PARIS, 1872, Le Gaulois newspaper: ‘Was there ever a more singular history than that of Gounod and the Englishwoman? Since Delilah, who cut off Samson’s hair, never has there been anything socurious. At her feet he forgets all —family and country! Passion has taken possession of the artist’s brain and driven from it the remembrance of all that is decent.’
What had provoked this outburst? Best remembered today as the composer of Faust, an opera that has maintained its popular appeal, although his other works have largely disappeared from the repertory, Charles Gounod (1818–93) was a mass of contradictions. He was a charmer who adored the company of women, but who yearned for a more solitary, contemplative existence and spent some years studying for the priesthood. His religious zeal was matched by his enthusiasm for the theatre and public acclaim. He wrote grand Masses and operas, pulled constantly between the sacred and the secular.
At the outbreak of the Franco- Prussian War in 1870, he fell prey to despair about the fate of France and the impossibility of pursuing his musical career ‘beneath an enemy flag’. Gathering his family together—wife, two children and mother-in-law— Gounod took refuge in London, where he was already well known and where his admirers included Queen Victoria. He rapidly became a Society favourite, appearing at select gatherings to perform his own songs and extracts from his operas, accompanying himself on the piano. His voice was tuneful and slightly husky, and he performed with beguiling intensity.
At one such gathering, in February 1871, a young woman named Georgina Weldon was overcome with emotion. Assuming herself to be the target of Gounod’s ardent glances, she began to sob uncontrollably, retired behind a curtain to recover and emerged only when the other guests had gone. She and the composer of the hour struck up an immediate friendship.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 06, 2021-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 06, 2021-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
