Elvis/ Hans Christian Andersen opera , 8/9 Oct. 05

Pretty self-explanatory
johnfoyle
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Elvis/ Hans Christian Andersen opera , 8/9 Oct. 05

Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainme ... &cset=true


Elvis Costello writes opera about Hans Christian Andersen
'The Secret Arias' is about the Danish fairy tale writer's romance with a Swedish woman

By Jan M. Olsen
The Associated Press

Originally published January 20, 2005, 11:50 AM EST

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Elvis Costello, Britain's musical chameleon, is creating an opera based on Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen's impossible romance with a Swedish woman, a spokesman for Copenhagen's new opera house said Thursday.

"The Secret Arias" is based on songs written by Andersen for Jenny Lind, a soprano dubbed the "Swedish Nightingale," whom the Dane pined for, despite her never returning his affections, said Henrik Engelbrecht, head of dramaturgy at the Royal Theater.

"Elvis immediately loved the idea and when we met him 18 months ago to discuss it, he had already a clear idea about the opera," Engelbrecht told the AP.

It is believed that Andersen wrote his tale "The Nightingale" with Lind, who lived from 1820-1887, in mind.

The work will open in 2006 in the new opera house's small experimental stage that can seat 200. The cast hasn't yet been decided.

After Copenhagen, "The Secret Arias" likely will go on an international tour, and be released as a compact disc and DVD, Engelbrecht said.

Costello, who has recorded with Swedish soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter and the Brodsky Quartet, will perform the songs during a concert this fall at the new $441 million opera house, which opened Jan. 15.

Costello emerged from Britain's early new wave scene as one of the original "angry young men" and since then has dabbled in everything from orchestral symphonies to harmonious pop. Some of his featured singles include "Alison" and "Radio, Radio" and "Veronica."

This year, Danes mark the bicentennial of Andersen's birth, who is renowned for his children's stories, including the classics "The Little Match Girl," "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Red Shoes." Andersen died in 1875.

In early April, international celebrities, music stars, athletes and Danish royals will attend a four-day carnival in Copenhagen to start a yearlong international celebration.

"Unfortunately we won't make it for the Hans Christian Andersen's celebrations this year," Engelbrecht said.

Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read

The Nightingale
by
Hans Christian Andersen
http://hca.gilead.org.il/nighting.html

Read about Jenny Lind

http://www.iconportal.com/chopin.jennylind.htm

Image
Last edited by johnfoyle on Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
wehitandrun
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Re: Elvis/ Hans Christian Andersen opera 'will open in 2006

Post by wehitandrun »

johnfoyle wrote:After Copenhagen, "The Secret Arias" likely will go on an international tour, and be released as a compact disc and DVD, Engelbrecht said.
Cope! I'm so proud of you.
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laughingcrow
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Post by laughingcrow »

Anyone seen that old musical Hans Christian Anderson...if memory serves, it's Danny Kaye in it.
It's got some good old fashioned enjoyable songs 'hello children everywhere-stylee'...The Ugly Duckling and Thumbelina rock my world!
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

There are a few new quotes from the Royal Danish Opera man is this - it's also nice to see a newish Costello headline and not the same old ' Elvis Lives' thingy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articl ... 76,00.html

Elvis pumps it up by writing an opera about Hans Christian Andersen

Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent
Thursday January 27, 2005

Guardian

Elvis Costello has made a career out of confounding his fans. Over the years the man behind Oliver's Army has made a country album, worked with Burt Bacharach and made an unashamedly romantic album of love songs. Now he looks likely to baffle audiences again - by writing an opera.
Costello is preparing to write a piece of lyric theatre based on the life of Hans Christian Andersen. It will premiere at the Royal Danish Opera in October.

He has made several forays into the classical music world already, having composed a ballet and collaborated with both the Brodsky Quartet and the Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. But the complexities of operatic writing will provide him with his biggest challenge yet.

According to Henrik Engelbrecht, head of dramaturgy at the Royal Danish Opera: "We looked around the serious end of the rock scene for a person we thought could contribute to our art form. We very quickly came up with Elvis.

"We went to see him in Dublin with the idea of doing something about Hans Christian Andersen. We thought we would be teaching him about Andersen but he knew all about him.

"He already had a very operatic idea: that of a staged song cycle connected with the life of Andersen and actually about the writer's obsession with Jenny Lind [the Swedish soprano].

"There is an element of fiction: in Costello's version, Andersen has written Lind a number of secret arias (he was also something of an actor and composer) and the scenario is that he presents his pieces to her for the first time to sing."


The 50-year-old singer-songwriter has consistently expressed his unwillingness to be remembered for "a handful of songs I wrote 25 years ago". Or, more tersely: "I don't give a fuck about being a rock'n'roll star. I just want to do the things that interest me."

He said last year: "All the music comes out of the same head. It's just using different methods to get at the solution to whatever motivated you to write it in the first place."

Costello has in his time curated the South Bank festival Meltdown, and in 2000 took to the stage at the Hoxton New Music Days in London to do a surprise turn with the contemporary classical group the Composers' Ensemble.

He taught himself to read music 10 years ago. On composing his ballet score, Il Sogno (based on A Midsummer Night's Dream), he has written: "I deliberately set aside modern methods involv ing computers, preferring a pencil and paper. The 200-page score was completed in approximately 10 weeks." The work was commissioned by the Italian company Aterballeto in 2000.

Asked why the Danish Royal Opera had looked to the world of rock, Mr Engelbrecht said: "What we have is an art form that is 400 years old, and has developed. We don't do opera seria like we did in the 18th century _ One of the tasks we think we have is to look at other forms - dance, rock and film - anything that can invigorate our own art form."

The Danish Royal Opera - whose new opera house opened last night with Aida, starring Roberto Alagna, and which will this spring premiere an opera by Handmaid's Tale composer Poul Ruders based on Kafka's The Trial - will invite Costello to perform the song cycle in October.

The work should be fully staged on the opera house's studio stage the following year. A director and cast have yet to be appointed.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
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verbal gymnastics
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Post by verbal gymnastics »

Good article but "Elvis pumps it up" as a header? :roll: Lazy!
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/capi ... _page.html


Now Costello, who only learned to read and write music 10 years ago, has taken his classical turn further, writing an opera about children's writer Hans Christian Andersen to debut at the Copenhagen Royal Opera Theatre in October.

He says: "Of course the minute opera is mentioned it's like a big, fat woman with a Viking helmet. Everyone sees that image and thinks that it has to sound like Puccini.

"What I am actually doing is telling a story about Andersen. I didn't want to set one of the tales because that has been done.

"I'm right in the process of writing it - it's about Andersen who was this weird misfit kind of guy who came from a very poor background and rose to prominence because he basically invented children's stories. Andersen was a very conflicted person in his own sexuality. He kept falling in love with the wrong people.

"But it is not going to be written for an orchestra and I'm singing two of the roles in the initial production so it won't be like formal opera."

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Andersen was a very conflicted person in his own sexuality. He kept falling in love with the wrong people.

Indeed!
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http://www.underthesun.cc/Classics/Ande ... eSaucyBoy/

The Saucy Boy ( 1835)
By Hans Christian Andersen



ONCE upon a time there was an old poet, one of those
right good old poets.

One evening, as he was sitting at home, there was a
terrible storm going on outside; the rain was pouring
down, but the old poet sat comfortably in his
chimney-corner, where the fire was burning and the
apples were roasting.

“There will not be a dry thread left on the poor
people who are out in this weather,” he said.

“Oh, open the door! I am so cold and wet through,”
called a little child outside. It was crying and
knocking at the door, whilst the rain was pouring down
and the wind was rattling all the windows.

“Poor creature!” said the poet, and got up and opened
the door. Before him stood a little boy; he was naked,
and the water flowed from his long fair locks. He was
shivering with cold; if he had not been let in, he
would certainly have perished in the storm.

“Poor little thing!” said the poet, and took him by
the hand. “Come to me; I will soon warm you. You shall
have some wine and an apple, for you are such a pretty
boy.”

And he was, too. His eyes sparkled like two bright
stars, and although the water flowed down from his
fair locks, they still curled quite beautifully.

He looked like a little angel, but was pale with cold,
and trembling all over. In his hand he held a splendid
bow, but it had been entirely spoilt by the rain, and
the colours of the pretty arrows had run into one
another by getting wet.

The old man sat down by the fire, and taking the
little boy on his knee, wrung the water out of his
locks and warmed his hands in his own.

He then made him some hot spiced wine, which quickly
revived him; so that with reddening cheeks, he sprang
upon the floor and danced around the old man.

“You are a merry boy,” said the latter. “What is your
name?”

“My name is Cupid,” he answered. “Don’t you know me?
There lies my bow. I shoot with that, you know. Look,
the weather is getting fine again—the moon is
shining.”

“But your bow is spoilt,” said the old poet.

“That would be unfortunate,” said the little boy,
taking it up and looking at it. “Oh, it’s quite dry
and isn’t damaged at all. The string is quite tight;
I’ll try it.” So, drawing it back, he took an arrow,
aimed, and shot the good old poet right in the heart.
“Do you see now that my bow was not spoilt?” he said,
and, loudly laughing, ran away. What a naughty boy to
shoot the old poet like that, who had taken him into
his warm room, had been so good to him, and had given
him the nicest wine and the best apple!

The good old man lay upon the floor crying; he was
really shot in the heart. “Oh!” he cried, “what a
naughty boy this Cupid is! I shall tell all the good
children about this, so that they take care never to
play with him, lest he hurt them.”

And all good children, both girls and boys, whom he
told about this, were on their guard against wicked
Cupid; but he deceives them all the same, for he is
very deep. When the students come out of class, he
walks beside them with a book under his arm, and
wearing a black coat. They cannot recognize him. And
then, if they take him by the arm, believing him to be
a student too, he sticks an arrow into their chest.
And when the girls go to church to be confirmed, he is
amongst them too. In fact, he is always after people.
He sits in the large chandelier in the theatre and
blazes away, so that people think it is a lamp; but
they soon find out their mistake. He walks about in
the castle garden and on the promenades. Yes, once he
shot your father and your mother in the heart too.
Just ask them, and you will hear what they say. Oh! he
is a bad boy, this Cupid, and you must never have
anything to do with him, for he is after every one.
Just think, he even shot an arrow at old grandmother;
but that was a long time ago. The wound has long been
healed, but such things are never forgotten.

Now you know what a bad boy this wicked Cupid is.
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

This just gets better 'n better!
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http://www.expatica.com/source/site_art ... gay+virgin

Hans Christian Andersen was a gay virgin

10 February 2005

HAMBURG - Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen was gay but may never have acted on his homosexual tendencies, according to a new biography published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Andersen's birth.

Author Jens Andersen, author of the book which has just been published in Germany, says the author fell in love with both men and women, though he may well have remained a virgin all his life.

The book, which will be published in English in April, states that Andersen had infatuations with both men and women but could not bring himself to overcome societal strictures against homosexuality even if he could not bring

himself to marry a woman.

In modern parlance, "he was just not that into girls", according to the author.

In an almost Freudian manner, Andersen channeled his sexual energies into his writing, creating some of the finest fairy-tale fiction ever written.

He fictionalized his biography as a wonderful fairy tale, even naming his autobiography "The Fairy Tale of My Life".

His own life read like a fairy tale. He was born 2 April 1805, in Odense, the son of a poor shoemaker and an illiterate laundry woman.

Like "The Ugly Duckling", he was an eccentric boy who was teased merciless by other children for being odd-looking and awkward and for wearing hand-me-downs.

At age 14 he moved to Copenhagen in hopes of finding other misfits like himself. He succeeded beyond his dreams, winning the hearts of leading bourgeois families, who sponsored his education.

Andersen finished his secondary schooling in 1828 and determinedly set about establishing himself as a writer. He published his first novel within a year and was soon on his way to fame, churning out novels, travel books, dramas, autobiographies and poetry.

Firmly established as a Danish man of letters, he turned his talents to fairy tales in 1837, he began writing the fairy tales that won him international fame and access to the royal houses and cultural elites of Europe.

He travelled widely, touring Europe and Britain. In London, he stayed with Charles Dickens, who found the effeminate, fussy, self-centered and hypochondriacal bachelor a tiresome guest.

While Andersen's novels are traditional romantic works celebrating religion and nature and displaying a deep faith in God, his fairy tales offered room for his subconscious mind to work out "relationship issues", according to his biographer.

Many of the fairy tales may be read as gay allegories, and some are clearly autobiographical.

For instance, "The Little Mermaid" was written after a crisis Andersen suffered in 1836 at the marriage of Edvard Collin, who may have been the love of Andersen's life but who refused to play the part of his romantic soulmate.

Andersen's novel "O.T.", depicting an intimate male friendship, is also influenced by this unrequited love, according to the biographer.

Although Andersen typically conducted one-sided infatuations with young men, he did experience a more reciprocal romantic friendship with the Hereditary Grand Duke of Weimar, Carl-Alexander von Saxe- Weimar-Eisenach, whom he met in 1844.

In his later years, Andersen was infatuated with the young ballet dancer, Harald Scharff.

Andersen died on 4 August 1875. It was not until 1893 that his sexuality was publicly discussed, when a newspaper hinted that he may have been a homosexual.

In 1901, an article in Magnus Hirschfeld's Jahrbuch fuer sexuelle Zwischenstufen also discussed him as a homosexual.

Actually, says his biographer, Andersen may never have had sexual relations with anyone. The pages of his diaries are festooned with crosses which he used to indicate masturbation.

The famous crosses suggest that he was an ardent masturbator, who meticulously recorded this act, as he recorded everything else in his life.

His half-hearted attempts at marriage have made Andersen scholars portray him as an unhappy heterosexual. They explain away his passionate love letters to men as customs of his time, and describe his affection towards male friends as exaggerated, but unthreatening.

The debate on Andersen's sexuality continues. An earlier biography by Jackie Wullschlager, which documents Andersens's love for both men and women, caused a scandal in Denmark, where the sexuality of the national poet is a controversial topic.

The new book will, without a doubt, be a subject of discussion in the celebration of the bicentennial of his birth in 2005.

DPA

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 50-8347650

Hans Christian Andersen
Jens Andersen


Hardcover 600 pages (April 2005)
Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd
ISBN: 0715633619
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VonOfterdingen
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Post by VonOfterdingen »

I live in H. C. Andersens hometown. Right across his museum. I deserve to go to the opening in Copenhagen, i think.
I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
Eamonn Singer
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Location: Evesham, Worcestershire

Post by Eamonn Singer »

In the programme for "The Monkey Speaks his mind" tour, EC has this to say:

" I am currently working on songs telling an imaginary story about Hans Christian Andersen, PT Barnum and Jenny Lind. Some of you may have read that I am writing an opera, because the commission came from the Royal Danish Opera but in fact the story will be told originally in song form and developed into a full production in the future. The songs will be debuted in Copenhagen in October '05. "

Jenny Lind is buried in my home town of Malvern in Worcestershire. Does that qualify me to go to the premiere ?
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.estadao.com.br/divirtase/mus ... 28/169.htm

Tina Turner e Elvis Costelo, na festa para Andersen


São Paulo - Tina Turner estará no bicentenário do escritor dinamarquês Hans Christian Andersen. A americana faz show no sábado, dia em que se completa o bicentenário de nascimento de Andersen, em Copenhague. O autor de A Pequena Sereia e O Patinho Feio é "um dos grandes contistas de todos os tempos", disse Tina. O compositor Elvis Costello também anunciou sua homenagem ao dinamarquês: uma ópera-rock.

For a moment I thought Ms Turner was going to be in Elvis' musical - then this translation clarified things -




http://translate.google.com/translate_t


Turner clinks will be in the bicentennial of the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. The American makes show in Saturday, day where if complete the bicentennial of birth of Andersen, in Copenhagen. The author of the Small Sereia and the Ugly Duckling the times are "one of the great contistas of all", said Clink. The composer Elvis Costello also announced its homage to the Danish: a opera-rock.
johnfoyle
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Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Post by johnfoyle »

The more I read about the characters to be featured in Elvis' 'Hans Christian Andersen' musical , the more curious I am about how he will depict them and tell their story . However I can't help wondering if the show will be more about Lind/Barnum than Andersen ; accounts don't even tell of the writer being part of Ms Lind trips to the U.S. . Perhaps Elvis has got more interested in the Lind/Barnum aspect and the people in Copenhagen are too in thrall to him to him to oblige him to focus on Andersen.

We'll see.

In the programme for "The Monkey Speaks his mind" tour, EC has this to say:

" I am currently working on songs telling an imaginary story about Hans Christian Andersen, PT Barnum and Jenny Lind. Some of you may have read that I am writing an opera, because the commission came from the Royal Danish Opera but in fact the story will be told originally in song form and developed into a full production in the future. The songs will be debuted in Copenhagen in October '05. "
March 04, 2005
The Miami Herald -


The opera revolves around three 19th century pop culture icons: Swedish singer Jenny Lind, American circus magnate P.T. Barnum, and Andersen.

``The whole story takes place in a very interesting time. There's a lot of amazing change going on, and a lot of it relates to today. The transformations of individuals. If you take Barnum, a man who was known to be something of a carouser in his younger years and put a 70-year-old slave woman on display as supposedly George Washington's nurse . . . Later on in life he was an abolitionist and advocate of temperance. Those are the kinds of transformations people were capable of in those days, casting off the drink and then starting to hear messages from God. Well, we wouldn't know anyone in present day who did that, would we?''

This site has backround to this -

http://chnm.gmu.edu/lostmuseum/searchlm ... ightingale

Intro -

In September 1850, P. T. Barnum embarked on a nationwide tour with a Swedish opera singer that would bring him a vast fortune and create a new cultural phenomenon: the celebrity. Barnum succeeded in building such great public anticipation about the "Swedish Nightingale" that 40,000 people showed up to greet the arrival of her ship in New York harbor. From her opening concert in New York Citys Castle Garden to subsequent performances in cities and towns across the country, Barnum fueled public fascination with Lind by orchestrating events and negotiating Lind-endorsed products (including Jenny Lind songs, clothes, chairs, and pianos). "Lindomania" lasted until 1852, when the partnership collapsed over logistical and financial issues. Barnum shrewdly promoted Lind’s character--her modesty, benevolence, and selflessness--as much as her artistry. One scholar contends that because of Barnum’s promotion, Lind became "the standard for measuring not just sopranos, or even women artists, but women" throughout the 1850s.


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This is a less reverential account -



http://www.nydailynews.com/city_life/bi ... 0011c.html

Gift from heaven

Jenny Lind, 1850

By MARA BOVSUN

He had been at it for a decade, setting forth "all that is monstrous, scaley, strange and queer" for the eyes of all New York. At his American Museum at the corner of Broadway and Ann St., showman Phineas Taylor Barnum had gathered a collection of freaks and oddities the likes of which no one had ever seen. Midgets, mermaids, tattooed men. The Albino Lady. The Infant Hoosier Giant.
But in 1849, Barnum decided that what Americans yearned for, whether they knew it or not, was a "higher grade of amusement," something cultured, something European.

In the late 1840s, that meant one thing - Jenny Lind.


The illegitimate daughter of a schoolteacher and a drunken part-time lacemaker, Jenny Lind had been blessed with an extraordinary voice. One day, a ballerina's maid heard 9-year-old Jenny singing to her cat, and the girl was swept off to the Royal Theater School. Within a decade, she was famous as The Swedish Nightingale, the world's greatest singer.

She had a range of nearly three octaves, remarkable breath control and a trill that made listeners believe they were hearing a bird from heaven. Barnum didn't care about any of that. In fact, he had never heard a single note from the lady's throat. But it didn't matter. From all the way across the ocean he could hear the sound of money.

For tickets sold out wherever she appeared. Queen Victoria had thrown flowers at Jenny Lind's feet. Mendelssohn wrote arias for her. Hans Christian Andersen trailed her for years, futilely begging for her hand. Men in Germany unhitched the horses pulling her carriage so they could yoke up and haul it themselves.

"Lindomania," this was called in Europe. P.T. Barnum resolved to infect America as well.


Barnum's agent found that the Nightingale drove a hard bargain. Finally agreed upon was a package of 150 concerts at $1,000 apiece - along with a manservant, a waiting maid, a 60-piece orchestra and all travel expenses, plus the salaries for her handpicked pianist and an Italian baritone. Barnum was required to put up $187,500 in advance.

He didn't have it, so he mortgaged, borrowed and begged. Bankers predicted he would lose his shirt. And for good reason: The grand toast of Europe was altogether unknown in America.

Barnum had six months to whip up a frenzy. Luckily, that was what he did best.

Advertisements and press releases extolled not Jenny Lind's voice but her virtues - "a woman who regards her high artistic powers as a gift from heaven, for the amelioration of affliction and distress." A biographical pamphlet gushed about her "intrinsic worth of heart and delicacy of mind." By the time the ship carrying Lind and her entourage entered New York Harbor on Sept. 1, 1850, the city was in an uproar.

More than 30,000 people, most of whom had never heard of her before Barnum's ballyhoo, crammed the dock. Flowers pelted her carriage all the way to her hotel. Celebrations stretched well into the night when 200 members of the New York Musical Fund Society band, escorted by 300 torch-bearing firemen, arrived under her window for a midnight serenade.

Barnum, who had not yet chosen the theater, decided then on the biggest in New York, the 10,000-seat Castle Garden, and continued to beat the drum, aided by the businessmen of the city, who started naming products for her - Jenny Lind dolls, cakes, hats, dresses, even poker chips and cigars.

Five days before her first concert, Barnum made tickets available, not for sale but at auction. More than 3,000 people braved a downpour and paid admission for the privilege of being allowed to bid.

The first ticket went to John Genin, a hatter with a shop next to the American Museum. He also happened to be a friend of Barnum, who had convinced Genin that the resulting publicity was well worth whatever price he had to pay.

Unbeknown to Genin, Barnum also gave this same spiel to another pal, a patent medicine man named Benjamin Brandreth. Agents for the two bidders went at it furiously, driving the price up to $225. Genin was well satisfied with the publicity he received after his name, along with the ridiculous sum, became big news. Genin hats – including the Jenny Lind riding hat – made him a fortune.


Oomehow, when she finally stepped onstage in a simple white dress, Lind managed to live up to the wild expectations, leaving the crowd delirious.

After a two-week run in New York, she set off for the rest of America, preceded by the best of Barnum's ballyhoo men. One bidder at the Providence ticket auction offered an astounding $650. It was the same in city after city until May 1851, when, exhausted and sick of being "displayed like a circus act," 30-year-old Jenny Lind broke with Barnum and married a 22-year-old musician.

Her audiences dwindled and soon she quietly departed for Europe, never to set foot on American soil again.

Barnum, for his part, grossed nearly three-quarters of a million dollars, a sum that put his foray into high culture alongside his other great success – the "pigmy prodigy," Charles S. Stratton, famous around the world as Tom Thumb.
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VonOfterdingen
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Post by VonOfterdingen »

EC's H.C. Andersen opera "The Secret Arias" or whatever it will be gets a special advanced opening on the main stage at the new Royal Opera House in Copenhagen, October 8 & 9 2005.

The performers on stage will be EC, Steve Nieve, Bebe Risenfors and sopran Gisela Stille.

The show will be in two parts. First part with known Costello songs related to the nights theme. Second part; the new songcycle "The secret arias".

In the season 2006/2007 the songcycle will open on the secondary stage at the opera.

Maybe it will all come out as a cd and dvd according to gaffa.dk

Ticket sales from august - I really wanna go :D

http://gaffa.dk/live/view.php/news_id=13571
I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
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King Hoarse
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Post by King Hoarse »

Damn! I'm touring in August myself, so I can't go.

It sounds great, though.

Bebe Risenfors is an excellent choice as multimusician. With him and Steve in the band, Elvis can play ANYTHING.

I first heard him play with his Swedish-language Tom Waits cover band Badliver och hans brustna hjärtan about 15 years ago, when he played percussion, saxes, piano, marimba, accordion, clarinet, upright bass, Hammond organ, tuba and probably something else too.

Tom liked their record "14 sånger" so much he asked the guy to come play with him instead, which he has done on a couple of the latest records.

Probably thanks to this, he guests on tenor sax on For The Stars' The Other Woman and Shamed Into Love. But he can do a lot better than that, and probably will in Copenhagen.
What this world needs is more silly men.
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

Does this tell anything new? And does it really give Elvis' nationality as ' U.S.' ?

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http://www.aok.dk/profile/27029/

Operaen
Ekvipagemestervej
1438 København K


8. oktober (lørdag) -
9. oktober (søndag) -



Elvis Costello vender tilbage til Danmark for tredie gang i år. Denne gang er det H.C. Andersen, og en nykomponeret kammeropera, der er årsag til besøget.
Costello gav en udsolgt koncert på Vega i januar, og sangeren bliver også en del af Tivolis Fredagsrock program. Men når har i oktober optræder på Operahusets store scene, bliver det med uropførslen på Costellos sangcyklus The Secret Arias, som ligger til grund for en kammeropera, som bliver sat op på Takkelloftet i Operaen i sæsonen 06-07.

The Secret Arias er baseret på H. C. Andersens forelskelse i den svenske sopranstjerne Jenny Lind, og er bestilt af Den Kongelige Opera i forbindelse med H.C. Andersens året. Elvis Costello uropfører selv sin første opera nogensinde, men får musikalsk følgeskab af musikerne Steve Nieve og Bebe Risenfors, samt den svenske sopran Gisela Stille, der tilhører Den Kongelige Operas faste ensemble.

Koncerten, som altså opføres to aftener i træk, kommer til at består af to afdelinger. Først vil Costello spille sange med relation til aftenens tema, håndplukket fra hans omfattende bagkatalog. I anden afdeling vil The Secret Arias så blive opført.
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VonOfterdingen
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Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Post by VonOfterdingen »

Nothing new and nothing about him being a US. What made you think that, Mr. Foyle?
I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
johnfoyle
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Location: Dublin , Ireland

Post by johnfoyle »

Nothing new and nothing about him being a US. What made you think that, Mr. Foyle?
This bit in a side panel at the above link -

Genre
Klassisk/Opera

Billetter
fra august 2005

Nationalitet
USA

Senste album
The delivery Man (september 2004)

Læs
anmeldelse i Berlingske Tidende

Videre
til musikforsiden

Og
Elvis Costello & The Imposters på Vega i januar

Sted(er)
Operaen


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

' Mr Foyle' - crikey! Only my bank manager calls me that ! John will do nicely.
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VonOfterdingen
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Post by VonOfterdingen »

oh :o You are absolutely right.
I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.elviscostello.info/whatsnew.php

John E. has this -

Gigography: New Appearances

NEW: 2005-10-10: Aarhus, Denmark, Musikhuset, The Secret Arias - with Steve Nieve, Bebe Risenfors, Gisela Stille

http://www.musikhusetaarhus.dk/Arrangem ... entId=3194

Can someone translate and tell if tickets are on sale?

Tickets are pricey ;

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi

480.00 DKK
Denmark Kroner = 64.4817 EUR /78.1809 United States Dollars


NEW: 2005-10-09: Copenhagen, Copehagen Opera House, Main Stage, The Secret Arias - with Steve Nieve, Bebe Risenfors, Gisela Stille

NEW: 2005-10-08: Copenhagen, Copehagen Opera House, Main Stage, The Secret Arias - with Steve Nieve, Bebe Risenfors, Gisela Stille

http://www.kgl-teater.dk/

http://www.operahus.dk/
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

from listserv -

Yes, tickets are on sale now to Aarhus. Someone I know got second row
seats, so you need to get in quickly.

Not sure when the Copenhagen concerts goes on sale.

Regards, JohnE
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VonOfterdingen
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Post by VonOfterdingen »

Ticket sales for the opera in Copenhagen starts august 15th. Thats when the box office opens for season 2005/2006.... but im trying to keep it secret
I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
johnfoyle
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Location: Dublin , Ireland

Post by johnfoyle »

Bump , bump!
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

Tickets for the Copenhagen shows went on sale today.
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VonOfterdingen
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Post by VonOfterdingen »

And I got great tickets for both shows :D
I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
johnfoyle
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Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Post by johnfoyle »

Thanks to VonOfterdingen I have tickets to all Elvis' shows in Denmark......so I'm going!

I booked cheap flights months ago , preparing to write of the cost if I didn't get tickets. Now that I have them I'm looking forward to Elvis' latest musical adventure and discovering a new, to me, city/country.

Can't wait!
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

So.....who else is going?
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