Tea at Trianon: Very Cool

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

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Very Cool

The background of West Side Story. (Via LRC) Share

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: What an interesting article! Thanks for sharing. I was surprised to read that it was the film that propelled the show into the fame it enjoys today. From my observation, once a Broadway show becomes immensely popular THEN a film is made. So this information was interesting to me, as well as the rest of the commentary from important people who were connected to the creation of the show, one of my favorites for 50 years, I must add. P.S. I had the original Broadway album....never bought the album of the movie version.; October 3, 2007 at 10:26:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Thanks! Yes, I grew up listening to the Broadway version! ;); October 3, 2007 at 10:27:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: As a tribute to the Broadway show, the National Symphony Orchestia (NSO) played a suite of the songs from the musical during their televised July 4 concert on PBS.; October 3, 2007 at 11:21:00 AM EDT