Sancta Maria is a Latin-language soprano aria arranged by Steven Mercurio based on the Intermezzo from the opera Cavalleria Rusticana , [1] composed by Pietro Mascagni. [2] It uses some of the same lyrics as Ave Maria and has become a popular concert piece. It also has been recorded by several singers, like Sissel Kyrkjebø, [3] Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins and the tenors Andrea Bocelli [4] and Friar Alessandro.
Ave Maria, | Hail Mary, |
Pietro Mascagni was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music. While it was often held that Mascagni, like Ruggero Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, L'amico Fritz and Iris have remained in the repertoire in Europe since their premieres.
In opera, verismo, from vero, meaning 'true') was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. Verismo as an operatic genre had its origins in an Italian literary movement of the same name. This was in turn related to the international literary movement of naturalism as practised by Émile Zola and others. Like naturalism, the verismo literary movement sought to portray the world with greater realism. In so doing, Italian verismo authors such as Giovanni Verga wrote about subject matter, such as the lives of the poor, that had not generally been seen as a fit subject for literature.
Sissel Kyrkjebø, also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano.
Andrea Bocelli is an Italian tenor. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting from a football accident. After performing evenings in piano bars and competing in local singing contests, Bocelli signed his first recording contract with the Sugar Music label. He rose to fame in 1994, winning the newcomer’s section of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival performing "Il mare calmo della sera".
The Classic BRIT Awards are an annual awards ceremony held in the United Kingdom covering aspects of classical and crossover music, and are the equivalent of popular music's Brit Awards. The awards are organised by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and were inaugurated in 2000 "in recognition of the achievements of classical musicians and the growth of classical music sales in the UK".
The Ave Maria is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, mother of Jesus.
Sacred Arias, is the sixth studio album by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
Guglielmo Ratcliff is a tragic opera in four acts by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Andrea Maffei, translated from the German play Wilhelm Ratcliff (1822) by Heinrich Heine. Mascagni had substantially finished the composition of Ratcliff before the success of his first opera, Cavalleria rusticana.
"Ave Maria" is a much-recorded aria, composed by Vladimir Vavilov around 1970. Vavilov himself published and recorded it in 1970 on the Melodiya label with the ascription "Anonymous". It is believed that organist Mark Shakhin, one of the performers on the "Melodiya" LP, first ascribed the work to Giulio Caccini after Vavilov's death, and gave the "newly-discovered scores" to other musicians. The organist Oleg Yanchenko then made an arrangement of the aria for a recording by Irina Arkhipova in 1987, after which the piece came to be famous worldwide.
Christmas in Vienna is a 1993 album released by American soul singer Diana Ross, and Spanish tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras for the Sony Classical label. The concert that formed the basis of this album was Domingo's first in his series of televised Christmas in Vienna concerts.
Lina Bruna Rasa was an Italian operatic soprano. She was particularly noted for her performances in the verismo repertoire and was a favourite of Pietro Mascagni who considered her the ideal Santuzza. Bruna Rasa created the roles of Atte in Mascagni's Nerone, Cecilia Sagredo in Franco Vittadini's La Sagredo and Saint Clare in Licinio Refice's 1926 oratorio, Trittico Francescano. She also sang the role of Tsaritsa Militrisa in the Italian premiere of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tale of Tsar Saltan.
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play by Giovanni Verga. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pag double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo.
Credo: John Paul II is the fourth DVD released by Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli, celebrating the life of pope John Paul II.
The discography of Katherine Jenkins, a Welsh mezzo-soprano singer, consists of twelve studio albums, two soundtrack albums, two compilation albums, eleven singles and three video albums.
Steven Mercurio is an American conductor and composer.
Alessandro Brustenghi, OFM also known as Friar Alessandro or at times Brother Alessandro, Frate Alessandro or Frère Alessandro is an Italian Franciscan friar and a tenor singer of religious music. He is also the first religious brother to land an exclusive record contract with a major record label, in this case Universal Music.
Sancta Maria refers to Saint Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.
Into Paradise is a 2006 classical/crossover album by Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø released in the US, the UK and Japan.