1713–94, French The daughter of a Bordeaux organist, Marie Fel studied singing with Mme Van Loo, and gave her operatic debut in October 1734. Mentioned in Rousseau’s Confessions, Fel was one of the most famous singers of the Académie Royale de Musique, and was a regular soloist at the Concert Spirituel and the Concerts chez la ...
(Zhan Mar-re Le-klâr) 1697–1764 French composer and violinist Born in Lyons, Leclair came from a family of musicians. He studied the violin in Italy under Giovanni Battista Somis (1686–1763). By the 1720s he was establishing a reputation as a violinist in Paris. In 1728 he made his debut at the Concert Spirituel, playing his own sonatas and concertos. In 1733 ...
(Fa’-leks Men’-del-son) 1809–47 German composer Mendelssohn was born into a cultured banking family, who in 1816 converted from Judaism to Christianity, adding ‘Bartholdy’ to their name. Felix studied the piano, theory and composition, and showed early talent, writing his first piece at the age of 11. There were also important non-musical inspirations for his composing at this ...
(Songwriters, 1940s–80s) Husband-and-wife songwriting team Boudleaux (1920–87) and Felice (1925–2003) Bryant composed many country classics, including ‘Bye Bye Love’ (popularized by The Everly Brothers), ‘Rocky Top’ (first popularized by The Osborne Brothers and covered by dozens of others) and ‘Let’s Think About Living’ (Bob Luman). Styles & Forms | Nashville & Beyond | Country Personalities | Johnny Cash | ...
1788–1865, Italian Felice Romani was greatly admired by around 100 Italian composers who sought to enlist his instinct for operatic drama and his ability to write elegant verse. Among them were Rossini, for whom Romani wrote Il turco in Italia (‘A Turk in Italy’, 1814) and Verdi, whom he provided with the libretto for Un giorno di regno ...
‘Mephistopheles’ Composed: 1866–67 Premiered: 1867, Venice Libretto by the composer after Goethe’s Faust Prologue Mefistofele wagers with God that he can win Faust’s soul. Act I Crowds celebrate Easter Sunday in Frankfurt. The aged Faust is bored and watches a mysterious friar, who follows him back to his study. When Faust opens his bible the friar reveals himself as ...
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, ...
b. 1948, Italy Mariella Devia’s impeccable technique has sustained a beautiful vocal timbre of profound depth and still-youthful sheen, and her four-decade career continues apace. Particularly celebrated for bel canto soprano roles, she made her professional debut at Treviso in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor in 1973, appeared at the Met throughout the 70s and ...
b. 1965, Welsh One of the most exciting bass-baritones currently performing, Terfel became a sensation after winning the Cardiff Singer of the World Lieder prize in 1989. In 1990 he made his operatic debut as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at Welsh National Opera, before bursting onto the London scene as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with ...
1863–1942 Austrian conductor Weingartner conducted opera and concerts in Berlin and, in 1908, succeeded Mahler as head of the Vienna Court Opera. During World War I, he was conductor at Darmstadt, and director of the Vienna Volksoper 1919–24. In 1927 he moved to Switzerland, returning briefly to the Vienna State Opera as director in 1935. He ...
1926–87 American composer Associated with Cage’s circle of musicians, Feldman was also strongly affected by the aesthetic of the abstract Expressionist painters in New York. His music displays a distrust of intellectual, rigorous systems of writing, exploring instead abstract forms and an instinctive approach to composition. He is well known for his graphic scores, such as his ...
b. 1965 Welsh baritone Terfel studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and in 1989 won the Lieder prize in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He made his debut in 1990 as Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) for Welsh National Opera. He has performed Figaro worldwide. He sang Verdi’s Falstaff at the reopening of Covent Garden ...
1705–82, Italian Carlo Broschi, known as ‘Farinelli’, studied with Porpora, and made his stage debut as a castrato in Naples when he was only 15 years old. By 1723, he was taking lead roles in his teacher’s operas. Farinelli was remarkably successful across Europe, and in 1734 he reunited with Porpora to work in London for ...
1683–1764, French A respected theorist and composer of keyboard music, Rameau did not compose his first opera until he was 50 years old. Consistently adventurous in his operas, he equally inspired passionate admiration and hostility from Parisian audiences and was a comparably powerful figure between the 1730s and 1750s. The Wanderlust Years Rameau was born at Dijon in ...
The Enlightenment was a natural, if late, consequence of the sixteenth-century Renaissance and Reformation. Also known as the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment advanced to be recognized in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and brought with it new, controversial beliefs that upended the absolutisms on which European society had long been based. Absolute monarchy, ...
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