okiscopey
13-07-2007, 05:36 PM
Listening to ABC Classic FM this morning I was intrigued to hear that the composer Saint-Saëns had an interest in astronomy, so when I got to work I had a dig around the Web to find out more (in my lunch break, of course!).
Didn’t find out much detail, but you know what the Web’s like, it leads from one fascinating thing to another, amd you just can’t imagine what life was like before WWW.
Saint-Saëns (I hope the two dots over the ‘e’ show properly) was a bit of a genius (like everyone here in IIS), so it’s not surprising he had a love of the heavens. Here’s some of the information I came across:
http://www.maurice-abravanel.com/saint_saens.html
“In 1845, at ten years old, Saint-Saëns could play all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas from memory. After his first public performance he was hailed as a second Mozart.”
“Saint-Saëns was a man of wide interests, and had a lively curiosity in many other subjects beside music. Ha was an avid an enthusiastic historian, with a special knowledge of ancient Roman art and architecture. He learned Latin under a private tutor, and it was matter of great regret that he never studied Greek. Astronomy was another keen interest of his and he once broke off an important rehearsal in order to watch an eclipse of the sun. He was a published poet and philosopher, author of a book on Roman theatre, archaeology and writer of scholarly articles on both music and botany.”
Moving on, trying to find more detail about the astronomy:
http://www.jhu.edu/jhso/about/prgrmnotes/pn_030506.html
“As for his insatiable love of astronomy, he once called short an important rehearsal so that he could view a night-sky event.”
Well, not much there, but at least now I know it’s possible to view a total solar eclipse during the night!
Then:
www.jessicaduchen.co.uk/pdfs/indi_2004/Saint-Sa%EBns_19-4-04.pdf
“Nor was music enough to satisfy his mental agility: an expert mathematician, zoologist, botanist and fossil hunter, he added astronomy to that list and once used the proceeds of some duos for harmonium and piano to commission a telescope constructed to his own specifications.”
I couldn’t find out any more detail, but as I’m not about to write a book about S-S’s astro endeavours, it’s not a big problem.
I’m not sure whether the term ‘amateur’ or ‘professional’ should be appended to S-S’s interest, but going back into the past, surely there comes a time when the distinction becomes a lot less than it is today.
One site I consulted notes that S-S was a notable ‘feuilletonist’. Faced with such a ridiculous word, the Internet came to my rescue in a matter of seconds:
feuil·le·ton n.
1. a. The part of a European newspaper devoted to light fiction, reviews, and articles of general entertainment. 1b. An article appearing in such a section.
2a. A novel published in installments. 2b. A light, popular work of fiction.
3. A short literary essay or sketch.
So now you know. Not exactly a word that pops up in casual conversation.
The ‘Saint-Saëns’ and ‘astronomy’ key words eventually led to the Wikipedia article on (Sir) Patrick Moore, and continued the music-astronomy theme:
“Until being forced to give up owing to arthritis, Moore was a keen musician and accomplished xylophone player. He has composed a substantial corpus of works, including two operettas, one of which is entitled Galileo: The True Story. He sometimes performed novelty turns at the Royal Variety Performance and once appeared in a song-and-dance act in a Morecambe and Wise Christmas special. As a guest on Have I Got News For You, he accompanied the show's closing theme tune on the xylophone and as a pianist, once accompanied Albert Einstein playing The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns on the violin (of which no recording was made). … He is a friend of Queen guitarist and amateur astronomer Brian May, who himself is a sometime guest on The Sky At Night. The pair have co-authored a book with Chris Lintott, entitled Bang! The Complete History of the Universe.”
A few more interesting snippets:
“In January 1998, part of Moore's observatory at his home in Selsey was destroyed by a tornado which passed through the area. The observatory was subsequently rebuilt.”
“Along with many other celebrities, Patrick Moore has been the subject of crank-calls by comedian Jon Culshaw, as part of the BBC Radio 4 show Dead Ringers. On this occasion, Jon Culshaw impersonated Tom Baker's role of the Fourth Doctor (Doctor Who), supposedly consulting Moore on various astronomy-related matters. Moore, being aware of what was going on, confused Culshaw by out-playing him in his use of technobabble, resulting in a rare pause from the comedian as he tried to think of a response.”
Hands up who knew about good old Sir PM having had a gig with Einstein!
I think Brian May has been mentioned in IIS before, so we’ve now come full circle and it’s time for a break.
Happy surfing!
Didn’t find out much detail, but you know what the Web’s like, it leads from one fascinating thing to another, amd you just can’t imagine what life was like before WWW.
Saint-Saëns (I hope the two dots over the ‘e’ show properly) was a bit of a genius (like everyone here in IIS), so it’s not surprising he had a love of the heavens. Here’s some of the information I came across:
http://www.maurice-abravanel.com/saint_saens.html
“In 1845, at ten years old, Saint-Saëns could play all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas from memory. After his first public performance he was hailed as a second Mozart.”
“Saint-Saëns was a man of wide interests, and had a lively curiosity in many other subjects beside music. Ha was an avid an enthusiastic historian, with a special knowledge of ancient Roman art and architecture. He learned Latin under a private tutor, and it was matter of great regret that he never studied Greek. Astronomy was another keen interest of his and he once broke off an important rehearsal in order to watch an eclipse of the sun. He was a published poet and philosopher, author of a book on Roman theatre, archaeology and writer of scholarly articles on both music and botany.”
Moving on, trying to find more detail about the astronomy:
http://www.jhu.edu/jhso/about/prgrmnotes/pn_030506.html
“As for his insatiable love of astronomy, he once called short an important rehearsal so that he could view a night-sky event.”
Well, not much there, but at least now I know it’s possible to view a total solar eclipse during the night!
Then:
www.jessicaduchen.co.uk/pdfs/indi_2004/Saint-Sa%EBns_19-4-04.pdf
“Nor was music enough to satisfy his mental agility: an expert mathematician, zoologist, botanist and fossil hunter, he added astronomy to that list and once used the proceeds of some duos for harmonium and piano to commission a telescope constructed to his own specifications.”
I couldn’t find out any more detail, but as I’m not about to write a book about S-S’s astro endeavours, it’s not a big problem.
I’m not sure whether the term ‘amateur’ or ‘professional’ should be appended to S-S’s interest, but going back into the past, surely there comes a time when the distinction becomes a lot less than it is today.
One site I consulted notes that S-S was a notable ‘feuilletonist’. Faced with such a ridiculous word, the Internet came to my rescue in a matter of seconds:
feuil·le·ton n.
1. a. The part of a European newspaper devoted to light fiction, reviews, and articles of general entertainment. 1b. An article appearing in such a section.
2a. A novel published in installments. 2b. A light, popular work of fiction.
3. A short literary essay or sketch.
So now you know. Not exactly a word that pops up in casual conversation.
The ‘Saint-Saëns’ and ‘astronomy’ key words eventually led to the Wikipedia article on (Sir) Patrick Moore, and continued the music-astronomy theme:
“Until being forced to give up owing to arthritis, Moore was a keen musician and accomplished xylophone player. He has composed a substantial corpus of works, including two operettas, one of which is entitled Galileo: The True Story. He sometimes performed novelty turns at the Royal Variety Performance and once appeared in a song-and-dance act in a Morecambe and Wise Christmas special. As a guest on Have I Got News For You, he accompanied the show's closing theme tune on the xylophone and as a pianist, once accompanied Albert Einstein playing The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns on the violin (of which no recording was made). … He is a friend of Queen guitarist and amateur astronomer Brian May, who himself is a sometime guest on The Sky At Night. The pair have co-authored a book with Chris Lintott, entitled Bang! The Complete History of the Universe.”
A few more interesting snippets:
“In January 1998, part of Moore's observatory at his home in Selsey was destroyed by a tornado which passed through the area. The observatory was subsequently rebuilt.”
“Along with many other celebrities, Patrick Moore has been the subject of crank-calls by comedian Jon Culshaw, as part of the BBC Radio 4 show Dead Ringers. On this occasion, Jon Culshaw impersonated Tom Baker's role of the Fourth Doctor (Doctor Who), supposedly consulting Moore on various astronomy-related matters. Moore, being aware of what was going on, confused Culshaw by out-playing him in his use of technobabble, resulting in a rare pause from the comedian as he tried to think of a response.”
Hands up who knew about good old Sir PM having had a gig with Einstein!
I think Brian May has been mentioned in IIS before, so we’ve now come full circle and it’s time for a break.
Happy surfing!