Pittsburgh Opera is an American opera company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . Pittsburgh Opera gives performances in several venues, primarily at the Benedum Center , with other performances at the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School (CAPA) Theater. Pittsburgh Opera headquarters Archived 2009-09-07 at the Wayback Machine is located in the former George Westinghouse Air Brake Factory, 2425 Liberty Avenue, in the Strip District . Pittsburgh Opera has been awarded LEED Silver Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and is the first "green" opera company in the U.S. in the Operations and Maintenance Category. Pittsburgh Opera's headquarters is also the oldest green building in Pittsburgh.
178-911: Pittsburgh Opera was established in 1939 as the Pittsburgh Opera Company and is the eighth-oldest opera company in the United States. The company was founded by five women who established the Pittsburgh Opera Society in 1939, making possible the inaugural performance of Offenbach 's Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the Carnegie Music Hall in March 1940. The first director of the company was Richard Karp, from 1942 to 1977. His daughter Barbara Karp took over her father's duties during his final illness. James DeBlasis then served as interim artistic director after
356-474: A Stabat Mater ." This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, and remains the leading source for his early life and career. Written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of
534-444: A spinet . Verdi's gift for music was already apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while, and taking organ lessons. After Baistrocchi's death, Verdi, at the age of eight, became the official paid organist. The music historian Roger Parker points out that both of Verdi's parents belonged to families of small landowners and traders, certainly not
712-420: A wind machine ( Le voyage dans la lune ). Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( / ˈ v ɛər d i / ; Italian: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈverdi] ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas . He was born near Busseto , a small town in the province of Parma , to a family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with
890-408: A Philadelphia law forbidding entertainments on Sundays, he disguised his operetta numbers as liturgical pieces and advertised a "Grand Sacred Concert by M. Offenbach". " Dis-moi, Vénus " from La belle Hélène became a " Litanie ", and other equally secular numbers were billed as " Prière " or " Hymne ". The local authorities were not deceived, and withdrew authorisation for the concert at
1068-500: A bookbinder and earned an itinerant living as a cantor in synagogues and playing the violin in cafés. He was generally known as " der Offenbacher ", after his native town, Offenbach am Main , and in 1808 he officially adopted Offenbach as a surname. In 1816 he settled in Cologne, where he became established as a teacher, giving lessons in singing, violin, flute, and guitar, and composing both religious and secular music. When Jacob
1246-534: A cast of twenty principals, and a large chorus and orchestra. As the company was particularly short of money following an abortive season in Berlin, a big success was urgently needed. At first the production seemed merely to be a modest success. It soon benefited from an outraged review by Jules Janin , the critic of the Journal des débats . He condemned the piece for profanity and irreverence to Roman mythology:
1424-526: A cellist at the Opéra-Comique . He was no more serious there than he had been at the conservatoire, and regularly had his pay docked for playing pranks during performances; on one occasion, he and the principal cellist played alternate notes of the printed score, and on another they sabotaged some of their colleagues' music stands to make them collapse in mid-performance. Nevertheless, the earnings from his orchestral work enabled him to take lessons with
1602-455: A composer of popular light opera. Offenbach began the decade with his only substantial ballet score, Le papillon ("The Butterfly"), produced at the Opéra in 1860. It achieved what was then a successful run of 42 performances, without, as the biographer Andrew Lamb says, "giving him any greater acceptance in more respectable circles". Among other operettas in the same year, he finally had
1780-774: A contrast, he could compose songs of a simplicity, grace and beauty like the Letter Song from La Périchole , "Chanson de Fortunio", and the Grand Duchess's tender love song to Fritz: "Dites-lui qu'on l'a remarqué distingué" . Among other well-known Offenbach numbers are "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" (the Doll Song from The Tales of Hoffmann ); "Voici le sabre de mon père" and "Ah! Que j'aime les militaires" ( La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein ); and "Tu n'es pas beau" in La Périchole , which Lamb notes
1958-539: A double-bass player, played by Hervé , shipwrecked on a cannibal island, who after several perilous encounters with the female chief of the cannibals makes his escape using his double-bass as a boat. Offenbach pressed ahead with plans to present his works himself at his own theatre and to abandon further thoughts of acceptance by the Opéra-Comique . Offenbach had chosen his theatre, the Salle Lacaze in
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#17327915830362136-613: A drama by Vittorio Alfieri , was written by Verdi when he was 15 and performed in Bergamo . It was acclaimed by both Demaldè and Barezzi, who commented: "He shows a vivid imagination, a philosophical outlook, and sound judgment in the arrangement of instrumental parts." In late 1829, Verdi had completed his studies with Provesi, who declared that he had no more to teach Verdi. At the time, Verdi had been giving singing and piano lessons to Barezzi's daughter Margherita; by 1831, they were unofficially engaged. Verdi set his sights on Milan, then
2314-766: A farmhouse and outbuildings, providing a home for his parents from May 1844. Later that year, he also bought the Palazzo Cavalli (now known as the Palazzo Orlandi) on the via Roma, Busseto's main street. In May 1848, Verdi signed a contract for land and houses at Sant'Agata in Busseto, which had once belonged to his family. It was here he built his own house, completed in 1880, now known as the Villa Verdi , where he lived from 1851 until his death. In March 1843, Verdi visited Vienna (where Gaetano Donizetti
2492-647: A favourite number in Britain as well as France and the basis for the Marines' Hymn in the US. The 1860s were Offenbach's most successful decade. At the beginning of 1860, he was granted French citizenship by the personal command of Napoleon III, and the following year he was appointed a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur ; this appointment scandalised those members of the musical establishment who resented such an honour for
2670-544: A fraternal hand, and Italy will yet become the first nation of the world...I am drunk with joy! Imagine that there are no more Germans here!!" Verdi had been admonished by the poet Giuseppe Giusti for turning away from patriotic subjects, the poet pleading with him to "do what you can to nourish the [sorrow of the Italian people], to strengthen it, and direct it to its goal." Cammarano suggested adapting Joseph Méry 's 1828 play La Bataille de Toulouse , which he described as
2848-582: A friend of Offenbach. Lecocq and Offenbach took a dislike to each other, and their subsequent rivalry was not altogether friendly. Although the Bouffes-Parisiens played to full houses, the theatre was constantly on the verge of running out of money, principally because of what his biographer Alexander Faris calls "Offenbach's incorrigible extravagance as a manager". An earlier biographer, André Martinet , wrote, "Jacques spent money without counting. Whole lengths of velvet were swallowed up in
3026-495: A friend said that Hérminie "gave him courage, shared his ordeals and comforted him always with tenderness and devotion". Returning to the familiar Paris salons, Offenbach gradually shifted the emphasis of his work from being a cellist who also composed to being a composer who also played the cello. He had already published many compositions, and some of them had sold well, but now he began to write, perform and produce musical burlesques as part of his salon presentations. He amused
3204-600: A kitchen, meeting the “multimedia” requirements of opera. The renovation resulted in Silver-level LEED certification in the Operations and Maintenance category in June 2011, and incorporates the site’s exposed brick interiors, 150 historically-accurate windows and original metal fire safes. Christopher Hahn served as the company's artistic director from 2000 until his appointment as General Director. John Mauceri
3382-401: A letter that pledged his love. On the envelope, Strepponi wrote: "5 or 6 October 1846. They shall lay this letter on my heart when they bury me." Verdi had completed I masnadieri for London by May 1847 except for the orchestration. This he left until the opera was in rehearsal, since he wanted to hear "la [Jenny] Lind and modify her role to suit her more exactly". Verdi agreed to conduct
3560-508: A libretto by the journalist Antonio Piazza. In mid-1834, Verdi sought to acquire Provesi's former post in Busseto but without success. But with Barezzi's help, he did obtain the secular post of maestro di musica . He taught, gave lessons, and conducted the Philharmonic for several months before returning to Milan in early 1835. By the following July, he obtained his certification from Lavigna. Eventually in 1835 Verdi became director of
3738-449: A master of opera. The failure of Stiffelio (attributable not least to the censors of the time taking offence at the taboo subject of the supposed adultery of a clergyman's wife and interfering with the text and roles) incited Verdi to take pains to rework it, although even in the completely recycled version of Aroldo (1857) it still failed to please. Rigoletto , with its intended murder of royalty, and its sordid attributes, also upset
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#17327915830363916-600: A new opera for the 1843 season. I Lombardi alla prima crociata was based on a libretto by Solera and premiered in February 1843. Inevitably, comparisons were made with Nabucco ; but one contemporary writer noted: "If [ Nabucco ] created this young man's reputation, I Lombardi served to confirm it." Verdi paid close attention to his financial contracts, making sure he was appropriately remunerated as his popularity increased. For I Lombardi and Ernani (1844) in Venice he
4094-475: A new opera from La Fenice, which Verdi eventually realised as La traviata . That was followed by an agreement with the Rome Opera Company to present Il trovatore for January 1853. Verdi now had sufficient earnings to retire, had he wished to. He had reached a stage where he could develop his operas as he wished, rather than be dependent on commissions from third parties. Il trovatore was in fact
4272-484: A performance in April 1860. Despite many great successes during the rest of Offenbach's career, Orphée aux enfers remained his most popular work. Gammond lists among the reasons for its success, "the sweeping waltzes" reminiscent of Vienna but with a new French flavour, the patter songs , and "above all else, of course, the can-can which had led a naughty life in low places since the 1830s or thereabouts and now became
4450-412: A piece presented by the Opéra-Comique , the three-act Barkouf . It was not a success; its plot revolved around a dog, and Offenbach attempted canine imitations in his music. Neither the public nor the critics were impressed, and the piece survived for only seven performances. Apart from that setback, Offenbach flourished in the 1860s, the successes greatly outnumbering the failures. In 1861 he led
4628-406: A polite fashion, as uninhibited as ever". In the 1859 season the Bouffes-Parisiens presented new works by composers including Flotow, Jules Erlanger, Alphonse Varney , Delibes , and Offenbach himself. Of Offenbach's new pieces, Geneviève de Brabant , though initially only a mild success, was later revised and gained much popularity; the comedy duet of the two cowardly gendarmes became
4806-614: A production in Naples later in the year. Verdi was committed to the publisher Giovanni Ricordi for an opera—which became Stiffelio —for Trieste in the Spring of 1850; and, subsequently, following negotiations with La Fenice, developed a libretto with Piave and wrote the music for Rigoletto (based on Victor Hugo 's Le roi s'amuse ) for Venice in March 1851. This was the first of a sequence of three operas (followed by Il trovatore and La traviata ) which were to cement his fame as
4984-411: A pupil and amanuensis . He had known him since about 1828 as another of Barezzi's protégés. Muzio, who in fact was Verdi's only pupil, became indispensable to the composer. He reported to Barezzi that Verdi "has a breadth of spirit, of generosity, a wisdom". In November 1846, Muzio wrote of Verdi: "If you could see us, I seem more like a friend, rather than his pupil. We are always together at dinner, in
5162-484: A replacement to play in what became his first public event in his home town; he was an immediate success mostly playing his own music to the surprise of many and receiving strong local recognition. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic: "none of us could rival him" reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè. An eight-movement cantata, I deliri di Saul , based on
5340-671: A scenario by the Egyptologist Auguste Mariette , was transformed into Italian verse by Antonio Ghislanzoni . Verdi was offered the enormous sum of 150,000 francs for the opera (even though he confessed that Ancient Egypt was "a civilization I have never been able to admire"), and it was first performed in Cairo in 1871. Verdi spent much of 1872 and 1873 supervising the Italian productions of Aida at Milan, Parma and Naples, effectively acting as producer and demanding high standards and adequate rehearsal time. During
5518-464: A series of works for cello and piano. Although Offenbach's ambition was to compose for the stage, he could not gain an entrée to Parisian theatre at this point in his career; with Flotow's help, he built a reputation composing for and playing in the fashionable salons of Paris. Through contacts he made there he gained pupils. In 1838 the Théâtre du Palais-Royal commissioned him to compose songs for
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5696-750: A small string section of seven players. After moving to the Salle Choiseul he had an orchestra of 30 players. The musicologist and Offenbach specialist Jean-Christophe Keck notes that when larger orchestras were available, either in bigger Paris theatres or in Vienna or elsewhere, Offenbach would compose, or rearrange existing music, accordingly. Surviving scores show his instrumentation for additional wind and brass, and even extra percussion. When they were available he wrote for cor anglais , harp , and – exceptionally, Keck records – an ophicleide ( Le Papillon ), tubular bells ( Le carnaval des revues ), and
5874-427: A start on the orchestration. Ernest Guiraud, a family friend, assisted by Offenbach's 18-year-old son Auguste, completed the orchestration, making major changes as well as the substantial cuts demanded by the Opéra-Comique 's director, Carvalho. The opera was first seen at the Opéra-Comique on 10 February 1881. Offenbach also left his last comedy, Belle Lurette , unfinished; Léo Delibes orchestrated it and it
6052-419: A story "that should stir every man with an Italian soul in his breast". The premiere was set for late January 1849. Verdi travelled to Rome before the end of 1848. He found that city on the verge of becoming a (short-lived) republic , which commenced within days of La battaglia di Legnano ' s enthusiastically received premiere. In the spirit of the time were the tenor hero's final words, "Whoever dies for
6230-533: A strong incentive. Verdi came up with the idea of adapting the 1835 Spanish play Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino by Angel Saavedra , which became La forza del destino , with Piave writing the libretto. The Verdis arrived in St. Petersburg in December 1861 for the premiere, but casting problems meant that it had to be postponed. Returning via Paris from Russia on 24 February 1862, Verdi met two young Italian writers,
6408-482: A success in early 1866 and was quickly reproduced elsewhere. La Vie parisienne later in the same year was a new departure for Offenbach and his librettists; for the first time in a large-scale piece they chose a modern setting, instead of disguising their satire under a classical cloak. It needed no inadvertent boost from Janin but was an instant and prolonged success with Parisian audiences, although its very Parisian themes made it less popular abroad. Gammond describes
6586-477: A time when a run of 100 nights was considered a success. Albert de Lasalle , in his history of the Bouffes-Parisiens (1860), wrote that the piece closed in June 1859 – although it was still performing strongly at the box-office – "because the actors, who could not tire the public, were themselves exhausted". Among those who wanted to see the satire of the emperor was the emperor himself, who commanded
6764-453: A trio at local dance halls, inns and cafés, performing popular dance music and operatic arrangements. In 1833 Isaac decided that his musically talented sons Julius and Jacob (then aged 18 and 14) needed to leave the provincial musical scene of Cologne to study in Paris. With generous support from local music lovers and the municipal orchestra, with whom they gave a farewell concert on 9 October,
6942-534: A trip to Ems and Wiesbaden just before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. He then went to his home in Étretat in Normandy and arranged for his family to move to the safety of San Sebastián in northern Spain, joining them shortly afterwards. Having risen to fame under Napoleon III, satirised him, and been rewarded by him, Offenbach was universally associated with the old régime: he
7120-582: A two-year session. The program has fostered the careers of singers that regularly perform on the world stage, including Marianne Cornetti, Rolando Villazón , Oren Gradus, David Miller, Maria Zifchak, Kevin Glavin, Danielle Pastin, Sean Panikkar , and Audrey Luna . In 2017, Luna sang the highest note ever recorded in the Metropolitan Opera’s 130-year history . Mr. Hahn also led the 2008 move to Pittsburgh Opera’s new headquarters Archived 2021-06-14 at
7298-559: A village then part of Piedmont. On 29 August 1859, the couple were married there, with only the coachman who had driven them there and the church bell ringer as witnesses. At the end of 1859, Verdi wrote to his friend Cesare De Sanctis "[Since completing Ballo ] I have not made any more music, I have not seen any more music, I have not thought anymore about music. I don't even know what colour my last opera is, and I almost don't remember it." He began to remodel Sant'Agata, which took most of 1860 to complete and on which he continued to work for
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7476-424: A year. The conservatoire's roll of students notes against his name "Struck off on 2 December 1834 (left of his own free will)". Having left the conservatoire, Offenbach was free from the stern academicism of Cherubini's curriculum, but as the biographer James Harding writes, "he was free, also, to starve". He secured a few temporary jobs in theatre orchestras before gaining a permanent appointment in 1835 as
7654-561: Is at our gates." La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein was followed by a quick succession of modest successes. In 1867 he produced Robinson Crusoé and a revised version of Geneviève de Brabant ; in 1868, Le château à Toto , L'île de Tulipatan and a revised version of Le pont des soupirs . In October 1868 La Périchole marked a transition in Offenbach's style, with less exuberant satire and more human romantic interest. Lamb calls it Offenbach's "most charming" score. There
7832-678: The "Elfenchor" , described by the critic Eduard Hanslick as "lovely, luring and sensuous", which Ernest Guiraud later adapted as the Barcarolle in The Tales of Hoffmann . After December 1864, Offenbach wrote less frequently for the Bouffes-Parisiens, and many of his new works premiered at larger theatres. Between 1864 and 1868 Offenbach wrote four of the operettas for which he is chiefly remembered: La belle Hélène (1864), La Vie parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867) and La Périchole (1868). Halévy
8010-474: The Italian Senate , but did not participate in its activities. In the months following the staging of Ballo , Verdi was approached by several opera companies seeking a new work or making offers to stage one of his existing ones but refused them all. But when, in December 1860, an approach was made from Saint Petersburg 's Imperial Theatre , the offer of 60,000 francs plus all expenses was doubtless
8188-710: The Paris Opéra . Verdi agreed to adapt I Lombardi to a new French libretto; the result was Jérusalem , which contained significant changes to the music and structure of the work (including an extensive ballet scene) to meet Parisian expectations. Verdi was awarded the Order of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour . To satisfy his contracts with the publisher Francesco Lucca [ it ] , Verdi dashed off Il Corsaro . Budden comments "In no other opera of his does Verdi appear to have taken so little interest before it
8366-626: The Wayback Machine in the historic George Westinghouse Air Brake Factory at 2425 Liberty Avenue, in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, and developed a range of audience and community programs that take place there. The building has a deep connection to Pittsburgh’s storied past – it was built as George Westinghouse ’s original air brake factory in 1869. At 45,000 square feet, the renovated building features offices, 4,000 square feet of rehearsal spaces, costume, wig, and makeup shops, and
8544-457: The leitmotif , used throughout to accompany the eponymous Docteur Ox (1877) and to parody Wagner in La carnaval des revues (1860). In his early pieces for the Bouffes-Parisiens, the size of the orchestra pit had restricted Offenbach to an orchestra of sixteen players. He composed for flute , oboe , clarinet , bassoon , two horns , piston , trombone , percussion (including timpani ) and
8722-514: The "identification of Verdi's music with Italian nationalist politics" perhaps began in the 1840s. In 1848, the nationalist leader Giuseppe Mazzini (whom Verdi had met in London the previous year) requested Verdi (who complied) to write a patriotic hymn. The opera historian Charles Osborne describes the 1849 La battaglia di Legnano as "an opera with a purpose" and maintains that "while parts of Verdi's earlier operas had frequently been taken up by
8900-520: The 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann . He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Franz von Suppé , Johann Strauss II and Arthur Sullivan . His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. The Tales of Hoffmann remains part of the standard opera repertory. Born in Cologne , Kingdom of Prussia ,
9078-465: The 1855 exhibition which had helped him launch his composing career. The Parisian public and foreign visitors flocked to the new operetta. Sovereigns who saw the piece included King William of Prussia accompanied by his chief minister, Otto von Bismarck . Halévy, with his experience as a senior civil servant, saw the looming threat from Prussia; he wrote in his diary, "Bismarck is helping to double our takings. This time it's war we're laughing at, and war
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#17327915830369256-447: The 1860s, often being carried into the theatre in a chair. Now in failing health, he was conscious of his own mortality and wished passionately to live long enough to complete the opera, Les contes d'Hoffmann ("The Tales of Hoffmann"). He was heard saying to Kleinzach, his dog, "I would give everything I have to be at the première". Offenbach did not live to finish the piece. He left the vocal score substantially complete and had made
9434-414: The 1870s, with revivals of some of his earlier favourites and a series of new works, and undertook a popular US tour. In his last years he strove to finish The Tales of Hoffmann , but died before the premiere of the opera, which has entered the standard repertory in versions completed or edited by other musicians. Offenbach was born on 20 June 1819, as Jacob (or Jakob ) Offenbach to a Jewish family in
9612-500: The Benedum Center, in the final act of the opera, Walker stepped in to sing the role of Radames from the orchestra pit, conducting at the same time, while the tenor acted the role on stage. Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach ( / ˈ ɒ f ən b ɑː x / ; 20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario . He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of
9790-579: The Busseto school with a three-year contract. He married Margherita in May 1836, and by March 1837, she had given birth to their first child, Virginia Maria Luigia on 26 March 1837. Icilio Romano followed on 11 July 1838. Both the children died young, Virginia on 12 August 1838, Icilio on 22 October 1839. In 1837, the young composer asked for Massini's assistance to stage his opera in Milan. The La Scala impresario, Bartolomeo Merelli , agreed to put on Oberto (as
9968-646: The Champs-Élysées. The location and the timing were ideal for him. Paris was about to be filled between May and November with visitors from France and abroad for the 1855 Great Exhibition . The Salle Lacaze was next to the exhibition site. He later wrote: In the Champs-Élysées, there was a little theatre to let, built for [the magician] Lacaze but closed for many years. I knew that the Exhibition of 1855 would bring many people into this locality. By May, I had found twenty supporters and on 15 June I secured
10146-641: The French language". A frequent characteristic of Offenbach's word setting was the nonsensical repetition of isolated syllables of words for comic effect; an example is the quintet for the kings in La belle Hélène : "Je suis l'époux de la reine/Poux de la reine/Poux de la reine" and "Le roi barbu qui s'avance/Bu qui s'avance/Bu qui s'avance." In general, Offenbach followed simple, established forms. His melodies are usually short and unvaried in their basic rhythm, rarely, in Hughes's words, escaping "the despotism of
10324-777: The Gaiety produced fifteen of his works. At the Royalty Theatre , Richard D'Oyly Carte presented La Périchole in 1875. In Vienna, too, Offenbach works were regularly produced. While the war and its aftermath ravaged Paris, the composer supervised Viennese productions and travelled to England as the guest of the Prince of Wales . By the end of 1871 life in Paris had returned to normal, and Offenbach ended his voluntary exile. His new works Le roi Carotte (1872) and La jolie parfumeuse (1873) were modestly profitable, but lavish revivals of his earlier successes did better at
10502-637: The German city of Cologne , which was then a part of Prussia . His birthplace in the Großer Griechenmarkt was a short distance from the square that is now named after him, the Offenbachplatz . He was the second son and the seventh of ten children of Isaac Juda Offenbach né Eberst (1779–1850) and his wife Marianne née Rindskopf ( c. 1783 –1840). Isaac, who came from a musical family, had abandoned his original trade as
10680-851: The Milanese for their reception of Un giorno di regno ". During this period, Verdi began to work more consistently with his librettists. He relied on Piave again for I due Foscari , performed in Rome in November 1844, then on Solera once more for Giovanna d'Arco , at La Scala in February 1845, while in August that year he was able to work with Salvadore Cammarano on Alzira for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. Solera and Piave worked together on Attila for La Fenice (March 1846). In April 1844, Verdi took on Emanuele Muzio , eight years his junior, as
10858-560: The Milanese world of music that were to stand him in good stead. These included an introduction by Lavigna to an amateur choral group, the Società Filarmonica , led by Pietro Massini. Attending the Società frequently in 1834, Verdi soon found himself functioning as rehearsal director (for Rossini's La Cenerentola ) and continuo player. It was Massini who encouraged him to write his first opera, originally titled Rocester , to
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#173279158303611036-656: The Mozart centenary celebrations in May 1856 as L'impresario ; it was popular with the public and also greatly enhanced the critical and social standing of the Bouffes-Parisiens . By command of the emperor, Napoleon III , the company performed at the Tuileries Palace shortly after the first performance. In a long article in Le Figaro in July 1856, Offenbach traced the history of comic opera. He declared that
11214-519: The Neapolitan censor stating: "I'm drowning in a sea of troubles. It's almost certain that the censors will forbid our libretto." With no hope of seeing his Gustavo III staged as written, he broke his contract. This resulted in litigation and counter-litigation; with the legal issues resolved, Verdi was free to present the libretto and musical outline of Gustave III to the Rome Opera . There,
11392-549: The Philharmonic Society was Antonio Barezzi [ it ] , a wholesale grocer and distiller, who was described by a contemporary as a "manic dilettante" of music. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic. By June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By chance, when he was 13, Verdi was asked to step in as
11570-541: The Salle Lacaze for the 1856, 1857 and 1859 summer seasons, performing at the Salle Choiseul in the winter. Legislation enacted in March 1861 prevented the company from using both theatres, and appearances at the Salle Lacaze were discontinued. Offenbach's first piece for the company's new home was Ba-ta-clan (December 1855), a well-received piece of mock-oriental frivolity, to a libretto by Halévy . He followed it with fifteen more one-act operettas over
11748-615: The US. Offenbach became associated with the Second French Empire of Napoleon III : the emperor and his court were genially satirised in many of Offenbach's operettas, and Napoleon personally granted him French citizenship and the Légion d'honneur . With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and the fall of the empire, Offenbach found himself out of favour in Paris because of his imperial connections and his German birth. He remained successful in Vienna, London and New York. He re-established himself in Paris during
11926-590: The administration of his newly acquired property at Sant'Agata. A growing estrangement between Verdi and his parents was perhaps also attributable to Strepponi (the suggestion that this situation was sparked by the birth of a child to Verdi and Strepponi which was given away as a foundling lacks any firm evidence). In January 1851, Verdi broke off relations with his parents, and in April they were ordered to leave Sant'Agata; Verdi found new premises for them and helped them financially to settle into their new home. It may not be coincidental that all six Verdi operas written in
12104-410: The age of 26. Verdi adored his wife and children and was devastated by their early deaths. Un giorno , a comedy, was premiered only a few months later. It was a flop and only given one performance. Following its failure, it is claimed Verdi vowed never to compose again, but in his Sketch he recounts how Merelli persuaded him to write a new opera. Verdi was to claim that he gradually began to work on
12282-782: The astonishing Violoncellist, performed on Thursday evening at Windsor before the Emperor of Russia , the King of Saxony , Queen Victoria , and Prince Albert with great success." The use of the German " Herr ", reflecting the fact that Offenbach remained a Prussian citizen, was common to all the British press coverage of Offenbach's 1844 tour. The ambiguity of his nationality sometimes caused him difficulty in later life when France and Prussia became enemies. Offenbach returned to Paris with his reputation and his bank balance both much enhanced. The last remaining obstacle to his marriage to Hérminie
12460-516: The auditorium; costumes devoured width after width of satin." Moreover, Offenbach was personally generous and liberally hospitable. To boost the company's finances, a London season was organised in 1857, half the company remaining in Paris to play at the Salle Choiseul and the other half performing at the St James's Theatre in the West End of London. The visit was a success, but did not cause
12638-530: The authorities of the Opéra-Comique remained unmoved. Offenbach found more encouragement from the composer, singer and impresario Florimond Ronger, known professionally as Hervé . At his theatre, the Folies-Nouvelles , opened in 1854, Hervé pioneered French light comic opera, or " opérette ". In The Musical Quarterly , Martial Teneo and Theodore Baker wrote, "Without the example set by Hervé , Offenbach might perhaps never have become
12816-611: The box office. He decided to go back into theatre management and took over the Théâtre de la Gaîté in July 1873. His spectacular revival of Orphée aux enfers there was highly profitable; an attempt to repeat that success with a new, lavish version of Geneviève de Brabant proved less popular. Along with the costs of extravagant productions, collaboration with the dramatist Victorien Sardou culminated in financial disaster. An expensive production of Sardou's La haine in 1874, with incidental music by Offenbach, failed to attract
12994-496: The boy to attend school in Busseto, enrolling him in a Ginnasio —an upper school for boys—run by Don Pietro Seletti, while they continued to run their inn at Le Roncole. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, covering the distance of several kilometres on foot. At age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi , maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of
13172-408: The cafes, when we play cards...; all in all, he doesn't go anywhere without me at his side; in the house we have a big table and we both write there together, and so I always have his advice." Muzio was to remain associated with Verdi, assisting in the preparation of scores and transcriptions, and later conducting many of his works in their premiere performances in the US and elsewhere outside Italy. He
13350-573: The cast. For Verdi, the performances were a personal triumph in his native region, especially as his father, Carlo, attended the first performance. Verdi remained in Parma for some weeks beyond his intended departure date. This fuelled speculation that the delay was due to Verdi's interest in Strepponi (who stated that their relationship began in 1843). Strepponi was in fact known for her amorous relationships (and many illegitimate children) and her history
13528-469: The celebrated cellist Louis-Pierre Norblin . He made a favourable impression on the composer and conductor Fromental Halévy , who gave him lessons in composition and orchestration and wrote to Isaac Offenbach in Cologne that the young man was going to be a great composer. Some of Offenbach's early compositions were played by the fashionable conductor Louis-Antoine Jullien . Offenbach and another young composer, Friedrich von Flotow , collaborated in 1839 on
13706-399: The censor fretting about the satire of the imperial court, and the manager of the theatre attempting to rein in Offenbach's extravagance with production expenses. Once again the success of the piece was inadvertently assured by the critic Janin; his scandalised notice was strongly countered by liberal critics and the ensuing publicity again brought the public flocking. Barbe-bleue was
13884-583: The censors demanded further changes; at this point, the opera took the title Un ballo in maschera . Arriving in Sant'Agata in March 1859 Verdi and Strepponi found the nearby city of Piacenza occupied by about 6,000 Austrian troops who had made it their base, to combat the rise of Italian interest in unification in the Piedmont region. In the ensuing Second Italian War of Independence the Austrians abandoned
14062-408: The censors. Verdi would not compromise: What does the sack matter to the police? Are they worried about the effect it will produce?...Do they think they know better than I?...I see the hero has been made no longer ugly and hunchbacked!! Why? A singing hunchback...why not?...I think it splendid to show this character as outwardly deformed and ridiculous, and inwardly passionate and full of love. I chose
14240-442: The company hastened back to Paris. Meanwhile, among his operettas that season were the full-length Le pont des soupirs and the one-act M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le... . In 1862, Offenbach's only son, Auguste (died 1883), was born, the last of five children. In the same year, Offenbach resigned as director of the Bouffes-Parisiens, handing the post over to Alphonse Varney. He continued to write most of his works for
14418-451: The company in a summer season in Vienna. Encountering packed houses and enthusiastic reviews, Offenbach found Vienna much to his liking. He even reverted, for a single evening, to his old role as a cello virtuoso at a command performance before Emperor Franz Joseph . That success was followed by a failure in Berlin. Offenbach, though born a Prussian citizen, observed, "Prussia never does anything to make those of our nationality happy." He and
14596-562: The company, with occasional pieces first given at the summer season at Bad Ems . Despite problems with the libretto, Offenbach completed a serious opera in 1864, Die Rheinnixen , a hotchpotch of romantic and mythological themes. The opera was presented with substantial cuts at the Vienna Court Opera and in Cologne in 1865. It was not given again until 2002, when it was finally performed in its entirety. Since then it has been given several productions. It contained one number,
14774-657: The company’s repertoire expanded considerably to include Baroque and many contemporary works. In 2017 Pittsburgh Opera produced its first world premiere, The Summer King – the Josh Gibson Story. Based on the life and tragic death of the Hall of Fame baseball player who grew up in Pittsburgh and starred for the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords , The Summer King featured bass-baritone Alfred Walker in
14952-541: The composer or his librettists. In 1859, Verdi was elected as a member of the new provincial council, and was appointed to head a group of five who would meet with King Vittorio Emanuele II in Turin. They were enthusiastically greeted along the way and in Turin Verdi himself received much of the publicity. On 17 October Verdi met with Cavour , the architect of the initial stages of Italian unification. Later that year
15130-777: The composer's wrath. Nevertheless, he was to become Verdi's close collaborator in his final operas. The St. Petersburg premiere of La forza finally took place in September 1862, and Verdi received the Order of St. Stanislaus . A revival of Macbeth in Paris in 1865 was not a success, but he obtained a commission for a new work, Don Carlos , based on the play Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller . He and Giuseppina spent late 1866 and much of 1867 in Paris, where they heard, and did not warm to, Giacomo Meyerbeer's last opera, L'Africaine , and Richard Wagner 's overture to Tannhäuser . The opera's premiere in 1867 drew mixed comments. While
15308-465: The comtesse de Vaux's 200 guests with a parody of Félicien David 's currently fashionable Le désert , and in April 1846 gave a concert at which seven operatic items of his own composition were premiered before an audience that included leading music critics. The following year he staged his first operetta, the one-act L'Alcove . It had been written at the invitation of the Opéra-Comique , which had then failed to present it, and Offenbach mounted
15486-517: The condition that after a few months I would resign." Verdi was elected on 3 February 1861 for the town of Borgo San Donnino ( Fidenza ) to the Parliament of Piedmont-Sardinia in Turin (which from March 1861 became the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy ), but following the death of Cavour in 1861, which deeply distressed him, he scarcely attended. Later, in 1874, Verdi was appointed a member of
15664-414: The country has become a mania, madness, rage, and fury—anything you like that is exaggerated. He gets up almost with the dawn, to go and examine the wheat, the maize, the vines, etc....Fortunately our tastes for this sort of life coincide, except in the matter of sunrise, which he likes to see up and dressed, and I from my bed." Nonetheless, on 15 May, Verdi signed a contract with La Fenice for an opera for
15842-533: The couple attended a performance of Alexander Dumas fils ' s play The Lady of the Camellias ; Verdi immediately began to compose music for what would later become La traviata . After his visit to Rome for Il trovatore in January 1853, Verdi worked on completing La traviata , but with little hope of its success, due to his lack of confidence in any of the singers engaged for the season. Furthermore,
16020-682: The creation of twenty operas (excluding revisions and translations)—followed over the next sixteen years, culminating in Un ballo in maschera . This period was not without its frustrations and setbacks for the young composer, and he was frequently demoralised. In April 1845, in connection with I due Foscari , he wrote: "I am happy, no matter what reception it gets, and I am utterly indifferent to everything. I cannot wait for these next three years to pass. I have to write six operas, then addio to everything." In 1858 Verdi complained: "Since Nabucco , you may say, I have never had one hour of peace. Sixteen years in
16198-702: The critic Théophile Gautier praised the work, the composer Georges Bizet was disappointed at Verdi's changing style: "Verdi is no longer Italian. He is following Wagner." During the 1860s and 1870s, Verdi paid great attention to his estate around Busseto, purchasing additional land, dealing with unsatisfactory (in one case, embezzling) stewards, installing irrigation , and coping with variable harvests and economic slumps. In 1867, both Verdi's father Carlo, with whom he had restored good relations, and his early patron and father-in-law Antonio Barezzi, died. Verdi and Giuseppina decided to adopt Carlo's great-niece Filomena Maria Verdi, then seven years old, as their own child. She
16376-570: The cultural capital of northern Italy, where he applied unsuccessfully to study at the Conservatory . Barezzi made arrangements for him to become a private pupil of Vincenzo Lavigna [ it ] , who had been maestro concertatore at La Scala , and who described Verdi's compositions as "very promising". Lavigna encouraged Verdi to take out a subscription to La Scala, where he heard Maria Malibran in operas by Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini . Verdi began making connections in
16554-486: The day he himself believed he was born. Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. She is said to have been his closest friend during childhood. From age four Verdi was given private lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi, and at six he attended the local school. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents finally provided him with
16732-461: The death of his mother in June 1851. The fact that this is "the one opera of Verdi's which focuses on a mother rather than a father" is perhaps related to her death. In the winter of 1851–52, Verdi decided to go to Paris with Strepponi, where he concluded an agreement with the Opéra to write what became Les vêpres siciliennes , his first original work in the style of grand opera . In February 1852,
16910-549: The director of the Comédie-Française , Arsène Houssaye , who appointed him musical director of the theatre in 1850, with a brief to enlarge and improve the orchestra. Offenbach composed songs and incidental music for eleven classical and modern dramas for the Comédie-Française in the early 1850s. Some of his songs became very popular, and he gained valuable experience in writing for the theatre. Houssaye later wrote that Offenbach had done wonders for his theatre, but
17088-607: The embodiment of everything superficial and worthless in Napoleon III's régime. La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein was banned in France because of its antimilitarist satire. Although his Parisian audience deserted him, Offenbach had by now become highly popular in London's West End. John Hollingshead of the Gaiety Theatre presented Offenbach's operettas to large and enthusiastic audiences. Between 1870 and 1872,
17266-407: The fatherland cannot be evil-minded". Verdi had intended to return to Italy in early 1848, but was prevented by work and illness, as well as, most probably, by his increasing attachment to Strepponi. Verdi and Strepponi left Paris in July 1849, the immediate cause being an outbreak of cholera , and Verdi went directly to Busseto to continue work on completing his latest opera, Luisa Miller , for
17444-625: The fighters of the Risorgimento...this time the composer had given the movement its own opera" It was not until 1859 in Naples, and only then spreading throughout Italy, that the slogan "Viva Verdi" was used as an acronym for Viva V ittorio E manuele R e D ' I talia ( Viva Victor Emmanuel King of Italy) , (who was then king of Piedmont ). After Italy was unified in 1861, many of Verdi's early operas were increasingly re-interpreted as Risorgimento works with hidden Revolutionary messages that perhaps had not been originally intended by either
17622-413: The first opera he wrote without a specific commission (apart from Oberto ). At around the same time he began to consider creating an opera from Shakespeare's King Lear . After first (1850) seeking a libretto from Cammarano (which never appeared), Verdi later (1857) commissioned one from Antonio Somma , but this proved intractable, and no music was ever written. Verdi began work on Il trovatore after
17800-478: The first work worthy to be called opéra-comique was Philidor 's 1759 Blaise le savetier (Blaise the Cobbler), and he described the gradual divergence of Italian and French notions of comic opera, with verve, imagination and gaiety from Italian composers, and mischief, common sense, good taste and wit from the French composers. He concluded that comic opera had become too grand and inflated. His disquisition
17978-405: The following spring. This was to be Simon Boccanegra . The couple stayed in Paris until January 1857 to deal with these proposals, and also the offer to stage the translated version of Il trovatore as a grand opera. Verdi and Strepponi travelled to Venice in March for the premiere of Simon Boccanegra , which turned out to be "a fiasco" (as Verdi reported, although on the second and third nights,
18156-616: The four-bar phrase". In modulation Offenbach was similarly cautious; he rarely switched a melody to a remote or unexpected key, and kept mostly to a tonic – dominant – subdominant pattern. Within these conventional limits, he employed greater resource in his varied use of rhythm; in a single number he would contrast rapid patter for one singer with a broad, smooth phrase for another, illustrating their different characters. He often switched quickly between major and minor keys, effectively contrasting characters or situations. When he wished to, Offenbach could use unconventional techniques, such as
18334-469: The galleys." After the initial success of Nabucco , Verdi settled in Milan, making a number of influential acquaintances. He attended the Salotto Maffei , Countess Clara Maffei 's salons in Milan, becoming her lifelong friend and correspondent. A revival of Nabucco followed in 1842 at La Scala where it received a run of fifty-seven performances, and this led to a commission from Merelli for
18512-584: The government of Emilia was subsumed under the United Provinces of Central Italy , and Verdi's political life temporarily came to an end. Whilst still maintaining nationalist feelings, he declined in 1860 the office of provincial council member to which he had been elected in absentia . Cavour however was anxious to convince a man of Verdi's stature that running for political office was essential to strengthening and securing Italy's future. The composer confided to Piave some years later that "I accepted on
18690-630: The help of a local patron, Antonio Barezzi. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini , Vincenzo Bellini , and Gaetano Donizetti , whose works significantly influenced him. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician. The chorus " Va, pensiero " from his early opera Nabucco (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in
18868-414: The illiterate peasants from which Verdi later liked to present himself as having emerged... Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his son's education...something which Verdi tended to hide in later life... [T]he picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by an ambitious father and of a sustained, sophisticated and elaborate formal education. In 1823, when he was 10, Verdi's parents arranged for
19046-480: The last minute. At Booth's Theatre , New York, Offenbach conducted La vie parisienne and his recent (1873) La jolie parfumeuse . He returned to France in July 1876, with profits that were handsome but not spectacular. Offenbach's later operettas enjoyed renewed popularity in France, especially Madame Favart (1878), which featured a fantasy plot about the real-life French actress Marie Justine Favart , and La fille du tambour-major (1879), which
19224-439: The lease. Twenty days later, I gathered my librettists and I opened the " Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens " . The description of the theatre as "little" was accurate: it could hold an audience of at most 300. It was therefore well suited to the tiny casts permitted under the prevailing licensing laws: Offenbach was limited to three speaking (or singing) characters in any piece. With such small forces, full-length works were out of
19402-521: The libretto as "almost worthy of [W. S.] Gilbert ", and Offenbach's score as "certainly his best so far". The piece starred Zulma Bouffar , who began an affair with the composer that lasted until at least 1875. In 1867 Offenbach had one of his greatest successes. The premiere of La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein , a satire on militarism, took place two days after the opening of the Paris Exhibition , an even greater international draw than
19580-403: The management insisted that the opera be given a historical, not a contemporary setting. The premiere in March 1853 was indeed a failure: Verdi wrote: "Was the fault mine or the singers'? Time will tell." Subsequent productions (following some rewriting) throughout Europe over the following two years fully vindicated the composer; Roger Parker has written " Il trovatore consistently remains one of
19758-560: The management of Paris's Opéra-Comique company uninterested in staging his works, in 1855 he leased a small theatre in the Champs-Élysées . There, during the next three years, he presented a series of more than two dozen of his own small-scale pieces, many of which became popular. In 1858 Offenbach produced his first full-length operetta, Orphée aux enfers ("Orpheus in the Underworld"), with its celebrated can-can ;
19936-503: The management of the Opéra-Comique was uninterested in commissioning him to compose for its stage. The composer and critic Claude Debussy later wrote that the musical establishment could not cope with Offenbach's irony, which exposed the "false, overblown quality" of the operas they favoured – "the great art at which one was not allowed to smile". Between 1853 and May 1855 Offenbach wrote three one-act operettas and managed to have them staged in Paris. They were all well received, but
20114-538: The masters of his art." He is buried in the Montmartre Cemetery . In The Musical Times , Mark Lubbock wrote in 1957: Offenbach's music is as individually characteristic as that of Delius , Grieg or Puccini – together with range and variety. He could write straightforward "singing" numbers like Paris's song in La belle Hélène , "Au mont Ida trois déesses" [Three goddessess on Mount Ida]; comic songs like General Boum's "Piff Paff Pouf" and
20292-421: The modest earnings from those lessons, supplemented by fees earned by both brothers as members of synagogue choirs, supported them during their studies. At the conservatoire, Jules was a diligent student; he graduated and became a successful violin teacher and conductor, and was premier violon of his younger brother's orchestra for several years. By contrast, Jacques was bored by academic study and left after
20470-436: The most famous musicians of the day, including Felix Mendelssohn , Joseph Joachim , Michael Costa and Julius Benedict . The Era wrote of his debut performance in London, "His execution and taste excited both wonder and pleasure, the genius he exhibited amounting to absolute inspiration." The British press reported a triumphant royal command performance ; The Illustrated London News observed, "Herr Jacques Offenbach,
20648-534: The municipal music school and co-director of the local Società Filarmonica (Philharmonic Society). Verdi later stated: "From the ages of 13 to 18 I wrote a motley assortment of pieces: marches for band by the hundred, perhaps as many little sinfonie that were used in church, in the theatre and at concerts, five or six concertos and sets of variations for pianoforte, which I played myself at concerts, many serenades , cantatas ( arias , duets, very many trios) and various pieces of church music, of which I remember only
20826-447: The music for Nabucco , the libretto of which had originally been rejected by the composer Otto Nicolai : "This verse today, tomorrow that, here a note, there a whole phrase, and little by little the opera was written", he later recalled. By the autumn of 1841 it was complete, originally under the title Nabucodonosor . Well received at its first performance on 9 March 1842, Nabucco underpinned Verdi's success until his retirement from
21004-446: The musician who penned Orphée aux Enfers , La belle Hélène , and so many other triumphant works." Offenbach approached Hervé , who agreed to present a new one-act operetta with words by Jules Moinaux and music by Offenbach, called Oyayaye ou La reine des îles . It was presented on 26 June 1855 and was well received. Offenbach's biographer Peter Gammond describes it as "a charming piece of nonsense". The piece depicts
21182-445: The next three years. They were all for the small casts permitted under his licence, although at the Salle Choiseul he was granted an increase from three to four singers. Under Offenbach's management, the Bouffes-Parisiens staged works by many composers. These included new pieces by Leon Gastinel and Léo Delibes . When Offenbach asked Rossini 's permission to revive his comedy Il signor Bruschino , Rossini replied that he
21360-454: The next twenty years. This included major work on a square room that became his workroom, his bedroom, and his office. Having achieved some fame and prosperity, Verdi began in 1859 to take an active interest in Italian politics. His early commitment to the Risorgimento movement is difficult to estimate accurately; in the words of the music historian Philip Gossett "myths intensifying and exaggerating [such] sentiment began circulating" during
21538-474: The nineteenth century. An example is the claim that when the " Va, pensiero " chorus in Nabucco was first sung in Milan, the audience, responding with nationalistic fervour, demanded an encore. As encores were expressly forbidden by the government at the time, such a gesture would have been extremely significant. But in fact the piece encored was not "Va, pensiero" but the hymn "Immenso Jehova". The growth of
21716-479: The opening programme, but the most popular work of the evening had words by Moinaux . Les deux aveugles , "The Two Blind Men", is a comedy about two beggars feigning blindness. During rehearsals there had been some concern that the public might judge it to be in poor taste, but it was not only the hit of the season in Paris: it was soon playing successfully in Vienna, London and elsewhere. Another success in 1855
21894-455: The opera Aida (1871), with three late masterpieces: his Requiem (1874), and the operas Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893). His operas remain extremely popular, especially the three peaks of his 'middle period': Rigoletto , Il trovatore and La traviata . The bicentenary of his birth in 2013 was widely celebrated around the world in broadcasts and performances. Verdi, the first child of Carlo Giuseppe Verdi and Luigia Uttini,
22072-413: The opera, and rehearsed the tenor separately. For several months Verdi was preoccupied with family matters. These stemmed from the way in which the citizens of Busseto were treating Giuseppina Strepponi, with whom he was living openly in an unmarried relationship. She was shunned in the town and at church, and while Verdi appeared indifferent, she was certainly not. Furthermore, Verdi was concerned about
22250-508: The period 1849–1853 ( La battaglia, Luisa Miller, Stiffelio, Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata ), have, uniquely in his oeuvre, heroines who are, in the opera critic Joseph Kerman's words, "women who come to grief because of sexual transgression, actual or perceived". Kerman, like the psychologist Gerald Mendelssohn, sees this choice of subjects as being influenced by Verdi's uneasy passion for Strepponi. Verdi and Strepponi moved into Sant'Agata on 1 May 1851. May also brought an offer for
22428-415: The play Pascal et Chambord , staged in March 1839. In January 1839, together with his elder brother, he gave his first public concert. Among the salons at which Offenbach most frequently appeared, from 1839, was that of Madeleine-Sophie, comtesse de Vaux . There he met Hérminie d'Alcain, the fifteen-year-old daughter of a Carlist general. They fell in love, and in 1843 they became engaged, but he
22606-430: The premiere on 22 July 1847 at Her Majesty's Theatre , as well as the second performance. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert attended the first performance, and for the most part, the press was generous in its praise. For the next two years, except for two visits to Italy during periods of political unrest, Verdi was based in Paris. Within a week of returning to Paris in July 1847, he received his first commission from
22784-457: The production himself as part of an evening of his works at the École lyrique . He seemed on the verge of breaking into theatrical composition when the 1848 revolution broke out, sweeping Louis Philippe from the throne and leading to serious bloodshed in the streets of the capital. Three hundred and fifty people were killed within three days. Offenbach hastily took Hérminie and their two-year-old daughter to join his family in Cologne. The city
22962-543: The public to the Gaîté, and Offenbach was forced to sell his interests in the Gaîté and to mortgage future royalties. In 1876 a successful tour of the US in connection with its Centennial Exhibition enabled Offenbach to recover some of his losses and pay his debts. Beginning with a concert at Gilmore's Garden before a crowd of 8,000 people, he gave a series of more than 40 concerts in New York and Philadelphia. To circumvent
23140-452: The question, and Offenbach, like Hervé, presented evenings of several one-act pieces. The opening of the theatre was a frantic rush, with less than a month between the issue of the licence and the opening night on 5 July 1855. During this period Offenbach had to "equip the theatre, recruit actors, orchestra and staff, find authors to write material for the opening programme – and compose the music". Among those he recruited at short notice
23318-399: The reception improved considerably). With Strepponi, Verdi went to Naples early in January 1858 to work with Somma on the libretto of the opera Gustave III , which over a year later would become Un ballo in maschera . By this time, Verdi had begun to write about Strepponi as "my wife" and she was signing her letters as "Giuseppina Verdi". Verdi raged against the stringent requirements of
23496-482: The region and began to leave Lombardy, although they remained in control of the Venice region under the terms of the armistice signed at Villafranca . Verdi was disgusted at this outcome: "[W]here then is the independence of Italy, so long hoped for and promised?...Venice is not Italian? After so many victories, what an outcome... It is enough to drive one mad" he wrote to Clara Maffei. Verdi and Strepponi now decided on marriage; they travelled to Collonges-sous-Salève ,
23674-471: The resignation of Barbara Karp. In 1983, Tito Capobianco became Pittsburgh Opera's general director, holding this position until 1997. From 1997 to 2000, Capobianco was the company's artistic director, before leaving in 2000. Mark Weinstein became general director of Pittsburgh Opera in 1999, after starting as executive director in 1997. During his tenure, he presided over an increase in the company's endowment from US $ 4 million to US $ 16 million, as well as
23852-544: The rest of his career. Lamb, following the precedent of Henseler's 1930 study of the composer, divides the one-act pieces into five categories: (i) country idylls; (ii) urban operettas; (iii) military operettas; (iv) farces; and (v) burlesques or parodies. Offenbach enjoyed his greatest success in the 1860s. His most popular operettas from that decade have remained among his best known. The first ideas for plots usually came from Offenbach, his librettists working along lines agreed with him. Lamb writes, "In this respect Offenbach
24030-467: The retirement of US $ 2.5 million in debt. Weinstein also presided over the addition of an extra production during the company season, 5 productions as opposed to 4, from the 2001-2002 season to the 2003-2004 season. Weinstein announced his resignation as Pittsburgh Opera's general director effective February 1, 2008. Artistic Director Christopher Hahn was appointed as General Director in June 2008. During Christopher Hahn’s tenure as General Director,
24208-425: The reworked opera was now called, with a libretto rewritten by Temistocle Solera ) in November 1839. It achieved a respectable 13 additional performances, following which Merelli offered Verdi a contract for three more works. In 1838-1839 Verdi published his first music with the Milan publisher Giovanni Canti . While Verdi was working on his second opera Un giorno di regno , Margherita died of encephalitis at
24386-411: The ridiculous ensemble at the servants' ball in La vie parisienne , "Votre habit a craqué dans le dos" ["Your coat has split down the back"]. He was a specialist at writing music that had a rapturous, hysterical quality. The famous can-can from Orphée aux enfers has it, and so has the finale of the servants' party ... which ends with the delirious song "Tout tourne, tout danse" . Then, as
24564-438: The role of Josh Gibson and acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves as his love-interest Grace. Mr. Hahn has expanded Pittsburgh Opera’s prestigious Resident Artist Program to include two annual productions, both of which are offered as part of the full subscription series. Hailed as one of the country's leading training programs for young singers, Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artist Program provides professional development during
24742-414: The same vein to Countess Maffei he stated: "I'm not doing anything. I don't read. I don't write. I walk in the fields from morning to evening, trying to recover, so far without success, from the stomach trouble caused me by I vespri siciliani . Cursed operas!" An 1858 letter by Strepponi to the publisher Léon Escudier describes the kind of lifestyle that increasingly appealed to the composer: "His love for
24920-482: The sensation that Offenbach's later works did in London. In 1858, the government lifted the licensing restrictions on the number of performers, and Offenbach was able to present more ambitious works. His first full-length operetta, Orphée aux enfers ("Orpheus in the Underworld"), was presented in October 1858. Offenbach, as usual, spent freely on the production, with scenery by Gustave Doré , lavish costumes,
25098-488: The son of a synagogue cantor , Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of 14, he was accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire ; he found academic study unfulfilling and left after a year, but remained in Paris. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose comic pieces for the musical theatre. Finding
25276-432: The spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. An intensely private person, Verdi did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements. As he became professionally successful, he was able to reduce his operatic workload and sought to establish himself as a landowner in his native region. He surprised the musical world by returning, after his success with
25454-513: The subject for these very qualities...if they are removed I can no longer set it to music. Verdi substituted a Duke for the King, and the public response and subsequent success of the opera all over Italy and Europe fully vindicated the composer. Aware that the melody of the Duke's song " La donna è mobile " ("Woman is fickle") would become a popular hit, Verdi excluded it from orchestral rehearsals for
25632-461: The summer and autumn of 1855 could not be expected to venture there in the depths of a Parisian winter. He cast about for a suitable venue and found the Théâtre des Jeunes Élèves , known also as the Salle Choiseul or Théâtre Comte , in central Paris. He entered into partnership with its proprietor and moved the Bouffes-Parisiens there for the winter season. The company returned to
25810-702: The term opéra bouffe for his full-length ones (though there are several one- and two-act examples of this type). It was only with the further development of the Operette genre in Vienna after 1870 that the French term opérette began to be used for works longer than one act. Offenbach also used the term opéra-comique for at least 24 of his works in either one, two or three acts. Offenbach's earliest operettas were one-act pieces for small casts. More than 30 of these were presented before his first full-scale " opéra bouffon ", Orphée aux enfers , in 1858, and he composed over twenty more of them during
25988-691: The theatre, twenty-nine operas (including some revised and updated versions) later. At its revival in La Scala for the 1842 autumn season it was given an unprecedented (and later unequalled) total of 57 performances; within three years it had reached (among other venues) Vienna, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Paris and Hamburg; in 1848 it was heard in New York, in 1850 in Buenos Aires. Porter comments that "similar accounts...could be provided to show how widely and rapidly all [Verdi's] other successful operas were disseminated." A period of hard work for Verdi—with
26166-527: The theme was the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice , although Napoleon III and his government were generally seen as the real targets of its satire. Offenbach and his librettist Hector Crémieux seized on this free publicity, and joined in a lively public debate in the columns of the Parisian daily newspaper Le Figaro . Janin's indignation made the public agog to see the work, and the box office takings were prodigious. The piece ran for 228 performances, at
26344-563: The three or four most popular operas in the Verdian repertoire: but it has never pleased the critics". In the eleven years up to and including Traviata , Verdi had written sixteen operas. Over the next eighteen years (up to Aida ), he wrote only six new works for the stage. Verdi was happy to return to Sant'Agata and, in February 1856, was reporting a "total abandonment of music; a little reading; some light occupation with agriculture and horses; that's all". A couple of months later, writing in
26522-405: The title role. Since her early success in his short operas, she had become a leading star of the French musical stage. She now commanded large fees and was notoriously temperamental, but Offenbach was adamant that no other singer could match her as Hélène. Rehearsals for the premiere at the Théâtre des Variétés were tempestuous, with Schneider and the principal mezzo-soprano Léa Silly feuding,
26700-482: The twenty-year-old Arrigo Boito and Franco Faccio . Verdi had been invited to write a piece of music for the 1862 International Exhibition in London, and charged Boito with writing a text, which became the Inno delle nazioni . Boito, as a supporter of the grand opera of Giacomo Meyerbeer and an opera composer in his own right, was later in the 1860s critical of Verdi's "reliance on formula rather than form", incurring
26878-488: The two young musicians, accompanied by their father, made the four-day journey to Paris in November 1833. Isaac had been given letters of introduction to the director of the Paris Conservatoire , Luigi Cherubini , but had to persuade Cherubini even to give Jacob an audition. The boy's age and nationality were both obstacles to admission. Cherubini had several years earlier refused the twelve-year-old Franz Liszt admission on similar grounds, but he eventually agreed to hear
27056-671: The work was exceptionally well received and has remained his most played. During the 1860s, he produced at least eighteen full-length operettas, as well as more one-act pieces. His works from this period include La belle Hélène (1864), La Vie parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867) and La Périchole (1868). The risqué humour (often about sexual intrigue) and mostly gentle satiric barbs in these pieces, together with Offenbach's facility for melody, made them internationally known, and translated versions were successful in Vienna, London, elsewhere in Europe and in
27234-421: The young Offenbach play. He listened to his playing and stopped him, saying, "Enough, young man, you are now a pupil of this Conservatoire." Julius was also admitted. Both brothers adopted French forms of their names, Julius becoming Jules and Jacob becoming Jacques. Isaac hoped to secure permanent employment in Paris but failed to do so and returned to Cologne. Before leaving, he found several pupils for Jules;
27412-450: Was Le violoneux (The Village Fiddler), which made a star of Hortense Schneider in her first role for Offenbach. When she auditioned for him, aged 22, he engaged her on the spot. From 1855 she was a key member of his companies through much of his career. The Champs-Élysées in 1855 were not yet the grand avenue laid out by Baron Haussmann in the 1860s, but an unpaved allée . The public who were flocking to Offenbach's theatre in
27590-400: Was Ludovic Halévy , the nephew of Offenbach's early mentor Fromental Halévy . Ludovic was a rising civil servant with a passion for the theatre and a gift for dialogue and verse. While maintaining his civil service career he went on to collaborate (sometimes under discreet pseudonyms) with Offenbach in 21 works over the next 24 years. Halévy wrote the libretto for one of the pieces in
27768-473: Was Music Director of Pittsburgh Opera from 2000 until his resignation in 2006, to take up an academic post in North Carolina. In October 2006, Antony Walker was named the next Music Director of Pittsburgh Opera, and assumed the post immediately. Walker's initial contract was for 3 years, but has since been extended through the 2011-12 season. On April 1, 2008, in a performance of Verdi's Aïda at
27946-511: Was Offenbach's last major song for Hortense Schneider. By his own reckoning, Offenbach composed more than 100 operas. Both the number and the noun are open to question: some works were so extensively revised that he evidently counted the revised versions as new, and commentators generally refer to all but a few of his stage works as operettas, rather than operas. Offenbach reserved the term opérette (English: operetta) or opérette bouffe for some of his one-act works, more often using
28124-497: Was a preliminary to the announcement of an open competition for aspiring composers. A jury of French composers and playwrights including Daniel Auber , Fromental Halévy , Ambroise Thomas , Charles Gounod and Eugène Scribe considered 78 entries; the five short-listed entrants were all asked to set a libretto, Le docteur miracle , written by Ludovic Halévy and Léon Battu . The joint winners were Georges Bizet and Charles Lecocq . Bizet became, and remained,
28302-404: Was an awkward factor in their relationship until they eventually agreed on marriage. After successful stagings of Nabucco in Venice (with twenty-five performances in the 1842/43 season), Verdi began negotiations with the impresario of La Fenice to stage I Lombardi , and to write a new opera. Eventually, Victor Hugo's Hernani was chosen, with Francesco Maria Piave as librettist. Ernani
28480-707: Was born at their home in Le Roncole , a village near Busseto , then in the Département Taro and within the borders of the First French Empire . The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo and Luigia as "innkeeper" and "spinner" respectively. Additionally, it lists Verdi as being "born yesterday", but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Following his mother, Verdi always celebrated his birthday on 9 October,
28658-427: Was both well served and skilful at discovering talent. Like Sullivan , and unlike Johann Strauss II , he was consistently blessed with workable subjects and genuinely witty librettos." In his setting of his librettists' words he took advantage of the rhythmic flexibility of the French language, and sometimes took this to extremes, forcing words into unnatural stresses. Harding comments that he "wrought much violence on
28836-625: Was chosen by Verdi as one of the executors of his will but predeceased the composer in 1890. After a period of illness, Verdi began work on Macbeth in September 1846. He dedicated the opera to Barezzi: "I have long intended to dedicate an opera to you, as you have been a father, a benefactor and a friend for me. It was a duty I should have fulfilled sooner if imperious circumstances had not prevented me. Now, I send you Macbeth , which I prize above all my other operas, and therefore deem worthier to present to you." In 1997 Martin Chusid wrote that Macbeth
29014-410: Was experiencing its own nationalistic revolutionary upheaval and Offenbach found it expedient to change his forename back to the German while there. Returning to Paris in February 1849 Offenbach found the grand salons closed down. He went back to working as a cellist, and occasional conductor, at the Opéra-Comique , but was not encouraged in his aspirations to compose. His talents had been noted by
29192-416: Was given at the Théâtre de la Renaissance on 30 October 1880. Offenbach died in Paris on 5 October 1880 at the age of 61. His cause of death was certified as heart failure brought on by acute gout. He was given a state funeral; The Times reported, "The crowd of distinguished men that accompanied him on his last journey amid the general sympathy of the public shows that the late composer was reckoned among
29370-456: Was joined as librettist for all of them by Henri Meilhac . Offenbach, who called them "Meil" and "Hal", said of this trinity: "Je suis sans doute le Père, mais chacun des deux est mon Fils et plein d'Esprit," a play on words loosely translated as "I am certainly the Father, but each of them is my Son and Wholly Spirited". For La belle Hélène Offenbach secured Hortense Schneider to play
29548-471: Was known as "the mocking-bird of the Second Empire ". When the empire fell in the wake of Prussia's crushing victory at Sedan in September 1870, Offenbach's music was suddenly out of favour. France was swept by violently anti-German sentiments, and despite his French citizenship and Légion d'honneur , his birth and upbringing in Cologne made him suspect. His operettas were now frequently vilified as
29726-511: Was musical director) to oversee a production of Nabucco . The older composer, recognising Verdi's talent, noted in a letter of January 1844: "I am very, very happy to give way to people of talent like Verdi... Nothing will prevent the good Verdi from soon reaching one of the most honourable positions in the cohort of composers." Verdi travelled on to Parma, where the Teatro Regio di Parma was producing Nabucco with Giuseppina Strepponi in
29904-432: Was not yet in a financial position to marry. To extend his fame and earning power beyond Paris, he undertook tours of France and Germany. Among those with whom he performed were Anton Rubinstein and in September 1843 in a concert in Offenbach's native Cologne, Liszt. In 1844, probably through English family connections of Hérminie, he embarked on a tour of England. There, he was immediately engaged to appear with some of
30082-457: Was paid 12,000 lire (including supervision of the productions); Attila and Macbeth (1847), each brought him 18,000 lire. His contracts with the publishers Ricordi in 1847 were very specific about the amounts he was to receive for new works, first productions, musical arrangements, and so on. He began to use his growing prosperity to invest in land near his birthplace. In 1844 he purchased "Il Pulgaro", 62 acres (23 hectares) of farmland with
30260-419: Was pleased to be able to do anything for "the Mozart of the Champs-Élysées". Offenbach revered Mozart above all other composers. He had an ambition to present Mozart's neglected one-act comic opera Der Schauspieldirektor ( The Impresario ) at the Bouffes-Parisiens , and he acquired the score from Vienna. With a text translated and adapted by Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévy , he presented it during
30438-600: Was six years old his father taught him to play the violin; within two years the boy was composing songs and dances, and at the age of nine he took up the cello. As Isaac was by then the permanent cantor of the local synagogue, he could afford to pay for his son to take lessons from the well-known cellist Bernhard Breuer. Three years later, the biographer Gabriel Grovlez records, the boy was giving performances of his own compositions, "the technical difficulties of which terrified his master", Breuer. Together with his brother Julius (violin) and sister Isabella (piano), Jacob played in
30616-496: Was some critical grumbling at the change, but the piece, with Schneider in the lead, made a good profit. It was quickly produced elsewhere in Europe and both North and South America. Of the pieces that followed it at the end of the decade, Les brigands (1869) was another work that leaned more to romantic comic opera than to the more ebullient opéra bouffe . It was well received, but has been less often revived than Offenbach's best-known operettas. Offenbach returned hurriedly from
30794-452: Was staged." On hearing the news of the "Cinque Giornate", the "Five Days" of street fighting that took place between 18 and 22 March 1848 and temporarily drove the Austrians out of Milan, Verdi travelled there, arriving on 5 April. He discovered that Piave was now "Citizen Piave" of the newly proclaimed Republic of San Marco . Writing a patriotic letter to him in Venice, Verdi concluded "Banish every petty municipal idea! We must all extend
30972-471: Was successfully premiered in 1844 and within six months had been performed at twenty other theatres in Italy, and also in Vienna. The writer Andrew Porter notes that for the next ten years, Verdi's life "reads like a travel diary—a timetable of visits...to bring new operas to the stage or to supervise local premieres". La Scala premiered none of these new works, except for Giovanna d'Arco . Verdi "never forgave
31150-444: Was the difference in their professed religions; he converted to Roman Catholicism, with the comtesse de Vaux acting as his sponsor. Isaac Offenbach's views on his son's conversion from Judaism are unknown. The wedding took place on 14 August 1844; the bride was seventeen years old, and the bridegroom was twenty-five. The marriage was lifelong, and happy, despite some extramarital affairs on Offenbach's part. After Offenbach's death,
31328-445: Was the most successful of his operettas of the 1870s. Profitable though La fille du tambour-major was, composing it left Offenbach less time to work on his cherished project, the creation of a successful serious opera. Since the beginning of 1877, he had been working when he could on a piece based on a stage play, Les contes fantastiques d'Hoffmann , by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré . Offenbach had suffered from gout since
31506-492: Was the only one of Verdi's operas of his "early period" to remain regularly in the international repertoire, although in the 21st century Nabucco has also entered the lists. Strepponi's voice declined and her engagements dried up in the 1845 to 1846 period, and she returned to live in Milan whilst retaining contact with Verdi as his "supporter, promoter, unofficial adviser, and occasional secretary" until she decided to move to Paris in October 1846. Before she left Verdi gave her
31684-606: Was to marry in 1878 the son of Verdi's friend and lawyer Angelo Carrara and her family became eventually the heirs of Verdi's estate. Aida was commissioned by the Egyptian government for the opera house built by the Khedive Isma'il Pasha to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The opera house actually opened with a production of Rigoletto . The prose libretto in French by Camille du Locle , based on
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