Monthly Archives: January 2013

Obsessions

Updated on January 25, 2013 by Elena Greene

While I was down with the flu, I was finding it very hard to just rest. I am so unused to lying around and doing nothing! So some of the time I did some crochet and I’ve continued to do bits of it during odd moments, like waiting for my daughter to get out of her play rehearsals, etc… It’s an obsession.

I blogged about Regency Crochet a few years ago. At that point I was unable to discover much evidence of ladies crocheting during the Regency, although it was possible. It was around that time that tambour work (embroidery that resembles crochet on fabric) evolved into what the French called “crochet in the air”. Crochet didn’t become popular in England until the time of Victoria. (Check out that old post if you want to see some examples of truly hilarious modern Bad Crochet.)

Anyway, today for fun I tried googling “Regency crochet”.

I found a book called “Austentatious Crochet: 36 Contemporary Designs from the World of Jane Austen”. Some of the patterns use crochet technique effectively; some I’m not so sure about as they use swathes of single or double crochet (boring!) to do what might be done with ordinary fabrics. For instance, I think I would redo the cover pattern by just adding the crochet embellishments to a knit top.

There’s an example of another pretty item that uses crochet more effectively, Lizzie’s Lace Mantelet, on the Ravelry website.

Sense & Sensibility Patterns has some crochet patterns mostly inspired by periods other than the Regency, but cute, like these Edwardian style earrings designed by Jenny Chancey.

At the Jane Austen Centre website, I found a pattern for crocheted gloves. Now these look fun to make although I wonder if they would stretch as easily as the pattern claims. I have longish fingers and gloves often feel a smidge small to me. If I do this, I’m going to check them against my hands frequently and add rows if I need to.

The Jane Austen Centre also has a page on the art of tatting. That’s something I would very much like to try sometime. It says it can be addictive and I don’t doubt it would be for me! I have a plain fabric reticule made to go with my Regency gown and it would be fun to decorate it with tatting like the one below.

Anyone else enjoy handicrafts of any sort, to make or to wear? What should I work on next (besides finishing the mess-in-progress)?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Frivolity, Regency, Research | Tagged crafts, crochet, tatting | 8 Replies

Happy birthday Farinelli

Updated on January 24, 2013 by Janet Mullany

Miniature by William Prewitt

Farinelli, the great superstar castrato singer was born on this day in 1705. He was one of the thousands of boys (maybe four thousand a year) subjected to the inhuman practice of castration, which was technically illegal in Italy, to preserve their voices. He was also one of the few who attained international fame. He was brought to England in 1733 by Handel, and became a sensation. Shortly after, still in his early 30s, he left to join the court of King Philip V of Spain, his singing having cured the monarch of his depression and did not sing in public again.

So what did he sound like? You can, if you poke around online, find a recording of Alessandro Moreschi, made in 1902. Moreschi was way past his prime, and the recording is pretty bad. He didn’t have an operatic voice and he sounds nervous and wobbly, although it is in its way impressive, even if only as a piece of history.

With the interest in HIP (historically-informed performance) there’s naturally a resurgence in the castrato repertoire. The amazing Vivica Genaux brought out a CD some years ago of Farinelli’s greatest hits. You can hear soundbites of Genaux and other singers, at Arias for Farinelli. It is very difficult virtuoso music, both in the vocal range and the demands it makes physically upon the singer.

Composer Johann Joachim Quantz commented:

Farinelli had a penetrating, full, rich, bright and well-modulated soprano voice, with a range at that time from the A below middle C to the D two octaves above middle C. … His intonation was pure, his trill beautiful, his breath control extraordinary and his throat very agile, so that he performed the widest intervals quickly and with the greatest ease and certainty.

Charles Burney said

The first note he sung was taken with such delicacy, swelled by minute degrees to such an amazing volume, and afterwards diminished in the same manner to a mere point, that it was applauded for full five minutes. After this he set off with such brilliancy and rapidity of execution, that it was difficult for the violins of those days to keep pace with him… [he] could hold his notes for such a long time that those who heard him believed that it was impossible to do so naturally. They believed he hid a special instrument which maintained the sound of his voice whilst he took another breath.

Burney was also impressed with Farinelli’s emotional impact:

Senesino had the part of a furious tyrant, and Farinelli that of an unfortunate hero in chains; but in the course of the first air, the captive so softened the heart of the tyrant, that Senesino, forgetting his stage-character, ran to Farinelli and embraced him in his own.

In the movie Farinelli, his voice was recreated by digitally morphing that of Ewa Mallas-Godlewska (soprano) and Derek Lee Ragin (countertenor).

In London shortly after his appearance, public taste changed. Opera seria, the lofty, formal style devoted to tales of mythological and classical characters simply became too silly to be taken seriously. John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, incorporating popular song and starring rogues and tarts, became wildly popular. Handel gave up opera–even Farinelli couldn’t save that sinking ship–and devoted himself to writing oratorios. A new generation of composers transformed operas.

The occasional castrato did appear on the London stage, such as Giovanni Battista Velluti who sang in Meyerbeer’s Il Crociato in 1825, possibly the last opera written with a castrato role. But it was the last gasp.

Here’s more on Farinelli and the castrati:

Lack of testes gave castrato superstar headaches (New Scientist)

Singing in the pain (BBC News)

A tear in each note and a sigh in each breath (Georgian London)

BBC Documentary, Castrato (Part 1. The exhibit at the Handel Museum is no longer on show) If you are squeamish skip the first minute of Part 2. In fact, skip most of Part 2.

Farinelli excerpt, aria from Rinaldo by Handel.

I’d love to time travel and hear Farinelli sing. Who would you like to see perform?

Posted in Music, Research, TV and Film | 4 Replies

Happy Birthday, Lord Byron!

Updated on January 22, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

So I am taking a little break between working on the WIP and looking at pics of Michelle Obama’s clothes to wish Lord Byron a happy birthday! He was born on this day in 1788, which would make him–225. I doubt very much he would like the idea of being quite so old and no doubt very decrepit by now….

Here is one of my favorite of his poems, Stanzas for Music (I think I just really love those opening lines). What are some of your own favorites??

There be none of Beauty’s daughters

With a magic like thee;

And like music on the waters

Is thy sweet voice to me:

When, as if its sound were causing

The charmed ocean’s pausing,

The waves lie still and gleaming,

And the lull’d winds seem dreaming:

And the midnight moon is weaving

Her bright chain o’er the deep;

Whose breast is gently heaving,

As an infant’s asleep:

So the spirit bows before thee,

To listen and adore thee;

With a full but soft emotion,

Like the swell of Summer’s ocean.

Posted in Regency | 1 Reply

Coronation of George IV

Updated on January 21, 2013 by Diane Gaston

Today is a grand day in the United States of America. Inauguration Day! No matter what our political affiliations, Inauguration Day is a day we celebrate. In a way it is a celebration of our system of electing government.

In honor of Inauguration Day, I thought it would be fun to do some contrast between this day and the Coronation of George IV, formerly the Prince Regent or informally, “Prinny.”

Time

Our inauguration ceremony is not on the actual day of inauguration. The legal oath of office took place yesterday, November 20, but the ceremonial oath of office and parade are taking place today. George III died January 29, 1820, and upon his death, the Prince Regent became king, but he was not crowned king until July 19, 1821. George wanted a little time to plan…

Competition

I suspect the planners of the Inauguration want it to stack up nicely with other inaugurations, especially those of the opposing political party. George IV had a similar (if exaggerated) bent. He was determined that his coronation would outshine Napoleon’s coronation of 1804, which was a lavish affair memorialized in a painting by David. George IV’s coronation painting by A.C. Pugin showcases the grandeur of Westminster Abbey as well as the pageantry of the ceremony.

Location

Both ceremonies take place in/around famous buildings. President Obama’s inauguration will take place on the Capitol steps. George IV’s coronation took place in Westminster Abbey.

Cost

George IV’s coronation cost the equivalent of 15 million dollars, a little more than half of this amount was compelled to be paid by France, which was like thumbing his nose, I suspect. George IV’s coronation was Britain’s most expensive ever, but, shockingly, it does not compare to the cost of our inauguration. Estimates put that cost at $53 million (paid for by donations). Of course, there are costs for the inauguration that simply would not have existed in 1821. There will be a security force including 6,000 military personnel, 45 dog handlers, 7,000 police, as well as other expenses.

The Clothes

The clothes that interest us at the inauguration are worn by the women. What will Michelle Obama wear? Jill Biden? Any of the other female dignitaries and guests? We’ll notice the men only if their suits are odd for some reason. But George IV was made of sterner stuff. He spent 24,000 pounds on a Coronation robe. It was made of crimson velvet with gold stars and ermine trim and a train that stretched 27 feet. George IV also commissioned a new crown adorned with 12,314 hired diamonds. The jewels were rented from Rundell & Bridge and were set so that light entered through the open back of the setting, like jewels are set today. The new king also acquired the Hope diamond. In addition to his own costume which included a brown wig and a black Spanish hat with ostrich feathers and a heron’s plume, George IV commissioned costumes for his participants in the Tudor style. One has to wonder what the various lords felt about such dress.

The Wives

When our President takes the oath of office, standing next to him, looking as proud as a woman can look will be Michelle, his wife, the First Lady. All of our modern images of the inauguration ceremony include the wife. Caroline of Brunswick, the King’s wife, however, was banned from the ceremony altogether. The King had already tried and failed to get a divorce from Caroline; he was determined that she be banned from the coronation. He hired prizefighters dressed as pages to prevent her entrance into Westminster Abbey. Although she did try to gain entrance, crying, “I am the Queen of England,” she failed. She died 19 days later.

Posted in Regency | Tagged 1821, Coronation, george iv | 3 Replies

200 years of Pride & Prejudice

Updated on January 19, 2013 by Myretta

As you had not heard from me at that time it was very good in you to write, but I shall not be so much your debtor soon. – I want to tell you that I have got my own darling Child from London; — on Wednesday I received one Copy, sent down by Falknor, with three lines from Henry to say that he had given another to Charles & sent a 3d by the Coach to Godmersham; just the two Sets which I was least eager for the disposal of.
Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra
January 29, 1813

pp1st Jane Austen’s “own darling Child” was, of course, the published Copy of Pride & Prejudice. This is month is the 200^th anniversary of its publication and a big month for Janeites.

On January 27, 1813 Jane Austen, at Chawton, received her first copy of Pride & Prejudice, sent by her brother Henry from London. Henry also sent copies to Jane’s brothers Edward Austen Knight (in Godmersham) and Charles. Once Jane received her copy, she immediately wrote to Henry and asked him to send c0pies to her brothers Frank and James and, along with her mother, began reading it aloud to a friend without revealing the author.

On January 28, publisher Tomas Egerton’s first advertisement for Pride & Prejudice appeared in the Morning Chronicle, detailing a novel in three volumes with a price of 18s. There were possibly 1500 copies printed; this is not clear. The copyright remained with Egerton until 1841.

Sometime in early February, an anonymous review of Pride & Prejudice appeared in The British Critic, No. 41. No doubt, Jane Austen noted and probably recorded this review. She was assiduous in collecting reviews of her work both public and private.

We will see a lot of events, real and virtual, celebrating this anniversary. Of Jane Austen’s six novels, Pride & Prejudice is, without a doubt, the most beloved. This year, Jane Austen Societies around the globe will be organizing their annual meetings around Pride & Prejudice. Already, books have been published on the topic, festivals are being planned, and the BBC intends to recreate the Netherfield ball. Who can resist?

Will you be celebrating or do you celebrate Pride & Prejudice every year anyway? What are you looking forward to? And what do you think? Is this Jane’s best work?

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged Pride and Prejudice | 2 Replies