| |
|
|
|
|
| |
THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
Autograph Bonaparte letters at the Universities of Princeton (USA) and Vilnius (Lithuania).
A tale of Napoleonic forgeries?, by Peter Hicks
In the course of the project to publish the complete correspondance of Napoleon, I received from the University of Princeton (USA) a photocopy of a very interesting document. It was the body of a letter and a postscript, written by Napoleon Bonaparte to an anonymus citizen...
A NEW MESSAGE BOARD: ASSISTANCE FOR THE CORRESPONDANCE PROJECT
The project for the publication of the complete Correspondance of Napoleon Ist continues to advance and we have begun the annotation process. On our new message board, we are posting a certain number of questions to which (despite searching) we have as yet no answers. By posting your replies you will be bringing your very valuable participation to the ongoing project. Please make sure to cite your sources as precisely as possibile and to include your email address.
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY 2004: A "FIRST EMPIRE" AT THE PALAIS DES CONGRES
At last a French Napoleonic Fair! On 3, 4 and 5 December 2004, at the Palais des Congrès, Porte Maillot, Paris, a "Salon du Premier Empire" is to take place, organised by the company "Histoire de Communiquer", with the patronage of the Fondation Napoléon. Stands, an exhibition and talks are planned. Information by email.
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO
4 October, 1853, as a prelude to the Crimean War, Turks declared war on Russia. On 27th March, 1854, the British and the French made an alliance and also declared war against Russia. After the French victory on the banks of the river Alma on 24 September 1854, the British 'madness' at Balaclava (25 October, 1854), symbolised by the absurd charge of the light brigade, and the bloody encounter at Inkermann (Novermber 5, 1854), the war ended with the fall of Sebastopol, which had been besieged for over a year and which finally gave way after the French took the Malakoff redoubt, 8 September, 1855. The peace was signed during the congress held in Paris, from 28 February to 30 March, 1856.
6 October, 1853, the premiere of Adolphe Adam's comic opera Le Bijou Perdu, at the Théâtre Lyrique, Place du Chatelet, Paris.
Composer of comic operas, Adolphe-Charles Adam was born in Paris on 24 July, 1803. He had been introduced to music by father who was a virtuoso pianist. Entering the Conservatoire in 1820, he received the Second Prix de Rome in 1825. His first works were a great success, but the period of instability brought on by the Trois Glorieuses plunged Parisian theatres into financial difficulties, and Adam decided to go abroad. Elected to the Institut in 1844, he founded the Opéra National in 1847, which collapsed with the Revolution of 1848. He became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire in 1849. His most well-known works are the ballet Gisèle (1841) and the salon song, 'O Holy Night' ('Minuit chrétien' (1850)). He died in Paris on 3 May, 1856.
8 October, 1853, Victor Hugo sent a letter to Edouard Plouvier, a 'worker' who had become a poet and playwright and who had sent Hugo one of his works during the summer. In this work entitled Contes pour les jours de pluie (Stories for rainy days), Plouvier had dedicated one of these 'contes', Le Sphinx, to the poet in exile:
" [...] thank you for having dedicated Le Sphinx to me. Of the many fine pages in your book it contains some of the best. [...] in Le Sphinx there is a great spread of social interest, this voluntary exile who abandons his life and takes refuge with the men of the waves, this solitary figure set before infinity moved me deeply. I am the same age, I have almost the same way of thinking; he has proscribed his own will. I too in a similar way have proscribed mine. If Bonaparte thinks that it was his decree which drove me out, he is wrong; what drove me out was his infamy. What banished me was that spectacle of shame which I could not bear. It was not Monsieur Bonaparte who said: go - it was my soul."
Correspondance of Victor Hugo
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
10 Vendémiaire, An XII (3 October, 1803), Bonaparte sent a letter to Régnier, Grand Juge, and Minister of Justice: "I have learned, Citizen Minister, that Madame de Staël is in Maffliers, near Beaumont-sur-Oise. Inform her via her habitués, and without causing a stir, that if she is still there on 15 Vendémiaire, she will be escorted to the frontier by the gendarmerie. The arrival of that woman, like that of a bird of ill omen, has always been the sign of trouble. It is my intention that she should not remain in France. "
Correspondance, lettre n° 7152
12 Vendémiaire, An XII (5 October, 1803), a bill was passed for the creation and organisation of "a company of guide-translators to be employed in the Armée d'Angleterre", comprising 117 men (1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 2 sub-lieutenants, 1 head Maréchal des logis, 4 Maréchaux des logis, 1 furrier, 8 brigadiers, 96 guides, 2 drummers). Requirement for joining the company: to be under 35, to have a good knowledge of spoken and written English (Irishmen could join), to have lived in England, and to know the geography.
Correspondance, Lettre n° 7165
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
|
|
|
|
|
|
THIS WEEK:
Recent publications
- Napoleon's Red Lancers, by Ronald Pawly
- Napoleon's Shield and Guardian, General Dausmesnil, by Edward Ryan
What's on
- Auction: Napoleonic Medals, Baldwin's London
- Presentation: Alessandro Barbero's Waterloo, presented by Marco Gioannini and Giulio Massobrio, in Alessandria, Italy
- Talk: Napoleon, the man and the art he inspired, by Arie Ribon, New York City
- Days: Napoleonic days in London
- Exhibition: Napoleon in Brazil
- Exhibition: Art booty in the Napoleonic period. The "French gift" to Mainz, 1803
- Conference: the Napoleonic Association autumn conference
- Exhibition: Bonaparte or Buonaparte
- Conference: King Joachim Murat: the legend and the history
The monthly titles
- This month's book: Parting the desert: the creation of the Suez Canal, by Zachary Karabell
- This month's painting: The Salle des Saisons in the Louvre, by Hubert Robert (circa 1802)
- This month's article: A tale of Napoleonic forgeries?, by Peter Hicks
- In the Collectors Corner, The Cent-Jours standard Eagle of the 6e Régiment des Chasseurs à Cheval
<<
|
|
