Music

Egmont (Beethoven)

Jovan Stosic February 11, 2019

Egmont, Op. 84 by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It consists of an overture followed by a sequence of nine pieces for soprano, male narrator, and full symphony orchestra. (The male narrator is optional; he is not used in the play and does not appear in all recordings of the complete incidental music.) Beethoven wrote it between October 1809 and June 1810, and it was premiered on 15 June 1810.

Source: Egmont (Beethoven) – Wikipedia

The Firebird

Jovan Stosic February 6, 2019

The Firebird (French: L’Oiseau de feu; Russian: Жар-птица, translit. Zhar-ptitsa) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, with a scenario by Alexandre Benois and Fokine based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. When first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910, the work was an instant success with both audience and critics.

The ballet has historic significance not only as Stravinsky’s breakthrough piece, but also as the beginning of the collaboration between Diaghilev and Stravinsky that would also produce the acclaimed ballets Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913).

Source: The Firebird – Wikipedia

Classical Music Forums – Talk Classical

Jovan Stosic February 4, 2019

Lyric Coloratura Soprano: Beverly Sills, Natalie Dessay, Lily Pons,
Dramatic Coloratura Soprano: Joan Sutherland, Edda Moser, Rita Shane
Light Lyric Soprano: Annick Massis, Dawn Upshaw, Barbara Bonney,
Full Lyric Soprano: Anna Moffo, Renee Fleming, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Kiri Te Kanawa
Spinto Soprano: Martina Arroyo, Leontyne Price, Sondra Radvanovsky, Renata Tebaldi
Dramatic Soprano: Ghena Dmitrova, Kirsten Flagstad, Helen Traubel, Eva Marton

coloratura mezzo: Joyce di Donato, Cecilia Bartoli, Malena Ernman
lyric mezzo: Janet Baker, Jennifer Larmore, Elina Garanca
dramatic mezzo: Elena Obraztsova, Viorica Cortez, Dolora Zajick, Milla Edelman

contralto: Ewa Podles, Maureen Forrester, Kathleen Ferrier, Marian Anderson

tenor leggiero: Juan Diego Flores, Rockwell Blake, John McCormick
lyric tenor: Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolai Gedda, Giuseppe di Stefano, Jussi Bjorling
spinto tenor: Jonas Kaufmann, Franco Corelli, Anatoly Solovyanenko, John Alexander
dramatic tenor: Mario del Monaco, Giuseppe Giacomini, Enrico Caruso,

lyric baritone: Herman Prey, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Peter Mattei, Thomas Allen
dramatic baritone: Tito Gobbi, Cornel Macneil, Mykola Kondratyuk, Nicolae Herlea

bass-baritone: Byrn Terfel, Willard White, Hans Hotter, Ilabrando D’arcangelo
basso cantante: Samuel Ramey, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Jerome Hines
basso profondo: Paul Robeson, Boris Shtokolov, Boris Christoff

https://www.talkclassical.com/38991-lyric-vs-dramatic-voices-2.html

Late string quartets (Beethoven) – Wikipedia

Jovan Stosic January 29, 2019

Ludwig van Beethoven’s late string quartets are the following works:

Opus 127: String Quartet No. 12 in E♭ major (1825)
Opus 130: String Quartet No. 13 in B♭ major (1826)
Opus 131: String Quartet No. 14 in C♯ minor (1826)
Opus 132: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor (1825)
Opus 133: Große Fuge in B♭ major (1825; originally the finale to Op. 130; it also exists in a piano four-hands transcription, Op. 134)
Opus 135: String Quartet No. 16 in F major (1826)

These six works are Beethoven’s last major completed compositions. Although dismissed by musicians and audiences of Beethoven’s day, they are now widely considered to be among the greatest musical compositions of all time and they have inspired many later composers.
 

Source: Late string quartets (Beethoven) – Wikipedia

Scherzo – Wikipedia

Jovan Stosic January 29, 2019

A scherzo (/ˈskɛərtsoʊ/, UK also /ˈskɜːrt-/; Italian: [ˈskertso]; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often refers to a movement that replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or string quartet. The term can also refer to a fast-moving humorous composition that may or may not be part of a larger work.

Source: Scherzo – Wikipedia