Tea at Trianon: "West Side Story" is Back!

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, August 30, 2007

"West Side Story" is Back!

On stage at Wolf Trap in Northern Viriginia, Leonard Bernstein's musical about young love amid gang warfare still has appeal after half a century. The modern rendition of Romeo and Juliet is something my siblings and I would listen to repeatedly on the record player while we were growing up. We knew "Officer Krupke" by heart and thought it was hilarious; the tragic social implications sank in later. Nevertheless, my sister and I would always sob when Tony died; it felt like the end of the world when Maria walked off by herself into the darkness. The various love songs are among the most searing ever written, worthy of Puccini himself, except that West Side Story is All-American, unique to our time and our nation. The theme of transcendent love, however, is universal. Share

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: Have you seen the movie too? I first saw in junior high and enjoyed it. Last month it was on PBS-WETA as part of its movie series.; August 30, 2007 at 11:07:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Oh, yes, I have seen the movie. Many times.; August 30, 2007 at 11:10:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: I first heard the music when a friend of mine came back from NYC and said I just HAD to hear the record from this wonderful new musical on Broadway that she had just seen. I am still as moved by the music as I was upon first hearing it so many years ago. It is ageless!; August 30, 2007 at 11:15:00 PM EDT
The Bass player said...: we used to listen to the soundtrack in the car alot, my then 4 y.o. would always make us play "America" over and over again...dancing in her car seat.; August 31, 2007 at 1:33:00 PM EDT