18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 34

[cahn]

And including Emperor Joseph II!

from Derek Beales: Joseph II, Volume 2: Against the World, 1780 - 1790:

Joseph's alleged comment to Mozart about the Entführung, "Too many notes", has been taken as evidence of his ignorance. But he probably said something like, "Too beautiful for our ears, and monstrous many notes." It is always necessary to bear in mind, when appraising the emperor's remarks, his peculiar brand of humor or sarcasm. He was usually getting at someone. And he did not use the royal "we". The ears in question were those of the Viennese audience, whom he was mocking for their limited appreciation of Mozart's elaborate music.

(though not gonna lie, I think it is a LOT of notes)

Comments

Re: An 18th-C RPF pinch hit

[selenak]

If you want a reminder of the hilariously bitchy and NOT AT ALL BIASED way Poniatowski sums up his beloved's husband, here is the direct link to my translation of the passage in question. (It's followed by his ardent description of Catherine, aka "the woman who was to rule my destiny" (and deflowered me).)

Unlike Mildred, I haven't watched Ekaterina as such, just a few clips of it on YouTube (put there by the same lady who put up clips from the Carlos Rey Emperador show, btw) - it's the show where Fritz has giants for dogs instead of small Italian greyhounds and is essentially Vladimir Putin, set on poisoning the Russian Imperial family (the one thing even his worst enemies in his life time or after have not accused him of), right?

Re: An 18th-C RPF pinch hit

[mildred_of_midgard]

That's the one! They're borzhoi dogs, which I imagine were easier to get in Russia. The poor Italian greyhounds would freeze!

Re: An 18th-C RPF pinch hit

[cahn]

Heeeee thank you for re-linking this, I had forgotten how hilarious Poniatowski was! :D

(Also, I welcome the reminder because the name of the first episode is "Dulcinea," which I didn't understand until now!) (Probably someone referred to it, and I missed it because I was wondering who that guy was :P )

Re: An 18th-C RPF pinch hit

[selenak]

Dulcinea: along with Holden naming the ship Rocinante, the first season really went heavy on the Don Quixote allusions. :) For you, Dulcinea the song from ´Man of La Mancha, the musical, as a future helpful reminder.

Poniatowski: hey, just because Catherine would go on breaking his heart doesn't mean he has to feel any warmer towards her late husband!

Re: An 18th-C RPF pinch hit

[cahn]

*blinks* ...apparently I completely mixed up Expanse and Ekaterina. Uh, because they're so much alike, I guess :P Omg! I somehow came away thinking the first episode of Ekaterina was called "Dulcinea," even though it looks like they don't have episode titles at all, and thought after reading your Poniatowski excerpt, "oh, this title was a clever allusion to how Peter likes Fritz so much, which I totally missed!" (I actually do know who Dulcinea and Rocinante etc. are, although to be fair this is mostly from the musical, which I love -- I've only read a very little bit of Cervantes.)

(...aaaaand work deadline is now encroaching, I may not be able to check in very much, or watch much, until mid next week or so. Though given the amount of stuff I'm mixing up, lol forever, it's probably not a bad idea to take a little break for now :) I'll try to dip in when I can, but it will definitely be sporadic.)

Re: An 18th-C RPF pinch hit

[mildred_of_midgard]

Omg! I somehow came away thinking the first episode of Ekaterina was called "Dulcinea,"

LOL! I was SO confused! Okay, this makes sense now. :D

I'll try to dip in when I can, but it will definitely be sporadic.

This is good, actually! Because I have hit the point where I can finish a (sufficiently interesting) German book in a reasonable amount of time, and so I'm now in a "Buy book - read book - buy book - read book" mania. As opposed to "Choose one book that's worth spending an entire month wrestling with it, wrestle with it, then take a break before gearing up for another book," which is where we were until this month.

I'm furiously investing in that future day on which my German proficiency allows me to make salon contributions a la selenak and felis.