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.

Vanessa (telenovela)

Vanessa is a Mexican telenovela produced by Valentín Pimstein for Televisa in 1982. Is a remake of the successful Brazilian telenovela Idolo de Pano.

It starred by Lucía Méndez, Héctor Bonilla, Rogelio Guerra, Angélica Aragón and Nuria Bages.

Plot

Vanessa is a young girl who lives with her father José de Jesús and his brother Juan, both working as railway and have a small house near the tracks; Vanessa in order to help them get work in the textile factory of Cecile Saint Michel a powerful and successful woman who lives in a huge mansion with his grandsons Pierre and Luciano.

Cast

Jade (Chaos! Comics)

Jade is fictional comic book character published by Chaos! Comics.

Fictional character biography

Jade is a 4000-year-old vampire-sorceress who has been the leader of a powerful Shanghai crime family for over a millennium, a position she inherited from her father. For ages, it was a position she filled based on honor. Her competitors believe "Jade" is a title given to the woman who controlled the family in each generation.

In the 20th century, she comes to believe that China has lost much of its honor and dignity. In an effort to restore honor, she is using her supernatural powers to bring all the other Triad families under her control and through them, take control of China itself.

Standard Generalized Markup Language

The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 defines generalized markup:

HTML was theoretically an example of an SGML-based language until HTML 5, which admits that browsers cannot parse it as SGML (for compatibility reasons) and codifies exactly what they must do instead.

DocBook SGML and LinuxDoc are better examples, as they were used almost exclusively with actual SGML tools.

Standard versions

SGML is an ISO standard: "ISO 8879:1986 Information processing – Text and office systems – Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)", of which there are three versions:

Jade (American group)

Jade is an American hip hop soul group active during the early to mid-1990s. The group consisted of Tonya Kelly, Joi Marshall, and Di Reed. During their brief yet successful career, Jade released two studio albums, one live album, and a string of popular R&B singles.

History

The group Jade was originally composed of Joi Marshall and two other members named Angie and Debbie and, as such, was first known as JAD. However, when Angie and Debbie were dropped from the group, Tonya Kelly and Di Reed were signed on by producer Vassal Benford, and the group's name was extended to Jade. Tonya grew up in Chicago listening to jazz vocalists such as Sarah Vaughan and Nat King Cole. Joi was also from the Windy City but was raised on Motown, especially Diana Ross. Di grew up in Houston singing gospel anywhere she could.

Jade's first success was on the Class Act soundtrack in 1992. Their hit single "I Wanna Love You" was one of the breakout songs on the soundtrack, cracking the Top 10 of the R&B charts and reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their follow-up single "Don't Walk Away," was their biggest hit and climbed to #2 on the R&B chart and was certified gold by the RIAA in 1993. The single went on to sell 1.5 million copies worldwide. Subsequent singles "Looking for Mr. Do Right" and "One Woman" helped push their debut album Jade to the Max to platinum status, sparking a lengthy tour and spots on The Tonight Show, The Arsenio Hall Show, and the U.K.'s Top of the Pops.