22.5.09

Music - "Le salon de musique de Marie-Antoinette"



Are you desperately scanning cd shops looking for interesting records, wondering what to buy? Well wonder no more! I bought this wonderul cd last month.

It's called Le salon de musique de Marie-Antoinette. It's a compilation of classical musics played at the time of Maire-Antoinette, in her salons, from her favourite composers. For example, Gluck was her teacher!

Marie-Antoinette did enjoy music. She even composed one, did you know? It's called C'est mon ami. And it comes in the cd! Unfortunately, not recorded by Marie herself... Just kidding. The singer is very good though. Here is the list of the musics:


1 - Petrini, Les folies d'Espagne et douze variations


2 - Gluck, J'ai perdu mon Eurydice

3 / 4 - Krumpholtz, Lamante Abandonée La nuit profonde


5 / 7 - Cardon, Sonate pour harpe opus VII nº 1


8 - Krumpholtz, Sonate en fa majeur opus XV nº 2


9 / 11 - Dauvergne, Trois Chansons

12 / 14 - Saint-Georges, Sonate por harpe et flûte obligée

15 - Marie-Antoinette, C'est mon ami

16 - Mozart, Oiseauz, si tous les ans, KV 307 / 284d

17 / 18 - Dusik, Sonatine pour harpe nº 5

19 - Paisiello, Entracte pour harpe d'Il re Teodoro in Vénézia

20 - Grétry, Malgré la fortune cruelle


21 - Martini, Plaisir d'amour

22 - Mozart, Adagio pour harmonica de verre, KV 356 / 617a



Isn't that a lovely playlist? By the way, the cd was organized by Sandrine Chatron, and had the participation of Isabelle Poulenard (Soprano), Jean-François Lombard (Tenor), Stéphanie Paulet (violin), Amélie Michel (traverso).

If you're wondering, I bought the cd at the Cité de la Musique, at Paris. It's a wonderful museum of music, with lots of historical instruments from the eighteenth century, like harps, harpsichords, and also some other curious instruments, like the glass harmonica...

In the next post I'll talk about the glass harmonica (at least I'll explain what it is!). You can see it is featured in the cd (it's the last track, from Mozart).




Well, I guess that's all! So, good imaginary trip to Marie-Antoinette's salon! (I'm sure you'll picture it perfectly once you hear the musics!)

16.5.09

Marie-Christine, aka The Lucky One - a tale from the Habsbourgs!



What could be one of the most unusual privileges of the 18th century?

A free marriage. Being able to choose your husband / wife.

But Marie-Christine did. And who is this lucky one, you ask? She was the sister of Marie-Antoinette, daughter of the Austrian Empress Marie-Thérèse. She was, then, from the Habsbourg-Lorrène. She was the favourite daughter of her mother, and all that favoritism made her brothers and sisters jealous, including Marie-Antoinette.

She was said to be the prettiest, to be the one with the most talents... She did in fact draw and paint most beautifully. Some of her paintings had scenes of a familiar life in holidays such as St. Nicholas (which corresponds to our Christmas).

The fact that she was her mother's favourite enabled her to plead for several things that her brothers and sisters could not obtain, such as the freedom to marry whom she liked. She wanted to marry Albert de Saxe, but her mother thought that union was not good, thought of Albert as not very important, and at first rejected it.

However, Francis I, Marie-Thérèse husband, the Emperor, died, and Marie-Thérèse entered a great depression. Taking advantage of that state of sadness, Marie-Christine convinced her mother to give her permission for her marriage with Albert.

What happened next? Happily ever after! Well, almost. Marie-Christine and Albert loved each other very much. When she died, he made a monument to her with the inscription: "To the best of wives". One unhappiness of the marriage? They only had a daughter, that died the next day. They had then to adopt Marie-Christine's nephew, Charles-Louis.

Also, Marie-Antoinette never liked her very much; when Marie-Christine visited Marie-Antoinette, she was received in a very cold way.

I think she lead, in the whole, a pretty happy life - for the time!

3.5.09

Let them eat cake is back

I’m sorry I have not written anything this week, but I was, well, pretty busy. And I know it’s not over. Still, even if the next weeks are indeed hell, I will try to write here at list weekly…

Meanwhile, here is something I found in a music from Queen, called precisely… Killer Queen (I’m sure you know it!). Here are the third and fourth verse:

Let them eat cake she says

Just like Marie-Antoinette


Snif. And I liked Queen! :-D

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