The Rise and Fall of a La Scala Diva

The Rise and Fall of a La Scala Diva PDF Author: Marjorie Wright
Publisher: Janus Publishing Company Lim
ISBN: 1857566122
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
An autobiography charting Marjorie Wright's career in opera. At the height of her career, Marjorie Wright bathed in the limelight of the operatic circle, as a renowned opera diva. Then her world fell apart. The 'politics' and back-stabbing in this operatic circle finally saw her falling from grace, to the lowest ebb one could imagine.

The Rise and Fall of a La Scala Diva

The Rise and Fall of a La Scala Diva PDF Author: Marjorie Wright
Publisher: Janus Publishing Company Lim
ISBN: 1857566122
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
An autobiography charting Marjorie Wright's career in opera. At the height of her career, Marjorie Wright bathed in the limelight of the operatic circle, as a renowned opera diva. Then her world fell apart. The 'politics' and back-stabbing in this operatic circle finally saw her falling from grace, to the lowest ebb one could imagine.

From Farquhar to Field Day

From Farquhar to Field Day PDF Author: Dr Nuala McAllister Hart
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752480855
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Derry~Londonderry has a distinctive cultural history which reflects its unique position in the history of Ireland. This ground-breaking book examines three centuries of music and theatre in the city highlighting the key figures and turning points in its cultural life. It documents the rich diversity of drama and concerts played out in the city's theatres and concert halls, from the birth of playwright George Farquhar in 1677 to performances by the Field Day Theatre Company and the cultural revival of the 1990s and beyond.

The Diva & the Rancher

The Diva & the Rancher PDF Author: Jennifer Hamblin
Publisher: Rocky Mountain Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781894765701
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Big dreams, dashed hopes and romance are at the heart of this biography of Norma and George Pocaterra. The story begins in 1903 when George Pocaterra left Italy and came to the Canadian Rockies with hopes of striking it rich. George is best known for establishing the Buffalo Head Ranch in the foothills of Alberta. He developed a close friendship with members of the Stoney Indians, and was one of the first non-Natives to explore much of what is now called Kananaskis Country. In 1933, he returned to Italy, where he met and fell in love with Norma Piper, a young Calgary singer who had moved to Italy to study opera. They eventually married, and George took over the management of Norma's rising operatic career. World War II forced a return to Canada in 1939. In Calgary, Norma became part of the local music scene, giving concerts and teaching singing at Mount Royal College. In 1955, she started her own studio and over the next 25 years became one of Calgary's most loved music teachers. George, meanwhile, continued with his coal-mining ventures, although he suffered bitter disappointments. Drawing on personal diaries and correspondence, the authors have created an intimate portrait of these remarkable Albertans who became, each in their own way, legends in their lifetimes.

The Rise Of Napoleon Bonaparte

The Rise Of Napoleon Bonaparte PDF Author: Robert Asprey
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786725397
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 610

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Book Description
Ever since 1821, when he died at age fifty-one on the forlorn and windswept island of St. Helena, Napoleon Bonaparte has been remembered as either demi-god or devil incarnate. In The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, the first volume of a two-volume cradle-to-grave biography, Robert Asprey instead treats him as a human being. Asprey tells this fascinating, tragic tale in lush narrative detail. The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte is an exciting, reckless thrill ride as Asprey charts Napoleon's vertiginous ascent to fame and the height of power. Here is Napoleon as he was-not saint, not sinner, but a man dedicated to and ultimately devoured by his vision of himself, his empire, and his world.

The Rise of the Diva on the Sixteenth-Century Commedia dell'Arte Stage

The Rise of the Diva on the Sixteenth-Century Commedia dell'Arte Stage PDF Author: Rosalind Kerr
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 144261949X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The Rise of the Diva on the Sixteenth-Century Commedia dell’Arte Stage examines the emergence of the professional actress from the 1560s onwards in Italy. Tracing the historical progress of actresses from their earliest appearances as sideshow attractions to revered divas, Rosalind Kerr explores the ways in which actresses commodified their sexual and cultural appeal. Newly translated archival material, iconographic evidence, literary texts, and theatrical scripts provide a rich repertoire through which Kerr demonstrates how actresses skillfully improvised roles such as the maidservant, the prima donna, and the transvestite heroine. Following the careers of early stars such as Flaminia of Rome, Vincenza Armani, Vittoria Piissimi, and Isabella Andreini, Kerr shows how their fame arose from the combination of dazzling technical mastery and eloquent powers of persuasion. Seamlessly integrating the Italian and English scholarly literature on the subject, The Rise of the Diva is an insightful analysis of one of the modern world’s first celebrity cultures.

The Diva's Gift to the Shakespearean Stage

The Diva's Gift to the Shakespearean Stage PDF Author: Pamela Allen Brown
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192638084
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
The Diva's Gift traces the far-reaching impact of the first female stars on the playwrights and players of the all-male stage. When Shakespeare entered the scene, women had been acting in Italian troupes for two decades, traveling in Italy and beyond and performing in all genres, including tragedy. The ambitious actress reinvented the innamorata, making her more charismatic and autonomous, thrilling audiences with her skills. Despite fervent attacks, some actresses became the first international stars, winning royal and noble patrons and literary admirers in France and Spain. After Elizabeth and her court caught wind of their success in Paris, Italian troupes with actresses crossed the Channel to perform. The Italians' repeat visits and growing fame posed a radical challenge to English professionals just as they were building their first paying theaters. Some writers treated the actress as a whorish threat to their stage, which had long minimized female roles. Others saw a vital new model full of promise. Lyly, Marlowe, and Kyd endowed innamorata parts with hot-blooded, racialized passions, but made them self-aware agents, not counters traded between men. Shakespeare, Jonson, Webster and others followed, ringing changes on the new type in comedy, tragedy, and romance. Like the comici they recycled actress-linked theatergrams and star scenes, such as cross-dressing, the mad scene, and the sung lament. In this way, the diva's prodigious virtuosity and stardom altered the horizons of playmaking even on the womanless stage. Capitalizing on the talents of boy players, the best playwrights created bold new roles endowed with her alien glamour, such as Lyly's Sapho and Pandora, Marlowe's Dido, Kyd's Bel-Imperia, Webster's Vittoria, and Shakespeare's Beatrice, Viola, Portia, Juliet, and Ophelia. Cleopatra is not alone in her superb theatricality and dazzling strangeness. As this book demonstrates, the diva's gifts mark them all.

Roses for a Diva

Roses for a Diva PDF Author: Rick Blechta
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459721926
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
Opera singer Marta Hendricks discovers she has an mysterious admirer who leaves her roses. But it turns out this fan is a actually a stalker with deadly intentions.

La Sheridan, Adorable Diva

La Sheridan, Adorable Diva PDF Author: Anne Chambers
Publisher: Wolfhound Press (IE)
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The life of the great Irish prima donna revered by opera lovers around the world.

Open the Cage, Murphy!

Open the Cage, Murphy! PDF Author: Paul O'Grady
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448170052
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'With typical razor-sharp wit and candour, Paul tells of his rise to fame as Lily Savage . . . Riveting.' Daily Mirror From Britain's most beloved TV star, Open the Cage, Murphy is an action-packed roller-coaster ride through a decade of Paul O'Grady's life, stuffed full to the gunwales with hilarious stories, extreme situations and outrageous one-liners. A must read for any Paul O'Grady fan, Open the Cage, Murphy follows his brilliant comic creation Lily Savage as she embraces success and world domination beckons. From being involved in a plane crash, to getting caught up in the LA riots and a close encounter with Madonna, the stories come thick and fast. Paul takes us with him to a gay-themed weekend in Butlin's in Skegness, on a rowdy tour with Prisoner Cell Block H - the Musical and into the depths of the Australian rainforest, where he befriends a rare bird that can disembowel a man with a single kick. The dramatis personae include a family of dolphins, Charlton Heston and the ghost of Joan of Arc - and there's a starring role for a certain remarkable dog, Buster Elvis Savage. But whether he's writing about star-studded Hollywood parties, the devastating loss of close friends to AIDS, or late night shenanigans at the end of Blackpool Pier, Paul's wit and humanity never desert him. Open the Cage, Murphy is a genuine delight - all the more so for being delightfully genuine. Readers love Open the Cage, Murphy! 'I couldn't put it down . . . Paul comes across as a very intelligent man . . . with a heart of gold under that naughty exterior.' ***** 'This is such a great read, Paul is excellent when describing things makes you feel as though you are there with him. His humour warmth and caring comes out in abundance.' ***** 'An excellent read. He takes you through the highs and lows of his life, you laugh and cry with him.' *****

Maria Callas

Maria Callas PDF Author: Anne Edwards
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 125029391X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 506

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Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling biographer Anne Edwards comes the irresistible true story of the lives and loves of the great opera diva, Maria Callas. Maria Callas continues to mesmerize us decades after her death, not only because she was indisputably the greatest opera diva of the 20th century, but also because both her life and death were shrouded in a Machiavellian web of scandal, mystery and deception. Now Anne Edwards, well known for her revealing and insightful biographies of some of the world's most noted women, tells the intimate story of Maria Callas—her loves, her life, and her music, revealing the true woman behind the headlines, gossip and speculation. The second daughter of Greek immigrant parents, Maria found herself in the grasp of an overwhelmingly ambitious mother who took her away from her native New York and the father she loved, to a Greece on the eve of the Second World War. From there, we learn of the hardships, loves and triumphs Maria experienced in her professional and personal life. We are introduced to the men who marked Callas forever—Luchino Visconti, the brilliant homosexual director who she loved hopelessly, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, the husband thirty years her senior who used her for his own ambitions, as had her mother, and Aristotle Onassis, who put an end to their historic love affair by discarding her for the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy. Throughout her life, Callas waged a constant battle with her weight, a battle she eventually won, transforming herself from an ugly duckling into the slim and glamorous diva who transformed opera forever, whose recordings are legend, and whose life is the stuff of which tabloids are made. Anne Edwards goes deeper than previous biographies of Maria Callas have dared. She draws upon intensive research to refute the story of Callas's "mystery child" by Onassis, and she reveals the true circumstances of the years preceding Callas's death, including the deception perpetrated by her close and trusted friend. As in her portraits of other brilliant, star-crossed women, Edwards brings Maria Callas—the intimate Callas—alive.