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Orfeo
Orgéni, Aglaja (17 Dec 1841) Reference library
The Grove Book of Opera Singers (2 ed.)
...until 1886 , after which she taught at the Leipzig Conservatory, becoming the first female professor at that establishment. In 1914 she moved to Vienna. She had style and great technical proficiency, especially in coloratura. Elizabeth...
Owen Wingrave Quick reference
A Dictionary of Opera Characters (2 ed.)
... comes from a family of soldiers, but he hates fighting, unlike his friend Lechmere who can't wait to be in the thick of battle. They are both at Coyle 's military establishment. Owen tells Coyle he cannot become a soldier. His aunt, Miss Wingrave , is determined he will follow the family tradition. Mrs Julian and her daughter Kate Julian believe Owen will change his mind and are hostile towards him when he arrives at Paramore, the family country house. All are present at a dinner party, but only Mrs Coyle pleads for Owen's principles. Sir...
Williams, Harold (3 Sept 1893) Reference library
The Grove Book of Opera Singers (2 ed.)
... in 1938 ; he appeared in most Prom seasons from 1921 to 1951 , performed as a soloist at the coronations of George VI and Elizabeth II and was associated with the Edinburgh Festival from its beginning in 1947 . Williams toured Australia as a soloist in 1929 and 1940–44 , taught at the NSW State Conservatorium in Sydney from 1952 (at Eugene Goossens's invitation) and took part, notably as Escamillo, in the postwar Sydney seasons that led to the establishment of a permanent professional opera company. Margreta Elkins was his pupil. Roger...
Magli, Giovanni Gualberto (8 Jan 1625) Reference library
The Grove Book of Opera Singers (2 ed.)
...his salary payments had resumed by September 1622 . T. Carter : ‘ A Florentine Wedding of 1608 ’, AcM , lv (1983), 89–107 J. Whenham , ed.: Claudio Monteverdi: ‘Orfeo’ (Cambridge, 1986) W. Kirkendale : The Court Musicians in Florence during the Principate of the Medici, with a Reconstruction of the Artistic Establishment (Florence, 1993) Tim...
Aubry, Marie (1656) Reference library
The Grove Book of Opera Singers (2 ed.)
.... She sang at a young age in the musical establishment of Philip, Duke of Orléans, and first appeared on stage as Diana in Les amours de Diane et d'Endymion by Jean de Granouilhet at Versailles ( 1671 ). Her performance impressed Robert Cambert , who cast her as Phyllis in his pastorale Les peines et les plaisirs de l'amour ( 1671 ). She created six leading roles in Jean-Baptiste Lully's operas: Aeglé in Thésée ( 1675 ), Sangaride in Atys ( 1676 ), Io in Isis ( 1677 ), Philonoé in Bellérophon ( 1679 ), the title role in Proserpine ( 1680 )...
Owen Wingrave Quick reference
The Grove Book of Operas (2 ed.)
...has entered the haunted room and found Owen dead. As everyone freezes in horror the first stanza of the ballad is heard again, its repeated refrain, ‘Paramore shall welcome woe!’, fading away to end the opera. Owen Wingrave is a less compelling dramatic expression of Britten's pacifist convictions than Billy Budd : the story itself has fewer subtleties, and the need to aim for televisual effectiveness may have encouraged the abandonment of that gradual establishment of character in all its aspects on which his best operas depend. As proved by the church...
Suor Angelica Quick reference
The Grove Book of Operas (2 ed.)
...drama about a nun who takes her own life on hearing of the death of her child had originally been planned as a spoken play. In the winter of 1916–17 he offered it to Puccini for his projected ‘triptych’ ( Il trittico ). The composer accepted without hesitation. Composition proceeded swiftly through the spring and summer of 1917 . For local colour Puccini turned to his sister Igenia, Mother Superior at the convent at Vicepelago, and was permitted to visit her establishment and play the score to the assembled nuns, all of whom were moved to tears. Another...
Death in Venice Quick reference
The Grove Book of Operas (2 ed.)
...The scene ends with an interlude in barcarolle style, called ‘overture’, evoking the waters and bells of the city. 1.iii The journey to the Lido Aschenbach's belief in the healing powers of Venice is restored, despite the sinister refusal of his gondolier to obey orders, or wait to be paid. In a lyrical arioso Aschenbach muses on the fact that a black gondola is ‘a vision of death itself’. 1.iv The first evening at the hotel The manager sings the praises of his establishment. To an expansive, consonant yet tonally unstable motif he obsequiously shows the...
Mireille Quick reference
The Grove Book of Operas (2 ed.)
...The appearance of Mirèio in 1859 (in a bilingual edition, with the Provençal text matched by a French prose translation on facing pages) brought the Provençal poet Frédéric Mistral to the attention of the Parisian literary establishment for the first time. Gounod probably knew the epic by the end of 1861 and, after receiving permission from Mistral for an operatic adaptation, began to work seriously on the project at the beginning of 1863 , composing most of it on location. Gounod gave the poet regular progress reports, admitting early on that the...
Orfeo Quick reference
The Grove Book of Operas (2 ed.)
...The other members of the cast, insofar as they can be identified, were the singer‐composer Francesco Rasi (presumably in the title role) and ‘a little priest’ (possibly Girolamo Bacchini ) who sang Eurydice. It seems likely, then, that most, if not all, the principal female roles of the opera were sung by castratos. The instrumentalists and chorus were probably drawn from the court musical establishment. The apparently large and diverse instrumental ensemble required (related to the rich ensembles of intermedi , court entertainments of the period) can...
Faust Quick reference
The Grove Book of Operas (2 ed.)
...to the French musical establishment at the end of the century. A work by a winner of the Prix de Rome that could claim to be thoroughly modern and personal in style at its première, and go on to international stages, was a significant enhancement to the musical prestige of a French operatic culture previously dominated by Meyerbeer and the none‐too‐easily exportable genre of opéra comique . Its national value was enhanced because, after some initial assessments as ‘Wagnerian’, Gounod's compositional voice in Faust was heard as important in the...
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