#but I draw the line at him marrying AN ITALIAN and a Catholic

[thatscarletflycatcher]

This is the third novel centered on a Squire that I pick that has a main plot line about inheritance (I did dnf The Squire's Daughter before I could tell if that was going to be the case as well), and I'm thinking that if it wasn't that Wives and Daughters came over a decade before these, I would think Gaskell was lampshading the inheritance trope in it.

[ikevamp-shrine]

Thank you @yanderepuck​ for giving me the courage to post this😊❤

Please ignore the crappy drawing of her, but that's kinda what she appears like in my mind. I will be writing with her character in future posts.

Name: Elizabeth Tudor

Vampire Type: Lesser Vampire

Height: 5’4

Birthday: September 7th

Occupation: Former Queen of England

Appearance: 

Long, curly (and extremely thick) strawberry blonde hair, fair skin, red lips, and intense icy blue eyes. Her stance is strong, regale, and respectable. Her skin is littered with smallpox scars (only a few, very unnoticeable ones residing on her face, neck, and hands). Her expression is usually blank and unreadable. Her movements are controlled and polite. Her brows thick and stomach soft. Legs long and fingers thin and graceful. There are patches of freckles on her shoulders that mix with her scars causing a unique blend of color. Thick thighs and pale, maintained feet. Smaller breasts.

Childhood:

When her brother, Edward, was born from her father and his new wife, Catherine, her line to the throne was pushed back even further (she was declared third in line). Thankfully she was not neglected instead her father, known for his cruelty, treated all his children with affection and love. She became very close with her half brother and was said to be inseparable. She was also very close with and benefited from the love her step mother, Catherine, showed her.

When her brother, Edward, was born from her father and his new wife, Catherine, her line to the throne was pushed back even further (she was declared third in line). Thankfully she was not neglected instead her father, known for his cruelty, treated all his children with affection and love. She became very close with her half brother and was said to be inseparable. She was also very close with and benefited from the love her step mother, Catherine, showed her.

She was taught a rigorous education normally only given to male heirs and was applauded for her perseverance and memory. She became fluent in French and Italian which profited when conducting diplomacy years later. Her involvement with the Reformation shaped the course of the nation, but she held no interest in religion.

With her father’s death, her step mother married the lord high admiral, Thomas, which resulted in his decapitation due to his intent to rape and impregnate Elizabeth forcing her to marry him in order for him to rule the kingdom. He was said to be overly flirtatious and acting inappropriately familiar with the young girl when around her (which one of the reasons she doesn’t like Arthur, his flirtatious nature reminds her of her past).

She was raised around sexism and taught that women were likely to act on impulsion and passion making them unfit to rule. Men were taught the arts of war and told they are the ones who dominate women while women were urged to keep their head down, mouth shut, and attend their needlework. She had remained unmarried, her want to remain single overshadowing any thoughts of seeking out relations with a man. She was rumored to have burst out in tears when Queen Mary, her older sister, had proposed to marry Elizabeth to a duke. This became a national concern when Elizabeth became queen and refused to take a husband, going against the belief that a woman’s place was a wife. It also raised worries that she would die childless, ending her bloodline, and giving Elizabeth’s title to Mary, Queen of Scots, a catholic posing a threat to the Protestants of England.

Dislikes: 

her privacy being intruded on, loud talking, 3am, those who play weak and stupid or whine to get what they want, people who are lazy but still expect to reach their goals, women who chase men and believe they need a man to be successful in life, messy rooms, fake personalities and cheaters (in both games and relationships)

Likes: 

walks in the garden at midnight, the sound of the birds singing their life’s song as the warmth of the day’s first rays of sun trace her skin, reading, learning new things, burning candles, smiling faces, happy children, the smell of freshly baked bread, warm blankets, animals, the laughter of children, hunting, dancing, and horseback (bareback more often than naught)

Personality: 

She appears cold at first because of her bluntness and blank (almost annoyed) expression. Unreasonably serious with a strong sense of duty, responsibility, and morals. She is a firm believer in working harder than everyone else to achieve greatness. A highly intelligent woman that believe women are equal to their male counterpart. Extremely stubborn in a non-disrespectful way. She is adaptable, disciplined, dignified, and confident with a wit and tongue as sharp as, if not sharper, than any of the residents. She is blunt, doesn’t sugarcoat the truth, and is always honest. Focused, logical, and exceedingly loyal to those she decides to put her trust in. She is protective and straightforward but rather quiet. She tends to keep to herself. She is paranoid and distrustful when meeting new people but will not show it. She tries to work on it, but she can be very vengeful when it comes to people betraying her or hurting those she loves.

Preferred company: 

Theo, Leonardo, Isaac, Jean, Vincent

Relationships (platonic, romantic, etc.):  

Jean- platonic with a chance of something more

Has a deep understanding with Jean. They don’t really talk about each other to each other; their conversations mainly consist of stiff, dead toned jokes that you wouldn’t be able to tell they were jokes until specified. She is one of the few people that has actually seen a sober Jean smile. He is extremely protective of her and will stand behind her just so he has the peace of mind that her back is guarded. If she asked, he would show her what is under his eye patch, no matter what lingering emotions he has on the ‘ugliness under the fabric’. His blade is always ready, his mind perfectly clear, when it comes to the safety and well being of the woman he had found himself connecting to in ways no one had before. Often, they go horse back riding together, Napoleon will sometimes accompany but its only when her and the former solider are alone does she throw her head back, her laughs unrestrained while the wind rips through her hair and clothing. Jean will race her and chuckle at how free she looks, but of course she doesn’t hear. Spares with and helps better the woman’s defenses and attacks along with Napoleon  

Mozart- platonic

Sometimes Mozart look for her and demand Elizabeth to listen to his new piece until she raises an eyebrow, daring him not to correct his wording. He’ll swallow thickly and glance off to the side, a scoff on his lips as he apologizes. She’ll nod and follow him to music room. Mozart will stare at her impatiently until she gives her honest (and extremely blunt) opinion. He values her words and while alone the pianist will replay the slight quirk of her lips as she praised his efforts. He has a small obsession with her and it drives him insane

Vincent- brotherly platonic and Theo- they horny for each other but don’t want to cross that line of friendship so they dance around their feelings while making out every once in a while

Has a soft spot for Theo and Vincent because their relationship makes her think of her brother. She only sees Vincent as a brother and will only allow him to do her makeup when he asks to, but with Theo its completely different. She sees Theo as a partner, a man she shares many values and goals with. She respects him and their shared opinions on responsibility and productivity. They understand each other intuitively and can conversate with just fleeting touches and quick glances of their eyes. There is a thick sexual tension that builds between them overtime resulting in hurried, frantic, sloppy kisses in hallways where the couple battle for dominance by pushing each other against walls and gripping roughly at the other’s clothing

Napoleon- just housemates (not friends or lovers)

She can and usually feels uncomfortable when around Napoleon. She has chalked it down to the fact they are both the leader ‘alpha’ types that ruled enemy lands. Truly, they just don’t have much in common and find it hard to build a meaningful relationship. Spares with and helps better the woman’s defenses and attacks along with Jean

Arthur- just housemates

Can sometimes get too snippy with Arthur. While she does find enjoyment in his jokes at times, she despises the sexual aspects of the author. Finds his skirt chasing habits understandable but disgusting. Admires his intelligence but can’t stand how he is able to tell you where have been just by the dust on your hand (she likes her privacy). Will play chess and pool with him even though she knows she will lose just because she enjoys playing. Will sometimes have deep conversations with Arthur in front of the fire place, both nursing a glass of alcohol, their eyes never leaving the fire as to not break the imaginary protective barrier around the two that eye contact will shatter. Smirks at his quirks and jokes sometimes and it literally makes Arthur’s heart leap because ‘damn a queen just found amusement in my joke.’ He internally freaked out the first time he met her mainly because the mansion now had two previous rulers instead of one and the newest one scared the living daylights out of him.

Comte- there is nothing between them

Doesn’t trust Comte as far as she can throw him. She can see the darkness in his heart and his past behind his eyes. She can see the death he’s caused- the pain, and while she knows that she, herself, has caused the death of many, she still has a deeply rooted gut feeling telling her to stay away from the pureblood. He wants her trust but soon realizes her opinion on him is similar to Jean’s. She will not take any gifts other than what is necessary from him (ex. Dresses for parties)

Dazai- just housemates

Dazai tries avoiding her. He feels suffocated when around and the victim of her stare. He feels as if her eyes and actions pick him apart and leave his in his barest, rawest form, and it scares him to no end. She does find his window habit hilarious though and will give him a hand up when he falls

Shakespeare- they don’t get involved with each other

She can tell Shakespeare’s mind is being manipulated, by what is the question she has yet to reveal though. She can tell he is dangerous. One who’s actions are watched and controlled by another always are. His unpredictable nature and mysterious, secret filled smile is what causes her to feel uneasy around him. She doesn’t ignore him, but she doesn’t want to be involved with the playwright and his actions so she tends to just quietly leave the room when he enters. He is polite to her and compliments her when they do talk but his fancy wording sometimes annoys Elizabeth, especially when she just wants to get away from him. She believes he is a good man at heart lead astray by forces more powerful than him, but still finds his company rather unnecessary. 

Sebastian- they respect one another, are not friends but have decent conversations

Has an interesting relationship with Sebastian. She wouldn’t call him a friend, she has very few of those so it is understandable, but she does respect him for his work ethic just as he respects her for her accomplishments and standing in history. She let him interview him once and nearly laughed out loud from how excited he got. They always have a cup of coffee or tea in the morning together, Elizabeth not quite woken up yet so they sip in comforting silence. Sebastian usually asks how she slept and she responds by telling him about her dreams if she had one. She’ll end up helping him cook breakfast.

Leonardo- friends with a chance of something more

Elizabeth appreciates Leonardo’s straightforwardness and honesty, so they have a decent trusting relationship, but his matureness makes her feel like a little girl again and it bothers her. Her thoughts tend to be: she was a queen; she ruled a country with a strength that rivaled even the greatest men, she should not look at this chain-smoking man with admiration in her eyes like a giddy school girl, flustered over a boy telling her she is cute, while around the Italian. The start of their relationship was rocky, due to Elizabeth’s personal feelings on the man- Leonardo could have cared less, but soon enough they started to appreciate each other’s qualities. Leonardo is mainly the only one she allows to touch her hair. They often speak Italian together on the balcony as Leonardo smoke a cigarillo and Elizabeth reads.

Isaac- they have the chance of being more than friends but their relationship is mainly just comforting one another through their presence and (when needed) touch- they also trust each other whole heartedly

Adores Isaac and will purposely sought him out just so she can listen to his calming ramblings while he tinkers away, a book in her hand and two cooling cups of coffee on the surface closest to the pair. He gets so red around her; at times he turns snow white from the intensity in her gaze and how her eyes never stray from her company. They share an endless loyalty to each other. Neither knows when the bond form, it just happened on its own (and very suddenly). Isaac has lost control and bit her but instead of reacting in anger she accepted it and pulled him closer, shuddering with each frenzied suck against her neck, her nails gently scratching the scalp of a whimpering Isaac. When Isaac finally came to his senses, he tried pulling away, his voice thick with unshed tears as his panicked words rang through the air until Elizabeth grabbed him and held him close, shushing Isaac as he trembled with regret and guilt in her arms. They had held each other for hours until they feel asleep in each other embraces. Isaac will link pinkies with Elizabeth when he is being picked on without realizing it for support and something to ground him so his thoughts don’t run too wild. Elizabeth will just glare and clear her throat and Arthur will shut his mouth while looking at the former queen as if he was a kicked puppy. She has a habit of fixing his clothing or hair after he nervously pulls, picks, or twists at it- Isaac doesn’t even notice it after a while. His face does burn intensely though when she places a hand on his overactive, bouncing knee when he is anxious.

Fun facts:

Due to her makeup being poisoned by her undetermined enemy, which resulted in her death, she refuses to wear any cosmetics other than what Vincent personally makes (learned how to from Leonardo) and puts on her skin himself when going to events if he asks to.

She tends to wear clothing that covers all skin other than her neck and face when leaving the mansion due to children being scared by her smallpox scars.

She usually never strays from wine unless her emotions become a little too overwhelming for her to just push the feelings down, only then will she drink something stronger.

Elizabeth is a quiet, peaceful drunk that tends to curl up on the couch, her shoes discarded on the floor, her hair loose and flowing over the decorative pillow she’ll grab and hug tightly to her chest.

She died a virgin and has remained one ever since her resurrection.

The former queen is hesitant to allow others to touch her hair from her past concerning the loss of said strands (a result of surviving smallpox), but if she trusts someone enough and knows they’ll be gentle she’ll let them style the curls, even if she is tense the entire time.

Prefers to braid her hair herself and wrap in into a bun due to the protective nature of the style.

Loves sleeping in but is often unable to due to insomnia.

She is highly particular when it comes to cleaning and organization. She has told Sebastian not to worry about cleaning her things or doing her laundry, instead she does it herself with up most focus and determination.

When she does open up or is around the boys long enough, they realize her heart is truly kind and nurturing instead of what she appears when first met (a cold-hearted woman with a resolve like steel). This is especially apparent when around animals.

She is very sarcastic and doesn’t mean any harm but usually her joking words sound hateful due to her dead tone and blank face.

Her voice is deeper and soothing, most times holding no emotion which creeps Dazai and Arthur out

Lives by “no pain no gain”

Doesn’t waste her breath on hate- if she doesn’t like someone or feels as if she can’t trust them then they just don’t exist to her. She won’t hesitate to cut someone off without warning.

Has a bad habit of bottling her emotions which causes her to explode when pushed over the edge resulting in one of the very rare moments where her anger creates an electric static in the room that demands the attention of anyone present. She doesn’t shout or scream but her words are sharper than a blade, her eyes burn with a fiery rage while she takes control of the room, overwhelming anyone (even Napoleon) and making them feel as if they are an ant beneath her boot.

Her eyes freak many people out- they feel as if the ice like orbs are staring straight into their soul, picking apart their insides, leaving nothing but shredded organs and an empty husk of what used to be a strong mind.

Can always tell when someone is lying. It’s a gut feeling, and her gut is always right.

She still wears her coronation ring on her wedding finger as a sign of her symbolic marriage to her people and country

[writingandmore]

Hi!!! May I get a HP, Star Wars, Voltron, and Disney matchup?

𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗦 + 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘

19, Libra, Neutral Good, enneagram is 4w5, muggleborn Ravenclaw (with Gryffindor tendencies), and my patronus spirit is Hummingbird. Biromantic Pansexual Genderfluid woman using pronouns of She/Her or He/Him. Cherubic-like face, with short height (5'1") plus sized Southeast Asian woman with Spanish descent that has chic messy/wavy brunette medium hair that reaches to my shoulder, oriental skin, slightly upturned eyes, small lashes, chocolate brown irises, cute flat nose, heart shaped face, full cheeks, cupid's bow lips, a small beauty mark on the forehead, and naturally straight teeth with tiny gap in front (just imagine that it's a mixture of Marinette from 𝗠𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝗱𝘆𝗯𝘂𝗴, Musa from 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘅 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯, and Alexandra Trese from 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲---cause' my friend told me that I kinda look like them). My sense of fashion is in between emo and boyish plus korean glam, I sometimes let my hair down or styled like Lara Croft reboot.

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬

Distant, quiet, and timid at first making people thought I'm a demure, modest, and self-effacing that looks "immaculate" or "one of a kind" (due to my protective mom, a reason why I've never been in a relationship) but the truth is, dunno how to initiate a conversation, but a total opposite if I open up---friendly, ambivert, witty, laughing loudly on a daily basis---like my happiness is too shallow, super talkative, eats a lot (yeah I can finish a huge slice of cake or a meal in one sitting), awkward, daydreamer (I got embarrassed from knocking at the door even I'm inside the classroom 😂), EXTREMELY CLUMSY (mostly gets bruises from hitting, bumping my head somewhere, walking into something on my way, and being careless to my belongings), secretly likes affection, easily overwhelmed, prone to melt over wholesomeness, flusters on compliments, lightly blushes on cheesy banters, eager to share what I know (especially about Catholic Church---my past teacher joked that I'll become a saint because of it 🤣), oftenly speaks full of sarcasm with a lowkey crackhead energy citing meme references, and talented girl who can be your no.1 supporter and unashamed to be true to myself but can be awkward to strangers. In terms of leadership, I only educate and guide than being a prefect (I might take the role seriously), will lift my group when there's lacking/incompleteness. About doing projects in school, I become too extra and prepared for efforts, but I'll forget the process in the end.

The extent, I'm expressive, warm-hearted, willig to help, kind, intelligent, supportive, nice, creative, enthusiastic, laid-back, determined, tough, competitive, and feisty outside, but a real softie that can be childish and dramatic that cries so easily (but will enlightened real quick by smallest things that makes me smile) filled with doubts, frustrations, and insecurities with fear of failure that pushes off the limits to to please everyone because they might get dissappointed from expectations---I simply can't stop proving myself too much because I'm a survivor of bullying. But I still managed to be stronger than ever after I stumbled, even it's a slow burn process. I can be blunt, intimidating, harsh, and a douchebag if I receive ends or I got interrupted while doing something. Immature, headstrong, perfectionist, demanding, hesitant, jumpy, forgetful, overthinker, quick-tempered, sensitive, and anxious (no joke, my nervousness makes me think worse scenario will arrive). Though can be procrastinator and arrogant, I raised as a religious 𝖺𝗇𝖽 diplomatic youth, willing to fight what I believe (including my dreams and what's important to me) and what is right. In addition, I have a habit of staying up late and doing sign of the cross to ease nervousness.

Rowdy and feeling-brokenhearted and bitter friend in the group who fangirl a lot, swears like sailor, will call out on people that we loathe, will make fun of your stupidity (in a good way) before helping, and bring gossips, but a hopeless romantic and cheeky (makes banter with sarcasms or pick up lines as an endearment, but gets annoyed if I received sappy or offensive one), Still generous and concerned person in a subtle and different way.

𝗛𝗢𝗕𝗕𝗜𝗘𝗦

My hobbies are singing, drawing, roleplaying, listening to music, chatting/browsing on social media, conceptualizing, writing, and reading some stuffs. I'll include making corniest jokes/puns, sleeping, and dancing when nobody's around or walking like a model if I feel so bold (even I'm terrible at both xD). I also used to learn Italian language a bit.

𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦

Loves kittens, milk tea, singing at the karaoke, cartoons, iced coffee, memes, cute things, watching YouTube videos (mostly pageants, ASMR, edit audios, and mukbangs), also enjoys playing games on my sister's PSP. Sucker for arts, choir, poetry, night sky, makeup, fun/deep/dumb conversations, Christianity, documentaries (about saints, real crime stories, and inspirational people), reading interesting stuffs, talking about social issues, and creative writing, chilling both indoors and outdoors. Beside that, my music taste are like late 90s-2000s songs (mostly rock, pop, and country) sometimes Catholic songs, kpop and ppop, chocoholic, and a sweetooth as well.

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦

Things that I hate are stereotyping, HUGE creepy crawlies (spiders, toads, snakes, and cockroaches), firecracker sounds, thunder and lightning, being left out, loneliness, heart break, blackout, and judgemental people. If I found out that someone hates or backstabbing or being rude to me, I won't hesitate to throw offensive criticisms, leaving them with a "I don't give a f" attitude. One random fact about me is, I 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 vent out EVERYTHING I despise in my entire existence---from bad soap operas to toxicity, worse scenarios in real life, and how terrible is my love life from unrequited feelings that I got, because it's a big deal for me, and I consider forcing me to do what I'm not into and manipulating me as my major pet peeves.

𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦

In terms of triggers...I only have two which are ta𝖨king about divorce/annullment/separation because I came from a generational broken family (it sucks that some people I knew assumed that the reason why I'm overly unaware that someone is interested in me in secret, is I have "high standards" looking for a partner, but the truth is I'm strict and I have a personal preferences...I know my worth and I don't want settle for less!) and religion/beliefs discrimination, cause' there are reasonings that doesn't makes sense because some, sounds too hypocritical, like as if you're a morally good person.

𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 + 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗨𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦

My love languages are quality time and gift giving, but I actually swoon over physical touch (especially cuddles and cute kisses) and words of affirmation when it comes to having a partner, though I get attracted so easily, matured but can be a goofy person who's nice, friendly, kind-hearted, loving, faithful, and excels in academics is my cup of tea. Whenever I have a real life crush (which is rare), I act the same but deep inside, my heart is about to explode and will eventually share to my trustful friends how I highly admire that person, however if they spilled the beans out, I'll obviously deny it and will cry if they like someone else, it will take some time for me to move on, now I don't care for them anymore.

Best Friends to Lovers is my ideal trope because I find it very cute since you already knew each other before dating (which happened to my 2nd cousin, she married her best friend!)---perfect balance for romance, laughters, comfort, and tears when it comes to sharing your vibes, being there through thick and thin, safe with embraces, and helping each other to grow.

𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗔𝗦

My best assets are smile, eyes, personality, singing voice, artistic skills, writings, intelligence, oratorical skills and I have potential in hosting...so I can consider myself as a singer, artist, orator, speaker, and a top student who's a former active campus ministry member with three roles (choir leader, psalm singer, and reader).

May sounds different but I'm passionate for helping people through my talents and sharing my story to inspire everyone. I may look selfish, but I have a different way on how I show that I actually care also I have a biased sentimental value

Currently a college freshman, learning how to cook. I have so many interests, to the point I don't know what I'm into because of my dreams to become a popular Filipino YouTuber, a novelist, and being part of a successful chorale competing internationally...I also consider joining pageants at school too once the pandemic ends, but maybe.

HP: Remus!

- Remus is also quiet and a bit reserved when he's not in a familiar situation, so your own first impression on him would be a good one, as you'd seem similar to his own personality. He's sweet and is able to start up a conversation if he notices the other person is having a hard time doing so, so hopefully he'd be able to bring out your more extroverted and friendly self after a while so he can be around the more open you. He wouldn't mind you being a bit awkward-he's very much the same way-honestly, the comradery that would come from that would be more positive than anything else. He loves sharing knowledge and learning about new things, so your eagerness to talk about what you know would work really well also! He does a lot better when he knows someone has his back too, so your extra supportive nature would endear him to you as well.

SW: Han!

- Your nicer and more helpful personality would balance out Han's more standoffish vibes when first meeting. You might get on his nerves a bit first, but you'd quickly grown on him and, in turn, make him a bit of a better person. Your ability to be blunt and a bit harsh would serve you well if you ever needed to stand your ground on an issue that two of you have, as he can be quite stubborn.

VLD: Lance!

- Lance can be a bit immature from time to time as well, especially when it comes to trying to be funny or cheering up those around him-he's also headstrong and typically firm in what he wants to do, so your own determined personality would attract him to you a lot as well. He often puts off things he needs to do if they make him anxious too, but if you both recognize that you share that problem, helping each other might be a good solution!

Disney: Flynn!

- Flynn is quite a sarcastic and teasing person, so your own humor would match well with his. He's also quite a hopeless romantic as well, even though he's certainly not one to admit that right off the bat. He enjoys singing, and as he gets closer to someone he feels more comfortable doing so in front of them, so a partner he's been with for a long time would get to see him be more and more open with it. That also applies to activities like dancing.

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

Hello ! Can you tell me about Charles I, King of England? I am curious about this king. Thank you :)

Sigh, my problematic fave... Charlie boy got greedy and forgot he ruled England not France lmao. 

No but no shade, of course it is more complicated than that. Charles is a very controversial figure. A number of Protestant historians have condemn him and his reign. He is often depicted as cold, indecisive, or even as a tyrant. Even though there is a certain truth in each of this qualifying adjectives, I tend to agree with historians who have written a more nuanced portrait of Charles without erasing the shaddy things he did because he did cross the line of legality. I like this quote from Katie Whitaker : "Charles was the last medieval king in Britain, a man imbued with all the ideals of chilvary, who believed he was appointed by God to rule." And here lies the tragedy. His reign was a defining moment where two conceptions of power came into collision : the divine prerogatives of the King against the privileges of Parliament.

Charles as a child had a weak constitution, some historians stated he was suffering from rickets. At some point, he conquered this physical infirmity however his speech came slowly and with difficulty and until his death he had a stutter. He spent his childhood in the shadow of his strong and radiant older brother, Henry, who he loved dearly. When Henry died in 1608, Charles was eleven, he had an excellent education, he studied French, Latin, Spanish, Italian, Greek, theology, drawing, dancing, fencing... His father, James I, was very much interested in the education of his children and one of the first letter Charles wrote to his father was :  "Sweete, Sweete Father, I learne to decline substantives and adjectives, give me your blessing, I thank you for my best man, your loving sone York". In his late teens he spent more and more time with his father even though he despised his "decadent" Court. He was religiously devot and of a strong moral stance which reflected in his Court when he was king. The guiding principles was order and decorum. Contrary to his father, he was also eager to play the role of an international statesman, which made his situation with Parliament even worse. However, he lacked confidence which caused him to be influenced by the ideas of the people he most trusted: Buckingham, his father... James could read the room, Charles unfortunately not so much. After James' passing, he started taking some of his father views to an extreme. However, it's important to note that when he came to power in 1625 the situation was already tense :

His father had a patriachal view of the monarchy. He wrote political treatises exposing his own views on the divine right of kings, stating :"‘Kings are justly called gods for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of divine power on earth". This kind of discourse didn't sit well with the House of Commons which was already sensitive on the matter of its rights and privileges. Parliament thought it had a traditional right to interfere with the policy of the realm. And so the political atmosphere soured quickly between both parties. For instance, when Parliament tried to meddle with the Spanish marriage negociations (between Charles and the Infanta of Spain) James was furious.

Parliament had considerable leverage : was the one holding the purse strings. This proved to be a thorn in the side of EVERY Stuarts rulers and it’s why throughout out the 17th century, England was shy with its foreign policy. Unlike the French King who was doing whatever he wanted, the English monarch had to beg subsidies to Parliament. Schematically, here was the usual scenario : 

King opens a new Parliamentary session because he needs moneeey, the House of Commons says maaay be but before we reeeally need to discuss something else *push his own agenda*, *criticise the royal policy* (rumor has it that you can still hear the king muttering not agaaain), thus ensues many excruciating negotiations and conflicts which usually ends up with the king saying fuck you and either proroguing or dissoluting his Parliament (this hot mess found its peak during the Exclusion Crisis, was a real soap opera lol). 

Again, it is schematical because even in the House of Commons some MPs were content with James' patriachal views. Anyway, at the core, it was truly a battle between royal prerogative and privilege!

THEN, you add the very sensitive matter of religion, its impact on politics was huge.

There were the Anglicans and Presbyterians which didn't see eye to eye. Yet compromises were made which made coexistence bearable for some while others fled to Europe or in the colonies in order to set up their own independent churches. James had hoped to bring the two Churches together and to create uniformity across the two kingdoms (Scotland & England). He tried to establish a Prayer Book similar to that used in England but faced with great opposition, he withdrew. (but guess who tried to follow daddy’s steps but didn’t withdrew?)

And last but not least... who the English despised the most above all? The followers of this boy right here...

... CATHOLICS, satan's minions on earth. 

With the outbreak of the Thirty Years War in Europe the fear of Catholicism was very much alive. Charles and Buckingham pushed James to summoned Parliament to ask for money to finance a war with Spain. The very much anti-Catholic Parliament agreed to the subsidies but unfortunately the expedition failed. James died, and Charles at the age of 24 had to deal with the consequenses. 

Relations between King and Parliament deteriorated quickly. There were the matter of war + Buckingham had negotiated a marriage for Charles to Henrietta Maria, the sister of the French King, promising that she would be permitted to practise her own Catholic religion, and that English ships would help to suppress a French Protestant rebellion in La Rochelle. Obviously, Parliament was furious especially towards Buckingham and Charles was forced to dissolve Parliament. For the King it was a direct challenge to his right to appoint his advisers and to govern. The Privy Council started to consider ways of raising money without the help of Parliament : forced loan, ship money... let's say that from here it started to go downhill.

For the matter of religion, unfortunately the caution of James I was replaced by Charles' desire for uniformity. Moreover, the King was interested by the Arminian group which was an alternative to the rigid Calvinism : the emphasis was on ritual and sacraments and they rejected the doctrine of predestination. Howerver, for many English, this group had too much ties with Catholicism. Also, some of them were great supporters of a heightened royal power which freaked out a lot of people who feared a sort of takeover. Of course, as often with fears and phobias, it was out of proportion with reality. Nonetheless, for many, Arminian meant : Catholicism +  absolute monarchy = tyranny. When William Laud (the Arminian leader) became Bishop of London in 1628, another stormy Parliament session took place. Charles decided to prorogue it but the Commons refused and they passed the Three Resolutions which condemned the collection of tonnage and poundage that Charles was doing without their consent as well as the doctrine and practice of Arminianism. Charles dissolved the Parliament and proclaimed he intended to govern without the Parliament until it calms the fuck down. This proved to be a significant breakdown within the system of government and the situation got a whole lot worse.

It's already a lot right? BUT HANG ON because in this very healthy anti-Catholicism atmosphere who Charles married? A FRENCH CATHOLIC PRINCESS. It made the crown more vulnerable and perhaps a lot of things would have been different if she had been Protestant but damn they were good together!!! The romance of Charles and Henrietta Maria is one of the greatest love stories in history. At first one could say it was a mismatched couple : a Protestant King with a Catholic Princess. Their differences and lack of understanding made their earlier years together complicated and turbulent. There were lot of quarrels and yet, they fell passionately in love. Their daughter, Princess Elizabeth wrote an account the day before Charles was beheaded and she said: “He bid us tell my mother that his thoughts had never strayed from her, and that his love would be the same to the last.” Lina wrote on her blog her top 10 favourite titbits of info of love and heartache about Charles I & Henrietta Maria, go check it out ;)

This is getting too long lol I'm not going to get into what most historians called his "personnal reign" and the civil wars. I just hope that this couple of informations made you want to find more about Charles and his time :) 

Don't settle for just one book about him because as I said at the beginning, he is a very controversial figure and lot of biographies (not so much with the recent ones but still) tend to insist on his supposedly taste for "tyranny" and romanticise the role of Parliament (aka the whole Whig historiography). Charles' reign sparked off a revolution where new ideals of liberty and citizens' rights were born HOWEVER it was a matter of decades/centuries for these ideas to penetrate society and every strats of the political spectrum. The Parliament's ideology of the 1620-1640 (and then during the Restoration) had a very nostalgic vision of politics. The idea of reform was light years away from these ultraconservative men.

But to be honest even outside Parliament. When you look at men such as Fénelon, Bolingbroke or Montesquieu. They were all convinced that a restoration (often of a magnified past) was the only response to the evils of their time. Reform in the early modern period, whether it was religious or political, was thought as a restoration. It's in mid-18th century that the shift happened, the future was at last conceivable. Anyway, all of that is to say that I'm a bit wary of all the authors who depict the MPs of this period as great reformers, who fought against the tyranny. They were mostly conservative men and very attached to THEIR priviliges.

[adelaidecity]

Pavarotti's wild life of sex and excess

When opera legend Luciano Pavarotti was on his deathbed, he was visited by his ex-wife who he had left for a woman 34 years her junior. But instead of bitterness, the charming star told ex Adua Veroni she was beautiful and persuaded her to rustle him up his favourite meal of spaghetti bolognese, The Sun reports. Adua was not the only woman Pavarotti put a spell on, as a new documentary from Oscar-winning moviemaker Ron Howard reveals.

media_cameraThe Pavarotti the public knew best. Picture: QCUA Archives/That's Entertainment! According to his former manager, Herbert Breslin, the singer loved music, women, food and football in that order. The documentary, simply titled Pavarotti and due for release in Australia later this year, details the tenors attitude to sex, with footage of him telling reporters of the virtues of Viagra: Sex is always good for you if your little friend asks for it. It doesnt matter if it is before or after the show. The best thing would be during the show, on the only table on the stage. It also shows how the 150kg singer demanded mounds of pasta, Parmesan cheese and salami when he toured. His idea of dieting was to eat a meal of chicken, beans and mashed potatoes followed by three scoops of ice cream leaving a fourth scoop in the bowl. HE WAS VERY DEMANDING

media_cameraThe opera singer had a legendary talent and appetite. Picture: Angelo Soulas. Pavarotti became the worlds most famous opera star after his Three Tenors concert in 1994 with Spains Plcido Domingo and Jos Carreras. Soccer fans still love him for his rendition of Nessun Dorma, which the BBC used in its coverage of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. But his roots were humble, growing up in Modena, northern Italy. Mum Adele worked in a cigar factory and dad Fernando, who was also a tenor, in a bakery. He was often looked after by his grandmother and said being raised by women left him very much spoiled and loved. His family was by his hospital bedside when he contracted tetanus at 12 and nearly died. The youngster was in a coma for a fortnight and twice given the last rites. The experience made him appreciate life to the fullest and, despite his mums desire for him to become a teacher, the lifelong Juventus fan set about trying to realise his dream of being a goalkeeper. He failed to impress during trials with Modena in the Fifties but, after going on to have voice coaching, soon discovered his perfect pitch had nothing to do with football. Pavarotti, who married Adua in 1961, initially sang in regional opera houses and thought his big break had come when, in 1963, he was asked to stand in for Giuseppe Di Stefano another Italian opera great in La Bohme in Londons West End.

media_cameraBackstage with Soprano Joan Sutherland (l) in 1979. Picture: AP Photo/Carlos Rene Perez It was a success but the tenor would have to tour throughout the Sixties until, after a show in New York in 1972, people really started to take note of his talent. Pavarotti sang Tonio in Donizettis La Fille du Rgiment at the citys Metropolitan Opera, achieving the astonishing feat of hitting nine high Cs in a row. Superstardom had finally arrived. Adua, now 81, who had three daughters with him, recalls in the film: I fell in love with the man, then I fell in love with the voice. Who wouldnt fall in love with the voice of Luciano Pavarotti? Pavarottis conquests included Madalyn Renee, a stunning and talented opera singer who he met in 1979 while doing a masterclass in New York at the top Juilliard School. She became his secretary in exchange for him tutoring her and passion soon flourished. Madalyn recalls the tenor being mischievous and having a schoolboys sense of humour. She says: He would take delight in the little funny things, the stupid things. I was accompanying him on tour, he had 28 suitcases, he never packed a suitcase in his life. He was very demanding God forbid his handkerchiefs were not where they were supposed to be. The relationship was so all-encompassing because I was the friend, the student, the secretary. He was my mentor, my teacher, my love. I never thought I would end up in a relationship with Luciano but it was hard to see where to draw the line. LUCIANO WAS MY GREAT DEFENDER I remember a recital and I was backstage holding his hot tea and all of a sudden he dragged me out on stage to sing La Bohme, the duet the lyrics include, Do you love me? and I do! They eventually broke off their affair because Pavarotti was still married to Adua. Madalyn calls it a painful moment for me and for him. They did not speak for years. With fame also came famous friends. After meeting Princess Diana in 1991, Pavarotti became more involved in charity work.

media_cameraPavarotti and Princess Diana in 1995. His main project was Pavarotti And Friends, the first of a series of concerts with the likes of Elton John and Sting raising money for charities. After the first of these he met Nicoletta Mantovani, who was working at a horseshow between her university studies. She was 23, he was 57. Nicoletta says: At the beginning I told everyone I was the assistant, but that was not true. Its not easy to say Im in a relationship with a man 34 years older. Luciano was my great defender. He was always protecting me. Soon after they got together, she found out she had MS and feared he would leave her. But Pavarotti told her: Up until now I have loved you. Now I adore you. The couple kept their relationship secret for years until they were pictured kissing on holiday in Barbados. Pavarottis fans were appalled by the supposedly devout Catholic. Furious Adua filed for divorce and demanded $128 million. When Pavarotti refused, she reportedly co-operated with an Italian investigation which led to him paying $14 million in back taxes.

media_cameraPavarotti and his bride Nicoletta Mantovani smile after their wedding at Teatro Comunale in Modena, northern Italy, 2003. Picture: Ap Adua says she heard the stories but never wanted to believe them about Pavarottis cheating. Their divorce went through in 2000. Soon after, Pavarotti rubbed salt in the wound by praising the virtues of Viagra to reporters. He and Nicoletta married in 2003. Manager Herbert Breslin popularised Pavarotti by making him do recitals and sending him on a tour of rural America, where he indulged himself in triple helpings of macaroni cheese. It was a new twist on one of Pavarottis other major passions Italian food. At his heaviest, he weighed more than 150kg. In the documentary a fellow Italian opera singer says that Pavarotti asked him to bring kilos of tortellini, Parmesan cheese and salami with him when he visited him on tour.

media_cameraPavarotti and Nicoletta Mantovani in London in 1997. On a month-long trip to China in 1986, he asked two chefs from Genoa to go with him and at their Beijing hotel, two rooms were turned into a kitchen as he refused to eat Chinese food. Such trips left Pavarotti feeling lonely so he turned to his big entourage to keep him company, including female company. Adua said that his bravado was a sham and after their split the public opinion of Pavarotti changed and the image of the sublime singer fell. I WASNT THE FATHER I WANTED TO BE Around this time Nicoletta became pregnant with twins the son was stillborn but the daughter, Alice, became a light in Pavarottis life. In the later stages of his career, Pavarotti was hammered by critics, who said his arrogance, once unquestioned as part of his talent, was now unacceptable. He failed to show up at concerts and bumbled his way through shows, cracking jokes to stall for time. Pavarotti continued looking for new collaborators and persuaded Bono to do a song with him, bombarding his Italian housekeeper with phone calls. He eventually turned up on Bonos doorstep in Dublin and forced him into the studio.

media_cameraDirector Ron Howards new film tells the untold story of the Italian opera icon. Picture: Christopher Smith/Invision/AP, File The result was the haunting Miss Sarajevo, for the victims of war in the former Yugoslavia. In the film, Bono jokingly calls Pavarotti one of the great emotional arm wrestlers he will break your f***ing arm. In 2004, Pavarotti began a 40-concert tour but got criticised by sniffy opera fans for not hitting the notes like he used to. The U2 frontman said the cracks in his voice were a sign he has lived these songs and that he had to break his heart again and again to sing them. In 2006, before the tour was finished, Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, prompting a tumultuous final 14 months of his life. His friend of 30 years, Dr Lidia La Marca, claimed Nicoletta was trying to force him to sign an American will. Pavarotti supposedly confided to Dr La Marca that he was thinking of leaving Nicoletta and changed his will two weeks before he died to cut her out. He died in September 2007, aged 71, in Modena, where 50,000 people filed past his coffin in respect. A year-long legal battle between Adua and her three daughters and Nicoletta ensued over his $450 million fortune. They eventually agreed a settlement. Had Pavarotti been alive, he would have doubtless tried to end the conflict. In a home video shot in his last months, he admits one of his few regrets was that he wasnt the father I wanted to be. But he said it with a smile and while wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Even at the end, he had not lost any of his charm. This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission. Originally published as Pavarottis wild life of sex and excess https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/music/new-film-lifts-lid-on-pavarottis-wild-life-of-sex-and-excess/news-story/767d6d36ff4001b95f18bdd9f7acf49b?from=htc_rss

[2700fstreet]

OPERA / 2017-2018

DON CARLO

OPEN REHEARSAL

Washington National Opera

Music by Giuseppe Verdi Libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille Du Locle Translated into Italian by Achille de Lauzières and Angelo Zanardini Based on Friedrich von Schiller’s dramatic work Don Carlos

So, What’s Going On?

Spain, the mid-sixteenth century.

Our hero, Don Carlo isn’t doing well. The infante (een-FAHN-teh, basically a Spanish word for “prince”) can’t get along with his father, King Filippo II (fee-LEEP-poh), and, to top it off, Carlo has no real royal responsibilities to keep him busy.

Oh, and did we mention he’s in love with his stepmother?

Filippo had promised Carlo a beautiful French bride named Elisabetta (eh-leez-ah-BEHT-tah), but, at the last minute, the king swept in and married her himself. Not cool. Nope, definitely not cool.

Enter Rodrigo (ro-DREE-goh), a nobleman and Carlo’s best friend. Rodrigo tries to cheer Carlo up by getting him involved in a political cause (nothing says “distraction” like a revolution). Spanish-occupied Flanders, (present-day Belgium) Rodrigo explains, is badly oppressed and needs a leader ASAP. Having a lot of free time on his hands, Carlo agrees to act as “savior” to the Flemish (i.e., the folks from Flanders). Got it so far?

But there’s a catch. He’ll need his stepmom’s permission.

Rodrigo fires Carlo up for a Flemish fight.

Take a listen… In one of opera’s most famous duets, Rodrigo and Don Carlo take a vow of friendship and promise to work together to achieve freedom for Flanders. Listen for the sounds of the brass instruments, symbolizing war and aggression, as well as royalty.

Back to the story…

Rodrigo arranges a meeting between Carlo and Elisabetta, telling the queen her heartbroken stepson needs a favor. But one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, the Princess of Eboli (EHB-oh-lee), overhears and takes Carlo’s heartbreak completely out of context—she thinks Carlo might be in love with her.

At the meeting set up by Rodrigo, Carlo tells Elisabetta he’s dying of love.

In other palace news, the king is highly suspicious of Elisabetta’s relationship with Carlo. He summons Rodrigo and asks him to spy on Carlo and Elisabetta’s extracurricular activities. Rodrigo unwisely uses this moment to plead for Flanders, claiming the king is applying unnecessary force to maintain peace in the Flemish territories. Though slightly moved, Filippo warns Rodrigo his rebellious ways may get him into trouble with the Spanish Inquisition (…bet you weren’t expecting that).

Sometime later, Carlo receives a mysterious letter. Thinking Elisabetta wishes to see him, he waits for her in a romantic spot, and she promptly arrives wearing a veil for cover.

(Yeah, just kidding: It’s not really Elisabetta, but Eboli in disguise.)

Carlo whispers sweet nothings to “Elisabetta,” but when the mix-up comes to light, he tries to take back his professions of love. The damage is done, however—Eboli figures out Carlo’s words were meant for someone else…and that the “someone else” must be the queen.

Rodrigo rushes in. Believing Eboli will go straight to the king for revenge, he asks Carlo to hand over any incriminating evidence pertaining to Flanders.

Eboli plots vengeance against Carlo for (accidentally) playing with her heart.

But tensions between Filippo and Carlo are about to boil over anyway. At an auto-da-fé (an execution led by the Inquisition and overseen by the king), Carlo interrupts the ceremony by bringing some Flemish citizens before Filippo to call the king out and beg for royal mercy. Things get heated, and Carlo draws his sword. Horrified by this treasonous act, Filippo calls for someone to arrest his son. To everyone’s surprise, Rodrigo steps forward and leads Carlo to jail.

A private family feud is put on public display.

Take a listen… In his aria, “Ella giammai m’amò” (“She never loved me”), Filippo contemplates the sad state of his marriage. Listen for the sorrowful string music, which repeats incessantly as if to reflect Filippo’s relentless thoughts.

Filippo wants Carlo out of the way (like…completely out of the way), so the king appeals to the Grand Inquisitor to ask if the holy man will pardon Filippo for ordering Carlo’s execution. Convinced the uprising of the Protestant-leaning Flemish—and not Carlo—is the real threat to Spain and to the Catholic Church, the Inquisitor slyly suggests Filippo may be absolved if he hands over the traitorous Rodrigo in exchange. Yikes.

The Grand Inquisitor offers a terrible bargain: Religious blessing in exchange for Rodrigo’s demise.

Take a listen… In this intentionally frightening scene, the Grand Inquisitor’s deep and forceful voice, along with the quivering strings and percussion, remind the audience (and Filippo) that the church wields power in sixteenth-century Spain.

Suddenly, Elisabetta bursts in claiming she’s been robbed. She asks her husband to take action against the culprit, but Filippo quickly admits to the crime himself. He then confronts Elisabetta about a portrait of Carlo she keeps hidden in her stolen jewelry box. Elisabetta maintains her innocence, however. She may love Carlo, but she’s never been unfaithful.

And yet here’s a twist: Filippo has.

Filippo tries to shame Elisabetta.

While comforting the queen after Filippo’s accusation, Eboli confesses she’s been having an affair with the king and that jealousy (for both Carlo and Filippo) led her to steal Elisabetta’s box and throw some serious shade at the queen. Shocked, Elisabetta orders Eboli to head to a convent. Eboli searches for a way to make things right—and finds one. She stumbles onto Carlo’s death warrant and resolves to intervene before it’s too late.

Take a listen… Eboli curses her own vanity for inspiring her to betray her queen in the aria “O don fatale” (“Oh fatal gift”). Check out how the mezzo-soprano uses both high and low notes to convey her sense of frustration and despair in the musical sample below. Also: Listen for the outbursts from the trumpets, trombones, and horns at the opening. Can you tell things have gotten pretty serious?

But can Eboli alert Carlo in time? Can Rodrigo escape the watchful eye of the Inquisition? And, most importantly, will Elisabetta and Carlo be allowed to ride off into the Spanish sunset?

Who’s Who

(Italian version of the original Spanish names listed; English version names in parentheses)

Don Carlo (Don Carlos) infante of Spain (tenor—the highest male voice) Filippo (King Philip II) Carlo’s father and king of Spain (bass—the lowest male voice) Elisabetta (Elizabeth of Valois) queen of Spain (soprano—the highest female voice) The Princess of Eboli (known as “Eboli”) (mezzo-soprano—a middle-range female voice) Rodrigo marquis of Posa and Carlo’s friend (baritone—a middle-range male voice) The Grand Inquisitor (bass)

Good to Know

You’ve heard of the Spanish Inquisition before, right? No?

Okay, well, just in case you haven’t, you might want to keep in mind that the Spanish Inquisition was a Catholic branch of the Spanish government whose task was to find and “question” anyone who wasn’t loyal to the Catholic church, particularly Jews and Protestants. These “interviews” were often literal torture, as the Spanish monarchy was known to use the Inquisition as an excuse to enslave innocents in order to get free labor.

Now that you’re familiar with the Inquisition: Did you know King Philip II, his wife Elizabeth, his son Carlos, and the Princess of Eboli were also real? Philip II was a sixteenth-century Spanish monarch who did indeed marry a French woman (Elizabeth of Valois) whom he had initially intended for his son. Turns out Philip and Elizabeth actually had a reportedly happy marriage, and the love story between Elizabeth and her stepson was invented by writer Friedrich von Schiller in the eighteenth century and exploited by Verdi in the nineteenth century for maximum dramatic impact.

The Princess of Eboli was likewise a genuine attendant at court and the wife of King Philip’s right-hand man. Rodrigo, however, never actually existed; he’s more of an ideal representation of compassion and progressive thinking created by Schiller at a time when the Enlightenment ideals of reason and rationality swept across Europe.

And Carlos? Sadly the historical Carlos wasn’t quite the romantic hero he is in the opera. Rowdy, and unpredictable, the real-life Carlos was decidedly not in love with his stepmom. Yet, as in the opera, Carlos wasn’t given much power by his father and eventually grew fed up with life in Spain. The infante then demanded control over Flanders, which was being ruled by a brutal cardinal of the Catholic Inquisition.

Just like in the opera, Flanders was a place of political (and religious) unrest in the mid-sixteenth century. Absorbed into Spain’s considerable empire via a political marriage, Flanders was somewhat content to be ruled by Philip’s father, Charles V, who had been born in Flanders and was well respected there. Things changed when Philip assumed the throne, however: Philip was more Catholic than his father and the new king had no trouble sending clerical and military forces to keep the Protestant-friendly Flemish in line—often using violent methods of persuasion.

Philip ultimately deemed his son unfit to serve as ambassador to such an unstable region and had Carlos put in jail to prevent a political catastrophe (thanks, dad). Carlos died while under arrest, but the Flemish controversy continued, and uprisings followed soon after.

Check This Out…

Don Carlo features many melodies that repeat themselves to help the audience recall a particular scene or emotion from earlier in the story. Listen up for tunes that come back to haunt these characters again and again (especially the themes from Carlo and Rodrigo’s Act I duet, Carlo’s first lovesick solo, and the choir of horns that opens the opera).

Though Carlo is the title character, all the leading roles in the opera are given at least one aria (solo song) in which to express their feelings, and each character has their own unique musical and vocal style. Can you identify some of the ways in which Verdi gives each character his or her own spin? Is there a type of note (high, low, stretched out, cut short, etc.) or rhythm (slow, fast, galloping, etc.) that sticks out as being a specific character’s “signature sound”?

The finale of Don Carlo is notoriously open-ended, leaving much of the interpretation up to the performers and production team. Pay close attention during those final moments. What do you think the director and designers of this particular version wanted the audience to believe about the characters’ fates? Do you feel this explanation of the ending is correct? What do you think actually went down in the Spanish court?

Verdi wanted to immerse his audience in the culture and atmosphere of his operas. One of the ways he achieved this effect in Don Carlo was to include music that plays just off stage, giving the illusion of “surround sound” and extending the action of Don Carlo beyond the borders of the proscenium. Listen for the organ, church bells, brass band, choirs, and solo soprano voice coming from the wings of the theater. Do these help you feel like you’re at the heart of the story?

Think About This…

The dialogue between Filippo and the Grand Inquisitor—which was purposely added to the original story by Verdi and his librettists—includes some heavy musical clues regarding the evil subtext of the scene. In fact, Verdi uses ominous-sounding instruments to make it abundantly clear that some devilish plots are being hatched. What instruments stick out for you in this moment? What do you think Verdi’s position was regarding organized religion? What do you think he felt about monarchies like the one in Spain?

Eboli sings a song about a woman who hides her appearance and discovers a terrible secret. And…surprise! Later in the opera, the princess herself actually wears a veil and uncovers something about Don Carlo she wishes she hadn’t. Do you think the creators were making a specific point about disguises or about women who mask their identity?

Don Carlo is a mixture of big, crowded scenes for huge choruses and smaller, more intimate moments for four people or fewer. This contrast between public life and personal drama is something that continues to fascinate audiences in the twenty-first century. Can you name some recent films or TV shows in which the private struggles of a handful of characters are set against the backdrop of an overarching story that packs an epic and/or historical punch (hint: think The Crown or Game of Thrones minus the dragons)? Do they parallel Don Carlo in some way? Why do you think viewers are still drawn to these types of dramas?

Filippo, though tyrannical and misguided, is ultimately portrayed as a sad and lonely figure in the opera—thanks in large part to Verdi’s sympathetic music and also to the made-up love triangle between Filippo, his son, and his wife. Do you think Filippo’s desperate attempts to govern the lives of his family and his subjects are a response to his own feelings of helplessness? How do you think the other characters handle forces beyond their control (e.g., love, war, religious duty, honor, etc.)? Do you think anyone in the opera is more successful than Filippo at facing down these seemingly insurmountable challenges?

Take Action

As hinted above, the private actions in Don Carlo often have public consequences. Toward the end of the opera, Rodrigo, whose personal loyalties to the king and to Carlo are severely tested, ultimately chooses a path he feels will do the most good for the most people. In his beautiful final aria, he considers the type of legacy he wants to leave behind and asks that Carlo never forget him and never abandon the Flemish people. “Non ti scordar’” (“Do not forget”), he sings.

Take some time to think about how your own personal actions can affect public discourse or change. Research a group of people facing adversity like those in the Flemish territories mentioned in the opera (this could be a group you consider yourself a part of and/or strongly identify with, or it could also be a community you simply wish to help). Next, come up with a plan to spread the word and jumpstart a campaign to make a positive difference. Concerned for the people devastated by recent hurricanes, fires, and other natural disasters? Organize an afterschool meeting to educate your fellow students and to brainstorm fundraising ideas. Want to throw your support behind victims of abuse in a foreign nation? Set up a crowdsourced relief fund and ask family and friends to donate.

Want a wider audience for your social justice campaign? Use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or tumblr to get people talking about your cause and to post news and pictures of outreach events. If you decide to post, let us know by using the hashtag #donotforget.

Explore More

Go even deeper with the Don Carlo Extras.

–

Major support for WNO is provided by Jacqueline Badger Mars.

David M. Rubenstein is the Presenting Underwriter of WNO.

WNO acknowledges the longstanding generosity of Life Chairman Mrs. Eugene B. Casey.

WNO's Presenting Sponsor

Don Carlo is a production of the Clarice Smith Opera Series.

Additional support for Don Carlo is provided by The Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts.

The Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program is made possible through the generous support of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, with additional funding provided by Judy and Billy Cox, Robert and Lynn Downing, Carl M. Freeman Foundation, Virginia McGehee Friend, Susan Carmel Lehrman, John & Mary Lee Malcolm, Michael F. and Noémi K. Neidorff and The Centene Charitable Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey P. Pohanka,  Dr. Arthur and Mrs. Robin Sagoskin, Mr. Alan J. Savada and Mr. Will Stevenson, Dr. and Mrs. Guillermo Schultz, Mr. and Mrs. Michael R. Sonnenreich, Washington National Opera Council, and The Women’s Committee of Washington National Opera.

This performance is made possible by the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts.

[mhsn033]

Best health Regis Philbin, television personality and host, dies at 88

Best health

NEW YORK — Regis Philbin, the genial host who shared his existence with tv viewers over morning coffee for a protracted time and helped himself and some fans strike it wisely off with the game existing “Who Needs to Be a Millionaire,” has died at 88.

Philbin died of pure causes Friday night, per an announcement from his family supplied by spokesman Lewis Kay.

Celebrities robotically stopped by Philbin’s eponymous syndicated morning existing, nonetheless its coronary heart became within the first 15 minutes, when he and co-host Kathie Lee Gifford — on “Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee” from 1985-2000 — or Kelly Ripa — on “Live! with Regis and Kelly” from 2001 till his 2011 retirement — bantered in regards to the occasions of the day. Viewers laughed at Philbin’s mock indignation over no longer getting essentially the most convenient seat at a restaurant the night sooner than, or being henpecked by his partner.

“Even I actually beget a chunk trepidation,” he immediate The Associated Press in 2008, when requested how he does a existing on on each day foundation foundation. “You earn up within the morning and likewise you recount, ‘What did I attain last night that I will discuss? What’s fresh within the paper? How are we gonna beget that 20 minutes?’”

“I’m no longer gonna recount it continuously works out brilliantly, nonetheless one draw or the opposite we connect extra continuously than we don’t,” he added.

Ripa and her fresh partner, Ryan Seacrest, called Philbin “the final class act, bringing his laughter and joy into our homes on on each day foundation foundation.”

“There don’t seem like any phrases to fully say the treasure I even beget for my precious buddy, Regis,” Gifford said Saturday on Instagram. “I merely adored him and on on each day foundation foundation with him became a gift.”

Philbin logged extra than 15,000 hours on the air, incomes him recognition within the Guinness Book of World Recordsdata for essentially the most broadcast hours logged by a TV personality, a fable beforehand held by Hugh Downs.

“Day by day, you witness the fable shattered, pal!” Philbin would repeat viewers. “One extra hour!”

He became host of the prime-time game existing, “Who Needs to Be a Millionaire,” temporarily tv’s most trendy existing on the turn of the century. ABC aired the family friendly program as continuously as five cases a week. It generated round $1 billion in income in its first two years and helped draw Philbin himself a millionaire many cases over.

Philbin’s test to contestants, “Is that your final acknowledge?” became a nationwide catchphrase. Philbin became even a type trendsetter; he build out a line of monochramactic shirts and ties to match what he wore on the space.

“You wait a lifetime for something indulge in that and once in a while it never occurs,” Philbin immediate the AP in 1999.

In 2008, he returned temporarily to the quiz existing layout with “Million Greenback Password.” He also picked up the Lifetime Fulfillment Award from the sunlight hours Emmys.

Within the 2008 AP interview, Philbin said he seen “getting essentially the most convenient out of your guests” as “a specialty. … The time constraints point out you’ve purchased to earn good to the level, you’ve purchased to draw it pay off, whisk to commercial, originate yet again. Play that clip. Pronounce goodbye.” He gave his desktop a decisive rap.

“And draw all of it conversational.”

Regis Francis Xavier Philbin grew up within the Recent York borough of the Bronx, the son of Italian-Irish oldsters and named for the Roman Catholic boys high college his dad attended. He went to the College of Notre Dame, and became such an eager alumnus, he once said he wished his ashes scattered there.

After leaving the Navy in 1955, Philbin talked his draw correct into a gathering with the stationmaster at KCOP-TV in Los Angeles. He purchased a job parking autos, then improved into work as a stagehand, courier, newswriter and producer of a sports activities telecast. When its sportscaster didn’t existing up someday, Philbin stuffed in.

Philbin purchased a ways extra on-air journey in San Diego within the early 1960s, when KOGO-TV began producing “The Regis Philbin Display conceal” for a nationwide target audience. This method of music and celeb interviews became taped two weeks sooner than every airing. It became canceled after four months.

In 1967, Philbin became employed as the announcer and sidekick to comic Joey Bishop on his network existing. When he heard that he became going to be fired thanks to dejected ratings, Philbin tearfully announced he became leaving on July 12, 1968, walking off right by a dwell broadcast. He returned three days later after letters of make stronger poured in.

He and Bishop had wrong blood: Bishop called Philbin an “ingrate” for walking off right by a wage dispute and later badmouthing him.

Philbin’s 2nd wife, Pleasure, became Bishop’s assistant.

After three years of commuting to St. Louis a week for a local Saturday night existing, Philbin became a well-known particular person in local morning tv — first in Los Angeles, then in Recent York. In 1985, he teamed with Kathie Lee Johnson, a year sooner than she married outdated skool football well-known particular person Frank Gifford, and the present went nationwide in 1988.

The level-headed bickering and gaze-rolling exasperation in Philbin and Gifford’s onscreen relationship became familiar to someone in a permanent relationship.

“No arguments, no harsh phrases in all this time,” Philbin immediate a theater target audience in 2000. “Smartly, there became the time I didn’t discuss with her for 2 weeks. Didn’t wish to interrupt her.”

Gifford left the present in 2000. After a tryout duration for a replacement, soap well-known particular person Ripa (“All My Kids”) stuffed the slot.

Philbin enjoyed an aspect profession as a singer that began when he sang “Pennies from Heaven” to Bing Crosby on Bishop’s existing. He said a fable company called him the next day to come, and he made an album.

Even though the sequence “Regis Philbin’s Health Kinds,” on Lifetime within the 1980s, became segment of his prolonged resume, Philbin had wisely being considerations. Medical doctors performed an angioplasty to serve a blocked artery in 1993. He underwent bypass surgical draw in 2007 at age 75.

He’s survived by his wife, Pleasure, and their daughters J.J. and Joanna Philbin, to boot to his daughter Amy Philbin with his first wife, Catherine Faylen, per Of us.

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[sorayahigashikata]

Chapter 45

[dawnajaynes32]

Old Vessels, Robust New Wine

Old Vessels, Robust New Wine

By Tom Wachunas

   “The aesthetic rationale for using appropriation, as distinct from a political one (though it may come to the same thing), is to insert a tiny wedge between the name and the named, to search out a crack in the wall built of habit and certainty, and work into that small fissure a measure of existential rebellion…Change the context, and meaning is made anew.” – David Salle, from his book, “How To See”

   “For many, even those who have not read the Odyssey, Odysseus’ adventures are part of our cultural knowledge. Given this familiarity, I have chosen to depict his journey within the mythological time period. In contrast, I have chosen to align Penelope’s heroic journey within the present context of female struggle and empowerment.”

- Kari Halker-Saathoff

   EXHIBIT: Odysseus and Penelope – The Long Journey, by Kari Halker-Saathoff / at the Canton Museum of Art THROUGH JULY 22, 2018

 1001 Market Ave. N, Canton, Ohio / Information: 330-453-7666,

 www.cantonart.org

   As physical entities in time and space, we are all vessels. Containers and transporters of our stories. Likewise, our art. 

   One way to think of art – whether spoken or sung, played or performed,  drawn, painted, printed or sculpted – is as a societal self-portrait; a tangible, formalized declaration and sharing of our collective soul. Our art can let us see who we were once, are now, and could yet become. 

   With this exhibit, Kari Halker-Saathoff has employed the historically potent art practice of bringing attention to a now by re-presenting a then. Parallel messages separated by centuries if not millennia.

   There are many significant precedents, among them the Neoclassical oil masterpiece by French painter Jacques- Louis David, Oath of the Horatii. The painting was inspired by an ancient story of early Roman soldiers pledging their lives to a cause before going to war, and here was intended to inspire French citizenry in 1784 to embrace the classical values of civic duty and sacrifice amidst the fervor of the impending French Revolution. Another compelling example is a series of magnificent oil paintings by Italian Baroque-era painter Artemesia Gentileschi, a brilliant advancer of Caravaggio’s tenebrism. The series began in about 1620 with Judith Beheading Holofernes. All the ensuing paintings in the series were variations on a story from the Biblical book of Judith, preserved in the Catholic Old Testament, but designated in the Protestant canon as apocryphal.  In any case, Judith was a Hebrew widow who saved her city from destruction by killing the enemy Assyrian General Holofernes. Judith’s actions in such an adversarial context resonated with Gentileschi as a symbol of her own struggle to be acknowledged not just as an accomplished painter in a male-dominated art world, but also respected as a strong, relevant woman in an oppressively patriarchal society. 

   And so it is that in this remarkable body of work - a combination of 12 graphite drawings on paper and 12 ceramic vessels - Kari Halker-Saathoff has appropriated Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, composed near the end of the 8th century BCE. In text placards that accompany the artworks, the artist gives us an episodic synopsis of this iconic narrative, wherein we learn of Odysseus’ arduous 10-year journey to return to his homeland after the Trojan War. He battles mythical beasts and wrathful deities. Meanwhile, his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, bravely resist cruel and conniving suitors who compete to marry Penelope in a doomed attempt to claim the kingdom of Ithaca.

   The intricately composed graphite drawings exude a graceful theatricality, as if constructed by a scenic designer for a stage play. All those beautifully blended grey tones and ornate linear details against white grounds are actually cut-outs in part, placed in turn against solid black backdrops. It’s an arresting effect, lending a sculpted, bas-relief air to the compositions. Additionally, there are ovoid portraits floating in the corners of each drawing, looking like jeweled pendants or medallions. For the most part, these visages seem to be too…today to be characters from an ancient epic. Perhaps they’re important contemporaries, personal to the artist’s own journey. 

   And therein lies a fascinating turn of perspective, most apparent in Kari’s 12 ceramic vessels. The clay was formed by potter Joshua Ausman according to her specifications, and the shapes of the pots are reminiscent of classical Greek amphoras. Each is trimmed with low fire red accents and adorned with bold, illustrative images in black. 

   You could call these images dramas-in-the-round. They require you to circle them on your own journey to take in all their visual and thematic content, which was inspired by the Women’s March of 2017, and the concomitant concerns of the #MeToo movement. In recognizing the elements of dignity and valor and bravery and heroism threaded through The Odyssey, Kari identifies most deeply with Penelope - not only her anxieties and sufferings, but her fortitude, faithfulness, ingenuity and intelligence as well. Notice how the story progresses from one vessel to the next. The years march on as Penelope waits. Accordingly, the vessels’ necks, ringed with red lines (somewhat suggestive of tree rings), grow progressively taller. Vessels holding more and more…hope?

  A rising up. Slowly but surely, these engaging artworks transcend their rootedness in dusty old myth to become a tangible connection to ourpresent. As such, they’re immediately, indeed urgently relevant to our current milieu of volatile social confrontation and ideological reckoning. “Change the context, and meaning is made anew.”   

   PHOTOS, from top:  1. Clay vessels by  Kari Halker-Saathoff  (with Joshua Ausman)  - image courtesy of the artist) / 2. She Resisted / 3. She Was Warned / 4. Suitors Sued For Harrasment / 5. Breathless Dead / 6. Who Receives Him Kindly / 7. Heartsick On The Open Sea – He Made His Name By Sailing There 

Old Vessels, Robust New Wine syndicated post

[crazyscotsmanthe1st]

Edinburgh, the Castle and the Palace

This is adapted from an essay I wrote for work recently. No self-plaigarism is intended.

An account of the importance of Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the history of Edinburgh, and their role in the development of the city.

My choice of sites for this essay may seem obvious, they are the two most recognisable and iconic structures in the city and draw thousands of visitors (millions, in the case of the Castle) every year.

But I also think they’re the two best sites with which to tell a history of the city. Their very existence, the changes they have undergone, the people who walked through their doors and the events that took place within and around them tell us everything we need to know about the development of Edinburgh and Scotland at the time.

The story of Edinburgh Castle actually starts in pre-history, as an ice-age glacier sweeps past an extinct volcanic plug and gouges out deep valleys on either side. It left behind a distinct “crag-and-tail” formation, steep cliffs on three sides with a gentle slope to the east.

It is not known precisely when the first human inhabitants settled on Castle Rock, but archaeological evidence points to the site being inhabited since at least the Iron Age, when it became a stronghold for the tribe known as “Votadini” or “Goddodin”.

So the Castle is fundamental to Edinburgh’s very existence. The history of the city starts with the history of Edinburgh Castle. The very name of the city means “fort on the hill”.

The oldest existing building in the Castle (and therefore in Edinburgh) is the 12th Century St Margaret’s Chapel, which was built by David I in honour of his late mother. The reign of David I marks another major development in Edinburgh’s history as the settlement was declared a Royal Burgh. This meant it was granted a royal charter by the monarch and recognised as a major trading town. This status reflects Edinburgh’s growing importance in Scotland at the time.

Another important development during the reign of David I was the establishment of Holyrood Abbey in 1128. There is a wonderful story behind this. According to legend, David was hunting in the forest which existed on the site at that time when he became separated from his companions and was thrown from his horse. He was then confronted by a huge stag which was about to attack him. According to one version of the story, a burning cross appeared between the stag’s antlers and frightened it away.

David is said to have been so grateful for this divine intervention that he established an abbey on the site, giving it the name “Holy-Rood” meaning Holy Cross. This name would endure and be passed on to the Palace when it was built, and to this area of the city. The ruins of the Abbey still stand in the grounds of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

A settlement began to grow around the Abbey, and gradually spread upwards from the bottom of the slope of the crag-and-tail. It became known as the “Canongate”, after the monks who worked at the Abbey. Until the 19th Century, this town was entirely separate from Edinburgh.

Today, we know the Canongate as one of the constituent streets of the “Royal Mile”. Another reason for my choice of sites is that they book-end this remarkable thoroughfare.

The Scottish Wars of Independence in the late 13th and early 14th Centuries were a time of great upheaval for Scotland and Edinburgh. Edinburgh Castle had been captured by the English and garrisoned with English troops.

In the spring of 1314, the war was going well for the Scots under the leadership of Robert the Bruce. He’d successfully defeated his domestic enemies in Scotland, and was systematically evicting the English from their remaining strongholds. Edinburgh Castle was next on the list, and would be a tough proposition.

Bruce sent his trusted lieutenant and nephew, Sir Thomas Randolph, to take back the Castle. Randolph learned of a path that led around the north of Castle Rock. After dark, he led a small group of hand-picked men in scaling the cliff and surprising the garrison to liberate the Castle.

Bruce then ordered the Castle to be torn down so it couldn’t be re-taken. He was a guerrilla fighter who disliked fixed fortifications. But he was also in fear of his immortal soul, having been excommunicated by the Catholic Church. So the Chapel was left intact, and the rest of the Castle was re-built around it in the following centuries.

Robert the Bruce was succeeded by his son David II, who set about re-building the castle with the construction of a large tower, known as King David’s Tower, on the site where the Half-Moon Battery stands today.

David died childless, and the line of succession reverted through Bruce’s daughter Marjory who had married a nobleman named Walter Stewart. Their son Robert succeeded David to become Robert II, and the first Stewart monarch. The Stewarts would rule Scotland, then England too, for more than three centuries (with notable interruptions).

One of the most significant Stewart monarchs was James IV, whose reign began in 1488. James was keen to establish the Stewarts as a European dynasty of note, and in the early years of the 16th Century was making arrangements for his marriage to the English princess, Margaret Tudor. He wanted a grand new palatial residence to impress his new wife.

The Scottish royal family had long been fond of Holyrood Abbey and the nearby park, and had built a hunting lodge in the Abbey grounds. This was where James chose to build his new palace. So the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in its earliest incarnation, was established.

At the same time, James set about augmenting Edinburgh Castle with the building of the Great Hall, whose magnificent hammer-beam roof wows visitors today.

The reign of James IV would end in tragedy however, and leave a lasting mark on Edinburgh. In 1513, Scotland’s long standing “Auld Alliance” with France prompted James to invade England with an impressive army.

On 9 September 1513, James faced the English at the Battle of Flodden. The Scots made a number of tactical mistakes which resulted in a catastrophic defeat. James IV himself was killed, along with many of Scotland’s prominent nobles and many thousands of men.

When the news reached Edinburgh, it caused considerable panic. The entire Scottish leadership and a sizeable proportion of her fighting men had been wiped out in one stroke. The city felt naked and its people were afraid an English counter-attack may materialise in due course, with terrible consequences for the city.

So they hastily set about building a new defensive barrier. It wasn’t the first or last of the city walls, but its name “Flodden Wall” and its association with a time of disaster and despair give it a powerful aura. There are well preserved sections of it on the Pleasance, Drummond Street and around George Heriot’s School.

The Flodden Wall drew a clear boundary between the Old Town and the Canongate, marked today by the appropriately named “World’s End” pub. It also prevented the Old Town from expanding horizontally, forcing expansion upwards instead. This resulted in a settlement increasingly cramped and overcrowded, with buildings reaching up to dizzying heights, their wooden upper levels perilously unstable and prone to fire and collapse.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse was further extended during the reign of James V, but it was his daughter who would prove to be one of the Palace’s most famous residents.

Mary I, “Queen of Scots” was crowned as an infant, and her reign was turbulent from the very start. Henry VIII of England demanded that Mary be betrothed to his son, Prince Edward. When the Scots refused, an angry Henry resorted to war.

In a campaign that would become known as the “Rough Wooing”, in 1544 an English army descended on Edinburgh in an orgy of bloodthirsty violence. The Castle held out, but both Holyrood Abbey and the Palace of Holyroodhouse suffered extensive damage.

Despite all this fury and destruction, Henry never did get his hands on the prize. Mary was betrothed to the French Dauphin, and left Scotland for the French court in 1548.

Following the death of her husband, an eighteen year-old Mary returned to Scotland in 1561. Though there was initially no welcome party as she had arrived earlier than expected, word soon spread and cheering crowds welcomed her entry to the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

But Scotland had changed. It was now a strongly Protestant country, in the thrall of the fiery Presbyterian cleric John Knox. He made no secret of his despise for Mary and her Catholic faith. The euphoria of her return soon turned to tension.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse would witness two defining events of Mary’s reign. In 1565, she married Lord Darnley in its chapel. She would soon come to regret this match.

On 9 March 1566, Mary was relaxing in her apartments with her Italian Secretary, David Rizzio. The two had become very close, to the irritation of many – not least Darnley. There were even rumours that Rizzio and the Queen were having an affair. Darnley led a group of conspirators upstairs to the Queen’s ante-room. They dragged Rizzio from behind Mary’s skirts and stabbed him 56 times, while a pistol was held to the Queen’s pregnant belly.

Mary retreated to the safety of Edinburgh Castle where, on 19th June, she gave birth to her son – the future James VI of Scotland and I of England.

When James VI became King of England in 1603, the royal court permanently left Edinburgh. The city was now a capital without a king, and a century later in 1707 it would become a capital without a parliament. These changes had a significant impact on how Edinburgh saw itself and its status.

In the mid-17th Century the country was in the grip of civil war. In 1650, this brought Oliver Cromwell to Edinburgh, following the defeat of the Covenanters at the Battle of Dunbar. Both the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse were used as barracks for his troops. The Great Hall was sub-divided with additional inner walls and floors, and the Palace was badly damaged by fire.

When Cromwell died, the Stuarts (the spelling changed during the reign of Mary I) were restored under Charles II. In 1671, he ordered a major refurbishment of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. An extra wing was added; and old and new were blended to create the symmetrical appearance we recognise today.

In 1688, James VII and II was deposed and driven into exile because of his Catholic faith. The news prompted riots in Edinburgh, and an anti-Catholic mob attacked and ransacked Holyrood Abbey.

Not everyone was happy though; many still supported the exiled dynasty. They were known as “Jacobites” – Latin for supporters of James. There were several failed Jacobite risings throughout the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. But the one most remembered today is 1745.

The grandson of James VII and II, the “Bonnie Prince” Charles Edward Stuart, landed in the Highlands and raised an army. The commander of the British Army in Scotland, General Sir John Cope, marched into the Highlands to try to intercept the Jacobites, but never made contact with them.

Crucially, Cope had left Edinburgh with inadequate defences to withstand the Highlanders. They took the city easily, on 17th September 1745. The Castle remained in government hands, but enthusiastic crowds cheered the Prince as he entered the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and wandered the home of his ancestors.

After a stunning victory at the Battle of Prestonpans, the Jacobites invaded England. They reached Derby before turning back, and embarking on a long retreat that would take them back into Scotland and on to eventual defeat at Culloden.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse was again used as a barracks by some of the pursuing government troops. Damage was done to portraits in the Great Gallery.

The ease with which the Jacobites had taken Edinburgh, and the cheering crowds which had welcomed the Prince, were now a source of embarrassment for the city. What now for Edinburgh? No longer a real capital city, its Old Town stinking and overcrowded and its loyalties under question.

The years after 1745 saw a desire to move on from the struggles of the past and embrace the future. The most visible evidence of this can be seen with a glance north from the battlements of Edinburgh Castle. The New Town, with its straight lines and Georgian architecture, sprawls below.

Designed by 23 year-old James Craig in a symmetrical grid layout, construction of the New Town started in 1767. The street names speak for themselves: George Street and Charlotte Square after the King and Queen, Princes Street after their two sons, Thistle Street and Rose Street for the Union between Scotland and England.

This was the new Edinburgh, expressing its new-found loyalty to the British establishment as it shook off the baggage of the past. At the same time, the city was leading the world in many fields of science and the arts, as the melting-pot of the Scottish Enlightenment.

By the early 19th Century, Edinburgh would cease to be embarrassed by its past and come to celebrate and romanticise it. In 1818, the Scottish Crown Jewels, which had been locked away in the Castle and forgotten about after 1707, were rediscovered by Sir Walter Scott. They can be seen on display in the Castle today.

Opposite the Great Hall on Crown Square is the Scottish National War Memorial which marks the terrible carnage of the First World War, and Scots who’ve fallen in every conflict since. The One O’clock Gun was last fired in anger in 1916, when Edinburgh was attacked by a Zeppelin.

In 1996, John Major’s Conservative government attempted to stave off calls for a Scottish Parliament by returning the Stone of Destiny to Scotland. It now sits next to the Crown Jewels in Edinburgh Castle. Across the road from the Palace of Holyroodhouse today, is evidence of the failure of this strategy – the new parliament building, completed in 2004.

Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse have been central to Edinburgh’s development, and have played crucial roles in every episode of the city’s history.

From the city’s pre-historic beginnings, through the various wars and upheavals, to the city’s re-invention of itself and right up to Devolution – these two sites have been at the centre of it all.

They are also important to Edinburgh’s present and future, as tourism is a vital industry for the city.

Their story is the story of Edinburgh.

Acknowledgements

Mercat Tours

Edinburgh Napier University

Sources

Scotland: The Story of a Nation, Magnus Magnusson (2000)

A History of Scotland, Neil Oliver (2009) 

A History of Ancient Britain, Neil Oliver (2009) 

The Palace of Holyroodhouse: Official Souvenir Guide, Deborah Clarke (2012)

Edinburgh Castle: Official Guide, Richard Fawcett, Iain MacIvor and Bent Petersen (1980)

[maobidick]

It is too often assumed that the test of a writer’s importance is his universality

Belli into English

ANTHONY BURGESS

Belli is one of those poets who make us revise our notions of literary greatness. It is too often assumed that the test of a writer’s importance is his universality – meaning his capacity to speak directly, without footnotes or glosses, to the generality of mankind. When I taught Western Literature in Malaya to Malays, Chinese and Indians, I found that both Dante and Shakespeare were less universal than I had previously believed. My students couldn’t understand Dante’s Catholicism, and they had difficulty with the social customs of Shakespeare’s England. I tried them on modern literature, and they laughed at Graham Greene. They couldn’t see why the hero of The Heart of the Matter had to commit suicide because he couldn’t stop committing adultery. “Why,” said a bright Malay girl, “does he not become Muslim like us and marry both women?” Universality can only mean the basic crudities – theft, murder, power, sex. I saw the film of Shakespeare’s Richard III in a Borneo village, and the natives understood its basic drift well enough. Indeed, they thought – from the costumes – that it was a tale of some contemporary Eastern rajadom. The only universal modern novelist is Harold Robbins. Ergo, he is the greatest. He himself believes that, but we do not have to join him.

Now, Belli is very narrow in his appeal. He writes about Romans in Roman; he addresses Romans. His first audiences were tavern audiences. Gogol was impressed by him, and Sainte-Beuve even wrote about him, but he was not destined to cross the literary frontiers as Tolstoy and Dickens did. He wrote sonnets, and the only way to translate a sonnet is to write what looks like a new sonnet. He used a narrow unexportable language, that of the Roman streets. It is no use waiting for Belli to be translated. To know him you must come to him, first paying homage to the statue in Tras­tevere, then marrying, as I did, an Italian wife who is knowledgeable about him. But there are a number of foreigners about – Americans, chiefly, who love Rome – who claim to the incredulous that Belli was one of the two greatest poets of the nineteenth century, the other probably being the Englishman John Keats, who, buried in Rome, is a sort of honorary Roman.

When I was introduced to Belli’s work, I was shocked by his obscenity and blasphemy. This was because I had been brought up as an English Catholic who had been told by his priests that Rome was a holy mother, not an unholy whore. I expected, when first visiting Rome, that all Romans would be pious and devoted to the Pope. I know now that they are pagan and can only approach the sacred truths of Christianity by way of vulgarity and blasphemy. They must, one assumes, also have been vulgar and blasphemous in their attitude to the old Greco-Roman pantheon. Reverence is not in the Roman nature. Reverence, I was to find, was not really in my nature either. When Belli starts sprinkling cazzo and dumpennente around Bible stories which he del­iberately misunderstands and mislocates, I recognize that the religious sense goes deeper than reverence and may sometimes be best expressed through blasphemy. You can only genuinely blaspheme if you genuinely believe. You can only believe if you take for granted. The Blessed Virgin may have been doubtful about being impregnated by an uccello, but the Romans have no doubt she existed just as Julius Caesar did.

I was determined to translate seventy-odd sonnets of Belli into English, and into strict Petrarchan sonnet-form too. But the trouble with using that form in English is that English has so few rhymes. There is a character in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four whose job it is to bring old writers into line with the ideology of the ruling party. He has to use God to rhyme with rod in a poem by Kipling because he can find no other rhyme. He is consequently tortured and liquidated. Italian has more than enough rhymes for Dio. It was a hard struggle to render Belli into ABBA ABBA CDC DCD (or other sextet variations), but I had to do it, and I did it. The rendering of the Roman language into an English equivalent was the real problem.

Italy is lucky in that she still has living dialects – variants of Latin that are not only to be heard in street and field but also to be found in books and used as serious literary media. This situation is no longer to be found with regard to English. In the year 1300 or thereabouts, English literature was created in many English dialects, and it was all written down. Chaucer wrote in the dialect of London; Langland in the dialect of Worcestershire; the anonymous great author of Gawain and the Green Knight (a work that the late Tolkien lavished his scholarship on) wrote in an earlier form of the dialect that I regard as my own – that of the North-West, of Lancashire and Cheshire. When London became the great cultural capital of England, as well as the centre of political power, the dialects started to disappear as serious media for literary expression. Chaucer’s English became the English that Italians who learn English now learn. No Italian in his right mind would set himself to learn the English of Yorkshire or Devon or Sussex. Only one dialect of English has withstood the steady domination of London English, and that is the Lallans or surviving Anglo-Saxon of the Lowlands of Scotland. Robert Burns wrote in it. Hugh MacDiarmid, conceivably the greatest of all living poets, writes in it, though he had to learn it as the rest of us learn Latin. My own dialect is spoken, but no longer written. It was the obvious equivalent for Belli’s Roman, but there is now no orthography for it. There is only one way of writing English now – the way of London.

Moreover, the aim of any translator of Belli must naturally be to make him known to as large a new public as possible. If I were able to use Lancashire dialect for rendering him, I could not possibly find an audience to read him, since the present-day speakers of dialectal English are not readers of books. Recite him in a Manchester or Liverpool pub? Possible, but the audience is still limited. Let me give an example of the problem. Sonnet 1,748 of Belli begins:

“Ma Ggesucristo mio,” disceva Marta,

“Chi cce pò arregge ppiù cco Mmadalena?”

This goes literally into London, or Queen’s, or Standard, English as:

“Jesus Christ,” said Martha, “how can anyone put up

any more with Mary Magdalene?”

But the dialectal flavour is lost. The Queen of England herself could recite it. I tried this:

Martha said: “Christ, am full oop reet t’t’scoopper

Wi’ Murry thur.”

But the orthography is unsatisfactory, and, again, I am narrowing in to a small regional society which the literati of the English-speaking world never enter. I am doing Belli no good. It’s as easy for London Englishmen to learn Roman as to learn North-Western English. The only answer was compromise – which the English probably invented along with the steam-engine and water-closet. I had to translate Belli into the English of London – or the BBC or Oxford and Cambridge and Buckingham Palace – but hope that the reader might try to audialize the phonemes and rhythms into whatever town or rural dialect he knew best, if he knew one at all. But the situation is false. England has no Porta, no Goldoni. Her literature, like her government, is hopelessly centralized.

The one thing that draws my translations of Belli away from the centralized literary tradition of English – a tradition of good manners and polite speech – is the blasphemous obscenity, which can, of course, be rendered very accurately into even the English of the Royal Family (the Duke of Edinburgh, consort to the Queen, is a naval officer and is fluent in obscenity when occasion asks for it). No trouble with cazzo or dumpennente. The form dumpendebat, by the way, straight out of the Stabat Mater, is a useful English-Latin neologism: I use it regularly now when I am tired of the regular equivalents of cazzo. The impact of Belli’s content remains, if not that of his idiom, and that, for the moment, must be enough. When, on Christ’s arrest, the “Pope” (Peter) is heard to say “I don’t give a fuck about the bastard”, such English readers as I have will at least catch something of the Belli flavour. Something is something, if it is not everything.

But Belli remains as one of the proofs that poetry is fundamentally untranslatable. England’s Dr Johnson said that poets keep languages alive, since one must learn their languages in order to read them. I am sure that Harold Robbins and, for that matter, Alberto Moravia lose little when they are translated into Serbo-Croat, Korean, or Lower Slobovian. But Belli ceases to be Belli when he ceases to be Roman. My hope is that my feeble efforts at translating him may draw a few people to him in his native dress and habitat. He is, after all, a sort of Roman saint.

[dawnajaynes32]

Old Vessels, Robust New Wine

Old Vessels, Robust New Wine

By Tom Wachunas

   “The aesthetic rationale for using appropriation, as distinct from a political one (though it may come to the same thing), is to insert a tiny wedge between the name and the named, to search out a crack in the wall built of habit and certainty, and work into that small fissure a measure of existential rebellion…Change the context, and meaning is made anew.” – David Salle, from his book, “How To See”

   “For many, even those who have not read the Odyssey, Odysseus’ adventures are part of our cultural knowledge. Given this familiarity, I have chosen to depict his journey within the mythological time period. In contrast, I have chosen to align Penelope’s heroic journey within the present context of female struggle and empowerment.”

- Kari Halker-Saathoff

   EXHIBIT: Odysseus and Penelope – The Long Journey, by Kari Halker-Saathoff / at the Canton Museum of Art THROUGH JULY 22, 2018

 1001 Market Ave. N, Canton, Ohio / Information: 330-453-7666,

 www.cantonart.org

   As physical entities in time and space, we are all vessels. Containers and transporters of our stories. Likewise, our art. 

   One way to think of art – whether spoken or sung, played or performed,  drawn, painted, printed or sculpted – is as a societal self-portrait; a tangible, formalized declaration and sharing of our collective soul. Our art can let us see who we were once, are now, and could yet become. 

   With this exhibit, Kari Halker-Saathoff has employed the historically potent art practice of bringing attention to a now by re-presenting a then. Parallel messages separated by centuries if not millennia.

   There are many significant precedents, among them the Neoclassical oil masterpiece by French painter Jacques- Louis David, Oath of the Horatii. The painting was inspired by an ancient story of early Roman soldiers pledging their lives to a cause before going to war, and here was intended to inspire French citizenry in 1784 to embrace the classical values of civic duty and sacrifice amidst the fervor of the impending French Revolution. Another compelling example is a series of magnificent oil paintings by Italian Baroque-era painter Artemesia Gentileschi, a brilliant advancer of Caravaggio’s tenebrism. The series began in about 1620 with Judith Beheading Holofernes. All the ensuing paintings in the series were variations on a story from the Biblical book of Judith, preserved in the Catholic Old Testament, but designated in the Protestant canon as apocryphal.  In any case, Judith was a Hebrew widow who saved her city from destruction by killing the enemy Assyrian General Holofernes. Judith’s actions in such an adversarial context resonated with Gentileschi as a symbol of her own struggle to be acknowledged not just as an accomplished painter in a male-dominated art world, but also respected as a strong, relevant woman in an oppressively patriarchal society. 

   And so it is that in this remarkable body of work - a combination of 12 graphite drawings on paper and 12 ceramic vessels - Kari Halker-Saathoff has appropriated Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, composed near the end of the 8th century BCE. In text placards that accompany the artworks, the artist gives us an episodic synopsis of this iconic narrative, wherein we learn of Odysseus’ arduous 10-year journey to return to his homeland after the Trojan War. He battles mythical beasts and wrathful deities. Meanwhile, his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, bravely resist cruel and conniving suitors who compete to marry Penelope in a doomed attempt to claim the kingdom of Ithaca.

   The intricately composed graphite drawings exude a graceful theatricality, as if constructed by a scenic designer for a stage play. All those beautifully blended grey tones and ornate linear details against white grounds are actually cut-outs in part, placed in turn against solid black backdrops. It’s an arresting effect, lending a sculpted, bas-relief air to the compositions. Additionally, there are ovoid portraits floating in the corners of each drawing, looking like jeweled pendants or medallions. For the most part, these visages seem to be too…today to be characters from an ancient epic. Perhaps they’re important contemporaries, personal to the artist’s own journey. 

   And therein lies a fascinating turn of perspective, most apparent in Kari’s 12 ceramic vessels. The clay was formed by potter Joshua Ausman according to her specifications, and the shapes of the pots are reminiscent of classical Greek amphoras. Each is trimmed with low fire red accents and adorned with bold, illustrative images in black. 

   You could call these images dramas-in-the-round. They require you to circle them on your own journey to take in all their visual and thematic content, which was inspired by the Women’s March of 2017, and the concomitant concerns of the #MeToo movement. In recognizing the elements of dignity and valor and bravery and heroism threaded through The Odyssey, Kari identifies most deeply with Penelope - not only her anxieties and sufferings, but her fortitude, faithfulness, ingenuity and intelligence as well. Notice how the story progresses from one vessel to the next. The years march on as Penelope waits. Accordingly, the vessels’ necks, ringed with red lines (somewhat suggestive of tree rings), grow progressively taller. Vessels holding more and more…hope?

  A rising up. Slowly but surely, these engaging artworks transcend their rootedness in dusty old myth to become a tangible connection to ourpresent. As such, they’re immediately, indeed urgently relevant to our current milieu of volatile social confrontation and ideological reckoning. “Change the context, and meaning is made anew.”   

   PHOTOS, from top:  1. Clay vessels by  Kari Halker-Saathoff  (with Joshua Ausman)  - image courtesy of the artist) / 2. She Resisted / 3. She Was Warned / 4. Suitors Sued For Harrasment / 5. Breathless Dead / 6. Who Receives Him Kindly / 7. Heartsick On The Open Sea – He Made His Name By Sailing There 

Old Vessels, Robust New Wine syndicated post