Someone has heard my prayers at last!

I have long been pining for more period-instrument recordings of the music of André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741-1813) -there have been shockingly few over the years, in fact hardly any at all. -absurd, considering what a huge star he was in his own lifetime, for example; his "La Caravane du Caire" from 1783 was given more than five hundred performances! Now his 1780, "Andromaque" -his only tragédie lyrique, based on Jean Racine's play, has been recorded by Hervé Niquet et Le Concert Spirituel on the spanish label Glossa.
...And i'm thrilled!!!
...And there's more!!!
-Later, i've heard, a recording for cd, of Grétry's 1773 ballet héroïque "Céphale et Procris" will be made by Les Agrémens, lead by Guy van Waas, for Ricercar. Last fall it was performed in concert at the Opéra Royal, Versailles. See it here.

"Céphale et Procris" by Fragonard
Grétry, by Vigée-Lebrun.

Now i'm only praying for the weather to change! -though the winter was unusually rigorous this year, even for us in the north. It really was the very winter i had been longing for for years and not since the 1920s, i believe, have we had as much snow... and then of course i started pining for spring, wich looked like it was coming along nicely, until a couple of days ago when it suddenly felt like we had stepped back several weeks. -and with an impenetrable thicket of clouds above! -and temperatures never rising above 50 F. Just unacceptable! And the iris and the honeysuckle on my balcony seemed to be thriving and i had even taken out my poor lemon tree for the season! But at least it's a great excuse to just stay in, drink tea... and listen to some Grétry, i guess.

And i'm sorry i've posted so infrequently lately -really since i started this blog, but i just haven't had the peace of mind for that, or anything really... and i have scarcely drawn for months, except for some pointless doodlings every now and then. But I do hope to be back soon, and i'm glad you're all still with me.
Au bientôt!

The park at Drottningholm, a lovely day exactly two years ago. Now it's more like november.

Patricia Petibon "Quando voglio"

Ulriksdal Palace

Ulriksdal Palace, seen from the lake.

After a mild december it's now been incredibly cold for almost a full month and the snow, though it hasn't been that much of it, has actually stayed! It's heavenly!

I just meant to post a series of photos from my walk last saturday when i went out to the royal estate of Ulriksdal, expressly to capture the white, frosty gorgeousness. But can't leave out writing just a little about it's history.

Scroll down to see more pictures and to read about the theatre.




In the early 17th centry Ulriksdal belonged to Jacob de la Gardie, a nobleman of french bourgeois descent, it was then named Jacobsdahl. Jacob's son Magnus Gabriel was a favourite of Queen Christina (util he eventually fell from grace) as well as one of the walthiest and most powerful men in Sweden. He had his father's estate turned into a magnificent baroque compound with magnificent gardens, -if we're to believe, the often rather exaggerated, engravings of the time.


In the 1680s it was taken over by the crown and renamed Ulriksdal, after a prince who died in infancy.










The court theatre, called "the Confidence", was originally built in the 1670s as a stable, but in the 1750s it was turned into a theatre by Queen Louisa Ulrica, sister of Frederic the great of Prussia.

Sadly the theatre, -just like the one at Drottningholm, was abandoned at the death of her son, Gustav III in 1792, -and in the 1860s the building was brutally turned into a hideous neo-renaissance style hunting lodge, by king Carl XV.

It's name "the confidence" comes from the dining room, with it's "Table volante" -where the table could be lowered down to the cellar and there dressed and set, so that the Royal family could dine in private. -all of this and the original 18th century-fixtures were all covered or simply demolished in the 1860s.

Luckily the theatre was "rediscovered" in the 1970s by the opera singer Kjerstin Dellert, who happened to live nearby. The building was in a terrible state, and unlike Drottningholm, next to nothing remained. Dellert found sponsors and started a complete restoration of the theatre, had the salon and it's adjoining suite of elegant rooms all turned back to their former beauty.


View through one of the windows of the dining room.Adorable houses nearby

(A belated) Happy New Year!

Hello again! I'm just going to start breaking the silence by wishing you a Happy New Year and by posting a series of photos from my own new year's eve celebrations.
I and a couple of friends spent the evening in my apartment and cooked a delicious vietnamese dinner, -since i got Ghillie Basan's fantastic book "The food and cooking of Vietnam and Cambodia" i've become quite obsessed, also a longing for warm and exotic places...in spite of the fact that i've been pining for razor sharp cold and now gotten it -it's a staggering 5 degrees F outside and the cold has been staying for several weeks now...i can't stop myself from simply dreaming myself away to the far east.

However...the day before i met my friend K downtown to go to the asian markets where we got all we needed -like two old ladies we had both brought our own little baskets, and then on the afternoon of new year's eve we all sat down around my dining table and made spring and summerrolls, wonton dumplings, and a crisp green papaya salad, everything took the whole evening to prepare as i only have a tiny kitchenette with little space for a good mise-en-place.

At the stroke of midnight we crowded on my balcony to see the fireworks.

Just a little questionnaire...

Just found this fun questionnaire, on , and had to post it here. Simply answer all questions below with titles of books on your shelves...

Again, i'm sorry for not writing more often, but i just haven't had the time, or the motivation, lately.


Are you a man or a woman?

Orlando

Describe yourself:

a la recherche du temps perdu

How are you?

the Bell Jar

Describe the place you live in:

À Rebours

Where would you like to travel?

the Gentleman in the parlour

Describe your best friend:

Madame Bovary / Emma

Wich is your favorite color?

the Arcanum

What's the weather like right now?

Bonjour tristesse

Wich is your favorite season?

How i live now

If your life was a tv-show, what would it be named?

a Room with a view

What's the relationship you're in, like?

Perfume

What are you afraid of?

One hundred years of solitude

What advice would you give?

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

How would you like to die?

the Year of Magical thinking

Your motto:

a Room of one's own



I hope to be back again soon, not least to write about, and post pictures, from my recent trip to New York.

June and midsummer in Berlin

Hello loves!
I just have to post this german documentary (in two parts) about Drottningholm that i just found on youtube. I can't stand how time just evaporates like this - i haven't made it to Drottningholm since i was there for Handel's Ariodante in the beginning of june, and i used to go there at least once a week! -but of course it's been a terrible start of this summer -after a lovely spring most of june just rained away and the temperature stayed around 13 Celsius...but now we've had several days of almost tropical heat with temperatures never sinking below 20 degrees even at night. So i hope to go soon! -and i really could be there within 30 minutes so i don't know what keeps keeping me!

1,

2,

Last week i was in Berlin for a couple of days, visiting my friend, who's currently doing an internship at an architecture firm there.



This was my first time abroad since my mother passed away in 2005 and god, i needed a holiday! My friend lives in Kreutzberg in the most beautiful apartment in a 19th century building with stucco ceilings and no less than three beautiful tiled stoves!

On the third day we got tickets for Mozart's "the abduction of the seraglio" at the Staatsoper Unter den linden, it was just third row seats and we scarcely saw the stage, but it was a great performance, with Christine Schäfer as Costanze, who also sings the part on the recording with William Christie.
Annoyingly we didn't get to see her when she gloriously sang "Marter aller arten",
so the operaglasses i found in a little antiques shop in our neighborhood earlier the same day weren't much use, but we heard perfectly:
Unter den linden towards Alexanderplatz with the Staatsoper to the right.

One of my favorite things about Berlin is Dussmann -a huge and fabulous store on Friedrichstraße, open until midnight on weekdays, selling books, music, movies, games and more. -they have the most incredible classical section! Too good to be true! I bought Mondonville's "Titon et Aurore" and Mouret's "Les amours de Ragonde" (Erato/Warner) both with Marc Minkowski and a lovely new cd titled "Le salon de musique de Marie-Antoinette" (Naïve/Ambroisie" with Sandrine Chatron on Harp, playing beautiful pieces by Gluck, Grétry, Mozart and others including Marie-Antoinette's own composition "C'est mon ami" and other arias and duets sung by Isabelle Poulenard and Jean-François Lombard, and then to my pleasant surprise i found a sequal to Véronique Gens and Les Talens Lyriques with Christophe Rousset, terrific 2006 recital cd "Tragédiennes" (Emi/Virgin) simply titled "Tragédiennes 2".

The first one had music by Lully, Campra, Rameau, Mondonville, Leclair, Royer and Gluck and the second one Gluck, Sacchini, Piccinni, Rameau, Grétry, Cherubini, Arriàga and Berlioz. I also picked up Lully's "Atys" (Harmonia Mundi) with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants.

the view from the tv-tower

The classical section at Dussmann truly is fantastic, i discovered it the last time i was in Berlin in 2004 and i was like a kid in a candystore! They have absolutely everything! -and i was pleased to see nothing had changed in five years, what with all those superstores closing and downsizing allover the world.

I also made it twice to my favorite eatery, Monsieur Vuong where i had delicious springrolls, noodlesalad Mekong and Phò. How i love that place...just like the rest of the world! Sadly i did not make it to Potsdam and Sanssouci or to revisit the Charlottenburg palace...but they're excellent reasons to go back to that lovely city.

The Sophienkirche in Mitte, a gorgeous little church


Again, i apologise for not being more active here but time has just been slipping through my fingers lately. But i'm pleased to see you're still with me.
See you soon!

Bisous

The Castle of Skokloster

Yesterday I and my friend P went out to Skokloster castle, where her boyfriend, who's studying to become a director at the Dramatic Institute, was shooting a scene for his thesis-film, and to wich i have drawn the storyboards. The film is set in 1713 and tells, in short, the nightmarish story about the downfall of Count Magnus Stenbock, a nobleman and general under King Charles XII.


But i shall write a little about the castle, for those not already familiar with it. It is one of my favorite places, and a major tourist attraction, and has been since the early 1700s.
Northwest of Stockholm, Beautifully situated by Lake Mälaren lies one of. it not THE most well preserved baroque castle in the entire world. It's construction began in 1654, as a display of the power and wealth of Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel, however construction took a halt upon his death in 1676. Probably one of the most interesting rooms is the huge, unfinished banqueting hall and a suite of adjoining guestrooms, standing just as the workers left them, tools and all, just as they stand today.

The castle is a marvelous treasuretrove with more than 50.000 objects from some of the wealthiest and most powerful noble families in sweden. The room depicted above and below is a royal guestroom. The gilt leather wall hangings are 17th century but weren't put up until 1837 wich is why they've retained much of their colour - Skokloster has one of the biggest collections of gilt leather in the world, in eight rooms and alltogether around 550 square metres of it.
The room has an exquisite collection of chinese inspired furniture from around 17th to 19th century. Some of the chairs were made in Paris around 1780 and later copies were made. The canopy-bed dates from around 1700.

The room used for the film is the so called Brahe dining room where a scene between Stenbock and the king was filmed, and to my horror some of the extras cas as courtiers were wearing the most excruciatingly bad costumes! Not only were they the wrong period but in the worst cuts and fabrics you can imagine, not to mention the hair. I wish i had known and i would have put a stop to it, but too late to say anything at this point, it is just a school production after all, but i do hope they won't show too much!

Dear followers...

...i'm pleased to see that you are still with me in spite of my long absence. I have been feeling low and uninsipired lately and still can't think of what to write, but i hope to be back soom and hope that you stay with me until i come round again.
Thank you, sweethearts.