SEARCH RESULTS FOR: Ludwig%20van%20Beethoven
1 of 4 Pages     Next ›

Premiered at Vienna’s Kärntnertor Theater on 23 May 1814, the final version of Fidelio is a fundamentally different opera from the 1805 original. There is now much less emphasis on the gaoler’s daughter Marzelline and her world of Singspiel domesticity. Although the fate of Florestan and Leonore remains central, the individual characterization becomes more idealized and stereotyped. The human ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

b. 1928 German mezzo-soprano Ludwig made her debut at Frankfurt in 1946, and from 1955 was based at the Vienna State Opera. She appeared all over the world in Wagner and Strauss mezzo roles, and occasionally sang soprano parts. Her many recordings include Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) under Karajan and the Marschallin (the same opera) under Bernstein. Introduction | Contemporary ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

b. 1924, German An outstanding mezzo-soprano recitalist and concert singer, Ludwig was the daughter of two singers: tenor Anton Ludwig, and contralto Eugenie Besalla-Ludwig, who sang under Herbert von Karajan. Forced into early retirement, Eugenie became her daughter’s voice coach. Making her debut at 18 as Prince Orlovsky in Frankfurt, Ludwig remained there until 1952 ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Yo’-han Lood’-vikh Kreps) 1713–80 German composer Like his father, Johann Tobias (1690–1762), Krebs was a pupil of J. S. Bach; he attended St Thomas’s School in Leipzig for nine years and won a warm testimonial from the great man. He was organist at Zwickau from 1737, then from 1744 at Zeitz and finally at Gotha (he applied unsuccessfully for the ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

1836–65, German After making his debut at Karlsruhe in 1854, playing small roles, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld attracted Wagner’s attention, who considered his dramatically powerful voice ideal for tenor roles in his operas. Schnorr von Carolsfeld created a sensation as Lohengrin and another as Tannhäuser. When Tristan und Isolde premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865, ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Lood’-vikh Zen’-fal) c. 1486–1542/3 Swiss composer Senfl joined the choir of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I as a choirboy in 1498 and became Isaac’s star pupil. On Isaac’s death in 1517, Senfl succeeded him in the position of Hofkomponist. From 1523 until his death he was in Munich, at the court chapel of Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria. Although he ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Lood’-wig van Bat’-ho-fan) 1770–1827 German composer Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the greatest composers in history – perhaps the greatest. Standing at the crossroads between the classical and Romantic eras, he created music that belongs not just to its period but to all time. He excelled in virtually every genre of his day, and had enormous influence on the ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

1770–1827, German Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn to a musical family, on 16 December 1770. He started composing at the age of 11 and experienced opera from the inside when he joined the Bonn court orchestra as a viola player in 1789. His letters reveal that from his early years in Vienna, where he moved in ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845–86), a homosexual and a strange, obsessive character, came from a royal family, the Wittelsbachs, which had a strong streak of madness in it. Ludwig virtually fell in love with Wagner and his music, calling the composer his ‘one true friend whom I shall love until death.... If only, ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

The very name, ‘Classical Era’, speaks for itself: it proclaims a period that is regarded as ‘Standard, first-class, of allowed excellence’, with manifestations that are ‘simple, harmonious, proportioned, finished’, to quote a dictionary definition. The period from 1750 to roughly 1820 is widely recognized as one of exceptional achievement in music – it is the ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

The early nineteenth century was a period of insurgence in Europe, beginning with the French Revolution in 1789 to the uprisings in 1848. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain before spreading south to the rest of Europe, was also making its mark. These two strands of revolution caused transformations in society: growing awareness of national identity, ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

In 1891, when the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) wrote his famous words ‘Life imitates art far more than art imitates life’, he had somehow managed to overlook the artistic realities of the late nineteenth century. By that time, after some 50 years of the High Romantic era, music and opera had brought real life on stage and ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

The Académie Royale de Musique (now known as the Paris Académie de Musique or the Paris Opéra), has had many homes. The Académie opened in 1671, and from 1672–87 was largely controlled by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–87). In 1763, the building was destroyed by fire, as was the next building in 1781. The Opéra moved to rue de Richelieu ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Between 1860 and 1918 Wagner became the most influential intellectual figure in Europe. For his Gesamtkunstwerk (‘Complete Art-Work’) he drew on a wide range of inspirations, including Greek tragedy, the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) and his own historicist ideas of realizing the latent tendencies of all arts. This ensured that his music-dramas reached into almost every area ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Like its close relation the concertina, the accordion is a glorified mouth organ, in which the ‘reeds’ (now generally made of tempered steel) are set in vibration by a rectangular bellows. The bellows are operated by the left hand, which also – as in all keyboard instruments – manipulates the so-called bass keyboard, in this case a ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
1 of 4 Pages     Next ›

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.

Rock, A Life Story

Rock, A Life Story

The ultimate story of a life of rock music, from the 1950s to the present day.

David Bowie

David Bowie

Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers his life, music, art and movies, with a sweep of incredible photographs.