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The Fiery Cross (Bruch)
''The Fiery Cross'', Op. 52 ('; 1889) is a cantata for soprano, baritone, bass, mixed chorus, and orchestra (2.2.2.2(=dbn)-4.2.3.1-timp.perc:1-harp-org-strings) composed by Max Bruch. It was first performed on 26 February 1889 in Breslau. It is based on a motif from Sir Walter Scott's ''Lady of the Lake'' with words by Heinrich Bulthaupt. The action concerns the main character, Norman (baritone), who is summoned to join a rebel army as he comes out of church at his own wedding. The other soloists are Mary, just bride, and Angus (bass), who hurries in bearing the fiery cross that is the signal that the rebels are mustering. Ferdinand Pfohl said of the work: "''The Fiery Cross'' does not represent any kind of artistic progress: the public too seemed to feel this when it was meagre in its applause, so that the composer, who was conducting, felt the need to darken his brow." Bruch originally intended to dedicate the work to the new Kaiser, Wilhelm II but changed his mind, commenting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Bruch
Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic Music, Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire. Early life and education Max Bruch was born in 1838 in Cologne to Wilhelmine (), a singer, and August Carl Friedrich Bruch, an attorney who became vice president of the Cologne police. Max had a sister, Mathilde ("Till"). He received his early musical training under the composer and pianist Ferdinand Hiller, to whom Robert Schumann dedicated his Piano Concerto (Schumann), Piano Concerto in A minor. The Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles recognized the aptitude of Bruch. At the age of nine, Bruch wrote his first composition, a song for his mother's birthday. From then on, music was his passion. His studies were enthusiastically supported by his parents. He wrote many minor early works including motets, psal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shorthand For Orchestra Instrumentation
The shorthand for the instrumentation of a symphony orchestra (and other similar ensembles) is used to outline which and how many instruments, especially wind instruments, are called for in a given piece of music. The shorthand is ordered in the same fashion as the parts of the individual instruments in the score (when read from top to bottom). General approach The orchestra is divided into four groups (five if a keyboard instrument is used) and specified as follows: * Woodwind instruments: flutes, oboes, clarinets, saxophones (if one or more are needed), bassoons * Brass instruments: horns, trumpets, trombones, tubas * Percussion: timpani, snare drum, bass drum, chimes, etc. * Keyboard instruments: celesta, organ, piano * String instruments: harp, violins, violas, cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (1819), ''Rob Roy (novel), Rob Roy'' (1817), ''Waverley (novel), Waverley'' (1814), ''Old Mortality'' (1816), ''The Heart of Mid-Lothian'' (1818), and ''The Bride of Lammermoor'' (1819), along with the narrative poems ''Marmion (poem), Marmion'' (1808) and ''The Lady of the Lake (poem), The Lady of the Lake'' (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature, American literature. As an advocate and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with his daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff court, Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. He was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory (political faction), Tory establishment, active in the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Highland Society, long time a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lady Of The Lake (poem)
''The Lady of the Lake'' is a narrative poem by Walter Scott, first published in 1810. Set in the Trossachs region of Scotland, it is composed of six cantos, each of which concerns the action of a single day. There are voluminous antiquarian notes. The poem has three main plots: the contest among three men, Roderick Dhu, James Fitz-James, and Malcolm Graeme, to win the love of Ellen Douglas; the feud and reconciliation of King James V of Scotland and James Douglas; and a war between the Lowland Scots (led by James V) and the Highland clans (led by Roderick Dhu of Clan Alpine). The poem was tremendously influential in the nineteenth century, and inspired the Highland Revival. Background The first hint of ''The Lady of the Lake'' occurs in a letter from Scott to Lady Abercorn dated 9 June 1806, where he says he has 'a grand work in contemplation … a Highland romance of Love Magic and War founded upon the manners of our mountaineers'. He saw this as doing for the Highland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinrich Bulthaupt
Heinrich Bulthaupt (October 26, 1849 – August 20, 1905) was a German poet, dramatic author, and lawyer, as well as librarian of his native town, Bremen. Many of Bulthaupt's works found considerable widespread popularity in the lyrical and dramatic genres. Early life Bulthaupt was the son of a principal in Neustadt. He studied law at the University of Würzburg, the University of Göttingen, the Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Leipzig; after receiving his doctorate in 1872, he went to work as a private tutor in Kiev. From there, he traveled to Greece, the Middle East, Tunis, and Italy. At the age of 26, Bulthaupt returned to Bremen and worked as a lawyer for four years. Works Artistic activities Heinrich Bulthaupt's first play was an iambic tragedy, "Saul" that he had already begun to write as a high school student, premiering in 1870 in his hometown of Bremen. It was followed by "Ein corsisches tragedy" in the style of a Bourgeois tragedy . Among his late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdinand Pfohl
Ferdinand Pfohl (; 12 October 1862, Elbogen, Bohemia, Austrian Empire, now Loket n.O., Czech Republic – 16 December 1949, Hamburg-Bergedorf) was a German music critic, music writer and composer. Pfohl studied law at Prague, then in Leipzig he studied music as private pupil of Oscar Paul and attended courses in philosophy at the university, worked as music critic at Leipziger Tageblatt and Königlich-Leipziger Zeitung; from November 1892 to 1931 he was music editor of Hamburger Nachrichten, since 1913 to 1934 teacher and co-director of Vogt Conservatory in Hamburg (Thompson - Slonimsky - Sabin, ). Prof. h.c., Dr. phil. h.c., author of many books on music, e.g. a biography on famous Hungarian conductor Arthur Nikisch and on Richard Wagner. Pfohl was amongst the most highly regarded music critics in Germany; his opinions carried a great deal of weight. Amongst music circles he was particularly well known as a writer and composer (Willscher in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty's 300-year rule of Prussia. Born during the reign of his granduncle Frederick William IV of Prussia, Wilhelm was the son of Prince Frederick William and Victoria, Princess Royal. Through his mother, he was the eldest of the 42 grandchildren of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. In March 1888, Wilhelm's father, Frederick William, ascended the German and Prussian thrones as Frederick III. Frederick died just 99 days later, and his son succeeded him as Wilhelm II. In March 1890, the young Kaiser dismissed longtime Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and assumed direct control over his nation's policies, embarking on a bellicose "New Course" to cement Germany's status as a leading world power. Over the course of his reign, the German colonial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' ("total work of art"), whereby he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. The drama was to be presented as a continuously sung narrative, without conventional operatic structures like Aria, arias and Recitative, recitatives. He described this vision in a List of prose works by Richard Wagner, series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town. Melba studied singing in Melbourne and made a modest success in performances there. After a brief and unsuccessful marriage, she moved to Europe in search of a singing career. Failing to find engagements in London, England, in 1886, she studied in Paris, France, and soon made a great success there and in Brussels, Belgium. Returning to London, she quickly established herself as the leading lyric soprano at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1888. She soon achieved further success in Paris and elsewhere in Europe, and later at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, debuting there in 1893. Her reper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1889 Cantatas
Events January * January 1 ** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada. ** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in the Dakotas. * January 4 – An Act to Regulate Appointments in the Marine Hospital Service of the United States is signed by President Grover Cleveland. It establishes a Commissioned Corps of officers, as a predecessor to the modern-day U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. * January 8 – Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine in the United States. * January 15 – The Coca-Cola Company is originally incorporated as the Pemberton Medicine Company in Atlanta, Georgia. * January 22 – Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, D.C. * January 30 – Mayerling incident: Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera commit a double suicide (or a murder-suicide) at the Mayerling hunting l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
