Topic 181 of 181 [austen]: Understanding Regency society
Response 5 of 5: Amy (Amy) * Tue, Feb 11, 1997 (14:26) * 204 lines
Moved from old topic, Mozart wigs
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Topic 57 of 181: 'Mozart wigs'
Sun, Dec 1, 1996 (21:25) | Rachel Youdelman (baka)
Help! my kids are infected with my addiction to P&P2! My son says the servants are wearing 'Mozart wigs'!! from Rachel
11 new of 11 responses total.
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 1 of 11: Amy Bellinger (Amy) * Mon, Dec 2, 1996 (04:02) * 13 lines
Well, that [wigs] is one point on which I think What Jane Austen Ate... is accurate. I don't own the book, but if I remember Pool(e?) was sort of incredulous in his style of explaining the costuming of servants of the rich. He said something like, "For some reason, the wealthy had their servants dress as they themselves might have some 40 years before."
In the neighborhood of Meryton, Nethfield and Longbourn, the Bingely household is the only one where we see servants so dressed.
And that brings up something I have wondered about. How far away would some other great estates be from Longbourn and would the Bennets have been acquainted with those families.
And. If Longbourn had a church, would not Netherfield be a parish too, or would it have been too close? Was the house at Netherfield an old estate or built by an upstart like Bingley himself? I don't think any of these questions are answered in the book, but wondered if there are any hints in the book, or if anyone who knows the period cares to speculate.
Oh, sorry. I am on a ramble. Fun to think about the fact that Mozart was nearly comtemporary. I imagine his music was to our Regency friends as Gershwin is to us.
Amy
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 2 of 11: Anna (Anna) * Mon, Dec 2, 1996 (04:27) * 22 lines
"For some reason, the wealthy had their servants dress as they themselves might have some 40 years before."
it's still done in some circles - Euro/Brit upper classes on formal occasions mainly
How far away would some other great estates be from Longbourn
other than Netherfield? Pemberly was 10 mile in diameter, thus ~ 3 miles across (mind you I'm not sure if 'estate' in this context ment all the property or just the pleasure grounds, but I suspect the latter). Most of the land had been enclosed by then so allowing for some waste grounds there should be reasonable sized estates every 10 miles or so. Some at least of the owners would have been on visiting terms with the Bennets.
If Longbourn had a church, would not Netherfield be a parish too, or would it have been too close? Was the house at Netherfield an old estate or built by an upstart like Bingley himself?
I think if Netherfield was an established 'great house' with an associated village it would have had a church and parish, but not if it was a recent addition to the scene. I don't think we can tell which from the text.
Oh, sorry. I am on a ramble.
likewise - I was going to finish my tax return tonight.
Fun to think about the fact that Mozart was nearly comtemporary. I imagine his music was to our Regency friends as Gershwin is to us.
did you see the recent comment (here or on AustenL) that Mozart's music is technically much easier to play on a fortepiano than on a pianoforte? All that amateur playing mightn't have been as bad as I had thought.
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 3 of 11: Donna (Donna) * Tue, Dec 3, 1996 (11:17) * 1 lines
I thought "fortepiano" and "pianoforte" are the same thing. Did I miss something. Or is one larger then the other.Either one is upright or grand style.
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 4 of 11: Anna (Anna) * Tue, Dec 3, 1996 (13:29) * 1 lines
the pianoforte in 1812 was differently constructed to the pianoforte we use now (I don't know in what way - I've picked this much up from background reading but I'm no musician), and the earlier version is referred to nowadays as a fortepiano to distinguish it from the modern instrument.
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 5 of 11: Ann Rydberg (Ann2) * Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (09:01) * 6 lines
I found out that the French composer Couperin wanted something more varied than the cembalo. And one Bartolomeo Cristofori as an answer to this request constructed the pianoforte in 1709. The main difference from what I gather is that tiny hammers strike the strings and this can be done softly/piano or with force/forte (like Mrs Hurst on Netherfield Ball?).It seems they could be in rectangular form sometimes.The other special form comes from the soprano(?) strings being much shorter and thus needing less
pace than the base strings.
I have only guessed the words for those strings. Hope I make myself clear?!
Thanks for explanation on fortepiano and pianoforte!
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 6 of 11: Amy Wolf (amy2) * Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (11:14) * 1 lines
Has anyone read the literary criticism comparing Jane Austen's style to Mozart's? It's pretty darned interesting - which I could recall what the source material is!
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 7 of 11: Amy Bellinger (Amy) * Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (11:31) * 6 lines
] Has anyone read the literary criticism comparing Jane Austen's style to Mozart's? It's pretty darned interesting - which I could recall what the source material is!
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I wish you could, too, Amytwo. Tease!
Amyloo
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 8 of 11: Anna (Anna) * Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (15:20) * 1 lines
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 9 of 11: Amy Wolf (amy2) * Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (11:28) * 1 lines
You know what, Amy1 -- I think it's actually an entire book which I saw in the UCLA Research Library. Next time I'm there, I'll try to refind!
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 10 of 11: Anne3 (Anne3) * Sat, Dec 14, 1996 (16:13) * 9 lines
Re: Austen & Mozart
I know that a number of critics have compared P&P with The Marriage of Figaro, but the best Austen/Mozart comparison I know of is a quote from the critic Louis Kronenberger, who said (referring to criticism of Austen as trivial & decorative, i.e. "feminine" in the pejorative sense):
There are those who think Jane Austen tea-tablish, as there are those who think that Mozart tinkles.
. . . which is a great line, don't you think?
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Topic 57 of 181 [austen]: 'Mozart wigs'
Response 11 of 11: The Mysterious H.C. (churchh) * Sun, Dec 15, 1996 (10:52) * 7 lines
Re: 57:2
Anna, the Pemberley estate was actually much bigger than the average landed country gentleman's estate...
Re: 57:9
Amy2 --The Mozart-Austen book is by Robert K. Wallace; the reference is on-line in the bibliography at my site:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~churchh/austfbib.html
Re: 57:1
Amy, as for keeping servants in older styles, apparently footmen in the houses of the wealthy had powdered hair up to Dickens' period...