an 1845 opera in three acts, with music and text by Richard Wagner ( WWV 70 in the catalogue of the composer's works). It is based on two German legends: Tannhäuser, the mythologized medieval German Minnesänger and poet, and the tale of the Wartburg Song Contest. The story centres on the struggle between sacred and profane love, as well as redemption through love, a theme running through most of Wagner's work. The opera remains a staple of major opera house repertoire in the 21st century. Composition history Sources The libretto of ''Tannhäuser'' combines mythological elements characteristic of German '' Romantische Oper'' (Romantic opera) and the medieval setting typical of many French Grand Operas. Wagner brings these two together by constructing a plot involving the 14th-century Minnesingers and the myth of Venus and her subterranean realm of Venusberg. Both the historical an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People From Kristianstad Municipality
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1985 Deaths
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a new agreement on fishing rights. * January 7 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches ''Sakigake'', Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States space exploration programs, United States or the Soviet space program, Soviet Union. * January 15 – Tancredo Neves is Brazilian presidential election, 1985, elected president of Brazil by the National Congress of Brazil, Congress, ending the Military dictatorship in Brazil, 21-year military rule. * January 20 – Ronald Reagan is Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan, privately sworn in for a second term as Presidency of Ronald Reagan, President of the United States. * January 27 – The Eco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1890 Births
Year 189 ( CLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 942 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 189 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Plague (possibly smallpox) kills as many as 2,000 people per day in Rome. Farmers are unable to harvest their crops, and food shortages bring riots in the city. China * Liu Bian succeeds Emperor Ling, as Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty. * Dong Zhuo has Liu Bian deposed, and installs Emperor Xian as emperor. * Two thousand eunuchs in the palace are slaughtered in a violent purge in Luoyang, the capital of Han. By topic Arts and sciences * Galen publishes his ''"Treatise on the various temperaments"'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turandot (Busoni)
''Turandot'' is a 1917 opera with spoken dialogue and in two acts by Ferruccio Busoni. Busoni prepared his own libretto, in German, based on the play by Count Carlo Gozzi. The music for Busoni's opera is based on the incidental music, and the associated ''Turandot Suite'' ( BV 248), which Busoni had written in 1905 for a production of Gozzi's play. The opera is often performed as part of a double bill with Busoni's earlier one-act opera '' Arlecchino''. Composition of the music for ''Turandot'' Source and previous versions Carlo Gozzi's play '' Turandot'' first appeared in 1762. It was originally written to be performed in the small theatre of San Samuele in Venice, and was deliberately written in the ''Commedia dell'arte'' style as a reaction to the more modern, realistic plays of Goldoni and others. Schiller made an adapted translation of ''Turandot'' which was published in 1802. Weber wrote his ''Incidental music for Turandot'', Op. 37, for a production of this play. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Doomsday Prophets
''The Doomsday Prophets'' (Swedish: ''Domedagsprofeterna'') is an opera by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, to his own Swedish libretto, composed from 1912–17. It was first performed at the Royal Opera, Stockholm on 21 February 1919. Background Based on a story which the composer found in the journal ''Den svenska Mercurius'' (1759), the opera features several historical characters (Bure, Skytte, Queen Kristina), and is set in the university city of Uppsala just before the end of the Thirty Years’ War in which Sweden became a major European power. The war increased people's worries about the end of the world and two academics claim to have calculated when Doomsday will take place. The opera's composition was completed during the First World War.The first performance was conducted by Armas Järnefelt. Roles *Captain Lennart Sporre *Elin, daughter of Klas Mugg *Lars Bryngelsson, student, sweetheart of Elin *Klas Mugg, Elin's father *Östen, brother of Lars * Johan Bure, prof ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Marriage Of Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otello
''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play '' Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. The composer was reluctant to write anything new after the success of ''Aida'' in 1871, and he retreated into retirement. It took his Milan publisher Giulio Ricordi the next ten years, first to encourage the revision of Verdi's 1857 '' Simon Boccanegra'' by introducing Boito as librettist and then to begin the arduous process of persuading and cajoling Verdi to see Boito's completed libretto for ''Otello'' in July/August 1881. However, the process of writing the first drafts of the libretto and the years of their revision, with Verdi all along not promising anything, dragged on. It wasn't until 1884, five years after the first drafts of the libretto, that composition began, with most of the work finishing in late 1885. When it finally pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mefistofele
''Mefistofele'' () is an opera in a prologue and five acts, later reduced to four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer- librettist Arrigo Boito (there are several completed operas for which he was librettist only). The opera was given its premiere on 5 March 1868 at La Scala, Milan, under the baton of the composer, despite his lack of experience and skill as a conductor. However, it was not a success and was immediately withdrawn after only two performances. Revisions in 1875 resulted in success in Bologna and, with further adjustments in 1876 for Venice, the opera was performed elsewhere. Composition history Boito began consideration of an opera on the Faustian theme after completing his studies at the Milan Conservatory in 1861. ''Mefistofele'' is one of many pieces of classical music based on the Faust legend and, like many other composers, Boito used Goethe's version as his starting point. He was an admirer of Richard Wagner a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operatic Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) = 1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word ''sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" '' |
Lohengrin (opera)
''Lohengrin'', WWV 75, is a Romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the '' Parzival'' of Wolfram von Eschenbach, and its sequel ''Lohengrin'', itself inspired by the epic of '' Garin le Loherain''. It is part of the Knight of the Swan legend. The opera has inspired other works of art. King Ludwig II of Bavaria named his castle Neuschwanstein Castle after the Swan Knight. It was King Ludwig's patronage that later gave Wagner the means and opportunity to complete, build a theatre for, and stage his epic cycle '' Der Ring des Nibelungen''. He had discontinued composing it at the end of Act II of ''Siegfried'', the third of the ''Ring'' tetralogy, to create his radical chromatic masterpiece of the late 1850s, ''Tristan und Isolde'', and his lyrical comic opera of the mid-1860s, ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. The most popular and recogn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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