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Post by Woland on May 20, 2020 15:26:43 GMT -5
Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer known for his eccentric personal life. As a 13 year old he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he was regarded as talentless and lazy. He played the piano in Paris' Red Light District, met with future Impressionists (later he disliked aspects of Impressionism), invented his own religion (he was the sole member), collaborated on a ballet with Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso, only ate white-coloured food, spent a week in prison for writing an insulting postcard to a critic (he also had a punch-up with another critic). Upon his death from cirrhosis, his apartment contained 100 umbrellas, 2 grand pianos stacked on top of one another, an assortment of random scraps of paper hidden in all his coats, containing unfinished musical sketches (he had Dadaist leanings). His most famous work is Gymnopédie No. 1, a favourite in TV adverts everywhere.
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Post by Woland on May 24, 2020 13:13:15 GMT -5
George Washington Whistler (1800-1849) the son of an Irish Major who served in the Revolutionary War. George started his career as a topographical engineer in the Army, before turning to railway engineering principally around the Great Lakes and New England. With a growing reputation spreading internationally, in 1842 he was invited by Tsar Nicholas I to build Russia's first major railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow, only to die from cholera 2 years before it was completed. One son William became a surgeon in the Confederate Army, another was the famous painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler whose painting "arrangement in grey and black no.1" depicted George's 2nd wife.
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Post by The Duchess on May 26, 2020 19:01:32 GMT -5
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) Jean-Baptiste Lully, arguably the master of French Baroque composition, was born in 1632 as Giovanni Battista Lulli, to a family of millers in Florence, Italy. After being essentially talent-spotted by the Duc de Guise in 1646, the teenaged Lully was brought to France, so that he may teach the Duc's niece, la Grande Mademoiselle, to speak Italian. This was his introduction to the upper echelons of French society, a sphere that he would become deeply involved with for the rest of his life. By 1653, he had already caught the attention of the young Louis XIV, who was, at this point, only 15 years old. By March 1653, Lully was made the official court composer by the boy-king, and when Louis reached majority in 1661, he made Lully the official court musician, and granted him documentation to become a naturalised French citizen. He accordingly Gallicised his name and married a well-to-do Frenchwoman. Throughout his career at the court, Lully worked alongside the playwright Molière (who was also named Jean-Baptise). He composed the score for Molière's piece, Le Bourgeoise Gentilhomme (among others), which you can listen to here -- In the 1670s, however, Lully and Molière had a falling-out. While they both continued to work at court, they did not collaborate with one another. Throughout the decade, Lully produced numerous operas for the Sun King. However, when Queen Marie-Thérèse died in 1683 and Louis had a secret morganatic marriage to the pious Madame de Maintenon, Lully began to fall from royal favour. Whereas the earlier years of Louis' court were just as libertine and wild as the court of his cousin over the Channel, in the 1680s there was a dramatic turn to piety and restraint. The King became disgusted at Lully's bisexuality and rakish ways, and he began to fade into the background. However, he still made himself known at court. In 1687, Lully was conducting a Te Deum to celebrate the King's recovery from a harrowing surgery. Before conductors had wands, they had long staves that they would use to beat out time to their musicians. These staves had sharp, pointed ends, so that they wouldn't dull over time, as they got a lot of of forceful use. Perhaps Lully was getting impatient, or perhaps he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing, but when he went to strike the floor with his staff, he missed, and brought it down -- very forcefully -- onto his foot, puncturing it all the way through. When doctors told him that they absolutely needed to amputate lest gangrene set in, Lully adamantly refused, stating that he was a dancer, and what good was a dancer with only one foot? The doctors were right, and gangrene set in. It eventually travelled throughout his body, and ultimately reached his brain. He died of blood poisoning, brought about by gangrene, at the age of 55, two months after his unfortunate incident with the staff. |
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Post by The Duchess on May 27, 2020 15:57:31 GMT -5
As today is the 368th anniversary of her birth, I figure there is no better time than to write a post about Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz, known to her family, and posterity, as Liselotte. Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz, Duchesse d'Orléans (1652-1722) Born to Karl Ludwig, Elector Palatine and Charlotte of Hesse-Kessel on 27 May 1652, this German princess would, just 19 years later, become one of the most important women in France. Her parents had a very unhappy marriage, as Charlotte was an exceedingly vindictive, violent, and spiteful woman. In 1657, Charlotte found herself immensely jealous of the relationship between her husband and his sister, Sophia, and so angrily sent Liselotte and her siblings off to live with their aunt in the United Provinces. Liselotte would very fondly remember her time with Sophia, and as the Duchesse d'Orléans, would routinely write her letters of goings-on at court. The young Liselotte did not stay with her aunt indefinitely, however; in 1663, she was recalled to her birthplace of Heidelberg, to live with her father, her stepmother (the marriage between she and Liselotte's father was morganatic and bigamous) and her brood of half-siblings. Throughout the 1660s, Liselotte did have suitors, but none of them were considered advantageous enough for her family. She had expressed, at one point, the desire to marry the Calvinist prince, William of Orange, but it was a match that her father did not seriously pursue. The perfect opportunity for a match, however, came in 1671. Philippe, Duc d'Orléans -- brother to Louis XIV -- had been widowed the previous year. Marrying into the French royal family would certainly be advantageous, although the Elector wasn't able to provide Liselotte with a substantial dowry. Nevertheless, the marriage was arranged, with help from Anna of Gonzaga (sister-in-law to the Elector), who had considerable sway in the French court. There were some terms to her marriage with the Duc. Liselotte was obliged to relinquish all her feudal and sovereign rights in Germany, and to convert to Catholicism. She later would develop an abiding disdain for Catholicism, finding it too complicated and drawn-out. Nevertheless, she did what she had to, and was married to Philippe, by proxy, in Metz.
Liselotte had very little regard for the fashion and dignity that so defined the French court. She refused to wear the sensual, sleepy déshabille that was so popular with other ladies at court. Instead, she would wear formal, cumbersome gowns or stride about in very convenient hunting costumes. It was either one extreme or the other; she did not want to follow the styles that were so important to the court's culture. Other women at court found themselves appalled at Liselotte's behaviour. La Grande Mademoiselle bemoaned that Liselotte suffered greatly from a "lack of French air," remaining all too rustic and German. When women at Louis XIV's court would attend hunts with the gentlemen, they wore a mask, so to protect their skin from the sun. Not Liselotte. When she was outside and hunting -- which she was, more often than not -- she refused to wear a mask to protect her skin from the sun. As a result, she grew rather dark and ruddy, and court gossips said that she aged prematurely due to so much sun exposure. Her weather-beaten face did not bother her one bit, however. Liselotte owned her supposed ugliness, saying that she quite resembled a "badger-cat-monkey." Already rather solidly built as a young woman, as she aged, she packed on weight, to which she remarked that "[she] would be good enough to eat if [she] were roasted like a sucking-pig." She greatly enjoyed going for walks, and when she did, she walked very quickly, oftentimes leaving the other courtiers twenty paces behind her, huffing and panting.
 Her marriage to the very openly homosexual and flamboyant Philippe got off to a rocky start. However, after the Duc got over his quibbles with Liselotte's plain face, they grew to deeply admire and respect one another. When Liselotte came down with a vicious and very dangerous fever in 1675, it seemed that it was going to end up killing her. The philandering Duc was alarmed and greatly saddened at the thought that he could lose yet another wife, and so he tended to Liselotte himself, alongside the numerous royal doctors. The following is from Nancy Nichols Barker's biography on Philippe, Brother to the Sun King:
(One can't help but wonder if Philippe's destruction of the so-called medicine is what saved Liselotte's life.)
She bore Philippe three children. Unfortunately, in 1676, their firstborn son died, aged two, and the heavily pregnant Liselotte became despondant. Following the birth of their third child in 1676, they both agreed to stop conjugal relations. Philippe had his male lovers, and Liselotte had many, many letters to write. On par with the famous Madame de Sévigné, Liselotte produced a wealth of letters during the 50 years that she lived in France. She doesn't spend too much time on Louis' constant war-mongering, but instead, records what was going on at court, what was the latest outrage, who was doing what. They offer us a priceless glance into the halls of nobility during le Grand Siècle. From Liselotte's reflections on Louis' brood of illegitimate children, to the futures of her own, she wrote everything down, and remained in constant correspondance with those who were dearest to her, especially back home in Germany.
 Despite her frank, straightforward, and oftentimes vulgar personality, Liselotte was able to ingratiate herself to her brother-in-law, Louis XIV. She and Louis had become fast and platonic friends. Her candor, honour, and virtue appealed her greatly to the king, even if her refusal to be dainty and delicate appalled other courtiers. As one contemporary said of her, she was "a lady of the Old Regime, German to the last drop of her blood, with the figure of a Swiss guard." She would have her beloved aunt send her good German beer, sauerkraut, and bratwurst, all foods that she could not obtain in her new home of France. Even though she lived the vast majority of her long life in the extremely refined, very structured French court, she never cared much for its stuffy customs. Liselotte liked simple things, and she liked to be herself, however unconventional that may have been.
Philippe died of a stroke in 1701, aged 60. Seventeen years after his death, Liselotte was still writing tenderly about her difficult husband, reflecting that she "stayed with him from ten o'clock in the evening until five in the morning, when he lost all consciousness." Louis XIV's wife, Madame de Maintenon, did not like Liselotte at all. The feeling was mutual. Liselotte was very fearful that Maintenon would vindictively throw her into a convent to live the rest of her life in quiet isolation, a fate which would be worse than death for the worldly Liselotte. However, after humiliating herself in front of Maintenon, Liselotte was permitted to stay at court. Following the death of Louis XIV, her son acted as regent for Louis' five-year-old grandson, Louis XV. A few years before her death at the age of 70 in 1722, Liselotte thought back on the unruly, decadent, and oftentimes debauched court of the Sun King. She leaves us with these words that ring true:
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Post by Woland on May 29, 2020 17:36:52 GMT -5
Alexandra Smirnova-Rosset (1809-1882) salon hostess in St. Petersburg, personal assistant to Empress Alexandra Feodorvna (Nicholas I's wife). She walked in vaunted literary circles, becoming friends with Pushkin, Gogol and Lermontov among others. She also wrote her memoirs on life in 19th century St. Petersburg.
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Post by Woland on May 29, 2020 19:12:02 GMT -5
Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) was born in Kiev to Russian parents. His father was a state councillor who translated religious texts, his mother was a former teacher, both his grandfathers were Orthodox clergymen. Drawn to the theatre and literature as a child, he studied medicine at Kiev University, married his first wife in 1913. He was wounded in the 1st World War as a medical doctor for the Red Cross, he took morphine to cope with the pain, developing an addiction he finally kicked in 1918. Once graduated, he served as a country doctor in Smolensk, his experiences detailed in his story "A country doctor's notebook". He opened a private practice in Kiev during the Civil War, drafted into the Ukrainian People's Army as a doctor, contracted typhus in the Caucasus. His relatives had already left for Paris, Bulgakov was refused permission to join them on account of his illness, he never saw his family again.
After the war he dropped medicine for literature, his early short stories and plays mixed science fiction with absurdist elements. One of his plays was banned by Stalin, who was a big fan of Bulgakov's plays. in 1924 he divorced his first wife and married his second wife a year later. During the late 20s the critics heaped scorn on his plays while others were banned, the government later stopped all his work being published. After a phone-call with Stalin, Bulgakov was allowed to work as a stage director's assistant in Moscow, to stop him leaving the Soviet Union. In 1928 he started work on a novel, only to burn the draft manuscript in 1930 as he saw no future for himself as a writer under such circumstances.
In 1932 he married his third wife, continuing to work on essays, stories and plays; the ones which made it past the censors were devastated by the critics. During this time he began to rewrite the manuscript he burned from memory, by 1938 he had most of the chapters done with editing left, his health deteriorated, he fretted over the fate of his final novel. In 1939 he organised a reading of the manuscript with his closest friends, they feared it was too controversial to be published. In 1940 Mikhail Bulgakov died from a kidney disorder, the same one which took his father's life. In 1966 his unfinished novel "The Master and Margarita" was published by his widow in a censored version. A completely uncut version based on previous manuscripts was published in 1989 just before the Soviet Union ended.
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Post by Woland on May 31, 2020 13:51:14 GMT -5
Abdulmecid I (1823-1861) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1839 until his death. Courtesy of his European education he spoke fluent French, was fond of classical music and literature. At the start of his reign he had to contend with Muhammad Ali Pasha's rebellion, reflective of his inability to curb the nationalist movements within the Empire despite enacting several reforms (his father Mahmud II got the tanzimat reforms rolling). He also forged alliances with the UK and France, very helpful during the Crimean War. He was also responsible for accepting loans from Western banks, hoping to stave off the Ottoman's economic decline; the Ottoman Empire would default on those loans after his death in 1861 from tuberculosis. He married 19 times and had 44 children, 4 of his sons would become Sultan.
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Post by Woland on Jun 1, 2020 9:38:41 GMT -5
Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614) a Hungarian noblewoman infamous for murdering countless young girls, the tale of her bathing in the blood of virgins to retain her youth is probably fiction. Born to the noble Bathory family (her uncle Stephen was King of Poland), she suffered epileptic seizures as a child; doctors treated her illness by rubbing blood on her lips as a cure. At 15 she married the 19 year old Count Ferenc Nadasdy for her family's political ties, as a wedding gift she received the Castle of Csejte (modern-day Slovakia). She had 5 children, 3 of whom survived childhood, although allegedly she had an illegitimate child before she got married.
While the Count was busy fighting the Ottomans, Elizabeth had to manage her husband's estates and his business affairs, looking after the local Hungarians and Slovaks. In 1601 her husband fell ill with an unknown disease, lost use of his legs before finally dying in 1604; just before he died he entrusted his heirs and widow to magnate Gyorgy Thurzo. Around 1602 stories swirled about Elizabeth's cruel treatment of her servants and peasant girls sent to learn courtly etiquette at Elizabeth's gynaceum; these included beatings, mutilation, burning, freezing, starving and covering girls with honey and live ants. In 1610 Gyorgy Thurzo was tasked with investigating her crimes, more than 300 witnesses gave testimony to Elizabeth torturing and murdering young girls, one person put the figure as high as 650. Bathory was arrested and sentenced to castle-arrest until her death 4 years later. Because of her noble ties having her executed wasn't a viable option, after inheriting her husband's wealth and lands the accusations against her may have been politically motivated by rivals.
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Post by Woland on Jun 2, 2020 13:28:00 GMT -5
Thomas Witlam Atkinson (1799-1861) English architect worked in Barnsley, London and Manchester, he wrote books on architecture while his drawings and sketches were exhibited. Having picked up the travelling bug through Greece, India, Persia, Egypt and Ethiopia, he settled in St. Petersburg and decided to travel across Siberia and Central Asia. Between 1847-1853 he made multiple trips across the vast wilderness. After his first trip he married an english governess Lucy Sherrard Finley who travelled with him, their son Alatau Tchimboulac was born in what is now modern-day Kazakhstan during these travels. They were among the first Europeans to sketch and describe the landscape; it's estimated he made 500 watercolour drawings and travelled over 39,000 miles across Eurasia in those 7 years. The two books he published on his adventures earned him instant acclaim, an audience with Queen Victoria, membership of Geographical and Geological societies. He was planning to write a book on the Decembrist exiles in Siberia (his wife Lucy was on good terms with the noble Russian families) but he died before he even got started on it. This is the only known photograph of him, taken near his death in his early 60s.
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Post by Woland on Jun 4, 2020 14:32:24 GMT -5
Imam Shamil (1797-1871) the 3rd Imam of the Caucasian Imamate, legendary leader of resistance to Russian encroachment into the Caucasus region. Shamil grew up during a time of Russian expansion into Persian and Ottoman territory, the Caucasus region sitting between the 3 great powers, it was only a matter of time before Russia tried to subjugate the region. In 1832 Shamil was bayonetted through the chest in battle, miraculously escaped and went into hiding. Two years later he became Imam. Over the next 25 years Shamil would be a thorn in the side of Imperial Russia, convincing the disparate Chechen and Dagestani clans to unite and fight against the Russian army, utilise scorched earth and guerrilla tactics. After the Crimean War the Russians could divert more troops and attention onto the Caucasus, in 1859 Imam finally surrendered. He spent his last years in exile first in Kaluga (near Moscow) then Kiev. He died in Medina in 1871.
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