Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 39

[cahn]

Last post, along with the usual 18th-century suspects, included the Ottonians; changing ideas of conception and women's sexual pleasure; Isabella of Parma (the one who fell in love, and vice versa, with her husband's sister); Henry IV and Bertha (and Henry's second wife divorcing him for "unspeakable sexual acts"). (Okay, Isabella of Parma was 18th century.)

Comments

Re: News from the Middle Ages

[cahn]

Ahhhhh this is really interesting, I had not really internalized how alien the medieval mindset of intense faith would be for Schiller but that makes perfect sense with what I know about Don Carlos.

...And of course Verdi's opera, composed in the 19th century, is very much more concerned with presenting religious faith as something that the characters feel strongly about (Elisabeth being perhaps the most salient example as a single character, as her religion is a fairly strong component of her operatic character, whereas in Schiller, of course, it's not -- but then of course there's also the opera interpolations of the auto-da-fe and everyone kneeling for the Grand Inquisitor).