Vanessa

Vanessa may refer to:

Art

People

Fictional characters

Other

Vanessa (opera)

Vanessa is an American opera in three (originally four) acts by Samuel Barber, opus 32, with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos in a production designed by Cecil Beaton and directed by Menotti. Barber revised the opera in 1964, reducing the four acts to the three-act version most commonly performed today.

Performance history

For the Met premiere, Sena Jurinac was contracted to sing the title role. However, she cancelled six weeks before the opening night and Eleanor Steber replaced her, making it her own for a long time. In the role of Erika, Vanessa's niece, was Rosalind Elias, then a young mezzo-soprano. Nicolai Gedda sang the lover Anatol, mezzo Regina Resnik sang the Baroness, Vanessa's mother, while bass, Giorgio Tozzi, sang the old doctor.

The premiere "was an unqualified success with the audience and with many of the critics as well although they were somewhat qualified in their judgment. Of the final quintet, however, New York Times critic Howard Taubman said it is '...a full-blown set-piece that packs an emotional charge and that would be a credit to any composer anywhere today.' ". Other reports substantiate this and it won Barber the Pulitzer Prize. In Europe, however, it met with a chillier reception.

Vanessa (Millais painting)

Vanessa (1868) is a painting by John Everett Millais in Sudley House, Liverpool. It is a fancy portrait depicting Jonathan Swift's correspondent Esther Vanhomrigh (1688-1723), who was known by that pseudonym.

Vanessa represents a major departure in Millais's art because he abandons fully for the first time the detailed finish that was still to be seen in Waking and Sleeping, exhibited in the previous year. Influenced by the work of Diego Velázquez and Joshua Reynolds, Millais paints with dramatic, visible brush strokes in vivid colours, creating what has been described as an "almost violently modern" handling of paint.

Esther Vanhomrigh is known as "Swift's Vanessa" because of the fictional name he gave her when he published their correspondence. The portrait is wholly imaginary. No actual image of Esther Vanhomrigh exists. She is holding a letter, presumably written to or from Swift. Her sad expression is related to the fraught nature of the relationship, which was broken up by Swift's relationship to another woman, Esther Johnson whom he called "Stella". Millais also painted a companion piece depicting Stella.

Coffea

Coffea is a genus of flowering plants whose seeds, called coffee beans, are used to make coffee. It is a member of the family Rubiaceae. They are shrubs or small trees native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. Coffee ranks as one of the world's most valuable and widely traded commodity crops and is an important export product of several countries, including those in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Cultivation and use

Several species of Coffea may be grown for the seeds. Coffea arabica accounts for 75-80 percent of the world's coffee production, while Coffea canephora accounts for about 20 percent.

The trees produce edible red or purple fruits called "cherries" that are described either as epigynous berries or as indehiscent drupes. The cherries contain two seeds, the so-called "coffee beans", which—despite their name—are not true beans. In about 5-10% of any crop of coffee cherries, only a single bean, rather than the usual two, is found. This is called a peaberry, which is smaller and rounder than a normal coffee bean. It is often removed from the yield and either sold separately (as in New Guinea peaberry), or discarded.

Greasy spoon

Greasy spoon is a colloquial term for a small, cheap restaurant or diner typically specialising in fried foods. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term originated in the United States and is now used in various English-speaking countries.

The name "greasy spoon" is a reference to the typically high-fat, high-calorie menu items such as eggs and bacon. The term has been used to refer to a "small cheap restaurant" since at least the 1920s.

United States

Many typical American greasy spoons focus on fried or grilled food, such as fried eggs, bacon, burgers, hash browns, waffles, pancakes, omelettes, deep fried chicken, and sausages. These are often accompanied by baked beans, french fries, coleslaw, or toast. Soups and chili con carne are generally available.

Since the 1970s, many Greek immigrants have entered the business. As a result, gyro and souvlaki meats are now a common part of the repertoire, often served as a side dish with breakfast and as a replacement for bacon or sausage.

Café (musician)

Café is the stage name of Edson Aparecido da Silva, sometimes credited as Edson da Silva or Café da Silva, a percussionist, singer, composer, and music producer born in Villa Maria, São Paulo, Brazil. He moved to the U.S. in 1985.

He has recorded with Chuck Mangione, Steve Winwood, Jon Lucien, Dave Liebman, Eliane Elias, Rob Mounsey's Flying Monkey Orchestra, Edu Lobo, Batacoto, Gilberto Gil with Ernie Watts, Paquito d'Rivera, David Byrne, Steve Khan, Baden Powell, Tom Harrell, Richard Stoltzman, Joyce Moreno, Judy Niemack, Danny Gottlieb, Herbie Mann, Ana Caram, Bireli Lagrene, James Taylor, Djavan with Stevie Wonder, Sérgio Mendes, Randy Brecker, Nilson Matta, Roni Ben-Hur, and Rachel Portman.

He has appeared with Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Simone, James Last, Phillippe Saisse, Sadao Watanabe, The New York Samba Band, Roberta Flack, David Byrne, Tania Maria, Herbie Mann, Larry Coryell, Morthiam, Gato Barbieri, Vinx, Pepeu Gomes, Michael Franks, Harry Belafonte, Mick Jagger, Margareth Menezes, Ashford & Simpson with Maya Angelou, Michael Brecker, Paul Winter, Astrud Gilberto, Jose Neto, Betty Buckley, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Alex Foster, Lew Soloff, Manfredo Fest, David Kikoski, Aydin Essen, Vinicius Cantuaria, Claudio Roditi, Tony Cedras, and Dianne Reeves, among others.