An oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio, the choir often plays a central role, and there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as well as to Biblical topics. Oratorios became extremely popular in early 17th-century Italy partly because of the success of opera and the Catholic Church's prohibition of spectacles during Lent. Oratorios became the main choice of music during that period for opera audiences.
The "Town Musicians of Bremen" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1819.
Hanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its station is a major railway junction and it has a port on the river Main, making it an important transport centre. The town is known for being the birthplace of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm and Franciscus Sylvius. Since the 16th century it was a centre of precious metal working with many goldsmiths. It is home to Heraeus, one of the largest family-owned companies in Germany.
The Deutsches Wörterbuch, abbreviated DWB, is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence. Encompassing modern High German vocabulary in use since 1450, it also includes loanwords adopted from other languages into German. Entries cover the etymology, meanings, attested forms, synonyms, usage peculiarities, and regional differences of words found throughout the German speaking world. The dictionary's historical linguistics approach, illuminated by examples from primary source documents, makes it to German what the Oxford English Dictionary is to English. The first completed DWB lists over 330,000 headwords in 67,000 print columns spanning 32 volumes.
"The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimm's Fairy Tales. Traditionally, it is the first story in their folktale collection. The tale is classified as Aarne-Thompson type 440.
Grimms' Fairy Tales, originally known as the Children's and Household Tales, is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first published on 20 December 1812. This first edition contained 86 stories, and by the seventh edition in 1857, it had 210 unique fairy tales. It is listed by UNESCO in its Memory of the World Registry.
"The Seven Ravens" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is of Aarne–Thompson type 451, commonly found throughout Europe.
Steinau an der Straße is a town of around 10,000 inhabitants in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the river Kinzig, 32 kilometres (20 mi) southwest of Fulda. The name Steinau refers to stones in the river; an der Straße, meaning on the road, refers to the historic trade route Via Regia from Leipzig to Frankfurt on which it was located. Steinau is best known for the Brothers Grimm who spent part of their childhood here.
Ludwig Emil Grimm was a German painter, art professor, etcher and copper engraver.
"Thumbling" and "Thumbling's Travels" are two German fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's fairy tales in 1819.
Alexander S. Bermange is a composer and lyricist whose musicals and theatre productions have enjoyed successful runs in the West End and around the world, whose comic writing is regularly listened to by millions of listeners to BBC Radio, and whose songs have been recorded and released by many international singing stars.
The German Fairy Tale Route is a tourist attraction in Germany originally established in 1975. With a length of 600 kilometres (370 mi), the route runs from Hanau in central Germany to Bremen in the north. Tourist attractions along the route are focused around the brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, including locations where they lived and worked at various stages in their life, as well as regions which are linked to the fairy tales found in the Grimm collection, such as The Town Musicians of Bremen. The Verein Deutsche Märchenstraße society, headquartered in the city of Kassel, is responsible for the route, which travellers can recognize with the help of road signs depicting the heart-shaped body and head of a pretty, princess-like creature.
Brothers Grimm Prize of the City of Hanau is a literary prize of Hesse. The prize, awarded by the City of Hanau, honors the Brothers Grimm, who were both born in Hanau. The prize is endowed with €10,000 and has been awarded since 1983. The ceremony takes place in November in memory of the Göttingen Seven.
Syrius Eberle was a German sculptor and art professor.
Berthold Klemens Possemeyer is a German baritone in opera and concert, and a voice teacher at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main.
Anna Mitgutsch is an Austrian writer and educator. Her name also appears as Waltraud Anna Mitgutsch.
Marc Schubring is a German composer.
Hans-Jörg Uther is a German literary scholar and folklorist.
Marie Magdalene Elisabeth Hassenpflug was a German author whose versions of various folk tales were an important source for the collection of tales by the Brothers Grimm. She is best known for her versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" (Rotkäppchen), "Sleeping Beauty" (Dornröschen), and "Snow White" (Schneewittchen).
Heiner Ruland was a German composer and music therapist.
