Hagith (opera)
Hagith op. 25 is an opera in one act by the Polish composer and pianist Karol Szymanowski considered one of the greatest Polish composers of the 20th century. The opera premiered at the Grand Theatre, Warsaw in 1922, nine years after its creation. The libretto in German was written by the Viennese secessionist poet and Szymanowski's friend Felix Dörmann.
Background and performance history
Szymanowski wrote the opera in 1912–1913 while living in Vienna, Austria. The piano-and-vocal score was first published by Universal Edition A.G. Vienna in 1920. Musically and dramatically, Hagith has been compared to Richard Strauss's Salome. The opera made its premiere on May 13, 1922 at the Great Theatre, Warsaw, Poland, and it has been produced four times. Szymanowski commissioned a Polish translation of the text (by Stanisław Barącz), but the project was not successful.
The opera was criticized and disparaged in the interwar Poland notably by critic (and writer of prayer songs) Stanisław Niewiadomski, a devout Catholic and former official in the Austrian Partition, as well as other clericalists, due to its author's openly gay lifestyle.
Opera
Opera /ˈɒprə/ (Italian: [ˈɔːpera]; English plural: operas; Italian plural: opere [ˈɔːpere]) is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (libretto) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing: recitative, a speech-inflected style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 1800s has been led by a conductor.
Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. It started in Italy at the end of the 16th century (with Jacopo Peri's lost Dafne, produced in Florence in 1598) and soon spread through the rest of Europe: Schütz in Germany, Lully in France, and Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century. In the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe (except France), attracting foreign composers such as Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s. Today the most renowned figure of late 18th century opera is Mozart, who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas, especially The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze Di Figaro), Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, as well as The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), a landmark in the German tradition.
Opera (song)
"Opera", written by Buğra Uğur and Aysel Gürel, was the song performed by Çetin Alp & The Short Waves that represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983.
The song was performed 6th on the night, following Italy's Riccardo Fogli with "Per Lucia" and preceding Spain's Remedios Amaya with "Quién maneja mi barca". The song received no points from the 19 other countries taking part, placing joint last of 20 together with Spain who also failed to score.
The song was succeeded as Turkish representative at the 1984 contest by Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra with "Halay".
References
External links
Opera (Tosca album)
Opera is the debut studio album of Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber's electronic music project Tosca. It combines new material and previously released singles, including "Chocolate Elvis". "Irresistibly funky" (BBC), "the blues, and the thick sultry bass, makes it as sexy and melancholy as cigarette smoke after a one-night stand in a strange city" (Mixmag). It is "one of the few sure things in a modest genre" (Sasha Frere-Jones, LA Weekly).
Track list
All tracks written by Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber.
References
External links
http://www.toscamusic.com/discography/66-opera
Podcasts:
