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Tag Archives: Mozart

Chronicling Covid-19 (17): Agnus Dei

30 Saturday May 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Covid-19, Pandemic

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Agnus Dei, Coronation Mass, Covid-19, Herbert von Karajan, Kathleen Battle, Mozart, New Brunswick, the Military

Agnello di Dio, particolare della Crocefissione di Matthias Grünewald (it.wikipedia)

I have already reported that thousands of young people flouted the rules on Saturday 23 May, in Toronto. It has been suggested that the lockdown had flustered these young people. The lockdown has been difficult for all of us, but despite the gradual relaxation of confinement measures, the coronavirus remains and the young people had to obey regulations. Transmission of the novel coronavirus is rapid and, in too many cases, deadly. I hope the students will now join or cheer the people fighting Covid-19.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/canada-surpasses-7000-coronavirus-deaths/ar-BB14Okk6

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/05/30/montreal–letat-durgence-renouvele-jusquau-4-juin

See the source image

Montreal (mtl.blog)

https://www.mtlblog.com/things-to-do/canada/qc/montreal/covid-19-in-montreal-sparks-balcony-concert-this-friday

The pandemic in Canada is making more victims. Quebec still leads and Premier Legault has asked the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to deploy the military. It is not altogether normal for the Military to work in long-term care facilities. Their role had to be defined.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/troops-on-pandemic-duty-to-get-benefits-paid-to-soldiers-serving-abroad/ar-BB14MClK?ocid=msedgdhp

Quebec is currently recruiting a large number of orderlies who will receive a decent salary. Their training will be condensed, the need being enormous and urgent. The province is hiring a small army of health care workers.

As you know, their syndicate negotiated for medical doctors, fees up to 2,500$ (1,635.25 Euros) per day, which the government cannot afford. Day-care is also very inexpensive in Quebec, and tuition fees are the lowest in Canada. Combined, such programmes may not be sustainable.

There are Covid-19 cases in the education system. Schools were reopened outside Montreal, but no parent should allow his or her child to attend school. It means hiring help, but help may not be too expensive. There’s no point. One infection multiplies into several infections. Although lockdowns are a form of paralysis, they may be required if citizens do not see that precautions are the freedom they possess. We need certain services and, although the governments are generous, people want to return to work.

Our Prime Minister does not want to offend others, but Canada should not open its border to the United States. Both the United States and Canada need to protect their citizens. A New Brunswick doctor travelled to Quebec and returned to New Brunswick without respecting the 14-day quarantine. He or she had to be suspended. That doctor is a possible and probable source of infection. One does not travel to Quebec, especially Montreal. It’s not safe.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/2-new-coronavirus-cases-in-nb-doctor-connected-to-outbreak-in-campbellton-suspended/ar-BB14LHIj?ocid=msedgdhp

One cannot say that the pandemic has benefits, but Covid-19 has exposed flaws in the system and monsieur Legault spoke to the press in both French and English. Both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier called in the military. I don’t know how Ontario doctors responded, but, to my knowledge, Quebec could not recruit the medical doctors it needed. I realize that there were risks. Yet, circumstances were and remain dire.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/ford-says-hes-done-taking-bullets-for-union-members-who-wouldnt-id=msedgdhpocid=msedgdhpnspect-care-homes/ar-BB14Ipwr?ocid=msedgdhp

The world is being tested, but if we work together, all will be normal and, perhaps, better than it has been.

—ooo—

The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 2:35 p.m. ET on May 30, 2020:

There are 90,161 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.

  • Quebec: 50,651 confirmed (including 4,439 deaths, 16,070 resolved)
  • Ontario: 27,533 confirmed (including 2,247 deaths, 21,353 resolved)
  • Alberta: 6,979 confirmed (including 143 deaths, 6,218 resolved)
  • British Columbia: 2,562 confirmed (including 164 deaths, 2,170 resolved)
  • Nova Scotia: 1,056 confirmed (including 60 deaths, 978 resolved)
  • Saskatchewan: 641 confirmed (including 10 deaths, 570 resolved)
  • Manitoba: 283 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 278 resolved), 11 presumptive
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 255 resolved)
  • New Brunswick: 128 confirmed (including 120 resolved)
  • Prince Edward Island: 27 confirmed (including 27 resolved)
  • Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
  • Yukon: 11 confirmed (including 11 resolved)
  • Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved)
  • Nunavut: No confirmed cases
  • Total: 90,161 (11 presumptive, 90,150 confirmed including 7,073 deaths, 48,068 resolved)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2020.

The Canadian Press

Love to everyone💕

Mozart’s Coronation Mass
MOZART. KARAJAN. POPE JOHN PAUL ii. CORONATION MASS. AGNUS DEI. LIVE. KATHLEEN BATTLE: Soprano. WIENER PHILHARMONIKER. 06/29/1985.

Agnus Dei, c.1635 - c.1640 - Francisco de Zurbaran

Agnus Dei de Francisco de Zurbarán (wikiart.org)

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A Foreword to Molière’s “Psyché”

01 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Comedy, Commedia dell'arte, Fêtes galantes

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Apuleius, commedia dell'arte, Così van tutte, Fêtes galantes, Figaro, Molière, Mozart, Psyché, Tragédie-ballet, zanni

2019-02_Dance-zanni-Jacques-Callot-1100x722

Zanni (arte2000.it.zanni)

I wish to thank all of you for the comments you have written. The invitation to rate my posts is proof that people are reading my posts, including moliéristes. It’s a forum, not an arena.

As you know, I was ready to write my book during a forthcoming sabbatical, but I was assigned the preparation of new courses, one of which was Animals in Literature. It took away my sabbatical. I’m not writing my book online, but I am reading Molière and sharing this endeavour with my WordPress colleagues.

I realize that students can get information from my posts and other online sources. That’s fine. They may quote me, acknowledging their source, and posts can be republished. If writing my book proves impossible, I will nevertheless have discussed Molière publicly for a brief period of time and in a manner that introduces Molière to the general public. Quoting Molière in French and English is time consuming, but it is an imperative.

800px-honorc3a9_daumier_003-1-1 (2)

Crispin et Scapin par Honoré Daumier, 1865 (WikiArt.org)

comedy-scene-scene-from-molière.jpg!Large

Comedy Scene from Molière by Honoré Daumier (WikiArt.org)

Les Fourberies de Scapin

My Pléiade edition of Molière was published in 1956. It is an old edition that does not contain the lines where Scapin tells Argante that he himself, Argante, will not break Octave’s marriage because he loves his son. However, these lines are part of the editor’s Notes et Variantes. Occasionally, Molière recycled parts of his comedies. These were his. The conversation I quoted is all but repeated in Le Malade imaginaire. The editors of the 1682 edition of the complete works of Molière excluded that part of the conversation. But the Molière 21‘s editors of the Pléiade 2010 edition have re-entered the relevant dialogue in the latest Pléiade edition, which we are using.

In Les Fourberies de Scapin, Molière juxtaposed the power of fathers and a father’s love. This juxtaposition is essential to an understanding of the play. Molière knew that there were forced marriages. Octave barely believes that his father will let him marry Géronte’s daughter Hyacinte. So, Molière also knew that fathers loved their sons and that this love was more powerful than tradition: parents choosing their children’s spouse. Molière used a subtle path, a kind destiny. Our fathers, Argante and Géronte, had chosen to marry their sons to the women their sons love, one of whom, Octave, has already married Hyacinte.

Scapin and the innamorati

Scapin is a zanni, a valet in the service of Octave and, by the same token, in the service of the innamorati, the young couple(s). In the eighteenth century zanni became more daring. Beaumarchais wrote the Figaro Trilogy. His Marriage of Figaro would inspire Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was transformed into a beloved opera: Le nozze di Figaro (K. 492, 1786). As well, Antoine Watteau painted ethereal fêtes galantes that are inextricably associated to the commedia dell’arte. Pierrot emerges: the sad clown.

More importantly, how does one cease discussing love? Love is une constante. Le Roman de la Rose was an apex in the treatment of courtly love. The eighteenth century also brought Marivaux. His play, Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard, was performed by the Comédie-Italienne, on 23 January 1730. We need also mention Mozart/Da Ponte’s Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (K. 588, 1790), a charming love story. It is rooted in the Decameron.

Cupid and Psyche by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (Wikipedia)

Psyché

Our next play is Molière’s Psyché, which he wrote in collaboration with the legendary Pierre Corneille. It is a tragi-comédie in verse and a tragédie-ballet. Its composer is Jean-Baptiste Lully and its choreographer, Pierre Beauchamp. Psyché was first performed at the Théâtre des Tuileries, on 17 January 1671.

I wrote posts on 2nd century Apuleius’ Golden Ass. It contains the Tale of Cupid and Psyche, a “digression.” Apuleius had read Ovid’s (20 March 43 BCE – 17/18 CE)  Metamorphoses, an extremely influential work. Transformations have long fascinated human beings. Icarus wanted to fly. In 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson published The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and, in 1915, Franz Kafka published The Metamorphosis. We do have the loup garou (the werewolf).

Psyche is a mythical figure.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Fêtes galantes & Galanterie (25 April 2016)
  • Beaumarchais’ Trilogy: The Guilty Mother (18 July 2014)
  • The Figaro Trilogy (14 July 2014)
  • Cupid and Psyche and Magical Realism (7 August 2013)
  • Apuleius’ Cupid and Psyche (4 August 2013)

Sources and Resources

  • Zanni: an Antique Mask of the Commedia dell’arte
  • Così fan tutte (Britannica)
  • Soave sia il vento (lyrics), a WordPress site
  • The featured image is by Adolphe Lalauze (théâtre-documentation.com)
  • Wikipedia
  • Britannica

Love to everyone 💕

Soave sia il vento (May the wind blow gently…)
Susan Chilcott (Fiordiligi) & Susan Graham (Dorabella)
Mozart Così fan tutte

pierrot-with-guitar.jpg!Blog

Pierrot with Guitar by Honoré Daumier, 1869 (WikiArt.org)

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1 September 2019
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Don Juan: the “Cycle” & the Traditions

30 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Comedy, Don Juan, Molière

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Cycle & Traditions, Dargomyzhsky's Stone Guest, Don Giovanni, Don Juan Tenorio, Ilya Repin, Lord Byron, Mozart, Pushkin's Stone Guest, The Five, Tirso de Molina

Don Juan by A. Golovin (Wikimedia Commons)

Portrait of Tirso de Molina

Portrait of Tirso de Molina (Wiki2.org)

DON JUAN: A CYCLE AND TRADITIONS

Variations on a theme by Tirso de Molina

The Cycle
Don Juan belongs to the world. Wikipedia’s entry on Molière’s Dom Juan contains lists. In other words, there are several narratives, plays, poems, music, films, etc. featuring Don Juan, including Mozart’s Don Giovanni, an opera. But Don Juan, the lady-killer and murderer, was created by Spanish baroque dramatist Tirso de Molina (24 March 1579 – 12 March 1648), a monk in the Mercedarian (from mercy) order. On his return from a mission in Santo Domingo (1616-1618), Tirso resided in the Mercedarian monastery in Madrid.

According to Hérodote.net (please scroll down to a text and a video), Molina had read in the Chronique de Séville, that Don Juan, the murderer of Governor Ulloa, whose daughter he seduced, was led to hell by a live statue of the Governor, le commandeur. The body of the governor had been laid to rest in the burial ground of a Franciscan convent. In Dom Juan, a play by Molière, the rake suffers the same fate as Governor Ulloa’s Don Juan. In Molière’s Dom Juan, la statue du Commandeur, invites Dom Juan to dinner, takes his hand, which Dom Juan offers, and leads him to a fiery abyss (toutmolière.notice). 

Donnez-moi la main.
La Statue (V. vi, p. 70)
[Give me your hand.]
The Statue (V. 6, p. 132)

So, Molière’s Dom Juan belongs to a “cycle.”

The myth or legend may precede Tirso de Molina’s play, but former lady-killers would belong to an oral tradition. In the learned (written) tradition, the first Don Juan is the protagonist of Tirso de Molina’s The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest. The play was first performed in 1625 (toutmolière.notice).

Mozart’s Don Giovanni (K 257) (1787), written on a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, and Molière’s Dom Juan (1665) are the most famous versions of the Don Juan legend, but the legend may have different components. For instance, I mentioned, in an earlier post, that Molière’s Dom Juan contains little eroticism, in which it differs from Tirso de Molina’s Don Juan, whose lady-killer is driven by his sexual appetite. Moreover, in Molière’s play, the commandeur is killed before the curtain rises and Dom Juan has tired of Done Elvire, his wife, who left a convent, l’obstacle sacré d’un couvent (I. i, p. 3) (the sacred obstacle of a nunnery [I. 1, p. 80]), to marry Dom Juan.

At this point, I will mention Don Juan Tenorio, a play written in 1844, by José Zorrillia. In Zorrillia’s play, Doña Inés de Ulloa has died and a statue of her has been erected. She comes to life again, as do various statues of commandeurs, and leads Dom Juan to heaven. Don Juan Tenorio has a happy ending. Doña Inés has been in purgatory atoning for Don Juan’s murdered victims: Don Luis, Doña Ana’s fiancé, and Don Gonzalo, Doña Ana’s father.

Don Juan Tenorio differs substantially from Molière’s and Mozart’s. But it remains that all versions of Don Juan, including Don Juan Tenorio, are variations on a theme by Tirso the Molina. 

Raimundo Madrazo, María Guerrero in the role of Doña Inés, who has just found a love letter from Don Juan, hidden in the pages of a book.[1]

Raimundo Madrazo‘s María Guerrero in the role of Doña Inés (Don Juan Tenorio) (Wiki2.org) 

Repin_donjuan

The Stone Guest (Pushkin’s), Don Juan and Doña Ana by
Ilya Repin, 1885 (Wikiart.org)

Two Traditions

  • Romantic
  • farcical

Don Juan Tenorio can be described as a romanticized Don Juan. The Don Juan cycle can be broken into traditions, such as the farcical and the Romantic. The Romantic Don Juan reaches beyond the limits of the human condition. This Don Juan has  intimations of immortality, etc. Lord Byron‘s Don Juan is a Romantic Don Juan. (See Don Juan [Lord Byron].)

Molière’s Dom Juan is enigmatic, but it can considered farcical. He is an inferior character who dares believe that all women are entitled to the brief attention he will bestow. Sganarelle tells Dom Gusman (Leporello in Don Giovanni), that Dom Juan is an “épouseur à toutes mains.” He has married so many women that it would take Sganarelle all day to name them:

… dame, demoiselle, bourgeoise, paysanne, il ne trouve rien de trop chaud, ni de trop froid pour lui; et si je te disais le nom de toutes celles qu’il a épousées en divers lieux, ce serait un chapitre à durer jusques au soir.
Sganarelle à Don Gusman (I. i, p. 3)
[A lady, gentlewoman, citizen’s daughter, countrywoman; he thinks nothing too hot or too cold for him; and if I were to tell you the names of all those whom he has married in different places, I would not have finished until night.]
Sganarelle to Don Guzman (I. 1, p. 80)

In Leporello’s catalog there would be mille e tre.[1]

Alexander Pushkin also wrote a Romantic Don Juan, His Stone Guest is a poetic  drama based on Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It was part of his “little tragedies.” Pushkin did not mean it for the stage. However, Alexander Dargomyzhsky wrote an opera entitled The Stone Guest, based on Pushkin’s Stone Guest. Although the opera was left unfinished, it is/was Dargomyzhsky‘s most famous work. It was finished by César Cui and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, two of the Five composers. 

However, Molière’s Dom Juan is also the bombastic and a rather étourdi, scatterbrained, character. Dom Juan does not allow Sganarelle, Molière’s role, to reprimand him. He and God can settle issues between one another, which is fine material for a farce. God will not use a needle to deflate Dom Juan, but the Commandeur he has killed will come to life and push him into hell.

Va, va, c’est une affaire entre le Ciel et moi, et nous la démêlerons bien
ensemble, sans que tu t’en mettes en peine.
Dom  Juan to Sganarelle (I. ii, pp. 7-8)
[That’s enough. It’s an issue between Heaven and me, and we get along just fine without you bothering yourself about it.]
Dom Juan to Sganarelle (I. 2, p. 68)

Conclusion

Molière’s Dom Juan was written quickly and was condemned after 15 performances. It is a famous Don Juan, yet part of a cycle of seducers created by Tirso de Molina (1625). Tirso, who wrote approximately 300 plays, some of which were licentious, was at times reprimanded. In fact, he was sent briefly to Salamanca. His Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest, the first Don Juan, was written in the country where casuistry, a form of jurisprudence on moral issues, was developed. Casuistry could justify many sins.

We now turn to Molière Dom Juan which features Sganarelle, our last Sganarelle, Molière’s masque.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Dom Juan, encore … (7 March 2019)
  • Dom Juan “grand seigneur méchant homme” (4 March 2019)

Sources and Resources

  • Don Juan, or the Feast with a Statue is an Internet Archives publication, translator Henri van Laun
  • Dom Juan is a toutmoliere.net publication
  • Lord Byron‘s poem is Gutenberg’s [EBook #5201]
  • Theatrehistory.com
  • Madamina, il cataloguo è questo

Love to everyone 💕

___________________

[1] In Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni, the list of the mille e tre conquests of the hero, as sung by Leporello, beginning Madamina, il catologo è questo, Delle belle ch’amo il padron mio, produces a great and admirable effect. (Henri van Laun, The Dramatic Works of Molière, vol. 2, p. 81, footnote 5).

Madamina, il cataloguo è questo
Nicolai Ghiaurov (13 September 1929 – 2 June 2004), Bulgarian bass 

don-juan-poster-300

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Laudate Dominum

01 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by michelinewalker in Feasts, Illuminated Manuscripts

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

2017, Elina Garanca, Illuminated Manuscripts, Laudate Dominum., Lindisfarne Gospels, Mozart, New Year

screen-shot-2015-12-23-at-10-21-52-pm

The Lindisfarne Gospels

Happy New Year to all of you.
I wish you good health and glorious days.

The year 2016 was somewhat bumpy. It brought Brexit and Donald Trump. Mr Trump may not be a duly-elected President of the United States because Russian President Vladimir Putin meddled in an American election.

Let us hope Mr Trump does not change what has been put into place radically. He does not have a clear mandate and countries need stability and continuity. Moreover, what happens in the United States affects the entire world.

A New Year is a beginning and I hope 2017 will bring us joy and peace.

I am inserting Mozart’s Laudate Dominum. It is one of the finest compositions ever.
(See Vesperæ sollenes de confessore, K. 339, Wikipedia)

lindisfarne-chi

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Blogger Recognition Award

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Nominations

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Blogger Recognition Award, congratulations, Dear Kitty 1, Mozart, WordPress

blogger_recognition_award

I apologize for not acknowledging receipt of this nomination yesterday. I had to keep appointments.

First I would like to thank Dear Kitty1.Some Blog for nominating me for the blogger recognition award displayed above. I do not think I deserve an award at this point because I haven’t posted articles frequently for several months. However, I have worked carefully on those I published. There  are rules to follow.

  1. The first rule attached to this nomination is to thank my colleague most sincerely. She is a person I have admired from the moment I started blogging and interacting with other bloggers.
  2. The second rule is to tell how by blog started. This rule could lead to my writing several posts, but I will keep it short. I started blogging when I realized US President Obama was criticized for the best things he did. He has helped to modernize the United States, bring it up to today’s societal standards. If Donald Trump replaces him, I fear very much that he will do away with Obamacare. He’ll protect the rich.
  3. The third rule is to give advice to bloggers. The Google rating of my post is not good which has nothing to do with content. It’s presentation. I have learned to insert images and videos into my posts, but I do not know how to customize my blog. Filling your sidebar is important. As well, keep a formula. For instance a picture and a few words can make for a beautiful post. But my two pieces of advice would be:
    – To make access to your blog as easy as possible.
    – To make your blog easy to navigate is also crucial.
  4. The fourth rule is to thank the person who nominated you and to provide a link to the person. Thank you very much dear Kitty.
    https://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/blogger-recognition-award-thank-you-cosmic-explorer/
  5. The fifth rule is to nominate 15 bloggers. So there we go.

My nominees are:

Ramblings (derrickjknight) (1)
I didn’t have my glasses on (ksbeth) (2)
El Espacio de Chus (3)
Vulturesti (4)
Eyes on Europe & the Middle East (5)
La Audacia de Aquiles (6)
Poetic Parfait (7)
ReadinPleasure (8)
Live and Learn (David Kanigan) (9)
Natuurfreak (10)
Mustard Seed Budget (11)
Another Day Another Story (12)
Pedrol (13)
In Saner Thought (14)
Viages al Fondo del Alsa (15)

Congratulations!

Each nominee will receive a notification. You need not thank me and you are free to decline this nomination. If you choose to accept it, the rules are:

  • Write a post to show your award.
  • Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  • Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
  • Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog.
  • Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to.

I thank dear Kitty once again. ♥ 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, 2nd Movement

petrel41

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A Nomination : Champions’ Awards

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Awards, Nominations

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

21February 16, Carmontelle, Champions' Award, Hélène Grimaud, Mozart, sjhigbee

champions-awards (1)

#CHAMPIONSAWARDS

I wish to thank sjhigbee for nominating me to the Champions’ Awards.

https://sjhigbee.wordpress.com/2016/02/21/champions-blogging-award-courtesy-of-the-amazing-seumas-gallacher/

This was a lovely surprise. I will follow all the rules.

As well, I wish to congratulate my colleagues who have also been nominated for the Champions’ Award.

Hélène Grimaud plays Mozart

170px-thumbnailThe Mozart Family on Tour
Carmontelle, 1763
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

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Joseph Haydn at Esterháza

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Sharing

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Austria, Beethoven, England, Haydn, House of Esterházy, Joseph Haydn, Mozart, Vienna

Eszterházy-fertőd

Eszterháza, now Fertőd (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post is one of two posts about an unfortunate connection.  More than a century after the Esterházy family had been patrons to Joseph Haydn‘s (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809), an Esterházy, but of a different branch than Haydn’s generous patrons, would commit treason against France, but was protected by the French army.  He retired in 1898 and escaped punishment by feeing to England.

So, although this post is mostly about Haydn and the Esterházy family, I am not focussing on the Joseph Haydn who, with Mozart and Beethoven, is the foremost composer of the Classical period (1730–1820)[i] in the history of western music and the composer best known as the person who “helped establish the forms and styles for the string quartet and the symphony.”[ii]

The Haydn I wish to write about is the musician who, after difficult beginnings, came to the attention of aristocrats: Karl Joseph von Fürnberg, the Bohemian count Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin (1758) and, in particular, the extremely wealthy Esterházy family, the House of Esterházy, a Magyar family at whose court, first in Eisenstadt and, second, at Esterháza (now Fertöd), Haydn would work for nearly thirty years (from 1761 to 1790).  He was Vice-Kapellmeister to prince Paul II Anton Esterházy de Galántha (22 April 1711 – 18 March 1762) and, a year later, when prince Anton passed away, he became Hofkapellmeister, or music director, to his brother, prince Nikolaus I or Miklós József Esterházy (d. 1790).

Humble beginnings

Let us look at Haydn’s early life.  Haydn was born to a humble family in Rohrau, Austria, a village near the border with Hungary).  He was the son of a wheelwright and his wife Maria, née Koller, who had worked as a cook at the palace of Aloys Thomas Raimund, Count Harrach (7 March, 1669, Vienna – 7 November, 1742, an Austrian politician and diplomat.

It was not possible for Haydn to develop his talent for music in Rohrau.  At the age of six, he was therefore sent to apprentice as a musician at the home of Johann Matthias Frankh, a relative of the Haydn family who lived in Hainburg.  As Frankh’s student, Haydn learned to play the harpsichord and the violin.  But it was as a singer that he was brought to the attention of Georg von Reutter.  At the age of eight, in 1740, Haydn auditioned for Reutter, the director of music at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, who convinced Joseph’ family to let him take young Joseph and his brother Michael as choirboys at St. Stephen’s.  Haydn was eight years old.  However, at the age of seventeen, he was expelled from the choir.  His voice had changed and he had played a practical joke on another chorister.

Haydn was taken in by Johann Michael Spangler, a musician whose garret he shared, and supported himself with odd musical jobs.  Fortunately, he met Nicola Porpora who gave him a position as accompanist for voice lessons and corrected his compositions.  As a chorister, Haydn had not acquired sufficient knowledge of the theory of music to become a composer.  Matters would change.

Aristocratic Patronage

We have already seen that Haydn first came to the attention of Austrian nobleman Karl Joseph von Fürnberg.  He was a member of Fürnberg’s small orchestra and, during his tenure as Fürnberg’s employee, he wrote his first quartets.  We also know that, in 1758, he was recommended to Bohemian Count Morzin.  (See Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin, Britannica.)  During the three years Haydn was Kapellmeister to count Morzin, his patron put him in charge of an orchestra of about 16 musicians.  At this point,  Haydn composed his first symphonies.

Later, in c. 1761, when Count Morzin dismissed his musicians, a relatively unknown Haydn was hired by prince Paul II Anton Esterházy de Galántha (22 April 1711 – 18 March 1762), a member of the extremely wealthy Esterházy family.  He worked first at Eisenstadt, earning a yearly salary of 400 florins and, after Prince Anton or Pál Antal passed away, in 1762, his patron would be Nikolaus Esterházy or Miklós József Esterházy, Pál Antal’s brother, in whose employ he would remain for nearly 30 years and whom he followed when the princely family moved to Esterháza (now Fertöd), their Hungarian palace, built in 1762-1766.

Joseph Haydn conducting a string quartet in Vienna

Joseph Haydn conducting a string quartet in Vienna (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Esterházy Family as Patrons

Prince Nikolaus I was Haydn’s patron until his death in 1790.  His successor dismissed Nikolaus’ court musicians but continued to pay Haydn 400 florins a year, which had been his salary in 1761.  Moreover, Count Nikolaus had left Haydn a pension of 1000 florins.  As well, given that his services were no longer needed, Haydn’s new patron allowed him to travel, which led to an apotheosis in Haydn’s career.

Haydn Duties at Esterháza

At Esterháza, Haydn had onerous duties.  According to Britannica, “while the music director [who was still alive] oversaw church music, Haydn conducted the orchestra and coached the singers in almost daily rehearsals, composed most of the music required, and served as chief of the musical personnel.”

However, he could choose the musicians who would be members of his chamber orchestra.  Moreover, he was free to invite fine guest musicians, if such was Prince Nikolaus’ wish, which was usually the case.  Mozart, who became Haydn’s protégé, was undoubtedly the most remarkable musician ever to perform at Esterháza.  Finally, distinguished visitors flocked to Esterháza and, every year, Haydn spent up to two months in Vienna, the city that was home to Mozart and would soon be home to Beethoven, who would be Haydn’s student, albeit briefly.

So, even though he lived at a distance from Vienna, Esterháza offered Haydn a stable life and he was not only a respected member of Nicolaus’ court, but also the prince’s personal music teacher, Nikolaus played the baryton, now a mostly obsolete instrument.  Joseph Haydn wrote approximately 170 pieces for Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, in the earlier part of his career.  (See Haydn, Wikipedia.)

London: an “Apotheosis”

As we know, when Nikolaus I died, Haydn was financially secure.  Yet he let German impresario Johann Peter Salomon convince him to visit England and conduct new symphonies with a large orchestra.  It would lead to unprecedented and totally unsuspected success.   Haydn’s “Paris Symphonies” were excellent compositions, but his “London Symphonies” are a summit.  Moreover, it is in London, between 1796 and 1798, that Haydn composed The Creation (Die Schöpfung), an oratorio.  (See Haydn, Wikipedia.)

I will pause at this point and post a second article focussing on another member of the Esterházy family, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, the man who sold information to Germany, a crime imputed to Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer of Jewish background.  The Dreyfus Affair would divide France into Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards and reveal considerable contempt against Jews, particularly in the military.

______________________________

[i]  Narrowly speaking, the Classical period extends from (1730–1820).  It follows the Baroque period (1600–1760) and is followed by the Romantic period (1815–1910).  These periods overlap.

[ii]  “Joseph Haydn”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/257714/Joseph-Haydn>.

composer: Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809)
piece:  « String Quartet No. 62 in C major, Op. 76, No. 3, Hob.III:77, “Emperor”: II. Poco adagio, cantabile »
performers: Reinhold Friedrich 
Haydn liten

Haydn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
12 March 2013
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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
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Now that spring is here…

06 Sunday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Arts, Canada, fantasy, Micheline Walker, Mozart, Sherbrooke

Micheline Walker: Fantasy

It’s a spring day in Sherbrooke.  Such days do not last.  So I thought I would celebrate by sending all of you a photograph of one of my little drawings: pure fantasy.  For the first time, I let the camera do part of the work, except that it wasn’t work.  

Please accept this token of my appreciation for your lovely blogs and for the kind messages I receive from you.  I enjoy this exchange.  

This little drawing is, again, pure fantasy.

So let us savour the moment and laugh a little.

 

Mozart: Cosi fan Tutte, Soave sia il vento
 
Micheline Walker©
May 6, 2012
 

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The Blessed Virgin: Mariology

24 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by michelinewalker in Feasts, Liturgy, Music

≈ Comments Off on The Blessed Virgin: Mariology

Tags

Alma Redemptoris Mater, Antiphon, Ave Regina Coelorum, Canonical Hours, Handel, Hermann of Reichenau, Mozart, Regina Coeli, Salve Regina, Vivaldi

Annunciation by Paolo de Matteis, 1712. The white lily in the angel's hand is symbolic of Mary's purity in Marian art.

Annunciation by Paolo de’ Matteis, 1712. The white lily in the angel’s hand is symbolic of Mary’s purity in Marian art. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hymns to the Virgin Mary, or Marian hymnology, as I will call it, constitute a substantial part of sacred music. Moreover, Marian art is abundant. Mary’s main feasts are the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception, three of which are related to the Nativity Cycle. The exception would be the Assumption. Mary did not die. She ascended into heaven.

1. The Annunciation

The Feast of the Annunciation commemorates the day on which the Archangel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she would bear and give birth to the son of God. The Feast of the Annunciation (see Rubens, below) is celebrated on 25 March, exactly nine months before Christmas Day, when Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. The above image is by Paolo de’ Matteis (9 February 1662 – 26 January 1728). 

2. The Nativity

The central Marian feast is the Nativity. The Nativity is in fact a celebration of the birth of Christ, but Marian feasts are rooted in the Nativity cycle. Where Marian art is concerned, the Nativity includes portrayals of the Shepherds in adoration, of the visit by the Kings of Orient, as well as portrayals of the Presentation of Jesus as firstborn son, and the Purification of Mary. Just below, I have inserted a visit by the Shepherds, by Gerard van Honthorst (4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656), a Dutch Golden Age artist who is also called Gerrit van Honthorst.

honthorst_aanbidding_herders_1622_grt

The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Gerard van Honthorst, 1622

3. The Assumption

Mary did not die. She ascended into heaven and her Assumption is celebrated on 15 August. In the Eastern Church, Byzantine Emperor Maurice selected 15 August as the date of the feast of Dormition and Assumption. The 15th of August is also the Acadian’s Feast Day. Acadians are the French-speaking inhabitants of Canada’s Atlantic provinces. Their national anthem is the Ave Maris Stella. 

The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, by Rubens, 1626

(Please click on the picture to enlarge it.)

4. The Immaculate Conception

According to Roman Catholicism, Jesus was conceived without stain or macula. This dogma is disputed as it is linked with the notion of an inherent fault, the original sin, the sin committed by Adam and Eve. Newborns or infants who die before Baptism do not go to heaven. They are sent to Limbo.

—ooo—

THE FOUR ANTIPHONS (Antiennes)

Marian hymnology

As for Marian hymnology, it originally consisted of four antiphons (antiennes, in French) sung in Gregorian Chant. Two (the Alma Redemptoris Mater and the Salve Regina were composed by Hermann of Reichenau, and would have been Gregorian chants. The four Marian antiphons are in fact linked to the Liturgy of the Hours, the Canonical Hours, and commemorate the four seasons.

  • Alma Redemptoris (Advent through February 2)
  • Ave Regina Cælorum (Presentation of the Temple through Good Friday)
  • Regina Cœli (Easter season)
  • Salve Regina (from first Vespers of Trinity Sunday until None of the Saturday before Advent)

Antiphons are “responsories” or the response by the choir or the congregation to a psalm or hymn. But they may involve responsorial singing by alternating choirs. Simply expressed, antiphons resemble a refrain. “The refrain was called an antiphon (A). The resulting musical form was A V1 A V2…”[1] Antiphons are not restricted to Marian hymnology. We should also note that Marian feasts are associated with the seasons, as are other Christian feasts. Antiphons are not restricted to Marian hymnology.

The Marian liturgical calendar is divided as follows:

  • first, of Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Pre-Lent, Lent, Easter Triduum, Eastertide, Ascensiontide
  • second, of some 32 feast days
Magnificatio, by Sandro Botticelli

Magnificatio, by Sandro Botticelli

(Please click on the picture to enlarge it.)

DETAILS ON THE ANTIPHONS

The Alma Redemptoris Mater

Traditionally, the Alma Redemptoris Mater is sung at the end of Compline, one of the Canonical Hours. It is said to have been composed by Hermannus Contractus (Herman the Cripple) (1013–1054).

The Ave Regina Cælorum

Traditionally, the Ave Regina Cælorum has been sung at the end of each Canonical Hours, but mainly Compline, between 2 February (Candlemas or Chandeleur in French) until the Holy Week. Candlemas is the day commemorating the Presentation of the Jesus at the Temple and the Purification of the Virgin Mary.

The Regina cœli 

The Regina Cœli or Cæli (Queen of Heaven), is a night prayer (Compline or Vespers).  Its authorship has not been determined but it was sung by Franciscans in the twelfth century.  It was sung in place of the Angelus from Holy Saturday through Pentecost.  It is therefore associated with the celebration of Easter.

The Salve Regina

The Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) is sung at Compline from the Saturday before Trinity Sunday until the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. (Wikipedia).  It was composed by German monk Hermann of Reichenau, the above-mentioned Hermannus Contractus (Herman the Cripple) (1013–1054), the composer of the Alma Redemptoris Mater.

—ooo—

However, to the four antiphons, we may add the above-mentioned Ave Maris Stella, Mozart’s breathtaking Ave Verum Corpus, various Ave Maria‘s, the most famous of which are Schubert’s Ave Maria, and the Ave Maria Charles Gounod composed on the first prelude of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Wohltemperierte Klavier (BWV 846-893).  I will discuss these in my next blog.

—ooo—

(Please click on the title to hear the music.)

  • Alma Redemptoris, Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548 – 27 August 1611)
  • Alma Redemptoris, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 – 1594)
  • Alma Redemptoris, Antifona gregoriana, t. simplex, Studio di Giovanni Vianini, Milano, Italia
  • Alma Redemptoris Mater Gregorian, monophonic
  • Ave Regina Cælorum, Andrea Mattioli, Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor
  • Salve Regina, Monteverdi, Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor
  • Salve Regina in C minor (RV 616) – Part I, by Vivaldi (1678 – 1741)
  • Salve Regina in G minor HWV 241, by Handel (1685 -1759)
  • Salve Regina, Tomás Luis de Victoria
  • Regina Cæli Lætare, Antifona gregoriana, Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis, direttore Giovanni
  • Regina Cæli Lætare, Tomás Luis de Victoria
  • Regina Cœli, Marco Frisina (b. 1954)
  • Regina Cœli, Mozart  (1756 – 1791)

[1] “antiphon.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2011. Web. 23 Dec. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/28480/antiphon>

thvr01ubhn

Madonna by Raphaël

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3 February 2017
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