Download Free Anna Maria Strada Prima Donna Of G F Handel Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Anna Maria Strada Prima Donna Of G F Handel and write the review.

George Frideric Handel's longest continuous collaboration with a leading singer took place between 1729 and 1737 with Anna Maria Strada del Pò (1703‒1775), a soprano who may have sung 'entirely di petto', i.e. with a chest-like vocal production in the head range as well, powerfully and sonorously. The investigation of her peculiar vocal features and career, in connection with the music written for her by Handel and other composers, involved musicological research methods as well as findings of the historically informed performance practice. Conclusions rest on three main pillars: the musical sources; the surviving descriptions of her singing, and period treatises; completed with the author's practical experiences as a classical singer.
What should we consider when thinking about the relationship between an onstage performance and the story the performance tells? A Poetics of Handel's Operas explores this question by analyzing the narratives of Handel's operas in relation to the rich representational fabric of performance used to convey them. Nathan Link notes that in most storytelling genres, the audience can naturally discern between a story and the way that story is represented: with film, for example, the viewer would recognize that a character hears neither her own voiceover nor the ambient music that accompanies it, whereas in discussions of opera, some audiences may be distracted by the seemingly artificial nature of such conventions as characters singing their dialogue. Link proposes that when engaging with opera, distinguishing between the performance we see and hear on the stage and the story represented offers a meaningful approach to engaging with and interpreting the work. Handel's operas are today the most-performed works in the Baroque opera seria tradition. This genre, with its intricate dramaturgy and esoteric conventions, stands to gain much from an investigation into the relationships between the onstage performance and the story to which that performance directs us. In his analysis, Link offers theoretical studies on opera and narratological theories of literature, drama, and film, providing rich engagement with Handel's work and what it conveys about the relationship between text, story, and performance.
In Early Modern times, techniques of assembling, compiling and arranging pre-existing material were part of the established working methods in many arts. In the world of 18th-century opera, such practices ensured that operas could become a commercial success because the substitution or compilation of arias fitting the singer's abilities proved the best recipe for fulfilling the expectations of audiences. Known as »pasticcios« since the 18th-century, these operas have long been considered inferior patchwork. The volume collects essays that reconsider the pasticcio, contextualize it, define its preconditions, look at its material aspects and uncover its aesthetical principles.
A literary masterpiece that waited over 200 years to be discovered, The Diary of Countess Anna Maria Berezowska, A True Story, is a unique, first-hand account by a young aristocrat unwittingly caught up in the brutal armed invasion of Poland, her beloved homeland, during the Polish-Russian War at the end of the 18th century. It reads like a romantic mystery saga, although it is authentic nonfiction replete with historical and cultural facts. It was translated into English by John A. Stelnicki, Anna's direct descendant, over 60 years ago. Countess Anna and her writings miraculously survived raging fires and blizzards, murderous pillaging and ambush, imprisonment, near starvation, and other narrow escapes from death. Her descriptions of people from all social classes including Polish peasants and servants, are unprecedented. The unaffected way she confides her sincere emotions concerning love captivate and enchant. This intimate narrative cries through to generations beyond, disclosing such vital current issues as rape victimization, unplanned pregnancy, social class injustices, religious differences, constraining traditions, assaults on women, forced confinement, war, betrayal... thus linking that bygone era with life today. Our fascinating heroine also cannot resist peeking into and copying down racy extracts from her lascivious cousin Sophia's diary, My Delights, detailing her wanton sexual adventures. Both Anna and Sophia, as well as the other unforgettable characters, cope quite diversely with the final full capitulation of their nation, Europe's first constitutional democracy.
This encyclopedia includes entries for 1,153 world premiere (and other significant) performances of operas in Europe, the United States, Latin America and Russia. Entries offer details about key persons, arias, interesting facts, and date and location of each premiere. There is a biographical dictionary with 1,288 entries on historical and modern operatic singers, composers, librettists, and conductors. Fully indexed and with a bibliography.
Everyone is familiar with the words diva or prima donna, which have come to mean a (usually) outrageous operatic soprano, but there was a time when the star of the show was more often a contralto, or a soprano singing in today's mezzo-soprano range. This performer was referred to as an alto. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the male and female leading roles were likely to be sung by emasculated males, the alto castrati, although there were many great female altos during this period as well. The music for these fantastic artists, written by such composers as Porpora, Vinci, Hasse, and even Handel, has been largely forgotten. At the beginning of the 19th century, as the castrati died out, their roles were often assumed by female altos referred to as musici. New repertoire continued to be written for them by Rossini and others, but gradually, this musical tradition and technique was lost. Now, however, because of the talent and industry of such gifted artists as Marilyn Horne, Cecilia Bartoli, and Joyce DiDonato, and the sudden ease with which the performance of these forgotten works can be obtained, there is a resurgence of interest in the performance and preservation of this lost art. Alto: The Voice of Bel Canto examines the careers of nearly 320 great alto singers, including the great castrati, from the dawn of opera in 1597 to the present. The music of the composers who wrote for the alto voice is discussed along with musical examples and suggestions for listening. The exploration of the greatest altos’ careers and techniques offers inspiration for aspiring young singers as well as absorbing reading for the music lover who wants to know more about the fascinating world of opera.