Composed: 1832 Premiered: 1833, Berlin Libretto by Eduard Devrient, after a Bohemian legend Prologue Hans Heiling, the King of the Gnomes, announces that he wishes to marry Anna, a mortal. His mother tries to dissuade him, since he would lose his powers. Act I Anna and her mother Gertrude come to Heiling’s house above ground. ...
(Hants La’-o Has-ler) 1562–1612 German composer Hassler was the most important member of a family of musicians. Trained by his father, he travelled in 1584 to Venice, where he studied with Andrea Gabrieli. Hassler’s large surviving output reflects the religious diversity of German-speaking lands during his lifetime. He spent much of his early career in the service of members of ...
(Hans fun Bü’-lo) 1830–94 German conductor One of the first great Wagner conductors, Bülow was a pupil of Liszt at Weimar and married Liszt’s daughter Cosima in 1857. He was Head of Piano at the Berlin Conservatory (1855–64) and later, as director of the Munich Court Opera, conducted the premieres of Wagner’s Tristan (1865) and Die Meistersinger (1868). Although ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1964) Norway’s O. J. Hanssen is one of Europe’s country-music success stories, having made three albums in Nashville. For 11 years, he divided his time between performing and serving as deputy sheriff in his home town of Mosjøen. With numerous nominations from the European CMA to his credit, his first Nashville album What’s ...
1926–2012, German A prolific composer of many moods and changes, Henze was yet another 12-note serialist who nonetheless was influenced by neo-classicism, expressionism and jazz. His first full-length opera, Boulevard Solitude (1952), preceded his move to Italy the following year. There, having finally put distance between himself and the repressive Germany of his youth, Henze’s ...
Composed: 1959–61 Premiered: 1961, Schwetzingen Libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman Act I Hilda Mack recalls how her husband set out to climb the Hammerhorn 40 years ago. Dr Reischmann and Carolina, physician and secretary to the poet Gregor Mittenhofer, agree that no one thanks ‘the Servants of the Servant of the Muse’. Reischmann’s son Toni ...
Composed: 1965 Premiered: 1966, Salzburg Libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman after Euripides’ The Bacchae First Movement Cadmus, King of Thebes, has abdicated in favour of his grandson, Pentheus, who intends to break with the traditional religious order and establish monotheism. An offstage voice announces that ‘the God Dionysus has entered Boeotia’. If legend ...
1909–2003, German Although he sang Mozart and Strauss, Hotter is best remembered for his definitive interpretations of Wagner. His powerful bass-baritone premiered as the Speaker in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and he returned to this and other small roles well into his eighties. Hotter made his debut in Munich singing Wotan in 1937, and this role, along ...
1864–1949, German Russian-born, yet once a popular German composer, Pfitzner has shrunk into the recesses of memory, not least because his esteemed position was promoted by a Third Reich that, like him, believed German culture was threatened by international Jewry. His works Von deutscher Seele (‘Of the German Soul’, 1921) and Das dunkle Reich (‘The ...
Composed: 1911–15 Premiered: 1917, Munich Libretto by the composer Act I The composer Palestrina used to serve the pope. He was dismissed when he married, but has written nothing since his wife died. His pupil Silla finds his music old-fashioned. Palestrina tells Cardinal Borromeo that Silla may be right. Perhaps the style of the old masters is obsolete. Borromeo ...
1896–1981 American composer Hanson’s symphonies suggest an American Sibelius; his choral music is grandly optimistic (Song of Democracy, 1957; Songs of Human Rights, 1963) and his opera, Merry Mount, was well received at its premiere in 1933. He was Director of the Eastman School of Music for many years, where he made a notable reputation as ...
(Hanz Fits’-ner) 1869–1949 German composer An opponent of all forms of modernism, Pfitzner composed his own music in a late-Romantic but highly individual style. His opera Palestrina (1917) – his confession of faith and his masterpiece – is about the cumulative wisdom of tradition, but also its renewal. His German nationalism was more idealistic than political, but his ...
1843–1916 Hungarian conductor Richter worked closely with Wagner, directing the first performances of the complete Ring cycle at Bayreuth in 1876. He was also conductor of the Court Opera and the Philharmonic Orchestra in Vienna. He performed Wagner at Covent Garden and was conductor of the Hallé Orchestra 1897–1911. Introduction | Modern Era | Classical Personalities | Victor de Sabata ...
1909–2003 Austrian bass-baritone Hotter’s international career began in Mozart with the Vienna State Opera’s visit to Covent Garden in 1947. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1950 and first sang at Bayreuth in 1952. He was renowned for his Wotan, but he also sang other Wagnerian roles. He created roles in three Strauss operas, including Olivier in Capriccio. ...
(Hans Vâr’-ner Hent’-se) 1926–2012 German composer Henze’s musical education was interrupted by the Second World War, but after the conflict ended, he took composition lessons with Wolfgang Fortner and René Leibowitz. Those studies introduced him to Schoenberg’s 12-note technique, which he continued to employ to his own ends; but it was Stravinsky who exerted the strongest influence on ...
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