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Opera

Blogs

Leonard Bernstein ‘Overture to Candide’: Jubilation!

Leonard Bernstein: Overture to Candide Context Leonard Bernstein composed the music for the operetta Candide in 1955-56. The operetta is based on the 1759 novella of the same name by Voltaire. The premiere was unsuccessful and after some revisions and creative changes, Candide has become a very popular show.  The Read more…

By Alex Burns, 7 months4 months ago
Blogs

Ludwig van Beethoven ‘Coriolan Overture’: Live or Die

Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolan Overture Context Composed in 1807, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture was used in Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s tragedy of the same name. The overture received its concert premiere in 1807 at a private concert for Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz. At the same concert Beethoven also Read more…

By Alex Burns, 7 months4 months ago
Blogs

Mikhail Glinka ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture’: Fizzing with Excitement

Mikhail Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture Context Composed between 1837-42, Mikhail Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila is based on Alexander Pushkin’s poem of the same name. Split into five acts, the opera’s libretto was written by Valerian Shirkov, Nestor Kukolnik and N.A. Markevich. Seldom performed as a full-scale opera today, Read more…

By Alex Burns, 8 months4 months ago
Blogs

Zoltán Kodály ‘Háry János Suite’: Hungary in Satire

Zoltán Kodály: Háry János Suite Context Premiering at the Royal Hungarian Opera House in 1926, Zoltán Kodály’s folk opera Háry János has remained one of his more popular large-scale works. Based on the comic epic The Veteran by János Garay, with a Hungarian libretto by Béla Paulini, Háry János showcases Read more…

By Alex Burns, 8 months4 months ago
Blogs

Richard Wagner ‘Lohengrin Prelude to Act I’: The Holy Grail

Richard Wagner: Lohengrin Prelude to Act I Context Richard Wagner’s Romantic opera Lohengrin was first performed in 1850. During the 1840s, Wagner had spent much time researching and reading into medieval German legends, epics and stories that he could use for one of his own works. By 1845, Wagner had Read more…

By Alex Burns, 8 months4 months ago
Blogs

Gioachino Rossini ‘The Barber of Seville Overture’: Dynamic Beginnings

Gioachino Rossini: The Barber of Seville Overture Context Gioachino Rossini’s highly popular comic opera, The Barber of Seville was premiered on 20th February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. The libretto for the opera was based on Pierre Beaumarchais’s comedy Le Barbier de Séville (1775). Rossini composed some of Read more…

By Alex Burns, 1 year4 months ago
Blogs

Johann Strauss II ‘Die Fledermaus Overture’: Setting the Scene

Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus Overture Context Operettas became popular in Europe from the 1850s, with the quick theatrical pace and comedic plot lines pleasing audiences for years. The infectious melodies that dominated operettas from this time fitted really well with the waltzes and polkas that Strauss had been pleasing Read more…

By Alex Burns, 1 year4 months ago
Blogs

Johann Strauss II ‘Tausend und eine Nacht’: A Charming Dance

Johann Strauss II: Tausend und eine Nacht Context Translated as ‘Thousand and One Nights’, Johann Strauss II composed this famous waltz in 1871. The melodies for this waltz came from his first operetta Indigo und die vierzig Räuber (‘Indigo and the Forty Thieves’). Though a triumph for the composer, the Read more…

By Alex Burns, 1 year4 months ago
Blogs

Giacomo Puccini ‘Nessun Dorma’: Hail Victory!

Giacomo Puccini: Nessun Dorma Context Nessun Dorma is a tenor aria that features at the end of Giacomo’s Puccini’s 1926 opera Turandot. The aria is sung by the main male character, Calaf, who fall in love with Princess Turandot. Any man that wishes to marry the Princess must successfully answer Read more…

By Alex Burns, 1 year4 months ago
Blogs

Giuseppe Verdi ‘Libiamo ne’ lieti calici: Raise Your Glasses!

Giuseppe Verdi: Libiamo ne’ lieti calici Context Composed between Il trovatore (1853) and Les vêpres siciliennes (1855), La Traviata was part of Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘middle period’ of composition. Previous to La Traviata came 16 other operas including the ever-popular Nabucodonosor (1842) and Rigoletto (1851). Based at the start of the Read more…

By Alex Burns, 1 year4 months ago

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  • Tera de Marez Oyens ‘String Quartet Contrafactus’: Quite the Quartet
  • George Frideric Handel ‘Glory to God in the Highest’: The Angels Sing
  • Astor Piazzolla ‘Libertango’: Tango Nuevo
  • Arthur Honegger ‘Concerto da camera’: An Unusual Duo
  • Frédéric Chopin ‘Rondo à la Krakowiak’: A Traditional Dance

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