Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Although Massenet wrote and completed his opera in 1887, it did not receive any performance until it premiered at the Imperial Theatre Hofoper in Vienna on February 16, 1892, in a German version translated by Max Kalbeck. It had a great success. The French-language premiere followed in Geneva on December 27, 1892,. The UK premiere was at Covent Garden, London, on June 11, 1894. His colleague, James Camner, reviewing the Opera d'Oro reissue in 2003, called it "one of the treasures of recorded opera. ... Unfortunately, the transfer is over filtered. The high frequencies are lost, giving the performance an unwarranted flatness. Happily, Naxos offers the same recording expertly transferred by Ward Marston, and acquiring it is a must." Alan Blyth, while giving a very positive review of the reissue of the recording with Albert Lance as Werther and Rita Gorr as Charlotte in 2004, nevertheless pointed out that "neither quite has the ideal subtlety of the best Massenet singers, such as Vallin and Thill on the classic, pre-war set, now on Naxos".

In addition, many of the greatest French and Italian singers of the past century or more have recorded individual arias from Massenet's masterwork.

Notes

References

Werther at Bob's Universe

External links

Werther: Full orchestral score at indiana.edu

Werther: English libretto

Category:Operas by Jules Massenet Category:French-language operas Category:1892 operas Category:Operas Category:Characters in German novels Category:Operas set in Germany

Jonas Kaufmann (born 10 July 1969) is a lirico spinto tenor born in Munich, region Bayern, Germany.

Kaufmann completed his musical studies in his native Munich and also participated in master classes with James King, Hans Hotter, and Josef Metternich.

He began his professional career at Staatstheater Saarbrücken in 1994 and was soon invited to make debuts in important German theaters, such as the Stuttgart Opera and Hamburg State Opera, as well as international debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opéra National de Paris, and La Scala. He made his Salzburg Festival debut in 1999 in a new production of Busoni's Doktor Faust and returned there in 2003 as Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and for concerts of the Beethoven's Ninth with the Berlin Philharmonic.

He has performed in Covent Garden in 2006/2007 in the role of Don José in Bizet's Carmen to critical acclaim, and also sang Alfredo in La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera and in Covent Garden in 2008. In May 2008, Kaufmann made his role debut as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca in Covent Garden, again to critical acclaim.

In 2008/2009 he performed Manon in Chicago opposite Natalie Dessay, and the title role of a new production of Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera. He sang that part also at the Bayreuth Festival in the opening night 25 July 2010, staged by Hans Neuenfels and conducted by Andris Nelsons.

His debut recording with Decca, Romantic Arias, was released in January 2008. He has also recorded a Schubert song-cycle with the same label and the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for EMI.

In January 2010 he assumed the title role in Massenet's WERTHER at the Opera Bastille in Paris and this was recorded in performance and released on DVD in November 2010.

In April 2011 he returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Siegmund in director Robert Lepage's new production of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre the second part of his much larger work Der Ring des Nibelungen which will be presented in it's entirety during the 2011-2012 Season. He stars opposite Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde, Stephanie Blythe as Fricka, and Bryn Terfel as Wotan.

Personal life

Kaufmann lives in Zürich, Switzerland

References

External links

Official Website jonaskaufmann.com

Official Website jonas-kaufmann.com

Jonas Kaufmann on Decca

Jonas Kaufmann on bach-cantatas

Unofficial Website

MySpace Website

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:People from Munich Category:German opera singers Category:Operatic tenors Category:German tenors

]] Sergei Yakovlevich Lemeshev (, born , Staroye Knyazevo, Tver District – died June 26, 1977, Moscow) was a Soviet operatic lyric tenor.

Biography

Lemeshev was born into a peasant family, and his father wanted him to become a cobbler. In 1914, he left a parish school and was sent to be trained to make shoes in St Petersburg. In 1917, he graduated from school in Tver, where he attended vocal training. He began first at a local workers' club and later moved to Moscow.

Between 1921-1925, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Nazari Raisky (1875-1958). In 1924, he sang in the opera studio of Konstantin Stanislavsky. From 1926-1931, he sang in the theatres of Sverdlovsk, Harbin, and Tbilisi. In 1931, he was invited to the Bolshoi Theatre, where he sang the roles of Tsar Berendei (The Snow Maiden), Lensky (Eugene Onegin), and Gerald (Lakmé). Along with his friendly rival Ivan Kozlovsky (1900-1993), he was the leading tenor at the Bolshoi until 1956.

While Lemeshev was one of the leading tenors of the Bolshoi Theatre, he was admired by fans who were jokingly called "lemeshistki." The theatre lobby was a venue for scuffles between the "lemeshistki" and the "kozlovityanki", as Kozlovsky's fans were known.

Lemeshev's roles included Levko in May Night, Zvezdochyot (the Astrologer) in The Golden Cockerel, the Indian guest in Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Boyan in Ruslan and Ludmila by Mikhail Glinka, Dubrovskiy in the opera of the same title by Eduard Napravnik, and the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto, among others. Lensky was his signature role, however, and he played it more that 500 times from 1927 onwards. He performed it for the last time on his 70th birthday, after suffering three heart attacks and having a lung removed.

He played the leading character in the triumphant Russian film "A Musical Story" (Музыкальная история, Muzykalnaya Istoriya) (1940).

In 1941, he was awarded the Stalin Prize.

Asteroid number 4561 received the name Lemeshev in 1978, a year after Sergei Lemeshev's death.

Recordings

Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin, cond. Boris Khaikin, Bolshoi Theatre (CD) Label: Opera D'oro (1956 studio recording, remastered), 1999

Rimsky-Korsakov - May Night, cond. Vasili Nebolsin, Bolshoi Theatre (3 LP Monarch MWL 338-340), about 1948.

Scenes and Arias from Operas - Sergei Lemeshev (CD) Label: Yedang Entertainment, 2002

Lebendige Vergangenheit: Sergei Lemeshev, Preiser Records Audio CD (July 4, 1998)

see the link for more information

Sound samples

Lemeshev: La donna e mobile. (Verdi: Rigoletto). Rec.: 1956. Source: Discovery Classics. File: mp3pro at 16 kbit/s. Size: 323 kb.

Quotations about Lemeshev

"Soft spoken and self-effacing, Lemeshev hated his star status and all the pomp and partying that it implied. His workaholic attitude and exactingness were legendary and directors, conductors, accompanists, and fellow singers always found him a nice and easygoing man everyone loved to work with…" (Voice of Russia see the link )

"He sang sul soffio (leaning on the breath), avoided stressful abdominal respiration (only Caruso could do it), and directed the sound current to the mask, the method of singing which was so much Lauri-Volpi's gospel." (Dr. Joseph Fragala, see the link )

Bibliography

Vasiliev, Viktor Dmitrievich: Doroga k Lemeshevu, Tver' ,2002, ISBN 5-87049-247-5

External links

Grandi Tenori

Peoples in Russian

Filmography

Voice of Russia: The Rivals

Biography of Sergei Lemeshev

History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration

Category:1902 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Russian opera singers Category:People's Artists of the USSR Category:Soviet singers Category:Operatic tenors Category:Stalin Prize winners Category:Moscow Conservatory alumni Category:People from Tver Oblast

Emilio Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born February 22, 1972), is a Mexican-born tenor who settled in France and in 2007 became a French citizen. He is of Austrian descent through his grandparents.

He was raised in Fuentes de Satélite, a suburban area of Greater Mexico City, Mexico. In an interview for Mexican television, Villazón told the story of how he was discovered as a tenor. He said that one day, as he was getting out of the shower in his apartment in Mexico City, somebody came knocking on his door; it was baritone Arturo Nieto, a friend of his neighbour, who had heard him singing while in the shower. He told Rolando he had an amazing voice and invited him to his music academy to develop his voice, there Rolando fell in love with opera.

He came to international attention in 1999 when he won both first prizes awarded in the Operalia international competition - both for opera and zarzuela. The same year he sang for the first time in Italy as des Grieux in Manon at the San Felice in Genoa. In 2000 he appeared for the first time at the Berlin State Opera - as Macduff in Macbeth. Over the years he has presented many of his best roles there, among them José in Carmen and des Grieux in Manon. In Munich in 2000 he sang Rodolfo in La bohème and in 2002 in Los Angeles, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. In 2003 he sang Rodolfo at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in England. He also enjoyed a huge success in the title role of Les Contes d'Hoffmann at Covent Garden, London. The following year he appeared, again singing the role of Alfredo in La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and in 2005, both at St. Petersburg and the Salzburg Festival.

In addition to his appearances on the opera stage, he has an active recording career. He has recorded four solo CDs with Virgin Classics and is additionally featured, along with Patrizia Ciofi and Topi Lehtipuu, on the recording of Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by Claudio Monteverdi, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm.

In August 2005, he sang a highly regarded Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, directed by Willy Decker. Co-starring was Anna Netrebko as Violetta. They have also appeared together in a video version of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore.

In 2007, Villazón switched his recording company and signed an exclusive long-term contract with Deutsche Grammophon. An album of zarzuelas (Gitano, Virgin Classics) conducted by Plácido Domingo, was released in Spring 2007. The U.S. version of his latest album Viva Villazón (Virgin Classics) was released in September 2007.

After suffering from severe voice alteration during the Met Concert Gala on April 3, 2007, Villazón cancelled most (if not all) of his performances from then on, including his debut recital at the Carnegie Hall and Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera, because of health problems.

His first appearance since then was at the Wiener Staatsoper in Werther, but he did not make any new recordings or live broadcasts. Although his schedule for 2008–2009 was originally full, many performances were also subsequently cancelled.

In April 2009, he announced that he was putting his career on hold while he underwent throat surgery. In 2010 he was a mentor and judge in the ITV show Popstar to Operastar,.

Discography

Romeo y Julieta CD (2002), Radio Televisión Española

Der Fliegende Holländer CD (2002), Teldec Classics

Berlioz: La Révolution Grecque CD (2004), EMI Classics

Italian Opera Arias CD (2004), Virgin Classics

Gounod & Massenet Arias CD (2005), Virgin Classics

Tristan und Isolde CDs and DVD (2005), EMI Classics

Don Carlo 2 DVDs (2005), Opus Arte

La Traviata CD (2005), Deutsche Grammophon

Merry Christmas (Soundtrack) CD (2005), Virgin Classics

Opera Recital CD; bonus edition with DVD (2006), Virgin Classics

La Traviata DVD; premium 2-DVD edition (behind the scenes, rehearsals, introduction to the opera etc.) (2006), Salzburger Festspiele 2005, Deutsche Grammophon

La Bohème DVD (2006), Bregenzer Festspiele 2002, ORF + Capriccio

Monteverdi: Il Combattimento CD; bonus edition with DVD (2006), Virgin Classics

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore DVD (2006), Virgin Classics

The Berlin Concert: Live from the Waldbühne DVD (2006), Deutsche Grammophon

Gitano CD; bonus edition with DVD (February 2007), Virgin Classics

Duets featuring Rolando Villazón and Anna Netrebko CD; bonus edition with DVD (March 2007), Deutsche Grammophon

Viva Villazón - Rolando Villazón - Best Of CD (2007), Virgin Classics

La Bohème Live recording CD (two disk set) (2008), Deutsche Grammophon

''Romeo et Juliette" 2 DVDs (Salzburger Festspiele 2008) (2009), Deutsche Grammophon

''Georg Friedrich Händel" CD/CD+DVD,(2009) Deutsche Grammophon

La Bohème DVD (2009)

References

External links

Rolando Villazón's official site

Rolando Villazón's Unofficial blog (Blog Villazonista)

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:Mexican male singers Category:Mexican opera singers Category:Operalia prize-winners Category:Operatic tenors Category:People from Mexico City

Roberto Alagna (born 7 June 1963) is a French operatic tenor of Sicilian (Italian) descent. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.

Early years

Alagna was born outside of the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian (Italian) immigrants . As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets for tips. Influenced primarily by the films of Mario Lanza, but also from recordings of many historic tenors, he then switched to opera, but remained largely self-taught.

Career

After winning the Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition, Alagna made his professional debut in 1988 as Alfredo Germont in La Traviata with the Glyndebourne touring company. This led to many engagements throughout the smaller cities in France and Italy, mainly again as Alfredo, a role he would eventually sing over 150 times. His reputation grew and he was soon invited to sing at major theaters such as La Scala in 1990, Covent Garden in 1992 and the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in 1996. His performances of Roméo in Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod at Covent Garden in 1994 (opposite Leontina Vaduva) catapulted him to international stardom.

Alagna opened the 2006/07 season at La Scala on 7 December 2006 in the new production of Aïda by Franco Zeffirelli. During the second performance on 10 December, Alagna, whose opening performance was considered ill-at-ease, was booed and whistled from the loggione (the least expensive seats at the very back of La Scala), and he walked off the stage. The tenor's reaction to his public criticism was denounced as immature and unprofessional by La Scala management and Zeffirelli, who said, “A professional should never behave in this way. Alagna is too sensitive, it is too easy to hurt his feelings. He does not know how to act like a true star.” The role of Radames was taken over successfully for the rest of the performance by his understudy Antonello Palombi, who entered on stage wearing jeans and a black shirt. In 2007 while at the Metropolitan Opera singing the role of Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Alagna replaced the indisposed Rolando Villazon as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette opposite Anna Netrebko for two performances in September and two performances in December. His wife had flown to New York to be with him for the September engagements, and as a result was fired from the Lyric Opera of Chicago for missing her rehearsal dates for La Bohème. Alagna was also engaged by the Metropolitan Opera at the last minute to cover for the indisposed Marco Berti in a 16 October 2007 performance of Aida. After the performance, the audience gave him a standing ovation. The December 15 performance of Roméo et Juliette starring Alagna and Netrebko was broadcast by the Met into 447 theaters worldwide in high definition and seen by about 97,000 people.

Personal life

Alagna's first wife, Florence Lancien, died of a brain tumor in 1994; they had one daughter, Ornella, who was born in 1992. In 1996 he married Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu. The couple have sung together often onstage and have made many recordings together both of duets and arias and complete operas. The two singers also starred in a film version of Puccini's Tosca directed by French film director Benoît Jacquot. In October 2009, Alagna said in an interview in Le Figaro that he and Angela Gheorghiu had separated. Following the separation, Gheorghiu declined to appear opposite him in Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in December 2009.

References

Metropolitan Opera, Alagna, Roberto (Tenor), performance record from MetOpera database

External links

Reviews, articles, photos and future schedules from The Opera Critic

Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks

Concert photos

Roberto Alagna in an excerpt from Tosca.

Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:People from Clichy-sous-Bois Category:French male singers Category:French opera singers Category:French tenors Category:Operatic tenors Category:French buskers Category:French people of Italian descent Category:French people of Sicilian descent

The Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda (born July 11, 1925) is a famous opera singer and recitalist. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history. Gedda's singing is best known for his beauty of tone, vocal control, and musical perception.

Biography

Nicolai Harry Gustav Gedda (gedda [written as 'gädda'] means 'pike' in Swedish) was born in Stockholm to a Swedish mother and a half-Russian father. Gedda was raised by his aunt Olga Gedda and his adoptive father Mihail Ustinov (a distant relative of Peter Ustinov), who sang bass in the Don Cossack Choir Serge Jaroff and was cantor in a Russian Orthodox church. Gedda grew up bilingual in Swedish and Russian. From 1929 to 1934 they lived in Leipzig, Germany, where young Nicolai learned German. They returned to Sweden after Hitler came to power. In school he learned later English, French and Latin. After leaving school he learned Italian by himself.

Gedda began his professional career as a bank teller in a local bank in Stockholm. One day he told a client that he was searching for a good singing teacher and the client recommended Carl Martin Öhman, a well known Wagnerian tenor from the 1920s who is also credited with discovering one of the world's famous tenors, Jussi Björling. Later he was teaching also the great Finnish bass Martti Talvela. Öhman was enthusiastic about Gedda and took him as a pupil, at the beginning without payment, because Gedda had to support his parents with his pay. After a few months he obtained a scholarship and was later able to pay for Öhman's lectures.

Opera career

An early appraisal of Gedda's singing was offered by Walter Legge, after first hearing Gedda sing for the role of Dmitry in a planned recording of Boris Godunov.

"On my arrival at the airport I was asked by a swarm of journalists if I were not interested in hearing their excellent young Swedish voices. Naturally I was interested, but I did not expect either the front page stories that appeared next morning or the mass of letters and almost incessant telephone calls asking to be heard. I had to ask the Director of the Opera for a room for a couple of days to hear about 100 young aspirants. The first to sing to me (at 9.30 in the morning) was Gedda who had I believe sung only once in public. He sang the Carmen Flower Song so tenderly yet passionately that I was moved almost to tears. He delivered the difficult rising scale ending with a clear and brilliant B flat. Almost apologetically I asked him to try to sing it as written -- pianissimo, rallentando and diminuendo. Without turning a hair he achieved the near-miracle, incredibly beautifully and without effort. I asked him to come back at 8 that evening and sent word to my wife that a great singer had fallen into my lap and to Dobrowen that, believe it or not, this 23-year-old Gedda was the heaven-sent Dmitry for our Boris."

He was understudy to Giuseppe Di Stefano at a performance of L'elisir d'amore at the Edinburgh Festival circa 1951.

In April 1952, at the age of 26, Gedda made his debut at the Royal Swedish Opera, performing the role of Chapelou in Adolphe Adam's Le postillon de Lonjumeau. One of the arias in this opera, "Mes amis, écoutez l'histoire", is considered one of the most difficult tenor arias in all of opera, as it calls for a demanding high D from the soloist. In this same year Gedda also performed the role of Hoffmann in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann and the tenor role in Der Rosenkavalier.

After an audition in Stockholm, Gedda gained the attention of conductor Herbert von Karajan, who took him to Italy. In 1953, he made his début at La Scala as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. In 1954, he made his Paris Opera debut in the tenor role in Weber's Oberon, and was given a permanent contract for several years. In 1957, Gedda made his Metropolitan Opera début in the title role of Gounod's Faust, and went on to sing 28 roles there over the next 26 years, including the world premieres of Barber's Vanessa and Menotti's The Last Savage. Gedda made his Royal Opera House Covent Garden début in 1954 as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto and has since returned to sing Benvenuto Cellini, Alfredo, Gustavus III, Nemorino and Lensky.

Gedda's recordings span a wide variety of styles and several of the roles may be considered amongst the most challenging in the entire operatic repertoire, notably Arnoldo in Rossini's Guglielmo Tell and Arturo in I puritani, both requiring stratospheric high-notes and an easy legato line.

A singer of unusual longevity, Gedda has been active well into his late 70s; in May 2001 he recorded the role of the Emperor Altoum in Puccini's Turandot and the role of the High Priest in Mozart's Idomeneo in June 2003.

Art song

In addition to his opera performances, Gedda cultivated an active parallel career as a recitalist, with a large repertoire of French, German, Scandinavian, and Russian art songs. As an interpreter of lieder he often performed with the pianist Sebastian Peschko. Gedda's language skills, intellectualism and intense musicality, as well as his extensive recordings, have rendered him particularly indispensable in this genre. Gedda has also taught and former students include Daryl Simpson of the Celtic Tenors

Honours

In 1965 he became Swedish Court Singer, and in 1966 a member of the Swedish Academy of Music. Also in 1966 he received K.u.K ( Kaiser und König) award for singing.In 1968 he was decorated with the Order "Litteris et artibus." In 1976 he got the golden Nobel medal and in 2007 he received Caruso prize. In 2010 he received from the French president Nicolas Sarcosy the Legion of Honor, or Légion d'honneur, the highest French decoration.

Nicolai Gedda was a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and in 1994 he was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy.

Biographies

He published his first memoirs, "Gåvan är inte gratis" (A gift is not free of charge) in 1977, with the help of his future wife, Aino Sellermark. Later the two wrote another biography: "Nicolai Gedda: My Life and Art", which was published by Amadeus Press in 1999.

Notes

External links

Nicolai Gedda Homepage - Un-official Nicolai Gedda fan website (in English and German).

Free download links - Nicolai Gedda in Operas and Recitals

YouTube - Lorengar & Gedda in Love duet Act 1 M. Butterfly 1/2 - Pilar Lorengar and Nicolai Gedda sing Puccini's "Vogliatemi Bene" from Madama Butterfly. Part 1 of 2.

YouTube - Lorengar & Gedda in Love duet Act 1 M. Butterfly 2/2 - Part 2 of 2.

J'ai revu nos amis from Fra Diavolo by Aubert

YouTube - Pour Berthe moi je soupire from Le prophète by Meyerbeer

YouTube - Magische Töne From Die Königin von Saba by Karl Goldmark

YouTube - Kuda, kuda vy udalilis (Evgenij Onjegin)

YouTube - Postillon de Lonjumeau (Adam)

Category:1925 births Category:Living people Category:Swedish male singers Category:Swedish opera singers Category:Operatic tenors Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Grammy Award winners

Name	Luciano Pavarotti
Caption	Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in Strelna, 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.
Birth date	October 12, 1935
Birth place	Modena, Italy
Death date	September 06, 2007
Death place	Modena, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Opera singer (tenor)
Years active	1961–2006
Signature	Luciano Pavarotti Signature.svg
Website	www.lucianopavarotti.com

Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century. He was one of "The Three Tenors" and became well-known for his televised concerts and media appearances. Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others.

Pavarotti began his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy. In 1961, he made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He sang in opera houses in addition to Italy, in the Netherlands, Vienna, London, Ankara, Budapest and Barcelona. The young tenor earned valuable experience and recognition while touring Australia at the invitation of soprano Joan Sutherland in 1965. He made his United States debut in Miami soon afterwards, also on Sutherland's recommendation. His position as a leading lyric tenor was consolidated in the years between 1966 and 1972, during which time he first appeared at Milan's La Scala and other major European houses. In 1968, he debuted at New York City's Metropolitan Opera as Rudolfo in Puccini's La bohème. At the Met in 1972, in the role of Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment he earned the title "King of the high Cs" when he sang the aria "Ah mes amis ... pour mon âme". He gained worldwide fame for the brilliance and beauty of his tone, especially into the upper register. He was at his best in bel canto operas, pre-Aida Verdi roles and Puccini works such as La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The late 1970s and 1980s saw Pavarotti continue to make significant appearances in the world's foremost opera houses.

Celebrity beyond the world of opera came to Pavarotti at the 1990 World Cup in Italy with performances of Puccini's "Nessun dorma", from Turandot, and as one of "The Three Tenors" in their famed first concert held on the eve of the tournament's final match. He sang on that occasion with fellow star tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, bringing opera highlights to a wider audience. Appearances in advertisements and with pop icons in concerts furthered his international celebrity.

His final performance in an opera was at the Metropolitan Opera in March 2004. Later that year, the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) inducted him into its Italian American Hall of Fame in recognition of his lifetime of work. During a ceremony held at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala just four days after his 69th birthday, singer Faith Hill presented Pavarotti with a birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to the opera legend.

The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, saw Pavarotti on stage for the last time, where he performed "Nessun dorma", with the crowd serving as the aria's chorus, and he received a thunderous standing ovation.

On 6 September 2007, he died at home in Modena from pancreatic cancer, aged 71.

Earlier life and musical training

Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker. Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money; its four members were crowded into a two-room apartment. According to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943. For the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming.

After abandoning the dream of becoming a football goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven years in vocal training. Pavarotti's earliest musical influences were his father's recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day - Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa and Enrico Caruso. Pavarotti's favourite tenor and idol was Giuseppe Di Stefano. He was also deeply influenced by Mario Lanza, saying, "In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror". At around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir.

After what appears to have been a normal childhood with a typical interest in sports — in Pavarotti's case football above all, he graduated from the Scuola Magistrale and faced the dilemma of a career choice. He was interested in pursuing a career as a professional football goalkeeper, but his mother convinced him to train as a teacher. He subsequently taught in an elementary school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out. Recognising the risk involved, his father gave his consent only reluctantly.

Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without remuneration. Not until he began these studies was Pavarotti aware that he had perfect pitch.

In 1955, he experienced his first singing success when he was a member of the Corale Rossini, a male voice choir from Modena that also included his father, which won first prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. He later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer. At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni. They married in 1961.

When his teacher Arrigo Pola moved to Japan, Pavarotti became a student of Ettore Campogalliani, who at that time was also teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend, Mirella Freni, whose mother worked with Luciano's mother in the cigar factory. Like Pavarotti, Freni was destined to operatic greatness; they were to share the stage many times and make memorable recordings together.

During his years of musical study, Pavarotti held part time jobs in order to sustain himself - first as an elementary school teacher and then as an insurance salesman. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns and without pay. When a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a "disastrous" concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision. Whatever the reason, the nodule not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography, "Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve".

Career

1960s–1970s

Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making his debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April 1961.

Very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera with the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as Rodolfo and as Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto. The same year saw his Royal Opera House debut, where he replaced an indisposed Giuseppe di Stefano as Rodolfo.

While generally successful, Pavarotti's early roles did not immediately propel him into the stardom that he would later enjoy. An early coup involved his connection with Joan Sutherland (and her conductor husband, Richard Bonynge), who in 1963 had sought a young tenor taller than herself to take along on her tour to Australia. At well over 6 feet tall and with his commanding physical presence, Pavarotti proved ideal. The two sang some forty performances over two months, and Pavarotti later credited Sutherland for the breathing technique that would sustain him over his career.

Pavarotti made his American début with the Greater Miami Opera in February 1965, singing in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland on the stage of the Miami-Dade County Auditorium in Miami. The tenor scheduled to perform that night became ill with no understudy. As Sutherland was traveling with him on tour, she recommended the young Pavarotti as he was well acquainted with the role.

Shortly after, on 28 April, Pavarotti made his La Scala debut in the revival of the famous Franco Zeffirelli production of La Bohème, with his childhood friend Mirella Freni singing Mimi and Herbert von Karajan conducting. Karajan had requested the singer's engagement. After an extended Australian tour, he returned to La Scala, where he added Tebaldo from I Capuleti e i Montecchi to his repertoire on 26 March 1966, with Giacomo Aragall as Romeo. His first appearance as Tonio in Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 2 June of that year. It was his performances of this role that would earn him the title of "King of the High Cs".

He scored another major triumph in Rome on 20 November 1969 when he sang in I Lombardi opposite Renata Scotto. This was recorded on a private label and widely distributed, as were various recordings of his I Capuleti e i Montecchi, usually with Aragall. Early commercial recordings included a recital of Donizetti (the aria from Don Sebastiano was particularly highly regarded) and Verdi arias, as well as a complete L'Elisir d'Amore with Sutherland.

His major breakthrough in the United States came on 17 February 1972, in a production of La Fille du Régiment at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in which he drove the crowd into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signature aria. He achieved a record seventeen curtain calls.

Pavarotti sang his international recital début at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, on 1 February 1973, as part of the college's Fine Arts Program, now known as the Harriman-Jewell Series. Perspiring due to nerves and a lingering cold, the tenor clutched a handkerchief throughout the début. The prop became a signature part of his solo performances.

He began to give frequent television performances, starting with his performances as Rodolfo (La Bohème) in the first Live from the Met telecast in March 1977, which attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera. He won many Grammy awards and platinum and gold discs for his performances. In addition to the previously listed titles, his La Favorita with Fiorenza Cossotto and his I Puritani (1975) with Sutherland stand out.

In 1976, Pavarotti debuted at the Salzburg Festival, appearing in a solo recital on 31 July, accompanied by pianist Leone Magiera. Pavarotti returned to the festival in 1978 with a recital and as the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier, in 1983 with Idomeneo, and both in 1985 and 1988 with solo recitals.

In 1979, he was profiled in a cover story in the weekly magazine Time. That same year saw Pavarotti's return to the Vienna State Opera after an absence of fourteen years. With Herbert von Karajan conducting, Pavarotti sang Manrico in Il Trovatore. In 1978, he appeared in a solo recital on Live from Lincoln Center.

1980s–1990s

At the beginning of the 1980s, he set up The Pavarotti International Voice Competition for young singers, performing with the winners in 1982 in excerpts of La Bohème and L'Elisir d'Amore. The second competition, in 1986, staged excerpts of La Bohème and Un Ballo in Maschera. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his career, he brought the winners of the competition to Italy for gala performances of La Bohème in Modena and Genoa, and then to China where they staged performances of La Bohème in Beijing (Peking). To conclude the visit, Pavarotti performed the first ever concert in the Great Hall of the People before 10,000 people, receiving a standing ovation for nine effortless high Cs. The third competition in 1989 again staged performances of L'Elisir d'Amore and Un ballo in Maschera. The winners of the fifth competition accompanied Pavarotti in performances in Philadelphia in 1997.

In the mid-1980s, Pavarotti returned to two opera houses that had provided him with important breakthroughs, the Vienna State Opera and La Scala. Vienna saw Pavarotti as Rodolfo in La Bohème with Carlos Kleiber conducting and again Mirella Freni was Mimi; as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore; as Radames in Aïda conducted by Lorin Maazel; as Rodolfo in Luisa Miller; and as Gustavo in Un Ballo in Maschera conducted by Claudio Abbado. In 1996, Pavarotti appeared for the last time at the Staatsoper in Andrea Chenier.

In 1985, Pavarotti sang Radames at La Scala opposite Maria Chiara in a Luca Ronconi production conducted by Maazel, recorded on video. His performance of the aria "Celeste Aïda" received a two-minute ovation on the opening night. He was reunited with Mirella Freni for the San Francisco Opera production of La Bohème in 1988, also recorded on video. In 1992, La Scala saw Pavarotti in a new Zeffirelli production of Don Carlo, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Pavarotti's performance was heavily criticized by some observers and booed by parts of the audience.

Pavarotti became even better known throughout the world in 1990 when his rendition of Giacomo Puccini's aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot was taken as the theme song of BBC's TV coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The aria achieved pop status and remained his trademark song. This was followed by the hugely successful Three Tenors concert, held on the eve of the World Cup final at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome with fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and conductor Zubin Mehta, which became the biggest selling classical record of all time. A highlight of the concert, in which Pavarotti hammed up a famous portion of di Capua's "O Sole Mio" and was mimicked by Domingo and Carreras to the delight of the audience, became one of the most memorable moments in contemporary operatic history. Throughout the 1990s, Pavarotti appeared in many well-attended outdoor concerts, including his televised concert in London's Hyde Park, which drew a record attendance of 150,000. In June 1993, more than 500,000 listeners gathered for his free performance on the Great Lawn of New York's Central Park, while millions more around the world watched on television. The following September, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, he sang for an estimated crowd of 300,000. Following on from the original 1990 concert, the Three Tenors concerts were held during the Football World Cups: in Los Angeles in 1994, in Paris in 1998, and in Yokohama in 2002.

In 1995, Pavarotti's friends, the singer Lara Saint Paul (as Lara Cariaggi) and her husband showman Pier Quinto Cariaggi, who had produced and organised Pavarotti's 1990 FIFA World Cup Celebration Concert at the PalaTrussardi in Milan, produced and wrote the television documentary The Best is Yet to Come, an extensive biography about the life of Pavarotti. Lara Saint Paul was the interviewer for the documentary with Pavarotti, who spoke candidly about his life and career.

Pavarotti's rise to stardom was not without occasional difficulties, however. He earned a reputation as "The King of Cancellations" by frequently backing out of performances, and his unreliable nature led to poor relationships with some opera houses. This was brought into focus in 1989 when Ardis Krainik of the Lyric Opera of Chicago severed the house's 15-year relationship with the tenor. Over an eight-year period, Pavarotti had cancelled 26 out of 41 scheduled appearances at the Lyric, and the decisive move by Krainik to ban him for life was well-noted throughout the opera world, after the performer walked away from a season premiere less than two weeks before rehearsals began, saying pain from a sciatic nerve required two months of treatment.

On 12 December 1998, he became the first (and, to date, only) opera singer to perform on Saturday Night Live, singing alongside Vanessa L. Williams. He also sang with U2, in the band's 1995 song "Miss Sarajevo", and with Mercedes Sosa in a big concert at the Boca Juniors arena La Bombonera in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1999.

In 1998, Pavarotti was presented with the Grammy Legend Award. Given only on special occasions, as of 2007 it has only been awarded 15 times since its first presentation in 1990.

2000s

in Marseille]] In 2004, one of Pavarotti's former managers, Herbert Breslin, published a book, The King & I. and another for the best-selling classical album (In Concert by The Three Tenors). (The latter record is thus shared by fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras.)

In late 2003, he released his final compilation - and his first and only "crossover" album, Ti Adoro. Most of the 13 songs were written and produced by the Michele Centonze who had already helped produce the "Pavarotti and Friends" concerts between 1998 and 2000. The tenor described the album as a wedding gift to Nicoletta Mantovani.

Pavarotti began his farewell tour in 2004, at the age of 69, performing one last time in old and new locations, after more than four decades on the stage. Pavarotti gave his last performance in an opera at the New York Metropolitan Opera on 13 March 2004, for which he received a long standing ovation for his role as the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca. On 1 December 2004, he announced a 40-city farewell tour. Pavarotti and his manager, Terri Robson, commissioned impresario Harvey Goldsmith to produce the Worldwide Farewell Tour. His last full-scale performance was at the end of a two-month Australasian tour in Taiwan, in December 2005.

In March 2005, Pavarotti underwent neck surgery to repair two vertebrae. In early 2006, he underwent further back surgery and contracted an infection while in the hospital in New York, forcing cancellation of concerts in the U.S., Canada and the UK.

On 10 February 2006, Pavarotti sang "Nessun Dorma" at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, Italy at his final performance. In the last act of the opening ceremony, his performance received the longest and loudest ovation of the night from the international crowd. Leone Magiera, who directed the performance, revealed in his 2008 memoirs, Pavarotti Visto da Vicino, that the performance was prerecorded weeks earlier. "The orchestra pretended to play for the audience, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing. The effect was wonderful," he wrote. Pavarotti's manager, Terri Robson, said that the tenor had turned the Winter Olympic Committee's invitation down several times because it would have been impossible to sing late at night in the sub-zero conditions of Turin in February. The committee eventually persuaded him to take part by pre-recording the song.

Other work

Film and television

Pavarotti's one venture into film, a romantic comedy called Yes, Giorgio (1982), was roundly panned by the critics. He can be seen to better advantage in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's adaptation of Rigoletto for television, released that same year, or in his more than 20 live opera performances taped for television between 1978 and 1994, most of them with the Metropolitan Opera, and most available on DVD.

Humanitarianism

Pavarotti annually hosted the "Pavarotti and Friends" charity concerts in his home town of Modena in Italy, joining with singers from all parts of the music industry, including Bryan Adams, Bono, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Céline Dion, Elton John, Deep Purple, Queen, Sting, the Spice Girls, and Jon Bon Jovi, to raise money for several UN causes. Concerts were held for War Child, and victims of war and civil unrest in Bosnia, Guatemala, Kosovo and Iraq. After the war in Bosnia, he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Centre in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills. For these contributions, the city of Sarajevo named him an honorary citizen in 2006.

He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as the Spitak earthquake that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia in December 1988, and sang Gounod's Ave Maria with legendary French pop music star and ethnic Armenian Charles Aznavour.

He was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales. They raised money for the elimination of land mines worldwide. He was invited to sing at her funeral service, but declined to sing, as he felt he could not sing well "with his grief in his throat". Nonetheless, he attended the service.

In 1998, he was appointed the United Nations Messenger of Peace, using his fame to raise awareness of UN issues, including the Millennium Development Goals, HIV/AIDS, child rights, urban slums and poverty.

In 1999, Pavarotti performed a charity benefit concert in Beirut, to mark Lebanon's reemergence on the world stage after a brutal 15 year civil war. The largest concert held in Beirut since the end of the war, it was attended by 20,000 people who travelled from countries as distant as Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria.

In 2001, Pavarotti received the Nansen Medal from the UN High Commission for Refugees for his efforts raising money on behalf of refugees worldwide. Through benefit concerts and volunteer work, he has raised more than any other individual.

Other honours he received include the "Freedom of London Award" and The Red Cross "Award for Services to Humanity", for his work in raising money for that organization, and the 1998 "MusiCares Person of the Year", given to humanitarian heroes by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.

Death

While undertaking an international "farewell tour", Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2006. The tenor fought back against the implications of this diagnosis, undergoing major abdominal surgery and making plans for the resumption and conclusion of his singing commitments. On Thursday 6 September 2007, he died at home in Modena, aged 71. Within hours of his death his manager, Terri Robson, noted in an e-mail statement, "The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterized his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness".

According to several reports, just before he died, the singer had received both the sacraments of Penance and Anointing of the Sick from the Roman Catholic Church.

Pavarotti's funeral was held in Modena Cathedral. Romano Prodi and Kofi Annan attended. The Frecce Tricolori, the aerobatic demonstration team of the Italian Air Force, flew overhead, leaving green-white-red smoke trails. After a funeral procession through the centre of Modena, Pavarotti's coffin was taken the final ten kilometres to Montale Rangone, a village part of Castelnuovo Rangone, and interred in his parents' grave. The funeral, in its entirety, was also telecast live on CNN. The Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival Hall flew black flags in mourning. Tributes were published by many opera houses, such as London's Royal Opera House. The Italian football giant Juventus F.C., of which Pavarotti was a lifelong fan, was represented at the funeral and posted a farewell message on its website which said: "Ciao Luciano, black-and-white heart" referring to the team's famous stripes when they play on their home ground.

Tributes

On 12 October 2007, on what would have been Pavarotti's 72nd birthday, Google exhibited a logo using a cartoon of Pavarotti as the letter "L" in its name.

A tribute concert featuring many performers trained by Pavarotti himself was held on February 14, 2008 at New York City's Avery Fisher Hall.

Personal life

On 13 December 2003 he married his former personal assistant, Nicoletta Mantovani, with whom he already had a daughter, Alice. A second child, Riccardo, did not survive, because of complications at the time of birth in January 2003. Pavarotti is also survived by three other daughters by his first wife Adua, to whom he was married for 34 years: Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana. At the time of his death, he had one granddaughter.

Settlement of estate

His first will was opened the day after his death and a second will, within the same month of September. He left an estate outside his native Modena, a villa in Pesaro, a flat in Monte Carlo and three flats in New York City.

Pavarotti's widow's lawyers Giorgio Bernini, Anna Maria Bernini and manager Terri Robson announced on 30 June 2008 that his family amicably settled his estate – 300 million euros ($ 474.2 million, including $15 million in U.S. assets). Pavarotti drafted two wills before his death: one divided his assets by Italian law, giving half to his second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, and half to his four daughters; the second gave his U.S. holdings to Mantovani. The judge confirmed the compromise by the end of July 2008. However, a Pesaro public prosecutor, Massimo di Patria, investigated allegations that Pavarotti was not of sound mind when he signed the will. Pavarotti's estate has been settled "fairly", a lawyer for Pavarotti's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, said in statements after reports of a dispute between Ms. Mantovani and his three daughters from his first marriage.

Quote

Pavarotti himself summarised his life as follows:

"Penso che una vita per la musica sia una vita spesa bene ed è a questo che mi sono dedicato."

English translation: "I think a life for music is a well-spent one, and that's what I have dedicated mine to."

See also

Best selling music artists

Notes and references

External links

Official website

Discography at Discogs.com

Discography (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)

The Times obituary

Review of The King and I at theage.com.au

Luciano Pavarotti, Opera Tenor Site

Luciano Pavarotti- Obituary and Public Tribute

The Pavarotti Story

Pavarotti Video Biography by National Italian American Foundation NIAF

One of the absolutely last recordings of Luciano Pavarotti

Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games Finale

History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration

Category:1935 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Cancer deaths in Italy Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Italian opera singers Category:Italian Roman Catholics Category:Italian tenors Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Operatic tenors Category:People from Modena

Jules (Émile Frédéric) Massenet (May 12, 1842August 13, 1912) was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost total oblivion. Apart from Manon and Werther, his works were rarely performed. However, since the mid-1970s, many operas of his such as Thaïs and Esclarmonde have undergone periodic revivals.

Biography

Massenet was born in Montaud, then an outlying hamlet and now a part of the city of Saint-Étienne, in the Loire. When he was six, his family moved to Paris due to his father's ill-health. There, his mother (Adélaïde Massenet, née Royer; her husband's second wife) started taking piano pupils. She also taught Jules so well that at the age of 11 he was able to enter the Paris Conservatoire. He was still a student when his family moved from Paris to Chambéry, but Jules returned to Paris after a few months, living with a married member of his father's family by his first wife. To support himself during his studies, he worked as timpanist for six years at the Théâtre Lyrique, playing also other percussion instruments in other theatres, and working as a pianist in the Café de Belleville.

Although, at first, some of his teachers had not predicted for him any career in music, this changed in 1862 when he won the Grand Prix de Rome with his cantata David Rizzio, and spent three years in Rome. There he met Franz Liszt, at whose request he gave piano lessons to Louise-Constance 'Ninon' de Gressy, the daughter of a wealthy lady named Mme Sainte-Marie. Ninon was to become Massenet's wife in 1866.

His first opera, La grand' tante, was a one-act production at the Opéra-Comique in 1867. Nevertheless it was his dramatic oratorio Marie-Magdeleine (first performed in 1873) that won him praise from the likes of Tchaikovsky, d'Indy (who afterwards turned against him), and Gounod. His real mentor, though, was the composer Ambroise Thomas, a man with important contacts in theatrical milieux. Another important early patron was his publisher, Georges Hartmann, whose connections with journalistic circles aided him in becoming better known during the difficult initial years of his composing activity. Even Massenet's marriage to Ninon helped him a great deal in securing commissions and garnering fame in important social circles.

Massenet took a break from his composing to serve as a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War, but returned to his art following the end of the conflict in 1871. From 1878 he was professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory where his pupils included André Bloch, Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn, Georges Enesco, and Charles Koechlin. His greatest successes were Manon in 1884, Werther in 1892, and Thaïs in 1894. Notable later operas were Le jongleur de Notre-Dame, produced in 1902, and Don Quichotte, produced in Monte Carlo 1910, with the legendary Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin in the title-role.

In 1876 he received the Légion d'honneur, and was appointed a Grand Officer in 1899. In 1878 he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, to the exclusion of Camille Saint-Saëns. He was only 36, the youngest member ever elected to the Académie.

In addition to his operas, Massenet composed concert suites, ballet music, oratorios and cantatas and about two hundred songs. Some of his non-vocal output has achieved widespread popularity, and is commonly performed: for example the Méditation from Thaïs, which is a violin solo with orchestra, as well as the Aragonaise, from his opera Le Cid and the Élégie for cello and orchestra (from his incidental music to Les Érinnyes). The latter two pieces are commonly played by piano students, and the Élégie became world-famous in many arrangements.

Massenet died in Paris at the age of 70, after suffering from a long illness (cancer).

Being a very prolific, hard-working composer (over 25 extant operas, with his daily schedule starting frequently from as early as 4 a.m.), he created his pieces not "at the piano" (as so many other composers do), but entirely from his imagination. That ability greatly helped him to achieve his high standards as an orchestrator. Even in his loudest passages, the instrumental texture is always lucid. It is curious that he was also known to avoid all public dress rehearsals and performances of his works; often he would have to be informed by others of his own operatic successes.

The only known recording by Massenet is a scene from Sapho where he accompanies the soprano Georgette Leblanc on the piano; never published, it is in the Historical Sound Recordings collection of Yale University.

Compositions

, near Fontainebleau.]]

Operas

See List of operas by Massenet

Oratorios and cantatas

David Rizzio - 1863

Marie-Magdeleine - 1873

Ève - 1875

Narcisse - 1877

La Vierge - 1880

Biblis - 1886

La Terre Promise - 1900

Ballets

Le carillon - 1892

Cigale - 1904

Espada - 1908

L'histoire de Manon (arr. Leighton Lucas) - 1974

Orchestral compositions

Première suite d'orchestre - 1867

Scènes hongroises - 1870

Scènes pittoresques - 1874

Scènes dramatiques - 1875

Scènes napolitaines - 1876

Scènes de féerie - 1881

Scènes alsaciennes - 1882

Fantasy for cello and orchestra - 1897

Piano Concerto - 1903

Ouverture de concert

Overture to Racine's Phèdre

Sarabande espagnole

Incidental music

Les érinnyes (containing the famous Élégie) - 1873

Un drame sous Philippe II - 1875

La vie de bohème - 1876

L'Hetman - 1877

Notre-Dame de Paris - 1879

Michel Strogoff - 1880

Nana-Sahin - 1883

Théodora - 1884

Le crocodile - 1900

Phèdre - 1900

Le grillon du foyer - 1904

Le manteau du roi - 1907

Perce-Beige et les sept gnomes - 1909

Jérusalem - 1914

Song collections and cycles

Poëme d'Avril (Armand Silvestre), Op. 14, songs, declaimed poems and piano solos, c.1866, published 1868

Poëme pastoral (Florian and Armand Silvestre), baritone, 3 female voices, piano, 1870–72, published 1872

Chansons des bois d'Amaranthe (M. Legrand, after Redwitz), four solo voices (SATB) and piano, 1900, published 1901

Songs

À Colombine (Serenade d’Arlequin) (Louis Gallet)

À la trépassée (Armand Silvestre)

À la Zuecca (Alfred de Musset)

À Mignonne (Gustave Chouquet)

Adieu (Complainte) (Armand Silvestre)

Adieux (Gilbert)

Anniversaire (Armand Silvestre)

Aubade (Gabriel Prévost)

Automne (Paul Collin)

Berceuse (Gustave Chouquet)

Bonne nuit! (Camille Distel)

Ce que disent les cloches (Jean de la Vingtrie)

C'est l'amour (Victor Hugo)

Chant provençal (Michel Carré)

Crépuscule (Armand Silvestre)

Dans l'air plein de fils de soie (Armand Silvestre)

Declaration (Gustave Chouquet)

Élégie (Louis Gallet)

Epitaphe (Armand Silvestre)

Être aimé (Jules Massenet after Victor Hugo)

Guitare (Victor Hugo)

La mort de la cigale (Maurice Fauré)

La veillée du Petit Jésus (André (Theuriet)

La vie d'une rose, Op. 12, No. 3 (Jules Ruelle)

L'air du soir emportati (Armand Silvestre)

L'âme des oiseau (Elena Vacarescu)

Le portrait d'une enfant, Op. 12, No. 4 (Pierre de Ronsard)

Le sais-tu? (Stéphan Bordèse)

Le sentier perdu (Paul de Choudens)

Le verger (Camille Distel)

Les alcyons (Joseph Antoine Autran)

Les bois de pins (Camille Distel)

Les enfants

Les femmes de Magdala (Louis Gallet)

Les mains (Noel Bazan)

Les oiselets (Jacques Normand)

L'esclave, Op. 12, No. 1 (Théophile Gautier)

Lève-toi (Armand Silvestre)

Loin de moi ta lèvre Qui Ment (Jean Aicard)

Madrigal (Armand Silvestre)

Musette (Jean Pierre Claris de Florian)

Narcisse à la fontaine (Paul Collin)

Néére (Michel Carré)

Nouvelle chanson sur un vieil air (Victor Hugo)

Nuit d'Espagne (Louis Gallet)

Ouvre tes yeux bleus (Paul Robiquet)

Pensée d'automne (Armand Silvestre)

Pour qu'à l'espérance (Armand Silvestre)

Prélude (Armand Silvestre)

Première danse (Jacques Clary Jean Normand)

Puisqu’elle a pris ma vie (Paul Robiquet)

Que l'heure est donc brève (Armand Silvestre)

Rêvons, c'est l'heure (Paul Verlaine)

Riez-vous (Armand Silvestre)

Rondel de la belle au bois (Julien Gruaz)

Roses d’Octobre (Paul Collin)

Sérénade (Molière)

Sérénade aux mariés, Op. 12, No. 2 (Jules Ruelle)

Sérénade de Zanetto (François Coppée) *Sérénade du passant (François Coppée)

Si tu veux, Mignonne (Abbé Claude Georges Boyer)

Soir de rêve (Antonin Lugnier)

Soleil couchant (Victor Hugo)

Sonnet (Georges Pradel)

Sonnet matinal (Armand Silvestre)

Sonnet payen (Armand Silvestre)

Souhait (Jacques Normand)

Sous les branches (Armand Silvestre)

Souvenez-vous, Vierge Marie! (Georges Boyer)

Souvenir de Venise (Alfred de Musset)

Stances (Gilbert)

Sur la source (Armand Silvestre)

Un adieu (Armand Silvestre)

Un souffle de parfums (Armand Silvestre)

Voici que les grans lys (Armand Silvestre)

Voix suprême (Antoinette Lafaix-Gontié)

Vous aimerez demain (Armand Silvestre)

Other

Miscellaneous piano pieces

Massenet completed and orchestrated Léo Delibes' unfinished opera Kassya.

Prelude in C major for organ.

Media

Notes

References

Full text of My recollections at archive.org

External links

for cello and orchestra.

Masters of French Music: Jules Massenet by Arthur Hervey

[ All Music biographical notes on Massenet (in English)]

Extensive biography with list of references and compositions (in French)

Scores and Vocal Scores on Indiana University Bloomington Libraries:

Werther: Full orchestral score, French text only

Manon: Full orchestral score, French text only

Don Quichotte: Vocal score (piano reduction), French and English libretto

Category:1842 births Category:1912 deaths Category:People from Saint-Étienne Category:Romantic composers Category:Opera composers Category:French composers Category:Ballet composers Category:Prix de Rome for composition Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Category:Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur

Giuseppe Filianoti (born 11 January 1974) is an Italian lyric tenor from Reggio Calabria.

Early years

Born in 1974, the Italian tenor obtained his degree in Literature from the Università Degli Studi di Messina, in the Sicilian town of Messina. In 1997, he graduated from the 'Francesco Cilea' Conservatory in his hometown, studying under Anna Vandi. Filianoti then won a prestigious two-year scholarship to the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan. It was during this time that he met Alfredo Kraus, who became his mentor and his decisive influence in artistic approach, nuance, technique, and style.

Career

Filianoti made his professional début in 1998 at Bergamo in the title role of Dom Sébastien, by Gaetano Donizetti. In 1999, after singing Argirio in Tancredi at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, he was engaged by Riccardo Muti to sing in Paisello's Nina, o sia La pazza per amore with La Scala. In 2003, again under Muti, he opened the season of La Scala with Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon, and with La Scala and Daniel Barenboim he has performed the Verdi Requiem in Berlin, Tel Aviv, and Buenos Aires. He made his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden début in 2000 as Alfredo in La traviata, returning in the title role of Dom Sébastien in 2005 and as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore. He is a frequent guest at La Scala, where in addition to Moïse et Pharaon he has performed in Rigoletto and Lucia di Lammermoor, and he also has sung with the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in in the Italian capital.

In 2005 he made his American début at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, receiving rave reviews. At the Met he has also sang the role of the Duke in Rigoletto, Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, and Ruggero in La rondine. In the United States, in addition to the Met, he has appeared at the San Francisco Opera as Edgardo in Lucia and at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York as Federico in L'arlesiana. Nemorino was the role of his debut at the Los Angeles Opera in 2009 and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2010.

Giuseppe Filianoti has also performed in the major opera houses of Europe, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, and Madrid's Teatro Real, as well as leading houses in Barcelona and Florence. In recent times he has starred in a new production of L'elisir d'amore with the Munich State Opera and has starred as the title role in Les contes d'Hoffmann with the Opéra National de Paris.

Awards

In January 1999 Giuseppe Filianoti was the winner of both the First Prize and the Top Tenor prize in the Francisco Viñas Opera Competition, and later that same year he was the second prize winner in Operalia, The World Opera Competition. In 2004, he was awarded the Franco Abbiati Italian Critics´ Prize as Best Singer of the Year. In 2010, he was awarded the San Giorgio d'Oro honor by his hometown of Reggio Calabria, given annually to those from the area who have brought prestige to their hometown.

References

External links

Official Website

Biography on Neil Funkhouser Artists Management

Category:Operatic tenors Category:Italian opera singers Category:Operalia prize-winners Category:Living people Category:People from the Province of Reggio Calabria Category:1974 births

Elena Vasiliyevna Obraztsova () (b. in Leningrad, now St Petersburg Russia, on July 7, 1939) is a Russian mezzo-soprano, widely recognised as one of the greatest opera singers of all time, thanks to her outstanding stage presence and the vocal abilities.

As a child Obraztsova lived in Leningrad through the long siege (August 1941-January 1943) during World War II. In 1954-1957 Obraztsova studied in Taganrog's musical school named after Tchaikovsky and frequently participated in concerts onstage of Taganrog Theatre. In 1957-1958 Obraztsova studied in Rostov on Don's music school. In August 1958 Yelena Obraztsova passed the examinations and became a student at the Leningrad Conservatory. In 1963 she was invited to perform in a Bolshoi Theater production of Boris Gudonov in Moscow. Her introduction to the opera houses of Europe and the world was a recital in the Salle Pleyel in Paris.

She has played many roles throughout her career, including performances under the baton of such leading conductors as Claudio Abbado and Herbert von Karajan. In December 1977 she opened the 200th opera season in La Scala singing Don Carlo's Eboli with Abbado as conductor. In 1978 she played the title role of Carmen opposite Placido Domingo in Franco Zeffirelli's television production of the opera. She also appeared as Santuzza in Zeffirelli's film version of Cavalleria Rusticana in 1982.

On 27 December 1990 she was awarded the title of the Hero of Socialist Labor, Order of Lenin and golden medal Hammer and Sickle by the President of USSR for her contribution to the development of Soviet Music.

In June 2007 Obraztsova was appointed artistic director of opera at the Mikhaylovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. She also trains young soloists in her own cultural center in St. Petersburg. Obraztsova still appears regularly on stage at the Mikhailovsky in the role of the Countess in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades. In 2008 Ms Obraztsova has ended her artistic director contract with the Mikhailovsky to concentrate on the competition of her name and the recently announced project of International Academy of Music in St Petersburg. Obraztsova continues her collaboration with the Mikhailovsky in a capacity of the General Director's Artistic Advisor.

On July 7, 2009, Obraztsova's 70th birthday was marked with a special program at the Mikhailovsky Theater that included ballet performances, opera arias, excerpts from films, and jazz and piano recitals.

Notes

External links

Elena Obraztsova on YouTube

Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Order of Merit for the Fatherland recipients Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour

at his Metropolitan Opera debut.]]

Alfredo Kraus Trujillo (24 November 192710 September 1999) was a distinguished Spanish tenor of partly Austrian descent, particularly known for the artistry he brought to opera's bel canto roles. He was also considered an outstanding interpreter of the title role in Massenet's opera Werther, and especially of its famous aria, "Pourquoi me réveiller?"

Early years

Kraus was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands of Spain. He began his musical career at age four, when he took piano lessons, and he sang in the school choir by age eight. His older brother, Francisco Kraus Trujillo, a baritone, studied music and opera alongside him.

Career

After refining his technique singing Spanish zarzuela on stage in Madrid and Barcelona, Kraus made his professional operatic debut in Cairo during 1956 as the Duke in Rigoletto, which became one of his signature roles. In 1958, he sang Alfredo at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon in a production of La traviata with Maria Callas, a live recording of which was later released.

Kraus made his Covent Garden debut as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor in 1959 and his La Scala debut as Elvino in La sonnambula in 1960. He made his American debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1962, and his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1966 in Rigoletto, the role of his last performance there in 1994.

In subsequent decades, Kraus extended his repertoire to include more Italian operas such as Lucrezia Borgia, La fille du régiment, Linda di Chamounix, Don Pasquale and La favorita by Donizetti; and French operas such as Roméo et Juliette, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Faust and Lakmé, while continuing to sing his hallmark roles of Werther and of Des Grieux in Manon. He also recorded a number of rarely performed French operas including La jolie fille de Perth and Les pêcheurs de perles, both by Georges Bizet, and La muette de Portici by Daniel Auber. He also performed in some very well-known works, such as Don Giovanni and Faust.

Kraus came to be virtually synonymous with such lyric tenor roles as Werther, Faust, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Nemorino, and Arturo. He was also known for his performances of Spanish music, notably many classics from the zarzuela repertoire, which he continued to perform live on stage in Spain until the end of his career, and many of which he recorded complete for EMI Spain as well as for his own label, Carillon.

Technique

Thanks to his superlative technique and careful husbanding of his vocal resources, Kraus sang onstage until his early 70s. He studied voice technique in Milan with Mercedes Llopart.

Kraus was also noted for extremely refined musicianship, accompanied by a seemingly effortless high register. As a result, many opera connoisseurs consider him to be one of the best tenors of the end of the 20th century. Several interviews with Kraus show him to be an intelligent man with a great deal of thought behind the artistic choices in his roles. He was admired for his cultivated musical education and his complete respect for his chosen profession. His first priority was the integrity of his artistic interpretation of a piece, rather than his formidable range and excellent technique.

He performed all over the world, including the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal in Caracas, Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile, Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, and the Liceu in Barcelona.

In 1991, Kraus was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award. In 1997, his home city of Las Palmas opened The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in his honor.

Later years

The loss of his wife in 1997 affected Kraus so deeply that he stopped performing for eight months. A proud and strong-willed man, he eventually returned to the stage and to teaching. He said, "I don't have the will for singing but I must do it, because, in a sense, it is a sign that I have overcome the tragedy. Singing is a form of admitting that I'm alive."

Kraus died on 10 September 1999 in Madrid, at the age of 71, after a long illness.

Complete repertoire

References

Forbes, Elizabeth, Obituary: Alfredo Kraus, The Independent, September 14, 1999.

Hamilton, David. (1987). The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the World of Opera. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo: Simon and Schuster. p. 182. ISBN 0-671-61732-X.

Sadie, Stanley and Christina Bashford. (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. p. 1039 ISBN 0-935859-92-6.

Sadie, Stanley and John Tyrrell. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 13, p. 874-5. ISBN 0-333-60800-3.

Rosenthal, Harold and John Warrack. (1979, 2nd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. London, New York and Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 265. ISBN 0-19-311318-X.

Warrack, John and Ewan West. (1996 3rd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 271. ISBN 0-19-280028-0.

External links

The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium

Discography (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)

Biography and discography (in Spanish)

Category:1927 births Category:1999 deaths Category:People from Gran Canaria Category:Spanish singers Category:Spanish male singers Category:Spanish opera singers Category:Operatic tenors Category:Spanish people of Austrian descent Category:Canarian musicians Category:Queen Sofía College of Music faculty