Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Normand, Théodule Elzéar Xavier.

See Nisard, Théodore.

Normandin [La Grille], Dominique

(b Paris, c1640; d Paris, c1717). French singer and theatrical impresario. A grandson of Le Bailly, Normandin sang in court performances from 1663 onwards. In 1675, as one of the king's musicians, he obtained a privilege from Louis XIV to give theatrical performances with large marionettes of his own invention. In 1676 he staged the tragicomédie of Les Pygmées in Paris, probably at the Théâtre du Marais, and then a tragédie enjouée entitled Les Amours de Microton ou les charmes d'Orcan, with ballets, theatrical machinery and stage sets. These works for marionettes, performed by singers hidden underneath the stage, were so successful and displayed so many similarities with Lully's tragédies en musique that Lully himself had them banned in 1677, even though he was related to La Grille (their wives were cousins). Normandin's ‘Théâtre des Pygmées’ or ‘Opéra des Bamboches’ anticipated the Opéra-Comique in staging parodies of operas.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

C. Magnin: Histoire des marionnettes en Europe depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'à nos jours (Paris, 1852)

J. de La Gorce: ‘Un théâtre parisien en concurrence avec l'Académie royale de musique dirigée par Lully: l'Opéra des Bamboches’, Jean-Baptiste Lully: Saint Germain-en-Laye and Heidelberg 1987, 223–33

JÉRÔME DE LA GORCE

Nörmiger [Nöringer, Noringer], August

(b ?Dresden, c1560; d Dresden, 22 July 1613). German organist and keyboard intabulator. Presumably he was the son of Friedrich Nörmiger, court organist at Dresden until his death in 1580. August Nörmiger occupied the same post from 12 December 1581 until his own death. After Hassler’s death Nörmiger supervised the construction of the organ which he had designed for the Schlosskirche. According to a notice of 1592 he gave daily keyboard lessons to Prince Christian II and to Princess Sophie, daughter of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Saxony; in 1598 he compiled a keyboard tablature for Princess Sophie, then aged 11. This manuscript, once housed in the Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz (now part of D-Bsb) and later in D-Tu Mus.40 098 (olim Z 89), is now housed in Kraków, Biblioteca Jagiellońska (PL-Kj).

The collection opened with 77 Lutheran chorales in simple settings with the melody in the top line. Coloration was absent, but Nörmiger used motivic repetition in the lower voices. The chorale melodies found here generally remained in use through the 17th and 18th centuries. Also, their arrangement in the manuscript followed the church calendar. A second section of 39 German sacred and secular songs employed considerable ornamentation. The final section consisted of 94 dances (pavans, galliards, passamezzos etc) with sparse coloration. The presence of voice crossings, awkward leaps and parallel perfect intervals may indicate that these pieces were arrangements of other music. The scope of Nörmiger’s anthology provides a glimpse of keyboard music and dance accompaniments popular at the Saxony court about 1600.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MGG1 (M. Schuler)

M. Fürstenau: Beiträge zur Geschichte der königlich sächsischen musikalischen Kapelle (Dresden, 1849)

W. Merian: Der Tanz in den deutschen Tabulaturbüchern (Leipzig, 1927/R) [contains index, some incipits and 69 transcriptions]

W. Apel: ‘Early German Keyboard Music’, MQ, xxiii (1937), 210–37

F. Dietrich: Altdeutsche Tanzmusik aus Nörmigers Tabulatur 1598 (Kassel, 1937)

CLYDE WILLIAM YOUNG

Noronha, Francisco da Sá

(b Viana do Castelo, 24 Feb 1820; d Rio da Janeiro, 23 Jan 1881). Portuguese composer and violinist. Being largely self-taught, he emigrated to Brazil in 1837 and toured south America. Subsequently, he appeared in New York and Philadelphia (1846–47), London and Leeds (1854) and Portugal. Although the most significant part of his performing career ended around 1860 he continued to play in public until his death. He was director of the S Januário (1852) and Fénix Dramática (1880) theatres in Rio de Janeiro, and also of the Oporto Teatro Baquet (1861, 1875). These appointments resulted in a vast repertory of comic operas, operettas and vaudevilles on Portuguese texts.

Noronha was the first Portuguese composer to write operas based on literary works by national writers. The librettos of Beatrice di Portogallo (1863) and L’arco di Sant’Anna (1867), inspired by Almeida Garrett's works, have many characteristics in common with those of his mid-19th-century Italian contemporaries, but the choice of Pinheiro Chagas’s Brazilian novel A virgem de Guaraciaba for the libretto of Tagir (1876) seems to reflect the influence of Carlos Gomes’s Guarany. Considered by his contemporaries as a creator of a Portuguese melodic style with authentic folk characteristics, his music is strongly influenced by the Italian operatic tradition.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DBP

GroveO (L. Cymbron) [with list of works]

H. Carneiro: ‘Francisco de Sá Noronha’, O tripeiro, 1st ser., i/19 (1909), 9–11; i/22 (1909), 21–2

L. Cymbron: Francisco de Sá Noronha e L’arco di Sant’Anna: para o estudo da ópera em Portugal (1860/1870) (diss., U. of Lisbon, 1990)

LUISA CYMBRON

Norovbanzad, Namjiliin

(b 1931, Dundgov' (Middle Gobi), central Mongolia). Mongolian urtyn duu (long-song) singer of the Borjigin Khalkhas. She learnt to sing from her ‘second mother’, the renowned singer Tavhai, who acted as midwife at her birth. Initially she performed giingoo, the ritual song performed by child jockeys before horse-racing, and her talent soon became evident. She then became a member of the cultural ‘club’ at the centre of her district. She won a gold medal at the International Youth and Students Festival held in Moscow in 1957 and in the same year became a member of the National Ensemble of Folksong and Dance (Ulsyn Ardyn Duu Büjgiin Chuulga) in Ulaanbaatar, where she remained for over 30 years. Norovbanzad delivers long-songs in a wonderfully powerful soaring voice. In addition to Central Khalkha, which became the ‘national’ theatre style during the communist period, she is able to perform in the grand aizam style e.g. in Övgön Shuvuu (‘Old Man and Bird’) and in the more detailed and precise Borjigin Khalkha style e.g. Altan Bogdyn Shil (‘At the Peak of Altan Bogd’) (see Mongol music, §1(i)). She has gained many awards and titles for her skill including National Meritorious Artist, People's Artist and the National Honorary Award of Excellence. She has performed in over 20 different countries including the USA, Europe and Japan.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

and other resources

Virtuosos from the Mongol Plateau, various pfmrs, King KICC 5177 (1994) [with notes]

The Art of Mongolian Long Drawling Song, perf. Norovbanzad, Nebelhorn 031 (1995)

C.A. Pegg: Mongolian Music, Dance and Oral Narrative: Performing Diverse Identities (Seattle, 2000)

CAROLE PEGG