Vanessa (opera)

Vanessa is an American opera in three (originally four) acts by Samuel Barber, opus 32, with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos in a production designed by Cecil Beaton and directed by Menotti. Barber revised the opera in 1964, reducing the four acts to the three-act version most commonly performed today.

Performance history

For the Met premiere, Sena Jurinac was contracted to sing the title role. However, she cancelled six weeks before the opening night and Eleanor Steber replaced her, making it her own for a long time. In the role of Erika, Vanessa's niece, was Rosalind Elias, then a young mezzo-soprano. Nicolai Gedda sang the lover Anatol, mezzo Regina Resnik sang the Baroness, Vanessa's mother, while bass, Giorgio Tozzi, sang the old doctor.

The premiere "was an unqualified success with the audience and with many of the critics as well although they were somewhat qualified in their judgment. Of the final quintet, however, New York Times critic Howard Taubman said it is '...a full-blown set-piece that packs an emotional charge and that would be a credit to any composer anywhere today.' ". Other reports substantiate this and it won Barber the Pulitzer Prize. In Europe, however, it met with a chillier reception.

Vanessa (Millais painting)

Vanessa (1868) is a painting by John Everett Millais in Sudley House, Liverpool. It is a fancy portrait depicting Jonathan Swift's correspondent Esther Vanhomrigh (1688-1723), who was known by that pseudonym.

Vanessa represents a major departure in Millais's art because he abandons fully for the first time the detailed finish that was still to be seen in Waking and Sleeping, exhibited in the previous year. Influenced by the work of Diego Velázquez and Joshua Reynolds, Millais paints with dramatic, visible brush strokes in vivid colours, creating what has been described as an "almost violently modern" handling of paint.

Esther Vanhomrigh is known as "Swift's Vanessa" because of the fictional name he gave her when he published their correspondence. The portrait is wholly imaginary. No actual image of Esther Vanhomrigh exists. She is holding a letter, presumably written to or from Swift. Her sad expression is related to the fraught nature of the relationship, which was broken up by Swift's relationship to another woman, Esther Johnson whom he called "Stella". Millais also painted a companion piece depicting Stella.

Darkbloom

Darkbloom is a split EP by Canadian musicians Grimes and d'Eon. It was released on April 18, 2011 as a joint release through Grimes' and d'Eon's respective labels, Arbutus Records and Hippos in Tanks. Darkbloom was conceived together by Grimes and d'Eon but recorded separately. Grimes directed the video for "Vanessa" herself after reportedly being unhappy with the video made for "Crystal Ball".

Track listing

Tracks 1–5 performed, written and produced by Grimes. Tracks 6–9 performed, written and produced by d'Eon.

Credits

Credits adapted from Darkbloom album liner notes.

Release history

References

External links

World (Bee Gees song)

"World" is a song from the Bee Gees' fourth album Horizontal, released in 1967 in the United Kingdom. Though it was a big hit in Europe, Atco Records did not issue it as a single in the United States, having just issued a third single from Bee Gees' 1st, "Holiday".

Composition

The song's lyrics question the singer's purpose in life.

Recording

The song's first recording session was on 3 October 1967 along with "With the Sun in My Eyes" and "Words". The song's last recording session was on 28 October 1967. "World" was originally planned as having no orchestra, so all four tracks were filled with the band, including some mellotron or organ played by Robin. When it was decided to add an orchestra, the four tracks containing the band were mixed to one track and the orchestra was added to the other track. The stereo mix suffered since the second tape had to play as mono until the end when the orchestra comes in on one side. Barry adds: "'World' is one of those things we came up with in the studio, Everyone just having fun and saying, 'Let's just do something!' you know". Vince Melouney recalls: "I had this idea to play the melody right up in the top register of the guitar behind the chorus".

World (Five for Fighting song)

"World" is a song written and recorded by American recording artist Five for Fighting. It was released in November 2006 as the second single from the album Two Lights. It reached number 14 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart.

Content

"World" is an upbeat, piano-driven melody that, like his other singles, paints vivid pictures of human life driven with deep emotion. The song's lyrics are notably more cryptic than in previous singles, but are driven by the chorus hooks, "What kind of world do you want?" and "Be careful what you wish for, history starts now."

Critical reception

Chuck Taylor, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling the song "admittedly more abstract" but the average listener will pick out certain lines and find a relatable message. He goes on to say that "alongside, the piano-driven, orchestrated melody is his most captivating yet lush and instantly memorable."

Music video

The music video for "World" features aspects of the bright side of life including children, marriage and fireworks. There are also references that go with the lyrics including a brief image of a mushroom cloud in a cup of coffee, with a newspaper's headline featuring North Korea's nuclear program. It was directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson.

1977 World 600

The 1977 World 600, the 18th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 29, 1977, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

Jim Stacy would become the owner of Krauskopf's old NASCAR team after this event; with the famed red #71 Dodge getting repainted into the white #5. Neil Bonnett, however, would stay on the team as a driver. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.

Summary

Forty American-born drivers competed here including Benny Parsons, Lennie Pond, Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip, and Neil Bonnett. After four hours and twenty-one minutes of racing action, Richard Petty defeated polesitter David Pearson by 30.8 seconds in front of an audience of 115000 people. There were 25 lead changes done in this race in addition to six cautions for 31 laps. While the qualifying top speed was 161.435 miles per hour (259.804 km/h), the average speed of the race was actually 136.676 miles per hour (219.959 km/h). Last-place finisher Ramo Stott would acquire engine trouble on lap 3 of the 400-lap race. The duration of the race was from 12:30 P.M. to 4:41 P.M.; allowing fans to drive to nearby restaurants for supper.

Doctors (TV series)

Doctors is a British medical soap opera which first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 26 March 2000. Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being in the city of Birmingham, the soap follows the staff of a doctor's surgery, and their families.

History

Doctors is produced by BBC Birmingham and is screened on BBC One, with the first episode broadcast on 26 March 2000. It was created by Chris Murray, with Mal Young developing it and Carson Black the original producer. The show has been shown at lunchtime since its inception, originally at 12.30pm as a lead-in to the BBC's One O'Clock News. After it was temporarily moved to allow for extended news coverage of the 11 September 2001 attacks, its regular slot changed to 2:10 pm, following directly after Neighbours, after ratings rose to a 25% audience share. When the BBC lost Neighbours to Channel 5 in January 2008, it moved into the Australian soap's old slot of 1:45pm. For a brief trial period in Summer 2000, selected episodes from the first series were shown on Fridays at 7 pm and from 16 February 2009, the show began transmitting in high definition on BBC HD at 4:00pm the same day.