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While composing for the Earl of Carnarvon at Cannons, Handel was the musical contributor to a distinguished literary circle including the poets John Gay, Alexander Pope (1688–1744) and John Hughes (1677–1720). It is believed that all three authors contributed to the libretto of Acis and Galatea, which was given a private staged performance that probably required only a ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Alcina (composed in 1735) is the most celebrated of Handel’s ‘magic’ operas. Its dynamic situations are compelling and poignant: Handel’s portrayal of an enchanted hero, his brave true love and their evil enemy inspired him to create a particularly fine score that examines intense emotional experiences such as loss, guilt, lust, nostalgia and the restoration of memory. ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Ariodante also derives from Ariosto, but it is a serious opera. Thanks to a fine text, adapted from an old Italian libretto by Antonio Salvi, Handel was able to explore potent tragic situations, such as the King of Scotland being forced to contemplate executing his much-loved daughter Ginvera. The opera is best known for ‘Scherza infida’, an ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

‘Julius Cesar in Egypt’ Handel’s operas usually revolve around the voices and particular gifts of the singers that were available to him. Giulio Cesare in Egitto was created in 1724 as a vehicle for Senesino and Cuzzoni, although the characteristic trademark of Handel’s best operas is that the emotions and experience of the characters are not sacrificed to the virtuosity ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

‘The Pearl Fishers’ While the success of Carmen overshadows his other operas, Bizet’s first lasting success was with Les pêcheurs de perles, written when he was only 24. Set in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), it uses gently oriental inflections to portray the priestess Leïla torn between love and her sacred vows, and a more romantic and dramatic style for ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

The mid-1730s operas Orlando, Ariodante and Alcina represent the artistic peak of Handel’s operatic career. Their stories all originate in the epic poem Orlando Furioso by the playwright and poet Ariosto, who was born and bred at the Ferrara court in the late fifteenth century. Orlando portrays the destructive insanity of its title-hero, who ignores his destiny by ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Composed: 1934–35 Premiered: 1935, New York Libretto by DuBose Heyward after his novel Porgy, with lyrics by Heyward and Ira Gershwin Act I During a crap game in Catfish Row, Charleston, Clara sings a lullaby to her baby. Porgy, a cripple, returns home in his goat cart. Crown, high on ‘happy dust’ provided by ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

A small number of Handel’s dramatic works are known as the ‘magic operas’, including Rinaldo, Teseo (1712), Amadigi (1715), Orlando (1733) and Alcina. These operas feature protagonists who use sorcery to manipulate love, usually for evil ends. Most common among these operas is the prima-donna sorceress figure, who attempts to compel a castrato hero away from his true ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Composed in 1725, Rodelinda is remarkable for its quality. Handel composed many exceptional accompanied recitatives for Senesino throughout their collaborations, and in this opera the dethroned King Bertarido, believed dead by his steadfast wife, laments his misfortune in an accompanied recitative and aria, ‘Pompe vane di morte! … Dove sei amato bene’, which shows Handel ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Semele was first performed at Covent Garden on 10 February 1744 in the manner of an oratorio, without action or scenery. Nevertheless, Handel’s occasional collaborator Charles Jennens regarded it as ‘a bawdy opera’. Congreve’s libretto, based on a story from Ovid, had originally been set as an opera by John Eccles in 1707, but it was ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Although popular now, Serse was one of Handel’s worst failures during his own time. It was only performed five times in its first run and Handel never revived it. Unusually among his operas, its libretto by Silvio Stampiglia (1664–1725) is warmly light-hearted and does not seriously concern itself with tragic events or heroic actions. The most famous aria, ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Bass, 1892–1969) Known for his powerful, slap-bass sound and signature solos, Foster worked with the Magnolia Band and A.J. Piron before playing in Fate Marable’s riverboat band (1918–21) and collaborating with Kid Ory and others during the 1920s. In 1928 he played with King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators in New York and then joined the Luis Russell Orchestra ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Tenor saxophone, flute, 1940–92) A passionate voice on tenor sax in Charles Mingus’s last band (1973–76), Adams co-led one of the most dynamic quartets of the 1980s with pianist Don Pullen; it also featured Mingus drummer Dannie Richmond and bassist Cameron Brown. In a series of 12 recordings through the 1980s for the Soul Note and Timeless labels, ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

b. 1960 English composer Benjamin studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Messiaen and later at Cambridge with Goehr. While still at Cambridge he came to wider public attention with his orchestral piece Ringed by the Flat Horizon (1980). Since then he has composed slowly but fastidiously, forces ranging from solo (Three Miniatures for violin, 2001) and duo (Viola, ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

b. 1960, British George Benjamin is known as a composer who takes his time. His teachers included Olivier Messiaen, who compared his student with Mozart, but Benjamin has always taken time over his work, often taking a number of years to complete works of a few minutes. His first full-scale opera, Written on Skin, became ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie
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