#louis gluck
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
amicus-noctis · 6 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
“We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.” ― Louise Gluck
Photo: from Andrei Tarkovskys "The Mirror" (1975)
907 notes · View notes
orchard-bliss · 4 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Louis GlĂŒck, Brennende Liebe-1904
38 notes · View notes
letsbeapoemtogether · 6 months ago
Text
Intense love always leads to mourning.
Louise Gluck, The Triumph of Achilles
41 notes · View notes
trailofleaves · 8 months ago
Text
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
3 notes · View notes
vampyroslesboss · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Louis GlĂŒck
1 note · View note
sourabha · 1 year ago
Text
GlĂŒck, 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.
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
0 notes
daffodilsfortomorrow · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
All this Time, Louis Tomlinson; Portrait of a Lady on Fire, dir. CĂ©line Sciamma; “The Return”, Louise GlĂŒck; Post by @ted; Such Great Heights, The Postal Service; "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous", Ocean Vuong
76 notes · View notes
rh490 · 3 months ago
Text
💞💘💗 my smash list 💓💖💝 (im js a girl)
michael jackson!!!! idc
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
hugh grant my romcom king đŸ’Ș💞💞
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
2014 dylan o brien 😣
nick jonas
nicholas galitzine
nassin lyes
michele morron
walker scobell
hugh laughton scott
channing tatum
mike faist
jake t austin
mitchell hope
hugh jackman
sebastian stan
frat boy louis tomlinson
young jeremy sisto

 2 be continued 

22 notes · View notes
thisisyourdriverspeaking · 1 month ago
Text
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 😂
8 notes · View notes
coochiequeens · 10 months ago
Text
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.”
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
“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.
Tumblr media
“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.
21 notes · View notes
phantomdecibel · 1 year ago
Text
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–
21 notes · View notes
princesssarisa · 1 year ago
Text
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 GĂ©rard Korsrten)
Verdi's Macbeth
The first of Verdi's great Shakespearean operas.
ZĂŒrich 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 BenackovĂĄ, 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 SunnegÄrdh, 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 (PlĂĄcido 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 MĂŒhlemann; conducted by Vaclav Luks) (no subtitles; read the libretto in English translation here)
17 notes · View notes
laurencraw · 7 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Louis Gluck
3 notes · View notes
amiguiz · 5 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
—Louis Gluck
5 notes · View notes
tabellae-rex-in-sui · 2 years ago
Text
Voltaire quote that either aged like milk or wine. I can't tell. But it's hilarious:
"Il me paraßt que vous autres Parisiens vous allez voir une grande et paisible révolution dans votre gouvernement et dans votre musique. Louis XVI et Gluck vont faire de nouveaux Français."
— Voltaite to the Marquise Du Deffand, 28 July 1774
34 notes · View notes
kemetic-dreams · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges(December 25, 1745 – June 10, 1799), was a FrenchCreolevirtuoso violinist and composer, who was conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris.
Saint-Georges was born in the then French colony ofGuadeloupe, the son of Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges, a wealthy married planter, and an enslaved African woman named Nanon. At the age of seven he was taken to France, and at the age of thirteen educated asgendarmeto the King. He received music lessons from François-Joseph Gossec and likely violin lessons from Jean-Marie Leclair, while continuing to study fencing.
In 1764 Antonio Lolli dedicated two concertos to Saint-Georges. In 1769 he joined a new symphony orchestra; two years later he was appointed concert master and soon started composing. In 1773 he was appointed conductor of "Le Concert des Amateurs". In 1775 he introduced the symphonie concertante, using the possibilities offered by a newbow. In 1776 he was proposed as the next conductor of the Paris Opera, but was subsequently denied this role by a petition by the divas of the time to the Queen. This then put an end to any aspirations that Saint-Georges had to becoming the music director of the institution. In 1778 he lived for 2.5 months next to Mozart in the Chaussee d'Antinand stopped composing instrumental works in 1785. He knew many composers, including Salieri,Gossec,Gretry,Mozart and Gluck. He commissioned and performed the Paris Symphonies by Haydn and travelled to London where he met with the Prince of Wales and George IIIin 1787.
Following the 1789 outbreak of the French Revolution, the younger Saint-Georges served as a colonel of the LĂ©gion St.-Georges(established in 1792), the first all-African regiment in Europe, fighting on the side of the French First Republic. Today the Chevalier de Saint-Georges is best remembered as the first well-known classical composer of African ancestry. He composed numerous string quartets and other instrumental pieces, violin concertos as well as operas. Ludwig van Beethoven held his music and his views very highly.
Tumblr media
Joseph Bologne was born in Baillif, Basse-Terre as the son of a planter and former councilor at the parliament of Metz, Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges (1711–1774) and Nanon, his wife's 16-year-old enslaved African servant of Senegalese origin, who served as her personal maid. Bologne was legally married to Elisabeth MĂ©rican (1722–1801) but acknowledged his son by Nanon and gave him his surname
Starting in the 17th century, a Code Noir had been law in France and its colonial possessions. On April 5, 1762, King Louis XV decreed that "NÚgres et gens de couleur" (Africans and people of color) must register with the clerk of the Admiralty within two months. Many leading Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire argued that Africans and their descendants were inferior to White Europeans. These laws and racist attitudes towards mixed-race people made it impossible for Joseph Bologne to marry anybody at his level of society, though he did have at least one serious romantic relationship.
Tumblr media
Musical life and career
François-Joseph Gossec
Nothing is known about Saint-Georges' early musical training. Given his prodigious technique as an adult, Saint-Georges must have practiced the violin seriously as a child. There has been no documentation found of him as a musician before 1764, when violinistAntonio Lollicomposed two concertos, Op. 2, for him,[note 1]and 1766, when composerFrançois-Joseph Gossecdedicated a set of six string trios, Op. 9,to Saint Georges. Lolli may have worked with Bologne on his violin technique and Gossec on compositions.
(Beauvoir's novel says that "Platon", a fictional whip-toting slave commander onSaint-Domingue, "taught little Saint-Georges" the violin.[note 2])
Historians have discountedFrançois-Joseph Fétis' claim that Saint-Georges studied violin withJean-Marie Leclair. Some of his technique was said to reveal influence byPierre GaviniÚs. Other composers who later dedicated works to Saint-Georges wereCarl Stamitzin 1770, and Avolio in 1778.
In 1769, the Parisian public was amazed to see Saint-Georges, the great fencer, playing as a violinist in Gossec's new orchestra,Le Concert des Amateurs. Four years later he became its concertmaster/conductor. In 1772 Saint-Georges created a sensation with his debut as a soloist, playing his first two violin concertos, Op. II, with Gossec conducting the orchestra. "These concertos were performed last winter at a concert of theAmateursby the author himself, who received great applause as much for their performance as for their composition." According to another source, "The celebrated Saint-Georges,mulatto fencer [and] violinist, created a sensation in Paris ... [when] two years later ... at theConcert Spirituel, he was appreciated not as much for his compositions as for his performances, enrapturing especially the feminine members of his audience."
Young Saint-Georges in 1768, aged 22. The three roses on his lapel were a Masonic symbol.
Saint-Georges's first compositions, Op. I, were a set of six string quartets, among the first in France, published by famed French publisher, composer, and teacherAntoine Bailleux. They were inspired byHaydn's earliest quartets, brought from Vienna by Baron Bagge. Saint-Georges wrote two more sets of six string quartets, threeforte-pianoand violin sonatas, a sonata for harp and flute, and six violin duets. The music for three other known compositions was lost: a cello sonata, performed in Lille in 1792, a concerto for clarinet, and one for bassoon.
Saint-Georges wrote twelve additional violin concertos, two symphonies, and eightsymphonie-concertantes, a new, intrinsically Parisian genre of which he was one of the chief exponents. He wrote his instrumental works over a short span of time, and they were published between 1771 and 1779. He also wrote sixopéras comiquesand a number of songs in manuscript.
In 1773, when Gossec took over the direction of the prestigiousConcert Spirituel, he designated Saint-Georges as his successor as director of theConcert des Amateurs. After fewer than two years under the younger man's direction, the group was described[by whom?]as "Performing with great precision and delicate nuances [and] became the best orchestra for symphonies in Paris, and perhaps in all of Europe."
Palais de Soubise, venue of Saint-Georges' orchestra
In 1781, Saint Georges'sConcert des Amateurshad to be disbanded due to a lack of funding. Playwright andSecret du RoispyPierre Caron de Beaumarchaisbegan to collect funds from private contributors, including many of theConcert'spatrons, to sendmaterielaid for the American cause. The plan to send military aid via a fleet of fifty vessels and have those vessels return withAmerican rice, cotton, or tobacco ended up bankrupting the French contributors as theAmerican congressfailed to acknowledge its debt and the ships were sent back empty. Saint-Georges turned to his friend and admirer,Philippe D'Orléans, duc de Chartres, for help. In 1773 at the age of 26, Philippe had been elected Grand Master of the 'Grand Orient de France' after uniting all the Masonic organizations in France. Responding to Saint-Georges's plea, Philippe revived the orchestra as part of theLoge Olympique, an exclusive Freemason Lodge.
RenamedLe Concert Olympique, with practically the same personnel, it performed in the grand salon of thePalais Royal. In 1785, Count D'Ogny, grand master of the Lodge and a member of its cello section, authorized Saint-Georges to commissionHaydnto composesix new symphoniesfor the Concert Olympique. Conducted by Saint-Georges, Haydn's "Paris" symphonies were first performed at the Salle desGardes-Suissesof theTuileries, a much larger hall, in order to accommodate the huge public demand to hear Haydn's new works. QueenMarie Antoinetteattended some of Saint-Georges's concerts at the Palais de Soubise, arriving sometimes without notice, so the orchestra wore court attire for all its performances. "Dressed in rich velvet or damask with gold or silver braid and fine lace on their cuffs and collars and with their parade swords and plumed hats placed next to them on their benches, the combined effect was as pleasing to the eye as it was flattering to the ear." Saint-Georges played all his violin concertos as soloist with his orchestra.
41 notes · View notes