222-825: Sir Charles Santley (28 February 1834 – 22 September 1922) was an English opera and oratorio singer with a bravura technique who became the most eminent English baritone and male concert singer of the Victorian era . His has been called 'the longest, most distinguished and most versatile vocal career which history records.' Santley appeared in many major opera and oratorio productions in Great Britain and North America, giving numerous recitals as well. Having made his debut in Italy in 1857 after undertaking vocal studies in that country, he elected to base himself in England for
444-532: A Knight Commander of St Gregory the Great . Charles Santley made a few recordings, mostly of ballads. His earlier series was made for the Gramophone Company (His Master's Voice) in 1903. Although the voice lacks much of its former brilliant resonance due to age it remains firm and steady. His most famous record preserves his remarkably vivid and lively rendering of ' Non piu andrai ' (Figaro), employing
666-532: A portamento (notably on the word 'narcisetto', usually broken by modern interpreters) that is fit to satisfy Garcia himself. He did not commit any souvenirs of his Handel performances to disc. His 1903 discs are: Several years later he cut a group of ballad titles for the Columbia label. Hatton 's 'To Anthea' and 'Simon the Cellarer' are characteristic of Santley's earlier ballad repertoire, and are repeated in
888-605: A Monastery , and War and Peace ; as well as Dmitri Shostakovich in The Nose and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District , Edison Denisov in L'écume des jours , and Alfred Schnittke in Life with an Idiot and Historia von D. Johann Fausten . Czech composers also developed a thriving national opera movement of their own in the 19th century, starting with Bedřich Smetana , who wrote eight operas including
1110-499: A career lasting more than 60 years, perhaps partly because he had not over-taxed his voice by remaining for too long on the operatic stage. George Bernard Shaw , who first saw him on stage as Di Luna in Il trovatore , considered that Santley's dramatic powers were 'blunt, unpractised, and prone to fall back on a good-humoured nonchalance in his relations with the audience, which was highly popular, but which destroyed all dramatic illusion. He
1332-470: A cast led by Sims Reeves and stage-debutante Helen Lemmens-Sherrington , under the direction of Charles Hallé . In the same season Santley sang (for Pyne and Harrison) Fra Diavolo , La Reine Topaze , The Bohemian Girl (with Mme Parepa ), Il trovatore and Wallace's The Amber Witch , which later transferred to Drury Lane . He was announced to sing in Verdi 's Macbeth with Giulia Grisi in 1861, but
1554-506: A complex web of leitmotifs , recurring themes often associated with the characters and concepts of the drama, of which prototypes can be heard in his earlier operas such as Der fliegende Holländer , Tannhäuser and Lohengrin ; and he was prepared to violate accepted musical conventions, such as tonality , in his quest for greater expressivity. In his mature music dramas, Tristan und Isolde , Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal , he abolished
1776-475: A concern for expressive recitative which matched the contours of the French language. In the 18th century, Lully's most important successor was Jean-Philippe Rameau , who composed five tragédies en musique as well as numerous works in other genres such as opéra-ballet , all notable for their rich orchestration and harmonic daring. Despite the popularity of Italian opera seria throughout much of Europe during
1998-407: A fee which was sufficient for him to be able to make his living solely by composing music, and this new work became an even greater success than Il pirata had been. As for singers, it appears there was some doubt about the tenor, but that Henriette Méric-Lalande, Luigi Lablache (or Tamburini), would be available. In consultation with Romani as to the subject, it was agreed that it would be based on
2220-702: A free rhythm dictated by the accent of the words, accompanied only by basso continuo , which was usually a harpsichord and a cello; or accompagnato (also known as strumentato ) in which the orchestra provided accompaniment. Over the 18th century, arias were increasingly accompanied by the orchestra. By the 19th century, accompagnato had gained the upper hand, the orchestra played a much bigger role, and Wagner revolutionized opera by abolishing almost all distinction between aria and recitative in his quest for what Wagner termed "endless melody". Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagner 's example, though some, such as Stravinsky in his The Rake's Progress have bucked
2442-529: A good organist in some village. It was during these early years at the Collegio that Bellini met Francesco Florimo with whom he had a lifetime of correspondence. Other fellow students—who were to become opera composers—included Francesco Stabile and the Ricci brothers— Luigi and Federico —as well as Saverio Mercadante who, by this time, was a graduate student. Another person to whom the young student/composer
SECTION 10
#17328011186822664-413: A guest in her home and to whom he had become music tutor. As their affair became obvious to her parents, they were forbidden to see each other. Bellini was determined to obtain the parents' permission for them to marry, and some writers regard this as the propelling reason for his writing his first opera. The impetus to write this opera came about in late summer of 1824, when his primo maestrino status at
2886-621: A hand-picked choir for Handel 's Messiah , where the tenor Sims Reeves headed the soloists, at the Eisteddfod at Rhuddlan Castle , and was in the chorus for Elijah and Rossini 's Stabat Mater under Julius Benedict at the Liverpool Festival. He heard Pauline Viardot , Luigi Lablache and Mario there. While acting as accompanist to his sister at St Anne's Catholic Church, Edge Hill , Liverpool , he sang 'Et incarnatus est' from Haydn 's Second Mass , reading from
3108-589: A hearing. Berlioz's epic masterpiece Les Troyens , the culmination of the Gluckian tradition, was not given a full performance for almost a hundred years. In the second half of the 19th century, Jacques Offenbach created operetta with witty and cynical works such as Orphée aux enfers , as well as the opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann ; Charles Gounod scored a massive success with Faust ; and Georges Bizet composed Carmen , which, once audiences learned to accept its blend of Romanticism and realism, became
3330-499: A highly varied body of operatic works, often with libretti by the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal . Other composers who made individual contributions to German opera in the early 20th century include Alexander von Zemlinsky , Erich Korngold , Franz Schreker , Paul Hindemith , Kurt Weill and the Italian-born Ferruccio Busoni . The operatic innovations of Arnold Schoenberg and his successors are discussed in
3552-450: A hitherto brilliant career". Several reasons have been put forward: Lippmann and McGuire note, it was because "Bellini showed too little enthusiasm for the undertaking". Another writer attributes it to Parma's traditional love of and favouritism towards the music of Rossini , while yet another notes that a combination of the composer being constantly seen in cafes around the city (when it was assumed that he should have been composing) and
3774-458: A large variety of works for stage. Perhaps, the most famous Iranian opera is Rostam and Sohrab by Loris Tjeknavorian premiered not until the early 2000s. Chinese contemporary classical opera , a Chinese language form of Western style opera that is distinct from traditional Chinese opera , has had operas dating back to The White-Haired Girl in 1945. In Latin America, opera started as
3996-493: A leading interpreter for over 50 years. From the first, he was given firm encouragement by Sims Reeves and Clara Novello , and by Mario and Grisi, with whom he sang on various occasions. At the inauguration of the original Leeds Festival of autumn 1858 he was the star performer (with Willoughby Weiss ) in Rossini 's Stabat Mater . In the autumn of 1859 he was singing items from St Paul , Judas Maccabaeus and Messiah at
4218-573: A letter from Michael Costa, paid a visit to Rossini in Paris. This meeting proved disappointing; but he made an Italian début at Covent Garden in 1862 when he sang the role of di Luna in Il trovatore for three nights at Covent Garden, 'in place of Graziani, to oblige Mr. Gye': that was with the English soprano Fanny Gordosa , Constance Nantier-Didiée , the Italian dramatic tenor Enrico Tamberlik and
4440-508: A major bass-baritone of the time. But rehearsals did not progress without some difficulties, as both Weinstock and Galatopoulos recount: it appears that Bellini found Rubini, while singing beautifully, to be lacking expressiveness: he was urged to "throw yourself with all your soul into the character you are representing" and to use [your] body, "to accompany your singing with gestures", as well as to act with [your] voice. It appears that Bellini's exhortations bore fruit, based on his own account of
4662-435: A member of a class which he taught: the older man appears to have recognised Bellini's potential and treated his student like a son, giving him some firm advice: If your compositions "sing", your music will most certainly please. ... Therefore, if you train your heart to give you melody and then you set it forth as simply as possible, your success will be assured. You will become a composer. Otherwise, you will end up being
SECTION 20
#17328011186824884-463: A new phrase. This fashion of opera directed opera from Verdi, onward, exercising tremendous influence on his successors Giacomo Puccini , Richard Strauss , and Benjamin Britten . After Verdi, the sentimental "realistic" melodrama of verismo appeared in Italy. This was a style introduced by Pietro Mascagni 's Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo 's Pagliacci that came to dominate
5106-528: A new seriousness to the genre, which had never been wholly "comic" in any case. Another phenomenon of this period was the 'propaganda opera' celebrating revolutionary successes, e.g. Gossec's Le triomphe de la République (1793). By the 1820s, Gluckian influence in France had given way to a taste for Italian bel canto , especially after the arrival of Rossini in Paris . Rossini's Guillaume Tell helped found
5328-483: A nineteenth-century peak of Polish national opera . In the 20th century, other operas created by Polish composers included King Roger by Karol Szymanowski and Ubu Rex by Krzysztof Penderecki . The first known opera from Turkey (the Ottoman Empire ) was Arshak II , which was an Armenian opera composed by an ethnic Armenian composer Tigran Chukhajian in 1868 and partially performed in 1873. It
5550-482: A number of songs under the pseudonym of Ralph Betterton. Opera Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers . Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts , such as acting , scenery , costume , and sometimes dance or ballet . The performance
5772-569: A planned English Lohengrin at Drury Lane. Santley accepted, but the project failed with the untimely death of Mme Parepa-Rosa. ( Lohengrin was not heard in London until 1875). Santley's wish to play Wolfram in Tannhäuser also remained unrealised. He disliked the prominence of the Wagnerian orchestra and regretted the innovation which saw orchestral players being relegated to a pit beneath
5994-589: A platform (though in separate performance) with Jenny Lind , the pianist Lucy Anderson (her last public appearance), Thérèse Tietjens , and Alfredo Piatti the cellist, under the direction of William Sterndale Bennett . Bennett had just drilled a new orchestra to a level of high efficiency, creating a sensation before a huge audience. In 1862 Santley appeared at the Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace . The year 1863 saw his first appearance at
6216-450: A play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres , including some that include spoken dialogue such as Singspiel and Opéra comique . In traditional number opera , singers employ two styles of singing: recitative , a speech-inflected style, and self-contained arias . The 19th century saw the rise of the continuous music drama . Opera originated in Italy at the end of
6438-490: A professional career as a soprano singer. Their daughter Edith also became a concert singer. Gertrude died in 1882. The couple had five children. Santley's second marriage, on 7 January 1884, was to Elizabeth Mary Rose-Innes ( Isabel María Rose-Innes Vives ), eldest daughter of George ( Jorge ) Rose-Innes, a Valparaíso merchant and banker whose father was British. They had one son. Santley converted to Roman Catholicism in 1880, and in 1887 Pope Leo XIII created him
6660-775: A result of European colonisation. The first opera ever written in the Americas was 1701's La púrpura de la rosa , by Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco , a Peruvian composer born in Spain; a decade later, 1711's Partenope , by the Mexican Manuel de Zumaya , was the first opera written from a composer born in Latin America (music now lost). The first Brazilian opera for a libretto in Portuguese was A Noite de São João , by Elias Álvares Lobo . However, Antônio Carlos Gomes
6882-519: A revival and a setback. The collaboration with Romani on Il pirata began in May 1827 and, by August, the music was being written. By then, the composer was aware that he was to write music for his favourite tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini and the soprano was to be Henriette Méric-Lalande . Both singers had starred in Bianca in the original 1826 production. The strong cast also included Antonio Tamburini ,
Charles Santley - Misplaced Pages Continue
7104-669: A scholarship to study under several noted musicians at Naples' Real Collegio di Musica . There he absorbed elements of the Neapolitan School 's style and was inspired by performances of Donizetti's and Rossini's operas, among others, in more modern idioms. He wrote his first opera, Adelson e Salvini (1825), for the conservatory, and his next, Bianca e Fernando (1826), on a Teatro di San Carlo -affiliated commission for promising students. He also became close friends with his peer and first biographer, Francesco Florimo . Bellini then went to Milan to compose for La Scala , where
7326-535: A second full Ordinary in G Minor, both of which probably date from 1823. There are two settings of the Salve Regina (one in A Major for solo soprano and organ, the other in F Minor for choir and orchestra), but these are less accomplished and may date from the first year of study after leaving Catania, 1820. His brief two-movement Oboe Concerto in E-flat from 1823 also survives and has been recorded by no less than
7548-705: A second opera for La Scala. At around the same time, Bellini reported to Florimo that he had been approached by Merelli about writing an inaugural opera for the soon-to-be completed Teatro Ducale (now the Teatro Regio ) in Parma which was due to open during the following year on 12 May 1829. Initially, the opera was to be Carlo di Borgogna , but composer and librettist decided to tackle "a drama so ... hallowed as Voltaire 's Zaïre ", but this proved to be more challenging for Romani than first imagined. With this opera, Bellini encountered "the first serious setback of
7770-522: A separate French tradition was founded by the Italian-born French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully at the court of King Louis XIV . Despite his foreign birthplace, Lully established an Academy of Music and monopolised French opera from 1672. Starting with Cadmus et Hermione , Lully and his librettist Quinault created tragédie en musique , a form in which dance music and choral writing were particularly prominent. Lully's operas also show
7992-562: A special performance for the Prince and Princess of Wales. There was a provincial tour in the autumn. In autumn 1876 at the Lyceum Theatre , again with Carl Rosa, Santley revived his Flying Dutchman , this time in English, with Ostava Torriani as Senta. Between the London season and the provincial tour which followed they performed it 50 times. Among the cities visited were Edinburgh (four performances) and Glasgow (two performances). In
8214-540: A successful nine-week run at the Gaiety with Hérold's Zampa . He refused to sing Don Giovanni but he did stage Fra Diavolo (with himself in title role), and, in the lead-up to Christmas, The Waterman . Performances of Fra Diavolo continued through February 1871, while Lortzing 's Czar und Zimmerman (as Peter the Shipwright ) was staged for Easter. This production proved a success but Santley could not persuade
8436-469: A superb sense of drama, harmony, melody, and counterpoint to write a series of comic operas with libretti by Lorenzo Da Ponte , notably Le nozze di Figaro , Don Giovanni , and Così fan tutte , which remain among the most-loved, popular and well-known operas. But Mozart's contribution to opera seria was more mixed; by his time it was dying away, and in spite of such fine works as Idomeneo and La clemenza di Tito , he would not succeed in bringing
8658-490: A tour of the West Country, beginning at Plymouth , led by Emma Albani , with William Green (tenor), Giulia Ravogli , Johannes Wolf , Adela Verne and Theodore Flint . In January 1907 he sang Elijah at Manchester Town Hall , having sung Messiah and Elijah every year there since 1858. He celebrated the jubilee of his singing career in the company of many of his musician friends at a grand benefit concert held at
8880-584: A year later. Through her he was introduced to the salon of Henry Greville, at whose musical parties he joined company with Mario , Giulia Grisi , Italo Gardoni , Ciro Pinsuti and others. After an audition with Michael Costa , he sang in Mendelssohn 's St. Paul in Manchester under Charles Hallé , and in March 1858 he first sang Mendelssohn's Elijah (at Exeter Hall, Liverpool), of which he became
9102-622: Is generally regarded as the most outstanding Brazilian composer, having a relative success in Italy with its Brazilian-themed operas with Italian librettos, such as Il Guarany . Opera in Argentina developed in the 20th century after the inauguration of Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires—with the opera Aurora , by Ettore Panizza , being heavily influenced by the Italian tradition, due to immigration. Other important composers from Argentina include Felipe Boero and Alberto Ginastera . Perhaps
Charles Santley - Misplaced Pages Continue
9324-487: Is the first opera score to have survived until the present day. However, the honour of being the first opera still to be regularly performed goes to Claudio Monteverdi 's L'Orfeo , composed for the court of Mantua in 1607. The Mantua court of the Gonzagas , employers of Monteverdi, played a significant role in the origin of opera employing not only court singers of the concerto delle donne (till 1598), but also one of
9546-830: Is the shift away from long, suspended melodies, to short quick mottos, as first illustrated by Giuseppe Verdi in his Falstaff . Composers such as Strauss, Britten, Shostakovich and Stravinsky adopted and expanded upon this style. Operatic modernism truly began in the operas of two Viennese composers, Arnold Schoenberg and his student Alban Berg , both composers and advocates of atonality and its later development (as worked out by Schoenberg), dodecaphony . Schoenberg's early musico-dramatic works, Erwartung (1909, premiered in 1924) and Die glückliche Hand display heavy use of chromatic harmony and dissonance in general. Schoenberg also occasionally used Sprechstimme . The two operas of Schoenberg's pupil Alban Berg, Wozzeck (1925) and Lulu (incomplete at his death in 1935) share many of
9768-435: Is typically given in an opera house , accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble , which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor . Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of Western classical music , and Italian tradition in particular. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to
9990-662: The Berlin Philharmonic . Bellini's involvement in Zingarelli's class took place over the 1822/23 school year. By January 1824, after passing examinations in which he did well, he attained the title primo maestrino , requiring him to tutor younger students and allowing him a room of his own in the collegio and visits to the Teatro di San Carlo on Thursdays and Sundays, where he saw his first opera by Rossini, Semiramide . While Weinstock gives an account of how he
10212-759: The Bradford Festival, shortly before embarking on his initial operatic season. In 1861 he sang Elijah in his first appearance at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival . In July of the following year, at St James's Hall Piccadilly, he appeared in the Philharmonic Society's 50th Jubilee Concert, singing an item from Hummel 's Mathilde of Guise , and With Joy the Impatient Husbandman from Haydn 's The Seasons . On that occasion he shared
10434-637: The Carcano Theatre . He made his stage debut on 1 January 1857 in Pavia as Dr Grenvill in La traviata (later in the same run singing Germont père ), and Don Silva in Ernani . Other minor engagements followed, After a thin summer, however, Henry Fothergill Chorley visited and urged his return to England. In 1857 Santley returned to London, and made his first appearance (16 November) for John Hullah in
10656-530: The English Restoration , foreign (especially French) musicians were welcomed back. In 1673, Thomas Shadwell 's Psyche , patterned on the 1671 'comédie-ballet' of the same name produced by Molière and Jean-Baptiste Lully . William Davenant produced The Tempest in the same year, which was the first musical adaption of a Shakespeare play (composed by Locke and Johnson). About 1683, John Blow composed Venus and Adonis , often thought of as
10878-488: The Gazzetta privilegiata di Milano on 16 February declaring it to be a: clamorous success..[with] the poet [serving] the composer well, and the composer could not have served the singers better; all competed to render themselves pleasing to the public, and succeeded in such a way as to be applauded greatly. Three days later, the same publication praised the quality of the music, describing Bellini as "a modern Orpheus" for
11100-480: The Mansion House concert for Belgian refugees, when the accurate intonation, fine quality and vigour of his voice were still apparent. In addition to a 'haunting' beauty of timbre, Santley's technique and musicianship made him a master in the singing of Handel or Mozart, where a fresh and accurate management of rhythm and roulade created an effect of spontaneity, vigour and ideal phrasing. His ensemble singing
11322-493: The Mass Ordinary : one in D Major, the other in G Major, both of which survive and have been commercially recorded. He was ready for further study. For well-off students, this would include moving to Naples. While his family wasn't wealthy enough to support that lifestyle, Bellini's growing reputation could not be overlooked. His break came when Stefano Notabartolo, the duca di San Martino e Montalbo and his duchess, became
SECTION 50
#173280111868211544-625: The Royal Albert Hall on 1 May 1907. He was knighted (the first singer to receive this honour) in December of that year, after singing at Bristol , and sang Elijah at Hanley two days later. Over the next months he gave short recitals at Liverpool and sang Elijah at Edinburgh . He made his Covent Garden farewell in 1911 as Tom Tug in Charles Dibdin 's The Waterman . In 1915, at the request of London's Lady Mayoress, he sang at
11766-599: The Sinfonietta and the Glagolitic Mass . Spain also produced its own distinctive form of opera, known as zarzuela , which had two separate flowerings: one from the mid-17th century through the mid-18th century, and another beginning around 1850. During the late 18th century up until the mid-19th century, Italian opera was immensely popular in Spain, supplanting the native form . In Russian Eastern Europe, several national operas began to emerge. Ukrainian opera
11988-790: The Worcester and Norwich festivals: at Worcester he sang in Schachner's new work Israel's return from Babylon , and at Norwich he introduced Julius Benedict 's Richard Coeur de Lion , a great success. In April 1864 he sang in Handel's Messiah , and in a miscellaneous concert, at Stratford-upon-Avon for the Shakespeare centenary festival. At the Hereford Festival he sang the second part of The Creation , an English version of Rossini's Stabat Mater and Benedict's Richard . At
12210-577: The dramatist Sir William Davenant produced The Siege of Rhodes . Since his theatre was not licensed to produce drama, he asked several of the leading composers ( Lawes , Cooke , Locke , Coleman and Hudson ) to set sections of it to music. This success was followed by The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru (1658) and The History of Sir Francis Drake (1659). These pieces were encouraged by Oliver Cromwell because they were critical of Spain. With
12432-471: The "modern-day" approaches of composers such as Rossini . The young student's first teacher was Giovanni Furno , with whom "he studied exercises in harmony and accompaniment"; another, from whom he learned counterpoint , was the composer of over 50 operas, Giacomo Tritto , but whom he found to be "old fashioned and doctrinaire". However, the artistic director of the school was the opera composer, Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli . By 1822/23, Bellini had become
12654-471: The 1640s. His most important follower Francesco Cavalli helped spread opera throughout Italy. In these early Baroque operas, broad comedy was blended with tragic elements in a mix that jarred some educated sensibilities, sparking the first of opera's many reform movements, sponsored by the Arcadian Academy , which came to be associated with the poet Metastasio , whose libretti helped crystallize
12876-647: The 16th century (with Jacopo Peri 's mostly lost Dafne , produced in Florence in 1598) especially from works by Claudio Monteverdi , notably L'Orfeo , and soon spread through the rest of Europe: Heinrich Schütz in Germany, Jean-Baptiste Lully in France, and Henry Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century. In the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe (except France), attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel . Opera seria
13098-551: The 1862–63 season was over, Santley paid a visit to Paris and saw Mme Carvalho perform in Gounod 's Faust , which Mapleson had obtained for the 1863 season in London. In the new season (begun with Il trovatore ), Carvalho and Santley appeared together in the premiere of Schira's Niccolo de' Lapi , Santley creating the title-role. He also played the elder Germont in La traviata . The first performance of Faust in England followed. It
13320-610: The 18th century another genre was gaining popularity in France: opéra comique . This was the equivalent of the German singspiel , where arias alternated with spoken dialogue. Notable examples in this style were produced by Monsigny , Philidor and, above all, Grétry . During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period, composers such as Étienne Méhul , Luigi Cherubini and Gaspare Spontini , who were followers of Gluck, brought
13542-464: The 19th century in Russia, there were written such operatic masterpieces as Rusalka and The Stone Guest by Alexander Dargomyzhsky , Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina by Modest Mussorgsky , Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin , Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades by Pyotr Tchaikovsky , and The Snow Maiden and Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov . These developments mirrored
SECTION 60
#173280111868213764-562: The 20th century for his innovative works. His later, mature works incorporate his earlier studies of national folk music in a modern, highly original synthesis, first evident in the opera Jenůfa , which was premiered in 1904 in Brno . The success of Jenůfa (often called the " Moravian national opera") at Prague in 1916 gave Janáček access to the world's great opera stages. Janáček's later works are his most celebrated. They include operas such as Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen ,
13986-547: The 20th century, English opera began to assert more independence, with works of Ralph Vaughan Williams and in particular Benjamin Britten , who in a series of works that remain in standard repertory today, revealed an excellent flair for the dramatic and superb musicality. More recently Sir Harrison Birtwistle has emerged as one of Britain's most significant contemporary composers from his first opera Punch and Judy to his most recent critical success in The Minotaur . In
14208-592: The Academy of Music in New York under Adolph Neuendorff . Santley was also particularly proud to have sung once in that season with his friend and idol, Giorgio Ronconi, who was Leporello to Santley's Don Giovanni. The company also played Il trovatore , Rigoletto , Lucrezia Borgia , Martha and Guglielmo Tell . The houses and receipts were enormous, and they sailed to England well pleased in early May 1872. In 1873 Carl Rosa invited Santley to appear as Telramund in
14430-582: The Baroque period, Italian opera never gained much of a foothold in France, where its own national operatic tradition was more popular instead. After Rameau's death, the Bohemian-Austrian composer Gluck was persuaded to produce six operas for the Parisian stage in the 1770s. They show the influence of Rameau, but simplified and with greater focus on the drama. At the same time, by the middle of
14652-431: The Beach ), Mark Adamo , John Corigliano ( The Ghosts of Versailles ), Robert Moran , John Adams ( Nixon in China ), André Previn and Jake Heggie . Many contemporary 21st century opera composers have emerged such as Missy Mazzoli , Kevin Puts , Tom Cipullo , Huang Ruo , David T. Little , Terence Blanchard , Jennifer Higdon , Tobias Picker , Michael Ching , Anthony Davis , and Ricky Ian Gordon . Opera
14874-416: The Birmingham festival in 1891 after an unbroken series of thirty years of appearances there. George Bernard Shaw , describing Santley as the hero of the 1894 Handel Festival, remarked especially on his Honour and Arms and Nasce al Bosco . 'Santley's singing of the division of Selection Day was, humanly speaking, perfect. It tested the middle of his voice from C to C exhaustively; and that octave came out of
15096-404: The Birmingham festival of 1864 was given Michael Costa 's new work Naaman , where (as Elisha) he sang opposite Sims Reeves and the young Adelina Patti (then making her first appearance in oratorio). Santley also appeared there in Messiah and Arthur Sullivan 's The Masque at Kenilworth . The autumn of 1865 witnessed his debut appearance at the Gloucester Festival, where he sang Elijah ,
15318-410: The Columbia series, which also includes Ethelbert Nevin's 'My Rosary', C.V. Stanford's 'Father O'Flynn,' Sullivan's 'Thou'rt passing hence, my brother,' and other titles. Santley's publications include the following: Of the volumes of reminiscences, Student and Singer deals with his career up to circa 1870, and Reminiscences of My Life includes material for the later period. Santley also composed
15540-422: The Conservatory—when it nominated a sufficiently talented student—to require that student to write a cantata or one-act opera to be presented on a gala evening in one of the theatres. After Zingarelli used his influence to secure this honour for his promising student, Bellini was able to obtain agreement that he could write a full-length opera and, furthermore, that the libretto did not have to be written by Tottola,
15762-425: The Crystal Palace, with a chorus and orchestra of about 3,000, in which he sang in the Stabat Mater , and appeared in the scene of the 'Blessing of the Banners' from The Siege of Corinth . In mid-May he sang in the first performance in England of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle , with the dramatic soprano Thérèse Tietjens, Pietro Mongini and the mezzo-soprano Sofia Scalchi . It was also performed that year at
15984-831: The Crystal Palace. The London autumn season was held at Covent Garden, with Santley's old hero Karl Formes joining the tour cast. The American soprano Minnie Hauk also appeared (in La Sonnambula ). During the ensuing tour, Santley sang Tom Tug in Charles Dibdin 's The Waterman for the first time, at Leeds . The next season, he sang it twice more in Leeds, and once each in Sheffield and Bradford . The airs from The Waterman 'The jolly young waterman' and 'Then farewell, my trim-built wherry' were sung by Santley to acclaim. Her Majesty's remained closed, and in 1869 Mapleson
16206-718: The Czech national spirit, as were some of his choral works. By far the most successful of the operas is Rusalka which contains the well-known aria "Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém" ("Song to the Moon"); it is played on contemporary opera stages frequently outside the Czech Republic . This is attributable to their uneven invention and libretti, and perhaps also their staging requirements – The Jacobin , Armida , Vanda and Dimitrij need stages large enough to portray invading armies. Leoš Janáček gained international recognition in
16428-512: The English season to play Zampa and Fra Diavolo , at Baltimore , Philadelphia , Newark and elsewhere. He played Valentin in Faust at Philadelphia. In the Italian season, from mid-March to the end of April, he was with Mme Parepa-Rosa , Adelaide Phillips and the tenor Theodore Wachtel (1823–1893), and with Karl Formes, who sang Marcel in Les Huguenots with Santley (Saint-Bris), at
16650-672: The Franco-Italian bass-baritone Joseph Tagliafico . Santley's performances were received rapturously by the Covent Garden audience. Mapleson won Santley back for his own Italian opera company, and in the 1862–63 season at Majesty's, he performed in Il trovatore (as Di Luna), The Marriage of Figaro (as Almaviva) and Les Huguenots (as de Nevers). He returned to Covent Garden for the English Opera, however, appearing in
16872-668: The Gaiety's manager, John Hollingshead , to produce Auber's Le Cheval de bronze as a follow-up. Feeling that his long-cherished project of an English lyric theatre could never be accomplished, he decided to turn his back on the stage altogether. Instead, in 1872–1873, he set out on a concert tour of in the United States and Canada. The concert tour itself was not a financial success. Santley therefore entered into an agreement with Carl Rosa to join his Italian season in New York City in March 1872; but he joined them first for
17094-557: The House of Savoy. Romani wrote to Florimo in Naples and told him that he had taken on the re-construction of the libretto, with the result that "out of the whole of Bianca , the only pieces entirely unchanged are the big duet and the romanza ; everything else is altered, and about half of it is new", Bellini then re-arranged the music to suit the singers' voices, now knowing that the Bianca
17316-524: The Lily of Killarney , Dinorah , and Balfe's The Armourer of Nantes . In defence of his decision to move to Italian opera, Santley notes that since 1859-60 he had been singing about 110 opera performances per season, in addition to fulfilling concurrent concert engagements. With Mapleson's Italian Opera he joined some of the 19th century's most celebrated singers, including Thérèse Tietjens , Marietta Alboni , Antonio Giuglini and Zelia Trebelli . Once
17538-718: The London stage from the mid-19th century into the 1870s. London's Daily Telegraph agreed, describing The Yeomen of the Guard as "a genuine English opera, forerunner of many others, let us hope, and possibly significant of an advance towards a national lyric stage". Sullivan produced a few light operas in the 1890s that were of a more serious nature than those in the G&;S series, including Haddon Hall and The Beauty Stone , but Ivanhoe (which ran for 155 consecutive performances, using alternating casts—a record until Broadway's La bohème ) survives as his only grand opera . In
17760-557: The Opera (1755) proved to be an inspiration for Christoph Willibald Gluck 's reforms. He advocated that opera seria had to return to basics and that all the various elements—music (both instrumental and vocal), ballet , and staging—must be subservient to the overriding drama. In 1765 Melchior Grimm published " Poème lyrique ", an influential article for the Encyclopédie on lyric and opera librettos . Several composers of
17982-722: The San Carlo or one of the other royal theatres, the Teatro Fondo. Following the presentation of Adelson e Salvini and while he was in Milan, Bellini—requesting help from Florimo—began to make some revisions, shortening the opera to two acts in the hope that it might be given stagings by Domenico Barbaja , the Intendant at the Teato di San Carlo since 1809. But little is known about exactly how much Bellini or Florimo contributed to
18204-583: The Seraglio ), and The Magic Flute ( Die Zauberflöte ), landmarks in the German tradition. The first third of the 19th century saw the high point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini , Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini all creating signature works of that style. It also saw the advent of grand opera typified by the works of Daniel Auber and Giacomo Meyerbeer as well as Carl Maria von Weber 's introduction of German Romantische Oper (German Romantic Opera). The mid-to-late 19th century
18426-487: The Worcester and Norwich festivals. At Worcester, Reeves, Santley, Trebelli and Tietjens gave the first performance of Sullivan's The Prodigal Son , under the composer's baton. At Norwich there was also Hugo Pierson 's oratorio Hezekiah. At the close of the 1868–69 season of the Philharmonic Society of London Santley, Tietjens and Nilsson took part in the final supernumerary concert, held at St James's Hall for
18648-450: The acting and spirit one could wish for." Following Romani's recovery, the delivery of the libretto arrived piecemeal, but Bellini set to work again; progress was slow. By 7 January 1829, with Romani having recovered and set off for Venice to fulfill a contract, the composer was "almost up to the 2nd act". Filippo Cicconetti, in his 1859 biography, gives an account of Bellini's working methods, explaining how he set texts to music always with
18870-551: The acts of stage plays, operas in the new comic genre of intermezzi , which developed largely in Naples in the 1710s and 1720s, were initially staged during the intermissions of opera seria. They became so popular, however, that they were soon being offered as separate productions. Opera seria was elevated in tone and highly stylised in form, usually consisting of secco recitative interspersed with long da capo arias. These afforded great opportunity for virtuosic singing and during
19092-582: The age of 33 in Puteaux , France. Verdi praised Bellini's expansive melodies as unequaled, while Wagner, who was rarely complimentary, was captivated by Bellini's expressive integration of music and text. Liszt and Chopin were also admirers, though Berlioz was less enthusiastic. Most musicologists now assess Bellini positively, though some question the quality of his work. Many of his operas, including Pirata , Capuleti , Sonnambula , Norma , and Puritani are regularly performed at major opera houses throughout
19314-519: The approval of the King, who broke the custom of there being no applause at a performance attended by royalty. It was also attended by Donizetti who enthusiastically wrote to Simon Mayr : "It is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, especially as it is his first opera." Bellini's music was highly regarded, with the Giornale delle Due Sicilie on 13 June noting that "[several of the arias and duets] are some of
19536-457: The art form back to life again. The bel canto opera movement flourished in the early 19th century and is exemplified by the operas of Rossini , Bellini , Donizetti , Pacini , Mercadante and many others. Literally "beautiful singing", bel canto opera derives from the Italian stylistic singing school of the same name. Bel canto lines are typically florid and intricate, requiring supreme agility and pitch control. Examples of famous operas in
19758-524: The audience's reactions to the first performance, as well as the reaction of the Gazzetta privilegiata di Milano of 2 December which noted that this opera "introduced us to Rubini's dual personality as a singer and actor". The reviewer continued to declare that this duality had never been expressed in other operas in which he had performed. The premiere, given on 17 October 1827, was "an immediate and then an increasing, success. By Sunday, December 2, when
19980-621: The autumn, after the Worcester and Norwich festivals, Santley joined the Mapleson company's annual tour, beginning in Dublin. Sims Reeves had joined the company to perform the roles of Edgardo, Huon and Faust (with Tietjens and Trebelli as his partners). After hearing Santley's Valentine, Gounod composed the aria Even bravest heart expressly for him to an original English text by Chorley (now, ironically, better known in French translation as Avant de quitter or in Italian as Dio possente ) and this
20202-538: The baritone role in them was given to another artist. (Lothario in Thomas' Mignon , for example, was assigned not to Santley but to the French baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure ). Rather than accept another season with the joint company, Santley decided to establish a new English Opera enterprise at the Gaiety Theatre , working with the theatre's music director and conductor, Meyer Lutz . In autumn 1870 he launched
20424-544: The basis of sound vocal technique as a baritone. He also taught him Italian speech. Santley studied duets from Bellini 's Zaira and Rossini 's Semiramide and The Siege of Corinth . He was a frequent guest at concerts and conversaziones of the Marani family. At the theatres, he heard Antonio Giuglini , Scheggi, Marini and Enrico Delle Sedie , and saw Ristori in Maria Stuarda , attending La Scala , Milan, and
20646-619: The bass clef, and was pronounced to be a bass. Santley was apprenticed to the provision trade. He enlisted, however, as a violinist in the Festival Choral Society and the Società Armonica, and as a chorus member, with his father and sister, he sang in a performance of Haydn 's The Creation at the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool, in which Jenny Lind was a soloist. Soon afterwards he was in
20868-456: The beauty of his melodies. Reporting to Romani, who was still in Venice, Bellini gave an account of the success: "the thing went as we never had imagined it. We were in seventh heaven. With [this letter] receive my gratitude more than ever ..." Others wrote equally enthusiastic reports, with abundant praise being given to the singers as well. However, there were detractors who criticised both
21090-411: The bel canto style include Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola , as well as Bellini's Norma , La sonnambula and I puritani and Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor , L'elisir d'amore and Don Pasquale . Following the bel canto era, a more direct, forceful style was rapidly popularized by Giuseppe Verdi , beginning with his biblical opera Nabucco . This opera, and
21312-403: The building formerly occupied by the nuns of San Sabastiano, was run by the government and there, students, who wore a semi-military uniform, were obliged to live under a tight daily regimen of classes in principal subjects, in singing and instrumental coaching, plus basic education. Their days were long, going from early morning mass at 5:15 am to finally ending by 10 pm. Although beyond
21534-588: The composer. At the Handel Festival in June 1868 he sang the Messiah solos, and on the selection day, 'O voi dell'Erebo' from La Resurrezione and 'O ruddier than the cherry' from Acis and Galatea . He also sang 'The Lord is a Man of War' with Signor Foli . At Hereford he sang Dr Wesley 's anthem The Wilderness , and under Dr Wesley, Elijah , with Louisa Pyne . In 1869 a Rossini festival took place at
21756-539: The conservatory resulted in an assignment to compose an opera for presentation in the institute's teatrino . This became Adelson e Salvini , an opera semi-seria (half-serious) to a libretto by the Neapolitan Andrea Leone Tottola , who had written the one for Donizetti's La zingara . Adelson was first given sometime between mid-January and mid-March 1825, and featured an all-male cast of fellow students. It proved to be so popular among
21978-408: The distinction between aria and recitative in favour of a seamless flow of "endless melody". Wagner also brought a new philosophical dimension to opera in his works, which were usually based on stories from Germanic or Arthurian legend. Finally, Wagner built his own opera house at Bayreuth with part of the patronage from Ludwig II of Bavaria , exclusively dedicated to performing his own works in
22200-506: The drama is understated, enigmatic and completely un-Wagnerian. Other notable 20th-century names include Ravel , Dukas , Roussel , Honegger and Milhaud . Francis Poulenc is one of the very few post-war composers of any nationality whose operas (which include Dialogues des Carmélites ) have gained a foothold in the international repertory. Olivier Messiaen 's lengthy sacred drama Saint François d'Assise (1983) has also attracted widespread attention. In England, opera's antecedent
22422-427: The emergence of the separate but closely related art of musical theatre in the late 19th century. Sullivan wrote only one grand opera, Ivanhoe (following the efforts of a number of young English composers beginning about 1876), but he claimed that even his light operas constituted part of a school of "English" opera, intended to supplant the French operettas (usually performed in bad translations) that had dominated
22644-418: The fact that Romani had included a long explanation of the difficulties of adapting Voltaire in the printed libretto provided to all operagoers. The librettist was critical of his own work: "the style should have been more careful, and that here and there, certain repetitions of phrases and concepts should have been edited out". At the same time, he stated that, with music composed to those verses now in place, "I
22866-581: The final operatic performance of that season: Santley had been due to play Pizarro, when the news came to him, while he was appearing in concert in Brighton , that Her Majesty's Theatre had been burnt to the ground. Santley had sung the last notes ever to be heard in that theatre. The company presented a fresh season, commencing in March 1868 at Drury Lane. In it, Santley sang Fernando in La Gazza Ladra with Kellogg, Trebelli, Bettini and Foli , and
23088-529: The first actual "opera singers", Madama Europa . Opera did not remain confined to court audiences for long. In 1637, the idea of a "season" (often during the carnival ) of publicly attended operas supported by ticket sales emerged in Venice . Monteverdi had moved to the city from Mantua and composed his last operas, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea , for the Venetian theatre in
23310-672: The first decade of the 21st century, the librettist of an early Birtwistle opera, Michael Nyman , has been focusing on composing operas, including Facing Goya , Man and Boy: Dada , and Love Counts . Today composers such as Thomas Adès continue to export English opera abroad. Also in the 20th century, American composers like George Gershwin ( Porgy and Bess ), Scott Joplin ( Treemonisha ), Leonard Bernstein ( Candide ), Gian Carlo Menotti , Douglas Moore , and Carlisle Floyd began to contribute English-language operas infused with touches of popular musical styles. They were followed by composers such as Philip Glass ( Einstein on
23532-425: The first part of St. Paul , part of Messiah , and Mendelssohn's First Walpurgis Night . In 1866 he was at Worcester Festival, and then at Norwich, where Costa's Naaman was given again, in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and Benedict's new cantata St Cecilia (libretto by Chorley) was introduced. At Hereford in 1867 the main event for Santley was singing with the famous soprano Jenny Lind for
23754-756: The first time and sang at the Theatre Royal at Liverpool, the fulfilment of a childhood ambition. In the spring of 1865, Giuglini left the company, and the Croatian diva Ilma de Murska joined it, appearing in Lucia di Lammermoor . Santley took on three new roles: Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute , Creonte in Cherubini 's Médée and Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio (opposite Tietjens). In September there
23976-466: The first time before the Society moved there permanently in the next season. These three singers were among the original ten recipients to be awarded the Society's gold medal at its first presentation in 1871. In early 1870, as his departure from the theatre was approaching, Santley sang at concerts in London and at Exeter Hall. Then, under the management of George Wood, he made a six-week concert tour of
24198-607: The first time, in the oratorio Ruth by Otto Goldschmidt . There, and at Birmingham festival, Willoughby Weiss took most of the sacred bass or baritone roles. Santley sang bass arias from the Messiah , Gounod's Mass , Benedict's St Cecilia and J. F. Barnett 's The Ancient Mariner . Returning to the Birmingham Festival in 1867 he was a soloist in the premiere of the Sacred Cantata The Woman of Samaria by William Sterndale Bennett , conducted by
24420-461: The first true English-language opera. Blow's immediate successor was the better known Henry Purcell . Despite the success of his masterwork Dido and Aeneas (1689), in which the action is furthered by the use of Italian-style recitative, much of Purcell's best work was not involved in the composing of typical opera, but instead, he usually worked within the constraints of the semi-opera format, where isolated scenes and masques are contained within
24642-540: The following Italian season managed by George Wood, Santley sang The Dutchman in The Flying Dutchman (in Italian, as L'Ollandese Dannato ), opposite di Murska, and with Signor Foli as Daland. This was the first presentation of a Wagner opera in London. It took place in July 1870. But several other promised productions either did not occur ( Macbeth , Cherubini's Les Deux Journees , Rossini's Tancredi ) or
24864-456: The following January he was equally successful and, to fulfill his obligations to write music for Catania – a condition of his scholarship – he sent a Messa di Gloria in A Minor for soloists, choir and orchestra, which was performed the following October. Besides this melodious work, his output from these study years in Naples included two other settings of the Mass: a full Ordinary in E Minor and
25086-431: The form and style that would dominate opera throughout the twentieth century. Rather than long, suspended melodies, Falstaff contains many little motifs and mottos, that, rather than being expanded upon, are introduced and subsequently dropped, only to be brought up again later. These motifs never are expanded upon, and just as the audience expects a character to launch into a long melody, a new character speaks, introducing
25308-541: The genre of opera seria , which became the leading form of Italian opera until the end of the 18th century. Once the Metastasian ideal had been firmly established, comedy in Baroque-era opera was reserved for what came to be called opera buffa . Before such elements were forced out of opera seria, many libretti had featured a separately unfolding comic plot as sort of an "opera-within-an-opera". One reason for this
25530-452: The golden age of opera seria the singer really became the star. The role of the hero was usually written for the high-pitched male castrato voice, which was produced by castration of the singer before puberty , which prevented a boy's larynx from being transformed at puberty. Castrati such as Farinelli and Senesino , as well as female sopranos such as Faustina Bordoni , became in great demand throughout Europe as opera seria ruled
25752-410: The greatest French grand opera , Don Carlos , and ending his career with two Shakespeare-inspired works, Otello and Falstaff , which reveal how far Italian opera had grown in sophistication since the early 19th century. These final two works showed Verdi at his most masterfully orchestrated, and are both incredibly influential, and modern. In Falstaff , Verdi sets the pre-eminent standard for
25974-625: The growth of Russian nationalism across the artistic spectrum, as part of the more general Slavophilism movement. In the 20th century, the traditions of Russian opera were developed by many composers including Sergei Rachmaninoff in his works The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini , Igor Stravinsky in Le Rossignol , Mavra , Oedipus rex , and The Rake's Progress , Sergei Prokofiev in The Gambler , The Love for Three Oranges , The Fiery Angel , Betrothal in
26196-416: The income produced from his compositions, for which he was able to ask higher than usual fees. Upon his arrival, he met Antonio Villa of La Scala and composer Saverio Mercadante whose new opera, Il Montanaro was in rehearsal. The latter introduced him to Francesco and Marianna Pollini (an older couple, the husband a retired professor of piano, the wife a better-than-amateur musician) who immediately took
26418-452: The internationally popular The Bartered Bride . Smetana's eight operas created the bedrock of the Czech opera repertory, but of these only The Bartered Bride is performed regularly outside the composer's homeland. After reaching Vienna in 1892 and London in 1895 it rapidly became part of the repertory of every major opera company worldwide. Antonín Dvořák 's nine operas, except his first, have librettos in Czech and were intended to convey
26640-526: The late 18th century. Nevertheless, native forms would develop in spite of this influence. In 1644, Sigmund Staden produced the first Singspiel , Seelewig , a popular form of German-language opera in which singing alternates with spoken dialogue. In the late 17th century and early 18th century, the Theater am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg presented German operas by Keiser , Telemann and Handel . Yet most of
26862-609: The leadership Zacharia Paliashvili , who fused local folk songs and stories with 19th-century Romantic classical themes. The key figure of Hungarian national opera in the 19th century was Ferenc Erkel , whose works mostly dealt with historical themes. Among his most often performed operas are Hunyadi László and Bánk bán . The most famous modern Hungarian opera is Béla Bartók 's Duke Bluebeard's Castle . Stanisław Moniuszko 's opera Straszny Dwór (in English The Haunted Manor ) (1861–64) represents
27084-487: The libretti for six of Bellini's operas which followed, in addition to about 100 libretti written for the major composers of the day, up to and including Verdi. As has been observed, "no other Italian opera composer of the time showed such an attachment to a single librettist" and although Romani was known to treat composers poorly, he evidently had great respect for Bellini, even acceding to his requests for revisions. For his part, Bellini admired "the sonorous and elegance of
27306-438: The major German composers of the time, including Handel himself, as well as Graun , Hasse and later Gluck , chose to write most of their operas in foreign languages, especially Italian. In contrast to Italian opera, which was generally composed for the aristocratic class, German opera was generally composed for the masses and tended to feature simple folk-like melodies, and it was not until the arrival of Mozart that German opera
27528-499: The most daring and revolutionary. In it, Verdi blurs the distinction between the aria and recitative as it never before was, leading the opera to be "an unending string of duets". La traviata was also novel. It tells the story of courtesan, and it includes elements of verismo or "realistic" opera, because rather than featuring great kings and figures from literature, it focuses on the tragedies of ordinary life and society. After these, he continued to develop his style, composing perhaps
27750-581: The most laudable pieces of new music heard in recent times at the [San Carlo]." However, there were reservations about Gilardoni's contribution. Within nine months, in February/March 1827, Domenico Barbaja offered Bellini a commission for an opera to be presented in the autumn of 1827 at La Scala in Milan, of which between 1821 and 1832, Barbaja was also part of the management. Bellini spent 1827 to 1833 mostly in Milan, never holding any official position within an opera company and living solely from
27972-542: The most obvious stylistic manifestation of modernism in opera is the development of atonality . The move away from traditional tonality in opera had begun with Richard Wagner , and in particular the Tristan chord . Composers such as Richard Strauss , Claude Debussy , Giacomo Puccini , Paul Hindemith , Benjamin Britten and Hans Pfitzner pushed Wagnerian harmony further with a more extreme use of chromaticism and greater use of dissonance. Another aspect of modernist opera
28194-414: The most popular of all opéra comiques. Jules Massenet , Camille Saint-Saëns and Léo Delibes all composed works which are still part of the standard repertory, examples being Massenet's Manon , Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila and Delibes' Lakmé . Their operas formed another genre, the opéra lyrique , combined opéra comique and grand opera. It is less grandiose than grand opera, but without
28416-417: The most significant figure was undoubtedly Wagner . Wagner was one of the most revolutionary and controversial composers in musical history. Starting under the influence of Weber and Meyerbeer , he gradually evolved a new concept of opera as a Gesamtkunstwerk (a "complete work of art"), a fusion of music, poetry and painting. He greatly increased the role and power of the orchestra, creating scores with
28638-579: The music conservatory in Naples at an age well past that required for admission and took an examination in which his compositions were assessed, he was placed in the beginners' class. After 1816, Bellini began living with his grandfather, from whom he received his first music lessons. Soon after, the young composer began to write compositions. Among them were the nine Versetti da cantarsi il Venerdi Santo , eight of which were based on texts by Metastasio . By 1818 Bellini had independently completed several additional orchestral pieces and at least two settings of
28860-458: The musical stage in England. The only exceptions were ballad operas , such as John Gay 's The Beggar's Opera (1728), musical burlesques , European operettas , and late Victorian era light operas , notably the Savoy operas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan , all of which types of musical entertainments frequently spoofed operatic conventions; these genres contributed significantly to
29082-517: The new intendente of the province of Catania. They encouraged the young man to petition the city fathers for a stipend to support his musical studies. This was successfully achieved in May 1819 with unanimous agreement for a four-year pension to allow him to study at the Real Collegio di Musica di San Sebastiano in Naples. Thus, he left Catania in July carrying letters of introduction to several powerful individuals, including Giovanni Carafa who
29304-482: The new genre of grand opera , a form whose most famous exponent was another foreigner, Giacomo Meyerbeer . Meyerbeer's works, such as Les Huguenots , emphasised virtuoso singing and extraordinary stage effects. Lighter opéra comique also enjoyed tremendous success in the hands of Boïeldieu , Auber , Hérold and Adam . In this climate, the operas of the French-born composer Hector Berlioz struggled to gain
29526-497: The normal age for admission, Bellini had submitted ten pieces of music for consideration; these clearly demonstrated his talent, although he did need to do remedial work to correct some of his faulty technique. The focus of study was on the masters of the Neapolitan school and the orchestral works of Haydn and Mozart , with the emphasis put upon the Italian classical era composers such as Pergolesi and Paisiello , rather than
29748-548: The novel L'étrangère ( Il solitario ) of 1825 by Charles-Victor Prévot, vicomte d'Arlincourt, and planned for the premiere on the opening night of the season on 26 December. However, by 20 September, Bellini told Florimo that he did not think the performance could take place as scheduled due to Romani being ill. In addition, he was concerned about who would sing the tenor role when he had been unable to obtain Rubini's release from his Naples contract. Berardo Calvari (known as Winter)
29970-586: The ones that would follow in Verdi's career, revolutionized Italian opera, changing it from merely a display of vocal fireworks, with Rossini's and Donizetti's works, to dramatic story-telling. Verdi's operas resonated with the growing spirit of Italian nationalism in the post- Napoleonic era, and he quickly became an icon of the patriotic movement for a unified Italy. In the early 1850s, Verdi produced his three most popular operas: Rigoletto , Il trovatore and La traviata . The first of these, Rigoletto , proved
30192-418: The opera and its composer: its new style and its restless harmonic shifts into remote keys did not please all. 45 years later it was stated that "Bellini's style was abstruse, discontinuous, distorted, and lacking in distinction, that it alternated among the serio and the buffo and the semi-serio ..." Zaira was the opera which came into being following discussions with Barbaja in Milan in June 1828 for
30414-709: The opera stage. However, in 1875 Carl Rosa tempted him back to the stage for a season at the Princess's Theatre, London, in which he played in Le nozze di Figaro , Il trovatore , The Siege of Rochelle (as Michel), Cherubini's The Water Carrier (Mikelì) and The Porter of Havre (Martin). In Figaro he was cast as Almaviva, but was transferred to the role of Figaro, singing with Sig. Campobello (Almaviva), Aynsley Cook (Bartolo), Charles Lyall (Basilio), Ostava Torriani (Contessa), Rose Hersee (Susanna), Josephine York (Cherubino) and Mrs Aynsley Cook (Marcellina). This received
30636-479: The operas of Mozart , who wrote in Vienna near the century's close. Leading Italian-born composers of opera seria include Alessandro Scarlatti , Antonio Vivaldi and Nicola Porpora . Opera seria had its weaknesses and critics. The taste for embellishment on behalf of the superbly trained singers, and the use of spectacle as a replacement for dramatic purity and unity drew attacks. Francesco Algarotti 's Essay on
30858-494: The other dominating force in English opera at this time was George Frideric Handel , whose opera serias filled the London operatic stages for decades and influenced most home-grown composers, like John Frederick Lampe , who wrote using Italian models. This situation continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, including in the work of Michael William Balfe , and the operas of the great Italian composers, as well as those of Mozart, Beethoven, and Meyerbeer, continued to dominate
31080-572: The period, including Niccolò Jommelli and Tommaso Traetta , attempted to put these ideals into practice. The first to succeed however, was Gluck. Gluck strove to achieve a "beautiful simplicity". This is evident in his first reform opera, Orfeo ed Euridice , where his non-virtuosic vocal melodies are supported by simple harmonies and a richer orchestra presence throughout. Gluck's reforms have had resonance throughout operatic history. Weber, Mozart, and Wagner, in particular, were influenced by his ideals. Mozart, in many ways Gluck's successor, combined
31302-433: The piano at three. By the age of five, he could apparently play "marvelously". The document states that Bellini's first five pieces were composed when he was just six years old and "at seven he was taught Latin, modern languages, rhetoric, and philosophy". Bellini's biographer Herbert Weinstock regards some of these accounts as no more than myths, not being supported from other, more reliable sources. Additionally, he makes
31524-415: The plot-driving passages sung in a style designed to imitate and emphasize the inflections of speech, and aria (an "air" or formal song) in which the characters express their emotions in a more structured melodic style. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action. In some forms of opera, such as singspiel , opéra comique , operetta , and semi-opera ,
31746-724: The poet's verses" While in Milan, "[Bellini] quickly gained an entrée into higher social circles", although he also stayed for months at a time with friends, the Cantù and the Turina families. It was with Giuditta Turina that he began an affair in 1828 during the premiere performances of Bianca e Fernando in Genoa. The four years in Northern Italy between 1827 and 1831 produced four great masterpieces, Il pirata , I Capuleti e i Montecchi , La sonnambula , and Norma , along with
31968-447: The point in regard to Bellini's apparent knowledge of languages and philosophy: "Bellini never became a well-educated man". Another biographer, Stelios Galatopoulos, discusses the information presented in the précis and accepts some of the evidence for early compositions but expresses skepticism regarding the young Bellini's child prodigy status. He mentions that Bellini never became a "proficient" piano player and, when he later went to
32190-411: The premiere, a date that was—in theory— unchangeable. In fact, it had to be changed due to the inability of Lalande to arrive in time for sufficient rehearsal. Both composer and librettist were somewhat dilatory, delaying work as much and as long as possible. Count Sanvitale's request on 17 April, asking "to let me know the reasons why our copyists are kept idle", did not receive much of response to satisfy
32412-734: The promotion collapsed. For the season of 1861–62, Santley returned to Covent Garden, opening in Howard Glover 's Ruy Blas (as Don Sallust, Harrison as Ruy Blas), then in a re-cast version of Robin Hood , and finally in Balfe's The Puritan's Daughter . He also created the role of 'Danny Man' in Julius Benedict 's The Lily of Killarney , which was performed nightly for five or six weeks. Worn out by this busy season, Santley decided to turn his attention to Italian opera, and, armed with
32634-428: The provinces. The touring company included Clarice Sinico , the violinist August Wilhelmj and the pianist Arabella Goddard (later joined by Ernst Pauer ). Santley's concert singing reached a high point of acclaim during his subsequent United States and Canadian tour of 1871–72. In such songs as "To Anthea", "Simon the Cellarer" and the "Maid of Athens", he was viewed as being unapproachable, and his oratorio singing
32856-511: The quintessential designer of these productions, and this style was to dominate the English stage for three centuries. These masques contained songs and dances. In Ben Jonson 's Lovers Made Men (1617), "the whole masque was sung after the Italian manner, stilo recitativo". The approach of the English Commonwealth closed theatres and halted any developments that may have led to the establishment of English opera. However, in 1656,
33078-518: The recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, recitative, are also referred to as arioso . The terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below . During both the Baroque and Classical periods , recitative could appear in two basic forms, each of which was accompanied by a different instrumental ensemble: secco (dry) recitative, sung with
33300-505: The remainder of his life, apart from occasional trips overseas. One of the highlights of his stage career occurred in 1870 when he led the cast in the first Wagner opera to be performed in London, The Flying Dutchman , at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane . Santley retired from opera during the 1870s in order to concentrate on the lucrative concert circuit. Santley also wrote books on vocal technique and two sets of memoirs. Santley
33522-518: The revisions, and Weinstock asserts that no performances were ever given after 1825, but in March 1829, we find Bellini writing to Florimo that "I have written you the changes that you should make in Adelson ". In the summer or early autumn of 1825 Bellini began work on what was to become his first professionally produced opera. A contract between the Conservatory and the royal theatres obliged
33744-426: The rise of recording technology , singers such as Enrico Caruso and Maria Callas became known to much wider audiences that went beyond the circle of opera fans. Since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on (and written for) these media. Beginning in 2006, a number of major opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over
33966-485: The role of Adam in Haydn 's Creation : it is related that he broke down in the duet Graceful Consort owing to nerves, but the audience burst into applause for him and bade him continue. Manuel García , who heard him, offered training which Santley accepted gratefully. There were a few concerts at the Crystal Palace and elsewhere, under Chorley's guidance, and at a Chorley party he met Gertrude Kemble, who became his wife
34188-736: The role of Brian the Templar). Returning to London in March 1866, Santley appeared in the spring season with Tietjens, Gardoni and Gassier in Iphigénie en Tauride . He also sang in Dinorah (with de Murska and Gardoni) and Ernani (with Tietjens, Tasca and Gassier). During the autumn, he performed as Leporello in Don Giovanni at Her Majesty's. The year 1867 brought the engagement of Sweden's Christine Nilsson , and Santley appeared with her in La traviata and I Lombardi . La forza del destino
34410-403: The role of Imogene in Il pirata for performances in Naples (as she had done in Vienna—but successfully) was proved to be wrong, since she did sing well there and received general approval. But this issue had caused complications in his relationship with Barbaja, who controlled both theatres, and when he visited Milan in June, he offered Bellini the opportunity to choose between Naples and Milan as
34632-486: The role of Imogene—Rubini's wife, Adelaide Comelli-Rubini, about whom Bellini had initial misgivings, although it appears that she acquitted herself very well. By this time, Bellini had begun to achieve international fame. After Il pirata , Bellini remained in Milan with the hope of securing another commission. One came from Genoa via Bartolomeo Merelli on 13 January 1828 for a new opera for presentation on 7 April. However, without knowing which singers would be engaged, he
34854-491: The role, which was sung in Italian, apart from the 'Brindisi'. He also played Hoel in Dinorah opposite Patti, and although a planned partnership with her in L'Etoile du Nord did not occur, they did perform Rigoletto together for Patti's benefit. Santley's Hamlet was repeated in the autumn, with de Murska replacing Nilsson, and with Karl Formes as the ghost. Early in 1870 the company made an operatic tour of Scotland , during which Santley sang Don Giovanni. At Drury Lane, in
35076-746: The same characteristics as described above, though Berg combined his highly personal interpretation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique with melodic passages of a more traditionally tonal nature (quite Mahlerian in character) which perhaps partially explains why his operas have remained in standard repertory, despite their controversial music and plots. Schoenberg's theories have influenced (either directly or indirectly) significant numbers of opera composers ever since, even if they themselves did not compose using his techniques. Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini ( Italian: [vinˈtʃɛntso salvaˈtoːre karˈmɛːlo franˈtʃesko belˈliːni] ; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835)
35298-611: The same score as Julius Stockhausen , as a trial, and obtained a place as bass soloist, modelling himself upon the style of the Austrian bass Josef Staudigl (1807–1861), and of the German bass Karl Formes (1815–1889) (whom he heard as Sarastro in London). In 1855, Santley went to Italy to study as a singer, with advice from Sims Reeves to visit Lamperti in Milan . However he chose to study under Gaetano Nava, who became his lifelong friend. Nava taught him buffo roles in Rossini's La Cenerentola , L'italiana in Algeri and Il Turco in Italia , and in Mercadante 's operas, laying
35520-499: The same season he appeared in the English premiere of Nicolai 's Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor and in Gounod's Mireille (with Giuglini and Tietjens). He appeared, too, as Plunkett in Martha , as the Duke in Lucrezia Borgia , and as the Minister in Fidelio . After the festival season, Santley toured in Mapleson's company during the autumn (with Italo Gardoni as lead tenor), appearing in Faust , Oberon and Mireille , In November 1864 he set off for Barcelona , where he
35742-463: The same season he sang in the English Il trovatore (Di Luna), The Rose of Castille , Satanella , La sonnambula , and as Rhineberg in Wallace 's Lurline , with William Harrison and Louisa Pyne . Wallace transcribed the latter role (originally for bass) to suit his higher register, and composed the character's part in the final act expressly for him. Dinorah also received a royal command performance before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He
35964-511: The same season they undertook a work new to him, Nicolo's Joconde , and he played Zampa and The Porter of Havre again. The final work was a new opera with a role (Claude Melnotte) written especially for him, the Pauline of F. H. Cowen : the work was not successful. The tour took them to Dublin, Sheffield, Hanley and Birmingham . That, apart from two appearances as Sir Harry in The School for Scandal at Drury Lane benefits, and his eventual farewell appearance at Covent Garden in 1911,
36186-491: The score, convinced Conti to introduce him, and [Florimo] reports that Bellini's reaction was that he was "a truly beautiful, big man, and his noble countenance—sweet, but at the same time majestic—arouses affection as well as respect." Increasingly, Bellini did better and better in his studies: in January 1820 he passed his examinations in theory, and was successful enough to gain an annual scholarship, which meant that his stipend from Catania could be used to help his family. In
36408-407: The season ended, it had been sung to fifteen full houses". For Rubini, "it marked the defining performance for the tenor", and the newspaper reviews which followed all agreed with the composer's own assessment. After its Milanese debut, the opera received very successful performances in Vienna in February 1828 and also in Naples three months later. Both productions starred Rubini, Tamburini, and—in
36630-460: The section on modernism . During the late 19th century, the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II , an admirer of the French -language operettas composed by Jacques Offenbach , composed several German-language operettas, the most famous of which was Die Fledermaus . Nevertheless, rather than copying the style of Offenbach, the operettas of Strauss II had distinctly Viennese flavor to them. In rivalry with imported Italian opera productions,
36852-419: The sense "composition in which poetry, dance, and music are combined" in 1639; the first recorded English usage in this sense dates to 1648. Dafne by Jacopo Peri was the earliest composition considered opera, as understood today. It was written around 1597, largely under the inspiration of an elite circle of literate Florentine humanists who gathered as the " Camerata de' Bardi ". Significantly, Dafne
37074-506: The spoken dialogue of opèra comique . At the same time, the influence of Richard Wagner was felt as a challenge to the French tradition. Many French critics angrily rejected Wagner's music dramas while many French composers closely imitated them with variable success. Perhaps the most interesting response came from Claude Debussy . As in Wagner's works, the orchestra plays a leading role in Debussy's unique opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) and there are no real arias, only recitative. But
37296-401: The stage in every country except France. Farinelli was one of the most famous singers of the 18th century. Italian opera set the Baroque standard. Italian libretti were the norm, even when a German composer like Handel found himself composing the likes of Rinaldo and Giulio Cesare for London audiences. Italian libretti remained dominant in the classical period as well, for example in
37518-407: The structure of a spoken play, such as Shakespeare in Purcell's The Fairy-Queen (1692) and Beaumont and Fletcher in The Prophetess (1690) and Bonduca (1696). The main characters of the play tend not to be involved in the musical scenes, which means that Purcell was rarely able to develop his characters through song. Despite these hindrances, his aim (and that of his collaborator John Dryden )
37740-428: The student body that it was performed every Sunday for a year. With that achievement behind him, it is believed that the young Bellini, who had been away from home for six years, set out for Catania to visit his family. However, some sources attribute the visit to 1824, others to 1825. However, it is known that he was back in Naples by the summer or early autumn of 1825 in order to fulfill a contract to write an opera for
37962-593: The style he wanted. Opera would never be the same after Wagner and for many composers his legacy proved a heavy burden. On the other hand, Richard Strauss accepted Wagnerian ideas but took them in wholly new directions, along with incorporating the new form introduced by Verdi. He first won fame with the scandalous Salome and the dark tragedy Elektra , in which tonality was pushed to the limits. Then Strauss changed tack in his greatest success, Der Rosenkavalier , where Mozart and Viennese waltzes became as important an influence as Wagner. Strauss continued to produce
38184-519: The success of Il pirata (1827) established his short but significant career. He wrote many celebrated operas, ascending to triumphal heights with I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830, La Fenice ), La sonnambula (1831, Teatro Carcano ), and Norma (1831, La Scala), though not until later performances in the case of the latter. He traveled abroad and wrote I puritani after a visit to London. Its successful premiere (1835, Théâtre-Italien ) capped an illustrious international career. Bellini died at
38406-461: The test hall-marked; there was not a scrape on its fine surface, not a break or a weak link in the chain anywhere; while the vocal touch was impeccably light and steady, and the florid execution accurate as clockwork.' In these two arias his entire compass from low G to top E flat, and in Nasce al Bosco the top E natural and F, were exhibited 'in such a way as made it impossible for him to conceal any blemish, if there had been one.' In January 1894 he
38628-483: The theatres' official dramatic poet. However, as Intendant of the San Carlo, "Barbaja was the chief beneficiary: 'With a small investment he found among those young men the one who would lead him to large profits'" notes Florimo. The young composer chose Domenico Gilardoni , a young writer who then prepared his first libretto, which he named Bianca e Fernando , based on an 1820 play, Bianca e Fernando alla tomba di Carlo IV, Duca d'Agrigento and set in Sicily. However,
38850-414: The title Bianca e Fernando had to be changed, because Ferdinando was the name of the heir to the throne , and no form of it could be used on a royal stage. After some delays caused by King Francesco I forcing postponement, the opera—now named Bianca e Gernando —was given its premiere performance at the Teatro di San Carlo on 30 May 1826, Prince Ferdinando's name day. It was very successful, helped by
39072-419: The title role in Rigoletto with Kellogg and the prominent tenor Gaetano Fraschini . Also produced at Drury Lane that season were Les Huguenots , Le nozze di Figaro , La Figlia del Reggimento and Faust (with Nilsson as Marguerite). At Nilsson's benefit concert, Santley played the final scene of I Due Foscari , and his Doge was compared favourably to Ronconi's. In July Santley appeared in Le Nozze at
39294-404: The trend. The changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below . The Italian word opera means "work", both in the sense of the labour done and the result produced. The Italian word derives from the Latin word opera , a singular noun meaning "work" and also the plural of the noun opus . According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the Italian word was first used in
39516-444: The venue for his next opera. For the composer, the decision hung on the availability of singers for each of the houses, especially because Rubini was contracted to sing only in Naples. However, by 16 June, he had decided on the location to be Milan, and then signed a contract to write a new opera for the Carnival season for a fee of one thousands ducati, compared to 150 ducati for his first opera. For La straniera , Bellini received
39738-403: The words in front of him in order to see how inspired to compose he might become. When it came time to compose the final aria Or sei pago, ol ciel tremendo , the librettist's words gave him no inspiration at all and, at their next meeting, Romani agreed to re-write the text. Returning within half an hour, the second version left Bellini equally cold—as did a third draft. Finally, when asked what it
39960-399: The world's opera stages with such popular works as Giacomo Puccini 's La bohème , Tosca , and Madama Butterfly . Later Italian composers, such as Berio and Nono , have experimented with modernism . The first German opera was Dafne , composed by Heinrich Schütz in 1627, but the music score has not survived. Italian opera held a great sway over German-speaking countries until
40182-606: The world. Born in Catania , at the time part of the Kingdom of Sicily , the eldest of seven children in the family, he became a child prodigy within a highly musical family. His grandfather, Vincenzo Tobia Bellini, had studied at the conservatory in Naples and, in Catania from 1767 forward, had been an organist and teacher, as had Vincenzo's father, Rosario. An anonymous twelve-page hand-written history, held in Catania's Museo Civico Belliniano , states that he could sing an aria by Valentino Fioravanti at eighteen months, that he began studying music theory at two years of age and
40404-437: The world. Since 2009, complete performances can be downloaded and are live streamed . The words of an opera are known as the libretto (meaning "small book"). Some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti; others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e.g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte . Traditional opera, often referred to as " number opera ", consists of two modes of singing: recitative ,
40626-526: The young man under their wing. In addition, Bellini was introduced to the librettist Felice Romani , who proposed the subject of the composer's first project, Il pirata , to which the young man willingly agreed especially when he realised that the story "provided several passionate and dramatic situations.. [and]..that such Romantic characters were then an innovation on the operatic stage." A strong professional relationship with Romani began from that time; he became Bellini's primary creative partner, providing
40848-402: Was Tsefal i Prokris by the Italian composer Francesco Araja (1755). The development of Russian-language opera was supported by the Russian composers Vasily Pashkevich , Yevstigney Fomin and Alexey Verstovsky . However, the real birth of Russian opera came with Mikhail Glinka and his two great operas A Life for the Tsar (1836) and Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842). After him, during
41070-426: Was "clearly captivated by the music of Rossini [and] put Rossini on a pedestal", he relates that, returning from Semiramide Bellini was unusually quiet and then "suddenly exclaimed to his companions, 'Do you know what I think? After Semiramide , it's futile for us to try and achieve anything!'" But a tougher challenge confronted the young composer: how to win the hand of young Maddalena Fumarolis, whom he had met as
41292-646: Was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Giuseppe Verdi in Italy and Richard Wagner in Germany. The popularity of opera continued through the verismo era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss in the early 20th century. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and Bohemia . The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism ( Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg ), neoclassicism ( Igor Stravinsky ), and minimalism ( Philip Glass and John Adams ). With
41514-416: Was a short touring season, in which he played Don Giovanni (with Mario ) for the first time, at Manchester. He also sang Caspar in Der Freischütz in London in October. Santley then went on to appear in a season at La Scala, Milan, where Il trovatore was staged for his debut there as de Luna (he alone of all the cast was not hooted by the audience), as well as Nicolai's Il Templario (in which he sang
41736-428: Was able to match its Italian counterpart in musical sophistication. The theatre company of Abel Seyler pioneered serious German-language opera in the 1770s, marking a break with the previous simpler musical entertainment. Mozart 's Singspiele , Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) and Die Zauberflöte (1791) were an important breakthrough in achieving international recognition for German opera. The tradition
41958-449: Was able to move beyond the Italian influences and create his own unique and distinctly English voice. His modernized ballad opera, Love in a Village (1762), began a vogue for pastiche opera that lasted well into the 19th century. Charles Burney wrote that Arne introduced "a light, airy, original, and pleasing melody, wholly different from that of Purcell or Handel, whom all English composers had either pillaged or imitated". Besides Arne,
42180-416: Was also able to fit in performances of Gluck 's Iphigénie en Tauride in Manchester, with Sims Reeves and Catherine Hayes , for Charles Hallé. These were twice repeated at the residence of Lord Ward in Park Lane , London. Santley appeared in English opera for Mapleson at Her Majesty's Theatre in the 1860–61 season. Mapleson mounted a new opera, George Alexander Macfarren 's Robin Hood , featuring
42402-440: Was also given, along with Don Giovanni , Dinorah , Fidelio , Oberon , Medea , Der Freischütz and Les Huguenots . After the autumn tour with Alessandro Bettini in Les Huguenots , the November session opened with Faust , followed by La traviata and Martha , and Linda di Chamounix , in which Santley first sang the part of Antonio. Don Giovanni , with Clara Louise Kellogg as Zerlina and Santley as Leporello, proved to be
42624-419: Was also noted, for example, as Figaro and in Fidelio . Henry J. Wood observed that his compass ranged from the bass E-flat to the baritone top G, and was exceptionally even throughout. 'All his low F's told – even to the remotest corners of the largest concert-hall while his top F's were as a silver trumpet.' His clarity and freedom from strain enabled him to continue singing with remarkable freshness throughout
42846-516: Was always Santley, the good fellow with no nonsense about him, and a splendid singer.... The nonchalance was really diffidence....' He played Valentin, in Faust , 'in an unfinished, hail-fellow-well-met way.' Later on, as Vanderdecken, etc., 'his dramatic grip was much surer; and at the present moment [1892], on the verge of his sixtieth year, he is a more thorough artist than ever.' Santley married twice, first (in 1858) to Gertrude Kemble (granddaughter of Charles Kemble ), who before her marriage had
43068-428: Was an Italian opera composer famed for his long, graceful melodies and evocative musical settings . A central figure of the bel canto era, he was admired not only by the public, but also by many composers who were influenced by his work. His songs balanced florid embellishment with a deceptively simple approach to lyric setting . Born to a musical family in Sicily, he distinguished himself early and earned
43290-409: Was an attempt to attract members of the growing merchant class, newly wealthy, but still not as cultured as the nobility, to the public opera houses . These separate plots were almost immediately resurrected in a separately developing tradition that partly derived from the commedia dell'arte , a long-flourishing improvisatory stage tradition of Italy. Just as intermedi had once been performed in between
43512-424: Was an attempt to revive the classical Greek drama , part of the wider revival of antiquity characteristic of the Renaissance . The members of the Camerata considered that the "chorus" parts of Greek dramas were originally sung, and possibly even the entire text of all roles; opera was thus conceived as a way of "restoring" this situation. Dafne , however, is lost. A later work by Peri, Euridice , dating from 1600,
43734-489: Was booked for a three-month season at the Liceu . His Di Luna was warmly received, and he followed with his first Rigoletto , and La traviata . He also played Enrico in Lucia , Obertal in Le Prophète , and Renato in Un ballo in maschera . He arrived back in Britain to join Mapleson's spring tour at Dublin, on the same day stepping in at Tietjens's insistence to save a failing production of Lucrezia Borgia . During this tour he also performed Carlo Quinto in Ernani for
43956-585: Was brought to Russia in the 1730s by the Italian operatic troupes and soon it became an important part of entertainment for the Russian Imperial Court and aristocracy . Many foreign composers such as Baldassare Galuppi , Giovanni Paisiello , Giuseppe Sarti , and Domenico Cimarosa (as well as various others) were invited to Russia to compose new operas, mostly in the Italian language . Simultaneously some domestic musicians of Ukrainian origin like Maxim Berezovsky and Dmitry Bortniansky were sent abroad to learn to write operas. The first opera written in Russian
44178-419: Was developed by Semen Hulak-Artemovsky (1813–1873) whose most famous work Zaporozhets za Dunayem (A Cossack Beyond the Danube) is regularly performed around the world. Other Ukrainian opera composers include Mykola Lysenko ( Taras Bulba and Natalka Poltavka ), Heorhiy Maiboroda , and Yuliy Meitus . At the turn of the century, a distinct national opera movement also began to emerge in Georgia under
44400-416: Was developed in the 19th century by Beethoven with his Fidelio (1805), inspired by the climate of the French Revolution . Carl Maria von Weber established German Romantic opera in opposition to the dominance of Italian bel canto . His Der Freischütz (1821) shows his genius for creating a supernatural atmosphere. Other opera composers of the time include Marschner , Schubert and Lortzing , but
44622-455: Was drawn into a merger with the Royal Italian Opera. With the merged company, Santley performed in Rigoletto with Vanzini, Scalchi, Mongini and Foli, in Norma and Fidelio , in Linda di Chamounix with di Murska and in Il trovatore . La Gazza Ladra was also staged with Santley appearing opposite Trebelli, Bettini and Patti. Santley led the cast, with Nilsson as his Ophelia, in the London premiere of Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas . He enjoyed
44844-541: Was even greater than it had been in Naples, and the opera was given a total of 21 times. However, critical reaction was not as positive as that of the audience: "The second act is a long bore" stated L'Eco di Milano , although the Gazzetta di Genova was more helpful, noting "the more we listen to the style of the music, the more we appreciate its merit". Bellini remained in Genoa until 30 April and then returned to Milan, but with no specific opportunity in place. His initial opposition to Comelli-Rubini being allowed to reprise
45066-436: Was fourteen. Following musical lessons from his father (who insisted upon his singing tenor), he passed the examination for admission to the second tenors of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society on his fifteenth birthday, and in the same year took part in the concerts at the opening of the Philharmonic Hall. It was not until he reached the age of seventeen to eighteen that he rebelled against his father's decree and dropped into
45288-417: Was fully staged in 1945 in Armenia. The first years of the Soviet Union saw the emergence of new national operas, such as the Koroğlu (1937) by the Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov . The first Kyrgyz opera, Ai-Churek , premiered in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theatre on 26 May 1939, during Kyrgyz Art Decade. It was composed by Vladimir Vlasov , Abdylas Maldybaev and Vladimir Fere . The libretto
45510-476: Was given in a problematic English translation by Henry Fothergill Chorley , which nevertheless remained the standard translation until well into the 20th century. Santley appeared as Valentine. The other cast members were Tietjens (as Marguerite), Trebelli (Siebel), Antonio Giuglini (Faust) and Edouard Gassier (Mephisto). In July 1863 the company performed Weber 's Oberon with Reeves, Tietjens, Alboni and Alessandro Bettini . Santley appeared as Scherasmin. In
45732-407: Was introduced in London in January 1864 at the opening of the spring session. Also appearing in this production were Reeves, Lemmens-Sherrington and Salvatore Marchesi (the latter as Mephisto). Late in the run, however, Santley took on the role of Mephisto, in an 'abominable red costume'. Faust was later produced with Tietjens, Gardoni, Trebelli, and Signor Junca, with Santley resuming his place. In
45954-415: Was introduced was Gaetano Donizetti whose ninth opera—which had been a great success in Rome—was given at the Teatro di San Carlo . About 50 years later, Florimo gave an account of the meeting of the two men: "Carlo Conti [one of Bellini's tutors] said to Bellini and me, "Go and hear Donizetti's La zingara , for which my admiration increases at every performance." After hearing the opera, Bellini acquired
46176-405: Was not permitted to go back over what already had been done; and poetry and music were finished in less than a month". This short period of time compares to the months which, for example, it took Bellini to write Il pirata . In fact, Bellini arrived in Parma on 17 March giving him 56 days before the opening, but he then learned that some of the singers would only arrive 14 days before the date of
46398-525: Was praised for perpetuating the finest traditions of the art form. In 1872, he took part in a joint recital with Pauline Rita at St James's Hall , London. In the first years after his return to England, Santley used often to sing buffo duets (for example 'Che l'antipatica vostra figura' from Ricci's Chiara di Rosemberg ) with Giorgio Ronconi and Giovanni Belletti , at parties held by the influential critic H. F. Chorley. In 1859 he made his debut at Covent Garden as Hoel in Meyerbeer 's opera Dinorah . In
46620-401: Was rejected because audiences had disliked him the previous July when he appeared in both a Pacini and a Donizetti opera at La Scala. Fortunately, having received good reports of the young tenor Domenico Reina , he was able to secure his services, describing him in a letter to Florimo as "one who will want to do himself honour; everyone tells me that his voice is beautiful, and that he has all
46842-425: Was that he was seeking, Bellini replied: "I want a thought that will be at one and the same time a prayer, an imprecation, a warning, a delirium ...". A fourth draft was quickly prepared: "Have I entered into your spirit?" asked the librettist—and he was embraced by the young composer. Rehearsals began in early January with the premiere planned for 14 February 1829; it was an immediate and resounding success with
47064-402: Was the intendente of the Real Collegio as well as being in charge of the city's royal theatres. The young Bellini was to live in Naples for the following eight years. The Conservatorio di San Sebastiano (as it had been named when the original Real Collegio di Musica, established in 1806 and then renamed as such in 1808) had moved to more spacious facilities close to the church of Gesù Novo and
47286-472: Was the 17th-century jig . This was an afterpiece that came at the end of a play. It was frequently libellous and scandalous and consisted in the main of dialogue set to music arranged from popular tunes. In this respect, jigs anticipate the ballad operas of the 18th century. At the same time, the French masque was gaining a firm hold at the English Court, with even more lavish splendour and highly realistic scenery than had been seen before. Inigo Jones became
47508-409: Was the elder son of William Santley, a journeyman bookbinder, organist and music teacher of Liverpool in northern England. He had a brother and two sisters, one of whom named Catherine should not be confused with the actor-manager Kate Santley . He was educated at the Liverpool Institute High School , and as a boy sang alto in the choir of a local Unitarian church. His voice began to break before he
47730-449: Was the end of his stage career. Santley gave recitals at the Monday Popular Concerts , and appeared with the Joachim String Quartet and Mme Clara Schumann . He settled down to concert and oratorio work in England. Santley, to whom European travel had been a holiday routine for many years, toured in Australia and New Zealand in 1889–1890, to the United States and Canada in 1891 and South Africa in 1893 and again in 1903. He sang last at
47952-418: Was the first English composer to experiment with Italian-style all-sung comic opera, with his greatest success being Thomas and Sally in 1760. His opera Artaxerxes (1762) was the first attempt to set a full-blown opera seria in English and was a huge success, holding the stage until the 1830s. Although Arne imitated many elements of Italian opera, he was perhaps the only English composer at that time who
48174-484: Was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s. The most renowned figure of late 18th-century opera is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas , especially The Marriage of Figaro ( Le nozze di Figaro ), Don Giovanni , and Così fan tutte , as well as Die Entführung aus dem Serail ( The Abduction from
48396-416: Was to be Adelaide Tosi and the Fernando to be Giovanni David . As Bellini reports, he had problems with Tosi wanting changes to be made to a cavatina and a stretta in one scene, but he stuck to his own opinion, proving to be correct when he reported the audience's reaction to Florimo: "the public was very happy with the entire opera, particularly with the second act". Overall, the first performance
48618-415: Was to establish serious opera in England, but these hopes ended with Purcell's early death at the age of 36. Following Purcell, the popularity of opera in England dwindled for several decades. A revived interest in opera occurred in the 1730s which is largely attributed to Thomas Arne , both for his own compositions and for alerting Handel to the commercial possibilities of large-scale works in English. Arne
48840-406: Was unwilling to commit at that time, but remained in hope of something definite from La Scala for the autumn. When no alternatives appeared, he accepted Genoa's offer in February, but it was then too late to write anything new. He immediately proposed a revival and re-working of Bianca e Gernando , this time with the original title Bianca e Fernando , there being no royal by the name of Fernando in
49062-441: Was with Clara Butt , Edward Lloyd , Antoinette Sterling and other singers at the first of the Chappell's Ballad Concerts, when they were transferred from St James's Hall to Queen's Hall . From 1894 Santley devoted his time increasingly to teaching: between 1903 and 1907 he trained the Australian baritone Peter Dawson , taking him meticulously through Messiah , The Creation and Elijah . Indeed, in 1904 he brought Dawson in on
49284-436: Was written by Joomart Bokonbaev, Jusup Turusbekov, and Kybanychbek Malikov. The opera is based on the Kyrgyz heroic epic Manas . In Iran, opera gained more attention after the introduction of Western classical music in the late 19th century. However, it took until mid 20th century for Iranian composers to start experiencing with the field, especially as the construction of the Roudaki Hall in 1967, made possible staging of
#681318