Another obsession.

It often grieves me that there are so fiew recordings of the music of the walloon composer André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741-1813), -let alone on period instruments...
Grétry was only a name to me when this wonderful dvd came out a couple of years ago, it's titled "La Petite Musique de Marie-Antoinette" and is a filmed concert from Marie-Antoinette's little private theatre at Trianon. With the orchestra Les Agrémens lead by the belgian clarinet virtuoso, Guy van Waas.

Truly delightful ballet music and symphonies, interspersed by a fiew arias and duets by Grétry and his fellow walloon François-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) sung by the soprano Sophie Karthäuser and the baritone Jean-Yves Pruvot. An absolutely lovely concert in this charming little theatre -where we see the "ghost" of Marie-Antoinette (in a rather horrible wig!) appearing here and there. There is also a documentary about the theatre itself.



Then i discovered that the belgian label Ricercar had released a couple of cds with the same orchestra - and leader, playing music by both Grétry and Gossec, one titled "Grétry - Airs et Ballets" with pretty much the same programme as on the dvd and also Karthäuser singing the airs, and then two with symphonies op. XII and VIII by Gossec, and this one with symphonies for various solo instruments by both Grétry and Gossec - as well as by Dieudonné-Pascal Pieltain (1754-1833) and Antoine-Frédéric Gresnick (1755-1799) - two other Walloons working in paris at the same time. I't just gorgeous music, beautifully performed - so beautiful and so redolent of everything one loves about the 18th century. Complete and uncomplicated pleasure!


...And then; this summer Ricercar re-released a live-recording from 1991 with Ricercar Academy lead by Marc Minkowski (an old favourite of mine!) of Grétry's opéra ballet "La Caravane du Caire" -wich had it's premiere at Fontainebleau on the 30th of October in 1783. A sort of "the abduction of the Seraglio" story set in Egypt. It's an absolutely dazzling recording with infectuous dance music as well as a fiew excerpts of the music for d'Hele's comédie "Le Jugement de Midas" from 1778, with La Petite Bande under the baton of Gustav Leonhardt and recorded in 1980. I cordially recommend them all!

I am still not satisfied of course; for there is still no decent recording of Grétry's most famous work, the comédie-ballet "Zémire et Azor" from 1771, libretto by Marmontel -whom Grétry often worked with - a lighthearted beauty and the beast story in a middle eastern setting. The only existing recording is a rather boring one from the 1970s, on modern instruments conducted by Edgard Doneux - sheer elevator music!

I actually saw Zémire et Azor when it was given at Drottningholm in the summer of 1993, conducted by Louis Langrée. I was eleven and went with my mother and her friend whom i always thought incredibly chic - at that time i wouldn't have cared enough to know Grétry from any other composer... It was first performed there in 1778, seven years after it's creation.

The story is of Sander, travelling along with his servant Ali. Shipwrecked they find themselves on an island with a magnificent garden and palace - wich appears to be deserted, it's great hall set for a banquet - but they don't see a living soul, they help themselves to the buffet...

-Sander has three daughters back home: Fatmé, Lisbé and Zémire, his favourite. Before leaving he promised them gifts; Fatmé and Lisbé wished for lace and fine ribbons but all Zémire asked for was a rose...in a charming trio sung by the sisters; "Veillons, mes soeurs"

-So In the garden of the palace Sander picks the most beautiful rose he can find for Zémire and is then stopped by a beast-like man, Azor - really a transformed prince and the owner of the palace. Azor says that Zander must pay with his life for stealing the rose...unless he can persuade one of his daughters to take his place. Zémire agrees to sacrifice her life for her fathers and Ali takes her to the palace. She almost faints with terror upon seeing him. Here is Azor's aria: "Du moment qu'on aime" -sung by Rufus Wainwright (!) from the film "L'age des ténèbres" by Denys Arcand:

But Azor appears to be a proper gentleman and shows Zémire her family back home in a magic mirror...the scene depicted below, by Pehr Hilleström from the swedish production in 1778. (i apologise for the poor quality)

-Zémire even gets to visit her family as long as she promises to always return to Azor.
When she returns from one of those visits, she finds him in despair as he thinks that she has abandoned him, she protests that she cares for him -and the magic spell on Azor is lifted now that he has found someone who loves him, and so he is turned into his old, handsome self and claims his kingdom - with Zémire as his consort. And then they live happily ever after...

I only wish that some period instruments ensemble would record it!

"Nina ou Les Ennuis de l'absence"
Niclas Lafrensen, le Jeune (1737-1807)

Obsession.

I just love this design! It's from the swedish factory of Marieberg and from the mid 1770s. I first saw one in the catalogue of an auction house, i use such catalogues for inspiration for objects to fill my drawn interiors with, that one missed it's top and had a little rabbit at the fot of the stairs that goes up the base of the vase, i just love the details - the little banister, the balustres, little knobs, the reeds and flowers, the decor in black and grey on white, with a little trophy-group with a bow, arrows and a quiver on the vase. Then i found another one, depicted below, just like it while browsing the photo library of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, that's in the collections of le Palais des beaux arts - Lille, that one had a polychrome decor, also with a rabbit and a basket and barrel on the vase, so delightful!Then a couple of weeks ago i passed by one of the finest antiques dealers in town and there it was! This one also in black on white but with a dog sitting at the bottom of the stairs and its top crowned by a blackberry. Oh how you must think me deranged! It's the kind of shop where you have to ring a bell before they let you in, so i didn't dare to, to get a closer look until today. It's price was about fourteenhundred dollars, so, sadly as i am penniless i won't be getting it, but they were kind enough to let me take some photos so that you too, if you share my insanity, can drool over it and dream of it standing on your mantlepiece, just like i do in my desperately obsessive mind...

Drottningholm

Yesterday Moa and i went out to Drottningholm, the royal palace with it’s vast gardens. -a place i love and will be writing a lot more about in the futue... I was delighted to discover the lakes and ponds in the english park frozen and turned into huge ice skating-rinks – a shame i can’t skate. Hardly any snow yet though, wich would have made things all the more beautiful.
We walked around on the ice, out on small islets normally inaccessible, everything was just as it should be in winter except for the shortage of snow, i had almost forgotten what it was like as last winter was horrible and just rained away - wich felt like a bad sign as i have been worrying and obsessing over all the talk of climate change of recent years…but we’ve had mild winters before so maybe it’s not all that bad...i remember some ten years ago when two friends of mine, both born in late december, foolishly they decided to celebrate their fifteenth birthday with a picnic at Drottningholm, and it was rainy and muddy; the ground was like walking on a soaking wet sponge.


Speaking of Drottningholm i found these clips that some sweetheart has had the kindness of posting on youtube that are part of a lovely documentary on ”dance’s past” from 1979, instigated, written and narrated by Dame Margot Fonteyn.
Here she gives a little tour of the well-preserved court theatre at Drottningholm, and it’s absolutely charming! The whole documentary is really worth watching, unfortunately they've disabled embedding of the clips so you have to follow these links:1 (13) and
2 (14)
-the part with Drottningholm starts in clip 1 (13) with a lovely little animation at about 3:23 and continues in clip 2 (14).

New Year's eve with dad.

New Year's eve was nothing special, i decided to spend it with my dad in my childhood-home, just a fiew blocks away from my apartment. We had a gorgeous lobster and some Dopff brut, then ox filet with garlic and parsly and a decent shiraz, then i planned to make an apple tart but opted for some fresh, cut pineapple with chocolates and coffee - and then some more Dopff at the stroke of midnight while we saw the new year in on television with Jan Malmsjö and Anne-Sofie von Otter. I was invited to a party, but way out in the suburbs and i'm glad i didn't go - can't cope with crowds, especially not now.

I do hope we get a decent winter this year, it snowed generously in the end of November but then just thawed away and then it rained and it rained, but now for a couple of weeks it's been cold, and the rooftops covered with sparkling layers of frost - no snow so far but i really, desperately hope for more of that or i shall get terribly depressed! Oh, enough about that! -i should get some sleep...

Goodnight and Happy New Year!views from my balcony the other day.



The remains of our little feast. A pretty little still-life in the sink - don't you think?

Wishing you a happy new year!

Dear followers and readers. In the forthcoming year I hereby resolve to do my best to amuse you more regularly!

Happy 2009!

A little number from my dream-spring/summer wardrobe...

...drawn in May 2006 to Michel Legrand's music to Jacques Demy's "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" from 1964. A film i love.

Introducing Moa

I must share these pictures of my beautiful dog, with you.
Her name is Moa, a name she had already been given when we first met her, my late mother and i. Sometimes i call her Francesca because of her striking likeness with Francesca Annis

She'll be seven years next august but is still always taken for a puppy; and being a Jack Russell she's likely to stay that way.
The last one is a drawing i did a couple of years ago.

Porn for 18th-century addicts.

La France au Temps des Libertins- This is probably the most gorgeous book i've ever seen. I got it a couple of years ago after seeing it in the window of an interior decorator's shop. A splendid book bursting with beautiful, inspiring imagery; a coffeetable-book entirely dedicated to the pleasures of the 18th century. Here we see beautifully set tables, salons, grottos, lush parks and landscapes; works of art by Boucher, Lawreince, Lancret among others, beautiful objects and artefacts. It's written by Jacqueline Queneau and Jean-Yves Patte with photographs by Alexandre Bailhache and styling by Caroline Lebeau - who also was culinary stylist in the magnificent film "Vatel" by Roland Joffé from 2000. It came out in 2001 at the french publisher of so many pretty books: Éditions du Chêne, i can't believe it was out for more than five years before i found out about it! -It also has a little surpise "carnet secret" in the back with some actual 18th-century porn.

A weekend in the country or: A reminder that reality can sometimes be sweet...

In the end of october I, my best friend, her boyfriend, brother and his girlfriend spent a wonderful weekend at the most incredible hostel. It was in a former distillery, built in 1800. It was on the grounds of the country estate Nynäs, about an hour drive from Stockholm.the distillery

It's an amazing building with thick walls and old wooden floors, recently refurbished into this lovely hostel, with reproductions of 19th century wallpaper and furnished with beautiful rustic 18th and 19th century furniture.The house had the most beautiful and well equipped kitchen; and an equally beautiful diningroom where we had our fabulous dinner of toast Skagen, Cœur de filet provençal and a french apple tart with homemade vanilla custard and great wines!


We had an amazing time there. Immediately upon our arrival, just as we had settled in our rooms, we took a walk around the estate. We got up on a cliff with a spectacular view over the lake and the dense woods around it and the echo was incredible!
We discovered the hostel when we visited Nynäs house in september, We had a tour of the absolutely beautiful house - built in the 1640's; it's been rebuilt over the years - lastly in the 1860's and it was a private home until 1984 - and since there was just the four of us, except for the amazing guide, we got to go behind the ropes and have a closer look at the most amazing bed curtains from the early 1600's, in yellow silk and black velvet in an intricate pattern with gold thread embroidery, a fantastic 400-years old silk and velvet marquetry!Nynäs house, the countess' antechamberAn engraving of the house (right) and the distillery (left) from about 1815.

How i've been waiting!

It's finally snowing! I hope for more of that this winter.
Last year it snowed for like two days or so, and this is Sweden!
Last year my dog got a tick in December - that's how warm it was, and the fiew times that it was cheek-pinchingly cold outside i hoped for more but was always let down. Now we've had quite a cold autumn here and i feel slightly more at ease. And now this!

A weekend, or a fortnight, in the country.

I am about to undertake a rather huge project i have been thinking about for a long time.
A beautiful diningroom in a beautiful Château or Hôtel particulier; with an oblong table and some of my, mainly 17th and 18th century, favorite personages around it.

It is completely superficial and unimaginative, just for my own pleasure and hopefully your's... people like Marie-Antoinette, the Duchess of Devonshire and her sister... (NO Bess! In my story she dies early on from smallpox and G gets over it all in no time!) Duchesse de Polignac, Madame de Pompadour, de Sévigné, Voltaire, Emilie du Châtelet, Sophie Arnould, Gustaf III of Sweden, Sarah Siddons and Diana Vreeland are the ones who have been invited so far. I suppose i should have some composers/musicians as well...even though most of the guests excelled in at least one instrument, perhaps they could take turns...Marie-Antoinette at the harp, Arnould singing a fiew airs, Camargo delighting us with a fiew turns about the room and so on...the Queen of France would of course help in carving and handing out the various dishes around the table - as she did at Trianon that summer of 1784 when Gustaf III visited...My late mother will naturally have to be there, and mainly dead people - they always tend to be more interesting, just like past is more interesting than present...and not to mention the future, wich i dread to even think about.
Maybe even a series of pictures; A weekend or a fortnight spent in the country with all these distinguished guests...


It will be all about details - the rooms filled with beautiful furniture and artefacts, porcelaine, silver, silly little figurines taken from all my books on 18th century art and fashion as well as from my huge library of images on my laptop, taken from the collections of various museums.
I have made a first draft - a sketch of the diningroom in question, and i really look forward to begin!

I haven't really drawn for years, i've been far to stressed and worried...i'm not cut out for this life. I just scribble and never make any finished drawings, even though i really have all the time in the world - i'm off sick; have been for years and lord knows for how much longer, i just can't seem to get back on my feet.