In this issue: Ngaio Marsh Shakespeare Authorship Re: Shakespeare Authorship Re: Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship <WAS: Today in History - April23> Re: Shakespeare Authorship Re: Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship Today in History - April 27 Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship Re: Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship Identify this WWI propaganda movie Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship Etext avail: Jonas Lie and J.S. Le Fanu Upcoming TV series on Foot Soldiers OBIT: Charles "Buddy" Rogers Holmesiana: Early Films Today in History - April 28 Re: Upcoming TV series on Foot Soldiers Re: OBIT: Charles "Buddy" Rogers Re: Holmesiana: Early Films Puccini night Les Vampyres Re: Puccini night Re: Puccini night Re: Les Vampyres Today in History - April 29 "Devils" -----------------------------THE POSTS----------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 12:27:05 +1000 From: Lucy Sussex <lsussex(at)netspace.net.au> Subject: Ngaio Marsh Ngaio Marsh lived in my birthplace - Christchurch, New Zealand. Was significantly involved in theatre. Alas, she had nothing to do with the other reason why Christchurch is known, the HEAVENLY CREATURES murder, where Ann Perry (Juliet Hulme) and Pauline Parker murdered Pauline's mother. Lucy Sussex
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Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 19:44:27 -0700
From: Alan Gullette <alang(at)creative.net>
Subject: Shakespeare Authorship
Someone told me that the March Harper's Bazaar had a series of articles on
the question of the authorship of Shakespeare's work. I have not seen it
but think the subject very interesting. Of course, the question should not
be confused (as it sometimes is) with the question of Shakespeare's
historicity, which I think is fairly beyond doubt. (The question would be
one of complicity.)
One of the major arguments against Shakespeare as author was his grammar
school education. However, given the high level (& long hours) of Tudor
education, which included Greek and Latin, I have no reason to doubt that a
young genius (which the author must have been) could not have absorbed
everything necessary, adding to that his own profound insight.
A tougher argument -- with whose details I am not familiar -- is based on
"inside information" on the court of Queen Elizabeth figuring in one or
more of the plays, though only figuratively. This is one of the main
arguments for Edward de Vere as author.
I believe ascriptions to Francis Bacon are now out of fashion!
Just found two sites:
Shakespeare Oxford Society Home Page
http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/
Vero Nihil Verius Welcome to the Home Page of the Shakespeare
Oxford
Society, the second oldest continuously operating organization
(the Bacon
Society dates back to 1886) involved in the two-centuries old
Shakespeare authorship debate.
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~cashbeee/DEVERE.html
Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift! EDWARD DE VERE IS
SHAKESPEARE The
controversy over the identity of Shakespeare continues. The case
for Edward de Vere, a member of
Queen Elizabeth's I court, has been well documented and much of
the information is available on-line.
Ciao.
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Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 20:17:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Jack Kolb <KOLB(at)UCLA.EDU> Subject: Re: Shakespeare Authorship Not Harper's Bazaar, but Harper's. And it was the usual nonsense. No intelligent Renaissance scholar believes that anyone but Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's works. It's the equivalent of flying saucers and ghost portraits. Sigh. Go ahead with your pages, Stephen: I'll just use the delete key more often. And no, I won't debate the subject. Jack Kolb Dept. of English, UCLA kolb(at)ucla.edu >Someone told me that the March Harper's Bazaar had a series of articles on >the question of the authorship of Shakespeare's work. I have not seen it >but think the subject very interesting. Of course, the question should not >be confused (as it sometimes is) with the question of Shakespeare's >historicity, which I think is fairly beyond doubt. (The question would be >one of complicity.) > >One of the major arguments against Shakespeare as author was his grammar >school education. However, given the high level (& long hours) of Tudor >education, which included Greek and Latin, I have no reason to doubt that a >young genius (which the author must have been) could not have absorbed >everything necessary, adding to that his own profound insight. > >A tougher argument -- with whose details I am not familiar -- is based on >"inside information" on the court of Queen Elizabeth figuring in one or >more of the plays, though only figuratively. This is one of the main >arguments for Edward de Vere as author. > >I believe ascriptions to Francis Bacon are now out of fashion! > >Just found two sites: > >Shakespeare Oxford Society Home Page > http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/ > Vero Nihil Verius Welcome to the Home Page of the Shakespeare >Oxford > Society, the second oldest continuously operating organization >(the Bacon > Society dates back to 1886) involved in the two-centuries old >Shakespeare authorship debate. > >http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~cashbeee/DEVERE.html > Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift! EDWARD DE VERE IS >SHAKESPEARE The > controversy over the identity of Shakespeare continues. The case >for Edward de Vere, a member of > Queen Elizabeth's I court, has been well documented and much of >the information is available on-line. > > >Ciao. >
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Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 21:56:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship <WAS: Today in History - April23> In a message dated 4/26/99 10:46:36 PM, Bob the very Champ wrote: <<Personally, I see no reason to disbelieve that the author of the play was Shakespeare from Stratford-on-Avon, though perhaps I would answer the question, "Why," by quoting Constantine, "It is impossible, therefore I believe." <grin>>> grin back... The plays are wonderful. I don't believe Marlowe wrote them (pretending to be dead) nor do I think Bacon had it in him... but there are some others lurking out there... And, conversely, it is true that there arise in our midst authentic geniuses, who come from nowhere and fade into nothing and have changed the world. O, for a muse of fire, phoebe Phoebe Wray zozie(at)aol.com who is always willing to talk anything shaxpere, having had so very much pleasure in her life from his company
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 00:25:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Shakespeare Authorship
I'll have to say that I've never been able to get by Ben Jonson's poem
on Shakespeare. Jonson was a solid man who would not, I believe, have
participated in a hoax; and, had he been writing simply to puff an
author, he would never have included that business about "little Latin
and less Greek" (of course, the meaning you attach to these adjectives
depends on how well you know their author. Jonson was a very learned
man.) Nor would he, out of sheer vanity, have seen in Shakespeare a
better. Jonson, in his own time, was considered England's finest
playwright. Why should he have praised a man so fully by name if that
person didn't write the plays attributed to him?
Shakespeare, as we all know, was a person of remarkable intellect, with
the sort of mind that absorbed everything. The considerable learning
that he displays in the plays is not beyond the limit of possibility for
such a person. As for his knowledge of the court, we don't know his
sources for this kind of information. But Shakespeare was not a nonentity
in London; he would have known noblemen and may even have made confidantes
of them.
I have always distrusted the kind of conspiracy theories spun by the anti-
Shakespeare folk. Conspiracy theories are generally so complex and
require so much from the people supposedly involved that you realize
immediately that something is the matter. People seldom behave as such
theorists propose. They love to be in the know, but at the same
time they love to talk. Human beings have a difficult time keeping
secrets, especially after the person affected is long dead. If
Shakespeare had been a hoax, someone would have written about the fact
or let it be known generally, if only to attract attention to himself.
But no contemporary of Shakespeare, as least that I am aware of, ever
suggested anything remotely like this possibility.
The controversy over Shakespeare's authorship seems to be particularly
germane to our period, however. This was a time when the close study
of texts came of age and when the historical validity of nearly
every event from another time was questioned. The scoffers were in
the saddle: there was no Troy, no Christ, no Shakespeare. It was all,
in the words of a man very much of his time, "bunk." The anti-Shakespeare
arguments are, however, entertaining, and they throw a light on the
thought processes of nineteenth-century expositors of the problem (and
thus on the thought processesof the nineteenth century generally).
Well, I am rambling on here. But I would be interested in seeing a few
of the pieces Stephen mentions.
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
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Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 21:49:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship In a message dated 4/26/99 10:37:42 PM, Deborah wrote: <<In studying epitaphs it would seem more problematical since in New England studies, 'styles' are very popular to the poignant "Not Lost But Gone Before" style to the humorous ones Peter sites.>> Near me, in Littleton, Massachusetts (no intake of breath, please) is a series of tombstones in which the Captain died first, with his mistress buried to his right, and his wife, who buried them both, to his left. We stand and marvel at the -- generosity of spirit? forbearance? delicious sense of irony? smiling, phoebe Phoebe Wray zozie(at)aol.com
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 08:46:43 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - April 27
1813
Americans forces capture York (present day Toronto), the seat
of government in Ontario.
1861
President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
1861
West Virginia secedes from Virginia after Virginia secedes
from the Union.
1863
The Army of the Potomac begins marching on Chancellorsville.
1865
The Sultanana, a steam-powered riverboat, catches fire and
burns after one of its boilers
explodes. At least 1,238 of the 2,031 passengers, mostly
former Union POWs, are killed.
1909
The sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II, is overthrown.
Born on April 27
1791
Samuel F.B. Morse, inventor who created the telegraph and the
code which bears his
name.
1822
Ulysses S. Grant, Union commanding general of the Union army
and 18th U.S. president
of the United States.
1840
Edward Whymper, the first man to climb the Matterhorn.
1900
Walter Lantz, cartoonist, creator of Woody Woodpecker.
Jerry Carlson E-mail: gmc(at)libra.pvh.org
Medical Librarian Phone: (970) 495-7323
Poudre Valley Hospital Fax: (970) 495-7652
1024 Lemay Avenue http://www.pvhs.org/health/healthaware.html
Fort Collins, CO 80524 "The Librarian's secret weapon - Book Tape!"
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 09:05:36 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship
Phoebe wrote:
> Anyone in the mood to dispute the
>authorship? OT or offlist, of course.
Actually, this question is banned from a Shakespeare discussion group I've
belonged to.
&8-{)
Jerry
gmc(at)libra.pvh.org
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 12:39:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship In a message dated 4/27/99 3:08:23 PM, Jerry wrote: <<Actually, this question is banned from a Shakespeare discussion group I've belonged to.>> And a good thing, too, I should imagine. My comment was, I confess, a little off-hand. Didn't mean to stir up a nest of BBBs (Balderdash! Boring! Basta!)... lightly tripping on a pretty spring day phoebe Phoebe Wray zozie(at)aol.com
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 17:35:45 -0600
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Identify this WWI propaganda movie
Can anyone identify the film clip presented at the ABC (American Broadcasting
Corporation) website, called simply "WWI: Propaganda Slams Kaiser"?
http://www.abcnews.go.com/century/video/index.html
Look under Arts & Culture.
The site also has the infamous Edison film _Striptease_ (1901).
Stephen D
mailto:Sdavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 18:04:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jack Kolb <KOLB(at)UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Disputing Shakespeare's authorship
>> Anyone in the mood to dispute the
>>authorship? OT or offlist, of course.
>
>Actually, this question is banned from a Shakespeare discussion group I've
belonged to.
>&8-{)
>
>Jerry
>gmc(at)libra.pvh.org
With good reason. It's a pointless debate. By the bye, anyone who is
interested in what IS known about Shakespeare can read Samuel Schoenbaum's
Shakespeare's Lives. If that volume is too intimdating, or difficult to
locate, try Norrie Epstein's The Friendly Shakespeare. Very chatty, but
also very sound.
Jack Kolb
Dept. of English, UCLA
kolb(at)ucla.edu
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 21:02:55 -0600
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Etext avail: Jonas Lie and J.S. Le Fanu
- --0__=nT1YyWelpwdSpUa5brWwbAKkFuNmbDDFOKCeKdQfTNCsASmEsJ3jfWwN
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
From: Stephen Davies(at)MRC on 04/27/99 09:02 PM
To: Gaslight-announce(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
cc:
Subject: Etext avail: Jonas Lie and J.S. Le Fanu
(LIEMENU.HTM) (Fiction, Chronos, Scheds)
Jonas Lie's "Jack of Sj
- --0__=nT1YyWelpwdSpUa5brWwbAKkFuNmbDDFOKCeKdQfTNCsASmEsJ3jfWwN
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable
=F6h=F6lm and the Gan-Finn" (1893 transl.)
(LFANUMEN.HTM#HAUNTED) (Fiction, Chronos, Scheds)
J.S. Le Fanu's _Haunted lives_, pt. 3 (1868)
ganfinn.sht
Jonas Lie's "Jack of Sj=F6h=F6lm and the Gan-Finn" (1893 ed.)
shows the Norwegian author at his best, combining the mystery
of the sea with ancient fable.
Discussion begins 99-may-03.
hauntX03.srl
J.S. Le Fanu's _Haunted lives_, pt. 3 (1868-jul) continues to
tangle several characters in a threatening intrigue.
Discussion begins 99-may-10.
To retrieve all the plain ASCII files send to: ftpmail(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
with no subject heading and completely in lowercase:
open aftp.mtroyal.ab.ca
cd /gaslight
get liemenu.non
get ganfinn.sht
get hauntX03.srl
or visit the Gaslight website at:
http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/liemenu.htm
http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/lfanumen.htm
Stephen D
mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
=
- --0__=nT1YyWelpwdSpUa5brWwbAKkFuNmbDDFOKCeKdQfTNCsASmEsJ3jfWwN--
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Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 13:16:56 -0600
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Upcoming TV series on Foot Soldiers
For those who get A&E in North America, I see there will be a series on the Arts
& Entertainment cable channel about foot soldiers, culminating in the
Napoleonic period which is the area of our interest.
Stephen D
mailto:sdavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
from A&E's webpage: http://www.aetv.com/class/classcal/descript.html
Foot Soldier: Barbarians, The
In the ancient Roman Empire, the Barbarians were shunned and feared by the
Romans partly because they were
godless savages but mostly because they had bad table manners. Discover who
they were and how after centuries
of war, the Romans finally let them into the Empire. 5/17
Foot Soldier: Egyptians, The
The ancient Egyptian foot soldiers marched across the Middle East,
protected their borders and conquered other
nations. Though known for defending and conquering a world covered with
sand, they fought one of their greatest
battles on the sea. 1/21, 5/18
Foot Soldier: Greeks, The
With mythological gods and real life heroes like Alexander the Great
leading the way, these highly disciplined,
early foot soldiers were a team of virtual war machines. 5/19
Foot Soldier: Medieval Soldier, The
They were simple men who clothed and equipped themselves with whatever they
could afford. They were the
backbone in the wars waged by feudal kings over land and honor in the
Middle Ages. 5/20
Foot Soldier: Napoleonic Soldier, The
During the late 18th Century when Napoleon set out to conquer the world,
leading the way were his royal legions
who swept away all opponents and dominated the continent in a manner unseen
since Caesar. In an era of "eat,
drink and be merry" the foot soldiers of the day fought hard and celebrated
harder. 5/21
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Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 13:17:15 -0600
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: OBIT: Charles "Buddy" Rogers
I recently rented _Wings_ (1927), and was so taken with the action
sequences that I wanted to recommend it as a discussion item if the majority of
Gaslight listmembers can also find it to rent. See:
http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/FeaturedVideo/video131.htm
Another notable feature of the film was the sheer conviviality of Clara Bow
and Buddy Rogers. While Bow died in the 1960's, Rogers has passed away this
past week. He had an exceptionally open and likeable screen persona, and it's
not hard to understand his rapport with film audiences. I wonder how he
translates into the more cynical mood of today?
I was a big band fan for a long time, but I never heard one of his records.
Does anyone know how available they might be?
A Reuters copyrighted article starts:
Actor Buddy Rogers Dead at 94
HOLLYWOOD -- Charles "Buddy'' Rogers, the affable
actor in the first best picture Oscar winner "Wings,''
along with many musical comedies, died Wednesday
at age 94.
The entire article is available at the Wild Web entertainment site:
http://www.wildweb.com/av/article/0,1048,1_10_1575,00.html
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Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 16:34:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Holmesiana: Early Films
The May issue of the film history tabloid _Classic Images_ has
just arrived in my mailbox and contains an article entitled "The
Twentieth-Century Fox Sherlock Holmes Films." I've taken the
liberty of reproducing two paragraphs from it below; these
concern very early film versions of Holmes.
The periodical is online at http://www.classicimages.com, but the
May issue is not yet up.
<<Holmes' popularity spread early to the film industry. The first
American Holmes film on record was _Sherlock Holmes Baffled_,
made by Mutoscope and Bioscope Company in 1903. This rather
primitive and plotless production was followed by a slightly less
crude Vitagraph 1905 film, _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
or Held for a Ransom_. Bear in mind that these films were made
while the author, Arthur Conan Doyle, was still writing the
Holmes stories (known today as the "Canon" or "Sacred Writings"
among Baker Street Irregulars). In 1903 Conan Doyle was knighted
as a result of the immense popularity of his fictional creation,
heightened by this then recently published "The Hound of the
Baskervilles" [sic].
Early Holmes films were also made in France, Germany and Italy,
including a notable series from Denmark beginning in 1908 and
directed by F. Holger Madsen. In 1915, the French made heir
version of _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. "Hound" has
probably been made into a movie more than any other story
since the beginning of films. Strangley, it wasn't until later that the
British filmed a 68-minute feature based on "Hound." Eille Norwood
starred as Holmes in the Stoll Film Company's 1922 production of
_The Hound of the Baskervilles_. With Doyle's consent Stoll
made another Holmes feature and dozens of shorts, all starring
Norwood. >>
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
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Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 16:25:54 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - April 28
1818
President James Monroe proclaims naval disarmament on Great
Lakes and Lake
Champlain.
1902
Revolution breaks out in the Dominican Republic.
1910
First night air flight is performed by Claude Grahame-White
in England.
1916
British declare martial law throughout Ireland.
1919
Les Irvin makes the first jump with an Army Air Corp
parachute.
Born on April 28
1758
James Monroe, fifth U.S. president who created the Monroe
Doctrine, warning Europe
not to interfere in the Western Hemisphere.
1878
Lionel Barrymore, American stage, screen and radio actor who
won an Oscar for his
role in A Free Soul.
1912
Odette Hallowes, British secret agent in France, captured and
tortured by the Gestapo.
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Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 16:47:39 -0700 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: Upcoming TV series on Foot Soldiers Stephen wrote: <<For those who get A&E in North America, I see there will be a series on the Arts & Entertainment cable channel about foot soldiers, culminating in the Napoleonic period which is the area of our interest.>> Thanks for the tip! Patricia (who is curious to know if anyone watched _all_ the episodes of Les Vampires?)
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Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 16:50:50 -0700 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: OBIT: Charles "Buddy" Rogers Stephen wrote: << I recently rented _Wings_ (1927), and was so taken with the action sequences that I wanted to recommend it as a discussion item if the majority of Gaslight listmembers can also find it to rent.>> This would be a nice departure from the norm. I vote yes! Patricia
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Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 16:57:29 -0700 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: Holmesiana: Early Films Bob. C., thanks for passing on the early Holmesian film information. Very interesting! Hopefully, someday I will be able to view a few. Patricia
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Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 00:52:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Puccini night
Tonight, on Baltimore's PBS station, I saw part of an episode of the
Great Composers series devoted to Giacomo Puccini and thought
some of my fellow Gaslighters might enjoy hearing about the man.
Puccini was a fascinating character. He was a handsome man who
loved to drink, to boat on the lake near his home, and to go duck hunting
with the locals. On occasion, he would also cheat on his wife Elvira,
who always found out, and who always made tempestuous scenes
(Puccini's emotional heroines certainly had their type in her).
Although he was a Romantic, Pucinni was very much attuned to
the music of his time. His operas were influenced by Debussy,
Stravinsky, and Schoenburg--though what he took from them he
transformed into his own style. He was also very careful about
the verisimilitude of his work. In composing his last opera,
_Turandot_, for instance, he listened for hours to recordings of
Chinese music and incorporated some of the melodies into the piece.
If there was anything of a factual nature in his work, he made
sure he got it right. He even belonged to a kind of bohemian
club, hanging around with a group of local artists, before he came
to write _La Boheme_.
Puccini loved the water, and when he went out on the lake often
took pencils and paper because he found musical inspiration there.
From this, one might think he was one of these souls only comfortable
in the bosom of nature. But Puccini had another side. When his
_Girl of the Golden West_ opened in New York it was a sensation,
and Puccini--a traveller at heart--came to the city. He loved it--"like
a kid in a toy store," the voiceover narrator (Kenneth Branagh) said.
Modern machines especially interested him; he bought cars, motor boats,
even a motorcycle. And his great American fan, Thomas Alva Edison,
gave him a gramophone, on which he listened to the Chinese music
for _Turandot_. (It's interesting to think of the partially deaf Edison
as a fan of opera.) New Yorkers in a poll voted him "the most famous
man in the world."
As I said, Puccini had many scenes with his wife, and from his
shenanagans she had plenty of reason to complain. While he was
working on _Madama Butterfly_, he brought a beautiful Japanese
soprano into the house, installing her there for months. Elvira finally
put her foot down, realizing that something more than music was
going on between them, and Japanese soprano left. But the fact that
Puccini would bring a woman into his own house was asking for real
trouble.
Finally, Puccini got it. There was one tragedy connected with his
life. At one point he hurt his leg and was laid up for awhile. A local
girl was called in to help him out, and very soon, Elvira's jealousy
was stirred. Her revenge was to humiliate the girl constantly. In a
scene that might have come from one of the maestro's operas, the girl
responded to this harsh treatment by taking poison. She immediately
regretted it, but it was too late--she died. Obviously the story caused a
scandal and Elvira was found at fault for bringing about the young
woman's death. She was even sentenced to a jail term but fled to
Scandinavia until Puccini paid off the girl's family. Incidentally, when
the girl was examined after her death, it was discovered that she was
a virgin. For _once_ Elvira was wrong.
In 1924, Puccini died in Brussels at the age of 65 from throat cancer.
He had gone to the city for a series of radium treatments, which did him
little good and caused him a great deal of grief. The Belgians gave him
a state funeral, and not until several years later was his body returned
to Italy. In this final years, Puccini was ill and depressed. World War
1 in particular greatly saddened his spirts. He also died, as opera fans
know, before completing _Turandot_. Incidentally, Elvira never left him,
and his last note (the cancer had taken his voice, forcing him to write
out everything) was to her.
There you have it, the gist of the program--at least the part of it I saw.
Puccini impressed me as the sort of fellow for whom the phrase "wine,
women and song" was made. But especially song. Few composers have
had his melodic gifts.
And thus to bed.
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
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Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 09:11:00 -0400 From: "Roberts, Leonard" <lroberts(at)email.uncc.edu> Subject: Les Vampyres I stayed up every Sunday night and watched them all. I enjoyed the series greatly. But I kept wondering what any soldier lucky enough to be on leave from the war thought of it. . . > Patricia (who is curious to know if anyone watched _all_ the > episodes of Les Vampires?) >
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Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 10:13:21 +0300 From: cbishop(at)interlog.com (Carroll Bishop) Subject: Re: Puccini night Thanks for your Puccini post, Bob. I once went to Torre del Lago (where Puccini's home and the Puccini Festival are to be found -- it's near Viareggio) and when I remember dining looking out over that heavenly lake, I know why Puccini found inspiration on it -- and from it. A heavenly vista, mountains across the lake. The opera was TURANDOT. Puccini house, restaurant, and Festival are all very close to each other. Incidentally, Puccini is buried INSIDE HIS HOUSE (it wasn't open when I went to the Festival, but it's right next to the restaurant). I thought that rather remarkable. I think it was his idea. I got a great little book about Puccini and Torre and mailed it home to myself, but it got lost on the journey. Carroll
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Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 10:13:21 +0300 From: cbishop(at)interlog.com (Carroll Bishop) Subject: Re: Puccini night Thanks for your Puccini post, Bob. I once went to Torre del Lago (where Puccini's home and the Puccini Festival are to be found -- it's near Viareggio) and when I remember dining looking out over that heavenly lake, I know why Puccini found inspiration on it -- and from it. A heavenly vista, mountains across the lake. The opera was TURANDOT. Puccini house, restaurant, and Festival are all very close to each other. Incidentally, Puccini is buried INSIDE HIS HOUSE (it wasn't open when I went to the Festival, but it's right next to the restaurant). I thought that rather remarkable. I think it was his idea. I got a great little book about Puccini and Torre and mailed it home to myself, but it got lost on the journey. Carroll
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Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 13:06:02 -0700 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: Les Vampyres Len, Thanks for the glowing recommendation of Les Vampyres. I have the set on tape, but have not had a chance to view beyond the first segment. I'll make a point to continue! Patricia <<I stayed up every Sunday night and watched them all. I enjoyed the series greatly. But I kept wondering what any soldier lucky enough to be on leave from the war thought of it. . .>>
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Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 14:21:03 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - April 29
1813
Rubber is patented.
1852
The first edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus is published.
[I remember seeing "Roget's Pocket Thesaurus" on
the shelf in one of my grade school classroom's and thought
it was a novel about a boy who had a very
small dinosaur.]
1856
A peace treaty is signed between England and Russia.
1858
Austrian troops invade Piedmont.
1861
The Maryland House of Delegates votes against seceding from
Union.
1862
Forts Philip and Jackson surrender to Admiral Farragut
outside New Orleans.
1913
Gideon Sundback of Hoboken patents all-purpose zipper.
1916
Irish nationalists surrender to the British in Dublin.
1918
America's WWI Ace of Aces, Eddie Rickenbacker, scores his
first victory with the help
of Captain James Norman Hall. He would eventually rack up 26
victories before the
end of the war.
Born on April 29
1818
Alexander II, Czar of Russia
1863
William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher who
helped launch the
Spanish-American War.
1879
Sir Thomas Beecham, founder of the London Philharmonic.
1899
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, renowned jazz composer and
musician.
1901
Hirohito, emperor of Japan during and after World War II.
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Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 18:41:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: "Devils"
The following poem I picked up from a site devoted to classical Russian
literature. It has about it that aura of fear that being lost in a
snowstorm stirs up in one. And of course a nineteenth-century Russian
must have felt it keenly.
This poem reminds me a little of Goethe's "The Erl-king."
"Devils" (1830)
A. Pushkin
Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover;
Flying snow is set alight
By the moon whose form they cover;
Blurred the heavens, blurred the night.
On and on our coach advances,
Little bell goes din-din-din...
Round are vast, unknown expanses;
Terror, terror creeps within.
- -- Faster, coachman! "Can't, sir, sorry:
Horses, sir, they're nearly dead,
I am blinded, all is blurry,
All snowed up: can't see ahead.
Sir I tell you on the level,
We have strayed, we've lost the trail.
What can WE do, when a devil
Has us whirling us round the vale?
"There, look, there he's playing, jolly!
Huffing, puffing in my course;
There, you see, into the gully
Pushing the hysteric horse;
Now in front of me, his figure
Looming like a mileage mark --
Moving closer, growing bigger,
Blazing, melting in the dark."
Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover;
Flying snow is set alight
By the moon whose form they cover;
Blurred the heavens, blurred the night.
We can't whirl so any longer!
Suddenly, the bell has ceased,
Horses halted... -- Hey, what's wrong there?
"Who can tell! -- a stump? a beast?.."
Blizzard's raging, blizzard's crying,
Horses panting, seized by fear;
Far away his figure flying;
Still in haze the eyeballs glare;
Horses pull us back in motion,
Little bell goes din-din-din...
I behold a strange commotion:
Evil spirits gather in --
Sundry ugly devils, whirling
In the moonlight's milky haze:
Swaying, flittering and swirling
Like the leaves in autumn days...
What a crowd! Where are they carried?
What's the doleful song I hear?
Is a goblin being buried
Or a sorceress married there?
Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover;
Flying snow is set alight
By the moon whose form they cover;
Blurred the heavens, blurred the night.
Swarms of devils come to rally,
Hurtle in the boundless height;
Howling fills the whitening valley,
Doleful screeching rends my heart...
Bob C.
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Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
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End of Gaslight Digest V1 #66
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