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salon (n.)
1690s, a large room or apartment in a palace or great house.
From
French "salon", a reception room.
From Italian "salone", a large hall.
From "sala", hall.
From a Germanic source.
Cf. Old English
"sele"
Old Norse
"salr", hall
Old
High German
"sal"
hall, house,
German "Saal").
From Proto-Germanic hypothetical form*salaz
From Proto-Indo-European hypothetical form *sel-, human settlement.
Cf. Old Church Slavonic
"selo", courtyard, village.
Lithuanian "sala", village.
Sense of "reception room of a Parisian lady"
is from 1810.
Meaning "gathering of fashionable people" first recorded 1888 (the
woman who hosts one is a salonnière).
Meaning "annual exhibition of contemporary
paintings and sculpture in Paris" is from its originally being held in one of
the salons of the Louvre.
Meaning "establishment for hairdressing and beauty
care" is from 1913.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY -- and Handel's "Giustino" -- starring "Farinelli" as the dragon slayer
Speranza
Lampe/Carey's "The Dragon of Wantley: a burlesque", mocks the castrato Farinelli and Handel's latest opera, "Giustino", which contained a dragon.
Lampe/Carey's "The Dragon of Wantley: a burlesque", mocks the castrato Farinelli and Handel's latest opera, "Giustino", which contained a dragon.
OPERA BURLESCA
Speranza
burlesque (n.)
1660s, "derisive imitation, grotesque parody".
From French "burlesque" (16c.).
From Italian "burlesco".
From "burla", joke, fun, mockery.
Possibly ultimately from Late Latin "burra", trifle, nonsense, lit. "flock of wool."
Modern sense of "variety show featuring striptease" is American English, 1870.
Originally (1857) "the sketches at the end of minstrel shows."
As a verb, from 1670s.
cfr. Arne, "The opera of operas: an opera" -- an early English burlesque.
burlesque (n.)
1660s, "derisive imitation, grotesque parody".
From French "burlesque" (16c.).
From Italian "burlesco".
From "burla", joke, fun, mockery.
Possibly ultimately from Late Latin "burra", trifle, nonsense, lit. "flock of wool."
Modern sense of "variety show featuring striptease" is American English, 1870.
Originally (1857) "the sketches at the end of minstrel shows."
As a verb, from 1670s.
cfr. Arne, "The opera of operas: an opera" -- an early English burlesque.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
The Ballads of Michael Maybrick
Speranza
Michael Maybrick (31 January 1841 - 26 August 1913[1]) was an English composer and singer, best known under his pseudonym "Stephen Adams" as the composer of "The Holy City," one of the most popular and beautiful of the religious songs in English.
His uncle Michael Maybrick (1799–1846) was organist at St Peter's, wrote sacred music, and conducted the Liverpool Choral Society.
Having become proficient on the piano by the age of eight, the young Maybrick studied the organ with W. T. Best and at the age of fifteen became organist of St Peter's.
Maybrick also wrote anthems and had a work performed in London.
After gaining experience in Italian theatres, he appeared with great success in London on 25 February 1869 in Mendelssohn's Elijah.
Further success came as Telramund in Wagner's Lohengrin led to appearances with Charlotte Sainton-Dolby, including her farewell concert on 6 June 1870, and to regular engagements at the English festivals and with the Carl Rosa Opera Company.
He appeared as a baritone at all the leading concert venues in London and the provinces, as well as in English opera.
By the early 1870s Maybrick was singing his own ballads, beginning with 'A Warrior Bold’.
Published under the pseudonym Stephen Adams and mostly with lyrics by Fred Weatherly, Maybrick's achieved extraordinary popularity.
His early sea song ‘Nancy Lee’ sold more than 100,000 copies in two years.
Maybrick penned other sea songs including ‘The Tar's Farewell’, ‘They All Love Jack’, and ‘The Midshipmite’, sentimental songs such as ‘Your Dear Brown Eyes’, romanctic numbers like ‘The Children of the City’, and sacred songs like ‘The Blue Alsatian Mountains’, ‘The Star of Bethlehem’, and the well-loved ‘Holy City’.
In 1884 he tours the United States performing his own ballads.
His friends spoke of his charming personality, but others (not necessarily his enemies) thought him arrogant and vain.
On 9 March 1893 he married his forty-year-old housekeeper, Laura Withers, and settled with her at Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
They were joined there by the two children of his brother, James Maybrick, later a suspect in the Jack the Ripper case, and whose wife Florence was the lead suspect and convicted of his suspicious murder in 1889 (A re-examination of her case resulted in her release in 1904).
Maybrick became chairman of the Isle of Wight Hospital, was a magistrate and was five times mayor of Ryde.
He was also a Freemason.
He had been at Buxton for three weeks being treated for periodic gout when he died in his sleep of heart failure on 26 August 1913.
He was buried four days later at Ryde.
Born at 8 Church Alley, Liverpool, the fourth of the seven sons of William Maybrick (1815–1853?), an engraver, and his wife, Susannah (1815?–1883?), both his grandfather and father served as parish clerk at St Peter's, Liverpool, and were minor composers -- where 'minor' is subjective (cfr. Grosse, "In praise of the minor poet").
His uncle Michael Maybrick (1799–1846) was organist at St Peter's, wrote sacred music, and conducted the Liverpool Choral Society.
Having become proficient on the piano by the age of eight, the young Maybrick studied the organ with W. T. Best and at the age of fifteen became organist of St Peter's.
Maybrick also wrote anthems and had a work performed in London.
In 1865 Maybrick went to Leipzig to study keyboard and harmony with Carl Reinecke, Ignaz Moscheles, and Louis Plaidy, but later decided to train as a baritone with Gaetano Nava in Milan.
After gaining experience in Italian theatres, he appeared with great success in London on 25 February 1869 in Mendelssohn's Elijah.
Further success came as Telramund in Wagner's Lohengrin led to appearances with Charlotte Sainton-Dolby, including her farewell concert on 6 June 1870, and to regular engagements at the English festivals and with the Carl Rosa Opera Company.
He appeared as a baritone at all the leading concert venues in London and the provinces, as well as in English opera.
By the early 1870s Maybrick was singing his own ballads, beginning with 'A Warrior Bold’.
Published under the pseudonym Stephen Adams and mostly with lyrics by Fred Weatherly, Maybrick's achieved extraordinary popularity.
His early sea song ‘Nancy Lee’ sold more than 100,000 copies in two years.
Maybrick penned other sea songs including ‘The Tar's Farewell’, ‘They All Love Jack’, and ‘The Midshipmite’, sentimental songs such as ‘Your Dear Brown Eyes’, romanctic numbers like ‘The Children of the City’, and sacred songs like ‘The Blue Alsatian Mountains’, ‘The Star of Bethlehem’, and the well-loved ‘Holy City’.
In 1884 he tours the United States performing his own ballads.
His friends spoke of his charming personality, but others (not necessarily his enemies) thought him arrogant and vain.
Maybrick was a keen amateur sportsman, being a cricketer, a yachtsman and a cyclist, and a Captain in the Artists Rifles.
On 9 March 1893 he married his forty-year-old housekeeper, Laura Withers, and settled with her at Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
They were joined there by the two children of his brother, James Maybrick, later a suspect in the Jack the Ripper case, and whose wife Florence was the lead suspect and convicted of his suspicious murder in 1889 (A re-examination of her case resulted in her release in 1904).
Maybrick became chairman of the Isle of Wight Hospital, was a magistrate and was five times mayor of Ryde.
He was also a Freemason.
He had been at Buxton for three weeks being treated for periodic gout when he died in his sleep of heart failure on 26 August 1913.
He was buried four days later at Ryde.
- ^ Who's Who 1914
- ^ a b c d Patrick Waddington, ‘Maybrick, Michael [Stephen Adams] (1841–1913)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/46651, accessed 1 Nov 2009
- ^ a b The Liverpool Mercury August 12, 1913
[edit] References
- 'Obituary: Michael Maybrick', The Musical Times, Vol. 54, No. 848 (Oct. 1, 1913), pp. 661–662
[edit] External links
- Free scores by Stephen Adams (Michael Maybrick) at the International Music Score Library Project
- Free scores by Michael Maybrick in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- Obituary in Liverpool Mercury, 30 August 1913
Just a song at twilight: the ballads of J. L. Molloy
Speranza
James Lynam Molloy (c. August 1837 - 4 February 1909) was an Irish poet, author and composer.
After leaving the College, Molloy went to the Catholic University in Dublin, graduating in 1858.
He then continued his studies in London, Paris, and Bonn, being called to the Bar in 1863, although he never practised Law, but the piano.
Molloy started writing and publishing ballads (as he pretentiously called his songs) which soon became popular in concert halls -- notably St. James's Hall, in Piccadilly -- a favourite with the bourgeosie
Initially concentrating on operettas, Molloy later gained popularity with his three ballads "The Old Cottage Clock", "Bantry Bay" and "The Kerry Dance".
In 1884 he had his greatest success of all "Love's Old Sweet Song", a song since very popular with sailors, among others.
With W. S. Gilbert, he wrote several songs, including "Thady O'Flynn" (1868; used in the operetta No Cards), "Corisande" (1870) and "Eily's Reason" (1871).
He also wrote a book in 1874 called Our Autumn Holiday on French Rivers.
James Lynam Molloy (c. August 1837 - 4 February 1909) was an Irish poet, author and composer.
James Molloy attended St Edmund's College (Ware) as a student between 1851 and 1855 along with his brother Bernard, who later became an MP.
After leaving the College, Molloy went to the Catholic University in Dublin, graduating in 1858.
He then continued his studies in London, Paris, and Bonn, being called to the Bar in 1863, although he never practised Law, but the piano.
Molloy started writing and publishing ballads (as he pretentiously called his songs) which soon became popular in concert halls -- notably St. James's Hall, in Piccadilly -- a favourite with the bourgeosie
Initially concentrating on operettas, Molloy later gained popularity with his three ballads "The Old Cottage Clock", "Bantry Bay" and "The Kerry Dance".
In 1884 he had his greatest success of all "Love's Old Sweet Song", a song since very popular with sailors, among others.
With W. S. Gilbert, he wrote several songs, including "Thady O'Flynn" (1868; used in the operetta No Cards), "Corisande" (1870) and "Eily's Reason" (1871).
He also wrote a book in 1874 called Our Autumn Holiday on French Rivers.
References
- ^ Kay, David J S. The People of St Edmund's College (The Edmundian Association: 2003) ISBN 0-9546125-0-7
- ^ Allen, Reginald (1963). W. S. Gilbert: An Anniversary Survey and Exhibition Checklist with Thirty-five Illustrations, The Biographical Society of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
[edit] External links
- Free scores by James Lynam Molloy in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
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