Faà di Bruno, Giovanni Matteo [Horatio, Orazio] Fabbri, Anna Maria



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Fraser-Simson, Harold


(b London, 15 Aug 1872; d Inverness, 19 Jan 1944). English composer. After an early career in shipping, he became known as a songwriter. Such songs as Good Night (C. Devenish) offer fluent melody but little enterprise in accompaniment; their style, however, was well suited to musical comedy. Starting with Bonita (1911) he composed a series of stage shows, the most successful of which was The Maid of the Mountains. Written in collaboration with James Tate for Tate's stepdaughter José Collins, it ran at Daly's Theatre from 10 February 1917 for 1352 performances. Fraser-Simson went on to write A Southern Maid (1917) and Our Peg (1919), but neither had the success of The Maid. Nor did his collaboration with Ivor Novello in Our Nell (1924) fare any better as American syncopated styles began to dominate the scene.

Fraser-Simson wrote the ballets A Venetian Wedding (1926) and The Nightingale and the Rose (1927), and was subsequently to set texts written for children. His tuneful incidental music for Kenneth Grahame's Toad of Toad Hall has merit, although it is not of the same stature as those works of childhood reminiscence by his contemporaries Elgar and Debussy. Other such works include a group of settings from Alice in Wonderland and six volumes of songs from A.A. Milne's When We were Very Young, the most popular of which have been Christopher Robin is saying his Prayers and Christopher Robin at Buckingham Palace.


WORKS


(selective list)

unless otherwise stated, all stage works first performed in London



Stage: Bonita (comic op, prol, 2, W. Peacock), Queen's, 22 Sept 1911; A Southern Maid (musical play, 3, D.C. Calthrop, H. Graham and H. Miller), Manchester, Prince's, 24 Dec 1917 [addl. songs I. Novello]; Our Peg (musical play, 3, E. Knoblock and Graham), Manchester, Prince's, 24 Dec 1919 [see also Our Nell]; Missy Jo (musical play, 3, J. Clive and Graham), Folkestone, Pleasure Gardens, 4 July 1921; Head over Heels (musical comedy, 2, S. Hicks, A. Ross and Graham), Adelphi, 8 Sept 1923; The Street Singer (musical play, 3, F. Lonsdale and P. Greenbank), Birmingham, Prince of Wales, 11 Feb 1924 [addl. nos. I. St Hellier]; Betty in Mayfair (musical play, 3, J.H. Turner and Graham), Sunderland, Empire, 26 Oct 1925; A Venetian Wedding (ballet) (1926); The Nightingale and the Rose (ballet, O. Wilde) (1927)

Collabs.: with J. Tate: The Maid of the Mountains (musical play, 3, Lonsdale and Graham), Manchester, Prince's, 23 Dec 1916; with I. Novello: Our Nell (musical play, 3, L.N. Parker, R. Arkell and Graham), 1924 [from Our Peg, 1919]

Contribs. to Vaudeville Vanities (revue, 3, Parker), Vaudeville, 16 Dec 1926 [later entitled 2nd Vaudeville Vanities]

Incid music, incl. Toad of Toad Hall (K. Grahame) (1929)

Many songs, incl. 14 songs from When We were Very Young (A.A. Milne) (1924); Songs from Alice in Wonderland (L. Carroll) (1932)

Full score MSS of his major works are in GB-Lbl

GEOFFREY SELF

Frasi [Frassi], Giulia


(b Milan; fl 1742–72). Italian soprano. She studied under G.F. Brivio and later with Burney in London. Engaged for the King’s Theatre in 1742, she made her début in the pasticcio Gianguir and continued to sing there in opera for many years, appearing in works by Galuppi, Porpora, Lampugnani, Veracini, Terradellas, Paradies, Hasse, Pergolesi, Cocchi and many others. She sometimes played male parts, for example Taxiles (1743) and Cleon (1747–8), both in Handel’s Rossane (Alessandro), and the giant Briareus in the première of Gluck’s La caduta de’ giganti (1746). She sang in the Handel pasticcio Lucio Vero in 1747 and his Admeto in 1754. She appeared occasionally at other theatres, notably in works by Arne: Alfred (New Haymarket, 1753), Eliza (Drury Lane, 1756), Alfred (Covent Garden, 1759) and Artaxerxes (King’s, 1769). She also took part regularly in the annual Musicians Fund (and other) benefits, and sang at the Castle and Swan concerts, at Ranelagh and elsewhere.

Handel engaged Frasi for his oratorio season of 1749, when she made her début in the title role of Susanna, and she continued as prima donna in all his later seasons and under his successors until about 1768. She sang in every one of his English oratorios except Semele, and regularly in provincial festivals at Oxford, Salisbury and for nine consecutive years at the Three Choirs. She was the highest paid singer at Handel’s Foundling Hospital performances of Messiah. She lived extravagantly and died destitute.

Frasi was a great favourite with the public. In her early years, according to Burney, she had ‘a sweet and clear voice, and a smooth and chaste style of singing, which, though cold and unimpassioned, pleased natural ears, and escaped the censure of critics’. She benefited greatly from Handel’s tuition. The wonderful series of oratorio parts he composed for her, including the two Queens in Solomon (1749), the title roles in Susanna (1749) and Theodora (1750), and Iphis in Jephtha (1752), are an indication of his regard for her expressive powers, though they are not technically arduous; their extreme compass is b to a''.

WINTON DEAN


Frasnau, Jehan.


See Fresneau, Jehan.

Frassonio [Frassoni], Vito [Guido, Giulio, Vido].


Family name of Vito Trasuntino.


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