Renata Scotto

Renata Scotto (born 24 February 1934) is an Italian soprano and opera director.

Recognized for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi repertoires.

Since retiring from the stage as a singer in 2002, she has turned successfully to directing opera as well as teaching in Italy and America, along with academic posts at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Juilliard School in New York. She lives in Armonk, New York with her husband Lorenzo Anselmi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renata_Scotto

Renata Scotto was last modified: July 31st, 2019 by Jovan Stosic

Coup d’archet

A term used in 18th- and 19th-century French treatises for a bowstroke in general. It is occasionally found in such qualified forms as coup d’archet articulé (see Bow, §II, 2(iv)). The special term le premier coup d’archet was used in the late 18th century to refer to the loud tutti passage (often in unison) with which so many symphonies began. The device was thought to have been invented by Lully. Mozart made use of it several times, notably at the beginning of his ‘Paris’ Symphony about which he joked in a letter to his father (12 June 1778): ‘I have been careful not to neglect the premier coup d’archet – and that is quite enough. What a fuss the oxen here make of this trick! The devil take me if I can see any difference! They all begin together, just as they do in other places’.

Source: Coup d’archet : Oxford Music Online – oi

Coup d’archet was last modified: July 31st, 2019 by Jovan Stosic

The Flying Dutchman (opera)

The Flying Dutchman (German: Der fliegende Holländer), WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. The central theme is redemption through love. Wagner conducted the premiere at the Königliches Hoftheater in Dresden in 1843.

Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write the opera following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839. However, in his 1843 Autobiographic Sketch, Wagner acknowledged he had taken the story from Heinrich Heine‘s retelling of the legend in his 1833 satirical novel The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski (Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski).[1]

This work shows early attempts at operatic styles that would characterise his later music dramas. In Der fliegende Holländer Wagner uses a number of leitmotivs (literally, “leading motifs”) associated with the characters and themes. The leitmotifs are all introduced in the overture, which begins with a well-known ocean or storm motif before moving into the Dutchman and Senta motifs.

Wagner originally wrote the work to be performed without intermission – an example of his efforts to break with tradition – and, while today’s opera houses sometimes still follow this directive, it is also performed in a three-act version.

Source: The Flying Dutchman (opera) – Wikipedia

The Flying Dutchman (opera) was last modified: July 30th, 2019 by Jovan Stosic