Alban Berg, born on Feb. 9, 1885, is one of the most prevalent composers of 12-tone music. He grew up in Vienna and showed more interest in literature than music from an early age. However, he would start teaching himself to compose at the age of 15 and eventually started studying under Arnold Schoenberg in 1904. His entire compositional style {…}
Modest Mussorgsky is best-known for the opera “Boris Godunov,” but he also created “Khovanshchina,” which had its world premiere on Feb. 9, 1886. The opera was written between 1872 and 1880 and upon his death in 1881, Mussorgsky left it unfinished. Rimsky-Korsakov completed, revised, and scored the work, though in years later other composers, such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky {…}
“Tancredi” is one of Rossini’s more renowned opera seria. The work had its world premiere in Venice on Feb. 6, 1813. Rossini famously completed the work in less than a month, borrowing the overture from another of his operas. The opera itself had a strong critical reception with the likes of Stendhal claiming it to be one of his masterworks. {…}
When it comes to contesting which of Verdi’s operas is his greatest, “Otello” usually ranks amongst the top two or three. This work of supreme genius almost never came about as the composer had retired after creating “Aida” in 1871. But with the combined efforts of his Milan publisher Giulio Ricordi and librettist Arrigo Boito, Verdi came out of retirement {…}
Jussi Björling was one of the greatest tenors of the 20th century. Born on Feb. 5, 1911 in Sweden, first started learning to sing from his father, who also taught his two brothers. The family often engaged in performances as the Björling Male Quartet and the tenor made his debut public appearance at age five. The group would perform actively {…}
Martti Talvela was one of Finland’s greatest opera stars. Born on Feb. 4, 1935, in Hiitola as the eighth of 10 children, he studied in Lahti and Stockholm. Initially, he was on the path to be a school teacher and actually engaged with that occupation between 1957-60. However, he made his operatic debut in Helsinki in 1960 and would then {…}
What is “La Liberazione di Ruggiero?” No doubt that this very opera profile might strike some curiosity from unknowing readers. Its importance is tantamount to the art form, especially in the 21st century. Simply put, “La Liberazione di Ruggiero” is the first opera composed by a woman. Moreover, it was also one of the first works to shift the narrative {…}
Few artists go through as many transitions as Helga Dernesch did in her career. Born on Feb. 3, 1939, the Austrian artist started her career as a mezzo before transitioning to a lyric soprano. From there she would turn into a dramatic soprano and in her later career she returned to a mezzo. She studied at the Vienna Hochschule für {…}
Martina Arroyo is one of the transcendent figures in opera history. Born on Feb. 2, 1936 in New York City, she would attend Hunter College where she obtained a B.A. in Romance Languages by the age of 19. She studied voice as a hobby at the time, though by the end of her studies it was clear that she needed {…}
Renata Tebaldi, born on Feb. 1, 1922, was renowned as the “voce d’angelo.” She was born to a cellist and nurse in Pesaro and became involved with music from a very young age. At 13, she was taking piano lessons and by 17 she was admitted into the conservatory. Her stage debut came as Elena in “Mefistofele” in Rovigo in {…}
Flaviano Labò was a great tenor, but he never quite enjoyed the career of a great tenor of his time. Born on Feb. 1, 1927, Labò’s vocal talent was first noticed when he was in the army. At Antonino Votto’s insistence he would go on to study in Parma, Milan, and Piacenza and made his stage debut as Cavaradossi in {…}