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Micheline's Blog

~ Art, music, books, history & current events

Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: Louis XVI of France

The King’s Swiss Guard

14 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in The French Revolution

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bertel Thorvaldsen (sculptor), Fédérés, France's National Guard, Georges Danton, Karl Josef von Bachmann, la Garde suisse, Louis XVI of France, Pierre-Louis Roederer, September Massacres, Swiss Guards, the Capture of the Tuileries, the Lion Monument

Jacques_Bertaux_-_Prise_du_palais_des_Tuileries_-_1793 (4)

Capture of the Tuileries Palace 
Jean Duplessis-Bertaux (1747–1819) (Photo credit: wiki2.org)

Officier_des_gardes_suisses

Officier des Gardes suisses, lithographie du 18e siècle (Photo credit: Fr Wikipedia)

On 10 August 1792, Count Pierre Louis Roederer (15 February 1754 – 17 December 1835) went to the Tuileries Palace to lead the Royal family out of a building that had been both their prison and their refuge, since the Women’s March on Versailles (5-6 October 1789).  Louis XVI was expecting Antoine Galiot Mandat de Grancy. Why had monsieur Roederer come to the Tuileries? Roederer replied that monsieur Mandat, Lafayette’s replacement, had been killed the night before. Lafayette had left Paris on 30 June 1792, denounced by Robespierre. As a result, the National Guard no longer had a commander and the revolutionaries had inflammed the Paris Commune. The king told Roederer that, alone, his Garde suisse could not protect him.

The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was organized on 9 August, by revolutionaries led by Georges Danton. They took possession of the Hôtel de Ville and were recognized as the legal government of Paris on 10 August 1792, the next day.

The Bastille housed seven prisoners. Matters differed on 10 August 1792. The king and his family lived in the Tuileries Palace.

Roederer proposed that the King review his National Guard, whom, he believed, were still serving the king, but they were defecting. They were joining 1) the sans-culottes, wearing pants, not knee breeches, and sabots, clogs, as in sabotage, 2) the fédérés who had come to Paris from Marseille and Brittany to celebrate the Fête de la Fédération (= fédéré), the festival commemorating the Storming of the Bastille and 3) the insurrectional Paris commune.  

Twenty-thousand fédérés were in Paris and the prospect of a république was no doubt inebriating for many of them. La Marseillaise, France’s National Anthem, first used as a “Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin,” was composed in 1792 by 32-year-old Claude-Joseph Rouget de L’Isle. It had been sung, for the first time, on 25 April 1792, in Strasbourg. (See La Marseillaise, and the Timeline of the Revolution, wiki2.org.)

In short, the only protection afforded the King was his Swiss Guard and his only shelter, the National Legislative Assembly, which would be suspended on 10 August 1792, as well as the authority of the King.

Karl Josef von Bachmann.jpg

Karl Josef von Bachmann, commander of the Swiss Guards who defended the Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792. (Caption and photo credit: wiki2.org)

800px-Tuileries_Henri_MotteSwiss Guards on the grand staircase of the palace during the Storming of the Tuileries by Henri-Paul Motte (1846-1922) (Photo credit: wiki2.org)

Karl Josef von Bachmann

Commanding the Swiss Guards, the day of the Insurrection of 10 August 1792, was Karl Josef von Bachmann. He accompanied Pierre-Louis Roederer who was leading the King and his family to the National Assembly. (He is not shown in the video I have inserted, which is otherwise excellent). When Louis heard shots, he sent a note instructing his Garde suisse to run to safety. They didn’t.

As for the King and his family, if the National Assembly was their only refuge, they had no refuge. The king told his son that, from then on, France no longer had a King.

Out of a total of 900 men, 600 Swiss Guards were killed or fatally wounded on 10 August 1792. Karl Josef von Bachmann was tried and guillotined on 3 September 1792. Other Swiss guards were also guillotined.

Karl Josef von Bachmann‘s trial was interrupted by the September Massacres, a prelude to the Reign of Terror. Fearing prisoners would join an invading army, radicals decided they should be killed. Swiss Guards were also killed.

By 6 September, half the prison population of Paris had been summarily executed: some 1200 to 1400 prisoners. Of these, 233 were nonjuring Catholic priests who refused to submit to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

(See September Massacres, wiki2.org.)

—ooo—

The French Revolution was a turning-point in both the history of France and that of other European countries. In 1806, there would no longer be a Holy Roman Empire.

As noted above, I have inserted a video. It is a French-language video showing Roederer speaking to the king and to Marie-Antoinette. It also shows the king’s failed attempt to review the National Guard, and the Royal family being led to the National Assembly by Pierre Louis Roederer. Roederer was accompanied by Karl Josef von Bachmann, the commander of the king’s Swiss Guard who is not featured in the video I have selected.

There is more to tell about the Swiss Guard. They were in North America during the War of 1812. Many settled in Lord Selkirk‘s Red River Colony.

The Lion Monument, in Lucerne, is the work of Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844).

Love to everyone ♥

Lionmonumentlucerne

The Lion Monument in Lucerne. The incised Latin may be translated, To the loyalty and courage of the Swiss. (wiki2.org.) 

© Micheline Walker
14 September 2018
WordPress

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Le Chevalier de Saint-George: the Black Mozart

14 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Mulatto, Music

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

French Revolution, Joseph, Joseph Haydn, Louis XVI of France, Marie-Antoinette, Mozart, Paris, Paris Symphonies, Saint-George, The Black Mozart

Satire of fencing duel between Monsieur de Saint-George et Mademoiselle la Chevalière d’Éon de Beaumont, Carlton House.  Engraved by Victor Marie Picot based on the original work of Charles Jean Robineau.

In Wikipedia’s entry on Joseph Bologne, mention is made of “a famous portrait of him [Saint-George] crossing swords in an exhibition match with the French transvestite spy-in-exile, the Chevalier d’Éon, in the presence of the Prince of Wales, Britain’s future king George IV.”  The famous portrait is the above “satire.”

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Allow me to begin this post by speaking of the two Mozarts: the white Mozart or Amadeus, and the black Mozart, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George.

When Mozart, the white Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was in Paris, in 1777-1778, he was influenced by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George.  One would expect the white Mozart to have influenced the black Mozart, but that was not the case.  However, the two differ in that the career of the black Mozart (December 25, 1745 – June 10, 1799) was affected by his ethnicity and the French Revolution.  Three divas opposed his appointment as director of the Royal Opera because he was a mulatto.

However, by then, Joseph had commissioned and premièred Haydn six “Paris Symphonies” and he had met the white Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus during his 1777-1778 visit to Paris. It is during his stay in Paris that the former Wolfgang Theophilus, the white Mozart, lost his mother. She had accompanied him on this tour, but was taken ill and died on 3 July 1778. Wolfgang was 22 at that time and Joseph, 33.

However the French Revolution all but destroyed Joseph whose patrons were Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. As we know, he was Marie-Antoinette’s music teacher.  Marie-Antoinette composed “C’est mon ami,” a lovely pastoral song.

Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges: L’amant anonyme (1780), 
Ballet Nº 1

Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George: Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 5, Nº 1

Joseph Boulogne: Symphony in G major, Op.11, Nº 1

Related blogs:
Le Chevalier de Saint-George: Reviving a Legend, cont’d
Le Chevalier de Saint-George: Reviving a Legend
Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges & the News
Le Chevalier de Saint-George: the Black Mozart
“C’est mon ami,” composed by Marie-Antoinette (lyrics by Florian)
“Plaisir d’amour,” sung by Kathleen Battle (lyrics by Florian)
The News & the Music of Frederick the Great
The Duc de Joyeuse: Louis XIII as a Composer
Terminology, the Music of Louis XIII & the News (eras in the history of music) 
 
The Chevalier de Saint-George in a 1787 painting probably commissioned by the future George IV of the United Kingdom.
 
© Micheline Walker
September 14, 2012
WordPress
 
 
 
 
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“C’est mon ami,” composed by Marie-Antoinette

06 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in France, History

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Christoph Willibald Gluck, France, Giovanni Battista Guarini, Louis, Louis XVI of France, Madame de Pompadour, Marie-Antoinette, Petit Trianon

 

Le Petit Trianon, built for Madame de Pompadour, given to Marie-Antoinette

 

C’est mon ami

C’est mon ami is a delightful song composed by Marie-Antoinette (2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793).  It is discussed in a blog which you may like to see.  The link to this blog is Tea at Trianon C’est mon ami.[i]  The blog Tea at Trianon is devoted to several aspects of Marie-Antoinette‘s life.  As for this article, it is less ambitious.  I will focus mainly on the song (music and lyrics), but will point out first that:

  • other royals were composers: Louis XIII of France (27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) and Frederick the Great of Prussia (24 January  1712 – 17 August 1786)
  • that her lyricist, Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, had also written the lyrics of  Plaisir d’amour.

Marie-Antoinette’s reputation needs rehabilitation.  The Marie-Antoinette we know is a queen who was not sensitive to the needs of the French nation at a time when the French could barely put bread on their table.  However, the “let them eat cake” is probably apocryphal and although rumour has it that she was a lesbian, which may be true, this information is mostly irrelevant.  She was, however, extremely slow in consummating her marriage to Louis XVI.

It is true that although she married the Dauphin,[ii] Louis XVI, in 1770, at the age of 15, the marriage was not officially consummated until the 30 August 1777, three years after the death of Louis XV.  Marie-Antoinette was then 22.  She gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, called Madame Royale, on the 19 December 1778.  On the 22 October 1781, she gave birth to a son, Louis Joseph Xavier François, Dauphin of France.  After the birth of the Dauphin, her duties as the wife of Louis XVI, a king, had been fulfilled.  

It is also true that she was a victim.  Marie-Antoinette was condemned to death and executed by guillotine on 16 October 1793, nine months after the execution, by guillotine, of Louis XVI, her husband.  Louis XVI was executed on 21 January 1793.  Neither should have suffered such a terrible fate.

Marie-Antoinette by Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun

Marie-Antoinette as Composer

Which takes us to Marie-Antoinette’s gifts, the most important of which was music. Marie-Antoinette loved music and was a composer.  Recordings have been made of her music.  You will find a list of recent recordings by clicking on Music or on the following link: http://www.ladyreading.net/marieantoinette/mus-en.html.

In Austria, Marie-Antoinette had studied under composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, whose patron she became as Queen of France.  However, in France, her teacher was le Mozart noir, Joseph Bo(u)logne, Chevalier de Saint-George (25 December 1745 – June 10, 1799), a prolific composer, born in Guadeloupe to a white French plantation owner, Georges Bologne de Saint-George, and to Nanon, a Wolof former slave.

Joseph de Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George

Marie-Antoinette composed the music to C’est mon ami and Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian set lyrics to her music.  It has been suggested that Marie-Antoinette wrote both the music and the song, which, to my knowledge, has not been confirmed.  I am providing links to related blogs, but the pleasant surprise is the short song.

Related blogs:

“Plaisir d’amour,” sung by Marian Anderson (lyrics by Florian)
The News & the Music of Frederick the Great
The Duc de Joyeuse: Louis XIII as a Composer
Terminology, the Music of Louis XIII & the News
 
The English translation is mostly literal and based on a translation found in a comment following the author’s post, at:
http://teaattrianon.blogspot.ca/2007/09/cest-mon-ami.html 
 

C’est mon ami

C’est mon ami is a bucolic or pastoral song.  Mon ami, my friend, is a shepherd.  The song therefore belongs to a tradition dating back to Giovanni Battista Guarini‘s Pastor Fido (The Faithful Shepherd), published in 1590.  The tradition was kept alive in various seventeenth-century salons where salonniers and salonnières enjoyed making believe they were shepherds and shepherdesses.  It was also kept alive in L’Astrée, a lenghty novel written by Honoré d’Urfée (11 February 1568 – 1 June 1625) over several years and published between 1607 and 1627.

In the Petit Trianon, a small castle built for Madame de Pompadour  (29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764)[iii] but given to Marie-Antoinette by Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette liked to imagine she was a shepherdess.  The castle had been built on the grounds of Versailles.  So here is our pastoral song.

1)
Ah s’il est dans votre village
Un berger sensible et charmant
Qu’on chérisse au premier moment
Qu’on aime ensuite davantage
Ah, if there is in your village / a sensitive and charming shepherd / whom one cherishes from the first moment / and then loves even more
Refrain
C’est mon ami
Rendez-le moi
J’ai son amour
Il a ma foi
He is my friend / Give him back to me / I have his love / He has my faith
2)
Si par sa voix douce et plaintive
Il charme l’écho de vos bois
Si les accents de son hautbois
Rendent la bergère pensive
If with his sweet and plaintive voice / He charms the echo of your forest / if the accents of his oboe / make the shepherdess pensive (wondering)
Refrain
C’est encore lui…  It’s him again 
3)
Si même n’osant rien vous dire
Son seul regard sait attendrir
Si sans jamais faire rougir
Sa gaité fait toujours sourire
If even not daring to tell you anything / By merely looking at you he can touch you / if without ever making you blush / his cheerfulness always makes you smile
Refrain
C’est bien lui…  It’s him…
4)
Si passant près de sa chaumière
Le pauvre en voyant son troupeau
Ose demander un agneau
Et qu’il obtienne encore la mère
If passing by his cottage / and seeing his flock / a poor man dares ask for a lamb /  And also gets the Lamb’s Mother
Refrain
Oui c’est bien lui…  Yes it’s him…
 
_________________________

[i] There are several websites devoted to Marie-Antoinette as composer.

[ii] During the Ancien Régime, before the French Revolution, the heir to the throne was called the Dauphin.

[iii] Madame de Pompadour (29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764) was Louis XV’s chief mistress from 1745 until her death.  She died of tuberculosis before the Petit Trianon was completed.  However, she participated in designing it.  Her most notorious successor as chief mistress (Maîtresse-en-titre) was Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793).  The poor woman was executed by guillotine.

Photo credit: Wikipedia (all pictures) 
    
© Micheline Walker
6 September 2012
WordPress 
 
singer: Yvonne Printemps
 
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