Rameau Update

Noëlle Spieth
Rameau, Pièces de clavecin de 1741
Eloquentia - EL0920 - 1CD2009
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Joël Pontet
Rameau, Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de clavecin
La Dauphine
Saphir Productions - 1 CD2010

Concert :
February 11, 2010 - 8:30 pm
L'Archipel - Paris
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Anne Sofie Von Otter
Ombre de mon amant - french baroque arias
(Charpentier, Lambert, Rameau)
William Christie & Les Arts Florissants
Archiv - 1 CD2010
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Rameau, Complete Works for Harpsichord
Musica Amphion
Pieter-Jan Belder, harpsichord
Rémy Baudet, baroque violin
Rainer Zipperling, gamba
Brilliant Classics - BRIL93903 - 3CD2009
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The Hours of the Day, Musée Magnin, Dijon

Through paintings, documents, objects and pieces of furniture, the exhibition describes the daily life of a high-society family from the late 17th century to the late 19th century. It introduces the routines and habits and shows their evolution through the time.

Testifying on the importance of music, a "table à sextuor" (sextet table) designed by Pierre II Migeon.

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Les Heures du jour - Dans l'intimité d'une famille de la haute société, de Louis XIV à la IIIe République

Musée National Magnin, Dijon (France)

Nov 19 2009 - February 14 2010

Musée Magnin

Magic Lantern

Athanasius Kircher's Magic Lantern

(Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbrae)

A current exhibition at the Cinémathèque Française is dedicated to magic lanterns and painted films. It's a very enriching time travel to the origins of the motion picture.

There is funny anecdote about Christiaan Huygens. He invented his magic lantern as part of his experiments on optics but he was not interested in its entertaining potential. Unlike him, his father Constantin was enthusiastic about it and, in 1662, asked his son to send him a magic lantern to give a show to Louis XIV and his court. Christiaan felt horrified. He thought that having his name associated with that kind of show would ruin his reputation of respectable scientist, and he didn't want his father to condescend to the role of fair entertainer. As he couldn't refuse the lantern, he sent the instrument but asked his brother to take off a lens to make sure it wouldn't work. He was hoping that by the time his father could figure out how to fix the problem he would have changed his mind about the show. And that was what happened. Constantin Huygens never showed the magic lantern to Louis XIV.

A few years later, in 1666, Christiaan Huygens, invited by Colbert, became a member of the Académie Royale des Sciences.

Lanterne magique et film peint - 400 ans de cinéma

Paris, Cinémathèque Française, October 14, 2009 - March 28, 2010

Torino, Venaria Reale, October 12 2010 - January 09, 2011

laternamagica

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Off topic, but Proust is one of my favourite writers...

On the laternamagica site, there is a Lapierre series of slides titled 'Genevieve de Brabant'. I think that it is likely to be the series Proust described in In Search of Lost Time.

Closure of the V&A Instrument Gallery

A major collection of historic musical instruments, that of the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), is to be permanently close on 22 February 2010, and the instruments dispached to various places.

It's a sad piece of news. When a collection is scattered that way, the chances for a future revival are scarse, if not completely jeopardized.

Read here.

Saint-Cyr Fan

(click for larger image)

This fan was auctioned a few months ago in Paris and went for €6000.
It was painted by the pupils of Saint-Cyr and given to madame de Maintenon in occasion of her name day on April 2 1699.

Saint-Cyr, or 'Maison Royale de Saint Louis', was a convent school founded by Madame de Maintenon to educate impoverished girls of noble lineage.
The age for the admission was 7 to 12. At the age of 20, the girls were given a certificate and a dowry and helped finding a decent position.
The painting shows scenes of the daily life in Saint-Cyr. Pictures of Saint-Cyr being rare, this fan is a very precious document.

Here is another interesting piece related to Saint-Cyr. It's the description and transcription (in english) of a french manuscript titled Proof of Nobility for Elizabeth Mérée d'Anqueville required for admittance to St.-Cyr.