Nevada, Mignon
(b Paris, 14 Aug 1886; d Long Melford, 25 June 1971). English soprano, daughter of Emma Nevada. Taught by her mother, she made her début at the Teatro Costanzi, Rome, in 1907, as Rosina. She sang with success elsewhere in Italy and in Portugal, and first appeared at Covent Garden as Ophelia in Thomas’ Hamlet at the opening of Beecham’s 1910 winter season. Other London roles included Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Zerlina and Gounod’s Marguerite; her final Covent Garden appearance was in 1922. In 1920 she enjoyed considerable success in Paris for her Opéra-Comique performances as Lakmé and Mimì; she sang at La Scala in 1923 and at the Opéra in 1932. She was much admired by Beecham, who described her Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello as ‘the best I have seen on any stage’. Her voice was light and agile, though some (like Beecham himself) considered that her mother had unwisely trained her as a coloratura soprano instead of cultivating the warm mezzo quality of her voice. She made a single record in 1938 singing a song by her godfather Ambroise Thomas which had been given its first performance by her mother.
J.B. STEANE
Nevanlinna, (Otto) Tapio
(b Helsinki, 7 April 1954). Finnish composer. He studied a variety of subjects at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was taught composition by Heininen. He gained his diploma in composition in 1986. His first composition to reach public attention and receive critical acclaim was Jousipiirros (‘String Drawing’, 1983). His output since then has not been extensive and uses modest forces. His style constantly aspires towards clarity and glittering sonorities, avoiding pomposity and sentimentality. His harmonies are on occasion post-serial, and can appear at other times to be rooted in tonality. Many of the titles of his works tellingly reflect his sound-world, such as the solo violin composition Yli kirkkaan (‘Over the bright’, 1983) – which has been widely acknowledged by solo violin competitions during the 1990s – the piano sonata Lasikaktus (‘The Glass Cactus’, 1984) and the orchestral work Lumikannel (‘The Snow Kantele’, 1989); all are of especial brightness and clarity, with sparkling details. Of his orchestral works Zoom (1987) is transparent in its orchestration. Lasikirja (‘The Glass Book’, 1991) belongs to the same sound-world as Lasikaktus, but it approaches tonality after passages of denser harmonic writing in the manner of Ligeti.
WORKS -
Kolme laulua [3 Songs] (P. Saaritsa), S, vib, 1980; Pst!, 5 pieces to a phonetic text, Mez, vib, 1981; Duetto, accdn, va, 1982; Jousipiirros [String Drawing], str, 1983; Yli kirkkaan [Over the Bright], vn, 1983; Keltaisena hehkuu auringon multa [The Sun’s Soil Glows Yellow], tape, 1984; Lasikaktus [The Glass Cactus], pf sonata, 1984; Tarjosit merestä kimpoavan auringon [You Offered the Sun Bouncing off the Sea], tape, 1985; Vignettes, orch, 1985; Laulava kuutio [The Singing Cube], pf, 1986; Ovi ja tie [The Door and the Road] (Saaritsa), Mez, pf, 1986; Script, org, 1986; Foto, cl, accdn, 1987; Zoom, orch, 1987; Lumikannel [The Snow Kantele], orch, 1989; Spin, fl, cl, vib, accdn, va, 1989; Ladut [Trails], str qt, 1991; Lasikirja [The Glass Book], orch, 1991; Clip, cl, accdn, vn, vc, 1993; Foto 2, vib, kantele, 1997
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OSMO TAPIO RÄIHÄLÄ
Nevel
(Heb.).
Ancient Jewish instrument, possibly a lyre. See Biblical instruments, §3(vii).
Neves, Ignacio [Inácio] Parreiras
(b ?Vila Rica, c1730; d Vila Rica, c1793). Brazilian composer, singer and conductor active in the province of Minas Gerais during the colonial period. He is first mentioned as a singer in the records of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Mercy. On 16 April 1752 he entered the Brotherhood of St Joseph of Coloured Men (St Joseph’s was the church of the many mulattos in Vila Rica), and took part in its musical affairs. Three works bearing Neves’s name are extant: a Credo for mixed chorus and small orchestra (1780–85), divided into six sections and written in a pre-Classical homophonic style (Curt Lange Archive, Ouro Prêto); a Salve regina (copy, dated 1895, in Archive Pão de Santo Antonio, Diamantina) and an incomplete Christmas oratorio, Oratoria ao Menino Deos para a noite de Natal (1789), in the vernacular (Music Museum, Mariana), whose two existing parts (soprano and instrumental bass) indicate its large proportions. He also wrote a Música fúnebre, for 4 choruses, for the exequies of Pedro III in 1787, but the manuscript is lost.
F.C. Lange: ‘Os irmãos musicos da Irmandade de São José dos Homens Pardos, de Vila Rica’, YIAMR, iv (1968), 110–60
G. Béhague: ‘Música mineira colonial à luz de novos manuscritos’, Barroco, iii (1971), 15–27
F.C. Lange: A música no período colonial em Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, 1979)
R. Duprat: Acervo de manuscritos musicais: Coleção Curt Lange. Compositores mineiros dos séculos XVIII e XIX (Belo Horizonte, 1991)
J.M. Neves, ed.: Música sacra mineira: catálogo de obras (Rio de Janeiro, 1997) [incl. Salve regina]
GERARD BÉHAGUE
Neveu, Ginette
(b Paris, 11 Aug 1919; d San Miguel, Azores, 28 Oct 1949). French violinist. She came of a musical family, and was first taught by her mother. At the age of seven she appeared with the Colonne Orchestra in Paris under Gabriel Pierné. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire, gaining a premier prix when she was 11, then with Enescu and for four years with Flesch. In 1935 she won the International Wieniawski Competition (David Oistrakh was placed second) and so opened her brilliant career. Tours of Poland and Germany (1935), the USSR (1936), the USA and Canada (1937) were followed after the war by her London début in 1945, and a London-based year during which her unusually distinguished performances of Classical concertos excited high acclaim. 1947 brought débuts in South America, Boston and New York, and it was on her way again to the USA that she died in a plane crash; her brother Jean-Paul, a gifted pianist and her accompanist, was also killed, and her Stradivari destroyed.
Neveu played with extraordinary fire and passion, but her interpretations were beautifully controlled by an impeccable sense of style, and her technique was equal to her demands. Her recordings of the concertos of Brahms and, particularly, Sibelius remain outstanding. Poulenc composed his sonata for her, rewriting the last movement after her death. Though she was only 30 when she died, she ranks among the finest violinists of her time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M.-J. Ronze-Neveu: Ginette Neveu (Paris, 1952; Eng. trans., 1957)
E.A. Hughes: ‘Ginette Neveu Discography’, British Institute of Recorded Sound: Bulletin, no.7 (1957), 23 only
J. Creighton: Discopaedia of the Violin, 1889–1971 (Toronto, 1974)
ERIC BLOM/DIANA McVEAGH
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