SEARCH RESULTS FOR: Adriana Ferrarese
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c. 1759–c. 1803, Italian Adriana Ferrarese was known as ‘La Ferrarese’ from her birthplace, Ferrara. In 1785, in London, she sang in Demetrio by Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842). Da Ponte, her mentor, wrote libretti for operas by Vicente Martín y Soler (1754–1806) and Salieri in which she took part. However, Mozart was not particularly impressed ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Composed: 1902 Premiered: 1902, Milan Libretto by Arturo Colautti, after Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé’s play Adrienne Lecouvreur Act I Backstage at the Comédie-Française, the stage manager Michonnet tries to propose to the actress Adriana Lecouvreur, but she loves Maurizio, who is the Count of Saxony in disguise. She gives Maurizio some violets. An intercepted letter ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

‘That’s Women for You’ While Don Giovanni was the nineteenth century’s favourite Mozart opera, Così fan tutte, premiered on 26 January 1790, was widely considered frivolous, immoral and (not least by Beethoven) an insult to women. Today we can see it as perhaps the most ambivalent and disturbing of Mozart’s three Da Ponte comedies. In the composer’s ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

1710–92, French Charles Favart became director of the Comédie-Italienne in Paris in 1758. His 11-year term as director was evidently important in the theatre’s history, for in 1871 it was renamed Salle Favart. As a librettist, Favart’s output was prodigious: he wrote 150 libretti for composers such as Gluck, Philidor and Grétry. Favart’s forte was the comic ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Fran-chas’-ko Che-la’-a) 1866–1950 Italian composer Although Francesco Cilea is usually classified as one of the verismo (‘realist’) school of music, of his two well-known operas only L’Arlesiana (‘The Woman of Arles’, 1897), based on Alphonse Daudet’s story of obsessive love set in a peasant community in southern France, really answers to that description. His other opera, more famous ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

1866–1950, Italian It was the intention of Francesco Cilea’s father that his son should enter the legal profession. It was not to be, however, and under the tutelage of Paolo Serrao, Beniamino Cesi and Giuseppe Martucci at the Naples Conservatory, he quickly made a name for himself. His first opera, Gina (1889), was performed during ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

b. 1969, German Kaufmann’s mesmerising presence, fine acting and beautiful sound have secured his place in the operatic firmament. He sings a large number of spinto tenor roles, such as the title role in Don Carlos, Don Jose in Carmen, and Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur, alongside an increasing number of Wagnerian roles. His versatility in ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Kär-ya Särre-a-ho) b. 1952 Finnish composer Saariaho studied at the Sibelius Academy and the Freiburg Conservatory before moving to Paris, where she worked at IRCAM, the centre for electroacoustic music established by Boulez. A lot of her early works explored the potential of live electronics and computer-assisted composition. Key to the latter was the analysis of instrumental sound spectra ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

b. 1952, Finnish Having studied in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, composer Saariaho focused on writing chamber works in the early part of her career, often integrating live music with electronics. In recent years, her works have increased in stature, structure and orchestral forces. Saariaho has produced three operas with her librettist, Amin Maalouf: L’amour ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

b. 1941 Spanish tenor Domingo was brought up in Mexico, where he made his debut as a baritone in 1957. He appeared as a tenor in Dallas in 1961, and was a member of the Israeli National Opera 1962–65. He sang Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) at the New York City Opera in 1965, Maurizio in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur at ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

1922–2004 Italian soprano Tebaldi sang regularly at La Scala, Milan 1949–54. She made her debut with the Covent Garden company as Tosca in 1955; in the same year she joined the Metropolitan Opera. She also appeared in San Francisco, Chicago and South America. A powerful soprano, her roles included Aida, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur and Catalani’s La Wally. ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

1922–2004, Italian Tebaldi studied at the Conservatory of Milan before auditioning for Arturo Toscanini in 1946. Impressed with her exceptional voice, Toscanini offered Tebaldi a concert engagement at La Scala, where she remained on the roster for the next five years. By the mid-1950s, both Tebaldi and Maria Callas were performing regularly at the Met and, ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie
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