History
The idea to adapt an album of The Adventures of Nero for opera came about when Sierens and De Smet were having a drink. They decide to create it in four months time, much like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used to do, and, inspired by a manifest by George Antheil, decided to keep it short and simple. Sierens wrote the libretto in four weeks time. The rehearsals started while De Smet was still composing the score. The entire ouverture was completed at the night of the final rehearsal. [5] Marc Sleen created the poster.
The work was performed in an avant-garde style, complete with percussion and diamond blades as musical accompaniment. [5] The arias were pastiches of various musical styles, including film music, schlager, rock music and traditional African music. [6] It opened on 14 July 1984 and had two extra performances on 20 and 21 July that year. The general public enjoyed it, but professional critics disliked it and compared it to a school play. [5]
The Adventures of Nero or Nero was a Belgian comic strip drawn by Marc Sleen and the name of its main character. The original title ranged from De Avonturen van Detectief Van Zwam in 1947 to De Avonturen van Nero en zijn Hoed in 1950, and finally De Avonturen van Nero & Co from 1951. It ran in continuous syndication until 2002. From 1947 until 1993 it was all drawn by Sleen himself. From 1992 until 2002 Dirk Stallaert took over the drawing while Sleen kept inventing the stories.
Marcel Honoree Nestor (ridder) Neels, known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. He was mostly known for his comic The Adventures of Nero and Co., but also created gag comics like Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke, De Lustige Kapoentjes, Doris Dobbel, Oktaaf Keunink and De Ronde van Frankrijk.
Merho, is a Belgian comic-book writer and artist, best known for creating the comic strip De Kiekeboes.
Gaston Cyriel Durnez was a Flemish columnist, journalist and writer. He worked for the newspaper De Standaard, and was one of the founders of the Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Beweging. He was also the writer of De Geschiedenis van Sleenovia (1965), a comic strip by Willy Vandersteen and Edward De Rop, featuring characters from Marc Sleen's The Adventures of Nero, which was subject of a fierce copyright battle between the newspapers De Standaard and Het Volk.
The Belgian Comic Strip Center is a museum in central Brussels, Belgium, dedicated to Belgian comics. It is located at 20, rue des Sables/Zandstraat, in an Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta, and can be accessed from Brussels-Congress railway station and Brussels Central Station.
Adhemar is a Flemish comic book character. He is the son of Nero in the eponymous Belgian comic strip series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen and one of the main protagonists. He is a child prodigy who is both a professor as well as an inventor. His full title is doctor professor Adhemar. He is easily recognizable due to his mortarboard and tuxedo.
Nero is a Flemish comic book character and the main protagonist in Marc Sleen's long running comic book strip series The Adventures of Nero (1947–2002). He is one of the most recognizable comic book characters in Belgium and comparable to Lambik from the Suske en Wiske series by Willy Vandersteen.
Ricardo is a Flemish comic book character and the main antagonist in The Adventures of Nero series by Marc Sleen. He is a ruthless maffiosi who hates Nero with a passion. Together with Geeraard de Duivel and Matsuoka Ricardo is Nero's most frequent opponent, appearing in at least 24 albums, even surviving several seemingly deaths.
Abraham Tuizentfloot, in full Oscar Abraham Tuizentfloot, is a Flemish comic book character from the Belgian comic book series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. He is a crazy little man who dresses up as a pirate and has a tendency to attack people. In the series he is one of Nero's personal friends.
Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke was a Belgian gag-a-day comic strip series drawn by Marc Sleen from 1944 until 1965. It was continued by artists Hurey and Jean-Pol until 1974.
De Lustige Kapoentjes was a long-running Flemish comic book series, which existed under different titles and was drawn by different artists, among whom Marc Sleen and Willy Vandersteen are the most well known. The series was published in 't Kapoentje, the youth supplement of Het Volk, and in Ons Volkske, the youth supplement of De Standaard. They were the mascots of 't Kapoentje from 1947 until the magazine's demise in 1985.
Madam Pheip is a character from the Flemish comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. In the series she is one of Nero 's personal friends and married to Meneer Pheip, with whom she has one child, Clo-Clo. Madam Pheip also adopted two children, Petoetje, and Petatje.
Meneer Pheip is a Flemish comic book character from the Belgian comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. In the series he is part of Nero's personal circle of friends, despite often being up in arms with him. He is the husband of Madam Pheip, father of Clo-Clo and adoptive father of Petoetje and Petatje.
Het Rattenkasteel is a 1948 comic book album in the Belgian comics series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. It's the fourth album in the series and acclaimed as one of Sleen's best. In the 2000s the story was collected and re-published by the Flemish newspapers Het Belang van Limburg and Gazet van Antwerpen in a special series entitled "De beste 10 volgens Marc Sleen", where Sleen choose his ten favorite "Nero" stories. He placed "Het Rattenkasteel" first.
Detective Van Zwam is a Flemish comics character in the Belgian comics series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. He is a brilliant detective and able to find clues from even the tiniest of evidence.
The Marc Sleen Museum was a museum located in Brussels, Belgium, dedicated to the work of Belgian comics artist Marc Sleen, who is known for his series The Adventures of Nero, Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke and De Lustige Kapoentjes. It was located across the street from the Belgian Comic Strip Center at 33–35, rue des Sables/Zandstraat, and was served by Brussels-Congress railway station and Brussels Central Station. It was founded in 2009.
Doris Dobbel was a Belgian gag-a-day comics series, written and drawn by Marc Sleen, between 8 April 1950 and 1965 and published in the magazine De Middenstand.
Oktaaf Keunink was a Belgian comics series, written and drawn by Marc Sleen. It was published between 16 November 1952 and 4 April 1965 in the magazine Ons Zondagsblad.
Petoetje is a Belgian comics character from the comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. He is a teenage black boy who originates from Papua New Guinea, but was adopted by Madam Pheip and Meneer Pheip, along with another orphan child, Petatje.
Petatje is a Belgian comics character from the comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. She is a teenage girl who was adopted by Madam Pheip and Meneer Pheip, along with another orphan child, Petoetje.
