Can-can And Other Dances From The Opera

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Cat No: 8550924

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099592420

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: CAN-CAN AND OTHER DANCES FROM THE OPERA

Description
Can-Can and Dances from the Opera [1] Offenbach's light-hearted re-interpretation of theOrpheus legend caused some scandal at the first performance of his Orpheeaux Enfers at the Bouffe-Parisiens in 1858, when it seemed that he might bemocking the opera of Gluck on the same subject, The work was mounted with decorby Gustave Dore and expanded in 1874 with additional ballets, In Offenbach'sversion of the myth, with a libretto by Hector Cremieux and Jacques FrancoisHalevy, Orpheus is only too glad to be rid of his nagging Eurydice, who goesoff with Pluto, god of the Underworld, The intervention of Jupiter allows thatmaster of disguise to descend to the Underworld in the guise of a fly to seekout Eurydice, The famous can-can, the answer to Gluck's Dance of the BlessedSpirits, is performed by the infernal corps de ballet after Jupiter hasturned Eurydice into a Bacchante, a metamorphosis that leaves her happilyparted from her.Orpheus. [2] - [5] The most famous of all operatic versions ofGoethe'sFaustis the opera by Charles Gounod, first staged at the ParisTheatre-Lyrique in 1859, The plot centres on the love of Faust and Marguerite(Gretchen) and the dances from the opera, a necessary contemporary element ofFrench opera, include, in addition to the kermesse of the second act, the wellknown fifth act Walpurgisnacht on the Brocken in the Hartz Mountains, where thedances include Les nubiennes, Cleopatra et la coupe d'or, Les troyennes andDanse de Phrynee, part of a revision of 1869 for the Grand Opera. [6] - [7] Smetana was a leading figure in the creation ofCzech opera and his best known work in this form must be The Bartered Bride(Prodanci Nevesta), first staged at the Prague National Theatre in 1866, Thebride of the title,Marenka, is to marry the son of Tobias Micha, apparentlythe simpleton Vasek, but eventually is able to marry the man she loves, Micha'slong lost son Jenik,The Polka ends the first act, while the Furiantis heard at the inn scene of the second. [8] Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, firstperformed in 1881, the year after the composer's death, at the ParisOpera-Comique, is based on stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, including the famousCoppelia tale of love for a puppet. The third act is set in Venice, where thelove of Nicklausse and the courtesanGiulietta is celebrated in a Barcarole, thegondolier's song. [9] As versatile as he was prolific, Camille Saint-Saensscored the most lasting operatic success with his biblical Samson et Dalila,a work that had its first performance in.1877 at the Hoftheater in Weimar. Theclimax of tile opera is the Bacchanale of the third act, where thePhilistines feast and rejoice, mocking the blinded hero, who is about to bringthe house down. [10] Dance has an important and necessary part to play inRussian opera.Mussorgsky's Sorochintsy Fair, based on Gogol andleft unfinished at his death in 1881, included the famous Gopak, intended forthe end of the first act, but transferred by Tcherepni
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