• 2045
• Articles
• 16 Gen 2012

Heinrich Schlusnus (August 6, 1888 – June 18, 1952) was Germany’s foremost lyric baritone of the period between World War I and World War II. He sang opera and lieder with equal distinction. A native of Braubach, Schlusnus studied with voice teachers in Berlin and Frankfurt before making his debut at Hamburg’s opera house in […]

• 1888
• Articles
• 15 Gen 2012

The ravishing, crystal-clear, lyric voice of Arleen Auger was stilled on June 10, 1993, when she succumbed to brain cancer. The revered American soprano was 53 years old. Ms. Auger had been diagnosed with a mass in the right parietal lobe of her brain in February of 1992. After surgery, the growth was identified as […]

• 1385
• Articles
• 13 Gen 2012

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (* 28. Mai 1925 in Berlin) ist ein deutscher Sänger der Stimmlage Bariton. Er ist auch Dirigent, Maler, Musikschriftsteller und Rezitator. Fischer-Dieskau gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Lied- und Opernsänger des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Mit über 400 Schallplatten zählt seine Diskografie zu den umfangreichsten überhauptIn. In seiner Familie hatte Musik eine große Tradition, schon […]

• 1928
• Articles
• 13 Gen 2012

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (born 28 May 1925 in Berlin) is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period and “one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century”. Fischer-Dieskau was ranked the second greatest singer of the century (after Jussi […]

• 862
• Articles
• 11 Gen 2012

“I Capuleti e i Montecchi” (“The Capulets and the Montagues”) is an Italian opera (Tragedia lirica) in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo. This was based on Italian sources rather than […]

• 1469
• Articles
• 08 Gen 2012

“L’anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice” (The Soul of the Philosopher, or Orpheus and Euridice), is an opera in Italian in four acts by Joseph Haydn, the last he ever wrote. The libretto, by Carlo Francesco Badini, is based on the myth of Orpheus and Euridice as told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Composed in 1791, […]

• 940
• Articles
• 07 Gen 2012

Gemma de Vergy is a tragedia lirica or tragic opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti (1834) from a libretto by Emanuele Bidéra. It is based on the tragedy Charles VII chez ses grands vassaux (Charles VII at the homes of his great vassals) (1831) by Alexandre Dumas père, which was later to become the […]

• 2199
• Articles
• 07 Gen 2012

The first “Norma” performed by Maria Callas was in 1948, Florence, “Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Callas was the most prolific Norma of the postwar period, with 89 stage performances (several of which exist on recording), along with two studio recordings (made in 1954 and 1960). In 1952, Maria Callas made her London debut at the Royal […]

• 4201
• Articles
• 06 Gen 2012

Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830), La sonnambula (1831), Norma (1831), Beatrice di Tenda (1833), and I puritani (1835). Known for his long-flowing melodic lines, for which he was named “the Swan of Catania,” Bellini […]

• 989
• Articles
• 27 Dic 2011

On February 19, 1736, King’s Theater in London played host to a remarkable gala musical event, of the likes of which modern Baroque aficionados can only dream. No fewer than four of George Frideric Handel’s best-known full-scale concert pieces were first heard on that blustery winter evening: an Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day for soloists, […]