La cambiale di matrimonio

La cambiale di matrimonio (The Bill of Marriage or The Marriage Contract) is a one-act operatic farsa comica by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Gaetano Rossi. The libretto was based on the play by Camillo Federici (1791) and a previous libretto by Giuseppe Checcherini for Carlo Coccia's 1807 opera, Il matrimonio per lettera di cambio. The opera debuted on 3 November 1810 at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice

Composed in a few days when he was 18 years old, La cambiale di matrimonio was Rossini's first professional opera. The overture, written when he was a student at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna, is an important part of the modern concert repertoire. As was to become typical of his later career, the duet "Dunque io son" was later reused, to greater effect, in act 1 of The Barber of Seville.

Roles

Synopsis

The servants Norton and Clarina discuss a letter which has arrived for their master, Tobias Mill, regarding an impending marriage contract from a Canadian businessman, Slook, who is due to arrive later that day. Mill enters, flustered from calculating the distance from the Americas to Europe, and orders the household to prepare for Slook's arrival, including the readying of his daughter, Fanny, whom he intends to marry off to the foreigner. After everyone leaves, Fanny arrives with her lover, Eduardo Milfort; their love has been kept a secret from Mill due to Eduardo's poor financial status. Norton enters and informs the lovers of the impending marriage contract, but their conversation is interrupted by Mill's entrance as the carriage arrives bearing the Canadian.

Marriage (disambiguation)

Marriage is a socially or ritually recognized union or legal contract between spouses.

Marriage may also refer to:

Scottish Opera

Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland.

History

Scottish Opera was founded by conductor Alexander Gibson in 1962. In 1975 it purchased the Theatre Royal in Glasgow from Scottish Television re-opening it as the first national opera house for Scotland in October 1975 with Die Fledermaus. In March 2005, the management of the Theatre Royal was transferred to the Ambassador Theatre Group, but remains the home of Scottish Opera and of Scottish Ballet.

Scottish Opera is committed to bringing the widest range of opera, to the maximum audience in Scotland and the United Kingdom. The company's education unit is committed to delivering socially inclusive outreach and educational productions.

Scottish Opera dealt with various financial troubles, related to lack of funding and accusations of fiscal profligacy, during the first part of the 2000s. Its cycle of Richard Wagner's Ring was critically acclaimed, but also was highly draining of the company's financial resources. In 2004, a financial restructuring plan had called for the elimination of 88 jobs, including all 34 members of the chorus, and the suspension of the entire 2005–06 season. In protest, Sir Richard Armstrong announced his resignation in December 2004, effective at the end of the 2004–05 season.

Graham Vick

Graham Vick CBE (born 30 December 1953 in Birkenhead) is an English opera director known for his experimental and revisionist stagings of traditional and modern operas. He has worked in many of the world's leading opera houses and is currently artistic director of Birmingham Opera Company.

Life and career

Vick studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. At age 24, he directed a production of Gustav Holst's Savitri for Scottish Opera, and became the company's director of productions in 1984. From 1994 to 2000, Vick was director of productions at Glyndebourne Opera.

In 1987, he founded the Birmingham Opera Company and remains its artistic director. Vick's productions with Birmingham Opera include the first UK production of Othello to feature a black tenor in the title role in 2009, and the 2012 world premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's notoriously difficult Mittwoch aus Licht.

Vick was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

Surname

A surname or family name is a name added to a given name. In many cases, a surname is a family name and many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name". In the western hemisphere, it is commonly synonymous with last name because it is usually placed at the end of a person's given name.

In most Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries, two or more last names (or surnames) may be used. In China, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Madagascar, Taiwan, Vietnam, and parts of India, the family name is placed before a person's given name.

The style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (forename) is far from universal. In many countries, it is common for ordinary people to have only one name or mononym.

The concept of a "surname" is a relatively recent historical development, evolving from a medieval naming practice called a "byname". Based on an individual's occupation or area of residence, a byname would be used in situations where more than one person had the same name.