Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens

The Church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The Baroque is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music. The style started around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe.^[1]

The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant Reformation, that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement.^[2] The aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumphant power and control. Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence.

Etymology[link]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word baroque is derived from the Portuguese word "barroco", Spanish "barroco", or French "baroque", all of which refer to a "rough or imperfect pearl", though whether it entered those languages via Latin, Arabic, or some other source is uncertain.^[3] The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition, thought the term was derived from the Spanish barrueco, a large, irregularly-shaped pearl, and it was for a time confined to the craft of the jeweller.^[4] Others derive it from the mnemonic term "Baroco", a supposedly laboured form of syllogism in logical Scholastica.^[5]

In informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is "elaborate", with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The word "Baroque", like most periodic or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th and early 18th centuries. It is a French transliteration of the Portuguese phrase "pérola barroca", which means "irregular pearl", and natural pearls that deviate from the usual, regular forms so they do not have an axis of rotation are known as "baroque pearls".^{[citation needed]}

The term "Baroque" was initially used with a derogatory meaning, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. In particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, which sharply contrasted the clear and sober rationality of the Renaissance. Although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music, in an anonymous, satirical review of the première in October 1733 of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, printed in the Mercure de France in May 1734. The critic implied that the novelty in this opera was "du barocque", complaining that the music lacked coherent melody, was filled with unremitting dissonances, constantly changed key and meter, and speedily ran through every compositional device.^[6]

Modern usage[link]

In modern usage, the term "Baroque" may still be used, usually pejoratively, describing works of art, craft, or design that are thought to have excessive ornamentation or complexity of line, or, as a synonym for "Byzantine", to describe literature, computer software, contracts, or laws that are thought to be excessively complex, indirect, or obscure in language, to the extent of concealing or confusing their meaning.

The word was first rehabilitated by the Swiss-born art historian, Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) in his Renaissance und Barock (1888); Wölfflin identified the Baroque as "movement imported into mass," an art antithetic to Renaissance art. He did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Writers in French and English did not begin to treat Baroque as a respectable study until Wölfflin's influence had made German scholarship pre-eminent.^{[citation needed]}

Development[link]

Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598

The Baroque originated around 1600, the Council of Trent (1545–63), by which the Roman Catholic Church answered many questions of internal reform, addressed the representational arts by demanding that paintings and sculptures in church contexts should speak to the illiterate rather than to the well-informed. This turn toward a populist conception of the function of ecclesiastical art is seen by many art historians as driving the innovations of Caravaggio and the Carracci brothers, all of who were working (and competing for commissions) in Rome around 1600.

The appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, and theatrical (illustration, right). Baroque art drew on certain broad and heroic tendencies in Annibale Caracci and his circle, and found inspiration in other artists like Correggio and Caravaggio and Federico Barocci (illustration, left), nowadays sometimes termed 'proto-Baroque'. Germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo. Some general parallels in music make the expression "Baroque music" useful: there are contrasting phrase lengths, harmony and counterpoint have ousted polyphony, and orchestral color makes a stronger appearance. Even more generalized parallels perceived by some experts in philosophy, prose style and poetry, are harder to pinpoint.

Though Baroque was superseded in many centers by the Rococo style, beginning in France in the late 1720s, especially for interiors, paintings and the decorative arts, the Baroque style continued to be used in architecture until the advent of Neoclassicism in the later 18th century. See the Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace (though in a chaste exterior) whose construction began 1752.

In paintings Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures: less ambiguous, less arcane and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, a major Baroque art form. Baroque poses depend on contrapposto ("counterpoise"), the tension within the figures that move the planes of shoulders and hips in counterdirections. See Benini's David.

The dryer, less dramatic and coloristic, chastened later stages of 18th century Baroque architectural style are often seen as a separate Late Baroque manifestation, for example in buildings by Claude Perrault. Academic characteristics in the neo-Palladian style, epitomized by William Kent, are a parallel development in Britain and the British colonies: within interiors, Kent's furniture designs are vividly influenced by the Baroque furniture of Rome and Genoa, hierarchical tectonic sculptural elements, meant never to be moved from their positions, completed the wall decoration. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich, heavy detail.

The Baroque was defined by Heinrich Wölfflin as the age where the oval replaced the circle as the center of composition, that centralization replaced balance, and that coloristic and "painterly" effects began to become more prominent. Art historians, often Protestant ones, have traditionally emphasized that the Baroque style evolved during a time in which the Roman Catholic Church had to react against the many revolutionary cultural movements that produced a new science and new forms of religion— Reformation. It has been said that the monumental Baroque is a style that could give the Papacy, like secular absolute monarchies, a formal, imposing way of expression that could restore its prestige, at the point of becoming somehow symbolic of the Counter-Reformation.

Whether this is the case or not, it was successfully developed in Rome, where Baroque architecture widely renewed the central areas with perhaps the most important urbanistic revision.

Painting[link]

Still-life, by Portuguese painter Josefa de Óbidos, c.1679, Santarém, Portugal, Municipal Library

A defining statement of what Baroque signifies in painting is provided by the series of paintings executed by Peter Paul Rubens for Marie de Medici at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris (now at the Louvre),^[7] in which a Catholic painter satisfied a Catholic patron: Baroque-era conceptions of monarchy, iconography, handling of paint, and compositions as well as the depiction of space and movement.

Baroque style featured "exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism". Baroque art did not really depict the life style of the people at that time; however, "closely tied to the Counter-Reformation, this style melodramatically reaffirmed the emotional depths of the Catholic faith and glorified both church and monarchy" of their power and influence.^[8]

There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona; both approaching emotive dynamism with different styles. Another frequently cited work of Baroque art is Bernini's Saint Theresa in Ecstasy for the Cornaro chapel in Saint Maria della Vittoria, which brings together architecture, sculpture, and theatre into one grand conceit.^[9]

The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo.

A rather different art developed out of northern realist traditions in 17th century Dutch Golden Age painting, which had very little religious art, and little history painting, instead playing a crucial part in developing secular genres such as still life, genre paintings of everyday scenes, and landscape painting. While the Baroque nature of Rembrandt's art is clear, the label is less often used for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while also continuing to produce the traditional categories.

Sculpture[link]

In Baroque sculpture, groups of figures assumed new importance and there was a dynamic movement and energy of human forms— they spiraled around an empty central vortex, or reached outwards into the surrounding space. For the first time, Baroque sculpture often had multiple ideal viewing angles. The characteristic Baroque sculpture added extra-sculptural elements, for example, concealed lighting, or water fountains. Aleijadinho in Brazil was also one of the great names of baroque sculpture, and his master work is the set of statues of the Santuário de Bom Jesus de Matosinhos in Congonhas. The soapstone sculptures of old testament prophets around the terrace are considered amongst his finest work.

The architecture, sculpture and fountains of Bernini (1598–1680) give highly charged characteristics of Baroque style. Bernini was undoubtedly the most important sculptor of the Baroque period. He approached Michelangelo in his omnicompetence: Bernini sculpted, worked as an architect, painted, wrote plays, and staged spectacles. In the late 20th century Bernini was most valued for his sculpture, both for his virtuosity in carving marble and his ability to create figures that combine the physical and the spiritual. He was also a fine sculptor of bust portraits in high demand among the powerful.

Bernini's Cornaro chapel: the complete work of art[link]

A good example of Bernini's Baroque work is his St. Theresa in Ecstasy (1645–52), created for the Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. Bernini designed the entire chapel, a subsidiary space along the side of the church, for the Cornaro family.

Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Saint Theresa, the focal point of the chapel, is a soft white marble statue surrounded by a polychromatic marble architectural framing. This structure works to conceal a window which lights the statue from above. In shallow relief, sculpted figure-groups of the Cornaro family inhabit in opera boxes along the two side walls of the chapel. The setting places the viewer as a spectator in front of the statue with the Cornaro family leaning out of their box seats and craning forward to see the mystical ecstasy of the saint.

St. Theresa is highly idealized and in an imaginary setting. St. Theresa of Avila, a popular saint of the Catholic Reformation, wrote of her mystical experiences aimed at the nuns of her Carmelite Order; these writings had become popular reading among lay people interested in pursuing spirituality. In her writings, she described the love of God as piercing her heart like a burning arrow. Bernini literalizes this image by placing St. Theresa on a cloud while a Cupid figure holds a golden arrow (the arrow is made of metal) and smiles down at her. The angelic figure is not preparing to plunge the arrow into her heart— rather, he has withdrawn it. St. Theresa's face reflects not the anticipation of ecstasy, but her current fulfillment.

This is widely considered the genius of Baroque, although this mix of religious and erotic imagery was extremely offensive in the context of neoclassical restraint. However, Bernini was a devout Catholic and was not attempting to satirize the experience of a chaste nun. Rather, he aimed to portray religious experience as an intensely physical one. Theresa described her bodily reaction to spiritual enlightenment in a language of ecstasy used by many mystics, and Bernini's depiction is earnest.

The Cornaro family promotes itself discreetly in this chapel; they are represented visually, but are placed on the sides of the chapel, witnessing the event from balconies. As in an opera house, the Cornaro have a privileged position in respect to the viewer, in their private reserve, closer to the saint; the viewer, however, has a better view from the front. They attach their name to the chapel, but St. Theresa is the focus. It is a private chapel in the sense that no one could say mass on the altar beneath the statue (in 17th century and probably through the 19th) without permission from the family, but the only thing that divides the viewer from the image is the altar rail. The spectacle functions both as a demonstration of mysticism and as a piece of family pride.

Architecture[link]

Augustusburg Palace near Cologne

Trevi Fountain in Rome

In Baroque architecture, new emphasis was placed on bold massing, colonnades, domes, light-and-shade (chiaroscuro), 'painterly' color effects, and the bold play of volume and void. In interiors, Baroque movement around and through a void informed monumental staircases that had no parallel in previous architecture. The other Baroque innovation in worldly interiors was the state apartment, a processional sequence of increasingly rich interiors that culminated in a presence chamber or throne room or a state bedroom. The sequence of monumental stairs followed by a state apartment was copied in smaller scale everywhere in aristocratic dwellings of any pretensions.

Baroque architecture was taken up with enthusiasm in central Germany (see, e.g., Ludwigsburg Palace and Zwinger Dresden), Austria and Russia (see, e.g., Peterhof). In England the culmination of Baroque architecture was embodied in work by Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, from ca. 1660 to ca. 1725. Many examples of Baroque architecture and town planning are found in other European towns, and in Latin America. Town planning of this period featured radiating avenues intersecting in squares, which took cues from Baroque garden plans. In Sicily, Baroque developed new shapes and themes as in Noto, Ragusa and Acireale "Basilica di San Sebastiano".

Another example of Baroque architecture is the Cathedral of Morelia Michoacan in Mexico. Built in the 17th century by Vincenzo Barrochio, it is one of the many Baroque cathedrals in Mexico.

Francis Ching described Baroque architecture as "a style of architecture originating in Italy in the early 17th century and variously prevalent in Europe and the New World for a century and a half, characterized by free and sculptural use of the classical orders and ornament, dynamic opposition and interpenetration of spaces, and the dramatic combined effects of architecture, sculpture, painting, and the decorative arts."^[10]

Theatre[link]

In theatre, the elaborate conceits, multiplicity of plot turns, and variety of situations characteristic of Mannerism (Shakespeare's tragedies, for instance) were superseded by opera, which drew together all the arts into a unified whole.

Theatre evolved in the Baroque era and became a multimedia experience, starting with the actual architectural space. In fact, much of the technology used in current Broadway or commercial plays was invented and developed during this era. The stage could change from a romantic garden to the interior of a palace in a matter of seconds. The entire space became a framed selected area that only allows the users to see a specific action, hiding all the machinery and technology – mostly ropes and pulleys.

This technology affected the content of the narrated or performed pieces, practicing at its best the Deus ex Machina solution. Gods were finally able to come down – literally – from the heavens and rescue the hero in the most extreme and dangerous, even absurd situations.

The term Theatrum Mundi – the world is a stage – was also created. The social and political realm in the real world is manipulated in exactly the same way the actor and the machines are presenting/limiting what is being presented on stage, hiding selectively all the machinery that makes the actions happen.

The films Vatel, Farinelli, and the staging of Monteverdi's Orpheus at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, give a good idea of the style of productions of the Baroque period. The American musician William Christie and Les Arts Florissants have performed extensive research on all the French Baroque Opera, performing pieces from Charpentier and Lully, among others that are extremely faithful to the original 17th century creations.

Literature and philosophy[link]

Baroque actually expressed new values, which often are summarized in the use of metaphor and allegory, widely found in Baroque literature, and in the research for the "maraviglia" (wonder, astonishment – as in Marinism), the use of artifices. The psychological pain of Man – a theme disbanded after the Copernican and the Lutheran revolutions in search of solid anchors, a proof of an "ultimate human power" – was to be found in both the art and architecture of the Baroque period. Virtuosity was researched by artists (and the virtuoso became a common figure in any art) together with realism and care for details (some talk of a typical "intricacy").^{[citation needed]}

The privilege given to external forms had to compensate and balance the lack of content that has been observed in many Baroque works: Marino's "Maraviglia", for example, is practically made of the pure, mere form. Fantasy and imagination should be evoked in the spectator, in the reader, in the listener. All was focused around the individual Man, as a straight relationship between the artist, or directly the art and its user, its client. Art is then less distant from user, more directly approaching him, solving the cultural gap that used to keep art and user reciprocally far, by Maraviglia.^{[citation needed]} But the increased attention to the individual, also created in these schemes some important genres like the Romanzo (novel) and allowed popular or local forms of art, especially dialectal literature, to be put into evidence. In Italy this movement toward the single individual (that some define a "cultural descent", while others indicate it as a possible cause for the classical opposition to Baroque) caused Latin to be definitely replaced by Italian.^{[citation needed]}

In Spain, the baroque writers are framed in the Siglo de Oro. Naturalism and sharply critical points of view on Spanish society are common among such conceptista writers as Quevedo, while culterano authors emphasize the importance of form with complicated images and the use of hyperbaton. In Catalonia the baroque took hold as well in Catalan language, with representatives including poets and dramaturgs such as Francesc Fontanella and Francesc Vicenç Garcia as well as the unique emblem book Atheneo de Grandesa by Josep Romaguera. In Colonial Spanish America some of the best-known baroque writers were Sor Juana and Bernardo de Balbuena, in Mexico, and Juan de Espinosa Medrano and Juan del Valle y Caviedes, in Peru.^{[citation needed]}

In the Portuguese Empire the most famous baroque writer of the time was Father António Vieira, a Jesuit who lived in Brazil during the 18th century. Secondary writers are Gregório de Matos and Francisco Rodrigues Lobo.^{[citation needed]}

In English literature, the metaphysical poets represent a closely related movement; their poetry likewise sought unusual metaphors, which they then examined in often extensive detail. Their verse also manifests a taste for paradox, and deliberately inventive and unusual turns of phrase.^{[citation needed]}

For German Baroque literature, see German literature of the Baroque period.

Music[link]

George Frideric Handel, 1733

Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748

The term Baroque is also used to designate the style of music composed during a period that overlaps with that of Baroque art, but usually encompasses a slightly later period.

It is a still-debated question as to what extent Baroque music shares aesthetic principles with the visual and literary arts of the Baroque period. A fairly clear, shared element is a love of ornamentation, and it is perhaps significant that the role of ornament was greatly diminished in both music and architecture as the Baroque gave way to the Classical period.

It should be noted that the application of the term "Baroque" to music is a relatively recent development. The first use of the word "Baroque" in music was only in 1919, by Curt Sachs,^[11] and it was not until 1940 that it was first used in English (in an article published by Manfred Bukofzer).^[12]

Many musical forms were born in that era, like the concerto and sinfonia. Forms such as the sonata, cantata and oratorio flourished. Also, opera was born out of the experimentation of the Florentine Camerata, the creators of monody, who attempted to recreate the theatrical arts of the Ancient Greeks. An important technique used in baroque music was the use of ground bass, a repeated bass line. Dido's Lament by Henry Purcell is a famous example of this technique.

Composers and examples[link]

• Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643), L'Orfeo, favola in musica (1610)
• Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672), Symphoniae Sacrae (1629, 1647, 1650)
• Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687), Armide (1686)
• Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704), Mystery Sonatas (1681)
• John Blow (1649–1708), Venus and Adonis (1680–1687)
• Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706), Canon in D (1680)
• Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713), 12 concerti grossi
• Henry Purcell (1659–1695), Dido and Aeneas (1687)
• Tomaso Albinoni (1671–1751), Sonata a sei con tromba
• Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741), The Four Seasons
• Johann David Heinichen (1683–1729)
• Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764), Dardanus (1739)
• George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), Water Music Suite (1717)
• Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757), Sonatas for Cembalo or Harpsichord
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Brandenburgische Konzerte (1721)
• Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767), Der Tag des Gerichts (1762)
• Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736), Stabat Mater (1736)

See also[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Baroque art

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Baroque.

Nana Mizuki (水樹 奈々, Mizuki Nana^?), born Nana Kondō (近藤 奈々, Kondō Nana^?, January 21, 1980), is a popular Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress represented by the agency Sigma Seven.^[1] She was born and raised in Niihama, Ehime, Japan, Mizuki was trained as an enka singer. She made her debut as a voice actress in 1998; however, she released her debut single "Omoi", under the King Records label on December 6, 2000. A year later, she released her debut album, Supersonic Girl on December 5, 2001.^[2]

In the years that followed, Mizuki enjoyed modest success that concluded with the release of her single "Innocent Starter", which reached the top 10 Oricon singles chart, charting at No. 9.^[3] Since then, Mizuki's releases have charted steadily higher in Japan, establishing her as a successful singer in the country. Despite this, she remains a prolific voice actress, with over 130 voice roles in separate media. On June 3, 2009, her album Ultimate Diamond reached #1, her first release to do so;^[4] while her single "Phantom Minds", released on January 13, 2010, also charted at #1.^[5] Mizuki is the first voice actress to top the weekly Oricon albums chart and the weekly Oricon singles chart since its inception in 1968.^[5][6]

Early life[link]

Born in Niihama, Ehime, Japan, she began to train in enka when she was five years old.^[7] In 1993, she released Compact Cassette single "Tsugazakura" (つがざくら^?, lit. "Phyllodoce Nipponica") as "Nana Kondo".^[8] However, she passed the audition of game Noël: La Neige and became a voice actress.^[7]

Career[link]

Mizuki released an image song single titled "Girl's Age" under the name Chisato Kadokura in 1998. When she performed a concert at the age of 20, she was scouted by the Japanese record label King Records. Her debut single as Nana Mizuki, "Omoi", was released on December 6, 2000. Her 2004 song "Innocent Starter" became her first Top 10 single and her 2005 single "Eternal Blaze" reached No. 2 position on Japanese Oricon weekly single charts.^[7]

Mizuki won the "Best Musical Performance" award by her song "Justice to Believe" in the first Seiyū Awards in 2007. Since her seventh album Ultimate Diamond debuted at the No. 1 position on Oricon weekly album charts during the week of June 15, 2009, she became the first voice actress to reach the No. 1 position on the Oricon weekly album or single charts since its creation in 1968.^[9] Ultimate Diamond sold over 74,000 copies in the first week.^[4] In addition, her 21st single, "Phantom Minds", became the first voice actress single to top the charts, debuting at the No. 1 position on the issue of Oricon weekly single charts dated January 25, 2010.

On November 23, 2009, NHK announced that Mizuki would take part in the 60th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen of New Year's Eve. It was Mizuki's first time appearing on the show. Nana chose her song "Shin'ai" for her performance.^[10][11]

Many of the characters whom she has voiced were initially very shy/soft-spoken (however, after interactions with other people, they gradually opened up (e.g. Fate, Lili, Nyamo, Hinata, and Wrath), six of her characters have romantic feelings for the main characters (e.g. Oboro from Basilisk, Hinata Hyūga from Naruto, Colette Brunel from Tales of Symphonia, Tamao Tamamura from Shaman King and Moka Akashiya from Rosario + Vampire, while Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is left ambiguous in this regard), some of her characters craved maternal attention (e.g. Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and its sequels A's and StrikerS, Wrath and Maria), and she was also part of the voice actress quartet "Prits", alongside Yumiko Kobayashi, Natsuko Kuwatani and Hisayo Mochizuki (all four voiced characters in the anime Sister Princess). Nana Mizuki voices Microsoft's Japanese Windows 7 unofficial "OS-tan" mascot, Nanami Madobe. The mascot's name uses some wordplay on Mizuki's own name as well as the operating system ("Nana" = "seven").^[12][13]

In the middle of February 2010, Mizuki became her hometown (Niihama, Ehime)'s First Tourism Ambassador. The news was broadcasted during her Live Academy 2010, held in Kanagawa, Osaka, Aichi, Miyagi, Fukuoka, Ehime Prefecture Niihama Cultural Center's Hall. There were 7 lessons in total.^[14] In 2010, Mizuki won the Tomiyama Kei Award in the 4th Seiyuu Awards for her news hook in the year 2009. In the year 2010, she had also participated in 61st NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen singing "Phantom Minds", the single which had topped Oricon Charts.

On January 21, 2011 which was also her 31st birthday, she released her first autobiography, titled Shin Ai, to commemorate 10th year anniversary of her singing career. Mizuki won Top Pop Artists award in Billboard Japan Music Awards 2010 on February 6, 2011, together with 4 other artists: AKB48, Nishino Kana, SID and EXILE.^[15]

On November 30, 2011, it was announced that Mizuki Nana will be participating in the 62nd NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen. It will be her third time taking part in the program. Mizuki will have two-day concert at Tokyo Dome between December 3–4, 2011. She becomes the first voice actress and 8th female solo artists to hold a concert at Japan's largest concert hall.

In 2012, March 3, Mizuki Nana won Animation Artist of the Year 2011 award in Billboard Japan Music Awards 2011.^[16]

Voice acting roles[link]

Leading roles in bold.

Discography[link]

Concerts[link]

See also[link]

• Category:Nana Mizuki albums
• Category:Nana Mizuki songs

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website (Japanese)
• Official website at Sigma7 (Japanese)
• Official fan program (Japanese)
• Nana Mizuki at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Nana Mizuki Fan Forum
• Nana Mizuki discography at MusicBrainz
• Nana Mizuki Thai Fan Board

Andreas Scholl taking a bow in 2010

Andreas Scholl (born 10 November 1967) is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range. He is noted as a specialist in Baroque music.

Biography[link]

Childhood[link]

Scholl was born on 10 November 1967 in Eltville, Germany, and grew up in neighboring Kiedrich.^[1] All of his family members were singers. He was enrolled at the age of seven into the Kiedricher Chorbuben (Kiedrich Choir-Boys) — which was first documented in 1333 as "a schola of men assisting the priests on all Sundays, singing the Gregorian chant." At age 13, Andreas Scholl sang the second boy (his sister Elisabeth sang the first boy) in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. That same year, he was one of 20,000 choristers from all over the world gathered in Rome for a festival where Scholl was chosen to sing solo at Mass on 4 January 1981 and met Pope John Paul II. Along with his fellow choristers, Andreas Scholl was an extra in the film The Name of the Rose, playing a young monk standing alongside Sean Connery in scenes shot at Eberbach Abbey, near Kiedrich.

Musical education[link]

Scholl was 17 when the extent of his ability was recognized by the Chorbuben's voice coach from the Darmstadt Music Academy. He then sang for the tenor/countertenor Herbert Klein, who advised him that there were only two places he should study: either in London or at the early music conservatoire in Basel, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since an uncle had introduced Scholl to the voices of Paul Esswood and James Bowman, the leading European countertenors of the day, Scholl chose Bowman as a role model. Scholl sent a demo tape to René Jacobs to evaluate his talent. This resulted in Jacobs inviting Scholl to visit the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. However, Scholl had no first degree. Although the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis only offered post-graduate courses, Scholl was subsequently offered admission on the strength and quality of his voice after singing a Schubert song for the admissions board — which included René Jacobs.

At the Schola, Andreas Scholl's teacher was Richard Levitt, followed by Jacobs in his second year.^[2] Violinist Chiara Banchini and soprano Emma Kirkby were major influences, as Scholl began to specialise in the music of the Baroque. Scholl additionally studied with soprano Evelyn Tubb and lutenist Anthony Rooley. In addition to the Diploma of Ancient Music, for which his external examiner was James Bowman, Andreas Scholl garnered prizes from the Council of Europe and the Foundation Claude Nicolas Ledoux, and awards from Switzerland's Association Migros and Ernst Göhner Foundation.

Andreas Scholl has been teaching interpretation in the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, succeeding his own teacher, Richard Levitt, and is in much demand for master classes.

Career[link]

Early performances[link]

In 1988 Scholl performed Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Rüdesheim. In 1991 he appeared in Bach's St John Passion, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe in Antwerp.^[2] In 1993, Scholl stood in for René Jacobs at Jacobs' request at the Théâtre Grévin in Paris, causing a sensation. This performance of Bach’s Johannespassion was broadcast on Good Friday to a radio audience which included William Christie. Shortly thereafter, Christie and Scholl met on a train. The 1994 recording of Handel's Messiah with Les Arts Florissants resulted directly from this meeting.

Scholl performed Bach's Mass in B minor in 1995, conducted by Jacobs, and sang Purcell on a tour in France.^[2] In 1998 Scholl and his sister performed in Bach's St Matthew Passion, with Max Ciolek as the Evangelist and Max van Egmond as the Vox Christi, in St. Martin, Idstein.^[3] Scholl performed the title role of Solomon at The Proms. He gave recitals in Wigmore Hall and at the Brighton Festival.^[2]

Opera[link]

Scholl's major opera roles have been written for the 18th century alto castrato Senesino. They include his operatic debut at the Glyndebourne in 1998, Bertarido in Handel's Rodelinda, repeated in 1999 and 2002.^[4] Rodelinda was a huge success and he 'stopped the show' (Sunday Times). According to James Bowman, who describes himself as an unqualified admirer, 'people went into a kind of trance' when he sang Dove Sei. The Financial Times said of his Vivi tiranno: '... such intelligent virtuosity ... time stands still and you feel he is speaking to you.' In February 2002, Le Monde called him 'Le Roi Scholl' after his reprise of the role of Bertarido in the Paris production of the Glyndebourne Rodelinda.

Scholl performed this role also at the Metropolitan Opera in 2006, opposite Renée Fleming in the title role and Kobie van Rensburg, conducted by Patrick Summers, repeated in 2011.^[5] He performed the title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare in a Royal Danish Opera production in 2002 and 2005), reprised in Paris (2007) and Lausanne (2008).^[4] In 2008 he performed the role of Arsace in Handel's Partenope for the Royal Danish Opera. In 2010 he sang Giulio Cesare, this time opposite Cecilia Bartoli as Cleopatra, with Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie.^[4]

Concert[link]

In 1999, Scholl appeared with De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, conducted by Jos van Veldhoven in works of Bach, including his Missa in G (BWV 236). He performed in the Avery Fisher Hall Bach's Christmas Oratorio, conducted by Ton Koopman. In 2000 he sang in Japan several concerts of Bach's Mass in B minor, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki. In 2001, Scholl sang in Handel's Saul in Brussels and performed the title role in Handel's Solomon, conducted by Paul McCreesh. He sang Bach's St John Passion in the Thomaskirche, Leipzig.^[4] At the Bachfest Leipzig (de) 2003, he sang in the Mass in B minor, which traditionally closes the festival, with Letizia Scherrer, Mark Padmore and Sebastian Noack, choir and orchestra of the Collegium Vocale Gent, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe.^[6] In 2006 he sang on a tour of Europa Bach's solo cantatas Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170, and Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35, with the orchestra Accademia Bizantina. In 2007 he sang Saul again, at Eberbach Abbey with Trine Wilsberg Lund (Merab), Hannah Morrison (Michal), Andreas Karasiak (Jonathan) and the Schiersteiner Kantorei, conducted by Martin Lutz. In the Berliner Philharmonie he sang Handels Messiah with soloists of the Tölzer Knabenchor, the choir of Les Arts Florissants and the Berliner Philharmonic, conducted by Christie.^[4]

Andreas Scholl and members of the Baroque orchestra Accademia Bizantina in a concert of the Rheingau Musik Festival at the church of Hallgarten, 16 July 2011

In 2008 Andres Scholl made his debut with the New York Philharmonic, singing Handel's Messiah in Avery Fisher Hall, conducted by Ton Koopman.^[7] In 2011 Scholl made his debut at the Rheingau Musik Festival in three events, an interview, a trip to three churches with different concert programs, and an opera recital with his sister Elisabeth at Eberbach Abbey. In the Christophoruskirche of Wiesbaden-Schierstein he appeared with harpsichordist Tamar Halperin, in Hallgarten with members of the Accademia Bizantina, in the romanesque Basilika St. Aegidius of Mittelheim with the vocal trio White Raven. The opera recital with the chamber orchestra Accademia Bizantina contained works of Handel and Purcell, such as Handel's Rodelinda, Purcell's King Arthur, closing with the final love duet "Caro! Bella!" from Giulio Cesare in Egitto.^[8] In 2011 he performed the alto part of Handel's Messiah in St. Martin, Idstein, with Katia Plaschka, Ulrich Cordes and Markus Flaig.^[9] A review describes his perfect timing in the recitatives, his pronounced declamation, technically perfect interpretation and phrasing of the arias, and his devotion to Handel's music and Jennens's text.^[10] The Air "He was despised" was regarded as the center of the concert.^[9]