| |
| |
THIS WEEK'S LETTER...
... is overflowing with news and views. As well as our article of the month, which features Ralph Waldo Emerson's impressions of Napoleon, we also have details of Dimitri Casali's talk on how the youth of today see Napoleon, which takes place in Waterloo, plus a reminder of the Waterloo re-enactment weekend coming up in a week's time. And for those looking for more reading material, Napoleonica. La Revue, which is now entirely free, has an article from Jean Mongrédien on the Théâtre-Italien de Paris during the Consulate and Empire period. And keeping the music theme going, after a busy and fantastically successful week of Fondation Napoléon events, we also have a short report from the concerts and conference days that took place over the 8, 9 and 10 June. Next up, we turn our attention to Southampton where in just under a month's time the Wellington Congress 2010 will open, which will feature contributions from some of the world's leading Napoleonic experts. We round things off with some interactive entertainment in the form of Channel 4's Trafalgar game, plus our usual features 200 (fireworks and splendour in honour of a certain somebody's recent marriage) and 150 years ago (the official handover as Savoy and Nice become part of the Second Empire).
|
|
|
| |
ARTICLE OF THE MONTH
"Napoleon; or, the Man of the World" from Representative Men by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Among the eminent persons of the nineteenth century, Bonaparte is far the best known and the most powerful; and owes his predominance to the fidelity with which he expresses the tone of thought and belief, the aims of the masses of active and cultivated men. It is Swedenborg's theory that every organ is made up of homogeneous particles; or as it is sometimes expressed, every whole is made of similars; that is, the lungs are composed of infinitely small lungs; the liver, of infinitely small livers; the kidney, of little kidneys, etc. Following this analogy, if any man is found to carry with him the power and affections of vast numbers, if Napoleon is France, if Napoleon is Europe, it is because the people whom he sways are little Napoleons.
The French article of the month is former Fondation Napoléon research grant student Fabien Menant's "Être prefet de la Somme sous le Consulat et l'Empire", which takes a look at French prefectorial administration following the decree of 28 pluviôse, an VIII.
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
NEWS FROM THE FONDATION NAPOLEON
1810 was a very good year...
It's been a busy couple of days for the Fondation Napoléon, as this week saw both the three commemorative concerts and the Fondation Napoléon/Souvenir Napoléonien "1810" conference (organised in partnership with the Archives Diplomatiques at La Courneuve) take place in the space of three days. All four events were a resounding success: the two-day conference welcomed some of the world's leading experts in Napoleonic history and received two-hundred visitors on both days, whilst the concerts, marking the bicentenary of the marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise, included a couple of pieces of music not heard in public since 1810 and saw a combined total audience of over 1500 people. The concerts, which took place at the Eglise Saint-Louise des Invalides and the Eglise Saint Philippe du Roule, were performed by the Musicanti choir, with five fine soloists, and the Orchestre de l'Académie Symphonique de Paris. The whole ensemble was conducted by Peter Hicks. The proceedings from the conference, which featured much enlightened debate and discussion regarding the importance of the year 1810, will be published in November 2010 by Nouveau Monde Editions.
|
|
|
| |
WHAT'S ON
Wellington Congress 2010, 8 – 10 July
The University of Southampton and the British Commission for Military History are holding the Fourth International Wellington Congress in Southampton (UK) in July 2010.
The University's Hartley Library Special Collections is the home of the first Duke's archive, as well as other extensive collections relating to British political, military, official and diplomatic history in the first half of the nineteenth century. This Wellington Congress focuses particularly on the wars in the peninsula and aims to promote and encourage scholarly work on all aspects of Wellington's career. The Congress will include formal presentations of academic papers, a private view of the exhibition of Wellington archives in the Special Collections Gallery, an evening of musical entertainment of songs from the period, a Congress dinner and visits to Stratfield Saye and to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
|
|
|
| |
Waterloo 2010 re-enactment
Between Friday 18 and Sunday 20 June, 3,000 re-enactors and thousands more spectators and visitors will descend on the Waterloo battlefield in Belgium for the three-day re-enactment event, "Waterloo 2010". As well as a fully functioning historical bivouac, there will also be a large-scale firework display as well as re-enactments of the battle that took place close to Plancenoit and of course the Battle of Waterloo.
Waterloo conferences: "How the youth of today see Napoleon" by Dimitri Casali, 17 June, 2010
Dimitri Casali is an historian, teacher, member of the Institut and music enthusiast who has published more than thirty history books aimed at the general public and young readers. He is also the creator of the innovative teaching technique, Historock, and in this talk he will offer his understanding of how the youth of today see Napoleon.
NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Special music edition
The latest edition of Napoleonica. La Revue is our special issue concerning music and the appreciation thereof during the Napoleonic period. We have selected Jean Mongrédien's article "Le Théâtre-Italien de Paris sous le Consulat et l'Empire" as our article of the week, now freely available on cairn.info. In his text, the author discusses the creation, instigated by First Consul Bonaparte, and evolution of a permanent group of Italian singers, known as the Théâtre-Italien de Paris.
|
|
|
| |
SEEN ON THE WEB
Channel 4's Trafalgar game
The Channel 4 website (UK) has recently launched a new Battle of Trafalgar game which allows users to take the helm of their very own ship and complete missions on behalf of the Royal Navy. As well as objectives based on historical events (escorting merchant ships to safe waters, transporting Nelson to safety and performing raids on the French and Spanish fleet), the player is also given facts about service onboard a Royal Navy ship during the period whilst the game offers short history lessons after each of the "historic" missions. And for more Napoleonic-themed games, why not take a look at our Kids' Corner section on napoleon.org?
200 YEARS AGO
Napoleon's wedding celebrations go off with a bang
The Moniteur Universel on 15 June, 1810, reported on the events taking place in Paris on 10 June to celebrate the marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise. A great deal of space was taken up with a description of a ball held in the imperial couple's honour, organised by the Ville de Paris, but the magnificent firework display was what particularly caught the eye. With the imperial couple seated in a stand erected on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, the display, taking place on the opposite bank of the Seine, began.
"The first scene was the attack on two forts, during which marching skirmishers fired brilliant sparks of fire to the sound of war music, trumpets and drums. From the forts were launched bombs and cannon balls which, upon hitting the river, exploded, from which shot forth more fireworks, magnified beyond measure by the river's waters. [...] During this time, the ship, symbol of the city of Paris, which had remained hidden, sailed down the river all lit up and came to a halt between two columns, creating a most beautiful effect. A magnificent fountain lit behind the tableau crowned the scene. [...] [To finish,] we watched burst into flame a large fountain, the magnitude and brightness of which surpassed all that had come before, and as it faded left for the rest of the night all the evening's decorations illuminated through lenses of colour." [Moniteur Universel, 15 June, 1810]
The exhibition "The imperial honeymoon: Paris 1810", currently on at the Musée Napoléon Ier in the Château de Fontainebleau, has eighteen plates taken from the wedding album produced by Louis-Pierre Baltard. Included in these plates are scenes taken from the 10 June celebrations.
150 YEARS AGO
France officially accepts Savoy and Nice
The Turin treaty signed by Victor Emmanuel, the Piedmontese king, and Napoleon III, French emperor, on 24 March, 1860, agreed that Savoy and Nice would be annexed to France (see previous bulletin n°s 538 and 534). In order to confirm this agreement, referenda were called in Nice and Savoy (15 and 16 April and 22 and 23 April respectively), resulting in the slightly dubious result of almost 100 % each time in favour of annexation, moving The Times correspondent to call it "the bitterest irony ever made on popular suffrage". Despite these suspicions, the decree confirming the annexation of Nice and Savoy was finally signed by Napoleon III at Fontainebleau on 11 June, 1860.
Article 1 decreed:
"His Majesty the King of Sardinia consents to the union of Savoy and the district of Nice (Circondario di Nizza) with France, and renounces, personally and for all of his descendents and successors, in favour of His Majesty the Emperor of the French, all of his rights and titles over the aforementioned territories. It has been agreed between Their Majesties that this union will be carried out with no constraint whatsoever on the populations' wishes and that the Governments of the Emperor of the French and of the King of Sardinia will work together to accept and acknowledge the manifestations of these wishes." [Reported in the Moniteur Universel, 12 June, 1860]
The official handover date was set for Thursday 14 June, a day which saw great celebrations (including Te Deums, bell ringing and a review of 60,000 troops on the Champ de Mars) break out in Paris, and led the Moniteur Universel to remark (on 15 June):
"The celebrations went on into the evening: the boulevards and the Champs-Elysées are full of people: the whole city is lit-up in the most brilliant manner."
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 546, 11 - 17 June, 2010
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or in a specific project, by making a donation?
© This Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery" link to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
Statistic of the week:
A combined total of 1500 visitors attended the three concerts organised to mark the bicentenary of the marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise, which took place on 8, 9 and 10 June in the Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides and the Eglise Saint Philippe du Roule.
MAGAZINE
Recently published
- On Wellington: A Critique of Waterloo, by Carl von Clausewitz, with review by independent scholar Thomas Zakharis
Press review
- AP: "Rude Britannia" exhibition report
- Napoleonic Historical Society: newsletter issue n° 2
EVENTS
On now and coming up
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Conferences
- Wellington congress 2010, Southampton, UK [08/07/2010 - 10/07/2010]
Full details
Re-enactments
- Waterloo 2010, Waterloo, Belgium [18/06/2010 - 20/06/2010]
Full details
Talks
- Waterloo Conferences: "How the youth of today see Napoleon", Waterloo, Belgium [17/06/2010]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
The best of the month
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE
Available free on Cairn.info
NAPOLEONICA ARCHIVES ONLINE
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
Situated at 148 boulevard Haussmann, 75008 Paris, the library is open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 1pm – 6pm, and Thursday 10am – 3pm.
Online catalogue
Digital Library
Contact
ACCOUNT DETAILS
To change your email address, unsubscribe, and sign up for the French information bulletin.
<
|
|
