On February 17th 1795, Thomas Seddal grew the first documented potato crop in the United Kingdom. In his Chester garden, he was reputed to have grown a crop amounting to 8.3kg in weight. In Imperial measurement, that equates to about 17 pounds. In modern Britain, it is hard for most people to imagine a day without potato in their diet. That first crop in Chester was arguably the turning point in our culinary culture. With some justification, it has been claimed that the potato provided the basic nutrition to drive the Industrial Revolution upon which the Victorians established the mighty British Empire. By 1845, this food staple which we all now take for granted caused a famine in Ireland which lasted for seven years and resulted in the death of over a million people. As early as 1802, the American president Thomas Jefferson had dined on potatoes served in the French manner at the White House. The trend to fry potatoes is still with us two centuries later and has exerted mixed fortunes in our health outcomes.
On April 7th in that same year, the French formally adopted the metre as their unit of measurement. Although 200 years later, the UK has yet to adopt it universally, it will only be a matter of time before we follow suit. Imperial measurements seem destined for the history books with our Imperial past. The new era of the Industrial Revolution was taking off and work started on a current World Heritage Site that same year. The aquaduct at Froncysyllte near Wrexham in North Wales was engineered and built by Thomas Telford to convey goods along the Llangollen canal. The canals have of course enjoyed a renaissance in recent years as hauliers seek more cost effective ways to convey their wares. It reinforces the widely held view that Mr. Beeching was wrong to abandon the branch lines on our previously extensive railway network. It also adds weight to the growing belief that we still have much to learn from our forebears of the 1800s.
It was four years before the advent of the Victorian era that a young German composer first visited Britain. In what was a depressingly familiar outcome in those times, Mendelssohn died before his fortieth birthday. What he achieved before his early death is little short of miraculous. His composition "The St. Matthew Passion" rekindled European interest in his great predecessor J.S. Bach. It would be difficult now to imagine life without the calming, reassuring tones of Bach. Mendelssohn was born of Jewish parents who soon chose to distance themselves from that faith. Europe then was in the early stages of anti-semitism which would ultimately spawn the Nazis a century later. Mendelssohn visited Britain on ten occasions and left a great musical legacy not least of which his Scottish compositions. "Fingal's Cave" remains one of the most evocative pieces of the entire Romantic period http://youtu.be/zcogD-hHEYs. It is a gift indeed to be able to transport the listener to the very place you have portrayed in your composition. Mendelssohn did this to great effect with his Italian http://youtu.be/OYfBgBTn61k and Scottish http://youtu.be/IQuPWR93Nkk symphonies in much the same way as Beethoven had with his majestic 6th symphony http://youtu.be/iMJPZ-mu-Ts. Mendelssohn was aged just 12 when he was first introduced to Goethe. Goethe was by common consent the most important literary figure in the well established German Romantic genre which was based on folklore dating from medieval times. In particular, his opera Faust set the standard for the writers destined to follow him. In Faust, the devil is cleverly portrayed as Mephistopholes having first appeared as a humble sheepdog. The story is an old one in which the mortal man Faust trades his sole to the devil in exchange for a life of fulfilled wishes. For his part, Faust must spend his years after death in damnation. Many years later, the blues musician Robert Johnson would turn to the same theme thus inspiring the explosion of rhythm and blues in the 1960s and 1970s.
Although music was still firmly in the grip of the Classical style, it would not be long before the Romantic period was ushered in by a staggering array of talent which included Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mahler and, of course, Schubert. One country more than any other was at the forefront of these great periods; Germany. Within two years, Franz Schubert was born and the baton which had been held so peerlessly by Beethoven was passed to a worthy successor. In so many ways, Schubert was and remains the epitome of the Romantic dream. Although he died aged just 31, he still managed to write over 600 Lieder, or love songs. Many of those songs were based on the literature of German romantic folklore. His "serenade" always stands out as a great example of the early Romantic movement http://youtu.be/ZpA0l2WB86E. His Impromptu no.3 is an outstanding example of the genre and well worth a listen https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2114166293792391867#editor/target=post;postID=6434829278190757429;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname. Schubert was said to be suffering from mercury poisoning. Mercury in those days was still the treatment of choice for Syphilis. Syphilis is mainly transmitted by sexual contact and was much more prevalent in the late nineteenth century because of a lack of effective treatment allied to the age old human weakness for the forbidden fruit.
Where Schubert was the forerunner of the Romantic period in music, the equivalent movement in literature was already well established. In many ways, the epitome of German romantic literature was the story of Parzival written by Eschenbach in the early thirteenth century. Parzival was the German Arthurian equivalent of the English knight Percival. He was the father of Lohengrin and both figures would become operatic centre pieces by the darling of the German romantic movement, Richard Wagner. The second wife of Wagner inspired him to write these operas and also establish the Bayreuth festival whose popularity seems to know no bounds. Fittingly, Cosima Wagner was the daughter of Franz Liszt. Chopin apart, it is difficult to think of anyone who dominated piano music to such an extent and for such a long time.
Wagner was idolised by the young Bavarian king Ludwig II. His castles including the one at Neuschwanstein still stand as lasting tributes the the great German romantic tradition. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuszIYCyOFcP9d9cNyZwWoz4TyEEnHDqvLZIblG2MBglMOF5kjy8IZ9dK-YjIq3Y1yblfcsvgyIhP_r_3Yj2yH1Fva7Q-PrZiZeB3Kd0nS1-l9ZADY2zPlwFP5S4jmQxnDPHveIXY5e97W/s1600/Week+02+Image+01++.jpg). Much has been written about Ludwig II but his appreciation and passion for the old romantic stories of German folklore are beyond question. Here was a man with considerable financial resources who used them to live out his romantic fantasies. The holy grail which occupies the subject matter of both Parzival and Lohengrin was in some ways not unlike the quest of Ludwig II. From as far back as medieval times, the quest for the holy grail has consumed man. Whether such a grail exists as a physical entity is open to debate but the notion of pursuing such an elusive item resonates with all of us. The implications of such a quest are both spiritual and allegorical.
Later on in the Romantic era, a philosopher from Leipzig successfully predicted the end of faith in place of materialism. Nietzsche was painfully accurate and like Schubert, he too died due to the effects of syphilis. He died in 1900 as the Victorian era drew to it's close. In the same year, a flamboyant Irish wit, writer and playwright also died. Ten years younger than Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde wrote just one novel. "The picture of Dorian Grey" remains one of the most chilling reminders of our vanity ever written. Nietzsche cited the great Russian novelist Dostoyevsky as the only thinker "from whom I have anything to learn". Both men would have learned a great deal if they had read Wilde. All three were prominent players as the great Romantic era drew to a close which arguably came with the advent of the Great War. There could be no pretence of romance after that and nor was there.
The Romantic era came before the advances in medical science which we now all take so much for granted. Thus musical giants of the calibre of Schubert and Mendelssohn died before their fortieth years. They stand as proof to the assertion that a life can't be measured in years alone. When Mark Twain observed that only birth, tax and death were assured in life, he missed the true essence of life. How much tax we pay is frankly irrelevant. Our legacy to the world is not measured in money. Great music, great art and great literature are surely the true markers of a life well lived. The advancement of science pales in to insignificance when set against the gargantuan legacy of the Romantic era. When Nietzsche predicted the advent of nihilism, I wonder if even he could have predicted the age in which we now find ourselves. Even the great Nietzsche would have struggled to predict the hideous injustices and materialism of our age.
On April 7th in that same year, the French formally adopted the metre as their unit of measurement. Although 200 years later, the UK has yet to adopt it universally, it will only be a matter of time before we follow suit. Imperial measurements seem destined for the history books with our Imperial past. The new era of the Industrial Revolution was taking off and work started on a current World Heritage Site that same year. The aquaduct at Froncysyllte near Wrexham in North Wales was engineered and built by Thomas Telford to convey goods along the Llangollen canal. The canals have of course enjoyed a renaissance in recent years as hauliers seek more cost effective ways to convey their wares. It reinforces the widely held view that Mr. Beeching was wrong to abandon the branch lines on our previously extensive railway network. It also adds weight to the growing belief that we still have much to learn from our forebears of the 1800s.
It was four years before the advent of the Victorian era that a young German composer first visited Britain. In what was a depressingly familiar outcome in those times, Mendelssohn died before his fortieth birthday. What he achieved before his early death is little short of miraculous. His composition "The St. Matthew Passion" rekindled European interest in his great predecessor J.S. Bach. It would be difficult now to imagine life without the calming, reassuring tones of Bach. Mendelssohn was born of Jewish parents who soon chose to distance themselves from that faith. Europe then was in the early stages of anti-semitism which would ultimately spawn the Nazis a century later. Mendelssohn visited Britain on ten occasions and left a great musical legacy not least of which his Scottish compositions. "Fingal's Cave" remains one of the most evocative pieces of the entire Romantic period http://youtu.be/zcogD-hHEYs. It is a gift indeed to be able to transport the listener to the very place you have portrayed in your composition. Mendelssohn did this to great effect with his Italian http://youtu.be/OYfBgBTn61k and Scottish http://youtu.be/IQuPWR93Nkk symphonies in much the same way as Beethoven had with his majestic 6th symphony http://youtu.be/iMJPZ-mu-Ts. Mendelssohn was aged just 12 when he was first introduced to Goethe. Goethe was by common consent the most important literary figure in the well established German Romantic genre which was based on folklore dating from medieval times. In particular, his opera Faust set the standard for the writers destined to follow him. In Faust, the devil is cleverly portrayed as Mephistopholes having first appeared as a humble sheepdog. The story is an old one in which the mortal man Faust trades his sole to the devil in exchange for a life of fulfilled wishes. For his part, Faust must spend his years after death in damnation. Many years later, the blues musician Robert Johnson would turn to the same theme thus inspiring the explosion of rhythm and blues in the 1960s and 1970s.
Although music was still firmly in the grip of the Classical style, it would not be long before the Romantic period was ushered in by a staggering array of talent which included Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mahler and, of course, Schubert. One country more than any other was at the forefront of these great periods; Germany. Within two years, Franz Schubert was born and the baton which had been held so peerlessly by Beethoven was passed to a worthy successor. In so many ways, Schubert was and remains the epitome of the Romantic dream. Although he died aged just 31, he still managed to write over 600 Lieder, or love songs. Many of those songs were based on the literature of German romantic folklore. His "serenade" always stands out as a great example of the early Romantic movement http://youtu.be/ZpA0l2WB86E. His Impromptu no.3 is an outstanding example of the genre and well worth a listen https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2114166293792391867#editor/target=post;postID=6434829278190757429;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname. Schubert was said to be suffering from mercury poisoning. Mercury in those days was still the treatment of choice for Syphilis. Syphilis is mainly transmitted by sexual contact and was much more prevalent in the late nineteenth century because of a lack of effective treatment allied to the age old human weakness for the forbidden fruit.
Where Schubert was the forerunner of the Romantic period in music, the equivalent movement in literature was already well established. In many ways, the epitome of German romantic literature was the story of Parzival written by Eschenbach in the early thirteenth century. Parzival was the German Arthurian equivalent of the English knight Percival. He was the father of Lohengrin and both figures would become operatic centre pieces by the darling of the German romantic movement, Richard Wagner. The second wife of Wagner inspired him to write these operas and also establish the Bayreuth festival whose popularity seems to know no bounds. Fittingly, Cosima Wagner was the daughter of Franz Liszt. Chopin apart, it is difficult to think of anyone who dominated piano music to such an extent and for such a long time.
Wagner was idolised by the young Bavarian king Ludwig II. His castles including the one at Neuschwanstein still stand as lasting tributes the the great German romantic tradition. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuszIYCyOFcP9d9cNyZwWoz4TyEEnHDqvLZIblG2MBglMOF5kjy8IZ9dK-YjIq3Y1yblfcsvgyIhP_r_3Yj2yH1Fva7Q-PrZiZeB3Kd0nS1-l9ZADY2zPlwFP5S4jmQxnDPHveIXY5e97W/s1600/Week+02+Image+01++.jpg). Much has been written about Ludwig II but his appreciation and passion for the old romantic stories of German folklore are beyond question. Here was a man with considerable financial resources who used them to live out his romantic fantasies. The holy grail which occupies the subject matter of both Parzival and Lohengrin was in some ways not unlike the quest of Ludwig II. From as far back as medieval times, the quest for the holy grail has consumed man. Whether such a grail exists as a physical entity is open to debate but the notion of pursuing such an elusive item resonates with all of us. The implications of such a quest are both spiritual and allegorical.
Later on in the Romantic era, a philosopher from Leipzig successfully predicted the end of faith in place of materialism. Nietzsche was painfully accurate and like Schubert, he too died due to the effects of syphilis. He died in 1900 as the Victorian era drew to it's close. In the same year, a flamboyant Irish wit, writer and playwright also died. Ten years younger than Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde wrote just one novel. "The picture of Dorian Grey" remains one of the most chilling reminders of our vanity ever written. Nietzsche cited the great Russian novelist Dostoyevsky as the only thinker "from whom I have anything to learn". Both men would have learned a great deal if they had read Wilde. All three were prominent players as the great Romantic era drew to a close which arguably came with the advent of the Great War. There could be no pretence of romance after that and nor was there.
The Romantic era came before the advances in medical science which we now all take so much for granted. Thus musical giants of the calibre of Schubert and Mendelssohn died before their fortieth years. They stand as proof to the assertion that a life can't be measured in years alone. When Mark Twain observed that only birth, tax and death were assured in life, he missed the true essence of life. How much tax we pay is frankly irrelevant. Our legacy to the world is not measured in money. Great music, great art and great literature are surely the true markers of a life well lived. The advancement of science pales in to insignificance when set against the gargantuan legacy of the Romantic era. When Nietzsche predicted the advent of nihilism, I wonder if even he could have predicted the age in which we now find ourselves. Even the great Nietzsche would have struggled to predict the hideous injustices and materialism of our age.
The demise of romance?
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