Articles populaires – L'Abel affaire

29 novembre 2007

Abel and the Lodge of the Nine Muses

Another exciting title - and accurate, for once. While reading about 18th century musicians related to masonic lodges, I came across the following report about two concerts, which was published on the 20th of February 1778, in the Public Adviser, a newspaper...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 19:23 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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18 octobre 2007

Identifying the weapon

Shall we first find out more about the instrument? Or rather the instruments - it seems that the head of the first instrument is a carved head (not a scroll anyway) - the quality of the image couldn't be poorer, I might have to go and see for myself,...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 18:01 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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19 octobre 2007

Dogs, queens and painters

It has not escaped you that Abel poses with a white dog, in his 1765 portrait. None of the elements of an "official" portrait can be deemed to be arbitrary - so why a dog? Here, Abel is represented in his best clothes, composing away, his hand on a box...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 14:32 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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16 mars 2008

A drink or two

The Grove Dictionary did warn us : "It was about this time [the 1770's] that Abel first showed signs of the illness that was to kill him; it was apparently brought on by rich living and in particular by an over-indulgence in drink, but it seems impossible...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 18:23 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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26 octobre 2007

Aside

Hi everyone - have the gamba players reading this noticed this funny hand posture on this engraving of Chris Simpson (frontispiece for The Division Violist)? Is it still used at all? I'll give it go tomorrow - which is certainly not going to improve my...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 23:01 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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19 octobre 2007

Identifying the weapon 2

Gesina has answered my question! She says those two viols are from the Tirol, they are not at all English models. And indeed, on the Orpheon foundation website, many viols with flame-shaped C holes and carved soundholes are to be found: http://www.orpheon.org/Seiten/Instruments/vdg/vdgd_17C.htm...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 11:34 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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26 octobre 2007

The BNF

Today was half-scary half-infuriating. I managed after strenuous efforts to get a BNF research card, which meant I was able to access the archives of the huge Bibliothèque Nationale de France. I tried to have a book taken out for me, which took no less...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 23:18 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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24 octobre 2007

The box

A quick info - I have been reading whatever is available on the www about Abel, and I find this interesting passage on the following webpage (http://earlyguitar.net/Abel/Abel.htm): "At the end of the 1782 season Abel leff London to visit his homeland....

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 09:40 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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2 février 2008

Garrick's portrait

I found a short reference to Abel's painting by Gainsborough while reading the painter's obituary (02/08/1788) in a selection of articles from the Gentleman's Magazine - other posts will follow on that subject, since the GM is one major source of informations...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 09:14 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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11 mai 2008

No comment

I'll leave the following poem to your sagacity. It's taken from the following opus: A collection of original poems. By the Rev. Mr Blacklock, and other Scotch gentlemen. Edinburgh, 1760. The last two lines are an imitation of Pope's "An Essay on Man"....

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 07:55 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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17 mars 2008

A medical explanation

It seems that poor old Abel's symptoms (the red saliva, see below) were drink-related indeed. It is called hematemesis (literally blood vomiting), and it is, according to one medical encyclopaedia, due to an ulceration of the upper digestive system caused...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 10:03 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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16 février 2008

Abel, a new angle

Yet another portrait of Abel, by Jean Charles Robineau, who presumably met Abel in England. I have very little information about this painter (next to none, in fact) - has anyone got a very comprehensive 18th century art encyclopaedia? Robineau hasn't...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 18:32 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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10 novembre 2007

Burney and the agricultural viol

I have been discussing the issue with my supervisor and we have come to very interesting perspectives on what the subject is going to look like. While there is no precise formulation for it yet, we assume that it shall concentrate on the evolution of...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 19:05 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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17 novembre 2007

Einstein and the atomic viol?

You may already know that Laurence Sterne, the celebrated author of Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, was a very keen gambist. Of course, that interests us: he was born in 1713 and died in 1768 - which makes him a perfect...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 18:08 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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24 avril 2008

Anonymous portait

I have send a friend (or should I say an infiltrated hitman) on a mission to take a picture of one of the less known portraits of Abel - the painter is unknown, but Abel and his overbite are still very recognisable. At least, so far as I can judge from...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 09:38 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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21 janvier 2008

Enquiry

Dear all, You who play/listen to/make viols, can you help me list whatever pieces you know for the viol that have been performed in a church set-up? I am trying to dertermine how much the viol was a domestic kind of instrument rather than one used in...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 15:17 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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18 octobre 2007

First things first

Welcome to all of you who are interested, hopefully, in Abel's life. Little of it is known in fact, so that there is plenty of room for personal research! In the next 5 years, I will very likely be writing on CF Abel, first for a masters (this year) and...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 15:24 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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5 février 2008

1784 - the viol's reputation is plummetting

The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle (vol. LIV, 1784), mentionned earlier, reports on Molly Leapor, an early feminist poet... "Molly Leapor [...] was born at Marston St. Laurence, Northamptonshire, in 1722, and died of the meazles [sic] at...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 15:43 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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21 mars 2008

Chelys

Dear all, Would any of you have an old copy of Chelys n°31? It contains an article on late practionners of the viol and I have some faint hope that Abel will be mentionned - who knows, something new might pop up?Let me know if you can help - I actually...

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 22:09 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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17 février 2008

The other instrument

Judith, I would be very interested to hear what you think of that viol (its origins, its style?) : And the close-ups: Could this be a Jaye or a Norman according to you?

Posté par Colloquial Cook à 13:11 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

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