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Georg Marco (29 November 1863 – 29 August 1923) was a Romanian chess player.
He was born in Chernivtsi (Cernăuţi), Bukovina (then part of Austria-Hungary). He later settled in Vienna and was secretary of the Viennese Chess Association.
In tournaments he was 6th at Graz 1890, 6th= at Vienna 1890, 1st at Vienna 1891, 4th= at Dresden 1892, 1st at Vienna 1892, 2nd at Vienna 1893, 6th= at Leipzig 1894, 2nd= at Pressburg 1894, 1st at Vienna 1895, 17th= at Hastings 1895, 13th at Nuremberg 1896, 11th at Budapest 1896, 6th= at Berlin 1897, 3rd at Vienna 1897, 2nd= at London 1899/1900, 7th= at Paris 1900, 5th= at Munich 1900, 9th at Monte Carlo 1901, 15th at Monte Carlo 1902, 6th at Monte Carlo 1903, 3rd at the Vienna Gambit tournament 1903, 4th at Cambridge Springs 1904, 4th= at Coburg 1904, 5th= at Ostend 1905, 6th at Ostend 1906, 9th at Ostend 1907, 2nd= at Moscow 1907, 3rd at Stockholm 1912, 4th= at Budapest 1913, 4th at Vienna 1915, 9th= at Göteborg 1920, 7th at The Hague 1921, and 18th at Pistyan 1922.
In match play he drew with Carl Schlechter twice; (+0 –0 =10) in 1893 and (+4 –4 =3) in 1894. He also drew with Arthur Kaufmann (+5 –5 =0) in 1893, lost to Max Weiss (+1 –5 =1) in 1895 and beat Adolf Albin (+4 –2 =4) in 1901.
However, he is probably best known for his work as editor of the Wiener Schachzeitung (de) from 1898 to 1916 and his annotations in the books Vienna Gambit Tournament (1903), Barmen 1905, Ostend 1906, Carlsbad 1907, Lasker-Tarrasch match for the World Chess Champion title in 1908, Baden on Vienna Gambit Tournament 1914, and Meister des Problems (Vienna 1924).
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Żary, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city's five main churches. While Telemann's career prospered, his personal life was always troubled: his first wife died only a few months after their marriage, and his second wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling debt before leaving Telemann.
Telemann was one of the most prolific composers in history[1] (at least in terms of surviving oeuvre)[2] and was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time—he was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the Godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally. Telemann's music incorporates several national styles: French, Italian, and Polish. He remained at the forefront of all new musical tendencies and his music is an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.
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Telemann was born in Magdeburg, the capital of the Duchy of Magdeburg, Brandenburg-Prussia, into an upper middle class family. His parents were Heinrich Telemann, deacon at the Church of the Holy Spirit (Heilige-Geist-Kirche) in Magdeburg, and Maria Haltmeier, daughter of a clergyman from Regensburg. Many of the family members worked for the church and only a few distant relatives were musicians. The composer himself claimed that he inherited the talent for music from his mother, whose nephew Joachim Friedrich was Kantor at Verden (Telemann would later publish a treatise by Joachim Friedrich's son, who became an organist). On his father's side, only a single relative is known to have been a professional musician: Heinrich Thering, Telemann's great-grandfather, served as Kantor at Halberstadt in the late 16th century. Telemann's brother Heinrich Matthias (1672–1746) eventually became a clergyman.
Heinrich Telemann died in 1685, leaving Maria to raise the children and oversee their education. Telemann studied at the Altstädtisches Gymnasium and at the Domschule, where he was taught the catechism, Latin and Greek. At age 10 he took singing lessons and studied keyboard playing for two weeks with a local organist. This was enough to inspire the boy to teach himself other instruments (recorder, violin and zither) and start composing. His first pieces were arias, motets, and instrumental works, and at age 12 he composed his first opera, Sigismundus. Neither Maria nor her advisers were supportive of these endeavours, however. They confiscated all of the boy's instruments and forbade him any musical activities, yet Telemann continued composing, in secret. In late 1693 or early 1694 his mother sent him to a school in Zellerfeld, hoping that this would convince her son to choose a different career. However, the superintendent of the school, Caspar Calvoer, recognized Telemann's talents and even introduced him to musical theory; Telemann continued composing and playing various instruments, taught himself thoroughbass and regularly supplied music for the church choir and the town musicians.
In 1697 Telemann left for Hildesheim, where he entered the famous Gymnasium Andreanum. Here too his talents were recognized and in demand: the rector himself commissioned music from Telemann. The young composer frequently travelled to courts at Hanover and Brunswick where he could hear and study the latest musical styles. Composers such as Antonio Caldara, Arcangelo Corelli, and Johann Rosenmuller were early influences. Telemann also continued studying various instruments, and eventually became an accomplished multi-instrumentalist: at Hildesheim he taught himself flute, oboe, chalumeau, viola da gamba, double bass, and bass trombone. After graduating from Gymnasium Andreanum (with excellent results, despite his musical activities), Telemann went to Leipzig in late 1701 to become a student at the Leipzig University, where he intended to study law. In his 1718 autobiography Telemann explained that this decision was taken because of his mother's urging. However, some 22 years later, in the 1740 autobiography, he offered a different explanation, claiming that he was motivated by his desire for university education. This was not to come: according to Telemann himself, a setting of Psalm 6 by him inexplicably found its way into his luggage and was found by his roommate at the university. The work was subsequently performed and so impressed those who heard it that the mayor of Leipzig himself approached Telemann and commissioned him to regularly compose works for the city's two main churches (Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche).
Once he established himself as a professional musician in Leipzig, Telemann became increasingly active in organizing the city's musical life. From the start, he relied heavily on employing students: the very first ensemble he founded was a student collegium musicum that had some 40 members. They gave public concerts and also provided music for the Neukirche. In 1702 Telemann became director of the opera house Opernhaus auf dem Brühl, where too he employed student performers. Finally, when Telemann got the post of organist and music director at the Neukirche, he only played the organ once, and assigned the organist's duties to his students. Between 1702 and 1705 Telemann composed at least eight operas, four of which went to the Leipzig operahouse and four to the Weissenfels court. During his time at Leipzig, he was continually influenced by the music of Handel, whom he met earlier, in 1701. He also studied the works of Johann Kuhnau, Kantor of the Thomaskirche and city director of music in Leipzig; in his later years, Telemann recounted how much he learned about counterpoint from Kuhnau's work.
However, Telemann's growing prominence and methods caused a conflict between him and Kuhnau. By employing students Telemann took away a major resource for Kuhnau's choir (and church music in Leipzig in general); Kuhnau was also concerned that students were too frequently performing in operas, leaving them with less time to devote to church music. Denouncing Telemann as an "opera musician", Kuhnau petitioned the city council several times against the younger composer. In the end, however, his efforts proved fruitless, and the only thing the council did was to forbid Telemann to appear on the operatic stage. Kuhnau's rights were never fully restored, not even after Telemann left Leipzig.
In 1704 Telemann received an invitation to become Kapellmeister for the court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz at Sorau (now Żary, in Poland). Leipzig authorities only granted him resignation in early 1705, however, and he arrived in Sorau in June. This new position allowed him to study contemporary French music, which was particularly popular at the court: the works of Lully and Campra. Also, when the court spent six months in Pleß (now Pszczyna), Telemann had an opportunity to hear and study Polish and Moravian folk music, which fascinated and inspired him. In performing his duties at the court, Telemann was as prolific as in Leipzig, composing at least 200 ouvertures, by his own recollection, and other works. Unfortunately, the Great Northern War put an end to Telemann's career at Sorau. In late January or early February 1706 he was forced to flee from the invading troops of the Swedish King Charles XII. He spent some time in Frankfurt an der Oder before returning to Sorau in the summer.
The details of how Telemann obtained his next position are unknown. Around 1707–1708 he entered the service of Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Eisenach, becoming Konzertmeister on 24 December 1708 and Secretary and Kapellmeister in August 1709. Thus began one of the most productive periods in Telemann's life: during his tenure at Eisenach he composed a wealth of instrumental music (sonatas and concertos), and numerous sacred works, which included four or five complete annual cycles of church cantatas, 50 German and Italian cantatas, and some 20 serenatas. In 1709 he made a short trip to Sorau to marry Amalie Louise Juliane Eberlin, lady-in-waiting to the Countess of Promnitz and daughter of the musician Daniel Eberlin. They went back to Eisenach, where in January 1711 Amalie Louise gave birth to a daughter. Unfortunately, the mother died soon afterwards; Telemann's marriage lasted only for 15 months. The event had a profound effect on the composer: he later recounted experiencing a religious awakening, and also published "Poetic Thoughts" on the death of his first wife in 1711. By the end of that year he was frustrated with court life and started seeking another appointment. He declined an offer from the Dresden court, since he wanted to work with greater artistic freedom; Telemann wanted a post similar to the one he had in Leipzig. Sometime between late December 1711 and early January 1712 he applied for the newly vacant Frankfurt post of city director of music and Kapellmeister at the Barfüsserkirche. The application was successful and Telemann arrived in Frankfurt on 18 March 1712.
Telemann's new duties were similar to those he had in Leipzig. He provided various music for two churches, Barfüsserkirche and Katharinenkirche (composing, among other pieces, more annual cycles of cantatas), as well as for civic ceremonies; he also revived the city's collegium musicum. After May 1712, Telemann also served as administrator and treasurer of the Haus Braunfels, administrator of a charitable foundation, and organizer of a tobacco collegium. On 28 August 1714 he married his second wife, Maria Catharina Textor, daughter of a council clerk. The couple had nine children (none became musicians), but the marriage would later prove disastrous for Telemann. The following year he began publishing his music; four collections of instrumental pieces appeared within the next three years, and many more publications would follow. On 11 March 1717, Telemann was appointed Kapellmeister von Haus aus at Eisenach: he fulfilled the duties of the position by regularly sending new music from Frankfurt to Eisenach.
On 10 July 1721 Telemann was invited to work in Hamburg as Kantor of the Johanneum Lateinschule and musical director of the city's five largest churches, succeeding Joachim Gerstenbüttel. The composer accepted; he remained in Hamburg for the rest of his life. The years spent in the city were the most productive period of his life. Once again he was required to compose numerous cantatas, not only for the churches but also for civic ceremonies; he also gave public concerts, led another collegium musicum, and assumed the directorship of the opera house Gänsemarktoper. Initially, however, Telemann encountered a number of problems: some church officials found opera and collegium musicum performances to be objectionable (for "inciting lasciviousness"), and the city printer was displeased with Telemann publishing printed texts for his yearly Passions. The former matter was resolved quickly, but Telemann's exclusive right to publish his own work was only recognized in full in 1757. Telemann's opera productions were not particularly popular, and eventually the opera house had to be closed down in 1738.
It is probably these difficulties that prompted Telemann to apply, already in 1722, for the post of Thomaskantor in Leipzig (Kuhnau died on 5 June that year). Of the six musicians who applied, he was the favored candidate, even winning the approval of the city's council. Telemann declined the position, but only after using the offer as leverage to secure a pay raise for his position in Hamburg. When Telemann declined the job, it was offered to Christoph Graupner, who also declined it—though chiefly because he could not secure a dismissal from his employer the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. This paved the way for J.S. Bach, who went on to occupy the position for the rest of his life.[3] Telemann returned to Hamburg, but would still supplement his income by taking up additional jobs: in 1723–1726 he served as Kapellmeister von Haus aus to the Bayreuth court, and between 1725 and 1730 he acted as corresponding agent to the court at Eisenach, supplying news from northern Europe.
In Hamburg Telemann started publishing his literary works: poems, texts for vocal music, sonnets, poems on the deaths of friends and colleagues. From 1725 he actively published his music as well, engraving and advertising the editions himself. More than 40 volumes of music appeared between 1725 and 1740 and these were widely distributed across Europe, owing to Telemann's numerous contacts in various countries. All this publishing activity, however, was in part driven by the need for money. Telemann's wife Maria Catherina amassed a very large gambling debt, 4400 Reichsthaler, which amounted to more than Telemann's annual income. The marriage was already in trouble by the early 1720s, as Maria Catherina was publicly rumored to be having an affair with a Swedish military officer. Telemann's friends in Hamburg organized a collection to save the composer's finances, and eventually he was saved from bankruptcy; by 1736 Maria had left Telemann's home. She outlived her husband by some eight years and died in 1775 at a convent in Frankfurt.
In late September or early October 1737 Telemann took an extended leave from Hamburg and went to Paris. There he countered various unauthorized publications of his music by obtaining his own publishing privilege. He immediately published several works, most importantly the Nouveaux quatuors, which were revised and expanded versions of the early composition stolen from him. The Nouveaux quatuors were enthusiastically received by the court and the city musicians. Telemann returned to Hamburg by the end of May 1738. Around 1740 his musical output fell sharply, even though he continued fulfilling his duties as Hamburg music director. He became more interested in music theory and completed a treatise on the subject, Neues musicalisches System (1742/3, published 1752). He also took up gardening and cultivating rare plants, a popular Hamburg hobby which was shared by Handel. Telemann still followed European musical life, however: throughout the 1740s and the 1750s he exchanged letters and compositions with younger composers such as C.P.E. Bach, Franz Benda, Johann Friedrich Agricola, and others.
After Telemann's eldest son Andreas died in 1755, he assumed the responsibility of raising Andreas' son Georg Michael Telemann, who eventually became a composer. In his later years, Telemann's eyesight began to deteriorate, and he was increasingly troubled by health problems. This led to a further decline in his output around 1762, however, he was still capable of composing music of highest quality, and continued to write until his death on the evening of 25 June 1767. The cause of death was a "chest ailment"; he was buried on 29 June in the Johannisfriedhof. He was succeeded at his Hamburg post by Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach.
Telemann was the most prolific composer of his time: his oeuvre comprises more than 3000 pieces. The first accurate estimate of the number of his works were provided by musicologists only during the 1980s and the 1990s, when extensive thematic catalogues were published. During his lifetime and the later half of the 18th century Telemann was very highly regarded by colleagues and critics alike. Numerous theorists (Marpurg, Mattheson, Quantz, and Scheibe, among others) cited his works as models, and major composers such as J.S. Bach and Handel bought and studied his published works. He was immensely popular not only in Germany but in the rest of Europe as well: orders for editions of Telemann's music came from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, and Spain. It was only in early 19th century that his popularity came to a sudden halt. Most lexicographers started dismissing him as a "polygraph" who composed too many works, a Vielschreiber for whom quantity came before quality. Such views were influenced by an account of Telemann's music by Christoph Daniel Ebeling, a late 18th century critic who in fact praised Telemann's music and only made passing critical remarks of his productivity. After the Bach revival, Telemann's works were judged as inferior to Bach's and lacking in religious fervour.[citation needed] Particularly striking examples of such unfair judgements were produced by noted Bach biographers Philipp Spitta and Albert Schweitzer, who criticized Telemann's cantatas and then praised works they thought were composed by Bach—but which were, in fact, composed by Telemann, as was shown by later research. The last performance of a substantial work by Telemann (Der Tod Jesu) occurred in 1832, and it was not until the 20th century that his music started being performed again. The revival of interest in Telemann began in the first decades of the 20th century and culminated in the Bärenreiter critical edition of the 1950s. Today each of Telemann's works is usually given a TWV number. TWV stands for Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis (Telemann Work Catalogue).
Telemann's music was one of the driving forces behind the late Baroque and the early Classical styles. Starting in the 1710s he became one of the creators and the foremost exponents of the so-called German mixed style, an amalgam of German, French, Italian and Polish styles. Over the years, his music gradually changed and started incorporating more and more elements of the galant style, but he never completely adopted the ideals of the nascent Classical era: Telemann's style remained contrapuntally and harmonically complex, and already in 1751 he dismissed much contemporary music as too simplistic. Composers he influenced musically included pupils of J.S. Bach in Leipzig, such as Wilhelm Friedmann Bach, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach and Johann Friedrich Agricola, as well as those composers who performed under his direction in Leipzig (Christoph Graupner, Johann David Heinichen and Johann Georg Pisendel), composers of the Berlin lieder school, and finally, his numerous pupils, none of whom, however, became major composers.
Equally important for the history of music were Telemann's publishing activities. By pursuing exclusive publication rights for his own works, he set one of the most important early precedents for regarding music as the intellectual property of the composer. The same attitude informed his public concerts, where Telemann would frequently perform music originally composed for ceremonies attended only by a select few members of the upper class.
See List of operas by Telemann
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Marco Polo | |
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Portrait of Marco Polo[Note 1] |
|
Born | c. 1254 presumably in Venice, Italy |
Died | January 9, 1324 Venice, Venetian Republic |
(aged 69)
Resting place | Church of San Lorenzo 45°15′41″N 12°12′15″E / 45.2613°N 12.2043°E |
Occupation | Merchant, Explorer |
Known for | The Travels of Marco Polo |
Spouse | Donata Badoer |
Children | Fantina, Bellela, and Moretta |
Parents | Mother: Unknown Father: Niccolò Polo |
Marco Polo (i/ˈmɑrkoʊ ˈpoʊloʊ/; Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo]; c. 1254 – January 9, 1324)[1] was a Venetian merchant traveler[2][3] from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice at war with Genoa; Marco was imprisoned, and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married and had three children. He died in 1324, and was buried in San Lorenzo.
Their pioneering journey inspired Christopher Columbus[4] and others. Marco Polo's other legacies include Venice Marco Polo Airport, the Marco Polo sheep, and several books and films. He also had an influence on European cartography, leading to the introduction of the Fra Mauro map.
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The exact time and place of Marco Polo's birth are unknown, and current theories are mostly conjectural. One possible place of birth is Venice's former contrada of San Giovanni Crisostomo, which is sometimes presented by historians as the birthplace, and it is generally accepted that Marco Polo was born in the Venetian Republic with most biographers pointing towards Venice itself as Marco Polo's home town.[5] Some biographers suggest that Polo was born in the town of Korčula (Curzola), on the island of Korčula in today's Croatia, however there is no proof to this claim.[6][7] The most quoted specific date of Polo's birth is somewhere "around 1254".[Note 2] His father Niccolò was a merchant who traded with the Middle East, becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige.[8][9] Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage, before Marco was born.[9] In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo were residing in Constantinople when they foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away.[8] According to The Travels of Marco Polo, they passed through much of Asia, and met with the Kublai Khan.[10] Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and he was raised by an aunt and uncle.[9] Polo was well educated, and learned merchant subjects including foreign currency, appraising, and the handling of cargo ships,[9] although he learned little or no Latin.[8]
In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to Venice, meeting Marco for the first time. In 1271, Marco Polo (at seventeen years of age), his father, and his uncle set off for Asia on the series of adventures that were later documented in Marco's book. They returned to Venice in 1295, 24 years later, with many riches and treasures. They had traveled almost 15,000 miles (24,000 km).[9]
Upon the Polos' return to Italy, Venice was at war with Genoa.[11] Genoese admiral Lamba D'Oria overwhelmed a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Curzola near the island of Korčula, and Polo was taken prisoner.[11] He spent several months of his imprisonment dictating a detailed account of his travels to a fellow inmate, Rustichello da Pisa,[9] who incorporated tales of his own as well as other collected anecdotes and current affairs from China. The book soon spread throughout Europe in manuscript form, and became known as The Travels of Marco Polo. It depicts the Polos' journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into the inner workings of the Far East, including China, India, and Japan.[12]
While Polo's book describes paper money and the burning of coal, it fails to mention the Great Wall of China, chopsticks, and footbinding, making skeptics wonder if Marco Polo had really gone to China, or wrote his book based on hearsay.[13] Yet, if the purpose of Polo's tales was to impress others with tales of his high esteem and fond regard in an advanced civilization, then the shrewd thing for Polo to do would be to omit those details that would cause his listeners to scoff at the Chinese with a sense of European superiority. Furthermore, researchers note that the Great Wall familiar to us today is a Ming structure, post-dating Marco Polo's travels by more than two centuries. The Yuan rulers whom Polo served, as well as the preceding Jin and Liao Empires controlled territories both north and south of the today's wall, and would have no reasons to maintain any fortifications that may have remained there from the earlier dynasties.[14] Other Europeans who traveled to Khanbaliq during the Yuan Dynasty, such as Giovanni de' Marignolli and Odoric of Pordenone, said nothing about the wall either.[14] Finally, the hearsay theory does not explain the absence of chop stick or foot binding reports. University of Tübingen researcher Hans Ulrich Vogel stated that Polo's description of paper money and salt production supported his presence in China.[15]
Polo was finally released from captivity in August 1299,[9] and returned home to Venice, where his father and uncle had purchased a large house in the central quarter named contrada San Giovanni Crisostomo. The company continued its activities and Marco soon became a wealthy merchant. Polo financed other expeditions, but never left Venice again. In 1300, he married Donata Badoer, the daughter of Vitale Badoer, a merchant.[16] They had three daughters, called Fantina, Bellela and Moreta.[17]
In 1323, Polo was confined to bed, due to illness. On January 8, 1324, despite physicians' efforts to treat him, Polo was on his deathbed. To write and certify the will, his family requested Giovanni Giustiniani, a priest of San Procolo. His wife, Donata, and his three daughters were appointed by him as co-executrices. The church was entitled by law to a portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of San Lorenzo, the place where he wished to be buried.[1] He also set free a "Tartar slave" who may have accompanied him from Asia.[18]
He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, between individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged. He also wrote-off multiple debts including 300 lire that his sister-in-law owed him, and others for the convent of San Giovanni, San Paolo of the Order of Preachers, and a cleric named Friar Benvenuto. He ordered 220 soldi be paid to Giovanni Giustiniani for his work as a notary and his prayers.[1] The will, which was not signed by Polo, but was validated by then relevant "signum manus" rule, by which the testator only had to touch the document to make it abide to the rule of law,[19] was dated January 9, 1324. Due to the Venetian law stating that the day ends at sunset, the exact date of Marco Polo's death cannot be determined, but it was between the sunsets of January 8 and 9, 1324.[1]
An authoritative version of Marco Polo's book does not exist, and the early manuscripts differ significantly. The published versions of his book either rely on single scripts, blend multiple versions together or add notes to clarify, for example in the English translation by Henry Yule. Another English translation by A.C. Moule and Paul Pelliot, published in 1938, is based on the Latin manuscript which was found in the library of the Cathedral of Toledo in 1932, and is 50% longer than other versions.[20] Approximately 150 variants in various languages are known to exist, and without the availability of a printing press many errors were made during copying and translation, resulting in many discrepancies.[21] Polo related his memoirs to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of the Genova Republic. Rustichello wrote The Devisament du Monde in Langues d'Oil, a lingua franca of crusaders and western merchants in the orient.[22] The idea probably was to create a handbook for merchants, essentially a text on weights, measures and distances.[23]
The book starts with a preface about his father and uncle traveling to Bolghar where Prince Berke Khan lived. A year later, they went to Ukek[24] and continued to Bukhara. There, an envoy from Levant invited them to meet Kublai Khan, who had never met Europeans.[25] In 1266, they reached the seat of the Kublai Khan at Dadu, present day Beijing, China. Khan received the brothers with hospitality and asked them many questions regarding the European legal and political system.[26] He also inquired about the Pope and Church in Rome.[27] After the brothers answered the questions he tasked them with delivering a letter to the Pope, requesting 100 Christians acquainted with the Seven Arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy). Kublai Khan requested that an envoy bring him back oil of the lamp in Jerusalem.[28] The long sede vacante between the death of Pope Clement IV in 1268 and the election of his successor delayed the Polos in fulfilling Khan's request. They followed the suggestion of Theobald Visconti, then papal legate for the realm of Egypt, and returned to Venice in 1269 or 1270 to await the nomination of the new Pope, which allowed Marco to see his father for the first time, at the age of fifteen or sixteen.[29]
In 1271, Niccolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo embarked on their voyage to fulfill Khan's request. They sailed to Acre, and then rode on camels to the Persian port of Hormuz. They wanted to sail to China, but the ships there were not seaworthy, so they continued overland until reaching Khan's summer palace in Shangdu, near present-day Zhangjiakou. Three and a half years after leaving Venice, when Marco was about 21 years old, Khan welcomed the Polos into his palace.[9] The exact date of their arrival is unknown, but scholars estimate it to be between 1271 and 1275.[Note 3] On reaching the Yuan court, the Polos presented the sacred oil from Jerusalem and the papal letters to their patron.[8]
Marco knew four languages, and the family had accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience that was useful to Khan. It is possible that he became a government official;[9] he wrote about many imperial visits to China's southern and eastern provinces, the far south and Burma.[30]
Kublai Khan declined the Polos' requests to leave China. They became worried about returning home safely, believing that if Khan died, his enemies might turn against them because of their close involvement with the ruler. In 1292, Khan's great-nephew, then ruler of Persia, sent representatives to China in search of a potential wife, and they asked the Polos to accompany them, so they were permitted to return to Persia with the wedding party – which left that same year from Zaitun in southern China on a fleet of 14 junks. The party sailed to the port of Singapore, travelled north to Sumatra, sailed west to the Trincomalee port of Jaffna under Savakanmaindan and to Pandyan of Tamilakkam. Describing the Pandyan kingdom under Lord Emperor Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I as the richest empire in existence, Polo arrived during the reign of Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I, son of Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I and one of five brother kings on the continent.[31] Eventually Polo crossed the Arabian Sea to Hormuz. The two-years voyage was a perilous one – of the six hundred people (not including the crew) in the convoy only eighteen had survived (including all three Polos).[32] The Polos left the wedding party after reaching Hormuz and travelled overland to the port of Trebizond on the Black Sea, the present day Trabzon.[9]
Other lesser-known European explorers had already travelled to China, such as Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, but Polo's book meant that their journey was the first to be widely known. Christopher Columbus was inspired enough by Polo's description of the Far East to visit those lands for himself; a copy of the book was among his belongings, with handwritten annotations.[4] Bento de Góis, inspired by Polo's writings of a Christian kingdom in the east, travelled 4,000 miles (6,400 km) in three years across Central Asia. He never found the kingdom, but ended his travels at the Great Wall of China in 1605, proving that Cathay was what Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) called "China".[33]
The Marco Polo sheep, a subspecies of Ovis aries, is named after the explorer,[34] who described it during his crossing of Pamir (ancient Mount Imeon) in 1271.[Note 4] In 1851, a three-masted Clipper built in Saint John, New Brunswick also took his name; the Marco Polo was the first ship to sail around the world in under six months.[35] The airport in Venice is named Venice Marco Polo Airport,[36] and the frequent flyer program of Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific is known as the "Marco Polo Club".[37] The travels of Marco Polo are fictionalised in Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne's Messer Marco Polo and Gary Jennings' 1984 novel The Journeyer. Polo also appears as the pivotal character in Italo Calvino's novel Invisible Cities. The 1982 television miniseries, Marco Polo, directed by Giuliano Montaldo and depicting Polo's travels, won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for six more.[38] Marco Polo also appears as a Great Explorer in the 2008 strategy video game Civilization Revolution.[39]
Marco Polo's travels may have had some influence on the development of European cartography, ultimately leading to the European voyages of exploration a century later.[40] The 1453 Fra Mauro map was said by Giovanni Battista Ramusio to have been partially based on the one brought from Cathay by Marco Polo:
That fine illuminated world map on parchment, which can still be seen in a large cabinet alongside the choir of their monastery (the Camaldolese monastery of San Michele di Murano) was by one of the brothers of the monastery, who took great delight in the study of cosmography, diligently drawn and copied from a most beautiful and very old nautical map and a world map that had been brought from Cathay by the most honourable Messer Marco Polo and his father.
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Marco Mengoni | |
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Marco Mengoni in Latina, 2010. |
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Background information | |
Born | Ronciglione, Viterbo, Italy |
25 December 1988
Occupations | Singer |
Years active | 2009–present |
Labels | Sony Music |
Marco Mengoni (born December 25, 1988)[1] is an Italian singer. He rose to fame in 2009, after winning the third season of Italian talent show The X Factor.[2] The following year he ranked third in the 60th Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Credimi ancora".[3] As of January 2011, he has sold a total of 220,000 copies in Italy with his first two EPs and his live album Re matto live.[4] In 2010 he became the first Italian artist to win the Best European Act award at the MTV Europe Music Awards. His first full-length studio album, Solo 2.0, was released in September 2011.
Contents |
Marco Mengoni was born in Ronciglione (Viterbo, Italy).[1] Before starting his singing career, he graduated in industrial design and he started studying Languages in Rome,[5] occasionally working as a barman.[1]
He started singing at the age of 16 and two years later he funded his first band.[5]
In 2009 he auditioned for the third series of the Italian talent-show X Factor. His category (16-24 year olds) was mentored by Morgan, and Mengoni was chosen to be among Morgan's top 4 contestants and perform on the live shows.[6]
During the live shows, he sang songs in many very different styles, including AC/DC's "Back in Black", Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" and "Billie Jean", Mia Martini's "Almeno tu nell'universo", The Beatles' "Helter Skelter", Prince's "Kiss", David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" and Nina Simone's "My Baby Just Cares for Me". As a result, he received the congratulations and admiration of many famous singers such as Mina,[7] Giorgia,[7] Elisa,[8] and Adriano Celentano.[7]
He was announced as the winner on 2 December 2009, winning a 300,000 € recording contract.[9]
His first EP, titled Dove si vola, was released on 4 December 2009.[10] It contained his first single "Dove si vola", another new song titled "Lontanissimo da te", and 5 covers previously performed during the X Factor contest.[11] The EP peaked at number 9 in the Italian Albums Chart[12] and was certified Platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry.[13]
In February 2010 he participated in the 60th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Credimi Ancora", and finished third in the contest.[14] "Credimi Ancora" subsequently peaked at number 3 in the Italian Chart[15] and was included in Mengoni's second EP, titled Re matto that was released on February 17, 2010. The 7-track EP also contained the singles "Stanco (Deeper Inside)"[16] and "In un giorno qualunque".[17]
In 2010 he won the TRL award in the category "MTV Man of the Year"[18] and the MTV Europe Music Award in the category "Best European Act", after being voted "Best Italian Act".[19]
His first tour, the Re matto tour, started on 3 May 2010[20] and consisted of 56 two-hour shows all around Italy.[21] During the tour, he collaborated with the choreographer Luca Tommassini,[22] who has also worked with celebrities such as Madonna and Michael Jackson. On tour Marco performed a wide range of covers in addition to his own material, including "Live and Let Die",[23] "Satisfaction",[24] "Mad World",[23] "Proud Mary"[24] and "Tears in Heaven".[25]
A CD of the tour, along with a DVD, was released with the title Re matto live on 19 October 2010.[17] The album peaked at number one in Italy[26] and was certified Platinum.[13]
On 2 September 2011 Mengoni released his single "Solo (Vuelta al ruedo)", preceding his first full-length studio album, titled Solo 2.0. Mengoni co-wrote most of the songs of the album,[27] working with composers including Italian singers-songwriters Neffa and Dente.[28] Influenced by electronic[29] and rock music,[30] the album also includes tracks featuring the Italian a cappella group Cluster and the orchestra directed by Fabio Gurian.[29]
Released on 27 September 2011, Solo 2.0 debuted at number one on the Italian Albums Chart.[31] To promote the album, Mengoni embarked on an Italian tour, the Solo 2.0 Tour, starting from 26 November 2011 in Milan.[32]
According to Il Corriere della Sera's Luca Benedetti, Mengoni has a typically soul voice, with pop rock tones.[33] His tone was also described by Maurizio Porro as "a sort of captivating miaow".[34]
In late 2009 he defined his musical style as "British/black".[35][36] In several interviews, Mengoni has claimed that one of his most relevant influences is The Beatles.[37][38] Mengoni also cited David Bowie,[39] Michael Jackson[40] and Renato Zero[41] among his most relevant influences.
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by Matteo Becucci |
Italian X Factor Winner 2009 |
Succeeded by Nathalie Giannitrapani |
Preceded by maNga |
Best European Act in the MTV Europe Music Awards 2010 |
Succeeded by Lena |
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