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Ulisse (opera)
is an opera in a prologue and two acts composed by Luigi Dallapiccola to his own libretto based on the legend of Ulysses. It premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (in German translation by Karl-Heinrich Kreith as ''Odysseus'') on 29 September 1968 conducted by Lorin Maazel with Erik Saedén in the title role. ''Ulisse'' was Dallapiccola's only full-length last opera and took eight years to compose. As in his previous one-act operas, '' Volo di notte'' and '' Il prigioniero'', his declared theme was "the struggle of man against some force much stronger than he". Roles * Ulisse – baritone ( Erik Saedén) * Calypso / Penelope – soprano ( Annabelle Bernard)Shirley, Wayne"Luigi Dallapiccola's Sketch for ''Ulisse''" The Moldenhauer Archives, Library of Congress *Nausicaa – soprano ( Catherine Gayer) * Re Alcinoo – bass ( Victor von Halem) * Demodoco – tenor (Helmuth Melchert) *Circe – mezzo-soprano ( Jean Madeira) *La madre di Anticlea (mother of Anticlea) – soprano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola (3 February 1904 – 19 February 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions. Biography Dallapiccola was born in Pisino d'Istria (at the time part of Austria-Hungary, current Pazin, Croatia), to Italian parents. Unlike many composers born into highly musical environments, his early musical career was irregular at best. Political disputes over his birthplace of Istria, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, led to instability and frequent moves. His father was headmaster of an Italian-language school – the only one in the city – which was shut down at the start of World War I. The family, considered politically subversive, was placed in internment at Graz, Austria, where the budding composer did not even have access to a piano, though he did attend performances at the local opera house, which cemented his desire to pursue composition as a career. Once back in his hometown Pisino after the war, he travelled fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherine Gayer
Catherine Gayer (born 11 February 1937) is an American coloratura soprano, violinist, musicologist, and academic voice teacher. She made a career in Germany. A member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for more than four decades, she is known for her performance in premieres of contemporary operas, such as Luigi Nono's '' Intolleranza 1960'' at La Fenice in Venice, the title role in Aribert Reimann's ''Melusine'' at the Schwetzingen Festival, and Josef Tal's ''Die Versuchung'' at the Bavarian State Opera. Career Born in Los Angeles, Gayer is of Finno-Ugric and native American ancestry. She studied voice, violin, and musicology in Los Angeles and moved to Germany on a Fulbright scholarship in the 1950s, studying at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin with Irma Beilke. She is also a trained ballet dancer. On 13 April 1961, she performed the female lead role (Die Gefährtin) in the premiere of Luigi Nono's '' Intolleranza 1960'' at La Fenice in Venice, and was afterwards engaged by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José Van Dam
Joseph, Baron Van Damme (born 25 August 1940 in Brussels), known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone, described as having "a magnificent resonant and expressive voice" and being "an excellent actor". Life and career At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and opera performance. He made his opera début as the music teacher Don Basilio in Gioacchino Rossini’s '' Il Barbiere di Siviglia'' at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in 1960, and was engaged the next year at the Paris Opera where he remained until 1965,Forbes, Elizabeth. van Dam, José. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol IV p894, Macmillan, New York, 1997. when he sang his first major role, Escamillo from Bizet's ''Carmen''. He then sang for two seasons at Geneva, La Scala, Covent Garden, and in Paris. At Geneva, Van Dam sang in the première of Milhaud's '' La mère coupable'' in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suitors Of Penelope
In Greek mythology, the suitors of Penelope (also known in Latin as the ) are one of the main subjects of Homer's ''Odyssey''. Role in the ''Odyssey'' In the ''Odyssey,'' Homer describes Odysseus' journey home from Troy. Prior to the Trojan War, Odysseus was King of Ithaca, a Greek island known for its isolation and rugged terrain. When he departs from Ithaca to fight for the Greeks in the war, he leaves behind a newborn child, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope. Although most surviving Greek soldiers return shortly after the end of the fighting, Odysseus does not return to Ithaca until ten years after the end of the Trojan War. During Odysseus' long absence, unmarried young men start to suspect that Odysseus died in Troy or on the journey home. Under the pretense of courting Penelope, these youths, called "the suitors", take up residence in Odysseus' home and vie for her hand in marriage. Rather than simply rejecting the suitors, Penelope devises a plan to delay their courts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiresias
In Greek mythology, Tiresias (; ) was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, Greece, Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes (mythology), Everes and the nymph Chariclo. Tiresias participated fully in seven generations in Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus, the founder of Thebes. Mythology Eighteen allusions to mythic Tiresias, noted by Luc Brisson, fall into three groups: the first recounts Tiresias' sex-change episode and later his encounter with Zeus and Hera; the second group recounts his blinding by Athena; the third, all but lost, seems to have recounted the misadventures of Tiresias. Sex-change On Mount Cyllene in the Peloponnese, Tiresias came upon a pair of copulating snakes and hit them with his stick, which displeased goddess Hera who punished Tiresias by transforming him into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including his daugh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hildegard Hillebrecht
Hildegard Hillebrecht (26 November 1925 – 7 October 2018) was a German operatic soprano. Career Born in Hanover, Hillebrecht studied singing after attending medical school and made her in the role of Leonora in Verdi's '' Il trovatore''. She sang at the Zürich Opera House from 1952-1954, in Düsseldorf from 1954 to 1959 and at the Bayerische Staatsoper from 1961. She performed regularly at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and participated in many festivals including Salzburg and Munich. Among Hillebrecht's commercial recordings are Strauss's ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' (with Jess Thomas, conducted by Karl Böhm, 1969) and Busoni's ''Doktor Faust'' (with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and William Cochran, 1969), both on Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of .... Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anticlea
In Greek mythology, Anticlea or Anticlia (; Ancient Greek: ''Ἀντίκλεια'', literally "without fame") was a queen of Ithaca as the wife of King Laërtes. Family Anticlea was the daughter of Autolycus and Amphithea. The divine trickster and messenger of the gods, Hermes, was her paternal grandfather. Anticlea was the mother of Odysseus by Laërtes (though some say by SisyphusHyginus, ''Fabulae'' 201; Plutarch, ''Quaestiones Graecae'' 43; Suida, s.v. Sisyphus''). Ctimene was also her daughter by her husband Laertes. Mythology Early years According to Callimachus, when she was young, Anticlea served the goddess Artemis, and accompanied her in hunting, bearing arrow and quiver. According to some later sources, including a fragment of Aeschylus' lost tragedy ''The Judgment of Arms'', Odysseus was the child of Anticlea by Sisyphus, not Laërtes. In this version of the story, Autolycus, an infamous trickster, stole Sisyphus' cattle. At some point, Sisyphus recogniz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Madeira
Jean Madeira, née Jean Browning (November 14, 1918 – July 11, 1972) was an American contralto, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Madeira was born in Christopher, Illinois. Her father was half-Cherokee coal miner. When she was a child her family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, where she attended high school, and she later studied with Florence Kimball at the Juilliard School in New York City. She made her debut in opera in Chatauqua, as Nancy in ''Martha'', by Flotow. In 1955, the singer and actress successfully sang the title role in ''Carmen'' with the Vienna State Opera. She sang approximately 300 times at the Metropolitan Opera in forty-one roles, between 1948 and 1971. Her last appearance there was in ''Elektra'', opposite Birgit Nilsson and Leonie Rysanek. Jean Madeira was a second-cousin of the composer Amy Beth Kirsten. Madeira's television debut occurred on ''The Ed Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic. History While mezzo-sopranos typically sing secondary roles in operas, notable exceptions include the title role in Georges Bizet, Bizet's ''Carmen'', Angelina (Cinderella) in Gioachino Rossini, Rossini's ''La Cenerentola'', and Rosina in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville, Barber of Seville'' (all of which are also sung by sopranos and contraltos). Many 19th-century French- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe (; ) is an enchantress, sometimes considered a goddess or a nymph. In most accounts, Circe is described as the daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse (mythology), Perse. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs. Through the use of these and a magic wand or staff, she would transform her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals. The best known of her legends is told in Homer's ''Odyssey'' when Odysseus visits her island of Aeaea on the way back from the Trojan War and she changes most of his crew into swine. He manages to persuade her to return them to human shape, lives with her for a year and has sons by her, including Latinus and Telegonus (son of Odysseus), Telegonus. Her ability to change others into animals is further highlighted by the story of Picus, an Italian king whom she turns into a woodpecker for resisting her advances. Another story tells of her falling in love with the sea-god Glaucus, who prefe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenor
A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below middle C to the G above middle C (i.e. B2 to G4) in choral music, and from the second B flat below middle C to the C above middle C (B2 to C5) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of tenor include the ''leggero'' tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and tenor buffo or . History The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word '' tenere'', which means "to hold". As noted in the "Tenor" article at ''Grove Music Online'': In polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the enor was thestructurally fundamental (or 'holding') voice, vocal or instrumental; by the 15th century it came to signify the male voice that sang such parts. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the ten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demodocus (Odyssey Character)
In the ''Odyssey'' by Homer, Demodocus (; ) is a poet who often visits the court of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians on the island of Scheria, Scherie. During Odysseus' stay on Scherie, Demodocus performs three narrative songs. Description Demodocus first appears at a feast in the hall of Alcinous, after he approved that Odysseus should be provided with a ship for a safe passage home. During the feast Demodocus sings about the disagreement between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy. Everyone enjoys the singing except for Odysseus who bursts into tears because of the pain and suffering of which the song reminds him. Odysseus would raise his cup and pour libations to the gods every time there was a pause in the singing but when Demodocus began again Odysseus would pull his cloak over his head to hide his tears. Only Alcinous noticed Odysseus' weeping and stopped the feast and suggests that everyone go outdoors to participate in athletic contests. The games end with dancing and anoth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
