1797–1865, Italian Giuditta Pasta, who created the title role in Bellini’s Norma, was classed as a soprano, but was probably closer to a mezzo-soprano. On stage, she was majestic, and her acting was so powerful that, according to Stendhal, she ‘electrified the soul’. However, success did not come her way all that ...
‘The Sleepwalker’ Vincenzo Bellini’s two-act opera La sonnambula, which had a pastoral background, was first produced at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on 6 March 1831. The story derived from a comédie-vaudeville of 1819 and a ballet-pantomime of 1827, both part-written by the French dramatist Eugène Scribe. The title role, Amina, was created by Giuditta Pasta ...
Norma, Bellini’s eighth opera and his masterpiece, followed hard on the heels of his La sonnambula when its first performance was given at La Scala less than four months later, on 26 December 1831. Once again, Giuditta Pasta created the title role, although this time she had parts of the opera transposed down to the key ...
1775–1832, Italian Andrea Nozzari was one of the greatest tenors to sing in Rossini’s operas, creating, among many others, the roles of the Earl of Leicester in Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra and the title role in Otello. Nozzari was the complete opera singer, with a strong voice and graceful stage presence. He probably made his debut ...
1808–36, Spanish Mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran was the elder daughter of Manuel Garcia and made her debut at age 17 singing in the chorus of the King’s Theatre in London. Shortly afterwards, she replaced the indisposed Giuditta Pasta as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Malibran was a brilliant, charismatic performer and was so successful as Rosina that she ...
1801–35, Italian The musical abilities of Vincenzo Bellini were already well known in his home city of Catania in Sicily before he went to Naples at age 18 to study at the conservatory under Zingarelli. A competent pianist at age five, composer of his sacred music at six, the youthful Bellini’s ariettes and instrumental works were performed in ...
The early nineteenth century saw the rise of the operatic personality, or prima donna. Composers built working relationships with individual singers and tailored their roles to the vocal characteristics of their favoured performers. Meyerbeer, for example, carefully considered his performers’ vocal nuances and technical capabilities, and if the singer he had in mind could not perform, ...
The nineteenth century was the age of the great diva, the female opera-singer who performed roles in which she usually ended up mad, abandoned or dead, but who mesmerized audiences with the power of her voice. The theatre was not seen as a respectable work-place and for most of the century female opera-singers were not regarded as reputable ...
1870–1948, Austro–Hungarian Lehár’s father worked as a bandmaster as well as composing dances and marches. Lehár himself played in the theatre orchestra at Barmen-Elberfeld before playing in a band for his military service. He left the military having arrived in Vienna, where he took up a position as conductor at the Theater an der Wien. Lehár’s youth and early ...
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