Personalities | Ambroise Thomas | Late Romantic | Classical
(Am-brwaz’ To-mas’) 1811–96
French composer
Thomas studied with Le Sueur at the Paris Conservatoire, where he became Director in 1871. After winning the 1832 Prix de Rome, he composed the first of his 20 operas, La double échelle (‘The Double Ladder’, 1837). His first successes, Le Caïd (‘The Cadi’, 1849) and Songe d’une nuit d’été (‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, 1850), show the influence of Gounod and Rossini. Yet Mignon (1866), based on Goethe’s novel, introduced into French opera a radical new dramatic intensity, with expansive melodies and colourful orchestration to convey the heroine’s passions and jealousies. Mignon was an immediate hit; at its thousandth performance (1894) Thomas was awarded the Légion d’Honneur. While Hamlet (1868), with a contrived happy ending, was a success, his final opera, Françoise de Rimini (1882), was not.
Recommended Recording:
Mignon, soloists, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Philharmonia (cond) Antonio de Almeida (Sony)
Introduction | Late Romantic | Classical
Personalities | Giuseppe Verdi | Late Romantic | Classical
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.