Nureyev was director, principal dancer and choreographer of "Nureyev and Friends" on Broadway (197475) and was artistic director of the Paris Opera House from 1983 to 1989. He promoted junior dancers, such as Sylvie Guillem, and commissioned new works. In the last years of his life he took up conducting.
Nureyev was gay. He and his partner, Erik Bruhn, died of AIDS.
Invented tradition
Invented traditions are those traditions of recent origin which may claim to be old but are usually recently invented (made up). For example:
There are rules to see which traditions are real or fake.
Burgenland Croatian
Burgenland Croatian is a regional language of the Chakavian dialect of the Croatian language. It is spoken in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Burgenland Croatian is a minority language in the Austrian state of Burgenland. 19,412 people speak the language there in 2001. Many of the Burgenland Croatian speakers in Austria also live in Vienna and Graz.
Smaller Croatian minorities in western Hungary, southwestern Slovakia and southern Czech Republic are often also called Burgenland Croats. They use the Burgenland Croatian written language. They are historically and culturally closely connected to the Austrian Croats.
Spoken language
Spoken language is language in its spontaneous form. It is different from written language. Many spoken languages have no written form. The term "spoken language" is sometimes used for "oral language". This is not quite right because sign language is also sometimes said to be 'spoken'.
Children get their first language from whichever language is spoken around them. Usually this comes from their mothers. Spoken language is much richer than written language. Spoken language can have different rules than written language.
Nancy Allen
Nancy Allen (born in June 24, 1950) is an American movie and television actress. She was born in Yonkers, New York. Her movies include "RoboCop" (1987) and "Carrie" (1976)
Josef Korbel
Josef Korbel (born 20 September 1909 as Josef Körbel – died 18 July 1977 in the United States) was a Czechoslovakian diplomat and U.S. professor.
Korbel is of Jewish descent and was born in Kyšperk (now Letohrad). His daughter is Madeleine Albright, former United States Secretary of State. His student was Condoleezza Rice, also former Secretary of State.
In 1957 he became an American.
Heather O'Rourke
Heather O'Rourke (December 27, 1975 February 1, 1988) was an American movie actress. She acted in the movie "Poltergeist" (1982). She also worked in television.
Brenda Russell
Brenda Russell (born Brenda Gordon, April 8 1944) is an American R&B singer. She was born in Brooklyn, New York. She has had many hit songs on several musical charts. Her singing genres include R&B and pop.
Mastère en sciences
The Mastère en sciences (MSc) is a French degree in higher education accredited by the "Conférence des Grandes Écoles" and for owners of a Bachelor's degree or a first year of a Master's degree. Created in 2002, this degree certifies that the training is consistent with various quality criteria (selectivity, English language education, number of hours, length of program, research, etc..).
According to the rules, only the schools members of the "Conférence des Grandes Écoles" may issue the diploma.
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an Italian opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, on a libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor". It was first performed in Milan, on February 9, 1893. Verdi's last opera and perhaps greatest masterpiece, composed when he was 80, and only his second comedy since his earlier attempt "Un giorno di regno" in 1840.
When Verdi composed "Falstaff" he was not writing it for a commission. He was just writing it for his own pleasure, without a performance in mind. When he had finished it he felt that it would be his last work and that his life’s work had finished. It was almost true. It was indeed his last opera and his last big work.
When composers turn plays into operas they usually have to make some changes in the drama to make it suitable to be sung. Verdi had already turned two other Shakespeare plays into opera: "Otello" and "Macbeth". When he composed these he worked with librettists to create something as close to Shakespeare’s plays as possible, but when writing "Falstaff" he took more freedom. The character of Falstaff is very close to the way he is shown in Shakespeare’s "Henry IV" plays, rather than the Falstaff of "The Merry Wives of Windsor".
This takes place in the Garter Inn (). Dr Caius, who is a rich man with servants, complains that Falstaff has beaten his servants and that Falstaff’s two friends Bardolfo and Pistola made him drunk and then stole his money. Falstaff laughs at him. He says he will never get drunk again unless he is in the company of good, religious people. Bardolfo and Pistola in the background sing “Amen” until Falstaff stops them, complaining that they sing out of tune.
Falstaff complains that his bill for the drinks is very high. He says that his two friends drink so much that he won’t have enough to eat and he’ll get thin and then he cannot be his proper self. He says he is in love with two ladies: Mrs Ford and Mrs Page. He has written love letters to them both. He asks his two friends to take the letters to them, but they refuse. Falstaff is cross and gets a page boy to take them instead. Then he chases his friends with a broom.
The next scene changes to the garden of Ford’s house. Four ladies are in the garden: Alice Ford and Meg Page and also Mistress Quickly and Anne Ford, the daughter of Mr and Mrs Ford. Verdi calls her “Nannetta”. The four of them look at the two letters that Alice and Meg have received and find they are exactly the same except for the address. They are amused and a bit annoyed, so they decide to tease Falstaff.
Mr Ford is walking with Dr Caius, Fenton and Falstaff’s two friends. Fenton is a young man who is in love with Nannetta, but Ford does not want him to marry his daughter. Bardolfo and Pistola have deserted Falstaff. They tell Ford that Falstaff is in love with his wife. He is cross, of course, and plans revenge. The music of the four ladies and the music of the five men is sometimes heard separately, and sometimes it is combined. Fenton and Nannetta stay behind to kiss and they sing a love duet. When the men and ladies come back they each sing their own music again. This is a famous ensemble: the way Verdi has combined the two songs is very clever.
Bardolfo and Pistola are back in the Garter Inn with Falstaff. They pretend they are very sorry to have deserted Falstaff. They tell him that there is an old woman outside who wants to speak to him. It is Mistress Quickly, who comes in and curtseys very low to Falstaff. She gives him the message that Alice would love to see him, but that Meg’s husband is guarding her and never leaves her by herself. He can see Alice when her husband is out between two and three o’ clock (). Falstaff is pleased and gives Mistress Quickly a tip (some money) as she leaves. He sings to himself “Alice is mine” (“”).
The next visitor Falstaff has is Ford. Falstaff does not know who he is. Ford says his name is Master Brook (Signor Fontana). He gives Falstaff a purse with silver and tells him that he is in love with Mistress Ford (Alice). He asks Falstaff to get her for him. Falstaff says he will be seeing her that very afternoon. Ford asks him whether he knows Alice’s husband (i.e. himself). Falstaff says he does and he describes to him what a terrible man Ford is. It is a very comic scene with a lot of very clever humour.
When Falstaff goes out to change his clothes Ford shows his anger. When Falstaff returns the two men go out arm in arm like friends, arguing about who shall go through the door first.