Tea at Trianon: Orpheus Sinfonia

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, March 24, 2021

Orpheus Sinfonia

The Swing by Fragonard

From Culture Whisper:

Music and visual art meet in perfect harmony in a series of five concerts inspired by the Wallace Collection, where the Orpheus Sinfonia and gallery experts appear side by side. Four centuries of art and music unfold over two months with introductions by Wallace Collection director Xavier Bray. To launch the Synergy Season of streamed concerts, he takes a close look at Canaletto, as the spirited Orpheus Sinfonia conjures up the artist's bustling 18th-century Venice in the music of Vivaldi (Sun 21 March, 6PM and on demand). Works include the bubbly Oboe Concerto in A, with soloist Peter Facer.

Next, the team turn to the Wallace Collection's fizzing Rococo treasures, including Fragonard’s The Swing and spectacular Meissen vases, to the accompaniment of music by Rameau, Couperin and Gluck (Sun 4 April at 6PM). The Wallace Collection is famous for its formidable collection of arms and armour. Cue an evening of martial music, Ceremony and Battle (Sun 19 April, 6PM). The brass and percussion of the Orpheus Sinfonia let rip in fanfares and rallying cries, and are in reflective mood for the funeral marches. (Read more.)