The opera, Lohengrin, was performed for the first time in Weimar on this date in 1850. 10 things you might not know about it:
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner.
It is based on the story of the title character, who first appears in a medieval German romance called Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach. He’s the son of Parzival, a knight from Arthurian legend. His story is called the Knight of the Swan legend as he’s a magical, god-like figure who rides around on a Swan.
The story takes place in Antwerp, around the 10th century, by the Scheldt river. Lohengrin is called upon to save a young woman called Elsa who has been falsely accused of murder. He tells her she must never ask his real name. If she does, he will have to leave her. Inevitably, the pair fall in love and on their wedding night, Elsa asks the forbidden question and Lohengrin is forced to give a public answer and then depart on his magic swan. Elsa dies on the riverbank from a broken heart.
Lohengrin was written between 1845 and 1848 when Wagner worked as Kapellmeister at the Royal Dresden court.
The date for the premiere was chosen because it was the birthdate of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was born on 28 August 1749.
The conductor at the premiere was Franz Liszt, Wagner’s close friend. Wagner wasn’t at the premiere at all because he’d been involved in an uprising in Dresden earlier in the year and was in exile. He didn’t get to see and hear his opera performed for another 11 years, when he got to attend a performance in Vienna.
The United Kingdom premiere of Lohengrin took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 8 May 1875 using an Italian translation by Marchesi.
Its most famous piece of music is the Bridal Chorus, better known as Here Comes the Bride.
The singers who play Lohengrin occasionally have mishaps at the point where they have to step on board their “swan”, generally a mechanical contraption of some kind in order to make their final exit. In 1913, the Moravian tenor Leo Slezak is said to have missed hopping on the swan, whereupon he turned to the singer playing Elsa and asked: "Wann geht der nächste Schwan?" ("When does the next swan leave?")
King Ludwig II of Bavaria named his castle after the title character. Schloss Neuschwanstein means New Swanstone Castle. Ludwig is known to have been a great admirer of Wagner’s work.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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