Middle-earth

Middle-earth is the setting of much of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. The term is equivalent to the term Midgard of Norse mythology, describing the human-inhabited world, i.e. the central continent of world of Tolkien's imagined mythological past. Tolkien's most widely read works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, and Middle-earth has also become a short-hand to refer to the legendarium or its "fictional-universe".

Within his stories, Tolkien translated the name "Middle-earth" as Endor (or sometimes Endórë) and Ennor in the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin respectively, sometimes referring only to the continent that the stories take place on, with another southern continent called the Dark Land.

Middle-earth is the central continent of Earth (Arda) in an imaginary period of the Earth's past (Tolkien placed the end of the Third Age at about 6,000 years before his own time), in the sense of a "secondary or sub-creational reality". Its general position is reminiscent of Europe, with the environs of the Shire intended to be reminiscent of England (more specifically, the West Midlands, with Hobbiton set at the same latitude as Oxford).

Song

A song is a single (and often standalone) work of music intended to be sung by the human voice with distinct and fixed pitches and patterns using sound and silence and a variety of forms that often include the repetition of sections. Written words created specifically for music or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in classical music it is an art song. Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants. Songs in a simple style that are learned informally are often referred to as folk songs. Songs that are composed for professional singers are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appeal, are often composed by professional songwriters, composers and lyricists. Art songs are composed by trained classical composers for concert performances. Songs are performed live and recorded. Songs may also appear in plays, musical theatre, stage shows of any form, and within operas.

Plácido Domingo discography

Plácido Domingo has made hundreds of opera performances, music albums, and concert recordings throughout his career as an operatic tenor. From his first operatic leading role as Alfredo in La traviata in 1961, his major debuts continued in swift succession: Tosca at the Hamburg State Opera and Don Carlos at the Vienna State Opera in 1967; Adriana Lecouvreur at the Metropolitan Opera, Turandot in Verona Arena and La bohème in San Francisco in 1969; La Gioconda in 1970; Tosca in Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1971; La bohème at the Bavarian State Opera in 1972; Il trovatore at the Paris Opéra in 1973 and Don Carlo at the Salzburg Festival in 1975,Parsifal in 1992 at the Bayreuth Festival; and the list continues until today; the same role is often recorded more than once.

Other than full-length opera performance recordings, Domingo has also made many music albums, recording opera arias, live opera performances and concerts, and crossover songs in solo and duet. His albums have simultaneously appeared on Billboard charts of best-selling classical and crossover recordings; contributing to many gold and platinum records and nine Grammy awards.

Songs (2012 Plácido Domingo album)

Songs is a 2012 popular song album by Plácido Domingo for Sony Classical. Guests on the album include Katherine Jenkins singing "Come What May", Josh Groban in "Sous le ciel de Paris", Susan Boyle, and Harry Connick Jr. in "Time After Time" as well as a duet with his son Plácido Domingo Jr. The orchestra is conducted by Eugene Kohn.

Tracklist