Huge face, huge voice, huge presence: the distinguishing characteristics of Fyodor Chaliapin, Russian Basso of the early twentieth century's opera stage. At the same moment that film was gaining momentum as a medium, Chaliapin seemed to anticipate, and set the standard for, artists like Bela Lugos
In 1941 (or so he insists), Plácido Domingo was literally born into Zarzuela, Spain's popular operetta tradition. His father, Plácido Domingo, Sr., and his mother, Pepita Embil -- both Zarzuela stars -- moved the family from Madrid to Mexico to create their own CompañÃa de Opereta y Zarzu
The portion of the nineteenth century that posterity has dubbed the Romantic era saw the birth of one of Western culture's greatest archetypes: the Romantic genius. The spirit of the age was incarnated in several dozen men and women, artists whose powers of expression were matched only by the origina
By all accounts, Peter Tchaikovsky was an emotionally troubled man. He suffered from nervous depression, which was heightened by the constant social presssure to hide his homosexuality. The composer had affairs with women and even married Antonina Miliukova -- with disastrous emotional effects to bot