1.
Arc de Triomphe
–
The Arc de Triomphe should not be confused with a smaller arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which stands west of the Louvre. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I and it set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages. Inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus, the Arc de Triomphe has an height of 50 metres, width of 45 m. The smaller transverse vaults are 18.68 m high and 8.44 m wide, three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane under the archs primary vault, with the event captured on newsreel. Pariss Arc de Triomphe was the tallest triumphal arch until the completion of the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City in 1938, the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982, is modelled on the Arc de Triomphe and is slightly taller at 60 m. The Arc is located on the bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes, the architect, Jean Chalgrin, died in 1811 and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. On 15 December 1840, brought back to France from Saint Helena, prior to burial in the Panthéon, the body of Victor Hugo was displayed under the Arc during the night of 22 May 1885. The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off on the day, it is said, the relief was immediately hidden by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations. On 7 August 1919, Charles Godefroy successfully flew his biplane under the Arc, Jean Navarre was the pilot who was tasked to make the flight, but he died on 10 July 1919 when he crashed near Villacoublay while training for the flight. Following its construction, the Arc de Triomphe became the point of French troops parading after successful military campaigns. Famous victory marches around or under the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. A United States postage stamp of 1945 shows the Arc de Triomphe in the background as victorious American troops march down the Champs-Élysées, after the interment of the Unknown Soldier, however, all military parades have avoided marching through the actual arch. The route taken is up to the arch and then around its side, out of respect for the tomb, both Hitler in 1940 and de Gaulle in 1944 observed this custom. By the early 1960s, the monument had grown very blackened from coal soot and automobile exhaust, and during 1965–1966 it was cleaned through bleaching. In the prolongation of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, a new arch, after the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe de lÉtoile, the Grande Arche is the third arch built on the same perspective. In 1995, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria placed a bomb near the Arc de Triomphe which wounded 17 people as part of a campaign of bombings, the astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin, in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe, Jean-Pierre Cortot, François Rude, Antoine Étex, James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire
Arc de Triomphe
–
The Arc de Triomphe from the Champs-Élysées
Arc de Triomphe
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A colourised aerial photograph of the southern side (published in 1921)
Arc de Triomphe
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Free French forces on parade after the
liberation of Paris (1944)
Arc de Triomphe
–
Avenues radiate from the Arc de Triomphe in
Place Charles de Gaulle, the former Place de l'Étoile.
2.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
3.
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
–
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, sometimes spelled de lIsle or de Lile, was a French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. He is known for writing the words and music of the Chant de guerre pour larmée du Rhin in 1792, Rouget de Lisle was born at Lons-le-Saunier, reputedly on a market day. His parents lived in the village of Montaigu. A plaque was placed at the spot of his birth. He was the eldest son of Claude Ignace Rouget at Orgelet and he enlisted into the army as an engineer and attained the rank of captain. A royalist, like his father, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new constitution, Rouget de Lisle was cashiered and thrown into prison in 1793, narrowly escaping the guillotine. He was freed during the Thermidorian Reaction and retired to Montague, the song that has immortalized him, La Marseillaise, was composed at Strasbourg, where Rouget de Lisle was garrisoned in April 1792. Rouget de Lisle returned to his quarters and wrote the words in a fit of patriotic excitement after a public dinner. After the war, Rouget de Lisle wrote a few songs of the same kind as the Marseillaise. His Essais en vers et en prose contains the Marseillaise, a prose tale Adelaide et Monville of the sentimental kind and he returned to public life after the July Revolution, Louis Philippe awarded him the Legion of Honour. Rouget de Lisle died in poverty in Choisy-le-Roi, Val de Marne and his ashes were transferred from Choisy-le-Roi cemetery to the Invalides on 14 July 1915, during World War I. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Rouget de Lisle. Texts on Wikisource, Rouget de lIsle, Claude Joseph, free scores by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle at the International Music Score Library Project
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
–
Rouget de Lisle sings la Marseillaise for the first time painted by
Isidore Pils (1813–1875)
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
–
Rouget de Lisle in 1792.
4.
National anthem
–
The majority of national anthems are either marches or hymns in style. The countries of Latin America tend towards more operatic pieces, while a handful of countries use a simple fanfare, a national anthem is usually in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Amhrán na bhFiann, the anthem of the Republic of Ireland, was written in English, the current national anthem of South Africa is unique in that five of the countrys eleven official languages are used in the same anthem. One of the two national anthems of New Zealand, God Defend New Zealand, is commonly now sung with the first verse in Māori. The tune is the same but the words are not a translation of each other. God Bless Fiji has lyrics in English and Fijian which are not translations of each other, although official, the Fijian version is rarely sung, and it is usually the English version that is performed at international sporting events. There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their anthems, one of these is the Marcha Real, the anthem of Spain. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held, other anthems with no words include Inno Nazionale della Repubblica, the anthem of San Marino, and that of Kosovo, entitled Europe. National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, the oldest national anthem belongs to the Netherlands and is called the Wilhelmus. It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt, but did not become the anthem until 1932. The Japanese anthem, Kimigayo, has the oldest lyrics, which were taken from a Heian period poem, in contrast, the music of Qaumi Taranah, Pakistans national anthem was composed in 1949, preceding its lyrics, which were written in 1952. The Philippine anthem Lupang Hinirang was composed in 1898 as wordless incidental music for the ceremony declaring independence from the Spanish Empire, the Spanish poem Filipinas was written the following year to serve as the anthems lyrics, the current Tagalog version dates to 1962. Spains national anthem, the Marcha Real, written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, Kong Christian stod ved højen mast, in 1780, and La Marseillaise, Serbia became the first Eastern European nation to have a national anthem – Rise up, Serbia. – in 1804. Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu, the anthem of Kenya, is one of the first national anthems to be specifically commissioned. It was written by the Kenyan Anthem Commission in 1963 to serve as the anthem after independence from the United Kingdom, National anthems are used in a wide array of contexts. Certain etiquette may be involved in the playing of a countrys anthem and these usually involve military honours, standing up/rising, removing headwear etc. In diplomatic situations the rules may be very formal, there may also be royal anthems, presidential anthems, state anthems etc. for special occasions
National anthem
–
Early version of the Wilhelmus as preserved in a manuscript of 1617 (Brussels,
Royal Library, MS 15662, fol. 37v-38r)
National anthem
National anthem
–
Schoolroom in
Turkey with the words of the
İstiklâl Marşı
National anthem
–
The words of the
National Anthem of the Republic of China written by Dr.
Sun Yat-sen
5.
Strasbourg
–
Strasbourg is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany in the region of Alsace. In 2014, the city proper had 276,170 inhabitants, Strasbourgs metropolitan area had a population of 773,347 in 2013, making it the ninth largest metro area in France and home to 13% of the Grand Est regions inhabitants. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of 915,000 inhabitants in 2014, Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, such as the Council of Europe and the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is also the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, Strasbourgs historic city centre, the Grande Île, was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988, the first time such an honour was placed on an entire city centre. The largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque, was inaugurated by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on 27 September 2012. Economically, Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as a hub of road, rail, the port of Strasbourg is the second largest on the Rhine after Duisburg, Germany. Before the 5th century, the city was known as Argantorati, a Celtic Gaulish name Latinized first as Argentorate, after the 5h century, the city became known by a completely different name Gallicized as Strasbourg. That name is of Germanic origin and means Town of roads, Strasbourg is situated on the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the River Rhine, which forms the eastern border of the modern city. The historic core of Strasbourg however lies on the Grande Île in the River Ill, which flows parallel to, and roughly 4 kilometres from. The natural courses of the two eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city. This section of the Rhine valley is an axis of north-south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself. The city is some 400 kilometres east of Paris, in spite of its position far inland, Strasbourgs climate is classified as Oceanic, with warm, relatively sunny summers and cold, overcast winters. Precipitation is elevated from mid-spring to the end of summer, but remains largely constant throughout the year, on average, snow falls 30 days per year. The highest temperature recorded was 38.5 °C in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded was −23.4 °C in December 1938. Nonetheless, the disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
6.
French National Convention
–
The National Convention was the third government of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic. The Convention sat as an assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795. The National Convention was therefore the first French assembly elected by a suffrage without distinctions of class, although the Convention lasted until 1795, power was effectively stripped from the elected deputies and concentrated in the small Committee of Public Safety from April 1793. After the fall of Robespierre, the Convention lasted for year until a new constitution was written. The election took place from 2 to 6 September 1792 after the election of the colleges by primary assemblies on 26 August. Therefore, the increased suffrage had very little impact, the electorate returned the same sort of men that the active citizens had chosen in 1791. In the whole of France, only eleven primary assemblies wanted to retain the monarchy, of the electoral assemblies, all tacitly voted for a republic – though only Paris used the word. None of the deputies stood as a royalist for elections, out of the five million Frenchmen able to vote, only a million showed up at the polls. The Salle des Machines had galleries for the public who often influenced the debates with interruptions or applause, the members of the Convention came from all classes of society, but the most numerous were lawyers. 75 members had sat in the National Constituent Assembly,183 in the Legislative Assembly, the full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the French colonies, of whom only some arrived in Paris in time. Besides these, however, the newly formed départements annexed to France from 1792 to 1795 were allowed to send deputations, according to its own ruling, the Convention elected its President every fortnight, and the outgoing President was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, sometimes in exceptional circumstances the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative the Convention used committees, with more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws. The most famous of these included the Committee of Public Safety. The Convention held legislative and executive powers during the first years of the French First Republic and had three periods, Girondin, Montagnard or Jacobin, and Thermidorian. The abolition of the royalty is a matter you cannot put off till tomorrow, the first session was held on 20 September 1792. The following day, amidst profound silence, the proposition was put to the assembly, on the 22nd came the news of the Battle of Valmy
French National Convention
–
Autel de la Convention nationale or Autel républicain
François-Léon Sicard Panthéon de Paris, France, 1913
French National Convention
–
The trial of Louis XVI
French National Convention
–
Journées des 31 Mai 1er et 2 Juin 1793
French National Convention
–
Constitution du Peuple Française du 6 Messidor l'an I (24 June 1793)
7.
French First Republic
–
In the history of France, the First Republic, officially the French Republic, was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First Empire in 1804 under Napoleon, under the Legislative Assembly, which was in power before the proclamation of the First Republic, France was engaged in war with Prussia and Austria. The foreign threat exacerbated Frances political turmoil amid the French Revolution and deepened the passion, in the violence of 10 August 1792, citizens stormed the Tuileries Palace, killing six hundred of the Kings Swiss guards and insisting on the removal of the king. A renewed fear of action prompted further violence, and in the first week of September 1792, mobs of Parisians broke into the citys prisons. This included nobles, clergymen, and political prisoners, but also numerous common criminals, such as prostitutes and petty thieves, many murdered in their cells—raped, stabbed and this became known as the September Massacres. The resulting Convention was founded with the purpose of abolishing the monarchy. The Conventions first act, on 10 August 1792, was to establish the French First Republic, the King, by then a private citizen bearing his family name of Capet, was subsequently put on trial for crimes of high treason starting in December 1792. On 16 January 1793 he was convicted, and on 21 January, throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention did little to remedy the problem until late spring of 1793, despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the Constitution of 1793, which was ratified by popular vote in early August. The Committees laws and policies took the revolution to unprecedented heights, after the arrest and execution of Robespierre in July 1794, the Jacobin club was closed, and the surviving Girondins were reinstated. A year later, the National Convention adopted the Constitution of the Year III and they reestablished freedom of worship, began releasing large numbers of prisoners, and most importantly, initiated elections for a new legislative body. On 3 November 1795, the Directory was established, the period known as the French Consulate began with the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. Members of the Directory itself planned the coup, indicating clearly the failing power of the Directory, Napoleon Bonaparte was a co-conspirator in the coup, and became head of the government as the First Consul. He would later proclaim himself Emperor of the French, ending the First French Republic and ushering in the French First Empire
French First Republic
–
Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power during the Coup of 18 Brumaire
French First Republic
–
Flag
8.
Marseille
–
Marseille, also known as Marseilles in English, is a city in France. Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Massalia, Marseille was the most important trading centre in the region, Marseille is now Frances largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships. The city was European Capital of Culture, together with Košice, Slovakia and it hosted the European Football Championship in 2016, and will be the European Capital of Sport in 2017. The city is home to campuses of Aix-Marseille University and part of one of the largest metropolitan conurbations in France. Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third largest metropolitan area in France after Paris, further east still are the Sainte-Baume, the city of Toulon and the French Riviera. To the north of Marseille, beyond the low Garlaban and Etoile mountain ranges, is the 1,011 m Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the artists colony of lEstaque, further west are the Côte Bleue, the Gulf of Lion. The airport lies to the north west of the city at Marignane on the Étang de Berre, the citys main thoroughfare stretches eastward from the Old Port to the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and Fort Saint-Jean on the north. Further out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of Château dIf, the main commercial centre of the city intersects with the Canebière at rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse. To the south east of central Marseille in the 6th arrondissement are the Prefecture and the fountain of Place Castellane. To the south west are the hills of the 7th arrondissement, the railway station—Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement, it is linked by the Boulevard dAthènes to the Canebière. Marseille has a Mediterranean climate with mild, humid winters and warm to hot, december, January, and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around 12 °C during the day and 4 °C at night. Marseille is officially the sunniest major city in France with over 2,900 hours of sunshine while the average sunshine in France is around 1,950 hours, less frequent is the Sirocco, a hot, sand-bearing wind, coming from the Sahara Desert. Snowfalls are infrequent, over 50% of years do not experience a single snowfall, Massalia, whose name was probably adapted from an existing language related to Ligurian, was the first Greek settlement in France. It was established within modern Marseille around 600 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. The connection between Massalia and the Phoceans is mentioned in Thucydidess Peloponnesian War, he notes that the Phocaean project was opposed by the Carthaginians, the founding of Massalia has also been recorded as a legend. Protis was invited inland to a banquet held by the chief of the local Ligurian tribe for suitors seeking the hand of his daughter Gyptis in marriage, at the end of the banquet, Gyptis presented the ceremonial cup of wine to Protis, indicating her unequivocal choice
Marseille
–
Clockwise from top:
Notre-Dame de la Garde •
Old Port •
La Joliette with
CMA CGM Tower •
Calanque of Sugiton
Marseille
–
View of the "Petit Nice" on the Corniche with
Frioul and
Château d'If in the background
Marseille
–
Marseille seen from Spot Satellite
Marseille
–
View from Marseille's
Old Port (Vieux-Port) towards
Notre-Dame de la Garde
9.
Isidore Pils
–
Isidore-Alexandre-Augustin Pils was a French painter. Pils was born in Paris as the son of a soldier François Pils, at the age of twelve, he studied with Guillaume Guillon-Lethière for four years. He later studied under François-Édouard Picot, by 1840 hed been admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts and was competing for the Prix de Rome, which he won in 1841 for a history painting, St. Peter Healing a Lame Man at the Door of the Temple. Although in poor health, Pils then spent the three years at the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici, which then had Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres as its director. While in Italy he visited Naples, Venice, and Florence, pilss earlier paintings have religious themes. In 1849 he completed his most famous work, Rouget de LIsle Singing La Marseillaise, after experiences travelling with French troops through the Crimea, his themes took on military and nationalistic subjects. He later produced many military scenes during the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Pils was appointed professor of painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1863 but left the same year for two years in Algeria. In 1868 he was elected to seat #14 of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, among his students were Adrien Moreau, Paul Adolphe Rajon, Julien Dupré, Luc-Olivier Merson, Ludovic Piette, Édouard Joseph Dantan and László Mednyánszky. The following year he was the subject of a biography by Louis Becq de Fouquières, Pils is buried in section 54 of Père Lachaise Cemetery. This page translated from its French equivalent
Isidore Pils
–
Rouget de L'Isle Singing
La Marseillaise, 1849
Isidore Pils
–
French composer Georges Bousquet (1818-1854); portrait by Pils (1841)
10.
French Revolution
–
Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
French Revolution
–
The
August Insurrection in 1792 precipitated the last days of the monarchy.
French Revolution
–
The French government faced a fiscal crisis in the 1780s, and King Louis XVI was blamed for mishandling these affairs.
French Revolution
–
Caricature of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back.
French Revolution
–
The meeting of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 at Versailles.
11.
War of the First Coalition
–
France declared war on the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792. In July 1792, an army under the Duke of Brunswick and composed mostly of Prussians joined the Austrian side and invaded France, France suffered reverses and internal strife and responded with draconian measures. The Committee of Public Safety formed and the en masse drafted all potential soldiers aged 18 to 25. The new French armies counterattacked, repelled the invaders, and advanced beyond France, the French established the Batavian Republic as a sister republic and gained Prussian recognition of French control of the Left Bank of the Rhine by the first Peace of Basel. With the Treaty of Campo Formio, the Holy Roman Empire ceded the Austrian Netherlands to France, Spain made a separate peace accord with France and the French Directory carried out plans to conquer more of the Holy Roman Empire. The First Coalition collapsed, leaving only Britain in the fighting against France. The key figure, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, brother to the French Queen Marie Antoinette, had looked on the Revolution calmly. He became more concerned as the Revolution grew further radical, although he hoped to avoid war. Dumouriez prepared an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the French army, which had insufficient forces for the invasion and its soldiers fled at the first sign of battle, deserting en masse, in one case murdering General Théobald Dillon. While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, in July 1792 the invasion commenced. Brunswicks army, composed mostly of Prussian veterans, took the fortresses of Longwy, although the battle was a tactical draw, it bought time for the revolutionaries and gave a great boost to French morale. Dumouriez went on the offensive in Belgium once again, winning a victory over the Austrians at Jemappes on 6 November 1792. On 21 January the revolutionary government executed Louis XVI after a trial and this united all European governments, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands against the Revolution. France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on 1 February 1793, in the course of the year 1793 the Holy Roman Empire, the kings of Portugal and Naples, and the Grand-Duke of Tuscany declared war against France. Thus the First Coalition was formed, the French government sent Citizen Genet to the United States to encourage them into entering the war on Frances side. The newly formed nation refused and remained throughout the conflict. After a victory in the Battle of Neerwinden in March, the Austrians suffered twin defeats at the battles of Wattignies, British land forces were defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September
War of the First Coalition
–
The
Battle of Valmy was a decisive victory for the French revolutionary army.
War of the First Coalition
–
The British evacuation of
Toulon in December 1793
War of the First Coalition
–
The
Glorious First of June, 1 June 1794
War of the First Coalition
–
Strategic situation in Europe in 1796
12.
Baron
–
Baron is a title of honour, often hereditary. The word baron comes from the Old French baron, from a Late Latin baro man, servant, soldier, cornutus in the first century already reports a word barones which he took to be of Gaulish origin. During the Ancien Régime, French baronies were very much like Scottish ones, feudal landholders were entitled to style themselves baron if they were nobles, a roturier could only be a seigneur de la baronnie. These baronies could be sold freely until 1789 when feudal law was abolished. The title of baron was assumed as a titre de courtoisie by many nobles, emperor Napoléon created a new empire nobility, in which baron was the second lowest title. The titles followed a line of descent and could not be purchased. In 1815, King Louis XVIII created a new system based on the British model. Baron-peer was the lowest title, but the heirs to pre-1789 barons could remain barons, as could the elder sons of viscount-peers and this peerage system was abolished in 1848. The wife of a Freiherr is called a Freifrau or sometimes Baronin, families which had always held this status were called Uradel, and were heraldically entitled to a three pointed coronet. Families which had been ennobled at a point in time had seven points on their coronet. These families held their fief in vassalage from a suzerain, the holder of an allodial barony was thus called a Free Lord, or Freiherr. Subsequently, sovereigns in Germany conferred the title of Freiherr as a rank in the nobility, today, as of 1919 on, there is no legal privilege associated with hereditary titles in Germany. In modern, republican Germany, Freiherr and Baron remain heritable only as part of the legal surname, as opposed to this, hereditary titles have been banned completely in Austria. Still, in countries, honorary styles like His/her Highness, Serenity, etc. persists in social use as a form of utmost courtesy. As a result, German barons have been more numerous than those of countries where primogeniture with respect to title inheritance prevails as France. In Italy, barone was the lowest rank of feudal nobility except for that of signore or vassallo, the title of baron was most generally introduced into southern Italy by the Normans during the 11th century. Whereas originally a barony might consist of two or more manors, by 1700 we see what were formerly single manors erected into baronies, counties or even marquisates. Since the early 1800s, when feudalism was abolished in the various Italian states, the untitled younger son of a baron is a nobile dei baroni and in informal usage might be called a baron, while certain baronies devolve to heirs male general
Baron
–
The robe worn by a baron during his creation ceremony in 17th-century Britain, engraved by
Wenceslas Hollar.
Baron
–
Royal, noble and
chivalric ranks
Baron
–
A Scottish Baron's
helmet
13.
Philippe Friedrich Dietrich
–
Baron Philippe Friedrich Dietrich, born 14 November 1748 in Strasbourg, and guillotined on 29 December 1793 in Paris, was a scholar and Alsatian politician. As mayor of Strasbourg, he accelerated revolutionary reforms throughout the region, Dietrich came from an old Protestant family of bankers and foundry owners in Niederbronn, in the Lower Rhine, and Reichshofen. The family was established in Strasbourg, with the 1549 birth of Dominique Didier and his father, Jean Dietrich, was the son of Johann von Dietrich, a foundry owner in Reichshofen. His mother, Amélie Hermanny, was the daughter of a prominent banker and he had one brother, Jean, who married Louise-Sophie de Glaubitz, and established the familys ironworks in Saint Domingue. His own son, Jean-Albert Dietrich, was counselor of Bas-Rhin and his granddaughter married the nephew of his successor as mayor of Strasbourg, William Turckheim, colonel of cavalry in the French army. Dietrich attended the Protestant gymnasium in Strasbourg and from 1772 continued his study through European travel and he married Louise Sybille Ochs, sister of Peter Ochs, who became mayor of Basel and a militant supporter of the French-styled revolution in Switzerland in 1798–99. He received the position of secretary and charge-de-affaires of Swiss and Grison and this charge required him to reside in Paris half his time. In 1775, he demonstrated the volcanic origins of the Kaiserstuhl, near Freiburg im Breisgau, in 1777 he participated in experiments conducted by Alessandro Volta in Strasbourg, on marsh gas, and brought him membership into the Academy of Sciences, aided by Antoine Lavoisier. They wrote joint articles on the subject, on 11 January 1785, he was appointed commissioner of the kings factories, foundries and forests of the, a position he shared with Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond. The creation of this function was necessitated by the depletion of forests, in the course of his duties, he compiled the Description of ore bodies and mouths to fire the kingdom in three volumes, the Pyrenees, Upper and Lower Alsace and the southern Lorraine. Dietrich was mayor of Strasbourg from March 1790 to August 1792, Rouget de lIsle composed the song in the night of 24–25 April 1792. According to sources, Dietrich would have sung the song himself, accompanied on the piano by his wife, baron Dietrich knew the Captain Rouget de lIsle to be like him, a Freemason and attend the same Masonic lodge of Strasbourg. The Jacobins sent him to the court of Besançon on 7 March 1793 and he was then transported to Paris, where Maximilien Robespierre considered a dangerous man, one of the greatest conspirators of the Republic. Putting pressure on the court, Robespierre declared to the Jacobins, National justice requires that he be punished, consequently, the Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death. He was guillotined on 29 December 1793, on 23 August 1795, the National Convention rehabilitated the reputation of Dietrich as a hero of the Revolution
Philippe Friedrich Dietrich
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Philippe Friedrich Dietrich
Philippe Friedrich Dietrich
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Jean Dietrich 1719–1795
Philippe Friedrich Dietrich
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Dietrich stove
Philippe Friedrich Dietrich
–
House of Dietrich Family, in Reichshofen
14.
Army of the Rhine (France)
–
The Army of the Rhine was formed in December 1791, for the purpose of bringing the French Revolution to the German states along the Rhine River. During its first year in action, under command of Adam Philippe Custine, subsequently, the army underwent several reorganizations and merged with the Army of the Moselle to form the Army of the Rhine and Moselle on 20 April 1795. The Army of the Rhine was one of the main French Revolutionary armies operated in the Rhineland theater, principally in the Rhine River valley, at its creation, the Army of the Rhine had 88,390 men. It was formed on 14 December 1791, to defend Frances eastern frontier in conjunction with two armies, the Army of the North and the Army of the Center. These armies were subdivided, fresh forces were raised and gradually grew until, by 30 April 1793, eleven armies encircled France on its coastal and the land frontiers. In October 1792, a portion of the army was used to form the Army of the Vosges, in the first months of fighting, victories for France were few. At Mons, Tournay, Bavay, Rumégies, Florennes 28 May 1792, and La Glisuelle, on 25 April 1792, Philippe Friedrich Dietrich, mayor of Strasbourg, asked a guest, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, to compose a song to rally against the Habsburg threat. That evening, Rouget de Lisle wrote Chant de guerre pour lArmée du Rhin, and dedicated the song to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, the melody soon became the rallying call to the Revolution, Allons enfants de la Patrie /Le jour de gloire est arrivé. The French government ordered Luckner to take command of the Army of the North, under his experienced command, the Army took several important positions on the Rhine, including at Speyer, Mainz, Limburg and Frankfurt. On 29 December 1794, the wing of the Army. The rest of the Army of the Moselle united with the Army of the Rhine on 20 April, to form the Army of the Rhine and this army united with the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse to form the Army of Germany on 29 September 1797. In its five-year history, the Army had several Orders of Battle and this is the OOB at the beginning of the 1793 campaign. Stability of command of the Army of the Rhine reflected the overall chaos of the French Revolutionary governments, four of the generals serving in those years were guillotined. An army of the Bourbon Restoration bore this name and this name was also used for the French military forces posted to Germany during the Occupation of the Rhineland, following the First World War. Tableaux des armées françaises pendant les guerres de la Révolution, Librairie militaire
Army of the Rhine (France)
–
Fusilier of a French Revolutionary Army
Army of the Rhine (France)
–
Organization of French Armies, 1791–1793
15.
Marshal of France
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The Marshal of France is a military distinction, rather than a military rank, in contemporary France, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished and it was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration and one of the Great Dignitaries of the Empire during the First French Empire. A Marshal of France displays seven stars, the marshal also receives a baton, a blue cylinder with stars, formerly fleurs-de-lis during the monarchy and eagles during the First French Empire. It has the Latin inscription, Terror belli, decus pacis, the title derived from the office of marescallus Franciae created by King Philip II Augustus of France for Albéric Clément. The title was abolished by the National Convention in 1793, under the Bourbon Restoration, the title reverted to Marshal of France and Napoléon III kept that designation. After the fall of Napoleon III and the Second French Empire, the Third Republic did not use the title until the First World War, the last living Marshal of France was Alphonse Juin, promoted in 1952, who died in 1967. The latest Marshal of France was Marie Pierre Kœnig, who was made a Marshal posthumously in 1984, today, the title of Marshal of France can only be granted to a general officer who fought victoriously in war-time. Charles de Gontaut, Duc de Biron, Marshal of France in 1594, claude de La Chatre, Baron de la Maisonfort, Marshal of France in 1594. Jean de Montluc de Balagny, Marshal of France in 1594, jean III de Baumanoir, Marquis of Lavardin and Count of Nègrepelisse, Marshal of France in 1595. Henri, Duke of Joyeuse, Marshal of France in 1595, urbain de Montmorency-Laval, Marquis of Sablé, Marshal of France in 1595. Alphonse dOrnano, Marshal of France in 1597, guillaume de Hautemer, Count of Grancey, Marshal of France in 1597. François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières, Marshal of France in 1608, concino Concini, Marquis of Ancre, Marshal of France in 1613. Gilles de Courtenvaux, Marquis of Souvré, Marshal of France in 1614, antoine, Baron de Roquelaure, Marshal of France in 1614. Louis de La Châtre, Baron de Maisonfort, Marshal of France in 1616, pons de Lauzières-Thémines-Cardaillac, Marquis of Thémines, Marshal of France in 1616. Honoré dAlbert dAilly, Duke of Chaulnes, Marshal of France in 1620, François dEsparbes de Lussan, Viscount of Aubeterre, Marshal of France in 1620. Charles de Créquy, Prince of Poix, Duke of Lesdiguières, jacques Nompar de Caumont, Duke of La Force, Marshal of France in 1621. François, Marquis of Bassompierre, Marshal of France in 1622, gaspard de Coligny, Duke of Châtillon, Marshal of France in 1622. Henri de Schomberg, Marshal of France in 1625, jean-Baptiste dOrnano, Marshal of France in 1626 François Annibal, Duc dEstrées, Marshal of France in 1626
Marshal of France
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Baton of a modern Marshal of France
Marshal of France
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Michel Ney in his uniform of Marshal of the Empire
Marshal of France
–
Uniforms of Marshal of France (
Pétain,
Foch,
Joffre) at
Les Invalides.
16.
Nicolas Luckner
–
Nicolas, Count Luckner was a German officer in French service who rose to become a Marshal of France. Luckner grew up in Cham, in eastern Bavaria and received his education from the Jesuits in Passau. Before entering the French service, Luckner spent time in the Bavarian, Dutch and he fought as a commander of hussars during the Seven Years War in the Hanoverian army against the French. Luckner joined the French army in 1763 with the rank of lieutenant general, in 1784 he became a Danish count. He supported the French Revolution, and the year 1791 saw Luckner become a Marshal of France, in 1791-92 Luckner served as the first commander of the Army of the Rhine. In April 1792, Rouget de Lisle dedicated to him the Chant de Guerre pour lArmée du Rhin, as commander of the Army of the North in 1792 he captured the Flemish cities of Menen and Kortrijk, but then had to retreat towards Lille. After the flight of Lafayette he was made generalissimo with orders to build a Reserve Army near Châlons-sur-Marne, however, the National Convention was not satisfied with his progress and Choderlos de Laclos was ordered to support or replace him. Luckner, now over 70 years of age, then asked for dismissal and he was arrested by the Revolutionary Tribunal and sentenced to death. He died by the guillotine in Paris in 1794, the carillon of the town hall in the Bavarian town of Cham rings the Marseillaise every day at 12.05 p. m. to commemorate the citys most famous son, Nikolaus Graf von Luckner. He was the great-grandfather of Count Felix von Luckner, a German naval officer who commanded the merchant raider SMS Seeadler during World War I. Luckner owned Krummbek Manor in Holstein, theodor Heuss, Der Marschall aus der Oberpfalz, in, Schattenbeschwörung. Wunderlich, Stuttgart und Tübingen 1947, Neuausgabe, Klöpfer und Meyer, Tübingen 1999, ISBN 3-931402-52-5
Nicolas Luckner
–
Marshal Luckner
Nicolas Luckner
–
Luckner, portrait of 1792.
17.
Bavaria
–
Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century
Bavaria
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Prehistoric Heunischenburg, in the vicinity of
Kronach
Bavaria
–
Flag
Bavaria
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Kingdom of Bavaria 900
Bavaria
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Bavarian stamps during the German empire period
18.
Cham, Germany
–
Cham is the capital of the district of Cham in the Upper Palatinate in Bavaria in Germany. Cham lies within the Cham-Further lowland, which is bordered on the south by the Bavarian Forest, the city lies on the Regen River, which joins the Danube at Regensburg. The name Cham is of Celtic origin and probably means bend or curvature. In fact, a few kilometers from the city, a brook called the Chamb flows into the Regen, it probably gave its name to Cham. Alternatively, the name may have derived from Kamm, the citys coat of arms contains a comb. A partner city, also called Cham in Switzerland, is pronounced with an initial ch sound. Monks from Regensburg founded the Marienmünster, the first and oldest church in the Bavarian forest, the first reference to Cham as a city appears in 976. An imperial castle stood on the Galgenberg, providing protection for the route into Bohemia. Cham was granted its own currency around 1000, the so-called Cham Denar, the 12th century saw the towns location shifted to its current place. The Hussite Wars of the 15th century inflicted great hardships on the townspeople, in 1742, the Pandur troops of Franz Freiherr von der Trenck overran and destroyed the city. Chams first railway connection came in 1861, on April 18,1945, a British air raid on the western part of Cham caused 63 deaths. The arrival of numerous German war refugees from Silesia and the Sudetenland swelled Chams population from 5,860 to over 10,000, Cham is referred to in relation to the death of the father of the French resistance fighter Jeanette Guyot, Jean-Marie Guyot. He was also a member of the resistance, arrested early 1944 and transported to Cham where he died
Cham, Germany
–
Church in Cham
19.
Montpellier
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Montpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Hérault department, Montpellier is the 8th largest city of France, and is also the fastest growing city in the country over the past 25 years. Nearly one third of the population are students from three universities and from three higher education institutions that are outside the university framework in the city. Located on the south coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, it is the third-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille and Nice. Montpellier is one of the few cities in France without any Roman heritage. In the Early Middle Ages, the episcopal town of Maguelone was the major settlement in the area. Montpellier, first mentioned in a document of 985, was founded under a feudal dynasty, the Guilhem. The two surviving towers of the city walls, the Tour des Pins and the Tour de la Babotte, were built later, william VIII of Montpellier gave freedom for all to teach medicine in Montpellier in 1180. This era marked the point of Montpelliers prominence. The city became a possession of the Kings of Aragon in 1204 by the marriage of Peter II of Aragon with Marie of Montpellier, who was given the city and its dependencies as part of her dowry. Montpellier gained a charter in 1204 when Peter and Marie confirmed the traditional freedoms. Under the Kings of Aragon, Montpellier became an important city, a major economic centre. It was the second or third most important city of France at that time, with its importance steadily increasing, the city finally gained a bishop, who moved from Maguelone in 1536, and the huge monastery chapel became a cathedral. In 1432, Jacques Cœur established himself in the city and it became an important economic centre, at the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, many of the inhabitants of Montpellier became Protestants and the city became a stronghold of Protestant resistance to the Catholic French crown. In 1622, King Louis XIII besieged the city surrendered after a two months siege, afterwards building the Citadel of Montpellier to secure it. Louis XIV made Montpellier capital of Bas Languedoc, and the town started to embellish itself, by building the Promenade du Peyrou, the Esplanade, after the French Revolution, the city became the capital of the much smaller Hérault. During the 19th century the city developed into an industrial centre, in the 1960s, its population grew dramatically after French settlers in Algeria were resettled in the city following Algerias independence from France. In the 1980s and 1990s, the city drew attention with a number of redevelopment projects, such as the Corum
Montpellier
–
Top to bottom, left to right: L'aqueduc Saint-Clément, la Place de l'Europe, la
Place de la Comédie, l'hôtel de région, la promenade du Peyrou, le
Corum, l'arc de Triomphe, la
cathédrale Saint Pierre.
Montpellier
–
Rue Foch with its typical 19th-century architecture.
Montpellier
–
Montpellier seen from Spot satellite
Montpellier
–
Celleneuve
20.
Napoleon
–
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
Napoleon
–
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, by
Jacques-Louis David, 1812
Napoleon
–
Imperial coat of arms
Napoleon
–
Napoleon's father
Carlo Buonaparte was
Corsica 's representative to the court of
Louis XVI of France.
Napoleon
–
Napoleon Bonaparte, aged 23, Lieutenant-Colonel of a battalion of Corsican
Republican volunteers
21.
Prussia
–
Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised, Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership, in November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, from 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. Prussia existed de jure until its liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No.46 of 25 February 1947. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights—an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders—conquered the lands inhabited by them. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk and their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom, and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a Lesser Germany which excluded the Austrian Empire. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleons defeat, Prussia acquired a section of north western Germany. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland, the main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a cross with gold insert
Prussia
–
... during the
Renaissance period
Prussia
–
Flag (1892–1918)
Prussia
–
... according to the design of 1702
Prussia
–
Prussian King's Crown (
Hohenzollern Castle Collection)
22.
Austria
–
Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
Austria
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First appearance of the word "ostarrichi", circled in red. Modern Austria honours this document, dated 996, as the founding of the nation.
Austria
–
Flag
Austria
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Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 to 25,000 BC.
Museum of Natural History Vienna
Austria
–
"Heidentor" – Remains of the
Roman military city of
Carnuntum
23.
Battle of Valmy
–
The Battle of Valmy was the first major victory by the army of France during the Revolutionary Wars that followed the French Revolution. The action took place on 20 September 1792 as Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris, generals François Kellermann and Charles Dumouriez stopped the advance near the northern village of Valmy in Champagne-Ardenne. The outcome was unexpected by contemporary observers – a vindication for the French revolutionaries. The victory emboldened the newly assembled National Convention to formally declare the end of monarchy in France, Valmy permitted the development of the Revolution and all its resultant ripple-effects, and for that it is regarded by historians as one of the most significant battles in history. As the French Revolution continued, the monarchies of Europe became concerned that revolutionary fervor would spread to their countries, the War of the First Coalition was an effort to stop the revolution, or at least contain it to France. King Frederick William II of Prussia had the support of Great Britain, the French commander Charles Dumouriez, meanwhile, had been marching his army northeast to attack the Austrian Netherlands, but this plan was abandoned because of the more immediate threat to Paris. A second army under General François Kellermann was ordered to link up with him in a mutual defense and these veterans provided a professional core to steady the enthusiastic volunteer battalions. Combined, Dumouriez Army of the North and Kellermanns Army of the Centre totalled approximately 54,000 troops. Heading towards them was Brunswicks coalition army of about 84,000, all veteran Prussian and Austrian troops augmented by large complements of Hessians and the French royalist Army of Condé. The invading army handily captured Longwy on 23 August and Verdun on 2 September, in response, Dumouriez halted his advance to the Netherlands and reversed course, approaching the enemy army from its rear. From Metz, Kellermann moved to his assistance, joining him at the village of Sainte-Menehould on 19 September, the French forces were now east of the Prussians, behind their lines. The unfavorable situation was compounded by bad weather and an increase in sickness among the troops. With few other options available, Brunswick turned back and prepared to do battle, the troops trudged laboriously through a heavy downpour – rain as of the days of Noah, in the words of Thomas Carlyle. Brunswick headed through the northern woods believing he could cut off Dumouriez, at the moment when the Prussian manœuvre was nearly completed, Kellermann advanced his left wing and took up a position on the slopes between Sainte-Menehould and Valmy. His command centered around an old windmill, and his veteran artillerists were well-placed upon its accommodating rise to begin the so-called Cannonade of Valmy, Brunswick moved toward them with about 34,000 of his troops. As they emerged from the woods, a gunnery duel ensued. The Prussian infantry made a cautious, and fruitless, effort to advance under fire across the open ground, as the Prussians wavered, a pivotal moment was reached when Kellermann raised his hat and made his famous cry of Vive la Nation. The cry was repeated again and again by all the French army, the French troops sang La Marseillaise and Ça Ira, and a cheer went up from the French line
Battle of Valmy
–
Painting of the battle of Valmy by
Horace Vernet from 1826. The white uniformed infantry to the right are regulars while the blue coated ranks to the left are from the citizen volunteers of 1791
Battle of Valmy
–
The
Duke of Chartres (dismounted) and his brother, the
Duke of Montpensier (on horseback), in
dragoon uniform at the battle of Valmy.
Battle of Valmy
–
Map of the battle
Battle of Valmy
–
Valmy obelisk with statue of Kellermann
24.
Alsace
–
Alsace is a cultural and historical region in eastern France now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Alsace is located on Frances eastern border and on the west bank of the upper Rhine adjacent to Germany, from 1982 until January 2016, Alsace was the smallest of 22 administrative regions in metropolitan France, consisting of the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin departments. Territorial reform passed by the French legislature in 2014 resulted in the merger of the Alsace administrative region with Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine to form Grand Est. The predominant historical language of Alsace is Alsatian, a Germanic dialect also spoken across the Rhine, but today most Alsatians primarily speak French, the political status of Alsace has been heavily influenced by historical decisions, wars, and strategic politics. The economic and cultural capital as well as largest city of Alsace is Strasbourg, the city is the seat of several international organizations and bodies. The name Alsace can be traced to the Old High German Ali-saz or Elisaz, an alternative explanation is from a Germanic Ell-sass, meaning seated on the Ill, a river in Alsace. In prehistoric times, Alsace was inhabited by nomadic hunters, by 1500 BC, Celts began to settle in Alsace, clearing and cultivating the land. It should be noted that Alsace is a surrounded by the Vosges mountains. It creates Foehn winds which, along with irrigation, contributes to the fertility of the soil. In a world of agriculture, Alsace has always been a region which explains why it suffered so many invasions and annexations in its history. By 58 BC, the Romans had invaded and established Alsace as a center of viticulture, to protect this highly valued industry, the Romans built fortifications and military camps that evolved into various communities which have been inhabited continuously to the present day. While part of the Roman Empire, Alsace was part of Germania Superior, with the decline of the Roman Empire, Alsace became the territory of the Germanic Alemanni. The Alemanni were agricultural people, and their Germanic language formed the basis of modern-day dialects spoken along the Upper Rhine, Clovis and the Franks defeated the Alemanni during the 5th century AD, culminating with the Battle of Tolbiac, and Alsace became part of the Kingdom of Austrasia. Under Clovis Merovingian successors the inhabitants were Christianized, Alsace formed part of the Middle Francia, which was ruled by the eldest grandson Lothar I. Lothar died early in 855 and his realm was divided into three parts, the part known as Lotharingia, or Lorraine, was given to Lothars son. The rest was shared between Lothars brothers Charles the Bald and Louis the German, the Kingdom of Lotharingia was short-lived, however, becoming the stem duchy of Lorraine in Eastern Francia after the Treaty of Ribemont in 880. Alsace was united with the other Alemanni east of the Rhine into the duchy of Swabia. Alsace experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th centuries under Hohenstaufen emperors, Frederick I set up Alsace as a province to be ruled by ministeriales, a non-noble class of civil servants
Alsace
Alsace
Alsace
Alsace
25.
Colmar
–
Colmar is the third-largest commune of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. It is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department, the town is situated on the Alsatian Wine Route and considers itself to be the capital of Alsatian wine. The city is renowned for its old town, its numerous architectural landmarks and its museums. Colmar was founded in the 9th century, and is mentioned as Columbarium Fiscum by the monk Notker Balbulus in a text dated 823 and this was the location where the Carolingian Emperor Charles the Fat held a diet in 884. Colmar was granted the status of an imperial city by Emperor Frederick II in 1226. In 1354 it joined the Décapole city league, during the Thirty Years War, it was taken by the Swedish army in 1632, who held it for two years. In 1635 the citys harvest was spoiled by Imperialist forces while the shot at them from the walls. The city was conquered by France under King Louis XIV in 1673, with the rest of Alsace, Colmar was annexed by the newly formed German Empire in 1871 as a result of the Franco-Prussian War and incorporated into the Alsace-Lorraine province. The Colmar Treasure, a hoard of precious objects hidden by Jews during the Black Death, was discovered here in 1863, Colmar is 64 kilometres south-southwest of Strasbourg, at 48. 08°N,7. 36°E, on the Lauch River, a tributary of the Ill. It is located directly to the east of the Vosges Mountains, in 2013, the city had a population of 67,956 and the metropolitan area of Colmar had a population of 126,957 in 2009. Colmar is the center of the arrondissement of Colmar-Ribeauvillé, which had 199,182 inhabitants in 2013, Colmar has a sunny microclimate and is one of the driest cities in France, with an annual precipitation of just 607 mm, making it ideal for Alsace wine. It is considered the capital of the Alsatian wine region, mostly spared from the destructions of the French Revolution and the wars of 1870–1871, 1914–1918 and 1939–1945, the cityscape of old-town Colmar is homogenous and renowned among tourists. An area that is crossed by canals of the river Lauch is now called little Venice, Maison Adolph – 14th century Koifhus, also known as Ancienne Douane –1480 Maison Pfister –1537. Cour dAssises –1840 Théâtre municipal –1849 Marché couvert –1865, the citys covered market, built in stone, bricks and cast iron, still serves today. Préfecture –1866 Water tower –1886, oldest still preserved water tower in Alsace. Gare SNCF –1905 Cour dappel –1906 Église Saint-Martin – 1234–1365, the largest church of Colmar and one of the largest in Haut-Rhin. Displays some early stained glass windows, several Gothic and Renaissance sculptures and altars, the choir is surrounded by an ambulatory opening on a series of Gothic chapels, a unique feature in Alsatian churches. Now disaffected as a church, displays Martin Schongauers masterwork La Vierge au buisson de roses as well as 14th century stained glass windows, the adjacent convent buildings house a section of the municipal library
Colmar
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Old town
Colmar
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The Lauch River running through Colmar
Colmar
–
Maison Pfister. The house can easily be spotted in
Howl's Moving Castle.
Colmar
–
St Martin's Church, Colmar (Église Saint-Martin)
26.
National Convention
–
The National Convention was the third government of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic. The Convention sat as an assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795. The National Convention was therefore the first French assembly elected by a suffrage without distinctions of class, although the Convention lasted until 1795, power was effectively stripped from the elected deputies and concentrated in the small Committee of Public Safety from April 1793. After the fall of Robespierre, the Convention lasted for year until a new constitution was written. The election took place from 2 to 6 September 1792 after the election of the colleges by primary assemblies on 26 August. Therefore, the increased suffrage had very little impact, the electorate returned the same sort of men that the active citizens had chosen in 1791. In the whole of France, only eleven primary assemblies wanted to retain the monarchy, of the electoral assemblies, all tacitly voted for a republic – though only Paris used the word. None of the deputies stood as a royalist for elections, out of the five million Frenchmen able to vote, only a million showed up at the polls. The Salle des Machines had galleries for the public who often influenced the debates with interruptions or applause, the members of the Convention came from all classes of society, but the most numerous were lawyers. 75 members had sat in the National Constituent Assembly,183 in the Legislative Assembly, the full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the French colonies, of whom only some arrived in Paris in time. Besides these, however, the newly formed départements annexed to France from 1792 to 1795 were allowed to send deputations, according to its own ruling, the Convention elected its President every fortnight, and the outgoing President was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, sometimes in exceptional circumstances the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative the Convention used committees, with more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws. The most famous of these included the Committee of Public Safety. The Convention held legislative and executive powers during the first years of the French First Republic and had three periods, Girondin, Montagnard or Jacobin, and Thermidorian. The abolition of the royalty is a matter you cannot put off till tomorrow, the first session was held on 20 September 1792. The following day, amidst profound silence, the proposition was put to the assembly, on the 22nd came the news of the Battle of Valmy
National Convention
–
Autel de la Convention nationale or Autel républicain
François-Léon Sicard Panthéon de Paris, France, 1913
National Convention
–
The trial of Louis XVI
National Convention
–
Journées des 31 Mai 1er et 2 Juin 1793
National Convention
–
Constitution du Peuple Française du 6 Messidor l'an I (24 June 1793)
27.
Napoleon I
–
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
Napoleon I
–
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, by
Jacques-Louis David, 1812
Napoleon I
–
Napoleon's father
Carlo Buonaparte was
Corsica 's representative to the court of
Louis XVI of France.
Napoleon I
–
Napoleon Bonaparte, aged 23, Lieutenant-Colonel of a battalion of Corsican
Republican volunteers
Napoleon I
–
Bonaparte at the
Siege of Toulon
28.
Louis XVIII of France
–
Louis XVIII, known as The Desired, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1814 to 1824 except for a period in 1815 known as the Hundred Days. Until his accession to the throne of France, Louis held the title of Count of Provence as brother of King Louis XVI, on 21 September 1792, the National Convention abolished the monarchy and deposed King Louis XVI, who was later executed by guillotine. When the young Louis XVII, Louis XVIs son, died in prison in June 1795, during the French Revolution and Napoleonic era, Louis XVIII lived in exile in Prussia, the United Kingdom and Russia. When the Sixth Coalition finally defeated Napoleon in 1814, Louis was placed in what he, Napoleon escaped from his exile in Elba, however, and restored his French Empire. Louis XVIII fled and a Seventh Coalition declared war on the French Empire, defeated Napoleon, Louis XVIII ruled as king for slightly less than a decade. The Bourbon Restoration regime was a constitutional monarchy, as a constitutional monarch, Louis XVIIIs royal prerogative was reduced substantially by the Charter of 1814, Frances new constitution. Louis had no children, therefore, upon his death, the passed to his brother, Charles. Louis XVIII was the last French monarch to die while reigning, as his successor Charles X abdicated and both Louis Philippe I and Napoléon III were deposed. Louis Stanislas Xavier, styled Count of Provence from birth, was born on 17 November 1755 in the Palace of Versailles, the son of Louis, Dauphin of France and he was the grandson of the reigning King Louis XV. As a son of the Dauphin he was a Fils de France, Louis Stanislas was christened Louis Stanislas Xavier six months after his birth in accordance with Bourbon family tradition, being nameless before his baptism. By this act, he also a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit. The former died in 1761, leaving Louis Auguste as heir to their father until the Dauphins own premature death in 1765, the two deaths elevated Louis Stanislas to second in the line of succession, while Louis Auguste acquired the title Dauphin. Louis Stanislas found comfort in his governess, Madame de Marsan, Governess of the Children of France, as he was her favourite among his siblings. Louis Stanislas was taken away from his governess when he turned seven, Antoine de Quélen de Stuer de Caussade, Duke of La Vauguyon, a friend of his father, was named his governor. Louis Stanislas was an intelligent boy, excelling in classics and his education was of the same quality and consistency as that of his older brother, Louis Auguste, despite the fact that Louis Auguste was heir and Louis Stanislas was not. Louis Stanislas education was religious in nature, several of his teachers were men of the cloth. La Vauguyon drilled into young Louis Stanislas and his brothers the way he thought princes should know how to withdraw themselves, to like to work, and to know how to reason correctly. In the same month his household was founded, Louis was granted titles by his grandfather, Louis XV, Duke of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Perche
Louis XVIII of France
–
Portrait by
Robert Lefèvre, c.1822
Louis XVIII of France
–
Signature
Louis XVIII of France
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Portrait of the young Count of Provence
Louis XVIII of France
–
Louis, Count of Provence
29.
Charles X of France
–
Charles X was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. For most of his life he was known as the Count of Artois, an uncle of the uncrowned King Louis XVII, and younger brother to reigning Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him. His rule of almost six years ended in the July Revolution of 1830, which resulted in his abdication, exiled once again, Charles died in 1836 in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire. He was the last of the French rulers from the branch of the House of Bourbon. Charles Philippe of France was born in 1757, the youngest son of the Dauphin Louis and his wife, Charles was created Count of Artois at birth by his grandfather, the reigning King Louis XV. As the youngest male in the family, Charles seemed unlikely ever to become king and his eldest brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, died unexpectedly in 1761, which moved Charles up one place in the line of succession. He was raised in childhood by Madame de Marsan, the Governess of the Children of France. At the death of his father in 1765, Charless oldest surviving brother, Louis Auguste and their mother Marie Josèphe, who never recovered from the loss of her husband, died in March 1767 from tuberculosis. This left Charles an orphan at the age of nine, along with his siblings Louis Auguste, Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, Clotilde, Louis XV fell ill on 27 April 1774 and died on 10 May of smallpox at the age of 64. His grandson Louis-Auguste succeeded him as King Louis XVI of France, in November 1773, Charles married Marie Thérèse of Savoy. The marriage, unlike that of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, was consummated almost immediately, in 1775, Marie Thérèse gave birth to a boy, Louis Antoine, who was created Duke of Angoulême by Louis XVI. Three years later, in 1778, Charles second son, Charles Ferdinand, was born, in the same year Queen Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child, Marie Thérèse, quelling all rumours that she could not bear children. Charles was thought of as the most attractive member of his family and his wife was considered quite ugly by most contemporaries, and he looked for company in numerous extramarital affairs. According to the Count of Hézecques, few beauties were cruel to him, later, he embarked upon a lifelong love affair with the beautiful Louise de Polastron, the sister-in-law of Marie Antoinettes closest companion, the Duchess of Polignac. Charles also struck up a friendship with Marie Antoinette herself. The closeness of the relationship was such that he was accused by Parisian rumour mongers of having seduced her. As part of Marie Antoinettes social set, Charles often appeared opposite her in the theatre of her favourite royal retreat. They were both said to be very talented amateur actors, Marie Antoinette played milkmaids, shepherdesses, and country ladies, whereas Charles played lovers, valets, and farmers
Charles X of France
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Signature
Charles X of France
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Portrait by
Baron Gérard, c.1829
Charles X of France
–
Charles Philippe with his younger sister Clotilde on a goat.
Charles X of France
–
Charles as Count of Artois (1798).
30.
Napoleon III
–
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only President of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and he was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution, during the first years of the Empire, Napoleons government imposed censorship and harsh repressive measures against his opponents. Some six thousand were imprisoned or sent to penal colonies until 1859, thousands more went into voluntary exile abroad, including Victor Hugo. From 1862 onwards, he relaxed government censorship, and his came to be known as the Liberal Empire. Many of his opponents returned to France and became members of the National Assembly, Napoleon III is best known today for his grand reconstruction of Paris, carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann. He launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Lyon, Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, greatly expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world. He promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, Napoleon III negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier free trade agreement with Britain and similar agreements with Frances other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike and the right to organize, womens education greatly expanded, as did the list of required subjects in public schools. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he was a supporter of popular sovereignty and of nationalism. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War and his regime assisted Italian unification and, in doing so, annexed Savoy and the County of Nice to France, at the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. Napoleon doubled the area of the French overseas empire in Asia, the Pacific, on the other hand, his armys intervention in Mexico which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection ended in failure. Beginning in 1866, Napoleon had to face the power of Prussia. In July 1870, Napoleon entered the Franco-Prussian War without allies, the French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. The French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris, and Napoleon went into exile in England, charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 20–21 April 1808. His presumed father was Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleons wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, as empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile. Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen and they had a difficult relationship, and only lived together for brief periods
Napoleon III
–
Napoleon III
Napoleon III
–
Louis Bonaparte (1778–1846), the younger brother of
Napoleon Bonaparte, the King of Holland, and father of Napoleon III.
Napoleon III
–
Hortense de Beauharnais (1783–1837), the mother of Napoleon III, in 1808, the year Napoleon III was born.
Napoleon III
–
The lakeside house at Arenenberg, Switzerland, where Napoleon III spent much of his youth and exile.
31.
Paris Commune
–
The Paris Commune was a radical socialist and revolutionary government that ruled Paris from 18 March to 28 May 1871. Following the defeat of Emperor Napoleon III in September 1870, the French Second Empire swiftly collapsed, in its stead rose a Third Republic at war with Prussia, which laid siege to Paris for four months. A hotbed of radicalism, Frances capital was primarily defended during this time by the often politicized. In February 1871 Adolphe Thiers, the new executive of the French national government, signed an armistice with Prussia that disarmed the Army. Soldiers of the Communes National Guard killed two French army generals, and the Commune refused to accept the authority of the French government, the regular French Army suppressed the Commune during La semaine sanglante beginning on 21 May 1871. Debates over the policies and outcome of the Commune had significant influence on the ideas of Karl Marx, on 2 September 1870, after Frances unexpected defeat at the Battle of Sedan in the Franco-Prussian War, Emperor Napoleon III surrendered to the Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. When the news reached Paris the next day, shocked and angry crowds came out into the streets, Empress Eugénie de Montijo, the Emperors regent, fled the city, and the Government of the Second Empire swiftly collapsed. Republican and radical deputies of the National Assembly went to the Hôtel de Ville, proclaimed the new French Republic, though the Emperor and the French Army had been defeated at Sedan, the war continued. The German army marched swiftly toward Paris, in Paris, however, the republican candidates dominated, winning 234,000 votes against 77,000 for the Bonapartists. Only about 40,000 were employed in factories and large enterprises, most were employed in industries in textiles, furniture. There were also 115,000 servants and 45,000 concierges, in addition to the native French population, there were about 100,000 immigrant workers and political refugees, the largest number being from Italy and Poland. The working class and immigrants suffered the most from the lack of activity due to the war. The Commune resulted in part from growing discontent among the Paris workers and this discontent can be traced to the first worker uprisings, the Canut Revolts, in Lyon and Paris in the 1830s. Many Parisians, especially workers and the classes, supported a democratic republic. They also wanted a more just way of managing the economy, if not necessarily socialist, socialist movements, such as the First International, had been growing in influence with hundreds of societies affiliated to it across France. In early 1867, Parisian employers of bronze-workers attempted to de-unionize their workers and this was defeated by a strike organized by the International. Later in 1867, a public demonstration in Paris was answered by the legal dissolution of its executive committee. The International had considerable influence even among unaffiliated French workers, particularly in Paris, the killing of journalist Victor Noir incensed Parisians, and the arrests of journalists critical of the Emperor did nothing to quiet the city
Paris Commune
–
A barricade on Rue Voltaire, after its capture by the regular army during the Bloody Week
Paris Commune
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Louis Auguste Blanqui, leader of the Commune's far-left faction, was imprisoned for the entire time of the Commune.
Paris Commune
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Eugène Varlin led several thousand National Guard soldiers to march to the Hotel de Ville chanting 'Long Live the Commune!".
Paris Commune
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Revolutionary units of the National Guard briefly seized the Hotel de Ville on 31 October 1870, but the uprising failed.
32.
Mozart
–
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, he showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, while visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame, during his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons and he composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote, posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl and this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy and his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Ruperts Cathedral in Salzburg, the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself Wolfgang Amadè Mozart as an adult, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, Germany, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg, Leopold became the orchestras deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his sons birth, Leopold published a textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Nannerl was 7, she began lessons with her father. Years later, after her brothers death, she reminisced, He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, he was composing little pieces
Mozart
–
Mozart c. 1780, detail from portrait by
Johann Nepomuk della Croce
Mozart
–
Anonymous portrait of the child Mozart, possibly by
Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni; painted in 1763 on commission from Leopold Mozart
Mozart
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Mozart's birthplace at Getreidegasse 9, Salzburg
Mozart
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The Mozart family on tour: Leopold, Wolfgang, and Nannerl. Watercolor by
Carmontelle, ca. 1763
33.
Piano Concerto No. 25 (Mozart)
–
The Piano Concerto No.25 in C major, K.503, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on December 4,1786, alongside the Prague Symphony, K.504. Although two more concertos would later follow, this work is the last of the great piano concertos written in Vienna between 1784 and 1786. Chronologically the work is the 21st of Mozarts 23 original piano concertos, the K.503 concerto has long been neglected in favor of Mozarts more brilliant concertos, such as K.467. Mozarts pupil Johann Nepomuk Hummel valued it, as can be seen in the influence it had on Hummels own Piano Concerto in C, though the orchestra lacks clarinets, it does include trumpets and timpani. The concerto is one of Mozarts longest, with a duration of about 33 minutes, the expansive first movement is one of Mozarts most symphonic concerto movements. This movement subtly slips in and out of the several times. One of the themes of the concertos first movement is a march that often reminds people of the then-unwritten La Marseillaise. This theme dominates the development section, beethoven references this concerto in his own Fourth Piano Concerto. In addition, the motif in the first movement of Beethovens Fifth Symphony resembles one found in this concerto. Also, Mozarts 25th and Beethovens 5th concerti have a strong theme in the first movement that is first played in minor. The tranquil second movement is in form, but lacks a development section. The third movement is a sonata-rondo that opens with a theme from Mozarts opera Idomeneo. Girdlestone considers this movement to be very serious-minded, like the first movement, it touches upon the minor, however, it ends confidently and triumphantly. Kennedy Center program notes, Piano Concerto No.25 in C major, K.503 Steinberg, konzert für Klavier und Orchester in C KV503, Score and critical report in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe Piano Concerto No. 25, Scores at the International Music Score Library Project BBC Discovering Music
Piano Concerto No. 25 (Mozart)
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Biography
34.
Incipit
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The incipit of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is a sequence of notes. The word incipit comes from Latin and means it begins, before the development of titles, texts were often referred to by their incipits, as with for example Agnus Dei. Though the word incipit is Latin, the practice of the incipit predates classical antiquity by several millennia, although not always called by the name of incipit today, the practice of referring to texts by their initial words remains commonplace. In the clay archives of Sumer, catalogs of documents were kept by making special catalog tablets containing the incipits of a given collection of tablets. The catalog was meant to be used by the limited number of official scribes who had access to the archives. This is a Sumerian example from Lerner, Many books in the Hebrew Bible are named in Hebrew using incipits, for instance, the first book is called Bereshit and Lamentations, which begins How lonely sits the city. A readily recognized one is the Shema or Shema Yisrael in the Torah, – the first words of the prayer encapsulating Judaisms monotheism. All the names of Parashot are incipits, the coming from a word. The first in each book are, of course, called by the name as the book as a whole. Some of the Psalms are known by their incipits, most noticeably Psalm 51, in the Talmud, the chapters of the Gemara are titled in print and known by their first words, e. g. the first chapter of Mesekhet Berachot is called Me-ematai. This word is printed at the head of every subsequent page within that chapter of the tractate, Many religious songs and prayers are known by their opening words. Sometimes an entire monograph is known by its dibur hamathil, the published mystical and exegetical discourses of the Chabad-Lubavitch rebbes, derive their titles almost exclusively from the dibur ha-mathil of the individual works first chapter. e. Traditionally, papal bulls, documents issued under the authority of the Pope, are referenced by their Latin incipit, some of the mantras, suktas from the hymns of the Vedas, conform to this usage. The modern use of standardized titles, combined with the International Standard Bibliographic Description, have made the incipit obsolete as a tool for organizing information in libraries. That such a use is an incipit and not a title is most obvious when the line breaks off in the middle of a grammatical unit, Latin legal concepts are often designated by the first few words, for example, habeas corpus for habeas corpus ad subjiciendum. Many word processors propose the first few words of a document as a file name. The space-filling, or place-holding, text lorem ipsum is known as such from its incipit, musical incipits are printed in standard music notation
Incipit
–
Decorated Incipit page to the
Gospel of Matthew, 1120–1140
Incipit
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The first page of the
Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a., with the word "Me-ematai" in the box at the top
35.
Giovanni Battista Viotti
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Giovanni Battista Viotti was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness. He was also a director of French and Italian opera companies in Paris, Viotti was born at Fontanetto Po in the Kingdom of Sardinia. He served at the Savoia court in Turin, 1773–80, then toured as a soloist, at first with Pugnani, before going to Paris alone, there he mounted operas of his friend Luigi Cherubini, among lesser lights. He was invited to perform in the houses of the London bon ton, then, with Britain at war with Revolutionary France, he was ordered to leave the country, under suspicion of Jacobin sympathies. Period papers hint at an intrigue in the favour of Viottis rival, Wilhelm Cramer and this may refer to Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, and to Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield. But finally, Viotti left England with a ship on 8 March 1798. He lived on the estate of a rich English merchant, John Smith, between March and May 1798 he gave private lessons to the 13-year-old virtuoso Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis. He gave up giving concerts to run a business. In July 1811, he became a naturalized British citizen, after his friend, the Duke of Cambridge, in 1813, he was one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society of London. Viotti didnt perform as a soloist any more but as orchestra leader and chamber musician, after his wine business failed, he returned to Paris to work as director of the Académie Royale de Musique, from 1819 to 1821. He returned to London in November 1823 together with Margaret Chinnery, in spite of his few direct pupils, Viotti was a very influential violinist. He also taught August Duranowski, who was an influence on Niccolò Paganini, Viotti owned a violin fabricated by Antonio Stradivari in 1709 that would eventually become known as the Viotti Stradivarius. He is also thought to have commissioned the construction of at least one replica of this violin, the Viotti ex-Bruce, renamed in honour of its previous owner, was purchased by the Royal Academy of Music in September 2005. Funding was provided by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax, and by the National Art Collections Fund, the instrument will be displayed in the York Gate Collections, the Academys free museum and research centre. The Viotti ex-Bruce will be heard as well as seen, the instrument will be played sparingly, under controlled circumstances, at research events. Viottis most notable compositions are his twenty-nine violin concertos, which were an influence on Ludwig van Beethoven, one in particular, No.22 in A minor, is still very frequently performed—especially by advanced student players. The other concertos are of quality but almost never heard. Viotti often wrote music for more traditional combinations such as two violins and cello
Giovanni Battista Viotti
–
Giovanni Battista Viotti
36.
Commemorative plaque
–
A monumental plaque or tablet commemorating a deceased person or persons, can be a simple form of church monument. A plaquette is a plaque, but in English, unlike many European languages. The Benin Empire, which flourished in present-day Nigeria between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries, had a rich sculptural tradition. One of the kingdom’s chief sites of production was the elaborate ceremonial court of the Oba at the palace in Benin. Among the wide range of artistic forms produced at the court were rectangular brass or bronze plaques, surviving in great numbers, they were manufactured from sheet brass or latten, very occasionally coloured with enamels, and tend to depict highly conventional figures with brief inscriptions. In England, the London blue plaques scheme, which is administered by English Heritage, has been running for over 140 years and is thought to be the oldest of its kind in the world, Plaques are attached to buildings to commemorate their association with important occupants or events. A range of other commemorative plaque schemes, which are run by local councils and charitable bodies. These tend to use their own criteria for determining the eligibility to put up a plaque, a list of schemes currently operating in England is available on the English Heritage website. After the First World War, the families of British and British Empire service men and women killed during the conflict were presented with bronze Memorial Plaques, the plaques, of about 125 millimetres in diameter, were designed by the eminent sculptor and medallist, Edward Carter Preston. In the United States, various governments have commemorative plaque schemes usually using the name historical markers. The National Trust for Historic Preservation or the U. S. Government, through the National Register of Historic Places, state programmes, such as the California Register of Historical Resources allows designated sites to place their own markers. As the price of metal has increased plaques have been the target of metal thieves wishing to resell the metal for cash. Plaques or, more often, plaquettes, are given as awards instead of trophies or ribbons. Such plaques usually bear text describing the reason for the award and, often, blue plaque Hartog Plate Parting stone Stolperstein
Commemorative plaque
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Plaque in tribute to
Claude Bernard, at
Collège de France in
Paris,
France.
Commemorative plaque
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Plaque inside the
Royal Military College of Canada
Commemorative plaque
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The plaque in the
Hong Kong Park commemorating the park's opening by the
Governor of Hong Kong in 1991
Commemorative plaque
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An award plaque made of wood with a printed metal plate and a
medallion
37.
United States Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, the Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. it also maintains the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world and its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages. Two-thirds of the books it acquires each year are in other than English. The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for years in the temporary national capitals of New York. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was two dollars per day and was required to also serve as the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s, most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. To restore its collection in 1815, the bought from former president Thomas Jefferson his entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of growth, another fire struck the Library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection. The Library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to have two copies deposited of books, maps, illustrations and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections of British and other European works and it included several stories built underground of steel and cast iron stacks. Although the Library is open to the public, only high-ranking government officials may check out books, the Library promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book, and Poet Laureate. James Madison is credited with the idea for creating a congressional library, part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress. And for fitting up an apartment for containing them. Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol, as president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The new law also extended to the president and vice president the ability to borrow books and these volumes had been left in the Senate wing of the Capitol. One of the only congressional volumes to have survived was a government account book of receipts and it was taken as a souvenir by a British Commander whose family later returned it to the United States government in 1940. Within a month, former president Jefferson offered to sell his library as a replacement
United States Library of Congress
–
Construction of the
Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888, to May 15, 1894.
United States Library of Congress
–
Library of Congress
United States Library of Congress
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The West façade of the Library of Congress in 1898
United States Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress inside the
U.S. Capitol Building c. 1890
38.
Sans-Culottes
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The sans-culottes, most of them urban labourers, served as the driving popular force behind the revolution. Though ill-clad and ill-equipped, they made up the bulk of the Revolutionary army during the years of the French Revolutionary Wars. The most fundamental political ideals of the sans-culottes were social equality, economic equality, the height of their influence spanned from the original overthrow of the monarchy in roughly 1789 to the Thermidorian Reaction in 1794. Several important leaders of the Enragés and Hébertists were imprisoned and executed by the revolutionary tribunals they had supported. After the defeat of the 1795 popular revolt in Paris, the sans-culottes ceased to play any political role in France until the July Revolution of 1830. The term sans-culottism, sans-culottisme in French, refers to this idealized image, many public figures and revolutionaries who were not strictly working class styled themselves citoyens sans-culottes in solidarity and recognition. However, in the immediately following the Thermidorian Reaction the sans-culottes. According to Sally Waller, part of the sans-culottes mantra was permanent anticipation of betrayal, the members of the sans-culottes were constantly on edge and fearing betrayal, which can be attributed to their violent and radical rebellion tactics. Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm observes that the sans-culottes were a shapeless, mostly urban movement of the poor, small craftsmen, shopkeepers, artisans, tiny entrepreneurs. He further notes they were organised notably in the political clubs of Paris. Hobsbawm writes that these were the actual demonstrators, rioters and constructors of street barricades, the Marxist historian Albert Soboul emphasized the importance of the sans-culottes as a social class, a sort of proto-proletariat that played a central role in the French Revolution. That view has been attacked by scholars who say the sans-culottes were not a class at all. Indeed, as one historian points out, Sobouls concept has not been used by scholars in any period of French history. For example, currently, the term culottes in French is now used to describe womens underpants, the term sans-culottes has been used to refer colloquially to mean not wearing underpants. Enragés Hébertists Descamisado Andrews, Richard Mowery. in JSTOR Furet, François and Mona Ozouf, a Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution, pp 393–99 Sonenscher, Michael. Sans-Culottes, An Eighteenth-Century Emblem in the French Revolution, a Revolution in Political Culture in McPhee, ed. A Companion to the French Revolution 435–453
Sans-Culottes
–
Idealized sans-culotte by
Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761–1845).
Sans-Culottes
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(left) Sans-culotte, compare figures wearing culottes right.
39.
Bellona (goddess)
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Bellona was an Ancient Roman goddess of war. Her main attribute is the helmet worn on her head, she often holds a sword, spear or shield. Her iconography was further extended by painters and sculptors following the Renaissance, originally named Duellona in the Italic languages, Bellona was an ancient Sabine goddess of war, identified with Nerio, the consort of the war god Mars, and later with her Greek equivalent Enyo. Her first temple in Rome was dedicated in 296 BCE, where her festival was celebrated on June 3 and her priests were known as Bellonarii and used to wound their own arms or legs as a blood sacrifice to her. These rites took place on the 24 March, called the day of blood after the ceremony, in consequence of this practice, which approximated to the rites dedicated to Cybele in Asia Minor, both Enyo and Bellona became identified with her Cappadocian aspect, Ma. The Roman Campus Martius area in which Bellona’s temple was sited had extraterritorial status, ambassadors from foreign states, who were not allowed to enter the city proper, stayed in this complex. The area around the temple of Bellona was considered to symbolize foreign soil, and it was here too that Roman Senate meetings relating to foreign war were conducted. Beside the temple was the war column, which represented the boundary of Rome, in the military cult of Bellona, she was associated with Virtus, the personification of valour. She then travelled outside Rome with the legions and her temples have been recorded in France, Germany, Britain. In poetry the name Bellona is often used simply as a synonym for war, there she is represented as carrying a spear and a flaming torch or waving a blood-stained sword and riding in a chariot. While she does not figure as a character in Shakespeares plays, in Henry IV, Part I, Hotspur describes her as the fire-eyed maid of smoky war. In The Two Noble Kinsmen, set in pre-Roman Athens, the sister of Hippolyta will solicit her divine aid for Theseus against Thebes. At the start of the named after him, Macbeth is introduced as a violent and brave warrior when the Thane of Ross calls him Bellonas bridegroom, that is to say. She also does not appear as a character in Paradise Lost by John Milton, however, the narrator describes Satans ears as not less pealed with noises loud and ruinous than when Bellona storms with all her battering engines. In more modern times, Adam Lindsay Gordon dedicated an energetic Swinburnean evocation of the goddess who leads men astray in his poem Bellona. She also figures in Edgell Rickword’s World War I poem The Traveller, there the poet describes himself as marching toward the front line in the company of Art, the god Pan and the works of Walter Pater. Meeting Bellona as they approach the fighting, one by one the pleasurable companions are forced to flee before the violence of war, Bellona appears in the prologue of Rameaus opera, Les Indes Galantes, in which the call of love ultimately triumphs over that of war. However, she retains her harsh aspect in Prometheus Absolved by Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca, in this cantata celebrating the birth of the Archduchess Isabella in 1762, the gods sit in judgement on Prometheus, some arguing for clemency, while Bellona and others demand rigour
Bellona (goddess)
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Bellona, by
Rembrandt
Bellona (goddess)
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"Bellona", by
Rodin.
Bellona (goddess)
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Bellona, & count's coronet, c. 1863 floor tile, southern England.
Bellona (goddess)
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Salis family (origin
Grisons) crest, late 19th-century version on an album cover.
40.
Hector Berlioz
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Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts. Berlioz made significant contributions to the orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works, and he also composed around 50 songs. His influence was critical for the development of Romanticism, especially in composers like Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss. Hector Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André in the département of Isère, Louis was an agnostic, with a liberal outlook, his mother, Marie-Antoinette, was a devout Roman Catholic. He had five siblings in all, three of whom did not survive to adulthood, the other two, Nanci and Adèle, remained close to Berlioz throughout his life. Berlioz was not a prodigy, unlike some other famous composers of the time, he began studying music at age 12, writing small compositions. As a result of his fathers discouragement, he never learned to play the piano and he became proficient at guitar, flageolet and flute. He learned harmony from textbooks alone—he was not formally trained, the majority of his early compositions were romances and chamber pieces. While yet at age twelve, as recalled in his Mémoires, he experienced his first passion for a woman and he also began to visit the Paris Conservatoire library, seeking out scores of Glucks operas and making personal copies of parts of them. He recalled in his Mémoires his first encounter with Luigi Cherubini, Cherubini attempted to throw the impetuous Berlioz out of the library since he was not a formal music student at that time. Berlioz also heard two operas by Gaspare Spontini, a composer who influenced him through their friendship, and whom he later championed when working as a critic, from then on, he devoted himself to composition. He was encouraged in his endeavors by Jean-François Le Sueur, director of the Royal Chapel, in 1823, he wrote his first article—a letter to the journal Le corsaire defending Spontinis La vestale. Despite his parents disapproval, in 1824 he formally abandoned his studies to pursue a career in music. This work was rehearsed and revised after the rehearsal but not performed until the following year, Berlioz later claimed to have burnt the score, but it was re-discovered in 1991. Later that year or in 1825, he began to compose the opera Les francs-juges, the work survives only in fragments, the overture has been much recorded and is sometimes played in concert. In 1826 he began attending the Conservatoire to study composition under Jean-François Le Sueur and he also submitted a fugue to the Prix de Rome, but was eliminated in the primary round. Winning the prize would become an obsession until he won it in 1830
Hector Berlioz
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Crop of a
carte de visite photo of Hector Berlioz by Franck, Paris, c. 1855
Hector Berlioz
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Drawing of
Harriet Smithson as
Ophelia in Shakespeare's
Hamlet
Hector Berlioz
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Lithograph of Berlioz by
August Prinzhofer, Vienna, 1845. Berlioz considered this to be a good likeness.
Hector Berlioz
–
Painting of a young Berlioz by
Émile Signol, 1832.
41.
Franz Liszt
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Franz Liszt was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist, philanthropist, author, nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary. Liszt gained renown in Europe during the nineteenth century for his prodigious virtuosic skill as a pianist. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the New German School and he left behind an extensive and diverse body of work in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated many 20th-century ideas and trends. Franz Liszt was born to Anna Liszt and Adam Liszt on October 22,1811, in the village of Doborján in Sopron County, in the Kingdom of Hungary, Liszts father played the piano, violin, cello and guitar. He had been in the service of Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy and knew Haydn, Hummel, at age six, Franz began listening attentively to his fathers piano playing and showed an interest in both sacred and Romani music. Adam began teaching him the piano at age seven, and Franz began composing in an elementary manner when he was eight and he appeared in concerts at Sopron and Pressburg in October and November 1820 at age 9. After the concerts, a group of wealthy sponsors offered to finance Franzs musical education in Vienna, There Liszt received piano lessons from Carl Czerny, who in his own youth had been a student of Beethoven and Hummel. He also received lessons in composition from Antonio Salieri, then director of the Viennese court. Liszts public debut in Vienna on December 1,1822, at a concert at the Landständischer Saal, was a great success and he was greeted in Austrian and Hungarian aristocratic circles and also met Beethoven and Schubert. In spring 1823, when his one-year leave of absence came to an end, Adam Liszt therefore took his leave of the Princes services. At the end of April 1823, the returned to Hungary for the last time. At the end of May 1823, the family went to Vienna again, towards the end of 1823 or early 1824, Liszts first composition to be published, his Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli, appeared as Variation 24 in Part II of Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. Liszts inclusion in the Diabelli project—he was described in it as an 11 year old boy, born in Hungary—was almost certainly at the instigation of Czerny, his teacher, Liszt was the only child composer in the anthology. After his fathers death in 1827, Liszt moved to Paris, to earn money, Liszt gave lessons in piano playing and composition, often from early morning until late at night. His students were scattered across the city and he often had to long distances. Because of this, he kept uncertain hours and also took up smoking, the following year he fell in love with one of his pupils, Caroline de Saint-Cricq, the daughter of Charles Xs minister of commerce, Pierre de Saint-Cricq. Her father, however, insisted that the affair be broken off, Liszt fell very ill, to the extent that an obituary notice was printed in a Paris newspaper, and he underwent a long period of religious doubts and pessimism. He again stated a wish to join the Church but was dissuaded this time by his mother and he had many discussions with the Abbé de Lamennais, who acted as his spiritual father, and also with Chrétien Urhan, a German-born violinist who introduced him to the Saint-Simonists
Franz Liszt
–
Portrait of Liszt by
Ary Scheffer, 1837
Franz Liszt
–
Anna Liszt, née Maria Anna Lager (portrait by Julius Ludwig Sebbers between 1826 and 1837)
Franz Liszt
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Niccolò Paganini. His playing inspired Liszt to become a great virtuoso.
Franz Liszt
–
Franz Liszt's fundraising concert for the flood victims of Pest, where he was the conductor of the orchestra. Vigadó Concert Hall,
Pest, Hungary 1839.
42.
Piano transcription
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A reduction for solo piano is sometimes called a piano reduction or piano score. During opera rehearsals, a répétiteur will typically read from a reduction of the opera. When a choir is learning a work scored for choir and full orchestra, before the advent of the phonograph, arrangements of orchestral works for solo piano or piano four hands were in common use for enjoyment at home. A piano reduction or piano transcription is sheet music for the piano that has been compressed and/or simplified so as to fit on a two-line staff and it is also considered a style of orchestration or music arrangement less well known as contraction scoring, a subset of elastic scoring. Piano-vocal score Social history of the piano Kregor, Jonathan
Piano transcription
–
(a) first four measures of
Bach 's Preludium in C major (
BWV 846a). (b) and (c) block chord reduction and voice leading reduction ease analysis and practice
43.
James Reese Europe
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James Reese Europe was an American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer. He was the figure on the African-American music scene of New York City in the 1910s. Eubie Blake called him the Martin Luther King of music, James Jim Reese Europe was born in Mobile, Alabama, to Henry and Laura Europe. His family, which included his older sisters Minnie and Ida, and older brother John, moved to Washington, D. C. in 1890 and he moved to New York in 1904. In 1910 Europe organized the Clef Club, a society for African Americans in the music industry, in 1912 the club made history when it played a concert at Carnegie Hall for the benefit of the Colored Music Settlement School. The Clef Club Orchestra, while not a band, was the first band to play proto-jazz at Carnegie Hall. The Clef Clubs performances played music written solely by black composers, including Harry T. Burleigh, Europes orchestra also included Will Marion Cook, who had not been in Carnegie Hall since his own performance as solo violinist in 1896. Cook was the first black composer to launch full musical productions, fully scored with a cast, in the words of Gunther Schuller, Europe. Had stormed the bastion of the establishment and made many members of New Yorks cultural elite aware of Negro music for the first time. Europe was known for his personality and unwillingness to bend to musical conventions. From a realization of the advantages of sticking to the music of my own people, and later, We colored people have our own music that is part of us. Its the product of our souls, its created by the sufferings. His Society Orchestra became nationally famous in 1912, accompanying theater headliner dancers Vernon, the Castles introduced and popularized the foxtrot—America learned to dance from the waist down. In 1913 and 1914 he made a series of records for the Victor Talking Machine Company. These recordings are some of the best examples of the pre-jazz hot ragtime style of the U. S and these are some of the most accepted quotes that are in place to protect the idea that the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded the first jass pieces in 1917 for Victor. Unlike Europes post-War recordings, the Victor recordings were not called nor marketed as jazz at the time, neither the Clef Club Orchestra nor the Society Orchestra were small Dixieland style bands. They were large bands to satisfy the tastes of a public that was used to performances by the likes of the John Philip Sousa band. The Clef Orchestra had 125 members and played on occasions between 1912 and 1915 in Carnegie Hall
James Reese Europe
–
James Reese Europe sheet music in the Library of Congress collections.
James Reese Europe
–
Jazz Band and leader Lt. James Reese Europe back with
15th New York
James Reese Europe
–
James Reese Europe's funeral procession NYPL Digital Collection
44.
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Serge Gainsbourg was a French singer, songwriter, pianist, film composer, poet, painter, screenwriter, writer, actor, and director. His lyrical work incorporated a vast amount of word play to hoodwink the listener, often for humorous, provocative. Common types of play in his songs include mondegreen, onomatopoeia, rhyme, spoonerism, dysphemism, paraprosdokian. Through the course of his career, Gainsbourg wrote over 550 songs, since his death, Gainsbourgs music has reached legendary stature in France. He has also gained a following in the English-speaking world. Born in Paris, France, Gainsbourg was the son of Jewish Ukrainian migrants, Joseph Ginsburg and Olga, who fled to Paris after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Joseph Ginsburg was a trained musician whose profession was playing the piano in cabarets and casinos, he taught his children - Gainsbourg. Gainsbourgs childhood was affected by the occupation of France by Germany in World War II. The identifying yellow star Jews were required to wear haunted Gainsbourg, during the occupation, the Jewish Ginsburg family was able to make their way from Paris to Limoges, traveling under false papers. Limoges was in the Zone libre under the administration of the collaborationist Vichy government, after the war, Gainsbourg obtained work teaching music and drawing in a school outside of Paris, in Mesnil-Le-Roi. The school was set up under the auspices of local rabbis, here Gainsbourg heard the accounts of Nazi persecution and genocide, stories that resonated for Gainsbourg far into the future. Before he was 30 years old, Gainsbourg was a disillusioned painter, Gainsbourg changed his first name to Serge, feeling that this was representative of his Russian background and because, as Jane Birkin relates, Lucien reminded him of a hairdressers assistant. He chose Gainsbourg as his last name, in homage to the English painter Thomas Gainsborough and he married Elisabeth Lize Levitsky on 3 November 1951 and divorced in 1957. He married a second time on 7 January 1964, to Françoise-Antoinette Béatrice Pancrazzi and he divorced Béatrice in February 1966. In late 1967 he had a short but ardent love affair with Brigitte Bardot, to whom he dedicated the song, in mid-1968 Gainsbourg fell in love with the younger English singer and actress Jane Birkin, whom he met during the shooting of the film Slogan. Their relationship lasted over a decade, in 1971 they had a daughter, the actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg. Although many sources state that they were married, according to their daughter Charlotte this was not the case. Birkin remembers the beginning of her affair with Gainsbourg, he first took her to a nightclub, then to a transvestite club, Birkin left Gainsbourg when pregnant with her third daughter Lou by the film director Jacques Doillon
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Serge Gainsbourg in 1981
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Gainsbourg, Gall, and del Monaco in a Screenshot of the Eurovision Song Contest, on 20 March 1965
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Tribute graffiti covers the outer wall of Serge Gainsbourg's house on the rue de Verneuil in Paris, looked after by
Charlotte Gainsbourg after her father's death
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Serge Gainsbourg
45.
Reggae
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Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A1968 single by Toots and the Maytals Do the Reggay was the first popular song to use the word reggae, effectively naming the genre, Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political comment. Reggae spread into a commercialized jazz field, being known first as ‘Rudie Blues’, then ‘Ska’, later ‘Blue Beat’ and it is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat, and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rock steady, from the latter, stylistically, reggae incorporates some of the musical elements of rhythm and blues, jazz, mento, calypso, African music, as well as other genres. One of the most easily recognizable elements is offbeat rhythms, staccato chords played by a guitar or piano on the offbeats of the measure, the tempo of reggae is usually slower than ska but faster than rocksteady. The concept of call and response can be found throughout reggae music, the genre of reggae music is led by the drum and bass. The bass guitar often plays the dominant role in reggae, the bass sound in reggae is thick and heavy, and equalized so the upper frequencies are removed and the lower frequencies emphasized. The guitar in reggae usually plays on the off beat of the rhythm and it is common for reggae to be sung in Jamaican Patois, Jamaican English, and Iyaric dialects. Reggae is noted for its tradition of criticism and religion in its lyrics, although many reggae songs discuss lighter, more personal subjects, such as love. Reggae has spread to countries across the world, often incorporating local instruments. Reggae en Español spread from the mainland South America countries of Venezuela, Caribbean music in the United Kingdom, including reggae, has been popular since the late 1960s, and has evolved into several subgenres and fusions. Many reggae artists began their careers in the UK, and there have been a number of European artists and bands drawing their inspiration directly from Jamaica, Reggae in Africa was boosted by the visit of Bob Marley to Zimbabwe in 1980. In Jamaica, authentic reggae is one of the biggest sources of income, the 1967 edition of the Dictionary of Jamaican English lists reggae as a recently estab. Sp. for rege, as in rege-rege, a word that can mean either rags, ragged clothing or a quarrel, a row. Reggae as a term first appeared in print with the 1968 rocksteady hit Do the Reggay by The Maytals which named the genre of Reggae for the world. Reggae historian Steve Barrow credits Clancy Eccles with altering the Jamaican patois word streggae into reggae, however, Toots Hibbert said, Theres a word we used to use in Jamaica called streggae. If a girl is walking and the look at her and say Man, shes streggae it means she dont dress well
Reggae
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Bob Marley in 1980.
Reggae
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Aston Barret
Reggae
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UB40 's former frontman
Ali Campbell performing in 2009.
Reggae
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UB40 perform in Birmingham, 2010
46.
Ludwig van Beethoven
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Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he one of the most famous. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies,5 piano concertos,1 violin concerto,32 piano sonatas,16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn and he lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose, many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life. Beethoven was the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, a musician from the town of Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant in the Flemish region of what is now Belgium, who at the age of twenty moved to Bonn. Ludwig was employed as a singer at the court of the Elector of Cologne, eventually rising to become, in 1761. The portrait he commissioned of himself towards the end of his life remained proudly displayed in his grandsons rooms as a talisman of his musical heritage. Ludwig had one son, Johann, who worked as a tenor in the musical establishment and gave keyboard. Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767, she was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Keverich, Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn. There is no record of the date of his birth, however. Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only Ludwig, the second-born, caspar Anton Carl was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776. Beethovens first music teacher was his father and he later had other local teachers, the court organist Gilles van den Eeden, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and Franz Rovantini. Beethovens musical talent was obvious at a young age, some time after 1779, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Courts Organist in that year. Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and by March 1783 had helped him write his first published composition, Beethoven soon began working with Neefe as assistant organist, at first unpaid, and then as a paid employee of the court chapel conducted by the Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi. His first three piano sonatas, named Kurfürst for their dedication to the Elector Maximilian Friedrich, were published in 1783, Maximilian Frederick noticed Beethovens talent early, and subsidised and encouraged the young mans musical studies. Maximilian Fredericks successor as the Elector of Bonn was Maximilian Francis, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, echoing changes made in Vienna by his brother Joseph, he introduced reforms based on Enlightenment philosophy, with increased support for education and the arts
Ludwig van Beethoven
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Portrait by
Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820
Ludwig van Beethoven
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Beethoven's birthplace at Bonngasse 20, now the
Beethoven House museum
Ludwig van Beethoven
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Prince-Elector's Palace (Kurfürstliches Schloss) in Bonn, where the Beethoven family had been active since the 1730s
Ludwig van Beethoven
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A portrait of the 13-year-old Beethoven by an unknown Bonn master (c. 1783)
47.
Gioachino Rossini
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Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote operas, as well as some sacred music, songs, chamber music and piano pieces. A precocious composer of operas, he made his debut at the age of eighteen. His best-known operas include the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia, Litaliana in Algeri and he also wrote a string of serious operas in Italian, including works such as Tancredi, Otello and Semiramide. The semi-serious opera La Gazza Ladra has one of Rossinis most celebrated overtures, after moving to Paris in 1824, he eventually started to write in French. His last opera, the epic Guillaume Tell, replete with its iconic overture, after composing thirty-nine significant operas in nineteen years Rossini retired from the theatre in 1829. Later, he was affected by physical and mental illnesses and for decades wrote relatively little apart from a setting of the Stabat Mater. A return to Paris from Italy in 1855 was followed by better health, during these, he presented salon music in the form of songs, piano pieces and small chamber ensembles that he called Sins of Old Age. He considered the last of these Sins to be the unusually scored Petite messe solennelle that he wrote in 1863, Rossini had been the most popular opera composer in history, and he was one of the most renowned public figures of his time. A rapid and prolific composer, he was quoted as joking, Give me the laundress bill, a tendency for inspired, song-like melodies is evident throughout his scores, earning him the nickname The Italian Mozart. Use of a build up of orchestral sound over a repeated phrase—commonly known as a Rossini crescendo—also prompted the nickname Signor Crescendo. Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born into a family of musicians in Pesaro and his father, Giuseppe, was a horn player and inspector of slaughterhouses. His mother, Anna, was a singer and a bakers daughter, Rossinis father was sympathetic to the French Revolution and welcomed Napoleons troops when they arrived in northern Italy. When Austria restored the old regime, Rossinis father was sent to prison in 1799, Rossinis mother took him to Bologna, making a living as leading singer at various theatres of the Romagna region. Her husband would ultimately join her in Bologna, during this time, Rossini was frequently left in the care of his aging grandmother, who had difficulty supervising the boy. He remained at Bologna in the care of a pork butcher while his father played the horn in the orchestras of the theatres at which his wife sang and these qualities made him a subject for ridicule in the eyes of the young Rossini. He was eventually taken from Prinetti and apprenticed to a blacksmith, in Angelo Tesei, he found a congenial music master, and learned to sight-read, play accompaniments on the piano and sing well enough to take solo parts in the church when he was ten years of age. Important products of this period are six sonate a quattro, or string sonatas, the original scores, dating from 1804 when the composer was twelve, were found in the Library of Congress in Washington D. C. In 1805, he appeared at the theatre of the Commune in Ferdinando Paers Camilla and he was also a capable horn player, treading in the footsteps of his father
Gioachino Rossini
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Gioachino Rossini c. 1850 (Lithography: F. Perrin)
Gioachino Rossini
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Portrait of Rossini as a young man
Gioachino Rossini
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Gioachino Rossini, c. 1815 (by
Vincenzo Camuccini)
Gioachino Rossini
–
Isabella Colbran
48.
Semiramide
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Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaires tragedy Semiramis, the opera was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on 3 February 1823. Semiramide was Rossinis final Italian opera and according to Richard Osborne, as in Tancredi, Rossis libretto was based on a Voltaire tragedy. The music took the form of a return to vocal traditions of Rossinis youth, the ensemble-scenes and choruses are of a high order, as is the orchestral writing, which makes full use of a large pit. After this splendid work, one of his finest in the genre, Rossini turned his back on Italy and moved to Paris. Apart from Il viaggio a Reims, which is still in Italian, after making his mark with a number of brilliant comic operas, Rossini turned more and more to serious opera. During the years 1813 until 1822 he wrote a series of them, mostly for the Teatro di San Carlo. One reason for his new interest in the genre was his connection with the great dramatic soprano Isabella Colbran. Work began with the librettist in October 1822, composer and librettist taking Voltaires story, actual composition took Rossini 33 days to complete the score. It reached London on 15 July 1824, was given its US premiere at the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans on 1 May 1837, for 25 years after 1830, Giulia Grisi triumphed in the role notably in St Petersburg in 1849 and New York in 1854. By the late 1800s, the opera had virtually disappeared from the repertoire, the Metropolitan Opera revived Semiramide in 1892,1894, and 1895. 20th century and beyond It took until 1932 until the opera was revived in Rostock. Although the overture is one of several of Rossinis to be widely recorded and it starred Marilyn Horne as Arsace. In 2004, the opera was mounted in concert form by the Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna, time, Antiquity or Some 2,000 Years before the Christian era Place, Babylon Overture Semiramide has its own overture, which was almost certainly composed last. Unlike many operatic overtures of the day, it borrowed musical ideas from the opera itself, temple of Baal, Babylon The High Priest Oroe invites all to enter the temple, and Babylonians do so carrying offerings to Baal. Assur states that the day has come for the Queen to choose a successor, Idreno expresses surprise at Assurs aspirations and all express their individual concerns and fears. Semiramide enters to the acclaim of all, but Idreno and Assur individually speculate as to who will be chosen. They press the queen to announce her decision, but at the same time Semiramide herself is fearful about making that decision, suddenly, the temple is plunged into darkness and there is general consternation amidst fears of its imminent collapse
Semiramide
–
Gioachino Rossini
49.
Robert Schumann
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Robert Schumann was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing. Works such as Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and his writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded. In 1840, Schumann married Friedrich Wiecks daughter Clara, against the wishes of her father, following a long and acrimonious legal battle, which found in favor of Clara and Robert. Clara also composed music and had a concert career as a pianist. After a suicide attempt in 1854, Schumann was admitted to an asylum, at his own request. Diagnosed with psychotic melancholia, Schumann died two years later in 1856 without having recovered from his mental illness, Schumann was born in Zwickau, in the Kingdom of Saxony, the fifth and last child of Johanna Christiane and August Schumann. Schumann began receiving general musical and piano instruction at the age of seven from Johann Gottfried Kuntzsch, the boy immediately developed a love of music and worked at creating musical compositions himself, without the aid of Kuntzsch. Even though he often disregarded the principles of composition, he created works regarded as admirable for his age. At age 14, Schumann wrote an essay on the aesthetics of music and also contributed to a volume, edited by his father, titled Portraits of Famous Men. While still at school in Zwickau, he read the works of the German poet-philosophers Schiller and Goethe, as well as Byron and the Greek tragedians. His most powerful and permanent literary inspiration was Jean Paul, a German writer whose influence is seen in Schumanns youthful novels Juniusabende, completed in 1826, and Selene. Schumanns interest in music was sparked by seeing a performance of Ignaz Moscheles playing at Karlsbad and his father, who had encouraged the boys musical aspirations, died in 1826 when Schumann was 16. Neither his mother nor his guardian thereafter encouraged a career in music, in 1828 Schumann left school, and after a tour during which he met Heinrich Heine in Munich, he went to Leipzig to study law. In 1829 his law studies continued in Heidelberg, where he became a member of Corps Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg. During Eastertide 1830 he heard the Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, in July he wrote to his mother, My whole life has been a struggle between Poetry and Prose, or call it Music and Law. During his studies with Wieck, it has claimed that Schumann permanently injured a finger on his right hand
Robert Schumann
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Robert Schumann in an 1850
daguerreotype
Robert Schumann
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Bust of Robert Schumann in the museum of
Zwickau
Robert Schumann
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House where Robert Schumann was born in 1810
Robert Schumann
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Music room of Schumann
50.
Heinrich Heine
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Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was a German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his lyric poetry. Heines later verse and prose are distinguished by their satirical wit and he is considered part of the Young Germany movement. His radical political views led to many of his works being banned by German authorities, Heine spent the last 25 years of his life as an expatriate in Paris. Heine was born at Düsseldorf in what was then the Duchy of Berg and he was called Harry in childhood but became known as Heinrich after his conversion to Lutheranism in 1825. Heines father, Samson Heine, was a textile merchant and his mother Peira, née van Geldern, was the daughter of a physician. Heinrich was the eldest of four children, Heine was also a third cousin once removed of philosopher and economist Karl Marx, also born to a German Jewish family in the Rhineland, with whom he became a frequent correspondent in later life. Düsseldorf was then a town with a population of around 16,000. The French Revolution and subsequent Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars involving Germany complicated Düsseldorfs political history during Heines childhood and it had been the capital of the Duchy of Jülich-Berg, but was under French occupation at the time of his birth. It then went to the Elector of Bavaria before being ceded to Napoleon in 1806 and it was first ruled by Joachim Murat, then by Napoleon himself. Upon Napoleons downfall in 1815 it became part of Prussia, thus Heines formative years were spent under French influence. The adult Heine would always be devoted to the French for introduction of the Napoleonic Code and he glossed over the negative aspects of French rule in Berg, heavy taxation, conscription, and economic depression brought about by the Continental Blockade. Heines parents were not particularly devout, as a young child they sent him to a Jewish school where he learned a smattering of Hebrew, but thereafter he attended Catholic schools. Here he learned French, which would be his second language - although he spoke it with a German accent. He also acquired a love for Rhineland folklore. In 1814 Heine went to a school in Düsseldorf where he learned to read English. The most successful member of the Heine family was his uncle Salomon Heine, in 1816 Heine moved to Hamburg to become an apprentice at Heckscher & Co, his uncles bank, but displayed little aptitude for business. He learned to hate Hamburg with its ethos, but it would become one of the poles of his life alongside Paris
Heinrich Heine
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A painting of Heine by
Moritz Daniel Oppenheim
Heinrich Heine
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Heine's mother, "Betty"
Heinrich Heine
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The
Brocken, in the
Harz Mountains, described in Heine's
Die Harzreise
Heinrich Heine
–
Hegel with his Berlin students, by
Franz Kugler
_par_Rude,_Arc_de_Triomphe_Etoile_Paris.jpg)
France
-Marseillaise.jpg)
Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Marseillaise". The American Cyclopædia. See also Geschichte eines deutschen Liedes at German Wikisource.
Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "
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