Lorelei rock on the Rhine

Lorelei in 1900

Ice at the Lorelei in the winter of 1928/29

View of the Rhine as seen from the Lorelei

Ship accident near the Lorelei, January 2011

The Lorelei (also spelled Loreley) (German pronunciation: [loːʁəˈlaɪ]) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 metres above the waterline. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.

Lorelei is also the name of a feminine water spirit, similar to mermaids or Rhine maidens, associated with this rock in popular folklore and in works of music, art and literature.

Etymology[link]

The name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term "ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be: "murmur rock" or "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces which acted as a sort of amplifier, giving the rock its name.^[1] The murmuring is hard to hear today owing to the urbanization of the area. Other theories attribute the name to the many accidents, by combining the German verb "lauern" (to lurk, lie in wait) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".

Original folklore and the creation of the modern myth[link]

The rock and the murmur it creates have inspired various tales. An old legend envisioned dwarves living in caves in the rock.

In 1801 German author Clemens Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine as part of a fragmentary continuation of his novel Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter. It first told the story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lorelei, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards. Brentano had taken inspiration from Ovid and the Echo myth.

Statue of Lorelei: Heine memorial in the Bronx, New York

In 1824 Heinrich Heine seized on and adapted Brentano's theme in one of his most famous poems, Die Lorelei. It describes the eponymous female as a sort of siren who, sitting on the cliff above the Rhine and combing her golden hair, unwittingly distracted shipmen with her beauty and song, causing them to crash on the rocks. In 1837 Heine's lyrics were set to music by Friedrich Silcher in a song that became well known in German-speaking lands. A setting by Franz Liszt was also favored and over a score of other musicians have set the poem to music.^[2]

The Lorelei character, although originally imagined by Brentano, passed into German popular culture in the form described in the Heine-Silcher song and is commonly but mistakenly believed to have originated in an old folk tale. The French writer Guillaume Apollinaire took up the theme again in his poem "La Loreley", from the collection Alcools.

Accident[link]

A barge carrying 2,400 tonnes of sulphuric acid capsized on January 13, 2011 near the town of St. Goarshausen, home to the Lorelei rock, which marks the narrowest part of the Rhine, blocking traffic on one of Europe's busiest waterways amid a frantic search for two crew members.^[3]

References in works of art[link]

Works about, or referencing, the Lorelei:

• German composer Felix Mendelssohn began an opera in 1846 based on the legend of the Lorelei Rhine maidens for Swedish soprano Jenny Lind,^[4] however, he died before he had the chance to finish it ^[5]
• Two other completed operas from later that century were also written about the subject, Lurline by William Vincent Wallace and Loreley by Alfredo Catalani (first performed in 1860 and 1880 respectively)
• In Eichendorff's poem "Waldesgespräch", a rider meets a beautiful young woman in the forest who turns out to be "the witch Lorelei"; she tells him that he will never leave the forest
• Sylvia Plath wrote a poem entitled "Lorelei" (part of the collection The Colossus and Other Poems, first published in 1960)

A number of other musical works related to the subject of this article, along with others simply named "Lorelei", may be found in the disambiguation page.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Loreley

• Lorelei Info Information about the Lorelei rock and surrounding area
• Die Lorelei Heine poem with English translation
• The Lorelei Translation of the tale, from Ludwig Bechstein's German Saga Book
• Recordings from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project; search results for Loreley and Lorelei

Coordinates: 50°08′22″N 7°43′44″E / 50.13944°N 7.72889°E / 50.13944; 7.72889

The Pogues
Background information
Also known as	Pogue Mahone
Origin	Kings Cross, London, England
Genres	Celtic punk, folk punk
Years active	1982–1996, 2001–present
Website	Pogues.com
Members
Spider Stacy Jem Finer Shane MacGowan James Fearnley Andrew Ranken Phil Chevron Darryl Hunt Terry Woods
Past members
Cait O'Riordan Joe Strummer Dave Coulter James McNally Jamie Clarke

The Pogues are an Irish rock band from London, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before breaking up in 1996.^[1] The band reformed in 2001, and has been playing regularly ever since, most notably on the US East Coast around St Patrick's Day and across the UK and Ireland every December. The group has yet to record any new music and, according to Spider Stacy on Pogues.com, has no inclination to do so.

Their politically tinged music was informed by MacGowan and Stacy's punk backgrounds,^[2] yet used traditional Irish instruments such as the tin whistle, cittern, mandolin and accordion.

The Pogues were founded in Kings Cross,^[3] a district of North London, in 1982 as Pogue Mahone—pogue mahone being the Anglicisation of the Irish póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse".^[4]

Band history[link]

The roots of The Pogues were formed when MacGowan (vocals), Peter "Spider" Stacy (tin whistle), and Jem Finer (banjo) were together in an occasional band called The Millwall Chainsaws in the late 1970s after MacGowan and Stacy met in the toilets at a Ramones gig at The Roundhouse in 1977.^[5] MacGowan was already with The Nips, though when they broke up in 1980 he concentrated a bit more on Stacy's Millwall Chainsaws who changed their name to The New Republicans. During this period MacGowan and Finer auditioned unsuccessfully for a licence to busk at Covent Garden.^[6] In 1982 James Fearnley (accordion) joined MacGowan, Stacy, and Finer, calling the band Pogue Mahone. The new group played their first gig at The Pindar of Wakefield on 4 October 1982.^[7]

	"Haunted" noicon Sample of Caitlín O'Riordan singing "Haunted" with the Pogues.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

They then appeared at Gossips in Dean Street Soho on Thursday November 3rd with Trash Trash Trash and The Stingrays.

They later added Cait O'Riordan (bass) and Andrew Ranken (drums). The band played London pubs and clubs,^[8] and released a single, "Dark Streets of London",^[9] on their own, self-named label, gaining a small reputation—especially for their live performances. They came to the attention of the media and Stiff Records when they opened for The Clash on their 1984 tour.^[1] Shortening their name to "The Pogues" (partly due to BBC censorship following complaints from Gaelic speakers in Scotland) they released their first album Red Roses for Me on Stiff that October.

The band gained more attention when the UK Channel 4's influential music show The Tube made a video of their version of "Waxie's Dargle" for the show. The performance—featuring Spider Stacy repeatedly smashing himself over the head with a beer tray (in the manner of Bob Blackman's infamous "Mule Train/Mule Tray")—became a favourite with the viewers, but Stiff refused to release it as a single, feeling it was too late for it to help Red Roses for Me (in fact Stiff was by then in deep financial trouble). Nevertheless, it remained a favourite request for the show for many years.

With the aid of punk and New Wave forefather Elvis Costello they recorded the follow-up, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, in 1985 during which time guitarist Philip Chevron joined. The album title is a famous comment falsely attributed to Winston Churchill who was supposedly describing the "true" traditions of the British Royal Navy.^[10] The album cover featured The Raft of the Medusa, with the faces of the characters in Théodore Géricault's painting replaced with those of the band members. The album shows the band moving away from covers to original material. Shane MacGowan came into his own as a songwriter with this disc, offering up poetic story-telling, such as "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn" and "The Old Main Drag", as well as definitive interpretations of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" and Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (this had previously been covered by Shane's fellow punk contemporaries The Skids in 1981).

The band failed to take advantage of the momentum created by the strong artistic and commercial success of their second album. They first refused to record another album (offering up the four-track EP Poguetry in Motion instead); O'Riordan married Costello and left the band, to be replaced by bassist Darryl Hunt, formerly of Plummet Airlines and Pride of the Cross; and they added a multi-instrumentalist in Terry Woods, formerly of Steeleye Span. Looming over the band at this period (as throughout their entire career) was the increasingly erratic behaviour of their vocalist and principal songwriter, Shane MacGowan. Their record label, Stiff Records, went bankrupt soon after the 1987 release of the single "The Irish Rover" (with The Dubliners). Members of the band, including O'Riordian, acted in Alex Cox's Straight to Hell, and five songs by the band were included on the film's soundtrack album.

Success and breakup[link]

The band remained stable enough to record If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988 (with its Christmas hit duet with Kirsty MacColl "Fairytale of New York", which was voted "the best Christmas song ever" in VH1 UK polls in 2004) and 1989's Peace and Love.^[11] The band was at the peak of its commercial success, with both albums making the top 5 in the UK (numbers 3 and 5 respectively), but MacGowan was increasingly unreliable. He failed to turn up for the opening dates of their 1988 tour of America, and prevented the band from promoting their next album, Hell's Ditch, so in 1991 the band sacked him.^[2] Vocal duties were for a time handled by Joe Strummer, before Stacy finally took over permanently. After Strummer's departure, the remaining seven Pogues recorded Waiting for Herb, which contained the band's third and final top twenty single, "Tuesday Morning", which became their best-selling single internationally. Terry Woods and James Fearnley then left the band and were replaced by David Coulter and James McNally respectively. Within months of their departures, ill health forced Phil Chevron to leave the band; he was replaced by his former guitar technician, Jamie Clarke. This lineup recorded the band's seventh (and final) studio album, Pogue Mahone. The album was a commercial failure, and, following Jem Finer's decision to leave the band in 1996, the remaining members decided it was time to call it quits. According to Shane MacGowan, amongst the reasons of the breakup was disagreement concerning the political orientation of his songs, the band not wanting to sing too obvious pro-republican songs^[12] — though some of their previous songs were already politically engaged : for instance, Streams of Whiskey is about the poet and IRA member Brendan Behan. Soon after the breakup Shane MacGowan recorded a song called Paddy Public Enemy Number One as a tribute to the Republican leader Dominic McGlinchey, a former leader of the INLA killed a few years before.

Post-breakup[link]

After the Pogues' break-up, the three remaining long-term members (Spider Stacy, Andrew Ranken and Darryl Hunt) played together briefly as the Vendettas. They played mainly new Stacy-penned tracks, though Darryl Hunt also contributed songs, and the band's live set included a few Pogues songs. First Ranken then Hunt left the band, the latter going on to become singer/songwriter in an indie band called Bish, whose self-titled debut album was released in 2001. Ranken has gone on to play with a number of other bands, including hKippers, The Municipal Waterboard and, most recently, The Mysterious Wheels. In addition to The Vendettas who Stacy freely admits lost all attraction when the Pogues reformed, Spider continued to write and record music with various bands, including the James Walbourne, Filthy Thieving Bastards, Dropkick Murphys and Astral Social Club. Shane MacGowan founded Shane MacGowan and The Popes in 1992. They only managed two studio albums but struggled on until 2002. His autobiography A Drink With Shane MacGowan, co-written with his journalist girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke, was released in 2001. Jem Finer went into experimental music, playing a big part in a project known as "Longplayer", a piece of music designed to play continuously for 1,000 years without repeating itself. In 2005, Finer released the album Bum Steer with DB Bob (as DM Bob and Country Jem). James Fearnley moved to the United States shortly before leaving the Pogues. He was a member of The Low And Sweet Orchestra and later the Cranky George Trio. Philip Chevron reformed his former band The Radiators, which briefly included former Pogue Cait O'Riordan. Terry Woods formed The Bucks with Ron Kavana, releasing the album Dancin' To The Ceili Band in 1994. Later, he formed The Woods Band, releasing the album Music From The Four Corners of Hell in 2002.

Reunion[link]

The Pogues in Brixton, 2004

The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed nine shows in the UK and Ireland in December 2004. In 2002 Q magazine named The Pogues as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". In July 2005, the band—again including MacGowan—played at the annual Guilfest festival in Guildford before flying out to Japan where they played three dates. Japan is the last place they all played together before MacGowan was originally sacked in 1991, and they have a strong following there. They played a date in Spain in early September. The reunited Pogues played dates in the UK with support from the Dropkick Murphys in late 2005, and re-released their 1987 Christmas classic "Fairytale of New York" on 19 December, which went straight in at #3 in the UK Singles charts on Christmas Day 2005, showing the song's enduring popularity. On 22 December 2005 the BBC broadcast a live performance (recorded the previous week) on the Jonathan Ross Christmas show with Katie Melua filling in for the late Kirsty MacColl, the first time the band had played the song live on television. The following week they performed live on the popular music show CD:UK.

Shane MacGowan wrote a blog for The Guardian website in 2006, detailing his thoughts on the current tour.^[13]

The Pogues with Shane MacGowan, October 11, 2006 in San Diego

The band was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the annual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February 2006. In March 2006, the band played their first U.S. dates with Shane in over 15 years. The band played a series of sold-out concerts in Washington D.C., Atlantic City, Boston, and New York. Later they played a series of highly acclaimed and sold-out gigs during mid-October 2006 in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, and toured Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Dublin, and Nottingham in mid-December 2006. They began a second U.S. tour in March 2007, once again to coincide (and conclude) with a Roseland Ballroom New York City show on Saint Patrick's Day. 2007 has proved to be the most prolific year of touring since the reunion. A tour of the west coast of America and eleven dates in the UK in December complement the headlining festival appearances made in the summer across Europe (Sweden, Belgium and Spain). They continue to be in huge demand, often selling out very large venues, despite criticism of selling out, and claims that arenas and festivals do not suit the band's sound.

The Pogues on August 1, 2010 in Amsterdam

The Pogues 2011 in Munich, Philip Chevron, James Fearnley, Andrew Ranken, Shane MacGowan, Darryl Hunt, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer not on photo Terry Woods

Guitarist Phil Chevron has stated there were no plans to record new music or release a new album. Chevron said that one way to keep enjoying what they were doing was to avoid making a new album, although he did say that there still is a possibility in the future for new music, but certainly not in the near future. Terry Woods has commented that MacGowan has been writing, and most of it sounds good. In 2008 the band released a box set Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say....POGUE MAHONE!!, which included rare studio out-takes and previously unreleased material.^[14]

The band has received mixed reviews of some recent performances though they continue to pull the crowds. Reviewing a March 2008 concert, The Washington Post described MacGowan as "puffy and paunchy," but said the singer "still has a banshee wail to beat Howard Dean's, and the singer's abrasive growl is all a band this marvelous needs to give its amphetamine-spiked take on Irish folk a focal point." The reviewer continued: "The set started off shaky, MacGowan singing of `goin' where streams of whiskey are flowin,' and looking like he'd arrived there already. He grew more lucid and powerful as the evening gathered steam, through two hours and 26 songs, mostly from the Pogues' first three (and best) albums".^[15] In December 2010 the Pogues (with support from Crowns) played what was billed as a farewell UK Christmas tour.

In March 2011, the Pogues played a six-city/ten-show sold out US tour titled "A Parting Glass with The Pogues" visiting Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Boston, and New York (in that order), with only the last three cities getting more than one show. It may, or may not, be the last time they tour the States. Stacy said “I think we are basically pretty certain this is the last tour of this type we’ll be doing in the States. There might be the odd sort of one-off here and there. We’re not saying this is absolutely, definitely the end.”^[16]

Members[link]

Current

• Shane MacGowan - vocals, guitar, banjo, bodhrán (1982–1991, 2001–present)
• Spider Stacy - vocals, tin whistle (1982–1996, 2001–present)
• Jem Finer - banjo, mandola, saxophone, hurdy-gurdy, guitar, vocals (1982–1996, 2001–present)
• Andrew Ranken - drums, percussion, harmonica, vocals (1982–1996, 2001–present)
• James Fearnley - accordion, mandolin, piano, guitar (1982–1993, 2001–present)
• Philip Chevron - guitar, vocals (1985–1994, 2001–present)
• Darryl Hunt - bass guitar (1986–1996, 2001–present)
• Terry Woods - mandolin, cittern, concertina, guitar, vocals (1986–1993, 2001–present)

Former members

• Cait O'Riordan - bass, vocals (1982–1986, 2004)
• Joe Strummer - vocals, guitar (1991–1992; also replaced an ailing Phil Chevron for a U.S. tour in 1987; died 2002)
• Dave Coulter - mandolin, violin, ukulele, percussion (1993–1996)
• James McNally - accordion, whistles, percussion (1993–1996)
• Jamie Clarke - guitar, vocals (1995–1996)

Discography[link]

Hit-song 'Fairytale of New York'[link]

"Fairytale of New York" was released as a single in 1987 and reached #1 in the Irish charts and #2 in the British charts over Christmas (the time of peak sales). The song has become a festive classic in the UK and Ireland over the years, and was voted the best Christmas song of all time three years running in 2004,^[17] 2005,^[18] and 2006 in polls by music channel VH1 UK, despite not achieving Christmas Number One when it was released. It was also voted as the 27th greatest song never to reach UK#1 in another VH1 poll, and also voted as the 84th greatest song of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners in their "Sold on Song" top 100 poll. In 2007 the record was briefly censored by the BBC because of the word "faggot" being deemed potentially offensive to gay people. Following protests from listeners, including the mother of Kirsty MacColl, the censorship was lifted.

Albums[link]

• Red Roses for Me (1984): #89 UK
• Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985): #13 UK
• If I Should Fall from Grace with God (1988): #3 UK, #88 US, #15 NO
• Peace and Love (1989): #5 UK, #118 US, #13 NO
• Hell's Ditch (1990) #12 UK, #187 US
• Waiting for Herb (1993): #20 UK
• Pogue Mahone (1996)^[19][20]

Live albums[link]

• Streams of Whiskey: Live in Leysin, Switzerland 1991 (2002)
• The Ultimate Collection including Live at the Brixton Academy 2001 (2005): #15 UK

Compilation albums[link]

• The Best of The Pogues (1991): #11 UK
• Essential Pogues (1991)
• The Rest of The Best (1992)
• The Very Best of The Pogues (2001): #18 UK
• The Ultimate Collection (2005): #15 UK
• Dirty Old Town: The Platinum Collection (Budget CD) (2005)
• Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say....POGUE MAHONE!! (Anthology/Box Set of rare and unreleased tracks) (2008)

Video[link]

• The Pogues: Live at The Town & Country Club St Patricks Day 1988 VHS 1988
• POGUEVISION" Music Video Collection – VHS 1991

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Pogues site
• Official Shane MacGowan site
• The Guardian article
• "dirty old town"

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which influenced the gothic metal genre.

Biography[link]

Theatre of Tragedy was founded on 2 October 1993. Drummer Hein Frode Hansen had recently quit his former band Phobia and started looking for a new musical project to play in. A friend of his told Hein that a band called Suffering Grief was looking for a new drummer, and after contacting them, he joined the band. At the time, Suffering Grief was composed of vocalist Raymond István Rohonyi and guitarists Pål Bjåstad and Tommy Lindal. No bassist had joined the band yet, but Eirik T. Saltrø had agreed to play with them in live concerts.

After finding a rehearsal place, the band decided to work upon a couple of piano arrangements composed by Lorentz Aspen. The vocals, at the time, were mostly entirely composed by raw death grunts.

After composing their first song, "Lament of the Perishing Roses", the band changed its name to La Reine Noir and then to Theatre of Tragedy. They subsequently invited singer Liv Kristine Espenæs to do female vocals for one song, but quickly invited her to join the band permanently.

In 1994, their first studio demo was recorded, and in 1995, the debut album Theatre of Tragedy was released, followed by Velvet Darkness They Fear in 1996 and the A Rose for the Dead EP in 1997, which contained unreleased material from Velvet Darkness They Fear. Arguably, the band reached the apogee of its career in 1998, with the release of the critically acclaimed album Aégis.

Released in 2000, Musique was a massive departure from the gothic metal sound that Theatre of Tragedy had developed over the previous three albums. The heavy guitars and Early Modern English lyrics were replaced by electropop and industrial-influenced metal. It was met with a very mixed reception, and while some older fans were understandably shocked by the new direction of the band, it did gain them a number of new fans.

With 2002's Assembly, the band continued along the same musical path as on their previous album. It was seen as a more refined and confident electropop record than its predecessor. It was also the first album to feature their long-time session guitarist, Vegard K. Thorsen, as a full member of the band.

Liv Kristine former member of TOT

In August 2003, the band declared in an official statement^[1] on their website, that Liv Kristine was removed from the band's line-up due to "musical differences which could not be bridged".

Female singer Nell Sigland (from The Crest) joined Theatre of Tragedy on the following year. In winter 2004/2005 a short concert tour (together with Pain, Sirenia and Tiamat) with Sigland singing was performed.

The band released their sixth studio album Storm on March 24, 2006 and a European tour followed, with Gothminister as supporting act. The album's title song was released as a single on February 24, 2006. While still keeping on the industrial and electronic roots of the last two albums, the album showed a return to some of the sounds developed in their first albums.

On 2 October 2008, Theatre of Tragedy celebrated their 15th anniversary. In December 2008 the band posted a snippet of new track "Frozen," which was expected to be on the new album, on their MySpace music page:

"Time for some updates. Things are slowly moving forward with the next album. As usual with the Theatre machinery there is many things to take into consideration when doing stuff and recently we were forced to change collaborators for the production of the album, and postpone the recordings. But fear not the heavy responsibility has been entrusted to Alexander Møklebust (Zeromancer, Seigmen, Gåte, Monomen, Delaware etc) and the ToT crew will enter Room 13 in May and June for recordings and general mayhem! Estimated release from AFM is end of September. Rumor has it that there will be a vinyl version for the diehard fans. We will keep you posted."

In June 2009 saw the band reveal Forever Is The World as the title of the new album. Their 7th album, it was released in Europe on 21 September 2009, with the band making a step towards their earlier sound of Aégis. A special Tour Edition of Forever Is The World was issued on March 12, 2010. The Tour Edition contained a bonus CD known as the "Addenda EP" which contains song reworkings and unreleased tracks.

Metal Mind Productions issued a press release in July stating that they were, with the co-operation of the band, re-releasing Musique and Assembly. Both albums have been remastered and will be backed with bonus tracks. New liner notes and artwork are said to be a part of the package. Each album is limited to 2000 numbered copies.^[2]

On 1 March 2010, Theatre of Tragedy issued a statement informing fans of their decision to split on 2 October 2010. The statement cited personal desires to spend more time with family and an inability to juggle their everyday working lives with a "rock and roll" lifestyle.^[3] On 12 March, Theatre of Tragedy kicked off their farewell tour, "Forever is the World Tour". The Norwegian symphonic goth metal band Where Angels Fall played support on the European part of the tour. In September, fans helped the band to secure funds to finish their first and last DVD by making donations when the label pulled out most of the funding for the production.^[4]

Musical style[link]

The band made use of contrasting vocals – male bass vocals (making some use of death grunts) and female soprano singing (commonly referred to as "Beauty and the Beast" vocals) – and on their first three albums, presented lyrics written predominantly in Early Modern English. Starting from the album Musique, however, Theatre of Tragedy made drastic changes to its style, which became significantly inspired by the industrial rock genre, abandoning Early Modern English writing and death grunts in the process.

Members[link]

Final lineup[link]

• Nell Sigland – Vocals (2004–2010)
• Raymond István Rohonyi – Vocals, Programming, Electronics (1993–2010)
• Frank Claussen – Guitars (1997–2010)
• Vegard K. Thorsen – Guitars (1999–2010)
• Lorentz Aspen – Keyboards, Synthesizers (1993–2010)
• Hein Frode Hansen – Drums (1993–2010)

Former members[link]

• Pål Bjåstad – Guitars (1993–1995)
• Tommy Lindal – Guitars (1993–1997)
• Eirik T. Saltrø – Bass (1993–2000)
• Liv Kristine Espenæs Krull – Vocals (1993–2003)
• Geir Flikkeid – Guitars (1995–1997)
• Tommy Olsson – Guitars (1997–1999)

Touring members[link]

• Bjørnar Landa – Guitar (2006)
• Erik Torp – Bass (2010)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Theatre of Tragedy (1995)
• Velvet Darkness They Fear (1996)
• Aégis (1998)
• Musique (2000)
• Assembly (2002)
• Storm (2006)
• Forever Is the World (2009)

Live Albums[link]

• closure:live (2001)
• Last Curtain Call (2011)

DVDs[link]

• Last Curtain Call (2011)

EPs[link]

• Theatre of Tragedy (demo, 1994)
• A Rose for the Dead (1997)
• Virago (1999)
• Inperspective (2000)
• Addenda (2010)

Singles[link]

• "Der Tanz Der Schatten" (1996)
• "Cassandra" (1998)
• "Image" (2000)
• "Machine" (2001)
• "Envision" (2002)
• "Let You Down" (2002)
• "Storm" (2006)
• "Deadland" (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Theatre of Tragedy on Myspace
• Theatre of Tragedy discography at Discogs

Richard Tauber on a cigarette card

Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948)^[1] was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".

Early life[link]

He was born in Linz, Austria to Elisabeth Seifferth, an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theatre. His father, Richard Anton Tauber, also an actor, was not married to his mother and was unaware of the birth as he was touring America at the time. Being born out of wedlock, he was given the name Richard Denemy (Denemy being his mother's maiden name). He also used the names Ernst Seiffert, Carl Tauber and C. Richard Tauber at various times.

Richard accompanied his mother on tour to various theatres but she found it increasingly difficult to cope, and in 1897 he was sent to school in Linz, when his father took over his upbringing. His father, who had a Jewish background^[2] but had converted to Roman Catholicism,^{[citation needed]} hoped that Richard would become a priest, but the boy missed the excitement of the theatre and instead joined his father in Prague, and subsequently in 1903 at the theatre in Wiesbaden. Richard hoped to become a singer but failed to impress any of the teachers he auditioned for, probably because he chose to sing Wagner, for which his voice was not suited. Consequently, his father entered him at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt to study piano, composition and conducting, subjects which stood Tauber in good stead in later years. He made rapid progress but he still hoped to become a singer; whilst staying with friends at Freiburg he was heard by the well-known voice teacher Professor Carl Beines, who encouraged him to sing more quietly and promised a good career as a Mozart tenor.

Career[link]

He made his public debut at a concert at Freiburg on 17 May 1912. In 1912 his father was appointed Intendant of the Municipal Theatre in Chemnitz and was therefore in a position to arrange for Richard to appear as Tamino in The Magic Flute on 2 March 1913. A few days later he played Max in Der Freischütz, a performance which was attended by Baron Seebach of the Dresden Opera who had already offered Tauber a five-year contract, commencing on 1 August. The Baron encouraged Tauber to take small roles with other companies to broaden his experience.

During his years in Dresden, Tauber acquired his reputation as a remarkably quick study: he learned Gounod's Faust in 48 hours, Bacchus in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos in an afternoon, and so on. People started to call him "the SOS Tenor".

In 1922, Tauber signed a contract with the Vienna State Opera and appearances with the Berlin State Opera followed; for many years he appeared with both companies – four months with each, leaving four months for concerts and guest appearances with other companies and touring abroad. He sang the tenor role in many operas, including Don Giovanni, The Bartered Bride, Tosca, Mignon, Faust, Carmen and Die Fledermaus, as well as newer works such as Erich Korngold's Die tote Stadt and Wilhelm Kienzl's Der Evangelimann. It was during this period that he began making the first of over seven hundred grammophone records, mainly for the Odeon Records label.

Tauber had a lyrical, flexible tenor voice, and he sang with a warm, elegant legato. His excellent breath control gave him a wonderful head voice and messa di voce with a superb pianissimo. He was elegant in appearance too – although he had a slight squint in his right eye; he disguised it by wearing a monocle which, when accompanied by a top hat, added to the elegant effect. For many people he became the epitome of Viennese charm.

Harry Liedtke, Marlene Dietrich, and Richard Tauber in Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame (1929)

Tauber first performed in an operetta by Franz Lehár in Linz and Berlin, both in 1920, in Zigeunerliebe. Two years later he was offered the role of Armand in Lehár's Frasquita at the Theater an der Wien, and the experience was a resounding success.^[3] This excursion into operetta was looked down on by some, but it did Tauber no harm at all; in fact, it gave Tauber a new audience. Neither did it harm his voice as some had feared – Tauber was too fine a musician to indulge in poor vocal practices in pursuit of popularity. It also revived Lehár's flagging career as a composer of operetta. In the future, Lehár composed a number of operettas with roles written specifically for Richard Tauber, including Paganini (1925 - though he was not available for the Vienna premiere, and first sang it in Berlin in 1926), Der Zarewitsch (1927), Friederike (1928), The Land of Smiles (1929), Schön ist die Welt (1930), and Giuditta (1934).^[3] These usually occurred in the second act and were informally known as Tauberlieder. Tauber occasionally appeared in films, such as the early German sound film I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929) with Marlene Dietrich and Harry Liedtke.

Richard Tauber and Carlotta Vanconti, ca. 1928

When in Vienna, Tauber also conducted at the Theater an der Wien, and it was here that he met the soprano Carlotta Vanconti who soon divorced her Italian husband and married Tauber on 18 March 1926. They separated in 1928 and divorced two years later, by which time he had met Mary Losseff at Rudolf Nelson's review in Berlin. They lived together for about five years. Losseff became his muse; it was for her that he wrote Der singende Traum. Sadly, Losseff's career ended when she became an alcoholic, but Tauber remained her lifelong friend and supported her until his death.

In 1931, Tauber made his London debut in operetta, and London appearances became a regular event; he also toured the USA in this year. In 1933, Tauber was assaulted in the street by a group of Nazi Brownshirts because of his Jewish ancestry, and he decided to leave Germany for his native Austria, where he continued to sing at the Vienna State Opera right up to the Anschluss in March 1938. In the mid-1930s, he made several musical films in England, and at the premiere of her film Mimi in April 1935, he met the English actress Diana Napier (1905–1982); they were married on 20 June 1936. Napier appeared in three of his British films: Heart's Desire (1935), Land Without Music and Pagliacci (both 1936).

In 1938, he made his London operatic debut in Die Zauberflöte under Sir Thomas Beecham. Earlier that year, the Nazi government of Germany annexed Austria and Tauber left Austria for good. In response, the Nazi government withdrew the Taubers' passports and right of abode; because this left the couple technically stateless persons, Tauber applied for British citizenship. He was touring South Africa when World War II broke out, and returned to Switzerland until he received the papers allowing him to enter the United Kingdom, doing so in March 1940.

Despite receiving lucrative offers from the USA, he remained in the UK for the entire war. There was no opera staged in wartime Britain so he made a living by singing, conducting and making gramophone records and radio broadcasts. He even composed English operettas, together with the lyric writer Fred S. Tysh, from one of which, Old Chelsea, the song My Heart and I became one of his most popular English recordings. It was only these English records that brought him any royalties; for his earlier recordings he had been paid for each performance and he had been compelled to leave his savings behind in Austria. By now he was so crippled by arthritis that he could no longer move into and away from the microphone for softer and louder notes. A small trolley was built on rubber wheels so the engineers could silently roll him back and forth while recording.

In 1946, Tauber appeared in a Broadway adaptation of The Land of Smiles (This is my Heart) which flopped, leaving him with huge personal losses and in debt to the backers. He was thus forced to tour the USA, Canada, Central and South America for six months to recoup losses, with Arpad Sandor, George Schick and Neil Chotem serving as his accompanists.^{[citation needed]} In April 1947, Tauber returned to London and sought medical attention for a persistent cough. He was eventually diagnosed with lung cancer: one lung was already useless and the other nearly so.

Gravestone, Brompton Cemetery, London

The Vienna State Opera was in London for a short season at the Royal Opera House – their first visit since the war – and they invited Tauber to sing one performance with his old company. On 27 September 1947 he sang the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, not a large part but with two difficult arias that demand good breath control to bring off well. Those in the audience say that he sang wonderfully and to loud applause. Live excerpts of these two arias from this performance survive, and they reveal a tone of undiminished focus and steadiness, a good line, and somewhat shortened phrasing. His career ended as it began – with Mozart.

Death[link]

A week later, Tauber entered Guy's Hospital to have his left lung removed, but it was too late; he died on 8 January 1948 in the London Clinic, Devonshire Place. Tauber's Requiem Mass was at St. James' Church, Spanish Place, and he is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

Selected filmography[link]

• I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929)
• Ich glaub nie mehr an eine Frau (1930)
• Das lockende Ziel (1930)
• Das Land des Lächelns (1930)
• Die grosse Attraktion (1931)
• Melodie der Liebe (1932)
• Blossom Time (1934)
• Heart's Desire (1935)
• Pagliacci (1936)
• Land Without Music (1936)
• Waltz Time (1945)
• Lisbon Story (1946)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Richard Tauber

• Richard Tauber at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Tauber at the Internet Broadway Database
• Das Richard Tauber Archiv (German)
• Greatest Singer?
• Richard Tauber: A Brief Appreciation
• Richard Tauber in Australia
• Photographs of Richard Tauber
• Tauber sings "You Are My Heart's Delight" on YouTube
• History of the Tenor – Sound Clips and Narration
• Richard Tauber at Find a Grave

Alexander Marcus
Background information
Birth name	Felix Rennefeld
Born	(1972-07-26) 26 July 1972 (age 39) Berlin, Germany
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer
Website	www.alexander-marcus.de

Alexander Marcus (born 26 July 1972^[1] in Berlin) is a persona of the German music producer Felix Rennefeld.^[2] He has become popular throughout Germany after a series of videos he produced and displayed on YouTube.

Biography[link]

After his parents were divorced Alexander Marcus lived with his grandmother in the country, where he took part in the popular children's dance group "Edelweißchen". At eighteen he went to the US and lived in New York and Miami, and while there experienced international and electronic music. It was here that he formed the idea to mix the two music styles. He has been living in Berlin since 2005.^[3][4] On 6 June 2008 he released his debut album Electro Lore with Kontor Records,^[5] which included guest contributions by Manny Marc and Frauenarzt.^[6]

Style[link]

Rennefeld's music is a mixture of modern electronic club music and folk music, which he has named 'Electro Lore', a combination of 'electro' and 'folklore'.^[7] Alexander Marcus exaggerates many of the clichés present in pop music, and his music videos feature "trashy" objects, such as a recurrent plastic globe called "Globi". Spiegel Online sees the character as a typical example of a return to pop-art social criticism. Never breaking out of character, he leaves the question of whether he is a parody unanswered:

The idea that the guy might really be as nuts as he seems to be remains at least possible.

—Uh-Young Kim for Spiegel Online^[2]

2008 Alexander Marcus was on tour as support act for And One.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2008: Electrolore (released on Kontor Records, with DVD)
• 2009: Mega

Guest contributions[link]

• 2008: Tanz den Tanz on Die Türen-Remix-Album Booty
• 2008: Florida Lady on Atzen Musik Vol. 1 by Frauenarzt and Manny Marc
• 2009: Nessaja on Hands on Scooter by Scooter

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Felix Rennfeld Discogs