#louis gluck

[amicus-noctis]

“We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.” ― Louise Gluck

Photo: from Andrei Tarkovskys "The Mirror" (1975)

[orchard-bliss]

Louis Glück, Brennende Liebe-1904

[letsbeapoemtogether]

Intense love always leads to mourning.

Louise Gluck, The Triumph of Achilles

[trailofleaves]

Night covers the pond with its wing. Under the ringed moon I can make out your face swimming among minnows and the small echoing stars. In the night air the surface of the pond is metal.

Within, your eyes are open. They contain a memory I recognize, as though we had been children together. Our ponies grazed on the hill, they were gray with white markings. Now they graze with the dead who wait like children under their granite breastplates, lucid and helpless:

The hills are far away. They rise up blacker than childhood. What do you think of, lying so quietly by the water? When you look that way I want to touch you, but do not, seeing as in another life we were of the same blood.

— The Pond, Louise Gluck

[vampyroslesboss]

Louis Glück

[sourabha]

Glück, a companion for this evening, a companion forever.

It’s a bit terrifying to read several of her poems one after another. It’s as if she’s whispering in your ear all these strange things that occur only to her, revealing herself wholly as a human being — that thing we’re often unsure of doing even with our most loved ones. What temerity to do so on an empty page, then, spilling like water before strangers. What. A. Poet.

[thisisyourdriverspeaking]

Well, this took me a lot of online digging & a lot of patience but this is the top songs in the charts/most popular songs for each of the winners of the Indy 500. I hope you guys enjoy the effort 😂

30th May 1911 - Ray Harroun - Arthur Collins - Steamboat Bill

30th May 1912 - Joe Dawson - Enrico Caruso - Dreams Of Long Ago

30th May 1913 - Jules Goux - Harry Lauder - It's Nicer To Be In Bed

30th May 1914 - Rene Thomas - Heidelberg Quintet - By The Beautiful Sea

31st May 1915 - Ralph DePalma - Alma Gluck - Carry Me Back To Old Viginity

30th May 1916 - Dario Resta - John McCormack - The Sunshine Of Your Smile

31st May 1919 - Howdy Wilcox - Henry Burr & Albert Campbell - i'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

31st May 1920 - Gaston Chevrolet - Al Jolson - Swanee

30th May 1921 - Tommy Milton - Marion Harris - Look For The Silver Lining

30th May 1922 - Jimmy Murphy - Al Jolson - Angel Child

30th May 1923 - Tommy Milton - Carl Fenton - Love Sends A Little Gift Of Roses

30th May 1924 - Lora L Corum & Joe Boyer - Al Jolson - California Here I Come

30th May 1925 - Pete DePaolo - Ted Lewis - O! Katharina

31st May 1926 - Frank Lockhart - Gene Austin - Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue

30th May 1927 - George Soulders - Ben Bernie - Ain't She Sweet?

30th May 1928 - Louis Meyer - Gene Austin - Ramona

30th May 1929 - Ray Keech - Rudy Vallee - Honey

30th May 1930 - Billy Arnold - Rudy Vallee - Stein Song (University Of Maine)

30th May 1931 - Louis Schneider - Bing Crosby - Out Of Nowhere

30th May 1932 - Fred Frame - Louis Armstrong - All Of Me

30th May 1933 - Louis Meyer - Leo Reisman ft Harold Arlen - Stormy Weather

30th May 1934 - Bill Cummings - Duke Ellington - Cocktails For Two

30th May 1935 - Kelly Petillo - Guy Lombardo - What's The Reason (I'm Not Pleasin' You)

30th May 1936 - Louis Meyer - Benny Goodman - The Glory Of Love

31st May 1937 - Wilbur Shaw - Teddy Wilson ft Billie Holiday - Carelessly

30th May 1938 - Floyd Roberts - Shep Fields - Cathedral In The Pines

30th May 1939 - Wilbur Shaw - Benny Goodman - And The Angels Sing

30th May 1940 - Wilbur Shaw - Bing Crosby - If I Had My Way

30th May 1941 - Floyd David & Mauri Rose - Deanna Durbin - Waltzing In The Clouds

30th May 1946 - George Robson - Denny Dennis & The Skyrockets - Mary Lou

30th May 1947 - Mauri Rose - Bing Crosby - Among My Souvenirs

31st May 1948 - Mauri Rose - Bing Crosby - Galway Bay

30th May 1949 - Bill Holland - Burl Ives - Lavender Blue

30th May 1950 - Johnnie Parsons - Billy Eckstine - My Foolish Heart

30th May 1951 - Lee Wallard - Les Paul & Mary Ford - Mockin' Bird Hill

30th May 1952 - Troy Ruttman - Jo Stafford - A-Round The Corner

30th May 1953 - Bill Vukovich - Frankie Laine - I Believe

31st May 1954 - Bill Vukovich - Doris Day - Secret Love

30th May 1955 - Bob Sweikert - Eddie Calvert - Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White

30th May 1956 - Pat Flaherty - Ronnie Hilton - No Other Love

30th May 1957 - Sam Hanks - Andy Williams - Butterfly

30th May 1958 - Jimmy Bryan - Connie Francis - Who's Sorry Now

30th May 1959 - Rodger Ward - Elvis Presley - A Fool Such As I

30th May 1960 - Jim Rathmann - The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown

30th May 1961 - AJ Foyt - Temperance Seven - You're Driving Me Crazy

30th May 1962 - Rodger Ward - Elvis Presley - Good Luck Charm

30th May 1963 - Parnelli Jones - The Beatles - From Me To You

30th May 1964 - AJ Foyt - Cilla Black - You're My World

31st May 1965 - Jim Clark - Sandie Shaw - Long Live Love

30th May 1966 - Graham Hill - The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black

31st May 1967 - AJ Foyt - The Tremeloes - Silence Is Golden

30th May 1968 - Bobby Unser - Union Gap - Young Girl

30th May 1969 - Mario Andretti - The Beatles with Billy Preston - Get Back

30th May 1970 - Al Unser - England World Cup Squad - Back Home

29th May 1971 - Al Unser - Dawn - Knock Three Times

27th May 1972 - Mark Donohue - T.Rex - Metal Guru

30th May 1973 - Gordon Johncock - Wizzard - See My Baby Jive

26th May 1974 - Johnny Rutherford - Rubettes - Sugar Baby Love

25th May 1975 - Bobby Unser - Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man

30th May 1976 - Johnny Rutherford - J.J Barrie - No Charge

29th May 1977 - A.J Foyt - Rod Stewart - I Don't Want To Talk About It

28th May 1978 - Al Unser - Boney M - Rivers Of Babylon

27th May 1979 - Rick Mears - Blondie - Sunday Girl

25th May 1980 - Johnny Rutherford - Hot Chocolate - No Doubt About It

24th May 1981 - Bobby Unser - Adam & The Ants - Stand & Deliver

30th May 1982 - Gordon Johncock - Madness - House of Fun

29th May 1983 - Tom Sneva - The Police - Every Breath You Take

27th May 1984 - Rick Mears - Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

26th May 1985 - Danny Sullivan - Paul Hardcastle - 19

31st May 1986 - Bobby Rahal - Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

24th May 1987 - Al Unser - Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

29th May 1988 - Rick Mears - Wet Wet Wet - With A Little Help From My Friends

28th May 1989 - Emerson Fittipaldi - Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson & The Christians - Ferry Cross The Mersey

27th May 1990 - Arie Luyendyk - Adamski - Killer

26th May 1991 - Rick Mears - Cher - The Shoop Shoop Song

24th May 1992 - Al Unser JR - KWS - Please Don't Go

30th May 1993 - Emerson Fittipaldi - Ace Of Base - All That She Wants

29th May 1994 - Al Unser JR - Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around

28th May 1995 - Jacques Villeneuve - Robson & Jerome - Unchained Melody

26th May 1996 - Buddy Lazier - Buddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seed - Three Lions

27th May 1997 - Arie Luyendyk - Eternal ft Bebe Winans - I Wanna Be The Only One

24th May 1998 - Eddie Cheever - Tamperer ft Maya - Feel It

30th May 1999 - Kenny Brack - Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate

28th May 2000 - Juan Pablo Montoya - Sonique - It Feels So Good

27th May 2001 - Helio Castroneves - DJ Pied Piper - Do You Really Like It?

26th May 2002 - Helio Castroneves - Eminem - Without Me

25th May 2003 - Gil De Ferran - Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body

30th May 2004 - Buddy Rice - Frankee - F.U.R.B (F U Right Back)

29th May 2005 - Dan Wheldon - Akon - Lonely

28th May 2006 - Sam Hornish JR - Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

27th May 2007 - Dario Franchitti - Rihanna ft Jay-Z - Umbrella

25th May 2008 - Scott Dixon - Rihanna - Take A Bow

24th May 2009 - Helio Castroneves - Dizzee Rascal & Van Helden - Bonkers

30th May 2010 - Dario Franchitti - Dizzee Rascal - Dirtee Disco

29th May 2011 - Dan Wheldon - Pitbull ft Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer - Give Me Everything

27th May 2012 - Dario Franchitti - Fun ft Janelle Monae - We Are Young

26th May 2013 - Tony Kanaan - Naughty Boy ft Sam Smith - La La La

25th May 2014 - Ryan Hunter-Reay - Sam Smith - Stay With Me

24th May 2015 - Juan Pablo Montoya - OMI - Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)

29th May 2016 - Alexander Rossi - Drake ft Wizkid & Kyla - One Dance

28th May 2017 - Takuma Sato - Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber - Despacito

27th May 2018 - Will Power - Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa - One Kiss

26th May 2019 - Simon Pagenaud - Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber - I Don't Care

23rd August 2020 - Takuma Sato - Joel Corry ft MNEK - Head & Heart

30th May 2021 - Helio Castroneves - Olivia Rodrigo - Good 4 U

29th May 2022 - Marcus Ericsson - Harry Styles - As It Was

28th May 2023 - Josef Newgarden - Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding - Miracle

26th May 2024 - Josef Newgarden - Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso

And yes, this wouldn't be a post from me if I didn't create a playlist 😂

[coochiequeens]

It's not bad enough they let works by men into a Women’s Art exhibit but they features these freaks?

By Genevieve Gluck December 30, 2023

A prestigious art museum in London has prompted backlash after featuring trans-identified males in a historical exhibition of the women’s liberation movement. The Women in Revolt! exhibit is a first of its kind project offering “a wide-ranging exploration of feminist art” made by over 100 female artists during the period between 1970 – 1990.

While the exhibit purports to amplify the work of women, some female visitors to the museum quickly noticed that a number of trans-identified males had been slipped in among the displays.

One of the most disturbing pieces include archival copies of a publication created by men with a sexual fetish for pretending to be women, including one letter from a transvestite who complains of being jealous of his wife.

“Once I had admitted my true inner self to others I felt great relief, and thereupon decided to be myself all the time and live life as it suited me and not as the way I had been committed to live since coming out of the womb,” reads the letter, written by a man identified as “Julia.”

“Prior to this, my marriage (to a woman), had broken up and my wife was seeking a divorce together with the custody of the children because of my attitude to life, namely brought about because of my jealousy of her femininity and her ability to become pregnant and know true happiness within the straight society.”

The admission was one of several personal anecdotes contained within a magazine primarily catering to gay men called “Come Together.”

Information on the exhibit was first posted to X by women’s rights advocate @Sorelle_Arduino, who visited the exhibit yesterday and uploaded photos to her social media showing displays featuring trans-identified males.

One of the photos snapped by the user was an abstract painting by transgender artist Erica Rutherford displayed next to Monica Sjöö’s iconic piece “Wages for Housework.” In the display’s description of Rutherford’s painting, it states that he was inspired by being brought “face to face with the humiliations” of being treated as a woman.

“No cultural womens event can happen any more without men. Art has become a simpering pile of conformist junk,” one user said in response to @Sorelle_Arduino‘s thread on the exhibit.

“It would be bigoted to talk about women without talking about the ones that are men,” another quipped sarcastically.

Other displays featured articles from newsletters produced by the Beaumont Society, a group created in order to advocate for heterosexual crossdressers to be allowed to practice their sexual fetish publicly.

Among their goals, according to the group’s website, is to “promote and assist the study of gender.” The lobby organization uses as its namesake the 18th century French nobleman Charles Chevalier d’Éon de Beaumont, who would assume the identity of a woman named Charlotte, and was officially recognized as a woman by King Louis XVI.

The Beaumont Society, which currently advocates for the medical ‘transitioning’ of minors, was founded in 1966 by four male transvestites, one of whom was a leading figure in the fetish movement in the United States. Virginia Charles Prince, born Arnold Lowman, aided in creating the organization as a branch of a secret society of transvestic fetishists, who called themselves Full Personality Expression (FPE), located in California.

Initially, the group, as well as others like it which began to spring up in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia at the time, refused membership to homosexuals, presumably on the basis that prominent transvestites did not want the practice associated with sexual motivations. In one newsletter printed by Virginia Prince, who is credited with having popularized the term ‘transgender,’ he writes: “Some of the more narrow-minded of our sister TV’s [transvestites] see nothing good in anything that homosexuals do, but personally I am all for their success and would cooperate in helping them to achieve it where I could out of pure self-interest for our group.”

Prince has also openly discussed the sexual nature of the crossdressing fetish. In 1985 he appeared in an HBO documentary titled, “What Sex am I?”, where he commented on the element of arousal involved, saying that it was a “turn on” for “almost everybody” who participates.

“You have to grow past the stage of being an erotically aroused male in a dress, which results eventually in an orgasm. But when the orgasm is over, if you continue to stay in the dress, you begin to discover there’s this other part of yourself. You cease being an erotically aroused male, and you simply become a man who becomes to recognize that, gee, there’s something nice about girlness that I’m enjoying experiencing,” Prince, a co-founder of The Beaumont Society, said.

In recent years The Beaumont Society has become increasingly influential within the government and the medical establishment. The group is listed as an advisor to the National Health Service (NHS) in England as well as in Wales.

This is not the first controversy involving the Tate Museum centering trans-identified males, with multiple incidents occurring over the past year that have raised concerns amongst women’s rights advocates.

In June, a trans activist known for staging protests involving human urine was invited to read poetry during the Queer and Now LGBTQIA+ art festival. Jamie Cottle was dressed in women’s lingerie during the reading, wearing white panties that had the words “Sugar Money” embroidered into the crotch.

Though Cottle’s presentation was said to be for ages 16 and up, there were even younger children in attendance in the nearby area, with no boundaries set up to prevent minors from entering.

[tothewheel]

gave in and ordered a louis gluck collection

[rh490]

celeb crush list !! ( im js a girl ) 💘🎀

michael jackson

milo manheim

drew starkey

john stamos

jacob elordi

mena massoud

james franco

jace norman

josh hutcherson

keith powers

asap rocky

david castañeda

jaden walton

javon walton

xolo mariduena

miguel cazarezmora

mason thames

brady noon

adam sandler

matt sturniolo

chris sturniolo

neymar

zayn malik

central cee

ralph macchio

leonardo dicaprio

andrew garfield

noah centineo

donny pangilinan

rob rausch

kordell beckham

prime era hugh grant

jim sturgess

cole sprouse

robert downey jr

leonardo dicaprio

ryan gosling

glen powell

tom holland

griffin gluck

jude bellingham

joao felix

chris evans

tom cruise

matt bomer

tanner buchanan

jacob bertrand

dylan o brien

nick jonas

nicholas galitzine

nassin lyes

michele morron

walker scobell

hugh laughton scott

channing tatum

mike faist

prime hugh jackman

frat boy era louis tomlinson

sebastian stan

chace crawford

josep maria marti

matteo cancellieri

penn badgley

ed westwick

tom welling

henry cavill

matthew settle

johnny kavanagh

[laurencraw]

Louis Gluck

[phantomdecibel]

hey everyone this is my will @ghosty-crow gets my laptop and sketchbooks, take care of the Gluck make sure it’s well fed, @teamfortresstwo u can have my favourite hat as previously discussed as well as my collection of stolen tape rolls @cherry-perry-pie Louis is yours ofc take care of our son and my collection of cat hugs and boops will be split evenly among my moots as the life slowly drains out of my phone and soul my hope of escaping my dad and grandmother interacting dwindles as well ac–

[princesssarisa]

The Top 40 Most Popular Operas, Part 4 (#31 through #40)

A quick guide for newcomers to the genre, with links to online video recordings of complete performances, with English subtitles whenever possible.

Donizetti's Don Pasquale

Another comedy of manners with a melodic bel canto score.

Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, 2003 (Alessandro Corbelli, Eva Mei, Antonino Siragusa, Roberto de Candia; conducted by Gérard Korsrten)

Verdi's Macbeth

The first of Verdi's great Shakespearean operas.

Zürich Opera, 2001 (Thomas Hampson, Paoletta Marrocu, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Luis Lima; conducted by Franz Welser-Möst)

Beethoven's Fidelio

Beethoven's only opera, a drama of love, courage, and idealism in the face of political corruption.

Vienna State Opera, 1979 (Gundula Janowitz, René Kollo, Hans Sotin, Manfred Jungwirth, Lucia Popp; conducted by Leonard Bernstein)

Gounod's Faust

One of the most wildly popular operas in the 19th and early 20th centuries: a melodic French interpretation of the Faust legend.

Vienna State Opera, 1985 (Francisco Araiza, Gabriela Benacková, Ruggero Raimondi; conducted by Erich Binder)

Richard Strauss's Salome

Strauss's one-act operatic translation Oscar Wilde's erotic and powerful Biblically-inspired play.

Teatro Comunale di Bologna, 2010 (Erika Sunnegårdh, Mark S. Doss, Robert Brubaker, Dalia Schaechter, Mark Milhofer; conducted by Nicola Luisotti)

Puccini's Gianni Schicchi

Puccini's only comic opera, a rollicking one-act farce inspired by a passage from Dante's Divine Comedy.

Teatro alla Scala, 2008 (Leo Nucci, Nino Machiadze, Vittorio Grigolo, Cinzia De Mola; conducted by Riccardo Chailly)

Verdi's Don Carlo

A grand, tragic historical drama of politics, love vs. duty, intergenerational conflict, friendship (of the vaguely homoerotic variety), and abuse of power.

Metropolitan Opera, 1983 (Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Louis Quilico, Grace Bumbry, Ferruccio Furlanetto; conducted by James Levine)

Bellini's Norma

A great bel canto soprano vehicle, depicting a tragic love triangle amid the Roman conquest of Gaul.

Sydney Opera House, 1978 (Joan Sutherland, Margareta Elkins, Ron Stevens, Clifford Grant; conducted by Richard Bonynge)

Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos

A unique "opera within an opera" that explores the themes of comedy vs. drama and "low art" vs. "high art."

Salzburg Festival, 1965 (Hildegard Hillebrecht, Sena Jurinac, Reri Grist, Jess Thomas; conducted by Karl Böhm)

Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (Orpheus and Eurydice)

A groundbreaking early Classical interpretation of the Orpheus myth, replacing the pageantry of Baroque opera with "noble simplicity."

Feature film, 2014 (Bejun Mehta, Eva Liebau, Regula Mühlemann; conducted by Vaclav Luks) (no subtitles; read the libretto in English translation here)

[amiguiz]

—Louis Gluck

[atadbitofworld]

Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France and Her Controversial Legacy

On 10th May, Louis XVI of France and his wife, the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette, began their reign. The young princess became the queen consort of France, a position that many desired. Marie Antoinette had a beautiful face and a graceful manner, and everyone was curious about what kind of queen she would be: a supporter of the arts, a subtle diplomat, a political counselor to her husband, a devout wife and queen? She ended up being all of these things – and more.

Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, the later Queen Marie Antoinette of France by Joseph Ducreux {PD}

She left a lasting impression on French history unlike any other French consort. Marie Antoinette was a talented musician – she played the harp and the harpsichord, and learned from Gluck in her childhood – as well as a singer and a fan of composers such as André Grétry. Marie Antoinette was also passionate about fashion and liked to invent new dresses and hairstyles, breaking with tradition and making the work of her ladies-in-waiting harder than usual.

Marie Antoinette playing the harp at the French Court by Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty {PD}

She enjoyed being daring – sculptures like this show her lively personality and extravagant style.

Marie Antoinette by Jean-Antoine Houdon, photo credit: Grundy Art Gallery, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Despite her great impact on the arts, Marie Antoinette was often regarded as the puppet of her mother, the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa – she was often attacked at the French court and called 'The Austrian' by her enemies. She soon became a scapegoat both at court and outside and, while she was initially loved by the French people, her lavishness during a hard economic time quickly turned this love into resentment. The more she tried to advise her husband in politics, the stronger the accusations against her became. She was vilified in pamphlets and libels, and her bad reputation affected her husband's as well. 

Empress Maria Theresia of Austria by Martin van Meytens {PD}

Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, wearing his grand royal costume in 1779 by Antoine-François Callet {PD}

When the French Revolution started in 1789, Marie's mixed feelings about the situation caused a lot of damage to the French monarchy. She was advised by her family in Austria to escape, but she was conflicted between her willingness to compromise and her fears of the people's intentions. The royal family decided to flee, which led to the end of the monarchy in France.

The Royal Family of France in the Prison of the Temple by Edward Ward

Louis XVI was tried for treason and eventually executed on 21st January 1793. His reign will always be remembered by his failure to preserve the monarchy and the Bourbon dynasty, and will always be linked to the French Revolution.

As for Marie Antoinette – who, as the consort of France, was supposed to have a wonderful destiny and future – her final moments were far from glamorous. She was imprisoned with her children and her ladies-in-waiting, and she was eventually tried for treason and executed on 16th October 1793, at the age of only 37.

Marie Antoinette being taken to her Execution by William Hamilton {PD}

Her death caused outrage in the rest of Europe as most of her siblings were ruling other countries and realms. Her sister, Maria Carolina of Naples, swore to avenge her, developing a pure hatred against France for what they did. From an Austrian princess to a French queen consort, no one could have foreseen Marie Antoinette's terrible fate.

Marie Antoinette wrote to her sister-in-law, Madame Elisabeth, in her final moments. She had a close and sincere friendship with her over the years.

Elisabeth-Philippe-Marie-Hélène de France, dite Madame Elisabeth by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun {PD}

Her only thoughts were for her children, whom she wanted to protect desperately, even after her death. 'I am very saddened to leave my poor children; you know that they and you, my kind and loving sister, were my only reason to live.'

She advised, 'Let them both remember what I have always taught them, that virtuous principles and the faithful performance of every duty, are the first foundation of life; that their happiness will depend on their mutual love and trust.' She finished her letter with what she wanted her legacy to be: 'Let them never seek to avenge our death.' It was for her wise words and her maternal love that Marie Antoinette wanted her children to remember her.

Sadly, all her children died young except for Marie-Thérèse, who became the Duchess of Angoulême.

Queen Marie Antoinette of France and two of her Children (Marie-Thérèse Charlotte and Louis Joseph) Walking in The Park of Trianon by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller (Nationalmuseum (Photo: Erik Cornelius)) {PD}

Portrait of Maria Theresia Charlotte of Bourbon by Heinrich Füger {PD}

Even today, especially in France, Marie Antoinette is a controversial figure. She is remembered for betraying France and for being the source of all its troubles, but her legacy is more complex, as her last letter shows. In the end, Marie Antoinette had her flaws, of course, but she also remained a loyal mother who was separated from her children and who tried to leave them a legacy of peace and love – if only through her words.

Marie-Antoinette de Lorraine-Habsbourg, Queen of France, and her children by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun {PD}

Portrait of Marie-Antoinette of Austria by Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty {PD}

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, in a court dress by François Hubert Drouais {PD}

[opera-ghosts]

Louise Kirkby Lunn - O don fatale [Don Carlo] - 1911

Louise Kirkby Lunn (1873 – 1930) was a leading contralto who had trained in her native Manchester and studied at the Royal College of Music in 1890 for three years. In 1895 she appeared in the first of Henry Wood’s Promenade concerts and then began her stage appearances, including small roles at Covent Garden.  Then in 1896 she joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company as principal mezzo-soprano until her marriage in 1899 to William Pearson.  In the 1901 census they are living at Hyde Park Mansions, with a year old son named  Louis Kirkby and her aunt Anne living with them. They later lived in St Johns Wood Park. She sang many roles at Covent Garden during the first two decades of the 20th century and first appeared at  the Bechstein (later Wigmore) Hall in 1902, giving her first full recital (with pianist Percy Pitt) on 3 November 1906, followed by many others in subsequent years when her husband was manager there.

She also performed in a charity concert in aid of the Italian Hospital in London in July 1906 and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society for her rare combination of personal artistic achievement added to a richly endowed nature.   She was famous for her Delilah in Samson and Delilah, and for Gluck’s Orfeo. In 1909, she sang Elgar’s Sea Pictures with Elgar conducting  the orchestra. She often toured Europe and made trips to New York and Australia. In 1922 she made her farewell to Covent Garden with her celebrated part of Kundry but continued for some years to appear in concerts and recitals. Sir Henry Wood said she was a singer with a glorious voice and an even tone throughout a compass of well over two octaves, a singer with whom I never found fault in so much as a quaver all the years I worked with her, and who never sang out of tune.