Maddalena and the Dark
Maddalena and the Dark

Author: Julia Fine

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Published: 2023-06-13

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1250867886

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“[A] beguiling fairy tale.” —Vanity Fair (A Best Book of Summer) “Enchanted...A slow-burn gothic novel that will make you lose track of your surroundings...An atmospheric banger.” —LitHub Venice, 1717. Fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. As a student at the Ospedale della Pietà, she hopes to join the highest ranks of its illustrious girls’ orchestra and become a protégé of the great Antonio Vivaldi. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena. After a scandal threatens her noble family’s reputation, Maddalena is sent to the Pietà to preserve her marriage prospects. When she meets Luisa, Maddalena feels the stirrings of a friendship unlike anything she has known. But Maddalena has a secret: she has hatched a dangerous plot to rescue her future her own way. When she invites Luisa into her plans, promising to make her dreams come true, Luisa doesn’t hesitate. But every wager has its price, and as the girls are drawn into the decadent world outside the Pietà’s walls, they must decide what it is they truly want—and what they will do to pay for it. Lush and heady, swirling with music and magic, Maddalena and the Dark is a Venetian fairytale about the friendship between two girls and the boundless desire that will set them free, if it doesn’t consume them first.

Vincenzo Bellini on Stage and Screen, 1935-2020
Vincenzo Bellini on Stage and Screen, 1935-2020

Author: Emilio Sala

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2024-10-31

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1501391208

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Vincenzo Bellini on Stage and Screen, 1935–2020 offers nine case studies of the history of Vincenzo Bellini's operas on stage, on screen, and in sound, video and performance art. This investigation begins in 1935, the hundredth anniversary of the composer's death and the year when his first biopic was released, and ends in 2020, when performance artist Marina Abramovic's 'opera project' 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, whose final scene is accompanied by Bellini's famous aria 'Casta Diva,' was premiered. In Part One, several recent productions of La sonnambula, Norma and I Puritani are discussed from different perspectives, but the common focus is on the possible meanings of these works for contemporary spectators. Part Two, centered on cinema, includes chapters on biopics of Bellini that make extensive use of his music, as well as on the presence of this music in soundtracks of films from the last half century. Part Three turns to other media or mixtures of stage and screen, and focuses on Bellini in sound and video art of the last few decades, on YouTube and its fandom, and on 7 Deaths of Maria Callas. The volume offers an expansive view of the many ways in which Bellini's operas have been visualized and conceptualized over the past century, and of what they may have meant, and may still mean, for twentieth- and twenty-first-century culture.

Prosodies
Prosodies

Author: Sónia Frota

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2009-02-26

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 3110197588

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Prosodies, in the broad Firthian sense, covers phenomena that extend over stretches of segmental and featural units that must be examined with respect to their interaction with other features to fully appreciate their role in the phonetics and phonology of a given language. The papers deal with a wide range of subjects, from intonational prominence and prosodic phrasing to the acoustic properties of segments and features. Prosodies significantly broadens our knowledge of languages and dialect varieties that as yet have not been carefully investigated such as Cairene and Lebanese Arabic, Catalan including Central Catalan and the insular dialects of Majorcan, Minorcan and Alguer Catalan, Galician, Italian, various dialects of Portuguese (Standard European, Northern European, and Brazilian Portuguese), and different varieties of Argentine Spanish as well as Peninsular Spanish. However, well-known West Germanic languages, English, Dutch and German, have not been neglected. Many of the contributions are the first account of the phenomena addressed in the language(s) under consideration thus bringing new data to light. Moreover, most papers take a cross-linguistic or cross-dialectal view favouring a better understanding of language similarities and differences, as well as of language variation and change. This approach is crucial in the case of neighbouring languages/varieties and is an important contribution to the development of language typologies. And as is characteristic of the series, the research presented in Prosodies cover laboratory approaches as well as theoretical investigations.

Spira Mirabilis
Spira Mirabilis

Author: Aidan Harte

Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books

Published: 2014-03-27

Total Pages: 563

ISBN-13: 1780871546

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Darkness is falling and only Contessa Sofia can turn the tide in this thrilling final installment of the Wave trilogy. In the 1347th year of Our Lady the engineers of Concord defeated the fractious city-state of Rasenna using the magical science of Wave Technology. The City of Towers fought back, and for a while Concord's plans for domination were halted. But First Apprentice Torbidda regrouped, and reformed Concord to his own design. Now he is in absolute control, and plotting the final battle that will pacify Etruria . . . permanently. Contessa Sofia Scaligeri could rally her people once again, but she is far away in the Crusader Kingdom of Akka, trapped with her son by the tyrant Queen Catrina. Darkness is falling. The final battle must be fought and the tide must be turned, lest evil reign forever.

Sicilian Avengers
Sicilian Avengers

Author: Luigi Natoli

Publisher: Radius Book Group

Published: 2024-10-22

Total Pages: 1365

ISBN-13: 1635769485

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A thrilling Sicilian saga about the legendary secret sect purported to be forerunners of the Mafia, translated into English for the first time. Emerging from the dark streets and subterranean caves of Palermo, the Beati Paoli, masked and hooded, mete out their own form of justice to counter the unfettered power and privilege wielded by the aristocracy. For the voiceless, weak, and oppressed, the Beati Paoli are defenders and heroes. Reminiscent of a Dumas novel, Sicilian Avengers is a vibrant, atmospheric fresco of early eighteenth-century Palermo. Onto the stage of the ancient city, Blasco da Castiglione, a bold, brash, orphan adventurer, arrives on a quest to discover his origins and seek his destiny. But this fearless, swashbuckling D’Artagnan-esque hero unwittingly gets caught up in a devious and murderous succession plot involving a powerful noble family. When the Beati Paoli hear about this plot to usurp a rightful inheritance, they spring into action. Their shadowy machinations entangle the charismatic Blasco, who crosses paths with a cast of characters that test his loyalty and resolve in the pursuit of his true identity. The historical accuracy of the novel is complemented by the most meticulous description of Sicily’s capital city ever written. Action-packed and laced with intrigue and chivalrous duels, Sicilian Avengers is a tale of love and hatred, friendship and betrayal, suffering and retribution. As French critic Jean Noël Schifano said, Natoli's novel is “the fifth historical monument of contemporary Italian literature.” This eBook includes the full Book One and Book Two saga plus an afterword by Umberto Eco.

Rigoletto
Rigoletto

Author: Giuseppe Verdi

Publisher: Alma Books

Published: 2018-01-01

Total Pages: 83

ISBN-13: 071454499X

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The subject cannot fail!' exulted Verdi, when recommending Victor Hugo's play Le Roi s'amuse to his librettist. But the censors made every effort to stop it, and the baritone was not easily convinced that a hunchback role would suit him. Jonathan Keates gives a vivid insight into the composition of a masterpiece. Verdi long afterwards thought it his best work, and Roger Parker explains why. Peter Nichols, author of several bestselling books in Italy, picks out some of the peculiarly Italian attitudes and characters in the opera which make it timeless - and incredibly modern.Contents: Introduction, Jonathan Keates; Musical Commentary, Roger Parker; The Timelessness of 'Rigoletto', Peter Nichols; Rigoletto: Text by Francesco Maria Piave after Victor Hugo's 'Le Roi s'amuse'; Rigoletto: English translation by James Fenton

Maddalena
Maddalena

Author: Angela Chiuppi

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2012-05

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1468563971

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Propelled by forces beyond her control...forced to accept the unacceptable, Maddalena searches for the secret to survival with an indomitable courage that inspires all who read her story. Her journey from a tiny picturesque village in the Italian Apennine Mountains, to the storm and stress of the Chicago slums in the 1930's is a true story told through the eyes of Angelina, her daughter. The reader is filled with compassion and admiration for Maddalena as she fiercely battles poverty and abuse and at her determination to not only feed & clothe her nine children, but also to educate and protect them in a gang-ridden neighborhood. "From the sunshine of the beautiful Italian beaches to the harshness of the Italian mountain winters, the author gives a vivid description of life in the Old Country and contrasts it to the vastly different experience the immigrants' had in America. She draws a heartfelt, colorful picture of Maddalena, who meets formidable challenges with unconditional love and reveals the true meaning of 'family'". JoAnn Marie Wood O'Connor, Author of Remembering A Collection of Daddy's Favorite Songs and Poetry "The portrayal of Maddalena, from her earliest girlhood in Italy to her struggle in the tenements of Chicago, will touch the heart of the reader. Her courage in spite of all odds is truly inspirational. The book, with its vivid characterizations, evokes the lives of the Italian immigrants in Chicago's Near West Side in the l930's. Poignant and powerful." Judith Patterson Author of the forthcoming Kaleidoscopic Fragments of a Wandering Heart "The story of Maddalena touched my heart deeply because it shows how the choice to love is powerful enough to overcome a life of hardship and poverty most of us can't imagine. I feel Maddalena's invincible summer alive in me and all women everywhere." Linda Jean McNabb Author of One Again, A True Story of a Different Kind of Forgiveness "Angela's command of the English language and her storytelling ability create the life-story of her mother with lyrical vitality. One wonders how any person could have survived the continuous assaults Maddalena endured. Her story brings new life to the womens' movement." Harold L. Doerr Author of A Square of Daffodils, Capitalism, And Why Children Don't Learn

Stratigraphy and Geology of Volcanic Areas
Stratigraphy and Geology of Volcanic Areas

Author: Gianluca Groppelli

Publisher: Geological Society of America

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 0813724643

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Accompanying CD-ROM, entitled Supplementary materials to Stratigraphy and geology of volcanic areas, includes three geologic maps in Adobe Acrobat PDF files.