lives in a cave guarding his treasure. Years before, Sieglinde sheltered there and, dying, entrusted her child and the broken sword to Mime’s care. He has raised Siegfried as his son, hoping to persuade him to kill Fafner so that he, Mime, can take the gold and the ring. Mime is forging a new sword ...
it very seriously, among them Tchaikovsky, Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868), Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904), César Franck (1822–90), Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921), Max Reger (1873–1916), and the lesser-known (though famous to organists) Siegfried Karg Elert (1877–1933), who not only wrote a book on the art of registration on the harmonium but toured as a recitalist on it. Saint-Saëns wrote a set of six ...
Wagner’s Ring cycle is made up of four works – Das Rheingold (‘The Rhinegold’, 1851–54), Die Walküre (‘The Valkyrie’, 1851–56), Siegfried (1851–57; 1864–71) and Götterdämmerung (‘Twilight of the Gods’, 1848–52; 1869–74). Although there have been other, even more ambitious projects in the history of opera – Rutland Boughton’s cycle of choral dramas based on the Arthurian legends and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s ...
Operas | Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner | High Romantic Major Operas | Preliminary Evening: Das Rheingold by Richard Wagner | High Romantic Major Operas | Second Day: Siegfried by Richard Wagner | High Romantic Major Operas | Third Day: Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner | High Romantic ...
Operas | Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner | High Romantic Major Operas | First Day: Die Walküre by Richard Wagner | High Romantic Major Operas | Second Day: Siegfried by Richard Wagner | High Romantic Major Operas | Third Day: Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner | High Romantic ...
the rope of destiny. They recall recent events but are unable to see the future, since the rope has frayed. The rope beaks and they return under the earth. Siegfried prepares to set off. He gives Brünnhilde the ring and she gives him her horse, Grane. Act I Gunther, lord of the Gibichungs, sits with his sister ...
1854–1921 German composer Humperdinck studied in Cologne with Ferdinand Hiller and joined Wagner’s circle in Bayreuth. He assisted in the publication of Parsifal and was music tutor to Wagner’s son Siegfried, who later praised Hänsel und Gretel (1893) as ‘the most important opera since Parsifal’. Based on a tale by the brothers Grimm, the opera was composed while Humperdinck ...
1861–1936, Austro-American Schumann-Heink’s voice was renowned for its richness and wide range. Studies with Marietta von Leclair led to her concert debut in 1876 and her operatic debut in Dresden two years later, in Il trovatore. For many years she sang at Hamburg and Bayreuth, while also appearing at London’s Covent Garden in Wagnerian roles. Schumann-Heink made her ...
traits of which were later absorbed into his melodic style. After a couple of years in Italy, Glinka went to Berlin in 1833 to study with the distinguished teacher Siegfried Dehn, but the news of his father’s death in March 1834 sent him back to Russia. He then embarked on his two most celebrated works, the operas A ...
regularly attended rehearsals for the Munich court orchestra. In spite of his father’s attempts to ‘protect’ his son, Strauss had already heard Wagner’s Tannhäuser (1845) aged 10. Lohengrin (1850) Siegfried (1876) and Tristan und Isolde (1865) soon followed. Interestingly, however, Strauss betrayed no sign of Wagner’s influence at the time. His father was his greatest musical influence and ...
, der Letzte der Tribunen 1840–41 Der Fliegende Holländer 1843–45 Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg; rev. 1847, 1860 1845–47 Lohengrin 1851–54 Das Rheingold 1851–56 Die Walküre 1851–57; 1864–71 Siegfried 1848–52; 1869–74 Götterdämmerung 1856–59 Tristan und Isolde 1845; 1862–67 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg 1857; 1865; 1878–81 Parsifal Timeline 1813 Richard Wagner born, Leipzig 1828 Begins composition lessons 1834 Composes ...
of the river Rhine, Wagner went on in Die Walküre to depict a storm and the power of fire in unforgettable terms, while the ‘Forest Murmurs’ section of Siegfried is filled with entrancing birdsong. The storm and tempest that launch the first act of Die Walküre is suggested by a rapidly ascending and falling ostinato figure in the cellos ...
, Stockhausen, Nono, Pousseur, Ligeti and Kagel – but also its virtuoso performers, including the oboist Heinz Holliger (b. 1939), also a composer, the cellist Siegfried Palm (1927–2005) and the piano duo of Alfons (1932–2010) and Aloys (b. 1931) Kontarsky. Guests from the US included Edgard Varèse (1883–1965), Morton Feldman (1926–87) and, most notably, ...
of genuinely heroic timbre, able to sing Monteverdi and Handel with the same intensity he brought to works by Verdi. Leading Wagnerian singers have included Wolfgang Windgassen (1914–74) and Siegfried Jerusalem (b. 1940). Had he not died so young, the German Fritz Wunderlich (1930–66) might have become a fine Wagnerian; as it is he is particularly remembered for his ...
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.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.