Willard Spenser News
composer
- United States of America
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2024-04-24
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2020-07-13 07:08:10
The Invention of English Opera: the surprising history of opera in 17th century England, part one, from masques to dramatic-opera
[…] in London in 1634 using a large amount of parliament-raised money by King Charles I, however the subject caused great offence to the Puritans.In England, Tudor court masques developed from earlier guisings, where a masked allegorical figure would appear and address the assembled company—providing a theme for the occasion—with musical accompaniment. Masques at Queen Elizabeth I's court emphasized the concord and unity between Queen and Kingdom. The Masque of the Seven Deadly Sins in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene provides us with a description of an Elizabethan masque. In the court of King James I, narrative elements of the masque became more significant, and plots were often on classical or allegorical themes, glorifying the royal or noble sponsor. At the end, the audience would join with the actors in a final dance. Ben Jonson (1572-1637) wrote a number of masques with stage design by Inigo Jones (1573-1652) and their works are […]
2019-02-13 10:23:09
From play to opera: Marlowe's Edward II and Benjamin & Crimp's Lessons in Love & Violence
[…] the intimate, prizing the private and the personal, the intimate communication with the audience.The acting ensemble was very much mixed when it came to race and gender, proving that neither matters when it come to acting, it is the ensemble created that is important. Annette Badland, Polly Frame and Sanchia McCormack were impressive in that we scarcely noticed their gender in their portrayals of the six male characters that they played.Edward II, Piers Gaveston and Spenser Junior were played by young actors (Tom Stuart, Beru Tessema and Colin Ryan) which gave us an essential feeling of youth in a way which is difficult in opera as voices can mature later, meaning opera must operate on the principal of suspension of disbelief or, as in Katie Mitchell's production of Lessons in Love and Violence, accept that characters are more mature, giving another slant to the two works.With 17 named characters, Edward […]
2016-09-25 09:00:28
Choir of the King’s Consort (Vivat)Recorded in the Lutyens church of St Jude’s, Hampstead, this album of unaccompanied British choral works shows the 28-strong Choir of the King Consort, especially known for baroque performance, in a rich, lushly romantic light. Texts in more than one version (as with “Bring us, O Lord God” and “Drop, Drop, Slow Tears”), are set by 11 composers from the past 120 years, from Stanford and Parry to James MacMillan and John Tavener. Herbert Howells’s dark “Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing” (1964), written after the death of John F Kennedy, and William H Harris’s magniloquent setting for double choir of Spenser’s “Faire is the Heaven” stand out. Continue reading...
2016-04-16 18:51:00
Erotic Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fair Child of Beauty
Ralph Vaughan Williams : Fair Child of Beauty, the latest release from Albion Records, the recording label of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society. All Albion's recordings present RVW rarities, but this disc has a much wider potential market. It's important because it demonstrates the creative relationship between the composer and Ursula Wood, who would later become his wife. Many remember Ursula as the white-haired lady who presided over RVW Society events and was the force behind the Little Missenden Festival, but Ursula's own role as an artist is overshadowed. While still a student, Ursula had heard RVW's Job, a Masque for Dancing. Perhaps she remembered this when she approached RVW with a scenario for a masque based on Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion, a text she'd loved since her schooldays, Spenser had written the piece for his own wedding in 1594, so despite its invocations of Gods and images […]
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